Chicken Reuben Paninis

Last week we went on our first family camping trip in the Smokies.  We got a lot of "stares" and a lot of "awes" and it seems like it took forever for us to do anything... most likely people were thinking we were crazy camping with an 11 month old and a Golden Retriever.  It was quite the experience.  I'll leave it at that.  

After two days of camping and living off of trail mix and hot dogs, we were ready for a good meal.  And we got one... but I'm not going to talk about that amazing meal... I'm going to talk about my inspiration for this Reuben.  While traveling with a dog, it's hard to go out to restaurants, but take out isn't the greatest either... we took our chance and ordered some sandwiches from a local place in Gatlinburg.  They were really good for take out sandwiches, but the problem with takeout is that it gets soggy.  I wanted to recreate my Chicken Reuben that I ordered and let me tell you... I nailed it.  I think mine was way better.  Nick even said "man if you had a restaurant, you could definitely serve this."  Yeah buddy!  I had really low expectations for this sandwich because normally when I throw things together, they turn out like a bag of garbage on a plate.  But this was amazing.  And it's so versatile, you can adapt it to your taste! I'm definitely making this again.  Soooo delicious and unique!  

Enjoy!

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Chicken Reuben Paninis

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 large ciabatta rolls

2 cups shredded chicken (I used leftover from a rotisserie chicken)

1 cup of broccoli slaw

2 Tbsp. poppyseed dressing (optional)

3/4 cup thousand island dressing (recipe below)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (use whatever cheese you like!)

Directions: 

Combine broccoli slaw and poppy seed dressing until well mixed.  Add shredded chicken and toss.  Add thousand island dressing and cheese and mix well.  

Scoop out mixture onto sliced ciabatta rolls and spread evenly.  Place in a panini press for 3 minutes or, in my case, use a makeshift panini press... I place the sandwiches on a hot griddle and weigh it down with a cast iron skillet.  After 2-3 minutes, flip sandwiches and grill bottom.  They turn out amazing and I don't have extra panini press clutter in my cupboards!  After you are finished grilling, let cool for a minute and slice.  

Thousand Island Dressing

Makes: 3/4 cup for Reubens

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup mayo

2 Tbsp. ketchup

3 Tbsp. chopped pickle (or 2 Tbsp. relish)

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together until combined.  Store unused dressing in refrigerator.   

Caprese Mac and Cheese

Summer is here! You know what that means... fresh tomatoes... fresh basil... this calls for "caprese-ing" everything! I've made caprese risotto, caprese orzo pasta salad, caprese bruschetta... adding tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella to everything is what it's all about. This time, I made Caprese Mac and Cheese.  I seriously love this recipe.  It's so easy, but looks fancy.  You can serve it with anything on the grill and it's not as "boring" as regular mac and cheese.  Serve it to your guests and you will blow them away... or just make it for a quick and easy dinner! We served it with BBQ chicken sandwiches and it was a huge hit for our 11 month old.  I seriously have never seen him eat that much for dinner in his little life.  I'm adding it to his "favorite meals" list so we can make this more often.  Enjoy!

Caprese Mac and Cheese

Serves: 10-12 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 16 oz package of elbow noodles (rice noodles for gluten free)

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour (use rice flour for gluten free)

1-2 cups of milk (I used whole, but use what you have on hand)

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

10-12 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium sauce pot, boil noodles according to package instructions (7-10 minutes, don't overcook as they will continue to cook in the sauce) Strain and set aside until needed.

Meanwhile, make a roux in a large sauce pot.  Melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk butter and flour for 2 minutes on low heat and then add 1 cup of milk.  Turn heat to medium high and whisk until there are no more flour clump.  Turn to low and let thicken gradually whisking as you go.  Add the shredded cheese and whisk until melted, adding milk if needed.  

Pour the noodles into the sauce and stir. Add more milk to make creamier.  At the very end, add tomatoes and basil and give a quick stir.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

That's it!

Homemade Bagels with Cinnamon Cream Cheese

I've been making a lot of bread items lately because... well they are just so much better than store bought anything!  I love love love bagels, but am finding that the store bought ones are just tasting fake to me. I know, I'm a bread snob.  But you just can't get home made fresh awesomeness in the store.  

These were terrific!  Exactly what I needed to get my fix.  And the cinnamon cream cheese was just an added bonus, I just happened to have cream cheese on hand.  These would be awesome and easy to make ahead and serve to overnight guests with some fruit and a cup of coffee! Oh man, I think I might have to make these again this weekend!  

