Journal of a Busy Mom

living one day at a time

Gluten Free Sleepovers, Parties and Playdates

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My son is going to a sleepover this Friday. Usually, I don’t really tell people he has celiac disease until I have to. A sleepover is a have to. Sleepovers, play-dates, and birthday parties all require the hostess to know about his condition.

I have found that the best way to handle the situation is to bring him his own food. I try to match what the other children are having as best as I can.

Here are some suggestions:

  • If its a pizza party I make him his own individual pizza. I use Udi’s, Kinnikinnick, or Katz.
  • If its hot dogs or hamburgers, I will bring his own bun and check the ingredients of the meat packages myself  before the party. That, of course, means that I will have to ask for those details.
  • Anything else I try my best to match. If I can’t, my default is usually pizza because it is the easiest.
  • For a birthday, I will bring him a cupcake with frosting and sprinkles. I either make cupcakes myself using Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix or I buy pre-made ones from Katz Gluten Free bakery.
  • Goodie bags are usually not so hard. I just go through the bag myself before he can eat anything. I replace the amount I took with ones he can eat.
Other things to consider:
  • I usually prepare his plate for him. I do not leave unless its a sleepover.
  • For sleepovers, I provide dinner and breakfast and a snack that he can share with his friends. A few months back, he went to a sleepover at our church and I made him a pizza and pancakes. I also let the director know what kind of ice cream he could have. If I had felt there was a problem, I would have brought him his own ice cream treat.

Most parents want to know what they can have at their home for him. I try to be very specific. I will tell him specific brands and kinds. I have friends who will always have a gluten free snack at their homes just for him.

Lastly, I have trained Buddy to say “no thank you” to things he is not sure of. He is very good about not eating anything he knows I haven’t pre-approved. Recently, he went over to a friends house and was offered a hot dog with a bun (that’s another story). He knew right away that he could not have it so he said no. I was so proud of him!

 

Freezer Cooking: Chicken Marinades

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Safeway and Raley’s had it for 99 cents.

When chicken goes on sale at your local grocery store, it is a perfect opportunity to create some easy chicken freezer meals to have later. I have been freezer cooking for a while and it definitely saves time and money. If you prefer you can also do breasts or even a whole chicken cut up. If you shop at several grocery stores you might find 99 cent sales often.  I try to always have the ingredients for the marinades on hand just in case, so this week I will only need to buy the chicken and 1-2 things since I have most of it in my pantry!

Here is my shopping list:
chicken legs (1 package)
chicken thighs(1 package)
chicken breasts (if also on sale)
soy sauce (in my case I use the Gluten Free soy sauce by Kikkoman).
lime juice
honey
white wine or apple juice
seasons/pantry items:
garlic salt
brown sugar (I use Splenda brown sugar)
dried ginger (I use ground ginger)
pepper
garlic powder
I do interchange the garlic powder and garlic salt so if you don’t have both you can use one or the other.
Here are the recipes for the actual marinades:
Honey Lime Marinade
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup honey
That makes one marinade but sometimes I have used it for two packages.
Easy Teriyaki Chicken Marinade (found on www.momsbudget.com)
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine or apple juice
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1 chicken cut up or equivalent amounts of chicken pieces
This makes a LOT of marinade so I definitely use this for two packages
Lemon Chicken
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 pound of raw chicken pieces (again your choice)
Ingredients for marinades and chicken
1. Make the marinades into three separate bowls.
2. Put the number of chicken pieces you want into a ziploc FREEZER bag. I put 4 legs, 3 thighs, and one breast into each bag.
3. Pour the marinades into each bag and label each bag with the kind of marinade.
4. Close the bag, but not all the way. Leave a small opening to squeeze out the air. I hug the bag until I get out all the air and then finish zipping it up.
5. One way to freeze the bags s to lay them flat stacked up on each other. I also just roll them up and stack them next to each other in the freezer basket.
Three chicken packets for later
I make these marinades year round. During the hot summer months I grill. During the colder months I use the oven.
Next week I will show you what I do with a package of chicken breasts that will make several easy freezer cooking meals.

 

A New Gluten Free Deals Site

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I am so excited about a new deal finding site I’ve come across. Recently I joined Find Me Gluten Free. They find exclusive gluten free deals. Right now they have a great national deal going on:
For the next 6 days you can get a $20 voucher for $10 to Katz, a gluten free bakery that I have used for cupcakes, cookies, pizza crusts, and bread crumbs. Katz offers free shipping for orders over $50. They also have a rewards program to earn money towards purchases. I had a $10 reward that I was able to use with my order.
 What else do they offer:
Along with offering deals, there is a sister site called Find Gluten Free Restaurants. There is a app for the iPhone and android. I downloaded it on to my iPhone but haven’t had time to play with it.
I am excited to see what both these programs continue to offer.