Butternut Squash Saute

 This is how I used the remaining squash I had after I made SunButternut Quinoa Soup.

Serves 6-8

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled*, seeded and cubed into bite sized pieces, about 4 cups cubed

1 T. olive oil

1 T. ground thyme

1 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

*Use a potato peeler and peel the squash like a potato!

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add olive oil, heat.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir well.  Cover. Cook 2-3 min.  Open it and stir it.  Cover it again.  Repeat until squash is tender, about 12 to 15 min. depending on size of pieces.  Serve warm.  YUM!

SunButternut Quinoa Soup

I adapted this recipe from the Adam's Peanut Butter website!  Only I used Sunbutter instead.  I found it very good indeed!

Makes 6 (1 cup) servings

1 T. olive oil

1/2 c. chopped onion

2 cups, peeled, seeded, cubed to bite-size butternut squash

1 cup yellow corn

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup Sunbutter

1 cup water

1 tsp. cumin

1/2/ tsp. salt

28 oz. reduced sodium broth, chicken or vegetable

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed well until water runs clear

2 tsp. finely minced cilantro

Cayenne pepper to taste, if desired (I didn't use this in mine, I don't like spicey)

Heat 4 qt. saucpan over medium heat.  Add oil.  Allow the oil to heat up, add onions.  Cook slowly until soft and yellow in color.  Stir in squash, corn and red pepper.  Cook 5 min.

Blend Sunbutter, water, cumin and salt in blender or food processor until combined.  Add to vegetables in saucepan.  Stir in broth and quinoa.  Bring to boil; reduce to simmer.  Cover and simmer 15 min. or until quinoa is tender.

Remove from heat.  Stir in cilantro; cover.  Allow soup to thicken 10 min.  Season to taste with cayenne pepper, if desired.

I typed this recipe into my Lose It! Kindle App to get the nutrition results:

per 1 cup serving:

206 calories

6.5 grams Protein

7.8 grams Fat

0 Cholesterol

using not low sodium chicken broth: 711.8 mg Sodium

28 g. Carbohydrates 

Enchilada Casserole with Rice

A dairy free version of Enchiladas, serve shredded cheese and sour cream on the side if desired for those who choose to eat dairy.

3/4 to 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 c. chopped onion, optional
1/2 c. chopped black olives, optional
1/2 to 1 c. refried beans, optional
10 oz. La Victoria Enchilada Sauce, 1/4 cup reserved for rice if desired
8-10 corn tortillas
Guacamole, optional

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown ground meat and onions over med-hi heat in a skillet.  Stir in olives, refried beans and enchilada sauce, reserving 1/4 cup of the sauce for rice if desired.
Grease a small casserole dish, about the size of the tortillas.  Add just a thin layer of ground meat mixture to cover the bottom.  Place a corn tortilla on top of meat mixture.  Add another thin layer of meat, then another corn tortilla.  Repeat until casserole dish is full and all meat mixture is used up. Finish with a ground meat layer.  Carefully, so you don't wash away the top layer of ground beef, add 1/2 to 2/3 cup water over the top, more if you used 10 tortillas, less if you only used 8.
Bake 30 min.
Serve with rice, guacamole, shredded daiya cheese (contains yeast) or cheddar cheese(contains dairy), and sour cream (contains dairy).

To make Rice: Combine 1 cup rice with 1/4 cup enchilada sauce and 1 3/4 cups of water in a nonstick saucepan.  Bring the rice and liquids to a boil over high heat.  Cover.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered for 15 min.  When rice is done, there with be small holes throughout the rice.  Fluff it up with fork, serve with Enchilada casserole.

Quinoa Chili

Made this up for a Relief Society activity and the ladies all loved it! Spiced nicely, but not hot spicey. Hannah liked it too.

(I doubled the recipe for the activity)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 med. onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed well until water runs clear and drained ( I used red quinoa)
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups tomato sauce
3 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. chili powder or cayenne (I use chili powder)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water plus more (added as quinoa cooks for good consistency)
1 can bean (cannellini, red, pinto, or black) drained and rinsed well.  (I used pinto and black)

In a large saucepan, saute onion in olive oil until clear; add garlic.  Add quinoa, carrots, tomato sauce, spices and water.  Bring to simmer and cook 20 min. Add beans, cook 5 min. more.  Add water as needed.  It shouldn't be too thick, but also not runny like soup.

Catalina Chicken- super easy!

Catalina Chicken

I apologize for the lack of photo.  This was an experiment for dinner tonight.  Didn't think to take a photo until the girls said they loved it!  I'll post a picture the next time I make it.

approx. 1/2 cup Low Fat Catalina dressing
5-6 bone in chicken thighs and legs, skinned

Make sure top rack in oven is in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven broiler 5 min.  Place chicken meaty side up on a broiler pan.  Broil chicken (I shut the oven door for this part) 10 min.  Turn chicken pieces over, broil another 10 min. (again I had the oven door shut).   Turn chicken again, this time, with a basting brush, brush chicken with Catalina dressing.  Return to oven, only this time, leave the door open.  Broil 4-5 min.  Watch it closely for burning.  Turn chicken, baste 2nd side with Catalina Dressing.  Broil 3-4 min. with the door open.  Again, watch closely for burning.  Lower chicken down a rack if burns too quickly.  Again turn so meaty side is up, give it a 2nd coat of Catalina dressing.  Broil 2-3 min.  Turn one last time and brush 2nd side with its 2nd coat.  Broil 2-3 min.  By this last turn, I moved the chicken down a rack as the dressing was getting dark rather quickly.  Then I turned the oven off but left the chicken in it about another 5 min. to be sure it was cooked thoroughly, but no longer burning.