Baby is up from his nap so I'll stop yackin and let you get to baking!

Enjoy!

Bagels
Makes: 6

Ingredients:

Dough
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups unbleached organic flour

Poaching Liquid
2-3 quarts water
1 1/2 tablespoons honey (optional)
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt


Directions: 
To make the dough, stir the honey, yeast and water into a large mixing bowl or bowl of your stand mixer.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy.  Add the flour and salt to the mixer and mix with the dough hook on lowest speed for 3 minutes, until well blended.  The dough should form a stiff ball, but should be plenty hydrated.  If it isn't add water. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. 

Resume mixing with dough hook on low for another 3 minutes, or transfer to a floured work surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes. The dough should be stiff, but barely tacky feeling.  If it seems too soft or tacky, add flour. 

Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or wet towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 

To shape the bagels, prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or silicone mat, then lightly coat it with oil. Divide the dough into 6-8 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a lose ball.  Roll the ball into an 8 inch rope.  Hold one end of the rope in your hand and wrap around hand, overlap the two ends by 2 inches and press the ends together to seal.  You can then play with it to even out the thickness. 

Place each shaped bagel on the prepared sheet pan and mist with a light coating of oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. (I made these once refrigerating the and once without and there wasn't a huge difference, they are better refrigerated, but it's not going to ruin them if you don't have the time.)

Remove bagels from the refrigerator 60-90 minutes before you plan to bake them and let them rest.  About 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 500 F.  

To make the poaching liquid, fill a large pot with 2-3 quarts of water, making sure the water is at least 4 inches deep.  Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a simmer.  Stir in the honey, baking soda and salt. 

Gently lower each bagel into the poaching liquid, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. They should float to the surface within 15 seconds.  After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over.  Poach or another 30-60 seconds, then use a slotted spoon to transfer it back to the baking pan. 

When all bagels are poached, transfer the pan of bagels to the over, then lower heat to 450F.

Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate pan and bake for another 8 minutes, until bagels are golden brown. 

Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing. 

Serve with cinnamon cream cheese spread. 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese

Ingredients: 
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Cream all ingredients together until smooth.  Serve over bagels.  Store in refrigerator. 

Fondue Chocolate Truffles

Welcome back to me! It has been a while.  Not that I haven't been cooking and even taking photos of my food, I just started a new website and wanted to incorporate my food blog into that. Turns out, my indecisiveness and lack of time will prevent me from doing said task.  Meanwhile, I have plenty of recipes to post!  I wanted to start with my favorite (or the one I could find a pic to... I'm not very organized these days).  I know it's not fondue season (september-march), but I made these after my Oscars fondue party (back in february) and they were amazing!

I love having fondue parties!  They are quite simple as long as you don't go overboard (and you don't need to), but they seem very fancy and fun!  I always start with cheese, then meats and finally end with chocolate for dessert.  Sadly, sometimes we indulge so much on the cheese and meats that the poor chocolate barely gets dipped in to.  Shocker... I know. I had a ton of chocolate left over from this last fondue extravaganza and I didn't want to waste it... but I also didn't want to reheat it the next day for just the two of us.  So I decided to make truffles. Boy were they amazing!! It was kind of one of those "well if they don't turn out, they were going to go to waste anyway" sort of recipes and, for once, they didn't become a disaster!  I loved them so much! They were gone within a day in our house. Now that I think about it... that was a lot of chocolate for us to eat in a short amount of time... oh well, that was February.  

Enjoy!

Fondue Chocolate Truffles
Makes: a couple dozen depending on how much chocolate you have left over

Ingredients:
Left over fondue chocolate (see fondue chocolate recipe below)
Dippers (Chopped nuts, sprinkles, cocoa powder etc.)

Directions:
Place chocolate in a container and refrigerate over night to harden.  Once hardened, take a spoon or melon baller, scoop out by the tablespoon and roll into balls.  Roll into various dippers like crushed nuts or cocoa.  You will have to work fast with these as they tend to melt quickly.  I stored mine in the refrigerator.  You'll also want to eat within a day or the nuts will become soggy. 

