Jason's baked chicken wings

This is a a favorite around here for jason and I (and Clayton. And Jenny. And Chris. Ok,pretty much anyone who tries them loves them.)

I usually buy 4 small packs of wings or one of the big packs. (Kosher wings are the absolute yummiest wings to use but if you dont have a large Jewish community nearby, most likely your grocer wont carry them, so no worries)
You'll need one to two bottles of your fav wing sauce. ( emerils or texas pete are our favs ), some hot sauce for a little kick....and if you fancy a little MORE kick, some crushed red pepper.
Oh and don't forget 2 disposable aluminum pans.
Its real easy- distribute the wings evenly between the two pans. we usually make one a mild and one a hot. for the mild just douse the wings with the wing sauce, saving some sauce to add during the last 10-20 minutes of cooking (you dont need a whole lot). shake some hot sauce over them as well , to taste. for the hot, its best to mix the wing sauce, hot sauce and then sprinkle some crushed red pepper flakes (to taste) in a bowl and mix it all up before pouring over the chicken (save some to add during the last 10-20 minutes of cooking as well). then just make sure the chicken wings are nice and saucy all over.
Stick both pans in a preheated 375 degree oven for approx 1 to 1.5 hours. you'll want to pull them out anywhere from 10-20 minutes before done to add a little more sauce, kicking up the temp to 400 for that last 10 or 15 minutes. Depends how your oven cooks and how crispy you like them.
That's it!
Deeeelicious!

Pair with some, celery and carrot sticks and your fav dipping sauce. We also like pairing ours with some mozzarella sticks or jalapeno poppers. Oh yeah.

Buen provecho!

A

Comfort food- Meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes (gfcf)

I am always looking for ways to make yummy Gluten free recipes that our entire family can enjoy.
Liam is the only true blue GFCFSF guy but Sam and Daisy are pretty much almost there and jason and I are gfcfsf "light" just by default. My goal is always to make meals that we will alllll eat, instead of having to make 2 or 3 or even four meals because that gets annoying real quick (true story). :)

I came across a Gluten free recipe data base recently that i had sort of passed over before....and in it i found a ton of really awesome gfcf recipes!

Meatloaf is one of those tricky foods that is either delicious or its just turns out bleh. No in between really.
I had yet to find a meatloaf recipe that was both great tasting and GFCFSF.
A few things i have figured out with meatloaf: Dont make it too fancy. A TON OF INGREDIENTS DOES NOT EQUAL A GOOD LOAF. Keep it simple.
Its meat. Its a loaf.
Also, i have tried making it with different types of ground meats. Ground beef with a little ground pork seems to be the only way it turns out edible. Or just ground beef.  Ground chicken? Gag. Ground turkey? Bleh. No bueno.

Since we dont eat much beef or pork 'round these parts, this meal is like a little treat.
Buy organic and hormone free meat if you can. Free range. Hand fed. Deep tissue massaged. Facials and mud baths. Sung lullabies to sleep. All that. (lol)

I chose Meatloaf #2 .
I made my homemade mashed potatoes (gfcf version) to go with, and side of mixed veggies (from frozen, cooked on stove with some olive oil, salt and pepper).

Here is the recipe with my variations (you know how i roll)

2 lbs ground hamburger and ground pork, (I did 1lb of each)
3 eggs
1/2 cup ketchup (high fructose corn syrup free, preferably. We use Heinz/Simply Heinz.)
1 medium onion finely chopped (I mince mine super fine)
1/2 green bell pepper chopped (^same and i actually used zucchini because i had 3 and needed to use them)
1/2 cup GF bread crumbs (All i had in the moment, was some Rudi's Gluten Free sandwich bread in the freezer. I toasted it lightly and then put it through the food processor. Voia! Instant gfcfsf bread crumbs. You can buy some premade though, if you so like.)
2 teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (I did not have any gfcf worschester sauce so i omitted this. You would be surprised at whats in your "normal" store bought marinades and sauces. Almost ALL contain soy, and wheat! Why? I don know.)
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder ( I was actually out of garlic powder so i used a couple of cloves of fresh garlic minced finely)
6 slices bacon (Although I had some Applegate Bacon in the freezer, i chose to omit it simply because i dont like defrosting my meats in the microwave. gross. next time though i will be sure to include the bacon. i mean, who doesn't like bacon?)
Another 1/4 cup ketchup

Mix meat, eggs, ketchup, onion, pepper, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper by hand. Place it in a pan (preferably on a rack so the grease will drain down) and shape it like a loaf.

