Gluten Free with a side of Paleo for the everyday kitchen.
Do you love sweet? Or maybe you are a huge fan of some spice? Regardless, this granola will tickle your taste buds to the point where you can almost satisfy both of those cravings in one beautiful snack, chipotle cranberry granola!…
Get it?
Okay, so I may have some crazy corny jokes, but there is no joke about these these jalapeno cheddar tortillas!
You are a spicy kind of girl. You love things to have a little extra kick (not too hot though!). However, you partner on the other hand loves things super extra extremely hot. Does this sound familiar? Okay, so I may have exaggerated a teeny weeny bit, but some days this is how it is in my world. I usually have to always place a bottle of hot sauce out for dinner (depending on what it is) for John.
I honestly do try to spice things up a little bit, in the kitchen of course! (Get your mind out of the gutter!) 😀
When I was in college they had these amazing tortillas for wraps they were a cheddar jalapeno tortilla. They were fabulous. SO, naturally after I graduated I tracked them down in the grocery store and have been buying them by the hundreds. However, since committing to a largely gluten free diet I have had to cut out these amazing and scrumptious flour tortillas that were practically my life! Yes, it was hard, devastating and tragic (insert any other disastrous word you choose)….
Who is, downright, in love with cheese? I mean the, I can’t live without it and that is the only reason I cannot go paleo, kind of love for cheese! Seriously, I love cheese! Spicy cheese, sharp cheese, mild, or even gouda. Just about anyway I can it actually. SO it was only right for me to make these pepper jack cheese crackers!
Okay, enough with the love comparing.
Is there something that these amazing pepper jack cheese crackers remind you of? YES, CHEEZ-ITs! I love those little guys so much! I was seriously in the mood for some of those but I have been on a huge, “everything is so processed lets try to not eat so much of that”, kick. So naturally I made my own and they tasted amazing! …
As you can tell I am dreaming of warmer weather and a beach with an adult beverage or a blueberry banana smoothie!
What kind of breakfast do you have in the morning? Do you have a full 3 course meal complete with bacon, eggs, sausage and toast? Or, Maybe a quick drink or burrito to go? I for one am a person who cannot live without breakfast, so most of the time I have the works. A breakfast burrito complete with avocado, hot sauce and CHEESE! However, sometimes I am a big oatmeal fan.
However, lately I have been a fan of smoothies, and I am not talking about a little milk with some fruit. I am talking a smoothie on steroids complete with fruits, sugar and just about any milk you want. I even add some oats for a little bit of bulk so that the smoothie gives me more fiber and substance that keeps me full because some smoothies are wimpy and I am still hangry (yes, I used THAT word!) after them.
I try to be the “healthy go-getter” type of person in the morning. I am usually an early riser so that I can give myself time to work a little bit, cook a little bit, do some house work and slowly get ready to go into the store in the morning. John (my man) is always telling me that by the time he gets up around 8:30 I have already done a whole day’s work, but I only way up about 90 minutes before him. Once I am up I am awake most of the time. I just cannot sleep in anymore.
So that is why I love to have something like this blueberry banana smoothie in the morning, so that I can work and sip at the same time. Never lose time by sitting and eating although if he gets up early I love eating breakfast with him and spending time before we both separate for the day.
1 – 1 1/4 cup Almond Milk (or any milk)
1 banana sliced
a couple small handfuls of blueberries
2 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 cup Rolled Oats
Place your fruit, milk, sugar and rolled oats into a blender. Whirl it around until smooth. Pour, sip,done. Perfect and easy to enjoy!
Such a great little smoothie and so much better than cereal or a couple pieces of toast. In fact if you wanted to have this beautiful smoothie with some toast I, for one, wouldn’t blame you. I need the chewing factor too.
If I want to have a little more chunk I will stick my fruit in the freezer over night (slice banana first). Then in the morning i will take them out and put them right into the blender. This will keep the smoothie nice and cold without watering it down from the ice. This is so nice on a hot day after a workout or taking the dogs for a walk in the morning! Cool you down and feeds your hungry tummy. Yep, that is probably my favorite part.
What is your favorite smoothie flavor? I think my all time favorite would have to either be banana and peanut butter, strawberry banana or chocolate peanut butter (for the days I am feeling bad). Although, this blueberry banana smoothie is pretty dang good too.
