Tomato Basil Quinoa

I know it has been a while since I have made a post.  #1 - our lives were crazy so I took a break from life, & #2 - I have made a lot of simple summer recipes without a recipe and need to keep better track of what I use!  I love summer for that very reason.  This is the time of year we get to eat a lot of yummy salads and pastas with garden fresh vegies and herbs.  When I think of summer, I think of quinoa.  Quinoa with fresh vegetables, herbs, light, healthy, filling, and yummy.  Even my husband likes my quinoa salads.  I was trying to use up my garden vegies and this combo came to me.  I knew it would be good, like a twist on a caprese salad, or a tomato, cucumber salad, or something like that.  I tried to measure the best I could, but please adjust according to your taste buds.  Make this soon while everything is so fresh.   Hope you like it!  So simple, so fresh, so good!

Tomato Basil Quinoa
2 c. prepared quinoa(cooked in chicken/vegie broth)
I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker according to the white rice setting.  It always comes out perfect!
2 diced tomatoes
1 diced cucumber
2 T. olive oil
1/4c. + crumbled feta cheese(this takes it up a notch)
2-4 T. freshly chopped basil
salt and pepper, to taste

Prepare the quinoa according to whatever method you prefer.  In a medium bowl, place in tomatoes and cucumbers and drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Add the feta cheese and then add the warm quinoa(it tastes great when the warm quinoa slightly melts the cheese, infusing everything with flavor).  Sprinkle with fresh basil and toss.  Add any more salt, pepper, or whatever ingredients you feel like.   

This is linked to Linda's Gluten free Wednesdays and Tessa's Allergy Free Wednesdays.  Check out all the great recipes, they are great resources!

Gluten Free Lemon Crinkle Cookies(Dairy Free Too!)

Sorry about the picture, I couldn't figure out how to turn it!

My daughter loves lemon, and one day as I was looking at a great food blog, I spotted this recipe and knew I had to try them.  I revamped the recipe to be gluten and dairy free and then put my daughter to work.  They were a hit.  Thanks to Mel's Kitchen Cafe for the great recipe.


Lemon Crinkle Cookies
6 T. shortening(Organic Spectrum, it actually cooks better than the other stuff, plus it is healthier)
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1-2 t. freshly grated lemon zest
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1/8 t. baking soda
1 t. xanthan gum
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1 T. coconut flour
6 T. millet flour
1/2 c. powdered sugar
In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice and mix well.  In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients(except powdered sugar) and add to mixture.  Mix until just combined.  Place powdered sugar in shallow bowl.  Roll balls of dough in powdered sugar and place on baking sheets(sprayed or silpat lined).  Bake at 350 for 9-11 min.  The cookies will not be browned but will have lost a bit of their shininess, don't overbake.  Cool and enjoy.  I usually like a warm cookie, but I think these ones might be better cool, try them both ways.  Makes 18.


These are linked to Linda's Gluten Free Wednesdays and Laura's Allergy Free Wednesdays!

Gluten Free Ambrosia Sunshine Cake with Strawberries

Hurry and go make this cake before your strawberries are gone, you won't be dissappointed.  This is one of our favorite versions of strawberry shortcake.  I grew up eating this cake, and of course decided to make it gluten free.  I was a little worried to make it dairy free because the original recipe has a lot of milk and butter, which gives it a great taste.  I made my substitutions and it came out great.  The cake is light and has a great texture.  You can use it however you like, but when we add our strawberries and cream(some of us use cream, others use powdered sugar), I usually slice each piece in 1/2 so there is less cake and more berries!  So the original cake is twice as thick as you are seeing.  Hope you like it!

Ambrosia Sunshine Cake
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 T. lite coconut milk + enough water to =1 cup (or 1c. milk)
½ c. butter(Earthbalance works great)
2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 t. xanthan gum
2 T. coconut flour
½ c. potato starch
½ c. millet flour
¾ c. sorghum flour
Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  In a separate bowl heat butter and milk mixture until boiling.  Meanwhile, combine remaining dry ingredients, and then add to egg mixture.  Mix in butter and milk and beat well.  Pour into greased 9x13 pan.  Bake 350 for 30 min.


Check out all the strawberry recipes at Linda's Gluten Free Wednesdays and the other allergy friendly recipes at Tessa's allergy free Wednesdays.

Kitchari (quinoa/lentil/vegie stuff)

I know this doesn't look pretty, but it always makes me feel pretty inside.  I'm sure you've had those weeks/days/months with way too many parties and events and you eat just like a pig, and not a healthy pig.  You know when your body is just craving something healthy.  When you have a moment like that, this is the meal for you!  Or just when you need some feel good, immune boosting, detoxifying, quick, food.  A friend sent me a few recipes and I took what I wanted from each one.  I had never heard of kitchari before, but after looking into it, it really is a comfort and healing food.  This has really become one of our staples.  Don't let the long list scare you, it really is a quick meal to throw together.  If you are missing an ingredient, just leave it out.   Hope you like it!