(I greased a regular loaf pan and molded it in there, then turned the pan over and worked the meat out on to a rack which i placed on top of a lined cookie sheet) Spread more ketchup on top and lay bacon slices across covering the top. Bake at 375 degrees for an hour or until done.

This is how mine turned out (keep in mind i did not use the bacon):

I went ahead and helped myself to a little slice if you cant tell.....

Not too shabby, eh? :)

It actually turned out reallllly good. I can say this with certainty because:

1. The kids ate it

2. The husband ate it, AND asked for seconds.

Boom. 

Ok, now on to my favorite part of this meal, the mashed potatoes. Oh yeah.

Some people have a sweet tooth.
I have a mashed potato tooth.
Actually, I am a lover of all things potato.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, if there is a potato involved, all the better.
Carb free diet? Not for this girl.

I have never really followed a set recipe for my mashed potatoes, i have always just sort of mashed and mixed everything together until it tasted just right. This time however, I made it GFCF. And it was delish!
Seriously...#coconutbutterforpresident #coconutoilforpresident.

6-8 yellow gold potatoes (that's what i had lying around, by all means use whatyagot. Russets are just as acceptable) peeled and quartered then cooked to tender in some salty water ( always add your potatoes to cold water and heat to boiling from there. Otherwise you get soggy potatoes and they can cook unevenly too.)
Once they are nice and tender (you dont want them over cooked because they can get sticky once mashed) throw them in to a big mixing bowl.
Add:
1/2 cup to 1 cup Earths Best Coconut Butter (Feel free to go all, Paula Deen up in this piece if you so desire!)
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup (more or less depending how creamy you like them) unsweetened almond or coconut milk (not the vanilla flavored stuff!!)
salt and pepper to taste (potatoes take a lot of salt but take care not to over salt, its always best to have it a little bland than too salty. You can always add salt to individual portions later)
Sugar- yes sugar, DO IT. It gives the MP's a yummy flavor TRUST ME. (about  1/4 cup) add it slowly and taste as you mix.
Always taste as you cook/mix. (Unless its chicken. Please dont try taste testing chicken until its fully cooked. I dont know why felt the need to clarify that but i can only imagine....lol)
Mix and mash until its to a consitency you like. I like mine nice and whipped...Jason like some chunks of potato.....we meet somewhere in the middle.

Oh, yeahhhhhhhhh baby....this is total food porn for me (lol)

Last but not least we added another side of mixed veggies, no pic (my bad) but you can make any veggie you like! Eat your veggies! ;)

All in all i was really pleased and will definitely be making this again, and will be sure to include the bacon and Worcestershire sauce for the meatloaf next time around.

Oh and please keep in mind that you can totally make this with all gluten and dairy you want. Real breadcrumbs, dairy milk and butter...its your world!

Buen provecho!

Love and light, 

A

Oh, yeah...I had some extra meat mixture left over and decided to make some meatballs with it. YUM.

A bowl of mashed potatoes with a few meatballs on top and a sprinkle of diced onions, and shredded cheddar cheese.

 .....Waaaaaaaaaa?! Oh i said it. And ate it. 

;)

Gluten, Dairy and Soy free Recipes resource

There are many folks out there with food intolerance issues and allergies. Most go unknown and un-diagnosed for their entire life.

There are many health benefits to eating Gluten Free or GFCFSF.

In our household, Liam is completely GFCFSF. Sam and Daisy are Gluten free but like their mama, have a weakness for the cheese. ;) So, we allow it on occasion. And by default, daddy and I are GFCFSF "light", although I have the desire to go completely gluten free for the entire family.....at some point.
We also do our very best to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Artificial Colors and other Artificial Additives and fillers. We eat Organic as much as we can but have a ways to go in that department mainly because its bloody expensive! Having a veggie garden will help in that.

Here is an excellent recipe resource/database for cooking and baking GFCFSF:

TACA GFCFSF RECIPE DATABASE

Today i will be whipping up some GFCFSF Meatloaf! Post to follow. :)

A

Chocolate Zucchini Bread (yum!) ((gfcf))

I found this little gem of a recipe on the back of an obscure brand of gluten free all purpose flour mix that was on clearance. 

I love any kind of yummy bread that i can add a touch of healthy goodness to, like zucchini, or carrots or pumpkin or nuts.

This bread turned out very moist and had a lighter texture that you don't normally get from gfcf flours. And  it tasted really good.

