Back in 2009, I was introduced to edamame at an Army conference I had gone to. I was with a group of other Army spouses and we were hanging out after working all day and having dinner. The hotel had a couple options for dinner and the one was sushi. The one spouse explained how she hated sushi but her husband loved it but she discovered edamame and that is what she eats when her husband needs a sushi fix and she proceeded to order some. As someone who is anti-sushi myself and generally avoids it I was intrigued by these bean looking things but soon fell in love with them. I immediately knew I needed to buy some and make them for my family when I got home.
snacks
Chili Nachos
It’s Friday and around our house that means it is Family Fun Night! Typically on Family Fun Night my family eats pizza and watches movies. For food i’m left to fend for myself. Sometimes though I skip the pizza and make other snack foods instead. With Allrecipes this month we worked with Hormel Chili and I discovered their Chili Nachos.
Classic Chex Mix
On my next day of Homemade Christmas I have Classic Chex Mix
Chex Mix was another treat that my grandma would send us at Christmas time. It is a treat that is easy to customize and everyone has their own favorite parts. My favorite is the classic that I grew up with. Chex, Pretzels and Peanuts… that is all I need. While I use to love those Rye chips in store-bought Chex Mix I have never added them to my own. The thing about Chex Mix is there is something for everybody in it. I use to be the person that ate all of the Wheat Chex. They were my favorite. If only they weren’t full of gluten now. I will miss eating them.
So, what is a gluten free girl to do when she “needs” her holiday Chex mix,she figures out how to make it gluten free! I started by cutting out the Wheat Chex. I just added equal parts of rice and corn Chex to make up the difference. Next I needed to find gluten free pretzels. This past year I have started cautiously trying out gluten free products. Pretzels were one of the foods I have tried. My favorite gluten free pretzels are made by Glutino.Well, Snyders of Hanover have some great flavored bits that would be good also. Walmart also makes their own line of pretzels that are so-so. Then I added the classic peanuts. All that was left was checking the ingredients of the seasoning mix. The only ingredient that threw up red flags for me was the Worcestershire sauce. Sometimes it is not gluten free because it is made with malt vinegar so you need to really read your labels. Then all that is left is to mix it up and cook it. While I have used both the oven and microwave to make it, both methods being easy. The microwave method wins just because it is so quick!
I am happy to have this tradition back in our house. I just need to make sure I don’t eat my weight in Chex Mix, it is absolutely addictive!
Check out my 12 Days of Homemade Christmas for other great ideas!
- 4½ cups Corn Chex® cereal
- 4½ cups Rice Chex® cereal
- 1 cup cocktail peanuts
- 1 cup bite-size gluten free pretzels
- 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ teaspoons seasoned salt
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals, peanuts, and pretzels; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in seasonings. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated.
- Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com
Peanut Butter Monster Rice Cakes
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpreadTheMagic #CollectiveBias
I have to tell you something about my family, they are peanut butter monsters. Each and every one of them. It is insane the amount of peanut butter my family goes through in a month. I sometimes wonder if my family has peanut butter running through their veins they eat so much of it. With eating the quantities that we do there are always debates. Like the basic Creamy, Crunchy or both? Regular peanut butter or honey peanut butter? Which peanut butter is the best peanut butter? My husband and I have seriously stood in the aisle comparing labels for a good twenty minutes trying to figure that last one out. Then I discovered a new peanut butter, Peter Pan Simply Ground Honey Roast at Walmart.
I fell in love with it. I shared some with Lil Miss and Mr Great when we made Peanut Butter Monster Rice Cakes but I want to keep the rest to myself. Would it be that bad if I hid it for myself?
So what makes this peanut butter so special? Peter Pan Simply Ground Honey Roast is “creamy with a BIT OF CRUNCH.” It’s not smooth but at the same time it is not a traditional crunchy peanut butter. It is similar to the texture of freshly ground peanut butter. I really like the texture. It is perfect just spread on a rice cake, my go to pre- long run breakfast to just dipping some Honeycrisp apple slices in.
Thinking about my favorite things to eat with peanut butter with I came up with a great snack idea for my kids, Peanut Butter Rice Cake Monsters. When my boy’s were younger I was always trying to come up with cute snack ideas for school. By the time it is my daughters turn most of these ideas are old news and she wants something different. Halloween is coming up so I knew I had to get to work for her class halloween party so I started brainstorming and came up with an idea that combines some of my favorite things and lets her play with her food. To top it off it is a healthy snack. Can you say win-win?
