Mini Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies--Gluten-Free

This recipe has been a long time coming to my blog, and though I can't eat these cookies on my current restrictive diet, I wanted to share the recipe with you all!

I'm thinking I saw this recipe originally on Facebook--you know, one of those "share it now!" things... They were called "Meltaways," and considering that they were a complete, runny flop when I made them, the recipe is obviously intended for "glutenized" flour. They need all that glue to hold them together! No way could I drop blobs of the batter on a pan and then flatten them with the bottom of a glass, without them all turning into one giant puddle as soon as they meet the oven. (Which may be what actually happened...)

So I've come up with the cutest, tastiest gluten-free alternative! (Warning: you may eat 10 of these at a time...)

Mini Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies--Gluten-Free

You'll need:

1 cup butter
¾ cup cornstarch
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 cup gluten-free flour

A little milk

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Cream the butter until it's fluffy (if you don't know how to cream butter, Youtube is very helpful with that, which may be how I know how to do it now...).

3) Mix the cornstarch and sugar into the creamed butter.

4) Beat in the flour until all is mixed well.

5) If the mixture is too dry, add a little milk (a common occurrence with gf flour).

6) Drop small portions of the batter into a mini muffin tin--about 1/3-1/2 full.

7) Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

8) Once they have cooled, ice with canned cream cheese or chocolate icing.

I actually discovered that my favorite version was when I put both chocolate and cream cheese icing on them. Ohhhh my. (I'm sorry I don't have a picture of that amazing combo.)

I tried this with a regular cupcake pan, and it took forever for them to bake, and they just didn't taste the same. The mini cupcake pan worked perfectly for containing the runny batter, and smaller portions of the batter allowed them to bake all the way through. Such cute little deliciousness!

Easy Turkey and Veggie Fry

I'm so excited to share this new meal with you all--it's so easy and so healthy (gluten and dairy free). And so good. I'm also super proud of it because I dreamed it up myself. My husband suggested frying up the meat, and I came up with the rest, so that makes it my idea, right? ;)

I'm currently on a special diet that doesn't allow certain foods for the purpose of healing my stomach, a diet I've been on for three months now. Its restrictions do limit your variety, so this new dish is particularly exciting for me!

Easy Turkey and Veggie Fry

You'll need (for one serving):
2 carrots
A fist-size chunk of broccoli (how's that for specific? ;)
About 1/4 of an onion
Several slices of turkey lunchmeat (I use 4 Hormel Natural Choice Oven Roasted Deli Turkey)
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil (regular or extra virgin)
Salt (I use sea salt)
Basil
Garlic

1) Slice up the carrots, broccoli, onion, and turkey however you like. You can see from the pictures how I prefer mine.
2) Place the carrots, broccoli, onion, and meat in a skillet on medium-high heat and drizzle them with the oil, then sprinkle salt, basil, and garlic to taste--amount is totally up to you; I lean toward less salt and plenty of basil and garlic. Stir occasionally to get all the pieces coated.

3) After about 3 minutes, reduce the heat and then stir it a couple more times over about 7 more minutes. The goal is to let it get rather crispy on the edges, especially the turkey.

Now it's all done!

I recommend having it with bananas, strawberries, and grapes, though grapes alone go wonderfully with it.

Some side notes: I like to chop up a whole bunch of the vegetables ahead of time so when I'm hungry, I can just put them in the pan instead of having to get the vegetables ready all over again every time. (Because I may be eating this every day lately...) Also, you could totally use any other lunchmeat with this, or freshly cooked meat. But my goal is convenience. Oh, and also, I am sure mushrooms would be incredible in this, but I can't have them right now...

So give it a try and please let me know how you like it!






P.S. Linking up with Throwback Thursday.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cream Cheese Tortillas

When you're gluten free, sometimes you really just want something easy and insanely tasty. But no just grabbing a danish or a doughnut for us...

I discovered a while back that corn tortillas are so versatile, and I've showed you how to use them to make fries. Of course they're also perfect as a bread substitute and fried up in a pan. But I also discovered this super simple, incredibly delicious snack/breakfast/dessert. (As I like to say, when you're gluten free you can eat more!)

Unfortunately I'm currently on a diet that doesn't allow corn or dairy (health diet, not lose-weight diet), which I plan to expound on when the time is right, so I can't eat this right now. But I wanted to share this recipe with you!

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cream Cheese Tortillas

You'll need:

2 corn tortillas (I only know of small ones--if you have big ones, then one would be plenty)

Butter

A few strawberries cut up

Cream Cheese

Powdered Sugar

1) Lightly butter one side of each tortilla and spread some cream cheese on the other side of the tortillas--which I realize is pretty messy. ;) The amount of cream cheese is totally up to you--I lean toward more rather than less, of course. Place each tortilla, butter side down, in a skillet on medium heat.

