White Bean Chili

Ingredients

2 lb ground beef

1 yellow onion chopped finely

1 giant can of Campbell's tomato juice from concentrate

1 28oz can of whole stewed tomatoes

2 cans cannellini beans

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp each black pepper, salt, sugar

2 tsp cumin

Brown ground beef with chopped onion, drain access fat off. In a large stock pot, place ground beef and all ingredients. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer the chili for a hour or so, stirring occasionally. You can top with avocados, cheese, sour cream, etc....

Gluten Free Browned Butter Banana muffins

So it was my turn to make treats for church and I was trying to decide on what to make. I had a bunch of very ripe bananas that desperately needed to be used. I thought of making a banana coconut cookie, but coconut isn't that poplular. So I decided to make a banana muffin and tweak the recipe by browning the butter, my hubby thought I was crazy. Luckily these babies turned out pretty tasty and moist. 

4 c gf all purpose flour

2 tbsp gf baking flour

1 1/2 light brown sugar

4 eggs

6 medium very ripe bananas mashed

1 c milk

1 oikos vanilla Greek yogurt 

2 sticks browned butter, cooled

2 tsp vanilla

Optional- 1 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 370 degrees

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl mix wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and mix well, add chocolate chips, batter will be thick. In prepared muffin tins, fill half way or more if you like a larger muffin. Bake for 20-25 min til toothpick comes out clean. 

This makes a very large batch of muffins.

Cherry Jam Cupcakes

Funny story about this, I ran out of vanilla extract, eek!! Can't believe I ran out of it. I wanted to do a vanilla buttercream for this but, couldn't. I had cherry freezer jam in the fridge to use and thought why not? I mean cherries and chocolate go hand in hand right? They sell them at Christmas time, chocolate covered cherries, so it made perfect sense to me. So here it is Cherry Jam Cupcakes. 

One box of Devils food by Betty Crocker cake mix with all the ingredients on the back. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Mix cake mix according to directions. Spoon cake mix into cupcake liners til 3/4 c.filled. Bake for 18-20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Frosting:

1 c. Cherry freezer jam, thawed of course

1 c. Softened butter

1/4 tsp almond extract

5-6 c. Powdered sugar

Beat butter until creamy, add cherry freezer jam, beat til combined. Slowly add one cup of powdered sugar at a time mixing completely in with each addition. If your frosting isn't spreadable add milk, if it's too runny add more powdered sugar. 

Using a corer, core a small piece out of the cupcake, not to deep or wide. Make sure the cupcakes are cool, fill hole in with cherry jam frosting and frost the top as well, repeat till all cupcakes are done. 

Rice pudding ( gluten free, dairy free)

Not feeling my best today, I felt like I wanted something hot for breakfast just not oatmeal again. I remembered I had some left over rice in the fridge, and decided let's see what I can come up with. However, most rice puddings use whole milk, well... I forgot to go to the store yesterday but I did have a container of silks blend of almond/coconut milk. 

3 c. Almond/coconut milk 

3/4 c. Coconut sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/3 gluten free all purpose flour

3 c. Leftover rice

1/2-2/3 raisins, optional 

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, heat almond/milk, coconut sugar, and spices til it boils, if it's to thick add more almond/coconut milk. While that's heating up, in another dish whisk the three egg yolks ( save the whites for a egg white omelette or forgotten cookies). Once mix has boiled, add 1/2-3/4 c. hot mix to the egg yolks. Whisk while pouring it in to temper the eggs. Then pour that back into the pan, add the leftover rice, vanilla, raisins to pan. Heat thru. This makes a great hot breakfast. 

Gluten Free White Chicken Chili

This isn't exactly healthy white chicken chili, but it does hit the spot on a cold, blustery day. 

4 cans cannellini beans

1 pkg ground chicken

2 gluten free bouillon cubes

1 c. Frozen corn

1 4.5 oz green chili's

4 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 seasoned salt 

1 c. Heavy cream

1.5 c boiling water 

In a Dutch oven or a heavy lined stock pot. Melt butter, add ground chicken, browning and breakng up the pieces. Add 2 cans of drained and rinsed beans, green chili's, spices, boiling water, bouillon cubes.  Stir to combine. In a blender add the other two cans of beans, not drained, purée til smooth. Add to stock pot, stir. Simmer on medium- low heat for 30 minutes till heated thru. Add heavy cream and frozen corn half way thru cooking. If chili is too thick add more boiling water or heavy cream. If too thin you can add 2-3 gluten free all purpose flour. Top chili with shredded cheddar. Or avocados, gluten free tortilla chips. 

Momma Joy's fried chicken

This is a favorite of my hubby's, his dad and his brother. This would include fighting over the last piece at the dinner table.

4 sleeves of townhouse Orginial crackers

1 pkg of chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into 1-2 inch thick strips or thicker. Season with salt and pepper

4 eggs

Milk

Canola oil

Salt and pepper

Fill an electric skillet with canola oil about two inches deep. Heat to 400 degrees.

In a gallon zip lock bag empty two sleeves of crackers. Finely crush crackers with a rolling pin, make sure the air is out of the bag. Empty crumbs into a shallow baking dish. Repeat with other two sleeves. 

In another bowl scramble the four eggs with a little milk. 

For the set up, if your right handed, electric skillet to tte right, to the left the dish with crumbs, the eggs in the dish by the crumbs. Have a plate lined with paper towel. 

Dip chicken strips in egg then press then into cracker crumbs. Put into the skillet, fry til golden brown on one side, flip, fry til golden brown. I usually fry 8-9 pieces at a time. Place fried chicken on paper towel. Repeat with rest of chicken. 

Chocolate granola with salted caramel

So I was thinking, chocolate, I love chocolate, I also love caramel, mmmm... So I was thinking that the two of those ingredients and some dry roasted peanuts would be great together.

Granola ingredients:

4 c. Gluten free rolled oats

1 c. Dry roasted peanuts

4 tbsp cocoa

1/2 c. Water

3/4 c. Brown sugar

1/4 c + 1 tbsp pure maple syrup

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 c. Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips 

Sea salt

Caramel sauce

1/4 c. Butter

1/4 c. Heavy cream

1/2 c. Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix oats and peanuts. In a small sauce pan, mix cocoa, water, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Heat til it boils, watch it closely, as soon as it boils, add chocolate and olive oil. Pour over oats, mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet lined with a silopat mat or parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes flipping granola over at the 15 minute mark. Remove from cookie sheet, place in a glass baking dish to cool.

For the caramel sauce, heat ingredients in a small saucepan, whisk. Bring to a boil whisking constantly til temperature is 200 degrees. Remove from heat. Let it cool. Then pour over chocolate granola, stir the granola carefully, coating it well. Sprinkle sea salt on top. Let it cool completely.