Sweet & Sour Lentils

I was skeptical about this recipe...an entire meal with just lentils? Weird. However, it actually turned out quite well and hubby said it was decent. Although he did say it would be better with pork :)

I didn't take a picture because I didn't think it was going to be any good, and it's not very pretty!

The original recipe is from Hillbilly Housewife, and I made very few changes to it. I think next time I would also add pineapple chunks to it, and maybe add a small amount of pork for an 'almost meatless monday' meal. Also, hubby suggested that some roasted peanuts sprinkled on top before eating would add extra tastiness...I love it when hubby has culinary suggestions, often he just gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down, so input is appreciated!!

Ingredients

1 Cup Lentils

2 1/2 Cups Water

2 Beef Bouillon Cubes (Mine are vegetarian due to those being the only gf ones I could find!)

A sprinkle of Bay Leaf Pieces

1/4 Cup Pineapple or Apple Juice

1/8 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1/8 Cup White Vinegar

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed

2 Garlic Cloves, Minced

1 Tbsp. Oil

1 Red Pepper, Diced (I'm sure other peppers would be just as good, that's just what I had)

1 Large Onion, Diced

2 Cups Rice, Cook as Directed

Pineapple chunks (optional)

Peanuts (optional, obviously leave out if you are nut free!)

Place lentils, water, beef bouillon cubes and bay leaf pieces in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Stir occasionally. 

While that is cooking, in a large frying pan, saute onion and pepper in oil, until tender/onion is translucent.

In a small bowl, mix together pineapple/apple juice, apple cider vinegar, vinegar, brown sugar and garlic. (If using pineapple chunks, add them here.)

When lentils are tender (most of the liquid will be absorbed), add them to the frying pan with the cooked onions and peppers. Add the juice mixture and stir to mix. Heat until bubbling and serve hot over rice. (If adding peanuts, add them to the top.)

Gluten Free Penne Carbonara

Gluten Free Organic Quinoa, Amaranth, Brown Rice Penne. Delicious!

Yesterday was meatless Monday...well we went with 'almost meatless Monday' instead. :)

Gluten Free Penne Carbonara

1 lb GF Penne, cook as directed
1 Tbsp. Oil
1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Cup Bacon Bits
1 Tomato, diced
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese (fresh grated, or powdered)
4 Eggs


Cook pasta as directed (if using gf pasta, do NOT overcook, this can happen quickly so it pays to stay close to the stove for the 6-8 minutes it takes to cook!).
Fry onion in oil until translucent, then add garlic and mix together. Add bacon bits and tomato and fry for 1-2 minutes until tomato softens. Remove from heat until pasta is ready.

Lightly beat eggs in a bowl and add heavy cream and parmesan cheese and mix together.

Strain pasta and put back into pot. Add onion mixture. With pot over low heat, slowly add cream and egg mixture. BE PATIENT! If you try to heat it up too quickly by raising the temperature, you will just end up with cooked eggs on pasta! Stir together and slowly heat through, stirring often.
Serve hot.

This was wonderful! I think next time I would add some spinach in at the end too, just to add some colour, but it was great just the way it was too!

I know it has bacon so it's technically not 'meatless', but I think this will make it into our meatless monday rotation on a regular basis!!

S'more Brownies

Apparently all marshmallows are not created equal as evidenced
by the 3 in the middle that were from a different package!

This idea came up when I googled 'easy dessert' the other day. Of course the entire recipe was glutinous, so I have pieced together my own version :) If you are not gluten free, just make/buy a graham cracker crust and use your favourite brownie recipe! It's a fun recipe, that involves a lot of gooey marshmallows...just like smores :)

'Graham Cracker' Crust from Gluten Free Fix

4 Tbsp. Melted Butter
2 Tbsp. Honey
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups Almond Flour (Meal), packed

Mix everything together and press into pan (I used a pie plate, but a 9x9 would work too!) with your fingers. Cook at 350F for 20 minutes or until browned all over. I cooked 10 minutes, then put a piece of foil over and cooked another 10 to ensure it was done, but not too brown.

Brownie Recipe from Taste

1/2 Cup Rice Flour
1/2 Cup All Purpose GF Flour
1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Cocoa
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 Cup Butter, melted

Mix together dry ingredients, then add eggs and butter. Mix until just smooth. Pour over baked graham crust and bake at 350F for another 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.

