| Thursday, May 31, 2012 |
| I Love A Big Muffin Top! |
So, I walked outside Monday evening to this...
and then walked over and saw my garden had gifts for me!
That is definitely the gold at the end of my rainbow and apparently Leia's too!
Zucchini season is upon us and you know I could not resist baking with it!
I pulled out my recipe from last summer and wanted to make one change...I know, I couldn't resist. This version is fat free. I replaced the (dairy free) butter with applesauce.
I also baked them into mini muffins instead of regular muffins this time (somehow I've misplaced my muffin pans). These zucchini muffins are so light and fluffy with a perfectly chewy interior...YUMMY!
The boys kept making fun of me because I kept talking about how much I loved my muffin tops...I can't help it, I love a big muffin top (on a muffin that is)!
Cream cheese frosting is always a perfect topper for a mildly sweet muffin like this. I like then naked, but the boys love them dressed up!
I have now make two batches in two days. I don't know if my garden will be able to keep up with our love of the zucchini muffins...
Gluten Free Dairy Free Zucchini Muffins
(makes 19 mini muffins)
1 cup brown rice flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup egg whites
1/2 cup almond milk (I used Silk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 dropper vanilla stevia (I used NuNaturals) (or 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar)
1 cup shredded zucchini
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Like muffin pan with liners or spray with oil.
In a large bowl, combine the flours through salt and mix well. Mix together the applesauce, egg whites, almond milk and stevia. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combined. Then add the zucchini until mixed in evenly. Divide the mixture into the prepared muffin tin and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3 less fat cream cheese, chilled (Tofutti works really well as a dairy alternative)
1/4 cup light butter or stick margarine, softened (I use Light Smart Balance)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Do you like zucchini? What's your favorite way to eat it? Do you like muffin tops or bottoms? I love both, but I get so excited when that muffin top rices so high!
Labels: breads, breakfast, gluten free, main course, quick breads, side dishes, vegetables |
posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 7:30 AM  |
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| Tuesday, May 29, 2012 |
| Crispy Rosemary Corn Flake Chicken With Cornbread Waffles and a Giveaway |
When Bob's Red Mill and Attune Foods asked me to participate in a brunch event they are doing this month, I knew right away what I wanted to make! We are a good old Southern family in this household when it comes to food. Cornbread and fried chicken are an absolute favorite for all of us! Brunch is a favorite meal for our family too, so I decided to make the best of both worlds. You all know I like to put a healthy spin on our meals here, so I love making corn flake chicken instead of the greasy fried version.
The crispy cornbread waffles perfectly compliment the chicken, which is light with a touch of fresh rosemary and hint of sweetness from the corn flakes.
While I love cooking up a feast, the weekends means relaxation for everything including our meals. We normally eat one large meal and then snack later in the day. This meal gives you snack pieces to enjoy throughout the day! You can easily prep the waffle batter the night before so there will be no rushing around to get a feast on the table. Also, soaking the flours really softens them up to make the perfect fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside waffles.
I plugged in my waffle iron to heat up, coated my chicken and then made my waffles while the chicken baked…and enjoyed my coffee.
Cornbread Waffles
makes 20 regular waffles
5 cups water or regular almond milk or a mix (I used 2 cups water and 3 cups almond milk)
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornmeal
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Flour
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Sweet Rice Flour
1/2 cup egg whites or 2 eggs or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (for vegan version)
1 tsp salt
20 drops vanilla stevia (or 2 TBSP sugar or honey)
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
3 TBSP baking powder
In a large glass bowl, combine the water, milk, cornmeal, cornflour, rice flour, egg, salt and stevia. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.
When you're ready to cook your waffles, add the apple cider vinegar and baking powder to the batter. Heat your waffle iron and prepare the waffles according to your manufacturer's directions. These can be prepared the day before and reheated in the oven or toaster oven.
