Chex Mix

I love a good batch of chex mix! My mother-in-law gave me this recipe and it works great to create that savory flavor that I love. The recipe fills a large roasting pan so make sure you have a large pan for cooking and an appetite for snacking!  It's perfect for having around during the holidays or football parties.  You can be creative with the snack ingredients.  This has been my favorite combination. Regular cheerios or bagel chips are yummy too.  I like the multi-grain cheerios because they add a little sweetness to the mix. *Make this gluten-free by eliminating the wheat chex, pretzels and cheerios and using gluten free-pretzels or bagel chips instead. Also double check that your seasonings are all gluten-free.

Snack Ingredients

• 1 box corn chex
• 1/2 box rice chex
• 1 box wheat chex*
• 1 lb pretzels*
• 1 lb mixed nuts
• 4+ cups multi-grain cheerios*

Coating Ingredients

• scant 2 cups vegetable/canola oil
• 2 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp seasoned salt
• 1 Tbsp garlic salt

Mix the snack ingredients in a large roasting pan.  In a liquid measure cup, combine worchestershire, seasoned salt, and garlic salt. Add enough oil to reach the 2 cup measure.  Whisk ingredients together until they are combined.  Pour over snack ingredients and mix gently until the snack mixture is evenly coated.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours until golden and crispy, removing from oven every 30 minutes to stir.

Peppermint Puffs

A friend of ours made these last year and they have quickly become my favorite Christmas cookie!  They have just the right blend of minty flavor and sweetness so that neither is too overpowering.

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 oz white chocolate
• 1 tsp shortening
• 1/2 cup chopped candy cane (about 4 candy canes)

Beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Beat in egg.  Beat in peppermint and vanilla extracts.

On low speed, beat in flour and salt.  Shape dough together into a ball, cover and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  The cookies will still be very light and will keep their ball shape for the most part.  Let cookies cool.  Melt white chocolate with shortening.  Dip the top of cookies into the chocolate and sprinkle with the chopped candy cane.  Yields about 2 dozen cookies.

Holiday Truffles

It's the season for holiday goodies!  With trying to eat a gluten-free diet, I was searching for substitutes to my usual holiday cookies and decided to try this truffle recipe (http://www.bakersroyale.com/candy/peppermint-crunch-truffles/).  Thankfully my sister helped me make these because they were definitely a process of learning!  The biggest lesson we learned was that temperature is everything.  It is important to let the chocolate set in the fridge, but we then had to let it sit out for a few hours before we tried to roll the truffles.  If the chocolate is too cold when you try to roll them it will be difficult, if not impossible.  You also need to give the truffles a roll to soften them a bit before rolling them in the coating so that they are sticky enough to pick up the coating well.  Use whatever kind of chocolate you like best, but make sure it is good quality--we used semi-sweet but dark would be great if you like dark chocolate. You also can experiment with the coating with whatever you think sounds good.  Between my sister and I, we've tried Peppermint Andes, Heath bits, salted almonds and Oreos. They were all delicious!

• 11 oz chocolate
• 8 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups coating of your choice

Melt chocolate with heavy cream in a double boiler. Let sit for the first few minutes untouched and then whisk together until mixture is melted and smooth.  Remove mixture from heat and let cool for 20-30 minutes. Pour into a shallow baking dish and refrigerate covered for 2 hours until set. Remove chocolate from the fridge and let warm up for a few hours.  Roll balls using a spoon or melon baller to help shape chocolate into spheres.  Roll ball in hands to finish shaping and roll in coating.  Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve and enjoy!

Quinoa Patties with Kale

I've decided to go gluten-free over the next month to see if it alleviates some issues I've had, so you're going to see some G-Free recipes on here.  I found this recipe on this gluten-free blog, which was adapted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, and it was delicious!  You can do so many things with this recipe!  We drizzled lemon juice over them and ate them with some avocado.  My husband also ate his as an open-faced sandwich on some garlic toast.  I think next time I'll try making a dijon vinaigrette dressing to pour over them.  They'd also be great with spinach or mushrooms mixed into the patties.  I made some slight modifications to the recipe this time so here is what I did:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 4 eggs, whisked
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp minced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups steamed kale, chopped
• 1 cup oats (the recipe called for breadcrumbs, but I couldn't find gluten-free ones)
• olive oil

