Apple Crisp

I often try to come up with desserts that aren't really desserts, but are good enough to classify as such. Although my kids do get sugary desserts from time to time, I definitely try to limit them (even then, I do try to find the healthier route to it, such as the Puffed Quinoa Squares). I never thought I would be the type of mom that would serve fruit for dessert, or that I would have the type of kids who are excited by apples and peanut butter, but here we are :) I decided today to spruce things up a little bit and make it a little more dessert-y. We eat a LOT of fruit in our house. Being gluten free limits a lot of things we would normally have for snacks, so by default we go to fruit for snacks (and tomatoes, but that's another story). The amount of bananas I buy would make you laugh, and the amount of apples in our fruit bin could cause a small avalanche. 

Today's dessert is apples. Apple crisp to be exact. Just a unique, very easy version :)

Ingredients
Apples, halved and core cut out (see picture)
Cheese
1/2 Cup of Butter, or Oil works too. Coconut oil would be delicious I think!
1/2 Cup Oats (make sure they are GF oats if you are gluten free!)
1/2 Cup Quinoa Flour (If you are not GF, use regular AP flour here)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
Pinch of salt.

Melt the butter (or if using oil just pour in!), and add oats, quinoa flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. \Mix well until everything is moistened. 

Cut cheese into small pieces and place inside apple holes (see picture). 

Place the crumble mix on top of the cheese and apple. 

Place on a pan in the oven and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes. 

Enjoy hot with ice cream or frozen yogurt, or just by itself. 

The measurements above made more then enough for 2 apples (4 halves), and I have enough left over for probably another 2-4 halves, depending on how thick you top the apples. 

The type and amount of apples and cheese is up to you. Cheddar does taste wonderful with apples though!

Slice apples in half and scoop out core.

Add cheese cubes to the holes.

Add crumble topping and bake @350F for 20-30 minutes.

Serve warm. With or without ice cream or frozen yogurt.

These have a really cute presentation and the cheese adds that extra little taste that makes them delicious!!

Taco Pie

I love any type of meal that can be served from one dish. Things that I can prep earlier and then throw into the oven 30 minutes before supper. This taco pie certainly fits that bill.
It's gluten free (of course) and quite tasty. I've made it two nights in a row, but the first night I followed a different recipe for the 'filling' and I wasn't happy with it. It was good, but forgettable. I knew I needed to make it again right away with changes so that it would be memorable and I would then remember to make it again later! The crust recipe is from Here, but I wouldn't make her meat recipe again. Like I said, it was good but not great. As soon as I bit into the original version of this pie, I had a lightbulb moment. Refried beans! That's what this needed. So without further ado....Taco Pie! (Which of course was gobbled up before I took a picture, that's what happens when a tasty supper is pulled out of the oven with 4 adults and 2 children looking on! Just imagine a taco pie and that's what it looked like!)

Crust:
1/4 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning
2 1/2 Cups Instant Potato Flakes (as I've said before, not a huge fan of instant anything, but when cooking gluten free sometimes we have to make do!)

Melt butter in a small pot. Add milk. Bring to a boil and add taco seasoning. Mix well. Remove from heat and add Potato Flakes. At this point you may need to add a few Tbsp. of water to get it to mix properly. You want a 'doughy' type of consistency, but you do want all the potato flakes mixed in.

Press into a pie plate. Bake just the shell at 350F for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool (or if you are in a hurry add the filling right away and just bake. Prebaking/cooling just allows the crust to firm up a little bit, but it's not a complete must-do!)

Filling:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 Recipe of Refried Beans

Cook and drain beef. Cook refried beans. Mix together. Scoop into shell. Bake at 350F for approx. 25-30 minutes or until the crust starts browning.
Remove from oven and top with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with sour cream.

