Cereal Poem

My attempt at the poetry pattern:

Cereal Cereal Cereal

Cereal Cereal Cereal
Breakfast cereal
Crunchy cereal
Toasted, flakey, munchy cereal
Circles, squares and fruit-shape cereal
Those are just a few
Chocolate cereal
Sugary cereal
Honey sweetened frosted cereal
Rot your teeth cereal
Good for you cereal too
Oatmeal cereal
Wheaties cereal
and don't forget whole bran cereal
Last of all
Best of all
I like pancakes for breakfast

by Karen McCurdy

Write a Poem

My son's school class recently published a book of poetry. It is a pretty cool book. They all wrote a poem following the same format. For example:

Sports, Sports, Sports,

Sports, Sports, Sports
Kicking sports
Running sports
Hitting, throwing, catching sports
Fast, summer, jumping, sports
Those are just a few
Winter sports
Sledding sports
Fun, riding, olympic sports
Motor, net, racket sports
Play with my dad sports too!
Inside sports
Outside sports
And don't forget racing sports
Last of all
Best of all
I like water sports!

by Christopher McCurdy

Here is the pattern
1. title repeated in first line
2. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
3. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
4. Three descriptive words then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
5. Three descriptive words then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
6. "Those are just a few"
7. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
8. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
9. Three descriptive words then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
10. Three descriptive words then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
11. Description then the work "too!"
12. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
13. a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
14. "And don't forget" a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"
15. "Last of All"
16. "Best of All"
17. "I like" a descriptive word then noun or your choice here ___________ "sports"

Try it - it is really fun

Pineapple Cherry Ice Cream

I found this Ice Cream Recipe in a Quick Cooking magazine. I am sorry to say that I don't know which one because I had ripped out the page, obviously meaning to try it years ago. It is on page 66 of some month or year. Johanna Gimmeson was the person who submitted it. It is pretty and flavorful and "gluten free anyway."

Pineapple Cherry Ice Cream

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 package (6 ounces) cherry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
4 cups milk
4 cups whipping cream
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
1/3 cup lemon juice

Instructions:
Dissolve sugar and gelatin in boiling water. Refrigerate for one hour. Stir in milk, cream, pineapple, and lemon juice; mix well. Fill ice cream freezer two-thirds full and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Makes 3 quarts.

Comments:
I thought it was good. I put in 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 1/2 and still found it plenty sweet.

Portobello Pork Chops

My daughter brought this recipe home from foods class. It was very good despite the fact that I bought the wrong mushrooms - I guess that means the title doesn't exactly fit. We could call it "Small Brown Mushrooms in the Bin on the Far Right Pork Chops" - either way it is a keeper!

Portobello Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4 Pork Chops
1 1/2 Cups mild salsa (Double check ingredients to make sure it is Gluten Free)
1 Cup chopped Portobello mushrooms
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoon maple syrup (buy the real stuff because it is Gluten Free)

Instructions:
Go to the store yourself and purchase "Portobello Mushrooms". Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spoon salsa into a 3-quart baking dish. Arrange chops on top of salsa. Combine mushrooms, cheese and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Spoon mixture over chops. Bake uncovered, for 25-30 minutes.

Comments:
Now that I actually read the recipe I also bought Medium instead of Mild Salsa. I also did not have the correct size of baking dish. . . Despite all of that this is a very good recipe. It was even better the next day (I always take leftovers for lunch to work) and I was impressed the second time I ate it - which means it must be good.

Spaghetti Sauce

I have been buying Spaghetti sauce for ages. We've tried almost every kind and sometimes find one we like for awhile. Then one day I used an Italian recipe from Italian Cookery by Pauline Barrese (whose cover has long since fallen off and cost $4.95 whenever someone bought it). The recipe is easy and it tastes twice as good as boughten and it is "Gluten Free Anyway"! Mama Mia - what was I thinking!

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio
Spaghetti with Oil and Garlic

Ingredients
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 Onion diced
2 Garlic cloves minced
1 tsp Basil
1 Can (small size) tomato paste
2 Cups water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese as desired

Instructions
Heat oil and cook onions and garlic until golden. Add tomato paste and water. Mix well and bring to a boil. Add Basil, Salt and Pepper. Cook it until it is thick and serve over Gluten Free spaghetti noodles.

Comments:
I like this recipe because so many boughten sauces are full of sugar - which doesn't improve the taste and my body doesn't need. You can do variations with this recipe such as adding canned diced tomatoes. I'm sure fresh Basil would be good as well.

Orange Buttermilk Salad

We tried this "Gluten Free Anyway" Jello salad last Sunday and gave it a thumbs up:


Orange Buttermilk Salad

Ingredients:
1 Can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 (6 ounce) package orange flavored gelatin
2 Cups buttermilk
1 Carton (8 ounces) whipped topping
1 Cup chopped nuts

Instructions:
In a saucepan, combine pineapple and sugar; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When it boils add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Stir in buttermilk. Chill until partially set. Fold in whipped topping and nuts. Pour into a mold and chill overnight.

Comments:
Garnishing this salad with orange slices or mandarin orange pieces would look nice. We didn't have any so we used other fruit. I think this would be good with some mandarin oranges in the salad as well.

I also don't own a jello mold. I'm not sure how I have survived all of these years without one, I lay awake nights wondering about that. . . so I put it in a bowl instead.

That Good Salad (Gluten Free)

I found the original "That Good Salad" recipe years ago in a cooking magazine. It quickly became one of our family favorites, and truthfully one of the reasons that we started to eat "real" lettuce ("real" lettuces are the green varieties of lettuce rather than "fake" lettuce referring to iceberg lettuce). When I could no longer eat wheat - or rather when I decided that I would no longer eat wheat because I was sick of being sick - I forgot about this recipe. Then one day I realized that as long as I left off the croutons this good salad was gluten free.  Good salads do need a little crunch so I add variety to this salad by crumbling cooked gluten free bacon over it or adding Craisins (be sure to buy the name brand of this one or read packaging as there are gluten filled imitations), You can also add chopped nuts.

That Good Gluten Free Salad

Salad Ingredients:

1 bunch romaine or red lettuce - torn in bite sized pieces
1 large or 2 small chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Dressing Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Combine dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid - shake well.
2. Combine salad ingredients
3. Pour desired amount of dressing over salad and toss. The rest of the dressing can be refrigerated and used later.
4. For variety crumble GF cooked bacon, nuts or Craisins in the salad.