Sweet Potato Lentil Soup

  This week I made Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup. It is a recipe I found on The Food Network Website, so you know it has to be good.  I have eaten it almost every day and am in love with the flavors.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Source

You can find the recipe here.

Tips/Adaptations:
- I didn't want to wait, so I made my batch in a pot instead of the slow-cooker.  It took about an hour and turned out great.
- I really like coconut milk, so I added a can of light coconut milk.  It added a really nice flavor.
- Instead of butter, I used coconut oil, for the flavor and health benefits
- I originally didn't use very much ginger and the taste was dull.  I added ginger and extra curry powder until the soup tasted just right.  This was a good choice.
- For some reason I thought I had to puree the soup, so I did.  Now I realize that I didn't have to, but I don't regret it.  I would puree it again.
- I didn't have cilantro and it was still good.
- I bought cilantro and it made the soup taste even better!!!

Happy Snepsts Day!

This week I made some cupcakes.  These weren't just any cupcakes, they were Snepsts Day Cupcakes!

Don't worry, I am keeping my day job.

It's ok if you don't know what I am talking about.  All you have to know is these cupcakes were because of this hockey player, Harold Snepsts and his mustache.

If only he knew how inspiring his mustache would be!

Today I don't have a recipe to share, but I do some videos. So far these videos have been a hit, being featured on The Canucks Website and now has a regular occurrence on the Pass it to Bulis, the Vancouver Sun Sports Blog.

These videos are inspired by our good friend Andreas.  He has recently moved to British Columbia and pines to be a Canucks fan.  For real. 

Check out his journey so far.... 

You thought that was acting, but most of it were true reflections of the agony he is going through learning to love the Canucks. 

So if you haven't already, I encourage you to subscribe to their YouTube Page, The Freckle Bombers or follow them on Twitter.  There is some more great stuff to come! 

Recipes I Hope to Love

I don't know about you, but sometimes I sure get bored of our menu items.  Here are some things I have my eye on...I'll let you know how it goes.

*Click on the names to get to the recipe

Salt & Vinegar Broiled Potatoes

Coconut Lime Peanut Sauce

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Hearty Chicken Stew with Kale & Quinoa

Chocolate Chip- Peanut Butter Hummus

Fruit,Nut, & Goat Cheese Salad

Gluten Free Baked Mini Donuts

It's a Good Day to Eat Pizza!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  We played it pretty casual this year with some homemade pizza and some Die Hard 5!

The movie sure had it's share of car chases, fires, and Bruce Willis, which you might enjoy if you are into those things.  I thought the movie was pretty good, but I much better enjoyed the pizza.

We made our own since we can't seem to find a pizza store that makes gluten free & dairy free pizza.  And even if we did, I still think it is much cheaper to make my own.

Yesterday I tried Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust and am happy to report that it is pretty good.  I can be made with our without eggs.  The most important thing is that it was pretty good too!

At first I was concerned because it didn't rise.  It also didn't spread using water as instructed.  But with a small glass used as a rolling pin and some extra flour, it rolled out just fine.  It cooked great too.  I confess that I ate 2/3 of the pan...don't judge me!

For any recipe needing cheese, i use my go-to dairy free cheese, Daiya Cheese.  It melts really nicely and I don't notice the taste.  True Cheese lovers might not like it a lot, but if it's a choice between Daiya or Soya Cheese or nothing, I would choose Daiya any day.

You should be able to find both the crust mix and cheese at your local grocery store.  Both around $5.

Once you have your crust and cheese, the possibilities are endless!  My choice Pizza is BBQ Chicken Pizza.  But you could do Greek, Pepperoni, Greek, Meat Lovers, Vegetarian, Hawaiian, Buffalo Chicken... anything really!

I imagine most of you have made pizza before, but just in case you haven't below is how I make it.  I freeze the leftovers and can enjoy it for days to come.  Unless I eat most of it the first night!

Gluten Free & Dairy Free BBQ Chicken Pizza

*Can be made egg free too!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
• Gluten Free BBQ Sauce
• Chicken Pieces
• 2-3 slices of Bacon
• Red Peppers
• 1 Bag of Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds

Instructions:

1. Prepare pizza crust as per instructions. 2/3 of the dough made one 9 x 13 pan with a bit leftover (perhaps to make cinnamon rolls with!)
2. While pizza crust is rising & cooking (about 30 minutes), marinate chicken pieces in BBQ sauce and cook in oven/fry in pan, depending on time.  When cooked, cut in small pieces and stir in with enough sauce to lightly coat the chicken.
3. Cut Bacon into small pieces and partially fry
4. In the following order, add to the pizza crust:

• A thin layer of BBQ Sauce mixed with 1-3 tbsp brown sugar.
• A thin layer of cheese
• Chicken, Bacon, & Peppers
• More Cheese

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

Resources for You!