Fondue Chocolate Recipe:
1 lb good quality chocolate chips (I use Simple Truth Organic, they are amazing)
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

Add 2 cups of cream to the fondue pot. Gradually stir in 1 lb of chocolate chips until melted and add vanilla at the end.  Serve with strawberries, marshmallows, banana, pineapple, cookies, brownies, rice crispy treats... whatever is good dipped in chocolate!! 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies

My aunt gave me this chocolate chip cookie peanut butter oat recipe a while ago and it's by far my favorite cookie.  They taste the best on a road trip.  Don't know why that is, but now I have to make them for every road trip we take.  Guess what? We have a road trip coming up!  Over the years, I have tried making these cookies to suit those with certain diet restrictions.  I originally made them gluten free and they were just as delicious! And for some reason, you feel like you can eat more because they are gluten free.  This time, I made them gluten and refined sugar free.  Guess what? They turned out great! They are a little less sweet than the original recipe (you're taking out a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown sugar and replacing it with 1/2 cup honey), but they are soooo good! Great for road trips because they aren't completely terrible for you and they are pretty filling.  I'm so excited for our road trip just so I can eat more of these cookies! 

P.S. I totally wasn't planning on using this photo, but it's the only one I had... as you can tell, my silicon baking mat is loved. 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies
Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter   
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1/2 cup raw honey

1 cup organic creamy peanut butter (make sure there is no added sugar)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups oat flour (I just grind up gluten free oats in a blender until powdery)

1 cup gluten free oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups homemade refined sugar free chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 

In another large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until everything comes together. 

Blob by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet and flatten.  Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet.  Move to a cooling rack to harden. (may take longer to harden because of the honey) Enjoy!

Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chip cookies need to be a staple in every child's diet regardless of food allergies or sensitivities.  My mission... to create a chocolate chip cookie using only natural/healthy sweeteners, no refined sugars.  In the past, I'd just take a cookie recipe and search the grocery store for chocolate chips with no refined sugars.  Being that I normally do my grocery shopping with a 5 month old... reading every label in the store was not an option.  Plus, I had no luck with the research that I did do... so I decided to make my own using limited natural ingredients with no preservatives.  

These chocolate chips are absolutely delicious.  I swear I chowed down on at least a half cup while making them.  Super addicting, but make sure to save some for the cookies!

Chocolate Chips

Makes: 2 cups (depending on how much chocolate you eat while cooling)

Ingredients:

4 oz organic unsweetened baking chocolate (if you don't have organic in your store, the regular is fine)

1/4 cup raw honey (this will make similar to a semi-sweet chocolate... add more to make sweeter)

3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions:

Break the chocolate into smaller 1/2 oz pieces.  In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  Add honey, coconut oil, sea salt and vanilla and stir until smooth.  

Let sit out in a cool place for a few hours until hardened, somewhat like the consistency of peanut butter.  To speed the process, move to fridge, but don't forget it or it'll get hard and you'll have to start over melting it.  

Meanwhile, cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  Stick in freezer for 15 minutes. (or hours if you forget it)

When the chocolate is the right consistency, spoon into a piping bag with a larger round tip or a zip lock bag.  If using a zip lock bag, snip the corner of the bag to make a nice tip to pipe the chocolate out of.  Pipe small chocolate chips onto the frozen baking sheet.  When finished, place baking sheet in freezer for another hour to completely harden the chocolate chips.  

Scrape the chocolate chips off the pan with a spatula into a storage container and store in the freezer until ready to use.  

These are very soft chocolate chips so if using in a cookie recipe, make sure you add them right at the end with minimal stirring so they don't melt in the dough or just add them to the top of a cookie at the end of baking.  When I made my cookies, I added them right at the end and stirred only to combine and they were fine.  Store in freezer.

French Bread

I have been making my own bread now for about 3+ years, but have been so intimidated to venture outside of the loaf... until today.  This French Bread is so delicious and quite easy!  I made it with a non-napping four month old around to help.  When it came out of the oven, I admit, I had three slices.   It was so good and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  This will be so good to make sub sandwiches out of and garlic toast and I can think of a million more things.  I'm so excited I found this recipe!  Enjoy

French Bread

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water

Directions:

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 1.5 cups flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in additional flour until a sticky dough forms.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  

Place in an oiled bowl, covered with a wet dish cloth, in a warm spot fro 45 minutes to an hour until it doubles in size. 

Punch down dough and roll out into a rectangle.  Roll up the short ways and place seam side down on a cookie sheet.  Let rise in a warm spot again for 45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use a sharp knife to make 4 diagonal slices on the top of the loaf.  Place loaf in oven for 15-20 minutes, until nice and browned on the top.  Cool on wire rack. 

