What is a faux queso? Sometimes when you love to eat and cook, something magical can happen in the kitchen. Impromptu and divine. While Brett and I were making King Ranch Chicken Casserole and waiting for it to bake, we snacked on the extra corn tortilla scraps and used them to wipe up some of the leftover sauce in the Dutch oven. And he said...
This is an easy copy cat recipe for the smoked cabbage slaw they used to serve at Freedmen’s Bar and Smokehouse. It is gluten-free and dairy-free, too! Freedmen’s Bar and Smokehouse Update 2019 I’m so sad that Freedmen’s closed down. I really loved their BBQ and sides and we used to go often and sit on the patio. I actually used to live down...
Homemade Cilantro Jalapeño Hummus I love me some hummus! And I really like it flavorful and spicy. We’ve been buying a new flavor from the store – Cilantro Jalapeño Hummus – and because I usually devour it in two days it was starting to get a little expensive. So it was time to try to make it at home. I like to add white...
Homemade Red Salsa Do you have a favorite recipe for red salsa? We’ve been playing around with different variations of homemade organic red salsa and I really like this one! It is easy and has a little kick to it. Since we are trying to keep it mostly organic we’ve used Muir Glen whole tomatoes, fresh organic peppers, onion, and garlic. Of course, you can add...
Hello Meatless Monday! So Asian Fried Rice? It’s been done before. Why blog it again? I’m sharing this recipe because Asian fried rice recipes have been a challenge for me. And trust me that I’ve tried to make ‘Chinese Fried Rice’ with old cooked rice and cold rice – all the ways they’ve said to make fried rice – but it just never works for...
A versatile method for cooking Mexican rice by lightly frying Basmati rice then adding tomato sauce, or salsa, or puree and then baking in the oven. Easy Mexican Rice Maybe because I’m half Persian and always have Basmati rice in the pantry, but I just love rice dishes. All kinds of rice dishes from sweet to savory. My mom used to make this decadent...
Quick Pickled Jalapeños When our jalapeño plant is producing well we like to quick pickle the peppers just to use in recipes like spicy chicken spaghetti or in a hummus or to eat with nachos. Most store bought versions of pickled jalapeños either contain yellow dye or distilled grain vinegar. Jeff’s Naturals is a good choice for free and clear pickled jalapeños. It is...
These orange marmalade oatmeal cookies are naturally gluten-free, dairy-free (ghee and coconut oil) and egg-free. They are highly addictive and super easy to make from scratch. Gluten-free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Orange Marmalade Cookies It’s not something we make often, but I wanted to make a gluten-free Chicken L’Orange recipe as a special treat for Christmas dinner. So I found gluten-free marmalade (Bonne Maman) and the...
Kale pesto is such an easy thing to whip up in the blender. Usually it is made with fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, lemon and olive oil. But I wanted to try it with everyone’s favorite superfood – kale. And we took out the Parmesan to make it casein/dairy-free. It turned out wonderful. Toss is with some gluten-free pasta and you have...
This blog is about cooking real food from unprocessed ingredients to make simple and naturally gluten-free meals and mostly casein-free/dairy-free (except for a little aged Parmesan and goat milk). We try to "healthify” and clean up our favorite comfort foods using organic fresh veggies, lean proteins, healthy grains and lots of spice!
