Stuffed Peppers

These were an experiment for dinner the other night. The husband and I both like peppers and I heard that stuffed peppers are delicious. I had an extra pound of ground beef and just started adding ingredients. Do you ever do that? They came out pretty well! Next time I will only use green peppers because I didn't like the flavor of the red ones as much. The husband really enjoyed these and they were just as delicious the next day for our lunch!

What you need

- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 C spaghetti sauce
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- fresh basil and parsley, chopped
- 1/2 C cooked brown rice
- 4 large bell peppers
- grated parmesan
- sliced mozzarella






Directions


- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- In a large skillet, brown the ground beef (or other ground meat)

- Drain and return to skillet

- Add the onions and garlic and cook until fragrant

- Add the parsley and basil. You could add 1 tsp of Italian seasoning instead.

- Add the spaghetti sauce. If you like a lot of sauce you can add more than 1 C.

- Add in the cooked rice (if using) and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

- Remove the tops and middle of the peppers. The husband did this part for me...he's wonderful. You made need to slice the bottom as well so they stand up straight.

- Spoon the filling into each peppers. Don't be afraid to really fill them up!

- Place inside a deep casserole dish or dutch oven

- Top with grated parmesan and the sliced mozzarella

- Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes. Top with some italian seasoning.

- I served these with a salad and it was a perfect meal!

The husband's plate before...

...and his plate about 10 minutes later. I'd say he enjoyed it!

To die for muffins

A while back I experimented a bit with banana bread muffins. I took my original recipe for banana bread and tweaked it a bit, then added a brown sugar crumb topping. Oh my goodness. These are without a doubt my favorite muffins and now I set some bananas aside to get over-ripe just so I can make these. The husband loves them and says he could eat them all day. I also got rave reviews from gluten eaters that said these didn't taste gluten free at all (yay!!) Hope you all enjoy them!

What you need (makes about 40 mini muffins)

- 1/2 C brown rice flour
- 1/4 C potato starch
- 1/4 C sorghum flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 C coconut oil
- 3/4 C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 mashed bananas
- 1/4 C almond milk


Directions


- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Combine the first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl (through the xanthan gum)

- In a separate larger bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth

*Note: If you're using coconut oil, make sure it's in liquid form before you add it. Also, make sure the eggs are room temperature. I added the oil a little bit at a time to keep it from solidifying. If it gets too cold it won't mix in and will turn back to a solid.

- In a small bowl, mash the bananas with the almond milk

- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the mashed bananas/milk to the sugar and egg mixture. Start and end with the dry. (I did dry, banana, dry, banana, dry)

- To make the topping: Combine 2/3 C brown sugar, 4 T brown rice flour, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.

- Cut in 2 T of cold butter until the mixture resembles the picture below

- Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin and top with the brown sugar topping if using

- Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

- I like making the mini size but you could make regular size too if you prefer. These are best eaten while still warm, but are good the next day as well. Just make sure you store them in an airtight container so you don't lose the moisture. Enjoy and happy Monday friends!

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Who doesn't love breaded and gooey mozzarella sticks? I've made homemade ones before with panko breadcrumbs and lightly frying them in oil. They were amazing. This time around, I substituted gluten free breadcrumbs and added some seasoning and parmesan cheese. Instead of frying them I baked them and they turned out well. They definitely weren't as good as the memory I have of the gluten-full ones, but they were good enough and pretty easy to make. The husband liked them too!

What you need (makes 24 sticks)

- 12 sticks mozzarella string cheese
- 2 T white rice flour
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 8 T gluten free breadcrumbs (I got Glutino)
- 3 T italian seasoning
- 2 T grated parmesan cheese
- cooking spray









Directions
- Cut the cheese sticks in half and place on a baking sheet. Freeze for about an hour.

- When the cheese sticks are frozen, assemble the dredging station

- Put the rice flour on a small plate, the egg in a bowl, and combine the breadcrumbs, italian seasoning and parmesan cheese in another bowl.

- Roll each stick in the rice flour

- Then the egg

- And finally the breadcrumb mixture

- Place on a foil lined baking sheet and put back in the freezer until ready to bake. The freezing is really important so that the cheese doesn't melt before the coating becomes crispy.

- When ready to bake preheat the oven to 400 degrees

- Spray the sticks with cooking spray

- Bake for 4-5 minutes, then flip, spray again with cooking spray and bake for another 4 minutes

- Serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

Tomato Parmesan Soup

The husband and I are not tomato eaters. I mean we like spaghetti and pizza sauce but you won't find us eating chunks of tomato in a salad EVER. But one thing that I love is tomato basil soup. Not the from a can kind (gross) but the creamy restaurant quality kind with lots of flavor. My wonderful husband got me the Pioneer Woman's cookbook for Christmas and I couldn't wait to try her recipe for tomato soup. I tweaked the recipe a little and love the way it turned out! The husband liked it too although I knew it wasn't going to be his favorite. Hope you enjoy it too!