These monsters are somee of the easiest things to make. All you need is Peter Pan Simply Ground Original Honey Roast, Rice Cakes and your favorite food. Raisins, chocolate chips, nuts and pretzels could be used also if desired. Get creative with it!
Step one, prepare your fruit. If you will not be eating your monsters right away and will be using apples remember to add some lemon juice to help prevent the apples from browning.
Next open up your peanut butter, doesn’t that peanut butter look delicious!
Spread 2 (or more) tablespoons of peanut butter on a rice cake. If you add more I won’t judge. Peter Pan Simply Ground Honey Roast is good stuff!
Once your peanut butter is evenly spread across your rice cake it is time to play with your food and create your monster.
My daughter loved this part!
I thought my monster was pretty cute!
Ok so both of our monsters were pretty cute!
All that is left now is to eat. My daughter loved her snack!
She keeps asking me when she can make another one! I have to say this was a definite win! I am looking forward to sharing these Peanut Butter Rice Cake Monsters with her friends for Halloween!
What is your favorite Peanut Butter combination?
- 1 Rice Cake
- 2 TablespoonsPeter Pan Simply Ground Original Honey Roast (or more depending on your taste)
- your favorite sliced fruit, berries, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips
- Prepare fruit for topping rice cake. If using apples, toss with lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Evenly spread 2 Tablespoons (or more) of peanut butter on a rice cake.
- Create monster faces with your favorite fruit, berries, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips.
- Enjoy and devour your monster!
Brightening Days with Cheerios™ and the Give a Box Promotion
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiveABox #CollectiveBias
One of the many things that my kids do that makes me beam inside with proudness is when my kids show the world how caring they are. They do this in a multitude of ways from simply being helpful and nice to each other to helping out friends and others. It is one of the many ways I know that I must be doing something right. The day I watched my oldest son buy something for his friend (without asking me for money, if he could or should) was an eye opening moment. Maybe it shouldn’t have been because kids learn by example and I have tried to be a good one for my kids. They have always known that mommy volunteers and is a helper. It is how I try to make the world a better place. Whether it be a random act of kindness to giving a friend a surprise gift, you never know how your action may be that one thing that turns their no good, horrible day around. I know personally, I love those random gifts that say hey I’m thinking of you! Seriously, who doesn’t like receiving a gift?
Right now if you head over to Walmart you will find some extra special boxes of Cheerios™.
On specially marked boxes they have a special “Give a Box” peelie. Boxes with this peelie allow you to buy your box and share another box with someone you care about by entering the special code on the peelie. Isn’t that awesome
After all who doesn’t love Cheerios ™? It was the first finger food of many kids. I know I fed my kiddos the wholesome goodness of Cheerios ™ and always had a baggie full in my diaper bag for them for while we were out and about. Heck, I think my kids sometimes survived on them. They loved them! My kids didn’t just eat them though. They were perfect for potty training to give my boys some potty time target practice.They were perfect for working on fine motor skills and we would make necklaces with them looped on. When learning letters we even glued them onto paper in the shapes of different letters. The things you could do with them were endless!
Once I had gone to Walmart and bought my box, I needed to decide who to give my special code to. I decided to give my code to Brandy from Glue Sticks, a fellow Social Fabric blogger. I hope she likes the gift and it brightens her day a little bit! With a big family like mine I have a feeling it might. I know cereal never lasts that long around my house. My boys, especially my oldest, can polish off a single box in one sitting if we aren’t watching!
A bowl of cereal on school days is a rarity around my house though. Breakfast tends to be grab something quick and go. Making sure my daughter gets to elementary school, my other son middle and the oldest to high school can be a juggling act some mornings so I have gotten creative in the kitchen. I created Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Cheerios ™ Bars. They have the wholesome goodness of Cheerios ™ with the added protein of almonds and a bit of sweetness. They have become my kids new, on the go favorite breakfast!
The recipe is pretty simple. I mix Honey Nut Cheerios ™ with sliced almonds, chia seed and dried cherries and set it aside while I cook the mix that holds the bars together.
