Bacon Wrapped Sutffed Jalapeno Peppers

So I guess I just posted the dairy free version...here is the regular version adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe. I've made a few changes for what works for me. I've made them both ways and they are all good. I don't think you can mess them up.

18 Jalapenos, sliced and cleaned out (see note on how to clean them below)
1 PKG Bacon
1 BLOCK (8oz) Cream Cheese
1/2 CUP Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
2 TBL Tastefully Simple Onion Onion (or chopped chives or green onion)

Blend Cream Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, and Onion Onion together. Cut bacon in half for large jalapenos or in 1/3rds for small jalapenos.

**Make sure your jalapenos are sliced in half and cleaned out. I highly recommend using gloves of some sort (latex or even plastic bags). If you like hot jalapenos then leave some of the seeds and/or membranes in tact. The membrane is the white part. If you do not like heat then clean all of that out really well with a teaspoon.

Fill the jalapenos with the cream cheese mixture. Wrap bacon around the jalapeno. If I have toothpicks on hand I will secure the bacon but it's not required if your bacon is long enough it should not fall off. Place on a baking pan or stone.

Brush BBQ sauce on top of each jalapeno. Bake 350 for 30- 40 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

I have been impatient before and broiled them for a few minutes to crisp that bacon up. I have cooked them at 275 for an hour like Pioneer Woman. But mine came out mushy when I did that. So experiment with them and see what you like. I prefer my jalapeno to hold up and cooking them hotter faster seemed to do that for me. Either way they tasted delicious and it was hard not to eat 10 of them!

Gluten Free Meetup Group

If you are looking for a gluten free "support" group there is one here in the Tri-Cities area. Here is the info.

GF Tricities- A way of life for many of us
Supporting the Tri City Area. See what we are all about!
Email Autumn Zuljevic: Glutenfreeinwastate@gmail.com

QUICK and EASY Taco Soup

This was quick and easy taco soup. It's not my "real" recipe but for the week I didn't have a stove it was a hit and it was easy.

1 lb ground beef , cooked w/taco season

(We had made up tacos before my stove died and so we just used the left over meat from that)

1 can red kidney beans

1 can corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1 small diced onion

Taco fixins

tomato, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, chips, whatever else you put on your tacos

Dump everything but the taco fixins in the crock pot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. Give or take a few. It really just needs heated through. You could omit the onion and/or put it on top of the soup w/the other taco fixins.

This was super simple and didn't require much cooking. I call it my cheating taco soup recipe.

TO FREEZE: Put all ingredients into a freezer bag instead of crock pot. Cook the ground beef and add it in there. TO REHEAT: Place in crock pot or on the stove top in a pan.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

NOTE: Rice cheese (Aromatic brand) has casein in it. Which is a milk protein. So, read your labels if you need it to be 100% dairy free. Try almond or soy cheese. Or no cheese at all. Some can tolerate a small amount of casein but not milk.

Could the name get any longer? But I'm hear to tell you they are worth every bit of stuttering over their title. These were last nights an experiment while entertaining and the original recipe is adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe only this is dairy free. Yes, they actually are good! So good that I had a few people try them and say they couldn't tell the difference, much. Maybe not quite as rich but they are still pretty yummo.

1 Tub or 8 oz of Toffuttis better than Cream Cheese. This is fairly soft already because it's not a block of cheese it's in a tub
1 PKG or 8 oz Rice Cheese. I used mozzarella because that is what I had
1 PKG Bacon
1 DZN or so Jalapenos
1/2 CUP BBQ Sauce (make sure it's gluten free)

Optional: chives, green onion or I used a couple dashes of Tastefully Simple's Onion Onion

1. Slice Jalapenos in half.


2. De-seed Jalapenos and wash. Let them dry a little while you get the cream cheese prepped. Recommend using gloves and try not to choke from the fumes. These are almost worse than onions!


