Redbridge Woman

After a long day working in the yard and whatnot, what's better than

Enchilada Casserole and gluten-free beer? Not much. :)

Best Ever Gluten Free Brownies Ever

I can't even find the picture I took of these brownies, but holy heckapowie does D (top, thinking he's a rockstar) look like SuperDad (bottom, wondering if his grandma will still have that flooring in 30 years. Answer = yes.). Am I right?

Recipe adapted from October 2008 issue of Family Fun magazine.

1/4 c brown rice flour
1/4 c tapioca flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
4 T butter
2 ounces/squares bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 lg egg
2 lg egg whites
1 c sugar
1 T canola oil
2 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Heat butter in small saucepan, don't burn. Remove pan from heat and add chocolagte, stir until melted. Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl (oh yeah, this recipe will use ALL of your bowls and measuring instruments), lightly whisk the egg and egg whites just until combined. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture but do not overmix.

4. Pour into pan. Bake about 30 minutes - toothpick will come out with a few moist crumbs, but brownies will set up as they cool. If they aren't all gone by then. Ahem.

We have been eating lately, if you can believe it.



Garlic Chicken and Broccoli

olive oil
garlic
1 lb. chicken breast
thyme
salt
pepper
broccoli
1/2 c chicken broth
1 c cooked brown rice

I threw the rice and the broccoli in the rice cooker. Then I cooked the garlic in oil, then browned the chicken in the spices, added in the broth and broccoli, and served it on the rice. YUM. We will definitely make this again. (D traded all of his chicken for his sister's broccoli. It takes all kinds.)


Lemon Chicken with Potatoes

If you wanted something this lemony, you'd be reading Mr. Snicket.



Tortilla Soup

Make this tonight. You will be happy you did.



And a new favorite at our house, that we've been eating at least twice a month, Sausage Polenta Bake.

Go! Cook! Eat! :)

Tomato Soup

And grilled cheese sandwiches last night. YUM. Oh my.

We tried this soup. I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating.

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Fiesta Tamale Pie

Party Pie! In the... crockpot? It can't be! Yet it is!

We really liked this. And I think we'll like it even more next time I make it in the all-new, not cracked and old and uneven-heating slow cooker SuperDad bought me for Christmas. Awww... love!

3/4 c yellow corn meal (.15)

1 c beef broth (.25 if using bouillion)

1 lb. ground beef (we almost always use ground turkey for everything - (1.78)

1 t chili powder (.05)

1/2 t ground cumin (.05)

1 jar salsa (2.00)

1 can corn, drained (.50)

2 oz. reduced fat shredded cheddar (.75)

In a large bowl, mix corn meal and broth. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in beef, chili powder, cumin, salsa, and corn. Pour into 3 1/2 quart slow cooker. (Mine is 4? And also 2! And also 6! The awesome, you can smell it, right?) Cover and cook on low 5-7 hours or until set. Sprinkle cheese on top. Serve.

We served with lettuce salad (.25?). Total cost = $5.78.

Gingerbread Mans

E's teacher let us know that they'd be baking gingerbread men in school, so what did I do? Oh, I e-mailed Ginger Lemon Girl, of course. And she gave me this recipe. And it was great! Yay! (Okay, so my cookie-cuttering technique could use some work.)

Saucy Parmesan Chicken

(Sorry this is a weird looking piece of chicken. It's like, croissant-y, or something.)

Saucy Parmesan Chicken

Total cost: $4.00-ish

Verdict: Delicious!

Jamie's Kielbasa Potatoes

This recipe came from Jamie at Looks Good in Polka Dots. Because it's yummy, that's why.

1 turkey kielbasa, sliced ($2.50)

new potatoes (.50)

mushrooms (or skip these because SuperDad will say "EW" and not eat)

baby carrots (.50)

32 oz. chicken broth (or bouillon and 32 oz. of water - .15)

2 T quick cooking Tapioca (.15)

pepper

salt

garlic

Total cost: $3.80

Combine all in crockpot and heat most of the day on low or 4 hours on high.

