spinach salad with blueberries and artichoke hearts

This salad is so simple, but PACKED with vitamins, and has 2 super foods in its simple list of ingredients... This is a 5 minute meal, or part of a meal! So try it and you will love it! Add shaved Parmesan and it will even up the wow factor.

Ingredients

1 bag or organic spinach about 4 cups
1-2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 sliced thin red onion
1 can or jar of artichoke hearts chopped
Your favorite vinaigrette dressing (We used Garlic Expressions from Central Market in Mill Creek)

Combine in a salad bowl and toss... Voila! Yummy!

I also want to say I am so sorry I have not added any new entries in so long. Even now as I try I am needed 5 times and a wiggly little almost three year old crawls up on my lap and asks "Is that our dinner?", while pointing at the picture... So I am going to have a much lighter schedule in a few months. I still cook, I just don't find the time to use the computer! I'll work on adding more soon! XOXO

Chocolate covered almonds, raisons or whatever gluten and dairy free

It was family night at our house, and candy just doesn't do it for me these days... But chocolate covered nuts, and dried fruit yes please! So I decided that for the movie we were watching I wanted to make something we could all enjoy, and we did! It is SOOO easy, I mean like minutes and you are able to enjoy these, though making them is equally enjoyable for those who like to lick the bowl!

Here's how...

1 1/2 cup of dairy free chocolate chips or whichever you prefer
1 tab earth balance butter
Salted roasted almonds are my fav

Put chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with the tablespoon of butter, microwave 30 seconds, take out stir, and repeat until the mixture has no lumps and chocolate is all the way melted. Add your favorite nut (salted almonds are my favorite), fruit or candy and stir until everything is coated all the way. Then pour out over a tray lined with wax paper and try to separate each piece. Refrigerate for 10 or so minutes and enjoy!!! Such a TREAT!!!

Chicken Nuggets the Chick-fil-a way and gluten and dairy free

Even if I could eat gluten and dairy I could not go to my favorite fast food restaurant and get my beloved Chick-fil-a nuggets since they do not have one here in Washington state, boo! So as I was thinking of all my favorite things to eat and wanting these, not to mention having these two young boys I knew if I could make them even a little bit like those yummy chicken nuggets, they would love them too! So I found a recipe a former employee published on the web and subbed out the ingredients and what I came up with was SO SO SO GOOD, and we ate them all! Needless to say these will be a SPECIAL treat meal, not on the regular rotation, much to my husbands dislike we are not getting a fry daddy... But hey, you gotta try these and you won't be sorry! They weren't ridiculous to make, took about 30-45 minutes tops.

So here's the SECRET recipe...

3 cups peanut oil
1 egg
1 cup almond milk
1 cup gluten free flour I use this recipe found here.. http://www.5loavesofbread.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
2-1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons sea salt
8- 10 chicken tenders cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

Chop the chicken tenders to the 1 1/2 inch pieces, then dip them first into the egg and almond milk, and then into the flour, sugar and and seasoning mixture. When the oil reaches desired temp, I used med-high setting and waited about 7 minutes to get the desired temp. Then place the chicken pieces into the oil carefully. And let them brown for a few minutes on each side turning and browning the other side at least once. Once they are golden brown and cooked through place them on a tray with paper towels on top to drain some of the excess oil. Serve with your favorite dipping sauces...  DELISH, I promise!!!

Why are so many people going gluten free

This article came up on another blog and I read it, and was so glad I did since it was not only informative, but alarming and has since made me even more careful about what I chose to feed my children who have had issues eating gluten and dairy at different points. I think it is one of those articles that you should just read for yourself... Why are we re-engineering our food? Wasn't it good in its natural state?? I think so.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.html

Then last night I decided to read an article from a food blog that backs this article up and was just as informative and really elaborated on the issue of genetically modified food. As well as food like gluten and why they are becoming indigestible to so many.

http://maninisglutenfreeblog.com/2011/07/07/gmo-genetically-modified-food-health-risks/

I think regardless of whether we eat gluten free this article and many others would back up the idea that more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meats and other sources of protein found in beans and certain whole grains are the best way to eat. It's the holidays though so you have to enjoy then a little, right?? My next posting will be a little treat.

Merry Christmas!!!