I made these ahead of company arriving, so I let it cool then did the final step later and the marshmallows didn't really stick to the brownies. I think if you made them and did all the steps while hot it would work better.

All lined up and ready to roast!

Marshmallow Top (original idea from Food Network)

Large Marshmallows

Top the brownies with marshmallows (standing on end), then place on rack close to burner and 'toast' them! Watch carefully because bad things can happen fast in the world of marshmallows!

When toasting is satisfactory, remove from oven, cut into squares and serve :)

Fish...bacon?

Yup! Fish bacon! 

I was at a sushi restaurant a few months ago and tried a dish that contained fried fish skin. It was delicious! So this last weekend when we cooked some salmon steaks at home I tried it out, and it was  just as good! It was from BC sockeye salmon which was amazing too!

The finished product!

All you need to do is peel the skin off cooked salmon steaks, add a small amount of oil to a frying pan and lay out the strips of skin as you would bacon (hence fish bacon!). BEWARE! This splatters a lot more then regular bacon, I suggest having a lid handy to shield the pan with in between flipping while it's cooking. It doesn't take long, so don't walk away. Take off the pan when it looks fried (see picture!).

Let cool and enjoy. It's very rich and tasty!

GF Pastry

Yummy!

 Almost a year after going gluten free, I feel like we are finally coming to a successful recipe collection. One thing that was sorely missing was pastry though. Thankfully Mennonite Girls Can Cook has come to the rescue!
This pastry was flaky, it held together and it tasted fabulous (and even tasted not so bad raw!).

I used all butter instead of shortening since I didn't have any, and it still turned out great!! I was finally able to make my favourite Chicken Pot Pie again! And the kids actually ate supper without fuss :) And I'm super excited to be able to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!


INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
1 cup sweet rice flour
dash of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
rounded teaspoon of xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp ice water
sweet rice flour for rolling


Blend well together the flours, xathan gum, salt and sugar.
Cut in butter and shortening
Beat egg , add vinegar and ice-water.
Stir into flour mixture forming a ball. (Add a little more water if too dry)
(You may knead this a bit since rice flour crust can stand handling.) Knead until you have a smooth soft ball.

It looks like 'real' pie dough!!

Refrigerate dough for 1 hour or more to chill.
Roll out between wax paper or saran wrap dusted with sweet rice flour. Peel off top layer of wax paper/saran wrap , flip over onto pie plate and then carefully peel off the other layer of wax paper and fit pastry into pie shell -- for single crust pie or for double add filling and then top with top crust .
Bake at 375' until lightly browned.

Finished product

Korean Beef

Ahhh! Is it already the end of August? Where oh where did summer go? I feel slightly like a chicken with no head this year. Everytime I sit down to do something on the computer I get distracted by my school timetable and feel the need to pick up my textbook instead of blogging/emailing etc. 

Last summer our meals consisted of a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs. This year buns (or any bread items) are such a premium item around here that we have strayed from that. I have had to find a few other meals that are quick, easy and don't need the oven turned on! 

I came across this recipe on the blog LizzieWrites, and have made it numerous time throughout the last few months. Hubby loves it, the kids gobble it up and it makes the house smell fantastic!! From start to finish this recipe takes approx. 20-30 minutes (and most of that time is waiting for the rice to cook!). All I've changed are some quantities because I found her sauce didn't make enough to decently simmer the meat in.

I've made this so many times and I keep forgetting to take a picture. One day I will learn, one day!

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef,

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce (I use a GF one)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ginger (1 tsp if using fresh ginger minced)

1 tsp crushed red peppers (or more if you want it spicier!)

1 Bunch green onions, diced (optional)

Rice, cooked as directed..

Brown ground beef with garlic. Mix brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and red peppers in a bowl. Add to cooked ground beef. Simmer for 5 minutes to blend flavours. Serve over hot rice. Top with diced green onions if desired.

Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

My son (and usually my daughter too) miss out on a few things that most kids take for granted...being able to stop in at (gag) McDonalds and have a happy meal, or even just being able to have chicken nuggets on a whim at home. I try my best to make sure if we go somewhere where other kids will be eating something (usually pizza at Christmas parties!), I bring 'exactly' the same thing for him to eat so he feels included, otherwise I don't usually let either kid have anything. They are too young to understand why one gets to eat something yummy in front of the other (I don't have any either if that's the case!). 

