You knew this was coming, right? Here’s a list of gifts for each night for those living a glutenfree life. All of these are meaningful and enjoyable for our family.  And please add to the list with a comment, we want to hear your favorites too!

1. For the GF Traveler – Plane tickets east and a gift certificate to the British Beer Co. Restaurant and Pub with locations around the New England States.  On our spring break trip out east we ate at two of their locations.  The best gluten free pizza we’ve had anywhere.  Worth the travel.  Along with the great pizza, they have an extensive menu of other gluten free items including burgers, sandwiches and wraps all on gluten free rolls (or tortillas).

2.  For the GF Cookbook Lover -  Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern – Great writing, great pictures and great recipes to help you get through your gluten free days.  You can follow their blog at glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com.  They are in Colorado this week promoting the book and you can meet and schmooze with them and other gluten free-ers at a pot luck in Boulder this weekend. See their blog for details.

3.  For GF Dining Out – check out the many local restaurants that now have a GF menu thanks to companies like Deby’s Gluten Free Bakery and locally-owned The Gluten Free Bistro, which provide GF doughs, pastas and breads so that eating out is much more enjoyable for all of us. The list grows daily, be sure to check the site!

4.  For the GF Pregnant Person – 9 months worth of visits to Boulder Nurse Midwives in Boulder and Achtermann Chiropractic in Louisville – I couldn’t have made it through this pregnancy without the help of everyone at these two offices.  The midwives were amazing from the time I found out I was pregnant to the delivery of our little Charli. Dr. Karen helped with breech baby issues, getting labor going and with a great post-delivery adjustment.

5. For the GF Baker – A box of Chebe mixes for breads and other bread-like items. Simply the best gluten free mixes there are.  We’ve used these for bread sticks, rolls, buns, pizza crusts, cinnamon rolls, bagels and for tortillas, there is none better.  I’d even put them up against fresh on Thursday hand-made tortillas from Trader Joe’s!

Kitchen Aid Mixer

6. For the GF Baker in a Hurry – A Kitchen Aid Mixer – this appliance can’t be beat (no pun intended) when mixing dough for the various homemade breads and baked goods that come out of our kitchen.  We think a good mixer is worth its weight in gold.

7. For the GF Gadget Lover – The Vitamix 5200 blender. We use this for fruit smoothies, soups and other mixes.  The power can’t be beat; it can turn anything to powder or liquid.  Might be the most expensive blender you will ever buy but it is worth every penny.

8.  For your GF Honey: How about a batch of homemade, GF granola? See the recipe below (and you thought it would be glutenfree latkes! don’t worry, we’ll share that recipe before Chanukah).

9.  For the Shamash (helper) Candle:  especially at this time of year, please don’t forget those less fortunate who also have special dietary needs, and consider donations of GF food or funds to the Jewish Family Service Weinberg Food Pantry (the Item of the Month this month is Pasta Sauce).

The Other Granola Recipe

(originally posted on April 20, 2010)

Ingredients:

2 cups certified gluten-free oats
¼ cup flax seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
½ cup raisins
1/3 cup dates
1/3 cup carob chips
½ cup organic natural crunchy peanut butter
½ cup honey
½ teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions:
Combine all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
In a small saucepan, combine the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla.
Once the peanut butter mixture is combined, mix it with the dry ingredients until the oat mixture is moistened.
Press the granola in a shallow pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees.
Cool for at least 20 minutes and store in a sealed container.