Continue reading]]> It’s no secret that I love to cook.  I know cookbooks are a little outdated (everyone uses Google these days, right?).  I guess I’m an old school nerd because I love to flip through cookbooks and see the colorful pages and, well, touch them.  I think they look so pretty on the shelf and I love to look at these in my kitchen to help inspire me.

Before I go into the list, I must say I’m an immensely simple person (don’t tell my husband, he won’t believe you!).  My taste in cookbooks reflects that style.  I like simple recipes that are fast to make and healthy.  I know some people really like to make fancy dinners.  Not me.  Nope.  Keep in mind that I love simplicity with this list of favorite cookbooks.

Here’s my Top 10 Cookbooks

NUMBER 10

This should be everyone’s first cookbook.  It’s an updated classic and still many seasoned cook’s favorite book. It goes through all of the basics of cooking in depth and has amazing go-to recipes in it.  It would make a fabulous wedding gift or would be perfect for that college student that is just starting out.

NUMBER 9

A friend mentioned to me (thanks Janna!) that this was Deseret Book’s top selling book for this week.  I like how the recipes are broken down into seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall).  And I love the colors, pictures, and simplicity of the recipes in this cookbook.

NUMBER 8

I love this cookbook for entertaining.  The recipes are timeless, interesting, and innovative.  I don’t use this cookbook on a daily basis, but I do get it out for special occasions.

NUMBER 7

If you read my blog, you know I have a ‘thing’ for food preservation.  I even have a bigger thing for Mason jars.  I think they are just lovely and I use them pretty much every day for different uses.  I love that this cook shows how to preserve in small amounts, which is a necessity for the modern cook.

NUMBER 6

If you’re looking for easy birthday ideas for kids OR for a great way to spend an afternoon cooking with your children, I highly recommend this cook book.  It’s chocked full of easy recipes that even teens can make and they look like you’ve spent all day on them.  I also recommend the companion cookbook “What’s new Cupcake?”

NUMBER 5

Another great family cookbook is this Williams Sonoma “Cooking Together Cookbook”.  I love any excuse to spend time with my kids and they all like to help cook.

NUMBER 4

I love being able to plan my dinners in the morning (when I have lots of energy) and have them cook long and slow and be ready in the evening (when I’m exhausted and tempted to serve cereal for dinner).  To top it off, I really adore Stephanie O’dea’s sense of humor.

NUMBER 3

My husband got me this book as a gift and it’s a wonderful cookbook full of everything you could ever think of to make.  This would make a wonderful gift for anyone just starting out on their own.

NUMBER 2

A friend showed me this cookbook at her home and I just fell in love (it was one of her favorites too).  I like the simplicity and how versatile this cookbook is.  The cover isn’t very exciting, but what is inside definitely is!

NUMBER 1

This is my very favorite cookbook.  I love the photos of every dish.  I love the family photos that are incorporated into the cookbook.  I love Rue Drummon’s honest style and practical recipes.  This cookbook is very colorful and so fun to look through and read.

Continue reading]]> Hey there!  I try to cook with one of my kids once a week and they get to choose the meal.  Today, my oldest chose chicken pot pie, the ultimate comfort food.  I had to do some testing and trying to make it gluten free and dairy free… and… the result… it was a humongous hit with the whole family!

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

Step #1 Cook Chicken

Cook 2 chicken breasts, then remove from pan and chop in bite sized squares.  If it doesn’t get cooked all the way through, that’s ok, it’s going to get cooked more later.

Step #2 Make Sauce

In the rendered chicken fat or dairy free butter, cook 1/4 cup onions until soft and translucent. Stir in 1/3 cup gluten free featherlite flour, salt, pepper, and a tsp. of celery seed. Slowly stir in 1 3/4 cup good quality chicken stock until well combined and then stir in 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until you achieve a thin gravy thickness. Add 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables and chicken and cook until just a simmer.

Step #3 Make Topping

I used Bisquick Gluten Free biscuit mix. Just follow the instructions on the back of the box for one batch of biscuits.

