Gluten Free Burrito Bowls

I love a good, messy burrito. I haven't eaten a burrito since going gluten free. I have been craving them big time. I made these chicken burrito bowls a few nights ago for the family and they were a big hit. They are so quick and easy to throw together. It might be my new favorite dinner!

Gluten Free Chicken Burrito Bowl

by Jen Loves Life

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: grill entree gluten-free quinoa chicken

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Ingredients (4 servings)

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 4 chicken thighs, boneless skinless
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can white corn
• salsa verde
• guacamole
• sour cream
• black olives

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package directions.

Drain corn and black beans. Heat each separately in small bowl in microwave, about 2 minutes each.

Cook chicken. I grilled the chicken thighs on a stovetop grill pan but you can also bake the chicken until cooked all the way through, approximately 30 minutes. Dice chicken.

Add 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1/2 cup black beans and 1/2 cup corn to a bowl. Add diced chicken on top. Top with 2 tablespoons light sour cream, 2 tablespoons guacamole (I like Wholly Guacamole). Drizzle a few tablespoons of salsa verde and add a few sliced black olives. Enjoy.

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Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are so easy to make and my girls love them. We make these all the time. Sometimes we add chocolate chips which almost make the cookies taste like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I like to use crunchy peanut butter but the girls prefer smooth peanut butter.

There are only three ingredients; sugar, peanut butter and an egg. The cookies are gluten free and dairy free.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

by Jen Loves Life

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients (20 small cookies)

• 1 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 cup Sugar + more for dusting
• 1 Large Egg

Instructions

Combine egg, sugar and peanut butter in a bowl. Once well mixed, spoon small amounts of cookie dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Next, we dip a fork into a small amount of sugar and make the crisscross pattern on each cookie. We re-dip the fork for each cookie. Place cookies in oven and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are no longer shiny and look dry on the edges.

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The Best Ever Vegan Cupcakes

I have started to experiment with dairy-free cooking because Kid 3 has had some major stomach issues when she eats dairy. She has been feeling sad that everyone eats junk food and they can go about their day feeling fine while she almost instantly gets a stomach ache. She's tried using the Lactaid pills but she really hated having to take them every time she wanted to eat something with dairy.

I started searching on Pinterest for dairy-free recipes to make for Kid 3. I found an excellent oatmeal chocolate chip recipe (I'll post about that soon!) and I found this recipe. The recipe is from babble.

I followed the recipe exactly. We used plain, unsweetened almond milk for the non-dairy milk and I used Canola oil, because that was all I had on hand. For the frosting I used Smart Balance butter, again because that was what I had. The frosting was a tad oily but I think it has to do with the butter, it is an oil-based dairy-free butter. We were able to make 24 mini cupcakes with the recipe. The batter was very thin so we were worried it wouldn't rise but they turned out great!

The perfect bite-sized cupcake

We devoured the cupcakes in a matter of hours. All of the girls loved them and no one missed the dairy. This will be our new go-to recipe for cupcakes.

Sweet Halloween Fun #JELLOHalloween #sponsored

The girls have been begging me to decorate for Halloween. I'll admit, when it comes to decorating for holidays I'm pretty lazy. I finally gave in and helped the girls decorate a little bit around the house. 

I surprised the girls with a fun snack to eat while decorating. While they were at school I made JELL-O's Halloween JIGGLERS Hands. The girls love theme snacks so I knew they'd get a kick out of these hands! 

I modified the recipe just slightly. I used Raspberry and Strawberry flavors since those two flavors are the  favorite flavors around here. I've never mixed flavors before so I was nervous but I will say it was probably the best tasting JELL-O I've ever had! I will forever mix these two flavors.

I was worried that cutting the JIGGLERS without a cookie cutter would be hard but it was fairly easy. The hardest part though, was getting the JIGGLERS out of the pan. I used a glass pan, it would have been much easier to get the hand out had I greased the bottom of the pan. I thought about doing that but since the directions didn't say to, I didn't. I also had a hard time seeing where I had cut.  I was able to get all those little hands out of the pan and on to plates for the kids.

 

I cut up the scraps and called them worms. C really loved the worms, she had fun putting sprinkles in them to give the worms eyes. G chopped up her scraps and called the mess a brain.

