gluten and dairy free meals!

Alright guys, remember the other day when I said I was going to stop eating dairy but I was going to maybe cheat a little and have some gluten? My stomach is saying otherwise. For the past couple weeks I've been going through every day feeling like theres something in my stomach ripping me apart, and I really need to get back on the "diet" train. I know Tuesday's post was about dieting too, so sorry. But anyway, I have exactly two weeks from today before I'm in Montana (thank goodness) and I'm going to really try to have no dairy or gluten within those two weeks. So today I thought I would share some of my favorite gluten-free and dairy-free recipes. Well, they're not really recipes. But they're meals that're both gluten and dairy free, so there ya go. They're all really yummy, so even if you don't have restrictions in your diet you should totally give it a try!

Breakfast-
Gluten-free pancakes- I'm pretty hesitant to try gluten-free versions of things that typically have gluten in them. I'm not a big fan of gluten-free breads or cookies or any of that stuff. BUT I did try gluten free pancakes thought and loved them. My favorite mix is this one, but I've tried others and they're generally all the same. It's nice for a little treat or when everyone else wants pancakes- just make them gluten free and no one will even notice!

Oatmeal- Oatmeal is probably my favorite breakfast. It's quick and easy, and there are so many ways to make it. You can use water, but I prefer making mine with either vanilla soy or lactose free milk. I love blueberries and honey in mine. But you can put any fruit, honey, or cinnamon in it and its delish!

Eggs- Also a favorite because its so easy. I love to cook up some potatoes and turkey sausage with peppers and onions and then throw an egg on top. So good! But really there's a lot of flexibility with eggs and you can make them however and with whatever you want. You can have a cup of fruit or potatoes instead of toast and its still just as good!

Smoothies- I like to make smoothies to bring to class with me in the morning. My favorite is super simple- strawberries, banana, ice, and orange juice. If you can have dairy then yogurt is really yummy in smoothies, too. But really you can throw any fruits and liquid in a blender and it'll probably taste good.

Bacon- Bacon is gluten free and dairy free. Put it on everything.

Lunch-
Salad- I love making a simple salad with mixed greens, a hardboiled egg, almond slices, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds with Brianna's french vinaigrette. That's my shit. And yes, I use that dressing because it's my name. No shame

Breadless Sandwich- Uh what? I know that sounds awful, but a little plate of lunch meat, hummus, veggies, and a hardboiled egg is kind of like eating a sandwich without the bread. I mean not really, but I didn't know what else to call that.

Tuna and peppers- This one might sound weird. But it delish. I love making tuna salad and then cutting up a bell pepper to eat it on. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

I'm not really good at eating lunch. Usually I'll eat leftovers from dinner or just have some fruit between breakfast and dinner because depending on my schedule, I eat either a late breakfast or an early dinner.

Dinner- (my favorite because there are so many options)
Quinoa stuffed peppers- You know I love this one. So good! You can see my "recipe" here.

Quinoa pasta- This one's another favorite. It tastes just like regular spaghetti. Plus you can mix it up. Sometimes I make a garlic infused olive oil and use that + spinach and broccoli and mix it up with the pasta. Or you can make pesto, regular spaghetti, or if you can have dairy you can make alfredo! Pasta is such an easy dinner and quinoa pasta is so good for you!

Chicken + rice + veggies- Simple. I like to just cook my chicken in a pan, but you can bake it too. My favorite is a stir fry-type dinner with peppers, squash, zucchini, onions, garlic, and broccoli with chicken over rice. So yummy. But there are so many ways to mix it up with the veggies and chicken that this is probably the dinner I make the most.

Turkey burgers- Or regular burgers but I like turkey better than beef. I usually just make a turkey patty (no bun) and then cook up some veggies to have with it. The burgers are good if you cook them with some soy sauce or just some salt / pepper / garlic powder

Dessert- 

For dessert I usually either have chocolate (yolo) or cereal. Which sounds lame. But apple cinnamon chex are gluten free and super yummy, so there's that.

What're your favorite meals?

quinoa stuffed peppers

Super quick- I made it to the final three for "Most Inspirational" and "Best Link Party" so I would love if you could go vote for me here!

Okay, most of you know that I'm gluten and dairy free (most of the time). I've been trying really hard to stick to this diet, and I've really only cheated a few times. My biggest challenge is finding new recipes. My options are pretty limited, and a lot of the things I would normally eat have been cut out of my diet. Like if I can't have ice cream and quesadillas and grilled cheese what am I supposed to do? My roommates and I have been experimenting with quinoa though, and so today I wanted to share my "recipe" (I use that term very loosely) for some super yummy quinoa stuffed peppers.

