Gluten-Free Archives - Page 8 of 10 -

Memorial Weekend: Productive Yet Relaxing

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 28, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / holidays / Home Life / Lunch / Snacks / Sweet Treats
Post comments:7 Comments

Long time no see! How was everyone’s Memorial Weekend? Mine was very productive but also relaxing. That seems to be a common theme around our house on the weekends. We got so much done around the house and spent the majority of our weekend working outside in the yard.

I want to give HUGE shout-out thank you to the guys who came over on Sunday to help Dana dig the egress window well. THANK YOU times a million! They plowed through that job so fast I couldn’t believe it.

After the window was dug, I helped Dana lay the bricks in for the walls of the well. I felt pretty tough as I carried those bricks around the yard, and my arms are definitely feeling it today! One more trip to Menards for our last batch of brick and the egress window well will be nearly complete. The next step will be putting the windows in, but we’re going to have that done professionally. Then we can start finishing our basement! I’m just waiting for that money tree to start growing in the yard. It all adds up real fast.

Besides getting muddy in the yard this weekend, I also hung out with family, friends, and ate some delicious food. I was hoping to get a bike ride in with Dana but the weather wasn’t really cooperating. The sun hasn’t shown us its beautiful face around here since Thursday if I’m not mistaken. Our poor plants haven’t seen sun since we planted them in the ground on Thursday! We could all use a little Vitamin D around here. Soon enough though. Think positive thoughts, right? Maybe I’ll do a little sun dance later.

Alright, I’m planning on keeping it short today. I don’t have a ton of photos to share to recap the weekend, but I do have a few. So, I’m going to finish off today’s post with the collection of my photos from the weekend. And here we go…

Chipotle loaded with veggies! Proof that you can chose healthy fast food decisions; just go light on the cheese, sour cream, and guac, ditch the tortilla, and go heavy on the veggies and you have yourself an extremely delicious and healthy veggie-packed Chipotle bowl.

Almond banana muffin with almond butter and sliced bananas…

The Egress window well…

Salad: mixed greens, tomato, carrots, peas, avocado, olives, sunflower seeds, and Newman’s Own honey mustard dressing.

One of many trips to Menards…11% off everything right now really adds up when you’re there everyday. Spend money to save money, right?

Cherry Berry…with no skimping on frozen yogurt OR toppings. I meant business.

Homemade MAH bites, fauxtmeal raisin cookie style.

And the Bachelorette…

I had to throw that last one in there because I am super excited that the Bachelorette is back on again. I spent a good 5-miles on the treadmill watching the season premiere last night. It should be a good one! No favorites yet, though.

I have a nummy vegetarian meal planned for tonight that I am anxious to share with you all (inspiration from Denise). This is actually the only meal I planned for the week because I’m thinking there will be leftovers. Do you have any meals planned for the week?

I hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend.

Did you do anything fun this weekend? Were you productive around the house? Did you relax with family and friends?

Baked Falafel with Kale

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 25, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:11 Comments

Well hello hello! Happy Saturday! Anyone have any fun plans this memorial weekend? We have a fairly quiet weekend planned but we hope to work out in the yard (in between the bouts of rain forecasted), maybe get a bike ride in, and get a few other things done around the house. It should be a productive and relaxing weekend yet again.

I can happily say that I am officially out of my food funk. I know that if I want to continue to be creative in the kitchen I need to take a small amount of time and PLAN out our meals before the week, buy the appropriate groceries, and be realistic when planning. I find it realistic to have three meals planned out for the week(days) so that I’m not overwhelmed at the thought of making some thing every night, and then on the nights where I have nothing planned, we can eat leftovers or do our own thing. This has been working out really well.

The last recipe on my meal planning agenda for this past week was…

Baked Falafel

Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food made from ground chickpeas, herbs, and spices formed into patties, which is often deep-fried, and usually served in a pita or flatbread and topped with veggies and a tahini sauce.

I love these little patties, but you all know I’m not about to go deep-frying my falafel, so I decided to bake them in the oven instead.

I used a family recipe as a guide to my falafel recipe, and created some seriously delish and extraordinarily healthy little bites.

