{Gluten Free} Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies

Have you ever been at a party or a potluck and there are brownies and cookies and you’re faced with a choice. Do you choose the brownie or do you choose the cookie? But what if you want both? Well I have the perfect solution for you. Bake the brownie and the cookie together! Brownie plus cookie equals brookie. And let me just say who ever decided it was a good idea to combine peanut butter and chocolate was pure genius. It’s a tiny bit salty, nice and creamy, and of course rich and “chocolatey”. Just plain yum!

These brookies require a little extra work since you’re essentially making two desserts at one time. But absolutely worth the little extra mess and effort. I also snuck in my favorite little dark chocolate peanut butter cups from trader joes for a little surprise treat.

What you’ll need:
2 mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Baking dish
Something to mix with
Knife
Cutting board
Non stick cooking spray

Ingredients for the brownie:
½ cup oil
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup all purpose gluten free flour
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ cup of cornstarch
6 dark chocolate peanut butter cups

Ingredients for peanut butter cookie:
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla
¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ cup of all purpose gluten free flour

Now for the how to:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In one of your bowls mix together oil, ½ cup of sugar, vanilla, and 2 eggs until combined. Then mix in ½ cups of flour, ¼ teaspoon of baking powder, salt, and cornstarch. Lastly mix in cocoa powder. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and set aside. Next roughly chop up the peanut butter cups and sprinkle them on top of the brownie batter. In the other bowl you will mix together the peanut butter cookie dough. Combine all of the ingredients except the flour. Once all the ingredients are incorporated then mix in ¼ cup of flour. To form even sized cookies I used my tablespoon measuring spoon. Form dough into a ball and if you’d like to get a little fancy make the crisscross indentions with a fork. This recipe will yield 12 cookies. Place cookies evenly on top of brownie dough and bake for 25 minutes. Allow them to cool before cutting. Serve with some vanilla ice cream and you have a complete dessert sure to wow your taste buds. Enjoy!

{Gluten Free} Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

There’s just something so comforting about a great steamy bowl of chicken soup. On a cold windy day it just makes you feel so warm and cozy. There are so many variations of chicken soup but recently this chicken and wild rice soup has become one of our favorites. It is definitely one of the more “fussy” meals that I make and I’m sure I could cut my prep and cook time in half if I just threw all the ingredients in the crock pot but doing it this way just seems to extract so much more flavor from all the ingredients. So if you’re up for spending a little extra time in the kitchen I promise this soup will be worth your time.



What you’ll need:
* large soup pot
* knife
* cutting board
* peeler
* spoon

Ingredients:
* chicken (this time I used 2 pieces of boneless skinless thighs & 2 pieces of boneless skinless breasts)
* ½ cup of black wild rice
* ½ cup of long grain white rice
* ½ cup long grain brown rice
* 2 carrots
* 2 celery stalks
* 1 yellow onion
* 1 package of mushrooms
* 3-4 cloves of garlic
* a handful of baby spinach
* 3 tablespoons of gluten free all purpose flour
* 6 tablespoons of butter
* 1 tablespoon of olive oil
* 2 quarts of chicken stock
* spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, parsley, 3-4 bay leaves

