Fajetas

This recipe came from some good friends of mine, out of a grilling cookbook. Yum, yum! Don't eat it without the vinaigrette!

Ingredients:

2 lb chicken (boneless, skinless)
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 bell peppers, cored, seeded, and quartered
sour cream
tortillas (corn for the gluten free eaters, flour for everyone else)

Marinade:
zest and juice of 2 limes
1/4 c olive oil
1 T chili powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T cilantro, chopped

Oil Mixture:
1/4 c olive oil
1 T chili powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Avocado Vinaigrette:
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
juice of 1 lime
1/4 c olive oil (this is reduced from the original recipe)
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T cilantro, chopped
1 small tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
3 T finely chopped onion (use some of quartered onion from above)

Directions:

1. For the marinade, place ingredients in a large zip-lock bag. Mix well, then add the chicken and turn to coat completely. Allow to marinate for 2 to 8 hours.
2. Whisk ingredients for oil mixture. Brush on bell pepper and onion quarters.
3. For the vinaigrette, mash the avocados in a medium bowl with a whisk. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Grill chicken 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until no longer pink. Grill vegetables 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until almost tender.
5. Slice the meat and vegetables into thin strips.
6. Build fajitas with chicken, vegetables, avocado vinaigrette, and sour cream.

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes Monterey

 A tasty recipe from my sister, Lisa.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, diced
2 T melted butter, divided
4 chicken breasts, cut in smaller pieces
1 T lime juice
1 1/2 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
3 T. salsa

Directions:

1. Toss potatoes with 1 T of butter. Arrange in around edges of foil-lined large shallow pan. Bake in 425° oven for 10 minutes.
2. Remove potatoes from oven. Place chicken in center of pan. Brush chicken with combined remaining butter and lime juice. Bake 20 minutes more or until chicken is done and potatoes are tender.
3. Combine cheese, cilantro and salsa. Sprinkle over potatoes and chicken.  Bake 2 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Zesty Marinated Pork Chops

I found this recipe on Gluten Free Easily. It was a winner last night!

Ingredients:
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
dash of black pepper
4 – 8 pork chops

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Marinate pork chops overnight for optimum flavor; turning at least once. Discard marinade and grill pork chops

Allison's Additional Notes:

1. I didn't marinate overnight (instead only about 6 hours), but they still turned out great.
2. I used half of a pork loin, sliced about 3/4 inch thick instead of pre-cut pork chops.
3. I grilled them over high heat, about 3-4 minutes per side. They came out deliciously moist and tender.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

A friend clipped this recipe out of a Banner Health newsletter to give to me. They're basically mini crustless cheesecakes. In other words, heaven!

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 c sugar
24 oz light cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 c raspberries


Topping:
8 oz light cream cheese
1/4 c sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Use a hand mixer to blend the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Add eggs to cream cheese mixture one at a time and blend after adding each egg.
3. Line 24-cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with cream cheese batter. Divide raspberries evenly between the cupcakes and sprinkle on top of each cupcake.
4. Bake for 25 minutes at 350.
5. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. A well with form in the middle of each cupcake.
6. Turn the oven to 450. 
7. Blend together topping ingredients. Using a teaspoon, drop topping into the enter of each cupcake.
8. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Texas Caviar

This recipe came from one of my sisters...I don't remember which one. The name kind-of cracks me up, but it makes some tasty stuff!

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can white corn, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, chopped
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 large handful of cilantro, chopped
1 ripe tomato, diced

Dressing:
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
1/4 to 1/2 c olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 c red wine vinegar
Fresh ground salt and pepper

Directions:
Combine all of the above to taste and serve with tortilla chips.

Crepes (Gluten Free)

Baking without gluten is something I've done very little of. When I have tried, more often then not I've been disappointed. It's just never the same. And I find hard to spend time and money trying things that in the end leave a lot to be desired. I know I just need to bite the bullet and start experimenting if I'm ever going to find any gf baking recipes I really like.

Last night I decided I wanted to find a good gf crepe recipe. I searched online and settled on trying this one from thebakingbeauties.com. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out really well!


Ingredients:
1/2 c rice flour
1/2 c tapioca starch
1/2 c cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp potato flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c milk
2 eggs
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
butter

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
2. In a larger bowl, combine all wet ingredients.
3. Combine the wet & dry ingredients, whisking until nearly smooth (a few lumps are alright).
4. In a hot frying pan (about medium heat) pour approximately 3/4 cup of batter in the middle of the pan. Lift the pan & turn it to distribute the batter over the entire pan. You want your batter to cover the entire bottom of the frying pan when you are done.
5. Once there are little holes and air bubbles forming in the top of your pancake, using a spatula, carefully flip the crepe to brown the other side. This does not take long to cook, because they are so thin.

 Allison's Additional Notes:

1. My husband cooked these, as he's the crepe cooking pro. He puts a little butter on the pan before pouring each crepe. We found that towards the end of cooking, the batter was much thicker, and the last crepe was a little rubbery. I think the cornstarch started settling to the bottom of the bowl as he cooked the other crepes. Next time he'll whisk the batter in between cooking each crepe to prevent settling.
2. We like our crepes with a few different topping combos: cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar and lemon juice, Nutella and raspberries, or jam and sour cream.

Key Lime Pie

I made this from a recipe found allrecipes.com...one where everyone gave it 4-5 stars, and then explained all the changes they made. I made one of the modified versions. It was delicious, and made me wish I had ripe key limes all year round.

Ingredients:

Crust
1 package Pamela's Pecan Shortbread Cookies (gf)
1/4 c sugar

Filling
4 egg yolks, beaten
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 c key lime juice

Directions:

1. Crush the cookies to crumbs by either pulsing in a food processor or placing the cookies in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. They crumble easily.
2. Combine the crumbs with sugar, then press into a pie pan and bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
3. Thoroughly mix the filling ingredients, pour into pie crust, and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving, topped with whipped cream.