Gluten free, dairy free waffles

I have been experimenting with my gf/df waffle recipe for a LONG time.  Like a couple of years, but I think I finally got it right!  It makes a perfect belgian waffle.

2 cups brown rice flour
3 cups tapioca flour
2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 4 eggs
3 1/2 cups almond milk
1 cup cooking oil
1 tsp xanthan gum

Yummy!

Oatmeal cinnamon pancakes

I don't have a picture of these delicious pancakes, but I did some experimenting, and came up with this recipe.  Sometimes experimenting pays off and sometimes it REALLY doesn't.  This it did!  I like a nice thick, dense pancake, and the none of the recipes I was using quite added up to that.  So here's our new favorite pancakes, dubbed The Best Ever by the kids.

Gluten filled version:
2 cups flour
2 tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tspsalt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tbs cooking oil
1 cup oats (I used quick)
1 tsp cinnamon

Gluten/dairy free version:
2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups almond milk (or whatever other milk substitute you like)
2 tbs cooking oil

Usually I add xanthan gum to my gf recipes to help them stick together, but I'm pretty sure this one was fine without it.  I honestly don't remember adding it.

Flourless chocolate cake

I made this cake last night for our family dinner.  Oh. my. yumminess.  There is only one little piece left that I'm saving for Josh to have tomorrow after he eats lunch.  I altered the recipe a bit by using dairy free margarine in the cake.  For the salted caramel sauce I used margarine and Silk dairy free creamer.  I also used dark baking chocolate for half of what it called for, and I accidentally used 1 cup of brown sugar in the cake instead of the called for 1/4 cup.  Oops.  It worked though, probably because the chocolate was darker than what was called for.  The called for time for baking was 90 minutes, but I had to leave the house with about 10 minutes of baking left, so I turned off the oven and left it in to finish baking while the oven cooled down.  I turned it off at about 1:30 and came back to the house to get it at 5.  I was SO nervous that it would either be burnt or underdone, but it was actually perfect!  Now I just have to figure out if I do that again or try baking it the full 90 minutes.  I will definitely be making this again!

You put the lime in the coconut..

Tonight after dinner I made pina coladas, virgin, of course.  I looked online at recipes and didn't really find one I liked, so I came up with my own.  I didn't measure everything, so this is kind of an estimate.

I put half of a very ripe pineapple, chopped, into the blender.  Then added the juice from one lime.  After that I added about 3/4 cup of canned coconut milk, add just a bit more if it is too thick.  Then I added about a teaspoon of vanilla, followed by about a half cup of sugar.  I put a bunch of crushed ice on top, and blended until smooth.  I added ice a few times until it was nice and frosty.

The kids loved it, and even bummed some of mine after they finished theirs.  The next time I get another pineapple, I'm making more!

Rice pudding

We've been getting some super great goodies in our Bountiful Baskets lately.  One of my favorites was the vanilla beans in the tropical pack.  I looked through a ton of recipes that called for them, and decided on this rice pudding.  It was easy, and I was looking for a recipe that a lot of people might like, since it was for book club.  In fact it was so good that instead of making creme brulee with the other vanilla bean, I think I'm just going to make more pudding!  Here's the recipe.  Enjoy!  Oh, and if you're ever on Pinterest, check out my Good Eats and Yummy Treats board.  Super yummy recipes on there.  I feel slightly nerdy that I love looking up recipes online so much.

Valentine's Day

About 5 years ago, I got really sick of all of the candy the kids were getting for Valentine's Day, not to mention the fact that every holiday was turning into an event where my kids expected to get things.  We have enough "things" at our house, so I had a little brain storming session with myself.  I decided that we were going to pick a family or inidividual every year who we thought might like a loving surprise, or maybe needed cheering up, and we would do a heart attack for them.  After we would go home and eat heart shaped Jello jigglers.  The only reason for the jigglers is because I love them.  We've now being doing heart attacks for 5 Valentine's days, and the kids love them.  Most of the time we are able to stay anonymous, but this year they found out it was us.  They loved it, and took pictures, and they said their neighbors all loved it too.

This was Natalie's lunch.  Since Josh can't have bread or peanut butter, I warmed him up a corn tortilla, put some of his "butter" on it, and did the heart shaped sugar sprinkle.  It wasn't appetizing looking at all, but he loved it.

 The kids, with a friend, in front of the house we attacked.

Potato leek soup

We got small Yukon Gold potatoes and leeks in our Bountiful Basket this week, so of course, I had to try making some potato leek soup.  I have to say it was pretty simple, and super yummy!  I will definitely be making this again!  Even three out of my five kids loved it.  The other two don't count because they're super picky.  Here's where I got the recipe, but I'll type out what I did because I changed it a bit.