3. Mix Tofutti Cream Cheese and Rice Cheese and any of the optional items in.


4. Stuff the peppers. There's no science to it just put the mix into these babies.


5. Wrap with 1/2 slice of bacon. Or if your jalapenos are real small cut your bacon into thirds.


6. Brush with a little BBQ sauce. I find this is also optional but it really helps that bacon to caramelize and taste goooooood. Here is a before picture.

7. Bake 350 for 30 minutes. This is where pioneer woman and I do it different...She cooks lower temp for longer. I have tried it both ways and they all taste good. I'm inpatient and want them sooner and they've always turned out.

Enjoy! And try not to eat them all in one whack because it's truly difficult.

Layered Jello Squares

mmmm.....jello.....

Now that I got your attention...

Don't mind the mess on my kitchen island...which is my workstation for all things craft and cooking....so it pretty much looks like this all the time.

Here is the recipe for my layered jello squares. I had two recipes and didn't have the stuff for 1 recipe and the other had mixed reviews so I put them together and made my own. They set up nicely and got rave family reviews.
You'll need:

2 SM PKGS Lime Jello or 1 LG
2 SM PKGS Orange Jello or 1 LG
2 SM PKGS Red Jello or 1 LG
2 Envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin or 1 Envelope + 1 SM PKG Lemon Jello
1 CUP Sour Cream (Lite works)
7 CUPS Water

1. Grease 9x13 pan with nonstick. Wipe excess off with a paper towel.


2. Whisk 2 boxes of lime jello with 2 Cup Boiling Water. Place in the 9x13 pan and place pan in the refrigerator. Make sure it's level and let set for 30-45 minutes.


3. While Green Layer is setting, begin making your white layer. It's important to start the next layer as soon as your current layer is setting so that it can cool down in time to be poured on w/out melting the last layer.



4. Whisk 2 Knox unflavored gelatin or 1 Knox and 1 Lemon with 1 Cup boiling water. Then add the sour cream.



5. As soon as the green layer is set, gently pour 1/2 of the white layer on top and let set another 30 minutes. Immediately begin making your orange layer.



6. Whisk 2 Boxes of Orange Jello with 2 Cups boiling water. As soon as the white layer is set and your Orange mix has cooled just enough, pour gently on top of white layer and let set 30-45 minutes.



7. Begin Making your Red Layer. Whisk 2 boxes of Red Jello w/2 Cups Boiling water and let set. Also reheat your white layer for about 20 seconds in the microwave so that you can easily pour it. If it is lumpy it will not pour well and it's difficult to flatten out.



8. Pour the remaining white layer on top of the orange and let set for 30 minutes.



9. Pour the last layer of red down and let set.



10. Once totally set, you can slice into cubes and serve.

Notes:

• I used sugar free jello and lite sour cream.



• Set up times are approximate. You may get away with shortening the time but it's important that it's set up enough between layers so that the layers do not mix. You can test this by touching it lightly. It should just be a little sticky not watery.



• And begin making your next layer as soon as you put the jello back in the fridge to set up.



• You can of course use any color!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

I love it when dinner turns out to be good and it was by accident. Here is what we did tonight and got rave reviews all around. Even my husband who claims to hate chicken ate a good size portion.

What you need:
4 - 6 Boneless Skinless Rinsed Chicken Breast (Mine were frozen--straight from freezer)
8 oz Salsa (I had about 1/2 a jar of Pace Picante)
1/2 Cup Shredded Pepper Jack and Cheddar Cheese Combined

1. Place chicken in crockpot and pour salsa on top.
2. Cook on high 4-6 hours or until chicken is fork tender and easily shreds.
3. Once the chicken is done, carefully place cheese on top of chicken place lid on top let melt. This took about 5 minues.

I served this with Spanish rice (out of the box-Zataran's brand), sour cream, corn and, jalapeno poppers. Recipe for poppers to follow. Oh and I used the left over poppers mix and through it in the crockpot last minute to make a thicker creamier sauce. But you wouldn't have to do this. This was an afterthought after we started eating.