Prepare quinoa by boiling it in the water until the water is absorbed.  Let quinoa cool slightly and then mix with whisked eggs, cheese, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, kale and oats/breadcrumbs.  Let mixture sit for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large frying pan.  Pat together patties from the mixture and place in the frying pan to cook.  Let the patties cook about 7 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown and crispy on the top and bottom.  Serve with the garnish of your choice!  This serves about 4 people. If you are cooking for less, I'd make the desired amount of patties and then refrigerate the mixture (rather than making all the patties and then refrigerating them), as suggested by the blog I read.

Stuffed Tomatoes

These were a bit tricky, but really tasty!  I modified a recipe my friend pinned on Pinterest: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/511633 to make it simpler.  The hard part for me was scooping the pulp out of the tomatoes without destroying them.  I think I'll try using a grapefruit spoon next time to see if the serrated edges help.

Tomatoes
2 large beefsteak tomatoes
Olive oil
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
3-4 cups fresh chopped spinach
1 clove garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Dressing
Pulp reserved from tomatoes
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard*
Pinch of basil

*Gluten free dieters: make sure your mustard doesn't contain gluten!

Remove tomato stems and blanch tomatoes by boiling them in hot water for 1 minute.  Then place them in a bowl of ice water and set aside.  This step will make it much easier to peel the tomatoes later on. In a frying pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Add chopped mushrooms and spinach and cook 3-5 minutes until spinach is wilted and mushrooms are tender.  Add garlic, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper.  Remove from heat.  While the mushroom/spinach mixture cools, remove the tomatoes from the bowl of ice water.  Peel skin off of the tomatoes.  Cut off the top of the tomatoes about 1/3 of the way from the top.  Carefully scoop tomato pulp and seeds out of each tomato and reserve pulp in a separate bowl for the dressing.  Now that the mushroom/spinach mixture has cooled some, add ricotta and parmesan cheese and mix well--reserving a small bit of the parmesan for later.  Fill the tomato bottoms with the cheese/mushroom/spinach mixture.  Press the tomato tops back on the stuffed tomatoes and sprinkle tops with the remaining parmesan.  Grease a baking dish with olive oil and place the tomatoes in the greased dish.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees.  While the tomatoes bake, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Remove tomatoes from the oven when the cheese mixture looks melted.  Serve hot with dressing drizzled over the tomatoes.

Lemony Lentils & Kale

This dish has become one of our vegetarian favorites!  It is fresh, flavorful and hearty. I found the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemony-lentils-with-kale/detail.aspx.  I omit the onion from the original recipe since I can't eat onion, but I'm sure it would be delicious.

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound lentils
• 1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced

*Gluten free dieters: make sure your spices do not contain gluten.

Heat oil in a skillet.  Cook carrot until softened. Add garlic, thyme, salt, black pepper and red pepper; cook one minute.  Add lentils, tomatoes (and juice), and chicken broth into skillet.  Cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.  Add kale, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Cook until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Serves 4.

Creamy Tomato Soup

We've been wanting to try homemade tomato soup for a while. I got hooked on Trader Joe's tomato soup last year because it was so much yummier than the can. Craig found a great recipe from King Arthur Flour and I made a few small changes.  This was so simple and inexpensive that I think I have a new favorite! You can read the King Arthur recipe here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/creamy-tomato-soup-recipe.  It makes about 4 bowl-sized servings.  It is definitely a creamy tomato so if that isn't your thing you can use less of the evaporated milk.

1 28-oz can tomato purée

1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp onion powder or minced onion

dash of thyme
dash of black pepper
3 Tbsp flour*
a scant 2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1 tsp salt

*Gluten free dieters: substitute cornstarch for the flour.

In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes, basil, onion, thyme, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine the flour and broth, whisking till smooth, and add this mixture to the soup, stirring until well incorporated. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the baking soda (the soup will foam up briefly; don't worry, but be sure it's in a big enough pot), the sugar, the milk and the salt. Heat, stirring, to a bare simmer. Serve hot. Serves 4.