I started by thoroughly rinsing and draining a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas). Then I tossed them into my food processor along with parsley, cilantro, garlic, almond flour (I made them gluten-free), lemon juice, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, and the special guest ingredient….KALE. I had to sneak just one more veggie in there. 😉 I pulsed these along in the food processor until they reached a paste-like consistency. Detailed recipe below.

Using my hands, I shaped small handfuls of the mixture into patties which I placed on a lightly sprayed cooking sheet. I sprayed the tops of the falafel with olive oil spray and popped them in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, turning the little guys half way through.

We didn’t have any pita pockets or wraps at home, and we were running low on lettuce too, so I made an impromptu base for my falafel using the remains of an iceberg lettuce head, broccoli slaw, tomatoes, and green olives.

I plated the falafel on top of the salad, spritzed it with some fresh lemon juice, and topped it with yogurt sauce. The yogurt sauce was made from Greek yogurt, cumin, garlic powder, and lemon juice, but I actually wasn’t really feeling it so I ended up taking it off hence the reason I’m not going to share that recipe with you all. Sorry.

The flavor of the falafel was right on point. The texture was slightly soft, and the flavor combination from the herbs and spices tasted perfect. I enjoyed them on the salad, but next time I make these I really want to throw them into a whole grain tortilla and top it with tomato, lettuce, possibly some pickled veggies, and maybe a drizzle of tahini-based dressing. But really, I can’t complain about the way I ate them last night, because they tasted great.

Baked Falafel with Kale (GF)

Serves: 2-3

Yields 12 falafel

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves, quartered
3 Tbsp cilantro
¼ cup parsley, chopped
½ cup kale
2 cups chickpeas (or 1-15 ounce can)
¼ cup almond flour
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ Tbsp ground cumin
¾ tsp paprika
a pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a light coat of olive oil.
Add all ingredients into food processor and process until mixture resembles a paste-like consistency.
Use hands to shape small handfuls of mixture into falafel patties and place onto prepared pan.
Spray the tops of the falafel with olive oil.
Bake for 20 minutes, turning once half-way through baking time.
Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before plating.
Serve on top of a salad, in a whole grain pita wrap, or in a whole grain tortilla with tomatoes, lettuce, and tzatzilki sauce if you wish.

These could also be enjoyed as an afternoon snack! They can be eaten warm or cold and the leftovers taste just great as the first day you made them.

Question of the day: Did you make any fun recipes last week?

Spicy Beef Barbacoa

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 24, 2013
Post category:Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:0 Comments

Every now and then I get a craving for beef. I usually take it as a sign that my body is needing it and I do my best to listen to my body’s needs and nurture them as best as I can.

Well, the other day this craving hit as I was browsing through Pinterest. I stumbled upon a recipe for beef barbacoa from this site, and I knew I had to give it a shot. This particular recipe I found has you braising the beef in the oven all day, but since I was going to be at work and that wasn’t possible for me, I pulled out the trusty crock pot to get the job done.

I used some pieces of this recipe and some from this one to create my spicy beef barbacoa.

The preparation was so simple. I began by pureeing together chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, garlic, lime juice, and red wine vinegar. Once that was all pureed and blended together I set it aside.

On the stove top, I did a quick pan-sear on each side of the 1.5 lb chuck roast over high heat, using tongs to rotate the meat. Once all sides were seared, I placed the meat into the crock pot, topped it with the chipotle sauce, and then added the rest of the seasonings (recipe below) as well as a touch of chicken bone broth. I was so close to opening up a container of beef broth to use in this recipe but decided against it as I had a whole container of homemade chicken bone broth waiting for me in the fridge, plus I only needed a small amount of broth.

Next is the easiest part. I covered the crock pot, and set it on low for 8 hours. I gave it 2-3 stirs throughout the entire cooking process. After 8 hours, I removed the meat and placed it on a cutting board, removed excess fat, shredded the meat, then added back to the crock pot.

We charred up a few corn tortillas over the stove, plated the tortillas, topped them with beef barbacoa, cilantro, diced white onion, and tomatillo salsa.

Then it was go time. Spicy go time!

These were incredible. The flavors were so vibrant and a medium amount of spicy kick really made the dish exciting. We felt like we were eating straight out of a professional food truck!

