Greek Chicken Wraps with Pepper Olive Relish

This recipe was inspired by a dish a good friend of mine brought me after I had my second child, Emma.  It is so helpful to have friends bless you with meals when you've just had a newborn.  I am such a mess and cannot possibly think about cooking with all the change happening around me.  Anyways, thank you Laura for the AMAZING meal, you are such a good cook and I ALWAYS enjoy everything you make!  It has only taken a year for me to make this for myself, haha!  Also, for all of my gluten eating friends, Laura served us these on Ciabatta rolls - so good!

If you like the flavors in Greek salad, you are going to LOVE this.  It is different and relatively easy to throw together.  I actually prepared this before church Sunday, and I loved not having to scramble together some lunch when we got home, and was glad to fight the temptation to go out to eat.

Ingredients:
5 chicken legs (or two breasts) marinaded in Greek salad dressing
Crumbled feta cheese
Organic Corn Tortillas (if possible)
Coconut oil, salt

Marinade:
1/4 cup pitted ripe olives, diced
1/4 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives, diced
1/4 cup sliced mild banana peppers, diced
1 Tablespoon drained capers
2 Tablespoons chopped red onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1/2 tsp fresh)
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions: First: mix the diced olives & peppers, capers, onion, olive oil, vinegar, oregano & black pepper to prepare the marinade.  Let flavors meld from 2-24 hours.  Cook the chicken (grilled is preferred), when finished de-bone & shred or slice. (You can serve the chicken warm or cold-if you want to prepare in advance)  Fry the corn tortillas in the coconut oil, flipping once as they start to puff up, sprinkle with salt.  Layer the chicken on top of the cooked tortillas, add the Pepper Olive relish and top with feta cheese.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Rice Salad

I first tried this "rice salad" with my sister in law Juliet.  We were visiting them in Georgia and were planning to be out the entire next day.  They were in school and we were on a tight budget so we decided to plan a picnic rather than eat out.  I am SOOO glad we did because I was introduced to a new way of eating rice.  Thanks Juliet for the inspiration, you are such a fabulous and creative cook!  I enjoy swapping ideas with you :)

I always have left over rice any time I make that as a side for dinner, so this is an easy meal to come by.  Great for a quick lunch on the go.  It is also quite versatile, use whatever fresh veggies, meat & seasonings you have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup cooked black beans (Use meat here if you like)
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped
A few cucumber slices, quartered
1/2 medium tomato, chopped
small handful cilantro, coarsely chopped

olive oil
apple cider vinegar
lemon juice
salt
pepper

I basically mix all the ingredients together, then drizzle olive oil, vinegar & lemon juice over it, to just moisten all the ingredients.  Next I add the salt and pepper to taste.  Let it sit over night, and just before serving (or before you leave the house if you are bringing this as a lunch) drizzle once more with olive oil & a splash of vinegar to taste.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Lunch Ideas for Kids

If you are new to doing gluten free for your whole family you may think WOW this is super overwhelming!  What are my kids going to eat?!  I know it may seem hard and that you won't be able to come up with things, but trust me it DOES get easier!  I came up with a list of lunches for kids that are big hits in our house.  I hope this helps! Click HERE fore more adult type lunches & breakfasts.

I used to work at a day care and for every meal we had to have a protein, 2 veggies or a fruit and a veggie & grain.  Ever since then I always keep that in the back of my mind as I make my kids meals.  I don't always do a grain but I do try to have a "living" food item (Fresh produce- not cooked) with every meal for them.  Substitute the fruits and veggies to meet your child's likes.  Also I try to use my left overs, that is when  I would serve potatoes or diced chicken.  I like to make things quickly so when you are making chicken for dinner make extra for quick dicing for lunches later in the week.

*Hot dog (no bun) sweet potatoes ( mashed or cubed), peas, watermelon
*GF Bagel(Udi's) or GF English Muffin (Trader Joes has an inexpensive one) Pizzas, salad, grapes
*Sauteed Salmon (Aldi has a FABULOUS deal on Wild Caught Salmon), broccoli, berries
*Diced Chicken, green beans, apples, raw cheese
*Quesadilla, avocados, cantaloupe
*Peanut butter (or almond butter) and Jelly Sandwich, yogurt, carrots
*Raw cheese & GF crackers, Organic corn, strawberries
*Meatballs, noodles (or mash potatoes), green beans, orange
*GF Macaroni & Cheese (Annie's has a good one, so does Trader Joes or make your own with brown rice noodles, cheese, milk, butter & salt and hide butternut squash in the sauce) with or without hot dogs , broccoli, apple
*GF lunch meat, apples & peanut butter or almond butter, cucumbers
*GF Grilled cheese sandwich, peas & carrots, banana
*GF spaghetti, salad, blueberries

**Be sure to read the labels on salad dressing, most like to use soy bean oil or vegetable oil, I would highly recommend not consuming either of those ingredients and in our house we strive to not eat anything with those in them, period.  (see THIS for an interesting article on why we shouldn't consume MOST soy products)  I have started making my own, mostly vinaigrettes.  Whole foods has a good ranch dressing in their produce section that has good oils and ingredients in it, made by Cindy's Kitchen.

