Dijon Mustard Chicken

I am so in love with how many great recipes are on Pinterest.  I have a bunch on file to try over the next little while.  I quite enjoyed this dish.  You definitely have to like mustard for this one!

Dijon Mustard Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Rosemary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar. Place chicken breasts into sprayed 9×13 baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour mustard mixture over chicken.  Bake uncovered for about 30-40 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Season with rosemary. 

Recipe came from  here.

Better Than Anything Cake

Couldn't decide which picture to use to showcase this amazing dessert, so I used them all.  

It was that good!

Better Than Anything Cake

1 Betty Crocker GF devil's food cake mix

1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

6 ounces caramel ice cream topping

3 bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped (I used one Hershey’s chocolate bar cut in to pieces and ½ C Health English Toffee bits

1 8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1.      Bake cake according to package directions for a 9x13 inch pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom.

2.      In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the top of the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits; then sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm.

3.      Let cake cool completely and then top with whipped topping. Decorate the top of the cake with some more chocolate toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan!

Recipecame from Allrecipes.com

Mini Funnel Cakes

Just got back from the State Fair so funnel cakes were on my mind.  Started surfing around on Pinterest and guess what popped up?  That is right!  A recipe for mini funnel cakes.  All I did was switch out the flour and add xanthan gum.  Oh my goodness!  They were amazing and delicious!  What I love about them most, well two things actually...they are super easy and quick and because they aren't the size of a dinner plate!   I made some changes to the preparation of the recipe.  If you would like to see the original recipe it can be found here at Taylor Takes a Taste.

Mini Funnel Cakes

Makes about 15-20 4in diameter cakes (will vary depending on how much batter used in each cake)

Dry ingredients

1 1/2 cups GF Flour Blend (featherlite)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

Wet ingredients

1 1/3 cup milk

1/4 tsp lemon zest (did not use)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Place wet ingredients into a blender and blend.  Add dry ingredients and blend until smooth.   Using a funnel, pour batter into a squeeze bottle. The batter is thick so be patient for it to flow into the bottle. You may also pour the batter directly from the blender into the plastic squeeze bottle.  (I just poured mine into a Ziploc bag, closed it and snipped the very corner off, allowing me to squeeze the batter into the oil.)

In a large pan, pour in your favorite frying oil until it is about 1/2 inch deep, and heat to 350F (I used peanut oil). Place 4 in metal ring into pan. (**I used a metal cookie cutter) Depending on the size of the pan, you can fit 1-4 rings. Squeeze batter into ring and cook until funnel cake will stay together when metal ring is removed.  (30 seconds-1min). Using tongs, remove metal ring and let cakes float. Flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds to a minute or until a nice light golden brown. These cook very quickly so be careful not to burn. Try experimenting with your first few to find a cooking time that works best for your oil and pan set up.

Once golden brown, remove from pan and place onto brown paper bags to let the excess oil drain. Immediately top with powdered sugar. Best if eaten when still warm right after frying.

Sprinkle with favorite topping…

Powder sugar, chocolate syrup, caramel

Quinoa Casserole

I have wanted to make a few more meals without using any type of meat but still get the protein and fill full when we are done eating.  This recipe came out tasting a lot like an enchilada in casserole form.  I adapted it from the original recipe found here.  

Quinoa Casserole

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa

3 cups cooked black beans (or two 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed)

2 C shredded and cooked hash browns

1/4 C chopped onions

1/8 C green chilies

1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

1 TBS ground cumin

Liberal pinches salt and pepper

2 eggs

1 ½ cup salsa

2 TBS fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Extras:  Sour cream and more salsa for topping after cooking.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare a 9” x 9” casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Cook hash browns on the stovetop.  In a large bowl, mix together the cooked quinoa, black beans, hash browns, 1⁄2 cup of the cheese, onion, green chilies and the cumin, salt, and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the eggs and the salsa. Pour the salsa mixture over the vegetables and gently blend. Pour everything into the prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Garnish with the cilantro.

