Apple Blueberry Crisp (gf + df)

 

A couple weeks ago I went blueberry picking early in the morning with some friends.  I had never seen such gorgeous, juicy, huge blueberries.  They were a sight, for sure.

I picked a large bucket and happily returned home. Almost every day for the next week we found blueberries sneaking into every dish I was making.

I wanted to make a yummy gluten and dairy free treat and modified THIS recipe, by adding blueberries and doubling the toppings.

We brought it to a party with friends and it was well received by all.

I didn't serve it with ice cream, (though that would have been delicious)-- trying to keep it dairy free.  But, it was so tasty, it wasn't missed.

YUM!

Italian-Style Spaghetti Squash Bake

I haven't done a 

in a while.  

Try as I might, I'm just not as passionate about cooking as I am about sewing and other crafty things.

But, unfortunately for me...three meals must be made every day-- whether I want to bother or not.

So when I make a fun GF + DF meal, I'll try to do a better job with sharing it.

Kinda last minute last night I changed my recipe to this meal by Lexi's Clean Kitchen.

I had my spaghetti squash cooking and plans for a different meal when I noticed this one pinned on my pinterest board that I hadn't tried yet.

I had everything on hand already, so decided to go for it.

I wasn't sure what to serve with it.  I felt weird serving it with vegetables, since the whole thing is made of vegetables.  I almost did a salad, but we've been eating so much lately we needed a break.

So, last minute I served it with some white corn tortillas, topped with cheddar cheese.  My Wisconsin-born husband has taken a lot of things out of his diet these past two years and did a long time of no cheese-- but after reintroducing it lately has found that just eating a bit here and there is fine.  Cheese makes him happy-- as do new healthy meals.

This meal was really easy and very delicious.  All the kids really loved it.  My baby gobbled up three helpings.  It's definitely something we'll have often again.

Click here for the original post.

Click here for the printable recipe.

My New Favorite Cookbook

I've taken a little break from What's for Dinners Wednesdays.  But now I'm ready to start up again.

Today I thought I'd share with you The Dairy - free & Gluten-free Kitchen.

I found this book on Amazon.  I just typed in gluten and dairy free cookbook.  A few came up, but this one definitely looked the yummiest (I'm famous for judging books by their covers-- hasn't lead me wrong yet) so I bought it.  

I really struck gold with this one. Every meal I've tried has been delicious and so yummy. So far it's my only cookbook.  Dinners either come from this book or the internet. 

I love that each recipe is gluten and dairy free, plus at the top it also lists other things it's free of:

Sample view:  This was the first thing I ever made out of this book.  Yummy!!

Remember this fabulous pizza I shared a few months ago?

And one of our favorite dinners that we have almost once a week:  Chicken Vera Cruz.

It includes directions for making the black bean sauce.  I always love making this, especially before I mix it up.  Isn't it pretty?

After the beans are blended all up, you heat them on the stove. 

Here's how we like to eat it.  Chicken Vera Cruz, topped with homemade Pica de gallo sauce, served with cilantro rice, On the Border tortilla chips (naturally GF), and if we're really on the ball fresh pineapple.

Yum, a favorite for sure.

Thanks for joining me for:

Aidell's Sausage Fresh Stir fry w/ freshly grilled Pineapple.

I was walking around the grocery store last week, perusing the meat department when I came across one of our favorite sausages and to my utter surprise I learned they were Gluten Free.  We have purchased Aidells Sausages in our former eating life all the time because they were delicious-- and to learn that they're also something my husband can eat scores them Major Points. 

Last week I made up a recipe that turned out super tasty for dinner.

First I started with some Fresh Pineapple.  I had decided I wanted to make some grilled pineapple and I wanted it to look all fancy with the core cut out of the middle.  I was contemplating how to achieve this when I thought of this really cool kitchen gadget I have.  It's a biscuit/donut cutter that my husband bought me a few years ago.  I occurred to me that if I popped out the donut portion, I could use it to core my pineapple.  Worked like a charm.

I followed this recipe for my grilled pineapple.  But I used coconut oil (instead of butter to make it GF), which I thought would be really brilliant-- except that I didn't take into account that once I put my mixture into the fridge, the coconut oil would quickly solidify and not really adhere to the pineapple.

That's okay, it still worked and turned out yummy!  I cooked it on our George Foreman Grill.

