Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I have a pretty serious addiction to bananas. I start every day with green tea and a banana and have done this for as long as I can remember. 

I love Costco because I can get a large bundle of bananas for less than $2. Sometimes though, they can get brown quickly. And I honestly won't eat ripe a banana. I like them when they're still a little green. Which means I make banana bread and muffins quite frequently. This recipe uses Pamela's Gluten Free Baking and Pancake Mix. It's really easy and quick to make. Someone bought this flour for me and unfortunately it contains Dairy. I like baking and am used to not being able to eat everything I make at this point. Therefore, I made these and then gave them to a few friends, some gluten free and some not. I wouldn't be posting this if they didn't approve. 

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 cup Pamela's Gluten Free Baking and Pancake Mix 

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup water

- 1/4 cup sugar (Could also use 1/3 cup honey- I've made them both ways and both turned out great)

- 1 tsp gluten-free vanilla

- 3 ripe bananas (or 1/2 cup fruit of your choice)

- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (could eliminate or substitute with your favorite nuts)

Recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together then add to muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes. And that's it! Enjoy :-) 

Rice and Beans - Time and Money Saving Lunch

Lunch for the week prepared on Sunday. Time and money saved.

Buying lunch while you are at work is a huge money suck, not to mention that the food is usually over-priced for the quality that you get.  For our first week in Pittsburgh, I did a great job of making salads the night before work and was extremely healthy.  That quickly turned into whatever leftovers we had in the fridge. And that quickly turned into scrambling in the morning to find something to bring with me.  Not the ideal situation to eat healthy and avoid eating crappy food, plus I would end up "supplementing" my lunch at the cafeteria.

To combat this, we started making a large batch of rice on Sunday that could be taken for  lunch every day of the week. What's that you say? "I want something interesting and rice is boring?"  There my friend, you are wrong.

We add the basics to the rice and then spice it up throughout the week.  Here is our basic recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked brown rice (or white - brown has more fiber and is a little heartier)

1 can sweet corn - drained

1 can chick peas (or black beans)

1 cup chopped jalapenos

1 cup choppen onion (red, white, whatever)

1.5 cups cooked chicken (roasted*, sauteed, whatever)

Seasonings

Recipe:

Put the beans in a small pot over low heat and cover.  Let them cook slow and low.

Heat up some olive oil in a LARGE pan - we use a wok like thingy.  

Throw in the onions, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add jalapenos and corn.  Add seasonings such as garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano; cook for 2-3 minutes.

Drain the beans of their liquid.

Add chicken, rice, and beans to the vegetables - mix thoroughly.

Season as needed.

Multiple Colors = Multiple Flavors = Happy Tastebuds

*Our chicken cooking trick - pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.  Throw the chicken on a pan lined with foil and season both sides (may we recommend some Montreal Chicken Seasoning?).  Cook for 17 minutes.  The chicken with be slightly crispy on the outside and very juicy inside.  From there, we will finely chop the chicken and add it to the rice mix.

Potential additions to the base mixture include finely chopped ham (left over from Easter dinner), a small can of crushed tomatoes, any other of your favorite vegetables.  

How to keep it interesting throughout the week:

Use the full arsenal of your refrigerator.  Add salsas, hot sauces, soy sauce, whatever you can think of to add a little zing.  Our finding is that flavor is very important in how satisfied we are after lunch.

Sweet and Salty Quinoa with Bacon and Veggies

This dish is a modified version of a Noble Pig recipe.  It's now one of our favorites.

With our version, we combined sauteed chopped yellow onion and green pepper, cooked quinoa and smoked bacon, sugar snap peas and Honey-Lime dressing. The dressing adds a little sweetness, the bacon adds a little saltiness and then we topped ours with Sriracha that added a little spiciness. And that's why it is now one of our favorite recipes. It's got it all. It's pretty healthy (especially if you cut down the bacon or use turkey bacon; either way there's enough going on that the bacon doesn't overwhelm the dish). We ate ours at room temperature with a glass of Pinot Grigio.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sugar snap peas
- One green pepper
- 1/4 medium yellow onion
- 1 cup quinoa
- 5 slices smoked bacon
- 1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Honey Lime Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (or squeezed from one lime)
- Seasoning: garlic, crushed red pepper, paprika, salt and pepper

Recipe:
Cook the one cup quinoa per packed directions (one cup quinoa with two cups water). While it was cooking, I continued with the rest of the recipe. Move quinoa to a bowl once complete to prevent drying out/burning. I didn't cover it and allowed it to cool a little.

Mix all dressing ingredients and set aside.