Cornflake Chicken
6 cups Attune Foods Gluten Free Cornflakes
2 TBSP fresh chopped rosemary
2 eggs
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
2 eggs or 1/2 cup almond milk (for vegan)
garlic powder
salt
pepper
Preheat your oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a food processor, grind the corn flakes and chopped rosemary to resemble a coarse meal. Don't make into a flour, make sure you leave some larger chunks. Pour your cornflakes into a bowl. In another bowl, whisks your eggs. If your chicken breasts are large, cut in half to make them fit well on your waffles. Season your chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Next dip your chicken into the egg mixture and then into the cornflake mixture, press the corn flakes into the chicken so it coats well. Place the coated breasts onto prepared pans. Spray the tops of the chicken with olive oil spray. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
There's a bonus to this event for you all too. You get the chance to win a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornmeal and a box of Attune Foods' Gluten Free Corn Flakes so you can have Crispy Rosemary Corn Flake Chicken with Cornbread Waffles too! All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me your favorite brunch foods.
You can get additional entries for:
following Bob's Red Mill on Facebook and/or Twitter
following Attune Foods on Facebook and/or Twitter
Entries close at noon EST on Friday, June 1st. I will announce the winner that afternoon. Good luck!
While I was provided with the cornmeal and corn flakes, I was not compensated for this post. My review of these products are my own opinions and I love them.
Labels: breads, breakfast, gluten free, main course, product reviews, quick bread |
| posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 7:00 AM |
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| Thursday, May 24, 2012 |
| A New Chapter Begins... |
Today marks the beginning of summer for Jay and Max. Work never ends here for Tony and I (thank goodness), but we hope to show the boys a great summer. Time is going fast and I know we won't have this time forever...
I won't bore you with all my mama talk. I will mention that my boys have officially moved on to be a 6th grader and a 9th grader, as of yesterday. That means no more elementary schoolers here...we now have a middle schooler and a high schooler. UGH, how did this happen?
So, this all got me to thinking about the passage of time. I get extremely weepy when I think about this. The slide show starts and the sappy music gets going. Here come the tears. Not tears of sadness as much as tears of hope and excitement for adventures to come (maybe a little sadness, but more happiness). Life is changing constantly and sometimes I feel like we don't take the opportunity to really look for the adventure in these changes. I'm kind of a big picture girl and that gets me into trouble. I'm learning that looking at each day and enjoying the ride it sets me on, makes life (and tasks) easier to get through. I think long term goals are good, but it's really the short term goals that get you there. I have a few things I'm in the middle of working on and I hope to have myself organized and through these adventures so I can enjoy the next adventure (that was me putting a positive spin on some reorganization tasks and some not so fun work tasks).
Well, today I slept in. I have three guys that want to go to the gym with me in a little bit! I am excited to have my workout buddies back! I have a recipe I'm working on developing, I need to get the oil changed in the car (I know the excitement is killing you all), the boys need shorts (they won't stop growing!) and I hope to get some lentil burgers made for some quick summer time grilling!
How do you look at change? Life isn't always how I thought it would be, but I've come to understand that is ok. It used to bother me, but now I am looking for the adventure in the change. Trust me, I know not all things are great adventures, but negativity gets me nowhere fast. I'm not completely there, but I'm working on it!
Happy Thursday! Labels: about me |
| posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 8:29 AM |
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| Tuesday, May 22, 2012 |
| Where to begin??? |
I think I'm at the point where I don't even know where to begin. The past couple of weeks have been really bizarre for me. I haven't had a computer in weeks due to some hard drive issues which put my computer in the shop and then we had crazy power outages due to heavy storms and then I went out of town for a girls weekend with my grandmother. So, that leads me to here...
I have been practicing letting things go the past couple of weeks. My work depends a lot on me having a computer and I don't like being so disconnected that I open my email and realize that people have been trying to get in touch with me. It was a little stressful, but things are back up and running so we are good to go. I missed keeping in touch with my friends too! I realize blogging is not the most important thing in the world, but I like catching up with my blog friends. Being disconnected is one thing, but people get a little freaked out when you disappear too long. Thank you to everyone that checked in on me. It really means so much to know that people care about you and get concerned when you aren't around!
This past weekend was a complete girls weekend for me and boys weekend for my guys. I escaped to Raleigh, NC to visit my most amazing grandmother!
My little granny is such a bright spot in my life and we enjoyed an entire weekend of pjs, movies (love stories! - British version of Pride and Prejudice was definitely watched), fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and tons of great conversation! I know, we like to play on the wild side!
