Taco Tuesday

Man i heart Mexican food! 

okay so.... actually I love being a "white person pretending to eat mexican food" So.... in truth I love taco's, burrito's & quesadilla's. Here lately I have been in love with my muffin pan. It seems like as long as whatever I cook comes in the form of a cupcake or muffin, then the kids will gobble it up. Its totally a win-win. Mommy wins because it is totally built-in portion control and the kids love it because everything is cooler "mini-sized". So tonight we had "Taco Cupcakes".

They were so simple and so yummy! Here ya go. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Turkey
4 tbsp Taco Seasoning (or a mixture of cumin, granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, chili powder)
1 cup water

12 corn tortillas (the small tostada size)
1 can black beans, drained
1/2 lb Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Tillamook is my fav)



Toppings: (Totally your preference on this!)
Spring Mix with Spinach
Diced Roma Tomatoes
Sour Cream
Salsa
Jalapenos
Black Olives

Directions:

Oven Ready

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Brown ground turkey in pan with taco seasoning. Add water and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Grease muffin pan
Cut tortillas into 4ths and line the muffin pan with tortillas
Spoon the following into mixture: ground turkey, black beans & salsa
Top with cheddar cheese
Bake for 10 minutes (or until cheese is browned & bubbly)
Remove from pan & add toppings to taste!

This was so easy & so yummy! I think it would be prefect for a party! :)

Best Cupcakes Ever

Today has been a tough one on this lady so the last thing I needed was to have to cook a complicated dinner. Luckily for me, on the menu tonight was "Meatloaf Cupcakes". This was one of the easiest dinners I have made in a long while and seriously could make a girl have to start attend Overeaters' Anonymous because I could not stop eating these. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes filled all the way to the top of the pan and after topping each one with mashed potatoes these are a meal in a bite.... or two or three... oh who's counting! Enjoy!

Ingredients Needed:

Meatloaf:

* 1 teaspoon olive oil
* 1 cup finely chopped onion
* 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 cup ketchup, divided
* 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (raw)
* 1 cup corn flake crumbs
* 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
* 1 teaspoon fish sauce or soy free soy sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2 large eggs
* Cooking spray

Potatoes:
*6 medium potatoes
*1/2 cup original almond milk
*1/3 cup sour cream substitute
* pinch of salt
* pinch of pepper
* pinch of granulated garlic

Topping (Optional)
* Chives
* Turkey Bacon Bits

Directions:

Cat Food Anyone?

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried oregano, and minced garlic and ground turkey; sauté 2 minutes. Cool.

Combine turkey mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.

Spoon the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Top each with 2 teaspoons ketchup.

Oven Ready

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes.

While the meatloaf is cooking, make the mashed potatoes.

Love this Thing

Place potato in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain. Return potato to pan. Add milk and remaining ingredients; stir with a spoon to desired consistency.  If they are not creamy enough for you, add up to 1/4 cup more milk – although they need to be stiff enough to pipe on top.

Put the potatoes into a pastry bag with a wide star tip and pipe the mashed potatoes on top of the meatloaf.

Best Cupcake Ever

Sprinkle with bacon crumbles and chopped chives. (Optional)

Devour... I mean... eat so politely using your best table manners. Oh who am I kidding? Devour these puppies because if you don't someone else will! :)

Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & Quinoa Casserole

I just want to say that this is surely going to become one of our "go-to" recipes. This was super easy to prep & cooked while we did our nightly clean-up... which mostly consisted of screaming for us tonight. Ever have one of those nights. Well according to my two oldest sons I am the meanest mommy ever. BUT I make yummy dinner so at least there's that. :) This recipe calls for cheese and i used extra sharp cheddar because for whatever reason Cohen can tolerate that kind of cheese. ENJOY!!!!

Prepped & Oven Ready

Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & Quinoa Casserole

• 1 Cup Quinoa, rinsed
• 1  Cups Water
• 10 oz. Organic Cream of Broccoli Soup(Natural Grocers has a very yummy kind)
• 1/4 Cup Plain Almond Yogurt
• 2 Tbsp.Almond Milk
• 1 1/2 Cup Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded, plus 1/2 Cup for topping
• 1 tsp Granulated Garlic
• 1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
• 2 Cups Broccoli Florets, lightly steamed
• 3 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
• Parmesan Cheese, for topping (optional)

Combine the rinsed quinoa and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook for 18-20 minutes, until the quinoa is fluffy.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350.  Coat a casserole dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the soup, yogurt, milk, cheese, garlic, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in the quinoa, broccoli and chicken.

