Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

This delicious dish is gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, sugar-free and egg-free!

T's Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
1 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa
3 large yellow peppers
3/4 pound lean ground beef (90+% lean)
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1 cup spinach/kale
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
olive oil
paprika, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper

Directions
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. In a separate saucepan, toss the spinach and/or kale in some olive oil until it is tender. Meanwhile, cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds. In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, mushrooms and spices over medium heat. Add the mixture, the greens and the diced tomatos to the quinoa, and spoon into pepper halves. Place in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until peppers are tender.

And there you have it! I know I haven't blogged much but I hope to get back on here with some of my recipes I'm cooking up, as well as the home renovation Mike and I will likely pick back up as it warms up here in VT! Happy spring :)

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers 

Just Picked Blueberry Muffins

This morning I woke up early to tend to the garden. A crazy storm came through Vermont last night, providing plenty of rain to my deprived plants. I did a bit of weeding, then I picked a basket full of blueberries from the patch!

I rinsed them off and whipped up a batch of fresh blueberry muffins for the office :) After some quick internet research I decided I wanted to use brown sugar in the muffins, but wanted a sugary yummy crumble for the top. So I made up my own recipe! Enjoy!

Muffins:
1 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put liners in muffin cups. Combine butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently. Divide batter among muffin cups and top with crumb topping. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Zucchini Bundt Bread

My garden produced its first zucchini! There will be plenty more to come this summer, as it turns out the plant that I thought was a cucumber plant is actually another zucchini plant... so now I have 3!

It was too hot and humid last night to work on my furniture, so I decided to bake something instead. I made zucchini bread of course!

Meanwhile, the carrots are filling in nicely, but the recent drought has been tough on the poor broccoli plants. It's raining a bit today so that should bring them back to life. The blueberry patch is also producing, I am going to pick a bunch tonight and possibly whip up some blueberry something for the office tomorrow.

zucchini bundt bread (adapted from pete bakes!)

3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

1. beat eggs, add grated zucchini, set aside.

2. beat sugar and butter, add vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. mix well. add the flour mix to the egg/zucchini mix.

3. pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

We have a huge rhubarb patch in our backyard that is growing out of control!

I took my scissors to it and cut out at least 20 large stalks of rhubarb, leaving probably 50 more in the patch. I chopped the stalks up and filled two large Ziploc bags with the diced rhubarb, more than enough for this muffin recipe.

On Thursday morning last week I woke up early to whip up some muffins.

These tasty treats ended up being a HUGE hit in the office! They looked good and they tasted even better. I probably could have made them totally dairy free by using the vegan butter I have, but I didn't want to risk it.  These came out so great! Scroll down for the super easy recipe.

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins adapted from Gourmet Kosher Cooking

Ingredients
1 cup diced rhubarb
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1/2 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup vanilla soymilk

Directions
In a medium sized bowl, mix rhubarb and strawberries with brown sugar. Let sit 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper lines. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside. In a mixer, beat margarine and egg until smooth. Add in maple syrup and blend. Add flour mixture alternately with soy milk to make a smooth batter. Fold in the strawberry rhubarb mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 of the way full. Bake until lightly browned about 30 to 35 minutes.

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Five Little Chefs

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Earlier this week I made some Coffee Cake for my colleagues, and I think they liked it! It was so easy to make I thought I would share it with you all :)

Sour Cream Coffee Cake made with Boxed Yellow Cake Mix! (from Mr. Food)

Ingredients
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 (17 ¼-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water
2 eggs

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon; mix well and set aside. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, sour cream, water, and eggs until well combined. Spread half the batter in prepared baking dish, sprinkle with half the nut mixture, then repeat layers. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly then cut into squares and serve warm, or allow to cool completely before serving.

ENJOY!

This weekend I will be coaching my tenth grade AAU basketball team in the Vermont state tournament here in the Burlington, VT area. In between games on Saturday, I will try to stop by the Vermont Antique Expo and Sale & The Spring Craft and Fine Art Show! I 'm pretty pumped for that, but I have to remember to try my hardest not to buy anything I don't absolutely need. I am clamping down on my budget, I need all the money I can save for my QuarDecor business, which I am 100% committed to! :) Have a great Friday and an awesome weekend!

