Pin it Friday--Holiday edition

It's almost December and the holidays! More importantly... I have a house I can decorate!! Woo Hoo!!! Since moving to C-ville I have been dreaming of the day we get a house and I can decorate for the holidays. I am by no means Clark Griswold (via Christmas Vacation) or do I plan to make my place look like Santa and snowmen threw up on it... I love meaningful, family traditions--advent wreaths, turning off all the lights and sitting by the tree, a big wreath on the door, candles, and Christmas mugs full of hot chocolate. The smells of the holidays...fudge... I could go on and on. My mom is my inspiration for decorating-- she always made our the house the coziest most wonderful place during the holidays and I have wonderful memories of growing up there. Granted she probably ran herself ragged trying to do it all, but she never let it show. And since I am my mother's daughter after all, I hope that I can make Christmas as special for my son and family as she did for me.

So... how do I find inspiration for decorating my new huge house? Pinterest of course!!! Here are some of my favorites that I either do or are thinking of trying out. Enjoy.

                                                                              Source: make-it-do.com via Kate on Pinterest

My first pin comes from Make-it-do.com. It is one of my most repinned pins. At my house during the holidays it always smelled wonderful -- something was baking, the smell of the Christmas tree, a fire in the fireplace -- I loved it. So I tried this pin out last year to see if I could make our tiny place (we were in a tiny apartment) smell more homey, more like Christmas and it worked. This stuff is amazing. Try it. I know you will like it.

                                                                                                  Source: kimmccrary.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

My next Pin is about changing up the way do our advent calendar/countdown to Christmas. For so many years we had the advent calendars where you opened up the little window for the day and got a piece of chocolate. Now anyone who knows me, knows that I am all for chocolate, but do I really want my son to associate counting down to Christ's birth with chocolate? I want him to experience the season. So that is why I am trying this idea for kimmccrary.blogspot.com. Using activities to celebrate each day till Christmas. I hope this goes well and it can become a holiday tradition at my house.

                                                                                   Source: tinycookers.com via Kate on Pinterest

This last idea is from tinycookers.com. Cookie Cutter Pizzas! What a fun way to serve pizzas for Dunc. I'm thinking this would also make a fantastic holiday appetizer. Just cut the dough with any holiday cookie cutter and top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. this is going to be so much fun. I can have Dunc help make them too.

Hope you all find some inspiration! Happy Holidays. 

Mini-Pineapple Upside Down Cakes--a birthday treat!

So this past Tuesday was my husbands "4043945th" birthday... (the actual number is in there--he would kill me if I announced his age to blog land), and I wanted to make something special for him. Anyhoo... the hubs is not a big cake fan but he does like pineapple upside down cake. Correction--he LOVES pineapple upside down cake. The problem? Gluten. So I set out on my quest to find a gluten free yellow cake recipe--which was not easy to find. What I ended up doing was going to the Betty Crocker Cookbook, using their yellow cake recipe but instead switched out the regular flour with some King Aurthur gluten free all purpose flour and added a teaspoon of xanthan gum. Now to add just a bit more confusion, I decided try out a pinterest idea and make "mini" cakes using my texas-sized muffin tins (the really big kind). Here's the lowdown...

Ingredients (cake)

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 4 large eggs 
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour** (I used King Aurthur's gluten free all purpose mix) 
• 1cup milk  
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum** (not needed unless you make your cake gluten free) 

 Ingredients (toppings)

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (if you use a regular 9x13 cake pan you will need 1 full stick)
• brown sugar to taste (I used about 1/3 cup total)
• sliced pineapple (fresh is best but canned in juice is good too)
• maraschino cherries
• walnuts (optional)

Directions

• Melt 1/2 stick butter. Pour in each muffin tin and add brown sugar till it is mixed and completely covers the bottom (you can not use to much of either so have at it!)
• Add pineapple rings to the bottom of pan, place a cherry (and walnuts if you want) in the center then set aside.                                       

• Beat butter, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla in a large bowl with mixer on high 3 minutes or until fluffy.
•  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each.
•  On low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, just until blended, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
• Pour into muffin tins or 9x13 pan if you use a pan. (This recipe yielded 6 giant sized cupcake/mini-cakes)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Take a knife and cut around the edges to help get a clean break.   

