Merlot Apple-Orange Cranberry Relish

When I ask my daughters what their favorite Thanksgiving dish is, they always say garlic mashed potatoes.  That used to be the only thing they loved about our Thanksgiving meal, but now they look forward to eating cornbread stuffing and turkey with cranberry relish.

I was never a fan of cranberry relish until my family started buying Williams-Sonoma Apple-Orange Cranberry Relish. When I was diagnosed with celiac, I stopped eating it, because it has a warning that it is prepared and packaged using machines that may come in contact with wheat/gluten.

Rigatoni Carbonara with Pancetta & Peas

Since school started, we have been eating dinner during the work week at our school's Cafe, but lately, Friday has become pasta night at our house.

My favorite brand of gluten free dry pasta is Le Veneziane, which you can read about here.

Pork Chops Milanese

I have always loved breaded pork chops and chicken cutlets, especially if they are coated in a mixture of bread crumbs and grated cheese before they are fried.

Locally, you can enjoy gluten free Pork Chop alla Milanese at Trattoria al Forno on Disney's BoardWalk, but I prefer the version I make at home.

Spinach & Four Cheese Hasselback Chicken

On Facebook recently, I saw a video for making Hasselback chicken.  I have long struggled to find chicken breast recipes that I like, because the chicken usually ends up tough and dry, except my oven baked barbeque chicken.

For my Hasselback Chicken, I used four of my favorite cheeses - feta, ricotta, Romano, and Asiago.

Broccoli Chicken Pizza and BBQ Chicken Pizza with Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Last week on our cruise on the Disney Fantasy, I enjoyed a Margherita pizza and herb flatbread made with Udi's gluten free pizza crust.

On Sunday night, I made a Palo-inspired herb bread with Udi's gluten free pizza crust to go with the pasta dish I was making for dinner.  You can view the recipe here.

Palo-inspired Herb Bread and Garlic Chicken Flatbread with Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust

On Friday night, my husband and I had dinner at Palo on the Disney Fantasy.  For bread, I was served slices of Udi's gluten free pizza crust with herbs on it.  It looked almost exactly like my husband's gluten-filled bread.

I liked it so much, I bought some Udi's pizza crust at Whole Foods today to make bread to go with the pasta dish I made for dinner.

Pasta with Sausage, Smashed Peas, and Ricotta Cheese

Last night, I tried a new pasta recipe for dinner.  I was a bit nervous about this one, because my family tends to be a bit picky about ricotta, preferring it in desserts over savory dishes, and I was worried that my daughters would not like me mixing peas in with their pasta.  They prefer to eat their peas in a bowl, separate from the rest of their food.

Well, it turns out that I had nothing to worry about.  My husband and daughters loved my latest pasta creation, and my girls even raved about how great the leftovers were for lunch.  It is not super pretty to look at, but it tasted great, and that is what is most important when I am cooking for my family.

Gluten Free Fried Smelts

Both my husband and I have Italian Catholic grandmothers, so we were raised with the tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve.  Growing up, I always had several fish dishes to choose from, while Mitch's family had at least seven for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Both of our grandmothers made fried smelts, a dish we have not had since our last Christmas in Pittsburgh, ten years ago.  This year, while having dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant on Christmas Eve, we decided that we needed to revive some of our family Christmas Eve traditions, like the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  While we brainstormed all the fish dishes we could cook next year, we decided that we needed to make fried smelts, so we bought some smelts at Lombardi's Seafood in Winter Park on Saturday.

Cranberry Ice Cream Float

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our house.  All three trees are up, including our Disney tree, which is full of the Disney ornaments we have collected since moving to Orlando 7 1/2 years ago.

While we were having Thanksgiving dinner in Pittsburgh with my family, I remembered a drink my grandmother used to make at the holidays.  Both my mom and aunt said it contained two simple ingredients - cranberry juice and vanilla ice cream.

Baked Spaghetti Squash Caprese

A couple of weeks ago, when my husband was in Asia, I tried a new recipe for Baked Spaghetti Squash Caprese.  I loved it so much, I kept going back for more, but I finally had to just walk away, and put the leftovers in the fridge for lunch the next day.

Honey Almond Muffins with Mexican Chocolate

If you have been following my blog or any of my social media accounts for a while, you might know that I am a huge fan of Taza Mexican chocolate.  My two favorites are the guajillo chili, which I like to eat as a lunch treat with cashew butter on it, and the cinnamon, my first choice for baking.

