A part of my childhood memories stem from freshly grown vegetables, picked from my Papa’s garden and made into delicacies with ease.
One of my favorite snacks, even as an adult, are cucumbers. This recipe combines history, nostalgia and good taste for a fresh healthy snack.
4-6 cucumbers sliced
3 cups water
1 cup Apple cider vinegar
1T sugar (optional)
Marinate overnight and strain as you dish.
Kale is one of the more polarizing things in life. Like cold weather, lipstick and exercise, you either love it or hate it.
Being in the healthier phase of my life, sans kool aid and little Debbie cakes, I have turned to all things green. Matcha, green juice, celery, zucchini, avocados and kale seem to be among the foods that I actually prefer to munch on.
I haven’t found a prepackaged kale chip that suits me. They seem to be coated or soggy. In search of something enjoyable, I started experimenting.
The recipe below can vary based upon what you sprinkle on top but I found to be enjoyable.
2 bunches fresh organic kale, washed, destemmed and torn into bite size pieces.
Dry with a paper towel
Place kale on top of wax paper (or parchment) coated with spray oil, then spray kale, with preferred oil. I like avocado or coconut spray.
Sprinkle seasoning of choice on top. My favorites are either Wild Tree rancher steak rub, garlic blend or onion blend.
Sprinkle what makes you enjoy it most. Dry seasonings work best so the cook time remains consistent.
Bake at 350 for ten minutes. The kale will shrink and harden but not burn. You can cool on the cookie sheet when done.
Best when consumed immediately. Otherwise, poke a whole in a ziplock so it can breath. If housed in a sealed storage bag it starts to lose crispness.
Kale on.
My favorite pitch in meal, dinner in a dash, way to feed my daughter without complaint and inexpensive way to feed a large group of people, is chili.
The gluten containing ingredient is typically the mix. That’s why I use the following to make it fast, easy and gluten free:
2lbs fresh local ground chuck
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
2cans crushed tomatoes with onions (red gold is my go to)
1/2 packet Trader Joe’s taco seasoning
Add to the “Magic pot” //ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=gftifshealtht-20&marketplace=amazon®ion=US&placement=B001A62O1G&asins=B001A62O1G&linkId=1b4e4c2fb1dd2fce64c05d79954757e5&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=e629dd&title_color=e633c8&bg_color=faf5fa with 1 cup of water for 10 minutes, release steam and mix with a “mix n chop” device and you have dinner.
Getting my kids to eat something nutritious in the morning is more of a challenge every day. Most breakfast foods are not naturally allergy friendly. We have four of the top eight allergens in our family (and three more that are less common, although just as difficult to work around).
This recipe is super simple and I managed to make it in 25 minutes on a school morning.
6 ripe bananas – peeled and mashed
1T Cinnamon
3C Freedom Foods Gluten Free instant Oatmeal with berries (market district)
1C Raisins
I mashed it all together with my mix and chop for a chunky texture and scooped into my mini muffin tin with a small scoop. Fast, easy and contains the mess.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes and let cool.
The bananas are very hot inside, so don’t do what I did and eat within the first 5 minutes.
The oatmeal in this mix is super refined and cooks quickly. These have a fantastic hearty texture and are secretly healthy for them. I won’t tell if you don’t.
I’m detoxing from sweets after a long winter break but I still needed a little treat with a healthy edge. Besides I had four over ripe bananas that were going to be round filed, so why not bake them up?.
I ordered one of Brooke’s Naturals Banana Bread mixes in my recent Green Bean Indiana bin and altered the directions to accommodate for my sons dairy and egg yolk allergy.
What you need:
4 ripe bananas (black but no mold)
3T Earth Balance Vegan Butter (melted)
3T Coconut oil (melted)
2 egg whites
1t Vanilla
1C walnuts (I used fishers whole)
This is the easy part… peel the bananas, add to melted butter and coconut oil. Add in the egg whites and vanilla and beat with a pampered chef mix n chop. I like chunky bananas so this works perfect and you don’t have to dirty a mixer.
Spray a pampered chef stone wear loaf pan with coconut oil and pour in mix. Bake for 1 hour at 350 for a perfect texture banana nut bread that is gluten, dairy, rice and egg yolk free.
I’m not sure about the “seven” layers so we are just going with layered dip. After all, it can be as many or as few layers as you want it to.