Kitchari
5 c. chicken broth(I always use water and add my favorite Better than Bouillon organic chicken stuff)
3/4 c. quinoa
3/4 c. lentils
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 c. onion, chopped
1 c. chopped carrots
1 c. frozen spinach
1 t. curry powder
1 t. cumin
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 t. soy sauce, or liquid aminos
2 t. sesame oil
1 T. lime juice
1 T. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 c. fresh cilantro, minced
salt & pepper to taste
In a large pot, add:  broth, quinoa and lentils.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.  Add in garlic, onions, and carrots.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Add in spinach and cook for another 5 min.  Add remaining ingredients and cook another 5 minutes, adding more liquid if necessary(it is more like stew than soup).  Serve warm and enjoy.  When I serve this with my teff muffins, I am really feeling healthy & ethnic!  Feel free to add the veggies or spices you like.  Like all my recipes this is just a framework to take off from.


I am linking this to Linda's Gluten-free Wednesdays and Tessa's Allergy-free Wednesdays.  Thanks for your recipe round ups!

Gluten Free Snickers Cookies (healthy style)

We love cookies, we love peanut butter, and we love snickers, therefore, we love these cookies!  It seems you can get away with the healthier flours when cooking with peanut butter, so I threw out the starch and added in some healthy grains and seeds.  I usually make the cookie batter dairy free, and make a few plain peanut butter cookies for those who can't have dairy, but for those of us who can handle it, I wrap that yummy stuff around the mini snickers.

Snickers Cookies

1/4 c. butter(Earth Balance works great for those additional allergy needs)

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

2 T. coconut flour

1 T. chia meal(I grind the seeds in a coffee grinder)

1/2 c. sorghum flour

1/2 c. millet flour

2 T. teff flour

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. xanthan gum

1 bag mini snickers

Cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.  In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet stuff and mix until combined.  Preheat your oven to 375, unwrap your snickers(snitch one or two), and the fun begins.  Grab a small ball of dough and wrap it around the snickers and place it on a Silpat lined cookie sheet, or whatever works for you.  Bake for 9 min.  They will still look like balls when you pull them out of the oven, so take the back of something flat and give them a slight squish.  Enjoy!

*If you don't have chia or coconut flour, they don't substitute equally.  Replace them with twice as much flour.  Ie. 1 T. chia meal = 2 T. potato starch 

*These are part of Linda's Gluten Free Wednesdays & Tessa's Allergy Free Wednesdays.  Thanks for all the great recipes!

Naturally GF Chicken Taquitos(Baked)

 We moved, and thus the reason for not posting for so long.  I still don't have my computer up and running, and our house is chaos!  I should be back to real life soon so come back soon to visit!

Taquitos were one of the foods I was happy to buy at the grocery store.  A couple years ago we were in California and i picked up some homemade taquitos at Trader Joes.  They were so much better than the frozen ones and I wondered why I had never made them before!  We love taquitos and I think they are one of the better Mexican foods without dairy.  Of course you can add some cheese or some creaminess if you desire, but for the rest of us, they are naturally dairy, soy and gluten free.  In the beginning I fried mine, but then saw a recipe from "Our Best Bites," for a great baked version.  Either way you can't go wrong, but the baked version is healthier and easier.

Any meat will do, I like to cook mine in the crockpot with a bunch of spices, but leftover roast or pork would also work.   The steps are so simple:   put shredded meat in a tortilla, roll it up and bake/fry it.   Here is a recipe I use, but this is just a framework, get creative.  We like them dipped in salsa, cafe rio house dressing, or a mixture of the two.

Chicken

Place 4 chicken breasts in a crock pot, cover with spice mixture, and cook on low until it shreds. Add a small amount of water during cooking if needed.

2 t. cumin

1 t. pepper

2 t. salt

2 t. onion powder

2 t. garlic powder

4 t. chili powder

2 T. lime juice

3 T. olive oil 

24 corn tortillas

cooking spray/oil

sea salt

1.  Wrap 4 tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds so they are soft and pliable.  If they break, spray with cooking spray on both sides before heating.

2.  Place  2-3 T. of shredded meat on the lower third of each tortilla and roll tightly, secure with toothpick.

Repeat process with remaining tortillas.

3.  Place on a cookie sheet with a space between each one.  Spray with cooking spray, or use a mister or pastry brush and oil, and then sprinkle with salt.

4.  Bake 15-20 min. in 425 oven, until edges are golden brown.

5.  Serve hot with your favorite salsa, dressing, or sauce of choice.

*I am linking this to Linda's Gluten-Free Wednesdays, and  Tessa's Allergy Free Wednesdays.

Gluten Free Hawaiian Chicken

Sorry it has been a while!  We went on a quick get a way for Spring Break, and now I am in the process of moving in the next couple weeks.  Life is a little chaotic around here.  Nevertheless, we still need to eat!  This is a staple at our house.  I usually cook a bunch of chicken breasts in the crockpot, then bag and freeze them to use in meals like this one.  You could use a rotisserie chicken or whatever works for you!

Hawaiian Chicken

6 T. gf soy sauce

¾ c. brown sugar(feel free to use less, it is pretty sweet)

2 T. honey

2 ¼ c. water

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 in. piece of fresh ginger

1 red pepper, cut into slices(I often use 2)

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

2-3 cups cooked chicken, in large chunks

1 T. potato/corn starch

1 T. cold water

Combine first 6 ingredients and bring to a boil in a large pan.  Add chicken and reduce to simmer.  Simmer 20 min.  Add red pepper and pineapple and simmer 10 min.  In a small bowl combine remaining starch and water.  Stir and add to mixture.  Boil for 1-2 min. until slightly thickened.  Remove piece of ginger and serve over rice.

This is linked to Linda's Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Tessa's Allergy Free Wednesdays, which both have a ton of great recipes. You definitely need to check them out!