Crock pot Vegetarian Baked Beans

I've been making a lot of things from scratch lately. Well I should say I've been doing that more and more than I already was recently :) I found a recipe for crock pot baked beans and made it. It was decent however it needed work. After some tinkering with ingredients and adding some of my own I am pleased with the creation. I served these baked beans at my sons third birthday party where everyone was very pleased with them...I even had requests for the recipe :)

1 pound dried beans (I used great northern but any white bean should work)
3/4 c. molasses
1/3 c. honey
water to cover beans
onion powder to taste (or you can chop up one medium onion)
1/4 c. mustard
1/4 c. ketchup (I make sure it's high fructose corn syrup free)
Tabasco hot sauce to taste
salt to taste
2 tablespoons potato starch dissolved in water

Soak beans overnight. In a pot, boil beans in water for 1 hour then drain. Put beans in crock pot. Add in molasses and honey. Add just enough water to just cover the beans. Add onion powder (or chopped onions) to taste, mustard, ketchup and Tabasco and salt to taste. Stir it all together, cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours. When beans are done mix potato starch in small amount of cool water and add to beans stirring until thickened.

These beans are so delicious! You will keep coming back for more and so will all your family! My boys could eat this all day if I'd let them and I don't feel bad serving it...no refined sugar and loaded with healthy protein!

Honey Kissed Blueberry Muffins

Recently I purchased a gallon of raw, local honey to start cutting back my family's intake of refined white sugar. My first successful recipe was an adaptation of the blueberry muffin recipe found here. The changes were small but by using only honey instead of white sugar and also using the Whole Foods brand of rice milk (which is NOT sweetened with sugar but with rice syrup instead) I created a recipe that is 100% naturally sweetened and a muffin I feel GREAT about feeding my kids and for eating myself! The whole dozen was gone before my family even left for church on Sunday :)


1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup millet flour
½ cup tapioca starch flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ cups unsweetened fresh blueberries
½ cup milk
¼ cup oil
¼ cup applesauce
1/3 cup honey (preferably raw, local honey)
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl with wisk. Add blueberries and toss until coated with flour. In medium bowl, combine milk, oil and applesauce with wisk. Add in honey, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to the dry. Stir gently with spatula until just combined. Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

You will not be able to eat just one and you don't have to feel bad about it!

Bean Quesadilla's

So I had many requests for this recipe after posting about it on facebook. Sorry it's taken so long to get around to posting about it but here it is. It is not finished and I will probably come back and edit this recipe a few more times since I've only made this once and it really was just something I pulled out of my head, but here's what I have right now.

I HIGHLY recommend getting a tortilla press if you ever want gfcf flour tortilla's. I've not tried the store bought ones but I have tried corn tortilla's (which can be bought at any store gfcf) and my family hates them. That started my search for a good homemade tortilla. I take no credit for the recipe found here. I made the rice flour version with brown rice flour. The only change is I used sorghum flour instead of chickpea because I do not like the taste of bean flours in my food. I prefer to get my beans in other ways :). Follow her recipe for the tortilla's you will need for the quesadilla's.

For the filling:
1 can fat free refried beans (check labels as not all are gfcf but I don't remember which brand I used...maybe Old El Paso?)
1 cup of prepared dried beans
1 cup of prepared brown rice
1/2 to 1 cup frozen corn kernels, heated
1/2 large onion, chopped

Taco Seasoning:
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

I like to cook the onion with the rice while it's cooking as I don't care for raw onion but you don't have to make it that way. When preparing the rice, add in the taco seasoning mix for flavor. (Side note: the taco seasoning mix can be added to browned meat with 1/2 cup water and simmered down to make excellent taco meat filling that tastes just like taco seasoning packets at the store but without all the chemicals and preservatives) Combine in a large bowl the rice, corn, black beans and refried beans. Mix well enough so the refried beans can act like the glue that cheese would be if making traditional quesadilla's. Fill tortilla's with some bean mixture and heat on skillet at medium heat until heated through and the tortilla is slightly crispy on both sides. Serve with whatever condiments your family likes such as salsa and guacamole. My little monkey ate these up so fast and loved having the extra filling for lunch the next day. My carnivorous husband could have sworn there was meat in these too which there isn't and I love that I can make him a hearty veggie meal he LOVES!

Dried Beans

Beans are super healthy for you...low in fat and high in fiber and protein. They are also relatively cheap, but canned beans are loaded with sodium and is really a pretty small amount of beans overall. I've started only buying dried beans. They take more work, yes but they save money and are much healthier! For $1.08 I purchased 1 pound of dried black beans. That 1 bag made bean quesadilla's and black beans and rice for my family. The black beans and rice recipe I use normally requires 3 cans of beans so just for one recipe I saved money buying dried. 3 cans of store brand costs $2.25 total with each can costing $0.75 so for one of the 2 recipes I made using dried beans I saved over $1.
To make them simply soak in water overnight (8-12 hours) then drain them. Once drained they are ready to be boiled for 1 1/2 hours or so until they reach the desired tenderness then add to your favorite bean recipe. If you forget to soak overnight as I frequently do you can boil the beans uncovered for 2 minutes then remove from the heat, cover and let soak for 1 hour. After that drain and boil as above. Enjoy your beans!

Fabulous Blueberry Muffins

With my find of blueberries at the farmer's market this week I set out on a mission to find the perfect blueberry muffin recipe. I used a recipe I found online, added a few things, reduced the sugar and oil and changed the spices a little. On the second try I came out with this recipe which is absolutely bursting with blueberry deliciousness! I made mine with freshly ground flour too :) The reduced sugar content really allows the blueberries to shine in this wonderful muffin that is not too sweet yet oh so satisfying. You won't be able to eat just one!


1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup millet flour
½ cup tapioca starch flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ cups unsweetened fresh blueberries
½ cup milk
¼ cup oil
¼ cup applesauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl with wisk. Add blueberries and toss until coated with flour. In medium bowl, combine milk, oil and applesauce with wisk. Add in honey, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to the dry. Stir gently with spatula until just combined. Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Freezing Fresh Produce

After purchasing 4 pints of blueberries, I knew my family would not eat them all before they went bad. So I called a friend of mine to ask about freezing. I don't know if every fruit or veggie is freezable but blueberries are and many other produce items are as well. In speaking with her, she told me about this wonderful method of freezing things that prevents them from freezing into one big clump that must be thawed to get the amount you're looking for. She said to freeze the blueberries on a baking sheet in a single layer. After about 1-2 hours they are frozen enough you can place them in a freezer bag with out them sticking together. If a recipe says you need 1 cup of berries you can measure them without taking a hammer to the frozen pile of berries first. What an amazing concept! Well, I froze 2 pints of my blueberries last night and WOW! I now have a tupperware in my freezer of frozen blueberries that don't stick together :) I love that! If I want a smoothie during a ridiculously hot summer afternoon here, I can add some frozen blueberries for some flavor and chill. You can use this method with all kinds of fruits and veggies so they're always ready when you need them. Enjoy :)

Weekly Trip to the Farmer's Market

So I went to the farmer's market yesterday and left with quite the catch. My best purchase was 4 pints of blueberries for just $5! Now I'm working on perfecting a blueberry muffin recipe to be posted later. I spent a total of $18 and here's what I came home with:

4 pints of blueberries
4 ears of corn
3 large pears
1 large basket of red potatoes
6 sweet potatoes
1 basket of yellow squash (and boy were they beautiful!)
1 bunch of banana's
4 medium zucchini squash

I leave that place so excited every week. I'm already looking forward to what I can buy next time I go.