Five Cheese Margherita Pizza

Two years ago, I started making pizza with Chebe Original Cheese Bread Mix, which is free of gluten, soy, corn, rice, potato, yeast, peanut, tree nuts, egg, iodine, and sugar.  It is also grain free and non-GMO.  The mix contains manioc (tapioca) flour, modified manioc starch (100% manioc), dry milk, and iodine-free sea salt.  Chebe does make a pizza crust mix, but my husband and I prefer the original cheese bread mix, because it doesn't contain any herbs that affect the flavor of the pizza.  Locally, Chebe mixes are available at Chamberlin's in Winter Park, but I usually buy them from amazon.com.  

If you like Brazilian cheese bread, you will love this crust, which is so easy to make.  We cook our pizza on a cast iron pizza pan, which makes for a nice firm crust that is never soggy.  

Raw Cashew Butter

Some of my favorite healthy lunches are apple slices with sharp cheddar cheese or Kerrygold Dubliner, and cashew butter with apples or bananas.

For a while, I was buying cashew butter from Whole Foods, but their cashew butter grinder broke, so I decided to make my own in my NutriBullet.  

Biscuit Pancakes

As far as cooking goes, my father likes to grill, and he likes to cook breakfast. He used to make Mrs. Packard's Pancakes, which we called biscuit pancakes when we were kids, because they are so thick, and tasted like a cross between a biscuit and a pancake. The past two Sundays, we have made them at home using Cup4Cup flour and gluten free breadcrumbs. My daughters, who usually complain about pancakes, and take a lot of prompting to eat more than one, ate two biscuit pancakes without complaint. That's a win in my book!

We like to serve our biscuit pancakes with butter and jam, which is how I ate them growing up.

Pasta e Fagioli

Last night, my plan was to make my Pasta with Roasted Vegetables, then my husband and I decided we wanted to make something easier for dinner.  While I was doing some research on classic Italian dishes yesterday, I ran across a recipe for Pasta e Fagioli, which means pasta and beans.  

Pasta e Fagioli is traditionally a meatless Italian dish with cannellini beans, some type of small pasta like ditalini or elbow macaroni, and a base of extra virgin olive oil, garlic, minced onion, spices, and tomatoes.  Some variations also use pancetta, which I might use instead of bacon the next time I make this dish.  

I decided to stray from tradition and use spinach in my Pasta e Fagioli for some added color and vegetables.  My whole family loved my Pasta e Fagioli last night, and it was great left over for lunch today.

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients

4 pieces of bacon - chopped
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion - diced
1 tsp (2 cloves) minced garlic
40 oz chicken broth
2 cans cannellini beans - rinsed
1 can (28 oz) peeled San Marzano tomatoes - drained & chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 C baby spinach - chopped
1/2 lb (8 oz) gluten free pasta - ditalini or elbow macaroni
kosher salt + coarse ground black pepper - to taste
Grated or shaved Parmesan, Romano or Asiago - to taste

Directions

In a soup pot, cook the bacon over medium high heat until it is crisp.  Add the olive oil and onion, cooking until the onion is soft, then add the garlic.  Stir for about a minute, until the garlic begins to brown, then add the chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add about 1/2 the beans to the pot, then use a potato masher to mash them before adding the rest of the beans, tomatoes, and oregano.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to package directions until it is al dente.  Drain and set aside.

Remove the soup pot from the heat and add the spinach and pasta.  Stir and let sit, still covered, for 5 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and garnish with Italian cheese.

Serves 6

Recipe Notes

I used a whole box of Le Veneziane gluten free ditalini in this recipe, which is a little over 1/2 a pound.  I purchase it from amazon.com or vitacost.com.  Le Veneziane is currently our favorite brand of gluten free pasta.  My entire gluten-eating family loves it, and says it tastes just like the gluten-filled pasta they eat at restaurants.  While my husband was eating the leftovers today for lunch, he made a point to tell me how well the pasta had held up overnight.  I always cook my pasta with one tablespoon of kosher salt, so that it has some flavor.



Make sure your chicken broth is gluten free.  I used one 32 ounce container, then had to add an 8 ounce container when I realized my Pasta e Fagioli needed a little more broth.

I used my favorite 3 cheese shaved Italian blend from The Fresh Market, which contains Parmesan, Romano and Asiago.