I've been kind of stumped on what to do for the inevitable McDonalds birthday parties. In fact, we went to 1/2 a birthday party earlier this year just to avoid such a problem (we played and had cake (the mom was nice enough to make a gf one!!!), and gave presents, but then we left when everyone else headed to McDonalds). Today I finally solved that problem!! I made some amazing (if I do say so myself) chicken nuggets. They were easy to make, freeze well uncooked and fry up in a matter of minutes. Don't look at me like that, yes, I deep fry things for my kids occasionally. Due to the high heat used and the minimal time immersed, I really do think they absorb less oil then if I pan fried them in 1/2" of oil. But I digress...I'm sure these would be tasty pan fried, or even baked. At least now I have an option that I could cook at home, bring to the party and let him eat along with everyone else. Yay!

I hesitate to call this a recipe, but here goes:

Ingredients
1-2 Cups Corn Flake Crumbs (GF)
2-4 Tbsp. Oil
4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Milk (If you need dairy free, I'm pretty sure water would substitute here just fine!)

Place Corn Flake Crumbs in a shallow dish and sprinkle 2 Tbsp. of oil over them for every 1 cup used. Mix up crumbs. Corn does not absorb liquid as wheat does, so this seems to be a necessary step to make it 'sticky'. (Although this may be a gf specific step, I'm really not sure...experiment!) Chop chicken breasts into nugget size pieces or strips. Mix together egg and milk in a bowl. Dip chicken pieces into milk/egg mixture, then roll in corn flake crumbs. Place on a baking sheet. When the baking sheet is full, place in the freezer.

NOTE: If you are making these from previously frozen chicken, you must cook all of the pieces once re-frozen to avoid becoming ill, if you are making these from fresh chicken then the freezer life (I think) would be the same as if you just froze the chicken.

When you are ready to cook, either bake in the oven (from frozen) at 425F for 20-30 minutes (I'm guessing here since I fried them!), or pan fry until cooked through. For deep frying, set your fryer to 375F and when the oil is up to temperature, place a single layer of frozen nuggets in the basket. Fry for 3-5 minutes (depending on size). When the oil stops making a lot of noise, generally whatever food is in there is done! That's my rule of thumb :)

I have not tried to freeze these after cooking. I have some leftovers in the fridge that I intend to re-heat in the oven tomorrow, but I think they would freeze ok.

In the words of my 3.5 year old "These are AWESOME Mommy!". I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did! :)

Note: I purchased my corn flake crumbs (see picture below) from amazon.com, and had them delivered in the states and had someone pick them up because I needed gluten free, however if you do not need gluten free Kellogg's has a corn flakes product that is available at any grocery store. It contains barley malt, so it's a no no in our house!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin Tops

I know I have been horribly absent this month. I am currently in the middle of a very heavy course, and it includes lab days which I have been prepping for. Hopefully it will be over soon and I can get back to some fun things in life! Summer is passing me by while I have my nose shoved into a textbook!

I bought 20lbs of blueberries last week and froze most of them for smoothies and winter baking, but kept 5lbs out for immediate use. I decided some blueberry muffins would be wonderful and wanted to try out my new muffin top pans that arrived from (where else!) well.ca this week! What are muffin top pans? They are shallow wide muffin pans that allow you to get mostly just the muffin top (the best part in my opinion!) of the muffin!!

This recipe from Gluten Free Frugally was a first attempt for me and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I would like to make some recipe changes since they are very sticky once cooked. It actually tastes quite 'normal' and is something I can actually make myself eat :)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Tbsp. Butter/Margarine/Oil
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
2 Cups GF All Purpose Flour Blend
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Xanthan Gum
4 Tsp. Baking Powder
2-3 Cups Blueberries

Mix together sugar, butter and eggs. Once creamed, add milk and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients (except blueberries) and mix on medium high for 4-5 minutes. Fold in blueberries. Scoop into pans and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Note: The way this recipe is composed, I would think if you left out the Xanthan Gum and substituted regular all purpose flour it should turn out as a great non gluten free muffin!

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!!

Chocolate Puffed Quinoa Squares

A wonderful part of being a kid (and an adult!) is biting into a chewy, gooey chocolate puffed wheat square. I've been searching high and low for a gluten free option (since puffed wheat is obviously not a good idea!), and I finally successfully came across a great substitute ~ If I do say so myself!

I went by this recipe and changed the amounts up a bit for the gf version. Something that was important to me was to be able to make them without *gag* corn syrup, and this recipe was perfect!!