Gluten-Free BLTs

I usually grocery shop at the beginning of the week and come Sunday I am running low on food.  When I don't plan for lunch we end up going out to eat (I would love to save the money) or I stress about trying to come up with a meal from scratch with not much to work with in my fridge.  At his point the kids are usually tired and we're all hungry.  I have recently started to plan fast meals for Sunday lunch, after church.  It has helped tremendously (and saved us lots of money) to have something planned, I know that I have all the ingredients on hand and it can come together in less than 20 minutes.  We will have a stir fry, hot dogs, burgers, quick sandwiches, ect... This week we had BLTs and they were sooo good and I threw it together so fast.

Ingredients:
Beef bacon
Romaine lettuce leaves
Tomatoes sliced
Grapeseed mayo
Salt & pepper
Butter
Rudi's Gluten-free bread or Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bread if you are not GF

Start cooking up the bacon, while they are cooking toast your bread.  As the toast gets done butter one side, this will be the side that is on the outside of the sandwich (my father in law first introduced me to butter on the outside of your toasted sammy oh my goodness it makes all the difference in the world).  Next slice up the tomatoes and tear off the lettuce leaves.  Once the bacon is done layer your sandwiches to your liking add the mayo last & sprinkle with salt and pepper.  SOOO simple, but oh so tastey!  We had kettle cooked potato chips ( Trader Joes sells a reduced fat chips that only has potatoes, sunflower oil & salt - I have heard chips are your best option when cooked in ONLY sunflower oil, not safflower - or any other kind of oil, so my Chiropractor says, I have not researched that for myself, but that is the chips we get.  Lays also offers a natural potato chip that can be found at local stores with the same ingredients & so does Tostidos!) and a pickle.  Fast, Simple, Delicious!

Yummy Gluten-free Summer Sandwich

I made these sandwiches last week when my mom was in town.  They turned out VERY good and a quick dinner to throw together, this will be a good meal when you are in a rush.  I used Udi's gluten free bagels which are really good, so I highly suggest them.  Occasionally there are 1$ off coupons on my blog here for Udi's brand products, so look for them :)

I actually had summer BLTs on my menu for the week, but after finishing my shopping and driving home I realized I forgot Bacon!  Well, what can I substitute?  I am forever making things from whatever I have on hand, I often start a recipe and realize oh no I don't have that....what else would work?  Most of the time it turns out fine, sometimes I discover a new recipe....although a few times my husband and I decide "better follow the recipe next time" Ha!  So I used lunch meat, instead of bacon and I actually just warmed it up for a few seconds in a skillet, it was just as good and cooked up much quicker.

Ingredients:
Gluten-free bagels (Udi's brand), toasted & buttered
Sliced turkey, heated up, Salami heated up, Cooked bacon (whatever meat you prefer)
Tomato- sliced, Lettuce, Onion-sliced, avocado-sliced- this is a must!!
Spinach artichoke dip (any favorite dip will work, I picked up this one from Costco and I had purchased it for chips originally.  I made potato salad at my in-laws and I left my mayo & mustard at their house, so had to figure out, "what else would work".)

Assemble sandwiches, serve with chips & fresh fruit.  Very easy, quick and the dip, instead of the regular condiments really made it different, felt like a deli had made it.  Enjoy!

Fresh Berry Salad with Salmon

I am always looking for new ways to use salmon.  I came up with this simple salad recently and it was great!  Really easy and such a tasty, light summer meal.

Ingredients:
Two 4 ounce Salmon fillets
Coconut oil
Salt
Soy sauce (wheat-free)
Honey
1 head of leafy romaine lettuce, chopped
Fresh berries (I used raspberries & blueberries)
Walnuts (pecans or almonds would work too)
Feta cheese

Melt coconut oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Add salmon to the soil pour 1 tsp soy sauce, then 1 teaspoon of honey on each fillet, sprinkle with salt.  Flip after 4 minutes, repeat soy sauce & honey on the other side of salmon, sprinkle with more salt.  Cook until salmon is flaky (about 4 more minutes).

Divide lettuce between 3 plates add nuts, & berries.  Top with cooked salmon & sprinkle with feta.  Serve with sweet vinaigrette.  I made mine with equal portions of olive oil & apple cider vinegar, a little honey, raspberry jam, salt & pepper, all to taste.  Enjoy!!

Quick Stir Fry

I came up with this stir fry this week.  I thought it was a nice change from the normal lunch I throw together for a friend coming over.  It is really quick and versatile, just use whatever veggies you have on hand. I have been cooking my chicken first thing in the week, shredding it, freezing some, and keeping a few zip lock bags of cooked chicken in the fridge.  I will add it to salads, sandwiches & dinners through out the week and I don't have to wait for it to cook, just re-heat.  Recently I have been buying cabbage, mainly for slaw, stir fries & soup (more in the winter).  It adds a great flavor to Asian dishes.

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1/8-1/4 cup soy sauce (make sure it is gluten-free(if you are doing that diet), they sneak wheat in!)
1 chicken breast, cooked, sliced
1/3 small red cabbage, shredded
1 broccoli crown, steamed chopped large

Sautee the onions and garlic in oil, until the onions are translucent.  Pour in the broth and soy sauce, add the chicken and cook for a few minutes till heated through.  Last throw in the cabbage & broccoli.  Sautee the mixture for about 3 minutes, until the cabbage is just starting to soften.  Taste & see if you want to add more soy sauce.  Serve warm.  This is also something you can make a little while before your guest (or family) is ready to eat.  Just heat for a few minutes on high to warm up.  Enjoy!!  Serves 2.