My Go-To Dairy-Free Smoothies

Every once in a while I go on a crazy smoothie kick. Right now is not one of those times, but I just wanted to review my collection of tried and true favorites, just in case the eventual warm summer weather turns me back on to the icy fruity deliciousness in a glass :) Here is my mini collection:

Smooth Blue 1 cup blueberries 1/2 cup strawberries 1/2 cup almond milk The Kelley Moran 1 cup mangoes 1 cup strawberries 1/2 apple juice 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger 3-4 ice cubes

Red Rocket Extreme 1 cup mango 1/2 cup blueberries 1/2 cup raspberries 1/2 apple juice 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger 3-4 ice cubes

[The Kelley Moran]

And here are a few smoothies I want to try:

No Clever Name Yet (Jamie Oliver) 1 banana 2 mangoes 1/2 cup coconut milk zest and juice of 1 lime 3-4 ice cubes Spinach Fruit Smoothie (Cooking Gluten Free) 1/2 cup baby spinach, stems removed 1/2 cup coconut milk 2 cup frozen berries 1 tbsp honey 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Spring Green Smoothie (Nourishing Meals) 2 pears 2 apples 2 kiwis 1 large chunk of fresh ginger 2 lemons, juiced 1 cup spinach + kale + mint water

Do you know of any easy, dairy free smoothies recipes I should try? Have a good Thursday :)

Sunny Sweet Lemon Bars

Good morning and happy Monday. This weekend was cruddy and rainy and cold here in Vermont. I really wish it had been nice enough to get my garden started before my first AAU tournament next weekend, but no such luck.

Mike and I took the chance to cross a few indoor projects off our long to-do list at 32 Discovery. By Sunday afternoon I was craving some sunshine, which I whipped up in the form of delicious tangy and sweet lemon bars. These are amazing. Enjoy.

Lemon Bars (adapted from Kristin Ann)

Ingredients

Crust:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour

Filling:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x9-inch pan with baking spray, then line the pan with aluminum foil (this will make it easier to remove the lemon bars in one piece so you can cut them properly on a cutting board). Spray the aluminum foil with baking spray as well.

Crust: Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add flour. Press the dough into the prepared pan,  then bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, until slightly golden, not brown

Filling: Beat eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and zest completely; gradually add in flour and baking powder. Pour over pre-baked crust, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes; the edges should be golden not brown. Let the bars sit for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut once cool. Enjoy!

Leftover Easter Candy: Rice Krispie Peep Treats

This year I had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy a love & chocolate filled Easter with Mike in New York. We drove down on Friday night for the whirl wind weekend, and returned to Vermont on Sunday night in my car, which we had packed with lots of edible goodies from our family.

Easter Candy Overload!

So this week we have been eating our way through the pile of treats, but it looks like we haven't even made a dent! (it didn't help that I couldn't resist the 50% Easter candy sale at CVS) So I decided to whip up a batch of my (not yet) famous Rice Krispie Peep Treats! These sugarloaded pink fluffy clouds of cocoa-coated rice krispie yum yums are unbelievable. I don't particularly enjoy the taste of Peeps alone, but these sweets are great in a candy bar.



Here's how it went down:

And there you have it! Deliciousness... and remember, these sweet n' crispy treats are made out of cereal, so it's perfectly acceptable to eat these for breakfast.

Here's the recipe:

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Ingredients

6 Cups rice crispy cereal
24 Peeps
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup M&Ms

Directions

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add Peeps and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.  Add rice crispy cereal. Stir until well coated. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cover with M&Ms. DEVOUR.

Gastro Appointment

Today I finally have my gastroenterology appointment at Fletcher Allen in Burlington. I have been waiting for this appointment for MONTHS. It was supposed to be in the first week of March, but then they pushed it back a couple of weeks.

For those of you who don't know I have a lot of stomach problems. In the past 3 years I have developed severe lactose intolerance. I have been diagnosed with terrible acid reflux and I can't eat most foods without getting painful stomach aches. Most mornings after I eat a delicious dinner, I wake up dizzy and nauseous.

I relish the days I used to eat anything at anytime and never feel sick. Now I find myself sticking to my "safe foods" which include apples, apple sauce, grapes, plain air popped popcorn, rice, tea and water. It's boring and I hate it.

To keep my hope alive, or to torture myself, I frequent FoodGawker.com and FindingVegan.com ... they are pretty amazing. You can see my favorites on Food Gawker here. A lot of the times I will comb through these recipe ideas and pull out things I think I would like to try to make, for other people, because I know my stomach could never handle it.

