Better Batter

This has been the best thing to happen to our kitchen in two years!!  It makes the best cookies.  I have had friends that have made bread dough with it and it works out great....that is my goal for next week.

Better Batter
2 C brown rice flour
2 C white rice flour
1 C tapioca flour
¼ C potato flour
¼ C xanthan gum
1/8 C fruit pectin

Mix well and store in an air tight container.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

All right, it is for real this time!  We have made a cooking breakthrough in the GF world.  I have been given a new flour blend that works miracles!  It's a variation of the Better Batter Flour Mix.  I used it in my old cookie recipe that I have grown up with and they turned out fabulous.  Thick, chunky, chewy, soft...need I say more?  No grit, no after taste, no complaints! Yeah!! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cubes butter or 1 C shortening
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
3 C Better Batter Flour Mix
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix first 4 ingredients really well. Add remaining ingredients. Bake 7-8 minutes (or until golden brown) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place on cooling rack. Store in air tight container.

This next set of cookies is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie...This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup Better Batter Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely

Sweetheart Jell-O Treats

2 pkgs. (6 ounces) Cherry Gelatin

2 C boiling Water

1 C cold Milk

1 pkg (3.4 ounces) Instant Vanilla Pudding

In a bowl dissolve gelatin in the boiling water, then let sit until cooled.  In another bowl, whisk the milk and pudding mix until smooth. Combine with gelatin and mix well.  Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 dish lightly coated with nonstick spray.  Put in the refrigerator until set.  Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make sweet treats for your family and friends.

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

If you are worried about sugar, fat and calories...this recipe is not for you!  I came across this recipe on a blog called Picky Palate.  Her recipe is NOT GF, but I knew I could convert it to be GF.  They were a hit!

4 C GF flour

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C Shortening

1 C Sour Cream

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Vanilla

 2 Eggs

2 tsp Xanthan Gum

Butter

Brown Sugar

Cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream sugar, shortening, sour cream and eggs.  Add remaining ingredients until well blended.  Chill for at least one hour.  Divide dough into three portions.  Roll out first one on a floured surface. 

For the filling:

Lightly spread some butter over dough and then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the dough and then cut or slice through (I used dental floss).  Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Remove from baking sheet to a cooking rack and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Quinoa and Black Beans

Don't you love a pleasant surprise?  This was one of those recipes.  It was liked by all!

Quinoa and Black Beans
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

**This makes a TON... Half a recipe was still more than enough for our family of five.

Lime Chicken Tostadas

This one will add some kick to your chicken!  The recipe below is for tostadas, but we made tacos instead.  I have noted those changes in red.

Lime Chicken Tostadas
½ C lime juice
¼ C soy sauce
¼ C vegetable oil
1 TB honey
2 tsp minced garlic
1 ½ tsp chili powder (optional)
1 lb boneless chicken breasts or tenders (I used pre-cut chicken strips)
Corn tortillas (Taco shells)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (Cheddar Cheese)
Shredded lettuce
Refried Beans

Mix first 6 ingredients to make a marinade. Add chicken, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours (best if over night). Cook or grill chicken. Cut into strips.

For tostadas, brush each side of the tortilla with oil and place on grill or pan and brown each side. Sprinkle tortilla with cheese, lettuce and chicken.
For tacos, spread beans inside the taco shell,add chicken and then favorite toppings after that.

**Optional toppings: Salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro and green onions.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

This one is definitely a keeper!

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 8 oz. cream cheese

½ C grated mozzarella cheese (I used 1 slice of Provolone per chicken and did not mix it with the cream cheese)

½ tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Bacon, partially cooked (I used turkey bacon and did not partially cook it)

Favorite BBQ sauce

Pound out chicken breasts with meat tenderizer. Mix together cream cheese, mozzarella, garlic and salt and pepper. Divide mixture between chicken breasts. Spread mixture on each chicken breast and fold in half. Wrap with bacon. Use a toothpick to keep bacon from coming unwrapped.   Cover bottom of a casserole dish with BBQ sauce and place chicken in the dish. Pour BBQ sauce on top of chicken. Bake uncovered at 350° for 45 minutes.

Tuscan Pumpkin Soup

The name and color of this soup was very daunting to me but I really wanted to try it. It was actually pretty good. You don't really taste to much of the pumpkin, more so the chicken broth.  It tastes very similiar to chicken noodle soup, only orange!