These are so simple to make but present themselves as fancy and time-consuming. This would be a great meal for entertaining, just make sure your guests can handle a little bit of heat!

Beef Barbacoa

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1½ lbs chuck roast
6 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 Tbsp of extra adobo sauce
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
2 bay leaves
½ cup chicken bone broth
corn tortillas
white onion, diced
cilantro, chopped
tomatillo salsa

Instructions

On the stove top, pan sear each side of the roast over high heat.
Transfer roast to crock pot.
In a mini food processor, blend together chipotle peppers, sauce, vinegar, lime juice, and garlic. Pour into crock pot.
Add cumin, oregano, cinnamon, bay leaves and broth to the crock pot. Cover and turn on low for 8 hours.
Remove roast from pot and remove excess fat if desired. Use two forks to shred the beef, then add it back into the crock pot.
Arrange tortillas on a plate, top with beef, next diced onion, cilantro, and salsa. Devour.

Recipe adaptation from these two sites: tablespoon.com and abitchinkitchen

Can you handle a little heat?!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Health Supplements & Insanity Month One

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 22, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Workouts
Post comments:8 Comments

I have bunch of little tidbits to catch you up on so I’m going to get right in there and be a little random today.

First off, I hope everyone is having a good week so far. We are half way through the work week already. These weeks have been flying by lately crazy fast.

Moose had his second tooth extracted on Monday and he is doing very well. They didn’t have nearly as much trouble with this tooth as they did his other one, and he didn’t have to be under anesthesia as long. We are happy that is over with, and so is he. Thanks again for all of your sweet comments.

Let’s see, Monday evening’s dinner was one you have seen a million times by now, my favorite salmon recipe, but I still snapped a photo because it’s always so pretty.

And breakfast yesterday: banana with almond butter, honey, and cinnamon = Num.

Insanity Update

Two days ago I finished Month One of Insanity. If you’re new to my blog, you can quickly catch up on my weekly Insanity reviews here:

Here is what went down this last week:

Body and Strength Changes

I don’t feel like I went through many body changes this past week although I do feel my core continues to get stronger day by day. I feel this has helped tremendously with my back pain. I continue to see my chiropractor for adjustments but we have been able to stretch out my visits to every two weeks now versus what began as twice a week visits. That is great progress that I am super happy about.

Besides that, I may have hit a bit of a plateau, where my strength isn’t improving much, and my endurance is at a standstill.

So, this week I have started the recovery workout. The focus of this workout is on recovering from all of the cardio madness, giving muscles time to relax, yet still working them so as not to fall back in your progress. It is a slightly more mellow workout which focuses on core and balance. For the next six days the program has you repeating the same workout daily. I’m a little nervous that I will get bored from the repetition because I usually can’t handle doing the same workout day after day. That being said, the next week of recovery may take me longer than six days to complete because I may throw in some runs or other workouts here and there.

Soreness, Fatigue, or Aches

The sore elbow that I mentioned last week which has been persistent for the last month or so is no longer an issue. Who knows what that was I’m just happy it’s gone!

Every now and then I will get a little tenderness on the top of my feet and occasional knee discomfort. When this happens, I try to take a day off to rest and then get back into it the following day once the tenderness has subsided.

Overall Thoughts and Feelings

I can’t believe month one is complete! I did take before and after photos but I think I may keep them to myself (I haven’t 100% decided either way yet), but what I can tell you is that I see some great results. My stomach is flatter, leaner and stronger, my legs are more toned and much stronger, my arm strength has increased greatly and I am now able to do hands and toes push-ups much more easily. I see more definition in my arms and my shoulders, and I have less back pain! Besides training for the half-marathon, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so diligent with a workout program before, especially with one this intense. I am very proud that I have kept with it this long. Time will tell how the second month goes. If I feel it is too intense for my body, I may scale back. We will see though.

I’m happy to have this week to “recover” before starting up with the even more insane workouts to come. My body could use a little rest, plus I am missing running and hope to get some of that in this week.

To any of you contemplating the Insanity program, I will tell you right now that it is not easy, but it is so worth it! The results are worth it. The way I feel about myself and the strength I have built, is so worth it. If you want to see results and build a stronger body, absolutely complete this program.

