Oatmeal pancakes - Refined Sugar and wheat free

These days, I'm on the hunt for wheat free and refined sugar free recipes.  Our family has had to change up the way we eat a little bit, and it's been a challenge, but it's also been fun. Some food we have just given up completely, but for others, I've just replaced the ingredients so we are still able to eat some of our favorites.  Pancakes are definitely a favorite that we didn't want to give up at our house.  I found a recipe that I was able to modify, and whip up in about ten minutes.  These pancakes are wheat free and sweetened with maple syrup or honey.  They were delicious served with just butter, but would be tasty with a little syrup or sauteed apples on top too.

Oatmeal Pancakes
2 cups whole oats
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/4 cup real maple syrup or honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup diced dried apples (optional)

Place oats in blender and pulse a few times to make oat flour.  Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until mixed thoroughly.  Add the apples if you are using them and pulse just to mix.  Pour onto a greased griddle or pan and enjoy!  This recipe makes about 12 small to medium sized pancakes.

Chewy Granola Bars

I'm so excited about this recipe!  I've been looking for a good recipe for granola bars that doesn't use corn syrup or tons of sugar, for a while now.  I've had failures, here is one example.  These bars are adapted from a recipe I found in Whole Living magazine.  You could use whatever dried fruit you have on hand, and if you want to add nuts or seeds, that would be fine too!  Hope you enjoy them as much as we did! 

Ingredients:

3 cups whole oats
4 tbsp ground flax meal
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup raisins
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup peanut (or any nut butter) butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup real maple syrup or honey
1/4 tsp vanilla exract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 inch pan with coconut oil or olive oil and line with parchment paper.  Combine the first six ingredients and mix together.  In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together.  Press mixture evenly into the pan with your hands.  Bake until the bars are golden brown and firm, about 30 minutes.  Let cool completely and remove from pan.  Store bars in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs

I think I am going to start updating the blog again, now that I actually have my appetite back. I'm well into my second trimester and finally starting to feel better.  So, hopefully more yummy blog posts to come!

I love meatballs, all different kinds. I love how you can dress them up with sauces or change them completely with spices.  They are not fancy, but versatile and so tasty!  I was in the mood for Mediterranean food, and found a recipe from Cooking Light, it was a quick and easy meal.  As I was cooking the meatballs, I sauteed a bell pepper in another pan and made some homemade Tzatziki (by no means authentic, but still really good) sauce.  We ate the meatballs over spinach salad and topped with the peppers, Tzatziki, and feta cheese.  They would also be tasty wrapped up in pita bread!  Enjoy!

Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs:

1/2 cup panko or plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon minced red onion
2 tablespoons store-bought or homemade pesto
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground turkey breast 
1 garlic clove, minced

Mix together, careful to not over mix.  Shape into balls or disks and cook in olive oil over medium-high heat, until cooked through.

Homemade Tzatziki:

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp minced garlic
1 chopped cucumber
1 tsp dill (I didn't have any, and it was still super tasty)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and store in fridge until ready to eat.

Little Things - Baked Tortilla Chips

So the other night, I was really craving chicken nachos.  I was getting my ingredients together...chicken - check, avocado - check, cheese - check, beans - check, tortilla chips - nope...How could I make nachos without chips...time to make homemade tortilla chips out of the 5 pounds of white corn tortillas that I have stored in the freezer!  It was beyond easy, here's what I did.


Baked Tortilla Chips:

Corn tortilla - cut into triangles or strips ( I used a pizza cutter and cut them into fourths)
Olive oil
Salt

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut tortillas and place on baking sheet.  Spray with olive oil (or brush on before cutting) and sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 6-8 minutes, check on them half way through and stir.  That's it, super easy!

Yellow Salsa

Life has been busier lately, and I've had less time to update the blog...but I'm still passionate about my food and sharing it with others, so I'm not saying goodbye yet!

Here it is October, and I'm still getting tomatoes, and lots of them!  I still have jalapenos too, so I was thinking that I should can salsa, then I thought about it and realized that may be more work than I'm willing to do right now.  So, I've been making this quick and easy salsa with my yellow pear tomatoes.  I love the color, and using tomatoes freshly picked out of the garden makes the tastiest salsa!

Isn't it pretty?!?!

Yellow Salsa

2 cups yellow pear tomatoes
1/4 of a white onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tsp lime juice or squeeze half a lime
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper
1-2 jalapenos (depending on your desired heat level, and I usually make two batches, one for us and a smaller one for the little guy, sans jalapenos.

