Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I came across a recipe on a blog for Carnitas and decided to modify it to suite our tastes. The original recipe called for a lot more spices than I've used and with the modifications, both my husband and I decided it tasted amazing and should definitely be made again!

So for your enjoyment,

Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

2 lbs Pork Shoulder roast

1/2 Cup Orange Juice (low or no pulp)

1/4 Cup Lime Juice

1/4 + 1/8tsp garlic powder

salt to taste

1/2 Tbsp Cumin

1/2 Cup Campbell's Vegetable Broth

Directions:

1) Mix together Garlic, salt and Cumin. Rub roast with mixture.

2) Place roast in 6 quart crock pot.

3) Add remaining ingredients, pouring over roast.

4) Cook for 4 hrs on high (8 on low)

5) Serve over rice.

Original recipe found at http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/02/slow-cooker-carnitas-recipe.html

Product Review: S'Better Farms Beef Corn Dogs

So late (really late) Saturday night (possibly Sunday morning) my husband and I went to Sobeys to get some milk and I was HUNGRY!

I really honestly didn't expect to find anything I could make easily at Sobeys but was pleasantly surprised to find that they did have a couple of pre-made items in stock in their freezer section!

I was about to pick up a Glutino cheese pizza when this caught my eye. . .could it be?! Gluten free corn dogs?! Part of me wanted to leave them there and go with the "safer" option of pizza after having had some really really grose breaded chicken concoction that I picked up at a local gluten free store a few months back. I wasn't expecting much of this product but I was actually very pleasantly surprised!

I don't require the rest of the options on the box but it is helpful to mention that this product is not only gluten free but also Kosher and Halal for those of you that that might impact.

I didn't quite master the cooking times yet as I think my microwave is a bit stronger than the one on the box but both myself and my non-celiac husband thought that these offered a good taste and texture (especially for gluten free) and would buy them again. They retailed at Sobeys for $9.99 plus tax.

Shepherd's Pie

So again tonight I made Shepherd's Pie and again there isn't a picture. There never is for Shepherd's pie because we always mean to take a photo but we always eat it too quickly. It's just too good and way to easy to make!

However, I've been putting off posting this recipe until I get a picture but tonight I realized that I may NEVER remember to take a picture so I decided tonight to post this. Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

4 large potatoes (unpeeled), cubed (2 lb/1 kg)
1/4 cup (50 mL) milk
1 lb (500 g) lean ground beef
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) chicken stock (I made this from scratch, make sure to check any store bought!)
1 tbsp (15 mL) cornstarch
1 cup (250 mL) frozen corn

Preparation:

1) In large saucepan of boiling salted water, cover and cook potatoes
until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and return to pot. Mash
coarsely; stir in milk.

2) Meanwhile, in skillet, fry beef. Transfer to plate. Drain fat from skillet.

3) In same skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry onion, salt and
pepper, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned, about
8 minutes.

4) Whisk together stock, and cornstarch; stir into skillet. Add beef
and corn; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened and
heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve over potatoes.

Quinoa Flakes

This morning I decided to try something new for breakfast. Quinoa Flakes (pronounced keen-waa). As you can see they look quite a lot like oatmeal and can be used in much the same way. The picture to the left is of the flakes before cooking. I didn't end up taking a picture afterwards but it was kind of a cross between cream of wheat and oatmeal in texure. Quinoa is an awesome grain that is safe to eat for Celiacs and is full of protein, fiber, magnesium and iron!

Quinoa definitely has its own flavour. Don't expect it to taste like Oatmeal though it is similar. Some people describe it as tasting "nutty". I had mine with cinnamon and brown sugar this morning. It was definitely an improvement over cream of rice cereal!

The Quinoa I purchased was GoGo Quinoa flakes. They were approximately $7.00 a box. I'm hoping to try to use it to make apple crisp as well and will let you know how that turns out! :)

Quinoa Porridge (serves 1):

1/2 Cup Quinoa Flakes (instant)

1 Cup water

Flavourings

Directions:

Place 1/2 Cup Quinoa Flakes in a bowl. Add 1 Cup of bowling water and stir until fluffy. Add desired flavorings (ex. cinnamon & brown sugar, raisins, apples, etc).

A Zucchini Experiment

Lately it has been entirely too difficult to keep on top of this blog! With a camera full of baby pictures instead of food, and an adorable mini me, who wants to be carried around all day, unfortunately I'm not blogging as much as I probably could be at this point. :)

Apologies to all of you but I figure she's only young once! :)

So, tonight I give you a creation of leftovers thrown together in a possibly grosse looking but very yummy way! Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Zucchini and Ground Beef Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Can GF Tomato Sauce

4 Cups Diced Zucchini

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1/2 Cup GF Corn Flakes (Nature's Path - Honey'd)

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Tsp Dried Basil

1 egg, beaten

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil Casserole dish.