I found Puffed Quinoa on Well.ca as well as Puffed Amaranth. For this recipe I have only tried it with the quinoa so far. (Reminder: If you are ordering anything from well.ca use coupon code 'kitchenaddiction' for $10 off your first order of $40 or more. Expires July 10/12). 

This makes a small recipe, but (of course) puffed quinoa is more expensive then puffed wheat, so I went with a small batch to experiment :)

Ingredients

3.5 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup Honey

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed

1/4 Cup Butter

2 Cups Puffed Quinoa 

Grease a baking pan. I only have a 9x13 so that's what I used, but the squares were quite thin, a square baking pan would be best. 

Ina  saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the cocoa powder, honey and brown sugar and stir until smooth. Boil for about 30seconds to a minute.

Pour the chocolate sauce over the puffed quinoa in a large bowl and stir until well coated. Pour into greased pan and smooth with a spatula. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in the fridge, especially in the summer or they will start to melt!

They are not quite as chewy as a puffed wheat square, but they are very good. And they are a really good substitute if you cannot have wheat but are craving a puffed square! 

Flourless Buns

Weird huh? All this time I have been trying multiple flours trying to capture the 'real' taste and the best bun recipe I have come across is a flourless one! They have a bit of a different texture, kind of a cross between a popover and a biscuit, but they actually behave like real buns, and by that I mean you can TEAR off a piece rather then crumble off a piece!

I was very skeptical when I came across this recipe at Food.com, but there were enough good reviews that I thought I would give it a shot, and I'm glad I did :)

Ingredients
4 Tbsp. Shortening (Butter works too)
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Yeast
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Potato Starch (or Tapioca Starch)
1 Cup Cornstarch
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
2 Tsp. Xanthan Gum
1/2 Tsp. Salt
3/4 Tsp. Vinegar


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine all ingredients and mix well to remove any lumps.
The dough will be more of a sticky batter-like mess. Wet your hands to handle it. To make buns shape into balls or use an ice cream scoop to make them even. Place on greased baking tin, muffin tin or popover tin. OR if you want to make hot dog buns (which is what I did), shape into rectangle-ish shapes on a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper).
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cool, they will fall a little bit as they cool.

I think I'm going to see if I can get this to turn into some sort of pizza dough since it's something I will actually eat! (I just haven't been able to convince myself to eat gf bread/buns on a regular basis, but these are good!)
I'm also hoping the dough might substitute for my Deep Fried Cheese Balls that I used to make! I think this recipe is definitely worth some experimentation, plus it's a really economical recipe as well requiring things you can find in pretty much any grocery store!

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.

Meatball Muffins!

I thought I would liven up supper a little tonight and see if I could convince my kids that supper can be fun. It actually worked quite well! I got the idea off this picture from Pinterest. It's supposed to be meatloaf, but I didn't feel like making the sauce that typically goes on top of meatloaf so I just made my favourite meatball recipe and went with that!
They have a wonderful presentation, and are fairly easy to make. The kids thought it was great to lick the potatoes off first then dip the remainder in ketchup :)

Mini Meatball Muffin...mmm

Meatballs Recipe

2 lbs Ground Beef

1 Egg

1/3 Cup Potato Flakes (or bread crumbs)

1/4 Cup Milk

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Parsley

2 Tsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Onion Powder

1 Tsp. Pepper

Mashed potatoes for topping.

Grated cheese for topping.

I use my stand mixer to mix it all up, then fill the muffin cups (or just make meatballs). Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Mini muffins will be closer to 10-15 minutes and large muffins will be closer to 20-30 minutes.

Remove from pans, top with mashed potatoes. I put mashed potatoes into an icing piping bag and it was quite simple. However I do not recommend trying to do this when the potatoes are still super hot. I was impatient and did this and my hands are paying for it! Top with grated cheese and serve hot :)

Don't know if the pink comes through, but it's pink enough to teach me a valuable lesson!

Hot Chocolate with Caramilk Cream Mousse

Wow, and double wow. We are not big drinkers in our house, but we do enjoy the odd treat. When I saw Caramilk Cream Liqueur in the store I knew we had to try it! So far, so good :)
I found this recipe for mousse, and then I made this recipe (slightly modified) for hot chocolate. We put the mousse on top of the hot chocolate and it was soooo good! My husband tasted it first and immediately told me that I wouldn't like it but that he would drink it for me so it wouldn't be wasted lol!

