Homemade Ice Cream --Dairy-free and gluten-free

We love making ice cream in our Blendtec.  The problem is, our two-year-old daughter is severely allergic to dairy.  So she had NEVER had ice cream.  The milk in the recipe isn't the hard problem--we can easily substitute her almond milk.  But the recipe also calls for powdered milk.  I was told that any kind of powder will work, so I ordered an expensive, organic protein powder and added it to her milk one time.  She refused to drink it.  I emailed the company to learn that they use latex gloves to load the empty cannisters onto their conveyors (she's severely allergic to latex, too).

The other day, I was looking in the pantry and noticed our full box of infant rice cereal.  I thought to myself, that's a powder, too, right?

So I decided to experiment and see if it would work.  And it did!!

So, to make dairy-free ice cream in your Blendtec, add (in this order):

2/3 cup almond milk (or rice milk, or whatever.  I use vanilla almond milk)

2/3 cup infant rice cereal

2 tsp vanilla (I omit this because I use vanilla almond milk)

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups ice cubes (sometimes I replace some of this with frozen berries)

2/3 cups almond milk (again, I use the vanilla)

(The extra almond milk is needed at the end, I believe, because the rice cereal absorbs so much moisture.)

Once all of this is in the Blendtec, just press the ice cream button!

Within about 1.5 minutes, you have ice cream!

I have gluten-free and dairy-free chocolate chips, and the kids love these on top.

My daughter LOVED her first ever taste of ice cream!!!

I think I may try this next time with some finely ground coconut flour.  Yum!!

Homemade Chili Seasoning -- Gluten-Free!

We are now well into the "bers."  You know, SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER.  This is by far my favorite time of year.  I LOVE autumn, I LOVE crisp, chilly weather, I LOVE curling up on the couch with a mug of hot coffee and a fleece blanket.

This time of year always makes me crave chili--even before it's cold out.  I went to make chili today and halfway through realized that I'm out of chili seasoning.  I have a cabinet full of dried spices, so I decided to make my own.  It turned out super yummy, so I thought I'd share.

Combine:

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes (less if you like it less spicy)

1 Tbsp dried, minced onion

1 Tbsp dried, minced garlic

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp salt

1 tsp basil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

(Make sure all of your spices are gluten-free, if necessary.)

Measure everything into a small container and shake to mix.

Add seasoning to your chili to taste.

Yum!  I can feel fall coming...

My favorite way to eat chili is on a baked potato, topped with cheese.  What's yours?

Cooking Plantains

A friend of mine gave me a whole case of plantains!  WOO HOO!!!  They were already ripening, so I waited until they were very ripe and sweet before I cooked them.

First I sliced the plantains, poured oil into a skillet so they were halfway submerged, and lightly fried them over medium heat.  They're sweet and delicious, even eaten by themselves!

I then browned beef, adding lots of garlic, onion, and salt.  Once cooked, put it in a bowl and chop the cooked plantains (now called amarillos) into it.

The sweet of the amarillos combined with the flavorful saltiness of the beef makes a DELICIOUS and hearty main dish!  It's kind of a simpler version of pastelon de amarillos or piononos, two of my favorite Puerto Rican dishes.

Do you eat plantains?  If so, how do you prepare them?

Raw Buckwheat Porridge -- Gluten-Free

We just bought another 50-lb bag of hulled buckwheat groats.  While trying to decide what to make for breakfast, my hubby found the most awesome recipe for raw buckwheat porridge at Oh She Glows.  It's gluten-free, involves no cooking, takes minimal effort, and is delicious!

You do have to plan a little bit ahead, because you first soak your raw buckwheat groats for at least an hour.  

This is way easy for me.  I get up at 6:30 am, and my kids don't get up until 8:00 am.  I can easily set the buckwheat to soak early and have them ready in time.  (The buckwheat pretty much doubles in volume after soaking, so plan how much you need before soaking.)

