Gluten-Free Meatballs or Meatloaf...

Found here.
Of course, this is only a template for you to build your own meatballs. Make these once and experiment. Oh, and here’s a hint: This recipe also makes a mighty meatloaf. I altered it from the original resipe
( I tripple and freeze in Gallon baggies)

Ingredients:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
2 large eggs
1/2 cup gluten-free finely ground breadcrumbs ( I  used Glutino Crackers smashed well)
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 teaspoons fine-chopped fresh Italian seasonings
1/2 teaspoon fine-chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 large lemon
1 teaspoon each kosher salt and cracked black pepper
Directions:
Preparing to cook. Bring the pork, beef, eggs, and mustard to room temperature.
Mixing the meatballs. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl. Mix them together with your hands. Be careful to not overmix — this is not like creaming butter and sugar together. Instead, fold the ingredients over each other, gently, until they are just combined.
Making the taster. Set a large cast-iron skillet (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Form a small patty with the meat. Add it to the hot oil. Cook until the patty is firm and browned on both sides, about 2 minutes. Let it rest out of the pan for a moment to cool. Taste. Adjust the seasonings if necessary.
Forming the meatballs. Gently, roll the meat into 2-ounce balls. (These make large meatballs. If you want smaller ones, try 1-ounce meatballs.)
Flash Freeze: On cookie sheet lined with wax paper...for 2 hours, bag in Gallon Baggies (I like 25-30 meatballs per bag)

Crock pot: Spay Crock-pot or rub down with Olive oil, set on low, add meatballs, and your favorite sauce (marinara, Sweet and Sour)...cook on low for 4 hours, serve over Rice, or Noodles. :0)

Fluffly Coconut Flour Pancakes

I found this recipe here.

Fluffly Coconut Flour Pancakes

Recipe Notes: Both cow and coconut milk work well in this recipe. You can also add cinnamon or fruit as desired. Just keep the pancakes small and watch them so they don’t burn.
Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk (raw cow’s or coconut both work)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• coconut oil or butter for frying

Directions

1. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Mix in milk, vanilla, and honey or stevia.
2. In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated.
3. Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Serve hot with butter, coconut oil, honey, syrup, or fruit.

Gift Giving Idea's for Food Storage Giving

Soooo......Family gifts this time of year become the bane of my existence....
                                    
A.What the CRAP do you give people that won't end up being re-gifted (I so know you all do it)...

 B. You only can buy so many Board Games and large cans of Gourmet Popcorn.
C. In this economy you really want to give a gift that will be used....

Soooo I decided to give Food Storage Meals....

Here is the Menu and links to the recipe's (simply print them out on index cards and attach to grouped ingredients):

Corn Chowder
Corn Bread
Pumpkin Cookies

 What you will need to buy:
2 cans Cream of Potato Soup
1 can Clam Chowder
1 can Whole Corn (or give your own frozen sweet corn)
1 small bad of Spice cake mix
1small bag of chocolate chips
1 small can of Libby's Pumpkin
Corn Meal
Sugar
Bisquick
Baking Powder

Jar or Gallon Baggie for Corn Bread Mix.


I did this for 3 family gifts. Along with a homemade Snow globe of their family....
Total cost about $15.00

Merry Christmas ya'll.

California Cornbread Mix in a Jar recipe

I found this recipe here.

This is a sweet, cake-like corn bread that is delicious with honey butter.

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, stir all the ingredients together. Store in an airtight container/jar.

Attach to jar if giving as a gift:

California Corn Bread

Serves 4 to 6

1 jar California Corn Bread Mix
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cornbread mix in a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, milk and butter. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Poor into a greased 8-inch square baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Managing the Insanity of Sack Lunches (Two minute sack Lunches and pre-planned Breakfasts)