What resulted was juicy perfectly cooked Catalina Chicken.  It was much like BBQ chicken but with a completely different flavor.   Yum!

Alternatively, you could use boneless chicken, broil just 5 min. each side before you add the Catalina dressing.

Oatmeal Apple Cinnamon Muffins

"Their not good, THEIR YUMMM!" Hannah, age 12, Jun 30, 2013

Makes 12-14 muffins

1 medium apple, peeled, cored, shredded
Lemon juice
3/4 cup gluten free rolled oats, chopped smaller
1 1/3 cups gluten free flour or Rice Flour Mix
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 - 2 tsp cinnamon
2 T. warm water
1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer
7 oz. rice milk
1/4 cup applesauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare the shredded apple, pack into a 1/2 cup measuring cup, dump into a cereal size bowl.  Sprinkled with lemon juice and stir.  Set aside.
Measure gluten free rolled oats onto a cutting board. Using a large knife, chop the oats through 3 or 4 times to make smaller "quick" oats. Put the "quick" oats into a large mixing bowl.  Add gluten free flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In a small bowl, combine warm water and egg replacer, wisk until egg replacer is dissolved and mixture is fluffy. Set aside.
Measure rice milk into a 2 cup measuring cup.  Add applesauce and the shredded apples.  Pour the apple rice milk into dry ingredients and stir a second until it begins to moistened. Add the fluffy egg replacer and continue mixing until completely moistened.  Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin tins or silicon muffin liners (do not use paper muffin liners) until 3/4 full.  Bake in a 400 degree oven about 23- 25 min.

Corn Flake Oven Fried Chicken

This is one of Hannah's favorite ways to eat bone-in chicken.  She cannot have Kentucky Fried or traditional fried.  Here is one easy way to make a gluten free crunchy "fried" chicken!  It is adapted from the Kellogg's Corn Flakes recipe called Double-Coated Chicken.  I've altered the amounts to coat 3 legs and 3 thighs.  Below you can find the quantities to coat 3 lbs of chicken pieces.

To feed our Family:
4 cups Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
1/2 cup rice milk
3/4 cup gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. onion powder
olive oil to drizzle
3 legs and 3 thighs, with or without skin (I usually do without).

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a large tray with racks to hold the chicken for cooking.  Measure the corn flakes into a large bowl.  Using your hands, grab handfuls of the cereal and and crush it between your fingers and palms until there are no more large flakes, but lots of little ones.  Set aside.

 Measure 1/4 cup oil into a medium to large plastic bag such as a ziploc or bread bag. (a sandwich bag is too small.  I use bread bags from the box, not the actual bread :)   Measure the rice milk into another bag, or small flat container large enough to fit the chicken pieces.  You may need more milk if you use a container.  Measure the gluten free flour into yet another bag or flat container.

Stir the seasonings into the flour mixture.
Line up your bags and containers in this order: oil, flour, milk, cornflakes.

Set prepared chicken next to the oil; and the tray with the rack next to the cornflakes on the other end.  Now, using one hand for wet and the other hand for dry, pick up one piece of chicken with your designated wet hand and place it in the bag of oil.  With your dry hand, closed it up a bit and shake gently to coat the chicken with oil.  With your wet hand, retrieve the chicken from the oil and place it in the flour.  With your dry hand, close up the bag and shake gently, or if using a container, scoop and pat the flour onto the chicken.  Still using your dry hand, remove the chicken from the flour and place it in the milk (keep your hand dry!).  Switch to your wet hand and quickly turn the chicken in the milk to coat.  Quickly remove the chicken with your wet hand before the milk completely washes off the flour.  The goal here is to just wet the flour.  Place the wet floured chicken in the corn flakes.  With your dry hand, scoop and pat the corn flakes onto the sticky wet chicken.  Again with with your dry hand, gently remove the corn flake covered chicken to the prepared rack, placing the piece so the majority of the meat is up and the bonier side is down.  Continue this sequence with remaining pieces of chicken until all chicken pieces are covered with corn flakes and resting on the rack.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil over each piece of chicken.  Place the tray of chicken in the preheated oven.

Bake for 45 min. at 400 degrees.  (The rack helps keep the bottom of each piece to not get too soggy).

Serve and enjoy!   We like to serve mashed potatoes with this chicken.

Amounts to cover 3 lbs of chicken pieces, skin or no skin:
7 cups Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal
1/3 cup oil
1 cup rice milk
1 cup gluten free flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. onion powder