Faijita Chicken Soup

This soup will warm you up on a cold, winter's night. Delicious grilled chicken mixed with onions, peppers, and tomatoes in a flavorful broth will have your family asking for more. I'm not kidding!

Ingredients
1 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced
5 tomatoes, diced
1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
3 grilled chicken breasts, diced
1/2 cup salsa verde
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions
Heat olive oil on medium heat in the bottom of a large soup pot. Add onion, jalepeno, tomatoes, and 1 cup of the water. Lightly puree mixture with a handheld blender, leaving some chunks. Add the rest of the water, beans, salsa, chicken, and spices. Let soup simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir in cheese before serving. Garnish with tortilla chips, sour cream, chopped green onion, and avocado.

Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

In honor of St. Nicholas Day and The Ice Storm of 2013, I am making apple pie with crumble topping. I can't tell you how delicious my kitchen smells. You can't go wrong with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. And don't miss my perfected gluten-free crust recipe. The egg is the key to binding it all together. Also, you must mix the crust in the pie dish as brown rice flour is too fragile to roll out as you would a traditional crust. Yum!

Pie Crust
1 cup brown rice flour
4 T coconut oil or shortening of choice
4 T cold water
1 egg, beaten

In a glass pie dish, cut shortening into rice flour until crumbly. Add water and beaten egg. Mix well. Press crust evenly into bottom and sides of pie dish using moistened finger tips. Set aside.

Pie Filling Ingredients
5 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1-2 t cinnamon
3 T brown rice flour
1/2 cup melted butter or Smart Balance

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix diced apples, sugars, cinnamon, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fill pie crust with apple mixture, mounding apples towards middle.

Crumble Topping
3/4 cup oats
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup butter or Smart Balance, softened

Mix oats, flour, and butter in a medium bowl. Spoon mixture evenly over the top of the apples.

Baking
Bake pie at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before serving. Serves 8.

Apple Spice Cake

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and I would agree. All of my recipes have been developed to provide for the dietary needs of my family. And, today, you are in for a treat! My Apple Spice Cake recipe was created so that I could send my daughter to a birthday party with her own yummy dessert. It is so hard on kids with dietary restrictions to be surrounded by those who can eat whatever they want, especially at parties. This Apple Spice Cake is perfect for autumn and is full of wonderful flavor. Your child won't feel left out at all when she gets her special piece of cake at the party!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
8 oz. applesauce
4 eggs
2 cups gluten-free flour blend
2 t cream of tartar
2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 t cinnamon
2 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t cloves
1 medium apple, diced

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 11 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.

Combine sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend in vanilla and applesauce then add eggs. Gradually add in flour mixture. Stir in diced apple and pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. Cool before serving.

Potato Soup with a Kick!

This nourishing soup is ideal for a cool, wet fall day. It's creamy warmth with a hint of jalapeno will take will the chill off in no time. It's also easy to make and not too spicy for little ones. : )

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large garlic clove
1 medium jalapeno, seeded
3 cups vegetable broth
5 cups water
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T dried minced onion
1 T dried parsley
dash nutmeg

Directions
Place all in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree using a hand-held or standard blender. Return to stove until ready to serve.

Chocolate Chip Nut Tart

I was craving an after-dinner treat and came up with this sweet dessert. It has a light flaky crust and a gooey topping of chocolate, walnuts and coconut. I couldn't wait for it to cool when it came out of the oven so it fell apart as I was eating it. But I didn't care. It was that good!

Ingredients

1 cup gluten-free flour blend
2 T coconut oil
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Directions
Mix flour, coconut oil, egg, and sugar until well-blended. Press into ungreased pie dish. Evenly place chocolate chips, walnuts, and coconut on top of crust and lightly press into crust. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool completely. Cut into wedges. Makes 4-6 servings.

Perfect Spelt Bread

If you haven't tried spelt bread then you are in for a treat! Spelt is an ancient grain and is full of nutrients like manganese, protein, and fiber. It has a delicious flavor that is hard to resist!

A note of caution: If you are just venturing in to the gluten-free world you need to know that spelt is considered a "gluten-grain" by some along with oats, barley, rye, and wheat. However, spelt is tolerated well by many people who avoid wheat so you may want to experiment with it.

Note: This recipe calls for a bread machine.

Ingredients
3/4 cup original coconut milk (carton)
1 T sugar
1 t active dry yeast
1 T canola oil
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 t salt

Directions
1) Proof the yeast. Wait! Don't let this step stop you. Proofing the yeast is essential in bread-making (and a fun science experiment too!) Warm the milk on the stove top or in the microwave. Add sugar and stir it until it is dissolved. Then add the yeast. The yeast will feed on the sugar and small bubbles will appear on the surface of the milk. This shows that the yeast is ready to do its job in making a delicious loaf of bread. Let the yeast mixture sit for 5-6 minutes then pour it into the baking pan of your bread machine.

2) Add the canola oil, flour, and salt in that order. Do not let the salt come in contact with the yeast mixture just yet as it can hinder it's growth.

3) Choose Basic Bread Course, Light Crust on your machine and let the bread machine do its thing. On my machine this takes about 3 hours, 50 minutes.

4) When baking is complete, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the baking pan (and try not to eat the entire loaf at once!)

Yield: 1 (1 lb.) loaf of delicious bread

This recipe may be doubled to yield a 2 lb. loaf of bread.

Healthy Lemon Muffins

It's that time of year again. School and all of it's associated activities are in full-swing and I'm sure most of you are as busy as I am! So here's a little treat to keep you healthy and happy: Lemon Muffins. They are filled with omega-3 essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber...and they taste great!

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
1/2 cup coarsely ground oat flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t cream of tartar
1/2 t salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 T margarine or butter, softened
1 t vanilla
1/2 t grated lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Spoon muffin batter into muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes. Cool and serve.