Strawberry Banana Muffins

1 Stick of butter (1/2 cup), room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 extra large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup of sour cream(or plain yogurt)
2 medium bananas, 1 mashed and 1 diced
1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup diced and frozen strawberries

Preheat oven to 350° F, and lightly grease or line your muffin tin
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, mix well. Next, add the sour cream, and then the mashed banana, mix again until well blended. Add the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, and salt into the wet ingredients, reserving a few tablespoons of flour into a small bowl, beat until it is combined and becomes elastic. Carefully fold the diced banana into the batter. Toss the diced strawberries with the flour in the small bowl, then gently fold them into the batter including the excess flour, make sure to fold well. Divide the batter evenly between the cups of your muffin tin. Bake in the center of your oven for 20-30 mins or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Makes 8 large muffins or 12 standard size muffins.

Stuffed Hashbrowns

3 large russet potatoes, washed, peeled, and grated
1/2 a package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 of a medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup of sharp chedder cheese, grated.
3 tbs of butter, melted and split in half.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat up an oven proof frying pan on the stove with half of the butter. When hot split the grated potatoes into 2 decent sized patties in the frying pan. Fry on medium-medium high until golden brown, then brush the top of the potato patties with the other half of the butter and flip the patties over. Spread the cream cheese over one patty, then add the onions gently pressing them into cream cheese, the add most of the cheddar cheese lightly pressing down. Once the plain patty is just about golden brown put it on top of the other patty gently press down, then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and place it in the oven for ten mins. Let it set for 2 mins before serving, this gives 2 decent portions. If you do not have an oven proof frying pan you can transfer to a baking dish for the oven part. That's what I did since I do not have an oven proof pan anymore. Enjoy! Try out other stuffing options like mushrooms, bacon, or spinach.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake with Maple Glaze

Cake:
1 box of Betty Crocker's Gluten Free yellow cake mix
2 tsp of Cinnamon
1 tsp of Allspice
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla butter & nut extract (you can use plain vanilla)
1 Can of pumpkin (15 oz)

Maple Glaze:
1 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar
2 tbs of Milk
1 tsp of Maple extract
1 tsp of Maple Syrup
Blend together thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 11 X 7 rectangle pan or a 8 in round cake pan
Combine all ingredients and mix until combined. Pour into greased pan and smooth top.
Bake for 30-40 mins or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Once cake is cooled  drizzle or smooth glaze on top. Slice and Serve.

Beer Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

We got zucchinis from my boyfriend's mom's garden and I was trying to think of what to do with it all. This is what I came up with. It was delicious! I hope you will enjoy it just as much.

You will need:

1 large zucchini cut in quarters or 2 small ones cut in half
2 tbs oil
2 beer bratwurst sausages (not the precooked!)
1/4 of a red onion minced
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 small red potato shredded
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 tbs of  oats
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

I apologize ahead of time not all the prep steps have pictures, I prepped everything really fast and forgot to pause and take pictures on some of them lol This recipe is not hard to follow though!

Step 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Step 2. Cut your if using 2 small zucchini in half and then spoon out the center leaving about a 1/4 inch of flesh, (I havent perfected the boat making process myself so it is ok if they are not perfect).
Step 3. Drizzle the oil into a baking pan, rub the oil onto the zucchini as well.

P.S. If you are using one large zucchini cut into quarters and then scoop the middle out. I had one large zucchini this time so here is an example below.  :-)

Step 4. Chop the scooped out zucchini into small pieces, mince the onion, shred the red potato (using a cheese grater), and shred the cheese.
Step 5. Remove the lining from the sausage links, this is easily done with a small sharp knife just put it under one edge of the lining and cut down to the other edge, the lining will peel right off the meat.
Step 6. Brown the sausage meat in frying pan on med-med/hi.
Step 7. Add the onions, shredded potato, chopped zucchini, garlic powder, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook until onions are translucent and potatoes are tender. Then drain and empty into small bowl.

Step 8. Add oatmeal to sausage mixture and combine well.
Step 9. Stuff the zucchini boats with stuffing mixture and top with cheese

Step 10. Bake for 30 mins or until zucchini is tender but not mushy and cheese is melted and slightly brown.

That's it :-) 10 easy steps to get delicious stuffed zucchini!

Light Ginger Spice Cookies

                                                                                    You will need:

3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of all spice
1/2 of sea salt
3/4 cup of butter
2/3 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla
2  1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/4 cup of honey
In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars, then beat in the egg, vanilla, ginger, and honey. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Mix well. Chill for 45 mins. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the 1/4 cup of sugar into another small bowl. Make dough into small balls (about 2 tbs each) and roll through sugar. Place each ball on to a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 mins or until browned.
Tip: If dough is too sticky try getting your hands damp with water before rolling into balls and the dough won't stick to them!
Substitutes:
If you don't have fresh ginger it is ok! Just use 2 tsp of ground ginger and add it to the dry ingredients along with the cinnamon and all spice.
For a darker and stronger flavored cookie: replace the honey with 1/4 of molasses.

Sweet Chili Chicken w/ Stir Fry veggies

This was sooo good! Better than take out :-)

 4-6 pieces of chicken (I did 2 leg quarters and it was very saucy)
1 bag of your favorite frozen stir fry veggies
1 tbs of oil
salt and pepper
1- 1 1/2 tbs of corn starch * depends on how much pan drippings you have.
Sauce:
Mix together,
1/4 cup of honey
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs soy sauce
thumb size amount of minced ginger root
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 - 1 tbs of chili flakes *depends on your heat preference

Here is what the sauce alone looks like

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, put 1 tbs of oil in baking dish. Place chicken in baking dish and salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce over the chicken

Bake for 40-45 mins until the chicken looks like below, remove chicken from pan.

Blend the corn starch into the pan drippings to make a sauce like this

Add the stir fry veggies to the pan

Stir the veggies and sauce together and add the chicken back to the pan. Bake for 15- 20 mins more covering with foil to keep chicken from browning further and facilitate steaming of veggies.

Remove the foil and let set for 5 mins. Serve chicken, stir the veggies and sauce and serve as a side dish. I even poured a little sauce over the chicken when serving. It was delish! 

Roasted Chicken and Garlic Hummus Lettuce Wraps

This is a healthy and delicious lunch or light dinner that can easily be made with left overs! Which is how I made mine. 

Roasted Chicken (turkey, duck, Cornish hen, any poultry will work really)

Iceberg lettuce leaves (be very careful to not break them)

Roasted garlic hummus (I almost always have some in the fridge)

Baby kale (Baby spinach will work too)

diced tomato

shredded mozzarella cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Take you lettuce leaf, double the leaves if it split and smooth about 1 tbs of hummus inside add about 1/4 cup of chicken, 1/4 cup of kale, sprinkle in a few diced tomatoes, some mozzarella cheese, and then salt & pepper too your taste and poof! you are done! Wrap made.