Maddie's Mexican Lasagna

Mexican always hits the spot! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this recipe. It's my second time making it and you can add and take out ingredients to cater to your taste buds. This recipe will definitely become a regular in your household!

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas

1 large jar of salsa

1 can refried beans

1/4 C water

1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

1 packet or 2 large Tbs Taco seasoning

Optional:

Green pepper and onion 

Garnish:

Olives

Cilantro

Lettuce

Avocado

Sour cream

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Brown your meat in a large pan and add in your taco seasoning. Take out meat and set aside. If you are adding onion and bell pepper thinly slice those and saute in the same pan with 1 tsp of taco seasoning and 1 Tbs olive oil. 

2. Pour a thin layer of salsa in a 9x13 baking dish. Layer 4-6 corn tortillas on the bottom.

3. Warm up the refried beans in a small bowl and add 1/4 cup of water to thin out the beans. Spread the refried beans over the tortillas.

4. Pour meat evenly over the refried beans.

5. Add your peppers and onions, I also added some more salsa at this point but that wasn't necessary. Sprinkle a generous layer of cheese. Now add another layer of corn tortillas. 

6. Pour salsa over the tortillas and make sure most of the tortillas are covered. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Sprinkle with olives. Wait a few minutes to cool then cut and serve! 

Serve with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, cilantro and avocado to really knock this dish out of the park!

Very delicious and very gluten friendly!

Curry Roasted Cauliflower

This is one of my husband's favorite vegetable dishes that I make. It is so scrumptious and even veggie haters would love it!

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

2 TBS Olive Oil (more or less, enough to coat all of the florets)

1 1/2 Tbs Curry Powder

Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven 375 degrees.
2. Cut and tear florets from cauliflower head. Toss in a bowl and drizzle olive oil over the cauliflower. 
3. Sprinkle curry powder, toss and stir. Sprinkle more curry powder, toss until all is evenly coated.
4. Spread cauliflower out on a pan. Add salt and pepper to cauliflower.
5. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until they are slightly tender when you stick a fork in.

We had the cauliflower with Lloyd's BBQ sandwiches (I had mine open face on some GF bread) and sweet potato fries. Wanna make those sweet potato fries???

Sweet Potato Fries with Guru's dipping Sauce

2 large sweet potatoes

2 TBS cornstarch

2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp cajun seasoning

salt  

Sauce:

1/3 C Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (or any GF sauce)

1 TBS mayonnaise

1 TBS sour cream

1 tsp cajun seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut sweet potatoes in french fry strips. Soak in ice water for a few minutes. Dry VERY well with a dish towel.
3. Throw fries into a ziploc bag or bowl and toss in cornstarch 1 TBS at a time with 1 Tbs olive oil, toss to coat evenly. (you might need to do this in two separate batches)
4. Sprinkle in salt, mix evenly.
5. Spread on a lightly greased pan. Do NOT crowd the fries. If the fries are too close together they will not get crispy because of the steam they give off. (If you're making a lot use two baking pans)
6. Sprinkle cajun seasoning. 
7. Bake 20 minutes. Turn fries over and bake another 15ish minutes.
8. Make sauce while fries are baking and let it sit in the fridge.

Oatmeal Coconut Bars

WARNING: Highly Addictive

I'm proud of these suckers because even a coconut hater LOVED them. They are the perfect thing to satisfy a sweet and boom baby gluten free as well! You gotta try these. You will not regret it. 

Thin + Chewy Chocolate Drenched Coconut Oatmeal Squares

makes one 9×9 pan (about 16 squares)

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (gluten free)

1 1/2 cups shredded, sweetened coconut

1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup coconut oil (measured solid)

1/4 cup honey

Spray a 9×9 pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, and salt. Heat a small saucepan over low heat and add butter, brown sugar, honey and coconut oil, stirring until melted. Add the butter mixture to the oat mixture and stir very thoroughly until the entire mix is moistened. Press it into the pan and stick in the fridge for 15 minutes.

chocolate layer

8 ounces good-quality chocolate, chocolate (I used half milk/half semi-sweet choc. chips I had lying around)

2 tablespoons coconut oil (measured solid)

Using the same saucepan that you melted the butter and oil in, add the chocolate and oil and stir over low heat until melted. Remove the pan from the fridge and pour the chocolate evenly over top, spreading with a spatula or spoon. Place back in the fridge for about 30 minutes. When ready to eat, either cut the squares in the pan, or gently lift the square out and place on a cutting board to cut. It helps if the bars somewhat come to room temp before cutting, as they will slightly crumble a bit if super cold!