Ooey Gooey Mozza Sticks

The yummiest mozza sticks I have EVER tasted and they are gluten free!
Hubby and I ate these for 3 nights in a row. We still have some in the freezer (I made 2 batches!) and I have a seriously hard time not cooking them up everytime I see them in there! Dip them in Marinara Sauce and its a little slice of paradise:) The original recipe is HERE. I made some minor changes

Ingredients
Mozza Cheese Sticks or just cut Mozza Cheese into 1.5-2" long and .5" wide. ( I made 48 at a time!)
2 eggs
1/4 water
GF Bread crumbs or frozen GF Bread ground up in the food processor
1/3 Cup Corn Starch
2/3 Cup GF All Purpose Flour
Garlic Powder or Granulated Garlic
Parmesan Cheese (Powder)
Oil, for deep frying

Bowl 1: Corn starch and flour, mixed
Bowl 2: Eggs and water, well beaten
Bowl 3: Breadcrumbs, sprinkle some garlic powder and parmesan cheese and mix.
(Note for the crumbs: I did my own with frozen bread. Mix your spices into the crumbs, in the bowl, and then use another bowl for breading. Put a bit at a time in this bowl and use until gone. This keeps your crumbs from retaining moisture and becoming useless as far as bread crumbs go!)

(You may need more egg/water mixture as you go and the bread crumb mix amount depends on how many you do.)

Cut your cheese into proper size. Too big and it wont cook properly, too small and you will be doing this forever! (I never buy cheese sticks because it's so much cheaper to buy a block of cheese. And it really didn't take long to cut it either, but if you do buy the cheese sticks cut them in half and you will have the proper size.)
Roll cheese in flour mix. Dip in egg mix. Roll in bread crumbs.
Place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Continue until all the pieces are done.
NOW, start at the first piece and RE egg and RE bread each piece. Seems redundant but trust me its worth it!
Place back on wax paper and freeze until completely frozen.
Heat oil to 375°F. Place a few at a time (my fryer handles about a dozen, but it's a big fryer. Don't put too many in or the oil will cool off too much) in the oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes or until outside is brown and they are soft. But get them out before you lose all the cheese! The re breading and the freezing is what makes these fry so well.
Serve hot with Marinara Sauce and be prepared for a scramble over the last one lol!

I dont think I will ever look at another mozza stick after this. Im sure they wont meet the new standard these set!

I'm thinking of adaptations for next time, perhaps some cayenne pepper in the breading? Maybe some hot sauce in the egg mix? Cheddar sticks? Mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

What's On The Table?

I have finally found a recipe that my husband approves of that doesnt have meat! *squeal of excitement!*
I can finally do Meatless Mondays even if I have to make the same recipe every Monday until I can find another ok'd one!
It's called Southwest Breakfast Casserole. Beans, eggs, rice, salsa and cheese...doesnt get much easier or delicious!

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What's On The Table?

Yummy yummy Crockpot Taco Chicken on rice topped with cheese!
So easy and so good. I really need to use my crockpot more often :)
Recipe to follow soon!

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Egg-Free Bread

Recently my 2.5 year old son has been having a lot of digestive issues and we are frantically trying to figure out what it is in his diet that is causing it. We have had him completely off dairy since early September, and I have been keeping track of everything he eats. Yesterday it seems like a pattern is developing, and the picture coming through is eggs. Sigh. Eggs are in everything! As of today he is on an egg free, dairy free diet until further notice. We are  hoping it's temporary but in the meantime it's the adjustment period around here!
This complicates a lot of baking, and buying products. I have been slacking off this summer and buying bread, and I thought I was buying a dairy free bread only to read the fine print and it says 'may contain traces of milk products'. My regular bread recipe has no dairy, but 2 eggs. So I went on the hunt for a recipe. I find I'm pretty much limited to vegan recipes at this point. Thankfully he can still eat meat, so at least it's only vegan baking and not completely vegan! I find my grocery shopping is taking forever now due to having to read and re-read labels, hunt for unknown (to me) products and try new weird things!
I tried this recipe today from VegWeb, and it turned out pretty good. It's super easy, no waiting for it to rise and it tastes pretty good. It is a dense bread and it doesn't rise too much, but both my kids gobbled it up! I made it pretty much according to the posters recipe, but I upped the yeast just a little on the advice of some reviewers.