We served our Pasta e Fagioli with Rudi's gluten free ciabatta rolls.

This dish was inspired by a Queen of Green recipe for Pasta e Fagioli.  

Spaghetti with Romano & Black Pepper

After seeing a picture of spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and black pepper on Instagram, and hearing Mario Batali talk about it on The Chew, I knew I had to make it.  

Smoothie Bowls

The three day juice cleanse I did two weeks ago has motivated me to eat healthier, so I have been making a lot of smoothies and smoothie bowls.  

I have been hearing about smoothie bowls for a while, but wasn't completely sure what constitutes a smoothie bowl.  If your smoothie is so thick that you can't really drink it, and you're better off putting it in a bowl and eating it with a spoon, you have the beginnings of a smoothie bowl.  Next, add some toppings, which make eating a smoothie a lot more fun.  

One of my favorite things about smoothie bowls is that they are a little sweet, but not overly sweet, and I feel like I am eating ice cream or frozen yogurt for breakfast.  

Topped with my homemade granola, smoothie bowls are my new favorite way to start my day.  

This morning, I used a combination of frozen peaches, mango, blueberries and banana in my smoothie bowl.  The other pictures show smoothie bowls made with mango, peaches and banana.

Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

1 1/2 C frozen fruit (I like to use no sugar added peaches, mango, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
1/2 C plain kefir or plain yogurt
1 T raw honey
1/2 T golden flaxseed meal
1/2 T chia seeds
3/4 tsp goji berry powder
Toppings - granola, fruit, nuts, chia, flaxseed, hemp seeds, etc.

Directions

Blend all the ingredients together in a high speed blender.

Recipe Notes

I make my smoothie bowls in my NutriBullet, one of my favorite kitchen appliances.  It incorporates the flaxseed and chia seed in a way our regular blender cannot do.

Sometimes I use one cup of  kefir or one cup of almond milk, depending on what I have in the house.  I like a mix of flaxseed and chia, but you could just use 1 tablespoon of one of them.

I have been peeling and freezing bananas, breaking them into four equal parts, and putting them in sandwich bags.

You could also add some greens to your smoothie bowl, like kale or spinach.  Avocado would add healthy fat, and make your smoothie bowl super creamy.

When I buy almond milk, kefir, flaxseed and chia seeds, I make sure that they are labeled gluten free.

Kefir (pronounced kee-fer) is a cultured milk product, like yogurt, that contains probiotics, and is a rich source of a variety of different vitamins and minerals.  You can read more about the health benefits of kefir here.  I purchase it at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or Publix.

I use orange blossom raw honey from Winter Park Honey.  We purchase it at The Fresh Market or the Winter Park Farmers' Market, which is held every Saturday.  You can read about the many health benefits of raw honey here, and the possible benefits of local honey for fighting seasonal allergies here.

You can read about the health benefits of chia seeds and flaxseed, two superfoods, here.  I use Spectrum Chia Seeds and Bob's Red Mill whole ground golden flaxseed meal. 

You can view my homemade granola recipe here.

April 21, 2015 Update

My new favorite mix of fruit - 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen blackberries, 1/2 C frozen mango & peaches mixed, and 1/2 frozen banana. I also love to use 1/2 cup each of frozen blueberries, mango and peaches, with 1/2 frozen banana, and 4 or 5 frozen blackberries.   

August 21, 2015

This week, I have been loving my latest smoothie bowl creation using 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 C frozen raspberries, 1/2 C frozen blueberries, 1 Sambazon original blend acai berry superfruit pack, about 6 frozen blackberries, 1/2 C plain kefir, 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk, 1 T raw honey, 1/2 T golden flaxseed meal, 1/2 T chia seeds, and 3/4 tsp goji berry powder (purchased from Nuts.com).  I top it with my homemade granola of course, which I add a little bit at a time so it doesn't get soggy. 

What are your favorite smoothie bowl ingredients?  

Breakfast Mug Cake

This morning, I decided to change up my weekday breakfast routine a bit.  I usually eat Bakery on Main blueberry scone or maple multigrain muffin oatmeal, or Erewhon Buckwheat & Hemp Cereal.  I have made healthy muffins in a mug before for breakfast, but found them to be dry and unexciting.  After seeing a recipe for Paleo Breakfast Mug Cake on the blog Well Belly, I decided to make a breakfast mug cake with ingredients I had in the house.     

