Gluten Free and Dairy Free Hashbrown Pie

I've been gluten-free for almost 10 years now.  I've only been dairy-free for the past few months.  And seeing as how I lurve my cheese, it's been a little rocky. 


Obviously, I've had to make adjustments.  Most of the recipes I cook from use, uh, liberal amounts of cheese.  So now I have to figure out how to make yummy stuff that is both gluten- and dairy-free. 


As I'm sure you can guess, I often browse Pinterest.  But this time, I got creative on my own.  After all, I watch Food Network; I can do this, right? ;) 


Here's my gf/df hashbrown pie.  I'll tell ya-- it's not half bad.  In fact, it's pretty darn good.  At the risk of saying something I'll regret... I didn't even miss the cheese.  (Gasp!)

Hashbrown Pie
Ingredients:
3 cups frozen hashbrowns, thawed
2 Tbsp Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 whole eggs
2 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2 tsp seasoning salt

Instructions:

1. Lay paper towels down on a cookie sheet.  Spread hashbrowns out over them.  Place paper towels on top of hashbrowns and press, trying to get rid of as much water as you can.
2. Melt buttery spread in microwave then mix with olive oil.
3. Mix hashbrowns and "butter"/oil together in a bowl.  Press into pie tin.
4. Bake crust for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees.  Crust should have crisped around the edges.  Turn the oven down to 350.
5. After you pull the crust out, place your 2 eggs whites into a bowl and beat until foamy and they're semi-firm.
6. In separate bowl, mix yolks and whole eggs, bell pepper, scallion and seasoning salt.
7. After you're done beating the whites, fold in the other egg mixture and dump the whole thing on the crust.  Put back in the oven (which should now be at 350) and bake for 25 minutes, till golden brown on the top.

Yum!!
Full disclosure... I went back for seconds. :)

Homemade granola bars

I've been trying to come up with new healthier snacks for the girls. It's been pretty fun. This morning, I let the girls watch an episode of Wonder Pets, and I whipped up these no-bake granola bars. It seriously only took the amount of time it takes a guinea pig, duckling and turtle to save a flamingo to make these. In case you don't use that kind of time comparison, this is really quick.

The only issue I ran into is that they didn't hold together all that well (see picture below).  Maybe creamy peanut butter would work better?  I think I'll add just a tad more of both the pb and honey next time.  If you try it, let me know your results!  As for my results, the girls HORSED these, even after they had just finished a snack of string cheese, crackers and hummus.  In other words: BIG SUCCESS!

Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup raisins
2 handfuls M&Ms
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa

Heat pb, honey and vanilla over medium heat until pb is melted.

Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. When pb mix I'd melted, dump it over the other stuff. Mix then press into an 8x8 baking dish.

Let it sit till cooled.

Devour! :)

Spruced Up Hummus Recipe

This isn't as much a recipe as a "touch-up."  My husband went grocery shopping with the girls this weekend, because he is AWESOME!  But at Trader Joe's, they were out of my favorite Mediterranean Hummus.  Sad.  So very sad.  So he grabbed a plain hummus instead.


After I had swallowed my disappointment--because let's be honest, it wasn't really all that bad-- I thought, Hey!  Why don't I just try to spice this sucker up a little!?  So here's what I did... just in case you fall into the same situation.

(Can you tell we do a lot of TJ's shopping?  Hehe!)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
pinch popcorn and nut salt (or regular old salt is fine, too!)
EVOO, about 1 Tbsp
dried parsley (to taste-- roughly 1 tsp)
ground cumin (to taste-- roughly 1.5 tsp)

Instructions:
Throw the pine nuts in a pan over medium-low heat.  Toss with a pinch of salt and keep stirring around until oils start to release and nuts turn golden brown.
Mix toasted pine nuts with everything else.  Keep tasting till you get the flavor you like!

It's pretty clear why I don't write a cooking blog, ain't it?  I do most recipes like this-- keep tossing stuff in till I like it.  And I like this!  A lot.  Now I'm off to dip Nut Thins in it... or maybe make a wrap... or just eat it by the spoonful perhaps?  Whatever happens, it's yummy!

My new go-to lunch

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I don't normally post recipes, but this is hardly a recipe, seeing as how the only prep I did was a little chopping.  And that makes it even better, I think.  I'm always on the look-out for a yummy and very quick lunch option.  You see, having three kids (4 and under) doesn't lend itself to elaborate midday meals.  Though, who am I kidding?  I wouldn't make elaborate lunches even if I were on my own.

These wraps were inspired by this yummy-looking sandwich that I pinned.  However, I have celiac, so bread is out.  And I love me a good wrap, so that's the way I went.

The possibilities are endless, but here's what I used: 

 

Just nuke your tortillas for a few seconds (I always do this to make them softer), chop up your veggies, slather on some of that awesome yogurt dip from TJ's, layer and EAT! :)