Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins

These turned out really tasty! maybe too tasty...I swear Hubby and I kept blacking out and eating 4 or 5 without knowing it.

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients
10 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3 large bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix (Normally I am a Gluten Free Mama girl but I love Pamela's for muffins!)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease 2 muffin pans.

Puree the bananas, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in a food processor.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fixed with a whisk attachment. Add the remaining 10 tablespoons butter and mix on medium-low speed until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the banana mixture in 3 batches, scraping the sides of the bowl and mixing on medium speed between each addition. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I love cheesecake! Seriously, I could find a reason to have it for all my meals. Add Pumpkin,a vegetable, and a lot of my guilt magically disappears! Totally healthy. I based my cheesecake off of Paula Deen's recipe.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients
Crust:
1 3/4 cups Mi-Del Gluten Free Animal Crackers (pulsed in the food processor)
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter
Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.


For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Gruyere Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These were a fun experiment! Garlic mashed potatoes are considered holy food in our house, I wanted to change it up a little and try something fun. I used red potatoes, gruyere cheese, garlic, and a little parsley. The flavors blended really well and the taters turned out divine.

5 yukon gold potatoes
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tablespoons + ¼ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
2/3 cup gruyere cheese
2 tablespoons butter

I diced the potatoes before steaming them, while they were finishing cooking I started the garlic sauce. For the sauce I cooked the garlic in a little oil before added it to the heavy cream, once that heated up I added the cheese. Let the sauce simmer til the cheese is completely melted. Blend the potatoes, butter, and ¼ cup heavy cream, then combine the sauce.

Avacado Salsa and Chicken Fajitas

I made this recipe a while back, and it is super yum! The chicken has a really great flavor and texture and the ‘salsa’ is way too good. Seriously, I doubled the recipe and we still ate all of it. It’s simple and tastes wonderfully fresh!
2 avocados diced
8 oz cherry tomatoes halved
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
A dash of lemon juice

Mix and let sit for about 20 minutes before serving
For the chicken I do 2 breasts thinly sliced, pan fried with a little olive oil and white wine. I also add in a sliced red/green bell pepper and an onion. Serve with the tortilla of your choice.

Potato Pizza

Potatoes. Pizza. Two things I love! So naturally, Potato Pizza was a huge hit. This turned out delicious, I may make a cream based sauce next time but it was great as is! My guys loved the garlic potatoes, the loads of cheese. I used a new gluten free crust, Schar brand pizza crusts. They are premade and were great! Good texture, nice flavor, my only complaint is that they run a little small.
This can be scaled for whatever size crust you are using
Yukon potatoes, thinly sliced and sautéed in garlic and olive oil til tender
Red onion, thinly sliced
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Fresh Parsley
Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on the crust, follow with the onions, potatoes and cheese. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

Maple Walnut Ice Cream!

I have to admit…I’ve been using my ice cream maker a lot more lately. A desire to experiment has been running loose in me, I can always tell my mood by what I cook. Ice cream is bliss and happiness. This particular time bliss came in the form of Maple Walnut Ice Cream.

Maple Walnut Ice Cream
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Milk
2 eggs
¾ cups sugar
¼ cup maple syrup (100%)
¼ cup chopped walnuts

Sister's Chicken Salad

Ok, this one has a story behind it. I worked at a little coffee shop when I was in high school, it has since changed owners and sadly closed. I am one of the few people who know the ‘super secret’ recipe for Sister’s Chicken Salad. I am not sure I can really call it recipe, more of a list of ingredients that lead you to a prepared dish. I remember working at Sisters for at least 6 months before Carol would even tell me what was in it, and I was directed to never divulge the recipe to the spies ( I mean customers). This is my favorite Chicken Salad, it has converted many a non believer (read: Chicken Salad hater). It is best to make it the night before serving at least, this one gets better when it has a chance to mingle the flavors. I prefer Hormel canned chicken, I’ve tried it with ‘fresh’ chicken and it looses something.

Craisens
Walnuts (I’ve used pecans too)
Celery
Crushed pineapple with the juice
Pepper/Salt (If you really want to make it Carol’s way, use a insane amount of lemon pepper in place of salt/pepper, seriously use more than you think you should and then put more on the sandwich)
Canned Chicken

Depending on how large of a batch you want to make you vary the amount of ingredients (walnuts etc) in ratio to the amount of chicken. For example, 2 cans of chicken would end up with ¼ cup of craisens, ¼ cup walnuts, 3 tablespoons of Pineapple (and about 3-4 tablespoons of juice), 2 stalks of celery, and salt and pepper to taste.

New post coming soon!

Just a sneak peek of tasty things to come!

Brownies and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I have a whole thing I go through with desert.



You would think at some point I would see how silly it is, but I don't...I just bake more.

Here is a tasty, decadent, 'cheap' but fancy looking desert! enjoy :)




Moist Brownies
1 box Bety Crocker GF Brownie mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chocolate chunks
1/2 cup pecans/walnuts

30-40 minutes at 350 degrees



French Vanilla Ice Cream
2 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Mix eggs and sugar before adding milk, cream and vanilla. Follow your ice cream machines instructions from here :)

Saturday Morning Breakfast

I love breakfast. When I was younger I always hated it, I attribute this to my association of breakfast with cereal. Once I found out I had celiac and stopped gluten, I was forced to diversify my breakfast choices. Normally, I make eggs for breakfast but this morning I got up early and made waffles for the goob and my husband. Both of my guys are waffle fiends! I made Chocolate Chip Walnut waffles for my husband and Apple waffles for my little man.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Waffles
1 ½ cups Pamelas Pancake mix
2 eggs
¾ cup water
1 tbls oil
½ cup chopped chocolate chunks
½ cup chopped walnuts