Why I am thankful!

Jeffrey's First Guitar Solo Performance

Last Friday, Jeffrey performed his first-ever solo guitar performance at the Creative Expressions concert. The sniffling you hear in the background is me!

This is why I am thankful -- my son is being cared for and taught by loving, talented people like Katie Whipple and the wonderful people at the Life Enrichment Center in Milledgeville.

Much love, and go Jeffrey!

Ging

Thanksgiving news from Butterball

This is truly a GF Turkey!

I believe the message below sent to me by Megan at Triumph Dining is important, so I'll post it here.

Hi Ginger-

We don’t normally reach out to our fellow bloggers with news (we don’t want to clog your inbox)… But this was really exciting, and I thought you might be interested to know! Butterball turkey now offers gluten-free gravy mixes with a bunch of their turkeys. I think this is super-cool because 1) Butterball is synonymous with turkey, and it’s exciting to see someone so mainstream do gluten-free, 2) as you know, gravy is almost never gluten-free, and 3) the GF gravy isn’t a specialty version, but it’s the default option for some turkeys.

It turns “gluten-free going mainstream” on its head! Instead of having specialty gluten-free options (like Betty Crocker mixes) alongside “regular” gluten-full options, this is a company that’s making the gluten-free option THE default option. Our wonderful blogger, Tiffany, uncovered this story. And we are super-excited about it, and thought you might be too. The full story is here (just in time for Thanksgiving!):

That’s it for us. Hope all is well with you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Kind regards,
Megan & the rest of the team at Triumph Dining

And Much Love from me!
Ging

Thanksgiving Dinner with the Middle Georgia GIG

You are cordially invited!

See our website for details and DIRECTIONS!

Much love, and GOBBLE GOBBLE!
Ging

There's a new post on Ging Recommends!

And it's a favorite!

Quiche me, Quick!

Sorry I've been out of touch for a week. I just hand thumb surgery. Typing is still iffy :-)

I have always loved a good quiche. It is one of the first foods I learned to cook -- summer of 1973, Dekalb Honors Program, French class. Since then I've made thousands of quiches. I've always loved them, especially when made with a store-bought frozen crust. I admit it -- I can't make pie crust to save my life.

Since going gluten-free, though, I haven't made as many quiches as I used to. But with the wonderful gluten-free pie crust at Whole Foods, there's no reason for this not to be a quick meal any more.

A week ago, I tried a combination I've never tried before. Here it is:

Italian Quiche

One GF pie crust
Six eggs
One cup milk (or half and half, or almond milk)
One cup Italian Mixed Cheese
One pound browned mild Italian sausage (bulk) GF, seasoned with a pinch of red pepper flakes if you want
Six sun dried tomatoes, snipped into strips (I used dry pack)
I large jar mushrooms (or one package, sliced, sauteed with the sausage)
One half small onion (sauteed with the sausage)
I t. Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
1 t. Italian Seasoning (I used Penzeys Mural of Flavor)
1. t. salt and pepper

Sautee mushrooms, onions and sausage and drain, then place in bottom of crust. Top with cheese, sliced tomatoes, then top with mixed eggs, milk and spices. Pour over. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour. You know it's done when the knife inserted in the custard comes out clean.

Here are the details on the Pie Crust:
Butter, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, eggs, potato starch, water, lemon juice, salt, xanthan gum, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), evaporated cane juice.

Per serving (About 2oz/57g): 270 calories (130 from fat), 15 g total fat, 9g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 2g protein, 31g total carbohydrate (less than 1g dietary fiber, 0g sugar), 70mg cholesterol, 280mg sodium. Servings per container: about 9

Slice and eat!

Much love, and quiche me, quick!
Ging

There's a new post on Ging Recommends!

What can I say, I've been busy today

A GF/No Sugar Added Banana Nut Tea Bread

I don't know about you, but I've always got some bananas in an overripe state on my counter. Today I had three, which meant it was time to make Banana Nut Bread!

My friend Carly Harvey posted this on her blog, and I've tried it a couple of times as written, except I use my favorite "GF Bisquick," AKA Pamela's Baking and Pancacke Mix.
I also haven't tried to make it since I've had to cut back significantly and seriously on sugar and white carbs this summer.

So I spent a little time working with this, and I've adapted it for a GF/No added Sugar diet. One loaf makes about 8-10 slices. Note: While the sugar in this is natural sugar (from bananas) and from Splenda products, THERE ARE CARBS in here, folks. A lot of carbs. But they're good, fiber-filled carbs in this adaptation, not just empty white calories (and oh Lord, I do love empty white calories). I would say the fiber count in a slice of this is about 10 grams or so, with all that flax and all. So small slices, people. Small slices.

Here it is, for your holiday baking.

Carly Harvey's Meme’s Banana Bread, adapted to GF/No Sugar Added

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)_
2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix
1/3 cup ground flax seeds (I buy them ground and refrigerate them)
1/2 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup brown-sugar Splenda (or if you're not SF, use one cup sugar)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute if you like. I have great free-range eggs, so I use eggs).
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts).

Beat all ingredients vigorously for 30 seconds. Bake 55-65 minutes.

Much love, and isn't that kid cute? I mean...you all know what banana nut bread looks like, right?
Ging