You then throw half of the soaked buckwheat in the blender with your sweetener and "milk" of choice (we used honey and almond milk so that everybody in the family could eat it).  We also threw in some blueberries and strawberries, as well as some flax seed and cinnamon (I don't recommend taking the lid off the blender while blending.  hee hee)

Mix the unblended, soaked buckwheat groats in with the blended ones, spoon into your bowl, and top with fresh fruit, nuts, etc.

The texture is a little bit different than most foods I'm used to, but it was delicious!  The kids also loved it!  This is way better than boxed cereals in the morning, it's cold and refreshing for these hot days of summer, and it's super healthy.  I'm sure it would be just as delicious cooked for a winter porridge.

Tomorrow, I may throw in some coconut and walnuts.  YUM YUM!!

ETA:  We made another batch last night to see if it stores well in the fridge.  It DOES!!!  So you can even make it the night before and serve it in the morning.  Yay!!!!

Super Easy Fruit Dip

My mama makes the most delicious fruit dip.  You basically blend honey, cinnamon, and cream cheese into marshmallow fluff.  (I didn't say it was healthy, just that it was delicious.)  I can literally eat the stuff by the spoonful, though I don't recommend it.  It's especially good with bananas and cantaloupe.  I'm sure my kids would love it, but why would I want to take healthy, delicious fruits and dip them into something so unhealthy?  

Well, the other day while my kids were eating, I had an epiphany.  

I started with some vanilla yogurt.  (I typically make my own vanilla yogurt by adding honey and a splash of vanilla to plain yogurt.  Last week, the Dannon was on sale.  So I splurged.)

I spooned that into a bowl and added cinnamon.

Then you stir and serve!!  That's it!!  It's healthy AND delicious!!  My kids absolutely love it.  They've dipped strawberries, bananas, apples, blueberries (yes, this one was a bit messy), carrots, and my 2-year-old dipped her applesauce into it (don't even ask about the mess this made.  But she said it was good).  Enjoy!!

White Chili -- Gluten-Free

So I know it's not exactly the chili time of year, but we actually had a cool couple of days a couple of weeks ago, so I made white chili.  White chili is so easy to make, and you can make it super-quickly or super-healthy, depending on how much time and effort you want to put into it.  =)

The original recipe is (I typically double all but the chicken):

1 can chicken broth

2 cans navy beans, drained

1 lb chicken, cooked

1 can diced green chiles

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cumin

Heat on the stove.

(If you're making this gluten-free, be sure to use all gluten-free ingredients.)

This recipe is soooooooooo easy to switch up according to what you're doing.  If you used canned chicken, canned beans, and canned broth, you can easily whip up a batch of this in minutes.  I typically cook dry beans ahead of time and freeze them.  I've recently discovered the ease of making dry beans in the crock pot.  Sooooooooooooooo effortless!!

For the chicken broth, you can use canned, make your own from scratch, or use bouillon.  I often use Better than Bouillon when I'm in a time crunch.  Yum!

If you don't have the time to cook chicken, use a can of chicken or even shred meat off a rotisserie chicken.

No matter which method you use, the ending result is delicious!  I like to throw some colby jack cheese in my bowl.  Yummy!  I also like to eat corn bread on the side.

No matter what the weather, my family eats this up!  What have you been cooking lately?

Yummy, yummy milk!

I LOVE goat milk!!  

For those of you who read that sentence and immediately thought eeeewwwwww based on personal experience, you must have only had store-bought goat milk.  You know, the stuff in a carton that has been pasteurized, homogenized, and has sat around for too long.  That stuff doesn't taste like fresh goat milk.  It does, however, taste like you licked a goat.

Just to clarify, I like the taste of this:

Not this:

What I'm talking about is the real deal--from the goat to your fridge to your table.  Nothing's better.  I can easily drink a gallon of the stuff (though I don't recommend drinking a gallon of anything in one sitting).  So you can imagine my excitement when a friend e-mailed and said that she was going to have some extra milk from her goats and would I like some.  YES, YES, YES!!!!

