Craving Cinnamon Rolls...

Thanks to a fantastic baking mix I found I have been able to get creative with baked goods.  I have yet to figure out a good yeast raised roll recipe but in the meantime these will work. :) 

Baking mix, maple syrup, butter, cinnamon, almond milk and SO tasty :) 

The next day I tweaked it a bit for blueberry biscuits.. also fantastic! 

The gluten free- sugar/sweetener free mix I found is from Walmart.  I'm trying to find a link for it online but haven't had much luck. I will update with the name/brand shortly.  

Pizza as it looks now

I have discovered cauliflower crust pizza. It's wonderful. It definitely gets the job done giving up traditional pizza. I still miss tomatoes but this satisfies for crust! 

Roasted garlic, ham and kale pizza

Home made turkey sausage, black olive and green pepper pizza 

Garbage pizza (last night's leftovers, today's pizza- green bean, black olive, pepperoni, ham, Swiss, corn, chicken , mushroom) 

Mac and cheese, because it's my favorite

It has been way too long since I have had Mac and cheese. It is one of my top three favorite foods! Tonight for dinner I made gluten free extra sharp white cheddar Mac and it was fannnntastic. 

Heavenly carrot cake

Gluten free, sugar free carrot cake with maple cinnamon icing 

Cauli-crust

I tried my first cauliflower crust tonight and I have to say it is amazing! 

1 c shredded/minced cauliflower

1 egg

1 c mozzarella cheese

Season to taste

Cook for 13 mins on 450

Top however you like

Cook for 10 mins or until cheese is brown and melted

It is far better than I ever imagined! 

Good-bye Gluten!

So it would appear that Celiac's is the primary cause for my issues.  We are just at the end of getting an official diagnosis but it is the thing that all specialists, myself and my family agree fits every test, every mri, every symptom, and of course the diet changes are a bit indicator of diet related issues. I just went through a week long gluten challenge, adding much gluten and all triggers back into my diet to see how I responded with pain/skin/etc and to follow up with labs to see if they show a more clear picture with a flair going on.

So here on out.. it's no:

Sugar
Milk
Soy
Tomatoes
Gluten
Raw Garlic
Raw Onion

Peanut butter no-bake heaven!

Gluten, dairy and sugar free no-bakes! 

1/2c melted coconut oil

3T honey 

1/2c unsweetened peanut butter

Add oats until thicker texture ( approx 1-1 1/2c)

Mix together coconut oil, honey and peanut butter. Stir in oats. Scoop into mini muffin tins and freeze approx 15 mins. Pop out of tin into Baggie or container and store in fridge. 

Yummy x infinity! 

Couscous, where have you been my whole life?

I have recently rediscovered couscous and I'm in love. I make it with a little olive oil and chicken stock then butter to finish.

We have been adding more grains and couscous cooks so quickly and easily it is great in a pinch! 

Tonight's dinner:

Grilled chicken and potatoes over whole wheat chicken couscous with tzatsiki sauce ( Greek cucumber yogurt sauce.) 

Yummy! 

Chocolate!!

I found a recipe for home made dark chocolate and tweaked it with coconut oil since I didn't have cocoa butter. 

Honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla and cocoa powder. I poured it into my bear molds and added some chopped cashews. After a bit in the freezer they easily popped out and I store them in the fridge. 

Round 2 was a peanut butter chocolate bark. I smeared unsweetened peanut butter in a pan, poured the chocolate mix on top, frozen to set then chopped into pieces. The peanut butter is a but sticky so I store this in the freezer.

This definitely satisfied my sweet tooth while helping me to get my daily coconut oil. 

Bread

I've been on an adventure to find a good bread recipe. Here are a few I've worked through. 

Almond honey bread:

Almond flour, whole wheat flour, honey, almond milk, coconut oil and butter

To go with the amazing warm bread coming out of the oven I started making chia jam!

Strawberry rhubarb chia jam:

Honey, strawberries, rhubarb and chia. 

I've also made a plain strawberry version that is just as tasty! I eat this stuff on everything! My favorites are yogurt and warm bread. My family likes it on vanilla ice cream. 

Oat wheat bread:

Oat flour, whole wheat, egg, half and half, coconut oil, butter, honey and water

Hummus flatbread/crust:

We ate this with chicken, cous cous and Greek cucumber sauce then made a chicken three cheese flatbread  on the leftovers for dinner.

It was nice and crusty! 

Garbonzo bean flour, water, olive oil, sea salt, while wheat flour 

In the end the oat wheat loaf is my favorite. I make I weekly and my kids love it also. The flatbread is super tasty also with a great crunch to it. 

Bread is back on the menu! Color me happy! :)

Heaven in a Bowl

My new favorite food- Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae 

Black bean brownies with Peanut Butter Chip Frozen Yogurt (previously posted)

Brownies:

Oats

Black beans

Honey

Cocoa powder

Vanilla

Dark chocolate chips

Walnuts

Coconut oil 

Baking powder 

Ginger chicken and black bean lettuce wraps

I've tried more and more to use leftovers in new ways. Today was a "cleaning out the fridge" lunch. The results...

