Taco Soup

One of my favorite soups of all time - Taco Soup. I got this recipe from Terri on the Delphi Celiac Forum. Yum.

Taco Soup

1 & 1/2 lb. hamburger meat
2 Tbs. minced onion flakes
2 cups water
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)
1 can pinto beans
1 can corn
1 package McCormick’s taco seasoning mix

Brown ground beef and add onion flakes in a soup pot. Put other ingredients in. Simmer 20 minutes. Serve in large bowls with Mission Corn Tortilla Strips and a healthy covering of shredded cheddar cheese. VERY good and VERY easy to make.

Easy Bean and Ham Soup

Mom asked me to get her 2 packages of beans while I was at the store the other day, and then she asked me to soak the beans for her (since she was coming in the early morning to watch my kids yesterday). So I soaked 2 packages of beans. That’s a lot of beans. So she made some soup for me in my Crockpot.

Easy Bean and Ham Soup

1 package of dried Great Northern beans (about a pound), soaked overnight
Some ham (I had a package of ham steaks - about a pound; or leftover ham)
Some carrots (I had some matchstick carrots left in the fridge - easy route, no shredding)
oh, and some water - kinda important

Cook in the Crockpot on high for about 5 hours (give or take). You’ll want to taste it and see if it needs salt (depends on how salty your ham was). If you leave it on low for another couple of hours, you get mush (which some people like). We like to eat ours with some shredded mozzarella.

Donna and Heather

Though rather late, I wanted to post about meeting Donna Washburn and Heather Butt. I had previously met them at the National GIG Education Conference in Virginia, in June. We had them speak to us at our local GIG meeting on November 3rd. They are currently working on their fourth gluten-free cookbook! Check them out at www.bestbreadrecipes.com.
I had the privilege of having lunch with them and Betty Barfield (our branch president) at Carino’s. They now have a gluten-free menu. I had a wonderful lunch of roasted garlic potato soup, jalapeño garlic tilapia, and sauteed green beans. As wonderful as the meal was, the company was even better. These two ladies are so vibrant and fun. The picture is Heather, me, and Donna. We’ll see you at the next GIG conference in Dallas, Donna and Heather!

Turkey Quesadillas

Got leftovers? Need some ideas to use them up? Well, here’s one for you: Turkey Quesadillas. Quick, easy, yummy, and it uses up stuff taking up space in your fridge.
Mom brought us some turkey and ham leftovers (at Braden’s request). So we chopped up some turkey, stuck it on a corn tortilla with some cheese and another tortilla, and heated them up in a skillet. They were really good. We mostly had dark meat and used cheddar, but I had mozzarella with the only white meat in the container (this was my favorite). I’m not sure what happened, but there was only a tiny bit of salsa left in the whole house! That’s okay, these were excellent with the leftover cranberry-orange relish. I had entertained the idea of putting corn in with the meat and cheese, but was afraid of a pint-sized mutiny.

Eight Biscuits

How can something so small consume such large amounts of food? Yes, Braden ate eight biscuits. (Say that 10 times fast). Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

I think that says it all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All’s quite on the western front. The guests have departed, the baby and husband are sleeping, and the older boy is playing quietly by himself. The only noise is the click-clacking of my keyboard.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner! Andy’s parents came over and shared our feast, and we had a fun time. Even though we weren’t able to do as we had planned and go visit my brother (and the rest of my family), it was still a wonderful day.

Duck was the meat of the day. I was the only one at the table who had ever had duck before (once, a long time ago). I cooked it per the package instructions, and it came with an orange glaze (that I had verified as gluten-free with the manufacturer). Everybody liked it, but it’s probably not something we ever need to do again. It is really a fatty meat, and doesn’t serve a lot. We had small portions (which was good for us), and even had some leftover.

Cranberry-orange relish accompanied the duck. Basically, you chop up a bag of fresh cranberries in a food processor, and add sugar to taste (I probably used about a half cup, maybe a whole cup - I was just pouring it as I needed, lol). Cut up 2 oranges and stir into the cranberries. The sugar will cause the cranberries to juice as they sit, so if you want it real juicy, then make it ahead. If not, make it right before the meal. You can add chopped walnuts, but I couldn’t find any in my freezer this morning.

The Slow-Cooked Sage Dressing was excellent, of course. We also had steamed corn, and a mixture of brown rice, steamed broccoli, and a Ragu cheese sauce. It was supposed to have been the cheddar one, but apparently we had used the last one up, so it was creamy parmesan or something like that. That part didn’t make it into the picture.

The Grand Finale was apple pie, with a streusel topping. It was so good, that when I went downstairs to get my camera (to put pictures on this post), I ended up sneaking a tiny slice. So great was our feast, that no one, not even Andy, wanted ice cream (quite a feat in and of itself).

I’m so thankful for my wonderful family, who loves and supports me, and all that God has given me.
I hope you all had a fabulous Gluten-Free Thanksgiving!

Steak Nachos

What do you do with leftover steak? Why, nachos, of course. I had been chopping my onions and celery for tomorrow’s stuffing (because I’ll get it in the crock pot in the morning), and decided to cut up last night’s steak leftovers. I let the meat sit in a bowl of apple juice for about an hour and a half - I think it made it a bit softer. Chips, meat, cheddar, some lettuce and salsa - yummy.
We have a tendency to let the leftovers sit in the fridge until they must be thrown out. Good thing I was paying attention when my brain was speaking today.

The Gloriousness That Is Pancakes

Ah, I love breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day, after all.
Well, I just have to say, y’all are in for a real treat when Roben Ryberg’s new cookbook comes out in April. I should know - I’ve made probably 50 of the recipes. We love these pancakes (and I’m sure the waffles will grace my blog soon - probably Christmas, as one of my non-gf brothers has requested them for Christmas morning). A shameless plug for a friend? You bet. But I only do it because it’s the truth.

15 Large Apples?

I’ve prepared for naught.
Thanksgiving was going to be great fun. That was before my two boys got pneumonia and my hubby and I got bronchitis. Even though we’re all on antibiotics now, we don’t want to chance getting everyone sick, especially since one SIL is pregnant, and the other one and my 2 brothers all have finals coming up.
Do I really need a crockpot full of stuffing for the four of us (and I doubt Braden will eat it)? And what about those 15 gigantic granny smith apples destined for pie-hood?

Peanut Butter Cookies for Newbies

This is an old standby for peanut butter cookies for us gluten-freers. But I am not kidding, this actually makes the best peanut butter cookies. The other firefighters always have Andy make these. They call him Keebler, and they tell him to go Keeble (it’s their verb for make cookies).

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. Place drops of dough on cookie sheet (size is up to you). Use a fork to make crisscross patterns (this is easy to do without sticking if you will keep your fork in a glass of ice water when not using it). Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes. Watch them, so you will know when it’s best to take them out. When they start to brown, and just barely give off a smell of burning peanut butter, then they are done. Let cool partially on cookie sheet, then twist to remove, and put on cooling rack.

Additions:
Chocolate chips go great in these cookies, without having to change anything else. You can also use 1/2 chunky and 1/2 creamy peanut butter. In the past, I have made “trail mix” cookies using half chunky peanut butter (and half creamy), and adding some chocolate chips and raisins.