Delicious and Easy Graham Crackers

I was in the baking mood today, but wanted to make something with the limited ingredients I had on hand ... rewind ... I was craving something sweet today and didn't have chocolate chips on hand... so I decided to make these graham crackers since I've been in a graham crakery mood lately, since there is no chocolate around. 

Anyway, these were so delicious and made from normal pantry ingredients. No eggs, no butter, no refined sugar! I just happened to have a stash of coconut sugar in my pantry, but you could totally use brown or white sugar in these and it would taste just as good.  I like the coconut sugar because it has a nice, kind of, molassey flavor. (I keep ending everything in Y and spell check is getting mad at me).  You could absolutely sub butter for the coconut oil, but coconut oil is healthier... so if you're going for the health factor than coconut oil it is.  Also, to make gluten free, you could easily sub a gluten free all purpose flour.  Enjoy! These were so delicious!

Graham Crackers
Makes: 8 large crackers (depending on the thickness you make them)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose organic flour (may sub whole wheat or gluten free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 Tablespoons warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until the mixture begins to clump together. Fold the dough with hands until all is evenly combined and forms a ball. Sprinkle some flour on a flat table surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough down to the thickness of a typical graham cracker. Cut into rectangles and place on a baking sheet. You can use a skewer, chopstick or fork to poke holes so it resembles a store bought graham cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until crispy.  This may vary depending on the thickness of the cracker.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown too much. 

adapted from organic authority

Natural Baby Teething Remedy

Nobody ever warned me about teething baby syndrome... It's pretty much a nightmare.  The array of symptoms are endless.  You know how you go on WebMD and immediately have cancer... well there is a baby teething version of that too... Baby pulls on ears, baby has mucusy diarrhea, baby has a mild fever, rosy cheeks, fussiness, pretty much anything under the sun and you constantly wonder if you need to take your baby in or if they are just teething.  I was lucky... my baby started teething at 8 weeks.  Yep, we were just getting used to no sleep figuring out ways to calm him when I look in his mouth and see two little white nubs.  And guess what... He's 4 months now and no actual teeth! That's because teeth can move up and down before they actually break through and stop hurting.  Isn't the human body wonderful?

We have tried several teething remedies including wash cloths, teething rings, stuffed animals, gels, the works... but when your baby is so small, you have limited options.  This recipe was sent to me by my sister in law when I needed something to ease the pain, but didn't want to immediately grab the Tylenol.  While waiting for my oils to arrive in the mail, I bought a homeopathic gel at a health food store just to get us by... for $16.  I put it on my little ones red inflamed gums and... wait for it... nothing. I put it on my gums just to see what it would feel like.  Nothing. I didn't feel anything.  Since it's made for babies, maybe I'm not supposed to? Anyway... after about 2 uses and not much improvement, the dog finally got to it and enjoyed it to pieces... left me the cap for proof.  Good use of money there.

Our oils arrived and I mixed them with the coconut oil we had on hand.  I first put it on my gums and there was immediately a cooling sensation.  I put it on the babe's sore gums and he actually smiled!  He loves it! Whenever he is fussy and I can tell his teeth are bothering him, I just dip my (somewhat clean) finger in and gob it on his gums... he likes to chew on my finger a bit and then he's soothed for a while.  The best part is that all of the ingredients are natural so I don't mind putting this on his gums 16 times a day.  It's really a great thing, and really all you need.  Teething pain is more of a constant mild soreness and really no need for medicine, this just soothes it long enough for the baby to take their mind off the pain.  Now there are more desperate times where you may need more than this, but for the regular daily tooth pain, this works great!  I even use it as chapstick when mine is missing (probably eaten by the dog).  Enjoy!

Natural Teething Remedy

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. organic coconut oil (Nutiva is the best!)

8 drops of clove oil

4 drops of peppermint oil (I used way more than 4 drops... probably 8 of each)

Directions:

In a small saucepot or double boiler, melt the coconut oil over low heat.  Add drops of peppermint and clove oil and give it a quick stir.  Transfer to glass jar or container.  I store mine in the fridge to keep cool.  Rub a dab on baby's gums when fussy.  

