Monthly Archives: February 2014

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Main Dish

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Main Dish Leave a comment
Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Mexican inspired food is an easy “go-to” for gluten-free families.  It is quick, easy, and most dishes are already gluten-free.  This recipe can be used in tacos, on top of salads, in quesadillas, enchiladas; the list goes on and on.  I usually make a batch of this chicken, then freeze half for another time.  This recipe is fantastic, but I am almost embarrassed to post it on my blog because it is so ridiculously easy.  However, my family and friends ask about it all the time.

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My family does taco night often.  Usually, I will make a batch of this chicken, then line up a variety of toppings for everyone to create their own personal taco.  I usually put out shredded romaine lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado slices, sliced olives, and black beans.  You can make it into a meal by adding a Spanish rice or, even better, a Spanish quinoa.

For those of you who haven’t thought of this already, here is my 2 ingredient Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Main Dish
Serves: 4, plus leftovers
Ingredients
  • 1 -2 lb bloneless chicken breast
  • 1 jar of your favorite salsa (16 oz will do)
Instructions
  1. Add chicken breast to slow cooker and add the salsa until the chicken is just covered (you may need more or less than 16 oz, depending on the size of your slow cooker and how much chicken you are using).
  2. Cook on low for 5 hours.
  3. After 4.5 hours, shred the chicken with 2 forks, then cook for the additional ½ hour.
  4. Use in your favorite Mexican dish!

 

2 Comments
Condiments

Whole Grain Mustard and Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing

Condiments 2 Comments
Whole Grain Mustard and Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing

Making my own salad dressing is not something that came easily to me.  Why should you make your own when you can just grab a bottle?  However, I started making my own salad dressing for three reasons.

  1. Wheat products can lurk behind the scenes in many dressing brands.
  2. The ingredients can be poor, even if it’s a vinaigrette.  Many dressing contain canola oil, refined sugar, and preservatives, among many other unrecognizable ingredients.
  3. Nothing beats the taste of fresh made dressing, especially when you can customize the acid to oil ratio to your taste.

Most days, I have a giant salad for lunch, so I go through a ton of dressing.   Once I committed to making my own dressing for the above reasons, I made the dressing part of my salad creating routine.  I make it on the spot, pour it on and enjoy.  This routine led me to this salad dressing recipe.  It uses ingredients you can easily have on hand and it requires very little effort.  Also it is hard to argue with the quality of ingredients: unpasteurized unfiltered apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, lemon, whole-grain mustard and sea salt.  Sometimes I get inspired by all the cool balsamic vinegars out there, but I always come back to this recipe.

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I am a big endorser of organic, raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized (with the ‘mother’) apple cider vinegar.  You can do a quick Google search to get an idea of its health benefits.  I also use it on my skin and hair, as well as for a household cleaner.  I know it’s not for everyone outside of salad dressing, but if you are interested, you should give it a try.  I use Bragg’s brand apple cider vinegar, which is available in most grocery stores (http://bragg.com/products/bragg-organic-apple-cider-vinegar.html).  Be sure the brand you use states “unpasteurized” and “with the mother”.

Also, if you haven’t tried whole grain mustard, you should.  Many salad dressing recipes I’ve tried, call for Dijon mustard.  I like it on my hotdog, but not my salad.  I was given a jar of whole grain mustard as a gift, gave it a try, and now I am hooked.  Whole grain mustard has a much milder taste and I like biting into the little mustard seeds.  You can find whole-grain mustard in the mustard section of any grocery store.  I usually get the honey mustard variety.

I hope you enjoy this dressing recipe and I hope you get inspired to make your own dressing at home.  Like I noted above, the great thing about making your own is customizing the taste.  I tend to like it on the extra acidic/salty side.  Feel free to use this recipe as a guide and then play around with the ratios.

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Whole Grain Mustard and Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing
 
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Vegan, Paleo (1 Serving for a large salad)
Author:
Recipe type: Condiment
Ingredients
  • Juice from ½ lemon
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl squeeze ½ lemon.
  2. Add the apple cider vinegar and the mustard.
  3. Add the extra virgin olive oil (instead of measuring, I usually eye it until it looks to be about ⅔ the content of the bowl).
  4. Add salt.
  5. Wisk until the oil and acids are incorporated to form an emulsion.
  6. Pour on your salad and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

1 Comment
Side Dish

Quinoa with Zucchini and Portobello Mushrooms

Side Dish 1 Comment
Quinoa with Zucchini and Portobello Mushrooms

When I first ate quinoa, I didn’t like it.  I thought it had a bland earthy taste and odd texture that I wasn’t sure what to do with.  However, since going gluten-free I revisited cooking with quinoa to provide more variety in dishes for my family and because it is so nutritious.  I quickly realized that the trick to quinoa is adding flavor.   Like rice, it will absorb the flavors of the ingredients you add.  Unlike rice, I don’t like it served plain with meat or veggies on top.  Quinoa is much more fun and flavorful if you mix it together with your ingredient combination of choice.