We all managed to control ourselves and only drank one glass each this evening (though I had to take a few extra sips from the kids' glasses, just to make sure the amounts were all even, you know).  And one of my daughters has a dairy allergy.  So I should probably drink her share, too.

I've been having the hankering lately to move back out to the country...milk goats of my own...hmmm...

Sandwich, anyone?

My two-year-old wanted me to share her latest recipe with you all.  Having two children who are gluten-intolerant, we hadn't fed her gluten until she was old enough to be able to tell us if her tummy or head hurts, etc.  We recently tried her with wheat, and it seems that she does fine with it.  

So she recently had bread for the first time ever.  She LOVES it!!  She also had Cheerios for the first time ever.  She LOVES them!  If they're so good apart, she must have figured they'd be even better together.  Hence, the birth of the Cheerios sandwich.  Warning--this recipe is NOT gluten-free!!

Take one slice of whole wheat bread and a handful of dry Cheerios.  Mash the Cheerios really well into the bread--they don't fall off as easily.  Promptly lick off any Cheerios that stick to your hands instead of the bread.  Then fold the bread in half to help them stay in even better.  Now enjoy!!

I must admit that I haven't tried this recipe for myself.  Based on the relish with which she scarfed down this sandwich, it must have been pretty good.  In her own words, it was "yummy in mine's tummy."

What fun recipes have your little ones tried?

Homemade Taco Seasoning -- Gluten-Free

I LOVE tacos, taco salad, enchiladas...well, anything along those lines (well, in reality I like most any type of food.  Except for water chestnuts.  Those things are just nasty!)  A lot of taco seasoning packets you buy at the store have fillers, preservatives, gluten, etc.  So I decided to make my own.  All you need are some spices and a container to store it in.

This is the BEST taco seasoning recipe EVER!!!  Feel free to tweak it to fit your tastes and your family.  If you like it saltier, add more salt!  If you're on a salt-free diet, leave the salt out!  If you don't like eating corn, feel free to leave the corn starch out.  If you like it spicy, add more cayenne.  Well, you get the point.  I always make at least triple the recipe at once, then I leave it stored in the cabinet until I need it.  Then I just use whatever amount I need.  

Here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp minced onions

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Simply measure all the ingredients into a container with a lid...

Shake vigorously, and voila!!  Taco seasoning without all the junk!  Enjoy!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Kale Chips

Ok, so I'll take a break from the Star Wars shirt posts today to talk about kale chips!  I love chips.  Who doesn't?  Even my two-year-old begs for chips all the time.  There are a lot of chips who masquerade as health-food, by throwing words like "spinach," "tomato," etc into the ingredients.  But in reality, they're typically little more than colored potato chips.  Still yummy, still unhealthy.

Enter kale chips.  Kale is super healthy--one of the so-called "superfoods."  I add it to our smoothies sometimes, but it takes a lot of fruit to cover its very strong flavor.

Then I learned about baking it into kale chips!  It's quick, easy, and yummy.  Start by preheating your oven to 350*.

Then wash and dry the kale.  Then tear pieces of it off into chip-sized pieces and putting them on a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper for easier clean up).

Then drizzle or spray oil over them.  Many recipes call for olive oil, I used safflower.  Rather than drizzling, I used my Misto oil sprayer.  (If you don't have a Misto, you need to get one!!  You fill it half way with whatever type of oil you prefer.  The lid acts as a pump, and you manually pump it to fill the bottle with pressure.  It then sprays your oil using nothing but the pressure you pumped into it--no aerosols, no chemicals, and it's stainless steel.  We LOVE it!)  Then sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss, to make sure they're all coated.

Bake for 10 minutes, and you have a healthy, crunchy chip!

My kids LOVE these!  The first batch I ever made, I got one chip.  My husband didn't get any.  My 2-and-4-year-olds inhaled almost all the rest before I could even get myself a second chip.

Now, if I could only find a recipe for healthy donuts...