For my Stir fry I first cooked all my vegetables in coconut oil, rice vinegar and teriyaki sauce.

Then I cut up and cooked the sausages.

Mixed it all together and it made for a super tasty meal.

Click HERE for the Printable recipe.

Aidell's Sausage Fresh Stir fry

Original recipe from Freshly Completed

http://freshlycompleted.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rice

2  TBS. Coconut Oil

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 chopped yellow pepper

1 cup Mushrooms chopped

1 cup Broccoli, chopped

1 small purple onion, chopped

2 TBS. (GF) Rice Vinegar

3 TBS. (GF) Teriyaki Glaze/Sauce

1 – 3 links of Aidells  Pineapple & Bacon Sausages, sliced

Directions

Cook 1 cup of rice. Chop up all vegetables and stir fry in fry pan until vegetables begin to soften (about 7 minutes).   Add cooked rice, rice vinegar, and teriyaki sauce to vegetables and stir for about 2 minutes longer.  Removed vegetable stir fry from pan and set aside.  Cook, sliced Aidells Sausages in pan until beginning to brown (about 5 minutes) stirring as needed.  Return vegetables to pan and continue to cook all together, stirring, until warmed.  Serve immediately.

Thanks for joining me today for:

Glazed Salmon with Broccoli Rice

Here's another great one from Real Simple, click here for the recipe.

Easy, delicious, quick to adapt to be gluten free (just make sure you use gluten free soy sauce).

I thought the salmon was really yummy this way.  The kids really liked it, too.

The "broccoli rice" I thought was a little strange.  But I guess true to it's description-- it was rice with broccoli in it. We served it with some yummy corn on the cob and it made for a really yummy meal.

Kielbasa + Potatoes

Kielbasa is one of those products that was introduced to me, by my husband  I am positive I never had it once growing up.  But turns out I really like it.

You can buy Kielbasa Gluten Free-- so of course that's a score.  I found this recipe via Life's Ambrosia and was excited to see that I could easily adapt it for my family.  It's quick and has a fantastic clean up, since you cook everything in one pan.

And I will mention that we cooked everything in coconut oil.  Since my husband has an intolerance to olives, that means no olive oil.  Darn it.  And since he's on a rotational diet, we have to always switch up which oils we do use.  It was because of this that I discovered coconut oil.  Have you ever used it?  It's fascinating   It tastes nothing like coconut, to me.  Put it in your hot pan and it melts in seconds.  I enjoy using it for cooking all the time.

Apparently there's a million uses for it-- like dry hair-- but it's so expensive I can't bring myself to use it for selfish pursuits-- like softer hair. 

 Again, this recipe is really simple.  Grab all your ingredients.

Chop 'em up and cook.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

Kielbasa and Potatoes

Ingredients

2  TBS. Coconut Oil (or Olive oil)

4 medium size Potatoes, diced

Sea salt and black pepper

1 Red Onion, chopped in wedges

2 Tomatoes, diced

1 pound GF Kielbasa

Directions

Chop up all ingredients. Boil potatoes about 6-8 minutes in large pot (until just beginning to get soft). Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add drained, boiled potatoes.  Season with sea salt and pepper.  Cook without stirring about 5 minutes.  Stir potatoes.  Cook another 5 minutes.  Stir.

Stir in onion.  Cook 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes.  Cook 5 minutes.  Add Kielbasa.  Continue cooking until everything is crispy, brown and ready to eat (5-10 more minutes).  

Thanks for joining me for another round of

Skirt Steak and Sweet Potatoes with Herb Sauce

After discovering Real Simple as a place for...wait for it...real simple recipes.  I went back there to see if they had any more that were simple, easy, and free of all the things we were no longer eating for dinner.

While snooping around I found this one:

Skirt Steak and Potatoes with Herb Sauce from Real Simple.

We thought it was really yummy and quick (maybe 25 minutes total).  I loved the new way to prepare sweet potatoes and using up the fresh herbs.  It was my first time buying a skirt steak.  I have since made this recipe but substituted steak for pork chops.  That was possibly even better.

Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Cauliflower Puree, and Asparagus

As you can imagine when we heard the sentence news of all the different food that my husband could no longer eat, it was rather distressing.  He, for obvious reasons and I suppose Me for selfish reasons.  