Cook the bacon in a sauce pan. Place the cooked pieces on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat and allow to cool before slicing into small pieces.

Saute the chopped yellow onion and green pepper with olive oil, salt and pepper on medium heat until softened.

Bring a large saucepan to a boil. While that is heating up, prepare an ice bath large enough to submerge the snap peas. Place the sugar snap peas in the boiling water for 1 minute, remove and place in the ice bath for two minutes, then remove and place on a paper towel to dry. Slice into thirds or fourths.

Lastly, combine quinoa, snap peas, sauteed veggies and dressing in a large bowl. Mix well and then add the bacon, stirring until thoroughly mixed.

We topped ours with ground pepper and a little Sriracha. Delicious!

Easy Homemade Hummus

We go through a lot of hummus. It's a great snack that we eat regularly, if not daily. Problem is though, it can get expensive quickly. 

A can of chick peas is cheap and a container of tahini goes a long way. There are a lot of recipes online (most pretty similar) and the ingredients list on our favorite brand is pretty short. One difference between the two is cooked vs uncooked chick peas. We made it both ways. And cooked is definitely what we prefer. It's creamier with more flavor. We add whatever flavors we happened to have a lot of at the time- garlic, jalapenos, hot sauce, onion, etc- and seasonings. Mix it in a food processor/blender or even mash yourself. And that's pretty much it. We usually double the recipe and it lasts anywhere from 1-3 weeks, depending on our carrot supply. We also usually make ours with jalapenos (shocking) but you can substitute with something else or eliminate. 

Ingredients:

- 1 can cooked chick peas

- 2 tablespoons tahini

-  Seasonings to taste: salt, pepper, cumin, garlic

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1-2 tablespoon lemon juice*

- 1/4 cup jalapenos chopped*

*Sometimes we'll add jalapeno juice instead of lemon juice. 

Recipe:

Cook chick peas (do not drain) on low for about 30 minutes or until soft. Add to blender, or mash yourself (which is easy if cooked enough) until smooth. Add remaining ingredients (add the olive oil slowly to get your preferred consistency). Taste testing is the best method to determine appropriate amount for each ingredient. 

Enjoy with your favorite snacks! 

Ham and Pineapple Stir Fry

Growing up, Easter ham meant one thing - ham leftovers for sandwiches and Joann Lynch's famous ham and noodle casserole. It was packed with egg noodles, cheese, chunks of ham, peppers and onions - extremely gluten and dairy filled.

The memories of this childhood favorite inspired us to get creative with our ham leftovers. We combined our left over ham with plenty of vegetables, rice, pineapple chunks, and a healthy dose of a pineapple-soy sauce concoction.

It was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait until we have leftover ham again.

Soften the hard vegetables,
but don't let the broccoli get mushy.

Ingredients
1 cup ham chunks
1.5 cups cooked rice (chilled)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 cup pineapple chunks

1/2 cup pineapple juice
3-4 tablespoons soy sauce

Have the sauce and the rice ready
to go into the pot together.

1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon black pepper

Recipe
Combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, corn starch and black pepper. Beat together until mixed. Use the taste test method to determine if salty or sweet enough for your liking. Set aside until needed.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add onion, carrot and celery, cooking until softened.   Add  broccoli and ham, cooking for a few minutes. Stir in rice and sauce  until coated.  Add pineapple and cook until warm - about 5 minutes.
 
Serve with sriracha for a spicy addition to the salty-sweet stir fry.

Let it all mix well, but don't make it soupy.

Easter Dinner

This Easter was a little different than usual for us. It was our first in Pittsburgh and our first without family. However, we made a special day out of it and capped it off with a special meal.

We found a good deal on ham steaks at Costco (labeled gluten free clear as day!). Brittany's mom had given us a pineapple the week before, and we had some quinoa salad left over from the night before. We stuffed the quinoa salad into some fresh tomatoes, topped them with Parmesan and fresh cracked pepper, and broiled them to blend it all together. We sautéed the pineapple with butter and brown sugar, adding a sweet side to accompany the spicy brown mustard served with the ham.

Ham steak prepared according to package instructions

Quinoa salad stuffed tomatoes
Ingredients

Quinoa salad
Veggie Parmesan Topping
Cracked Black Pepper
Roma Tomatoes

Recipe
Half the tomatoes long ways and scoop out the insides. Stuff as much quinoa salad into the tomato as you can. Then try harder and mound as much on top as possible. Cover the top with Parmesan topping and black pepper. Broil for ten minutes.

