Mexican Baked Peppers

This one's just made up with various on-hand ingredients. 

1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground beef

1Tbsp taco seasoning
3/4 cup corn (I used frozen)
3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 red peppers
Cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Fry the onion until it starts to soften; add the beef. Fry until beef is browned. Add taco seasoning. Mix in corn and garlic. Fry until it's all cooked and hot!

Cut red peppers into thirds, vertically. They'll look like long, thick slices of pepper. Top with beef mixture, top with shredded cheese.

I baked these for about 15 minutes. The peppers were still a little crunchy, which I love! I added sour cream to mine, and you could add any variety of things: tomatoes, salsa, green onions, crushed Doritos, etc. I served these with plain brown rice on the side.

Asian noodle crunch salad

I have the privilege of choosing anything I wanted for supper tonight and this is what I decided I wanted. I found this at http://www.food.com/recipe/crunchy-noodle-salad-award-winning-136834

And of course I made a few changes. I'll post the list of ingredients as found in the original recipe.

1 x 12 oz bag of coleslaw mix

2×3 oz Oriental-flavour instant Ramen noodles

1 bunch green onion, chopped

4 oz sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

4 oz slivered almonds, toasted

1/2 cup vegetable or sesame oil

1/3 cup white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

Here's how we made it:

1 tablespoon onion finely chopped

Mix oil and vinegar, I forgot to add the sugar

Add flavour package from Roman noodles

We used sunflower seeds instead of almonds. Heat 1/2 cup sunflower seeds with 3 tablespoons white sugar over medium heat, until sunflower seeds are toasted and caramelized. Spread on a  glass plate to cool.

Add dressing to coleslaw, let sit for flavors to blend. In the meantime, fry up some chicken, or meat of your choice.

Right before serving the salad crush up the Ramen noodles and sprinkle over the salad. If you haven't already eaten all of the candied sunflower seeds, now would be the time to add them. 

I didn't need sugar because of the candied sunflower seeds. I used yellow onion instead of green onion. And we did sunflower seeds of the almonds.

I wonder if I could maybe have done a little less oil in the oil and vinegar ratio.

Peanut Butter Cookie Balls

This is from www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/. I've made it once and the girls and I loved them!

Ingredients

1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1 Tbsp. chia seeds (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Method

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1" in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 balls.

Notes: (taken from original post)
Ali’s Tip:

Substitution ideas can abound for just about any of these ingredients! Feel free to substitute in your favorite nut butter (almond butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.) for the peanut butter. And you could also add in some wheat germ in place of some or all of the flaxseed. I would caution, though, against substituting agave nectar for the honey, as the honey’s thickness helps hold things together.

Some other fun substitutions for the chocolate chips (or an addition to them) could include:

chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins, etc.)
dried berries (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts, or sunflower seeds
other chips (butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, M&Ms, etc.)
other grains (different kinds of oatmeal, rice cereal, etc.)

Update: Many of you have asked about substitutions for other ingredients. The joy of these bites being “no bakes” is that this recipe is super flexible. If you end up needing to omit one of the dry ingredients (such as coconut or flax), just add in some extra of whatever other dry ingredient is remaining (for example, the oats). If you feel like your energy bites are too dry, add in extra honey or peanut butter. It’s also not required that you refrigerate these, but I find it helps them stick together much better. And for some reason, I love things like this a little bit chilled. Enjoy!!

Leanne's note:

My friend Nikki suggested this! Sandwich the peanut butter ball between slices of banana! Very delicious!

Gluten-free

I want to be very clear that when I'm talking about gluten-free, I am NOT the 100% GF that is required for those that are on a Celiac diet. If you want info on that, and for a huge variety of GF recipes, you'll want to look at:

www.thebakingbeauties.com

www.mennonitegirlscancook.com

(Jeanine at The Baking Beauties is actually Mennonite too, so Mennonite Girls really CAN Cook! LOL! And she's originally from Altona, too.)

Back in December, we started to go gluten-free as a family. I've been hearing for years that GF is potentially very helpful for people on the autism spectrum and for people with ADHD. One day, after Ella was running laps in the living room and bounced from sofa to sofa, I thought it would be worth a try to see if she would slow down a little. 

And, to make things even more fun, we also went dye-free :) People very commonly have a reaction to artificial dyes and in kids it can potentially lead to hyperactivity.

Even with Christmas, all of the candies and treats and baked yummies, I still believe she's been more calm since making these changes. Time will tell how much of an impact this can have. Keeping in mind, I believe that some people, like Ella, were never meant to live life with two feet firmly planted on the floor :) 

Crustless Quiche

I haven't made this one in ages, but it is gluten-free. I used to make it all the time. It's originally from a book called The Schwarzbein Principle (a guide to low-carb eating).

4 eggs
1 cup all-dairy heavy cream
1/2 cup water
dash cayenne pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack cheese 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" or 10" pie pan. In a medium bowl, using fork, whisk eggs, cream, water, black pepper, and cayenne pepper until well blended. Add grated cheese. Mix well. Pour in the egg and cheese mixture. Place pie pan on a baking sheet and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Variations: (These may not be GF)
Bacon & Ham: Crumble 1 cup bacon or diced ham into the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above.

Spinach & Herbs: Combine 1 cup cooked, drained, and chopped spinach and 2 teaspoons dried basil and spread on the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above.

Mushroom & Herbs: Combine 2 cups sauteed mixed mushrooms (shitake, oyster, brown crimini) and 1 tsp dried thyme and spread on the bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese.

Crabmeat & Onions: Combine 6 oz canned crabmeat (drained and picked over) and 1/4 cup minced scallions and spread on bottom of a buttered pie pan. Cover with egg and cheese mixture and bake as above. Sprinkle chopped parsley over top before serving.

Oatmeal Cookies

My first attempt at a gluten-free adaptation of a recipe and it worked! Again, this is from the white recipe book, and it's a very nice, basic cookie. Oatmeal is always comforting and perfect for coffee or tea. I like to make these cookies little.

Sift together:

1 cup flour (to make it GF, I dumped 1 cup of oats in the blender until they were powder)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Add and beat until smooth:

1/2 cup brown sugar (I didn't add this amount)

1/2 cup soft shortening

1 egg, well beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp water (yes, that's correct)

Stir in:

1 cup oatmeal

Shape into balls and flatten on baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes:

One of the times I made these cookies, I used 1/2 cup of applesauce to replace the shortening. I found it was too sweet (sweetened applesauce) and the texture was too tough. I wouldn't replace more than half of the shortening with applesauce.

Added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Baked Oatmeal

I made this for breakfast today. Delicious. It was submitted to the white recipe book by Daphne Thiessen, who added these comments:

This is a favourite Saturday morning breakfast at our home. This recipe can easily be halved and baked in a 9 x 9 pan.

3/4 cup oil
1 2/3 cups sugar (white or brown)
3 eggs, beaten
5 cups rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk

Combine oil, sugar, and eggs. Mix well.

Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set and golden. Serves 6 - 8.

Notes:
Daphne also suggested chopped apples and cinnamon are good additions in the recipe.

I like to make these as individual servings, so I make them in muffin tins. What I did today that worked well was to bake it, 20 minutes, in silicone pans and I allowed them to cool in the pans before removing them.

I also made apple, cinnamon syrup, which was delicious. Approximate: 2 cups water, 1/2 of an apple cut into small pieces, 1 cup brown sugar, heat on stove until apples are cooked and the syrup has been reduced by about half. Add 1/4 cup butter before serving. It was like having apple pie for breakfast.