But first…Please consult with your physician before you begin this program if your health is compromised or if you are hesitant about the intensity of the program.

A Sneak Peek at Last Night’s Dinner

I’m hoping to share this barbacoa recipe with you all sometime this week. It was a spicy one and SO good!

Health Supplements

Last topic of the day I promise. It has been a little while since I have given an update on my current health supplements I am taking in the journey towards my total wellness. I want to share this with everyone in case there are others out there who are fighting for wellness (in my particular case Ulcerative Colitis), and to give others some hope that alternative medicine can really truly make a difference! I plan to go into this in further detail another day, but today I would just like to keep it to a brief update.

Again I want to reiterate that I truly believe that if you are eating a healthy and balanced diet, and if you are completely 100% healthy and not fighting any type of disease, that you may not need to take supplements. You can get the nutrients you need from foods (Vitamin D is a probable exception) and your body is able to utilize those nutrients properly, but for those of us with compromised health, supplements can be a very good option in helping to find balance. I continue to work with my chiropractor and naturopath, who are working with me to find proper supplements to suit my particular health needs.

Last time I checked in with you all on this subject, I was taking:

cod liver oil
a multivitamin
calcium plus vitamin D3
probiotic

Today, I am taking these:

cod liver oil
multivitamin
folic acid
calcium plus Vit D3
probiotic
digestive enzymes

Digestive Enzymes are enzymes that break down food molecules in our body, which helps the body to digest and absorb food and nutrients from foods. I don’t take the enzymes with every meal as recommended, but I take them when I feel my body may need extra help in digesting a meal. For example, if I am eating a meal with broccoli or cauliflower, I will most likely take one beforehand. They really do seem to ease the digestion process for me and they make me feel better and able to tolerate more foods.

I had a terrible experience with the cod liver oil a couple of days ago however. The one I currently have is a liquid cod liver oil with cinnamon tingle flavor. Apparently I coughed right as I was swallowing the liquid and it got caught in my throat. For the next couple of hours my throat burned and all I could taste was fish. It was terrible. I continued to feel nauseous well into the afternoon. I asked my chiro about other options and thankfully there is a gel that has a chocolate flavor and there are also tablets available. The only downfall to the tablets is that you have to take 7-8 a day. I am going to try the chocolate one next and hope that I can tolerate it better because my cinnamon experience totally ruined any chance of me taking that one again. My body LOVES this stuff though. It’s like liquid gold. It’s full of omega-3’s, and Vitamin A and D. Before I take it I imagine it coating my intestines like a cozy blanket to protect them. That’s weird, huh? Then I chug a gallon of water to get the taste out of my mouth.

Anyway, this is getting a bit lengthy. I do want to write another post about my experience with the naturopath and go more into detail about the specific brands of supplements I am taking, what they are primarily used for, and other health changes I have made to aid in my healing process. But for now, I am going to call it a day.

Happy Hump Day!

What are your thoughts on supplements?

Sweet Orange Chicken

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 20, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Family / Gluten-Free / Home Life / Recipes / Sweet Treats
Post comments:8 Comments

Well this weekend just like every other weekend, flew by very quickly, but it was packed with a lot of productivity and relaxation too!

A few scenes and tidbits from the weekend

A little change-up to my standard pb and banana breakfast. I made bananas with strawberries with a spoonful of homemade almond butter. This batch of almond butter turned out perfectly and I am so diggin’ it.

Throughout the course of the weekend I munched on a couple of these ALT bars by LARABAR which they so kindly sent me last week. This is their new protein bar made from pea protein that has 10 grams of protein. These bars are absolutely delicious and satisfying. So far I’ve had the peanut butter cookie (obviously I chose that one first) and the lemon pound cake. I let Dana taste test too and we both gave them two thumbs up.

Oh the joy of finding a package of these bars on your front step when you aren’t expecting it! I don’t think I could ever get tired of it.

Dana and I actually sat down and watched a movie on Friday night. We have been wanting to see Silver Linings Playbook for quite some time, and by chance I checked out our local RedBox and it was actually there!

