Crockpot Applesauce BBQ Chicken from Who Needs a Cape?

Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well! I know I haven't posted in awhile, and I hate it. Wedding planning is taking over my life right now! 

Which is why....recipes like this one are great! So easy to make and it only takes a couple minutes to put together! 

I'm not sure where I originally stumbled upon this recipe, but it's been bookmarked for awhile. I'm so glad I finally got around to making it! 

Here's the link to the original recipe from Who Needs A Cape?

The original recipe called for 4 chicken breasts, but I used 5 so the sauce didn't coat every inch of the chicken but it still tasted great. 

When I put the chicken in the slow cooker, they were still pretty frozen. 

The recipe called to cook it for 6-8 hours. 

I was a little hesitant to take it out after 6 1/2 hours but when I went to pick up the chicken with a fork, it literally fell apart. 

All you need for this recipe is:

-chicken breasts

-bbq sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

-applesauce 

-pepper

-brown sugar 

-chili powder

I wasn't quite sure how the bbq sauce and the applesauce would taste together, but wow! Awesome! It's even better served with rice! And it makes for great leftovers! 

It's such a great recipe, that is easily converted to be gluten free! 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Cooking Light's Turkey Sausage Lasagna

Hope everyone is having a great week! There is a lot going on over here in wedding planning world, but I still have some time to share this wonderful recipe! 

I was a little curious about how this would turn out, since it's a lasagna recipe and there's no pasta sauce involved, but let me tell you, this was a BIG hit. 

It's another Cooking Light recipe. I love their magazine. My recipe book is full of their recipes. It's not gluten free, but easily convertible. 

Here's a link to their website: Cooking Light

Here's what you need:

-1/4 cup all purpose flour (I used Better Batter)

-1 cup 1% milk

-1 cup unsalted chicken stock

-1 tbsp canola oil 

-1 bay leaf

-1/4 tsp kosher salt

-1/2 tsp black pepper

-cooking spray

-2 tbsp water

-1 12 oz pkg fresh spinach

-2 (4 oz) turkey sausage links

-1/2 cup chopped shallots

-1 tbsp minced garlic

-6 no boil lasagna noodles (I used DeBoles noodles)

-1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese

-1 oz shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

-1 oz fresh Parmesan cheese, grated 

It looks like a lot, but it's a pretty easy recipe. Trust me, you'll be happy with the result. It's worth the time it takes to put together. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Combine flour and the next four ingredients (milk, chicken stock, canola oil and bay leaf) in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. 

Cook 8 minutes or until thick and bubbly. Make sure to stir frequently. It took about 10 minutes for mine to get thick.

Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper. 

Spread one cup of this mixture in the bottom of a 11 x 7 glass or ceramic baking dish, coated with cooking spray. 

Heat another large skillet over medium heat again. 

Add two tbsp water and spinach to the pan. Cook until spinach wilts.

Drain spinach, pressing until barely moist.

Increase heat in same pan to high and add sausage (minus casings) to pan and brown. 

Remove sausage from pan. 

Add the shallots and garlic to the same pan. Saute for 2 minutes. 

Into this mixture, stir in remaining milk mixture, spinach and sausage. 

Remove pan from heat. 

Arrange 2 noodles over milk mixture in dish. Take 1/2 cup of the ricotta and spread on top of noodles. Top this with 1/3 of spinach/meat mixture. 

Repeat this two more times. 

Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. 

Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove foil.

Turn on broiler to high.

Broil for 4 minutes to brown cheese. Let stand about 10 minutes. 

I didn't have enough ricotta cheese and spinach so it didn't make three layers, only two. But it was still really good and I can't wait to make it again. 

Marshal said that I need to put a star on this one in my notebook. ;) 

Gluten Free Hawaiian Chicken

Happy Monday to you all! Hope everyone had a good weekend! I know Mondays can kinda be a drag, but if you're into sports like me, I'm super excited about the NCAA Championship game tonight! This chicken recipe could be a perfect meal for game time! 

I based this recipe off a recipe from Mmm...Cafe. I changed the recipe a bit to accommodate what I had in the my kitchen at the time. 

