Exciting things happening!

Another adventure I am starting on is that I recently became a Lilla Rose hair clip consultant. I have used the Flexi-8 clips for years, and Lilla Rose is just an extension of that. The clips are super beautiful...

They also come in several sizes and gorgeous styles. Besides the fact that they are super beautiful, I love that they don't harm the hair. Normally, I have to wrap string around the base of my store bought barrettes because the clip part is sharp enough to slice through the hair. The Flexi's are notched with 3 notches in the stick to make the clip tighter or looser as you put it in. They are called "flexi" because the actually barrette part will bend to go around a style comfortably. Plus, I have to say that these gorgeous hair bling items are much prettier than a scrunchie :). To visit my page, please click on the Lilla Rose link in the page list at the top of my blog!

Happy 4th of July!

We are having family over, and we are grilling steaks as the main course. I also made one of my favorite recipes...Tabouleh. For those of you who have no idea what Tabouleh is, it is a cold salad usually made with bulgar wheat, vegetables and spices. Since bulgar is a grain that contains gluten, I substitute quinoa for the bulgar. Most Tabouleh recipes call for mint and parsley. I make mine a little different, and love how it tastes. I forgot to add the black olives when I made the batch this time. So they are not in the picture. Here is my recipe:

2 cups dry quinoa
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 large tomatoes, or 4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 small can sliced black olives
3/4 cup olive oil
juice of 2 large lemons, or 3 small lemons
2 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

If possible, soak the quinoa in warm water with 2 tsp. of lemon juice overnight. This helps make the quinoa easier to digest. This step is not necessary, just helpful for those with digestive problems. If you soak the quinoa overnight, drain and rinse before cooking. If you do not soak the quinoa, make sure to rinse it well before you cook it. Place the quinoa in a large pan, and add 4 cups of water. Bring quinoa to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. Cover with a lid, and cook for 20 minutes, or until quinoa is cooked through and the water is gone. Remove from heat and allow quinoa to cool.

Once quinoa is cooled, add the cucumbers, tomatoes, dried onions, cilantro and black olives in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Add to the quinoa mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to marinate.

**This recipe makes a very large amount. Recipe can be cut in half.

Besides the quinoa Tabouleh, I made a festive 4th of July fruit bars that are gluten and dairy free. The recipe for it is here: http://glutenfreefix.com/festive-fruit-bars/2506/ . I thought the bars turned out really pretty :). I can't wait to see how they taste! I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!

Grain Free Carrot Cake

1/3 c. coconut oil
1/4 c. honey
3/4 c. applesauce
3/4 tsp. liquid stevia (I used the NOW stevia glycerite)
2 eggs
2/3 c. almond flour
1/3 c. coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. finely chopped or grated carrots

In a bowl, cream coconut oil, honey, applesauce, stevia and eggs together. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the creamed mixture. Fold in carrots. Press into an 8 x 8 greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until tests done.

The frosting recipe I used is here. I didn't add the lemon in the recipe, but you could leave it in if you wanted.

Gluten-Free Casein-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

My daughter had a party with our church group yesterday, and they were having cookies and popcorn. I always want to make sure she has tasty food to bring, so she won't feel left out. The popcorn part was easy, but cookies are always a bit more challenging, especially when we try to do low sugar. I adapted this recipe from a Toll House recipe. They were a hit!

1 c. shortening (I used Spectrum Naturals, which is non-hydrogenated palm oil)
1/2 cup xylitol
1/2 cup packed coconut sugar
1/8 tsp. stevia (you probably don't need it, but I used very low sugar chocolate)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend (3/4 c. rice flour, 1/2 c. potato starch, 1/4 c. tapioca starch)
3/4 cup almond flour (you can replace it with the gluten free flour blend if you have a nut allergy)
1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips (I used a dark chocolate very low sugar bar and broke it into pieces)

Cream the shortening, xylitol, coconut sugar, stevia, and vanilla. Add eggs and blend well. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and slowly add to the creamed ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips/pieces.

Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets by spoonfuls, flattening the dough a bit with the back of the spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove immediately from the cookie sheet to cool on wire racks.

Note: Because of the almond flour in this recipe, I store the cookies in the fridge. This recipe made 2 dozen cookies when I made them.

Chocolate No-Bake Bars

1/4 cup cocoa
1/8 tsp. stevia --or more, depending on what kind you use. I used the pure Nunaturals stevia for this recipe today. I think I like the liquid NOW stevia glycerite better for this. I used about 1/2 ts...p. of the liquid last time I made these
1/2 cup honey (if you don't like stevia or honey, you can replace with about 2 cups of sugar)
1/4 cup xylitol (or honey)
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup non dairy milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups gluten free rolled oats

Place all ingredients minus the vanilla and oats in a large saucepan. Melt and stir the ingredients over medium/high heat until melted and bubbly. Take off the heat and add the vanilla and oats. Spread into a greased 8 x 8 pan. Refrigerate until hardened. Keep refrigerated.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

1 cup gluten free flour (I used garbanzo)
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 T. o...il
1 c. milk
4 eggs
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. garlic
Veggies of choice like carrots, peas, onions, etc.
Chicken or whatever meat you want **
Daiya cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the first 8 ingredients in a bowl. In a sprayed muffin pan, add 1 tablespoon of the mix into each muffin cup. Add veggies, meat and cheese. Top with another 1-2 tablespoons (depending on how much room you have left) mix. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until they test done. Remove immediated from pan onto wire rack. Serve warm.

**I haven't tried this idea yet, but I would think you could make a pizza type mini pie. You could use veggies like onions, green peppers, black olives, etc., and use pepperoni or sausage as the meat. Then you could top it or serve it with pizza sauce.

Kopy Kat Kit Kat Bars

These are a bit of work, but so worth it!!

Wafer:
4 egg whites (room temperature)
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. xanthan gum
½ tsp. liquid stevia (replace with 1 cup sugar if you do not like stevia)
3 T. honey
Place egg whites, vanilla and xanthan gum in a mixing bowl*. Start beating and drizzle in stevia and honey. If you are adding sugar in place of stevia, add it slowly, a little bit at a time. Beat for 10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Place mixture in a Ziplock bag and snip a corner with scissors. Squeeze out long rectangle shapes onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 300° for 40 minutes. Watch carefully so that they do not burn. If they start getting too brown, drop temperature down to 275°. After 40 minutes, turn heat down to 200° for another 30 minutes. Turn off heat and open the oven door. Allow to cool with the oven door open for 1 hour.

Chocolate coating:
4 oz. unsweetened bakers chocolate (I used Sunspire baking chocolate)
½ tsp. liquid stevia (replace with ½ cup sugar if you do not like stevia)
¼ cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil

Melt coating ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Allow to cool slightly. Dip wafers in the coating, and place back on the parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator until hardened. Store bars in the refrigerator.

*I used a stand mixer for this recipe. I found a Sunbeam stand mixer at amazon.com for under $40.00. For recipes like this, it makes it so much less time consuming.