Now for the how to:
There are several different steps to making this soup. If you don’t have time to be in the kitchen for a long time you can definitely do a few of these steps in the morning or on a different day and store the ingredients in the fridge until you are ready to assemble your soup. To cut down on the clean up I used one pot for each step.
First thing I did was cook the rice. Put all three of the different types of rice in the pot with about 3 cups of water and cook according to package instructions. While your rice is cooking you can dice all your vegetables. (I like to dice the carrots, celery, and onions to be all the same size and on the small side.) Once your rice is cooked remove from the pot and set aside. It’s ok if you remove the rice from the pot before it is completely cooked because it will continue to finish cooking once you add it to the soup.
Next thing you’ll want to do it cook the chicken. For this soup I boil the chicken. Fill the pot about half way full of water. Place raw chicken and sprinkle in some salt, pepper, one or two shakes of ground ginger, garlic, and onion powder. It will take about 30 minutes to cook through. Once chicken is cooked drain the water, remove chicken from the pot, and set aside to cool. Once the chicken is cool enough to touch shred the chicken into nice bite size pieces.
Next up is cooking your mushrooms. I like to cook my mushrooms before adding them to the soup because I feel like it brings out all the delicious natural flavors of the mushrooms and gives them a nice bite. Place the pot on medium high heat and put a tiny bit of butter in the pot. When your pot is hot and the butter has melted drop in your mushrooms and then leave them alone. After about 3 minutes then you can move them around the pan and let them cook for another 2-3 minutes. They should be nice and brown and should smell amazing! Take them out of the pot and set aside.
Keep your pot on medium high heat and add about 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then you’ll want to toss in your onions and garlic. Cook for a couple minutes until the onions are almost translucent. Then you’ll want to add in the carrots and celery and all your spices accept the bay leaves. (Like most of my other savory recipes I don’t really measure out my spices. I do a few shakes of each of the spices and a generous amount of salt and pepper.) After this has cooked for a couple minutes now the magic most important part that will give your soup the perfect thick amazing texture that we love in a great soup. Take your remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and drop in the pot and stir it all around until the butter melts. Then you’ll want to take about 3 heaping spoonfuls of gluten free flour and mix it all in. Don’t worry it will look chunky and strange but its ok its suppose to. Keep stirring it around. Then you’ll want to take your chicken stock and slowly start pouring the stock in and continuously mixing it around until all the thick lumpiness starts to go away.
After you pour in about a quart of the chicken stock the broth should be very thick. Now you’ll want
to pour in your spinach, chicken, mushrooms, rice, and bay leaves. At this point you’ll want to start adding the next quart of chicken stalk. After you get most of the quart of stock incorporated you’ll want to taste your broth (be careful its hot) to see if you need to do a second round of seasoning. Let your soup simmer for at least 30 minutes but even longer is better.
I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did. Hubby had 4 bowls, I had 2, and the kids each had 1 big bowl (veggies and all!). Its great for a nice cool evening and will make your tummy oh so happy!

{Gluten Free} Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bakes

We are getting closer to summer and you know what summer brings warm weather (my favorite)! When those temperatures start to rise the last thing you want to do is fire up that oven and heat up an already hot house. But sometimes you just really want some cookies. Such a dilemma right!? Well you’re welcome because I have a solution for you. These cookies are a “fudgie” delight. They are not only easy to make (they take about 5 minutes to mix) but they are packed with healthy stuff like gluten free oats and quinoa. These cookies can handle tons of add ins like chocolate chips, shredded coconut or dried fruit. And if you would like to make them vegan friendly just omit the butter and use all coconut oil.


What you’ll need:
* a medium sized pot
* some measuring cups
* something to mix with
* wax paper or parchment paper
* a couple of plates of cookie sheets

Ingredients:
* ½ cup almond milk
* ¼ cup coconut oil
* ¼ cup butter
* ½ cup honey
* ¼ cup cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate cocoa powder)
* ½ cup peanut butter
* 2 teaspoons of vanilla
* 2 cups of gluten free oats
* 1 cup of cooked quinoa

Now for the how to:
Lay out some parchment paper or wax paper on your plates or cookie sheets. Trust me you’ll want to do this first or you’ll be scrambling to lay it out when your hands are all messy and you’re ready to scoop out your cookies. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything like that. Put your pot on the stove and place on medium heat. Toss in your coconut oil, butter, and honey. (Remember: if you measure your oil first and use the same measuring cup to measure your honey it’ll come sliding right out of that measuring cup.) Once your butter, oil, and honey have melted you can stir in your peanut butter. Remove your pot from the heat and stir in your cocoa powder and vanilla until combined. Lastly toss in the oats and quinoa. Combine and then use one of your measuring cups to scoop out some perfectly uniformed cookies onto your parchment paper. This recipe yields about 18 cookies. After scooping out your cookies place them in the fridge to cool. Once they are cooled you can store them in a Tupperware in the fridge. Use parchment paper between your layers of cookies to keep them from sticking together. Be sure to stash some of these behind the sour kraut because these bad boys are so tasty though won’t stick around long. Enjoy!

