Sure, you could buy the gluten free lasagna noodles and make a lasagna that way. But this is a MUCH cheaper way to achieve the same feeling. I think I got my 5 lb bag of potatoes for 2 or 3 dollars. And I only used 2 lbs out of the bag. While I’m thankful that there are more and more gluten free products becoming available in the mainstream supermarkets, I still can’t justify the price of things like pasta. So this was a fun way to enjoy a pasta dish – without any pasta!

If you eat dairy, this could be just as easily done with ricotta or cottage cheese and mozzarella. That, with the spinach and tomato sauce, would make a great vegetarian version I think. But I chose to keep it dairy free too and so thought that the turkey would be a nice accompaniment of flavor.

All in all, I was really happy with this dish!

GF/DF Potato (pasta-less) Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb ground lean organic turkey
1 tbs Italian seasoning
1 cup chopped spinach
1 egg
1 cup tomato (or pasta) sauce
2 lbs potatoes

White sauce:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tbs corn starch
2 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt

Italian seasoning and nutritional yeast for top layer (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by making your ‘fillings’. Cook up your ground turkey in a skillet pan with the italian seasoning. In a medium saucepan, first combine the almond milk and corn starch, whisking well, prior to turning on the heat. I turned it right up to high until it started to show a few bubbles, then brought it down to medium.  Add your salt and nutritional yeast and cook until the sauce shows some elasticity. You can choose to add more cornstarch, as needed. While those are cooking, beat the egg in a small mixing bowl, adding the tomato sauce and spinach.

Once the turkey and cheese sauce have both been cooked, combine them in a large mixing bowl.

Now you’ll want to make your ‘pasta’. Using a mandoline slicer, slice all of the potatoes. You may choose to remove the skin, but I personally prefer to leave it on. Just make sure the wash the potatoes thoroughly before slicing them if you leave the skin intact.

Spray a small casserole pan (I used 7 x 8 – odd size), and lay the first round of potatoes in the pan. I did two layers of potatoes, but you may choose to do 1 if you have a smaller pan, or 3 layers if you have a larger pan. Then pour in your 2 fillings, making 3 sections of filling, and 4 sections of potato. On the top layer of the potato, I added Italian seasoning and nutritional yeast, but this is optional.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let cool for 15-20 before serving – this will help the pieces you cut to stay together better. It’s also excellent as leftovers! :)

~Aubree Cherie

This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday,

These are a great grab and and go breakfast! They also make an extra tasty pancake with syrup or your favorite toppings. I personally love peanut butter on pancakes – and these were no exception!

They obviously have a nutty flavor, but I like how that balances with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and all-spice. Although there are times I would eat them straight out the fridge on my way out the door (cold and such), I liked them best when popped into my toaster oven for a few minutes. It would revive the crispy edges and tasted like they just came out of the pan!

Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal
3/4 cups flax seed meal
6 eggs (I have done a similar batch with egg whites only – use 1 1/4 cup of egg whites)
1/2 tsp alcohol free NuNaturals liquid stevia
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (be sure it’s GF!)
1 tsp cinnamon
Pince of allspice and nutmug

Instructions:

I actually started with whole almonds, so I used the dry attachment on my Vitamix to get 1 cup of almond meal. The texture should be dictated by your preference, but I recommend as fine as you can grind without ending up with almond butter!

In a medium mixing bowl, crack open your eggs and whisk them together for about a minute (omit this step if using egg whites). Then add in your salt, stevia, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients before adding them to the egg mixture. Mix well.

Lightly spray a stove-top pan and bring it up to just below medium heat. On my stove I have settings set as 1-10, and for this I used setting 4. Spoon the mixture onto the pan until the edges reach approximately 3″ in diameter. You may choose to make your cakes a different size – I don’t think that matters too much! I cooked the cakes about 4 minutes on the first side, and 2 minutes on the second. I recommend having multiple pans going to speed up this process!

Makes approximately 16 3″ cakes, which will last well in your fridge just over a week in a sealed container.

Enjoy!

~Aubree Cherie Davis

This recipe is linked to My Meatless Mondays, Just Another Meatless Monday, 5-Ingredient Monday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesday, Pennywise Platter, Full Plate Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Foodie Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Food on Friday.

Gluten free tortillas usually don’t wow me. In fact, I tend to avoid them all together. I will, on occasion, have a corn tortilla, but the taste isn’t there for me. It’s almost not worth wasting the calories. So when I saw recipes on Pinterest that were using cauliflower, eggs, and cheese to make crusts and wraps – I wanted to give cauliflower a try. This recipe doesn’t contain cheese, but I don’t think it needs it anyway!

These ‘tortillas’ are still not that fluffy, light, and distinct taste of a wheat tortilla, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out! Functional AND tasty! I used my first attempt at the wrap to make pinwheels, which I served at the first Gluten Free Support Group I hosted at my home, last month. There were 7 gluten intolerant/celiac ladies that came and we learned a lot from each other. These pinwheels were a hit!

Grain Free Cauliflower Wrap Pinwheels

Note: I’m essentially giving you the recipe for the cauliflower wraps, which I adapted from Empowered Sustenance.  I’ll note what I used in the pinwheels, but the fillings are up to  you! Photos will primarily show the pinwheels, not the cooking process of the wraps. 

Ingredients:

1 full medium head of cauliflower (approx 3 cups of ‘riced’ cauliflower)
2 eggs, plus 1 egg white
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or your seasonings of choice)
1 tsp sea salt 

(makes approximately 2 5×7 rectangular wraps)

Instructions:

If you like, you may use the directions at the Empowered Sustenance blog, which claims the original cauliflower wrap recipe. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by washing the cauliflower in the sink, as best you can. Cut the head into florets, removing the hard parts of the stem. Next, ‘rice’ the cauliflower. There are many ways to do this, but I choose to use my hand crank Salsa Express, because I don’t have an electrical food processor and this isn’t the job of a blender (you want the pieces to still be somewhat coarse and about the size of cooked rice grains).