Place all of your ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until it's the consistency you like.  Taste and add more spices if you need to.  Enjoy!

Lemon Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies

This is a recipe I found in an old issue of Everyday Food, and these cookies are delicious!  They have quickly become my favorite Summer treat. They are super easy to make, and help make sure I use up all of the extra zucchini I have laying around.  I have all of the ingredients on hand, even the lemon zest needed stored in my freezer.  I did make one addition to the recipe, I replaced half of the vanilla extract with lemon extract, just to make it a little more lemony.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 medium zucchini, grated on small holes of a box grater (about 1 cup)


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon extract, lemon zest, and salt. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until mixture is crumbly. Add zucchini and stir until a thick dough forms.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are light golden brown at edges, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Whole grain (mostly) healthy Zucchini muffins

This is a whole grain muffin recipe, filled with yumminess of all sorts, but without all of the sugar.  If you are looking for a sweet, buttery, sugary muffin...this recipe is probably not for you.  However, if you are looking for a healthy muffin for breakfast on the go, or a mid afternoon snack, then you will love this recipe.  You can change up the ingredients a bit if you want, you can add carrots and raisins instead of the zucchini and apples, or substitute the zucchini and apples for blueberries.  This is a versatile, hearty muffin recipe, and has quickly become my go to recipe for muffins.

Zucchini Muffins (makes 12-15 muffins)

3/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 (heaping) tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup chopped dehydrated apples

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups zucchini

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tins.  Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.  In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla, then stir in the zucchini.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Scoop batter into muffins tins and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Garden Pizza

I'm calling this my garden pizza because almost all of the ingredients were grown at home, in my garden, which makes me very happy!  It's a (mostly) whole wheat crust, the sauce is a homemade pesto with garden vegetables on top. This was a particularly fun pizza for me to make, because I used a new method in cooking it.  Normally, after stretching out the pizza dough I put it directly on my pizza stone and it goes into the oven.  This time, I heated up the stone in the oven and made up the pizza on a pizza spatula, then transferred it to the hot stone (it makes the crust crispier).  It was crisp and fresh and really tasty! 

I make my pizza dough in a bread maker, I like that it's hands off and super easy.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1/2 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil

Place all of the ingredients in your bread maker.  Keep in mind that each bread maker is different, so there may be a particular order to place in your ingredients.  After the dough is made (it takes about 1 1/2 hours), form into a ball and either roll it out, or stretch it out gently (if you know how to make pizza dough that way, if not, you could probably look it up or just roll it out).  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and place your pizza stone in the oven to heat up.  I made my pizza on a pizza peel (spatula) covered with corn meal, to prevent the dough from sticking and then transferred it to the hot pizza stone.  You could also just make up the pizza on the pan or baking dish you are going to be cooking it on.  Then for the sauce, I made a pesto with fresh basil from my garden.

Garden Fresh Pesto Sauce

3 cups basil
1 cup parsley
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup almonds
salt and pepper to taste
 1/2 cup olive oil


In a food processor, blend together everything but the olive oil, until it forms a paste.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and with the processor running slowly pour in the olive oil.  Taste to see if you need more salt or pepper.

Top with fresh, seasonal veggies (I used zucchini and peppers) and shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.   Enjoy!

Instant Oatmeal packs

We are camping this weekend, and while I was trying to figure out what to bring for breakfast, I remembered a blog post I'd seen about making instant oatmeal packs.  These will be perfect for camping, all we'll need to do is boil water (yay for easy camping meals).  They were super easy to put together, and I had all of the ingredients in my pantry, so no additional cost or time spent at the store.  Also, you can play with the ingredients and add more or less of what you would like or different dehydrated fruit.  I think I'll keep a couple of packs made up in the pantry too for busy mornings. 

Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal Packs
Recipe adapted from aseasonforallthings.blogspot.com

2/3 cup instant oats
2 tsp milk powder
2 tsp brown sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp dehydrated apples (finely chopped)

Assemble ingredients in a small sandwich bag.  When you are ready to eat the oatmeal, pour dry ingredients into a bowl and boil 1 1/3 cup of water.  Add water to bowl and let sit for one minute, enjoy!

Grilled Zucchini

Well, it's mid-August, and the most prominent vegetable in my garden is zucchini, loads and loads of it.  I am picking one or two a day.  If I go too long without checking on my zucchini it gets a little out of hand.