Ginger chicken and black bean lettuce wraps:

Grilled chicken breast

Evoo-ginger-soy sauce-garlic-honey-hot sauce

Black beans

Quinoa

Onions

Peppers

Peanuts

Broccoli

Carrots

Iceberg lettuce

(I prefer water chestnuts in my wraps for the crunch, but these are great for leftovers )

Friday Night Special

We just had a fantastic dinner- all made within restrictions. 

Seared Scallops over quinoa with White Wine Mushroom Cream Sauce:

Scallops seared in butter

Quinoa made with chicken stock 

Sauce- mushrooms, onion, olive oil, white wine, salt, pepper and Greek yogurt 

 It was my first time searing scallops at home and I have to say they were perfection! I think seeing so many poorly made scallops on Hell's Kitchen inspired me to pay more attention. If you watch the show you know the scallop station is always a challenge. 

Following that I made a pie today. I was attempting pie crust with alternate ingredients. Pie is one of my major food groups, you know along with cheese, coffee, bread and potatoes. 

So attempting home made pie crust for the first time and with alternate ingredients my expectations were low. The results were fantastic! The crust is super flaky and tasty. The only place I notice a big difference is the edges. I don't long to break the crust edge off on the entire pie to eat alone as I do with regular crust. But this is a much healthier version and very good. 

Triple Berry Pie:

Crust- almond flour, unbleached flour, coconut oil, egg, vinegar, water, salt

Filling- strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raw local honey, chia gelled, egg, dash of unbleached flour 

It's been a very tasty evening in! 

Peanut butter chip frozen yogurt

So I made some tasty dessert tonight for myself. Enter Peanut butter chip frozen yogurt:

Greek yogurt

Honey

Fresh peanut butter

Coconut oil

Semi sweet mini chips*

* yes, I know semi sweet mini chips have a small amount of milk and sugar. They are a cheat for me. It's a small amount of cheating that adds a lot of happy to lots of things I've made. So I let it slide :)

I'm trying not to eat it all in one sitting! It's amazing!

Alternate flours - and the art of pancake making

I have been working on a pancake for myself with alternate flours. Today I found a mix that is everything I dream about in a pancake.

Pecan pancakes:

Almond flour

Almond milk

Honey

Flax meal

Baking powder

Egg

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Pecans

Cooked in butter

Also this week I attempted chicken tenders fried in olive oil. 

I dredged in a beaten egg with honey and a mix of:

Brown rice flour

Flax meal

Salt *pepper* garlic powder

They were excellent!! The flax was very much like a Panko texture. I will make these again! 

Veggies on the menu

Snack time - steamed artichoke with herb butter 

Parmesan garlic roasted spaghetti squash to go with our leftovers: 

Mango Cream

I'm not a huge ice cream fan but the rest of my family loves it. I like to keep something sweet on hand and easily accessible if possible. Tonight I decided to put together something Ice cream like and see what happened. It's amazing. 

I give you Mango Cream ( frozen yogurt/ice cream) 

Frozen mangoes

Frozen pineapple 

Honey

Full fat Greek yogurt 

Almond milk ( unsweetened) 

Vanilla 

My two year old just fought me for my bowl. Even my husband said he would eat it. It was that good. Definitely a win! 

Spice cake

Just made a tasty spice cake as an afternoon treat for the kids and myself 

Almond flour

Brown rice flour

Honey

Pecans

Unsweetened applesauce

Nutmeg-ginger-allspice 

Egg

Oats

Butter and honey on top 

It's wonderful! 

Tonight is birthday dinner for my mom. Trying to make it special and still make it something I can eat. I'll let you know how it goes. 

A Super Bowl feast even I could eat

I was hungry by the time this was done so I ate before I photographed :) 

Left to right...

teriyaki turkey meatballs:

Ground turkey

Rice flour

Salt- pepper-garlic

Almond milk

Sauce

Soy sauce

Honey

Garlic

Ginger

Olive oil

Sausage stuffed mushrooms

Sausage

Brown rice flour

Onion

Portabello mushrooms

Seasoning

Butter

Buffalo chicken dip

Chicken

Greek yogurt

Cream cheese

We were out of Frank's sooo Texas Pete 

Blue cheese

Corn chips and whole grain wheat bread to dip

Salad with home made creamy balsamic dressing 

Need to do better

So I made a few exceptions this week. We had pizza (no tomato sauce but white flour crust), I had a cookie and I did eat a tomato at a store tasting a sample. It sis me go over well. This was all within 24 hours and my hands went nuts. 

As of yesterday the cracks were so many and so painful as well as new blisters that I could not grip with either hand. I was very strict yesterday with diet and today already I am seeing improvement. I have to remember this is not like a weight loss diet where a few exceptions now and then won't break the bank. The impact is quick and painful. I need my hands.. Therefore I need to be more careful always.