Jam Thumbprint Cookies gluten and dairy free

These cookies are kind of amazing... In their pre-reconstructed state they were amazing... But they had dairy and gluten so they needed a few changes. Ina Gartner knows what she's doing so I really didn't want to reinvent the wheel, I adjusted them so they are OK for those of us who avoid gluten and or dairy... And the are just as good.

My husband who doesn't even like coconut said you would have to be a Communist not to like these. HA! So one of my best friends and I worked together to make 3 batches of these little cuties and they are all gone, uh oh! Can anyone say Gym!??

Ingredients.

3 sticks Earth Balance buttery sticks at room temperature (or of course butter works too) 

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups gluten free flour recipe found on this blog entry http://www.5loavesofbread.blogspot.com/2011/09/almond-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

1/2 cup coconut flour which is gluten free 

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Raspberry and/or apricot jam (I LOVE the apricot best)

Directions.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined, and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale, they should each weigh 1-ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger, or a small rounded baby spoon works too. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation, I used the same small baby spoon for topping them with jam. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve. AMAZING!

Merry Christmas!

Chocolate sheet cake, gluten and dairy free

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, the holidays are getting the best of my time, but I do have a stash of recipes to share... Here is the first of many. Not just any chocolate cake...

This is one of those deserts that seriously you can eat way more than your share. Easily. So consider that your fair warning. You should make this the next time you are in charge of desert for a large group, and hope to yourself that there are leftovers! It was my old fav before going dairy and gluten free so I will tell you the original butter, butter milk, and flour ingredients in case you want to make it with dairy and gluten as well.

The cake.
2 cups of gluten free flour or regular flour if you aren't gluten free. The recipe I use is found on my blog under the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, or King Arthur makes a gluten free flour that tastes good
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or use real butter if you aren't dairy free
1 cup water
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup almond milk, or if you aren't dairy free use butter milk

Sift the flour, add the sugar and salt. Put butter, water and cocoa in sauce pot on med high heat and bring to a boil. Pour over the flour and sugar mixture. In another mixing bowl beat eggs, soda, milk and vanilla and add to the above mixture, and mix.
Pour into a greased jellyroll pan, which is basically a cookie sheet pan with slightly higher edges, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

The frosting.
1 stick Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, or regular butter if you aren't dairy free
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons almond milk, or (3 buttermilk and 3 reg milk) if you aren't dairy free
1 box powdered sugar minus 1-2 inches left in the box
2-3 drops of vanilla
1 tsp salt

This frosting should pour over the cake and then set, so the consistency is thinner than normal frosting's. Heat butter in pot with cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil while stirring. Pour mixture over the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until no lumps in it. Pour frosting over the cake while still hot from oven and let it cool with frosting on it. It is great cold from the fridge the next day or several days later, It freezes well too.
Enjoy!

Tuscan potato with sausage and bacon soup, gluten and dairy free

This soup is reminiscent of an Italian soup I've had at popular restaurants, but better! I love all the ingredients in this soup, so of course it would be tasty, but I was even surprised at how tasty it ended up.
It is also a 30-45 minute meal and most of the ingredients are likely in your pantry. You can add in other vegetables if you wanted, my husband wanted the bacon to be doubled instead, haha. I am sorry I don't have more pictures, it was eaten way to fast to snap some. We have made it twice and my 2 year old LOVES it, so that is a bonus. This soup serves 6-8, but is a great one to double. It is so delish!!!

Ingredients:
1 lb of nitrate free chicken breakfast sausage, I used Isernio's chicken breakfast sausage, you could even use a pork sausage if you wanted
1 white onion chopped
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 quart chicken broth, I love pacific organic brand
1 tsp white ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp poultry seasoning
3-4 slices of cooked, chopped and drained bacon, I prefer nitrate free
12 small baby Yukon potatoes sliced to cube sized bites or 3 med Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 bushel of kale chopped
1 cup almond milk, or milk/cream of your choice

Here's how to make:
Sauté the onions in olive oil and breakfast sausage, I used Isernio's chicken breakfast sausage. It comes in a 1 lb tube. Add 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp white pepper and 1 tsp poultry seasoning. Cook on med until the onions are translucent and the sausage is cooked through. Add the 5 cloves of crushed garlic. Saute another minute or 2.
Add in the chopped potatoes, chopped cooked bacon, quart of chicken broth and 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper. Bring to a boil, turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Uncover and  add in 1 cup of almond milk and chopped kale. Simmer another 10-20 minutes. Enjoy!!!