Enjoy Life Brownie Mix- A review

Hello, everyone! I am going to be doing my very first product review! I am super excited to be doing it; this was of my own accord, and I am not being paid to say anything good or bad about this company. I just feel like this is something that will help the allergic community that I am reaching out to. So, Friday was my birthday (YAY!), and I asked my mom for the Enjoy Life Brownie Mix in place of a gluten free cake mix. Now, I have had this mix before and I just love it. It is by far the best gluten free baking mix that I have used (and I have used quite a few) ever since I began this allergic journey. One of the best parts about it is that the mix is free of the top eight allergens, which is a bonus for those of us who have to be extra careful with what we eat.  Are you ready? Here we go!

1. NO egg is required!
This is nice, because most of the baking mixes that I have used in the past require egg or egg replacer. Not this baking mix. All you need is 2tbs of oil with 3/4 cup of water and you're good to go.

2. NO flat brownies!
I have baked gluten free brownies before, and they always came out of the oven in sad shape; really no shape at all. They were flat. And (unpleasantly) chewy and grainy, which leads me to my next point...

3. GREAT texture, and tender crumb
This mix will not disappoint. This is the fourth time I have used it, and I have pretty much made up my mind that there is no other brownie mix that can compare with this one. There are even chocolate chip pieces in the mix, so all of you chocolate lovers in the world, this is for you. The texture of this brownie is somewhat cake-y (is that a word? I think you know what I'm talking about though...).

Please, you guys, this is a winner in my book, and I hope that you all will give it a try. It is dreamy when eaten warm with a scoop of mint chip ice cream (and I have a terrific one in mind, I need to do a review on that one). I hope you guys like this post, if you want to see more like this, please let me know!

Facebook!!

Alright, I never thought that I would do it, but I have. I am working on adding a facebook page to my blog. It is not done yet, so  please be patient. Thank you guys for all of your love and support!

Cheaters meatballs

OK, I missed the one year anniversary of my blog. I feel bad about it, but not too bad, I just hope this (missing anniversaries) will not transfer over to my married life. I have some time before that, though, marriage is not in my present, thank God. So in an effort to somewhat save myself, I am posting a recipe on the fly! I am so talented! Right. On to the recipe!

What you need:

Uncooked Italian sausages (in their casings)

A splash of water

And 2 tbs of oil

What you do is, using a pair of kitchen shears cut the sausages into medium sized pieces

Place them in the pan with the water and oil

Let it simmer away!

The trick here is that the sausages will steam and form "meatballs" as they cook (that's what the water is for).

All you need to do from here is let them get as brown as you like them, and serve! These work great for spaghetti and meatballs, Swedish meatballs or anywhere a recipe calls for meatballs! Enjoy!

Potatoes (My Favorite Way)

Have you missed me? I have been away for a while since March, just in case you haven't noticed... What's that? you want to know what has been keeping me away? Okay, let me give you the load down:
I have been working.

No, really! that's it! I started a job this summer after I finished with school, plus I need to learn how to blog with an iPad.

Anyway, here I am, and I have a recipe for you! Can you guess what it is? Of course, you can! you read the title...
This is my very favorite way to prepare potatoes, once you try it you will see why. The preparation is very simple, there are only two ingredients, and it tastes GREAT! So what are you waiting for? here we go with the recipe:

What you need:

1/2 can of coconut milk

2 potatoes skinned and cubed

salt and pepper to taste

Start with two potatoes...

Peel them...

 And cube them...

Fry to desired crispness. I think that this is an important step, but you don't have to make them crispy. I do it because is just adds another dimension of yumminess to the dish. Do whatever suits your fancy!

Now is the time to open up the can of coconut milk. I haven't tried this with lite coconut milk since I don't imagine that it would cook up the same way...

Pour in the milk

 Look at that! I loove to watch coconut milk as it thickens a dish

you can stir it if you want to...

Once the potatoes have reached the thickness that you like, you can serve it up and enjoy! I know I sure did :) #allergyeats

Potato Candy! Bonbon's

Hey guys, here is a post that I meant to do a lot sooner but I got wrapped up in schoolwork...I must apologize beforehand though, I have lost all but one of the pictures documenting how I made them, but don't worry! The process is so simple, I was able to make them :)
I have been wanting to make candy for a while, and found this one rather appealing because of its simplicity; it only requires a potato and a bag of powdered sugar. Super simple and easy, are you ready to make potato candy? Let's go!

What you need:

1 small potato  (yes, small, this makes a lot of candy!) russet is best for this

2 lbs powdered sugar (you will need most if not all of this) + more for dusting

1 package of enjoy life chocolate chips

What you want to do first is peel and boil your 

potato, let it cool completely, after all, you will be kneading this...

Once the potato has cooled, go ahead and mash it like you would mashed potatoes,

accept, without salt, butter and milk; just mash 'em  dry!