Step #5 Fill Ramekins

Put filling mixture into ramekins and spoon biscuit mix on top using a medium scoop or a table spoon (note:  the biscuits will expand to about twice their size and soak up excess moisture from the meat mix, so make sure not to put too much dough on the top).  I put too much dough on top, so don’t follow my bad example!  Top biscuits with a dash of paprika.

Step #6 Bake, Cool, and Serve

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 425 degrees or until biscuits are golden brown.  Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you have any questions, please post a comment and I will try my best to answer it quickly!

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Each week, my kids take turns making dinner with me.  I love it because I get to spend quality time with them teaching them something I love and they love it because they get to choose anything they want for dinner (within reason).  This week, my son chose pasta shapes with corn.

We used a roasted tomato sauce recipe that we had made last summer. And oh, oh, oh, was it so yummy and sweet!

We used gf shaped pasta similar to this one and added a can of corn and a few dashes of soy Parmesan cheese.

Continue reading]]> My kids get to choose a recipe to make with me once a week and we call it “Cooking with Kids”.  Today my son chose shaped eggs.  They are so easy to make and so yummy!  All you need is an electric griddle and some egg shapers found here, here, and here. We actually purchased the Mickey Mouse Egg Shaper at Disneyland, but if you won’t be in that area any time soon, you can buy it on Amazon or check ebay.  Not only can you make eggs with the shapers, but you can also make pancakes with them.  We have done both with very good results.  I thought the eggs would seep through the shapers because they are thin the way I make them, but they didn’t and they cook very quickly, in about 2 minutes.

How to Make Shaped Eggs

1. Preheat  electric grill to 325 degrees.
2. Spray grill and shapers with cooking spray.
3. Make egg mixture by whisking 6 eggs, 1/4 cup milk of your choice (I used unsweetened almond milk), 1/4 cup chopped bacon (optional), and salt and pepper.  This should make at least 10 egg shapes.
4. Place just enough egg mixture to fill the bottom of the mold.  Cook for 30 seconds to a minute and then flip and cook the other side for about 30 seconds.  That’s it!

Serve with ketchup faces and any other sides you wish.  I made some fried potatoes and some sausage for a mouth.

If you have any questions, please post a comment and I will answer it as soon as I can.  Enjoy, this is such a fun meal for kids!

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I hate complaining.  I hate it even more when the kids complain about what I make for dinner.  Oh it bugs me!   I have one child in particular who just hates to eat anything with meat which is generally what I like to cook.  Since being GFDF there’s really not a whole lot to make that doesn’t have meat in it.  And I like meat.

So to combat the complaining, I’ve instituted Cooking with Kids at our home.  Each week one child gets to choose anything they would like to eat (as long as it’s healthy) and helps me to do the shopping and make it.  It has worked smashingly so far.  And, the other kids are banned from complaining about it even if they don’t like it.  Ha!

Well, in today’s episode…  well, it’s not really an “episide”, it’s more of an 8 year old giving a photo tutorial… we’re going to learn how to make PB&J sushi rolls.  We made some with regular bread and some with gluten free dairy free (GFDF) bread.  I was skeptical at first… I thought, “No, not healthy”.  But I pushed my thoughts aside because this is my picky daughter and she deserves to like dinner once a month.  It’s ok if her one choice doesn’t fit my perfect description of healthy.  We did choose healthy side dishes so it worked out great.

1. Choose your bread type and your favorite creamy peanut butter.  We chose Wonderbread and Udi’s Gluten Free Multigrain.

2. Roll out the bread with a rolling pin.  Oh this girl is so cute, isn’t she?  Isn’t her apron adorable? It’s very high quality and we get a lot of compliments on it. I wish they had one in my size! We got it here.

3. Spread peanut butter and jelly on the SAME SLICE of bread.  We used raspberry jam and for my daughter who hates raspberries, we put rose petal jam on hers (yum!)

4.  Then simply roll them up, cut in half and put a decorative toothpick in to make it pretty.

5.  We kindof had a fail on the gluten free version of the sushi roll.  I think it preferred not to be sushi.  However, I think it’s because we used stale bread.  I think it would have worked better with fresh and homemade bread that tends to be softer and less dry.  It still tasted good.  Really good.

