A Happy Saturday with Brownie Pops

I recently tried to make Non-Dairy Cake Pops and it didn't go so well... but as I was searching through the updates of all the blogs I follow, I came upon this super awesome idea over at Little Birdie Secrets. Brownie Pops! So click here to go over and check out this cute little treat. Don't forget to follow her blog, awesome ideas and recipes are plentiful there! If I can find a way to make these with no dairy, I'll post it later on. Happy Saturday :)

Whole Wheat Vegan Friendly Cookies

So I've modified my good friend's chocolate chip cookie recipe and come up with this awesome Vegan Chocolate chip Cookie recipe that all can enjoy no matter the diet or allergy. Unless you're allergic to Gluten... still working on that one. In my extended family there are a lot of different diets and a lot of different allergies so we're always striving to make new and awesome recipes that everyone can have. The only diet this doesn't follow is Low Carb (which I'm on) bc each cookie has about 20g. It sucks, but they are so good and everyone needs to splurge here and there :) I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine (the Nucoa Brand has no dairy)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup Xylitol (about $7 a bag at your local health food store)

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp corn starch

4 tbsp water (corn starch and water make up your egg substitute i.e. 1 part starch + 2 parts water = 1 egg)

2 tsp Real Vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 bag Semi-sweet chocolate chips (be sure to check the ingredients to make sure there is no dairy. There are two brands I've found so far that have no dairy: the first is the Kroger brand semi sweet and the second is the awesome but more expensive Ghirredeli semi sweet)

Preheat your oven to 375.

In a medium mixing bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and set aside.

In a larger mixing bowl mix all your other ingredients together. Add your flour mixture to the wet mixture one cup at a time, and mix well after every cup. Once your flour mixture is all added and blended, slowly add your chocolate chips and mix them in well.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet by the tablespoon full and cook for 9-11 minutes depending on how soft you like your cookies.

A warning- this cookie dough may look pretty normal, but the whole wheat flour makes for a much softer and moister cookie, so they look, cook, and taste much different than what you are normally used to. Don't worry! They are still pretty tasty. Watch them carefully in the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack before storing them together because they tend to stick together.)

Healthy Kid's Snack

I was getting updated on my Facebook stuff this evening, (laugh if you must, but I am addicted to my Facebook page) and I came across a post by my friend Laura, mother of 3 soon to be four awesome kiddos, about a blog entry she'd found that day for an awesome healthy snack for kid's. I read it and was immediately impressed by how simple it was to make and how actually healthy it is. I just had to come on here and post the website for all of you to enjoy as well. Happy summer snacking!

The "Powerball" kid's snack

Tasty Homemade Pico de Gallo

I made chicken tacos for dinner the other night and since I'm used to making regular tacos I was kind of stumped as to what to chop up to put on them. I thought Pico would be a pretty good way to spice up these tacos so here's how I made my pico. I bought some from the store a while back and was looking at the ingredients thinking 'I could totally make this on my own.' This is something I just threw together, so feel free to make adjustments as needed for your taste or family size. This fed my family of 4 for taco toppings and there's leftovers in the fridge.

This is my Pico de Gallo.

(sorry for the terrible picture, it's from my phone)

*A tip before we begin: I've made this twice. The first time I used my food processor for the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. For some reason they produced a kind of juicy foam that didn't look very good. (I don't know if that's normal or not) The second time I chopped all my veggies by hand (as shown in the picture) and it turned out very tasty and pretty. So my tip is, altho it takes longer, chopping your veggies by hand makes better pico.

You will need:

1/2 of a medium purple onion, cored and finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, cored and finely chopped

1 large slicing tomato, chopped

1 Jalapeno, cored and finely chopped

Cilantro, finely chopped

2 pinches ground black pepper

2 pinches Garlic powder

1/2 of a lime, cut into wedges

After you've chopped all your veggies drop them into a medium glass bowl and mix them together with a spoon. Make sure that your Cilantro is very finely chopped and add that and stir again.

