Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Parfait

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Parfait 

Who needs pumpkin pie? As much as my family loves it, this Thanksgiving I didn't have time to play with a new crust recipe.  Previous crusts that I have made ranged from disappointing to inedible.

I created this parfait last minute on the day we were celebrating Thanksgiving.

For 6-8 Parfaits:

In a large bowl,whisk together:

2. 3.4 oz boxes of Jell-o instant vanilla pudding 

1  30 oz can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie mix

2  cups of milk

Pumpkin pie spice (not required)

Next, break up gluten free graham crackers and blend in a blender to make crumbs.

The rest is easy, layer pumpkin pie pudding, graham cracker crumbs, Cool Whip and repeat and top with a peak of Cool Whip.  I used clear plastic disposable cups for easy clean up.  

Super easy GF side salads

I thought I would share some of my easy, flavorful side salads.  Some are actual lettuce types of salads with some homemade dressing ideas, others are more veggie salads.

This first one is super duper simple.  It is beautiful and the flavors just pop in your mouth.

Slice avocados, sprinkle with salt, drizzle with lime juice and top with cilantro.  Be sure to make a lot, because everyone loved this one.

For the next one, quarter Roma tomatoes, chop fresh basil, cube fresh mozzarella, dress with 1 part olive oil, 3 parts red wine vinegar & salt & pepper. Very fresh

Another visually beautiful salad to share is this asparagus salad. 1 lb thin stalk asparagus cut into 1" pieces. Steam for 5 minutes until tender-crisp. Let cool and place in bowl with 1 cup chopped fresh basil and 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved. For the dressing, combine olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. I personally used 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, but I prefer dressings on the vinegar side.

Super easy taco salad! Family pleaser!

This is SOOOO easy and a family favorite.  I used to throw everything together in a giant bowl, but now I just let everyone build their own....even easier for me!

Today I used seasoned lean ground meat (we actually use elk, which is super lean), bag of iceberg salad, low fat shredded cheese, sliced olives, a can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed) and of course my secret dressing.  Are you ready for it? Light sour cream mixed with salsa.  I do about 50/50, but you can use less salsa for a milder dressing.  We also crumble baked cheddar flavored chips over the top (check label for GF!)

On other occasions we have used onions, jalapenos, guac, tomatoes...whatever.  This is also a good, easy way to do a taco night!

As a time saver, once a month or so, I cook up about 4 lbs of ground meat that I season with taco seasoning.  I divide by the pound into zip bags and freeze.  So this time, I stuck it in the fridge to thaw overnight.  No need to heat it, as it is a salad.

The chips we used tonight are the Baked Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles.  Frito Lay's website has these listed as gluten free.

I can not stress the importance of checking your ingredients for gluten.  The taco seasoning we safely use is McCormick.

This took me about 5 minutes to throw together (mostly just open packages) and mix the dressing.  Doing the build your own feeds more people also.  I've easily fed 7-9 people with this amount of food.

Homemade no-sew dog bed

I have two pretty adorable and incredibly spoiled chihuahuas. Their last bed was destroyed by a very upset puppy tummy, so they just had a small blanket in their sleeping area.

Here are the princesses. The black one is Pixie Stick & the white one is Xena Warrior Princess. 

I wanted to get them a couple of new beds that were machine washable, but I am cheap, so I decided to explore my options. I have tons & tons of fabric, but my sewing machine isn't working, so I decided to do a no-sew dog bed. Pretty simple & I just made it while I was watching TV. 

Not every fabric would work for this project because of fraying. I used cotton  jersey knit or you could use fleece. 

I guesstimated on size for the first one. They are both about 3 lbs, so they don't need a very big bed. 

Princesses need leopard print, right? Lay it out & cut two pieces, back to back, to the same size. 

Go all around the edges & cut fringes. I made them about an inch wide. You could probably cut the fringes 2" long. I did mine a little bit longer because I have long acrylic nails that made it trickier to tie the knots. 

In the corners, cut out about a 3" square of fabric. Then you simply tie the fringes together. Make sure you leave part open to stuff the bed. 

I didn't have any filling or batting, so I took two of my husband's old t-shirts, folded them & placed them inside. Then you simply tie it shut. 

This was my first attempt. It turned out pretty well. 

Pixie immediately claimed it as her own!

Once you tie it together, it bunches up, so this ended up smaller than I wanted. Even if they have 2 beds, Xena insists on sleeping as close as possible to Pixie. 

They are tiny enough that they both fit on this one, but I thought Pixie would appreciate more space, so I made another one. For the stuffing for the next one, I cut up pieces of fleece that I didn't care for.

When I quilt, I don't use batting. I go to the thrift store and buy old blankets & use those for batting. I prefer blankets for inside of quits because its cheaper, I like to recycle, they won't come apart and they make the quilt warmer than batting. 

Of course, you could just go buy batting or filling too :-)

I also made a bigger leopard one & I may make a couple more, so can have alternates for their sleeping area, living room, etc.

Plus when you have these two cuties "helping" you, why not spend your time hanging out with them? 

