Thursday, April 19, 2012

GF Cookies that are just, well...awesome!

The other day I was headed out for the day and since I knew I'd be gone for a while, I stopped by the store to grab a few GF snacks to have on hand. I noticed that Enjoy Life had a variety of snacks that I had not seen before, so I grabbed a box of their Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are by far the BEST GF packaged cookies I have tried so far. They are just delicious! My kids, who aren't gluten free, LOVE them too :) I was so pleased to see they are nut free as well, so my kids can enjoy them. Here's a link to the Enjoy Life website.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/soft-baked-cookies/

Friday, April 6, 2012

GF Strawberry Cobbler.....yum!

Every year around here, folks wait with great anticipation for strawberry season....that's because we have a local farm here that has, by far, the BEST strawberries ever! They are just unbelievably wonderful! Well, my Dad stopped by yesterday with a fresh basket of them. I had been wanting to try a gluten free version of my go to cobbler recipe with these strawberries, so that's what I did!

What is my go to cobbler recipe, you ask? Well I'll tell you.... :) Paula Deen's awesome recipe for Peach Cobbler is one I made a lot before going GF. It's kind of your basic cobbler recipe with a few extra steps that make it extra good!! Here's the original recipe

Here's what I did to make a GF version :) ....


Ingredients

  • 4 cups capped and sliced strawberries
  • 2 cups sugar, divided
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 8 tablespoons GF butter (a GF butter stick works best)
  • 1 1/2 cups GF flour mixture (See note)
The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour. Since I don't have self rising GF flour, this is what I did...I combined 1 1/2 cups Betty Crocker All Purpose GF  Rice Flour, 2 tsp Clabber Girl GF Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Put these three ingredients together in a bowl, stir well and use as you would self-rising flour. ~ Found this helpful tip online here http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-self-rising-flour-substitute-29318

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • Ground cinnamon, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the strawberries, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Put the butter in a baking dish and place in oven to melt.
In a separate bowl mix remaining 1 cup sugar and flour (measure 1 1/2 cups from the flour mixture you made earlier ~ don't just throw in all the flour, as the mixture turns out being more than the recipe calls for) and then add milk slowly to prevent clumping.
Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir.
Spoon fruit on top, then gently pour in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using.

Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until done.
I used an 8x8 baking dish, and the cobbler began pouring out over the sides and making a mess, so use a larger deeper dish if possible :) Also I baked mine for about 35 minutes and it turned out great!


To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with GF ice cream or non-dairy frozen dessert :)

Linked to...
Gluten Free Wednesdays


Monday, March 26, 2012

A Celiac Update :)

I know a while back I wrote a very depressing post about going back to the Dr because I didn't feel that I was seeing any change in my symptoms....Well it hit me that I didn't really share the test results or any new news...and of course, I know you are all waiting in antipation to hear :) he he...Well just in case you are...I am happy to say the updated Celiac profile definitely shows improvement...4 out of the 5 tests fell in the negative range now and the 5th was down 30 points :) Yeah! Another test did show that I have low vitamin D, so I take a D supplement now :)Glad to report that as of last week, I have seen a definite improvement in my symptoms! And just in case you're wondering, April 2 will mark 5 months since diagnosis and the start of my GF life :) So, if you're not seeing improvement yet, just hang in there :)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

GF "Smothered" Nachos


One of my favorite Southern Living recipes before going GF was the Smothered Enchiladas. Here's the original recipe from Southern Living http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/smothered-enchiladas-10000001033063/

I found this recipe again when I was going through some things recently and saw how easy it would be to make it gluten free with just a little tweaking! To make it even easier, I just threw all the ingredients together the other night and served it with nachos...turned out tasty!

Here's the recipe...

1 pounds ground beef
Mt Olive diced jalapenos
1 container Pacific Natural Foods GF cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz. sour cream
1-2 cups Cheddar cheese grated
GF nachos
GF Salsa

Brown ground beef in a large skillet until is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in taco seasoning and cook on low till combined; set aside.

Stir together soup, sour cream, and some diced jalapenos...careful, adding too many will make it spicy!

Pour half of soup mixture into a small baking dish.
Spoon beef mixture evenly over soup mixture.
Top evenly with remaining soup mixture and cheese.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Once cheese is melted, cover with foil for a bit so cheese won't burn. Then remove foil the last few minutes of baking.

Spoon some onto plate, pour salsa on top if desired, and serve with GF nachos.


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Oh so simple... Black Bean Soup


For lunch today, I just tried this incredibly easy black bean soup recipe from Carol at Simply Gluten Free....Unbelievably simple and sooooo delicious! I did not have any fresh limes so I left the lime juice out, but it was delicious even without it! After pouring it into the bowl, I crumbled some GF tortilla chips in the soup too...

Here's a link to the recipe


Friday, March 16, 2012

Yucky week....awesome weekend!

I just realized how long it's been since I posted a recipe, or posted anything! This week Hubby and I were sick, so I didn't feel like cooking or eating much of anything! I'll get back in the kitchen next week... can't wait to try a GF version of a "lasagna" recipe from Southern Living I used to make a lot. I'll share that with you soon!

Now that we are feeling better, I am so looking forward to this weekend! I am attending the Extraordinary Women's Conference with a group of women from my church. This is a two-day conference with Christian speakers and musicians. Expecting a wonderful time of worship and I can't wait to see what blessings God has in store! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend too :)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Stuffed Peppers....oh my goodness!


I found this little gem on one of the recipe swaps last week and couldn't wait to try it out....

Of course, for me to try a recipe, it has to...
1. look delicious
2. have ingredients that I've actually heard of
3. have simple steps!

This recipe is all three! The steps really are simple, there are just quite a few of them. But don't let that scare you away... I promise you, the end result is TOTALLY worth it! ...And Hubby loved it too!

I stuck to the original recipe with a few minor changes. Instead of the cayenne pepper, I used a couple of dashes of red pepper flakes that I had on hand. I used dried minced garlic and added some salt and pepper. I grated part of a block of Monterrey Jack cheese and just diced up some jalapenos on top of the cheese.

I also got a little carried away and put the cheese and diced jalapenos on before baking the peppers instead of waiting till the last 5 minutes, but they still turned out great. Just make sure you cover the peppers while they bake. Then I just removed the foil and baked a few minutes longer.

I cut this recipe in half and still had enough filling for 6 pepper halves. I just added a little more crushed tomatoes to the meat mixture when cooking.

As always, just make sure all the brands you use are GF! 

Here's the fabulous recipe with beautiful step by step pics too!


Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to...