What's for Dinner?

I will confess that I am one of those people who regularly tries out new recipes on guests. Every time I do I berate myself about it as I anxiously await the results, hoping desperately that everything will be edible. It usually is. The other night I decided to do something I never do, try out a recipe that I would entertain with on my family, you know, learn and save myself some anxiety.

So for a mid-week dinner I decided to test out a Souffle recipe. Best of all, it worked! I was so surprised and proud to have done it, I just had to share.

It was a goat cheese and herb souffle (hence the vivid green colour) and even my kids loved it. If you're feeling like trying one out this recipe was from Essential Pepin by Jacques Pepin, a cookbook I love and have amazing success with.

Happy Friday!

Mixed Bag Friday - Gluten Free

I decided that Friday would be the catch all for all the randomness that is my life. Throughout the week there are so many things that catch my eye (nice way to say I spend to much time on Pinterest) and with a 3 year old and a 5 year old at home there is always something going on from crafts to new recipes.

This week I wanted to share some of what's been going on for us this summer. We've found my daughter to be gluten intolerant. I'm grateful that her symptoms have always been mild (bloating, gas and occasional tummy aches when it's been a very gluten-heavy day) and that we finally have it figured out, but I was really hoping this wouldn't be the case. We'd already restricted lactose for both children, not too bad but I swear more people invite us out for ice cream now than in the whole rest of my life put together. Now with the added gluten intolerance I dread eating out, going to birthday parties and pretty much every social outing (since with little kids it's always about food). That said I realise that there are lots of options and people are very willing to try to accommodate us, we pack a lot of food when we go anywhere now. I know this will get easier, but eight weeks in I find it completely overwhelming.

In preparation for school I've been combing Pinterest for collections of lunch-friendly, kid-friendly gluten free foods. Here are a few I've found that I like so far:

Gluten Free quiche, we've tried this recipe as both crustless (not a big hit) and a slightly modified version in a store bought gluten free crust (the clear winner).



Next up on my to try list is Gluten free Pierogies I know you are probably thinking that pierogies are not your typical lunch box fare but they were easily the most requested item of the previous school year.

And of course I need some sort of option for pizza day so we're going to try a cauliflower crust recipe. I don't dare send this one to school without a test run first!





Finally, because there is not enough going on in early September (heavy sarcasm here) I was reading the announcement of the themes for Project Run and Play and I am seriously trying to figure out if I can fit the sew along into my schedule...I need to sleep on it.

Have a great weekend!

The Soup Rut

I love soup, it's one of the best parts of winter. When it's cold outside and you're chilled it's the perfect meal. And this is what it looks like outside...brrr!

 

Of course, to my dismay, my kids have refused to eat any form of homemade soup or stew until recently. If it didn't come from a can they would take one taste and push it away. That isn't to say they would eat a wide variety of canned soups, they eat 2 varieties, tomato and cream of mushroom. I tried making homemade tomato soup....nope!

So when I happened upon this tomato tortellini soup on pinterest I thought soup may be worth another try. How perfect could it be, with a base of their favourite tomato soup, combined with pasta, their number one choice for dinner any night...it had to work.

Here is how mine turned out.

I didn't stick 100% to the recipe since I didn't have enough cream cheese or the right flavor. Instead I used plain cream cheese with a little cream, plus a sprinkle of cheddar to add more flavor  The kids loved it! Ate it for dinner and left overs the next day. Of course next time I plan to work from a tomato sauce instead of soup....but at least we're on our way out of the soup rut.