Dairy/Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I don't know about y'all, but I can already feel my Thanksgiving excitement building. It just so happens to be my very favorite holiday.

One, it usually never snows on Thanksgiving... usually, and I really don't like the snow. Two, four letters, FOOD. Turkey, stuffing, fresh mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, mac&cheese, hot buttered rolls, pie, the smell of fresh chopped green veggies... need I go on? Three, every other holiday seems to bring drama with it, except this one. And those are the reasons that I love Thanksgiving.

In anticipation of this wonderful holiday I already have my brain set on the best part, the desserts. Oh yes, I went there!

So here's a little holiday treat that is gluten and dairy free. Cooked in a 13x9 inch dark glass casserole dish and cut into 12 bars, this delicious dessert has 22g of carbohydrates and 6g of protein per piece. Did I mention you only need 1 bowl, 1 cooking dish, 1 stirring utensil, your hands, and 6 ingredients? Let's get started.

The 6 ingredients you need are:

- 3/4 cup All natural Creamy peanut butter

- 2 Lg eggs

- 1/2 cup Packed brown sugar

- 1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw

- 2 cups gluten free all purpose baking flour/mix

- 1.5 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, they're dairy free

Preheat your oven to 325. Grease the bottom and sides of a 13x9 inch baking pan.

In your large mixing bowl, mix together all the peanut butter and both eggs until it's smooth.

Add in your brown sugar and stevia and stir till all mixed in.

From this point on it will be easier to mix with your hands.

Add in the baking flour/powder and mix till completely moistened.

Once done, fold in chocolate chips.

Pour the entire mix into your greased baking pan and spread out evenly. Push down gently with your fingers till the top looks more like a cookie cake than a pile of sugary peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Let it bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cool 25 minutes and cut into twelve equal pieces.

Using less sugar and a different type of baking mix did make them a bit crumbly, but they were still pretty dang yummy!

Enjoy :)

*I have posted the original recipe here at the bottom for those of you who have no food allergies and don't care to lessen your sugar content. I hear they are divine this way!

3/4 cup peanut butter, crunchy or creamy

2 large eggs

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups all purpose baking mix, such as Bisquick

2 cups regular M&Ms

Mix and bake the same way, adjust baking time as needed.

Yummy Low Carb Treat

I was really craving something sweet and chocolatey and yummy that wouldn't put a damper on my diet the other day and so I decided to make some chocolate covered cashews.

This is the chocolate I used, semi-sweet and dairy and gluten free. Melt your chocolate squares or chips in a bowl completely. Add your cashews and toss well.

After all your cashews (as many as you want, but not more than you have chocolate for) are tossed and coated well, lay them out on a sheet of wax paper. Make sure your layer is thin so the nuts aren't all bunched together. I didn't have wax paper so I used tin foil which worked just fine. Let them dry for 5 minutes then take a single sprinkle of sugar and sprinkle it over the partially dried cashews. (Not enough to add any negative nutritional value, but enough to add just a tiny bit of sweet.)

Mine took forever to completely dry, but I just pulled them off and put them in a zip lock bag for storage in a cool dry place. (the first day I stored them in my fridge. Now they're in my cabinet.)

And there you are, a yummy sweet treat for all diet types to enjoy that won't set you back. Enjoy!

Gluten/Dairy Free Cupcakes

Oh yes, these beautiful sweet treats are Gluten & Dairy Free!

I was feeling the need for some sweetness so I made

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream frosting and peppermint sprinkles.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Cinnamon Swirl Waffle

I found this one on Pintrest and I couldn't help it! I just had to share it because it's low cost, easy, and fun!

Turning large pre-made cinnamon rolls into waffles with your waffle iron! Neat!

Just put a single cinnamon roll in in each quadrant of the waffle iron and press down slightly to flatten. Cook through and Vwa-la!

Yummy Cinnamon Swirl Waffles for breakfast :)

Tomatoes and Homemade Chili

My Dad has been babying a beautiful garden all spring/summer/fall long. He plated A LOT of tomatoes and my family has been loving it. With one of his last harvests he let me have the bulk of it and helped me make some homemade chili.

He chopped. Aren't they pretty? I love the color!

And I sivved. Not hard work, but tedious for sure. (bad pic of me...)

We got 6 quarts of tomato pulp!

And it made A LOT of yummy chili. Half of it went in my crock pot for dinner that night, and the other half went in my freezer to pull out for another cold winter night.

Thanks Dad!

Easy Tofu Cream Cheese Sauce for Pasta

So I've been playing around with Tofu lately and one of my favorite things is Toffuti Brand Imitation Cream cheese. For those of you who eat it by itself like my sister-in-law, you'll notice a slight difference, but not a bad one. For those of you who only use it in cooking and baking like me, you'd never know the difference.

So this sauce is REALLY easy, you only need 6 ingredients.

They are:

8 oz Toffuti Brand Imitation Cream Cheese (1 container)

6 tsp Earth Balance Non-Dairy Butter substitute (or something similar that is non-dairy)

3/4 cup regular Soymilk

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

1/8 tsp Salt ( a light sprinkling)

1/2 to 1 tsp black pepper

Mix the cream cheese and butter together in a sauce pan over medium low heat until creamy. Add milk and seasonings and stir till the sauce thickens. It takes about 10-12 minutes total prep time. My kids have a thing for shell noodles so that what I mixed in with the sauce. Here's what it should look like when you're done! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A Congratulatory Treat

My BaBy BrOtHeR finally got a job!!! So I promised him a yummy treat as my way of saying Congrats on a job well done.

His favorite colors are white and orange so I made white cupcakes with orange frosting. (And sprinkles. I have a think for sprinkles...)

This is how they turned out. Cute, huh?