Vanilla Blueberry Lemon Muffins

I have to say gluten-free food is gradually getting better. But, on the downside, most processed food contains chemicals or has a the lack of freshness. I have been on the search for new gluten free recipes that my family will love and ones I can add to my own personal favorites. Tonight, I found one of those recipes. Vanilla Blueberry Lemon muffins. In search of my other love, besides cooking, essential oils, I found this recipe on Pinterest. It is located on the dōTERRA blog. I hope you enjoy and if you are looking for a place to purchase essential oils to use in your cooking, I would be happy to direct you to that information.*  Enjoy this recipe.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

 My Little Helpers

 Ingredients:

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour

1 tsp. Xanthan gum

1/2 cup honey

1 Tbs. Baking powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

8 drops of dōTERRA lemon essential oil

1 egg

1 cup Vanilla soy milk (or any milk of choice)

1/2 cup butter (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.

Method: -preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1) mix all dry ingredients into large glass bowl.

2) beat egg in medium bowl; add the rest of wet ingredients.

3) mix wet and dry ingredients together in standing mixer.

4) Stir in blueberries.

5) Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 of the way full.

6) bake for 20 min at 375 degrees.

20 minutes is a long time to wait for little people.

* Please do not use any essential oil that is not labeled for food or ingestion. doTERRA is safe to ingest. These are the only brand of oils I use in my cooking. 

Black Bean Burgers

I love when I find a good vegan burger. There are many out there that seem to me a little scary to try. My family of two preschoolers and a husband are subject to my kitchen makings and I want to make that a painless as possible. Most of the time I have to make my food GF and vegan which poses a challenge to find recipes that taste good for everyone, including my husband who is a flexitarian (a person who eats mostly vegetarian and occasionally eats meat.) I found The Simple Veganista blog and love the vegan options she gives. This recipe for Santa Fe Black Bean Burgers was super good. My family loved them, however it was on the spicy side and hard for one of my girls to finish. I think I will omit the cayenne next time. I made the recipe as written. I hope you enjoy.

Spicy Black Bean Burger

Ingredients

1 can (14 oz) organic black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup oats (I use GF)

1/4 cup whole wheat flour, or flour of choice* (I used Almond flour)

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne (I suggest to omit this for children who don't like things spicy)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon himalayan salt

1/4 cup chunky salsa or pico de gallo, give or take (choose mild to reduce spiciness) 

1 tablespoon sesame or olive oil

corn meal, for dusting (I used course grind) (optional)

Method:

1) Drain and rinse black beans in colander. In a medium size bowl mash black beans with a strong fork or use a potato masher, leaving some chunks for texture if you like. 

2) Add oats, flour, spices, salt and salsa, mix again. If mixture is too wet, add more flour to the mix, if a little dry, add more salsa.

3) Shape your patties into whatever size you like. I made 5 patties. 

4) Give a light dusting of corn meal if you have it, it will give a nice crunch, flavor, and cook up crispy. (I did not use this as I was out of cornmeal.) 

5) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet on medium. Cook for about 5 five minutes each side. It's ok if the cornmeal gets a little crispy.   

I served mine with peas and a side of hummus and GF crackers.

I also chose to serve without a bun. It was really yummy and filling.

This was my girls' plate.

*Suggested accompaniments: red onion slices, leafy greens, and/or salsa. Mashed avocado as spread, or sliced avocado. 

My girls eating this supper. 

Veggie Skillet

I have decided to branch out of my comfort zone of cooking and create my own recipe. I was looking at some skillet recipes online but they seem to be bland or required items that I didn't have. The recipe that I created was inspired by this zucchini skillet recipe. My family loved this, except one child who picked out the zucchini. It turned out better than I had imagined. I hope you enjoy my version of this recipe.

Veggie Skillet

Ingredients:

Spices not pictured.