Spaghetti -- Gluten-Free

My family loves spaghetti.  I used to make two different kinds of noodles each time:  whole wheat and gluten-free.  I'll admit it was a big pain.  I had to be careful not to contaminate the gluten-free noodles or sauce with whole wheat.  I had to keep track of what was in what colander when.  I had to time things to be done at the right times.  Etc.  And if you accidentally stick the fork you were using to stir the whole wheat noodles into the pan with the gluten-free noodles, that whole pan is now contaminated and no longer gluten-free (been there, done that.  Very frustrating!)

The simple solution would have been just feeding everybody gluten-free noodles.  But they're expensive!  And most of the brands have yucky ingredients in them that I didn't want to feed my family, anyway.  So I knew I had to come up with something else.

I've used brown rice as a substitute in other pasta dishes, so I figured, why not try it with spaghetti?  It turned out pretty good!  This is the kids' first choice, if they can't have noodles.

My favorite is raw zucchini.  I just wash and slice the zucchini and pour the hot sauce over it.  It's so delicious and healthy!

I've also been told that spaghetti squash is an easy substitute, as it already has the shape and texture of real noodles.  So I'm going to try that next!

I totally cheat on the spaghetti sauce.  I've made my own, but in reality, it's cheaper to just buy the twin-pack of giant bottles of Prego Traditional sauce at Costco.  (Yes, at this point in time, it's gluten-free.  Be aware that they can change their recipe at any time, however.)  Yum yum!!

New Dutch Oven!

Remember the enameled dutch oven I got from my Grandma's stuff?  I love it, but at 3.5 quarts, it's too small for soups, etc for our 8-person family.

My wonderful hubby ran to the store the other day, and found a 6-quart one on sale, $30 off!!  Isn't it pretty?

It'll be perfect for all sorts of meals!  

I still have my orange one, too, of course.  It's being used at this moment to cooks spaghetti sauce.  Aren't they pretty together?

The yellow one also had small, matching tureens--good for eating soup or baking individual-sized portions of whatever.  Aren't they cute?

I can't wait to get all sorts of use out of these.  Thank you, Mr. Man!!!!!!

Mochi -- Gluten Free

Today, while at the store looking for some dairy-free "cheese," I came across this stuff called Mochi.  It's a food made from rice, and there were several varieties.  I figured I'd try it, so I grabbed the cinnamon-raisin one.  The only ingredients are:  organic sweet brown rice, filtered water, raisins, cinnamon, and sea salt.

It comes as this big, flat, dense square.  You simply cut it into smaller squares and bake it.

When baked, it fluffs all up like a little dumpling.

These have no added sugar, but they're still delicious straight out of the oven!!  I was giving them to my kids kind of as a dessert, so I let them dip them into a little bit of pure maple syrup.  Honey would be good, too.  

I have no idea how it is that I have been in the gluten-free and allergy world for so long, yet I have never heard of mochi.  It's fairly inexpensive (this package was less than $3), so easy to make, and delicious!!  I'm going to have to try some of the other flavors soon!

Nut Butter Cookies -- Gluten-Free

Last month, I posted a recipe for flourless, nut butter bread.  In the comments section, my friend Vanessa posted a recipe for flourless, nut butter cookies.  I finally tried making them today, and they are to die for!!

You only need three ingredients:  1 cup of nut butter, 1 cup of sugar, and two eggs.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Drop on cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.

These were so easy (my hubby actually made them--his first time ever baking cookies)!  They are sooooooooo delicious!  Vanessa said she's mixed in chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut with great results.

Thank you for a great recipe, Vanessa!!!

Nut-Butter "Bread" -- Gluten Free

An acquaintance gave me a recipe for a gluten-free "bread" made with only 4 ingredients:  nut butter, eggs, salt, and baking soda.

I thought to myself, "This lady MUST have left an ingredient out somewhere--like flour?--or else she's crazy."  But I guess I'm crazy, too, because I decided to try it anyway.

You first blend the ingredients in a blender (recipe with amounts at the bottom of this post), then you spread it in a pan.  I lined mine with parchment paper, and it worked nicely.  I used an 8x8 glass pan.  The mixture is a thick paste.

