Berry Cobbler!

For the 4th of July (yeah, I'm a little behind) we didn't really do much. Kyle was (and still is!) getting over bronchitis and we just wanted a quiet day at home. We set off some little fireworks, BBQ'd, and just relaxed all day. Nicey.

I've kind of stayed away from gluten free baking because it's generally not that great and Kyle doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. But you need dessert on holidays, so I made this berry cobbler, which was great!

Instead of rolling out the dough and dealing with that, I just blobbed the crust on top. I guess it was more like a crisp than a cobbler, but it was pretty tasty! And it uses somewhat normal ingredients, so it's a good option for families who aren't gluten free, but have gluten free friends over for dinner.

Do not try this one at home!

This recipe for vegan sloppy joes sounded good, but it was not. I think it was the vinegar that jacked it up, but I'm not willing to try it again to find out. This dinner looks fantastic, but it was just too sour.

1/2 c uncooked lentils
1/2 c uncooked rice
1 bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, 1/2 diced, 1/2 sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 c vinegar (or NOT)
1 can tomato paste
1 T chili powder
1/2 T cumin
salt and pepper
1 avocado, sliced
1 tomato, sliced

Cook the rice and lentils (I had some leftover rice from a stir fry the night before.) In a frying pan, sauté the diced onions, garlic, and bell pepper. Add tomato paste, vinegar, seasonings, lentils, and rice and simmer for 5-7 minutes. In a separate pan, caramelize the sliced onion. Put the lentil mix on buns and top with onion, avocado, and tomato. (We put this on baked corn tortillas because of our gluten issues.)

This had such potential and the avocado was a really tasty touch. Isaac took one bite and looked ill. At first I thought he was being dramatic, but I probably had the same look on my face! Oh well.

Hippie Cookies

I saw this healthy cookie recipe on Facebook a while back and finally got around to trying it this afternoon! I have two reasons for not making them yet: 1- it's been 8 million degrees out so turning on the oven didn't sound too pleasant and 2- I kept eating all the bananas before they got ripe enough. Now that it's cooled off to a brisk 104, I thought it was time to do some baking.

These cookies are vegan, gluten-free, and don't use any sugar at all!

3 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 c applesauce
2 c oats
1/4 c almond milk
1/2 c craisins
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon

Stir together, bake at 350, 15-20 mins.

As you can see, I made these fairly small because I was worried they would be mushy inside. They were still mushy inside. Isaac was MMMMM-ing all over the place, saying these were SO good! Esther doesn't like craisins or raisins, so she didn't care for them. I thought they were...meh. They mostly tasted like over-ripe bananas, which aren't my fave. It was worth a shot and if Isaac likes them, they're a healthy snack. 

Chickpeas Simmered in Masala Sauce

Yes, more chickpeas! Love 'em!

I still have a big bag of lemons and this recipe used up a whole teaspoon of lemon juice. I also had some chopped tomatoes leftover from tacos, so this was a really inexpensive dinner to make! I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with beans and rice. Cheap, filling, and full of fiber and protein.

http://www.treehugger.com/easy-vegetarian-recipes/chickpeas-simmered-masala-sauce.html

I only used 1/4 tsp of cayenne and it was the perfect amount of spice...I thought it was spicy and Kyle thought it was "flavorful." The kids actually ate all their broccoli and rice, and Isaac ate the salad too. I convinced Isaac to try ONE bean and he said it wasn't terrible. That's progress, I guess.

This made enough for last night and we're having it again tonight. I'll probably make the kids a plate of sandwiches, fruits, and veggies.

Gluten-free lemon bars

My parents have a lemon tree in their backyard that produces these HUGE, juicy lemons, so we always bring a bag or four home with us after we visit. One of my favorite uses for lemons is to make lemon bars using my friend Amy's recipe. They are so good and tart! Since Kyle loves them too, I thought I'd search for a gluten-free version. They turned out great! I used King Arthur GF flour (which for some reason I've been calling King George on this blog.) It doesn't really have that gluten-free taste and doesn't require mixing a bunch of different flours together.

http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-lemon-bars-425323

I know this isn't healthy, but for people who don't normally cook gluten-free, this is an easy option for when you're entertaining friends with special diet needs.

Instead of 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, I added 3. Next time I'll add even more to get that lemony zing!

I let the kids add the powdered sugar, so it was definitely sweet enough!

We couldn't wait to taste our dessert, which was a mistake. They were a big, grainy, gloppy mess. They still tasted great, but were MUCH better after being in the fridge for a few hours.

Close up of the yummy filling!

After cooling, the crust tasted like regular old crust and wasn't grainy at all. I'll be making this again for poor, dessert-deprived Kyle.

