Rice Pilaf and Chicken!

I wnated to share with you the delicious dinner we had the other night!!! Get ready to get your "mmmm" on!! :)

Rice Pilaf
1/4 cup margarine
1 medium onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cups uncooked rice
1/4 tsp. salt
dash pepper
1 bay leafe
1/8 tsp. thyme
2 2/3 cup boiling water with 2 chicken stock cubes dissolved (remember if you're using GoBio Organic Cubes, they're less salty then "normal".)

Saute the celery and onions in the margarine. Add the rice, thyme, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Add the liquids and simmer for 10-15 mins.

We also used my handy dandy salad dressing recipe as a marinade for chicken breasts, and baked them in it. So good!!!!

Serve with a salad or your choice of veggies, and enjoy!! I know we did! :)

Snowy Days and Family times!

Hi all!

I know I've been slack on my blogging lately... sorry!!! It's been a bit wild lately! But I hope to be back to trying some new recipes soon!

This is "Family Day" weekend, and we had my sister's family up Thursday to Friday for a visit, and my brother's family is going to be here Sunday to Monday! Lots of awesome family times to be had!!! :) I'm so excited! Then on the Monday we're all going to be at my other brother's to spend some time together!!!!! AND it even snowed last night!!! So I'm hoping it sticks around to play in!!! Hurray!!!

Today mom and I are going to be making some cookies for all the little ones - Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and some Oatmeal Date cookies for us sugar and wheat free people! yumminess for all!!

Wishing you all a great fun family and love filled weekend, and I'll be back Tuesday!! xo

Amazing Apple Crisp (with Blueberries!)

Place 5-6 cups of sliced apples (we like them a little tart) in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle on a 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Sprinkle over that 2 Tbsp. each of lemon juice and water, and 1/2 cup maple syrup.

For the cumble topping:
2/3 cup flour (we usually use oatmeal flour, which is just really fine ground oatmeal; but you can use any substitute flour combos)
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup margarine
2 Tbsp. maple syrup

Use a fork to smash the floury mixture together, until it has a crumbly consistency.

Sprinkle it evenly over the fruit.

Bake at 375 defrees for about 35 mins, or until the fruit is tender.

Bon Apple-tit!

Perfect Pancakes

There's nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning to fresh waffles or pancakes! I shared my favourite waffle recipe in an earlier post, but if you don't have a waffle maker, you can enjoy some scrum-didly-umpcious pancakes instead!

Here's what you do!

Blend together
1 1/2 cups flour (for wheat-free pancakes, use 1/2 cup rice flour and 1 cup kamut flour, or Bob's Red Mill All Purpose baking flour for the full amount)
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Combine
1 beaten egg
1 3/4 cups milk
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil or melted shortening

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, mixing only until combined. And you're ready to fry them up! The last time we made them, we used a combination of rice and kamut flour and they were "mmm mmm"!!! :)

This recipe makes about a dozen pancakes... but they're so yummy you may need to make a double batch!!

Also, like the waffles, if you have leftovers, you can put them in resealable bags and freeze them. This way you get breakfast all week long! Perfect pancakes indeed!!!

Share Some Chocolate Love!

Valentines Day is approaching, and a friend recommended I do some "sweets" recipes that you can share with that special someone, or just friends and family!

So here's my most favouritest sugar-free Brownie Recipe!!!

(tips on making it wheat free at the end)

Melt 1 cup butter or margarine

Add:

1 cup cocoa

2 cups honey

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Blend in:

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Add 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 30-35 mins.

Using honey instead of sugar makes these browning sooo moist!! It's so hard to eat just one! :)

To make them wheat free, you can use a variety of other flours, such as:

rice flour
tapioca flour
kamut flour
potato flour
Bob's Red Mill Baking flour

Or any combination of the above... it's an experiment every time! :)

To make them a little more festive, why not cut them into heart shapes and serve them with some strawberries!! Mmmm!!!

Oatmeal Date Cookies

Combine in a bowl:
1/2 cup margarine or shortening
2/3 - 3/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

In another bowl combine:
1 cup (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking) flour
1/2 cup oatmeal flour (grind oatmeal in a blender or food processor)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. guar gum

Add the flour mixture to the margarine mixture.

Stir in:
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup nuts (we used slivered almonds)
1 cup chopped dates

Drop teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 mins.

Just a side note - we like to line our cookie sheets with parchment paper. It keeps the cookies from sticking, and really cuts down on clean up time! :)

Homemade Bread (using a Breadmaker)

This is the recipe we use for sugar free bread. We've yet to find a recipe that works for gluten free bread, but we're still trying!

Our breadmaker is a Sunbeam, model 5891-33.

To make a 1 1/2 lb. loaf:

Place in the pan in this order:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup

1 Tbsp. margarine

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups flour (we use 1/2 white, 1/2 brown)

2 1/2 tsp. BREAD MACHINE yeast, placed into a small indentation in the flour

Set the settings you want for the darkness of your crust, make sure your bread maker is set to make a 1 1/2 lb. loaf, and you're all set!

Stay tuned for the non-breadmaker bread option, coming soon!