We LOVE Mexican inspired food in our house and I’m pretty sure my kids could live on corn chips. This was one of our New Year’s Eve treats and it was a crowd pleaser.
I used a 9×9 casserole dish for the quantity of ingredients. You can always double and go with a larger dish.
Layered:
1Can Refried beans (I used trader joes)
1 8oz sour cream mixed with 1/2 package trader joes taco mix
4 individual servings Eat Wholly Guacamole (or an 8oz container)
6-8oz Shredded Cheese (more trader joes)
1Can sliced black olives
1/2Can tomatoes with green chilis
1Bunch green onions (chopped)
Chips to garnish
You could add a layer of beef on top of the beans or sub for beans.
You could also leave out the sour cream and mix the taco seasoning into the guacamole for a dairy free option.
This has been a tricky one for me. My kids are really picky when it comes to donuts. Honestly, I don’t know if I can ever win them over with a yeast free donut. I can’t blame them. I’m a light and fluffy kinda donut girl myself.
After three batches, I added and removed a couple things and ended up with something that reminds me more of a pancake but tastes really good. The key to donut holes is 1) have deep enough grease that you can drop balls and they won’t splat before they cook 2) don’t get the oil too hot or they will burn before you can get them all in the grease and 3) have your coating ready to go as soon as you pull them from the grease.
You will need a deep pan, pot or fry baby.
Coconut oil for frying (enough to have 2-3″ of oil in the bottom)
Combine:
1 1/4C Bobs Red Mill GF baking mix
1/4C Brown Sugar
1/4t Nutmeg
1/4t Cinnamon
2T melted Earth Balance
1/3C Coconut milk
1/4C egg whites, whipped
1t Almond extract
1/4t baking powder
Use a small scoop with release for dropping into the oil for approximately one minute. Don’t drop too many at once or you won’t be able to retrieve them before they burn.
Pre-mix coating, option 1:
1/4C sugar
1/2t cinnamon
Pre-mix coating, option 2:
1C powdered sugar
3T Coconut milk
Retrieve from oil and drop in coating. Let cool and enjoy!
Some of my favorite ingredients…
Some nights I start with one ingredient and then build a recipe from there. I honestly don’t spend time in the grocery each week building each recipe by ingredient. I simply don’t have time or patience.
This week I started with a bag of hash brown potatoes… fortunately, the rest just seemed to fall into place.
1 bag gf hash brown potatoes
1 large onion diced
2LB ground chuck (we buy local and split a cow)
1 bag frozen corn
Start with aluminum foil squares and spray with non-stick cooking oil. Add potatoes, onion, raw ground beef crumbled, and frozen corn. Then cover with a tablespoon of oil (your choice), a tablespoon of water and sprinkle with rancher steak rub. Place in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.
When they are taken from the oven, sprinkle with cheese (or daiya, non dairy cheese).
Recently, I watched a video that has been stirring about on social media.
No, not the cats. The other one. The one that Cheerios created to share how to use their product in new and exciting ways.
While their recipe won’t work (as is) in my house, I decided to use it as a base and try something new.
2C Cheerios blended (in my magic bullet)
3T Brown Sugar (added to magic bullet)
5T Earth Balance (vegan butter) melted
Spray pie plate with non-stick spray.
Pour dry mix of cheerios and brown sugar evenly on plate.
Pour melted non-butter on top and press together until mixed and firm
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes
This works with flavored cheerios as well for more flair.
Now for the pie…
I made a pumpkin version with:
1 container Daiya Vegan Cream Cheese
2T Earth Balance (vegan butter) melted
1 can organic pumpkin puree
1T cinnamon
1/2T pumpkin pie spice
1/2C brown sugar
1T Vanilla
1 can Coconut Cream
Blend all and fold in Coconut cream.
Another option (I’m going to try next time) is using SO Delicious, Coconut whipped cream instead of coconut cream.
Top with So Delicious, coconut whipped cream and serve!
I just had a few minutes to prep something for my daughter for breakfast that would be hearty, filling and fast. We were both pleased with this result!
1 piece Udi’s Gluten Free Raisin Bread
Flatten middle with a fork
1 Egg placed in the flattened middle
2T Shredded Cheese sprinkled on top
Spray with oil (of choice)
Bake (on Silpat) at 350 for 10 minutes (or until egg is hard consistency).
Tifs Celiac Travels 