Pineapple
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup cubed pineapple

Recipe
Melt butter in saucepan, stir in pineapple, top with brown sugar. Stir until coated.

Serving
Spicy brown mustard on the side.

Breakfast Quesadilla

Saturday breakfast is one of our favorite meals of the week. We have a whole day ahead of us without work responsibilities and usually fun things planned. But Saturday breakfast can become a little bit of a hassle when you haven't been to the grocery store in a few days. So for this meal, we went with what we had left in the fridge.

Cheese, eggs, veggies and tortilla shells make for an easy quesadilla. The remnants of homemade salsa are a great topping. The kicker was leftover refried beans. This added extra flavor and protein when we didn't have any breakfast meats available.





Ingredients
1/4 cup onions chopped
1 medium mushroom chopped
2 eggs beaten
2 corn tortilla shells
Cheese
Refried beans


Recipe
Sauté the onions and mushrooms until cooked in a small amount of olive oil. Add the eggs and cook to the desired doneness (we went with slightly runny). Remove the eggs from the pan, coat with cooking spray (watch for sneaky gluten in cooking spray). Spread beans and cheese on one shell, add to the pan, top with eggs, cheese, and another tortilla shell. Cook for a few minutes, flip, and remove when cheese is melted.


Cut into quarters. Serve with hot sauce and salsa. Attack Saturday.

Spring Time Quinoa Salad

Quinoa salad is to pasta salad as
turkey sausage lettuce wrap is to hot dog.
Gluten free and slightly healthier.

We thoroughly enjoy cooking with quinoa.  It gives a great texture to our dishes with a flavor similar to pasta.  However, we still have not managed to figure out how much to make for one meal.  It seems that a tablespoon of uncooked quinoa makes about 5 gallons of prepared quinoa.  That may be an exaggeration, but we are frequently faced with an abundance of left-over quinoa, such as after making a quinoa-kale-sweet potato dish.

This leftover presented itself on a Saturday night before heading to PNC Park to watch the Phillies and Pirates play some baseball (if you can call it that).  We had decided to make a turkey sausage lettuce wrap for dinner (even though PNC park has gluten free hot dogs) as a healthy alternative.  What better to go along with a lettuce wrap than a fresh veggie and quinoa salad.  We added fresh chopped red onion, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms with Italian dressing for a quick, easy, and delicious side dish.

Red Bridge (Gluten Free!) at PNC Park

Ingredients
One cup prepared quinoa (chilled)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped tomato
2-3 tablespoons Italian dressing
Veggie-parmesan cheese (to top)
Fresh cracked black pepper (to top)

Recipe

Combine quinoa, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, tomato, and carrots - stir well.  Add Italian dressing, continue stirring.  Plate and top with parmesan and black pepper.

Serving suggestion - add spicy brown mustard and our kick ass relish to your lettuce wrap for a zing.

Testimonial - Manuel A.

"You and Britt are single handedly inspiring me to eat better and not be an out of shape shell of my former self."


Manuel A. - you can follow this man on twitter @MdotFresh

Fresh Chunky Salsa

We've previously stated our affinity for Tex-Mex fare. In addition to being made gluten free easily, it is also usually cheap. But sometimes you get what you pay for and salsa is one of those items. The tastiest salsas are usually chunky and fresh and expensive.

We don't let that stop us. We are cheap and resourceful. We make the most out of canned foods and cheap ingredients to come up with a delicious salsa.

Careful with the jalapenos or your friends won't like you.

Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup chopped pickled jalapeños
1 medium onion chopped
Chili powder
Crushed red pepper
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

Recipe
Combine all of the vegetables and stir. Add Seasonings to taste.

Note - adjust the jalapeños and crushed red pepper to taste for your palate.

Note - cilantro is a nice addition, but not 100% necessary.

Potential additions:
Bell pepper
Cucumber
Shallots
Crushed tomatoes (if diced are not available)

Quinoa with Sweet Potato, Kale, Onion and Mushrooms

Quinoa is a favorite of ours. It's versatile, quick and easy to make and is a great source of protein. I think it's a lighter grain therefore I enjoy it with usually a heavier sauce, such as sausage and marinara or sweet potatoes and veggies!


While this is not necessarily a difficult recipe to make, I will admit preparing it (specifically the kale) can take some time. We recently prepared this dish on a day we were both home early from work. However, it does only require quinoa, mushrooms, kale, sweet potatoes and onions (as well as your favorite spices). For us, it was garlic and red pepper with a few dashes of salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
- One medium to large sweet potato
- One small yellow onion
- One large bunch of kale, washed and cut with stems removed
- 4-6 chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 cup white wine (preferably dry)
- Seasonings: garlic, red pepper, salt and pepper
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked

Recipe:
We started with cooking the one cup of quinoa, since it takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Nothing special here, just followed the directions on the package.

