Summertime Pasta Salads

Of all the gluten-free pastas I've tried, hands down, Mrs. Leeper's is the best. I buy the organic rice vegetable twists, and actually just started ordering them in bulk on Amazon.com. Some of the other rice pastas I've tried are so temperamental to cook, hard on the inside and mushy on the outside, but not these ones. Although beware that I have tried the Mrs. Leeper's corn pasta, and I'm not a fan. See what you prefer, but I recommend sticking to the rice pasta.

To throw together a pasta salad I mixed together the following:

gluten-free pasta twists
olive oil
cucumber, chopped
tomatoes, chopped
green bell peppers, chopped
black olives, chopped
Parmesan cheese (vegan option is Vegan Grated Topping)
salt

This is another combo option I tried just yesterday:

gluten-free pasta twists

olive oil

spinach, chopped 

tomatoes, chopped

avocado, diced

Romano cheese, crumbled

salt

Maybe throw in hicama, cilantro, parsley, orange, red, & yellow bell peppers, asparagus, grated carrots, chopped kale, or cashews. Have fun making your own salad combinations. 

Cookie Mix on Trial

Many, many months ago I put the Namaste Chocolate Chip Cookie mix on trial. Read what I thought of them here. Since that time I've found an even better tasting gluten-free and dairy-free cookie mix. The Cravings Place: Chocolate Chunk Cookie. Try them. You won't regret it. Just look at these guys (see mouth-watering photo above)! Again, my long-standing recommendation to you is to make all your food from scratch, but it's nice to have an emergency backup just in case.

Why these cookies over the Namaste ones? They are more substantial and fluffy. Are those good descriptors? I'm not sure they are, but the Namaste cookies would not stay together. They were wimpy and thin. I literally crave these Cravings Place cookies, and it's great to have a treat that has only 4 grams of sugar from beets as opposed to 16 grams of refined sugar. Use coconut oil where it calls for dairy-free margarine. One time I added apple sauce to this mix instead of  coconut oil, and they ended up way too sweet and way too dense.

WARNING: Sugar depletes the body of minerals because of its acidity. To regain pH balance, our bodies pull minerals from our bones and teeth to neutralize the acid in our systems. Be wise and eat sugar in moderation.

Cupcake Mix on Trial

I work with children on the Autism Spectrum, and we are careful what we feed them. Many of them are allergic to tree nuts, casein, and gluten, so we often go the vegan route when preparing snacks for them. Recently we made cupcakes for a celebration we had with their families, experimenting with the Namaste Vanilla Cake Mix and Cliff's Best Gulten-Free Brownie Mix. As always, my long-standing advice is to make all your food from scratch, but it's nice to have an emergency backup just in case you need a gluten-free or vegan dessert in short notice.

In the end, the vanilla cupcakes the boys had grabbed ended up in the trash. Very disappointing, but oh well. Now we know. The vanilla cupcakes tasted more like bran muffins while the chocolate cupcakes could've passed as any of their regular white-flour cupcake friends. Even though Cliff's are a brownie mix, their consistency is more like cake, so they worked great as cupcakes.

WARNING: Sugar depletes the body of minerals because of its acidity. To regain pH balance, our bodies pull minerals from our bones and teeth to neutralize the acid in our systems. Be wise and eat sugar in moderation. 

Namaste Cookie Mix

I've tried my share of gluten-free mixes (all have actually been gifts from loved ones!), and to be honest, the majority of them I wouldn't buy nor have bought again. Too heavy. Made in a factory with milk, soy, and tree nuts. Too lumpy and texturey. Too incompatible with my taste buds. But alas I found a cookie mix that I would actually buy again. My guess is that the rest of you gluten-free gurus are leaps and bounds ahead of me, so please share your secrets and favorite foods with me.

Namaste Foods Cookie Mix
Pros:
-Made in a dedicated facility free of gluten, wheat, soy, corn, potato, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, and casein. Whoo-hoo! I'm in.
-Made in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Who doesn't want to support good ole Coeur d'Alene?
-Includes evaporated cane juice as the sugary goodness. (To be honest, this cookie mix ignited my sugar cravings again, which I guess should be a con, but I'm going to call it a pro, because I've actually missed them.)
-Absolutely amazing topped with Purely Decadent Mint Chip frozen dessert, especially when you slightly underbake the cookie!

Cons:
-The final product doesn't hold together very well, so I guess that's the way the gluten-free cookie crumbles. Anyone know of a cookie mix that holds together pretty well? I did buy some xanthum gum, which I may add to my spare cookie mix, which is silently waiting on my pantry shelf.
-It was difficult to slide the spatula under the baked cookie and remove it in one piece. The dough thins out so much while baking that the cookies become large and flat and breakable. (So maybe these two cons are one and the same?)

My long-standing recommendation to you is to make all your food from scratch, but it's nice to have an emergency backup just in case. I say give these a try if you're looking for something sweet and gluten-free when in a time crunch. If your local grocery store doesn't carry Namaste Foods, ask for them by name and you should see them on the store shelves in no time.

Namaste ("The spirit within me honors and respects the spirit within you.")