Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free Oatmeal Muffins

I took a base recipe from an old cookbook and updated it to fit our family, thought it would be great Grace to take to school when other students have birthday cupcakes:

GLUTEN-FREE, LACTOSE-FREE OATMEAL MUFFINS
Makes 11-12 muffins.

1 3/4 c. rice flour
1/3 c. gluten-free oats (I prefer Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. Lactose-Free milk
1/4 c. olive oil
1/3 c. gluten-free oats (I prefer Bob's Red Mill brand)

TOPPING:

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine rice flour, gluten-free oats, sugar, baking powder & salt; set aside.

In another bowl, combine egg, lactose-free milk & olive oil.  Add egg mixture to the flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups; filling each 2/3 full (mine usually only fills 11 cups).  In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and 1 tsp. sugar.  Top each muffin batter with 1 tsp of sugar mixture.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Coo on wire rack for at least 5 minutes.

 I plan on freezing several of these for Grace!

Dealing with Birthday Parties & Holidays...ugh!!!

Well I thought I was beginning to get a handle on this whole gluten-free thing, but apparently not.  Grace had been invited to the birthday party of a little girl from her class and told me that she is getting too old and did not want me to stay at the party (I know the mom and this is Kodiak, so I knew it would be fine).  I told Grace if there was cake and ice cream, she could have the ice cream as long as she took her Lactaid.  Well, when we got to the party they had a huge spread (2 tables full) of delicious food including Pancit (a Filipino noodle dish), which Grace could not have along with many items on the table.  She still insisted that I leave her there, so I did.  They did have steamed white rice so I told her she could eat that if she wanted.  Well, needless to say I did leave a little early to check on her and I was entering the party the birthday girl's mom was calling me to tell me Grace didn't feel well.  It actually turned out that she was severely allergic to something at the party and had an asthma attack when she got home.  During the asthma, with tears in her eyes, she said, "I wish I was just a normal kid", it broke my heart.  I responded, "God made you super special!" 

Another thing I have realized is that even when I make food at home that contains gluten I need to be very aware of cross-contamination with the food we give Grace.  Therefore, whatever we do or wherever we go for the upcoming holidays, I need to make sure that I bring her "special snacks" to avoid the cross-contamination.  I have recently subscribed to, and awaiting my first issue, of "Living Without" magazine, which contains gluten-free and dairy-free recipes and advice.  I can't wait!!!

I have decided that even though she is almost 7 years old (January 26th) I need to stay with her at parties and get-togethers in order for her to stay healthy.  I will say though that she has been feeling much better since being gluten-free and her behavior has also been better, which I assume is because she feels better.

NEW RECIPES/ITEMS THAT I LOVE:
Lundberg Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti Noodles
Gluten-Free Mama's Pancake Mix
Red Mill Bob's Gluten Free Oats
Pamela's Bread Mix
(I have been ordering a lot of these items from azurestandard.com)