Squeeze the juice of half your lime wedges into the bowl and mix it together again. This helps the spices stick to your veggies so they can soak in better.

Add your pepper and garlic and stir, then juice your remaining lime wedges directly into the bowl and stir one more time. Take a look at your fresh Pico de Gallo! Looks great doesn't it? And not very hard either!

I served this on Mission brand White Corn Tortillas covered in shredded chicken breast. This would also be good as a salsa type topping for nachos or just to eat plain with chips. Enjoy :)

Homemade Fried Chicken & Steak Fries

Today's Dinner is Homemade Fried Chicken and Steak Fries... made from scratch! This recipe is not for the faint hearted and takes quite a bit of prep work, but is totally worth it. Ready? Go!

You will need:

- 4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed

- 2-3 large eggs

- 2 gallon size ziplock bags

- 6 cups Pure Vegetable Oil

- 2 cups of all purpose flour

- 4 & 1/2 tsp sea salt

- 3 tsp chili powder

- 2 tsp onion powder

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 & 1/2 tsp garlic salt

- 1 tsp black pepper

- 1/2 tsp ceyanne pepper

- 1/2 tsp thyme

- metal tongs or something alike

- wire splatter guard

- 2 plates and napkins

- 3 to 5 medium potatoes, depending on how big your family size is. 4 potatoes made enough fries for my family of 4.

- season salt

What to do:

-Once your chicken breasts are fully thawed, drain the juice and set on your meat cutting board. Cut into 1-inch strips and place back in the bag. In a small bowl beat 2-3 eggs (depending on what size they are) and add 1 tsp salt. Add that tho the bag you just put the chicken back in, close it and set it aside.

-In your other gallon size bag, combine flour and all seasonings. Close the bag nice and tight and shake it in all directions to mix all the seasonings together.

-Pour your oil into a large pot and slowly bring it up to about 365 degrees on medium heat. (optimal oil temp for frying chicken is 355-375 degrees) If you don't have a thermometer wait about 5-10 minutes and then try adding a small piece of bread to the oil. If it browns in less than 60 seconds then your oil is at the right temp. If not give it a few more minutes to heat and try another piece of bread.

-While you're waiting for the oil to heat up, peel your potatoes and cut them in half long ways. Slice them into about 1 in x 1 in strips as you see fit and set them aside.

-Slowly and carefully add your chicken one piece at a time and give it ample time to brown on the outside. If your oil is at the right temp, it should cook the chicken through by the time the outside is completely browned. When you take chicken strips out place them on a plate that has a couple of napkins/paper towels spread out on it (to soak up any excess oil) and let them cool before serving.

-Once all your chicken strips are cooked it's time to start your french fries. You can put your chicken strips in a container to keep in the heat, but allow some venting so the breading doesn't become moist to the point of loosing it's crispiness.

-Drop a couple handfulls of potatoes in the oil. French fries take longer to fry than the chicken does so be patient. It's worth the wait! When they start to float you are getting close. Let them start to get brown and then they are done. Pull them out with your tongs or a slitted scoop and set them on a plate covered with a napkin/paper towel like you did with the chicken. Allow to cool a minute or two and then serve everything nice and warm with Ketchup and BBQ sauce. I also love serving fried chicken with corn on the cob.

Good luck!

Easy Cheap (and dairy free!) Tostadas

I'm one of those moms that is constantly on the go with tons of stuff to do during the day. With my oldest daughter starting school in August, I will be even more busy driving back and forth every day. So when it comes to cooking dinner in the evening I'm all for food that tastes good, doesn't take too much prep time, and is easy to make and cheap to buy. Actually, most of these ingredients you will already have in your fridge! These tostadas are fun for the kids (my oldest called it crunchy taco pizza) and easy for me so it's a win all around. I hope you enjoy them!

