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Dessert Gluten Free Mealtime Monday Recipes

Chocolate Chick Cookies

Meal Time Monday [Autosaved]

Chocolate Chip (shhh Chickpea) Cookies

(This was adapted from Texanerin Baking) Although I am one smart cookie (ba duh dump) 😉 I would have never thought of this myself, BUT I just changed a few things, and I totally fooled the Lil Divas. I haven’t baked for awhile it’s been hot, busy with school, kids, and life and ever since my Plant Based Reboot, I haven’t had a sweet tooth. That is saying something because I had a serious sweet tooth before we needed to have a sweet, indulgent dessert every night but ever since my “cleanse” which I hate even to call it that I have been pretty good on the cravings. So, when I pulled out these delicious cookies the “oo’s” and “ah’s” from the oil divas!! They smell delicious, they look delicious but do they taste delicious?

Yes! I made two batches! Peanut Butter because I love peanut butter and plain because my girls hate peanut butter. Both were a hit! Now the only thing I would say if you’re a crunchy cookie kind of person like I am the texture may be a little off but other than that I think these would do well. They’re even baked sale worthy. It’s been a journey the last two years clean eating, eliminating everything that we knew to be “real food” and replacing it with “better food” but it has been so worth it.

Our health, energy, skin, weight, mental ability has all improved dramatically. People ask me how did you switch your family to clean eating. Slowly but surely, the process of elimination; introduction to new things; trial and error. Here we are two years later, and I have not gone to the grocery store in over a month. We have gotten all of our food from a farm so far this summer. I still buy bulk whole grains like oatmeal, rice, and quinoa but for the most part, my shopping is done on the peripheral or the grocery store or the local farm, and it feels so good. We can still indulge on cookies, treats and all the things that they thought they would miss and we are living a healthier lifestyle!

ChocolateChickCookieDough

 

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:31]

 

 

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Dinner Mealtime Monday Recipes

Yum, PattyPan

Meal Time Monday [Autosaved]

PattyPan

 

Have your seen a Patty Pan before?

Have you ever tried Pattypan? It was completely foreign to me until a week ago; I received PattyPan in my Produce Co-Op, and it’s vibrant colors and cute bell-shaped immediately appealed to me. I did my usual Pinterest Research and found some recipes, but when it came down to it, I ended up mixing some things in the kitchen and coming up with a yummy dinner option. Pattypan has a lot of aliases: known as the flying saucer, cymling, scalloped, custard, or sunburst squash. It comes in a variety of colors too such as white, green and yellow. It size ranges in diameter but it typically about the size of your palm. The smaller Pattypans are more tender than, the larger, and its flavor is described as butter or olive oil like flavor. It is a distinct flavor compared to its cousin’s zucchini and yellow squash.

So many ways to cook a PattyPan

When preparing it does not need to be peeled. There are some ways you can make it: you can slice it, cube it, shred it and cook it. It can also be served raw like you would serve any other summer squash, it’s so cute though it’s good to accentuate its true form when cooking it there is no wrong way to prepare it. It can be braised, steamed, roasted, or grilled whole. Hollow it out like I did for this recipe and stuff it with anything your heart desires. You can even use it for soup bowls if you like, slice it horizontally and make pizza. There are so many options for PattyPan, and it goes great with any flavor combination because of it’s flavor.

PattyPan.

Getting the Girls on board

My girls love taco’s so I figured to get the to try something new it need two things taco meat and cheese.  I always add lots of vegetable for fillers in my taco meat: carrots, onion, garlic, peppers, black beans and this time I scooped out the Patty Pan chopped it up and added it to the mix.  It was very easy to make and came out with lots of flavors.  The only problem I have now is finding more Pattypan.  My family loved it; it had a distinct flavor which I don’t find with summer squashes. Winter squashes tend to have unique characters. Summer squash usually takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with, for example, garlic or onion, etc.  It also seemed more dense than your typical yellow squash or zucchini. Do you have a favorite summer squash recipe?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:30]

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Gluten Free Recipes

Black Bean Brownies (Kid and Husband Approved)

Meal Time Monday [Autosaved]

BlackBeanBrownies

Trying something new!

YES! They are gluten-free YES! They are moist and YES! They are yummy, kid tested and approved. Have you ever wanted to try something different just to see what the hype is all about? Not all the time but sometimes I just want to see what all the fuss is about.  That’s what happened with these brownies I made them to see, “Can Black Beans really turn into brownies?” Not only can they but they really do taste very good.  Of course like most things I had to put my own spin on the ingredients and how to make them but they wouldn’t be my recipe if I didn’t.

blackbeanbrownies.