Of course I tweaked it to meet our GFCFSF needs, replacing the use of regular oils, butters, choc chips and cocoa powder in this particular recipe. I also added a little more cinnamon. :)

3 eggs 

2 c. sugar
1 c. coconut oil

1 tsp gluten-free vanilla
2 Tbsp melted coconut butter 

6 Tbsp unsweetened pure cocoa (make sure its gfcfsf)
2 c. Gluten-free Pantry All-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 c. grated zucchini 
2/3 c. gfcfsf chocolate chip mixed with 2 tsp gluten free flour

1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Combine and mix well eggs, sugar, oil and gluten-free vanilla. Combine and mix melted butter and unsweetened cocoa to form a paste. Combine Gluten free flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Preheat oven to 350º and lightly oil 2 loaf pans. Combine egg mixture with cocoa. Mix well. Add flour mixture. Fold in grated zucchini, chocolate chips mixed with gluten free flour and nuts. Pour into loaf pans. Bake 60-70 minutes.

Mmmmmmmm.....

I enjoyed my slice with a nice hot cup of chai tea. 

ohsogood. 

Enjoy!

-A

Vanilla Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting (gfcf)

I made these yummy GFCFSFYF Gluten free, Casein free, Soy free and Yeast free) Vanilla Spice cupcakes  with Cinnamon Frosting for Liam's classroom on Thursday, they turned out really well!

I used Pamelas Vanilla Cake mix, and mixed in 1 1/2 TBS of Pumpkin Pie spice which essentially is just a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.

I followed the instructions on the bag for cupcakes. 

For the frosting I used the following ingredients:

 1/2 C coconut butter (which is soooooooo good, i love it and use it with many things in place of butter)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp almond/coconut milk (this is what we use in our house as our everyday milk. Jason is the only one who still uses cow milk for his morning oatmeal, even the babies drink this as their regular milk in their bottles. So much healthier! And no hormones and weird processed junk!)
To make the frosting use a stand mixer or hand mixer.Beat the butter at a medium-high speed.
Add the cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and beat until it’s creamy smooth, scrape the sides as needed. Add the milk little by little to see if it needs more or less liquid. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes or more.Frost once cupcakes are cool. I also added a few dashes of colored sugar (which i normally avoid due to food coloring not being very good for you, but i wanted to make them more festive and had some on hand. To each their own!)

You can find all of the gfcf ingredients i used at your local grocery store, in the health food (or should i say real food lol) section.

Enjoy! 

Love and light, 

A

Christmas cookies and treats: Our favorite family recipe traditions.

Buckeyes

4 cups creamy peanut butter

4 sticks butter at room temp

3 lbs confectioners sugar

2 packages (12 oz size) chocolate chips

1/2 bar of paraffin

Mix peanut butter and butter together.

Add confectioners sugar in by the cup, until smooth.

Form small balls then refrigerate.

Next melt paraffin and chocolate chips together on top of a double boiler of a heavy saucepan.

Using a toothpick, dip cold balls into chocolate.

Let dry on wax paper.

Makes about 166 candies. 

Brigadeiros and Snowballs

Brigadeiros 

3 tbs powdered cocoa

3 tbs butter

3 14 oz cans condensed mild (NOT evaporated)

Chocolate Sprinkles

Combine cocoa, butter and condensed milk in saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture is very thick. This will take approx 10 minutes and mixture will resemble caramel.

Remove from heat and cool until lukewarm.

Butter hands and roll mixture into small 1 inch balls. Roll balls in chocolate sprinkles. 

Snowballs

1 cup butter softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tbs water

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Colored sugar or colored edible glitter

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for about 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in water and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour and the chopped pecans. 

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 degree oven about 20 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. 

In each of 3 small bowls place 1/3 cup of the sifted powdered sugar.  Add a different color of edible glitter or colored sugar to each. Gently roll and shake cooled cookies in desired powdered sugar mixture.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

2 large eggs

2 cups smooth peanut butter

2 cups sugar

60 chocolate Hershey kisses

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Beat together eggs, peanut butter and sugar. Shape dough in to small balls and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and press kisses down onto balls. transfer to rack to cool. 

Sugar Cookies

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 stick of butter flavored Crisco shortening

2 eggs

1/4 cup light corn syrup or regular pancake syrup

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour (plus 4 tbs divided)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Decorations- Your choice, granulated sugar, colored sugar crystals, frosting, candies, chips, nuts, raisins, coconut, decorating gel.... we did plain white frosting this year to avoid the addition of food coloring :)

Heat oven to 375.  Place sheets of foil on counter top for cooling cookies. 

Combine sugar and butter flavored Crisco in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Beat until well blended and fluffy.

Combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until well blended. Divide dough into 4 quarters. If dough is too sticky or too soft to roll wrap each quarter of dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour.

Spread 1 tbsp of flour on large sheet of wax paper. Place 1/4 of cough on floured paper. Flatten slightly with hands. Turn dough over and cover with another large sheet of wax paper. Roll dough into 1/4 inch thickness. 