These Coconut Macaroon Nutella Nests will be perfect for me to bring home for Easter... but I can't eat them: I am allergic to Nutella, due to the hazelnuts and dairy ingredients.

There is so much dairy in this sweet treat, so I may also make some Vegan Coconut and Lime Macaroons for myself!

Well I am looking forward to getting some answers soon regarding my tummy problems and I'll keep everyone posted :)

Happy Thursday!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This weekend my roommates and I hosted a very successful Valentine's Day cocktail party... complete with fancy dresses, pink cake balls and... Irish car bombs?

The drinks weren't the only thing that made the party a smashing success! I featured a few easy yet pleasing treats that definitely satisfied the sweet tooth that Cupid hits everyone with this time of year. I assembled a batch of a pinker version of my Christmas nip-bits...

This time I used peanut butter filled M&Ms to add yet another layer of yum flavor to the nips.

I made a batch of pink funfetti bake balls, using pink candy melt coating, which I was not a fan of. Next time I will go back to using white chocolate instead of candy melts as a coating.

And finally some cute chocolate covered pretzels!



Now just to address the car bomb comment... My best friend Maria and her fiance and Irishman "Frank the tank" were in attendance... They are true love at its finest. Well obviously he brought the Guinness, and the Bailey's, and the whiskey... I couldn't join in on the car bombing due to my lactardedness, but I did get my own favorite bomb made for me by the one and only Janice Kane... the jager bomb! Thanks Jan...

I apologize for the lack of posting yesterday. I was very busy at the office, so I forced myself to wake up an hour early to get these pictures and post up. But I believe that the harder you work the luckier you get, and I always work hard :) I will be the editor of an amazing magazine one day, even if I have to start it myself!!!!

* Happy Valentine's Day everyone * If you are reading this then, I love you!

The Whoopie Pie Wafer Incident

Last week I decided I wanted to make whoopie pies. I intended for them to look like footballs for the Super Bowl, which, need I remind you, the FABULOUS New York Giants won...

Anyways. I made up my own recipe, and it totally failed me. The whoopie pies came out of the oven looking more like whoopie wafers:

But that didn't discourage me, I took my new heart shaped cookie cutter and made heart shaped whoopie pies! They looked nice, but they were wayyy too sweet (I know, how can that be possible?? I'm telling you, it is...) and the cream filling was weirdly runny and oozy. Another fail.

 But I didn't give up! I went ahead and rolled some vanilla frosting into the excess whoopie pie cake crumbles and made chocolate fudge brownie cake balls. Thankfully these were very much a success.

I really want to just give up trying to bake new stuff. I am good at making cake balls, so that's probably what I'll whip up for our Valentine's Day party this weekend. I'm so excited! I bought pretty new shoes and a new dress, at a thrift store obviously... Don't worry I'll post pictures. Did I even have to say that? Have a good one!

Dairy Free Date Balls

On Saturday night, after a week of healthy eating, I was really craving something sweet. Mike and I ran out to Price Chopper to pick up some treats, but no rice milk chocolate bars or dairy free oatmeal cookies could satisfy my sweet tooth. That's when I decided to whip up a batch of date balls. I saw a few sweet recipes that called for dates, such as Chocolate Covered Katie's Samoas Fudge Babies, but I decided to go ahead and create my own concoction!

Dairy Free Date Balls

Ingredients:

8 oz dates 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup dairy free butter

1 tsp vanilla 

1 cup rice krispies 

1/4 cup coconut flakes 

Directions:

Blend dates. In a saucepan, melt dairy free butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir in dates and some coconut. Remove from heat and mix in rice krispies and vanilla. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Shape the mixture into 10 individual balls, then roll them in coconut flakes.

Voila! My sweet tooth was satisfied! These date balls about 175 calories each. They are great for a quick energizing snack if you are on the go, but probably not the best to have around if you are a mindless snacker (like me) But luckily they are so thick, rich and flavorful that I couldn't even eat more than one in one sitting.

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Blondies Before I Go Brownie

Last night I whipped up a batch of blondies for my office. I promised my coworker that I would make him some such a long time ago, and I had to follow through sooner or later. I'm also thinking about dying my hair brown again, but I haven't decided quite yet.

I followed this recipe from Sunny Side Up in San Diego. I used 3 different types of chips. YUM!

After we sampled a few blondies last night my roomies and I broke out the crock pot. After -5 degree weather this weekend we want to make some nice hot soup for the coming weeks. I might also make slow cooked pulled barbeque chicken for Mike one day soon, I found a very simple recipe with chicken and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce... Our favorite! I can't wait!