Spoon mixture into the prepared dish.  Top with reserved 1/2 Cup shredded cheese and parmesan cheese. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Let cool slightly before serving.

Finished & Already Half Way Gone! :)

I'm Back!!!

After taking an amazingly awesome hiatus from the blog world.... I'm Officially Back! Here is this weeks menu. I will update with recipes & photos as we go.

1) Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & Quinoa Casserole
2) Meatloaf Cupcakes
3) Sweet Potato Pockets
4) Asiago Meatballs
5) Taco Cupcakes
6) Bernie's Special :) ( I know you can't wait to find out about this!)

Hold on tight cause this week is awesome!

Ps.... Sugar Free Whip Cream & Berrie Tart will be featured also.... along with the Coconut/Lime Sugar Cookies!

Weekly Menu for the next 2

So here is a list of dinners we will be having over the next 2 weeks. Recipes and pictures to follow but if you want any recipes any sooner just let me know. :)

Thurs.(today) - Veggie Pot Pies
Fri - Grilled Chicken Salads ( & steamed veggies for the kiddos)
Sat - Thai Lettuce Wraps
Sun - Carribean Pulled Pork
Mon - BREAKFAST :)
Tues - Taco Soup
Wed - Steak Rolls
Thurs - Cauliflower Pizza
Fri - Hawaiian BBQ Chicken
Sat - Zuchinni Cakes
Sun - Chicken Enchilada Soup
Mon - Black Bean/Sweet Potato Burgers
Tues - Sweet Potato & Sage Risotto
Wed - Potato & Veggies Quiche

Wallis Bakery Open For Business

This week we made our first attempt at baking without gluten, dairy & soy.... let me just tell you that was an adventure. It first began with a shopping trip to Dixie Nutrition... like the St. George version of Whole Foods (except way less selection & way more expensive. boo.). I had to buy ingredients like zantham gum (what the heck is that) and coconut oil (holy expensive). However, I made it out of there alive, missing a kidney that I had to donate in order to pay for my groceries, but alive. We made four different things on our baking frenzy: sandwich bread, dark chocolate brownies, pb&j granola bars and some flippin awesome cookies... coconut, almond, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies. I need to come up with a nickname for these cookies because listing off all the ingredients is a little overkill i would say. :) I will post a link for the sandwich bread because I totally stole the recipe from someone. The only thing I would say about the bread is that it was really liquid-y after all the ingredients were mixed together so I had to add about 1/4 cup more flour to the mixture to create a dough consistency. Other than that no problems with it... and the kids have totally dug it. We have made pb&j sandwiches with it (which was the main reason we were trying this out to begin with) and cinnamon toast. Cohen is obsessed with talking about his "special food". Everything is "special" according to him if he can eat it. Ha. He even asked me if he could have "special apples & grapes". I told him that God created apples and grapes for everyone and that he could eat them too, that they weren't necessarily special. He proceeded to tell me that God made everything special. Boy was I put in my place.

Here are the other recipes for the other yummy snacks I made. My favorite is the cookies fore sure but the kiddos LOVE the pb&j granola bars. The bars I have made snack sized and have frozen individually in snack sized ziplocs so that we can use them for school snacks.

Coconut/Almond/Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup Butter/Margarine/Coconut Oil
3/4 cup Cane Juice or Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Milk (Cow/Soy/Rice)
1Tsp Gluten-Free Vanilla
*1/2 cup Sorgum Flour
*1/4 cup Tapioca Flour
*1/4 cup Potato Starch
*** OR you can substitute Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (it has all the above just mixed together)
1/2 Tsp Zantham Gum
1 1/2 Cups Gluten-Free Quick Oats
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/3 cup Shredded Coconut
1/3 cup Sliced Almonds
1/3 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips (dairy & soy free for us but maybe not for ya'll)

Cream together sugar and margarine until smooth. Add the milk and vanilla. Blend. In a seperate bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients except coconut, almonds & chocolate chips. Add wet & dry ingredients together and mix until combined. Slowly add last three ingredients and mix until mixed well throughout. Place dough balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

SO YUMMY!!!