6. We served the sushi rolls with a fresh peach smoothie, green salad with strawberries (not pictured), and green beans and cherry tomatoes from the garden.

She was happy so everyone was happy.  I thought it tasted yummy!

We hope you have enjoyed this episode of cooking with kids.  If you would like to see us make something in particular, please post a comment!

Disclaimer: **Positively Mommy occasionally provides recipes and other information about food preparation. Please keep in mind that it is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value of these recipes, nutritional and otherwise. It is also the reader’s responsibility to determine the safety of the preparation instructions. Recipes are prepared “at your own risk.” We assume no liability, obligation, or warranty with respect to these recipes. Positively Mommy is not responsible for any damage, medically or otherwise, that could result from preparation of these recipes. Visitors must take care to check the instructions provided and determine their value and any possible medical condition that may arise from the preparation instructions and consumption of the ingredients listed in this site’s recipes.

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Cooking with Kids

In this 4th episode of Cooking With Kids, we’re making gluten free and dairy free fruit sandwiches (like grilled cheese). Two of us are GFDF in our house, and 2 aren’t and since my GF daughter doesn’t like raisins, I bought “normal” gluteny bread for the other family members and made separate GFDF sandwiches for her and I without raisins.  This recipe was modified but taken from the Southern Living Kids Cookbook

I quickly found that I should have made a double batch, everyone loved it and wanted seconds!

Here’s what we used

1. Wonderbread Raisin (not gluten free)

2. Rudi’s Gluten Free bread

3. Tofutti brand dairy free cream cheese, we used about 1/2 cup

4. granny smith apples, sliced and soaked in 2T. orange juice

5. 1 T. Cinnamon

6. 2 T. raisins

7. 2 T. Apricot Jam

8. Earth Balance buttery spread

Apple Sandwiches

We made this recipe on our Countertop Griddle.  Ours is a little different than the one we linked to, just because we’ve had it for about 10 years and they don’t make the same one anymore!

Instructions:

Slice apples and soak in oj for 5 minutes.  Mix cream cheese, cinnamon, and jam.  Spread cream cheese mixture on one side of bread.  Spread buttery spread on the other side.  With butter side down on the griddle, put apples on the cream cheese side and top with remaining bread (that is spread with cream cheese on one side and buttery spread on the other).  Grill for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Watch the video here:

**Positively Mommy occasionally provides recipes and other information about food preparation. Please keep in mind that it is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value of these recipes, nutritional and otherwise. It is also the reader’s responsibility to determine the safety of the preparation instructions. Recipes are prepared “at your own risk.” We assume no liability, obligation, or warranty with respect to these recipes. Positively Mommy is not responsible for any damage, medically or otherwise, that could result from preparation of these recipes. Visitors must take care to check the instructions provided and determine their value and any possible medical condition that may arise from the preparation instructions and consumption of the ingredients listed in this site’s recipes.

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Cupcake Tower

On Episode 3 of Cooking With Kids, we made a birthday cupcake tower fit for a princess.  We used 2 cake mixes (however in retrospect we could have made one large round layer and 12 cupcakes out of 1 cake mix).  We froze what we made the night before and then decorated the finished product in this video.

Cooking With Kids Video

Products we Used

1. Wilton Jumbo Confetti Sprinkles + assorted other sanding sugars in the same color of the frosting you choose.

2. Offset Spatula

3. silver cupcake holders

4. 2 tubs of frosting, mixed to the colors you desire

5. 1 layer of a round cake mix and 10 cupcakes (frozen so it’s easier to frost)

6. We used the Spritz brand candles from Target, but these are similar.

This particular cake was not gluten free because we were taking it to a party where not everyone enjoys eating allergy free.  Kaylee is not allergic to gluten (our older daughter is) so we made her a “regular” cake which she really enjoyed.

The video was filmed by kids, can you believe it?!  There was a cute audience and helpers consisting of 3 young children.

And, last but not least, please don’t look at my fingers that are stained turquoise!  I was spray painting an outdoor bench the morning before the video was filmed and no matter how many times I washed my hands, it wouldn’t come off.  Why didn’t I think of wearing gloves?