Tuscan Pumpkin Soup

2 TB Olive oil
2-4 cloves minced garlic
2 celery stalks chopped
½ large onion chopped
6 C chicken broth
1 15 oz. canned pumpkin
2 C cut, cooked chicken or turkey
1-2 cans great northern white beans (rinsed and drained)
Parmesan cheese

Sauté in olive oil:
Garlic, celery and onions

Smooth together:
Chicken broth and pumpkin

In large pot, add chicken/turkey and beans with all other ingredients and heat thoroughly. Serve with parmesan cheese on top.

**After following the first two steps, I combined mine in the crock-pot and let it simmer for a few hours.

Santa Fe Chicken

I can't believe that a whole year has passed since I started posting recipes.  My goal for this coming year is to  meal plan for the entire month and to try at least 4 new recipes a month.  Wish me luck! So here is recipe #1 for the month of January. I will be the first to admit that this is one of those meals that is hard to make look good in a picture, but it definitely tasted great.  It has a little bit of a kick to it.  I served mine with rice and tortilla chips and sprinkled it with cheddar cheese. 

4-6 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can corn rinsed and drained
1 jar of mild green salsa
1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

Place everything in the crockpot and cook on high for 5-6 hours.
We sprinkled ours with cheddar cheese and added tortilla chips on the side.

**This is half of the original recipe and it still made ALOT.  Plenty of leftovers!

Turkey and Rice Soup

Need something to do with those turkey leftovers? Homemade turkey and rice soup hits the spot on a cold winter's night!

Turkey leftovers

8 C broth (chicken or vegetable)

carrots

celery

onions

garlic (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

bay leaf

1 C rice (mine was already cooked)

Bring broth to boil and add vegetables and spices. When veggies are tender, add turkey and rice. Cook until heated through.

**Chicken could be used as well.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Butter

Sour Cream

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Ginger (just a tiny)

Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for one hour wrapped in tinfoil. Cut in half and scoop potato away from skin. Add enough butter and sour cream to create a creamy potato. Add spices to taste. Sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.

Rainbow Jell-O

Rainbow Jell-O

1 each of following 3oz Jell-O
Lemon, Orange, Strawberry, Black Cherry

1st Layer:
Divide 1 pkg of Jell-O in half (approx ¼ C)
Dissolve in ½ C boiling water
Add ½ C cold water and let set for 1 hour in refrigerator.

2nd layer:
Take the remainder of the 1st pkg of Jell-O
Dissolve in ½ C boiling water
In separate bowl, use a wire whisk to mix ½ C sour cream or plain yogurt and ¼ C water.
Mix with Jell-O
Pour on top of first layer of Jell-O.

Repeat 1st and 2nd steps with each pkg of Jell-O
Spread cool whip on top of last layer of Jell-O

Parmesean Rolls

I just used my Featherlite Bread recipe for these. In a seperate bowl I mixed parsley, garlic powder and parmesean cheese (no measurements, just to taste). These were made in my mini bundt pan, so I sprayed the pan, sprinkled a little of the seasonings in the bottom and then filled each mini bundt 2/3 full and topped it with more seasonings. Cover and let rise until double. I baked them at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

Steamed Carrots with Dill and Brown Sugar

Steamed Carrots

Enough melted butter and brown sugar to lightly coat your carrots and a sprinkle of dill seasoning.

Pumpkin Pie

I found this recipe here and thought it looked pretty good. It has a very simple crust and has the great flavor of pumpkin pie. I needed something quick and easy to take the kids for their Thanksgiving lunch and this did the job! The only changes I made was that I used Cool Whip instead of the sour cream and honey topping and I did not have any evaporated milk, so I used 2/3 C dry milk powder and 3/4 C water as a substitute.


Pumpkin Pie bars

For the crust:
1 1/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 c brown sugar
a pinch of salt
a stick of butter
1 T milk, water, or eggnog (!)

For the filling:
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
3/4 c brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1 t cinnamon
a big pinch of ginger and clove and nutmeg
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)

For the topping:
1 c sour cream
1/4 c honey

Preheat the oven to 450. Blend together the first four crust ingredients, then cut in the butter. You can do this in a food processor or by hand. Stir in whatever liquid you're using, and press into a greased 8x8 pan and set aside.
Stir together pumpkin, sugar, spices and eggs, then stir in the milk. Carefully pour over the crust and bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 45-50 minutes until set.
Let cool. Combine the sour cream and honey, and pour carefully over the top. Cool to room temperature.