Cherry Crisp

Here is the recipe for my cherry crisp, as promised. :) It is super delicious cold, but also very good straight from the oven with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. I also like to add a little granola, if I have it, into the crisp topping. 

Ingredients:
Cherry filling:                                                                        Crisp topping:

½ -¾ cup sugar                                                                   1 stick butter

3 Tbsp. cornstarch                                                             ¾ cup brown sugar

2 cans Tart Red Cherries in water                                ½ tsp. cinnamon

                                                                                                    1 cup GF quick oats

                                                                                                    ½ cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Drain cherries and reserve the juice from ONLY one can.
2. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of cornstarch and sugar.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the cherries.
5. Pour the cherry mixture into a 9x9 baking dish.
6. For the crisp topping, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, GF quick oats, and sliced almonds. Cut the butter into the mixture. (It will start to clump.)
7. Once it is crumbly and clumpy, spread the mixture on the top of the cherries.
8. Bake at 350˚ for about 40-45 minutes.

Friday Ramblings

This summer I am working as a nanny, which I absolutely LOVE. I have worked as a nanny for the past three years and it is the most enjoyable and exhausting job that I've had. Today, my energy level is a whopping zero; however, I'll have the weekend to recuperate. 

Last weekend was exhausting, yet so much fun! Friday, after getting off, I packed up my car and left for Denton. I was so excited to spend the weekend at my best friends house for some much needed girl time. We rented from redbox, watched movies, and just relaxed. 

Saturday, after we woke up, Amy had the whole day planned out (or so it seemed). We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A and I ordered the naked nuggets (aka grilled nuggets) with fries. We then spent the day shopping at the mall & later went to the town's "square" (I don't know if that's what it is really called, but everyone calls it that). It had all kinds of shops. There were candy stores, comic shops, cute boutiques, a bookstore, and some bars and restaurants. It was so fun just going into all the different shops and looking around. For dinner, Amy took me to Mellow Mushroom because she had recently learned that they serve delicious gluten free pizza. I ordered a plain cheese pizza and added pepperoni to save some money, rather than getting a specialty pizza. My pizza was around $15 with tax. Not too bad. I only ate two slices so the leftovers fed me for a couple days. 

 The Gluten free menu had a great variety of pizza! All the gluten free pizzas were medium (12inch) and were priced around $20-$24. 

Sunday we drove to Frisco and did more shopping! Definitely my kind of weekend... shopping, shopping, and more shopping. :) We met up with Kelsey, another bestfriend, and ate at In-N-Out Burger. I ordered a cheeseburger animal style and protein style. We shared fries. In-N-Out is definitely one of my favorites and always has been. I so wish we had one close to us!

Animal style means grilled onions and their secret sauce (sort of like thousand island). Protein style means no bun. Instead they wrap it up in lettuce. 

Monday was spent in the allergists office (in Denton) for my yearly update checkup appointment. Let me tell you, this was my very favorite appointment because I have wanted to quit and be done with allergy shots since the day I started. Now don't get me wrong. Allergy shots have helped me tremendously. I no longer have constant allergy problems and I have not been sick in over a year! Huge improvements for me. The doctor FINALLY told me that I would never have to come see him again. I just have to do one more year of shots and I'll be done in June 2015! One year of shots might seem like a big deal to others but to me it's not. That's only 12 months and 48 shots to go (I get 4 shots, once a month). I will be counting down the shots as each month passes! Now with good news always seems to come bad news. I asked my shot nurse why my injections weren't hurting at this appointment but they hurt terribly when I get them at my College Station doctors office. I found out that at my allergist they add numbing medicine and it isn't included in my serum, like I always thought it was, so when I get them in College Station, there isn't anything to ease the pain. I tell everyone I know how awesome and beneficial these shots have been for me and my health, but I also tell them how painful they are. Just imagine the worst shot you've received, and multiply it by ten and include a terrible burning, achy feeling to it. Now I know why I've been in pain with them for the last year and I will continue to be in pain with them for another year. One year. I can make it one more year! I've been doing it for 3.5 years already. After my appointment, I drove back to College Station and went back to nannying Tuesday morning. 

I nannied all week and am excited for a relaxing weekend at home with my family!

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends? Shop? Go out? Travel? Relax?  

xoxo, 

Jade 

Apple Crisp

Fruit pies and fruit crisps have always been one of my favorite types of desserts! The first six months of living gluten free, I started making fruit crisps instead of pies because I was too scared to work with all the different types of gluten free flours. I am now much braver and am willing to use gluten free flours; however, this is still one of my favorites. I love this apple crisp because the apple filling is made using my mom's recipe and the crisp is made using my recipe! Nothing is better than my mom's apple pie. Even people who HATE pie love my mom's. My little brother's favorite is my Cherry Crisp recipe which will be posted tomorrow. :) Anyways, enjoy it and let me know what you think! It can be eaten warm with ice cream or cold. 

