Baked avocado, kale chips, and blueberry salsa

If you read the "About me" section here on my blog, you would know that I am a Girl Scout. Well, yesterday at a meeting we were doing a "New Cuisines" badge. SO NOW I HAVE THE BEST RECIPES TO SHARE WITH YOU GUYS!

First, my friend Kiersten and I made a wonderful blueberry salsa.

This was so good I can't even describe it. It was just the right amount of sweet and spice together that make your taste buds go insane. You can find the recipe here.

Next, we had kale chips. These were surprisingly tasty... When you first try one you make a face and question what you are eating... but then you become curious... and then you take another bite.. and another.. and another bite. Until you finish the whole batch and you finally realize that you really like how they taste. Recipe is here. :)

Okay and lastly, is what I had for dinner tonight! BAKED AVOCADOS.

Need I say more?  No. I didn't think so. Here is the recipe! I used ground flax seed instead of bread crumbs and it was YUM-O-RAMA.

Carrot cake waffles

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND DO THE HOKEY POKEY.

I don't know why I just wrote that..but hey, the hokey pokey is fun so why not? ;) 

Today, for a super late lunch, I made... WAFFLES!! These were unbelievably good. The recipe is over here . On the "Chocolate Covered Katie" blog.. (Btw she is my cooking hero. She responded to one of my comments today and I am still SO happy that she acknowledged my existence! =D )

Okay now I will give you the recipe I used.

 (Serves 1) This recipe made 3 big waffles...and I ate them all.

YOU WILL NEED:

•  1/2 cup all purpose GF flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp agave 
• 1/4 cup shredded carrot
• 1/4 cup dairy free milk ( I used Silk soy milk)
• 1 tbsp oil 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• (Optional: vegan carob chips. They add a little bit of a crunch and I think they taste good. :) )

DIRECTIONS: In a small bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and mix well. When your waffle maker is ready, (be sure to grease it) pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the squares and close the lid and wait! :)


Sorry for the not-so-great pictures.. I was really excited to eat these so I just snapped a quick picture!

Super easy "flatbread"

Behold... A gluten free flatbread! To me it tastes almost like pita bread... Just saying. 

This is great for a sandwich bread, for dipping sauces, or just to snack on!

How I had it today was with mustard, lunch meat, hummus and lettuce on top. It was beyond amazing! (On the side of my plate I had corn nuts and blackberries.)

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup all- purpose GF flour ( plus more for rolling out the dough)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp xanthan gum 
• salt to taste ( I used 1/2 a tsp, but next time I think I will do 1 tsp of sea salt) 

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350 and get a cookie sheet with parchment paper ready. Combine all ingredients, form dough into a ball (the dough is very sticky) put into cling wrap and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Once dough has been chilled, flour a cutting board and roll out the dough to your desired thinness. ( I cut mine into 3 strips before placing in the oven) Place onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.


Hope you enjoy it! Now I am off to try and turn this flatbread in to a sweet flatbread... Wish me luck! :)

Banana bread

This banana bread tastes so real. I could have sworn I was eating the real sugary, gluten, and butter filled stuff.  Of course it is sugar, gluten, and dairy free... IT IS JUST SO AMAZING. I have had like 3 servings...and it just came out of the oven like 15 minutes ago... Whoopsie.

You can hop on over here to find the original recipe. However, I will give you the version I made. :)

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 large banana, ripe as possible. 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce 
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1/2 tsp plus 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose GF flour
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour
• half of a tbsp of cinnamon
• half of 1/4 tsp of nutmeg 
• (optional: carob chips and walnuts as desired.)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 and grease a bread pan and set aside. In a medium size bowl, mash banana, and then add all wet ingredients and mix well. Add the remaining dry ingredients while mixing thoroughly. Pour into bread pan and cook for 40 minutes. ( While it is baking, it might smell a little bit funny.. Don't worry though! It tastes fantastic.) Once it is done, let cool before slicing. 

Side post: I made a  single serving cookie last night. =) The recipe is here. All I did extra was add some carob chips to mine!  It is not the prettiest cookie, but hey, it still tasted great! :)

Mug cake

Hiii everyone! :) Sorry I haven't been on in so long. I'm on spring break and I usually don't like to open my computer during time I am off school... Haha.

While I have been on break, I have tried so many new recipes!! Some were good, some were fails. One of the really good ones was a rice pudding. IT WAS DELISH. You should go make some. Now.

But not RIGHT now. Because I have an awesome recipe to share with you.

Chocolate chip cinnamon mug cake. Yes, I did say mug cake. As in, you can make this in a coffee mug. In the microwave. This recipe is so easy. I have to say this was the best gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, cake EVER. It was so fluffy, moist, and just plain yum.

Adapted from here.

(serves one) 

YOU WILL NEED:

• About a tbsp of coconut oil
• A little bit less than 1/4 cup of coconut flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup soymilk (any other non-dairy milk, or even water will work as well)
• 1 tbsp agave nectar 
• 1/4 tsp almond butter
• a few dashes of cinnamon
• Carob chips (use as many as your heart desires!)

DIRECTIONS: Melt the coconut oil in the mug and then coat the inside of the mug generously. Add in the egg and beat well. Put in the coconut flour and baking powder and mix. Next, add the milk, agave and almond butter and mix thoroughly. Lastly, combine the cinnamon and carob chips with the batter. Microwave on high for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Turn the cup over onto a plate ( careful it will be hot!)  and there you have it! Your very own mug cake!

 

Oatmeal cookies

 I'm gonna give it to you plain and simple. I love these cookies. They were fantabulous. I had a major craving for warm oatmeal cookies straight from the oven and these did the job! :)

CAUTION: I personally thought these cookies were sweet, others however, did not. So if you have a sweet tooth you will not like these.

Adapted from here.


YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of GF rolled oats
• 3/4 cup all purpose GF flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup agave nectar 
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 tsp vanilla 
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce 
• Your choice of add-ins. ( raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc. I used chopped pecans)  

 DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375. Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a medium size bowl. Shape the dough into balls, or into flat cookie shapes ( work quickly because dough gets sticky!) and arrange on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
 

Spaghetti squash

This stuff was amazing. I didn't think it would turn out good... I thought it would taste like gross healthy food. I was happily proven wrong. You can find a recipe right here.


It actually tasted like real noodles. You definitely won't regret making this. :) In the recipe we made, we used, black olives, tomatoes, onion and garlic. My parents also had cheese on theirs.

I thought it was very interesting how the insides of the squash came out like noodles.. It was rather entertaining to watch! 

Not the best photo, sorry!

Zucchini! :)

Lemme tell ya...This one was a keeper.

Stuffed zucchini boats.. Talk about YUM!

Recipe is here.

 In the ones we made, instead of using any cheese or sour cream I used guacamole. I wish I could have had it with cheese but it tasted wonderful with the guac anyway. :)

My finished plate.

             More recipes soon to come! =)