Once riced, the cauliflower needs to be cooked. I put mine in a metal steamer in a saucepan and steamed it for about 10 minutes on high heat and mostly covered with a lid. I’m sure you will get similar results if you boil the cauliflower and then drain it.

This part may seem weird, but you don’t want overly ‘wet’ cauliflower being mixed with the egg. So pour your cauliflower onto a large unused (aka, clean! :)) kitchen towel, twist the top of the towel and drain out any access water into the sink. I found all of the excess moisture was soaked into the towel. I think that steaming helped keep it from getting too water logged.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs for about 1 minute, then add all other ingredients and mix well. Once combined, cover two baking pans with parchment paper. Separate the batter onto the two pans and then using a spatula, spread the batter into the shape that you want. In my case, I made two rectangles. Spread the batter as far as you can, making sure that there are no ‘holes’ and that you cannot actually see the parchment through the batter.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until you can see that the edges are starting to brown slightly. Bring them out of the oven, remove the parchment paper from the hot pans, and place them where they can cool. Once they are cool enough to touch (they will still be quiet warm), place a metal rack on top of the tortilla and flip it over. You’re essentially putting the tortilla on the metal rack so that the bottom of the tortilla does not get soggy. However, when it’s warm, there is a risk of it ripping – so be careful when doing this.

Once the wraps are cooled, you can begin filling! I used gluten free mayo, deli meat (can easily substitute for veggie meat, slice mushrooms, tofu, etc), cheese slices, spring greens, and a drizzling of salad dressing. While the wrap is surprisingly pliable and easy to work with, it’s not as simple as a regular tortilla. Because of this, I rolled the pinwheels and then stuck the toothpicks BEFORE cutting (see photo of roll above). This helped to hold it all together. I also recommend using a very sharp knife, such as a ceramic knife, to cut these. It should keep them from ripping.

They are best if served immediately, but I also kept some in the fridge overnight that tasted just as well the next day! The wraps weren’t quiet as ‘crispy’, but they were still a pleasure to eat!

~Aubree Cherie Davis

I love chocolate. And I love ice cream. Both addictions primarily extend, I think, from a love of smooth textures. Brownies are particularly hard to put down, because I love that ‘melt in your mouth’ feel about them.

I’ve done some experimenting with black bean brownies in the past, with good success (see my post from 3 years ago: German Chocolate Brownies). So I know I like the healthier version of brownies a whole lot. This recipe takes the brownie recipe and turns it into frozen bites – much like a mini taste of chocolate ice cream.

So it’s probably not for everyone, but this brownie loving ice cream addict sure appreciates these healthier treats! :)

GF Frozen Brownie Batter

Ingredients:
1 15.5 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup powdered baking cocoa
1/3 cup mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup almond milk
3 tbs Aubree’s homemade date syrup
1 tsp gf pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp NuNaturals achohol free liquid stevia
2 tbs creamy peanut butter
1 tbs instant ground original roast decaf coffee

Instructions:

Blend all ingredients together on high until the batter is completely smooth. On a sheet of aluminum foil (I placed mine in a small cookie sheet), drop teaspoon sized batter, spacing so they do not touch. Put in the freezer for 30 minutes. Remove the pan, pop off the drops, put into a ziploc bag and put them back into the freezer until you’re ready to snack!

~Aubree Cherie Davis

This recipe is linked to My Meatless Mondays, Just Another Meatless Monday, 5-Ingredient Monday, Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Foodie Friday, Food on Fridays, Fight Back Friday, I’m Lovin’ It, Friday Favorites, and Fresh Bites Friday.

Personally, I’ve never understood the fascination (ahem, OBSESSION) around Nutella. It’s just never had an addictive affect on me. I don’t dislike it, but I also don’t find it to be a guilty pleasure. However, I can list, by name, a host of friends who ARE addicted to the stuff. So when I made up the hazelnut flour (see below), I knew it had to be with something chocolately. Or I was letting all the Nutella enthusiasts down!

These are soft energy balls and I love how they melt in your mouth.

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnut meal/flour (see below)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp instant ground coffee
2 tbs chia seeds
1/4 tsp NuNaturals alcohol free liquid stevia
2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, stevia, and vanilla extract. Blend until the peanut butter is creamy and very soft. In a seperate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add the flour mix to the peanut butter and mix well.

Roll the batter into 1″ balls. It should make about 2 dozen energy bites. I kept mine in the refrigerator for almost 2 weeks and they tasted great/stayed fresh. These are a good and healthy way to enjoy a sweet treat but also a quick snack anytime to keep your hunger away. I ate these in the afternoons at work when I was feeling tired (I don’t do well in the afternoons… so I try all sorts of things! ha).

Hazelnut/Filbert flour

Hardly a recipe – but isn’t this gorgeous?

Hazelnut/Filbert flour

Ingredients: 

2.5 cups hazelnuts, frozen
Equipment – Vitamix dry blender

Instructions:

Using the dry attachment for your Vitamix (or a food processor might work?), finely chop the hazelnuts in 1 cup or less increments. Don’t over pulse or they could become more like nut butter. I recommend freezing the hazelnuts because it helps when they are being chopped. The pieces stick together less and are more evenly chopped. I actually discovered this trick when making almond flour, but it works just as well for hazelnuts!

~Aubree Cherie Davis

This recipe is linked to My Meatless Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday, Mouthwatering Monday, 5-Ingredient Monday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Parade of Foods, Real Food Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Fight Back Friday, Friday Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, and Foodie Friday.