Pepperoni Pizza Zucchini Pasta (GF & DF)

This came together in an effort to clean out the fridge before leaving for the beach!  I had some extra veges and pepperoni hanging out as well as some zucchini.

Let's not mention the fact that I cut a big chunk of the top of my middle finger off grating some of the remaining zucchini to make some zucchini bread that didn't even turn out that well!  My finger was all wrapped up and it appeared that I was continuously flipping everyone off.  Oh well... salt water would fix that right up! :)

Anyway... this is some good stuff!

Pepperoni Pizza Zucchini Pasta


3 small zucchinis- and your trusty spiralizer
1/2 C pepperoni- sliced
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomatoe sauce
1/2 red onion- diced
1/2  green pepper- diced
1 C mushrooms- diced
2 small tomatoes- diced
1 T EVOO
4 garlic cloves- minced
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 t oregano
1 t italian seasoning
1 T nutritional yeast
salt & pepper to taste




Heat the EVOO over medium in a pan.  Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and saute a minute or so.  Add the remaining veges and saute for a few minutes.  Add the tomatoes and sauce and let simmer for 10 minutes while you spiralize the zucchini.  Add the zucchini noodles and sliced pepperoni and let simmer until the zucchini is softened.  Stir in the nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a slice of garlic bread!

This is delicious, not to mention nice and light!  Perfect especially considering I would be hanging out in bikinis for the next week or so! :)

Gluten & Dairy Free Dutch Sugar Cookies

I loved loved loved making cut out cookies with my Grandma.  For a while I thought I had to come to terms with the fact that those days were long gone.

But, Christmas isn't Christmas without Grandma's sugar cookies....

So to keep me from having a meltdown my first Christmas as a Celiac my Mama & Papa searched high and low for a recipe.  It just so happened that we got lucky the first time and they chose a good one!  I don't know where it came from, but I thank whoever created it!  It's even dairy free so I didn't have to change a thing.. except the frosting of course!

You are only naughty if you eat ALL the dough!

These cookies are addicting!  And to tell you the truth they are easier to make than Grandma's old recipe.  With hers you had to make the dough and then chill it for what seemed like EVER to my little mind.  I didn't have patience for that! 

Now these are the new Christmas tradition!  Everyone always looks forward to them, and I always have to double the recipe because noone can stop eating them!

Gluten & Dairy Free Dutch Sugar Cookies

2 1/2 C Featherlight Mix*
1 t Baking Powder
2 1/2 t Xanthan Gum
1 t Salt
1 C Sugar
1 C Butter Flavor Crisco- believe it or not this is GF & DF
1 Egg (or 1/4 C Liquid Egg Sugstitute)
2 t Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a small bowl whisk together the flour mix, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt.  Set aside.  Cream the Crisco and sugar.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing enough to combine.  Work the dough into a soft ball. ( For me it is always easy to work with, but if it isn't add in a bit more of the flour mix.)  Using about 1/2 at a time roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out in whatever shapes you want and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 12 minutes- don't overbake!  Cool a bit before removing them from the pan to a cooling rack. 

*Feather Light Flour Mix:
1 C White Rice Flour
1 C Tapioca Flour
1 C Corn Starch
1 T Potatoe FLOUR- not starch

Whisk this all together and sift it good.  This amount leaves a bit leftover thats perfect for using to knead and roll out the dough.  Of course double it if you double the cookie recipe like I do! :)

I don't have a photo of any finished and frosted cookies...
We were all too busy eating them to take the time
to take a picture before they were gone!

That's my girl, loving Cal's  new weather tec floormats
that I got for Christmas!

Creamy Crockpot Lasagna Soup (Gluten & Dairy Free)

We love lasagna, but a lot goes into putting it together.  There are so many pans and dishes and so much patience put into cooking the noodles,  browning the meat, sauteing the veges, making the homemade sauce and ricotta and then finally layering it just so.  Sometimes I just don't have the time for that!

This delicious soup gives you all the flavors and creaminess of a good meaty lasagna, but it comes together easily, quickly, and with a much smaller mess.

Creamy Crockpot Lasagna Soup (Gluten & Dairy Free)

1 lb ground turkey
4 C beef broth- separated
4 garlic cloves- minced
1 small red onion- diced
1 T italian seasoning
1 T dried basil
1 T dried parsley
1/4 t pepper
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 6 oz can tomatoe paste
1 C tomatoe juice
2 C uncooked pasta*
1/4 C cashew ricotta- click here for my recipe
1 T nutritional yeast


Brown the meat and season with the Italian seasoning.  Throw 3 cups of the broth, garlic, onion, diced tomatoes, paste, juice, and the rest of the seasonings in the crockpot.  Stir it up and add the meat.  (remember to start soaking your cashews for the ricotta now too) Cook on low for 8 hours (high for 4-5 would work too).  When there is about a half an hour left add the remaining cup of broth with the pasta.  Stir in the cashew ricotta and nutritional yeast before serving.  Go ahead and garnish with a scoop of ricotta and some fresh herbs if you like!