The brain got me thinking! I'm going to make green, slimy zombie brains for Halloween. I'll use Lime JELL-O and I will make it in the glass pan, once the JELL-O is set, I'll chop it up, or let the kids do it, and make little brain piles. We can stick some bug candies in the brains to make them look extra creepy.

All of the JELL-O JIGGLERS recipes are quick, simple and fun. Which makes them perfect for me, I love fast and easy!

If you're interested in the rest of the JELL-O JIGGLERS Halloween recipes you can find them here:
  

Creepy Crawly JIGGLERS
MMMMonster JIGGLERS
Halloween Cat Eyes JIGGLERS
Halloween JIGGLERS Hands


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas

We love Mexican food here. I think at least half of what we eat each week is some sort of Mexican food, or takeout pizza.

I make simple chicken enchiladas for the family. The girls all eat it up and they usually don't complain. Almost every dinner we eat someone has something to say about something they don't like that we are having. This is one dinner I don't have to modify or make different versions of for the girls.

If you know me, you know I hate measuring so I'll do my best to give you the correct measurements.

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas:

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 white onion
a few shakes of salt
a few shakes of pepper
a pinch of red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons taco sauce (we use mild)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can of sliced olives
1/4 cup of green onions, chopped
28 ounce can of enchilada sauce (we used to use La Victoria but we haven't found it out here, now we use   Las Palmas. I like La Victoria better)
Corn tortillas, about 20-30 (we buy a small pack and use almost all of them)

Directions:
Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Place in CrockPot. Top with taco sauce. Allow meat to cook on low 6-8 hours.

Once the meat is cooked, remove from slow cooker and allow to cool for 15 minutes. While meat is cooling warm tortillas on a baking sheet in the oven at around 250 degrees, about 10 minutes. 

When chicken is cool, shred with two forks.

Pour 1/3 of the can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.

Place a tortilla flat on a plate or cutting board, fill with a small amount of chicken in center (about 4 tablespoons worth) and roll. Place in the baking pan. Continue rolling tortillas until you run out of meat or tortillas. Place rolled tortillas in the baking pan. Sometimes we use more than one pan because we make so much.

Top enchiladas with remaining sauce so that all tortillas are covered. Layer cheddar cheese on top. Then, add olives and green onions. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Enchiladas are done when cheese is fully melted.

Makes approximately 20-30 enchiladas.

Sweet and Salty Caramel Popcorn

I really wish I could bake, but I can't. Every time I try the item I am baking comes out of the oven as hard as a rock and ready to be used as a weapon. While I was making caramel popcorn for the girls I suddenly realized why I am so terrible at baking. I hate measuring!! I am terrible at making sure everything is measured, I like to throw things in a pot and call it a day. So, I will probably never be a great baker but at least I can make sweet treats for the kids that don't need to be baked.

Here's the recipe for my Sweet and Salty Caramel Popcorn. It is so gooey and delicious I could eat it all day long!!

Ingredients:

About 10 cups of air popped popcorn (this is a complete guess, I was going to measure so my recipe would be accurate but I forgot to. I filled my popper to the max fill line and used most of what popped out of the machine!)

One stick of unsalted butter

One cup of white sugar

Coarse salt

Directions:

Cook sugar on medium heat until it is completely melted. Make sure to stir the sugar constantly. (A took all my pictures so I could keep stirring).

Once the sugar is melted, add butter. Continue stirring and cooking over medium heat for five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for five minutes.

Arrange popcorn in a shallow layer in baking dish. Sprinkle salt over the popcorn and then drizzle with some of the caramel sauce. Add another layer of popcorn and sprinkle with salt and caramel. Continue layering until all the popcorn and caramel are gone. Mix with two forks to distribute the caramel to all the popcorn.

After the caramel is all mixed in I let it sit for a few minutes before letting the kids dig in.

Chipotle Ranch Chicken Wraps

This is Rob's recipe. He's been making these "world famous" chicken wraps since before I knew him, so that's a long time! We usually make them using regular ranch dressing but this time we tried something different and used a chipotle ranch dressing. The wraps are good hot or cold. I usually eat a hot one for dinner and a cold one for lunch the next day. I just finished eating one for lunch about five minutes ago!

Ingredients:
4 pounds chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
1 package of bacon
lettuce, shredded
tomatoes, diced
cheddar cheese, shredded
chipotle ranch dressing (or regular ranch, if you prefer)
flour tortillas

Directions:
Dice chicken and cook in pan until cooked all the way through. Cook bacon in pan, as well. We warm our tortillas in the oven because warming them on the electric stove does weird things to them, so warm your tortillas however you like.

