Gluten Free Tips

I cut gluten out of my diet 8 1/2 months ago. At first it was pretty hard. But as the days went on, I realized I just felt a lot better. No more bloating or stomach cramps. Less headaches. And my thyroid was no longer hyperactive. Amazing, right? I thought so.

Anyway, over the last 8 months I’ve learned a thing or too. I thought I would share some of the knowledge I gained, in hopes of helping someone else.

• Gluten free pizza at Costco: I love pizza. I’ve tried a lot of different ones. But I always come back to Costco. They have a great gluten free pizza in the frozen section.
• Soy sauce: regular soy sauce contains gluten. And I love Asian food. Especially sushi. If I an find a sushi without soy sauce soaked seaweed, then I eat it dipped in kikkoman brand soy sauce. Yum!
• Flour: There are a lot of different gluten free flours to chose from in grocery stores. Thanks to my good friend Meriam, she told me about Pamela’s flour blends. And it has become my favorite. I use it to make pancakes, waffles, thicken soups, etc.
• Glutino makes tons of delicious gluten free options. My favorites are pretzel sticks, oreo cookies, and buttery crackers.
• Stores: Kroger and Publix both carry a lot of gluten free options. And surprisingly, Aldi has a lot of gluten free options.

Do you have any tips for being gluten free? If so, please share with me!

Maniac Monday – Customize Your Salsa

Want to know why I will never buy salsa again?

That’s easy – it’s because I will always make it myself from here on out!

Recently a good friend of mine passed along a salsa recipe. You can find that recipe here. I tweaked the recipe and love how it turned out so I had to share with you all!

Here is my recipe but know you can customize it completely to fit your needs. You could not put any jalapeno if you don’t like spicy. You could add black beans or corn to have a different spin. If you like it chunky just add an extra can of diced tomatoes at the end. So many ideas!

Easy Homemade Salsa

What you need:

• 1 can of whole tomatoes 28 – 32 oz, drained
• 1 red onion, quartered
• a couple garlic cloves whole or minced (whatever you have)
• 2 Tbsp of lime
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of cumin
• a large handful of fresh cilantro (I used almost a whole bunch)
• 1 can of jalapenos (I used a 4 oz can)

What to do:

Put everything in a food processor and blend until consistency is like you prefer. Serve chilled!

Note – this salsa is best once it sits together a bit in the fridge. Also, I not sure how long it lasts but it has been gone in 4-5 days in my house.

Maniac Monday – Paleo Deliciousness!

I came across a delicious recipe for Paleo Chicken Curry. I changed up the recipe and the result was YUMMY! So I thought I’d share. Enjoy! I hate I don’t have a picture but I totally forgot to snap one.

Ingredients
2 plantains, peeled and chopped
1 lb chicken breast, chopped
1 (14 oz) canned coconut milk
2 tablespoon curry spice
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 bag of baby spinach

Instructions
1. Heat up the coconut oil over med-high heat. When the oil os hot add the chopped chicken to brown it up.
2. Once the chicken is browned – add all the seasonings, plantains, and mix around.
3. Then add the coconut milk. Mix everything, turn on low, cover, and let cook for around 10 minutes.
4. After the 10 minutes, you will put the bag of spinach in and cover. This will wilt the spinach. Once it’s wilted, mix everything and its ready to serve!

If you aren’t doing the Paleo diet, this would be delicious over white rice.

original recipe from paleoOMG

Maniac Monday – Meal Plan

Hey readers – here’s another meal plan. Some really delicious recipes this week. Hope you enjoy!

Monday
Beef and Bean Taco Bake
http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/04/beef-and-black-bean-taco-bake.html

Tuesday
Garlic Lime Tilapia
http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/11/garlic-lime-tilapia.html

Wednesday
Harvest Apple Pot Roast
http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/09/harvest-apple-pot-roast-beef-its-whats-for-dinner.html

Thursday
Spaghetti and Meatballs

Friday
Pumpkin Black Bean Chili
http://eatathomecooks.com/2012/09/pumpkin-black-bean-chicken-chili-in-the-slow-cooker.html

Saturday
Out to eat/Leftovers

Sunday
Gluten free Chicken and White Bean Chili
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2012/01/gluten-free-chicken-chili-with-white.html

Maniac Monday – Meal Plan

Here’s another week of meals. I hope these are helpful!

MEAL PLAN:

Sunday
Pumpkin Chili

Monday
Baked Italian Chicken with fruit and green beans

Tuesday
Pork carnitas on corn tortillas with salad
http://eatathomecooks.com/2012/08/easy-slow-cooker-pork-carnitas-weeknight-dinner-favorite.html

Wednesday
Greek pita sandwiches

Thursday
Pork Tenderloin with pan sauce, Brussels sprouts on side
http://chefmommy-brandao.blogspot.ca/2012/03/pork-tenderloin-with-pan-sauce.html

Friday
Sandwiches and soup

Saturday
Leftovers

Maniac Monday – Roasting Veggies

So I have a new favorite side dish. You can make it with all types of veggies. So I just had to share…ENJOY!

Roasted Vegtables

• A dash of olive oil
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of minced garlic
• Vegetable of your choice (green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a pan with aluminum foil.
3. Spread out the vegetable on the pan.
4. Cover in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.
5. Mix around and then put in oven.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until you get the roasted, brown look.

And that’s it – it’s so easy. And it’s so delicious. You’re welcome.

Maniac Monday – Pork Tacos

My family loves taco night. We have it most every week on Thursday. TACO THURSDAY! After a few weeks of having the same ole, same ole beef or chicken tacos. I decided to switch it up a bit. We’ve had fish tacos and shrimp tacos. But our favorite lately has been pork tacos. And this is a crock pot meal. It made enough to have lunch the next 2 days as well. For lunch, I served it over rice….Mmmmm!

Here’s what you need:

•     2-3 lbs of pork shoulder roast
•     2 cans of mild green chilis
•     1 cup of beef broth
•     1 medium onion, chopped
•     salt/pepper
•     2 tbsp of cumin
•     2 tsp of oregano
•     1 tbsp of garlic, minced
•     a dash of olive oil

Instructions:

1. Cover the pork in salt and pepper and then brown on all sides in a hot pan. This should only take 5 minutes max. Note-this was the first time I’ve done this and it was so worth it. The pork ended up having crunchy edges after being cooked in the crock pot all day! This technique seals in the flavor.
2. Put the browned pork in the crockpot and slice some slivers in it. You will put the garlic into those slivers.
3. Mix the spices with the beef broth and then pour that over the meat.
4. Then put the top on and cook 8-9 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. Once it’s finished, you will shred up the pork and let it sit in the juice.
5.  I fry up some corn tortillas and serve in them with fresh cilantro and raw onion on top.

And if you like this recipe – feel free to share!