Here's what I used:

-About 2 pounds of chicken breasts

-Salt and pepper for seasoning

-1/2 cup honey

-about 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

-1/8 cup onion flakes

-1/4 cup ketchup 

-1 Tbsp vegetable oil

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1/4 cup of pineapple orange juice (Regular orange juice could work too)

-1 Tbsp marmalade jam

Mix all ingredients, except salt and pepper, together to make sauce.

Dice chicken and season with salt and pepper. Place in casserole dish and pour sauce over chicken. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. 

Serve with rice. 

The smell of this chicken is amazing. I served with rice and green beans. 

If you want to make this in the slow cooker, head on over to the link I listed above. There is a  slow cooker option there. 

Slow Cooker Cobbler

Looking for an easy and delicious gluten free dessert? Look no further than this slow cooker "cobbler" from Crockinggirls.com. 

My dad recently had a birthday and he loooves cherry desserts. Marshal wanted to be able to "celebrate" too so I made it gluten free. 

I searched on Pinterest for cherry desserts and this was the first one on the list. 

It turned out great! 

All you need is:

-1/4 cup melted butter

-1/2 box of cake mix (any flavor)

-20 oz pie filling (any flavor)

I was skeptical if this would work with gluten free cake mix, but it worked well. 

All you do is put the pie filling in a greased slow cooker. 

Then, mix the butter and cake mix until crumbly.

Put that mixture on top of the pie filling.

Cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours. 

That't it. :)

How easy was that?

I can't wait to use apple pie filling with the other half of the cake mix! 

Thanks to Jenna and Nicole (Crockin Girls) for the recipe and I can't wait to try more! 

One Year Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I started this blog. So much has happened since and I can't wait to see what will happen next. 

I feel bad that I haven't blogged in awhile. Things have been so crazy busy around here. Wedding plans are getting really hectic and sometimes I feel like I just can't keep everything straight, so the blog has been put on the back burner. I apologize for that. 

I wanted to do this big anniversary celebration with another big giveaway, but that didn't happen so I'm going to try the next best thing. 

I'm going to highlight some of my most popular posts from the past year. I've also got some new posts to write that I'm excited/anxious to share. 

First things first: here's some of my most popular posts from the past year! 

1. Cake Mix Cookies : One of my favorite desserts ever! And so easy to make! I can't wait to make these again! Might give them as gifts soon! ;) 

2. Lazy Day Apple Cobbler : Originally Nana's recipe. I'll never forget eating this cobbler, often peach, hot out of the oven after swimming at her house. Perfection. Another very easy recipe. 

3. Microwave Meatloaf : Reminds me of my childhood. Great quick and easy weeknight supper idea. 

4. Chocolate Chip Cookies : I absolutely love this recipe. I need to try my new flour mix on this as well. I think these taste better than a lot of store bought gfree cookies. 

5. Chebe Cinnamon Rolls : I love Chebe Mixes. I've used a couple so far and I absolutely love how versatile they are. The last time I made these, I used apple butter for the filling. MMmm...heaven :) 

6. Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Casserole : This is Marshal's great aunt's recipe, converted to gluten free of course. It really does taste like pizza. A great family favorite. 

7. Kinnikinnick Pizza Crust Review : Just realized that I'm posting two pizza recipes in a row, but that's how the list turned out. Marshal and I absolutely LOVE this pizza crust. It's perfect. My parents even liked it and they don't eat gluten free. 

8. Lunch at Olive Garden : Yes, it's true. Olive Garden has gluten free pasta now. They don't have a whole lot of options, but what they do serve is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone. 

9. Giving Freezer to Crockpot Meals a Try : These freezer meals are from I'm A Celiac. They are a great way to save time on making meals for busy weeks. Pam, at I'm A Celiac, has great recipes on her site! Check out her new cookbook too! 

10. Banana Bread : This is a recipe from Taste of Home magazine. I really like this recipe because it uses applesauce instead of butter. We really enjoyed this bread and I can't wait to make it again. 

It's been a great year! Thanks to all my followers for making it great! I never would have dreamed that I would have had so many views and a big giveaway on the site all in the first year. Here's to hoping that it will continue to grow and reach more people! 

Thanks again for all your support and enjoy! 

Gluten Free Mini Mac & Cheese Cups from Betty Crocker

So, I just recently won 60 cups of gluten free mac and cheese from Maple Grove. Yes, I know, that's a TON! 

