Beef stew with sweet potato and squash

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Becel vegan margarine

2 Large carrots, peeled and sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 tsp kosher salt

4 turns of pepper grinder

1lb beef stir fry strips or beef stew meat

1 cup President's Choice frozen diced butternut squash

1 cup President's Choice frozen sweet potato chunks

2 tsp Fody Chicken Soup base

2 cups water

1 tsp oregano

For thickening:

3 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1) Heat Instant pot by using the Sauté function.

2) Melt margarine and brown beef for 1 to 2 minutes (do not cook through).

3) Turn off Instant pot and add 1/2 cup water and scrape bottom of pot to make sure nothing is stuck.

4) Add remaining ingredients, except corn starch and 1/2 cup water, to the pot and stir well.

5) Secure lid and Pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes with a 5 minute natural release. Release remaining pressure manually.

6) Combine 3 tbsp corn starch with 1/2 cup water. Press Sauté and stir in cornstarch mixture. Simmer until thickened.

Chicken pot pie rice

I threw this together tonight with what we had in our kitchen. Next time I might add in some carrots as well but it turned out well.

 Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts
1 cup water
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp Fody Chicken soup mix
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen green beans
2 tbsp gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Redmill 1 to 1 flour mix)
Served with white rice (1 cup white rice, 2 cups water)

Instructions:

1) Start by cooking rice on stove per package instructions.

2) In the Instant pot add 1 cup water and chicken soup mix, place chicken breasts topped with poultry seasoning and salt.

3) Pressure cook on high for 15 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes and then quick release.

4) Remove chicken, dice and return to pot. 

5) Press sauté. Add vegetables and stir in flour blend.

6) Sauté until vegetables are heated through and sauce is thickened.

7) Serve over rice.

Instant Pot Ground Beef and Noodles (Gluten free, Low fodmap)

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef

3 cups of broth (I used Fody Vegetable bouillon) 

2 cups frozen vegetables (I used 1 cup green beans, 1 cup corn)

8 oz Pasta (I used Tinkyada spirals)

1) Use the saute function to fry the ground beef.

2) When ground beef is cooked through, add 1/2 cup broth. Scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure there are no stuck on bits.

3) Turn off Saute function.

4) Add pasta.

5) Pour in remaining broth. Make sure the pasta is covered with broth by poking it down gently. Do not stir.

6) Add frozen vegetables over top.

7) Pressure cook for 8 minutes.

8) Quick release pressure and stir.

9) Serve and enjoy.

Southwestern Rice Goulash

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
16oz diced tomatoes
1/3 cup frozen corn
2/3 cup green beans (I used french cut)
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups chicken broth

Directions:
1) Brown ground beef
2) Add diced tomatoes, corn, green beans, cumin, salt and pepper.
3) Add half the chicken broth.
4) Add uncooked rice and stir together.
5) Add remaining chicken broth.
6) Bring to a boil.
7) Turn down to simmer and simmer for 20 minutes.
8) Stir and serve.

First Day Recap. . .and more lunch. . .

So we survived the first day back to school! Yay!

I really hate the first day because generally speaking it feels incredibly unorganized and hectic. There are tonnes of parents and kids all squished into a small space together who are all trying to figure out who their child's teacher is at the same time through some lists that are posted to the wall of the school 15 minutes before the bell is scheduled to ring. Personally it makes me feel claustrophobic and I'm sure it doesn't do anything for my daughter's anxiety levels either.

On the bright side, we found our list relatively quickly this year and then E's teacher who she luckily recognized in the school yard.

AND. . .

IT DIDN'T RAIN!!

The last couple of years it has rained on the first day of school and adding umbrellas to all this chaos seems to take crazy to a whole new level.

So, as for lunch. . .

The lunchable was mostly a hit. . .she loved the Kolbassa, the cheese string, apple sauce, popcorn, and juice box. Unfortunately her crackers some how managed to get soggy and she didn't find them very edible. We've decided to try something different for tomorrow. . .

So here goes. . .

For tomorrow's lunch we decided to go with meatballs (President's Choice Blue Menu Gluten Free) and mashed potatoes, baby tomatoes, a Black Diamond Cheese String, a strawberry Iogo yogurt, Tostitos corn chips and a Minute Maid Fruit Punch.

Hopefully everything will taste good by lunch time.

Guess we'll see. . .

Another School Year Begins. . .

Our eldest starts grade 3 tomorrow! It's hard to believe that, considering it feels like she just started Junior Kindergarten yesterday!  She has her clothes laid out for tomorrow, lunch has been packed and is waiting to add to her new backpack by the front door.