You will need:

1 or 2 pkgs Tostada Shells (Mexican Food section at your local grocery store, $.99/ea.)

1 Roma tomato (diced)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I used this and also had Veggie Shreds on hand for the dairy allergies in the family)

1 to 2 lbs ground turkey burger (you can also use ground beef or shredded chicken may even work), depending on the size of your family or your husband's appetite

Taco seasoning, 1 packet per 1 lb of meat or however much it says to use on the container

Tofutti Brand Regular Imitation Sour Cream-

dried chives, mayonaise, nutritional yeast, onion powder (for the cream cheese to make dip for a topping)

1/2 a medium green bell pepper, chopped (I was out at the time so there's none in the picture, but it makes a great topping)

1/2 a small white onion, chopped

Your favorite salsa and/or hot sauce (i.e. my hubby loves Tobasco)

1 can plain black beans (and a pot to cook them in)

salt and pepper (for the beans)

Cook your meat til fully brown and season w/ the Taco seasoning according to your taste and set that aside.

Next, empty your can of beans into a pot on the stove and let it come to a good solid boil. Once it's boiling, drain and rinse the beans and put them in your trusty food processor with plentiful salt and pepper to taste. (I'd say about a 1/2 tsp of pepper and salt both) Grind them up really well. If the bean paste is too thick for your liking, add a little bit of water at a time till you get a consistency you're happy with.

For your Tofu Sour Cream dip, empty the entire container of sour cream into a bigger bowl (not huge, but bigger than the container so you can stir things in without making a mess) and add two whopping tablespoons of Mayo. Stir that in well. Add a few pinches of chives, about a small tsp of onion powder and a couple tsp of nutritional yeast. Stir that all together and there is your dip, simple and easy.

Prepare all your veggies and set everything out in a salad bar fashion. Let your family go to town and make their own "crunchy taco pizzas" that they will totally love. This recipe can have plenty of dairy, or none at all which is wonderful and it is low cost and easy to whip up in a short amount of time. I'd say a total prep and cook time of less than a half hour.

*Health conscience moms... one tostada shell has only 10g of Carbs so feel free to go a little crazy!

Easy Non-dairy Mock Turkey Stroganoff

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the finished product so all I have is words to go off of. So sorry, but you should try this one out anyway! This is an easy recipe (created by me) because my husband and two daughters are all allergic to dairy. When I was younger my dad would make beef stroganoff (the good ol' fashioned kind w/ dairy) all the time and I used to love it. I've improvised and made a yummy turkey pasta that I like to call "Mock Turkey Stroganoff" and my kids and husband love it. So here it is, enjoy!

You will need:

1.) 1 box of your favorite pasta, cooked (i use garden rotini because I like to think it's healthy)

2.) 3 cups water (if you have pre-made beef broth that will work fine)

3.) 3 tsp beef bullion granules/base or 3 beef bullion cubes

4.) 1 lb turkey burger, cooked and seasoned

5.) 1 cup water in a mug or cup for stirring

6.) Cornstarch

Once your pasta and turkey burger are cooked add your turkey burger to the pan with the pasta and stir the two together. Place your water and beef granules/cubes/base in a medium sauce pan over medium heat till mixed well. In your mug or stirring cup add 2-3 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch and stir together till you have a thick milky looking mixture. Slowly add this (1/4 cup at a time) and stir well. You will have to continue stirring this all the while you're mixing it together because it will get thick pretty quickly. *The reason I do it this way is because I always seem to get a clumpy beef gravy instead of a smooth one and this helps to keep out the clumps.

Once you have a nice thick gravy (not pasty thick, but thicker than normal gravy thick) then pour it over your noodles and turkey burger and mix well. You should use the whole mixture to coat the noodles well enough. See how easy that was? You don't have to add anything else. I usually serve this with some sort of veggie on the side and maybe some garlic toast or something like that. I hope you enjoy this non-dairy creation :)