GlutenFree Me Product Review: Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Quick Cooking Oats

I started this gluten free food segment, GlutenFree Me, to encourage myself and others that are struggling to GlutenFree their diets. Look for pictures of gluten free meals, reviews of gluten free recipes and products and gluten free tips and tricks. 

There are some microwavable gluten free oatmeals out there. They are good, but they are flavored. If you're looking for a plain oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Quick Cooking Oats is awesome. WHY?

1. You can MICROWAVE it! 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1 minute 30 seconds in the microwave. Maybe this isn't news to you, but I've never microwaved oatmeal that wasn't in an individual serving package. I've bought the large quaker oats before, and prepared it on the stove and made oatmeal cookies, but I never thought to microwave it.

2. It's kid approved. Charlie loves it. He eats the whole serving EVERY TIME. This morning, he even ate some of mine.

3. Because it comes in a big bag, you can use these gluten free oats to fill up those canisters on your counter that used to hold flour. So pretty.

4. These oats are kind of sweet, so I don't have to add much sweetener to them, maybe a small drizzle of agave nectar. I used to load oatmeal up with butter and brown sugar.

5. I've got two easy, kid approved GLUTEN FREE ways to fix up this oatmeal for you: Add canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice! Or for homemade apple cinnamon oatmeal, chop an apple, put it at the bottom of the bowl. Add oats, water/milk and apple pie spice and then microwave. Yum!

Now if I can just find the perfect gluten free pancake mix...

GlutenFree Me Lunch Box: Peanut Butter dip

I started this gluten free food segment, GlutenFree Me, to encourage myself and others that are struggling to GlutenFree their diets. Look for pictures of gluten free meals, reviews of gluten free recipes and products and gluten free tips and tricks. 

My mother in law introduced me to this dip. It's just peanut butter and yogurt. That's it. I'm not even a big peanut butter fan and I like this dip. 

I use one plain Oikos single serve 5.3 oz container and about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (I use JIF natural). Because I use plain yogurt, I sometimes sweeten it with agave nectar, but if you use vanilla or honey flavored yogurt, you wouldn't need anything else. You get super protein from the greek yogurt and super protein from the peanut butter and BAM, you're full.

Before I went off gluten, I would eat all of this dip with a big apple and be really full. So that would be a big apple, 5.3 oz yogurt and 2 tbsp. peanut butter. NOW, being off gluten, I eat half the dip and one or two small apples and... FULL. So this dip makes TWO servings.

Charlie (almost 18 months) LOVES this dip made with full fat greek yogurt and with cut up bananas. He really just tries to eat the dip with his spoon. It's great for spoon feeding because the dip sticks to the spoon so well.

GlutenFree Me Recipe Review: Stuffed Peppers

I started this gluten free food segment, GlutenFree Me, to encourage myself and others that are struggling to GlutenFree their diets. Look for pictures of gluten free meals, reviews of gluten free recipes and products and gluten free tips and tricks. 

ITALIAN STUFFED PEPPERS WITH SPAGHETTI SQUASH

This recipe makes a Mexican stuffed pepper, but I made an easy Italian version that was a hit for the whole family. It was the same kind of feeling when you sit down to the table with a huge plate of lasagna or bowl of spaghetti. For my toddler, I just served the meat mixture over spaghetti squash (short strings and very soft), with no bell pepper. 

What I did different from the recipe: I browned 1 lb. ground beef and an onion, mixed in rice and store bought tomato sauce (I used Kroger brand organic tomato basil), stuffed peppers with mixture and poured extra sauce on the bottom of the dish. I covered each pepper with a slice of cheese about five minutes before the end of bake time and served the peppers over baked, buttered spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti squash has become my favorite substitute for spaghetti noodles. To cook spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise. Remove seeds. Oil, salt and pepper the flesh. Lay flesh side down on a baking sheet (I cover with my sheet with foil), bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes. Other ways to cook spaghetti squash.