Chicken with Fall Veggies

Every Tuesday is like Christmas in this house.  That's the day we pick up our CSA box from the farm and see what delicious veggies we have to cook with for the week. The fall season has arrived and we literally have mountains of greens and squash.  We also have an abundance of sweet potatoes (which I have been steaming for the little guy), beets, radishes and potatoes.  This meal uses up much of those ingredients and was very delicious.  I felt healthy eating it, which made it easier to chow down a giant piece of cake afterwards!

There are three parts to this dish, there is roasted chicken with a goat cheese cream sauce, which is served over a bed of sauteed chard with roasted beets and sweet potatoes, and along side that is some roasted radishes.  P.S. when you roast a radish, it takes out that bitter spicy flavor and you're left with something between a potato and a summer squash. Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken with Goat Cheese Cream Sauce
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 thin chicken breasts (I usually use 2 and cut them in half... but we aren't big meat eaters)
salt
pepper
1/4 cup white wine or vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
1 cup whole milk
1 oz goat cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400, season the chicken and place in an oven safe dish.  I usually cook mine for 20 minutes (thin) in some white wine.  

For the sauce:
Melt butter in small saucepot over medium low, add garlic and let cook for a minute or two. Whisk in flour until it forms a pasty substance.  Slowly add milk and bring to a bubble.  Turn down to low and let simmer, whisking to avoid anything from sticking to the bottom.  Do this for 10-15 minutes until thickened (you are really supposed to do this for 45 minutes to get the true flavor, but I never have that much time).  Towards the end, melt in the goat cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sauteed Chard with Beets and Sweets
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 bundle rainbow chard (or whatever you have on hand, spinach or kale will work too), chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs. olive oil
2 medium beets, peeled and chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  On a baking sheet, spread out chopped beets and sweet potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss.  Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium low heat, add the garlic to the olive oil and saute for about a minute.  Add the chopped chard and saute until wilted, 5-10 minutes.  Add the roasted beets and sweet potatoes and give it a toss. Serve chicken over this... Goat cheese compliments chard and beets very well.  

Roasted Radishes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 lb radishes, (I really have no idea how many I had, but it filled a large baking sheet)
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F, quarter the radishes and toss with olive oil and spices.  Place on large baking sheet and roast in oven for 30 minutes, until soft.

Turkey Chili with Buttermilk Cornbread

The cold weather has arrived for us lucky ones and what's better than a nice crockpot full of warm chili on a cold day?  I made this chili last year for our housewarming party.  It was delicious, but 2 days later, I found out I was pregnant and the morning sickness hit hard... I didn't have chili for a year... until now! This was so good it's hard to believe I spent all winter last year chililess... We will definitely make this again soon! So easy to freeze and stick in the crockpot in the morning too.  This recipe is adapted from one of the best chili's on allrecipes.com (click here for original recipe).  I made it with turkey instead of beef for all you non-red meat eaters.  It just makes you feel better when you have two bowls.  I served it with Buttermilk Cornbread... delicious! I had never made cornbread before, it turned out spectacular the first shot! woo hoo! Enjoy!

Turkey Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1.25 lb ground turkey

1 lb spicy turkey sausages (in the meat section by the uncooked brats)

5 strips of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 cans chili beans, drained

1 can spicy chili beans

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice (I used about 10-15 tomatoes from the garden, peelings removed)

1 can tomato paste

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bottle of beer (I used Octoberfest)

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 cup brown sugar

salt and pepper as desired (about a tsp)

Shredded Cheese for topping

Other desired toppings like onions, corn chips, sour cream, cilantro etc...

Directions:

In a large soup pot, cook the ground turkey & spicy turkey sausage (remove meat from casing) until done and add onions, celery, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent and add tomatoes.  If using fresh or frozen, Cook until they are combined.  Otherwise add the rest of ingredients except for the toppings and simmer on the stove for at least 2 hours.  I like to make this the night before and put it in the crockpot the next day for all the flavors to combine.

Buttermilk Cornbread

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly butter a cast iron skillet.

In a large mixing bowl, combine melted butter and sugar until blended.  Quickly add the eggs. Combine the buttermilk and baking soda and add those to butter/sugar mixture.  Add the cornmeal, flour and salt and mix to combine, but still lumpy.  Transfer to cast iron skillet and put in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until firm in the center. 

Easy Gluten Free Frozen Cake!

I remember being a little girl and everyone wanted a little mermaid cake.  My mom, being the cake decorator that she is, made a ton of little mermaid cakes.  All unique and beautiful.