Holy cow, have you seen this movie? If you haven’t seen it, please do. It was a little dark but there was humor throughout the entire movie which lightened it, and the ending made me happy. I seriously loved it. And I love Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.

This weekend we worked on the yard: we pulled weeds, cut the grass, planted flowers in the window boxes, mulched around one of our front trees, painted the exterior trim that needed touching up, planted herbs in pots, and hung up a decorative piece above our garage door. It felt great to be so productive and the house is really shaping up!

This weekend we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday. The weather was beautiful that evening. We grilled burgers and sat outside for a while and soaked up the sun. It felt like a summer evening finally! We finished off the birthday celebration with Dairy Queen ice cream cake which I thoroughly enjoyed.

To end the weekend, I threw together a sweet and tasty dinner in the wok…

Sweet Orange Chicken!

In the wok I cooked one large chicken breast in a touch of sesame oil. I then added the veggies, some orange juice, coconut aminos, ground ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar, honey, and salt and pepper. I let it all cook through for a while (more detailed recipe below) and then served it up!

I was going to chop up some iceberg lettuce and have that as a base under the orange chicken but I completely forgot. You could serve this just as I did, or with cooked quinoa or brown rice.

It was sweet with a little hint of salty which is a flavor combination I adore.

Sweet Orange Chicken

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 tsp sesame oil
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, or 2 small, cut into chunks
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup carrot, diced
1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped
1½ cups broccoli
½ cup red bell pepper, chopped
sprinkle of dried ground ginger
2 Tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
1-2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
½ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp honey
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp orange zest

Instructions

In a wok or large sauce pan, heat sesame oil. Add chicken and cook for about 6-7 minutes until almost completely cooked through.
Add vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add in remaining ingredients; let cook and boil for 4-5 minutes.
Turn off heat, use microplane to grate 1 tablespoon of orange zest over the chicken and veggies. Serve warm with brown rice, quinoa, or enjoy by itself!

You can use up whatever veggies you have on hand for this recipe. It is truly so easy (like the majority of my recipes) and it was something fun and different from your standard stir-fry!

Did you cook up anything nummy this weekend?

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 17, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:4 Comments

Well, my creativity level in the kitchen has been at an all-time low this week. I had zero motivation to make anything, especially for dinner, and wound up eating lots of taco chicken leftovers from Mother’s Day as well as quite a few snacks for dinner types of evenings.

Note: The peas are frozen in this photo but defrosted by the time I ate my salad. Just in case you were wondering. 😉

Not my proudest week of creativity but I guess we all have our moments. I did however make my best attempt to get out of this rut by using up a cauliflower head that was in the fridge and making it into…

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan!

The original plan was to use the cauliflower to make homemade cauli pizza crust, but since the lazy vibes were still lingering I thought I would go a more simplistic route.

After washing and drying one head of cauliflower, I cut into it vertically and made four “steaks” out of it. I made sure each piece had a little bit of the cauliflower stem attached to it to keep the steak intact. The two middle steaks held together a lot better than the outer ones because of the stem.

I sprayed each side of the steaks with olive oil, then sprinkled them with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I threw them on the grill where they cooked for 6-7 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, I pulled some leftover marinara out of the freezer from a couple of weeks ago when I made roasted veggies with marinara sauce and heated it up on the stove. The sauce already had cooked Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic and some added herbs, but I went one step further and added chopped green olives and capers. It was so nice having the sauce pretty much ready to go so that all I needed to do was heat it up and use! The beauty of the freezer.

In case you haven’t noticed, I sort of LOVE red sauce. When we were in Italy for our honeymoon, I ordered marinara sauce on everything. It was so darn good but the heartburn that coincided wasn’t so great. It probably didn’t help I was also drinking red wine and eating hearty meals late in the evening. All things I recommend staying away from if my clients are experiencing heartburn. 🙂 When in Rome though, right? Literally. Ha! I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to do a food recap from Italy? I didn’t take a TON of food photos (that was before my blog days) but I know I have some I could show you. I also kept a food journal so I could remember what I ate! I just may have to do that. Keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, back to the cauli. After we pulled them off the grill they looked like this…beautiful.

I grated fresh parmesan cheese over the top so that it melted into the crevices. Then I spooned on a large portion of the leftover marinara sauce and dug in.