Next, heat a large saucepan with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Start with sauteeing the onion and sweet potato once the oil is warm. Allow the sweet potatoes to begin to soften, add the chopped mushrooms, stirring occasionally. Once the mushrooms begin to soften, add the chopped kale and white wine. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and stir frequently. I also added more garlic and red pepper flakes at this time.

Keep the saucepan on medium-low heat until all vegetables have softened. Most liquid will be absorbed at this point. Don't forget to check back on your quinoa! I've never experienced burnt quinoa but I imagine it probably doesn't taste too good. The quinoa will most likely be done before the kale and sweet potatoes. I usually put the quinoa in a bowl and cover with a towel or foil until the meal is complete. Add some of the sautee to a bowl of quinoa, top with parmesan if desired and enjoy!

We've made this recipe a few times and enjoy it every time. I've had a glass of Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir with it at different occasions and while both went well, I prefer the Pinot Noir with it.

Gluten Free Go-To - Trader Joe's Hash Browns

Go-to - This can refer to any item or object which is the most commonly used or which you use without having to think about it, such as a food, bag, facial expression, etc. Your 'go-to x' is the 'x' that you will resort to most commonly when you don't have the inclination/time to come up with something more original, or else that you will just go to automatically - via Urban Dictionary (the definitive source for slanguage).

Everyone has go-to foods. The kind that you can always pull out of the fridge or freezer and whip together in a few minutes.

Peanut butter and jelly.
Grilled cheese.
Frozen pizza.
Mac and cheese.
Common theme - gluten (and to a lesser extent - dairy).
So what do we keep in the house as go-to items? We're glad you asked!

Breakfast is the easiest meal to make gluten free with eggs and breakfast meats fitting the gluten free profile. But what happens when you are out of bacon, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and salsa? Scrambled eggs are boring - but hash browns can add a twist in only a few seconds.
We keep a stash of Trader Joe's Hash Browns in the freezer for special occasions, just like Easter Sunday Brunch. They cook quickly and add a lot of flavor without any gluten.

We hope you enjoy them too.

 *We must thank Brittany's sister Brandi for introducing us to them.

Kale, Onion and Parmesan Quiche with a Sweet Wine

We had an abundance of kale  and onion, both of which needed to be prepared soon. With Easter around the corner, we figured a quiche would be perfect!

It was our first time preparing the dish. With a little help from the interwebs and the addition of our own tastes, we enjoyed this healthy dish for Easter Sunday brunch.

We added about a cup of sauteed kale, onions and spices to an egg mixture consisting of eggs, almond milk and dairy-free parmesan cheese, and baked it until cooked through. We prepared this a week before Easter and after baking, allowed it to cool then froze it until Easter morning.

Kale Sautee Ingredients:

- One large bunch of fresh kale, washed and chopped with stems off

- One small yellow onion, chopped

- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

- Seasoning to taste: red pepper flakes, garlic, salt and pepper

Kale Sautee Recipe:

Heat one to two tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Add the chopped onion, kale and seasonings. Sautee and mix until kale begins to soften, a few minutes. Add water, cover and reduce to medium-low heat. Keep on heat until kale has completely softened, drain water and put aside.

Quiche Ingredients:

- 4 large eggs

- One cup Silk Almond Milk

- 1/4 Cup Dairy-free parmesan cheese, plus a little extra

- Kale Sautee

Quiche Recipe:

Beat eggs, milk and cheese together. Mix in kale sautee. Add a little more pepper and red pepper flakes. Transfer the mixture to a 9" pie pan, sprinkle with additional parmesan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

We enjoyed our crustless breakfast with a Trader Joe's hash brown (soon to come) as well as an adult beverage in honor of my grandparents, who both passed away within the past five years and enjoyed themselves a glass of vino. They lived a majority of their lives together on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and specifically spent their last few years together in Solomon's Island. I was excited to find at Christmas that my aunt and mom both bought me a red and white bottle from Solomon's Island Winery.  However, I enjoy dry wine and these wines were a bit too sweet for me. I just so happened to be drinking cranberry-raspberry juice that morning and tried a little with some of the sweet, white wine... Delicious! I did equal parts juice and wine and it paired well with the hash browns and quiche! 

Spicy Popcorn!