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I hope you have a great weekend!
Deliciously,
Gabby
I think I have been on a huge granola kick here lately. I feel like I need to have it on hand at all times! I am not quite sure why, though. My only thing is which one to make? I am always playing around with my rolled oats and nuts. this week dried cranberries got involved and they made an amazing cranberry almond granola!
Today’s weather, although is cloudy, it is warm! I can smell and feel that spring is here by my stuffy nose and watery eyes, however, an allergy pill can fix that. I love spring. I lived in Florida the 18 years of my life and any weather that has the sun shining I am a huge fan of. With the sunshine coming out and warmer weather means that I want to spend the day outside and granola is the best thing to have on hand as a simple snack! …
Certainly, Spring is coming in with full force sunshine and warmer weather and I couldn’t be happier! With this glorious weather we have been having in the foothills of North Carolina I have been craving fresh foods! In fact, this avocado pico de gallo is all fresh and so ready to have outdoor parties with you this spring and summer!
My family is all about outdoor living. We used to live in Florida where it was all outdoors all year. Well, the summer so dang hot we couldn’t stand it without some form of air conditioning running. Now that we have moved to North Carolina we are outside most of the day in the spring and summer. We turn the A/C on at night to sleep cool, but for the most part it stays off. What is the point of having it on if you are just going to be chilling in the pool with an ice cold beverage of choice? Seriously, this sounds like a dream!…
Nothing like fresh biscotti coming out of the oven warm, crunchy and amazing to dip in your coffee! This Dark Chocolate Cranberry Almond Biscotti is that perfect cookie!
Yesterday was a beautiful 68 degrees, sunny with a small chance of rain later in the day. What a perfect day to be outside! We have a pool and let me tell you how tempting it looked however, the freezing temperatures kept me out of it! I did sit outside though to enjoy some of this beautiful day so that I might not look so pale in the coming weeks. Although, I am a baker not a tanner!
With all of this beautiful weather comes cool mornings where hot coffee and biscotti are needed. I am a lover of chocolate especially if it is dark chocolate, and when you put cranberries together with the taste of almond it is seriously heaven in your month! I mean how could you resist the taste of that beautiful cookie!…
What to do when you are sick of your cereal or maybe you just want to make something so uber simple to eat for morning commutes or lunch on the go! These super high protein almond peanut butter granola bars are right up your alley then! (And mine too!)
We are always looking to do something different with oats and nuts especially to start off the spring when everything is starting to get super busy for us! Why nuts and oats you ask? Well, probably because they keep us SO full and not having the feels of HANGRY (yes, that happened). I know, I know, that is not a word, but it is the only way to describe how my stomach feels. We enjoy the simpler side of eating breakfast and snacks (and sometimes lunch) because both of us are always on the go! John either has to referee or I have to be taking pictures of this extraordinary almond peanut butter granola bars (see what I did there… 🙂 ) or running around trying to get ahead. (It truly is a constant struggle) …
okay, so maybe that title is a little cheesy but oh well! But this chocolate strawberry oatmeal smoothie has nothing cheesy about it!
I am a fan of smoothies in the morning because they are so yummy and they keep me full until lunch time! Well, maybe a little snack of fruit or granola is stuffed there in somewhere, but for the most part I love them! And to say the least in my mind it is Strawberry season! However, February and being a Florida girl at heart we had fresh strawberries around this time of year! Nothing can beat those fresh strawberries I had as a kid and biting into the sweet red juiciness!
So, I picked some up the other day because my spring fever is at all time high even though in the next couple of days there will probably be snow on the ground… Yeah I am devastated too. But to say the least I am planning a trip and it will definitely be somewhere warm! Any ideas? I froze those tempting little strawberries with the intent to use them in a few weeks when it got a tad warmer but I got a hankering for a chocolate and strawberries, and I am trying to be good (keyword here is trying). So, I made myself an out of this world tasting Chocolate strawberry oatmeal smoothie and man did it ever curb my craving!
I have always loved chocolate covered strawberries but there is usually so much added sugar by the time you get to them they taste heavenly, BUT so much sugar is definitely not necessary especially when it is processed and bleached (ugh!). So therefore, a smoothie with some fresh berries can unsweetened Almond milk was the best thing to make this chocolate strawberry oatmeal smoothie!
