Gluten-Free Easy Fall Party Dishes, Sides and Treats

(Updated September 2016)

It was Jack's, little brother, Jason's 1st birthday (going on 4 years old now) this past weekend...  

I've ALWAYS wanted to have a child in October, MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MONTH! And my wish came true. Our sweet 3rd and last child was born on the 11th. We had a beautiful fall day with our family and here's what I made.

1.  Chili Station
For the adults (and kiddos too, but mine aren't big fans), a big slow cooker full of chili! Your family recipe, your Mom's Mom's Grandma's famous recipe! I wish I had one, but I don't...I'm still creating!

Guests can serve up a bowl and top with their favorite gluten-free toppings: 

sour cream, shredded cheese, Fritos, tortilla chips and green onion.

2.  Corndog Mini Muffins These are super easy to make, using Pamela's Cornbread Mix or whatever gluten-free cornbread mix you prefer! Great for kiddos and adults. A finger food that's . Recipe here.

3.  Pumpkin Pizza Cut-Outs
These little pumpkin pizzas are cute and perfect for the kiddos. I used Kinnikinnick pizza crust, it's a little square frozen crust and I was able to make 4 pumpkins per square pizza crust. I make the pizza like normal then let it cool for a couple of minutes then use pumpkin cutter to cut pizzas. BOOM - you gotta yourself some mini pumpkin pizzas!

4.  Veggie Tray
Use your favorite veggies to make your own pumpkin inspired creation. You can do all type of fun creations! Get the kids to help with this one!

5.  Apple Slices and Cheese Cubes
Slice up a variety of colored apples (TIP: soak apples in apple juice then pat dry before serving so they don't turn brown) and serve with a marshmallow dip, maybe sprinkle in a little cinnamon and sugar. I like cheese cubes because they are easy and bite size too.

6.  Fall Cupcakes - I didn't get too fancy, but I did top the cupcakes with some cinnamon/sugar. I used Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix and her Chocolate Cake Mix - they were a HIT as usual!

I think overall, our lil' birthday boy had a wonderful 1st birthday party...I know he at least LOVED the cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Jason, Love Mommy xoxo

What's in Jack's Gluten-Free Backpack? (+ GIVEAWAY!)

After reading all about these wonderful products, you can ENTER TO WIN ALL OF THEM! There will be (1) GRAND PRIZE WINNER and (3) additional winners.

SO, WHAT IS in Jack's Gluten-Free Backpack?

HIS LUNCH!

Check out some of our favorite products for packing lunches EVERYDAY.

1)  EasyLunchboxes

First things FIRST! We need to pack his lunch in something. And that something is EasyLunchboxes. 

We've teamed up with EasyLunchboxes to help make packing lunches EASY! With a roomy cooler bag, easy to open lunch containers and mini (leak proof) dippers, EasyLunchboxes provides everything you need to make sure your kiddo is lunch ready! With assorted colors for the cooler bags and containers, EasyLunchboxes has something for everyone.

This could all be YOURS!

NOW, let's chat about what goes INSIDE Jack's lunch...

2)  Enjoy Life Foods NEW mini Cookies

Enjoy Life Foods has introduced their next BIG thing - MINIS! FREE FROM THE TOP 8 ALLERGENS, these cookies are delicious and can be shared with EVERYONE! And when they say, "MINIS", they mean teeny tiny!  Just a size of quarter, these sweet little cookies make for a great treat in your child's lunch and/or after school snack.

MINIS, MINIS and more MINIS!!

The MINIS come in 6 Flavors - 3 soft baked and 3 crunchy flavors.

These will be available in stores this FALL!  I will keep you posted on dates! But you can order them from Enjoy Life Foods website.

3) Beanfields Bean & Rice Chips

Seriously, how can beans taste so good?! This is coming from someone who has NEVER liked beans! BUT, eating Beanfields Bean and Rice Chips, I can say, I LOVE BEANS!! These chips are SOOO FLAVORFUL and there are great benefits to eating them as well, like protein and fiber, just to name a couple. With 9 Flavors, Beanfields has a flavor for EVERYONE! They make smaller individual bags (1.5oz) that are perfect to put in your child's backpack or lunch!

Who would have thought? Let's make chips from Beans and Rice! Brilliant idea!!

4) Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix + Brownies 

So not necessarily in Jack's lunch, but before and after school, YES PLEASE! How about some delicious gluten-free pancakes in the morning? Or Banana Bread? Coffee Cake? I've made all of these using Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix.

Oh Pamela, how I love thee...let me count the ways...

Then after school, a brownie treat that you can make in the microwave? Pamela's makes individual brownie packets! You can have a brownie in a cup in about a 1 minutes and 20 seconds! This is great to take to a friend's house for a sleepover or having on a Friday after school. Topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup - YUM!