Assemble the wraps. Rob is very particular in how he assembles them. Each wrap (in our house) has to be made this way: chicken first, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, ranch dressing. Wrap up and eat!

working his magic

Super simple and so good!! Our kids all eat them as well, which is shocking because no one here eats the same things. All of my kids are so picky and hard to please.

Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

Fettuccine alfredo is probably one of my favorite things to eat! I don't make it often but when I do it is always delicious. Sometimes I make blackened chicken to go on top of the pasta and sometimes we use shrimp. Rob isn't a big fan of shrimp so we eat it that way whenever he isn't around! I always make broccoli with it because that is G's favorite way to eat her fettuccine alfredo.

Making the alfredo sauce is pretty simple. I use heavy whipping cream and an Italian cheese blend. Those two things are basically the only ingredients. I use whatever brand of cheese blend is on sale. This week I used Sargento. The sauce was as good as it always is. I typically roast garlic to add to the sauce but this week I forgot to buy garlic so I just added some garlic powder.

Here is the quick and easy recipe for alfredo sauce:

Ingredients
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 package (8 ounces) Italian cheese blend
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder (or 1 tablespoon roasted garlic)

Directions: 
Heat heavy cream on medium-low until warm, about five minutes. Add cheese blend, salt, pepper and garlic. Allow cheese to melt, stirring frequently. The cheese will melt in approximately 10 minutes. Once cheese is melted allow sauce to cook for an additional five minutes.

That's it! So simple but so delicious!

Once the sauce is done pour it on your fettuccine noodles and enjoy with whatever add-ins you like.

I cook the sauce on medium-low the entire time. I do not let the cream ever boil. The sauce will thicken the longer it sits after cooking. If the sauce becomes too thick I add a few tablespoons of butter to thin it out.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

In the car today Rob was telling me about his conversation with some work friends. Last night he took chorizo and egg burritos for dinner. He asked one guy if he liked chorizo and egg burritos, the guy had no clue what Rob was talking about. He offered the guy one of his burritos, I think Rob said the friend liked it. Rob said while he was then microwaving his burritos another guy came in and asked what smelled so good, Rob told him and that guy had also never heard of chorizo. Rob then started to talk about the delicious carne asada tacos we make. The guys also had no clue what that was.

I guess neither one of us realized how much California and the Hispanic culture and foods had influenced us. (Just in case anyone was unsure, we are not at all Hispanic, we just love the food!) When Rob was telling me the story I had the same reaction he did, "What?" and "Oh man, they don't know what's good out here!" The guys at his work talk about eating deer and other things we'd never think of trying. Okra, what is it? It's some sort of vegetable right? I guess you don't realize the small cultural differences in our own country, even in food, unless you go new places! I don't think I'll be eating deer (or alligator or squirrel or anything else that I don't think is "normal") any time soon.

Since Cinco De Mayo is coming up I thought I'd post this recipe. This was the first dinner we made in our new house. Rob loves this Chicken Tortilla Soup and it's pretty easy to make, which makes me happy.

I plan to enjoy a few margaritas on Cinco De Mayo. I just realized our blender is in storage, looks like someone's going to have to buy one! Mmm, I could go for a margarita right now!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients: 

1 whole chicken

3 cans (15 ounces each) chili beans, do not drain

1 can (15 ounces) corn, do not drain

1 can (15 ounces) whole tomatoes

1 small can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1 package of taco seasoning mix

5 cups water

10 corn tortillas (more or less, depending on how many strips you want)

Canola oil (or whatever you like to fry things in)

Sour cream, optional

Directions:

For Chicken:

Boil chicken in enough water to cover.  Cook chicken one hour, or until done. Remove chicken from water. Allow chicken to cool. You could also bake the chicken or use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Once chicken is cool remove meat from bones and break meat up into bite-sized chunks.

For tortilla strips:

I cut the strips using a pizza cutter before I start the soup. I add about an inch or two of oil to the pan. Heat the oil while soup is cooking. Add a handful of strips to the oil, cook until crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel, sprinkle with salt. 

For soup:

Add chili beans, corn, whole tomatoes and tomato sauce to pot. Do not drain any liquid from the cans, add it all. Add water and taco mix. Cook soup over medium heat, once soup is boiling add chicken. Cook for 5-10 minutes. 