The glue that holds the bars together is a combination of honey, brown sugar, almond butter and vanilla extract. You cook the honey and brown sugar together until the brown sugar has dissolved. Then you remove from the heat and add the almond butter and vanilla and combine well.
Carefully pour the hot almond butter mix into the cereal mix and stir well, making sure everything is well coated.
Pour into a prepared pan and evenly spread out.
Top with melted dark chocolate.
Place pan in the refrigerator and allow to cool 1-2 hours. When cool remove from pan and cut into bars. I typically can get 12 bars.
My kids now have a grown up way of eating Cheerios™ that they love! I have made them several times now with and without chocolate to the same reaction, “can I have more?” I am planning on making up some more real soon. I think they would be perfect as a gift in a care package! It would be another great way to brighten someone’s day with Cheerios™.
How would you brighten someone’s day? Who would you give a box of Cheerios™ too?
- 4 cups Cheerios
- ½ cup Dried Cherries
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- 1 Tablespoon Chia Seed
- ½ cup Honey
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Almond Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla paste (or extract)
- 1 10oz bag of Dark Chocolate Chips
- Line 8x8 square pain and cover with foil. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Mix Honey Nut Cheerios ™ with sliced almonds, chia seed and dried cherries and set aside.
- Cook the honey and brown sugar together until the brown sugar has dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and add the almond butter and vanilla and combine well.
- Carefully pour the hot almond butter mix into the cereal mix and stir well, making sure everything is well coated.
- Pour into prepared pan and evenly spread out.
- Melt Chocolate chips in the Microwave in a microwave safe boil. Stirring every minute until melted.
- Top cereal mixture with melted dark chocolate.
- Place pan in the refrigerator and allow to cool 1-2 hours. When cool remove from pan and cut into bars.
As you may have heard, some select boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced over two weeks in July at the Lodi, California plant, have been recalled due to a wheat allergen. This recall only affects consumers with Celiac disease or a gluten-sensitivity. To learn more about the recall, and if your product is affected please go to: http://blog.generalmills.com
Cheesy BBQ Rice Bites
Back a few months ago I was asked by Allrecipes to create a kid friendly recipe with Uncle Ben’s Rice. I was honestly stumped. I had no clue what to make at all. We eat rice all the time, it is a huge part of my gluten free life but we keep it simple. The majority of the time we eat it plain with just a bit of butter, other times as mexican rice of fried rice. We really get adventurous. Then the lightbulb went off in my head, I could come up with something for our family fun night and after that Cheesy BBQ Rices Bites were born.
Every Friday night we have a family fun night. We started the tradition well over 5 years ago. We eat pizza and/or snack foods and get a redbox movie. My days of having pizza are pretty much over and I typically have to come up with something gluten free for myself. The majority of the time my kids end up asking for some of whatever I have and since i’m a nice mom I share. I remembered seeing quinoa bites on Pinterest in the past and I knew of the larger and fried Arancini (rice balls) but I had never seen a recipe for any type of smaller bite size rice snack. So I started experimenting and I came up with Cheesy BBQ Rice Bites and my kids keep asking for me to make them!
The cast of characters for this recipe couldn’t be simpler. Rice, BBQ in sauce, black beans, cheese and to help hold it together an egg. Five simple ingredients! Your BBQ can be homemade or premade. If you have leftover pork roast shred it up and add your favorite BBQ sauce. Chicken can be used in place of pork too. For the rice you can use leftover rice or an Uncle Ben’s Rice Pouch. I’m telling you this recipe is quick and easy! After you mix all your ingredients together, scoop into a min muffin pan and bake 20 minutes. Then cool and enjoy. Make them for your family! They will thank you!
Does your family do a family fun night? What kinds of things do you do?
- 1 (8.8 ounce) pouch UNCLE BEN'S® Ready Rice® Original Long Grain
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1½ cups prepared pulled pork in barbeque sauce
- 1½ cups shredded Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend
- 2 eggs
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray mini muffin tin cups with cooking spray.
- Prepare rice according to package directions. Allow to cool slightly. Combine rice, black beans, barbeque pulled pork, cheese, and eggs in a bowl; mix well.
- Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons into prepared mini muffin tins, filling each cup to the top.
- Bake in preheated oven until hot, about 20 minutes.
- Allow bites to cool 10 minutes before popping them out of the muffin tin.
