{Gluten Free} Taco Seasoning

Being gluten intolerant we have to beware of all the sneaky little places that manufacturers like to hide gluten. For instance prepackaged seasonings and foods are notorious for containing gluten, maltodextrin, whey (for all my lactose intolerant friends), and lots of other things that we  shouldn’t be consuming on a regular basis.
When my husband and I were first married and I was still learning to cook I used to always buy those little taco seasoning packets. In the last few years I have made a commitment to try not to buy as many processed foods and make more things from scratch. This ensures that I know exactly what we are eating and don’t have to constantly have Google handy to make sure I’m not going to make one of us unnecessarily sick. At first I thought “making these things from scratch is going to be really time consuming” and with kids under foot who really has time to spend hours in the kitchen making things from scratch. But I’m starting to figure out that it is not that hard, it really doesn’t take that much more time, and it really tastes so much better.

Yesterday was taco Tuesday for us! It took me all of 20 minutes (at most) from the time I walked in
the kitchen until the time my kids had their meals in front of them. This taco seasoning is so quick and easy to make. If you already cook a lot at home you probably have most of these spices on hand and if you don’t trader joes and costco are great places to buy spices for really cheap. This taco seasoning can be used on so many things: ground beef (what we had last night), ground turkey, chicken, vegetables, and even tofu for my vegetarian friends.

What you’ll need:
measuring spoons
small bowl
something to mix with
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of chilli powder
2 teaspoons of cumin
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

Now for the how to:
In no particular order measure your seasoning out into a small bowl and then mix. Yup that’s it!  This recipe yeilds 3 tablespoons. Last night I cooked about a pound and a half of ground beef and used all 3 tablespoons of taco seasoning. It’s not to spicy for the kids, not overly salty, and its just down right tasty. Hope you enjoy taco night as much as we do.

{Gluten Free} Carrot Cake Muffins

For Easter this year I made that cute little (gluten free carrot) bunny cake with lots of delicious cream cheese frosting and tons of sugar! It was a big hit! There was only a tiny bit left over and we were not quite ready for the deliciousness to end. So… I decided to try to make a healthier muffin version that we could enjoy for breakfast. These muffins are so flavorful, moist, and just down right delicious. This recipe can easily handle some add ins like walnuts & raisins offer a little more texture and shredded coconut give an extra pop of flavor. Personally I’m kind of like a little kid when it comes to muffins. I like my muffins naked (no nuts or raisins for me) but since most of the other adults in my life who would be consuming these muffins really like those things and because I love them so much I decided to throw them in there. You can easily add any type of nut or dried fruit that you would like or you could keep it simple with just the carrots.

What you’ll need:
2 medium sized bowls
1 small bowl
liquid measuring cup
measuring cups and spoons
box grater or food processor
something to mix with
muffin tin
cupcake papers

Ingredients:
1 cup agave syrup (I buy mine at costco its really affordable and lasts a long time)
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3 cups of shredded carrots (6-8 carrots depending on their size)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sunflower seed oil (I buy this at trader joe’s but if you don’t have any you can also use vegetable oil)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
a pinch of ground ginger
a pinch of ground nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves
1/3 cup of almond milk (in an attempt to make this recipe dairy free I used almond milk instead of regular milk you can use what ever you prefer)
*1/3 cup plain sparkling water
1 teaspoon of golden flax seed slurry
3 cups of grated carrots
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup shredded coconut
*if you begin to follow my blog and read my recipes you’ll see that many of my recipes call for sparkling water. Sparkling water helps make your gluten free recipes taste more like the “real thing”. The bubbles help give your baked goods more air pockets. There’s a lot of science behind it that I won’t bore you with and even though we might not know each other just trust me and use it if you’re baking gluten free :)
 
