We love having a couple boxes of Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Pancake and Waffle Mix in our cupboard.  I always prefer to mix it up from scratch but sometimes time is of the essence.  Cherrybrook Kitchen’s mix is gluten, dairy, and egg free whereas many of the other gluten free mixes have dairy and/or egg.  The texture and taste of these pancakes are great. 

I also was given a great tip by one of my best friend Michele.  I was out of bread and English muffins but needed to make sandwiches for my girls.  I thought I had some in the fridge but no.  Next I checked the freezer, I always have extras in the freezer.  There was nothing and I didn’t have time to make more before we needed to leave but my only plan had been PB&J.  No backup plan.  I called Michele to ask if she had any bread I could use (she is also gluten free) but she had run out too.  Then she asked the question that I will share with you today…”Do you have any pancake mix?”  Well I did but wasn’t sure how that helped me any.  She said make some pancakes, which take only a few minutes, add some peanut butter and jelly, and roll.  What a great idea and quick too.  My girls loved there PB&J pancake rolls and I got out of the house on time.  Thanks Michele.

I’m sure most of you know this already but I wanted to add it for those who are new to “free” cooking.  We always keep corn tortillas on hand.  They are a “free” food and can be used to make quick meals.  Both soft and hard are great and so are tortilla chips.  Use them for tacos, fajitas, tostadas, breakfast burritos, and much more.  We love the speed of tacos at our house.  We eat them or some variation of them almost once a week.  I was very excited to learn that my girls could still eat this staple.  We serve them with beans, dairy free sour cream, lettuce, olives, and salsa.  (Check out our “free” taco seasoning recipe.)

While I like to use my homemade dairy free mushroom soup/sauce  for most recipes that call for cream of mushroom soup, I am excited to have found a quick substitute that I can keep in my cupboard.  Imagine’s Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup may not have the thick consistency of your typical Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom but it has all the flavor.  You can adapt the thickness by adding less of your other liquids in a recipe or by adding some rice flour mix.  It can be used for your classic chicken and rice casserole for a quick and easy meal. Enjoy.