Cut into squares and enjoy!

I'm going to double the recipe next time and put it in a 9x13. They were that good!

Recipe and photos courtesy of: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/06/thin-chewy-chocolate-drenched-coconut-oatmeal-squares/

Mango Avocado Salsa

One of our favorite meals at the Carr residence is either grilled chicken or fish with mango avocado salsa on top. It's so fresh, so flavorful and one of those meals that you just feel good after eating. This week I had a burrito bowl (spinach, brown rice, chicken) with mango salsa on top. It makes any kind of mexican dish so flavorful.

Mango Salsa Ingredients:

1 large mango

2 avocados

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1/3 c. cilantro (more or less depending on your taste)

1/3 c. chopped red onion

2 Tbs lime juice

1 tsp honey (if your mango isn't very sweet)

salt and pepper to taste

Shepherd's Pie

Wondering what to do with your leftover mashed potatoes??

Make some good ol comfort food!

Don't hate on the Shepherd's Pie. When done right it will bring comfort to every nook and cranny in the body. It may be poor man's food but I will always love it.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey or beef

1 packets gluten free gravy mix

salt and pepper

3 C. mashed potatoes 

1 can of corn and green beans (whatever you like)

grated cheddar cheese

Optional for extra gravy:

1/2 c milk

2 tsp cornstarch

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Brown your meat in a skillet and season generously with salt and pepper.

2. Add your gravy mix with the water amount it says on package. If you want extra sauce add 1/2 c milk with 2 tsp of cornstarch and mix in with the gravy and meat (I did this and was glad I did!).

3. Pour meat/gravy mixture into a pie pan.

4. Top with vegetables of your choice. I had corn and green beans on hand.

5. Spread warm mashed potatoes over the top and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until bubbly.

Bon appetit!

Chicken Bryan

If you've ever been to Carraba's then hopefully you have tried one of their best dishes: Chicken Bryan. It is grilled chicken topped with goat cheese and a lemon basil cream sauce. My husband looooooves this dish so I was set on trying to duplicate it with my own flair. I found a copycat recipe online then just went with what I had and improvised for my tastebuds.

Picture doesn't do it justice.

It was sooooo delicious. I'll definitely be making this on a more regular basis.

I didn't do any measuring but here's what the recipe was pretty close to:


2 Chicken breasts
salt and pepper

Feta cheese (I bought sundried tomato/basil flavored)
1 tsp garlic salt
1 TbspLemon juice
1 tsp dried herbs or 1 tbsp of fresh - Basil would be best but I used Herbs de provence
1/2 onion diced
1/4 C sundried tomatoes chopped
1/2 C milk mixed with 1 tbs of cornstarch
2 tbs Sour cream or plain yogurt
2 Tbs parmesan
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil

Instructions: Pat chicken breasts dry then cut a pocket in the middle and stuff with feta cheese. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Bring  a pan to medium-high heat and melt 1 Tbsp of butter. Sear both sides of chicken breasts but do not cook all the way through. Once chicken is done take them out of the pan and make the sauce in the same pan.
Add your olive oil and onions. Saute onions until translucent. Add seasonings, garlic, sundried tomatoes and lemon juice. Cook for one minute then add your milk/cornstarch mixture and the plain yogurt. I added the parmesan at this point and if the sauce gets too thick add a little bit more water or milk. Top chicken with a bit more feta then pour sauce over top! Bon appetit

Serve with vegetables and mashed potatoes. Yum.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/original-carrabbas-chicken-bryan-not-copycat-361631

GF Granola Bars | A Treat!

Adapted from All Recipes

"This recipe yields a chewy granola bar versatile enough to be adapted to your personal tastes or dietary need."

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 cup corn syrup 3/4 cup natural peanut butter 1 cup gluten-free chocolate chips, divided 1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped cashews 2 cups gluten-free oatmeal 2 cups crispy rice cereal (I used Chex) 1/3 cup flax seed meal

Directions:

1.	Mix syrup and peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.
2.	Remove saucepan from heat. Stir about half the chocolate chips into the syrup mixture.
3.	Mix remaining chocolate chips, almonds, cashews, oatmeal, crispy rice cereal, and flax seed meal in a bowl.
4.	Pour the mixture from the saucepan over the mixture in the bowl; stir to evenly coat.
5.	Transfer mixture to a 9x13-inch baking dish and press into an even layer; allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

Feel free to add/substitute additional ingredients like dried fruit, other nuts, different GF cereal, etc.