Jalapeno Poppers

Okay, so I really cheated on these. I have a recipe for them that is pretty easy from The Pioneer Woman but I didn't have all the ingredients for them. I had about 2oz of cream cheese, 4 jalapenos, and cut up a few slices of pepper jack and cheddar cheese.

Slice Jalapenos in half and clean out. Mix cream cheese w/the pepper jack and cheddar. Place inside the halved jalapenos and bake 350 for 30 minutes. They were super easy and delicous. I topped them with a little sour cream after..heck why not add a little more cream?

Note: This meal was completely gluten free. I checked and double checked the rice and couldn't find gluten in it. So, I recommend checking your spanish rice and even your salsa if it's out of a box before just taking my word for it. And of course, if you use blended cheeses you need to check as well because sometimes the already shredded blended cheeses have gluten in them.

This would be a fabulous freezer meal! Just place chicken and salsa in a bag for later. I would shred the cheese and place in another bag so that you had it ready to roll.

Wheat Free Shortcake

I made this recipe adapted from Bobsredmill.com. The only thing I changed was on half of them I put jam inside and folded them over and they tasted sort of like a scone. The texture of wheat free/gluten free products are usually a little grittier but this was pretty good.

2 1/2 Cups Gluten Free Baking Mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 TB Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Milk or Water (I used 2% but you could use Rice, Nut or Soy)
1 Egg, Slightly Beaten
Jam (Optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl combine sugar and baking mix.
3. In a separate bowl combine butter, milk and egg.
4. Combine all ingredients til moist.
5. Knead 10 times on a lightly gluten free floured surface. Roll out the dough 3/4" thickness.
6. Place shortcake on greased cookie sheet and bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Serve w/your favorite fruit and whipped topping or eat like a biscuit.

I think these could quite possible taste good as a cheese biscuit with herbs and cheddar mixed in. I will try it and if it's good I will post it.

Nutritional Information for 1 Shortcake:
190 calories, 9 grams of fat, 21 NET carbs.

Cabbage Salsa

Delicious enough that I can eat it until I make myself sick delicious...how much cabbage should one person really eat? Moving on....

1/2 Head cabbage (Optional) or 1 bag of finely chopped cabbage
1 or 2 Large Tomatos
1/2 Large Onion
1/2 Bunch Cilantro
1 Bell Pepper Or Jalapeno (Most recipes call for Jalapeno but if you do not like spicy at all try the Bell Pepper)
1 Lime or Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste (or garlic salt in place of the salt)

Tip: I think it's good to have about equal parts of each ingredient. Unlike salsa where the tomatos take over. Depending on the size of your vegtables will depend on how much of each you need.

All ingredients need to be finely chopped or shredded. If you have a pampered chef chopper that works well or before those days I used a small food processor. I know that a Magic Bullet or Ninja Master Prep work well too! Or if all else fails and you have the knuckles for it, by all means chop away with a knife.

Mix well. I like to taste test each batch and make sure it tastes right. I don't need much salt but I know others that put a lot of salt in. Other variations I've seen are adding a tiny bit of garlic or garlic salt.

Serve with Tortilla Chips or on top of your favorite Mexican dish and enjoy! This is one of those things that is even better after it's chilled awhile and let all the flavors run together and the cabbage soften up. If you can wait that long to eat it. I know I can't. And you probably don't want to let it sit more than a day or two or it gets soggy. A good excuse to eat it in one day...but again, how much cabbage does a person need in one day?

Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

These are very simple yet delicious. Easy to whip up for an after dinner snack.

1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mix well with a beater. Roll into balls and then criss cross with a fork. If you wish, you can roll in sugar before baking. Place on baking sheet and bake 325 for 10-15 minutes.

NOTE: The original recipe called for a baking temp of 375 but they kept burning in my oven.