You then bake it.  

Somehow, by some miracle, this thick, gooey, nut-butter paste rises and turns into bread!  Here it is sliced.

It's actually light and fluffy!!

I then topped it with apricot All-Fruit and tasted it.

It was actually good!!  All the kids devoured it and were asking for more.  

The lady who told me about it said that you can also add squash, applesauce, nuts, raisins, etc, and it still rises well.  I think that next time I will either add applesauce, honey, or use a sweetened nut butter.  I used a natural one, so the bread itself wasn't sweet at all.

Anyway, this was a very successful experiment!!  If you add something different and it turns out great (or awful, for that matter), be sure to let me know!!

Here's the original recipe:

1 cup nut butter

4 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Blend all ingredients in a blender and spread into a small greased or parchment paper-lined pan and bake at 350* until done.  (I baked it for 25 minutes in my 8x8 glass pan).

By the way, my hubby and I wanted to figure out how much this costs to make.  He bought a large jar of Peter Pan peanut butter at Wal-Mart (no HFCS, but still sweetened).  I only added in a couple of cents for the salt and baking soda, as we buy baking soda in bulk and it only uses 1/4 tsp salt in a batch.  The cost we came up with was $1.90 a batch.  Waaaaaaaaay cheaper than the gluten-free Udi's bread, and everybody in the family can eat this, including Little Love #5!!  And if you're the type who's avoiding grains, this is virtually all protein and is very filling!  You also don't need to put nut butter on the bread, since it's already made of it!

ETA:  I refrigerated the bit that was left overnight.  Today, it's just as soft and moist as it was yesterday.  YAY!!!

Enjoy!!!

Quesadillas -- Some Gluten-Free!!

Most of you know that I've been on bedrest for the past several weeks, hoping to put a stop to my preterm labor.  As long as we make it to midnight tonight, she'll no longer be considered a preemie!!!  So thank you so much to those of you who have prayed.  It'll be nice to have a full-termer after my last two being preemies.

Anyway, while I've been on bedrest, my poor Mr. Man has been doing most everything in the house, as well as going to work on work days.  One of the many chores he's had to undertake is most of the cooking.  Thankfully, I have several quick and easy recipes, meal ideas, and snack ideas that he's been able to employ, without resorting to boxed/prepackaged junk food (most of the time).

One such meal is quesadillas.  

Few meals at our house are truly simple, as most people would define simple.  We have three children who are gluten-free, and our youngest is also severely allergic to dairy, tropical fruits, and tapioca, among other things.

We start quesadilla meals by making peanut-butter-and-fruit wraps for our youngest daughter.  We make these on corn tortillas, sometimes fried, sometimes not.  She doesn't care either way.

Next, we do the quesadillas for the other gluten-intolerant children.  They also get the corn tortillas.  Last, we do them for my hubby and I and our older children, typically with whole wheat tortillas.  Simply put them in your skillet with the filling of choice--over medium-high heat--and cook for a few minutes until the cheese melts or your filling is warm, flipping once or twice.

When we need something super-fast, we just put in cheese.  Sometimes we do them like pizzas, with pizza sauce, pepperonis, and mozzarella cheese.  Tonight, my hubby made simple ham-and-cheese ones.  

They're also good with scrambled eggs, green peppers, and bacon for breakfast ones.  Great dipped in salsa or by themselves, they're easy to wrap up and take on-the-go.  They literally take minutes to make, and everybody loves them!

What interesting fillings do you like in your quesadillas?

Fun Eggs

My Mr. Man has taken over most of the household duties while I've been on bedrest.  When he's home, he even does all of the cooking for everybody, and he often tries to make it fun for the kids.

Tonight, he took my Mickey Mouse pancake molds and made the kids eggs in them!

The kids loved eating them!

Kids love eating foods with fun shapes.  I have TONS of cookie cutters that I use to cut shapes out of sandwiches, pancakes, etc.  I've also used them for fun-shaped frozen yogurt and even fun-shaped soap!

What things do you do with fun shapes to entertain the kids?