Amy's Finnish Soup

My friend Amy brought this soup in to work a week or two ago and between the amazing color of it and the report that her family all loved it, I decided it was something I needed to try.  It absolutely did not disappoint!  This soup was so good.  Katie ate as much as she could fit in her little belly.  We loved it.

Finnish Soup

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

3-4 potatoes peeled chopped

1 large purple onion, chopped

4-5 carrots peeled, chopped

*I also added one yam, peeled and chopped.  Amy said it was also good with butternut squash.

Put in a large stock pot with about 8 cups of chicken broth (enough to cover veggies) and salt and pepper.

Cover with lid and cook until veggies are really soft, about 30 min.  Puree soup in blender a little at a time. Return to pot and put in 1-8 oz. block of low-fat cream cheese.  Heat until melted and smooth!

Fudgy Brownies

Last night we were craving sugar.  Phil specifically wanted brownies.  I’m a big fan of mixes, but I didn’t have a gluten-free one so I decided to try making some from scratch.  It was a risky move when we were so desperate for something delicious, but it turned out rather amazing!  This is a recipe that I HIGHLY recommend trying out.  It sounds way more time consuming than it really is. 

Fudgy Brownies
1/4 c. almonds, ground fine in food processor (I used the incredible Magic Bullet)
1/4 c. gf oats, also ground fine
1/3 c. rice flour
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. walnut or pecan pieces (I left these out, but I bet that would be delicious!)

Preheat oven to 325 and generously grease 8x8 pan.  Combine ground almonds, oats, and rice flour, set aside.  Place the chocolate, butter, and salt in a sauce pan and melt on stove-top over low heat.  Stir constantly and remove from heat when the mixture is smooth.  Cool for 5 min.  Add the sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add flour mixture and stir until moistened.  Stir in nuts if you’re using them.  Scrape batter into pan and bake about 25 min or until a tooth pick comes out moist but clean. 
These are delicious warm (we ate them with vanilla ice cream) but were equally amazing when they were completely cooled the next morning (yes, morning. Don’t judge me).

Cocnut Curry Chicken

A few weeks ago Phil and I went out for Indian food for the first time (Thank you, Trina) and we loved it.  We decided we needed to try more foods we don't eat very often.  Who knows what else we're missing?  This week I decided to experiment with curry.  I was scared, but it went well.  We really liked this dish.  Katie even ate it.  Actually, at first she refused to eat it.  Then we bribed her with a movie or something to try one bite of chicken. After that she said, "Mom!  I can eat all my chicken!"  And she did.  You can find the original recipe here.  I changed a few ingredients (mostly because I couldn't find green curry paste and I could never put a whole onion in any recipe. Ever.) and it worked out great.  I hope you like it, too!

Coconut Curry Chicken

2 chicken breast halves, sliced in small pieces

crushed garlic

olive oil

4 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped on a diagonal

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 can coconut milk

2-3 tsp red curry paste

3 Tb sugar

corn starch to thicken

Stir fry chicken in garlic and olive oil, set aside.  Stir fry veggies and onion in garlic and olive oil until the onions are cooked through.  Combine chicken with veggies in large skillet.  Pour coconut milk over and stir in curry paste, sugar, and corn starch (I did about 2tsp).  We ate this over jasmine rice like the original recipe suggests and it was so so good.  This serves about 4.

Gingerbread Waffles

It's been a while since I've posted anything new, but I promise this is worth the wait.  I didn't take any pictures because, well, I'm not good and photographing food.  But you can go here to see the original recipe (not gf version) complete with irresistable picture.  I made these this week as a holliday breakfast treat and they were fabulous.  It's kind of a lot of sugar but hey, it's Christmas time.  Try these out.  They'll change your life. =)

Gingerbread Waffles

1/2 c. butter melted

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. molasses

2 eggs

1 1/4 c. milk

2 c. gf all purpose flour (I used Blue Chip Featherlite mix)

1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

1/2 t. salt

Mix all ingredients in a mixer and cook on waffle iron.  Mine were very soft and flexible when I pulled them off.  Softer than a normal waffle.