2) In a frying pan cook the ground beef until heated through.

3) In a large bowl combine zucchini, bell pepper, corn flakes, cheese, oil, basil, egg, tomato sauce and ground beef. Season with salt and pepper.

4) Spread evenly into prepared baking dish.

5) Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Meatloaf

So the other night my husband is on his way home and he calls and says "what are we having for dinner?" Honestly I didn't know so I poked my head into the fridge, like so many of us do, and saw some gluten free bread and a pound of ground beef and decided on meatloaf.

I didn't have a recipe for this though so it ended up being a whatever we have kind of thing so bear with me on the directions! I felt it was a bit too moist in the end so I'm suggesting a cooking time of 1 hour instead of the 45 minutes we cooked it for. Otherwise it turned out really well and very yummy! Good Luck and Enjoy!

Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup Alterna Gluten Free Bread Crumbs
• 1/4 cup Natur-a Original Rice milk
• 1 Large egg
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup Green Peppers, Chopped
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup GF Spaghetti Sauce (We used Prego - Read your label!)
• 1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

1) Mix bread crumbs with milk.

2) Beat egg and add to bread mixture.

3) Mix in chopped onion and green peppers.

4) Add Spaghetti Sauce and meat gradually to blend all together.

5) Season with salt and pepper.

6) Place in a 1.5 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until cooked through.

7) Top with Mozzarella cheese and return to the oven for another 2 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted!

8) Enjoy!

Kushari

So to the left is what we were supposed to be making on Friday night for dinner.

I took this picture the first time I made Kushari but never ended up getting it up on the blog. Unfortunately Friday went anything as planned and we ended up at my mother in law's house using her barbecue instead.

Basically all h-e- double hockey sticks broke loose. lol. The baby was crying, I was starving and she wouldn't stop eating so I couldn't get anything done. So my husband volunteered to make dinner. The pot he wanted to use to cook the rice was dirty so he went to wash it and turned on the tap and. . . .BAM! Water EVERYWHERE! Clear across the kitchen!! Baby started screaming louder, husband yelled "grab the baby!" Wife (me) completely exhausted was like Oh my Gosh now what?!

Luckily something had broken off the front of the tap so there was only a huge spray if you turned it on. So we cleaned up the mess, called my husband's mother and headed over there with a couple of packages of ground beef. Not at all as we'd planned and probably not as tasty in the end but we were fed and happy and had a nice visit.

So, at any rate as I've mentioned before, we've made Kushari before and it's very good so I'll leave you the recipe so you can try it for yourself. :)

Kushari

Ingredients:

1 Cup GF small shell pasta

1 Cup White Rice

1 Cup Canned lentils

1 medium diced Onion

1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Ground cumin

1 (14 1/2oz) can chopped Tomatoes

Directions:

1) Cook White Rice and pasta

2) Fry Onion, garlic powder, and cumin

3) Add Lentils and Tomatoes to Onion mixture, cook until warmed through.

4) Mix together Rice, Pasta, and Lentil mixture.

5) Serve

Esau's Birth Right - Lentils with Rice

Its hard to believe its March already! I ended up ignoring my blog a bit last month since we were just so busy!

The 3 of us & the cat moved to a new city on March 1st. It's really amazing how much effort it can take to pack up a place and move to a different city in a month. We ended up doing all of the packing and moving in less than 2 weeks due to illness and the fact that we only just found an apartment at the last minute.

At any rate, we're here, the boxes aren't all unpacked but we're enjoying settling in and I can go back to cooking since my pots and pans are unpacked now! Yay!

This is a fairly inexpensive, quick and easy recipe that we came up with last night. Officially known as "Esau's Birth Right" it apparently has some biblical relevance but I'm not exactly sure what. Either way it tastes good and it's pretty cheap and I think nutritious. You might try adding some spices - maybe some cumin would be good if you think it's too plain. We were too hungry and tired last night to try. :)

Esau's Birth Right

Ingredients:

2 Cups Cooked White Rice

1 Cup canned lentils - rinsed

1/2 Cup Raisins (we used Sun-maid)

Directions:

1) Cook rice according to package directions. (We added salt, pepper and butter)

2) Add Lentils and raisins to rice, heat until warmed through.

3) Enjoy!

Pizza Mashed Potatoes

This is last night's dinner. There was no official recipe for this. It was more thrown together. I was actually browsing an online recipe site when I saw the words pizza potato casserole. I was far too busy last night to cook and so my husband made what I told him to.

Basically I told him to make mashed potatoes and add various things to them. Here is our "recipe".

Pizza Mashed Potatoes:

Ingredients:

4 Large Potatoes

1/2 can GF Tomato sauce (350ml)

4 Slices of bacon - cooked

1 1/2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 Green Bell Pepper chopped

Directions:

1) Make mashed potatoes.

