Italian Zucchini Boats

I am always looking for recipes to use as many garden veggies as possible. Recently, I saw a bunch of recipes for Zucchini Boats. I figured it was a great way to use up the abundance of zucchini from my garden. An added bonus was also incorporating a bunch of other fresh grown ingredients. I used this recipe for reference but mostly made it up as I went along. 

Ingredients

3 zucchinis

1 lb pork sausage

3 small or 2 medium peppers

1/4 cup onion

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1/2-3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 jar spaghetti sauce

olive oil

fresh herbs - I used parsley, basil and oregano

DF mozzarella chesee (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the zucchinis in half, length wise. Scoop out the seedy insides to make the boats. In a 9x13 pan, pour a little bit of the spaghetti sauce to coat the bottom of the pan. Place the zucchini boats inside, skins down. 

Brown sausage in a medium saute pan and set aside. In the same pan, use the leftover sausage grease or add olive oil to the pan if there is no grease. Saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the peppers and onion to the pan. Saute until they are slightly softened. Mix in the tomatoes, fresh herbs, sausage. Cook for a couple minutes and add the remaining spaghetti sauce. 

Scoop the sausage mixture into each boat. Top each boat with cheese, if desired. Bake for 35 minutes until the cheese is melted and the zucchini is soft. 

No-Bake Energy Bites

This recipe was a rage all over Pinterest for awhile. Although it was aimed for kids, I enjoy it as much as they do. It's a great snack, fills your sweet tooth, and makes me feel like I'm not eating complete junk. Justin isn't a chocolate fan, so I'll emit the chips for him and they are still delicious.

Ingredients

1 cup GF oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup DF mini chocolate chips (If you can only find regular sized DF chocolate chips, I would chop them up a bit)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Mix everything about in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. It's very sticky, so chill in the refrigerator for about a half hour. One chilled, use a cookie scoop to roll into balls. Eat right away or they will last in the refrigerator for a week. (They never actually last that long in this house)

Man Pleasing Chicken

I love the name of this recipe. It really should be called "everyone" pleasing chicken, but it was too great to change it. I found this recipe from a blog and didn't have to alter it a bit to make it GF/DF. It's a ridiculously easy recipe and so full of flavor.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs chicken breasts
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
fresh rosemary
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix together the dijon mustard, maple syrup, and rice wine vinegar. Place the chicken in a foil-lined baking dish. (I didn't foil line this the first time and I made it regretted it. Major pan scrubbing if you don't) Salt and Pepper the chicken. Pour the mustard mixture over the chicken, turning the chicken over until they are fully coated.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the chicken comes to 165 degrees. Baste the chicken halfway through. To serve, plate the chicken and pour a little extra sauce on top. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

I love anything that has pumpkin in it, as does Justin. I can't remember where I found this recipe...probably Pinterest. It was a big hit. The pumpkin helps lighten the pancakes so they aren't as dense as other gluten free ones.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups GF flour mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
dash of ground ginger
dash of ground cloves
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. In another bowl mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined. The batter might be slightly lumpy.

Heat a greased skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, pour 1/3 cup scoops of batter onto the pan. Let the cakes get bubbly and flip until golden brown. Serve immediately or put them in a low heated oven (200 degrees) to keep warm. Top with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup. or whipped cream.

Crab Dip

Doesn't get much better than a hot, creamy, rich crab dip. We brought this to a party and no one even knew it was dairy free. It made a large portion size and it great for sharing with a big group. The recipe came from bettycrocker.com and I adapted it from there.

Ingredients

8 oz DF cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup DF Parmesan cheese
4 medium green onions thinly sliced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup dry white wine or apple juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground mustard
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
6 oz can crab-meat, drained
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients except crab-meat and almonds until well blended. Stir in the crab-meat.

Spread mixture into an ungreased 9 inch pie plate,or a shallow 1 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve with your favorite gluten free crackers.

Thousand Island Dressing

There's a reuben recipe in my Bisquick cookbook that I really like but I was having problems finding dairy free thousand island dressing. I was so glad to find an easy recipe to make it homemade! I founds this on angelaskitchen.com.

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon finely minced onion
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Lemon Maple Glazed Asparagus & Cranberries

I was a bit skeptical of this recipe from the name. Lemon and maple don't seem like 2 things that would go well together. Especially over Asparagus. Glad to say I was wrong! We made this recipe for Easter and it was a huge hit. We liked it so much we made it again a couple weeks later for another event. It's a nice change from the steamed or grilled asparagus we usually eat. We found the recipe on healthy/betterrecipes.com and I didn't have to adapt it at all.

Ingredients

1 lb asparagus
1/2 cup pecans
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Directions

Cut the woody ends off the asparagus. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and toast the pecans for 2-3 minutes. Remove them and set aside. Add the oil and heat on high. Place asparagus in a single layer and saute for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally once asparagus beings to blister and brown. Reduce heat to medium and add the maple syrup, cranberries and 1 tsp of the lemon zest. Stir and saute for 3 minutes or until asparagus is tender-crisp. Toss pecans with the asparagus for the last minute of cooking. Place in serving dish and sprinkle the remaining lemon zest on top.