Xena thinks the fabric on my lap looks comfy. Makes it kind of hard to tie it though. 

Pixie looking at me adoringly while I work.

Xena making herself comfy in my fabric. 

A little bit country, a little bit rock & roll

Ok, not everyone has time for homemade. Most of my more detailed recipes are from my days off work, when I have time to plan and shop.

I am all about easy & this meal was fairly easy & made everyone's tummies happy. 

Looks pretty dang gourmet to me. Let me break it down. 

You can use any rice. I used a Trader Joe's rice mix. Of course make sure it is gluten free. 

Next I cut up chicken. I am sure you could use other meat, however this is "Butter Chicken"

Next, the secret ingredient: Safeway brand Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce. Safeway has started making these simmer sauces. You can find them in with pasta sauce. Not all of them are GF & honestly the ingredients are printed small, so bring someone under 30 to read the label! It was pretty funny watching my husband & I (early 40's) stand in Safeway and try to read the ingredients. We hoped for the best and brought it home for our 21 year old to read. Yay! This one was gluten free!

Now to the zucchini.  It was one of those FB recipes that float around.  I can't seem to find it anymore. but this is as close to it as I can find.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/zucchini-oven-chips-10000001087041/

 

 

• 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese $
• 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fat-free milk $
• 2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small) $
• Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Gluten Free Zucchini Fritters

I wasn't sure when I threw these together, but the family liked them. Especially my (almost) 14 year old, who had 3!

I randomly made these together using ingredients I had on hand. This made 12 4" fritters. 

2 lbs zucchini grated 

4 eggs

1 cup GF general purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

3 tablespoons diced garlic

1 tablespoon dehydrated onion

1 tbsp lemon pepper (with salt)

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 jalapeño seeded & diced

Olive oil

Grate zucchini with the bigger side of the grater. 

Place zucchini in bowl, add lemon pepper, garlic, onion, parsley & jalapeño and mix well. 

Beat 4 eggs & add to mixture. Slowly mix in flour. 

Turn on electric skillet to 350 and add enough oil to brown fritters. When hot, drop 4 tablespoons of the mixture to the pan for each fritter. Use a spatula to flatten them. The salt makes the zucchini "sweat" for the lack of a better term.  I left the watery part in the bowl. Brown on both sides approx 7 minutes each side. I did a couple of batches & kept them in a warm oven. 

If I had the ingredients on hand, I would have subbed the lemon pepper for fresh lemon zest, salt & pepper. Feel free to shake these up and make them your own. Maybe top with fresh Parmesan cheese or serve with lemon wedges. You could add cilantro, red pepper...whatever you want to flavor it. 

Normally in the morning I eat a fried egg sandwich.  The day after making these, I used these in place of my eggs.  Very good!

Easy corndog muffins & cornbread/chili muffins

Still on a roll cooking. I did not make these GF, but they are easily adaptable at a higher price.

I made both batches at once using a 5 lb box if Keusteaz cornbread mix that was less than $5.00. I followed the directions and make the whole box of mix & 6 1/4 cups water. Then I divided the batter in half into two bowls. They carry the 5lb box at Costco, but I got it at Cash & Carry for much cheaper.

In 1 bowl, I added 1 1/2 packages cheap hotdog ($.99 a pack) We diced the hotdogs. Then I added about a cup of regular yellow mustard. Stir, fill muffin tin (I used papers) and cook on 400 for 20 minutes. Can't get any easier than that. 

This yielded 34 muffins. My kids are older, so 2 a meal, to be served with a 1 oz cup ketchup. Cost per muffin was under $ .13 each. 

                            

Next we set about making the chili cornbread muffins. All we needed for these was the cornbread dough & 1 can Nalley cheese chili ($.99) 

Use a tablespoon, scoop a little cornbread batter in the muffin tin, add 1 TBSP chili, and top with more cornbread. They do expand a lot, so don't overfill.   Here is my 13 year old, Nolan, showing you what to do:

These also bake at 400 for 20 minutes. This yielded 30 muffins. Cost for these muffins were under $ .12 each. 

                    

We will divide & freeze these also.  If you missed my previous post, check out the pizza muffins I made yesterday 

                            

This was about 2/3 the muffins we did today.

Easy freezer pizza muffins

These are not GF, but easily adaptable at a higher expense. Bob's Red Mill has GF biscuit mix, or you can make your own.

I have Celiac Disease, so I do wear a mask when working with wheat flour. 

I made a massive batch for my two sons. They are teenagers, so I am giving them 2 muffins per meal. If you have younger kids, you could easily get away with 1 muffin per meal.

Preheat oven to 375 º

Ingredients:

12 cups Bisquick

6 cups milk 

6 eggs

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 

14 oz pepperoni diced small

1/3 cup dried Italian seasoning 

1/8 cup granulated garlic 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness.

This yielded 62 muffins. The cost per muffin was about $ .33 each, including muffin papers, cups, lids & pizza sauce. Not too shabby.

Add ingredients to a huge mixing bowl. I just used a whisk to blend. The dough will be sticky.  I used muffin papers to make production faster (no waiting for muffins to cool to fill the tin up again)

My kitchen assistant used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to fill the cups. They will rise. 