1 cup Almond Milk (unsweetened or sweetened your preference)
1/2 heaping cups of Strawberries (frozen)
3/4 cups Oats (I used rolled)
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar (or any sugar, honey or agave)
Grab that ever so precious ninja (or in my case my amazing knock-off). add all of your 
ingredients together in your blender. Make sure that your frozen strawberries are cut (not too small but not whole either). Blend until all the ingredients until the strawberries have been minced. Pour into your readying cup, or right out of the blender cup(no judgement here) and drink up lovelies! This recipes make about 12 oz of smoothie, so if you want to do 2 smoothies just double to share!
This chocolate strawberry oatmeal smoothie is made from fresh ingredients and low in sugar will give you what your body wants and if you make a smoothie with that something sweet you are craving it will certainly curb it! I am a fan of peanut butter chocolate and I often will make some smoothies with that and I will add a little frozen banana in with some oats for a little bulk and fruit benefits! However, this chocolate strawberry oatmeal smoothies is amazing and a close second!
I am a huge need for chewing person and that is the main reason I put oats in there as well as leave some of my strawberries a little bit chunky. If you are the same way as me just try to do this instead so that you will not over eat. ex: getting a filling smoothie and a slice of pizza to satisfy that chewing sensation. It’s okay, I have been there too and occasionally am still guilty but I have learned to just leave my fruit semi-whole and adding the oats keeps me feeling full too!
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Have a blessed Hump Day!
Deliciously,
Gabby
Today, it is about 34 degrees and the wind is blowing like crazy, but the good news the sun it out! On days like these I crave soup! Okay, it is more of a need than craving, but the warmth of it going it down your throat slowly warming you up every inch of the way until it hits your belly sounds like heaven right now! Because… I am getting sick of so many layers and SHOES! I was born in Florida I don’t think I ever worn tennis shoes until school!
Anyways, lets stop dreaming away the days!
What is your favorite soup?
Mine has got to be a potato soup. Any way you make it (just about) served with just about anything (okay not anything but close). I am a huge fan of just some plain old potato soup that you cheese and bacon to and then slurp it all up at the end of the day and go to bed nice and toasty. That is exactly what this recipe is all about! I started making this soup when I was in college and I had about a million days of being snowed in. It was an instant hit with my roommate and I! I did some tweaks so that it was gluten free since the first time I made it because using condensed cream of chicken soup does not always appeal to me, however, something just need it but this one was just as tasty without it!
3lbs of Potatoes washed peeled and chopped to bite sized pieces (I use a little more than half a 5 lb bag)
6 cups Chicken Broth
2 Tbsp Minced Onion (if you want fresh use half a onion minced)
2 tsp Garlic (I use Roasted Granulated Garlic found here, but about 2 -3 cloves of fresh garlic is fine too!)
1 block cream cheese Room Temperature cut into pieces
1/4 cup of Tapioca Starch (or corn starch)
Black Pepper to taste
cheese (opt)
bacon (opt)
Place your diced up potatoes in a stock pot (or large pot), add 6 cups of chicken broth and your onion and garlic. Let it come to a rolling boil and cook your potatoes. Cook your potatoes until they are done to your liking, however, don’t let them turn to mush! Take out about 1 cup of broth from your potatoes and mix with your tapioca starch pour back in and your potato soup will starch to thicken. You may have to add about 1 or 2 cups more of chicken broth (depends on how thick you want it). Add in your cream cheese and black pepper and stir well. Turn down on low heat and let the soup simmer. Once it is thickened and the cream cheese has blended in well it is ready! Garnish with Bacon and cheese and serve hot!
How easy can this be? It is always a good day when I make this gem! I am a lover of the crock pot and am always using it but my favorite part is that this soup can be made in a jiffy on the stove for a quick dinner with a couple of peanut butter sandwiches or crackers. It just warms you in all the right places and is so satisfying. Sometimes we will even cook some hamburgers if we are really hungry and want some meat (said in a manly voice).
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and like my page on Facebook to stay up-to-date on all posts and recipes! I am always looking for new ideas and new ways to improve my cooking so simply comment below if you have any comments, requests or concerns about anything!
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I hope you have a great weekend!
Deliciously,
Gabby