Gluten Free "Lara-balls"

So I've been looking for dates at the store for like 6 months, no joke! Clearly I went on the wrong days but I ended up finding them at the health food store after way too long. 

If you've never had a Larabar then I suggest you try one! Every flavor blows my mind and is great for on the go. Plus my almost 3 yr old loves them (just as much as me.) So that can add up in price! After way too long I decided to make them again. These came out amazing. And from I gather, as long as you have enough dates, you can pretty much throw anything into these (well not anything but you get my point!!) there are tons and tons of recipes on Pinterest! 

So here it goes-

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 cups of pitted medjool dates 

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 almonds

1/2 walnuts 

2 heaping TBS of flax seeds

2 TBS raw cacao powder (you could replace this with a protein powder to make them more energy like!) 

Place everything into a food processor and blend for about 5-6 minutes, open and being down the sides to the middle, resume blending. After about 10 minutes of pulsing and blending you start to see what looked like a rough mixture turn darker and get stickier. At that point you can take the blade out and start to roll into balls! You can do granola bar like rectangles too but I like the balls for whatever reason :-)

Super easy & tastes like a desert! I folded my toddler into thinking they were "treats" and he is all about them. I will even say I got my hubby on bored. The worlds most closed minded foodie, and been changed one recipe at a time! (He even ordered mushrooms has on his pizza last week!) 

Enjoy! 

Gluten Free Turkey Meatloaf Cupcakes

{Ingredients}

1 cup of carrots 

6-10 mushrooms of choice 

1 medium zucchini 

1/2 onion 

4 big cauliflower florets

(These veggies can be replaced with so much! I always try to pack at least 4 in and use what I have) 

1LB of lean ground turkey

Sea Salt/pepper/cumin/ thyme/rosemary/celery salt/garlic 

Normally I replace the egg in traditional meatloaf recipes with salsa, but since I'm nursing and my bebe doesn't do so well after I eat anything tomato or acidic I changed it up! 

So here is what I did:

After cutting excess junk off of the veggies I roughly chopped and tossed them all into a food processor until they are evenly minced I took a paper towel to blot up any extra water in the mixture so it doesn't water the cupcakes down. 

(If you do not have a food processor don't worry! Use can use a ninja or a blender too, or what I do too is just chop and minced everything by hand. It doesn't have to be finely cut either! We've done them where there's chunky veggies and it's delish too) 

Mix the veggie purée and the ground turkey together, season and ball into a greased cupcake pan and bake at 400• for 25 minutes. 

Top with homemade mash potatoes! A lower carb option would be cauliflower mash! Something I'm trying next time! 

These are veggie packed and toddler approved! 

{EASY} Gluten Free Beef Stroganoff

{EASY} Gluten free beef stroganoff 

1 pound organic cubed sirloin 

4 cups beef broth (I use Pacific Brand) 

1 cup of water 

3 celery stalks (sliced)

1 white onion (Julienne sliced)

Pint of mushrooms (Julienne sliced) 

Salt 

Pepper

Fresh minced garlic  

Thyme 

2 Tbs Gluten free flour 

1lb GF egg noodles of choice 

Throw meat, broth, water, seasoning, onions and mushrooms in crockpot. Cook in crockpot for 4 hrs on high. 

About 15 minutes before done cook noodles and cook until al dente.

After 4 hours take a strainer and sift out as many onions as possible w/ a little juice and blend them together in blender until smooth. Then whisk in flour. Take noodles and stir into crockpot, season to taste.

Seriously tasty. Seriously simple! 

You could easily add bean sprouts, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots very easily  and serve over rice instead as a yummy dish twist! 

Gluten free Belgium Waffles!

{RECIPE for waffles} 

1 cup Brown Rice flour 

1/2 cup Potato starch 

1/4 cup tapioca flour 

2 tsp {Cf safe} baking powder 

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 Cup of coconut oil {melted) 

1 tbs butter melted 

2 eggs 

1+1/2 cups of 2 % milk or milk substitute (coconut is yum w/this!)