Find my recipe on Allrecipes.com
Easy Chorizo and Cheese Taquitos with Cilantro Lime Sour Cream
A couple weeks ago I woke up way too early in the morning to set off on an adventure to New York City for some Allrecipes and foodie fun. I met up with my friend Stella from Stella Reynoso in Charlotte and we flew to Newark and took the train into the city. We navigated the Subway system and found our way to our hotel. From there we went to lunch at Butter, Alex Guarnaschelli’s restaurant and I ate the best Cesar salad I have ever had. It was beautiful! I think I must have looked like Emma Stone in in Easy A biting into the steak.
It was seriously that good. I haven’t had steak that good since we left Texas. After our late lunch we hung out at our hotel room until it was time to go to our first Allrecipes event. We were headed to Salvation Taco for an Allrecipes Allstars cocktail party. Chips and guacamole were set out around the room and we were offered drinks almost as soon as we walked into the room. Let me tell you, those margaritas were good and strong and the chili lime salt rim was a great extra touch! I would have loved to have a second glass but as soon as I would get one I would set it down and someone would snatch it. We had fun in the photo booth and chit chatting getting to know each other outside of the computer.
During the party appetizers were offered and they were great. The servers were awesome and made sure I didn’t touch anything with gluten. One of my favorite things were the chorizo taquitos. After eating my first one I pulled out my phone and opened up the notes…I needed to recreate those taquitos and here a few weeks later I finally have.
The key to this recipe is the chorizo. You want good chorizo. I’ve told people a million times over quality will always win. This rule goes for so many things in life too, not just food. Yes you can buy cheaper ingredients when it comes to cooking but the quality of your food will be affected! Just buy the good stuff! Then make these chorizo and cheese taquitos. If your family is anything like mine they will devour them.
Want to see more from my adventures in New York City? Check out my Instagram for my pics from the trip!
- 1 lb Chorizo, casing removed
- 1 cup shredded Chihuahua or Monterey Jack Cheese
- 12-15 corn tortillas
- ½ cup sour cream
- juice of ½ of a lime
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- sea salt
- Taquitos-
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Spray frying pan with cooking spray and cook chorizo until done. Be sure to crumble into small pieces. When done drain grease well (I used a colander)
- In a bowl mix together 1 cup of Chihuahua Cheese (or Monterey Jack) and cooked chorizo. Combine well breaking up any large chunks of chorizo.
- Place corn tortillas on a plate with the tortillas covered with a damp paper towel.Warm corn tortillas in a microwave for 30 seconds to one minute.
- Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons filling on the side of each tortilla. Lightly dampen other side of tortilla with water with your fingers. Roll tortilla tightly around the filling and place, seam-side down, on a baking sheet. You can hold in place with a tooth pick if needed.
- Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned and crispy, about 15-20 minutes.
- Cilantro Lime Sour Cream
- In a small bowl combine sour cream, chopped cilantro,the juice of half a lime and a dash of sea salt. Stir well and serve..
Gluten Free Johnsonville Sausage Balls with Spinach
If you have read my blog for any amount of time you will discover one of my favorite brands to work with as an Allrecipes Allstar Ambassador is Johnsonville Sausage. Johnsonville is AWESOME and i’m not just saying that because they have given me some lovely swag over the last few years or how awesome they are on social media. It is because they have a great product. I am complete sausage buying snob and only buy Johnsonville so I have to say I was excited to work with them again!
I decided to make one of our favorite things with Johnsonville, sausage balls! Yes, I have my own recipe for sausage balls but since becoming gluten free I haven’t made them. Sausage balls typically have some sort of flour or biscuit mix in them and I just hadn’t experimented with making them gluten free yet. There is no better time than the present especially with the holiday’s coming up. After all sausage balls are a perfect appetizer for the holidays.
Some notes about the recipe-
I typically do not buy Bisquick, in fact I have never had a box of regular bisquick in my house so I bought my first box to make this recipe. I wasn’t sure how the gluten free baking mix would work in this recipe but to my delight you could not even tell the difference. While i’m not a Bisquick convert I will say their gluten free version worked very well in this recipe.
The original recipe calls for onions and mushrooms. While i’m not a huge fan of mushrooms, I will eat them. My kids on the other hand will not. Then my oldest has onion radar. I swapped these ingredients out for spinach. I used between 1/2 to 1 cup. Yes, my kids have no issues with spinach they actually love spinach.