*two large leeks, cut in half lengthwise, then chopped
*a bunch of small potatoes
*dairy free margarine (so Josh could eat it) or oil, whichever you prefer
*salt and pepper
*2 cups water
*some chicken stock
*more water
*I made up these spices the other day (minus all the salt and brewer's yeast) and put in 3 tsp
It's very technical, I know.
I put the leeks and margarine into the pot on low/med heat with the salt and pepper, and let them get soft.  Once they were soft I removed it from the heat while I chopped the potatoes and put them in.  Then I added 2 cups of water, some frozen chicken stock I had, and then topped it off with some more water until it was just about 2 inches below the top of the pot.  Then I added the spices and brought it to a boil.  I lowered the heat and let it simmer for about an hour, until the potatoes were soft.  Then I took about half of it out, and pureed it with my Magic Bullet.  I didn't measure exactly half, I just kept taking more out and pureeing until it looked creamy enough for me.  Then I let it simmer some more until dinner time.  I like to let soup simmer a long time because it just gives the flavors more time to blend together.  And that's it!  Some recipes called for it to all be blended, but I like the chunks. They add some texture.  We ate it with Great Harvest Dakota bread (gluten free for Josh and me), and it was a perfect texture blend with the somewhat creamy soup, and seedy bread.  Yum!  I can't wait to eat more for lunch tomorrow!

Breakfast burritos

A few months back I started getting our fruits and veggies from Bountiful Baskets.  It's a food co-op, and I LOVE it!  It's making me get a lot more creative in my cooking, and I'm making things fresh from scratch, rather than buying premade.  One thing I've been trying to do is double up on the menu planning.  One of my favorite ways to do this is to bake a bunch of potatoes, and have baked potatoes one night for dinner and also have some left over the next night's dinner.  So the next night, I slice up the potatoes, fry them, scramble some eggs with onion and green bell pepper, and put them on a corn tortilla (or flour, for those who eat it) with cheese, and top it with my homemade creamy cilantro lime dressing.  Oh my YUMMY!  It's become one of our favorites, and my little girls and I had it for lunch today. I will NEVER buy frozen hashbrowns or potatoes o'brien again.

My husband was gone this last week, so I was going for fast and easy dinners.  One afternoon I put a couple of chicken breasts in the crockpot with about half a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's (personal favorite for crockpot bbq), and after a few hours on high I shredded it, and we ate it over a bed of pasta with some Costco organic corn.  Yum!  The next night we had the baked potatoes, and then for lunch for DAYS after that I was eating a baked potato covered in melted cheese and topped with the leftover crockpot bbq chicken.  I was actually very sad today when I got the last baked potato out of the fridge, and realized I had finished off the chicken the day before.

One of the best things about these meals is that they are easy to adapt for those of us who eat gluten free, and my son who is also dairy free.

I'm always looking for ways to double up on meal prep, so if you have any good ideas, send them my way!  

Sorry there's no pictures of our yumminess, but it was gone so fast, it would have been a picture of an empty plate!  Here's a picture of my cute kids instead.  :)

Spaghetti, revisited

I made spaghetti for dinner about a week back, and since I had a little more time (and no jarred sauce), I decided to just make my own.  I don't follow a recipe, just add what I like.  Of course, years of making it has helped me know what I do and don't like.  So here's my version of homemade spaghetti sauce.

The first step is browning the meat.  I use 1 pound of 93/7 ground beef.  I also like to use local meat.  It's a little bit more expensive, but the taste is so much better!  While it's browning I add in half of a diced green bell pepper.  You would also add onion while it's browning, but I had mine already softened.  With the lean ground beef, I don't even have to drain it, so one extra step is cut out.  If it's any more fat than 93/7, I do drain it.

 During the summer we always get huge amounts of tomatoes, and this summer I roasted a whole bunch with onions, and froze them in quart size bags.  One quart size bag holds just enough tomatoes and onions to fit in the Magic Bullet, and is also just the right amount for my sauce.  If you don't have any frozen, I think two cans of tomatoes would probably work just fine.

 After I puree the tomatoes and onions in the Magic Bullet I dump it into the pot with the beef.  If it's looking too thick, I'll add a little bit of water.  I do like thick sauces, but hubby likes them a little thinner.  Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of things in stainless steel pans?  SO reflective!

 While that's starting to simmer I add my seasonings.  These three things are what I typically use.  Sea salt, pepper, and italian seasoning, all from Costco.  I add 1-2 tsp of the italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.

About 10 minutes (not any longer) before I'm ready to serve, I add in half of a small yellow squash.  That way it's cooked, but not soggy.  I would add in more, since it's my favorite, but hubby doesn't like it, so I go easy on it.  He did actually eat it this time, but only because there wasn't much in there.  Here's my yummy gluten free meal.  Did I mention I'm eating gf again?  Well, I am.  My stomach was rebelling, and I'm feeling so much better now.  Mmm...corn pasta (our favorite), homemade sauce, and homemade garlic bread, using Udi's sandwich bread.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for....

Oh, man, I've been so neglectful of this poor blog.  But what can I say other than from Thanksgiving on we were jam packed busy!  So, hopefully now that kids are back in school, and life is slowing down a little bit (very little) I can do better about posting here.

Here's another fun time-saver I did for Natalie's birthday party.  I saw this idea on Pinterest, but can't find it for the life of me.  Maybe I didn't pin it?  Anyway, earlier in the day I pulled out the ice cream and pre-scooped it into paper baking cups.  The pink ones had strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and the blue had plain vanilla.  It seriously saved so much time, and I could hand each kid the ice cream flavor of their choice. Doing this again for sure!