Life's A Beach!

Happy Sunday Funday! A fabulous walk on the beach was pre cursed by an awesome meal at Federal Jacks in Kennebunkport, Maine! Who knew?! A fabulous meal and an awesome view all in one stop! We enjoyed lobstah rolls and cole slaw, yeah you heard me, lobstah ROLLS.....gluten free lobstah roll for me of course! This place has a dedicated gf kitchen, gf beer, and oh so amazing lobstah, what else would I get on the coast??? It's been 3 years since I've had a lobstah roll, so you can imagine my surprise when the waiter told me about them, my eyes, ears, and belly were in agreement-get that!!!! .....words can not describe the deliciousness that was all over my plate and is now in my belly, be sure to check this place out!!! Here's the link, check it out for yourselves! http://www.federaljacks.com/PDF/glutenfree.pdf  I know I'll be back and soon!! :) 

Ooooo how I love a challenge!! ;-)

Happy March, Y'all!!! It's still a frigid winter up here in Northern Maine, luckily Spring is on its way....thank goodness!! I think I've got cabin fever! I've been cooking, crafting and of course that "W" word, working lol. I'm off to my happy place in 3 weeks, that's right, Tampa!! okay, down to business....I received an email today from Celiac Central,  it was their newsletter. Amongst the enjoyable reading, I found a gluten free recipe contest! YESSSSSS!!!! Now is the time for me to show what I've learned thus far. I've racked my brain and decided on an entree entry lol say that three times fast! ;) I've decided to enter my famous chicken lasagna; it's to die for....you'll see....The contest is open until the end of the month so feel free to check it out, and perhaps enter yourself! Recipe contest I'm going to leave you with my recipe, please feel free to try it out and let me know your thoughts! It's def not for the calorie counters, haha this recipe is for the carb lovers to enjoy! Peace and love <3 Case :)

                                             Chicken Lasagna

A delicious twist on an old favorite that will make you look at lasagna in a whole new light! Best served with homemade gluten free biscuits and a lush green salad. Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1 package DeBoles oven ready rice lasagna noodles

1 package gluten free sliced mozzarella cheese

2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped 

1 package frozen broccoli, cooked and drained

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup gluten free flour ( I use rice flour) 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

3 cups gluten free chicken broth

2 cups cottage cheese

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese for topping

Instructions: 

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, on medium high heat. Stir in flour, salt, and spices creating a roux. Next, whisk in the chicken broth, cook mixture until it begins to thicken stirring continuously. Add chicken to the mix, and stir, remove from heat and set aside. In a medium size bowl, combine cottage cheese and the beaten egg. Grease a large 9x13 pan, and spread 1/3 chicken mixture in bottom of the pan. Top mixture with the noodles to cover chicken. Next, add a layer of cottage cheese mixture to cover noodles, approximately 1/2 the mixture. Then, add 1/2 the cooked broccoli on top, spread to cover cottage cheese. Next add a layer of sliced mozzarella cheese. Repeat these layers a second time, chicken mixture, noodles, cottage cheese mix, broccoli and sliced mozzarella cheese. Top with a final layer of chicken mixture, and cover top with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese over top of mozzarella. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake lasagna at 350° for 30-45 minutes, until hot and bubbly at the edges. Allow lasagna to cool for 15 min before cutting. 

Serves 6. 

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Casie Miller

Aroostook County, Maine

It's A Beautiful Day To Bake A Cake!

I thought this day would never arrive, the day before Jamie's bday party! Yahoo, it's cake baking day, and my day off, but cake is the far more important issue here!! ;)
The angel food cake just came out of the oven, it smells delicious in here! I'm sorry that there isn't "smell-o-net", I mean, it's seriously yummy in here....anyway, back on track. Jamie loved the trial run cake, so I broke out the Salvation Sisters Pintrest page again and went to town, just like a gluten free Betty Crocker! (And no, no one pays me to say any of that, it's just a great recipe!) You can find the website to this fabulous recipe in my post, Let Me Eat Cake...Please And Thank You!! I followed the recipe to a "T" and once again have achieved a fabulous looking cake! Yay! :) (I would like to note, I made a slight change in the process, you can find that in the previous post as well, nothing major!)
Back to the kitchen I go, someone's got to check the crumbs for yumminess, right? And clean up the mess, I suppose...if anyone runs into the Dish Fairy, give her my address! Somehow I doubt that will happen, a girl can dream... So, I'll leave you with a couple of pics I took in the process of baking, enjoy!!

Let Me Eat Cake.....please and thank you!