Kid and Hubby Approved

The girls were very skeptical we usually eat our beans on tacos and in salads not for a sweet treat.  I even have them convinced so then it was time to try the ultimate picky eater in my house and most skeptical because let’s face it my family has been guinea pigs to good and bad recipes.  I have to be honest I wasn’t exactly forthright with these brownies.  I passed them off as regular brownies for dessert and I passed.  He didn’t know the difference until I told him.  He did say the texture was a little different than my usual brownies but he did say, “They’re actually pretty good,” which is a thumbs up and a high five for him.  These brownies are great for fiber, gluten free and yummy.  Give them a try!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:27]

 

 

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
  Calories 197.4
  Total Fat 3.0 g
  Saturated Fat 0.8 g
  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
  Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g
  Cholesterol 59.3 mg
  Sodium 32.0 mg
  Potassium 190.1 mg
  Total Carbohydrate 30.6 g
  Dietary Fiber 1.8 g
  Sugars 2.3 g
  Protein 3.4 g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

 

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Dessert Gluten Free Recipes

No Carb Cheesecake

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No Carb Cheesecake

I have been carb cycling for 3 weeks this month and if you have been following have found some yummy recipes. I am actually in love with this type of meal plan now. I have found that it has given me amazing results, physically and internally. The first week I had to tweak my macros, meaning the amount of protein, fats and vegetables/fruits that I consumed and types.  Once I figured it out not only have I felt better than ever, I find myself eating more than ever. Yet, I am eating less calories and low carbs.  I have played with my meal plan schedule varying week to week.

For example, my first week I ate:

Low Carb, Low Carb, No Carb, Low Carb, No Carb, Low Carb, High Carb. I did this to ease me into this new lifestyle change.

The Second week, I started off with:

No Carb, No Carb, Low Carb, Low Carb, No Carb, No Carb, High Carb.

The third week of the month I ate how I wanted but still tend to eat lower carbs out of want but I didn’t plan my meals based on carbs.

Now I am here in my last week and my schedule is:

No Carb, No Carb, Low Carb, No Carb, No Carb, Low Carb. The No Carb days were intentionally scheduled on heaving lifting days.

I will do another post on my results but they are absolutely amazing and the week that I was off of Carb Cycling I only gained 1 pound, while on vacation at Disney. Seriously? Yes, Seriously!

I have been doing so well, haven’t been hungry, none of the side effects from lack of carbs. Last night was different. I wanted something sweet so I did a Google/Pinterest search and most of the results came up No Carb Cheesecake. I love cheesecake but don’t eat it very often. I had to give it a try. So, I wrote down the easy recipe and got one ingredient that was missing and then started working on the recipe. Instantly, I knew something was wrong. I was a little apprehensive because of the ingredients.  As I started to mix the ingredients together it became a big gooey ball of something that did not look anything like cheesecakes.  So, I added some Almond Milk which made it even worse then I added some Greek yogurt it started to workout then I added another 8 ounces of Neufetchel cheese.  I placed it in the greased pan and Ta-da bogus recipe was improved and created a yummy dessert.  You can serve it with Walden Farm Syrup or Fruit Spread and have Strawberry, Caramel, Chocolate or Blueberry No Carb Cheesecake. I enjoyed every bite without guilt and yumminess!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:18]

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Recipes

Crab Salad in Avocado

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crab salad

What is this Carb Cycling thing I have heard about?

Have you ever heard of Carb Cycling? Carb cycling is basically intermittently switching from hi,low, no carbs (and I mean good carbs not pasta, bread etc. more like carrots, brown rice and sweet potatoes). By eating this way it allows your body to burn fat while conserving muscle. All this hard work I can’t afford to lose any muscle. So, say in a week Monday is low carb, Tuesday and Wednesday is No Carb, Thursday is Low Carbs and Friday is High Carbs and again it’s (Carrot, peas, brown rice and sweet potatoes) not a pizza, french fry and burger buffet.  You still have to stay within a certain caloric intake but it’s just the type of calories you are consuming. I am not a fan of diets. I am all about lifestyle changes and this sounds complicated, I know and that is why I have avoided it for so long. After lots of research I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try and see the results are.

If it’s ain’t broke don’t fix it

Until now, I have been doing a heavy weight training routine and lots of HIIT a few girls in my accountability group are doing Carb Cycling and I have seen great results so I figured I would give it a try. I am in the second half of my weight loss journey. I can see the goal but still have a ways to get there.  I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to try a new diet. So, like most things I jumped in and started researching and it became very intimidating. There are so many view points on it and I like my food to be simple. Anything complex and I just give up and reach for the yummiest thing I can find. Notice I didn’t say healthiest. I have come so far so why try something if  it’s not broken. So, Carb Cycling eve came and I was on the verge of bailing. With a pep talk from my husband I created a week meal plan. I figured I won’t die in a week and trying something new never hurt. I never thought I could workout with 20 lbs weights or do push-ups or burpees and now those are a part of my routine.

Where do I begin?

So, I did it like all my other meal plans. I flipped to my Meal Plan page (You can download my meal planner here) in my Planner and started planning like I always do but a little bit differently. I usually eat mostly Produce and Protein and Complex Carbs after workouts and before noon.  So, I excluded that. So, my meal plan looked like this for a Carb Cycle week:

CarbCycle Meal Plan

So not only did I try a new meal plan but I added a new meal to the menu. I didn’t want to go into total change meltdown but while scrolling on Pinterest I found this yummy recipe and it inspired my own.  I basically took the idea and created my own ingredients and it turned out delicious and will be a regular on the meal plan. Have you heard of carb cycling before? What do you think? Could you do it?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:16]

 

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