What you need

- 3/4 stick butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 46 oz tomato juice
- 4 T sugar
- 3 cubes chicken bouillon
- 1/2 C sherry
- 1 1/2 C heavy cream
- 1/2 C grated parmesan
- ground pepper
- fresh basil and parsley





Directions

- Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat

- Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent and fragrant

- Add the diced tomatoes and stir

- Add the tomato juice and stir well

- Add in the sugar. The original recipe called for 6 T of sugar but I stopped at 4

- Add the chicken bouillon cubes. I broke mine up with my hands first.

- Add LOTS of fresh ground black pepper and stir

- Heat the soup until just before boiling, then turn off the heat

- Add in the sherry. Now, don't be scared of it. It adds a wonderful dimension of flavor and doesn't taste like alcohol at all.

- Add the heavy cream and stir

- Add the grated parmesan. Please please PLEASE don't use the pre-grated stuff for this. Buy a wedge and grate it yourself. It makes a difference I promise! Ok I'm done now.

- Taste the soup and add additional seasoning if needed

- Gently chop your parsley and basil and add to soup. I didn't use too much because my cute little basil and parsley plants aren't giving me much to work with yet. You can always substitue dried, but fresh is better.

- Keep warm until you serve, and top with a bit more parmesan cheese.

- I served ours with a good old fashioned grilled cheese (on gluten free bread of course!) Dipping the grilled cheese in the soup is divine. YUM!

Enjoy!

Honey Bun Cake

Hey everyone!
I have a great recipe from Easter to share with you today! My cousin sent this to me and I needed something fast and easy for an Easter dessert so I decided to try it. It was a huge hit! I forgot to take pictures when I made it (sorry!) but it is SO easy that you won't need the step by step shots. Here's what you need!

What you need
- 1 box gluten free yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
- 1 C sour cream (you could use low fat if you want but I used regular)
- 1/4 package vanilla instant pudding mix
- 1/2 C oil (I used coconut, just make sure it stays melted!)
- 3 eggs
- 2 T milk (I used almond)
- 1 T vanilla extract
- 1/4 C honey
- 1/3 C packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl combine the cake mix, sour cream, pudding, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla.
- Beat with a mixer on medium-low speed until combined
- Pour batter into a greased 13x9 cake pan
- Drizzle on the honey (Tip - if you lightly spray the measuring cup you're using for the honey before you measure it, the honey will slide right out!)
- Sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon
- With a knife, gently swirl the batter to that the topping marbles throughout the batter
- Bake for 35 minutes
- Let cool, cut into squares and serve! It was really delicious! This would be really good for a brunch as well. Tasted like a cinnamon coffee cake!

Here's what the finished product should look like!

Interesting Read

Hi everyone!
I don't have a recipe for you guys today (sorry!) But I promise to have one up by tomorrow. We have had a busy week with family coming to visit (we miss you!) and preparing for Good Friday and Easter services at our church.

I did want to share a website with you that I have been reading the past couple of days. You can access it here It has some good information about healthy living and more importantly it has some good GF info! I especially liked the article about using the gluten free diet to lose weight. I get asked a lot if I've found that I'm slimming down while on this diet, and the truth is not really. I exercise and eat healthy, but without doing those things, a gluten free diet won't necessarily help you get thin. The best way to maintain a healthy weight while on a gf diet is to cut out processed foods (even the gf kind) and increase your fruit, vegetable and lean protein intake. Even though there are a LOT of gluten free alternatives in the supermarkets these days and gluten free menu's are available at many restaurants, it is important to understand that gluten free does not mean carb free, sugar free or fat free. Cutting out gluten does not mean cutting out fat, especially if you are just replacing regular bread with gf bread or regular pasta with rice or corn noodles.

In fact, as the article explains, the gf ready-made items and flour mixes often have MORE fat and sugar than their gluten full counterparts. The reason being is that in order for the textures and flavors to be similar, companies will add more starches and sugars to compensate for the lack of gluten. This is why it is SO important to read labels!!

I try to stay away from packaged gluten free things as much as possible. It's VERY tempting though because they are just so convenient! I only serve pasta once a week and I try to reduce the amount of corn products that we use. Try replacing your chips with fruit or raw veggies, your crackers with raw almonds and peanuts, and only serve one starch with your dinner meals.

Remember, that gluten free doesn't mean fat free! It IS a healthier way to eat, but only if you reduce the amount of starchy carbs and sugars. Enjoy exploring the website! I hope it's helpful!