1 tbs brown sugar (or reg, I prefer brown or coconut) 

1 tsp (cf safe vanilla) 

Mix, pour into waffle maker. Makes about 5-6 waffles! 

I like a little bit of butter, fruit and agave syrup for dipping to top these off. So fluffy and yet crunchy along the sides.

{GLUTEN FREE! FOOTBALL FOOD!}It's been quite a while!!!

Wow it's been quite a while. I've been up and down since my RA diagnosis late may but on my good days I've been cooking up a storm. Today especially I've had quite a bit of fun making some football yummy's for my hubby {and my 9 month preggo self!}

 Learning how to cook or eat with a corn allergy and being celiac has not been easy, or fun. But when I find ways to move around those {BIG} obstacles I feel like I've moved mountains! 

This morning was one of them! All my food is from scratch {gluten & corn free of course too} which I prefer. It tastes so much better, is fresher and is way healthier for you. Even when it's something bad. 

Today I woke up too energized which makes me feel like this baby is a coming soon. I made gluten free/corn free Belgium Waffles. So delicious, they've been a staple the last couple of weeks. I found a recipe that I tweaked to my preference and taste. So good! 

I will post recipes separate from this post 

:-) 

Next up since I can't have bagged fries or safe fries anywhere for that matter thanks to the corn additives and the cross contamination of oils and breaded junk I resorted to making my own from scratch in a personal deep fryer. What what! SO GOOD. I can not say that enough. 

Turkey chili was next, then hot wings!! My husband decided chili cheese fries was a good football snack so he's devouring those now. Hah! 

What a good food day! It's gonna be yummy! Turkey chili, fries, waffle and hot wings recipes to follow!!! 

Update I suppose..

Sorry to anyone who might have been looking for GF recipes or anything fun on here as of late...(I'm sure there's been no one but haha) 

About 3 weeks ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. It's been quite a pill to swallow with everything else I have to deal with medically. And quite frankly I have little to no support during this time. 

Sometimes I should pat myself on the back for the things I've gone through and continue to go through daily. But I don't. Instead the lack support has put me in a downward spiral of anger and sadness. I'm so tired of friends and family only coming to me about them especially when I'm suffering so badly. No one listens, everyone compares and in the end all the conversations are about them. And bc I don't bring what I'm going through up its my fault. 

I guess sometimes I want people to know me well enough to push through me saying "oh I'm fine" or my constant smile. Because truly I'm not smiling on the inside and I feel like I'm wasting my days lately. And truthfully life is seriously to short to feel like this. I feel helpless. I'm tired of people only saying "I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this." 

I liked it back in the day when people gave a damn. I liked it when I had friends and family that cared. I liked it better when people cared more about people not only about their job or money. Being an adult sometimes is shitty. But at the same time there's barely a time I'd rather go back to because my life has seriously been so messed up. 

I wish I could make my health problems disappear. I wish I wasn't in physical pain constantly. I wish I was not letting my cards I've been dealt dictate who I am inside. Ugh.... 

Take time Tuesday

What a sunny week or two it's been!! It's amazing! The sun really makes a difference in everything :-)

I'm thankful I got a fun date night with the hubby this last week. We went to the Tigers/Twins game! A little spousal rivalry!!!

Also I made some yummy dishes too! Homemade GF granola bars, yummy breakfast sandwiches and chicken lettuce wraps. Good food is always something to be thankful for!

I also got my Mother's Day gifts early from my hubs. He's so good to me. And knows me so well. Love him! Cool new kicks and a bag full of cute maternity clothes. All picked out by him and a total surprise. He did great too!

Lastly I have been in so much physical pain lately and my pt session today was super helpful. They found that yet again my hip has gone back into its upslip. It kills but now I know why my leg and hip have been almost unbearable lately. Unfortunately they couldn't fix it today, but I have to go back so they can so that's good!!

I finished an art project too! A vintage chalkboard for our kitchen! Woot woot :-)

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!!

-M