GF recipes

Here are a couple of GF (and vegetarian) recipes I've tried recently and thought you guys might be interested! Black Bean and Corn Stuffed Potatoes Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Tried this recipe today and it turned out great! Obviously, for your GF folk you'd go for more of a no-wheat rather than whole-wheat approach, but it is a recipe that has a lot less fat and sugar than traditional zucchini bread recipes. I did half semi sweet chocolate chips and half white chocolate chips since I had them. YUM!

(image via skinnytaste)

Creamy Quinoa Primavera

Remember this blog? Oh yeah...

I made THIS for a potluck on Saturday. I LOVED it. For the veggies I used carrots, zucchini, and red bell pepper. YUM (image via recipe site) Edit: I just realized that I originally pinned this via Amy! Have you ever tried this, Amy?

Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze

(photo via brown eyed baker)

I made THESE cookies that I had pinned a few days ago. I just picked a few oranges from our yard and had all the other ingredients on hand. They turned out delicious!

Spanish Rice

Last night I made the BEAN FLAUTAS that Amy had posted about a while back. They were so great! I will definitely be making them again! They were delish dipped in guacamole.

I also made Spanish rice to go with them. I finally got my the recipe my grandma Lunt used to make (that my mom uses). It is so yummy!

Here it is:

4 slices bacon, cooked, cooled, crumbled (reserve the grease)
1/4 C onion, chopped
1/2 C bell pepper, chopped
10 oz. can tomato soup + can full of water
3/4 C rice (uncooked)
4 whole cloves (optional, but so good!)

Add onion and pepper to grease on medium heat and let brown. Add tomato soup and water. Add rice and cloves. Simmer until it starts to thicken, stirring often. Cover and cook on medium low until moisture is absorbed. All together, time is about 1 hour. Remove cloves, and add bacon before serving.

*This recipe is very yummy prepared as described, but since I have issues with meat these days, I omitted the bacon and just cooked the onion and peppers in a little olive oil. I also used brown rice, which takes more time to soften.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

I made THESE last night for dinner with the strawberry topping. YUM! Riley ate them like they were going out of style.

Vegetarian Taco Salad

I made THIS last night for dinner and really liked it. I added some quinoa in with my brown rice for extra protein.

Bean Enchiladas- crock pot style

I made these yesterday and they turned out yummy! They have a little kick to them, which probably depends on how hot your salsa is (I used medium). I love that they're done in the crock pot, which means I can still use them in my summer cooking repertoire. I used corn tortillas and cooked them about 2 and a half hours, but the tortillas did not hold their shape like the recipe suggested they would. So, it turned out more like a casserole, but who cares? I enjoyed mine topped with sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and shredded lettuce.

More roasting

Okay, I just made this ROASTED CAULIFLOWER for an afternoon snack for myself. Believe me, it is not normal for me to fire up the oven for a snack. But it was worth it! And I think I could eat the entire batch in one sitting! The recipe is pretty similar to the roasted broccoli recipe I posted about.

Roasted Broccoli

I saw THIS recipe on pinterest and tried it tonight. It was yummy! I served it with whole wheat pasta covered in marinara sauce and it was a great combo! (I left out the things she noted that she left out.)

Bean Enchilada Casserole

Here is a vegetarian, gluten-free recipe for enchiladas that I tried last night. They were super tasty!

*A couple notes about the recipe...
-I didn't use as much cheese as it called for. I just used enough to cover each layer.
-I used Trader Joe's enchilada sauce. Winner!

Holiday Cheer

Here is a family recipe for no-egg eggnog. I think your family isn't really big on eggnog, but mine definitely is. Here's a recipe for eggnog with no raw eggs, so you don't have to be creeped out. I love this stuff and Ryan likes it, too.

