Recipe: Gluten-Free, Vegan Mac'n'Cheese

When I learned that I could no longer eat dairy, I panicked.  No more creamy comfort foods?  No more mac'n'cheese?!  What was I going to do?  Fortunately, there are some pretty awesome (corn free) cheese substitutes out there and with a little help from the internet, I was able to hobble together a pretty amazing Mac'n'faux-cheese.

Gluten-Free, Vegan Mac'n'Cheese

4 cups dry gf pasta (such as Tinkyada shells)

drizzle olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 tbsp rice flour

2 cups rice milk

7 oz follow your heart cheddar, shredded

5 oz follow your heart mozzarella, shredded

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Heat oven to 350 degrees

1) In large sauce pan, cover pasta with water, bring to a boil, then simmer until al dente.

2) Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large pan.  Add onion and sautee until tender.  

3) Add rice flour and stir until well combined.

4) Add rice milk one cup at a time and stir continually, simmering until thickened.

5) Add shredded cheeses and stir until cheeses have melted completely. 

6) Stir in mustard and nutritional yeast.

7) Place pasta in 2 qt casserole dish.

8) Pour sauce on top of pasta and toss until well combined.  

9)  Bake for 30-35 minutes until bubbly and slightly browned on top.  

*optional: before baking, top with crushed rice crackers or rice breadcrumbs for extra crunch if desired

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie

One of my absolute favorite cold-weather comfort foods is chicken pot pie.  It's quick and easy to assemble and chock full of healthy foods.  I've had to modify my recipe to meet my new dietary restrictions but I was pleasantly surprised with the results.  It was incredibly yummy without any wheat or dairy!  Here's how it's done:

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 cup frozen peas
2 large stalks celery, diced (I'm allergic so I swapped in a big handful of spinach in the photographs below)
2 large carrots, diced
4-5 small potatoes, diced
1/4 cup rice flour
1 cup Basic Onion Broth
1 cup rice or coconut milk (coconut will make a creamier sauce)
Liberal dash each Rosemary, Majoram, Savory, Parsley, salt and pepper (thyme and sage also work well)

1 cup flour (I use 1/2 cup rice flour and 1/2 cup tapioca starch)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp baking powder
cold water

1)Preheat oven to 400 degrees.   Cut up potatoes and carrots

2) Put potatoes and carrots in large pot, fill with water, bring to boil, then simmer 10-15 minutes, until just tender

 3) Cut onion and celery

 4) In large skillet, heat olive oil, then sautee onion, celery (or spinach), peas and herbs/spices until tender

 5) Add flour to veggies in skillet.  Slowly stir in rice or coconut milk and broth and cook on low, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened.

6) Meanwhile add flour, baking power and coconut oil to large bowl.  Mash until mixture forms consistency of small peas.  Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time until dough forms smooth ball.

 7) Drain potatoes and carrots and add to creamed veggie mixture.  Pour into 2 qt casserole dish.

8) Roll out dough on sheet of parchment paper and invert on top of casserole.  Gluten-free dough may be fragile, so you may have to patch it.  For a more 'artistic' look, cut dough with cookie cutters and arrange on top of pie.

 9) Bake for 35 minutes, remove from oven, and let stand another 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Review and Giveaway: Anywayup 360 Cup!

My kids are messy. Really messy. I'm pretty sure we have at least one spilled cup of water at a meal every single day.  However, my kids hate sippy cups.  In their opinion, sippy cups are for babies.  They have sport-top bottles for bedtime, but they won't use those at the table - they want a 'real' cup like Mommy and Daddy have.  Unfortunately, one overly enthusiastic elbow can soak the whole table.  

 Thank goodness for the Anywayup Cup.  These cups look like a big-boy open-top cup, but they include a special valve in the middle to minimize spills.  A child can drink from any part of the rim, but the stopper in the middle prevents water from gushing out if the cup is tipped.  My kids literally have to turn the cup upside down and shake as hard as they can if they want to make a mess.

And thanks to the bright colors and fun designs my picky kids were literally fighting over who got to use the new cup. Our kids preferred not to use the handle, but for smaller children a convenient snap-on handle is included.  And, the cup has a lid to prevent spills and messes while on the go!  

Want to win one of your very own?  Anywayup has generously offered to give away 3 of their 360 cups to Stuff I Love readers!  Just enter on the punchtab form below!

Disclaimer:  Anywayup did provide me with a free cup to review, but I never recommend products I don't personally love.  All opinions are my own.  

Recipe Of The Week: Basic Onion Broth

On my new food-sensitivity diet, two of the foods I can no longer eat are beef and garlic. I have found it next to impossible to find a broth that doesn't contain at least one of those ingredients (or celery which is also on the list).  Plain old chicken stock just doesn't have enough of a 'kick' for me, so I cooked up this basic onion broth to fill out my soup bases and splash in my veggies and casseroles.  It's super easy and so good!

Basic Onion Broth

2 onions, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
liberal dash marjoram
liberal dash savory
(if you can eat them, bay leaves, thyme and sage work well, too)
8 cups water

Add all ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low over night (approximately 12 hours).  Strain into a large bowl, cool and ladle into smaller containers to freeze. 

Hellow New Year $200 Giveaway!

Diva Fabulosa is super excited to announce that we have teamed up with a rock star team of bloggers to bring you guys a super fabulous giveaway! With the holidays over, your expenses has probably doubled, we decided to put together a prize that will help you on this new year!

We’re giving away a $200 Amazon gift card OR PayPal cash, winners choice.This is an amazing giveaway, I’m pretty jealous that I can’t win!

This giveaway is made possible by the following co hosts:

Jenn's Blah Blah Blog - What's Up? - Stay at Hone Mom - The Stuff of Sucsess - Stuff I love - Canadian Giveaways - Monica's Rants, Raves and Reviews - Simply Sherryl - Techie She - Travel Pixy

Please take a moment to check their blogs.

Giveaway ends January 20th, 11:59 pm EST. OPEN WW. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below.

Disclosure: This giveaway is open Worldwide, must be 18+ to enter. Winner will be contacted from admin@divafabulosa.com and will have 48 hours to respond to winning email. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. None of the other bloggers in this giveaway are responsible for prize shipment/delivery. This event is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by, or associated with, Facebook and/or Twitter, Google, Pinterest. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentines Giveaway!

     


Can you believe that Valentines Day is just around the corner?  Couldn't you use a little swag to make your holiday a little more romantic?  Enter today for your chance to win one of four amazing prize packages to help you spice up your Valentines!

 Prizes: 4 WINNERS
4 Holiday Inn Vouchers for 2 Nights and 3 Days Stay
4 1800Flowers
4 Chocolate Cover Strawberries
4 $50 Applebees Cards

The event dates: 1/7- 1/18

Open to US Only

Sponsored by: Holiday Inn | 1800 Flowers |

Co-Host: Mom Blog Society | Jackie's Reviews | Geeky Gamer Mom | She Informed | Mom Does Reviews | Route 249 | Stuff I Love | As Mom Sees It | Finger Click Saver |

 Make this Valentines Day a Day To Remember. For a chance to win, simply enter via the Rafflecopter below. GOOD LUCK  

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Borax Laundry Booster: Review and Giveaway!

I don't know about you, but to me the terms "Laundry" and "Borax" go hand in hand.  As a kid, we always had a box of Borax sitting right next to the detergent in our laundry room.  Mom swore that without it, our clothes just wouldn't come clean.  We had another box under the kitchen sink for making home-made dishwasher soap.  And I even ran across that familiar Borax box in science class when our teacher has us make this super silly goop. 

What is Borax? 

Borax is a 100% natural mineral found in the earth.  It is washed, dried and boxed for consumers.  Nothing is added before marketing - not phosphates, not chlorine - nothing. 

Why use Borax?

Chances are, your home has what's called "hard water" - or water containing calcium and magnesium ions.  When you add detergent to hard water, some of the particles attach to the calcium and magnesium and head straight down your drain without doing a thing to clean your clothes.  20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster naturally softens the water which maximizes cleaning power.  

How do I use Borax?

To make the most of your detergent, ad 1/2 cup Borax to every load along with your detergent.  

Want to win a FREE box of Borax?  Just fill out the simple punchtab form below.   3 lucky winners will receive a coupon for a FREE box of Borax Laundry Booster.  (If you win, be sure to make yourself a batch of goop!)  Good luck!

giveaway open to residents of the US over the age of 18 only

Disclosure: Borax provided a free sample of their product so I could review them.  However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

Book Of The Week: Hug A Bug

Dan Andreasen is one of my all-time favorite illustrators.  My kids beg for his books at bedtime on a regular basis.  We were thrilled when we recently stumbled upon his collaboration with author Eileen Spinelli on the book Hug A Bug. 

This darling story uses short rhymes to tell about a girl who loves hugs.  Not only does she love to give hugs, but she loves to teach others - others who might be a little grumpy - how good it can feel to give someone else a hug.

The illustrations are colorful and charming and Andreasen's characters are typically expressive.  This is one book we are guaranteed to be checking out from the library frequently! 

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