Serve them with this delicious little sugar-potion:

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter

1/2 c. corn syrup

1 c. buttermilk (I used regular milk + tsp cider vinegar)

1 t. baking soda

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

Place in a big pot, it will boil huge. Boil just until it turns a darker brown color.  Mine took about 5 minutes.

Or, eat them plain. Or cold. Or however you want.  They're so good!

Pumpkin Bars with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the food.  I love pumpkin so I’m always up for trying a new recipe.  I got the pumpkin bar recipe from Betty Crocker and the frosting from here.  These turned out great and I think this frosting would taste good on just about anything you make with pumpkin.

Here is the cake mix I use:
Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix Yellow 15.0 oz Box,6 packs
 
Pumpkin Bars
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 eggs
1.   Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease bottom and sides of cookie sheet shortening or cooking spray.
2.   In large bowl, beat all bar ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Spread in pan.
3.   Bake 18-20 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 2 hours.
4.   Spread frosting over bars. Store in refrigerator.
 
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. butter, softened
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

I hate to say it, but I totally rocked dinner tonight.

I have an all-new obsession.  I can’t get enough gluten-free Bisquick.  It’s just amazing.  It makes the best waffles and pancakes ever.  Then I tried the “Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie” everyone’s always telling me about.  Delish.  Tonight I made the recipe on the box for Chicken Fingers and it was the bomb.  We absolutely loved them.   I was looking in recipe books for something to use up my zucchini and yellow squash and found a recipe for “Garden Frittata.”  I like recipes that are naturally gluten-free and don’t require any modification, and that’s what this is.  This was an unlikely combo, but made a great dinner! Here are the recipes:

GF Bisquick Chicken Tenders

3/4 cup Bisquick Gluten Free mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt or garlic salt
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 lb), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1.   Heat oven to 450°F. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.
2.   Stir Bisquick mix, cheese, paprika and salt in shallow baking dish. Dip chicken strips into eggs, then coat with Bisquick mixture; repeat dipping in eggs and Bisquick mixture. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Drizzle butter over chicken.
3.   Bake 12 to14 minutes, turning after 6 minutes, until no longer pink in center.
**We dipped these in ranch, honey & ketchup.

Garden Frittata (recipe from Taste of Home)

1 small yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small red onion, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 medium tomato, sliced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 eggs
1 cup skim milk
2 T. fresh basil
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Combine squash, zucchini and onion in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for about 5 minutes or until veggies are tender, drain.  Put veggies into a greased 9 inch pie plate.  Top with mozzarella, tomato slices.  In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, basil salt and pepper and pour over veggies.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and bake uncovered for about 45 min at 375 degrees.  Let stand about 10 minutes.

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies

This recipe is a slight variation of one my Corsen gave me a few weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for my red peppers to ripen so I could make it.  It turned out really amazing.  Phil even loved it, and he’s not a huge fan of meals that don’t involve meat. So there ya go.

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies
 
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 zucchinis, sliced (I used one zucchini, one yellow squash)
2 tbsp.  olive oil
1 lb. spiral or penne pasta (Used Tinkyada spirals and the texture was awesome)
1 C. cottage cheese
2 carrot, sliced
1 C. Parmesan cheese
Pinch of nutmeg
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese
3/4 C. crushed Rice Chex cereal
 
Preheat oven to 425
1) cook pasta 2 minutes short of package directions
2) Toss garlic, peppers and squash in large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.  place veggies on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
3) mix cottage cheese, 1/2 of parmesan and nutmeg in large bowl.  Gently fold in cooked pasta, veggies, tomatoes, cubed mozzarella and seasonings.  Pour into greased baking pan.
4) Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and crushed cereal.  Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.