2) Place the strawberries on half of each tortilla and sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

3) With a spatula, fold each tortilla in half--obviously with the strawberry side on the bottom.

4) Let the tortillas fry for about 3 minutes on each side, depending on how hot your pan is and how crispy you like them.

5) Remove from the pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Oh. my. goodness. These are amazing. A-mazing. Needless to say, I highly recommend them. And want them now.... So please go enjoy some for me, and do let me know how you like them!

Cheesy Chicken Happiness

Well, I'm sick on this lovely winter day and hoping I can manage this post of deliciousness for you. Cause this dish is da bomb.

The amazing recipe is from the Plain Chicken blog, and you can see it here. I found it through Pinterest. :)

 Cheesy Honey Mustard Chicken

You'll need:

4 thawed chicken breasts or several tenders
Lemon pepper to taste
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
3/4 cup honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 Tbsp bacon bits (I used Oscar Mayer)

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (The most important step! ;)

2) Place the chicken in a baking dish and season with lemon pepper and then a mixture of the Dijon mustard, honey, lemon juice, and paprika.

3) Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove, sprinkle with bacon bits and cheese, and then put back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Post-baking, pre-cheese and bacon.

Post-cheese and bacon, pre-last 10 minutes.

All done. :)

Oh, and make sure to drizzle the chicken in the leftover sauce when you eat it. ;) I highly recommend having this with rice (I use Minute rice), green beans or salad, and sauteed mushrooms.

I just sautee the mushrooms in butter and soy sauce--just make sure the soy sauce specifically says gluten free on it, if you're wanting that of course.

And simple as that stuff is, it is amazing.

This meal is quite close to my favorite meal at Texas Steakhouse, which is like, one of my favorite meals ever. So yeah, this recipe is pretty awesome. ;)

Gluten-Free Waffle McGriddles

When I went gluten-free about two years ago, one of the (many) things I missed was McGriddles from McDonalds. Of course they always made my stomach hurt when I ate them, but I still missed them…

So my husband figured out this easy gluten-free alternative. No, it’s not exactly the same (it’s not bad for you! ;) but man, is it delicious.

Gluten-Free Waffle McGriddles

(makes 1 depending on how loaded you want it ;)

You’ll need:

2 gluten-free waffles (I used Van’s)

2 eggs

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper to taste

ab. 1 tbsp. milk (optional)

Sliced ham

American sandwich cheese slices (or whatever cheese you want)

Syrup

1) Heat the waffles according to the package. I like to toast them in the oven, which takes a little longer. If you microwave them, heat them when everything else is ready so they don’t get cold.

2) Scramble the eggs in a bowl with the salt, pepper, and milk (optional—will make them fluffier). Melt the butter in a skillet to cover the bottom, pour the eggs in the pan and let them fry, then flip over to finish frying. Of course you could use scrambled eggs too, but I prefer the eggs to be a solid piece, which you can cut to whatever size you want.

3) Fry the ham in a separate skillet for just a few minutes until the edges start to brown and curl up.

4) Drizzle syrup on each waffle, then stack the ham, egg, and cheese on one waffle, and put the other waffle on top.

If you’re real ambitious, feel free to make your own waffles. But I’m not that ambitious yet. ;) Also, I’ve tried this with sausage, but it just wasn’t as good as with the ham. I don’t know why. But feel free to try that too! 

And even if you're not gluten-free, this is a great option for when you're stuck at home and can't get to McDonald's. :)

These are perfect for breakfast … or dinner … or a snack (hey, when you're gluten free, you can eat more!) and definitely filling. And it’ll most certainly help with McGriddle withdrawals. :)

P.S. Linking up with What We Eat Wednesday.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

It's a new year, with new features! Welcome, and enjoy the ride!

These cookies are as easy as they are insanely delicious. I actually found the recipe for the main cookie part on Delilah’s Facebook page a long time ago. Then I discovered the idea of putting Reese cups in them here, as opposed to Hershey’s kisses. And a gluten-free classic was born!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, plus extra for coating

1 egg

1 cup peanut butter

24 unwrapped mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Step 1) Preheat the oven to 350.

Step 2) Mix the cup of sugar, egg, and peanut butter together well.

Step 3) Roll the dough into about 1” balls, roll each in the extra sugar, and place into a mini muffin tin. Press a Reese cup into each dough ball.