I wanted the boys to have pizza sauce to go with these.  I bought 1 oz plastic cups with lids. I used 1 tbsp of canned pizza sauce for each cup. If you have extra cups, they work well for Jell-O shots! ;-)

Muffins galore!

Seal in zip bags with sauce & freeze! That was pretty dang easy.  I can't eat them, but my 13 year old gobbled 2 up & said they were amazing.

Tomorrow we are doing corndog muffins!

Not so gluten free freezer burritos

Not all of my family is gluten free. I have a 21 year old & almost 14 year old at home. Today we made freezer breakfast burritos. You could do this GF at a higher expense. Lets break it down:

$4.99 40 tortillas Costco

$6.00 2 lbs hamburger seasoned (cheaper than pork) 

$3.60 2 dozen eggs Costco

$1.99 generic tater tots Safeway

-------

$15.58 approx

Optional 1 cup ketchup & cheese

So basically 40 burritos at $ .41 each! Suck that McDonalds!  

So I threw the tots in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile I browned the hamburger. Pork would be good as would bacon, but I have a ton of elk burger in the freezer, so CHEAP! I threw 2 dozen eggs in the blender (12 at a time) and put them in a big electric skillet. 

Season the meat how you want. I added granulated garlic, italian seasoning, seasoning salt, cayenne pepper & red pepper flakes because the boys like spicy! 

Find a huge bowl. I do love my Tupperware "that's a bowl" 42oz bowl. Anyway, put the tots in first, chop them with a spatula to make them into potato bits. Add eggs & meat. Stir and chop with a big spoon. I added a cup of ketchup (optional) 

Lay out the tortilla, add a scoop of mixture, sprinkle cheese (optional) roll it up & wrap in plastic wrap. We stored them in gallon zip bags. 

I will let you know the cooking time after we practice. I told the boys to unwrap the plastic, wrap in a paper towel & microwave 45 sec, flip & another 45 sec. I will let you know exactly in the next couple of days. Really if you consider a box of cereal at $4 each hold just 4-5 bowls, this is cheaper and healthier than Capt Crunch!

Mixture

Laying in shell

 

Nolan, burrito master!

Jeny's hearty potato casserole

Ok, really this should be Grandma Ginny's casserole. She gave me the base of the recipe as a side dish of potatoes, cream soup, sour cream & cheese. I adapted it into a main course, and then again GF.

It originally called for Campbell's cream of asparagus & potato soups, but they are loaded with wheat.

Again, I make massive amounts of food, but as you will see in the last photo, 3 teenage boys do a lot of damage! I was hoping this would make dinner for 2 nights. :-/ You can use whatever meat you want, but I always make this after Easter to use up all the leftover ham. I have also used crumbled bacon.

1 cup Bear Creek Cheddar Broccoli soup mix
3 cups milk
2 packages frozen shred hash browns thawed (Safeway brand is GF)
1 24oz container sour cream
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 cups broccoli cut small (fresh or frozen)
1 bunch green onions diced (inc green)
1 lb cooked meat of your choice cut small
Garlic to your hearts desire
Salt & pepper to taste

Boil 3 cups of milk & add 1 cup soup mix. Whisk to blend. It only takes a couple of minutes to thicken up. This is not the recipe on the package. I cooked it this way to be the consistency of a couple of cans of cream soups with milk. 

Place your thawed hash browns in a huge bowl. I mean huge! Add soup & toss really well. I use my trusty ikea salad spoons or you could use a couple of pasta spoons. 

Add all other ingredients 1 at a time, mixing after each ingredient. Transfer into an oversized casserole dish & pat it down to pack it all in there. 

Cook at 400° for 40 minutes. My family likes to add Frank's RedHot (I put that **** on everything!)

Major comfort food, very hearty and super easy. I did quickly pack the little bit of leftovers into individual servings to take in my lunches.

Crock Pot Pork Carnitas

This is a family favorite.  I always make double what I think I will need.  My family loves to pour BBQ sauce over the leftover pork and make pulled pork sandwiches.

It is a good meal to make when you have a dinner party, because there isn't a lot of effort when meal time comes around, so more time for me to socialize.  I always prep this the night before, so in the morning, I can just turn the crock pot on and go.

 

 I used the recipe on this website (photos are my own)
http://www.handletheheat.com/2013/02/slow-cooker-pork-carnitas.html

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup salsa
Tortillas, cilantro, avocado, limes, shredded cabbage etc. for serving

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:

Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Add the garlic, onion, and jalapeno to the slow cooker. Pour the lime juice, orange juice, and salsa into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until tender.
Shred the meat with two forks and return to slow cooker to combine with the leftover sauce inside.
Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the meat evenly over the sheet. Pour some of the sauce over the meat. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the edges of the pork are browned.

I found the best gadget for shredding meat.  They are called Bear Paws.  I won't lie, I kind of feel like Wolverine when I use them.  You can find them on Amazon.

Don't forget to add homemade salsa and guac to your meal.  Here is my post about homemade salsa: Salsa Madness