Yummy Sandwich Bread - http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/yummy-sandwich-bread-gluten-free-casein-free-soy-free/

PB&J Granola Bars

*** YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THE DOUGH MIXTURE 

TWICE FOR THIS SO DOUBLE ALL INGREDIENTS EXCEPT PB&J***

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter or Coconut Oil
2 Tsp Gluten Free Vanilla
1 Cup Gluten Free Oat Flour
1 Cup Gluten Free Quick Oats
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Xantham Gum
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Strawberry Jam or Preserves (warmed & syrupy)
1 Cup All Natural Jiffy Peanut Butter (melted)

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease an 8x8 pan. Mix together all ingredients except pb&j. Press half of mixture firmly into bottom of pan. Layer melted peanut butter on top of mixture, followed by jelly. Then press remaining half of mixture on top of pb&j. Bake 20-25 minutes or until top is lightly browned and firm. Cool bars in pan for an hour then cut into 16 squares and serve at room temp. :)
***PS... the kiddos LOVE these!

Stir Fry with a Twist

Tonights' Dinner was super yummy! :) YAY! I would highly recommend everyone trying this one.


Orange Sweet Potato & Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients -
1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 large orange sweet potato
2 celery stalks chopped
2 carrots peeled and shaved
2 handfuls broccoli florets
4 oz water chestnuts (half can)
ground cumin
ground ginger
pepper salt
garlic powder
onion powder
1/3 cup pouring sauce (see recipe #3 - Lettuce Wraps here)
peanut sauce (see recipe #3 - Lettuce Wraps here)
1 cup jasmine rice
Oil Blend - olive oil with a few drops of sesame oil


Directions - 
Cook rice according to package. It takes about 45 minutes in a rice cooker... but its so easy cause you just throw the rice and water into the cooker and let it go. :) As the rice is cooking poke holes in the orange sweet potato and put in the microwave for ten minutes to steam. Cut the chicken into 1 inch chunks and put into medium skillet. add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle cumin, ginger, garlic, onion, salt and pepper onto chicken a mix thoroughly. cook on medium until white all the way through and water is evaporated. Add pouring sauce into skillet and saute chicken in sauce. In another skillet or wok (if you have one), mix together celery, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts and oil blend together and saute until veggies are slightly tender yet still have a crispness to them. As veggies, chicken & rice are finishing up, cut sweet potatoes into cubes. After chicken and veggies are done combine them with sweet potato in a large serving bowl. Top with almond slivers and serve with peanut sauce and jasmine rice. 


We all seemed to like this one.... relatively speaking. Cohen is a super picky eater as it is already and is very particular on how food looks and what type of textures the foods have. So, needless to say all the colors and textures and new ways of presenting foods is throwing him for a bit of a loop. He is trying and I am proud of him for it but he is 5 years old and is struggling with all of this. He knows that there are certain foods that he likes alot that he can no longer eat and that upsets him, which in turn breaks my heart. Today we had a melt down over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He said to me, "Mommy.... i can never have another pnut butter & jelly sandwich and it makes my heart hurt because that's what all the kindergartners are supposed to eat for lunch." Talk about making me want to cry. So.... guess what Mommy and Nana are doing tomorrow... that's right... were going to figure out how to make gluten free, dairy free, soy free bread so that my 5 year old can have a pb&j like every other kid in kindergarten. 


Coming up with the snack foods and normal kid foods I think is the thing that is going to be the hardest. I am currently freezing peaches and plums and am going to attempt to make homemade sorbet for him tomorrow so that he can have "ice cream" like everyone else. I am also going to learn how to make "ice cream" with coconut milk & cocoa powder. That should be interesting. 


Tallen & Ashten are the greatest eaters ever which is probably the biggest blessing in all of this. I haven't had any problems getting them to eat anything I have cooked. Last night when we made the potato tortilla I made a ton and figured I would have leftovers to make a scramble for breakfast, but between the two of them leftovers were non-existent. Tal weighs the same as Co and is 2 years younger and about 6 inches shorter... and the way Ash is going he is going to be as heavy as the two of them combined very soon. Ash has gained about 7 lbs in the last few months and is just continuing to pack it on. Don't get me wrong though, I am not complaining.... His weight has been an issue since birth and after the bout with MRSA, having to have the picc/vanco for 3 weeks, he has been completely healthy and growing like a weed. It is a HUGE blessing! God has been so good to restore his little body and make it whole and new. 


The challenges are only just beginning but I am trying to see the silver lining in all of this. I know that there are lessons to be learned and blessings to be had. Just can't wait to see what they are.