1 pkg. (3.5 oz) French vanilla instant pudding
5 cups milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg and cinnamon (for topping each serving)

1. In a blender, combine all ingredients except whipped cream and spices, or beat by hand for two minutes.

2. Blend the mixture into the whipped cream and chill thoroughly.

3. Shake the eggnog just before serving it. Sprinkle the top of each glass with nutmeg and cinnamon if desired.

Also, I made THIS recipe and it will be coming out of the oven in a few minutes. I'm taking some to our book club Christmas party tonight. I don't see how it could be anything but delicious.

Veggie Chili

I have been wanting to whip up a veggie chili for a while now and I finally forgot about the weather outdoors (high in the 90s yesterday, yes October 19th) and hunkered down to make it. We plan to whip this up for October's family dinner later this month so we tried out our own version of veggie chili. I might make a couple small adjustments for that version... we shall see. Siblings, don't put your nose up yet. I think you might actually enjoy this stuff. If not, we'll have tortilla chips on hand! ;o) 

I got the idea for using zucchini from a pin I recently put up on Pinterest for Spicy Vegan Chili by acozykitchen.com. I guess this is vegan chili as well if you don't use the cheese topping! Credit for the idea to use RO*TEL to spice things up goes to another pin for Chicken Tortilla Soup by shopchopnserve.blogspot.com.

Ingredients:

1-2 T vegetable oil

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise, then sliced thin

1/2 white onion, rough chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 can original RO*TEL (tomatoes with green chilies)

1 can petite diced peeled tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans

a few shakes of cumin

a few shakes of chili powder

dash or two of salt

dash or two of freshly ground pepper 

Warm vegetable oil over medium heat in large pan or medium pot. Throw in garlic and onion to start things off. After the air is potent and you are getting hungry, add in the green pepper and zucchini. After that cooks and slightly browns for a couple minutes, add in the canned goods (tomatoes and beans) and the spices. Let simmer on medium low heat for approximately 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. From first chop to last bite it was a total of one hour! We were able to enjoy this on a busy night. 

Top with: cheese, diced onion, cilantro, sour cream... the options are endless. We stuck with just some shredded medium cheddar cheese and served with tortilla chips.

Makes approximately 4-6 servings depending on the level of starvation.

I really liked the spice that the RO*TEL added to the dish. This was a winner in my book!

More pumpkin cookies

I made these cookies today to take to Jamie as a birthday treat at school. They're not low fat, but they sure are tasty. I added regular choc chips for good measure.

Low Fat Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made THIS recipe and it turned out great! I only used unbleached white flour, though. AND I have made the regular low fat choc chip recipe that this was adapted from and they didn't turn out that well.

Burrito Bowls

Here's an easy dinner idea that is GF. I even got the chips she recommends from Target and they are delicious (and healthy)!

Burrito Bowls

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filled Crepes

October Conference weekend makes me want to make all things pumpkin! Yesterday I made pumpkin waffles for breakfast. This morning was pumpkin cream cheese filled crepes. I made my usual crepe recipe, but used the cream cheese recipe found HERE. Topped with whipped cream, it was like having pumpkin pie for breakfast!

7 layer tostadas

Here's an easy "recipe" I made for dinner tonight. I was the only one with 7 layers on my tostada, but that's the beauty of a customize-able recipe for dinner!

7 layer tostadas

(This recipe calls for whole wheat tortillas as the base, but we just used regular tostada shells, which makes it gluten-free for those who need it to be!)

Zucchini Ziti

Last night I made THIS for dinner. It turned out yummy! I was glad the noodles actually cooked since you put them in the crockpot uncooked.

Healthy Chocolate Muffins

So, after watching Forks Over Knives I am trying to transition to eating (much) less animal products. I've started following a food blog called the Happy Herbivore. I found this recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins there. They turned out so yummy!

Notes:
-I didn't have whole wheat pastry flour, so I ground some wheat and used about 3/4 C of that flour and 1/2 C unbleached white flour.
-I actually bought some "raw" sugar and used about 3/4 C.
-I didn't have non-dairy milk, so I just used regular skim milk.
-Since these were going to be dessert for my family after Sunday dinner and I didn't want them to be a total downer, I added a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips.