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Chicken Salad with Eggs: You’ll Be Surprised How Much Flavor the Eggs Add!

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Chicken Salad with Boiled Egg Recipe (Gluten-Free)

Chicken Salad with Boiled Egg Recipe (Gluten-Free)

When I  had to start eating entirely gluten-free (health reasons), I realized how much I took sandwiches for granted – especially favorites like chicken salad, pimento cheese, and egg salad. Throw them on bread and BOOM, you’re done. When you have or choose to eat gluten-free or choose to eat keto, you have to get creative. Thankfully this is pretty darn easy and actually just as delicious, if not more so.

If you’ll be eating this chicken salad recipe on bread (regular or gluten-free), you’ll probably want to chop the veggies finely and chop the chicken and eggs as much as possible. If, like me, you’ll eat it on the plate with lettuce, tomato, and all the pickles in the house (What? Not everyone is a pickle hound like me??), leave the chicken, boiled eggs, and veggies chunky (as in the picture above)- you’ll be glad you did when stabbing them with a fork.

After you’ve combined the ingredients, taste and add any extra mayo or seasonings desired.

Either way, I think you’re going to love this chicken salad recipe.

If you want an easier way to make “boiled” eggs, please do yourself a HUGE favor and check out the Dash Egg Cooker. I’ve used mine (at least once a week) for over a year and think, “This is one of the best kitchen gadgets ever made..” each time I use it. The eggs turn out PERFECT each time and are gloriously easy to peel.

If you’re looking for a great egg salad recipe, here’s one I use every single time!

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oatmeal: Individual Servings are Delicious and Crazy Convenient

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Bob's Red Mill Individual Gluten-Free Oatmeal

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Individual Oatmeal

Have you seen the Individual Servings of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal? (Amazon link) I bought this one a few days ago in the store and am already planning to go back for more! I searched for them online and have found that (in spite of my store only having one variety), there are actually several different varieties.

The Blueberry and Hazelnut one is definitely one I’ll buy again (and again and again and again), but I’m also very anxious to try the classic, the Brown Sugar & Maple, and the Apple and Cinnamon.

I was really excited to try this gluten-free oatmeal when I saw it at the store because I buy SO many Bob’s Red Mill products that I’m more than aware of how excellent the brand is. Honestly, if I see a new product from them that’s gluten-free, I simply buy it without a second thought.

It doesn’t get any simpler or faster to enjoy a serving of gluten-free oatmeal than these individual serving containers – simply add hot water… right to the container, let sit for 3 minutes and enjoy.

Crazy convenient!

You can find Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal (Amazon link) on Amazon. This link leads you to the page for Brown Sugar & Maple but the other options are listed.

Easy Salisbury Steak with Ground Beef

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Salisbury Steaks with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Salisbury Steak with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

While the recipe, here, is gluten-free, making it traditionally (with all the gluten your heart desires!) is as simple as using regular bread crumbs gravy.

A few quick tips:

  • Salisbury Steak with Gravy should be illegal to make without mashed potatoes, so whatever you do, serve it with mashed potatoes. I personally also like green beans as a side.
  • See the delicious little (crispier on the bottom) bits around the edges in the photo above? Making your patties a little thin at the edges allows this yumminess to happen.
  • If you don’t have any Montreal Steak Seasoning (Amazon link) on hand… why would you NOT??!!…  simply use a combination of onion powder and garlic powder. I’ve done this before and it’s fantastic.

The BEST Gluten-Free Gravy Mixes

Pioneer Brand Gluten-Free Brown Gravy Mix is one of the things I NEVER allow myself to run out of. It is quick and easy to make and tastes fantastic. I also keep Pioneer Brand Country Gravy Mix on hand at all times. You wouldn’t believe how great it is on mashed potatoes, hashbrowns, or bread. Sometimes I add crumbled sausage and it’s the best sausage gravy imaginable. The two links go to Amazon where they’re available but they’re also pretty easy to find in stores. I’ve found them at Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Meijer.

Pioneer Brand also makes amazing… and I mean amazing… gravy mixes that aren’t gluten-free. They’re simply an extraordinary brand and you can’t go wrong ordering anything they have. Just be sure (if you have to eat gluten-free) to only buy their gluten-free products.

