Delicious grain free (and gluten free) nectarine-blueberry crumble

I had nectarines that were ripe and we couldn't eat them fast enough! I made this crumble - think crisp only better.

5 nectarines sliced
1 C. fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 C. sugar
2 C. almond meal/flour (I know this can be expensive. I buy it at Trader Joe's and it's pretty reasonable there)
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 C. melted butter

Put the fruit in an 8 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle with the 1/4 C. of sugar. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and crumble over the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered (I used aluminum foil). Then remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes until the topping is lightly browned.

The kids and I ate it last night warm and loved it! This morning everyone had another dish cold and I ate mine with plain yogurt on top. Yum!

Easy crock pot chicken dinner

I decided that menu planning needed to make a comeback in my life! this chicken dish was on this weeks menu. It makes it so much easier to know what's for dinner ahead of time and have all of the ingredients on hand. Another thing that makes dinner more simple for me is my crock pot! I made this really easy and delicious chicken dish for our dinner tonight. It was a hit with everyone!

It was kind of like a chicken stew. Here's the recipe:

4-5 large carrots sliced
2 large onions sliced
4-5 celery stalks sliced
4 chicken breast halves (bone in) with skin removed
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
2-3 T. organic soup base like Better than Bouillon (I used beef because I didn't have any chicken. Costco usually has these at a great price.)
2 C. of boiling water
3-4 T. of tapioca flour
1/4 C. cold water

Turn the crock pot on and start by slicing up the carrots, onions and celery into it. Place the chicken breast halves on top of the vegetables. Then mix boiling water with soup base and salt and pepper until the soup base dissolves. Feel free to add or adjust seasonings to taste. Pour liquid into crock pot. Cook on high for 6-7 hours or on high for 3-4 hours and then on low for another 4-6 hours until ready to serve. Mix tapioca flour with cold water until dissolved and stir it into the hot liquid in the crock pot. This will thicken the liquid. Shred the chicken with a fork and remove bones at the same time. Voila - dinner is served!

Blackberry-peach Crisp

My son and I went and picked blackberries along a walking/hiking trail near our house. We got quite a few berries. There were enough to fill a gallon size zip-lock bag and make two blackberry-peach crisps.

The crisp was delicious! Here is the recipe that I used:

3 large peaches sliced
2 cups of rinsed blackberries
1 T. tapioca flour
Juice from one lemon (approx. 2 T.)
1/3 C. sugar
2/3 C. GF flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 sugar
1/2 C. GF rolled oats
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
6 T. cold butter - cut into chunks
3/4 C. toasted pecans - coarsely chopped

In a large bowl toss the peaches and the blackberries gently with the cornstarch, the lemon juice, and the sugar until the mixture is combined well. In a small bowl stir together the flour, the sugar, the oats, the salt, the cinnamon, and the nutmeg. Add the butter, blend the mixture until it is crumbly and then stir in the pecans. Spread the peach mixture in a 13- by 9-inch baking dish, sprinkle the topping evenly over fruit and bake the crisp in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is golden.

We had ours with vanilla ice cream, but it would be great by itself or with whip cream!

Looking forward to another crisp, or maybe a blackberry pie later in the fall!

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Celiac Maniac Gluten Free Brownie Mix - my review

The Celiac Maniac sent me a package of their gluten free brownie mix to sample. It took me a while to get around to making them, I'm a busy mom after all!

There are two other types of gluten free brownie mix that we have used and were pretty happy with.
After trying the brownie mix from The Celiac Maniac, I am convinced that I will never go back to the other gluten free brownie mixes! These were so good! They were cake like, but they were also somewhat gooey and chewy. My favorite thing was that they were still good two days after I made them. I typically find with gluten free baked goods,  that they are only good the day you make them, and go downhill from there, unless they are frozen. These stayed in the pan at room temperature and were delicious!

They were a breeze to mix up. I just added 1/3 cup of softened butter and 1/3 cup olive oil (they called for canola, but they worked fine with olive) and a cup of warm water and stirred it all together and spread it in a greased 9x13 pan and baked them for 25 minutes and voila! They were done! Yum! I love the fact that the first ingredient in the GF flour blend that the brownies are made with is nutrient dense teff flour!




The only suggestions I would make would be:

1.) a non coated paper bag (since they are inside a plastic bag with a twist tie inside a paper bag), that way the bag could go into the paper recycling.

  2.) chocolate chips that didn't contain vanillin (I'm not big on artificial vanilla flavor)

Thank you so much to The Celiac Maniac for letting me try these! This will be our standard gluten free brownie mix from now on! So glad that my local gluten free store - Janelle's Gluten Free Market carries them!

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