I was on an nice vacation last week an left my garden tasks to my teenager. I came back to monsterous zucchini.
I don’t have many recipes that I use zucchini in, but this is one of my kids favorites. Since these happened to be sooo big, I did end up taking the skin off of most of the slices I made. I don’t like to make “boats” with zucchini because I feel like I just destroy it when I cut it into portions to serve. I like to make 1/2 inch slices like you would for acorn squash.
I don’t eat this recipe because of the tomatoes, and I used sausage that has peppers., but I am hoping to make some of my own sausage and try using pumpkin for the sauce. This recipe makes a good amount of stuffing which make great leftovers and can be used over pasta (or zucchini noodles) the next day.
Zucchini (if stuffing try to get medium to large zucchini) – approx. 4
Olive oil
1/2 pound Italian Sausage
1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1 cup Dairy-Free Cheese (I used Aldi’s)
24 ounce jar Pasta Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Coconut Oil spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 375℉.
If making zucchini boats, slice the zucchini lengthwise and take out seeds. I decided to make 1/2 inch rounds and took the skin off and scooped the seeds out.
Brush with olive oil and place on a foil lined cookie sheet.
Place in oven for 15 minutes
Brown sausage in pan.
Add the garlic, breadcrumbs, cheese and pasta sauce to sausage and mix in pan.
Scoop sausage mixture into zucchini
Any extra mixture spoon into a dish sprayed with coconut oil
I have shared before that our safe food when traveling is sushi. I was excited to learn that there was an Aloha Poke in the Ogilvie Station in Chicago.
Their website was clearly marked with the allergen information. I think it is the first time where the menu board had the items with gluten marked.
When ordering there is a sign on the register that says “tell us about any allergies”. I always like seeing signs like this. Thank you for asking!
My bowl of rice, tuna, avocado, cucumbers and onions with sesame oil was fantastic and just what I needed before seeing Cats at the Nederlander Theater.
Train trips to Chicago will be even better now that there is a safe place in the train station to eat.
I stopped at Fresh Thyme while running errands today. It’s never a quick trip since I don’t go very often and they have so many great gluten-free and dairy-free finds.
Today I tried something new. Chicken chips. The name made me laugh, so I checked the ingredients. No nightshades and the maltodextrin is labeled as tapioca! Yeah for clear labeling.
They were good. Just what I needed. Like eating crispy chicken wings. Made by Wilde Brands LLC, I will be looking for these again.
One of my food preparation tips is to make extra chicken whenever you are baking chicken. And then make chicken salad. Every week I try to make a sandwich salad (ham, chicken, tuna). Often I eat these on a bed of garden greens instead of bread. I have so much lettuce growing right now and am on the second sewing of mustard greens in my garden so I have been eating a ton of greens. I have chard that I need to harvest and am looking for ideas of what to do with it since this is the first year I have had a good harvest of chard.
When I saw cherries on sale at my favorite fruit stand I knew this would be this weeks sandwich salad. If you really like citrus add some orange zest to this recipe, but I feel it is overpowering and you loose the cherries. I used two types of chives (regular and garlic) instead of onions, but you could use whatever allium you have on hand.
I often make sandwich salads. The kind of salad you put on a sandwich, tuna salad, ham salad, and chicken salad. It helps to have something prepped to have for lunch or a snack for when days get busy. I like this salad by itself, with some salad greens from the garden, or on a slice of gluten-free bread.
If you are nightshade-free make sure to check your mayonnaise. I make my own mayonnaise using sunflower oil, eggs, and lemon juice. If you are using store bought lok for one without paprika.
When traveling our safe food is Sushi. It can easily accommodate for our Celiac needs and food allergy avoidances. Following are the two restaurants we visited while in the Denver area.
After hiking Dinosaur Trail we headed to the city of Golden. The town is cute and has lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at the new Okinawa. It had some great options and I was excited there was a roll with fruit and greens I could have.
Golden roll from Okinawa Sushi (minus the sauce)
Lots of Avocado Rolls
Our waitress was knowledgable and helpful and we had a wonderful lunch.