• Place a cookie sheet on top of muffin tin (or cake pan), turn over and remove cake(s) from the tin. If you let it sit too long the sugar will harden and it makes it really hard to remove the cake. 
•   Eat and enjoy.  

This turned out to be quite a hit in our house. Everyone loved them. I will definitely be baking these again!

Crock Pot Mac 'n' Cheese

Here's a easy way to make home made macaroni and cheese that your family will love. I use gluten free noodles but you can easily use any elbow macaroni. I love set it and "forget it" recipes in the crock pot--it makes my life so much easier and I don't have rush home and figure out what to have for dinner.

All Day Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
8 oz elbow macaroni (I use Tinkyada's gluten free brown rice pasta/macaroni)
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper



Directions:
1. In a large pot, cook macaroni til al dente, and drain (approx. 8-10 minutes).
2. In a large bowl or pot (I just transfer the macaroni back to the cooking pot then) mix cooked macaroni, 3 cups of the shredded cheese, evaporated milk, milk, eggs, salt and pepper.

All mixed and ready to cook.

3. Transfer to slow cooker that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or do what I do and line the cooker with a slow cooker bag.
4. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, or until mixture is firm and golden around the edges. Do not remove the cover or stir the mixture until it is done cooking.  Serve warm.

I like to serve it with a big green salad and some fruit (right now it's strawberries). Yummy! Hope you enjoy.

Note: I am sorry I didn't get a finished picture for you all, my husband dug into the meal before I could snap a photo. Ce la vi...

Quick and easy dinner--is there such a thing?

If you are anything like me there are just some nights you're tapped out of ideas for dinner and you have about 30 minutes till all "hades" breaks loose because people are hungry--what to do? Well instead of calling for pizza, or begging your husband to agree to a family dinner at chick-fil-a, consider trying one of my (and my family's) favorite go to meal. My husband probably would eat this every night if I let him, and my son will actually eat the spinach! AND... I can make it in about 25 minutes! So I present to you--

Chicken and Spinach Florentine

The finished product.

Ingredients: 
- 1 TBSP. olive oil (I use EVOO)
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
- 6 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and dried (I just use the ready mix bag spinach and cut the leaves in half)
- 2 cups rice, uncooked. Minute Rice is best for this (I use their brown rice)
- 1 1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved.
- 1 can (10.5 oz) chicken broth
- 1 tsp. each of basil and oregano
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup Romano cheese, grated (I like to add the second cheese for a really tasty blend, but it is totally optional).

Directions: 
-  Heat oil in large deep skillet on medium heat.
- Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir frequently.
- Add spinach, rice, tomatoes, basil, oregano, and broth; mix well.
- Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer 5 minutes
- Stir in cheese and let stand 5 minutes.


 

Pineapple BBQ slow cooker pulled pork

Here's a little fact--it was 83 degrees outside and sunny today -- in March!!! What the ?!?!?! And because it was so warm I do not want to cook anything that is going to heat up my kitchen any more than it already was, so I pulled out my recipes to try folder and picked one--pineapple BBQ pulled pork -- and BONUS-- it's a crock pot recipe which means my house stays cooler! Thank you mamma loves food for this great recipe.

Pineapple BBQ Pulled Pork 

Simple and easy ingredients

 Ingredients:
  - one 3-4 pound pork shoulder
  - all purpose seasoning (I used Lawry's)
  - one bottle of barbecue sauce (We love Bulls Eye
     at our house )
  - one 15 ounce can of diced pineapples, undrained



Directions:
- Rub pork shoulder all over with all purpose seasoning and place in slow cooker. (I also threw in a bit of
   seasoning with the the rest of the ingredients)
- Dump can of pineapples (undrained) over pork.
- Pour bottle of barbecue sauce over pork.
- Lift pork a little to let the sauce get underneath.
- Cook on high for six (6) hours or low for ten (10) hours.
- Shred in the pot and mix with the juice.
- Strain & serve!

The finished product, shredded and ready to eat!

Serves 4 -6 people

 This recipe also freezes really well and is even better the next day as left overs!