YUM, right?

Here's what you need:
We used green peppers, but you can really use any kind you like. But obviously you need peppers to make quinoa stuffed peppers. And quinoa. You'll need that too. Okay, moving on.
You can really mix anything in there, but we used chicken, zucchini, and squash. But feel free to get a little crazy with some extra mix-ins.

First things first- cook the quinoa and the chicken. We use about a cup of quinoa and prepare it according to the instructions on the box. We sauté some garlic and onion in a little olive oil, and then add the chicken to the pan with some salt n peppa until its almost fully cooked.

Once the chicken is almost done, we add the veggies. It looks something like this and smells like heaven…but not as good as In-N-Out smells.

Yum Yum Yum. Once that's all cooked and ready, I mix it in with the quinoa and fill the peppers with the mix. Then you just pop them in the oven at 350 for like ten (fifteen?) minutes and voilà!

Its a super easy and super healthy dinner, and it's also really yummy if you add some cheese (that's what my roommates tell me) So let me know if you give it a try or if you have any other yummy GF/DF recipes!

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the best thing you'll ever put in your mouth

GUYS. Yesterday for breakfast handsome and I made our own cinnamon sugar donuts. I didn't even think about taking pictures until they were done, so I'm sorry that I suck. But they're super simple and amazing, so I had to share!

Here's what you need...it's this simple:

pillsbury biscuits

sugar

cinnamon

oil

Heat up some canola oil in a skillet/pan/whatever

Take the biscuits out of the container (which I hate doing because the 'pop' always scares me)

Flatten them out 

Cut a hole from the center

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a bowl

Fry the dough pieces until they're golden brown

Transfer directly into cinnamon sugar mix and coat the whole darn thing with that amazingness.

Sorry for the awful recipe-giving, but it's pretty fool proof, and they're literally so good. I'm spending today soaking up my time with Handsome (I leave tomorrow...boo).  But I definitely recommend you try them. I also updated my design services so check that out! Happy Sunday!

one-minute cake for one!

So, this might just be the best thing ever. I have a really intense sweet tooth, like always. So when I heard this recipe for a one-minute cake in a mug, I had to try it!  My handsome man and I ventured out to Fry's at 11pm...typical us being fatties at midnight!
Here's the recipe

one box of Angel Food Cake mix

one box of any other cake mix [we used chocolate]

frosting

Yep! It's that simple!

Put the two boxes of cake mix into a plastic bag and mix them together

In one mug or jar, add:

three tablespoons of the dry mix

two tablespoons of water

Pop in the microwave for one minute

Let cool and frost!

There you have it! The easiest, quickest, and tastiest sweet treat!

Isn't he just the cutest chef?!

peanut butter banana smoothie

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm home for the weekend and it feels like it's going by so slowly.  That'd usually be a good thing, but I really need this next week to be over so I can finally see my handsome man! Anyway, I wanted to share a quick new recipe with you all! I had a sweet tooth the other night, but I didn't want anything too bad for me (I have a bad habit of eating crap pretty late). Here's what I came up with.

Can you say yummy!? Here's what I put in it (for one serving).

One banana

Three ice cubes

A big scoop of peanut butter (I like crunchy)

1/4 cup of milk (lactose free for me, of course!)

Either chocolate syrup or honey to sweeten. 

I used chocolate because I don't like being healthy :)

Sorry I suck at recipes...I know "a big scoop" of peanut butter isn't very exact. But you can just eyeball it, that's what I did! It's so yummy and it's not bad for you if you use honey! 

I hope the rest of everyone's weekend is fabulous!

taco tuesday!

Hey everyone! Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone enjoyed the day off. The roomies and I were all home tonight, so we decided to make it a Taco Tuesday! Yeah, I know its Monday, but 'Taco Monday' doesn't have a nice ring to it! We're celebrating a day early ;)

Mmm they were so yummy!!!

 We chopped up tons of yummy toppings: green chiles, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes [yuck! I hate onions and tomatoes!]

We also had salsa and homemade guacamole. I use two ripe avocado, a little red onion and garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and a little salt. I eyeball everything but no matter how you make it guacamole is always delicious!

We made ground beef which actually came from one of my roommates cow's! [We had bacon from one of their pigs the other day!] It was so much yummier than meat from a grocery store!

We decided to make our own hard taco shells.

We fried corn tortillas in hot oil.

We had a little trouble getting them in a taco shape- but needless to say, they were amazing!