Da-dum, Da-Dum, da-da-da-da-daum…(it sounds like the jaws soundtrack)… but really it’s just school creeping up on us again.  Truth be told, I have home schooled for so many years, I don’t have the whole “yay they are outta here” mentality that a lot of Mama’s anxious for schedule have, but I would be lying  that the thought of less time refereeing fights and finding creative things to do,  sounds a little like “break time” to this Mama of nine. This is how we do it: We have a Calendar that looks like this on our fridge: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Breakfast Cereal &  Fresh Berries Breakfast Burritos Pancakes toasted w/ Nutela & Bananas Oatmeal or Granola w/ Almonds and Cranberries Eggs on 7 grain Toast, Smoothie Pancakes w/ Fruit & Turkey Bacon Hootenannies or Muffins & Smoothies Lunch Bagel & Cream Cheese *Cukes*,  PB Rice Crispy Treat PB& J Circles *Apple* Choc-Zucchini Muffin Pepperoni Rolls, Broccoli & Ranch dip, Pumpkin Cookie Greek Wrap, Baby Carrots, Oatmeal Cookie Hot Pocket, mini Orange, Lemon-Zucchini Muffin Pita’s w/ Egg Salad or Grape Apple Salad Mac & Cheese w/ Veggie Tray These meals are fast, easy, pre-made and frozen…or easily put together in a matter  of minutes…eleven people out the door by 7:45…this is how we have to roll…. ALL of my week day lunches are pre-made, pre bagged, pre-frozen and organized in my deep freezer. My kiddo’s literally look at the calendar on my fridge and know what to throw in  their lunch bags. Main courses like the Bagels, PB& J Circles, Pepperoni Rolls, Greek Wraps & Hot Pockets are pre-made and frozen in individual baggies all nestled in my deep freeze ,as are the “treats”. The fruits are grab-able and pre washed and ready on the counter tops, the veggies  and dips pre bagged on Sunday, waiting in the crisper  for easy access. (the pre-bagging  is a GREAT job for eager little hands to help ..and supes up math skills ( get 20 baggies  and put four baby carrots in each). This also helps with having a diabetic son, both he  and I never have to recalculate what the carbs are in each meal he eats during the school  week…we know like clockwork how much insulin he will need for each meal. We don’t do fancy juices, we do aluminum water bottles also filled and stuck in the freezer at night. Breakfasts are simple and healthy, Cereal is generally Whole Grain Cheerios,  Breakfast Burritos are Pre-made & frozen, we simply wrap them in paper towels and microwave them for 1 min 30 secs, Wednesday Pancakes are the frozen leftovers from Saturday, I quadruple the recipe and freeze in Gallon Baggies, then we toast em on up. Thursdays we do Homemade Granola on warm days and  Oatmeal on cooler days, if I have leftover oatmeal, this is what I do with it. Fridays,  we Toast hearty bread, I make a huge pan of scrambled eggs and serve the eggs  on top of the toast. Smoothies are usually green , with 2 cups carrot juice, 1 cup  frozen mango, 1 cup Frozen peaches, ½ cup Strawberries, 2 Cups Spinach. links  to breakfast recipe's can be found above on the menu graph. Lunches: The bagels I either make, or buy on sale and pre-bag with those  awesome mini strawberry Cream Cheeses. PB& J Circles…seriously…buy Rolls on sale, Freeze (they are easier to work with cutting and spreading wise)…Completely cover the one half with Peanut butter…clump Jelly in a round (not to the edges) and smoosh together. The PB traps  in the Jelly and keeps the Sandwich from getting mushy, pre-bag and wahla… You can read about the Pepperoni rolls here: I generally pre-bag two in each bag. The Greek wraps (pretty simple stuff) small whole grain Tortilla ( I like the Mission Brand Carb Balance 8 gms dietary fiber people, About ¼ cup humus spread, feta sprinkled, roll it on up, bag it and freeze….super DUPER Healthy. Once folded up I like to place them edges down on a pan and flash freeze them and  then pre-bag them. Hot Pockets you can find here. All snacks , just click on them and they will link to recipe’s. The Rice Crispy Recipe  is basic, with ½ cup of Peanut Butter added in…. To keep things smooth sailing, every Sunday, I have a main course item and a treat  that I remake and re stock up on…then I am never doing the massive bake-a-thon  that I have been up to my eyeballs in August. With the Zucchini Muffins, I make those until my plants stop growing squash…so those can be frozen beautifully and last a  whole year…trust me, we just finished up some chocolate ones from last summer, last week! Any questions? …and no I am not OCD…just out crazing the crazy! :0D Linds

Coming to a Blog near you....(As soon as I get my new lap top and can stop posting via my cell phone)

* A post on how we do Sack Lunches that take less than 2 minutes to pack

  NEW RECIPES

* Frozen PB & J Rounds
* Cold Raw Veggie Pizza
* Thai  Stir-fry Wraps with Romain and Peanut Sauce
* Lemon Glazed Zucchini Muffins

Pork and Black Bean Chalupas in the Crock-Pot

My friend JoEtte made these for us about 4 years ago had us over for Dinner...and I LOVED the flavor of these YUMMY Chalupa's! They are simmering in my crock-pot..and my mouth is watering just smelling all of those flavors combining.
I used two 3 pound pork roasts...but I like left overs and have a crew to feed.

This is a great Toss in and walk away dinner...as well as a GREAT way to use up those dry beans!

Ingredients:
3 lb Pork Roast
1 lb Dry Black Beans
1 small can diced Green Chili's
1 1/2 TBSP Garlic Salt
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 TBSP Chili Powder
1 TBSP Cumin
1 chopped onion or 1 TBSP Dehydrated Onion
1 tsp Oregano
1 TBSP Fajita seasoning
Water to cover

Place Roast in Deep Pot on Stove, Or Crock-Pot. Add Beans, seasonings and Chili's and Onion. Cover Roast with water, add water as needed.
Cover and Cook 8 hours, Shred Pork to Serve. Serve with Tortillas or warm Flat Bread, over chips for Nacho's, Garnish with lettuce, salsa, tomatoes , green onions , avocado...The Lime Cilantro Dip is FABULOUS with these~!

*Cilanto-Lime Dressing
2/3 cup Mayo
2/3 cup Sour Cream
3-4 Tables spoon Lime Juice
Handful of chopped Cilantro
*whisk together