This one is short but sweet.  I found this local website that is full of resources for those of you who live in the Vancouver area.  There is a list of restaurants and bakeries throughout the lower mainland.  It is not extensive, but definitely helpful. 
 
You can check it out at glutenfreenotebook.com

Also, check out my Tidbits & Trivia page for the list of resources that I have started.

  

 

Just like the Fort

I love Dragon Fort.  But now I don't have to go there because I know how to make a sweet and sour sauce that rivals theirs.

Last week I shared my recipe for Meatballs.  There are multiple ways to serve meatballs, but one of my favourite is with sweet & sour sauce.  I have tried a few different recipes but this recipe is amazing...it is seriously the same thing you get in a Chinese Food Restaurant...but you know what's in it. 

Let me brag about my brother again, he is very talented. I wanted a sauce for my meatballs and asked him what he does.  About 15 texts later I had a recipe and a ton of helpful tips to set me up for a delicious meal. 

And with his permission I share his sauce.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten free)
• 1 cup liquid (1/2 water + 1/2 orange juice)*
• 3 tbsp cornstarch**
• Peppers & onions cut in chunks, if desired

Directions:
1. In sauce pan, mix sugars, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce & 3/4 cup liquid.
2. Bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, mix together remaining 1/4 liquid and cornstarch in small bowl.
3. When contents in the pot are boiling, stir in cornstarch liquid and stir until thick. Add peppers & onions.

Note:
*You could use also use pineapple juice, or all juice or all water. 
** If you cannot have corn, you can also use arrowroot flour. 
*** If using with meatballs, arrange meatballs, peppers, and onions in baking dish and heat in oven before you make the sauce.  When sauce is finished, pour over meatballs and cook another 15 minutes.

GF Flour Blend

After some experimenting and searching, I think I have found my go-to Gluten Free Flour Blend. 

As per the video, here is the recipe:

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup brown or white rice 

1 cup starch (tapioca, potato, arrowroot or cornstarch) or a blend of all

*to make high protein, add 1 cup or quinoa flour, chickpea flour or amaranth flour

Notes:

- My preference is to only add the high protein flours when I am making heartier things like muffins.  

- I used the first three ingredients for shortbread cookies and it was great! 

- I like to make large batches and don`t add my xanthan gum to the mix, instead I add to each individual recipe.

- For more information, watch the video.

 

Meatballs!!

If you have been reading my blog, you may have caught on that I love Gluten Free Rice Krispies.  I use them for chicken nuggets, for onion rings, and now for meatballs.  Thanks to this not so secret ingredient, I feel like I can eat like a regular person again.

Gluten free Meatballs served in Sweet & Sour Sauce

I have a great resource in my older brother.  He very creative, experimental, and as a bonus, a certified red seal chef.  He can have the credit for directing me for this meal.


Gluten Free Meatballs- makes about 30 medium sized (1 1/2 T)

Ingredients:

• 1 1b ground pork*
• 1/2 1b ground beef*
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1/4 cup ground gluten free Rice Krispies
• 1 egg **
• Parsley, Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Saute onions and garlic in a frying pan
3.  Meanwhile, add additional ingredients to the bowl
4. When sauteed, add onions and garlic to meat mix.  Be careful, they are hot.
5. Mix all ingredients together

6. Roll meat into balls.  Using a small cookie scoop helps them all be the same size

7. Brown the meatballs in a frying pan before cooking in the oven

8. Line meatballs on a cookie sheet and back for 25-30 minutes until brown inside

9. Serve as desired

Tips: 
- Use a rubber gloves when rolling to help keep meat smooth
- Roll 20-30 times for a tight meatball
- Make a small patty and cook before rolling balls.  This way you can judge the taste
- Use meatballs with sweet & sour sauce, mushroom soup, tomato sauce, as is...however you want
- Double recipe and freeze for multiple quick meals on the go.
- Boil meatballs if you do not want to fry them

Notes:
* Meat choices can be chosen to your needs.  Feel free to mix them up, apparently the more meat variety, the better the meatball
** Eggs (and rice krispies) are not mandatory in a meatball.  If you cannot have eggs, omit or use your egg replacer.  I did this and it worked just as well
***Check out this link for my Gluten Free Sweet & Sour Sauce