 I think I love food a little too much. But these were seriously so good! I can't wait to make them again for my handsome man when he comes home! [Hopefully we'll know when that is soon]

 I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!

pancakes and painting

Well, today was another uneventful day in Tucson. I did start my day off right with some chocolate chip pancakes though :)

I think I ate the entire plate of them....

We put them on a big plate as we were making them. Can you tell I started eating before we even took them off the plate? :) I couldn't help myself they're sooo good!

And thanks to the roomie's nifty coffee machine, I had some yummy coffee in my favorite 'Good Morning' mug :) I don't like having matching mugs! I have 4 different mugs that I got from who knows where and they're all I use. The ones that match my dishes in a set just sit in the cabinet :)

 After breakfast, when the boredom began to set in, I decided to craft some more! I did a post last week about a DIY chalkboard, and this is kind of similar to that. We wanted something to hang on an empty wall right when you walk into the apartment.
So I hit up the craft crate (which you can buy here)

And here's what I came up with.

I hot glued two foam boards together (just because they were smaller than I wanted them to be) and painted them with chalk paint. [I'm still afraid of a hot glue gun because when I was in Germany I dropped a glob on my finger and had a wicked blister from it!]

Then I used this sparkly blue ribbon that I had and glued it around one half of the board. 

We're going to use the framed half as a message board, and the bottom half to put our mail!

 I used a Sharpie paint pen to write 'mail'- not chalk.

All I need to find now is a cute basket to attach to the bottom to hold the actual mail! I'll definitely keep you updated once I finish it :) I'm also thinking about writing 'leave a message...' at the top of the framed half!

So I'm pretty excited about that. I ended my night with a quick workout and a yummy smoothie! I guess it turned out to be a pretty good day :) The only thing that would've made it better would be if my handsome man would've finally gotten his orders! Still waiting to find out when he can come home...not knowing definitely makes it much harder. But I'm keeping my head up! 

mimosa time!

So we just moved into our apartment and we still have a week and a half before school starts! Needless to say, we're a little bored. We have a nice bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and it's only 4:30 but why not? Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Mimosa time!

 We didn't have any orange juice, but we have cranberry-raspebrry juice and some fresh raspberries! Sounds good to me :)

Mmmm :)

I can tell it's going to be a good night! Mimosas and a little Luke Bryan? Perfect. Happy Sunday everyone!

say bye-bye to dairy!

My sophomore year of high school (about four years ago), I had a lot of stomach problems. I was in really bad pain pretty much every day, so I got some tests done. Over spring break, I was in California visiting a family friend and as I was on my way to an ice cream shop, I got a call saying that I'm lactose intolerant. Awesome. Everything I eat is dairy! I couldn't give it up, so I didn't. Last year, before my trip to Europe, I went completely dairy-free for a little over a month. I've officially decided, like right now, that I want to do that again! I'll keep you updated on my progress!

So if anyone has some yummy recipes that don't have any dairy, please share!

yummy homemade chipolte burrito bowls!

I love Chipotle. I would eat there every day if I could! I always get a burrito bowl and they're absolutely delicious! So to save a little money, I decided to try to make them at home.  I must say, they turned out much better than I expected!

I bought boneless skinless chicken breasts and just cooked them in a pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I always make a ton, and then the rest I can whip up in just minutes whenever! I use one chicken breast per bowl. 

For the rice, you can really use any kind. I love jasmine rice, so that's what I used. You just follow the cooking instructions on the bag.  I usually make about a cup of uncooked rice, and that's enough for two or three bowls. I love Chipotle's cilantro-lime rice, so I take a small bunch of cilantro leaves, chop them up and mix them right into the cooked rice! For the lime, I use the zest and juice of about half of a lime (It just depends on how much rice you make and how much lime flavor you want!)

I always add black beans to mine, but you can use whatever kind of beans you like too! I just take some from a can, but of course you can cook your own. 

Then we get to the to good stuff! The guacamole and salsa! My absolute favorite. I didn't like guac until this year, and now I can't get enough of it! I just make a simple guac with this recipe:

2 ripe Hass avocado

1 clove garlic

1/4 of a white onion, chopped

Zest and Juice of 1/2 lime

Cilantro, to taste

Pinch of salt, to taste

But you can also find a really yummy recipe here. 

I use store bought salsa.  I like Tostitos salsa, but I'm not picky.  If you want to make your own, I recommend this one.

And it's that simple! It's so easy and so yummy, we make them all the time! Also much cheaper than spending $8 a Chipotle every time! Enjoy :)