Ingredients:
Apple filling:                                                                         Crisp topping:

6 medium Granny Smith Apples                                  1 stick butter

¾ cup sugar                                                                         ¾ cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp. GF all-purpose flour                                           ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cinnamon                                                                   1 cup GF quick oats

                                                                                             ½ cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix your sugar, GF all-purpose flour, and cinnamon. 
2. Once it is mixed cut and add the sliced apples. 
3. Stir it until all apples are coated.
4. Pour the apple mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
5. For the crisp topping, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, GF quick oats, and sliced almonds. 
6. Cut the butter into the mixture. (It will start to clump.)
7. Once it is crumbly and clumpy, spread the mixture on the top of the apples.
8. Bake at 350˚ for about 40-45 minutes.

Chicken Spaghetti (one of my favorites)

I have always loved Chicken Spaghetti. It is definitely one of my favorite home cooked meals. Once I became gluten free, I wanted to be able to make it taste just as good as before, if not better! I came up with this chicken spaghetti recipe and my family absolutely loves it. We eat this about once a month. I like it because we can always change it up however we want. I have used turkey instead of chicken and also switched out the vegetables for whatever we had in the kitchen. The recipe calls for it to be baked in the oven; however, when I cook it, my family is usually STARVING so they eat it before it ever gets to the oven. It can be eaten fresh from the pan or placed in the oven to keep warm for a meal later on. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients: 
1 lb. velveeta cheese, cubed
1 lb. chicken, deboned, boiled, and cut up (We usually use leftover rotisserie chicken.)
1 lb. gluten free spaghetti noodles
10 oz. Rotel (I use mild.)
10 1/2 oz GF cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 c. celery, diced
4 oz. black olives, drained and sliced (optiona
4 oz. mushrooms, drained and sliced or fresh sliced (optional)
1/2 red or green bell pepper, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic

Other optional ingredients: My chicken spaghetti recipe is never the same. I always add extra vegetables.
broccoli florets
green beans
fresh spinach

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Cook spaghetti according to package, minus a minute or two if you like your pasta firmer.
3. Drain pasta, rinse with cold water, and let it sit.
4. Melt butter in a large non-stick pan on medium heat. Saute onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. 
5. Add cooked chicken, mushrooms, soup, rotel, and cheese to the pan. Stir until all the cheese is melted. (Add optional ingredients here as well.)
6. Add spaghetti to pan and mix it well. (If it seems thick, you can always add milk to thin it down a bit.)
7. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. 
8. Enjoy!

Serves: 6-8

Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c. GF Pancake mix

1/4 c. coconut oil

2/3 c. milk 

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. (bananas, peaches, chocolate chips, blueberries, etc.)

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 350˚.

2.      Mix pancake mix, coconut oil, milk, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a bowl.

3.      Fold in the fruit or chocolate chips into the batter.

4.      Grease muffin pan using Pam or oil/butter.

5.      Put on center shelf of oven.

6.      Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean in the center of the largest muffin.

This is a super tasty recipe that both my family and I enjoyed! Let me know what you think. My little brother loves the chocolate chip version; however, the rest of us would rather have banana or blueberry version. 

xoxo,

Jade 

Be brave. Follow your heart.

As the New Year approached, I spent more and more time thinking about starting a blog. I love reading blogs and learning various things from the bloggers. I spoke with so many family members and friends about starting a blog and they all encouraged me to do it; however, I spent entirely too many hours pondering the idea of what I wanted my blog to encompass.

Do I want to write about living gluten free? What about college life, changing my major, and teaching? I love crafting, should I write about the various crafts and projects that I do? What if I make it about my health and how I have been able to overcome various health issues? 

I soon realized that there is just so much that I could talk about and if I kept spending all my time trying to decide what the best 'topic' is to encompass my blog, I knew I wouldn't ever get to start writing.... So I'm doing it. I want to have a blog that is about me and my life. I hope that it helps and guides all different people who are searching for various answers. I want a blog that does talk about my various struggles and living gluten free. I plan to share my recipes. I want my story out there for the world to see and learn from. I hope that people are able to understand that living gluten free isn't terrible; however, it is quite wonderful. I am so thankful that after having stomach problems for as long as I can remember, I am finally healthy and know what the culprit was to my problems.

I hope that you'll stick around and get to know me.

xoxo,
Jade