You Know the Saying, "A Potato a Day..."

OK, I'll admit, a potato a day will not keep the doctor away.  Possibly, the contrary.  But we all enjoy potatoes, so why not treat our tastebuds to the occasional indulgence of a cheesy, potato casserole.  It's the perfect side dish to many meals, AND this version is gluten-free!

My wife came up with this delectable side dish one evening while preparing dinner.  In her words, "This meal may be kind of 'ho-hum', but these potatoes came out fantastic!"

There's nothing magical about this dish except that it's a comfort food - and who doesn't like comfort food?  (If you don't, you probably won't like most of my posts.)

I would love to give you my wife's recipe, but it has been "lost".  My wife likes to make things up as she cooks, which can be exciting and daring, but sometimes results in her not being able to duplicate the exact recipe again.  Unfortunately, I didn't document her recipe soon after this great meal, and now she can't recall how she made it.  But the recipe itself isn't the point of this post - rather to remind us all that a cheesy, gooey, bubbling potato casserole can easily be made without any gluten. And it's a wonderful comfort food for cold weather days!

To help you out, I borrowed the recipe below from Sandra Lee of the Food Network (only her's included pimientos - I hate pimientos, so I deleted that ingredient).  But if you just aren't that handy in the kitchen or don't want to struggle with all those (5) ingredients, you can find a very good frozen cheesy potato casserole at Costco that is also gluten free. 

Ingredients
1 bag (24-oz) frozen cut russet potatoes (ie- Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash)
1 can (10-oz) condensed cheddar cheese soup (ie- Campbell's)
1 can (5-0z) evaporated milk (ie- Carnation)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese (ie- Sargento)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray medium casserole with cooking spray; set aside.

Microwave potatoes according to package directions for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, stir together cheddar cheese soup with evaporated milk until smooth. Place half of the potatoes in the bottom of prepared casserole. Layer with half each of onion, cheese soup mixture, and shredded cheese. Repeat layers. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes or until bubbling.

(For Sandra's original recipe, complete with pimientos, click HERE.)

Praise God for Gluten-Free Crackers

While finding good tasting foods and meals that are gluten-free has become my mission in life (well, at least it seems to be my obsession), I am reminded at least 3 times a day that there are many limitations when trying to figure out what to eat that won't make me sick.  I'm thankful that it is getting easier as more GF products are finding their way to the store shelves (and not just those "healthy" grocery stores, but regular people stores like Ralph's, Von's, etc).  Also, more restaurants are publishing GF items on their menu.  

But for several years I've struggled with one specific problem - what should I do when my church is serving communion?  The crackers that are offered are chock full of enriched white flour!  I typically find myself trying to select the smallest piece of broken cracker on the communion plate, and then pray that the Lord won't let me get sick from that one little bite.  After all, aren't I taking communion as a form of worship and thankfulness for His sacrifice for me?  I think it's fair to ask Him to prevent the small bite of cracker from making my belly ache.  Though I don't recall ever experiencing noticeable symptoms from eating the communion cracker, the very fact that it's on my mind each Communion Sunday is distracting me from focusing of this sacred ceremony.  

Available at the major grocery stores
like Pavilions) on the Jewish foods aisle.

Well, recently my church announced that our communion elements are now gluten-free!  (Wasn't the grape juice gluten-free all along?)   I have to admit, that GF cracker was darn good.  And I feel guilty even saying so!  Should we really be rating the caliber of the communion cracker while we're eating it?  I hope I wasn't sinning for having such thoughts while I took communion, but I couldn't help it.   The cracker was thin, crispy, lightly salty, and had a pleasant "table cracker" flavor.  

Today we had communion again at church and to my surprise, several of my friends, including my wife, commented after the service that they actually prefer the new GF communion cracker to the old, standard cracker (Saltines?).  Great, I've lured them into a life of sin too.

So after the service I sheepishly asked one of the ushers if he knew what type of cracker was being served at communion, after explaining that I'm very grateful for the church's new gluten-free communion policy.  He took me back to the kitchen and helped me locate an empty box to photograph and told me they purchase them at the local grocery store.  

I didn't mention to him that I was imagining how great they would go with a mild cheddar or gorgonzola and a nice Chardonnay.  Lord, forgive me.