{Gluten Free} Banana Orange Chia Seed Muffins

We have an orange tree in our front yard so I am always trying to come up with new and interesting ways to use our oranges before half of them end up falling off the tree and rotting in our grass. Yesterday with the help of my little man we made some really great banana orange muffins. They have just the right amount of sweetness. They are nice and moist and really simple to make.

What you’ll need:
A small & large mixing bowl
Muffin Tin
12 cupcake papers
1 cup & 1/4 cup measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Fork
Something to mix with
Microplane

Ingredients:
2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
1 large orange (zest & juice)
2 mashed bananas
1 egg
3/4 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
1/2 cup of agave
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Now for the how to:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake papers in muffin tin. Do you have a little one around that likes to help out? I do! My little man loves to help me in the kitchen. Yesterday I put him to work on pealing the bananas and mashing them in the large bowl. While he was doing that in the small bowl I measured out the flour, baking powder, salt, chia seeds, and the zest of the orange. Once little man was done mashing the bananas I gave them a once over until that looked like this.
To the large bowl we then added the egg, milk, and oil. Here’s a tip if

you’re going to have to measure out something sticky like agave I like to measure my oil first so that it makes the measuring cup nice and slick and all the agave will come slipping right out. So next up is the agave and lastly the juice of that big orange. Then you’ll want to add in the flour mixture into the bowl of the wet ingredients. It’ll look something like this.

Now its time to fill up those muffin tins. I like using that same little 1/4 measuring cup that I used to measure my ingredients with to fill up my muffins tins. As you can see from the photo I fill up those bad boys all the way to the top. Bake them for 25 minutes. Once they come out of the oven let them cool on the cooling rack until you can handle them with your bare hands then remove them from the muffin tins and allow them to cool the rest of the way on your cooling racks.

{Gluten Free} Pasta Sauce

I used to think that kids were picky eaters because their parents allowed them to be but boy was I wrong! My little man has been a picky eater since the first time we introduced him to solids! I tried and continued to try to offer him veggies and new kinds of foods but he just was not having it. I was shocked because our first born loved to eat anything and everything we’d put in front of her. Because of our little mans pickiness I have had to figure out ways to sneak the good stuff in there, make it fun and interesting, and of course extra flavorful so that he will not only eat it but also enjoy it too! What tricks do you use to get your little ones to eat their veggies?

A nice hearty veggie sauce is one of my favorite ways to sneak in the good stuff with out them ever
suspecting it! I like to start out with either a plain tomato sauce or even this marinara from trader joes as the base for my sauce and then add in all these great fresh veggies.

What you’ll need:
A can opener
A large pot
Knife
Cutting board
Microplane or garlic press
Heat resistant mixing spoon

Ingredients:
A can of tomato sauce or marinara
1 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 bell pepper or a few baby bell peppers
1 large handful of spinach
1 zucchini
1 carrot
A few basil leaves
Some mushrooms
Spices- salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
Top secret ingredient… 2 tablespoons of something sweet either sugar, agave, honey whatever suites your fancy 

Now for the how to:
First thing you want to do is chop up all your veggies. I start by dicing my onion.

Then I use a Microplane to grate the garlic. Here’s a tip especially if you’re trying to sneak those veggies in with out your kids complaining… Chop up your veggies really small. I like to get a nice even   dice on all my vegetable. Then you’ll want to heat up your sauce pot and pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Once that is hot toss in your onions and garlic. Let that cook for a minute or
two. Then you’ll want to add your bell peppers, carrots, and zucchini. Once you get that all incorporated you’ll want to add some of your spices. (Sorry I don’t have measurements for this; I just shake some in and mix it all up.) After that you’ll add the spinach, basil, and mushrooms. Stir it around real good and let it cook down for a few minutes. Then pour in your sauce, wine, and your top secret ingredient. Stir it around and let it simmer on a low heat. The longer you let it simmer the better it will taste. If you’re short on time though at least let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Tonight I used this sauce to make a nice cheesy lasagna. But this sauce can be used on pasta, chicken, or anything you like. Happy cooking!