She went with a purple and blue American girl backpack this year, she said she didn't want a character, but she did choose a princess lunch box and found matching accessories, such as a pencil case and erasers, so she's not all grown up quite yet.

 The more she grows up the more I notice that she wants to be like her friends. A lot of them apparently bring Lunchables for lunch but Lunchables contain gluten and, due to her having Celiac disease, are not an option for her. So I did the next best thing. I made a home made "Lunchable" for tomorrow.  Her version may be a little bit healthier, though honestly I think it's debatable so don't feel bad if your kid is eating the name brand. lol

Our "Lunchable" knock off includes Rice Crackers (Hot Kid Brand), Piller's Turkey Kolbassa, Black Diamond Cheese string, Act 2 Microwave popcorn, President's Choice Strawberry Applesauce, and a Five Alive juice box.

Hopefully it's as much of a hit as my 71/2 year old expects. She's quite excited for lunch tomorrow and of course nervous and excited to start a new school year.

We'll find out officially at 8:45am tomorrow who her new teacher will be. Here's hoping it's a good one!

Cinnamon Buns

A few months ago I was going through my old recipe binder when the recipe I had for cinnamon buns fell out. I glanced at it quickly and thought maybe someday I would figure out the right blend of flours to make it gluten free. Then I threw it back in the binder and forgot about it.

That was until I found Metro's Irresistibles Gluten Free All Purpose flour blend. I honestly wasn't expecting much but after successfully making banana bread and Jello cookies by just replacing the gluten containing flour cup for cup with Metro's flour I decided to be brave and pull out this recipe.

Gluten free dough is not known for rolling well in my personal experience so the idea of making essentially a jelly roll shape made me a bit paranoid. The dough did not stay together as well as gluten dough but it easily rolled out with a rolling pin and when it came time to roll it into a jelly roll shape it was a lot better than what I've worked with in the past and with prayer, and patience it worked! :)

Here is a picture of the dough after rolling it out. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of putting the cinnamon sugar mixture on but it is spread evenly over this dough before rolling it up jelly roll style.

Here is the roll before cutting.

The roll cut into 12 equal pieces.

 Cinnamon buns in muffin tray ready to go into the oven.

Fresh out of the oven, ready to be flipped out.

Flipped out on a cooling tray, ready to eat. :)

Recipe

Ingredients 

2 cups Metro Irresistibles GF Flour (contains xanthan gum)

2 tbsp granulated sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup Becel Vegan margarine

1 cup (apprx) Natur-a Rice milk

Cinnamon Topping

1/3 cup Becel Vegan margarine, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped raisins

Directions

1) In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in margarine until mixture resembles course crumbs. 

2) Pour in milk, stirring lightly with a fork, and adding a little more milk if needed to make the dough soft.

3) Turn onto lightly floured surface.

4) Knead gently 8 to 10 times.

5) Roll into 12 x 8 inch (30 x 20cm) rectangle.

6) In a bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Drop 1 tsp into each of the 12 large greased muffin cups. Spread remaining mixture over dough rectangle.

7) Sprinkle raisins over top.

8)  Roll up jelly roll style from long side and cut into 12 equal slices.

9) Place in muffin cups.

10) Place baking sheet below muffin cups to catch drips.

11) Bake at 400F until golden brown and cinnamon filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

12) Turn out immediately onto cooling rack.

13) Enjoy!  

Banana Bread

Today I was looking at all the gluten free mixes and flour blends I had sitting around my house and was thinking I should probably make something.  I wasn't in the mood to bake cookies, I wanted to make something relatively easy and hopefully something my daughter could take for lunch later this week, so not cake.

I looked in the freezer and noticed that I had 3 bananas.  Exactly the number of bananas needed for a banana bread recipe I had.  However, the recipe was for gluten containing banana bread, as I haven't made banana bread since I went gluten free, so I was a bit worried it wouldn't turn out.  I looked over the two cup for cup gluten free flour blends I had in my cupboard, and settled on the one that had baking powder in it.

I was pleased with the results and my husband and daughter are giving rave reviews. :)

So, here's the recipe so you can try it yourself. :)

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Becel vegan margarine (softened)
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas (really ripe - in my case I defrosted some over ripe frozen ones)
1 1/2 cup Irresistables Gluten Free Baking Flour Mix (Metro/ Food Basics - store brand)
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Cream sugar and margarine, and then add the rest of the ingredients, mixing very well.

3) Place batter in a buttered 2 quart loaf pan.

4) Bake for one hour.

Enjoy!