Bread that's Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Oil-free and Dairy-free

I was being creative in the kitchen today and came up with this super tasty bread recipe.  If you consider eggs as a dairy, then it's not dairy free.  But in our house eggs are okay, so I've considered it dairy free also. :)  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Jen’s gluten-free, oil-free, sugar-free, dairy-free bread

3 cups GF flour mix

1 cup flaxseedmill (ground flax seed)

4 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/2 cup peach applesauce

1 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

3 large eggs

In a stand mixer with dough hooks mix first 4 ingredients well, place yeast in center of flour mixture.  In a separate bowl mix water, applesauce and rice vinegar together - pour over yeast but do not mix.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Turn mixer on low speed, start mixing ingredients together.  When about 1/2 way mixed, start adding eggs 1 at a time.  Continue to mix on high for about 5 minutes making sure to get everything mixed in well. 

Remove bowl from stand mixer, let bread dough rise for 20 minutes in a warm, draft-free place.

Pour dough into large loaf pan, pat down and smooth top (using wet hands helps the dough not stick to you).  Let rise 20 minutes more.

Heat oven to 350.  Bake bread for 60 minutes or until browned on top and thoroughly cooked.  This will be a more dense bread, but it’s super tasty! 

My gluten-free flour mix consists of the following:

12 cups white or brown rice flour

5 cups potato starch (NOT potato flour)

3 cup tapioca starch (tapioca flour is the same as tapioca starch)

Mix all ingredients together well and store in an air tight container. 

Super Easy Breakfast Cups

Mornings for our family usually consist of cold cereal, yogurt w/fruit and nuts, or waffles from the freezer (when we have them, I make them homemade gluten-free in triple batches and freeze whatever they do not eat the day I make them).   But today, today is different!  I wanted to try something new, something that would be more in the area of a hot breakfast.  :)

You know those silicone baking cups for cupcakes?  Well, we have butterfly shaped ones, flower shaped ones and the regular round cupcake cups.  Today I made scrambled eggs w/ham and cheese inside those single serve cups!

My recipe uses 9 silicone cupcake cups (you can adjust ingredients to make more or less).

6 large eggs
2/3 cup almond milk
about 1 cup diced ham chunks (small pieces)
about 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crack eggs into a large measuring cup (I used a 6 cup measuring cup with spout for easy pouring), add the almond milk and mix well.  Continue to beat eggs and milk mixture until it resembles a scrambled egg mixture look to it.  If you've never made scrambled eggs, then all you are aiming for is that all the yokes are broken and thoroughly mixed together.

Next I sprayed the 9 baking cups with non-stick cooking spray (all the instructions I've ever read say that you do not need to spray silicone baking cups, but I do.  You don't have to if you normally don't.  It's just something I've always done) and place them onto a cookie sheet.  Place about 1/8 of a cup diced ham and an 1/8 of a cup (or less) shredded cheese into the bottom of each baking cup, you are aiming for about 1/4 cup total ham and cheese.  You may want a little more or a little less of the ham and cheese,  depends on how meaty or cheesy you like your eggs. :)  After you have the amount of ham and cheese in the baking cups, pour the egg mixture over the top, just enough to almost fill the cup.  You don't want it to over flow while baking and make a mess to have to clean up later. ;-)  

After you have filled each of the 9 baking cups, place the cookie sheet w/baking cups into the oven.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes (until there is no more liquid in the baking cups).  Remove from oven when fully cooked and let sit for about 2 minutes before serving.

ENJOY! =D

Gluten-Free Zucchini noodless Lasagna

One of my familys favorite summer time dishes is our noodless zucchini lasagna!  We pick large zucchinis (or several smaller ones) from our backyard garden, and go from there.

First thing you will want to do is peel your zucchini, then slice into generous sized flat slices the long way (the zucchini will act as your noodles).  Make sure you cut all the seeds out of the slices that have seeds in them, no one wants to bite into your yummy lasagna and find a zucchini seed. ;-)   Next I brown 2 pounds of turkey burger, hamburger or sausage (your choice, we like them all), I add about 3 tablespoons of granulated garlic, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, and about 3 tablespoons of dried diced onions (you can use fresh if you like).  Once the meat is cooked through and spices are well blended, I add 1 large jar gluten-free spaghetti sauce (you can add more or less, depending on how much your family likes tomato products).  While the meat, spices and sauce are blending together over low heat, I grate some cheese (I like to use colby-jack or a cheddar/mozzarella mixture).   Now, pull out your lasagna pan (I use the 13ish by 10ish tinfoil pans, makes for EASY clean up) and ladle some of the meat sauce mixture into the bottom of the pan, just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.  Then add a layer of zucchini noodles, a layer of meat sauce, and a layer of cheese.  Repeat layering until pan is almost full.  If using a tinfoil pan, you may want to play it on a cookie sheet for added support.  Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 to 60 minutes (until everything is heated completely, cheese is melted and zucchini is softened).   Take out of oven and let stand for about 15 minutes, then serve and ENJOY!

