Happy New Year!

Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great time cooking this holiday. Being gluten, dairy, soy, and etc. free makes holiday cooking and eating a challenge but when there's a will there's a way. This year for Christmas I plan to sway from tradition and make Chicken Chimichangas. I used to make them a lot before my diet restrictions but I now plan to make them comply. I shall tell you all about it in a future post. I would love to hear thoughts and ideas. I leave you with my quote of "happy cooking and happy eating"!.....Jan

A helpful link for measurements

Here's a helpful link for converting the measurements of my recipes to metric if needed.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_weights_and_measures                 Happy Holidays!

No Gluten, Dairy, Sugar or Soy..."Cranberry Walnut Cake Muffins"

I thought I would take my "Cranberry Walnut Cake" (recipe found in Jan's Recipe Book  jansrecipebook.com ) and make muffins with it. This cake tends to stick to the cupcake pan so it is best to use liners in the pan and the best are the foil liners not just the paper liners. I still pour a little of the drizzle on top. This is just a variation for convenience as a take-along treat. Actually I just love this cake anyway it's served. It's so sweet and yummy and is one of my favorite desserts. (or snacks...or for breakfast even) The tartness of the cranberry and the sweetness of the vanilla drizzle is the magic combination! .....Happy cooking and happy eating!....Jan

Gluten Free~ Dairy Free~Soy Free and more "Whole Clove Garlic Chicken"

     I like to buy whole chickens when they are on sale and freeze them. Besides using them for my "Almost Grandma's Chicken Noodle soup" I like to use them for my "Whole Clove Garlic Chicken". (recipe's found in Jan's Recipe Book  jansrecipebook.com  ) When I was working on this recipe I was actually looking to make something with vermouth. Not that I drink martinis but when my daughter came home from college a few years back she gave me a large unopened bottle and asked if I could use it. I guess a roommate left it so not to be wasteful she thought I might like to have it. I didn't know what to do with it so I started looking for various uses with food mostly I found it with fish and poultry.It was a dry vermouth and found it to be gluten free. My recipe doesn't call for a lot of vermouth but it certainly adds to the flavour. If you don't have vermouth substitute it with dry white wine.Then there are the 40 cloves of garlic.....that's another story. I will just say this dish tastes great and I usually serve it over rice. I hope you enjoy my recipes and I say as usual "Happy cooking and Happy eating!".......Jan

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS with No Gluten, No Dairy, No Soy and Then Some!

My "Italian Meatballs" are great with my "Sundried Tomato Pasta" both recipes are in my recipe book. ( jansrecipebook.com ) However the meatballs are also great with just spaghetti sauce over rice pasta noodles. I didn't put my "Spaghetti Sauce" recipe in my current book but will give it to my blog viewers.

Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil	6 oz. can tomato paste(I use organic)
5 clove minced garlic	24 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp. oregano	½ cup wine (whatever you have leftover)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. thyme leaves
¼ tsp. ground rosemary
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Instructions:
Place the extra virgin olive oil in a sauce pan with the minced garlic. Bring to a sizzle. Add the tomato paste and stir then the tomato sauce and again stir. Put in all the spices stirring until sauce is smooth. Pour in the wine, stir again then reduce temperature.

Hope everyone enjoys this and I'll say it again "Happy Cooking and Happy Eating!"......Jan

I'm Spicing Up My Waffles For The Season And Still Being Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Etc. Free!

My "Belgian Waffles" (recipe found in Jan's Recipe Book) are great alone or with blueberry sauce but here's a nice seasonal variation to the recipe. Instead of rice milk use coconut milk and add 1/2 tsp molasses to the coconut milk. Then add 1 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. allspice to the rice flour and voila' "Gingerbread Waffles"! Here's to happy cooking and happy eating!