I was a little skeptical about the tapioca, but it was great - it disappeared into the sauce and made it nice and thick without any GF floury taste. We will definitely make this again.

Crock Pot Mexican Pork

1 lb. pork loin ($5!)

1 jar salsa ($2.50)

1 can chopped green chilis, drained ($.75)

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (.95)

Total Cost: $9.20

1. Put meat into crockpot, cover with salsa and chilis.

2. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

3. Stir in beans, cover and cooke 4 more minutes.

Can serve topped with cheese. We served on top of rice.

Verdict: YUM. But expensive. There's no reason you couldn't make this with chicken breast and spend less. Actually I think like a bunch of those recipes over there on the right are pretty much that exactly. What can I say? We like what we like.

Bacon Black-Eyed Peas & Rice

Mmm. Fergalicious.

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups instant rice
1 can chicken broth (ensure GF)
1 can black-eyed peas, drained (veggie kind, not Fergie kind)
2 ounces shredded cheddar

Fry bacon until crispy, then drain. (I normally prefer to bake bacon, but what's left on the pan after draining adds flavor here. I'm sure there's a real word for that.)

Add rice and broth to pan, cover and cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in peas.
Cook until heated through. Season with salt & pepper, top with cheese. Serve.

SuperDad, D, and I all loved this. E picked out the peas, because she said the black part was "spicy." But she's four, so you can take that with a grain of crazy.

When I make this again, I might use twice as much bacon, half as many peas. Because is there ever too much bacon? I think not. (Vegetarians need not answer that one!)

Black Bean Soup with Sausage

I got this recipe from All You magazine. Because it's all me, apparently.

2 t. olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans black beans
1 jar salsa
1 c chicken broth
2 hot Italian sausage links (I actually used mild)
1/2 c chopped cilantro (so one of those ingredients I don't spend the money on)
salt and pepper

1. Cook onion and garlic in oil. Or, be me, and just throw dried onion and garlic powder into the crock pot. Because I'm lazy.
2. Combine onion mixture, beans (with liquid), salsa, and chicken broth in slow cooker. Stir well and cook on low for 5 hours. (5 hours? I don't really see the point. Everything so far is already "cooked.")
3. Stir sausage into bean mixture and cook 1 hour longer.
4. Cut sausage into bite size pieces (or do it before they're hot, duh?), and return to slow cooker. Stir in cilantro (or not) and season with salt and pepper.

I served this on brown rice because soup isn't really enough of a meal for us. And, like I always do when I use the rice cooker, I threw in some carrots to steam.

It looked like this:


And was yet another thing the grown-ups loved and the kids wouldn't eat.

Also, see all the unplugged appliances in the background? I'm not just messy, I'm also saving energy!

Gluten Free Apple Bread

Like everyone else, we have an abundance of (free!) apples, so SuperDad made this, using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix for the flour. Also skipping the walnuts because walnuts are nasty. ;)

It looked like this:

Mandarin Chicken and Rice

1 c cooked rice
1 lb. chicken, cooked
1 (11 ounce) can of mandarin orange segments, drained, reserve 3 T of "juice" (actually syrup, let's not linger on that too much)

Mix rice, chicken, and oranges. Stir in the "juice." Serve. (The original recipe called for green onions, garlic, and spinach. I, uh, skipped those parts.)

This was really pretty good and the kids enjoyed it a lot. So. There. Also, I'm sorry my photography stinks stanks stunks.


This is the lovely Miss M, who turned 3 weeks old today. I'm very much enjoying my "babymoon" with her, during which we've falling irrevocably in love. :)

For lots of reasons, SuperDad and I are giving a go at going gluten free. Not that this is news to anyone that reads this, but it's, uh, hard. LOL. And anyone who saw SuperDad sneaking Burger King pie into the house late last night? Well, let's just pretend that never happened.