Ingredients
6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed
1 Tbsp. Sea Salt
2 Tbsp. Yeast
3 1/4 Cups Warm Water

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the warm water, and mix until it becomes a thick batter. 
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and smooth out the tops. 
Bake at 400F for approx. 45 minutes or until a cake tester/fork/knife inserted comes out clean. I thought they were done at the 30 minute mark but when I stuck a knife in, it came out with batter on it. You might need to cover the tops with foil at about the 30 minute mark as they go quite dark on top in the last 15 minutes. 
Remove from pans and cool on a rack before slicing.  

Even if you are not trying to avoid eggs, this is a great recipe if you want to bake bread but don't have the time for a traditional knead, rise, knead, rise loaf. I think I might try to do 4 cups whole wheat, 2 cups of white flour next time just to see if I can lighten it up a little bit.

I know there are egg-substitute products on the market, I just haven't had a chance to look for any yet. I am starting to appreciate Planet Organic Market in Edmonton a whole lot. They are one of the only places that caters to special diets. I actually managed to get a cream cheese substitute and 'cheese' slices for sandwiches by Tofutti and shredded 'cheese' by Daiya there that taste good! Also powdered Soy Milk which is so handy to have in the pantry for baking. And the staff is very knowledgeable and helpful! Superstore seems to have a decent selection of some things as well. I found plain dairy-free soy yogurt, and a rice vegan cheese that the kids don't seem to mind either.

Anybody have egg allergies/intolerances at their house? Any product recommendations for egg replacements would be much appreciated! I know you can substitute flax and water, applesauce, baking soda/baking powder and a number of other things, but I'm at a loss when it comes to the products sold in the stores for egg replacement!

Macasagna

Macasanga? This is what my 2.5 year hold has dubbed it :) It's a variation of the Super Easy Lasagna recipe.

If there is one thing you probably know about me by now it's that I'm frugal (I do not like the term 'cheap' because I feel it has a totally different definition...I'm frugal, but if we (especially our kids) need something, I wont hesitate to get it, to me cheap is avoiding purchasing anything that isn't an absolute live or die need, even if it might jeopardize your health to not have it (vitamins, medicine) etc. I'm not talking about absolutely not having the money to purchase necessities, but rather choosing to hoard money in the bank instead) But I digress! Back to Macasagna!

Lasagna noodles are pricey, and they almost never go on sale. Cheese is expensive and even when it is on sale it's still expensive! I really really enjoy lasagna, now that I know how to make it easily, but can't bring myself to make it as often as I would like.
Thus, Macasanga was born!!

Use the same sauce recipe from Super Easy Lasagna. But instead of lasagna noodles you use, yup you guess it!, macaroni noodles :) And in the cheese layers instead of fully layering cheese use mostly cottage cheese with a bit of grated cheese and then use grated cheese on top. It's delicious, it's economical and it's easy! It's a win win!

I buy the No Name Cottage Cheese at Extra Foods (Superstore), and it's approx. $2.50 for a 500mL tub, and the huge boxes of macaroni are available at the same store, or Costco for a fairly modest price. I'm sure it brings the price of the lasagna to half or less then it's original cost. Yes, it's nice to still have regular lasagna sometimes, but especially when you're coming to the end of the month (and the end of the budget!), this is a quick, easy, filling and economical meal :) Oh, and kids love it because what kid doesn't love macaroni?

Super Easy Lasagna

Mmmm Yummy!

This is my friend Jen's recipe, and as soon as I tasted it (and saw how easy it was to make), I knew I had to have the recipe! Thanks Jen, this is definitely going into our regular rotation of meals!
I have always hated making lasagna because of the noodles. Boiling them, then burning my fingers while laying them out in the dish, hoping they don't rip in the meantime. I never make lasagna.
This has got to be the easiest way to do it!