The cauliflower was cooked perfectly and took on a whole new flavor and texture from the grill. The texture was slightly “meaty” especially in the stem, and it was satisfying and fun way to eat cauliflower! Between the cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower fritters, and cauliflower steaks, I’m finding that this is the veggie that keeps on giving. What will I come up with next?

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
parmesan cheese
marinara sauce

Instructions

Preheat grill.
Keeping the stem attached, cut cauliflower head vertically into 4 steaks (make sure each of the pieces has some of the stem so that the steaks stay intact).
Lightly spray olive oil on each side of the steaks, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place on grill.
Grill on each side for 6-7 minutes.
Remove from grill and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Top with warmed marinara if you wish and enjoy!

Happy Friday!

Do you ever get into food ruts? What do you do to pull yourself out of them?!

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cookies (Gluten-Free)

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 15, 2013
Post category:Gluten-Free / Home Life / Moose / Recipes / Sweet Treats
Post comments:7 Comments

Thank you for all of your sweet thoughts and kind words yesterday. Moose is doing very well! His swelling has gone down dramatically and after I posted yesterday, the vet actually called me back after having talked to a dental specialist who said a little swelling was absolutely normal especially on bigger dogs, so I didn’t need to bring him back in yesterday after all. They told me to keep an eye on the swelling for the next 2-3 days and if it doesn’t go down, then we would have a problem, but otherwise it’s totally normal. And since it’s gone down I am not worried at all!

He did some doggy modeling for me yesterday…

Gah! Love him. While we were outside yesterday I wandered over to our garden and spotted one beautiful little flower peaking on its own. It was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the wind was so intense that by the evening it was completely ruined, but at least I got to enjoy it for a short amount of time.

The temperatures crept to about 98°F yesterday, but since the air was so dry and there was quite a bit of wind, it didn’t feel very hot. So instead of thinking about making ice cream, or popsicles, or chomping on some watermelon, I thought it would be fun to bake up some cookies. Totally not normal I realize. The heat wasn’t going to stop me from my chocolate craving.

I got my inspiration for this cookie recipe from acouplecooks.com. Naturally, I steered towards a healthier cookie, and I knew I wanted to make it gluten-free too.

There is a secret ingredient in these cookies that might surprise you but you will be surprised to find out that you can’t taste it at all and it also packs in some protein and fiber into this decadent dark chocolate cookie and makes for one heck of a soft and fudgy cookie.

Have you guessed the secret ingredient yet? If you guessed black beans you would be absolutely correct. Don’t wrinkle your nose until you try them! I’m telling you–you can’t taste the beans at all and it does wonders for the texture of the cookie and when combined with the cocoa powder, gives these cookies a deep dark chocolate flavor.

I know you’re intrigued. Here is what I came up with!

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cookies (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (or about 2 cups cooked from dried)
1½ Tbsp coconut oil, melted
¼ cup applesauce
1 egg
½ cup honey
¾ tsp vanilla extract
5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
½ cup mini chocolate chips or more (I used Enjoy Life dairy-free, soy-free)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with a non-stick mat, parchment paper, or non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
In food processor puree the beans along with the oil, applesauce, egg, honey, and vanilla. Puree until smooth.
Add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt into wet mixture; blend to combine. The consistency will resemble brownie batter.
Remove blade from food processor and stir in chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit for five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!

What are you waiting for? Get baking!

Question of the day: Have you ever baked any sweet treats with beans or any other wacky ingredients? What did you think?

Quinoa Tabouli Recipe & Switching to Raw Honey

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 2, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Lunch
Post comments:2 Comments

Oh happy day! Who’s doing their Friday happy dance? I am.

Yesterday was a day of great eats. Although I didn’t get too creative with breakfast and went with my fav; banana with peanut butter, cinnamon, and a touch of honey, I did change it up just a bit. I am now using raw honey instead of the good old honey bear and this stuff rocks my socks for multiple reasons.

