Apple sandwiches

Are you looking for a fun and easy lunch or snack? Here is a fun idea that I found on pinterest.

Apple Sandwiches
What you need:
Apples
Peanut Butter or Sun Butter
Mini dairy free chocolate chips, dried fruit or other fillers

Directions:
Slice the apple into slices and core. Or if you have an apple corer, core the apple first and then slice. Spread your nut butter or sun butter on apple slices and top with the filling of choice. My kids found these to make an amazing lunch and loved eating them.

Beef Freezer Cooking

A few people want to know what my 2 freezer cooking groups do and what we cook.When we cook we pick a common ingredient this time it was beef but we have also done chicken, pork, breakfast, sides and sweet treats. We pick 3 to 4 meals and double them so we each have 6 to 8 meals per family.

This month we cooked

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Meatballs/Meatloaf (I use gluten free crackers and each person picks how they want their meal)

Slow Cooker French Dip

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef (Use gluten free soy sauce)

Remember that we double each recipe per person.

The night before I browned the ground beef for the stroganoff and prepped all the onions in the food processor. The next day one person finished making the stroganoff using olive oil instead of the fat. While she was doing that I started on the Mongolian beef and the third person started the French dips. We did our french dips in our slow cookers and had the dip cook all day to eat that night. Then we froze the leftovers for another meal later. Then as I finished the Mongolia beef the other two started on the meatballs/meatloaf. (Use gluten free crackers) We love this recipe because it works well as both meatballs and meatloaf. We bake them at 375* until done, this depends on the thickness of your meatloaf and how big your meatballs are. We then did dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and we home to fill our freezers. It is a small way to start filling your freezer for nights that you don't know what to cook.

Vanilla Apple Sauce

This is a new twist on regular apple sauce. The vanilla bean adds a wonderful subtle taste that makes this recipe so refreshing. Do you see the vanilla flecks?

Vanilla Apple Sauce

What you need:
8-9 apples (I used several different ones)
2/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups water

Directions:
Peel, core and chop your apples. I had my kids chopping apples with a butter knife which is why I started with 9 apples. Mix your chopped apples with the lemon juice and add to a medium to large pot. To the apples add the water and sugar, stir to help dissolve the sugar. Split your vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Add both the split pod and the seeds to your apples.
Bring the apple mixture to a boil over medium heat and then reduce to low. Simmer the apples for 10 to 15 minutes or until the apples are soft. 

Chocolate Zucchini Doughnuts

Doughnuts are something my whole family loves but the gluten free doughnuts the stores offer leave something to desire. I did buy myself doughnut pans in both regular and mini doughnuts and the long ones are on my wishlist. The ingredients used in these doughnuts make them perfect breakfast food along with a glass of cultured coconut milk. 

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Zucchini Doughnuts
adapted from BruCrew

What you need:
1/2 cup dairy free butter softened
2/3 brown sugar
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1 6oz carton dairy free yogurt (I used vanilla almond yogurt)
1 cup zucchini, shredded
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Shortbread cookie mix
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the salt, applesauce, yogurt, milk, and zucchini and continue to combine. Sift together the cookie mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Slowly add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. 

Spoon the doughnut butter into a large ziplock bag and cut one tip off. Fill the doughnut pan cavities at least 3/4 full. Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To serve top with powder sugar or dairy free whipped cream, try this one or use this, with fresh fruit.

Corn Free Candy Corn

Ever since the Halloween candy has hit the shelves my kids have been begging me to make candy corn. It was not as hard as I thought it would be and turned out to be fun. The pictures will also show why I love the orange and yellow food coloring from Natural Candy Store. The colors are so vibrant and real looking and they taste so much better than the store bought stuff.

Corn Free Candy Corn
Adapted from Alton Brown

What you need:
4 1/2 ounces powdered sugar
1/2 ounce powdered milk (I use DariFree which you can find here)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 1/2 ounces granulated sugar
1/3 cup corn free corn syrup
2 1/2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons dairy free butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
orange and yellow food coloring

Directions:
I did mine just like Alton Brown did except for using natural food coloring. Follow his directions here. I also took tiny cookie cutters and used them to cut out solid colored bit sized candies. After I cut and shaped my candies they were still a bit sticky. I decided to place them in my dehydrator for a few hours on the lowest setting. They firmed up on the outside but are still nice and soft on the inside. Since they had a few hours in the dehydrator they can be stacked together to store.

DIY: Corn Free Corn syrup

I know that my title sounds a bit funny but you can make a corn syrup substitute so you don't have to use corn syrup. Why would you want to do that? So you can make candy corn! We have eliminated non-organic and GMO corn from my kids diet because they react to it similar to how they react to gluten. This means no corn syrup and Cameron really wanted me to make candy corn, which needs corn syrup.
I looked at many different substitutes and I did not want my candy to have a dark tint to them. This lead me to make my own corn syrup. It is not hard to make and it works perfectly to make candy corn.

Corn Free Corn Syrup

What you need:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp salt and a pinch

Directions:
Combine sugar, water and salt together in a heavy bottom pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Place the lid on the pan and cook at a simmer for 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes clip a candy thermometer on and cook till 240 degrees. Let cool slightly and store in a glass jar. Please be very careful as this is very hot stuff that will burn if you are not careful! I used most of the recipe making candy corn. The longer it sits the more it will form sugar crystals but warming the syrup will even the syrup back out. 

Yes, I know it's not the best picture but you get the idea.

Gluten and Dairy Halloween Candy

It's October! I am going to try to be more here the month of October and give you lots of neat ideas and recipes for gluten and dairy free Halloween treats. I'm starting off with a company today that I have worked with in the past and I love the selection they have. The Natural Candy Store has a great selection of gluten and dairy free candy that you can swap out the candy they get trick-or-treating. Out here camping they do three weekends of trick-or-treating plus we go out for Halloween. That is a ton of candy that my kids gather. They have no problem handing the candy back out to other trick-or-treaters but a few pieces of candy are nice to have. There are several different candies that I ordered this year to trade out along with some candy I can buy at my local health stores. We don't do many sweets but when all the other kids are having something special it is nice to be part of that group.

Here are some candies that I love from them.

 Gummi Jack o Lanterns they are corn free too!
Sour Worms
Gummy Spooky Spiders
Natural Candy Mix suckers, gummy worms and gum

I also order my food coloring from them and I have not had a problem with any colors. In fact I prefer the natural food colors over the ones I can buy locally because the colors are more true colors.

Black
Orange
Yellow
Red
Green
Blue
Purple

Now I have a challenge for you. I know we all like to get free stuff and as soon as my Facebook page hits 200 likes I will give away an awesome gift box full of gluten free yummies! The faster we reach this goal the more items will go into the box. Help me reach this goal by sharing with your friends and family please.