Super Moist Fudge Bundt Cake

You have to be a real chocloate lover to eat this cake!  We served it up with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was fantastic!   The recipe calls for sour cream, which I did not have at the moment but substituted with cottage cheese and buttermilk.  I also switched out the oil for apple sauce.  I think it definitely made the cake much more dense by doing so, but it still had good flavor.

The recipe came from here.

Super Moist Fudge Bundt Cake

 INGREDIENTS:

1 devils food  GF cake mix Betty Crocker
1 4-serving instant chocolate pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream (not low-fat or fat-free) I used 1  C cottage cheese + 1/4 C buttermilk
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use canola) I used 1/2 C applesauce
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients except chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Stir down sides. Continue to mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared (i.e. greased)  bundt pan. Bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool 20 minutes. Invert onto serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar for an elegant look before digging in. 

Pineapple Salsa

My sister-in-law made this at our family reunion a few weeks back and I fell in love!  It is a very strange combinations of flavors, but somehow, it all just comes together in your mouth and leaves you wanting more!

It is one of those recipes that you really just put in the amounts that give you the flavor that you like.  I searched out a few online, and listed below is a starting point.  I found that I like mine chilled for a few hours for two reasons.  I like my salsa cold and it gives the flavors time to blend together.

The recipe below came from here:

2 cups diced fresh pineapple
1 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 clove garlic, minced (I did not add this)
Juice of 1 large lime
Salt, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, red onion, jalapeno, garlic, and lime juice. Stir until well combined. Season with salt, to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

German Pancakes

Came across these the other day online.  I'll be honest, I think I love breakfast better for dinner than at breakfast time!!  They are as easy as easy gets to make and clean up is a breeze!  We have had these three times in the past two weeks and they are loved by everyone!  I actually made one and a half recipes so they are a little thicker than the original recipe, but still yummy.  We served ours up with a little powdered sugar and some of the kids added syrup.  (The recipe listed below is just a single batch.)

***Update:  Really good with some fruit on top as well!

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup GF all-purpose flour (featherlite)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Toss your eggs and milk into a blender.  Add flour, salt and xanthan gum and blend until you have no chunks.  Pour melted butter into an un-greased 9×13 dish, pour the batter on top, and bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.  Serve immediately.  This makes enough that each person got one square serving, there are six of us.

Panera Mac-n-Cheese (Copycat)

I came across this recipe on Pinterest several weeks ago and have made it for the family a few times and my kids love it!!

Panera Mac-n-Cheese

1 (16-oz.) package GF pasta (we like the Penne noodles from Trader Joe’s)
¼ cup butter 
1/3 cup all-purpose GF flour 
2½ cups 2% reduced-fat milk 
6 slices white American cheese, chopped 
1 cup (8 oz.) shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese 
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard 
1 tsp. kosher salt 
¼ tsp. hot sauce 
Paprika (optional) 

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions. 
2. Melt butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute, whisking constantly. 
3. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over medium heat, whisking until mixture thickens and is bubbly. Remove from heat. 
4. Add cheeses, mustard, salt and hot sauce, stirring until cheese melts and sauce is smooth. 
5. Stir in pasta and cook over medium heat, 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Serve immediately. 

Avocado Banana Smoothie

I found this recipe in a magazine a few weeks back.  I was a little hesitant to try it, but  there was something about it that was intriguing  too!  I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was.  Truth be told, it tastes just an orange julius.

1 avocado
1 banana
1/2 C Greek yogurt (I just used plain nonfat yogurt)
1/4 C honey
1 1/2 C orange juice
1 1/2 C ice cubes

Place everything in blender and blend until smooth.  Add ice and pulse a few times.  Serve immediately and enjoy!!

Reindeer Food

Seriously addictive and extremely easy!!

Rice Chex cereal

White baking chocolate

Crushed candy canes

There really isn't a measured amount for this recipe, but this is what I used... 1 1/2 boxes of Rice Chex, one 24 ounce package of baking chocolate blocks and 10 candy canes.  That gave me 125 mini muffin cups of reindeer food.