Okay - so this one isn't so quick and easy, but it surely isn't difficult either!  =D

You will need:

2 pounds ground meat (hamburger, turkey burger, sausage, or other)
2 large zucchini or several smaller zucchini
3 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons dried diced onions
1 large jar gluten-free spaghetti sauce of your choice
about 1 pound cheese (more or less depending on your family's tastes)

Quick & Easy Homemade Hummus

My family really enjoys snacking on hummus.  Sometimes my girls have even eaten hummus and tortilla chips for lunch! Since garbanzo beans (or chickpeas) are like tiny little SUPER beans, I can say that I don't mind them munching on hummus all day long if they wanted to.  :)  Here's a great link if you are interested in learning more about garbanzo beans: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=58  (I am in NO way affiliated with this website, make no claim to it at all, I just have enjoyed using it as a research point and thought I'd share it with you.)

So here is our super easy, super yummy hummus recipe:

about 1 1/2 cups dry garbanzo beans (soak and prepare as recommended)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup roasted red bell pepper (we just toss a red bell pepper onto the grill for a bit, rotating, and then chop it up)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I like natural peanut butters, but you can use whatever you like best)
1/4 - 1/3 cup real lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 drops doTerra cilantro essential oil (or if you prefer you can use about 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro)

I toss everything except the olive oil into a food processor (you could use a heavy duty blender if you have that instead) and mix on high until it looks fairly creamy.  Then I drizzly the olive oil in as it mixes and then keep mixing until it looks like hummus to you!  :)  We like our hummus super creamy, so I usually mix until everything is smooth and creamy.  If you like more of a chunky hummus, don't mix as long.

ENJOY!

Quinoa Veggie Soup

You may or may not have noticed, I changed the name of the blog to Easy Gluten Free Meals & Slow Cooker Dinners.  I have been wanting to post some of the quick and easy ways I feed my family, but some of them are not slow cooker recipes.  So now I am going to be posting more recipes, all of them are quick and easy, but not all of them are for your slow cooker.

Tonight we are having Quinoa and veggie soup.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 carrots, peeled and thin sliced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped (the food processor makes quick work of this)
4 cloves garlic, minced (food processor makes quick work of this one too)
5 cups gluten-free free-range chicken stock
3 1/2 cups hot water
2 large tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
salt/pepper to taste



In a large pot (stock pot), heat the olive oil on medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.  Stir in carrots, zucchini, celery, onion, and garlic.  Saute for one minute, then reduce heat to low - cover and cook about 20 minutes.

Add the quinoa, chicken stock, water, and tomatoes.  Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the quinoa is tender.

Serve in bowls w/spoons.  ;-)   Salt and pepper to taste.

Pink Chicken Dip

We had a major pipe brake in our kitchen awhile back...  so I have not had much of a kitchen the last two months.  I am planning to try and get some more recipes up here, and by the time September gets here, I am hopeful to have a weekly shopping list with the price of the weekly menu posted up here as well.  Prices will vary by area, for sure, but it should give you a rough estimate of what you will need to purchase and how much you might be spending.  :)

One of my family's favorites is today's post.  We call it Pink Chicken Dip, you might call it chicken nachos, or maybe a chicken and bean dip - but no matter what you call it, it is QUICK, EASY, and YUMMY!

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 large breasts)
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 4 thighs)
about 32 oz of salsa (4 cups), we use mild salsa
2 cups dried black beans (use over night soak method, or you can use 4 cans of black beans)
1 small onion diced
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 package cream cheese
6 cups cooked white rice
Tortilla chips

Place the chicken in a 6 qt slow cooker.  In a medium bowl combine the salsa, pre-soaked black beans, garlic and onion, pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and tender).

Remove chicken, cool slightly (just so you don't burn yourself).  Shred with two forks and return to slow cooker, mixing it into the sauces.  Add hot cooked rice to slow cooker and stir in well.  Stir in cream cheese and heat through.  Serve with tortilla chips.  If you like you can add some mexican blend shredded cheese (make sure to read the package and make sure they have not coated your cheese w/any gluten containing products).

ENJOY!!

Garlic & Oregano Chicken

This dish is probably one of my family's favorites!  And don't tell them, but this is so quick and super easy that I don't mind making it. ;)  It tastes FANTASTIC, so don't let the simplicity of it fool you.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen
4 chicken legs, frozen (if they are not skinless, you will have to remove the skin before serving)
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, frozen
about 6 medium russet potatoes, quartered
2 whole garlic bulbs, separated and peeled
1 medium yellow onion, sliced (I like to slice mine like orange slices, not circles)
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon iodized sea salt
1 teaspoon table pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Wash and cut potatoes and place in bottom of slow cooker.  Add the sliced onions and peeled garlic, then place chicken on top of veggies.  In a small bowl, mix together the chicken broth, oregano, salt and pepper.  Pour over chicken (make sure to use a scraper to get all the spices into the slow cooker), cover and cook on high for 5 hours, or cook on low for 7-8 hours.

DELISH!