Homemade Laundry Detergent and Other Money Saving Strategies

So, we've been in our new house for almost 4 months. Our expenses have gone up while DH's net income has not. I'm looking for ways to trim the budget, which is really hard to do in the face of our food sensitivities and allergies. You'd think that eliminating certain foods from our diet would be easier on our budget, but it's not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Eliminating gluten, casein, soy,

Crock Pot Chicken with Wild Rice

I love my crock pot. It sees a fair bit of use even in the summertime when days get filled with pools, parks and play dates (or those days where I'm too lazy to do much of anything). Turkey tenderloins work just as well as chicken. One of these I might try rabbit, too. The meat is best brined for a couple of hours before placing in the crock pot, if you can manage it.* 1 1/2 cups wild rice1

GFCF Coleslaw

My mom's coleslaw is really good. She does not have an official recipe, she makes it by memory every time. While she was visiting we went over the basics and I wrote them down. Since the coconut milk in my homemade vegan mayo makes it slightly sweeter than traditional mayo, I increased the vinegar in the coleslaw and cut back on the sugar slightly. It came quite close to the coleslaw that I

GFCF Eggplant "Lasagna"

Eggplant has been on sale recently. Inspired by the success of Spaghetti Squash Lasagna, I bought an eggplant and decided to make lasagna out of it, too. Predictably, the girls won't go near this, but DH and a friend thought it was great!1 medium eggplant, washedsalt3 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar4 tbsp. olive oilprepared spaghetti sauce, such as BertolliDaiya shredded mozzarellapine nutsItalian

GFCF Cake Brownies (Egg Free)

I've been dying to make brownies for a long time but have been hesitant to make them egg free, afraid they'd turn out gummy and heavy. I really need to get over that fear, because my recent gluten free vegan baking is turning out really well. It's true that there is a learning curve but once you get the hang of it and can anticipate how a baked good will turn out based on experience, knowledge

GFCF Skillet Cake

I ran across this recipe for Skillet Cake in the latest Penzey's catalog and was intrigued. I love using my cast iron skillet for just about everything, but cake? I had to try it. It converted to being gluten free easily, it's already egg free, and it's delicious.The kids were so excited to have cake in a nifty skillet that they were falling over themselves in excitement. "Mommy, is that cake

Black Bean Dip

Anna has been on her elimination diet for over two weeks now. One of the things she cannot eat is sesame seeds. This is a problem since hummus has been one of the staples of her diet. Lately I've been making White Bean Dip with Sage, and for variety I made this Black Bean Dip last night (original recipe here, with minor changes). I'm happy to say that Anna really likes this dip and it has now