Favorite Gluten-Free Recipe Roundup

Chicken, Bacon, Dates and beet greens. Total yum! A recipe I’ll share next week!

This week I’ve been exploring some new recipes from some of my favorite food bloggers. All of them are gluten and refined-sugar free. I wanted to share some of these fantastic recipes with you today. Enjoy!

• Slow-Cooked Coconut Ginger Pork: The juice this dish produces in the crockpot will blow your mind. It is so succulent. About 30 minutes before it was done cooking, I threw in some baby spinach and sliced carrots which added a nice nutritional punch, plus some color. If you do grains, you could serve it over rice. Otherwise serve it in a bowl. You’ll want to drink the liquid for sure!
• Rosemary Spaghetti Squash Egg Nests: I’m realizing that I have quite a few vegetables I’ve avoided over the years because of some less than pleasant early experiences with them as a child. Spaghetti squash was one of them. However when I saw this recipe from the Urban Poser, I knew I needed to give it another chance. I am SO glad I did. This is awesome, and quite filling. One is more than enough to fill you. Next time I make it I’ll prepare the nests ahead of time, and then I can cook them with the egg inside when I’m ready, and I can keep the yolks gooey (they cooked solid before the nests were done.) This makes a great breakfast or even dinner.
• Red Chicken Coconut Curry: OK, this one is one of mine. But it’s a meal that comes together SO quickly, that I had to include it. In 20 minutes, dinner is done!
• Blueberry Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake: It’s pumpkin pie in a glass. No lie. I’m not even all that big a fan of pumpkin pie, but I LOVE this shake. And the best part is that it leaves me full and totally energized all morning.
• Coconut Cream Pie Larabar Recipe: I’m a big fan of Kind bars, and typically prefer them to Larabars. But when I was in the grocery store this week I was starving and saw these in the checkout line so I picked one up. TOTAL yum! Because I don’t love the price on any of these bars I quickly looked up a recipe on how to make them at home. This one is great.
• Cinnamon Bun Muffins: This is the first recipe I ever made from the Elana’s Pantry food blog, and it’s still one of my favorites. (I replace the agave with 100% pure maple syrup.) Make them. You can thank me later!

Do you have some favorite gluten and refined-sugar free recipes? Please share them in the comments!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Hash (vegetarian, gluten free)

Canned corned beef hash…Yuck!

When I think of the word “hash” I hearken back to pink stuff that came out of a can with teeny tiny cubes of what I think were potatoes that my mother used to serve with eggs. Yeah…this isn’t that.

I love sweet potatoes. They’re delicious all by themselves. But they are also fantastic as a base for this delicious breakfast dish (that actually could be served at any time of day.)

I also have a bit of a problem when it comes to black beans. We buy cans of black beans by the case (yes I know I could do it with dry beans in my crockpot, but I haven’t gotten myself together enough to do that and properly store them.) I love that they are an amazing protein source that all of my kids will eat and be happy about it.

So it was a natural thing to bring sweet potatoes and black beans together for this dish. Then in keeping with my desire to add as many veggies to each dish as possible I threw some more in. The result was an absolutely beautiful (and totally delicious) hash that I think you’ll love. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Hash
Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 baked sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup torn baby spinach leaves
• 1 Tbsp pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

Here’s What To Do:

1. Melt the coconut oil over medium heat in a large frying pan.
2. Add the chopped onion and bell pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until fairly soft.
3. Add the cubed sweet potato to the pan, and cook 2 minutes.
4. Add the black beans to the pan, and cook 2 minutes more.
5. Turn off the heat, and add the spinach leaves. Stir until JUST wilted.
6. Place on plate, and sprinkle with pepitas.
7. If desired, top with a fried egg.

 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Banana Nut Cacao Pancakes (Paleo)

Banana Nut Cacao Pancakes

My kids are back to school, which means I’m getting up before the sun to make breakfast and be sure my kids get a good start to the day. Like a lot of parents, I wrack my brain to try to come up with tasty, high protein options that are easy to make when the coffee is still kicking in, and that the kids will actually eat. The bonus is when the breakfast is something I can eat too (no wheat or refined sugar.)

Well this recipe totally fits that bill. The inspiration came from Marla Sarris, who guest posted about Paleo breakfasts over at The Mogul Mom. This recipe is a variation on that theme. These were a HUGE hit in my house.

Plus the ingredient list isn’t complicated. You can use cocoa powder if you don’t have raw cacao. (And the cacao provides a nice shot of antioxidants.) And you can omit the liquid stevia all together. You can make them with almond butter, peanut butter, or any nut butter of your choice.

Banana Nut Cacao Pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 heaping Tbsp nut butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 5 drops vanilla stevia (optional, to taste)
• Coconut oil or butter, for frying

Here’s What To Do:

1. In a blender, combine bananas, nut butter, eggs, cacao powder, cinnamon, and stevia until well mixed.
2. Heat a little coconut oil or butter in a large pan over medium heat.
3. Pour batter on heated pan. I made silver dollar sized pancakes, but you can make them larger as you prefer. These cook quickly so as soon as the edges seem cooked, flip and cook a minute longer.
4. Remove from heat and serve. If you use the stevia, they are sweet enough on their own, and you can just serve with fruit.

Next time we make these, I’m going to try them with pumpkin instead of bananas, omit the cacao, and use pumpkin pie spice. I’ll let you know how they turn out.