As you can see, this was a big hit!

Quinoa X 2

Long time, no blog!

Monday we went to a potluck BBQ, so I decided to make an easy quinoa salad. Some people had never tried quinoa and were brave enough to try it! I think they were glad they did.

Greek Quinoa Salad
cooked quinoa (cooled)
cucumber
tomato
green onion (you could also use red, but they're a bit strong)
feta cheese
Mix all this together with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon pepper, and garlic salt. You can also add lemon juice if you have it. YUM.

Last night I made a Thai Quinoa salad. Yes, I'm obsessed with Thai and peanut sauce! My sister sent me this recipe and it was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!! I didn't use the red onion, just added more green onion. I used a whole bunch of cilantro and an entire bag of shredded cabbage. I added the chickpeas but omitted the bell pepper. I am definitely making this again! Isaac even ate some...WHAT?!?!

Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing

Delicious vegan and easily gluten-free salad with Thai flavors and a perfect crunch. It’s even better the next day!

Author: Monique of AmbitiousKitchen.com

Ingredients

•       ¾ cup uncooked quinoa

•       1-2 cups shredded red cabbage, depending on how much crunch you like

•       1 red bell pepper, diced

•       ½ red onion, diced

•       1 cup shredded carrots

•       ½ cup chopped cilantro

•       ¼ cup diced green onions

•       ½ cup cashew halves or peanuts (honey-roasted is good)

•       Optional: 1 cup edamame or chickpeas

•       Fresh lime, for a bit of tang

•       For the dressing:

•       ¼ cup all natural peanut butter

•       2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

•       3 tablespoon soy sauce, gluten-free if desired

•       1 tablespoon honey (use agave if vegan)

•       1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

•       1 teaspoon sesame oil

•       1 teaspoon olive oil

•       Water to thin, if necessary

Instructions

1.     To cook quinoa: Rinse quinoa with cold water in mesh strainer. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with fork; place in large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. You should have a little over 2 cups of quinoa.

2.     To make dressing: Add peanut butter and honey or agave to a medium microwave safe bowl; heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Add in ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and both sesame and olive oil and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. If you want a thinner dressing, simply stir in a teaspoon or two of water or olive oil.

3.     Add as much or as little dressing as you’d like to the quinoa. I always start out with a little bit of dressing and usually add more to suit my taste preferences. Alternatively you can save the dressing for later and add when you are ready to eat; however the flavors of the dressing usually soak into the salad so I love adding it to the quinoa first.

4.     Next fold in red pepper, onion, cabbage, carrots, and cilantro into the quinoa. Garnish with cashews and green onions. Serve chilled or at room temperature with lime wedges if desired.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1/6th of recipe Calories: 260 Fat: 13.5g Carbohydrates: 27.7g Sugar: 7g Fiber: 4.3g Protein: 8.6g 

Fresh Mama

Yesterday was Mother's Day which means I didn't have to cook! I decided to go to a place called Fresh Mama so we could use a Living Social deal that was about to expire.

When we arrived, we were the only customers there. I guess this isn't the hoppin' Mother's Day spot. It's kind of in a funky area, but the building also has a Hot Yoga studio, a salon, and a few other businesses, so those customers must keep them going. The counter guy seemed kind of annoyed that we were there, but he did get our orders correct and the food came out pretty quickly.

Kyle and I both had the Spicy Thai Wrap, mine with rice paper and his with collard greens. I asked for no jalapenos on mine, and I'm so glad I did!

As you can see, the presentation was quite lovely. The wrap was good, but had waaaay too many red onions. The Thai dipping sauce was so flavorful, but a little spicy, even for Kyle! A little dab here and there added some nice flavor though.

The kids both had smoothies. Since Esther can't read, I ordered her a green smoothie with oranges, mangos, spinach, and I can't remember what else. Isaac saw the menu and any smoothies that had spinach or kale were quickly rejected, so he chose one with berries, bananas, oranges, and some protein powder (it had whey in it, which is a dairy product, so Esther couldn't have had it anyway.)

They both sucked them down! When Esther saw the green, she was a little traumatized...but as soon as she took a sip, she said yummm.

Overall, the food at Fresh Mama was good and definitely healthy, but I felt it was a little overpriced. The smoothies were $7.99 each. I believe the wraps were about the same price. The reason I feel that's a bit much for a wrap is that it was just basically salad...there wasn't any protein or spread like hummus or anything like that. This place is literally across the street from Isaac's school (and I never noticed) so it would be a nice little after school date spot to grab a smoothie.

This morning, Esther made this "snack" for Kyle. My friend at Redeeming Nutrition would be proud.