In anticipation of my good friend's upcoming birthday, I felt I should make an attempt at one of her (and mine) favorite cakes. The infamous Angel Food Cake, yummmm, if I may say so myself. It's been two years, at least since I've had this delicious goodness, and until now I haven't dared to attempt baking one! What better occasion than a birthday (not that we need an occasion to eat cake, lets be clear on that! Haha) to bake up some our favorite dessert. So that I did, well right after I got off Pintrest, of course, where else would I find a fabulous recipe for Angel Food Cake?
I started out on the search for a fabulous cake recipe and came across a blog full of recipes that were just my style, easy! Salvationsisters.com is doing it right for me, simple and yummy, the important things in life! Their fabulous cake recipe is very simple, but follow it exactly! The only thing I bypassed was the food processing and instead I used a bowl, a whisk, and just a touch of good 'ol elbow grease lol Mostly because I don't own a food processor. Improvisation, it's the spice of life!.....well, you know what I mean. After the cake cools completely upside down, I plated it, and drooled. Laugh all you like, but don't judge, you'll see what I mean soon! I dressed my slice with a generous dollop of Cool Whip, and fresh blueberries. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating cake plain, but who can pass up fresh berries?
As I said, this was a trial run, I won't change a thing unless Jamie disagrees with my palette, somehow I doubt that will happen lol We'll see come Monday when she puts my cake to the ultimate taste test.....if there's any left come Monday.. ;) I should note, Jamie is not a Celiac, but I am, so if I'm making cake then I want to be able to eat it! Thank goodness she's all for trying my gluten free, sugary treats!
As promised, the link to Salvation Sisters amazing Angel Food Cake. Just copy and paste at your leisure. :)
http://www.salvationsisters.com/2012/04/angel-food-cake-gluten-free.html?m=1
Also, a few images of my creation, enjoy!

2 years and counting....

Today, I realized I will have been gluten free for 2 years at the end of March. Where has the time gone?? This past year was a great one, I've grown Immensely as a person, and am bettering my health everyday.
I've picked up an interest (yet again) in running, I turn to it from time to time, but now I've gotten quite regular about the sport. Regular enough that I'm thinking of joining Team Gluten Free! This is a team of runners, walkers, etc created by the Celiac Disease Foundation. Races are run in your own area, or wherever your travels may take you, and the runner's job is to represent the cause! There are a few local races coming up, maybe I can test the waters lol
Last year, I focused on eating properly and wrapping my mind around my disease. This year, I'm focusing on better all around health and not allowing the Celiac to hold me back! Time will tell, but either way it'll be a win win physically and emotionally! Who doesn't love the rush of endorphins exercise gives off, I know I sure do! Maybe I'll plan on running to keep warm lol, it's a mere 10 deg around here lately.... That's the high, we're talking negative digits as a low!? So, I've included a couple images from my happy place, Tampa, Florida! It's a "salt life" for me!! Lol
Best of luck to you all in the new year!! Peace and love <3

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadians out there, and Happy Columbus Day to the Americans. Being half and half I am celebrating both today! A day off from work and a dinner/day spent with my family. I started my day out with a 2 mile walk with Mom, and hit up the grocery store. Silly Mom, thought she'd like some apple crisp, we both said no way! We don't need those calories...haha...well, we didn't get the apples, and then I went back for them a couple hours later! Haha, I couldn't handle it, once someone said apple crisp I was sold. I haven't had it in a couple years, and I was up to the challenge of swapping Mom's recipe to gluten free! I mean, it is a holiday and a big one at that, it's Canadian Thanksgiving!! Haha I call it that since I get 2 Thanksgivings! I know, I know, a bit much right?...someone could roll me home any minute now, I'm ready!
Now we didn't just eat apple crisp for supper, although I'm game for that! Lol I whipped up a wicked good stir fry with quinoa for supper. No turkey you say? Who needs turkey when you've got chicken?! Lol besides, I was a bit lacking in time for turkey. :-/ so here it is, the stir fry recipe:

Yummy chicken stir fry
4 mushrooms sliced
2 sm stalks celery, sliced
1 lg carrot ,sliced
A good handful of snap peas
A good handful of broccoli florets,chopped
2 cloves garlic- chopped
4 sage leaves, chopped
2 chicken breasts, 1" pieces or however you prefer.
Dash of: pepper,salt and ginger
1 tbs olive oil
Quinoa on the side

Add oil to pan, med-high heat, cook chicken through, add garlic and sage cook 1-2 minutes, next add veggies. Let cook a few minutes, you want the veggies to have a crunch, no limp veggies allowed. In the mean time, cook quinoa to have with stir fry. Add your spices to the stir fry, stir well and set aside. Serve stir fry on a bed of quinoa. Soooo yummy!!

And now for the good stuff!!
Apple crisp:
So this is my Mom's adaption of a recipe she found in the Barbour's cookbook (Canadian, perhaps? Idk) keep in mind that it wasn't gluten free until I got my paws on it. ;)

4-5 apples, peeled and sliced
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c white rice flour
1/4 c almond flour
1-1/2 c gluten free oats (be cautious here, some people don't handle these well!!)
1/3 c butter, cold
Juice half lemon

Here we go!!
Peel and slice apples, arrange in an oven safe bowl or 8x8 equivalent pan, your choice. Juice half a lemon and pour over apples, mix gently. In a separate medium size bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add cold butter and roll up your sleeves! Haha this is the fun part! Use your hands to mix the cold butter into the dry ingredients, you want it to be a bit clumpy. Once well combined spread mix over the apples. Preheat oven to 350° bake for 30-35 min or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and serve with your favorite topping. I prefer vanilla frozen yogurt!!

I hope you enjoy the menu for Canadian Thanksgiving, there are a couple pics as well, unfortunately the camera in my phone is dying! Must get new iphone5!! Hehe, what better reason, right??! Happy cooking!!

** as always, be sure to check for gluten free ingredients! :)

Did you think I was lost forever??

Hey all! Well I've been MIA for a bit but now I'm back! I've got a few new recipes, a new adventure or three to tell you about and who knows, maybe something to spice things up along the way!! Hope everyone is enjoying fall, since it has definitely set in! Bbrrr!!