One lemon cucumber, two normal sized zucchini, and one ridiculously large zucchini.

I'm always looking for ways to use up my zucchini before it gets either too big, or gets too old in my fridge.  The next few posts, I'll have ideas for how to use up your zucchini.  For today's post, grilled zucchini!  This is an incredibly easy way to use up your fresh from the garden (or grocery store) zucchini. 

Grilled Zucchini

1 large zucchini or 2 medium zucchini (cut into 1/2 thick slices)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Slice zucchini lengthwise, and try to get uniform slices so they cook evenly.  Either spray or brush on olive oil and coat both sides.  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.  Place on the grill, and cook for about 3-4 minutes, flip over and cook for an additional 3 minutes.  Remove from grill and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, enjoy!

Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies

Healthy brownies?!?!  If you are craving a yummy dessert, and want to skip the flour and processed sugar, then these light and chewy and ridiculously tasty brownies are for you.  They are sweetened with honey and are gluten free.  Next time you get the hankering for brownies, instead of reaching for the overly processed box of brownie mix,whip up a batch of these, you probably have the ingredients in your kitchen already. 

Peanut Butter Brownies:
Recipe adapted from Fly through our window

Ingredients:

16 oz of peanut butter (I use natural peanut butter)
2 eggs
1 cup honey or agave
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 ounces dark chocolate bar , chopped, or chocolate chips
 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Mix peanut butter, eggs, & honey. Add in cocoa powder, salt, & baking soda. Fold in chopped dark chocolate/chips.
Spread into a greased  9×13 pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

 

Peas for Fall

I haven't had a garden post in a while, actually I haven't had many posts this Summer at all, we've been having way too much fun for me to find the time to post recipes and gardening adventures.  Sowing peas in late Summer for a Fall harvest though, is one that I would like to document and record.  I've dabbled a bit in Fall and Winter gardening, but I'm excited to venture out a little more this year.  So, last week the peas were pulled, compost was added, and I planted seeds today (with high hopes for a Fall harvest).  Can't wait to see how they do!!

Asparagus with Dijon Vinaigrette

Asparagus can be tricky to cook without getting overdone.  I've prepared asparagus many ways....steamed, roasted, sauteed, and blanched.  The easiest and most fool-proof way, at least in my opinion, is to blanch it.  It stays bright, slightly crunchy and is super flavorful.  After blanching you can add it to a stir fry, in a salad, or eat it as a side.  I like it as a side dish with a vinaigrette on top....so good!

Blanched Asparagus with Dijon Vinaigrette:
1 bunch asparagus
bowl of ice water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste (couple shakes of each)

In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper.  Trim ends off and then cut asparagus into bite size chunks.  Place in medium sized pot with water and a pinch of salt.  Bring water and asparagus to a boil and only boil for 30 seconds (asparagus should be bright green).  Take asparagus out of the pot and put immediately into the ice bath.  Once cooled, transfer to bowl and pour vinaigrette on top of asparagus, toss and serve!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

I made these cupcakes for a good friend's baby shower a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say, they were so good!  I used beet puree for the red color in the cake batter instead of using artificial food dye, and the white chocolate frosting was to die for!  I also got to use my new cake decorating kit, there is definitely a learning curve to using the tips....usually by the last five or six cupcakes I finally have it figured out.  Guess I'll just have to keep baking in order to keep up my cake decorating skills :).

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 24)
recipe adapted from Food Network - Paula Deen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red beet puree (or red food coloring)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, beet puree, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes.  Test the cupcakes with a toothpick, if it comes out clean they are done.  Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Frosting:

1 stick of butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces of good white chocolate (melted)
1-2 tablespoons milk or half and half

Cream butter in an electric mixer until fluffy, then add vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low speed. Add in melted white chocolate and beat until incorporated. To reach desired consistency, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time with mixer on low speed.  I've learned if you are piping the frosting on the cake, thicker is better, if you add too much milk, just add a little more powdered sugar.

Chicken Pesto Bake

I am starting to realize that I may have an addiction to pesto sauce, but I can't help it, I LOVE it!  It's so versatile, it can be plain, creamy, mixed with pasta, used as a pizza sauce, in a sandwich, so why not in a casserole?  I had some bell peppers that needed to be used up and my pesto sauce in the freezer, so I went for it!