Why I switched to raw organic honey

It tastes incredible.
I bought it locally and could tell you exactly what farm in MN it came from.
It has health benefits such as: wound healing, boosts immunity, traditionally has been used to heal ulcers, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal issues.
Rich in B vitamins and vitamin C and contains healthy minerals too!
In the processing of your everyday honey bear squeeze bottle honey, beneficial enzymes, nutrients, and antioxidants are often destroyed. Instead of reaping the wonderful health benefits of honey, you are really stripping away the goodies.
I love it.

some information was gathered from this source

The only downside is it is definitely a little more expensive than the traditional honey bear, but you can see why right? It’s worth it! Another FYI, buy organic if you can.

A friendly reminder: children under the age of one should not consume any type of honey as it has the potential of causing botulism.

Lunch

Anyway, moving on. After my Insanity workout, I was craving nutrients in a huge way. Usually I hedge toward smoothies post workout, but today I went the salad route. I must say this turned out to be one pretty darn beautiful salad.

What’s in it: mixed spring lettuce, grated carrot, grated pepper cheese, peas, red bell pepper, sunflower seeds, Applegate roasted turkey from the deli, and homemade mustard dressing.

Dressing: deli mustard, red wine vinegar, dash of garlic powder and black pepper, and a touch of water.

Yum-o.

Mediterranean Feast

For dinner, we had my mom and dad and brother Kevin over for a Mediterranean themed dinner.

On the menu: chicken and veggie kabobs, hummus, veggies, fresh fruit, and quinoa tabouli!

Quinoa Tabouli!!

Oh my goodness I love this food so much. I especially love making it at home because I can control EVERYTHING that goes into it–including the salt content.

This was my first ever attempt at making tabouli. Traditional tabouli uses bulgar wheat, but I wanted to make mine with protein-rich quinoa, and am THRILLED with the result. If you are a tabouli fan, this is a recipe you are absolutely going to want to try! It’s truly so easy too!

Quinoa Tabouli

Ingredients

juice from ¾ of a large lemon
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. dried oregano
3 garlic cloves
2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
2 cups parsley, chopped
¼ cup mint, chopped
½ cup cucumber, diced
½ cup onion, diced
1 Roma tomato, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, and use a fine cheese grater to grate garlic cloves into juice mixture.
Add remaining ingredients into bowl, stir to combine.
Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible to let flavors blend together.
Serve cold on a bed of lettuce (optional). Great with chicken kabobs and hummus.

Happy Friday to all of you beautiful people. Catch up with you later!

What are your favorite ways to enjoy honey?

My favorite ways are of course drizzled over pb toast or pb and banana with a touch of cinnamon, or in a mug of hot water with fresh ginger.

Some of My Favorites

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 25, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Fav Products / Gluten-Free
Post comments:12 Comments

Happy Thursday to you all! I hope everyone is having a fabulous week full of happiness.

A quick rewind to Tuesday evening

I had tacos on my mind. I had some pre-cooked pinto beans in the freezer so I grabbed those, defrosted them, and threw them in a pan with sautéed onions, garlic, red pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. I then added a splash of chicken bone broth to the pan and let it cook out; this helps make the beans more saucy (just don’t let them cook too long after the liquid has cooked out or they will start to get too starchy).

I love cooking a huge batch of beans and freezing them so that they are ready for me whenever I need them. I use canned beans on occasion and am sure to rinse them really well to remove some of the sodium, but I prefer dried beans that I cook myself. That way I know exactly what goes into them.

I used lettuce cups as the taco shells then assembled the bean mixture, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and lastly the salsa.

This dinner seriously came together in about 10 minutes and it was SO good as always! Taco night is one of my all-time favorites!

Wednesday

After my Insanity workouts, I often crave a huge fruit and veggie-packed smoothie. Yesterday, I threw together one of my favorites:

a large handful of kale
1 frozen banana
1 Tbsp peanut butter
3/4 scoop of chocolate egg-white protein powder
~1/2-3/4 cup almond milk
splash of aloe vera juice

Again, I give full credit to my friend Shannon for this one. I think of her every time I make it. It tastes like a chocolate shake and who doesn’t enjoy a chocolate shake in the morning?! I am totally into it.

I have some exciting news. When it comes to my coffee I am a coffee with cream kind of gal. I enjoy a smooth creamy mug of coffee and as much as I tried to “wean” myself off of the creamer, I just couldn’t get into it. I tried for a good 5-6 months to go au natural, which I would say was a fair shot, but still no dice.