It's the add water, heat in microwave and stir, ready to eat, kind of macaroni. Which I am so grateful for. 60 cups is a lot though. So I knew I needed to find creative ways to eat it or I would be sick of it really quick. 

Enter Mac & Cheese Cups....

I already had everything I needed in my pantry. Don't you just love it when that happens? :)

Thanks to Betty Crocker by the way for this awesome recipe! Here is a link to their recipe, which I pretty much followed to a T...recipe

You need:

-1 cup uncooked gluten free macaroni

-3 cups Corn Chex cereal, finely crushed

-2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

-5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

-1 tbsp gluten-free flour blend (I used Better Batter All-Purpose)

-1 cup whole milk, warmed

-1 egg yolk, slightly beaten

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 egg white, beaten until stiff but not dry

First, cook and drain your macaroni as directed on package. (I didn't know if this would work with the microwaveable macaroni, but it did. I just took out the cheese clumps and cooked about three of those cups on the stove.) 

Move oven rack to lower third of oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

Mix crushed cereal, 1 cup of cheese and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. 

Divide mixture among muffin cups. Press into the bottom and up the sides. (I just kinda set the mixture in the cup and made a well, making sure there was still a layer on the bottom of the cup.)

In saucepan, stir together remaining melted butter (1 tbsp) and flour blend with whisk. Cook over medium heat, 1 minute. 

Stir in warm milk slowly with whisk, cook and stir about 5 minutes or until thickened. 

Remove from heat, stir in 1 cup of the cheese until melted. 

Stir in cooked macaroni, egg yolk and salt. Fold in beaten egg white.

Spoon mixture into muffin cups. Top with remaining shredded cheese. 

Bake about 20 minutes or until golden and puffed. Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan. Serve warm. 

Mmmm...these were sooo good!! I can't wait to make them again! Yeah, it takes a little bit of effort to make them, but it's worth it! Trust me. 

Gluten Free Shamrock Sugar Cookies

For as far back as I can remember, I can recall my Mom making these sugar cookies for St. Patrick's Day parties at school. Everyone always loved them. 

I was really curious to see if I could make these gluten free and still taste close to how they used to taste. It's such a unique flavor, not like any normal sugar cookie, and I so badly missed that taste. I was quite happy with the results! 

The original recipe calls for 3 cups of self-rising flour. To make gluten free self-rising flour, you have to add some ingredients to your all-purpose flour mix. More on that in a little bit.

First, you need your all-purpose mix. 

To equal the 3 cups originally called for, I used:

-2 cups  brown rice flour

-2/3 cups  potato starch

-1/3 cups  tapioca starch

Mix all that together and then add

-1 1/2 tsp of xantham gum

Now, to make that flour mix a self-rising mix, all you need to do is add:

-1 1/2 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

Now that you have self-rising flour, onto the rest of the recipe...

What you need now is:

-2 sticks of softened butter or margarine

-1 1/2 cups of sugar

-1 tsp vanilla 

-3 eggs (original recipe calls for two, but I added another to make it gluten free)

Mix all these ingredients together and chill for several hours or overnight. (The colder the dough, the better)

Now comes the fun part...rolling out the dough and cutting out your shapes. 

Something I have found that helps when rolling out gluten free dough is using confectioners sugar to combat the stickiness....don't be stingy with it either...you'll need to use a lot! 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or so. It will probably take longer than that for them to brown, but just watch them. You might need to add or subtract time from that amount. Our oven is old and as we know, every oven is different. 

Now, you could stop right here and eat them plain like this...I wouldn't blame you. They are THAT good...but if you want to go another step, here's the recipe for the icing:

Mix 

-1/2 cup crisco

-1/2 cup butter (softened)

-2 tsp vanilla

Then add 3 cups of powdered or confectioners sugar to that mix. Then add your food coloring. 

Allow the cookies to cool and then ice, ice, ice!! 

This yields about 60 or so cookies, depending on what shape you make them of course. 

Yum, yum, yum!

I know these aren't the healthiest cookies in the world, but if you need something to take to a party or get together and know you won't have these sitting at home (like I've had at my house), then you won't have to worry about being tempted to eat so many of them! 

And you won't be making these all the time, probably only for special occasions. 

Everything in moderation...

Oh yeah, don't forget about my Van's Coupon Giveaway! It ends at midnight tonight (Tuesday)!! Don't miss out! 

Enter here.