Yummy in Your Tummy! Baked Potato Soup

I am a lover of baked potato soup--with bacon crumbles, cheese, green onion--you name it. I love it, love it, love it! It was one of my favorite pregnancy foods and finally after months of searching, Jim and I found the "be all-end all yummy" potato soup from King Soopers and would splurge with crusty bread .  But as the soup Nazi from Seinfeld would say... "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" . Our new gluten free lifestyle put a wrench in our plans--wheat flour. Curse you flour--foiled again.

But not so fast!  Thanks to the "mama loves food blog" (I link a lot of her recipes on my pinterest page) we now have a new favorite -- crock pot baked potato soup. Delicious! My husband loves it, and I am once again in heaven. Read on below.

Yummy Baked Potato Soup!

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup 

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds russet potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Diced into 1/2 inch(ish) cubes
• 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium sized bulb of garlic minced (if you use jarred, its about 5 tsp)
• 64 ounces (8 cups) chicken stock or broth
• 16 oz cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt (I used good old fashioned Lawry's)
• pinch of black pepper
• optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions--really what ever you would like.

Directions:

1. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning, pepper, and chicken stock to slow cooker. Stir
2. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.



Ready to start cooking...

3. Add the softened cream cheese and puree soup with an immersion blender until the cheese is incorporated and about half the soup is blended.( Since I don't have an immersion blender and I love to use crock pot bags for easy clean up, I removed about 3/4 of the mixture and mixed the cream cheese and it in my kitchen aide blender-- then just stirred it in with the soup in the crock pot-- it worked like a charm).
4. Stir well, top with your choice of garnishes & enjoy!

All blended and ready to serve...

This recipe yields about 10-12 servings and it freezes great. I like to make the full recipe (and I have a monster huge crock pot--as you can see above and below), but you can easily half the recipe if needed.

my food review--Betty Crocker Gluten free cookies

So as you all have read, my husband is gluten intolerant which makes like a bit interesting in our household. One of the things he misses the most is baked goods--especially chocolate chip cookies. So today I thought I would try out Betty Crocker's gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix and let the cookie monster have at it!

The ingredients needed were simple--softened butter, vanilla, and an egg--which it good when you have a 20 month old running around at your feet wanting to help. After a small temper tantrum caused by not being able to pour the vanilla, we were on our way. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of chocolate chips in the mix--way more than expected (truth be told I had gotten out some to add, but didn't need to).

The instructions say to mix the butter, egg, and vanilla together, then add the mix. Stir till crumbly. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes (we did 9 min) at 350 and VIOLA!!! Cookies. One note--Be sure to let the cookies sit on the pan for at least two minutes or you will have one crazy mess! (learned that the hard way)

Down to the review!
Likes: The chocolate chips stayed melty and soft. The cookie was crispy on the outside but moist and soft on the inside. Another Like: they looked great! (see picture) My husband couldn't tell the difference between his cookies and the gluten version I made for my students. Finally they tasted pretty darn yummy. I admit--I'm a cookie snob and still trying to like gluten free and these were good. 

Dislikes: the cookie was a bit "grainy" tasting at the end of a bite--it's main replacement for wheat flour is rice flour, so that is expected. If you are new to gluten free be forewarned, this happens a lot. Another dislike --I felt the mix was way too crumbly--how on earth was I going to make teaspoon size drops when it constantly fell apart? Solution?!?! Roll the dough up into a tube -- like you would find with the pre-made cookie dough or refrigerator box cookies -- then cut/break off small pieces and place on cookie sheet.  My final dislike--the amount of cookies made--granted it's a box mix, but I only got 18 cookies. I was hoping for more. In our house the cookie monster (my husband) and cookie jr. (my son) ate at least half the batch last night. I would bet you $10 bucks the rest will be gone by this evening--tomorrow at the latest.

Overall  I definitely recommend these cookies, especially if you are just starting out in the gluten free world and haven't had much experience in creating your own flour mixes. They do cost a bit more (like most gluten free stuff does anyway), but they really are a tasty treat that everyone will like. 

Fruit Salad and Cinnamon Chips--Kid tested, Mother Approved!