Balls! Glorious Cake Balls!

I did it! I made cake balls! They were supposed to be cake pops but Shaws didn't have any lollipop sticks... busted!

My version of the cake ball recipe:

Ingredients:

Box of Funfetti cake
1 can of Diet Cherry 7-Up
1 tub of cream cheese frosting
bag of white chococate chips
sprinkles of your choice

Instructions*

Mix Funfetti cake with a can of Diet Cherry 7-Up and bake a cake. Let the cake cool, then mash it up!  Mix with a tub of cream cheese frosting, and chill for about an hour. Then roll into ping-pong size balls.  Pop them in the fridge for another 30 minutes to an hour. Melt the white chocolate morsels and clumsily dip and coat your balls. Lay the dipped balls on wax paper, add sprinkles, then pop into the fridge to harden overnight. Bring them to the office and become instant cake ball celebrity. * Take pictures as you go and post on your blog the next day.

I went ahead and made a "Skinny Funfetti" cake, which is essentially 1 box Confetti Cake Mix and a can of Diet Cherry 7-up...

Balls:

Cake Balls!

YAY! I am so happy with the way they turned out :)

Diet Coke Brownies

So I heard the concept of making baked good with a can of diet soda instead of that other junk, like butter and oil and eggs... so I had to try it for myself, especially after Aunt Peg tried it and said she couldn't tell the difference!

Confession: I took a can of diet coke home from the office fridge... sorry Wyatt Research. I owe you a batch of DC brownies.

I made mine with a gluten free mix...

We put some Hershey chocolate syrup on the top, and sprinkled some gluten free, dairy free, soy free "chocolate chips" in the batter as well.

And the verdict is... they're awesome! Elly and I WILL do this again.

Now we also want to try "Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes," which is essentially 1 box Confetti Cake Mix and 1 (12 oz.) can diet cherry 7-up... Happy snacking!

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Easy Christmas Treats

At my 3rd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Saturday, we served a few easy treats, including Christmas colored jello shots. One snack that was a huge hit was the Christmas pretzel bites, which we renamed at the party to the inappropriate "Christmas nip bits" ... cuz well, you see.

Janice and I followed this recipe from Disney Family Fun Magazine to make this salty and sweet pretzel-chocolate combos.

Ingredients
Waffle-shaped pretzels - I used Snyder's Of Hanover Butter Snap Pretzels
Hershey's Kisses
Red and Green M&M's

Instructions
Heat the oven to 170F. Set waffle-shaped pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss. Bake for 5 minutes or until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly (and carefully) press an M&M into the center of each Kiss. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Serve to guests while wearing your ugliest Christmas sweater vest.

Gluten Free Chinese Dumplings

http://jeanetteshealthyliving.com/2011/04/gluten-free-recipe-for-chinese-dumplings.html

[via BLOGNAME]

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I want...

...NO, i HAVE to make this. I have been craving lemon pound cake, but OMG this Lemon-Coconut Pound Cake Loaf from Southern Hospitality looks beyond better than simple lemon pound cake.

It looks absolutely delicious. Rhoda got this recipe from Southern Living magazine. Perhaps I will try this out on Saturday! I'm heading up to Vermont tonight for the weekend. According to Mike's reports, it is snowing up there! I'm sure he will want to hit the slopes on Saturday, which will leave me indoors to bake!

I'm not even going to say Happy April Fool's Day because I think this is a stupid holiday. But I am enjoying some of the funny Internet pranks pulled by Google and Hulu today. Just try googling "helvetica."

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Genius: Secret Discovered

Omigosh, I was reading through my blog feed on Google Reader and I happened across this awesome tip from Grace Happens who got it from Full House

"If anyone ever asks me why I like to read blogs, this is the exact reason...Genius is around every corner." - Grace

Oh wow yes, such genius! I can't wait to use this poppin trick in the very near future.

Banana Bread Pudding

I found a few recipes online and took a bit from each. This is what I came up with:

6 slices of cinnamon bread
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Break the bread into pieces and put in a bowl with the milk for a few minutes.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a bowl and beat until well mixed. Pour over bread and milk, and mix it all up.
4. Put in baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until edges are golden.

And it turned out great! Here is the photographic evidence:

A slice of the heavenly bread.

Ripped up bread in the bowl.

Combine the ingredients.

Fresh out the oven.

Delicious bread pudding!