The Nature's Path Organic Foods company recently sent me two packages of their new Crunchy Maple Sunrise and Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise cereals to sample and I am delighted to report that both were excellent. My husband already enjoys their Peanut Butter Panda Puffs that we find in the gluten-free section of our local Hannaford Supermarket, and these two new GF cereal varieties are a welcome addition to the repertoire of breakfast foods he can safely enjoy. Both new cereals are delicately flav... Read Full Story

Despite my husband's funk as he watches his beloved Giants team falls further behind this football season, there must be a hallowed time for him each week to scream at the television set and revel in his sports lust. And there must be accompanying snacks.Before the gluten-free lifestyle entered our household, the snack fuel for these weekly testosterone-laden sessions primarily consisted of beer and pizza. Now that barley malt and wheat crusts are verboten for my hubby, I try to make sure w... Read Full Story

The October cookbook offered up by the Crispy Cook was a vintage copy of Caroline Hightower's "The Pennypincher's Book of Fine Food". Martha my trusty scullery hound helped me to randomly select the winner of this prize (along with random.org), commenter #7, Cee. Congratulations Cee!For this month's cookbook giveaway, I straightened up the ol' cookbook section at Old Saratoga Books, the used and rare bookshop that my husband and I own, and found this cute book: "The ABC of Gourmet Cookery" ... Read Full Story

Francophilia reigns in our house. I took French lessons from junior high through my college years and revel in the sensuous sound of the French language whenever we visit Montreal or hear French Canadian visitors here in upstate New York. Dan and I honeymooned in Quebec City and my two daughters have picked French as their second language. Someday, I hope to cross the pond for an extended visit, but until then, armchair travels with books will have to suffice.Peter Mayle's "French Lessons: ... Read Full Story

Betty Crocker recently sent me a couple of their fruit-flavored snacks to sample, and included a fun "Simple Joys" prize package that included some pick-up sticks, a light-up yo-yo and a frisbee. The fruit-flavored snacks are gluten-free, and were a hit with my two daughters, especially the roll-up "tape". I find them too sweet, but kids like the taste and the lurid colors. As for the toys, the light-up yo-yo was the overall family favorite thing to play with. Martha the dog would have ju... Read Full Story

I Heart Pumpkin. What a great bounty from the old pumpkin patch this year. I planted four hills of Rouge Vif d'Etampes, a French heirloom variety this year, and even after giving away pumpkins to various friends, I still have ten pumpkins adorning my kitchen floor (we have had our killing frost so my babies have to come inside). After last weekend's pumpkin bonanza, where I got 16 cups of pumpkin puree out of a 30 lb. beauty that was almost as big as Cinderella's Coach, I cooked up a big b... Read Full Story

My mom always thoughtfully makes special dinners for our family when we come to visit, even though Dan's gluten-free diet makes her nervous. And the vegetarian part makes her crazy so she and her husband try to entice him into partaking of the meaty dishes on the table and convert him back to the carnivorous realm.We had a sumptuous dinner at my mom's the other day and she made a terrific cheesy cauliflower casserole that we all devoured. Here's her great recipe:Mom's Cheesy Cauliflower Cas... Read Full Story

Just landed this book in the shop and it's a beauty, inside and out. It's a great compendium of history, fishing statistics, nautical folklore and a few tall tales, poems, and the most wonderful antique advertisements from the businessmen of 1880s Gloucester, Massachusetts.The Fishermen's Own Book, Comprising The List of Men and Vessels Lostfrom the Port of Gloucester, Mass., From 1874 to April 1, 1882, and aTable of Losses from 1830, Together with Valuable Statistics of theFishers, Also, No... Read Full Story

Pumpkins and gourds have never been big players in our home gardens. The vines and umbrella leaves are so huge and I've really only thought of them for table use in pumpkin pies, so I never wanted to devote a whole lot of valuable garden acreage to their cultivation. One time we had a volunteer pumpkin vine running out of our compost heap from a decaying roadside stand giant pumpkin purchase, but planting them on purpose was never considered until this spring, when the voluptuous curves of t... Read Full Story

Things are winding down in the Crispy Garden. I'm finally getting around to weeding some of the beds, I'm embarrassed to say, but the weather has been lovely and in between weeding, I'm tucking in various kinds of garlic to harvest next summer.Those fecund Busillus frying pepper plants are still setting fruit, I've got a forest of kale that will keep on chugging through the coming snowdrifts, And this prehistoric patch of Brussels Sprouts awaits our consumption after the first frost, when th... Read Full Story