Here’s an ariel shot of the cupcake tower so you can see what it looks like from the top.  It’s quite tall when finished, probably 16-18 inches and then the cake plate adds a few more inches.  If you like our cake plate, here’s where we got it and it inverts into a punch bowl which comes in handy.

If you have any great cupcake decorating ideas, please share them with us in the comments!

**Positively Mommy occasionally provides recipes and other information about food preparation. Please keep in mind that it is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value of these recipes, nutritional and otherwise. It is also the reader’s responsibility to determine the safety of the preparation instructions. Recipes are prepared “at your own risk.” We assume no liability, obligation, or warranty with respect to these recipes. Positively Mommy is not responsible for any damage, medically or otherwise, that could result from preparation of these recipes. Visitors must take care to check the instructions provided and determine their value and any possible medical condition that may arise from the preparation instructions and consumption of the ingredients listed in this site’s recipes.

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Cooking with Kids

COOKING WITH KIDS – Episode 2

On Episode 2 of Cooking with Kids, we had fun making these “April Fools” cupcakes from the What’s New Cupcake cookbook together!  We modified it to be gluten and dairy free to accommodate our family’s allergies.  They still tasted very good and we didn’t miss the gluten at all!

We premade 2 boxes of Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free Cake mix and then froze them so they would be easier to frost. We made one vanilla and one chocolate mix. The mixes made about a dozen cupcakes (so 1/2 of what a “regular” box cake will make).  But, you can make whatever flavor you would like, it doesn’t really matter for this recipe.We had a few leftover cupcakes that we put back in the freezer for another day.

ITEMS WE USED IN THE VIDEO

We used silver cupcake holders, 2 tubs of white premade frosting and pastry bags, and Sun Brand Dairy Free Chocolate Candies. These candies are similar to M&M’s.

Gluten Free “Pie” Cupcakes

The cupcakes were a big hit at our Memorial Day picnic with family and we hope to make them again sometime.

Watch the Cooking with Kids episode 2 here:

**Positively Mommy occasionally provides recipes and other information about food preparation. Please keep in mind that it is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value of these recipes, nutritional and otherwise. It is also the reader’s responsibility to determine the safety of the preparation instructions. Recipes are prepared “at your own risk.” We assume no liability, obligation, or warranty with respect to these recipes. Positively Mommy is not responsible for any damage, medically or otherwise, that could result from preparation of these recipes. Visitors must take care to check the instructions provided and determine their value and any possible medical condition that may arise from the preparation instructions and consumption of the ingredients listed in this site’s recipes.

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Cooking with Kids

On our first episode of Cooking With Kids, we made Disney waffles with my daughter Kaylee age 8, and her friend Clairie age 9, and a little help from Mom.  Kaylee chose to make gluten and dairy free (GFDF) Disney waffles served with apple wedges, jam, syrup, and fresh squeezed orange juice (from Tropicana) to drink.  Kaylee planned the whole meal, got the ingredients out of the pantry and helped to get everything ready.  As you can see, these kids are good cooks and love to spend time in the kitchen having fun and being silly.

On today’s episode, you can see we have an audience of 5 year olds that are quite lively.  Not to mention, I’m an amateur videographer and I didn’t turn the viewfinder toward myself (but I made sure we could see the kids!).  On the next episode won’t have my head partly cut off.

To watch us making the waffles together, check out our video here:

Items used in this episode are

• Mickey Waffle Iron
• Princess Belgian Waffle Iron  TIP:  Spray it well with cooking oil and the waffle won’t stick like ours did
• Cherrybrook Pancake and Waffle Mix (comes in a pack of 6)
• Almond Milk

**Positively Mommy occasionally provides recipes and other information about food preparation. Please keep in mind that it is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value of these recipes, nutritional and otherwise. It is also the reader’s responsibility to determine the safety of the preparation instructions. Recipes are prepared “at your own risk.” We assume no liability, obligation, or warranty with respect to these recipes. Positively Mommy is not responsible for any damage, medically or otherwise, that could result from preparation of these recipes. Visitors must take care to check the instructions provided and determine their value and any possible medical condition that may arise from the preparation instructions and consumption of the ingredients listed in this site’s recipes.