{Gluten Free} Banana Pancakes

Have you ever woken up in the morning and had a hankering for pancakes but the effort that it takes to make pancakes outweighs your craving so you just go with toast or cereal or something else you just didn’t really want. Well I have a solution for you. Not only are these pancakes easy to make, they don’t make a huge mess (you don’t even need a bowl for mixing), and they only take about 5 minutes to make. Another plus to these little guys is that this recipe is a single serving. So no more left over soggy pancakes sitting in your fridge hoping to be reheated and eaten!

I first got the idea for these pancakes from none other than Pinterest of course! But the first recipe I
tried didn’t call for any flour. They were so hard to flip and they just didn’t have the pancake texture. So I tweaked the recipe a little and now I can make these pancakes in my sleep! Trust me sometimes I feel like that’s what I’m doing in the morning. My little man loves these pancakes! I make them at least once a week. And when my daughter decide she’s in the mood for these pancakes as well I just double the recipe.

Disclaimer: this recipe is not at all technical. I don’t use any specific measurements. Check out the step by step photos above to see how I “measure” my ingredients.

What you’ll need:
blender
non stick cooking spray
pan
spatula
Ingredients:
1/2 of a banana
2 spoonfuls of gluten free all purpose flour
1 egg
A couple shakes of cinnamon

Now for the how to:
Dump everything into your blender. Blend until combined. Spray your pan with non stick cooking spray. These take about 2-3 minutes to cook on one side before they’re ready to flip. Note… They don’t bubble like “real” pancakes. Once you flip them they only take about another minute to finish cooking.

This recipe yields 3 small pancakes. Another great thing about this recipe is that you can add some blueberries, chocolate chips, or even some cocoa powder! They are great served with syrup or jelly or even plain if you please! Hope y’all go bananas for these pancakes!

{Gluten Free} CranApple Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Now lets be honest here who doesn’t like a good cookie for breakfast. As a mom of two little ones if there are cookies in the house I’ve been known to hide in the corner of the kitchen sneaking a cookie (or two) for breakfast while the kids are watching their morning cartoons. Well sneak no longer. These cookies are meant to be eaten for breakfast. They are not only gluten free but they are vegan as well! They are super easy to make and only require one bowl so the clean up is minimal. Huge plus right!?

What you’ll need:
a large bowl
something to mix with
some measuring cups
cookie sheet
non stick cooking spray

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon of chia seed slurry
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening (I used crisco)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of brown sugar (I think you could easily cut the sugar or even use agave to make them even healthier)
1 cup of apple sauce
1 cup of gluten free all purpose flour
3 cups of gluten free rolled oats (I use the trader joe’s brand)
1 1/2 cups of dried cranberries

Now for the how to:
Preheat your oven to 350. In a small measuring cup mix together 1 teaspoon of chia seeds with 2-3 teaspoons of HOT water. In a large bowl combine the shortening, sugar, and apple sauce. Once that is thoroughly combined mix in flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Toss in those nice slimy chia seeds. Then lastly fold in your oats & dried cranberries. After spraying your cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray use 1/4c measuring cup to portion out your cookie dough. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet until you can handle them with out getting burned then you can transfer them to your cooling racks. Be sure to let your cookie sheets cool completely before putting the next batch on the cookie sheet. Because I tend to be impatient and don’t want to wait I usually just run mine under cold water for a few seconds and then wipe them down (just be sure to spray them again so your cookies don’t stick). These are a great quick bite in the morning especially when you need a little something for on the go.