Seriously, an INDIVIDUAL Brownie Packet...Genius

Then there's Pamela's Whenever Bars that you can have WHENEVER! With 6 Flavors, from Oat Chocolate Chip Coconut, Oat Blueberry Lemon to Oat Raisin Walnut Spice and Double Chocolate Peanut Butter - you can have these morning, noon and night. Perfect for your kiddo's snack at school. Or keep in his/her backpack for a "just in case" option.

5)  Canyon Gluten-Free Bakehouse

Are you looking for a super soft, chewy gluten-free bread?? Well, I found it for you! Canyon Gluten-Free Bakehouse is DELICIOUS! It's the perfect sandwich bread! Your kiddo will love the soft, chewy texture.

The way a PB and J SHOULD taste!

Canyon Gluten-Free Bakehouse has a VARIETY of bakery products, from mountain white bread, deli rye, bagels, hamburger buns and more!

Canyon Gluten-Free Bakehouse HAMBURGER BUN!!
I mean...it doesn't get much better than that!

THERE YOU HAVE IT! 

Jack's Gluten-Free Backpack FULL of some AWESOME PRODUCTS that YOU NOW HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN!! 

ENTER BELOW - the more entries, the better your chances!   4 WINNERS TOTAL!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS OVER.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: STEPHANIE W.

ADDITIONAL WINNERS: LORINA R., SARA P., KATIE P.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Grand Prize Winner will receive:

• (1) Cooler Bag, (1) set of lunchbox containers and (1) set of mini dippers from Easylunchboxes.
• Assorted Variety of the NEW Mini Cookies from Enjoy Life Foods.
• (1) Baking and Pancake Mix, Plus (1) NEW Pancake Mix and (2) Individual Brownie Mixes from Pamela's.
• An assortment of gluten-free bread from Canyon Bakehouse. 
• 1 box (24 count) of 1.5 oz bags of Beanfields Bean & Rice Chips.

3 additional Winners will receive:

•  A Sample Prize Pack - Samples of MINI Cookies, a mini Dipper container, Whenever Bar and Brownie Mix

Here are the products that are available on AMAZON! Enjoy Life Foods MINIS are not available yet, except on their website.

*This has been a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. I love these products and want to share them with all of you! Thank you sponsors for being so generous with your contributions to this giveaway.

Gluten-Free School Lunch Tips and Menu Ideas

School will be back in session in just a few weeks. When it comes to packing lunches, I will be packing Jack's lunch every day, 5 days a week, 20 days a month, for 40 weeks out of the year. That's a lot of lunch packin'! But, I don't complain, as it keeps my boy healthy.

But, you gotta get creative, so it doesn't get boring and your child says, "Do I have to eat that again?"

Below I have some tips to offer you and some gluten-free menu ideas.

3 TIPS: 

• Lunch doesn't mean having a "sandwich"- anything nutritious that fills your kiddo up until they get home from school will be just fine.
• Packing a lunch full of iron and protein packed foods, will help provide energy for the afternoon math test.

3 DO(s) FOR PACKING LUNCHES:

• Healthy Foods - Fruit, Cheese, Yogurt, Turkey, Veggies 
• Milk or Water
• Pack a little treat - other kids at school will bring all types of treats and even buy ice cream from the cafeteria. The 2 cookies I pack for Jack, are the size of 1 regular 'gluten' cookie.

3 DON'T(s) FOR PACKING LUNCHES

• Sugar Drinks 
• No items that are too hard to open - they need to focus on eating, not trying to open something for 10 minutes
• Minimal plastic baggies - it really is a waste - find a great plastic container to reuse  

GLUTEN-FREE SCHOOL LUNCH IDEAS

Lunch 1:

(Jack's Favorite lunch)

Hard Boiled egg
Strawberries
Spinach leaves (yes, he eats SPINACH!)
Yogurt
WOW Chocolate Chip Cookie
Milk

Lunch 2:

Turkey and Swiss Cheese Roll-ups
Strawberries
Carrot Sticks

String Cheese

Yogurt

Milk

Lunch 3: 

PB and Jelly sandwich on your favorite GF bread
Lay's Potato Chips
Pear Slices
Carrot Sticks/Spinach Leaves
Yogurt
Glutino's Chocolate Chip Cookie
Milk

Special treat in this one! And extra ketchup packets, save
them for lunch!

Lunch 4:
Perdue Breaded Chicken Tenders  
Fritos
Grapes
Carrot Sticks/Spinach Leaves
Cybele's Cookies
Milk

Lunch 5:

Pizza Squares - Udi's Pizza Crust or Kinnickinnick Pizza Crust - bake, cut in squares, put in thermos to keep warm.

Mandarin Oranges
Carrots/Spinach Leaves

Yogurt

Milk

Here are some products to get you prepared to pack lunches every day! From lunch containers to an individual cupcake holder for parties and more, I got you covered! 

Happy lunch packing! 

Best wishes for a great gluten-free school year!