Quick note: when I make quinoa I always make more than I need.  Cooked quinoa keeps great in the fridge for 1 week.  I use it later to make other side dishes or whip it into a breakfast cereal with almond milk, nuts and fruit, with honey for sweetness. 

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I first started making this recipe in the summer because I was overloaded with zucchinis from our farm share.  However, it has become a year round staple.  Zucchinis and Portobello mushrooms are easy to find throughout the year at your neighborhood grocery store.  It is one of those recipes that I have to stop myself from eating straight out of the pan.

For this recipe, I use coconut oil to cook the vegetables.  Recently I have become much more aware of the oils I use to cook with.  I used to be the queen of olive oil, but I have become more educated about what happens to olive oil at high temperatures.  Olive oil will breakdown at high temperatures, losing its nutritional value and creating chemicals that are not good for our bodies.  Coconut oil is fantastic.  It is a very stable and nutritious oil and will not degrade over high heat.  However, I am not a big fan of the coconut taste in savory foods.  For this particular recipe I make an exception.  I think it compliments the dish well and the coconut taste is subtle to unnoticeable.

I think this recipe provides an easy starting point if you are new to cooking quinoa.  You can easily try any veggie combination you like or add chicken, shrimp, beans or tofu to make it a complete meal.

I hope you enjoy it!

Quinoa with Zucchini and Portobello Mushrooms
 
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Vegan
Author:
Recipe type: Side Dish
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ cup dry quinoa
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 shallot minced
  • 1 ½ - 2 cups chopped zucchini (~2 small or 1 large) into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 ½ - 2 cups chopped Portobello mushrooms (~6 baby or 3 regular size) into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
  • Salt to taste (sea salt or pink Himalayan is best)
Instructions
  1. Cook the quinoa per package directions. I get the quinoa going first so it will be done approximately when I am done cooking the veggies.
  2. Melt the coconut oil on a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
  3. Add the shallot and cook until it gets soft and begins to look translucent.
  4. Add the zucchini and cook until it just begins to soften, about 2 minutes.
  5. Add the mushrooms and cook until both the zucchini and the mushrooms are done.
  6. Add salt to taste.
  7. Mix in parsley and lemon if desired (I flip-flop on the lemon. If I think it will go well with whatever else I am serving, then I will add it).
  8. Finally mix in the cooked quinoa and enjoy.

 

4 Comments
Smoothies and Drinks

Orange Cream Smoothie

Smoothies and Drinks 4 Comments
Orange Cream Smoothie

Anyone who knows my family, knows we are obsessed with smoothies.  I began making smoothies for my son when he was a year and a half.  Back then, we didn’t know he had a wheat allergy and he was a very poor eater and very thin.  I tried everything to get him to eat, but I couldn’t consistently get nutrient rich foods into his diet without a fight. I began experimenting with smoothies as a way to “sneak” fruits and veggies into his diet. To my delight, my son really loved smoothies.  I could finally get some comfort knowing that every day he got some fruit and veggies into his belly, even if the rest of the day consisted of goldfish crackers.

Now fast forward to today and both my kids are smoothie masters.  I can easily load their smoothies up with fresh greens like kale or spinach, raw seeds and nuts, extras like goji berries, and only a date for sweetness.  They will gladly skip their Udi’s bagel for a smoothie at breakfast time.  That said, there are days when they don’t feel like drinking a smoothie or they don’t like my ingredient combination, but I’ll take a day like that knowing that most days they get a powerhouse smoothie filled with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and healthy fats.

I started making smoothies daily for both my husband and me almost a year ago and I’ve never looked back.  I use the smoothie as my breakfast.  I feel energized and refreshed after drinking it and it keeps me full until my mid-morning snack time (~3-4 hours).  It also sparks my creative juices (no pun intended).  Every morning I get to create something special by combining what I have on hand.

I started out making smoothies using a regular $30 blender, then about 9 months ago we upgraded to a Vitamix (best money I ever spent!!!).  I think you can easily create delicious and nutritious smoothies with a basic blender, but if you have the money, the Vitamix or other high-powered blender is fantastic.  The biggest advantage of the high-powered blender is the ability to pulverize pretty much everything.  It gives you a much wider range of ingredient options and combinations.  If you want to experiment making smoothies, start with your run of the mill kitchen blender and see how you like it.  If you really enjoy including smoothies into your diet, I suggest upgrading to a high-powered blender.

