Tag: gluten free

Sweet Potato Sunday!

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Growing up I was always that kid that absolutely REFUSED to eat my vegetables.  I remember sitting at the kitchen table for hours while my mom forced me to have at least one bite of spinach.  My parents tried everything!  They covered the veggies with sauce or cheese, they tried to spruce them up to make them more interesting to me, but I was a very stubborn child.  I was set in my ways and refused to learn to like vegetables.  It’s ironic that now as an adult (or a larger child, as I often consider myself) I absolutely LOVE veggies!  I try and have a vegetable component in almost every meal, and one of my favorites is the sweet potato!

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Sweet potatoes are actually one of my absolute favorite foods of all time.  They are second in line behind my ever beloved oatmeal.  They include many essential vitamins, including B6, C, D, and A!  You basically cover all the important alphabetical vitamins in one serving of this fun vegetable!  That’s another thing – they’re a vegetable that tastes like a dessert!  What a serious win win.

I buy tons of sweet potatoes every time I go to the store because they can store for a long time.  Whenever I don’t feel like cooking a big meal I simply wash a sweet potato, poke a few holes in if with a fork and microwave it for 8 minutes – rotating once at the 4 minute mark.  Then I can just cut it open straight from the microwave and load it up with whatever delicious fillings I want!  (Chickpeas, cheese, yogurt, honey, cinnamon sugar, nutella, or simply salt/pepper and butter!)  However, when I have more time I like to get a little fancier with my sweet potatoes and make myself some sweet oven baked fries!  The recipe is easy and the outcome is SO DELICIOUS OH MY GOSH!  You’ll just have to try it yourself to believe me!  (And this is also a great way to get some vital nutrients into picky kids!)

SWEET SWEET POTATO FRIES

The Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato (or 2 small ones)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Place sweet potato in microwave for 1-2 minutes so that it’s softer and easier to cut
3. Cut sweet potato into long fry-like strips and place into a bowl (I keep the skins on because I love them, but you can peel your potato if desired)
4. Add the rest of the ingredients of top of the cut potatoes and mix with your hands until each slice is fully covered and the ingredients have all mixed together
5. Spread out the strips onto a sprayed baking sheet
6. Place in oven for 30 minutes
7. Let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

Gluten free goodies – Maple peanut butter cookies

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I have to be honest with you all about something, I have absolutely no idea what gluten is.  Nada. None. Zilch. I know that people with Celiacs can’t eat it, I know that it’s in pizza & beer, and i know that to get products without it costs you almost double your money.  Beyond that, what exactly gluten is is a complete mystery to me.  Once I found out it was in flour and that basically everything delicious in the world is made of it, I counted my lucky stars that I’m not intolerant of this mysterious compound.  (Is compound the right word?  Is it an element? who knows!?)  However, two of my very good friends are.  Intolerant, that is.  In honor of them I decided to incorporate some flour-less baked goods into my repertoire.  After doing a bit of searching around on the interwebs, I discovered that for flour-less baking to successful (and delicious), peanut butter needs to get involved.  Okay you guys, I’m about to drop another bomb on you – I hate peanut butter.  Fortunately, these cookies weren’t for me so I decided to go ahead and make them anyways regardless of my interests.  I’m not the gluten-free one here, this project was not about my own desires!

Here’s the thing, I don’t own regular peanut butter.  The only peanut butter that I have is Mighty Maple peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co.  While I hate regular PB, this company’s flavored stuff is much more tolerable and I can actually be found eating it from time to time.  That’s the secret ingredient to this cookie – it’s what gives them the subtle (and wonderful) maple-y aftertaste.

The results of this gluten free adventure were wildly successful.  The cookies didn’t last long at work, and people who didn’t even care about gluten free baking were munching down on these things like they were the best cookies in the world. (Actually, I was told that they might be!)  Honestly, I think because I decided to go flour-less instead of using a replacement flour, these cookies are accessible to a number of crowds beyond just the gluten free folk.  My only recommendation would be to double the recipe, otherwise the cookies won’t last long!

GF Maple Peanut Butter Cookies
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The Ingredients:
1 cup maple peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat the maple peanut butter & sugar in a bowl, then mix in the baking powder and add the egg. Mix well until well combined
3. Roll the dough into small balls and place balls on a baking sheet (this is where I chose to make a pretty design on top of the cookies with a fork!)
4. Bake for 10 minutes
5. Enjoy!