Salisbury Steaks with Gravy

Salisbury Steak with Gravy


Gluten-Free Taco Seasoning Mix (Homemade)

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Gluten-Free Tacos with Pico de Gallo

Homemade Taco Seasoning for Great Tacos in Dorito Shells

While there are taco seasoning mixes on the market that are both gluten-free and delicious, my favorite approach is to use a homemade spice mixture. It’s super easy to make up a batch and keep it on hand in the spice cabinet.

The Basics of Using a Homemade Taco Seasoning Mixture:

  1.  2 Tablespoons of the homemade mix is equivalent to one package of store-bought taco seasoning.
  2.  Adjust to meet your own personal tastes. Like more salt? Add more. If you like less salt, use less.
  3. The dried onion is a matter of personal taste. I prefer more texture in my taco seasoning, so I add a little minced dry onion along with the full 2 tablespoons of the onion powder. If you prefer, you can add the minced dry onion and use half the onion powder called for. Your call.
  4. Dried red pepper is optional. If you like a little heat, go for it. If you don’t like any heat, don’t’ even think about it!

MIX TOGETHER:

2 tablespoons onion powder
1 teaspoon minced dried onion
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground oregano
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pinch dried red pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Use as you would your store bought packet of seasoning.


Parma! Vegan, Plant-Based Alternative to Parmesan Cheese (Review)

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Parma Vegan Parmesan

Parma! Vegan Alternative to Parmesan Cheese

Okay, first of all, I have to say this: Even if you aren’t a vegan and aren’t actively looking to add more plant-based foods to your daily life… you will want to continue reading and you will most certainly want to try the Parma! products.

Trust me. I am not TOTALLY in either of these camps either – although I do enjoy a lot of vegan and plant-based meals and recipes, I do not exclusively eat this way. The more I read about healthy ingredients, however, the more closely I look at the ingredients in everything I buy. When it comes to ingredients, I want there to be as few as humanly possible, I want to be able to pronounce each ingredient, and I want to be able to recognize each one as an actual food.

  • The ingredients for Parma! Garlicky Green Vegan Parmesan: Nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, garlic, Himalayan salt, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, kelp, basil, oregano
  • The ingredients for Parma! Chipotle Cayenne Vegan Parmesan: Nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, walnuts, Chipotle (roasted jalapeno pepper), Himalayan salt, hemp seeds, onion, cayenne

If you’re one of the ones who is looking for a vegan and plant-based answer to Parmesan cheese…  this is your lucky day. These products are absolutely delicious.

Baked Potato

Baked Potato

Since I had to give up gluten and wheat (celiac), I have been very mindful of my eating. Years of eating food I didn’t fully realize were doing harm damaged my digestive tract and (even after 10 years), it’s only recently showing huge improvement. Eating more healthy foods (and keeping a keen eye on ingredients!) has helped.

The simple truth is, the healthier you eat, the healthier you feel and the healthier you are. If you’re interested in health and how what you eat influences it (which I assume you are since you are still reading!), you know as well as I do that oftentimes vegan alternatives and plant-based foods and ingredients can be disappointing. I have bought so many products that sounded like Heaven and tasted like… well you know.

I believe more of us would eat a lot healthier if the healthier was tastier. All indications point to the fact that the people behind Parma! fully, fully get that.

I was a bit nervous about trying these products. They were sent to me in exchange for telling you all about them – completely honest and upfront about whether I liked, disliked, hated or loved them. Before I first tried them, I was actually thinking about how I would be able to write a review about something while saying, “Didn’t care for it, myself, but…”

I guess I just didn’t think it’d be possible to create a delicious alternative to Parmesan Cheese. Here’s the thing: I’m a cheese fanatic! I use Parmesan cheese in and on everything.

Now can you see why I was nervous??

Parma Vegan Parmesan

Parma! Vegan Parmesan

Imagine the look on my face when I opened the two bottles, tasted each and literally said, “Wow… Delicious!” after each one.  Same script, same words, same shocked and delighted expression.

These are both nutty, delicious, and incredibly flavorful. The Parma! Chipotle Cayenne Vegan Parmesan has a little heat but not (at all) too much. It’s outstanding.

The Parma! Garlicky Green Vegan Parmesan is equally delicious with a subtle and wonderful taste of garlic. I made a potato casserole (pictured below) a few nights ago and, whereas I normally use cheddar cheese, I wanted to try smoked Gouda instead. I added a little minced garlic and some of the Parma! Garlicky Green Vegan Parmesan – it was delicious!

Potato Casserole

Potato Casserole

I have also used EACH of these products on baked potatoes. My favorite way to enjoy them on a fresh baked potato (white or sweet) is to sprinkle it directly onto the potato, followed by butter and whatever else I’m in the mood for.

Recently, I made baked potatoes and topped them with some of the Parma! Chipotle Cayenne Vegan Parmesan before adding butter, sour cream, chopped scallions, and thinly sliced Romaine lettuce (you’d be amazed how much Romaine adds to a baked potato). The Parma Parmesan gave the potato so much flavor! I’ve since also used the other variety of Parma! on baked potatoes. Phenomenal!

Things I love about Parma! Vegan Parmesan:

  • The products are gluten-free and are made in a dedicated facility.
  • They’re dairy free – whether you eat keto fulltime or part-time (like me), the more food you can enjoy that’s keto, the better. Any swap (from dairy to non-dairy) you make counts toward better health.
  • The products are Kosher.
  • They’re delicious!

In addition to the uses pictured and named above, I have also loved using these products on popcorn (DELICIOUS!), gluten-free toast, in and on Chaffles, sprinkled on asparagus, on gluten-free pasta, and sprinkled on gluten-free bread… parmesan bread never tasted so good!

These are truly delicious and I hope you’ll try them as soon as possible.

Where can you buy Parma! Vegan Parmesan?

  • There are stores across the country that carry the wonderful products (none anywhere near me, however!). When you visit their website, you can find use the map to locate the deliciousness near you.
  • Shop for the products directly from their website!
  • Parma! is available on Amazon – so if you’re already throwing things hot and heavy into your cart (surely I’m not the only one), throw in a couple of bottles of Parma! and get ready to be amazed. Nutty, wholesome, flavorful, and CRAZY delicious.

To read more about Parma and the CEO (Shannon Schnibbe) behind the deliciousness, click here.

 

 

Coconut Recipes: The Complete Coconut Cookbook

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The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Coconut Recipes)

Outstanding Coconut Recipe Collection

The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) may as well have been written with me in mine – I love coconut that much. My undying devotion to coconut extends outside of the kitchen with coconut-scented lotions, bath gel, conditioner, candles, etc… but it’s in the kitchen where the real magic happens.

When I was contacted about reviewing a cookbook devoted entirely to coconut recipes, you can imagine how quickly I jumped on the idea. There’s just something about the wonderful, unmistakable flavor of coconut – ESPECIALLY during the summer. Obviously, I eat and cook with coconut, coconut oil, coconut sugar, and coconut milk all year, but in the summer I think I love it even more.

After all, it tastes like summer and smells like summer.

The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) is a beautiful paperback cookbook with 200 excellent, easy recipes and packed with gorgeous photos. I am honestly tempted to buy a copy for the photos alone. They’d be so beautiful framed and grouped on a wall.

I love that the recipes are gluten-free and grain-free and anyone with nut allergies will appreciate that they’re nut-free as well.

Book Description:

Coconut is a “hot” ingredient among foodies, primarily for its rediscovered healthy impact.

Always a delicious ingredient and often a decadent treat, coconut is now embraced with a new enthusiasm that borders on obsession. Its rich, smooth and creamy textures add to the compelling and considerable health and nutrition benefits of pure coconut products.

Despite the mounting evidence supporting the health benefits of coconut and the ever-increasing number of coconut products in supermarkets, comprehensive guidance on how to use such products lags behind. The Complete Coconut Cookbook offers home cooks the delicious, convenient coconut using its entire range of special ingredients.

Everyone, from hardcore health-foodies to recreational cooks and everyone in between, will enjoy these all-natural, high-energy, top-notch coconut recipes which can all be made with ease and flair. The 200 innovative recipes cover a broad spectrum of fresh flavors and textures and provide delicious and dependable results. Perhaps most importantly, there is a complete nutritional analysis for every recipe.

Camilla Saulsbury includes coconut recipes for virtually every occasion and every time of the day: Breakfast, Breads and Muffins, Beverages, Salads, Vegetable Sides, Soups and Stews, Main Dishes, Cookies and Cakes and Desserts.

For example a nutritious start is Coconut Waffles, a late afternoon snack is Coconut Flour Zucchini Bread, and a sit-down hearty dinner is Southwestern Sweet Potato and Poblano Soup.

An unusual feature is a comprehensive section on the science of coconut nutrition along with a survey of user-friendly nutrition information about each coconut ingredient and “how-to” data for each coconut product. ~ From Amazon (link to the cookbook on Amazon)

Some of the wonderful recipes in The Complete Coconut Cookbook Include:

    • Sunflower, Pepita and Chia Granola
    • Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl
    • Cranberry Orange Muffins
    • Hot and Sour Coconut Soup
    • Green Chile Chili
    • Stuffed Portobellos
    • Japanese Ginger “Noodle” Bowls
    • Cauliflower “Rice”
    • Coconut “Bacon”
    • Crispy Coconut French Fries
    • Steamed Broccoli with Tahini Coconut Sauce
    • Sautéed Spinach
    • Coconut Shortbread
    • Mashed Sweet Potatoes
    • Coconut Butter
    • No-Bake Lemon Coconut Bars
    • Plus many, many more recipes (and did I mention the many gorgeous photos??!)

In addition to the wonderful recipes (they are certainly the main stars) and full-page gorgeous photos, I also love the wonderful section at the front of the book praising the health benefits of coconut and detailing the perfect “coconut pantry.” Great stuff.

Finally, I also love the extra health and nutritional information included about some of coconut’s co-stars:

  • Cranberries are loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants and are a good source of vitamin C as well.
  • Active compounds in ginger have anticancer properties and have actually been shown to DESTROY color, ovarian, and rectal cancer cells.
  • The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, an antioxidant that has been shown to fend off cancer growth.
  • Turmeric is also good for your heart’s health.
  • The book is filled with similar information… priceless information.

I whole-heartedly recommend adding  The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) to your cookbook library. You’ll be so glad you did… and you’ll know what to do with all that coconut flour, coconut milk, and coconut oil you’ve stocked up on! (oh wait, that’s me)


Frothy Warm Vanilla Milk Recipe

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Hot Milk in a Great Rita Hayworth Mug

Warm Frothy Vanilla Milk

I have always been a fan of hot drinks – make that fanatic. Basically, I have a hot drink of some type near me at all times – coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, apple cider… doesn’t matter if it’s winter, spring, summer, or fall.  As someone who has had bronchial asthma all of her life, I’ve always appreciated the way a hot drink keeps my airways open. In addition to better breathing (always a good thing), I simply find a cup of warmth comforting.

When I read earlier this year that drinking hot drinks, frequently, was thought to keep one safer from getting COVID, I let out a whoop… I had something already in my corner to help me.

This recipe is for something that is much more delicious than it sounds. It’s fun to experiment with different milks (cashew, almond, coconut, and even lactose free – each of the nut milks are outstanding fixed this way). My favorite milk to use is Coconut milk. A word of warning, if you use a nut milk with added vanilla, omit the extra vanilla – or add less. If you add too much, you’ll basically find yourself drinking vanilla.

I put my hot vanilla milk into my Blendtec (Amazon link), but any blender would certainly do. I simply use my Blendtec daily, so not using it would make it worry what had happened to me.

Could you make the Frothy Warm Vanilla Milk without a blender? Absolutely. You just can’t call it frothy – doing so would be a violation against kitchen protocol, you know.

One of the best things about adding this recipe to your rotation of warm drinks is the fact it is caffeine free (perfect for evenings and young people) AND warm milk promotes better sleep. Win/win!

Hot Milk in Rita Hayworth Mug

Delicious With OR Without Cinnamon On Top


Easy Dill Tartar Sauce: An Easy Tartar Sauce Recipe That Happens to Be One of the Best

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Easy Dill Tartar Sauce

Easy Dill Tartar Sauce: One of the Best

As I’ve said before on the food blog, one of my favorite tartar sauce recipes is from the Barefoot Contessa (The recipe is here… it’s outstanding.). I’m such a fan of that particular tartar sauce that I honestly stopped making any other version for over a year. But then, I got a little tired of having the same one each time, so I switched things up a bit. The result is honestly a tartar sauce I like just as well… maybe, just maybe, even better.

Don’t tell the Contessa!

My recipe calls for Duke’s Mayonnaise, simply because it’s the only one I buy and use. If it isn’t available where you live, simply use your favorite. The main thing is that you use mayonnaise and not salad dressing – it really makes a difference.

As for the sweetener – I’ve made this using sugar, stevia, and Truvia and there is no difference whatsoever. Use whatever sweetener you choose to use.


The Best Honey Mustard Salad Dressing… Easy and So Much Better Than Store-Bought

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Honey Mustard Dressing and Salad

Honey Mustard Dressing

I am an absolute salad fanatic and feel there is no hope for me to be anything else. When we go to restaurants (when there isn’t a global pandemic, of course), I give one extra points for a great salad. If they bring out a salad that obviously came from a bag, it doesn’t much matter what else they do to try to impress me, they’ve already lost me.

And salad bars…..  holy cats do I ever love those?!

Tossing modesty aside, though, none of them can beat the salads I make at home. There are several reasons, I suppose, but one is I get crazy creative and experiment, not only with different vegetables, but also different greens (and combinations of greens), cheeses, seeds, herbs, and other fun additions like real bacon bits, baby corn, dried cranberries, etc.

Another special touch that turns an average salad into a delicious experience is a great salad dressing.

I prefer to make the salad dressings we use for several reasons:

  1. Since the pandemic, I find that the more things I can make at home, the fewer things we run out of and have to go get. I always have the staples on hand for my favorite dressings (French, Honey Mustard, Ranch, and Vinaigrette), so having my favorites in a rotation simplifies my life and keeps me out of stores!
  2. You can control the amount of sugar and/or salt in your dressings. Some of us like things a little less sweet than others or a little less salty. When you make the dressings, yourself, you have full control over what’s added.
  3. I love the idea of avoiding additives!
  4. I have to eat gluten-free (health reasons) and anything I can make, myself, gives me more peace of mind.
  5. Most importantly…. they simply taste A LOT better. Even if there weren’t a 1, 2, 3, and 4 above – I’d still make my own salad dressings for reason 5 alone. I mean, come on… taste trumps everything else!

The easy recipe, below, is in my opinion the absolute best honey mustard dressing recipe you’ll find. This is my go-to dressing for grilled chicken salads and I also love it on a great chef salad.

Obviously, adjust the amount of honey to suit your own tastes – Dijon mustard too, as far as that goes. However, I would suggest starting with this combination first – this way you can tell if you, personally, want less (or more… I won’t judge!) honey.

Tate’s Bake Shop Gluten Free Coconut Crisp Cookies

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Tate's Bake Shop Gluten Free Coconut Crisp Cookies

Tate’s Bake Shop Gluten Free Coconut Crisp Cookies

I haven’t been very active on the food blog (or any of my blogs for that matter!) lately. My computer crashed and crashed hard a while back and, on top of that, I have been so affected by the pandemic that (truth be told) I allowed everything to get me out of my regular routine. While my family, thanks be to God, hasn’t been personally touched by the Coronavirus, the fact that so many other families have been touched and often tormented by it has shaken me to my core. For better or worse, I am an insanely empathetic person and don’t just feel other’s pain.. I FEEL it.

I decided a few weeks ago to stop reading every news story and stop visiting personally (through social media) with every person who has suffered a loss. I made the decision to pray for them but not to read every single thing going on. It’s keeping me sane.

Ironic thing is, just when I made this decision and decide to get back into my normal routine – my computer checked out on me!

2020 has a real attitude, doesn’t it?

Back to “Normal”ish

If you’ve read my food blog before or know me, personally, you know that Cookie Monster is my spirit animal. I love cookies… I live for cookies. They’re one of my favorite things to bake and eat! So I decided to jump back into the food blog with a review of some extra, extra wonderful cookies I just discovered: Tate’s Bake Shop Gluten Free Coconut Crisp Cookies (link to the cookies on Amazon). I had never seen them on store shelves before, but recently saw them at my favorite grocery store in the “cheap” bin.

If I’d ever seen them before, there wouldn’t be any of them left to go in the bargain aisle – I’d have bought them all!

These cookies are absolutely outstanding. They have such a distinctive and delicious taste of coconut (one of my favorite flavors), while giving an extraordinary crunch – something, as a dunker, I appreciate in a cookie. While these cookies were (past tense, we ate them all) fantastic right out of the bag, they were Heavenly with coffee as well.

These cookies are available on Amazon (gluten-free as well as the original) and I couldn’t recommend them more highly. I just noticed that there is also a Tate’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip (Amazon link) cookie and I am pretty much beside myself.

This human Cookie Monster feels like it’s Christmas morning.

I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are well and safe. I’m thinking of you and praying for you. I hope you will, now – more than ever, find the things that bring you joy and embrace them every chance you get. For me, that’s family (including my cats!), cookies, and old movies.

Stay positive and stay safe. We will get through this! ~ Joi

Tate's Bake Shop Gluten Free Coconut Crisp Cookies

Tate’s Coconut Crisp Gluten-Free Cookies with Coffee