Cut out with floured cutter. Transfer to un-greased baking sheet with a large spatula. Place 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with gran sugar or colored sugar crystals or leave plain to frost once cooled. 

Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 for 5 to 9 minutes.  DO NOT OVER BAKE. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely, then frost if desired. 

 Makes about 3-4 dozen. 

Magic Bars 

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (6 oz) package semi sweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass) 

In a 13x9 inch baking pan, melt margarine in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over margarine then pour condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top with remaining ingredients and press down with a spatula. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Love and light, 

A

AhMazingly Delish Chicken Enchiladas

I make these Chicken Enchiladas at least once or twice a month, and if i have ever had you over for dinner more than a few times you have probably tried them :)

I never knew just how delicious enchiladas could really be until i made these. I really feel like the key is in making your own sauce from scratch. And we like our spicy and extra saucy!

It is a recipe that requires a little bit of time, but once you get make it a few times, its a piece of cake. 

So worth the little bit of extra effort !

I originally got the recipe off the My Colombian Recipes website. 

If you have checked out some of my other Favorite Recipe posts, you know i get a lot of recipes off her site.There are some seriously delicious things on there to try let me tell ya! 

We like having extra sauce left over to put on our enchildas once they are done so i doubled the sauce recipe  and make ours a bit more spicy. 

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil 
6-10 dried árbol chili to your taste
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
6 cups chopped tomatoes (I tend to use canned petite diced tomatoes. Easy and less expensive)
4 cups chicken stock (You will use the broth from your boiled chicken breasts- see below-)

4 cups Monterrey jack cheese
Salt and pepper
1 pack of corn tortillas (These are the yellow ones not the white flour ones. The taste and texture DO make a difference. The amount you use will depend on how much chicken you make and how much of the chicken, cheese and sauce you use to place in them, i don't like a skinny enchilada so i fill mine up, yum)
4 -6 cups cooked and shredded chicken (I use approx 4 bone in chicken breasts, boil them with a chopped onion and drop a few whole garlic cloves in too)
sour cream
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Salsa for garnish
Vegetable oil for warming the corn tortillas

First thing you want to do is boil your bone in chicken breasts. You will need the broth to make the sauce.
As i mentioned above, i add a whole chopped onion to the water along with a few whole garlic cloves for extra flavor. You will need to boil your chicken for approx 45 min.s or until done.

Once you have your chicken cooked, drain the breasts through a colander into a large pot to save your broth for the sauce. 

Set chicken breasts aside to cool and shred later, while your sauce is simmering.

To make the sauce- In a large pan over medium low heat , warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and chili and sauté until just golden, 5 to 7 minutes. (I do medium low because anything higher on my stove will burn the garlic and you don't want to do that. So keep and eye on the garlic and have your other ingredients ready to put in. I also chop my dried arbol chilis and get rid of the stems)

Stir in the cumin and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.
Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and the chicken broth. Stir and cook over medium-low heat for about 15-30 minutes.

While the sauce simmers, go ahead and shred your chicken and set aside.

In a food processor or blender, process the sauce mixture to a smooth puree, in batches if necessary.

BE CAREFUL. If you don't wait for it to cool, which i never do- the sauce will be VERY HOT and will expand while pureeing or blending, so DONT OVERFILL. I use a kitchen towel to put over my food processor or blender while pureeing to avoid messes (and burns lol)

Return the puree to the pan and set over medium heat for 5-10 minutes more & set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Heat vegetable oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Heat the tortillas in the hot pan until softened, about 20 seconds per side. I am used to doing this by now so i do a few at a time. When you first start out, just do 1 or 2 at a time so you dont fry them to a crisp.

Lightly oil a baking dish large enough to hold your enchiladas side by side. I make a lot so i end up using a large baking dish AND smaller 9 by 9. (Jason likes to take the smaller dish to work and share with his co-workers (= )

Place shredded chicken down the center of a tortilla, sprinkle the chicken filling with cheese and drizzle with sauce. Roll up the tortilla and place it in the dish, seam side down. Repeat until you have formed all of your enchiladas.

Drizzle the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese. We like ours saucy and cheesy so i pretty much DROWN the enchiladas in sauce, and just add as much cheese as we like on top.

Bake the enchiladas on 350 degrees until the filling is bubbling and the cheese is melted and golden, about 20 minutes. 

To serve- carefully transfer enchiladas to each plate, garnish with the sour cream, salsa and fresh cilantro and serve immediately.

I like to pair with a side of saffron rice and some shredded lettuce as well. 

So, so, so good. 

Let me know what you think!

-Alex