Muffins Plops

I really like these.  They are easy, taste good, and are flexible.  What more could you want?  I'll tell you below how I make them.  Go back to the post on The Cheapskate Cook or the one she stole them from to see additional ideas.  

Muffin Plops

1 c oats

1 c yogurt (Greek, flavored, plain, whatever you have on hand)

1 egg

2 T brown sugar, rounded

1/2 melted coconut oil or butter (I usually use the coconut oil but you may not have it)

1 c + 2 T gluten-free flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c sliced almonds

1/2 c dried cranberries

1. In medium bowl, stir oats and yogurt together.  Let set overnight (the best) or as long as you have.  I have made them without letting them set at all.  See, I told you they are flexible!

2. Mix in egg, brown sugar, and melted coconut oil.

3. Mix in dry ingredients and cinnamon.

4. Mix in the almonds and cranberries or what ever "mix-ins" you want to use.

5. Now here's the best part.  I have never actually made these as muffins although I'm told that works.  Rather, I spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and drop by spoonful at the size I feel like making that day.  Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes until golden.  Serve with jam or not.  Also, the smaller size makes great portable snacks for little hands!

Lavender Butter Cream Frosting

I realize lavender is not a flavor most folks associate with edible items.  But, in certain situations, it can really be quite nice.  I used this on a lemon cake.  I wasn't terribly excited by the lemon cake so I'm not sharing it here but the frosting was yummy.  Many people who didn't know it was lavender thought it it was slightly fruity...or something :)  Really it's just a normal butter cream with dried lavender.

Lavender Butter Cream Frosting (borrowed from Icy Violets)

3 1/4 c powdered sugar

1 c butter, room temp.

1 tsp lemon juice

3 T milk

1-2 T dried lavender buds (picked them out of my front yard)

Beat the powdered sugar and butter together on low for about 1 minute.  Scrap the bowl down, then beat on medium for 2 minutes more.  Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on medium for another minute until fully incorporated.

NOTE: I misread the recipe at first and didn't put enough powdered sugar in.  Don't worry, it's totally forgiving.  Added the rest of the powdered sugar and it was fine.  Also, I added about equal amounts of red and blue gel food coloring to give it a light "lavender" color!

Chile Relleno Casserole...and I Liked It

Not to dis my mother, but as a kid, she made something we called Chile Relleno Casserole...and I hated it.  I got to the point I wouldn't even try to choke it down and I almost gagged when I read this recipe on Dishing with Leslie.  But, tastes do change...and fresh is always better!  Mom's had hamburger and canned green chiles.  This one had no burger and fresh roasted poblanos from our produce box.  Andrew says it's easy...and he made it so if he thinks it's easy most anyone can make it!  Sorry Mom...this is better and was easily made gluten-free.  The only problem was it made just enough for dinner...but since we have frittatta and Tamale Pie leftovers that's probably a good thing.

Chile Relleno Casserole (again adapted from Dishing with Leslie)

Ingredients:
6 Poblano chile peppers - roasted, peeled, and seeded
dash or two of salt
dash of black pepper

a bit of garlic powder
3 eggs
1/2 c milk
3 T gluten-free flour (Andrew used potato flour...I recommend using a blend but it's such a small amount that it doesn't really matter, most anything will work)

1/2 c grated cheddar cheese

1/2 c grated jack cheese

Directions:
1. Turn oven on to broil setting. Place chile's on broil safe sheet or pan. Set directly under broiler flame until all sides of peppers are blistered and charred. You will need to turn them during this process. When chile's are nice and toasted, remove from broiler and cover with plastic. Place covered peppers in a paper bag to finish sweating.
 

2. While peppers are sweating, whisk eggs, milk, flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder together in a small bowl.