All you have to do is melt down the white chocolate (in a double broiler), pour over Rice Chex cereal and stir until all the cereal is completely covered. Then sprinkle your crushed candy canes over the top.  Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper until cooled.  I made mine for my kids' school class parties so I spooned a little into mini muffin liners to make it easy for the kids to handle.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake

One of the food blogs I like to follow is Picky Palate.  It is not a GF food blog, but many of her recipes have been very easy to convert.  This is one of the latest of her recipes that I tried and they are delicious!!  Happy Halloween everyone.

1 box  Betty Crocker GF Yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream (start w 1/4 cup and add a little more cream if needed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a jelly roll pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.
3. Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.
4. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and mix until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.  Enjoy with milk!

Makes 16 to 20 squares

Chocolate Pumpkin Wafers

These were so easy!  I just took some baking chocolate and melted it down in a double broiler, filled the bottom of the silicone pumpkin mold with about a teaspoon of melted chocolate, sprinkled some sprinkles on top and let them chill for about 15 minutes.  Remove from mold and voila, you have cute little pumpkin wafers!  These are for the kids to pass out to their classmates. 

Never on Sunday, Sundae

My sister spent a few weeks with us this summer.  She whipped up this very tasty ice cream cookie sundae.  She just used the cookie recipe from here.  For the sundae recipe, instead of making lots of individual cookies, you just need one or two 8-9 inch round cake pans.  Line them with parchment paper, divide the cookie dough in half and spread evenly into both pans.  Bake as directed in cookie recipe or until cookie is golden brown and done looking.  Let cool slightly and then top with favorite sundae toppings...ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, whipped topping and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

**You only to make half a batch of cookie dough to get two 8-9 inch round cookies.

Never on Sunday, Sundae
1/2 batch of cookie dough recipe (here)
Chocolate sauce
Caramel sauce
Whipped topping
Cinnamon and sugar

Salsa Chicken

 My sister called me the other day and mentioned that she was trying this new recipe.  I told her to let me know how it turned out.  Yep, good enough that I got a phone call saying I had better try it!  So here it is. Thanks for sharing Cozy!!  The recipe came from here, and I switched out the creamed soup for a GF version.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts 
1/3 C  creamed soup mix (found here)
1  1/4 C water
1-2 tsp GF chicken bullion or chicken paste
1 cup salsa
1 TB taco seasoning
1/2 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 cup sour cream 
optional: grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top when serving

Directions: 
Add dry soup mix, water and chicken bullion on stove top and cook until blended and thickened slightly.  Place chicken, soup, and salsa in slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. If shredding the chicken, pull the breasts out and shred; return back to slow cooker. Stir in sour cream and continue cooking until everything is heated through.  Serve over rice.

Texas Sheet Cake

This is like eating a little piece of heaven!! I won't publicly admit how often we have been eating this at our house lately!! It is that good.

Texas Sheet Cake
2 C GF flour (I use featherlite)
2 C sugar
1 ¾ tsp xanthan gum
1 C butter
½ C cocoa
1 C water
½ C buttermilk
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together sugar and GF flour and xanthan gum and set aside. On the stove top, combine butter, cocoa and water and bring to a boil. Pour over flour mixture, mix together and cool slightly. Stir in buttermilk and add eggs, baking soda and vanilla. Pour into a greased baking pan (18 x 13 x 1). Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting
½ C butter
¼ C cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 TB milk
16 oz. powdered sugar

Melt butter and add remaining ingredients. I only add enough powdered sugar until I reach the desired consistency of frosting that I am after. If you want a very moist and gooey cake, then spread the frosting on the cake right out of the oven so that it melts into the cake. If you want more of a brownie effect, let the cake cool and then spread frosting on top. (Don’t make the frosting to thick for this option as it will tear up the top of the cake.)

Optional ingredients to add as toppings…
Strawberries
Chocolate Syrup
Powdered sugar