1 tablespoon Coconut oil

1-1/2 cups quartered lengthwise, sliced zucchini

1/2 cup diced red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup cashews

1 can (15 oz each) organic black beans, rinsed

1 large can, crushed tomatoes,undrained

1 cup brown rice, cooked

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Coriander 

1/2 tsp. Turmeric




Method:

1) Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. 

2) Add zucchini, bell pepper and garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Add beans, cashews, spices, and rice. Stir.

4) Add undrained tomatoes. Increase heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Let boil until rice absorbs juice from tomatoes.

Tempeh Meatballs

I love anything to give pasta some life. I found this recipe for Tempeh Italian Meatballs and thought I would give it a try. These meatballs are vegan but I made mine gluten free too. I do have to give warning though for those who are gluten free, please check the kind of tempeh you buy. There are different kinds and I accidentally bought one with barley in it. Please read the labels. These are the best meatballs I have ever tasted that were gluten free and vegan. They have a meaty texture and spectacular flavor. Please note that the recipe I made is slightly different than the one linked. If you are not wanting gluten free, please follow the linked recipe. I hope you enjoy as this is a huge favorite among my 4 year olds and husband.

Tempeh Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pkg tempeh, simmered in water for 10 mins, cooled, and grated 

1/4 cup instant GF oats (or just put regular GF oats in a food processor for a couple seconds)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup all purpose GF flour
1/2 tsp. xantham gum

1 tsp. onion powder

2 cloves garlic, grated1 tsp sage

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp GF soy sauce ( I used La Choy)
2 tbsp HP sauce/A1 Sauce/BBQ sauce (Make sure to chose a GF one)

3 tbsp coconut oil

Method:

1) Mix cooled and grated tempeh in a large bowl with oatmeal, nutritional yeast, gluten, onion, garlic, and spices. 

2) Add sauces and mush/mix together with your fingers. Add a splash of water if needed.

3) Heat oil in a large frying pan over med-lo heat. Shape tempeh mixture into 36 small balls.

4) Fry in oil for 15 mins, turning regularly, until nicely browned on all sides.

5)  Although the meatballs can be used right away, they are even better when simmered in a tomato sauce for an hour or so. Serve over pasta.

Vegan French Toast

Since my husband is a huge fan of breakfast for supper, I often have to find a replacement for items he chooses to make. Yes, he does cook....breakfast. This particular night, he wanted to have french toast. I have never made that vegan before and was in need of a recipe very quickly. I searched the internet and found one at love and lemons blog. This blog is awesome for those of us who eat vegan. I will be exploring it more. Here is her recipe for French toast. The only revisions I made was to use rice milk as I don't like the aftertaste of almond milk, and whole wheat bread. Gluten free bread can be used if needed. I hope you enjoy.

Vegan French Toast

Ingredients:

• 6 slices, slightly stale ciabatta bread, sliced about 3/4-inch thick* ( I used Whole Wheat bread, GF is an option too)
• 1 cup Almond Breeze Almond Milk, vanilla flavor ( I used rice milk and added 1 tsp. of vanilla)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (plus more, for serving)
• 2 tablespoons millet flour (or any flour)
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• small bit of freshly ground nutmeg
• tiny pinch of salt
• coconut oil, for the pan

Method:

1) Whisk together the milk, maple syrup, flour, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

2) Place bread in a shallow dish (with sides) that holds all of the bread. Pour the mixture over the bread, flipping it around to coat thoroughly.

3) Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, place the bread slices and cook for a few minutes per side, until golden brown.

4) Serve with powdered sugar, a dab of vegan butter, maple syrup & fresh fruit.

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

There are so many recipes out there that I would love to try. Tonight, I wanted to make a gluten free and vegan dish using veggies and brown rice. Behold! I found one here. Unstuffed Vegetarian Peppers. I looked at the recipe and thought that it would taste rather good, and the more I looked at it, I started to change it to fit our needs and my preference on flavor. So, with that said. This is my own version of the recipe. My girls helped make this meal and they thought it was tasty. I do have to say, one of them didn't like the red peppers, so they picked them out. It might be more of an adult choice if your children do not like peppers. 