The mousse and the hot chocolate do taste good without the liqueur so if you don't drink, no fear. It does add a wow factor, but it is still very tasty without!


Mousse Recipe
2 Cups Whipping Cream
1/2 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
3 Egg Whites
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Caramilk Cream Liquor(optional)



1. Whip cream to medium peaks.
2. Melt chocolate until it reaches 105°F (40°C).
3. Heat sugar to 240°F (115°C) softball stage.
4. Whip egg whites to soft peaks.
5. Slowly add hot sugar to the egg whites while whisking to form a meringue.
6. Fold meringue into melted chocolate.
7. Fold in the whipped cream.
8. Add Caramilk Cream Liquor, if using

It's a bit of a complicated recipe and I wasn't very good at the sugar part. I ended up burning it a bit and it turned brown and hardened when it mixed it with the egg whites, but I just picked out the pieces and it still tasted great! I also melted the chocolate in the microwave. I made a half batch of the above recipe as well because I had liquid egg whites so it was easy to get 1.5 egg whites!

Make sure you fold the meringue into the whipped cream. Don't beat it in, you don't want to over mix your whipped cream!

Hot Chocolate Recipe
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
3/4 Cup Sugar
Pinch Salt
1/3 Cup Boiling Water
3 1/2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Half and Half Cream
2 Oz. Caramel Cream Liqueur (optional)

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup cream and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and divide between 4 mugs. Add 1/2 Oz. of caramel cream liqueur to each  mug, if desired. Top with mousse and serve! 

Taco Casserole

I was trying to decide what to make for supper yesterday and came up with this really yummy dish! Not really a super pretty dish, so I once again forgot to take pictures...I'll try to get better at that!

Ingredients
2 Cups Rice - Cook as directed
1lb Ground Beef, Browned
1 Recipe Refried Beans
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Water
2 Cups Salsa
2 Cups Grated Cheese, plus some for topping 
Tortilla Chips, Crushed

Mix together everything over medium heat in a large frying pan (except the rice and the topping cheese). Stir until well mixed (it wont look pretty lol). In a 9x13 pan start layering rice, meat mixture, rice, meat mixture. End with meat mixture and then extra grated cheese on top. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot, topped with crushed tortilla chips.

Delicious the first time and delicious reheated the next day!

Peppermint Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

This was my other cookie swap cookie...that I of course forgot to write up a recipe for.

Actually the main recipe is the same as the Caramel Chocolate Sugar Cookies. The main difference is instead of 1 Tsp. Vanilla use 1/2 Tsp. Peppermint extract. Add some crushed candy canes to the dough and mix well. (I didnt measure, just poured some in and mixed.)
Roll out dough and cut out circles or other shapes. Sprinkle the tops with more crushed candy cane and push the pieces down slightly. Bake at 350°F for 8-10minutes or until slightly browned at the edges.

Thats it. Pretty simple and it produces a very pretty, very tasty and very Christmasy cookie!

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Caramel Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Cups before baking

Cookies after baking

I hosted a cookie swap last night and of course I was the only person who forgot to print out copies of my recipe :( Tsk Tsk. So I promised to get it written up right away...I'm apparently fairly scatterbrained when it comes to event details...even when I make them up myself!

These were originally supposed to be a cookie made in a mini muffin tin, but they were ridiculously time consuming and even more ridiculous to try to extract from the pan when cooked. Thus this method was born!

Sugar Cookie Ingredients
3/4 Cup Hard Margarine/Butter, softened
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Tsp. Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Cream of Tartar
1/4 Tsp. Salt

Filling
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
20 oz Caramels, unwrapped (or use the Homemade Caramel Recipe)
1/3 Cup Whipping Cream
Pecans (optional)

Dough: Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and beat well. Add vanilla, beat until smooth. Combine the remaining 5 ingredients in a small bowl and mix. Add to butter mixture and mix until a dough forms and no dry flour remains.

Caramel Mixture:
Melt caramels and whipping cream over medium low heat until melted and smooth. Leave over very low heat and stir frequently while waiting to use it.
Roll dough into 1" balls, form these into small 'cups'. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven (they will have flattened out) and with the handle end of a wooden spoon carefully press the center down. Bake another 2 minutes. Remove from oven, re-press the center again and place a few semi sweet chocolate chips in each. Spoon caramel mixture on top of this and let sit on pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Place either a pecan on top or a decoration of some sort (we had a nut free exchange so I used a snowflake candy).

