Gluten Free Friday Kickoff!

For the past couple of months I have been getting used to the idea that my life is now gluten free. It has been a hard transition and I am still learning a lot about how to be completely gluten free. I became gluten free after reading my friend Carrie's blog, Organic and Thrifty, and more specifically a book she recommended called "Why do I Still have Thyroid Symptoms? When my Lab Tests are Normal" My hair is no longer falling out, my vision is no long blurred throughout the day and my energy level is definitely up. If I do cheat and have some gluten I can definitely tell so I try to stay on the straight and narrow. I am grateful that I do not have severe symptoms from eating gluten.

So for my first Gluten Free Friday recipe I have made over one of my families all time favorites.

Coke Roast

Ingredients

2-3 lb roast
2 boxes of Pacific Natural Foods Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 packets of Road's End Organics Gluten Free Quick Gravy mix
24 oz of Coke (full sugar not diet)
5 Carrots
5 Celery Stalks
1 Large Onion
15-20 Fingerling Potatoes (not pictured)
10-20 Button Mushrooms

Chop up all the vegetables and place in the bottom of your crock pot. Place roast, fat side up, in the crock pot on top of the vegetables. Combine soups, gravy mix and soda in a mixing bowl and pour over your roast. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 6-8 hours. Flipping the roast about 1/2 way through the cooking time helps it to cook evenly.

Once the cooking time is up I usually make some gravy out of the juices and sauce mix. To do this I put 2 tablespoons of butter along with 2 tablespoons of gluten free flour mix in a pan on the stove to create a roux. Once the roux looks right I add as much of the juices as I need to make enough gravy for our family. I also add beef bouillon to this mixture to taste.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

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Raspberry, Strawberry and Straspberry Freezer Jam OH MY

Freezer jam is a huge part of my past, as I talked about yesterday. Today I will share with you how I make my jam so that you can enjoy it with your family too!

First my FAVORITE package for making freezer jam is made by Ball. Below is a picture so you know exactly what you are looking for. It is found by all the canning stuff in your local grocery store. I used to only find it in my Albertson's but recently have seen it in Walmart and Safeway as well. These little packages require less than 1/2 the sugar of the cooking method ones which is one of the main reason I prefer it, more fresh fruit taste!

Ball No Cook Freezer Jam

4 Cups Fresh Fruit

1.5 Cups Sugar

1 pkg Ball No Cook Fruit Pectin

Wash and prepare fresh fruit. I washed up my fresh raspberries and strawberries and then mashed them up in separate containers. I strained the seeds from 1/2 of the raspberries as I don't like extra seedy jam. Once this was complete I made several different batches of jam. two plain raspberry, one plain strawberry and four straspberry (1/2 strawberry, 1/2 raspberry).

Combine sugar and pectin in a dry bowl and mix well. Slowly add the mixture to four cups of fresh prepared fruit mixing well. Continue to mix for 3 minutes. Pour jam into Ball canning jars and put on sealing lids. Let rest on counter for at least 30 minutes before putting in the freezer......that is if it makes it to the freezer before it is devoured! We ended up with 19.75 jars total last night, 5 raspberry, 4 strawberry, 10 strasberry and .75 of a mix off all the extra from each batch.

Straspberry Jam all mixed up!

Jam can be stored in the freezer for up to a year but ours has never ever lasted that long. We share with friends and family and often times end up making tons more throughout the year at the request of others. One of The Hubs' friend's even offered to pick me up in Seattle for my 3 Day walk in San Francisco when I mentioned that I would bring him some Strawberry Jam if he could pick me up at the airport in San Fran for the walk. I guess he misses being able to come raid our freezer when we lived in Monterey! A couple of these jars are on reserve for Brian when I see him at he airport in San Francisco in October.

Best Salad EVER!

So last April I rode the train for the very first time ever and when it came time to have dinner I wandered down to the snack car and bought myself a salad. It was the best salad EVER, and tonight I recreated that salad because I LOVE it and lets face it, it's too expensive to take a train ride just for the salad, although this weekend I got to enjoy two of those salads as I was taking the train to run a 5K! So because I love this salad so much I am going to share my recipe with you!

Linsay's Farmer's Market Salad

Cran-Raspberry Vinaigrette

2 cups Cranberry Juice

1 cup Fresh Raspberries

2 TBS Olive Oil

2 TBS Honey

2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

Combine Cranberry Juice and Raspberries in a small sauce pan on stove and bring to a boil. Continue to build until it is reduced to 1/2 cup total. Combine with remaining ingredients in the blender on liquify until smooth. Resist tasting as you won't be able to stop.

Salad

1 Apple chopped (I used Pink Lady)

1/2 Cup Chopped Dried Apricots

3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds

2.5 oz Blue Cheese

1/2 Bag of Baby Spinach

1/2 Bag of Chopped Romaine Lettuce

Layer lettuce, Blue Cheese, Sliced Almonds, Dried Cranberries, Dried Apricots and Apple in a large salad bowl. Served topped with Cran-Raspberry Vinaigrette. ENJOY!! If you try this you have to tell me if you like it. Everyone in our house besides Lippy Lou LOVED it. I can't believe 3 out of 4 kids enjoyed the blue cheese!

Want more great summer recipes? Check out Works for Me Wednesday on We are THAT family!



This post is also linked to Foodie Friday, check it out!