I had a full day of "Poor me!" as I realized that cooking was about to get 100% harder.  My husband likes to cook, but working full time on his PhD doesn't allow for a lot of extra time for anything.  Usually he's working at school late, but if he does manage to come home for dinner he's walking in at 6:30.  So dinner time, by necessity  is placed squarely on my shoulders. Cooking, something I've never particularly enjoyed in the first place-- and take out all the dinners I was used to cooking = Poor Me.

I was still in the swallows of Poor Me when I was reading Real Simple Magazine.

I came across their 20 minute dinner section and was shocked to see a dinner listed there that looked equal parts yummy and something he could eat.

I quickly tore this recipe out of the magazine, and after acquiring the ingredients made it a few days later.

Thoughts?

We LOVED it!

It had everything we needed simple, delicious, and free of all the crazy things he could no longer eat.

 

Visit Real Simple for the full recipe.

CLICK HERE for my printable version.

Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Cauliflower Puree, and Asparagus

Recipe adapted from Real Simple Magazine.

http://freshlycompleted.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

1  cauliflower cut into small florets

2  TBS  dairy free butter

Sea salt and black pepper

1  TBS  safflower oil (or olive oil)

1 1/2  pounds steak, cut into 4 pieces

10  ounces mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

1/2  cup  balsamic vinegar (or red or white wine)

1 bundle of asparagus, snap off the tough ends

Directions

Steam the cauliflower in a large pot until very tender, 18 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, add the butter, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and puree until smooth. 

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing; reserve the skillet. Add the mushrooms to the drippings in the skillet and cook, tossing occasionally, until browned and tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the vinegar (or wine) and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and syrupy, 2 to 3 minutes more; season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. 

Meanwhile steam or boil the asparagus 5-8 minutes.

 Serve the steak with the cauliflower puree. Top with the mushroom sauce.  Asparagus on the side.

Also, I will mention on the side of the recipe in the magazine it mentions that you can substitute balsamic vinegar for red wine, which we usually do.  We've done it both ways and prefer the balsamic vinegar better.  

Oh, and of course, we use dairy free butter.

This is a special dinner for me.  Not only do we always enjoy eating it, but it was a symbol to me that this new lifestyle of eating could be done and figured out.  It would take work-- but it would be worth it.

GF + DF Delicious Lemon Orange Cream Frosting

I'm excited to share with you one of the first things I ever made that was both Gluten and Dairy Free.

About 4 weeks after learning of all the changes we needed to make for my husband's diet, it was going to be his birthday.  I was extremely worried that I wasn't going to be able to make him anything edible for him to enjoy on his special day.

I spent weeks online trying to figure out HOW I was going to manage the most simplest thing...a birthday cake. (Remember I was still really new at this).

I started on Amazon and typed in gluten and dairy free white cake.

Then I proceeded to buy 6 Bob's Red Mill Vanilla cake mixes.

Then I spent several days looking online for a simple frosting that I could make.

Many of the recipes included crazy ingredients I hadn't yet acquired.

I wanted a simple recipe.  Everything was too much to handle already.  I needed a simple frosting recipe to make for my husband.  So I made one up.  

I was super proud of my recipe.  The cake and the frosting were delicious.  

Believe me, I gave myself a huge pat on the back for this one. I stored the cake in the fridge and I loved the cool, refreshing, delicious cake.

Click here for the Printable Recipe.

Lemon + Orange Cream Frosting

An original gluten and dairy free recipe from Freshly Completed.

http://freshlycompleted.blogspot.com/

Makes enough to frost tops and sides of two 9-inch cake layers

Start to Finish 20 minutes.

·                   2Ingredients

½ C. Non-dairy Butter (Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread)

1 tsp. Vanilla

5 1/2 cups sifted Powdered Sugar

¼ C. Lemon Juice

2 Tbs. Orange Peel zest

Directions

Beat non-dairy butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add powdered sugar alternately with Lemon juice beating well after each addition.  Add 1 tbs. orange peel zest and beat until nice and fluffy.  Frost cake.  Add last tablespoon of orange peel zest to top of cake.  Enjoy!

And since I wasn't planning at the time to blog about this cake I don't have any fancy pictures.  But here are some from his special day.  And where as I stressed and spent weeks planning his birthday cake...I spent 0 time thinking about his birthday candles.  

He's pretending to blow these "candles" out.  I just added some in post editing.

Thanks for joining me in my first What's for Dinner Wednesdays?

Okay, I know this isn't dinner...but you get the idea.