Now for the how to:
Prepare your flax seed “slurry” before you do anything else. In your small bowl mix 1 teaspoon of golden flaxseeds and 2-3 teaspoons of HOT water and set aside so they can do their thing. Preheat your oven to 350 & put your cupcake papers in your muffin tins. (I believe this recipe made about 20 muffins because I filled the tins up to the top) Now for the fun part (not really) grate your carrots. Congratulations you just did your arm work out for the day. Now back to baking… In one of your medium sized bowls combine your flour, salt, baking powder & soda, cinnamon, and spices. In your other medium sized bowl first melt your coconut oil (about 15 seconds in the microwave) then add your sunflower seed oil, toss in your agave syrup and brown sugar and mix well. Next up is your eggs, vanilla and lastly in this bowl in goes those flaxseeds that have been soaking. In a liquid measuring cup you can combine your milk and bubbly water. Now time for us to bring it all together. For this recipe I like to add a little of the flour mixture and then a little of the milk/water mixture to our bowl of liquid ingredients alternating until everything has been mixed together. Please note your batter will be VERY runny. Its okay. I was really concerned that my batter was not thick enough but they turned out even better than I had anticipated. Back to mixing our ingredients… Fold in your grated carrots and if you’re using nuts or dried fruit fold that in as well. Like I mentioned before I filled up my muffin tins almost to the top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them when your tooth pick comes out with a little crumb on them you know they’re done. Make sure you invite your friends over while these are baking so they can ohhh and ahh and enjoy the amazing smells that will be wafting through your house. Take the muffins out allow them to cool in the muffin tins for a few minutes and then remove them from the tins and allow them to cool the rest of the way on your baking racks.  These make for a great breakfast or even a healthy dessert. Happy baking!

{Gluten Free} Coconut Strawberry Lime Bread

Lately I have been trying to stretch my creativity in the kitchen, write new gluten free recipes, and try new and interesting flavor combinations. I have been posting lots of pictures of these tasty treats on instagram and facebook and I have had many friends and family request recipes. So I have finally decided to bite the bullet & create a blog to share all of my recipes!
Yesterday I baked up this great quick bread for my hubby’s breakfasts this week. Its light and airy, not too sweet, and will definitely have you pining for summer! It can also be easily made into muffins or you can bake it in a cake pan, slap on a little frosting and voila you have a nice little dessert.
Happy Baking Friends!

What you’ll need:
2 medium sized bowls
1 small bowl
measuring cups & spoons
something to mix with
a loaf pan
non stick cooking spray (I like using the coconut oil spray from trader joes)

Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose gluten free flour (I almost always use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of agave syrup (you can also use brown sugar if you do not have agave)
1/2 cup of greek yogurt (I used vanilla flavored because that’s what I had in the fridge)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
zest & juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup of strawberry puree (about 6-8 strawberries depending on their size)
1/2 of coconut flakes + 2 to 3 tablespoons toasted coconut flakes for the top
1 tsp of golden flax seeds slurry

Now for the how to:

For the best results if time allows be sure to take out all refrigerated items and bring them to room temperature before getting started. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While you’re waiting for your ingredients to come to room temp. you can toast a little bit of your coconut flakes to sprinkle on top of your bread. Spread your flakes on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven for about 4-5 minutes. Now to get started on that bread…In a small bowl combine 1 tsp of golden flax seeds and 2 to 3 tsp of HOT water and set that aside. In one of your medium sized bowls combine your flour and baking powder and set aside. You can use your other medium sized bowl to melt your coconut oil. I like to pop mine in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Allow your oil to cool then combine the rest of your ingredients in this bowl. Personally I like to combine in this order {mixing each ingredient in before I add the next}: oil, eggs, yogurt, agave, almond milk, lime zest, lime juice, strawberry puree, coconut flakes, and lastly that little bowl of flax seeds which should be nice and gooey by now. Once you have combined all your wet ingredients you will want to dump them into your bowl of flour. Mix just until combined then pour batter into a nicely sprayed loaf pan. Sprinkle those toasted coconut flakes on top and then bake for about 30 – 35 minutes. Allow loaf to cool in pan on a baking rack for about 5 minutes then remove from pan and allow loaf to continue cooling. Once it is cool, grab a cup of coffee and slice into that bad boy and ENJOY!