There is a large variety of snacks out there to choose from, including at least fifteen Doritos flavors, five SunChips varieties as well as a lengthy list of potato chips, just to name a few. Regardless of which ever snack you prefer, most are not gluten (or dairy) free.

I'll admit it, I can't complain about not being able to eat most snacks. I would much rather be able to eat fruits and veggies than processed baked goods. Although, that doesn't mean I don't crave a salty or sweet snack every once in a while.

One of the best purchases since our recent move was an $8 popcorn bowl from Target. It's not only healthier to make fresh popped popcorn but also cost efficient. Even after movie nights, making chex mix and occasional snacking, 6 weeks later we're still on our first, small container of kernels.

I was craving a spicy, salty snack and came up with this popcorn. It's now my favorite popcorn, plus it's super easy and quick to make!

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup popcorn kernels

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 2-3 teaspoons Garlic Powder and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes*

- 1-2 tablespoons Franks Red Hot*

- Few dashes of salt*

*Adjust seasonings to taste.

Recipe

Prepare kernels per popcorn maker directions. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic powder and crushed red pepper in a small bowl, drizzle over the popped kernels and mix with a large spoon. Microwave for 45 seconds and mix, repeat 1x. Next, add a few dashes of Franks Red Hot over popcorn, mix and then microwave for another 45 seconds. Mix one final time, allow to cool and enjoy!

Yum!

Baseball Season Means Hot Dogs!

The crew at Gluten Free Philly wrote about some ball parks having some new gluten free options.  Our favorite park - Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia - and our new local park - PNC Park in Pittsburgh - both offer gluten free hot dogs (and presumably gluten free buns).

We thought of a different approach - corn tortillas for our hot dogs.  We have done this with both hard shells and soft shells and loved it.

Perfect to enjoy while watching Roy Halladay throw a perfect game or watching the Mets just be terrible.

Try our take on relish to change it up a little bit!

An oldie before we knew the dangers of cross-contamination.

Relish with a Kick

To be clear, relish is gluten free.  This relish is just better!  We gave the standard store bought chopped pickles a little bit of support with some chopped onions and jalapenos.  We also threw in a dash of red pepper flakes for giggles.  Top your hot dog with this guy and you won't even remember that there is no bun.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup relish
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapenos
Red pepper flakes to taste.

Recipe:
Mix the ingredients together thoroughly.

Finger Lickin' Chicken

What cures that awful feeling the morning after too many margaritas? FRIED FOOD!

What makes someone who eats gluten free cringe? FRIED FOOD!

We were hungover. Our Snoopy waffles didn't quite do the trick, so we needed to feed the craving for dinner. We went back to the well with some sweet potato fries (with the addition of a round of broiling to increase the crispy factor) and paired them with a small salad and CHICKEN FINGERS! (All caps means we are excited)

We used some gluten free all-purpose baking flour and crushed tortilla chips to bread a sliced chicken breast, fried them up, and dug right in. Much like our spring roll mozzarella sticks, this dish brought a sense of normalcy to Brittany's diet. We made a lovely barbecue sauce to go with them and had a great Saturday night!

Ingredients

Before frying

1 large chicken breast, sliced into smaller pieces
3/4 cup gluten free all-purpose baking flour
1 egg beaten
1 to 1.5 cups crushed tortilla chips

Recipe
Standard breading steps:
1. Coat the chicken in flour by rolling it aroun in the flour bowl.
2. Transfer to the egg wash, coat thoroughly.
3. Roll in crushed tortilla chips.*

After frying

4. Pan fry over medium heat in olive oil until golden brown and cooked through.

* A real jerk once taught me two important things about breading:
1. Keep one hand out of the breading process, in order to make handling things easier, so that you can:
2. Add the bread (tortilla) crumbs slowly to prevent excessive caking and waste.
Don't be fooled. Hayes is still a jerk. Peter is awesome.

Sierra was sneaking in the background, waiting for her chance to steal a finger.

Pair this with a killer BBQ sauce, a small salad, and a whiskey-ginger.

Tangy Barbeque Sauce

Brittany "hates" barbeque sauce, or at least that is what she has told me since we started dating. They are too sweet and just don't do it for her
This is a problem because I love it in every single form.
Vinegar based.
Mustard based.
Tomato based.
All of them. So to go with our chicken fingers, I decided to give it a go for myself.  We decided to add a few ingredients to take the sweetness away - vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and spicy brown mustard.  I think it worked out pretty well.

And, now, Brittany doesn't hate barbecue sauce.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup of white vinegar
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha Sweet Chili Sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Recipe
Combine all ingredients over low heat, stirring often. Serve warm.