Easy Crockpot Chicken Santa Fe

I made this. It was easy. It was yummy. The end.

Ham Dinner

Green beans from garden (0.00)
Potatoes, enough (.50)
Ham, some (3.67)
Water to cover
Pepper to taste

Put all in crock pot. Cook all day on low. Eat.

Total Cost: $4.17
Verdict: I recommend using a whole ham rather than ham slices like this. The slices kind of lost their flavor, I guess, but we've had this before with a large ham and it turned out well.

FYI: This is Core, as long as you make sure you don't eat more than one potato.

Oh, We're Eating Too

So, occasionally we take a break from planning for the new baby and actually eat a meal. I've mentioned before that I'm trying to at least hover around the Weight Watchers Core program.

Here is what we had recently:

Steak and Potatoes in the Crockpot

1 lb. steak, cubed and browned w/salt and pepper (4.00ish?)
5 potatoes, washed and diced (.91)
1 c baby carrots (.53)
1 1/2 c. GF beef broth (?)
onion (?)

Layer potatoes, then carrots, then meat, then onion, and pour broth over all.

I cooked on low for about 8 hours. It was done awhile before that, though.

Enjoy!

Total cost: Around $6.00
Verdict: Yum. (Actually SuperDad said it could have been spicier, but I've been pretty sensitive to spices lately, so... Yeah.)

Gluten Free Strawberry Whipped Sensation

I got this recipe from Kraft. I just replaced the Oreos with Mi-Del GF chocolate chip cookies. YUM. That's all, just yum. (I'd rather not think about what this really cost. I did use the low-fat Cool Whip, though, and it still tasted great.)

Menu and Grocery Shopping

I went grocery shopping last night with the kids. I think it's safe to say I've reached the point in pregnancy when it is not financially wise for me to do the grocery shopping. $12 over budget! Mostly on cake and pickles. ;)

This week's menu includes:

Taco Chicken Rice Bowls (like the giant burritos w/out the tortilla - rice, seasoned chicken, beans, cheese, etc.)
Meatloaf
Grilled Pork Loin
Creamy Potato Soup (trying another recipe, I will find the perfect one!)
Ham Not Fried Rice
BBQ Chicken Pizza (yeah, we still didn't make this, tonight, I swear!)
Polish Sausage, baked potatoes, creamed corn (watch out! The store recently started carrying Nathan's Polish sausage and they have wheat!)

Plus lunch stuff and breakfast stuff and snack stuff and stuff we couldn't afford last week and stuff the baby said I needed :).

Total: $98.82

Tasted Better Than it Looked

I didn't get a usable photo of this (mostly because it just didn't look that great), but YUM.

Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

Chicken breasts
Taco Seasoning
Salsa
Light Sour Cream

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Put in the chicken. Sprinkle with taco seasoning, smother in salsa. Cook all day on low. Remove the chicken and shred. Mix sour cream into the sauce in the slow cooker. Add the chicken back in. We ate as burritos (use corn for GF) and we liked it so much, we finished the leftovers as dip on tortilla chips later that night. MMmmy.

Total cost: $2.99
Verdict: Definitely a keeper.

"Yummy in Mah Tummy" Gluten Free Anyway Chicken Veggie Soup

D ate three servings of this, pausing only to shout, "Yummy in mah tummy!" every couple of minutes. Everyone else loved this too.

1/2 bag of cole slaw mix cabbage
1/2 bag of carrots, chopped to smaller pieces
two small zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 can diced tomato
3 to 4 cups V8
1 large onion, chopped
6 cups chicken broth (GF)
salt & pepper to taste
diced chicken (can also skip this!)

Brown the chicken.
Add the onion and cook until clear.
Add a generous cup of water and let it cook for about an hour.
Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for an hour or so.

Note: I didn't cook this, my friend Diane did. And then I stole her recipe and put it out on the Internets. Because I'm nice like that.