One final note before I get to my first smoothie recipe.  When I talk to people about including smoothies in my kids diet, I always get asked how I serve it.  My kids are 2 and 4, so giving them a giant glass cup filled with a fruit/veggie concoction ready to stain my rug, is not an option.  I use kids sippy cups with a straw that don’t leak when they get tipped.  My youngest likes the Explora Easiflow bottles and my oldest uses the Playtex sippy cups with the straw.  If your child is sensitive to the color of the smoothie, a kiddie cup that you can’t see through works great.  One draw back with these cups is the straws are narrow and can easily get clogged with smoothie clumps.  This is a non-issue with the Vitamix blender, but when I used my old kitchen blender I had to be more meticulous about making sure everything got blended, and de-clog on occasion.

My first smoothie recipe for Family Gluten Free is…

Orange Cream Smoothie

I picked an orange-based smoothie for this month because I feel like I always have oranges around the house this time of year.  I think we are all yearning for some seasonal fruit and what is available is sparse.  All the varieties of oranges at the grocery store give a little ray of sunlight into these bleak dreary days.  Also, oranges store great in the fridge and they are cheap!

This smoothie recipe makes 2 large servings, but you can easily cut it down as needed.  Smoothies aren’t like baking, you don’t have to be precise and you can adjust per your individual taste.  For example, you may not have to add extra sweetness if your banana is really ripe.

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For this smoothie, I typically use a navel orange, but if you are not using a high-powered blender, you can use a less fibrous orange, like a clementine or even some fresh squeezed orange juice (~1/2 cup).  One side note: bananas freeze great.  I always stock our fruit bowl with bananas because if they get too ripe before we eat them, I just peel them and place them in a Ziploc in the freezer.  They will get a little brown, but they are perfect for smoothies or baking. 

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I always add seeds to my smoothies.  They don’t really have much taste and they really boost the nutrition value of the smoothie.  For this recipe, I use chia seeds.  Chia seeds have healthy fats and few people know that they are full of calcium.  I think they compliment the smoothie, but feel free to use what you have (flax, sesame, hemp seeds all work great).  Also, my go-to sweetener is medjool dates.  If you haven’t tried them, please do, they are fantastic.  You can find them in the produce section of any grocery store.  Not only do they have a ton of potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin B-6, and magnesium, but they give a soft overall sweetness that I really enjoy.  If you don’t want to use dates or you are not using a high-powered blender, you can use any other natural sweetener, such as honey (raw is better), maple syrup (Grade B is better), or agave nectar.

Any greens work great in this smoothie, but baby spinach is always a winner.  However, you can use any greens on hand, such as kale or lettuce.  Frozen kale also works great or sometimes I just take a handful of mixed salad greens I have in the fridge.  If you use kale, I recommend baby kale or the flat leafed kale.  The curly kale tends to make the smoothie pulpy.  My kids usually won’t go for it.

I love coconut water.  I don’t enjoy it on its own, but in a smoothie it will not add any flavor, while boosting it with potassium and naturally occurring electrolytes (great alternative to Gatorade).  However, coconut water is expensive.  If you don’t want the added expense or if you don’t have it on hand, you can use regular water.  I like soy milk in this recipe because it is creamy and I love orange and cream together.  There is a lot of controversy over soy milk and you may be avoiding it for health reasons or because of an allergy.  If this is the case, feel free to use any non-dairy milk (coconut, almond, rice, oat, etc.).  I try to avoid dairy in my smoothies because it is hard for me to digest.  However, if you prefer, you can certainly use milk or even add a scoop of plain yogurt.  I provided liquid measurements in my recipe, but you may need more or less depending on your thickness preference.

Now, ready, set, blend, enjoy!

Orange Cream Smoothie
 
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Vegan
Author:
Recipe type: Smoothie
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 small banana or ½ large banana
  • 1 navel orange (peeled and hard top removed)
  • 2-3 ice cubes
  • 1 tbsp raw chia seeds
  • 1-2 medjool dates (remove pit)
  • 1 handful of baby spinach
  • ½ cup soy milk, or other non-dairy milk
  • 2 cups coconut water
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth and enjoy!

 

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Uncategorized

Introduction – Welcome

Uncategorized 1 Comment
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Welcome!!!  I am so happy to finally start writing this blog.  Finding a way to share the wealth of information I have acquired since becoming gluten-free and focusing on a whole foods based diet has been a long time coming.

I am not a nutritionist, medical professional or chef.  So who am I?  I am a mom who has been feeding my family a whole foods based gluten-free diet for a year and a half.  I have dedicated myself to learning and understanding the best way to eat gluten-free without sacrificing taste or nutrition.  Am I still learning?  YES!  However, I hope you can come along on my journey to create great gluten-free recipes, eat more quality whole foods, discover great gluten-free products, review restaurants with gluten-free menus, and share great recipes and information I get my hands on along the way.