A big question when it came to preparing these were to cook or not to cook the sausage beforehand. The recipe calls for cooking the sausage, allowing it to cool and then mixing in the other ingredients and baking again. If you are lazy like me you can just mix the uncooked sausage with the other ingredients and bake. The recipe turns out perfectly.
Lastly, the type of sausage you use does not matter. The mild sausage works just as well as the hot. It is a preference of taste and in my case laziness won again. I could not find ground hot italian sausage so I used mild. I just didn’t feel like uncasing the sausage.
Now try these pop-able bites of yumminess for yourself and let me know how you like them!
- 1 (16 ounce) package Johnsonville® All Natural Hot Ground Italian Sausage
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1¼ cups gluten free baking mix
- ½-1 cup chiffonade, fresh baby spinach
- ¼ cup milk
- In a skillet, cook and crumble sausage over medium heat until no longer pink and lightly browned; drain. In a large bowl, combine sausage, cheese, gluten free baking mix, spinach and milk; mix well. 2. Shape mixture into approximately 36 walnut-size balls and place on a lightly greased, shallow baking dish.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve with barbeque or chutney sauce.
- Alternative cooking method-
- Sausage can be combined uncooked with other ingredients, formed into balls and baked for 20 minutes if desired.
Maple Pumpkin Spice Granola with Chia and Quinoa
It is the first day of fall so i’m bringing you a great fall recipe! Fall brings so many great things especially to the food world. Soups, stews, comfort food galore, apples and pumpkin, yes pumpkin! We love pumpkin in our house and while I keep pumpkin in my pantry year round there is just something about eating it during the fall and it appears i’m not the only person who thinks that either. Other than Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte have you been to a grocery store and have seen all the pumpkin spice goodies they have now? It can be a bit overwhelming but at the same time really tasty.
While the world is on pumpkin spice overload there are still a few things that have not found a pumpkin spice version so I decided to make my own. My kid’s and I are addicted to granola. While it is easy to make I kept picking up bags of our favorite brand and it was devoured in no time at all. So I decided to save my $4 a bag and make my own, pumpkin spice flavored of course and it was delicious!
If you like granola and pumpkin spice this is the granola for you! Plus I added all sorts of other goodies to it like quinoa and chia seeds to add to the nutrition factor. Just don’t tell my kids that it is healthy.
Maple Pumpkin Spice Granola with Chia and Quinoa
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rolled Oats
- 1/2 cup Ground Flax Seed
- 1/4 cup Quinoa
- 2TB Chia Seed
- 1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (canned or fresh)
- 1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1T Cooking Oil (canola, coconut, etc.)
- 2t Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 t Cinnamon
- 1/2t Nutmeg
- 1.2t Ground Ginger
- 1/2t Cloves
- 1/2t Salt
optional add in’s include your favorite nuts (such as pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds etc.) and dried fruit (such as craisens and dried cherries). I have a kid in braces so I leave these things out.
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees . Line a large baking sheet with parchment or aluminum foil.
- Combine the oats, ground flax seed, quinoa, chia seed and nuts (if you are including them) in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin puree, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, nutmeg,cloves,salt and vanilla in a saucepan and coat oat mixture well. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, stirring at 30 minutes. Due to differences in ovens bake until toasted and crispy.
- Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Dried fruit can be added once the granola has completely cooled also.
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Years ago I was introduced to Buffalo Chicken Dip and I fell in love. It has to be probably my favorite dip. Whenever I bring it to get togethers those who have never tasted it’s deliciousness before fall in love. Buffalo Chicken Dip is very addictive. It is the perfect snack for most any get together from Super bowl weekend to anytime you are hanging out with friends.
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
2lbs boneless skinless chicken breast (3 chicken breast) cooked and shredded
2 8oz packages cream cheese
3/4 cup hot sauce (such as Franks Red Hot or Texas Pete)
1 cup Ranch Dressing
2 cups colby-jack cheese, shredded and divided
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Combine shredded chicken, cream cheese, hot pepper sauce, 1 cup colby-jack cheese and ranch dressing in a large bowl. Mix until well combined.
- Transfer chicken mixture into a 9×13 baking dish and sprinkle with 1 cup colby-jack cheese.
- Bake 20 minutes until golden and bubbly.
- Serve with tortilla chips and/or vegetables.