I was really happy with how it turned out.  The cake was nice and moist, with the perfect level of sweetness.  I ate most of it with some strawberries, and tried a couple of bites with maple syrup.  It was great both ways.

Breakfast Mug Cake

Ingredients

1 large egg
2 T unsweetened apple sauce
1 T almond flour
1 T gluten free oat flour
1 T flaxseed meal
2 tsp maple syrup
Optional - 2 tsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a large mug.  Stir with a fork until well combined.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Recipe Notes

I used organic grade A medium amber maple syrup, and Bob's Red Mill oat flour, golden flaxseed meal, and finely ground almond meal/flour.  I pushed the almond meal and oat flour into my tablespoon measurer pretty well when scooping it out.

You may have to adjust the cooking time, depending on the strength of your microwave.

Update - Here's a picture of my second attempt at making a breakfast mug cake with the addition of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I stirred them in after mixing the rest of the ingredients.  

This recipe was inspired by a recipe for Paleo Breakfast Mug Cake on Well Belly.  

Cinnamon Bun Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Last week, I saw a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies on Lynn's Kitchen Adventures. I love Lynn's baked oatmeal recipes, so I had to try these cookies, but decided to cut out some of the sugar, add some flax and more cinnamon, and make a thicker glaze to ice the cookies with.

I just managed to squeeze 12 large cookies onto my baking sheet. Thankfully, they barely spread while they were baking.  

I think I like these breakfast cookies better than the Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal I love so much, and they have fewer calories. With the ingredients I used, each cookie is about 190 calories.  

Cinnamon Bun Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

3 C gluten free quick cook oats

1 C lowfat milk

6 T (82 grams) light brown sugar 

2 large eggs

2 T unsalted butter - melted

1/4 C ground flaxseed meal

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp kosher salt

Glaze

1/2 C (58 grams) powdered sugar 

1 T heavy cream

1 tsp milk + more if needed

1/8 tsp cinnamon 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl, except the ingredients for the glaze. Mix well, then spoon the batter onto your cookie sheet, forming 12 cookies.  

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, then allow them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet.  

Combine all the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Stir well, then spread a small amount on each cookie. The glaze should be thick and spreadable, like frosting. Add more milk if needed.   

Recipe Notes

I use GF Harvest quick oats, and Bob's Red Mill Golden Flaxseed Meal.  

I froze all my leftover cookies, layering them between sheets of parchment paper. I will reheat them in the microwave on defrost for 60 to 90 seconds before serving them.  

November 6, 2019 Update

Tonight, I made this recipe with a few changes. For the cookies, I used coconut palm sugar instead of brown sugar, half & half instead of milk, and avocado oil instead of butter. I did not have any heavy cream, so I used 1 tablespoon of half & half instead of the heavy cream and milk in the glaze. Because the cookies were thicker, and did not spread as much, I cooked them for 12 minutes. They turned out great!

Turkey Noodle Soup

Yesterday, we made panini with our Thanksgiving leftovers.  Today, we decided to make turkey noodle soup.

Our leftover smoked turkey added a subtle smoky flavor to our soup.  

I used a 12 oz box of Schar Tagliatelle for my gluten free noodles.  

I love that we were able to use our leftover onion, carrots, spinach, turkey, and chicken broth in this soup.  Our fridge is much emptier, and our bellies our full.  This was my first year making a turkey soup with our leftovers, and it's a tradition I will definitely be continuing in future years, because it was so delicious!

Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients

2 T olive oil
1 medium sweet onion - diced
15 to 30 baby-cut carrots - chopped
1 tsp (2 cloves) minced garlic
2 32-ounce containers gluten free chicken broth
3 to 4 C cooked turkey - cut into bite-size pieces
5 oz baby spinach - chopped
8 to 12 oz gluten free pasta - cooked according to package directions
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
Grated or shaved Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago

Directions

In a large soup pot, saute the onion and carrots in olive oil, over medium heat, until they begin to soften.  Add the garlic, stirring until it begins to brown, then add the chicken broth, turkey, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Increase the heat to medium high before adding the noodles and spinach.  Stir the soup every minute or two until the spinach is wilted.  Add more salt and pepper if needed, then serve and garnish with grated or shaved cheese.

Recipe Notes

The amount of turkey and spinach I used is an estimate, because we didn't measure these ingredients before adding them to the soup.  I used an Italian shaved cheese blend of Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago.