Spring Greens and Mixed Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

I think I should start by saying that salad is my favorite food. Now, when I say favorite, I think I really mean it is my favorite way to get all of my actual favorite foods together in one place. Greens are the perfect vehicle for pretty much anything you can think of.

One reason I love creating and making salads is because, in my opinion, you can't go wrong. Take some leftovers from the fridge, throw them on a bed of lettuce, top it with your fave dressing and you have a perfect meal! The reason I wanted to make this salad in particular because I saw the first nectarines of the season in the store and I needed to have them with my Brianna's Home Style Poppy Seed Dressing. I have made this salad with a ton of different fruits and have never had a bad batch. This variation in particular is sweet, crunchy, savory, tart, and all together delicious! You could grill up some chicken breast to put on this and it would be a filling main course for sure!

Frozen Bailey's Irish Cream Hot Chocolate with Chocolate Whipped Cream

Chocolate chips are "optional"

That right there is a thing of beauty!

So, even though I will be working on St. Patrick's Day I still feel the need to post a yummy St. Patty's related recipe. Also, since there are so many delicious dinner recipes for the day of already out there I chose to come up with a beverage and, of course, there is Bailey's Irish Cream in it!

I have been thinking about trying my hand at frozen hot chocolate for a while and thought that this is the perfect reason to make some and throw in a splash of Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur. Along with that, because I am struggling with a serious addiction to chocolate, I made some chocolate whipped cream to top it off!

Fondue for Two: Surf and Turf

If there's one thing I love, it's dipping foods into other foods. Chips into dip, strawberries into chocolate, seasoned meats into savory broth, you get the idea... To start from what inspired this post I should say that I ADORE the Melting Pot. If you don't know what the Melting Pot is, I suggest you find the location nearest you and dive in (literally and figuratively). It is an amazing fondue restaurant with over 100 locations in the U.S. and it offers a dining experience completely different from anywhere else I have eaten. The quality of food is top notch and the staff has always been perfectly lovely, however, it is not a dinner-on-a-budget type of place and averages about $50-$75 per person, not including drinks. Yikes! As a fondue lover I needed to find an alternative to get my fix, and so this post was born!

First of all I will apologize for such an agonizingly long post- there are a lot of components to fondue- who knew?!

The Easiest Butternut Squash Soup Ever

Okay, so today is a "stay at home and do nothing because I am sick"  kind of day and the number one thing I ALWAYS want whenever I am sick is soup! Usually I take the easy way out and heat up a can of condensed soup, slurp it down, and crawl back into bed but today was different. It was different for one reason: I had butternut squash. Butternut squash isn't ordinarily considered a game changer but today, for me, it was. The story of how I ended up with butternut squash is not an interesting one. I was in the store, saw a package of Green Giant pre-cubed butternut squash and had to have it, for some reason. I was fantasizing about roasting it, or sauteing it, or whatever else and serving it as a side to some amazing main course. But, alas, I made soup!

Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Garlic Olive Oil

So I know it has been a little while since I have posted anything but it has been a very busy week or so! Last week my sister, step-mom, and I hosted a birthday party for my dad so I spent a good amount of time baking up brownies and finalizing details for that event and I neglected to post anything. So here I am, making up for lost time with something delicious!

Gluten Free Chicken Strips

I have been so busy trying out new recipes all week that I have had very little time to blog! I am going to post a few new things to try out today! First up are these super delicious gluten-free fried chicken strips. These are really simple to whip up and take no time at all to cook. I'll post all of the ingredients first then go into the step by step.

Homemade Hummus Recipe

I love hummus and I can't believe I've never made it before. After today I don't think I'll ever buy store bought hummus again! This recipe is super easy and VERY forgiving plus it is naturally gluten free! Basically everything in this is to your personal taste and there are so many options for flavors that it is impossible to mess it up. It only took me about 5 minutes to prep and 5 minutes throw all of the ingredients in a blender and bam! It was done! That easy, I swear... the longest part of the process for me was finding the tahini in my local Safeway.

Delicious Vanilla Cupcakes- Gluten Free

This is an awesome recipe for gluten free vanilla cupcakes that I tried last night and I am so excited about it!

I have tried a bunch of different gluten free baked goods and when there is a good one (not crumbly and dry) it is a revelation! This made a yummy, dense, moist, not-too-sweet, vanilla cupcake! I used my all purpose baking mix for this and it worked like a charm, which I am happy about.

A lot of the time home-made gluten free baking can result in an extremely dry and crumbly mess which loses quality by the minute as it cools but this is really tasty and would be a perfect go-to cupcake for someone looking to go g-free.

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes:
Yield: 12 cupcakes, one 8" square layer; or one 9" round layer.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup- Soft Butter (room temperature, not melted)
• 1 Cup- Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 Cup- Milk (I used reduced fat but any percent will do)
• 3 tsp- Gluten Free Vanilla
• 1 3/4 Cup- Gluten Free Baking Mix (see my recipe for it HERE)
• 1/2 tsp- Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp- Baking Powder
• 1 tsp- Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers. You can optionally grease the cupcake papers but I skipped this step and had no problems. (You can also use this recipe for a cake: lightly grease an 8" square or 9" round pan)
2. To make the batter: Beat the soft butter and sugar until thoroughly combined and somewhat lightened in color. I whipped mine for a while to ensure a lighter batter.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just incorporated.
4. Combine the milk and vanilla.
5. Combine all dry ingredients. I sifted mine together
6. Stir one-third of the baking mix into the mixture; stir in half the milk, another third of the baking mix, the remaining milk, then the remaining mix. Scrape the bowl occasionally throughout this process.
7. For cupcakes, scoop the batter by level ¼-cupfuls into the prepared muffin tins. (For a cake spread the batter into the prepared pan) 
8. Bake 20 to 22 minutes for cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, and the middle springs back when pressed lightly. (Bake 30 to 35 minutes for a layer cake)
9. Remove from the oven. Serve warm; or cool completely, then spread with the frosting of your choice.

I frosted my vanilla cupcakes with a lemon buttercream frosting that I made and you can find the recipe for that HERE. 
These cupcakes are really dense and moist (even on the second day) and this recipe is a good staple to have in any gluten-free kitchen!


Enjoy!

Gluten Free Baking Mix- All Purpose

This is a recipe for an all-purpose GLUTEN FREE baking mix that can be used in any baking recipe.

The bakery I hope to open will be a 100% gluten free bakery! This decision came from the fact that my hopeful business partner, Krista, has an intolerance to gluten so it only made sense to create a business that would help others like her to have a yummy place to enjoy a treat without any concern for their health! Also, after some research into Celiac Disease (gluten intolerance) I found that there is a HUGE gap in this growing market for a completely gluten free business so I am excited to try to fill this gap a little bit for people who are gluten intolerant or not to enjoy something delicious!

I have looked into gluten free baking mixes for a while and there are MANY options. You can buy pre-made mixes or make you own and I have opted to make my own since I believe that cooking from scratch puts more love into the food. The recipe that I tried is all purpose which means, by my understanding, that you can use it any regular recipe to replace regular flour. There are other variations on gluten free mixes that work better in specific recipes (i.e., biscuits, muffins, breads) but this is an all purpose to have on hand for whatever you feel like baking on a whim!

All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Mix:

1 Cup- White Rice Flour

2/3 Cup- Potato Starch (make sure it is not potato flour)

1/3 Cup- Tapioca Starch (also called "tapioca flour" which I learned at the store)

2 tsp- Xantham Gum

A few things about this mix:

-I sifted all of the ingredients once into a bowl then again into another bowl to ensure they were all well mixed, since they are all white and it is hard to see if they are combined well.

-This mix will make a nice dense and moist cake or bread that is still delicious on the second or third day after baking, while some gluten free mixes dry out very easily and make a crumby result. 

-I found that this recipe was about perfect to make one batch of vanilla cupcakes with a little bit left over. 

-You can double or triple the recipe and store it for later but make sure to store it in an airtight container, you can also put it in the freezer for it to last longer.

Good luck!