4.Grate your cheese
 

5. Heat oven to 350 degrees
 

6. Remove chile's from paper/plastic. Peel, and remove seeds

Assemble Dish:
Lay half of your chile peppers on bottom of 8-inch baking dish.  Pour half of egg mixture over the peppers. Top with half of cheddar and jack cheese. Repeat again - Peppers, egg mixture, finish with cheese. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Tamale Pie...or Throwing a Lot of Stuff Together

First of all, Tamale Pie tastes nothing like tamales and you shouldn't expect it to.  I actually read a review on a recipe where they complained about this.  Seriously, people?  Okay, this was just a mash up of what we had around the house tonight and an attempt to use that stuff up.  It has a lot of flexibility...kind of like my frittatta recipe.

Tamale Pie

Filling

2 c diced and cooked protein (tonight it was leftover t-bone, you could use a pound of ground meat cooked up too)

1/4 c diced olives or one of those little cans

15 oz canned beans (tonight it was chipotle pinto beans, next time likely black beans)

8 oz can tomato sauce

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, preferably the petite diced ones

small can diced green chiles would be good; we didn't have any!

2 c fresh corn cut off of the cob or canned corn1 T cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

Cornbread Topping

1 c gluten-free flour (or regular flour if that's how you roll)

1 c cornmeal

 T sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 c milk

1/4 c oil of choice (I used melted coconut oil)

Last but not least

1-2 c shredded cheese

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease or spray a 10-in cast iron skillet or  9 x 13 glass baking dish.

2.  Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a large bowl and spread evenly in cooking skillet or pan.

3. Mix cornbread topping ingredients together and spread evenly over filling.

4.  Bake for 40 minutes until topping is cooked through and the filling is bubbling a bit.

5. Spread shredded cheese over the top and cook for another 5 minutes or so until it's melted.

6. Enjoy!

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Made these tonight.  A bit of a compromise between Andrew wanting chocolate chip cookies and me not wanting too many grains.  Good thing they only make about a dozen 'cause between the three of us we ate all but two!  

I only had the almond meal/flour from TJ's.  I'm sure if I had real almond flour...the finer stuff...these would be amazing.  As it was, they were good.  I recommend making them fairly small.  The big ones were a little soft.  Part of that could have been because Andrew bought the huge Ghirardelli chips ;)

And, as usual, I did not come up with this recipe!  Check out Against All Grain for the original and lots of other yummies!

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/4 c palm shortening
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T honey
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c almond flour
2 T coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In mixer, cream the palm shortening, brown sugar, honey, egg, and vanilla for about 15 seconds until smooth and fluffy.  Scrape the sides a couple times if you need to!

Add the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt and mix again until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed in order to incorporate all of the flour.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Place golf-ball sized balls (or smaller) of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or if your out of parchment spray it with cooking spray. Flatten them slightly with the palm or your hand or a spatula. The cookies don’t spread much so create the size and thickness you want prior to baking them.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet.  Try not to eat them all at once.

 

Kind of Like Chicken Tikka Masala

And, Andrew liked it.  Oh he says he hates Indian food...he just hates onions.  If I cook Indian based dishes without the onions, he never seems to have a problem gobbling them down!  This was my take on another lady's take of Chicken Tikka Masala.  It was tasty and I will make it again in the future!

Kind-of Like Chicken Tikka Masala

Marinade and meat
1 lb chicken breast
1/2 c yogurt
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 T grated fresh ginger
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne powder
1/8 tsp tumeric
salt and pepper

Combine above ingredients except for the chicken.  Pour over the chicken and marinade for a day or two.  Ours probably sat in the fridge for almost 3 days...oh well, turned out fine!

Wipe most of the marinade off of the breast and broil on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes until cooked through and browning a bit.  The time will depend on your breasts...ours are huge ;)

Let them cool a bit and then dice.  Set aside while you make the sauce below.

Sauce
1 T olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 T garam masala
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
pinch of cayenne powder
1 tsp salt
2 cans diced tomatoes, mostly drained
1 tsp or so of honey
1 pkg cream cheese

In large cast iron skillet or stock pot, heat oil and add in the garlic and ginger.  Cook for a couple of minutes on low.  Add the spices, stir, and heat for about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and honey and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  I pureed the sauce with our stick blender.  Then, melt in the cream cheese and let simmer about another 10 minutes. 

Serve over quinoa or rice.