My New Dairy and Gluten Free Life

Gluten Free Chili

2009-03-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

1 Whole Onion Chopped

2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2t Minced Garlic

1 ½ lbs Ground Turkey 85/15

1 14.5 oz Can Diced Tomatoes

2 Cans Light Red Kidney Beans Drained and Rinsed

1 Can Red Beans Drained and Rinsed

4T Chili Powder

2T Cumin Powder

1C Water

First, sauté the onion and olive oil on med. heat. Once the onions are clear add garlic and sauté’ a few minutes longer. Add turkey and sauté till turkey is not pink. Add the tomatoes and a dash of salt and pepper. Once combined place it in a crock pot. Rinse the beans and add to mixture with the chili powder and cumin and water. Cook on high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 8. Stir mixture every few hours. Also, taste every few hours and add more chili powder or cumin to taste.

2009-03-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Southwestern-Flavored Ground Beef or Turkey for Tacos & Salad

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup cornmeal

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet until shimmering. Add onion; saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano and cumin; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef or turkey and cook, stirring often, until it loses its raw color. Stir in tomatoes; simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornmeal; cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens, almost instantly. Cool and refrigerate (or serve warm for dinner as tacos or taco salad).

New Favorite Junk Foods

2009-02-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I'm still getting used to this lifestyle. It's been a challenge and I did go off it for about 2 - 3 weeks. It was complete hell and I felt horrible!!!! Although, It's only been six months and I'm finding that a lot of people have that problem when they first start up. I've also had some time to figure things out that I like.
These are chocolate covered strawberries, raspberries, and pretzels. I have to use chocolate that has no milk...which is harder than you might think. Most dark chocolate has mile or milk fat in it. I use the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. They just have traces of milk in them. I melt them with another new favorite thing I use....coconut oil. I LOVE coconut oil and I think it's saved me!

Here is another food item I have fallen in love with......taquitos!!! These are awesome!!! You can add just about anything to them. Tomorrow night we are going to try a fajita taquito with steak, onions, bell peppers.....you get the idea. The best way to make them is warm up the cort tortillas with some oil...I use coconut oil. That way they are more plyable for rolling. Then, pop them in the oven in 425 for about 15 mins. Don't forget to flip them half way.
Here are my new favorite pretzles. Theses are the ones I covered in chocolate. They are AWESOME!!!!!
Last but not least. These are rice crispy treats made with coconut oil. I fed these to my neice, who is a VERY picky eater, she wanted me to make sure I gave her Mom the recipe.

2008-12-03T11:42:00.001-08:00

1 C of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C of Smart Balance Vegan butter
2 eggs
1 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 C sweet rice flour
1/4 C brown rice flour
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t baking soda
2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Microwave the chocolate and butter till melted and mixed together.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs on medium high till frothy. Add the brown sugar and beat until mixture is smooth.

Add the melted chocolate mixture slowly into the egg mixture, then beat for a good min. It will look smooth and glossy. Add vanilla and beat again.

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients, whisk together. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat for a min.

The batter will seem too runny, but it's perfect, trust me. Then add extra chocolate chips or nuts. Bake for 33-35 min.

These taste better if they have been sitting awhile. Especially the day after cooking them. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-11-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

I know I'm doing a lot of pumpkin these days, but it is the fall. So here is another awesome recipe. I originally got it from Allrecipes.com. It's Pumpkin Cookies IV, but after looking it over I made a few changes.

1 t baking soda
1 t gluten~free baking powder
1 T ground Cinnamon
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1 C sweet white rice flour
3/4 C potato starch
1 t salt
1/2 C butter flavored shortening
1 C brown sugar
1/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1 C canned pumpkin
1/2 C chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. sift dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl cream the shortening and the sugars. Then, add pumpkin and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Beat till smooth.
3 place on prepared cookie sheet and flatten a bit with your fingers. Batter will be sticky.
4. Bake 9-12 min.

Even Mckenzie liked them. She took one and hid in her Thomas tent.

Look at that smile. Now that's a happy kid with a gluten free cookie, and she doesn't even need to have gluten free.

Pumpkin Bread

2008-11-01T19:49:00.001-07:00

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
4 eggs or egg substitute
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup of water
3 cups of sugar
3 1/2 cups of gluten free flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves - optional
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Spray with cooking spray three 7 x3 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 min in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I gave this to a lady I visit teach and she couldn't tell the difference. It's really good, maybe because all fo the sugar!

White Chicken Chili

2008-11-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 (4 oz) can of chopped green chilies
4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground dried oregano
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
4 cups of water
4-5 chicken bullion chicken cubes
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast - I just used a rotisserie chicken from Costco
3 (15 oz) cans of great northern beans
1/4 c corn starch

First I spray a pan with cooking spray and saute the onion and green chilies. Then, I add the corn starch and mix it up. It will be very clumpy, it's ok. Next, add all the ingredients to a crock pot and keep on low for about 5 hours. Sometimes I keep it on high for about an hour and then turn it to low till it's time to eat. Really good with blue corn ships.

Gluten Free Flour

2008-11-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

1C Corn Starch
1C Tapioca Flour
1C White Rice
1 TBS Potato Flour

Always add 1 tsp of xanthan gum per cup used.

I double this and mix it up in a Tupperware and keep it in the refrigerator.

Here we go

2008-10-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

So, a few months ago I was asked to cut things out of my diet because of symptoms I've been having that were getting worse and worse. It all started well back before I was married. I've always had bad eczema on my hands. Sometimes I would eat things and then just break out in hives. Then, things got worse after I had Mckenzie. I started to have this horrible cough. I mean it was horrible!!!! I was driving Ryan crazy at night. I even got stress fractures in a rib whil I was training for a half marathon from coughing so much when I ran. It was crazy!

So, now that we have decent insurance I thought I'd go to a dermatologist for the eczema. She said it was a caused by a food allergy. She also found out about my coughing and became more certain it was a food allergy. So, she gave me certain foods to eliminate every month. Next month is eggs! Ahhh.

My New Blog

2008-10-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

I've started this blog because I was recently told that I needed to eliminate some things from my diet. Last month I took out dairy. This month I had to add gluten to it and wheat. Not as easy to do as the dairy. So, I thought I would jot down some thought of this journey along the way. This has been a complete life style change. I had to do this a bit when I was nursing Mckenzie, but I knew that after I was done I could dive into a supersized banana split. I'm afraid those days are over. I thought I would post some of my recipes that I've been making lately.

If anyone has any recipes that are dairy and gluten free please let me know:)