The next day after hiking around Red Rock we ate at Motomaki in Lakewood. Motomaki is Sushi Burrito’s and Bowls. It is much like a Chipotle where you choose what goes in your Burrito or Bowl. There menu is clearly marked with the gluten-free ingredients and the employees were happy to answer questions we had about any ingredients. The sushi burrito was good and the bowl looked tasty.
Sushi Burrito from Motomaki
Sushi Bowl from Motomaki
I would return to either of these places to eat. Thank you to both these Sushi restaurants for making our allergy travels safe.
Traveling with Celiac and food allergies always take more planning a preparation.
For the I bought chips, chocolate, and other sweets for the flights. I bought enough safe snacks for the flight to Denver and the return flight. I put half in my checked bag for the return flight.
For this trip I bought my favorite BoBo’s Bars. I like the original and the Apple Pie flavors. I like to carry three in my carry-on for flights. I bought my nightshade eating child Kettle Chips, and for me Heart Keenwah “Herbs de Provence” . For treats I had Sunflower Butter Cups Free 2 B, and one mint cup, some Junior Mints, CoComels, and Pumpkin Seed barkTHINS.
I was pleasantly surprised to find two of our staples at the Denver airport on the way back.
One thing I learned is that some granola type bars (like my beloved BoBo’s) can cause your bag to be searched. During one of my last trips the TSA agent (who knew what BoBo bars were!) had told me to put all my food in a separate bag inside my carry-on and have it go through the x-ray machine separately. When they asked if I had any snack bars I was able to remove the separate bag and send it through on it’s own.
What do you take with you on your flights for snacks? Do you buy anything in the airport? Happy allergy travels!
I try to make a sandwich spread each week. One that I love is ham salad.
Finding a ham that is free from maltodextrin is hard to find. There is one at Aldi that is Gluten-Free and Maltodextrin-Free (also free of dairy, soy and nuts). I like to use it for this sandwich spread.
It is also hard to find mayonnaise that is free from paprika. I usually make my own mayonnaise and hope to get a video up soon of that recipe.
I like to have this with thickly sliced cucumbers that I use to scoop up the ham salad. In the above photo my lunch consisted of ham salad, chopped kale, cucumbers, and mustard greens from my garden.
Organizing wise I am washing and packing away the rest of the winter coats. I had packed away the boots and snow pants a few weeks ago. My kids are older and the amount of “after school’s out” paper deluge is becoming less and less. In fact I only have one packet of papers from one child and a small pile from the other. Such a relief.
We are having a few friends over to celebrate the end of school and are planning a super simple menu. Chips and salsa, fruit, drinks and some yummy baked goods. (Including the awesome little sugar cookies in the above picture!)
In the garden I have lots of seedlings coming up and have planted plenty of tomato plants. I know, “but you can’t eat tomatoes”! But I feel a vegetable garden is not a garden without tomatoes. So this year I have 5 different types, and a few pepper plants too. My favorite part of gardening is letting things bloom and go to seed.
Carpet of seedlings.Carpet of seedlings.
In part of my garden I currently have a blanket of fennel, dill, cilantro, mustard, and borage seedlings. It smells heavenly when you walk through them. I’ll pull most of it up in a few weeks when I plant another round of seeds.
The Nourished Festival is in Chicago this weekend. If you are new to Celiac/Food Allergies it is a great place to get know companies that truly care about allergy friendly foods. If you have been living with Celiac/Food Allergies for awhile it is always good to scope out the new finds and sample some of the new products that will be in stores soon. I shared the event on the Cygnet Organizing facebook page and if you buy tickets ahead of time there is a discount.
Part of being an AllerCoach™ is Auto injector education. Always have at least two auto injectors with you.
Can you spot the auto injector?
I’m not sure I would be brave enough to not have my auto injector secured inside of something, but this made my day to see this woman biking. I usually use a running belt to hold my Auvi-q’s and phone while biking, but may need to get a real bike shirt.
I love this salad and have made it for multiple potlucks and parties. The dressing is what makes the salad. It is creamy and garlicy and wonderful!
I make it both with chickpeas and without. I often cut up the veggies the night before and make the dressing right before the event. Since the dressing is avocado base it does turn a little gray after 24 hours. Leftovers still taste good!
Cygnet Organizing 