The main reason I wanted to stop with the creamers is because I was not liking the ingredient labels on some of my favorite creamers, namely hydrogenated oils aka trans fat. Not only that, the ingredient labels were way too long and full of unrecognizable words.

I have been on the prowl for a creamer replacement. I tried coconut milk, almond milk, soy creamer, but nothing was giving my coffee that creaminess that I loved and missed so much.

I made a trip to Whole Foods to browse their milk and cream section and I found something that has made me so extremely happy and makes my coffee blend into creamy just the way I like it…

SO Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer in hazelnut flavor. That’s the stuff!

There are a few ingredients that I’m not particularly fond of, but for the most part, I can accept it considering I do a very good job everywhere else in my diet with keeping things clean. What’s great about this creamer is that it’s dairy free and trans fat free!

Until I find my next creamer replacement, I am very happy with this one. Can you count how many times I said cream or creamer or creamy in that last little coffee bit?! Haha.

Dinner

While I prepared dinner there was some major snackage happening. We have a ginormous bag of carrots because I am a huge carrot eater and lover, so I cracked into that along with some hummus to tide myself over. This has to be up there on the list of my favorite snacks: veggies and hummus. NUM.

Thanks to some food prep earlier in the week, dinner came together in a snap.

In a saucepan I browned up about 1/4 lb of lean ground beef. I then sautéed mushrooms in the same pan as the beef and lastly added no sugar added spaghetti sauce. I let this all blend together, added a few sprinkles of garlic powder and onion powder and let it simmer until everything was cooked and heated through.

In a separate pan I sautéed two minced garlic cloves and then added pre-cooked spaghetti squash. I like to cook the squash in a pan for a little while to help cook out some of the extra liquid and moisture, which helps prevent a super watery plate of spaghetti squash.

Once the squash was heated through I plated it up, ladled on a big scoop of meat sauce, and then sprinkled fresh grated parmesan cheese over the top.

Such a comforting and healthy dish, and a very healthy italian dish. Italian food is another one of my favorites!

I’ve had a couple of days of my favorite types of foods. Of course I snacked on some bananas and peanut butter here and there too, so don’t worry, I got those in. That snack is high up there on my favorite foods list. And chocolate. I had to have some dark chocolate. My list of favorite foods is probably a mile long. What can I say? I’m a foodie!

I’m off to take on the day! Go tackle yours too!

What are some of your favorite meal cuisines? Italian? Mexican? American? Etc.

Keeping it Uplifting

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 23, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Misc.
Post comments:5 Comments

How did you celebrate Earth Day yesterday? I started mine out with a trip to Caribou (I drove—the bike’s not tuned up yet) for my free coffee. All you had to do was bring in a reusable mug!

A day that starts with Caribou is a good day in my book. I continued to try to keep the “green” momentum throughout the day. I did a load of laundry and used this environmentally friendly laundry detergent sample I got from Costco last weekend. I also used cold water for the wash.

In timely fashion, our mini garden started sprouting little thyme sprouts. That only took a week! I can’t wait for fresh herbs this summer.

Lunch was leftovers from Sunday. Dana and I went to a casual sandwich shop called Which ‘Wich and I ordered a turkey wrapped in lettuce “sandwich.” I just had to replace the lettuce yesterday with fresh stuff because it had gotten a little soggy from the mustard and mayo. I actually think it tasted better on day two.

Moose enjoyed the yard while it was temporarily snow free…

I went to dinner at mom and dad’s and we had burgers with sautéed onions, a big salad, and roasted zucchini. I had deli mustard with my burger and oh my goodness that stuff is good! I need to go get myself some of that!

The weather turned for worst last night and all I’m going to say about it is this:

I refuse to turn into negative Nancy about it because I am extremely tired of hearing people complain about it considering there is NOTHING we can do about it, except for move to another state. I want to keep today’s post happy and uplifting, so I am calling upon my Pinterest finds to do just that.

Here is an eclectic mix of photos and quotes that made me happy today…

If that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will! I hope you all have a very HAPPY day!

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