Sauce Ingredients
1 lb Hamburger - Browned
1 Tsp. Dehydrated Onion
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tsp. Chili Powder
1 Tsp. Garlic Salt
1 1/2 Tsp. Basil
1 6oz. Can Tomato Paste
1 14oz. Can Tomato Sauce
4 Cups Water

Put it all together in a big pot and simmer for 10 minutes (or so). Using a 9x13 pan start layering.
1 1/2 Cups Sauce on the bottom of the pan
Layer UNCOOKED noodles across the pan
Sauce to cover 
Cheese (any type you want, I used Tex Mex, but Cottage Cheese, Ricotta, Mozza etc. would work)
More UNCOOKED noodles
Sauce
Cheese
ETC. ETC. until your pan is full, ending with cheese.

Cover with foil and cook at 350 F for 1 Hour, then remove foil and cook another 20 minutes. 


The sauce will appear very watery, that's good since the noodles will suck it all up! I used 3 of the tin 'lasagna pans' (the disposable ones), since I'm giving away 2 of them. They weren't very deep, so a double batch of the sauce above filled them all. I made the sauce last night after the kids went to bed, and put everything together this morning. I had 3 lasagnas made before 9am!

Good Idea from Jen: Make up a bunch of sauce, and freeze just the sauce in batches (You know your pan and how many layers it takes. Plan on about 1.5 cups of sauce per layer and then add an extra 1/2 - 1 cup just to make sure!). Takes up less space in the freezer and you can always have fresh lasagna anytime with very minimal work!

Nutritional Yeast

Nutritional Yeast is a deactivated yeast, and like mushrooms is actually a fungus.
It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-Complex. It is naturally low in fat and sodium and is sugar, dairy and gluten free. Vegans make use of it frequently as a protein source or cheese substitute. It has a strong flavour that most people seem to describe as nutty, cheesy or creamy. Can be used in the place of parmesan cheese, or used as a topping for popcorn. 
Now, I am not a vegan, nor do I ever see myself becoming one, so why do I have this? I saw a recipe on weelicious, and it looked like a quick and easy substitute for KD, so I thought I would try it. My toddler has started turning his nose up at KD in preference for real food. I'm not a huge fan of KD, but it is an easy rush thing to put together!
I ordered from Well.ca and eagerly awaited it's arrival! The day it arrived I promptly made the recipe. Ugh. It was the worst tasting, most vile thing I have eaten in a long time! I ate some of it, and then proceeded to be nauseous for the rest of the day :( I had no choice but to find some use for it since I ordered 360g of the stuff! So back to the drawing board...
I found a 'cheese' sauce recipe on VegWeb and decided to give it a try...it's not that bad! I was going to dip tortilla chips into it, but I went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare! So I poured it over macaroni and added a little salsa for zest and it's actually quite tasty!
I know making real cheese sauce if pretty simple, but it does take some time to grate the cheese etc. This took less then 5 minutes from start to finish :) I think I will see if my toddler will eat it for supper.
Because I am not a vegan, I changed the recipe to include milk. If you are a vegan just substitute soy milk (make sure it's unsweetened), or water and use vegan margarine :)

Ingredients
1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
Pinch of Salt
1/4 Cup Unbleached Flour
1/4 Tsp. Garlic Powder
1/8 Tsp. Mustard Powder
Sprinkle of Cumin
1 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. Margarine


Mix dry ingredients together in a small pot. Add milk and whisk until clumps are gone. Add margarine and cook over medium heat until it thickens. If it thickens more then you want it to, just add extra milk (or whatever liquid you are using). It is meant to be a fairly thick sauce though.


This seems to be one of the better recipes out there. There are some recipes that even hardcore vegans are reviewing as awful!
Cheese is always something I seem to run out of before grocery day. Now I can make mac 'n cheese from ingredients I will most likely have on hand. The nutritional yeast was $7.67 for 180g. Because it's so flakey and light you get a lot in that container (which I didn't realize when I ordered 2 of them!), so it's actually quite an economical, healthy alternative for some recipes :)

Update: My 2 year old loves it :) He looked suspiciously at the macaroni for a minute and I convinced him to try some. His eyes lit up and I asked him if it was yummy, and his response was 'Yeah!'.  I think I will make up little baggies of pre-measured dry ingredients, and then all I have to do is add milk and margarine to the sauce. Not much harder then KD!