Once cooled they are quite firm, but chewy :)

Cake Pops!

This was my first try at cake pops, and they were surprisingly easy yet time consuming. I think they turned out pretty good and were very tasty...just ask my kids who have been running off sugar rushes for the last hour! I forgot to take pictures while I was making them, but I did manage to get a picture before they were all eaten. I made them with a (gasp!) cake mix because I needed them to be gluten free and I have yet to find a cake recipe that tastes like the real deal. You can make them with whatever cake recipe or mix you want.

Ingredients
A baked cake
Icing
Candy Melts/Melting Chocolate
Sprinkles, crushed up chocolate bars etc.
Lollipop sticks if you want them

Bake your cake as directed by your recipe/box. Let it cool. Do the unthinkable....Break it up into a million little pieces in a mixing bowl. Add some icing. This part is by feel. Add some icing and then mix it up. You should get a 'dough' forming. Add small amounts of icing at a time because you can always add more but you can't take any out! A formable dough is what you are going for. Roll into balls, place on wax paper/parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for AT LEAST 30 minutes. More is better.

Towards the end of the freezing time melt the chocolate/candy and dip the ends of your sticks into it (about 1/2 an inch). Let these set in the fridge/freezer for a couple of minutes. It helps to hold the cake balls on. Make sure your candy/chocolate it melted properly. Take everything out of the freezer. Stick the chocolate/candy ends of the sticks into the cake balls. Dip them into the melted chocolate/candy, roll in whatever topping you desire and put back on the wax paper, ball side down (obviously!) (Unless you happen to own a cake pop stand or have styrofoam kicking around this is the easiest option. It does make the tops a little flat, but really...who cares?!)

Let set in the fridge. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. The icing mixed with the cake makes them very soft and the longer they are at room temperature the messier they are to eat. Much better directly from the fridge!
I dipped mine in Wilton Candy Melts and then rolled them in sprinkles or cut up Crispy Crunch bars or smashed up M&M's.....soooo tasty!


A couple of things I learned on this first time around: 
1. If you are going to dip in chocolate, melting chocolate is the best option. I tried with chocolate chips and it was too thick and really ended in disaster!
2. Keeping the cake pops cold and working in small batches works best
3. They use up a lot of sprinkles! Have a lot on hand!
4. Don't attempt if you have to have dessert ready to serve in 3 hours...this results in frantic rushing around the kitchen and lots of ignoring everything else that needs to be done lol!

The best thing about these is you choose the type of cake you want to make them with. This way, it can be vegan, egg free or anything 'free' that you need!

Chewy Chocolate Squares

Yet another Pinterest find! The recipe is technically labelled a Granola Bar but I cant bring myself to refer to them as that. They are creamy, chocolatey and delicious. More of a dessert delicious then a breakfast delicious! Although I would still classify these on the healthy end of the spectrum :)

Without further ado...

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter (Sun Butter works well for a nut free version)
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil (no substitutes, this is what gives its creamy texture and flavor)
2 cups oats
1 1/4 cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries or Dried Blueberries (Cranberries = Chewy, Blueberries = Crunchy)

Melt the peanut butter, honey and oil in a pot. Once the mixture is smooth and combined add oats, chocolate and fruit. Mix until the chocolate is melted. Pour into a 9x13 pan and refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve because they tend to get 'melty'.

Trust me when I say "GO MAKE THESE NOW!!"

Pumpkin Butter

 Mmm I want some just writing about it!!

I bought 2 large pumpkins after Halloween for 50 cents each. So far Ive cooked and pureed one and turned it all into Pumpkin Butter :)

Tasty mixed with plain or greek yogurt or on toast or a cream cheese pumpkin butter sandwich! 

This is another recipe/craft I get to move to my 'I have made' board on Pinterest :)

I made 4 times the recipe below...yes it's that good!

Ingredients
15oz. Canned Pumpkin Puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling) or 15oz. Fresh cooked/pureed Pumpkin
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Honey
1/3 Cup 100% Apple Juice (No added sugar)
1 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Ginger
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp. Cloves

Mix it all together in your crockpot. Cook on low until it thickens...about 2-5 hours depending on your crockpot. Mine took about 2 hours. I made 2 double batches. Delicious and my house smelled amazing!

This is quite a 'spiced' Pumpkin Butter so if you think it might be too strong cut the spices in half and remember the rule: "You can always add more later, but you can't take away!"