Unstuffed Vegan Peppers

Ingredients: 

3 cups diced peppers, red, yellow and green - 1 cup each

1/2 cup diced onion

2 Tbs. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

* 1/2 tsp dried oregano

* 1/2 tsp dried basil

15 ounces tomato sauce

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used the Veggie vegan brand)

2 cups cooked rice, brown or white ( I used brown.)

* spices I added

Method:

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

3)  Add peppers and onions and cook until veggies start to soften, 5 minutes or so.

4)  Add garlic. oregano, basil and stir well.

5)  Add rice, tomato sauce and salt and stir to combine. Remove from heat.

6) Pour rice into a greased casserole dish, about 10x6 size and top with vegan cheese.

6) Bake fore 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. ( I baked mine for 12min.)

Ginger Salad Dressing

First and foremost, I need to say that this is the best salad dressing I have ever had! I wish that I could take ownership of this recipe as I make it all the time and LOVE the taste of it. Finding a good salad dressing is very hard for me being vegan. I am usually stuck to the normal Olive oil dressings or a vegan Thousand Island dressing. This one however lights my taste-buds up. I don't mean this as in heat, but in flavor. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. I found the original recipe here. I did make modifications to make it vegan, but kept to the originality as best I could.

Ginger Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

1 carrot chopped
1 cup mayo ( I used Veganaise)
2 Tbs. ground ginger (I used 1/2 Tbs. of ground ginger. 2 was too much for me.)
2 Tbs. soy sauce ( I used La Choy, its gluten free.)
2 Tbs. white sugar

Method:

1) Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. I usually let mine go for 2-3 minutes.

Homemade Frito Chips

Our family loves a certain meal called, "haystacks." This basically is a taco salad. For this we usually use the white tortilla chips. We don't usually consume very many chips but my girls have grown fond of the Frito Lays chips. As I scrolled through Pinterest, I found a recipe for homemade Frito chips by Minimalist Baker. Why not?! Over all they are healthier, so I thought I would give it a try. They turned out great! Needless to say, we will be eating haystacks this evening. I did however shorten the baking time to 10 mintues and it was perfect for me. The first batch I made at 12 minutes burned. 

INGREDIENTS

• 6 yellow corn tortillas
• 2-3 Tbsp olive or canola oil
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp each cumin, onion powder, garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.

Add all spices and seasonings to a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside.

3. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut your tortillas into equal strips

Transfer to bowl and toss in 2-3 Tbsp olive or canola oil until well coated. Spread on baking sheet.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Watch out, they’ll burn quickly past the 14-15 minute mark. (*Mine burned at the 12 mark...10 minutes was perfect.)

5. Once removed from the oven, immediately add tortilla strips to the seasoning mix and toss to coat. If they appear to have dried in the oven while baking, you can spritz them with a little oil so the seasonings stick better.

6. Transfer to a serving bowl or plate with a slotted spatula to shake off excess seasoning. You’ll likely have extra seasoning, which you can store for later use if desired.

Vegan Oatmeal Patties

I have to admit, I have tried several vegan patty recipes and they have either fallen apart or they are really dry. This recipe I found on yummly.com, it was the first one that tasted very good and stayed together without any problems. I did find that they were not as salty as I would like and I don't usually put a lot of salt in my food. I also used gluten free oats to make these gluten free burgers for my children. The girls at three of them in one sitting. So, I will be going back to this recipe and making more. I may also freeze them too. LOVE IT!!!! I hope you enjoy them too.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 4 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I actually forgot to add this and they turned out fine)
• 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tsps garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsps onion powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• (I would also add 1/2 tsp. salt.)
• 
  
• Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
2. Bring water to a boil and stir in oatmeal. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, or until the oats are cooked and all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
   
   
   
3. To the oatmeal add onion, oil, spaghetti sauce, pecans, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, basil, onion powder, coriander, sage and active yeast. Mix well and form into patties. Place on prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn patties over and bake another 15 minutes.