*I'm always a Tinkyada girl- You can break up their lasagna noodles and throw them in to cook, or just use whatever you have on hand!

Here's my inspiration for this recipe...

The leftovers make a great lunch!

Flourless Double Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins (GF, DF, SF)

As I enjoy one of these little guys for breakfast I knew I just had to share how to make them.

They are gluten, dairy, sugar, oil, grain, and potentially nut free- but you would never know! Perfect for finicky tummies!

Original recipe is here!

Flourless Double Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins

 1 C natural peanut butter*
2 large ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 C honey
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
4 T flax seed meal
2 t vanilla (make sure it's gf)
1 t baking soda
1/2 C enjoy life dark chocolate morsels



*you can use almond if you can't do peanuts, or sunflower if you can't do any nuts at all

Preheat your oven to 375.  Spray your muffin pan with spray or use liners.  Throw everything except the chocolate chips in your blender.  Blend until smooth.  Fill each muffin cavity 1/4 - 1/2 full.  Bake for 10-12 minutes- until the tops are set.  Let these guys cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before you enjoy them!

Piña Colada Smoothie

This is by far one of my favorite smoothies to make! It's fun to pretend I'm sipping it on a beach somewhere rather than looking out my window at something like this....

Ok, ok... It's not that bad.... Yet!

It's coming though...

This was my view of Cal from work on November 13th! Too soon for snow!!

Piña Colada Smoothie

1 big handful of spinach- don't be skimpy, get those greens in your belly!

Half of a fresh pineapple- use the other half to make another one tomorrow! ;)

8 baby carrots

2 cuties

1 banana

1 Apple

1 C coconut milk

Throw it all in your blender and blend until  smooth. 

So delicious!!  And be jealous of my Disney cup! :)

Zucchini Noodles with Scallops in Spicy Vodka Sauce (gluten free & dairy free)

I always wanted a Veggetti.  This was the first time I used it and I decided that it definitely was money well spent.  I love it!!  I snuck so much good stuff in this meal and you couldn't even tell that it didn't have real noodles.

seriously.... love it!

Zucchini Pasta with Scallops in Spicy Vodka Sauce

2 T EVOO
4 Garlic Cloves- minced
1/2 C Vodka (Tito's)
1 (14oz) can Crushed Tomatoes
1/2 C Cream Cheese (Go Veggie)
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1 T sugar
2 T parsley
2 T basil (fresh if possible!)
salt & pepper- to taste
1 lb Scallops
3 Zucchinis

Heat EVOO over medium in a large pan.  Add the garlic and cook for a couple minute until it smells nice and yummy!  Add the vodka and let it cook down to about half.  Add the tomatoes, cream cheese, and seasonings- stir well.  Use your handy veggie spiral pasta thingamajig to add the zucchini noodles to the sauce.  Let thicken and cook for about 5 minutes.  In another small pan heat some oil over MEDIUM heat (too hot and your scallops will be tough).  Add the scallops and cook until they are just opaque.  Add the scallops into the sauce and let simmer a couple minutes more.

Because you are eating zucchini noodles instead of real noodles you can certainly afford to have some delicious garlic bread (and some good read wine) with this meal!  I load whatever GF/DF bread I have on hand with Earth Balance spread, garlic powder, my homemade Italian seasoning mix, and some nutritional yeast. Turn the broiler on low and throw it in the oven while you dish out the "noodles" until the bread is nice and golden brown.

DIY Gluten Free Bisquick

The Betty Crocker Gluten Free Bisquick is soooo useful.... but also so expensive!  Aldi had a product that had the exact same ingredients which was a little more reasonably priced.  When I was comparing ingredients between the two I decided why not just make this myself?  I appreciate the effort by both companies, but I can do a bit better.  It's always good when you get the chance to save money and eliminate processed food from your life in my opinion!

Decent ingredients, but some of that
stuff sounds a little nasty! Aluminum? Soy?
Is that really necessary? NO

At first I couldn't find any recipes for Gluten Free Bisquick.  There were plenty for regular bisquick and I thought I was going to have to take one of those and make it GF.  That's not what I wanted, and most of them weren't even dairy free. Not gonna work!

Finally I found this one from Carla's Gluten Free Recipe Box!

This is how I do it....

1 C White Rice Flour
1/2 Brown Rice Flour
1 1/2 C Potato Starch
3 T Sugar
1 T + 2 t  Baking Powder (Make sure it's GF and aluminum free)
1 1/2 t Xanthan Gum
2 t Sea Salt

In a big bowl whisk everything together.  Sift it a bunch of times to make sure it's good!  Store it in a sealed container.  I use my big mason jar.  You can use this just as you would the boxed stuff.

My favorite thing to use this for is pizza crust!