About a week ago I was trolling another one of my addictions--pinterest--when I came across a recipe for what looked like a YUMMY fruit salad. The blogger who had originally pinned it found it on www.allrecipes.com as one of their all-time highest ranked recipes. I thought this might be perfect for my fruit addicted child and maybe I could find a way to make the chips gluten free so Jim could enjoy too. So, I decided to make it this past weekend weekend-- my son gobbled it up, husband liked it, and I couldn't get enough of the chips.

**A couple of notes**

• I opted to only put 1-1/2 TBSP of white sugar and leave out the brown sugar since I didn't want to make it too sweet or wind up with too much juice. 
• To make the chips gluten free, I tried using a few rice tortillas that we had here-- they turned out ok, but my husband ended up using gluten free crackers instead and liked it better. 
• I recommend  making and eating this in the same day otherwise the fruit gives off way too much juice and it gets runny/mushy. 

picture courtesy of www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com --because I forgot to take one!

Fruit Salsa with Baked Cinnamon Chips

by Allrecipes

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced (you could also use Gala--as I had one of each)
8 ounces raspberries (I halved them)
1 (16 oz) carton of strawberries, diced
2 TBSP white sugar (more or less to taste)
1 TBSP brown sugar (more or less to taste)
3 TBSP fruit preserves, any flavor (I used strawberry)

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray

Cinnamon sugar:
1 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.Coat one side of each flour tortilla with melted butter or butter flavored cooking spray. Sprinkle tortillas with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spray again with cooking spray (not necessary if using melted butter). TIP! A pizza cutter makes easy cutting!

4.Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

A Gluten Free lifestyle

Last summer our family received some interesting news--my husband has developed a gluten intolerance. Apparently there is a gene that some people have and it can be triggered anytime-- for him it was this past summer. It got so bad that not only did his stomach become distented (think those starving African children who have bloated stomachs, which is so sad) and his feet/ankles swelled, he became iron and folic acid anemic. The doctors orders--off gluten NOW. And thus my quest to find good gluten free alternatives has begun. I stalk my new favorite cooking blogs, magazines, and websites almost daily looking for easy family friendly recipes. My husband often gets a bit depressed about it, because just grabbing a quick bite out to eat isn't an option for him anymore. What's worse, he has had to give up some of his favorite foods--especially  bread, his beloved licorice, and Chinese.

Sticking to lean meat/protein, and a variety of veggies makes cooking dinner simple--kinda. Reading labels is now even more essential for me.  Who knew so many things had gluten in them. For example--rice krispies are a no-no because they have malt coating for flavor and malt is wheat... or did you know tomato soup uses flour as thickener? I do now.  Thanksgiving was a experiment in finding gluten free options--traditional stuffing-OUT, rolls/bread with dinner-OUT, pie crust-OUT. Mad Props to my Mother-In-Law as she went all out to make my hubby feel comfortable and really worked hard to make his favorites gluten free. 

Fast forward for the reason for my post, it's taken a few months of experimentation, but I've come up with a GREAT recipe for Orange Chicken. So if you are like our family and are living the gluten free lifestyle, I hope you enjoy.

Orange Ginger Chicken

1/3 cup all purpose gluten free flour (we like King Arthur the best)
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs) cubed into medium chunks.
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2-3 TBSP. canola oil (I use EVOO)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 TBSP. gluten free soy sauce (we use San-J Tamari Gluten Free/Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce in the white bottle)
2 TBSP. Honey
1/2 to 1 tsp. Ground Ginger (according to your taste)
Optional Garnish: sesame seeds or thinly sliced green onion

1. Place flour, salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Add to bag, a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil in batches on medium heat until chicken is no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. (NOTE: You will end up with a bit of excess flour in the pan, what I've done is add a bit more EVOO and keep cooking as it helps the chicken get a crunchier coating and it helps thicken the sauce!)
2. In the same skillet, combine the juice, marmalade, soy sauce, honey and ginger. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen browned bits from the pan; cook and stir until thickened. Return chicken to pan; heat through. Sprinkle with green onion and/or sesame seeds if desired.
3. Serve over rice.