(Peel and slice potatoes, place in a pot on the stove. Cover potatoes with enough water to cover them. Set burner to Maximum. When the pot boils turn it down to 4 and set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove from the burner, drain over the sink and add milk, salt and pepper if desired. Mash)

2) To Mashed potatoes add sauce, bacon, cheese and green pepper. Stir together and Enjoy!

Pretty simple recipe but it's really good. :)

Italiano Chicken and Rice Bake

Cook With Campbell's - Italiano Chicken and Rice Bake

I found this recipe on Campbell's website and modified the recipe very slightly. I omitted the mushrooms because my husband doesn't like them and added more zucchini in place of them. I also used chicken legs instead of breasts. Because Campbell's cream of mushroom soup is not gluten free, we used Gardennay Harvest mushroom with Real Cream instead and used Mozzarella cheese instead of Parmesan since we were out of Parm. At any rate it's definitely one to be made again!! I've included the modified version of the recipe below. Enjoy!

Italiano Chicken and Rice Bake - Gluten Free Version

Ingredients:

1 box (500ml) Gardennay Harvest Mushroom with Real Cream Soup

3/4 Cup Uncooked Long Grain white rice

3/4 Tsp Dried Italian seasoning

1 2/3 Cup Sliced Zucchini

2/3 Cup Drained, canned diced tomatoes

4 Chicken Legs

1/3 Cup Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

1) Mix soup, rice, and Italian seasoning in a 2 quart casserole dish. Spread evenly with vegetables.

2) Top with chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover.

3) Bake at 400F until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender - about 50 minutes.

4) Let stand 5 minutes, serve. Enjoy!

Apple Muffins

So we're having company this weekend and I thought it would be nice to be able to offer them some baked goods. Also, since I've been breastfeeding I feel incredibly hungry and there isn't much time to eat anything with much nutritional value so I thought I would like to have some muffins around to munch on. Being Celiac though you can't just run out to the store/ Tim Horton's or McDonald's or somewhere and buy a 6 pack of muffins so I went looking for a way to make them myself.

To the left is my finished product. I was pretty pleased! It tastes great and looks like a muffin! :)

The recipe I used was from Aunt Jemima of all places. Found on this website

at: http://www.auntjemima.com/aj_recipes/recipesToppings/recipe.cfm?recipeID=11539&toReturn=L2FqX3JlY2lwZXMvcmVjaXBlc1RvcHBpbmdzL1NlYXJjaFJlc3VsdHMuY2ZtP0tleXdvcmRzPSZhbXA7Q2xhc3NJRF8xPSZhbXA7Q2xhc3NJRF8yPSZhbXA7UHJvZHVjdElEPTI3NDcmYW1wO1N0YXJ0Um93PTE=

I'll include the recipe below as well with the gluten free modifications. :) Enjoy!

Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

1 Cup Glutino Gluten Free Pancake Mix

1 Cup Tapioca Flour

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

2 tsp. Magic Baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 large apple peeled, chopped

1 cup 2% milk

1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 egg slightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400° F.

2) Line with paper baking cups.

3) Combine pancake mix, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in medium bowl. Mix in apples until well combined.

4) In small bowl, combine milk, oil, egg and vanilla; add to flour mixture. Mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.

5) Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.

6) Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 2 minutes in pan. Remove to cooling rack.

My first attempt at Bread

So I'm definitely no expert when it comes to cooking but I'm not particularly crazy about the cost of a loaf of gluten free bread. So I guess you could say my New Years resolution was to figure out a way to make decent tasting and textured gluten free bread that was also reasonably priced!

I had gone on a website that offered a seemingly simple recipe for a gluten free bread but after a trip to the Bulk Barn and a few other stores and realizing that city wide there was an apparent shortage of Xantham gum, I decided that I'd look around the kitchen and figure out what I did have and see what I could make with it!

So my first attempt at bread does need work and I'm not sure I'd call it traditional bread but it does taste good so I'll give it that. lol. I'm open to suggestions. I followed a recipe for beer bread and substituted Lakefront New Grist beer for gluten beer. The recipe was found athttp://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2005/11/beyond-easy-beer-bread.html . I didn't add the cheddar because I was afraid if I messed up the recipe I'd also waste cheese on top of the expensive beer. lol.

Anyway here's my version of their recipe:

Gluten Free Beer Bread:
2 1/4 cups White Rice Flour
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder (I used Magic because in Canada it's Gluten Free)
2 teaspoons dried dill weed

12 oz Lakefront New Grist Gluten free Beer

Glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten

1) Heat oven to 375°.

2) Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, dill in a large mixing bowl.

3) Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick.

4) Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan, brush with egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

5) Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes.

6) Serve warm or at room temperature.