Top each bowl of soup with tortilla strips and sour cream (if desired).

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I made this Beef Stew a few nights ago. We had an appointment to see a house at 6:00 so I knew I wouldn't have time to make a dinner. I threw everything in the Crock-Pot that morning and when we came back dinner was ready. On a side note, the house was in terrible condition and the owner had no intention of making any repairs before renting it. We were only there a few minutes, it was that bad!

I got this recipe from my mom many years ago. I don't know where she got it but it always comes out fantastic. Rob requested that we add green beans next time. I thought about throwing some frozen peas we had in the freezer in but I knew Rob hates peas, so I didn't. I used five potatoes and I think that was too much, I also used less beef than the recipe called for (because Rob chose the meat at the grocery store) so my pictures don't fully depict what the recipe would look like if followed.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 pounds beef stew meat
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika 
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 carrots, cut into rounds
4 potatoes, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 cups beef broth or 2 cups water plus to beef bullion cubes

Directions: Place meat in slow cooker. Mix flour, salt, pepper, and paprika together; sprinkle over meat. Add remaining ingredients, mix. Cook low for 6-8 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving (my slowe . Makes at least 6 servings. 

The photo quality sucks because I used my phone. Sorry

I didn't have Kitchen Bouquet on hand, so I searched the internet for a recipe. Basically this is what I did to substitute for the Kitchen Bouquet (which is a browning sauce used in soups and gravies, I didn't know that). The sauce I made didn't change the taste of the beef stew at all and I will probably just make the sauce in the future since we don't use it often and it's way cheaper to make it.

Browning Sauce Recipe:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup hot water
a few tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Directions: Cook 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium heat until sugar is melted and starts to darken. (I used dark brown sugar and cooked the sugar for about 10 minutes.) Remove from heat and add 1 cup hot water (my water wasn't hot enough and the sugar started to harden, I turned the stove back on and cooked the mixture on low for a few second and it all dissolved and mixed together fine). A few of the recipes I found said to leave the mixture alone at this point, let it cool and use it. Another few said to add two beef bullion cubes to the mixture. I did neither, I added about 20 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce to the mixture. I let it cool before adding what I needed for the beef stew recipe.

Easy Pancake Recipe

When I was growing up we had a little Sunday tradition. Each Sunday (maybe not each Sunday but many Sundays, none the less) my dad would make pancakes for us for breakfast. We would wake up and watch him cook them. My dad always used the last bit of pancake mix to make a huge pancake for our dog, KC, she was a big black lab. My brother and I liked watching KC wolf down her pancake. I learned how to make pancakes from watching my dad.

My dad used Bisquick mix to make his yummy pancakes so for along time that's how I made them for my kids, until I realized Bisquick has trans fat, which I thought was strange. I was too cheap to buy the special Bisquick that was free of trans fats (why do I have to pay so much more to NOT have trans fat added to my food???) so I found a recipe to make them from scratch. Turns out it's pretty simple and way cheaper than buying a pre-made mix.

we added Valentines sprinkles to make it fun

I am terrible at writing directions and recipes but here it goes:

Easy Pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (Optional. The girls like the extra sweetness and call it adding "love" to the recipe)

Directions
1. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2.In larger bowl, whisk milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture; whisk until just moistened. Do not over-mix, a few lumps are okay, as long as they're small.
4. Pour a small amount of batter in a hot skillet. I use a ladle to pour the batter in the pan. I typically use cooking spray in the pan to keep the pancakes from sticking. You can use oil, butter, whatever makes you happy.
5. Cook the pancake until the edges start to look dry and the top is bubbly. This takes about 2 minutes. Flip the pancake and cook the other side an additional 2 minutes.

I put the pancakes in a tortilla warmer to keep them hot, but sometimes I just throw them on plates as soon as they come out of the pan because my hungry little monsters hate to wait.

This recipe will make 16-18 medium sized pancakes. It would probably make 10 or so large pancakes. We are a big family so I have to make a lot, you can always half the recipe for smaller families or freeze the extras. They heat up easily in the microwave.

I made these hearts using a spoon and spreading the batter around. I usually use an old ketchup bottle filled with batter, it's easy to squirt and you can make all kinds of cool shapes.

C added too many sprinkles while I wasn't looking!