Chicken Pesto Bake

3 cooked chicken breasts (chopped or shredded)
2 bell peppers (chopped)
1/2 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 cup pesto sauce (homemade or prepared)
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
salt and pepper
1 lb pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook pasta according to directions (if I'm baking the pasta in a casserole, I usually cook it one minute less than the directions call for to avoid soggy pasta), drain, but don't rinse.   While the pasta is cooking, saute bell peppers and onion in olive for about five minutes, then add the garlic in for about a minute, remove from heat.  In a sauce pan melt butter and add flour, cook for about one minute and then slowly whisk in the milk.  Cook until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, then add the cheese, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Add the pesto sauce, chicken and veggies, stir and pour over pasta.  Pour mixture into a large baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

I made some fantastic black bean soup a while back and thought I'd share the tasty recipe.  I adapted this recipe to suit our family's needs (mainly I left out the chiles, because spicy food makes my two year old cry). 

Black Bean Soup:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 16-ounce package dried black beans
1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chiles (optional, leave them out if you don't want spicy)
7 cups hot water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons  salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and both bell peppers and sauté for about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cumin; stir 1 minute. Transfer mixture to 6-quart slow cooker. Add beans and chipotles, then 7 cups hot water. Cover and cook on high until beans are very tender, about 6 hours. Transfer 2 cups bean mixture to blender; puree until smooth. Return puree to remaining soup in slow cooker. Stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper.  Top with a dollop of sour cream and serve with tortilla chips.  Enjoy!

Strawberries

We are loving our little strawberry patch.  We are picking about 30 strawberries a day from our 20 square foot bed.   Right now we are picking mostly Hood variety, but we are also getting some Seascapes and Tristars.  The Hoods are June bearing, smaller and sweeter strawberries.  The Seascapes and Tristars are bigger and will produce all Summer long.  So, what are we doing with all of these strawberries?  If they make it into the house, we are slicing them up and topping our granola, french toast, and puffed oven pancakes with them.  I've also made strawberry shortcake and strawberry rhubarb muffins. I have plans to make strawberry lemonade and I want to try a strawberry salad too.  Hope you're enjoying strawberry season as much as we are. If you don't have your own patch, check out pickyourown.org for a local farm to go pick your own.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I made these cookies after a friend put the recipe on Facebook.  They are gluten-free, and possibly the quickest cookie to make in the entire world, mainly because of the lack of ingredients.  They are also super fun to make with kids!  Enjoy!


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Whip the first five ingredients together until thoroughly mixed.  Add the peanut butter and mix until creamy.  Mix in chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate, but any kind would do).  Bake for 12-15 minutes. 

Little Things - Lemon Cubes

 I don't know about you, but I find that I am often in need of fresh lemon juice in recipes.  I use lemon juice and lemon zest in sauces, vinaigrettes, and for baking.  I also don't usually have fresh lemons on hand, and with two little ones at home, running to the store in between naps, snacks, dishes, and laundry isn't always an option.  I have the bottled lemon juice in my fridge, but nothing beats fresh lemon juice.

I don't know about you, but I find that I am often in need of fresh lemon juice in recipes.  I use lemon juice and lemon zest in sauces, vinaigrettes, and for baking.  I also don't usually have fresh lemons on hand, and with two little ones at home, running to the store in between naps, snacks, dishes, and laundry isn't always an option.  I have the bottled lemon juice in my fridge, but nothing beats fresh lemon juice.  I like to stock up on lemons, zest the rind, and juice the lemons.  Then I pour the juice and zest (in separate) ice cube trays, and I always have fresh (while frozen-fresh) lemons on hand.  Easy peasy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

With my rhubarb going crazy, and the first of my strawberries ripening, I knew I had to make some kind of strawberry rhubarb combination.  I was thinking of incorporating these two into an overnight baked french toast, which I'll still try at some point, but I decided on muffins...just because they are super easy.  These are not very sweet, and have quite a bit of tartness due to the rhubarb, so if you like a sweeter muffin, you can replace the agave with brown sugar. 

 

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup agave nectar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup oats

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped fresh rhubarb

1 cup chopped fresh strawberries 

2 tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts (just because I had them, you could use pecans or walnuts or nothing)

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, barking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in oats. Gently mix in the egg, milk and oil until just combined. Stir in rhubarb and strawberries.  Pour into a greased muffin tin, and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Enjoy!