It has been far too long since I saw her last and I will not let that happen again! Life is too short not to spend it with the ones you love!
I also discovered how much alike my granny and I are...more so than I thought. She has the yellow version of my blue retro bowls! I felt so at home eating from my favorite salad bowl. I know I'm crazy, but I have my favorite dishes that I use over and over for certain things. I know Kristin gets me!
There has also been some playing in the kitchen. Not much, but a little...
I started playing around with my socca recipe. I added oats, egg and baking powder for fun to see what would happen. So, guess what happened? A fluffier, crisper version of socca happened. This comes together so quickly and it was exactly what I needed!
I made a bigger batch for pizza too!
Peppers, tomato, onion and fresh basil from my garden (just the basil from my garden, but I'm working on the rest)!
The great thing about this recipe is that you use equal portions depending on how big you want the flat bread, to it's really simple!
Chickpea Flatbread
1/3 cup quick oats
1/3 cup chickpea flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
pepper (to taste)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup egg whites
1/3 cup water
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a bread pan with olive oil.
Combine the dry ingredients and then add the wet. Stir to combine. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
I love it crispy so I baked it a little longer. Go for the 20 minutes if you're going to top it and eat it pizza style. I went with half cup measurements for the pizza and baked it in a 9 inch cake pan.
Labels: about me, breads, gluten free, main course, quick breads, vegetables |
| posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 1:21 PM |
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| Wednesday, May 9, 2012 |
| Almost Wordless Wednesday... |
I am trapped under a ton of work...
I have to fight all urges to do a complete face plant into this icing!
This is a gluten and dairy free chocolate pound cake. It is dense rich and fudgy. Here's the thing...Tony thinks it needs to be sweeter, but I think it's sweet enough. So, tell me, do you like your cakes to be super sweet or mildly sweet? My sweet tooth may be broken since I don't usually eat sweets other than fruit. I plan to make this one again only sweeter to see how he likes it. Then I will post both versions.
Tell me...really sweet or a little sweet?
Labels: about me, cakes, gluten free, quick bread |
| posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 7:00 AM |
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| Thursday, May 3, 2012 |
| Carb Cravings... |
I have a client that talks about needing carbs during times of hormone surges or stress. While I would not recommend giving in all the time, I do feel like there are certain times that you should definitely just give in. I have decided that either I'm running a marathon (which I am definitely not), I have a surge of hormones (most definitely) or I'm stressed (always a possibility) because I'm carb loading like nobody's business. I have been craving sweet potatoes like you would not believe lately!
This, my friends, is a bowl of oats with a HUGE sweet potato plopped in the middle, a splash of almond milk and peanut butter (only because I mentally know I need the protein too) on top for dinner. Yep, not even breakfast, that was dinner.
Let me rewind now. I seriously bought these sweet potatoes 2 weeks ago due to said cravings. I have been trying to find a way to incorporate them into dinner and while talking with Tony, we decided a nice Thanksgiving style dinner would be perfect!
While we were talking, the subject of cornbread dressing (and apparently we are starting a trend of having Thanksiving in April according to that post) came up...of course. I mean with turkey and sweet potatoes how can you not do dressing? He didn't have to twist my arm on that one. I went for mini loaves instead of muffins this time (baked for an hour). This is only because I lost my muffin pans. Don't ask me where they are...I still have no idea. Who loses muffin pans? Apparently this gal?!
The upside is that I discovered this was a perfect way to add some dressing to Jay's turkey sandwiches for lunch.
Perfect slices peaking from his sandwiches. He loves this combination and thought I was a genius...who could blame him? I confessed that I got the idea from a Friend's episode, he still gave me props for it. Love that kid!
And to add to my salad making gift as of late, the toasted pieces make perfectly seasoned croutons for my lunchtime salads!
Tell me, do you give into cravings or find ways to keep them at bay? What do you normally crave and do you see a pattern when you crave them?Labels: breads, breakfast, gluten free, holidays, main course, quick breads, side dishes, vegetables |
| posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 7:00 AM |
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Name:
Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen
Home: Atlanta, GA, United States
About Me: Lactose Challenged
See my complete profile
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