Frozen is the "in thing" now (even though Ariel can kick Elsa's frozen behind anytime) and as much as I can't stand all of the Frozen hype, I understand what it's like being a little girl and wanting your favorite princess on your birthday cake.  I do have to say that if you are to make this cake, plan ahead because you'll find that these little Frozen characters are impossible to find.  Not exaggerating, I went to 15 different stores to find these perfect little characters.  They were at Walmart... the 6th Walmart to be exact.  

I love love love decorating cakes, and they usually take me a few days to complete to perfection.  I didn't have a few days though, since I was traveling and have an infant (a giant infant) and was pressed for time so I needed something easy.  I have confidence that any mom out there can make this cake... You don't even need the fancy cake stand (though it's awesome and we use it for every party... Michael's and don't forget to use your coupon!)  You can Pinterest how to make a cake stand or just lay table cloth over raised shoe boxes to make it elevated.  Be creative!  The sugar candies are from Party City and are super easy to stick in as the castle.  I actually ran out of frosting so I piled on some marshmallows last minute to act as snow.  

On to the cake now... All Gluten Free!  I prefer the gluten free cake mixes, they always get rave reviews and taste more like you're using real ingredients and not a mix.  I use Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix.  I have tried other gluten free cake mixes and this one is the tastiest.  It's about $5 a package and makes 15 cupcakes or 1 double layer round cake.  I always add ingredients to these cake mixes because I can never leave anything alone.  Here is what I did for this cake.

Vanilla Cake with Cookie Dough Filling

(The top tier, I left as vanilla and made a gluten free cookie dough filling)

Cake:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 tsp. pure vanilla (for added vanilla flavor)

Cookie Dough Filling:

1 tub marshmallow cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the cake, mix ingredients and cook according to package instructions.  For the filling, beat all ingredients, except for chocolate chips, together until smooth.  Add the chips and stir to combine.  When cakes are cooled (I like to freeze them the night before), layer them and spread the filling in the middle.  Now they are ready to be frosted!

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting:

1 tub marshmallow cream

2 sticks butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together until a nice thick frosting forms, adding powdered sugar as needed.  I used a Wilton's Teal coloring for the blue, spread it on the whole cake and piped out white snow "icecles" on the top.  I did run out, but I was being very generous.  Top cake with sugar rock candy sticks in the form of a castle and add your characters!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 package of gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies

Crush up one row of the cookies (about 5) into larger crumbles.  Mix cake ingredients together and add crushed up cookies.  Line a cupcake pan with liners and add one whole cookie to the bottom.  Pour batter 2/3 the way up and bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1 stick butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together, adding powdered sugar until you get desired sweetness and consistency. 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup caramel apple sauce (I made my own by peeling 1 apple, cooking it with a couple tablespoons of water until soft, mash with potato masher and add a spoonful of brown sugar)

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 apple, peeled and chopped

Mix all ingredients until they come together to form a batter.  Line cupcake pan with liners and pour in batter 2/3 the way full.  Bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting, recipe above.  

You can pretty much add anything to these cake mixes to make them extra delicious.  Hope you enjoy!

Ratatouille Egg Bake

I absolutely love our CSA.  We got fresh eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash this week.  There is only one thing that comes to mind when hearing those ingredients... Ratatouille!! I love ratatouille!  It reminds me so much of Paris, even though we never had it while we were there.  Maybe it's from the movie.  I made ratatouille for the first time after watching the movie with the cute little mouse and it was so delicious! Nick didn't really care that much for it because he was still hungry afterwards.  So this time, I added an egg and served with homemade focaccia bread.  It was very filling and healthy and delicious.  I love the addition of the egg.  It really adds a lot.  Enjoy!

Ratatouille Egg Bake
Serves: 3

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, cubed
1 zuchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs

Directions:
Chop eggplant and toss with a tablespoon of salt.  Let drain for 30 minutes. Rinse well, squeezing out excess water.  Pat dry and set aside
Meanwhile, add oil to a large skillet and place over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally.  Add eggplant, zucchini, squash, oregano and salt and pepper.  Cover skillet and cook to soften vegetables, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1/4 cup of basil.  Cover and simmer until tomatoes are softened and flavors are concentrated.  
Make nests in the ratatouille and crack an egg into each nest.  Cover pot and cook eggs to desired doneness, 2-5 minutes.  Enjoy!