Step 4) Bake on 350 for 16 minutes, by which point the dough should be golden brown. Once you remove them from the oven, let them sit in the pan for about 10 minutes so they can harden a bit (no flour means tendency to crumble), and then remove each cookie from the pan by inserting a knife against the edge of the cookie then under it to lift it out (with both hands--again, crumble tendencies). This makes 24 cookies.

Evidence of crumbling tendencies, above right ;)

 

Variations:

~ Use Hershey’s kisses instead of Reese cups.

~ Mix chocolate chips into the batter for chocolate chip cookie cups and omit the Reese cups.

~ Use a regular cookie sheet, mix dough and roll in sugar as above, then press each ball with a fork for the classic peanut butter cookie look, omitting the Reese cups.

When they're not warm anymore (if they last that long...), I definitely recommend microwaving them. :) 

And enjoy! No flour, gluten-free perfection!

Spicy Tortilla Fries--Gluten and Potato-Free

Attempting to eat gluten-free is a plenty large enough task, something I discovered I needed to do just about a year and a half ago. But long before that, when I was an early teenager, I discovered that I am allergic to apples and peaches. Those were the first two to go. Then when I was in college, I finally figured out that I am allergic to potatoes. POTATOES. Giving up apple pie and peaches on pancakes is one thing. But giving up french fries and potato chips? I really just try not to think about it. And recalling how it would make me feel if I did eat some goes a long way in the area of self-control.

Naturally, when I discovered the gluten intolerance, my thoughts were, “Great, what next? You take away my fries, now I can’t even eat pizza.” And for all I know, this won’t be the last of the foods I have to cut out. But for now, you’ll notice that any recipes I share with you are not only gluten-free, but also free of potatoes, apples, and peaches!

I don’t know why it took me so long to think of this recipe as a substitute for french fries, as it was less than a year ago that I figured out this concoction and I’ve been potato-free for four or five years. But I was thrilled with my first attempt—dipped in ketchup and eaten with a burger, the fries could have passed for the real thing to my potato-deprived taste buds. Then I discovered what spices to add to get close to the taste of curly fries—my favorite! Now I’m hooked. And I now prefer to get burgers to go (without the bun of course, unless you’re at Red Robin) rather than eat them at restaurants so that I can whip up my fries to go with them.

So if you’re looking for some gluten-free “fries” (as finding those in restaurants can be tricky), or if you’re ready for something different, or if you’re a fellow enemy of potatoes, please give these a try! Plus, these are SO easy to make. I mean, I made them up, so how hard can they be? 

Now, some may find these fries spicy. My mom does, but my husband and I don’t, but then we’re rather hot-food freaks. So feel free to go easy on the spices and figure out what combination you like best.

Spicy Tortilla Fries (the “curly fry” version)

Total time: About 15 minutes

You’ll need:

• several corn tortillas (I do 10 small ones for me and my very hungry husband)
• vegetable or canola oil (I prefer vegetable, which lets the fries get a little crunchy without becoming rock-like crunchy, though both work) 
• salt
• butter
• paprika
• onion powder
• cayenne pepper

Step 1) Cut the tortillas into strips.

Step 1

Step 2) Heat oil in a skillet on medium to medium/high heat (the amount of oil depends on how many tortillas you’re using—with 10, the oil should spread over about three-fourths of the skillet’s bottom), along with a couple small slabs of butter. **Be very careful to not get the oil too hot. It can start popping and flame up and/or splash on your hands when you put the tortilla strips in the skillet. I may or may not be speaking from experience… :P)**

Step 3) Once the butter has just started to melt, add the tortilla strips. Sprinkle them fairly generously with salt. Then sprinkle the paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper, also pretty generously.

Step 4) Once the strips have sat just long enough to get a little oily and buttery, turn them over with a spatula (very carefully) and repeat the sprinkling of salt, paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper, all while leaving the stove on medium to medium/high heat.

Step 3 and Step 4

Step 5) Every so often move the strips around with a spatula to try to ensure they all get time in the buttery oil. Knowing when they are “perfect” is rather an art I am still getting down—do them too long, and they’re all crispy; too short, and they’re flimsy and a bit soggy. So keep an eye on them, and when you see a happy medium between crispy and soggy happening (there will be versions of both in the final product regardless), they’re done! Even 15 seconds can make a difference in how done they are, so when you think they’ve reached it, remove them from the pan right away. If they’re still too soggy, you can always put them back in for a bit longer. 

Step 5

Step 6) Serve with ketchup and preferably a burger. ;)

Variation: Classic Tortilla Fries

Simply follow the same steps as above, keeping the salt generous, but omit the paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. I know that may sound rather boring, but this version really tastes like your classic french fries and complements a burger so well, possibly even better than the spicy version.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!