After you have a nice consistency (think fluffy without any chunks of potato), dump in a cup of powdered sugar, and mix thoroughly. At first, your potato candy is going to look more like a milk and powdered sugar glaze, but don't give up! keep adding sugar until your mixture develops into a somewhat firm ball. When you get to this stage, you are going to want to knead your potato ball for a minute or so, until it is smooth. 

Now, divide your potato ball into four sections (I kept the balls that were not in use under an overturned bowl so it would stay moist). 

You can make your bonbon's as big or as small as you like, what I did was divide the 

quarter section again into fourths, and made "snakes" if you cut the snake up into even pieces you will be able to easily roll out your bonbon balls!

While you are rolling your balls, start melting the chocolate (note: you will want to dip the bonbon's quickly so that they won't dissolve into your chocolate!) 

Dip each ball into the melted chocolate, and roll it around quickly to coat.

Set onto a piece of parchment or wax paper. 

I put mine into the refrigerator, but the chocolate 

will harden as it cools so long as it is not terribly hot in your kitchen :)

 I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, I will e making it again, and I will post a detailed step-by-step

 Enjoy!

Chicken soup for a Crowd

Hey everyone! It has been a while since I have posted; things have been rather busy around here. I have started classes (yes, again) at a new school, and let me tell ya, online and in class are two different dynamics; I can't say that one is easier than the other they both will take some getting used to. I say that after having been an online student for years. But you guys did not stop by just to read about my educational journey, you want to make soup for a crowd. Let's get started!

What you need:

10 pounds chicken (I use all natural chicken without hormones or antibiotics)

8-9 cloves of garlic

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thinly

4 carrots peeled and shredded

32 oz Chicken stock

1 cup rice (optional)

3 medium sized onions cut into quarters

Peel and quarter your onions

you will need a large casserole dish to cook all of the chicken at once. I do not have a pot that will cook 10 pounds of chicken, so I used my Mom's rectangular casserole dish, and just dumped them right in. 

Next you will want to add enough water to come half way up the dish, throw on the onions, and some salt and pepper, cover with foil and toss it into your preheated oven at 375 for about 45 minutes, then turn it down to 300 for 3-4 hours.  

When the chicken is ready, pull it out of the oven, and do two things: set aside the chicken to cool so that you can seperate the skin and bones from the meat without burning your fingers, and strain out the onion (now you don't have to do this step, but nobody but me likes to eat stewed onion). See how nice and golden the broth is?

Now, you are going to want to thinly slice 1/2 a head of cabbage, shred 4 peeled carrots, and slice up eight (yes, 8) cloves of garlic. Now the key here, is to allow the garlic to sit for ten minutes; the reasoning behind this is so that the health benifits of the garlic will not cook out. While you are waiting for the garlic, you can seperate the chicken meat from the bones and skin.

After deboning and skinning the chicken, chop it, or you can shred it with a fork, but you need to make the pieces of meat of an easily digestible size.

Since we have all of our ingredients ready, we can start puting together the soup. First, sauté the cabbage, carrots, and garlic until soft. [Now, this is when I added the cup of uncooked rice (which was parboiled), and 2 cups of water I covered the pot and let the rice cook for about 5 minutes, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, or you can add potatoes to make it a more hearty meal]

when the vegetables are soft, add in the remaining ingredients: chicken meat, stock, and the cooking liquid from the meat. Add seasoning to taste, and serve it up!

This will serve a family of 11 easily (with plenty left over for second servings!) My family loved it, and I hope that you will too. Enjoy!

Stir-fry (soy-free)

Hello guys! I have been eating chicken for over a month now, with only a momentary break for a bit of ground turkey, and I have another chicken dish for ya! This dish came from watching my sister make fried rice Tuesday night. Gosh, it looked good, but 1.) I am allergic to eggs, and 2.) I don't like eggs, so I decided to make my own little rice-based dish loaded with things that I can both have and love: ginger, onions, and garlic. By the way, this is a great way to use up any kind of leftover meat. Ready? Let's begin!

What you need:

1 cup Shredded leftover chicken (you can use white or dark meat)

1/2 red onion sliced

1/2 large white onion

1/2 bell pepper cubed

6 large broccoli florets (broken up)

6 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced

1 carrot shredded

1 Tbsp Ground Ginger (you can use less, I like ginger)

1/8 cup water

First, you need to prep your vegetables (sorry guys, I did the pepper after I took the picture)

Then (of course) you need to saute your vegetables until they are soft, and a bit caramelized. Don't add the garlic yet or it will burn.

This is what you are looking for.

Add the chicken and the garlic, and saute for a few seconds (yes, I mean seconds). Add the water, this will help to soften the garlic. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice, and enjoy! This will serve 3-4 people (or one person 3-4 times).