Make-It-Monday: Everything but the main dish

We've been trying out lots of new recipes this week!  We've been trying to incorporate more raw vegetables into our diet, and are also trying to make everything from scratch.  Gluten free "foods in a box" are so expensive and really are not all that nutritious (not that the ones that I made are totally healthy, but it is a step in the right direction).  

BREAD: Gluten Free Cheese Bread

I found this recipe on the Marine Corps Nomads Blog.  WOW!  Flavor is awesome.  I definitely need to bake it about 10 minutes longer next time, but they were oh so very delicious.  I used mostly organic ingredients and raw cheddar cheese.  I blended it in a VitaMix which worked incredibly well.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg (room temp is best)
• 1/3 C plain yogurt
• 1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 C cheddar cheese
• 1 C tapioca starch/flour
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1/4 C water (room temp)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Place all ingredients in blender.  Blend until completely combined.  This will be thin batter.
3. Pour mixture in prepared mini muffin tins.
4. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees F.
5. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until slightly golden. 
6. Remove from pan.  Serve immediately or cool and store in airtight container.

SIDE DISH: Raw Green Bean Salad

I was trying to find something to do with our green beans we got from the Farmer's Market this weekend.  We normally just cook them up in some olive oil and garlic, but as I said earlier, we are trying to incorporate more raw veggies into our diet.  "M" will just eat raw green beans plain, but I need some more flavor.  So in a bowl I mixed the following ingredients (and I just threw it together without measuring, so you might have to adjust according to your taste preferences) and allowed it to marinate in the refrigerator for an hour (but I have to say that they more much better as leftovers the following day when they had been marinating for 24 hours).

*Very large handful of green beans, sliced lengthwise and into one inch pieces

*Small handful of tomatoes, diced

*Olive oil (maybe about 1/4 cup)

*1 clove Garlic, minced

*Juice from half of a Lemon

*Basil (about 1/2 teaspoon)

*Rosemary (about 1 teaspoon)

For lunch I will often serve "M" a muffin tray of veggies.  You can see the Raw Green Bean Salad in the upper right.  This particular lunch tray also has Kale Crisps, Bell Peppers, and Cucumbers.

SIDE DISH (although it was our main dish tonight): Veggie Chicken Salad

I was wanting to make a healthy alternative to chicken or egg salad for dinner tonight, so this is what I came up with.  The girls and I loved it!  Could be great as a main dish or a side dish.  Again, I just threw this together so the measurements are just a guess.  I mixed all of the following ingredients together in a bowl:

*1/4 cucumber - finely chopped

*1 carrot - finely chopped

*3 hard-boiled eggs - diced

*1 can organic chicken - diced

*1/8 cup olive oil

*dash of parsley

*dash of salt

DESSERT: Pumpkin Pie Pick-Ups (Gluten Free)

Recipe from Enjoy Life's Cookies for Everyone (page 201)

I made some changes to the recipe, so I will write it as I made it below.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Tbsp. flax
• 1 1/2 cups goat milk
• 2 tsps. baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 2 cups canned pumpkin pie mix
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Pace all ingredients into VitaMix (or blender) for 2 minutes.

3.  Pour into greased 9-inch pie pan.

4.  Bake for 35 minutes (again, I should have probably baked ours about 10 minutes longer... might just be something with our oven!)

5.  Let cool.  Slice into wedges.

While we were waiting for this to bake, "M" did some baking of her own!