Mexican Tortilla Cups (Gluten-Free)

I have completely, 100% neglected my cookbooks. I got caught up in all this bloggy business and paying more attention to what my Google reader feeds me than the books filled with more than enough recipes sitting on my kitchen counter can.

So I busted one out the other night - The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen. My parents got this for me for a birthday a couple of years ago and I really don't know how I haven't used it in awhile because there are sticky notes on every other page.

The recipes in this book are simple, nothing is complicated or intimidating. All the ingredients are those that you most-likely have on hand, nixing that dreaded trip to the store that can totally throw off your making dinner time.

These little babies had a flag on them that has probably been there for about 3 years, so hey! I made them.

Yeah, they're pretty cute.

And you can eat them with one hand.

And you can eat them for breakfast. Cold.

And you can store them in the fridge so they will still be good for breakfast.

Oh, and they're great for dinner, too.

That blurry picture sucks and makes me realized how awful melted cheese is to photograph in a tasteful fashion.

But you get the idea. These are soooo filling (I had 2 for dinner, husband had 3, and we responsibly called it quits). They taste exactly like the innerds of a burrito, but they're made like a taco with the corn tortilla. Then when it gets thrown into a cup, it has a nervous breakdown over all the identity issues going on.

I made the first batch in our large muffin pan, which has cups that double the size of a standard 12-count pan. The tortillas fit perfectly in these when you mold them into cups.

I then experimented with our standard muffin tin, and the tortillas were a little too large. The book suggests trimming off the ends a bit, but I just shaped them into cones instead of pressing the tortillas all the way into the cups, and they turned out great.

As with practically everything on this blog, make it yours and add in whatever taco fixins' float your fancy. 

Really, there's no way to go wrong with these. As long as you don't forget the tortillas. That would take all the fun in cups away.

Oh, and these pair well with kale and "bread"ed zucchini sticks - recipe coming soon. Pinky swear.

Mexican Tortilla Cups
Makes a dozen in a standard muffin tin (depending on how full you make them)

1 can vegetarian refried beans
1 cup cooked rice 
1/3 cup salsa
a slash or 2 of your favorite hot sauce
1 t cumin
1 can green chilis
1/4 cup sliced olives
approximately 12 6-inch corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup queso fresco
sliced tomato (or whatever you want for the tops)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the beans, rice, salsa, hot sauce, cumin, chilis and olives.

3. When the oven is hot, place 12 tortillas on a baking sheet to warm in the oven for about a minute. This makes them more pliable and less likely to crack or fall apart when you're making them into cute little cups.

4. After the tortillas have been warmed, cut about a 3-inch slit in each of the tortillas so they can easily be maneuvered into the muffin cups. Fit the tortillas into the muffin tin by either making a cone out of them or pushing each tortilla all the way down into the cup.

5. Fill each tortillas with enough of the mix to fit almost to the top and bake for about 10 minutes. Take out after 10 minutes and top with a tomato slice and a sprinkle of cheese, and bake for about 8 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Hummus (GF) (Vegan)

I'm not joking in a serious manner when I say that the WinCo bulk food department has changed my kitchen. Since it arrived into my life a couple months ago, I've been able to make more apricot snack bars, almond meal, and all sorts of other treats that used to be daunting to make because of availability or cost. It's no lie that WinCo has some fantastic deals, but when you buy the majority of your food in bulk (which is typically cheaper anywhere you shop) then it's an extraordinary deal.

Take tahini for example. I am now certain it's the second most important ingredient in hummus and yet for years I haven't bought it because it costs $7 for a jar at the grocery store. Despite l-o-v-ing hummus, I convinced myself it was an optional, if not irrelevant, ingredient and omitted it form my hummus-making until today.

When I saw tahini in bulk at WinCo. Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?

Before, my hummus' (hummi?) always turned out chunky and tasted, well, like mashed up chickpeas. Today? My hummus tastes like HUMMUS. Who knew the tricks that ground sesame seeds could pull?

I followed this recipe to a tee, and as you can tell it turned out fantastic. I'm excited to test this out with different add-ins, like pesto and some Mexican flavors.

In the meantime, I'm going to ingest copious amounts of beans and tahini.

Spaghetti and Beanballs, Gluten-free

It's been pretty gorgeous outside and it's finally starting to feel like spring. The days are longer, the air smells like pollen and I am craving pasta. What? Why?

I've never been a big pasta eater. On average, I would say I eat it about 5 times a year. The starchy, plain business of it has never appealed to me much. Until now. Maybe it's because I've been running more, working longer and generally creating more of an appetite for myself, but hot dang, a big plate of filling pasta has never sounded better than before this week.

You would think that would be enough. But of course not. How could MEATBALLS fit into this gorgeous mess? Obviously, meat was out. But beans? Totally doable. Enter the beanballs.

These babies turned out fantastic - about 8x better than I thought they would. I used my go-to bean patty recipe (which I just realized I haven't been on here. Soon!) and slightly adapted it to make itty bitty balls for my not-so itty bitty batch of pasta. One main adaption being that I loaded them up with chunks of cheese, which as you see wanted to seep out into the world.

Seriously, these were so good and SO satisfying. I think my pasta ache has been met for the next while. We will see what counts as a "while."


Spaghetti and Beanballs

Ingredients for spaghetti:
12 oz gluten-free spaghetti (or however much you think you will need. I always make extra for leftovers)

2 leeks, sliced
1/2 small white onion, chopped
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 package sliced button mushrooms
2 leeks, sliced
1/2 small white onion, chopped


Ingredients for beanballs:
2/3 cup gluten-free oats - separated
1/4 small white onion, chopped
2 garlic gloves, minced
2 Tb. ketchup
1 T dried oregano
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
5 oz cheddar cheese, cubed into

To do:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put a large pot of salted water on to high heat for your pasta water. Prepare a baking sheet with sprayed olive oil or a silpat.

2. In a food processor,  grind 1/3 cup of the oats, onion, garlic, ketchup, and oregano together until ground fairly well together. Add in the chickpeas and process until the mixture is chunky and still holds together. Dump into a medium bowl and stir in the remaining 1/3 cup oats. It will be a little wet and sticky, but that's ok.

3. roll together roughly 1 tablespoon of the beanball "dough" and form it around a cube of cheese. Place on the baking sheet and repeat until the dough is gone.

4. Pop the beanballs into the oven for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the pasta.

5. Your pasta water should be boiling now. Add it in and swirl around a bit to get it all submerged and separated. Gluten-free pasta is tricky as it liked to stick together, so make sure you give it a good swirl every 2 minutes.

5. Heat the onion and leeks over medium heat in oil until tender, about 3 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes. (Remember to stir your pasta!) Add in your tomatoes when the pasta is done so they don't get too mushy.

6. When your pasta is done, scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water to add in later. Drain your pasta, rinse with cold water, and immediately transfer to the pot you cooked it in. Add your sauce and mushroom mixture stat so the noodles don't stick together. Give it all a good stir and pour in 1 tablespoon of the pasta water at a time until you obtain the consistency you desire.

7. The meatballs should be finishing up about now - they should be slightly crunchy on the outside. Plate the spaghetti with the beanballs on top and enjoy!

Taco Pie, Guten-Free / Soy Free

I was talking with a friend the other day who has just moved back from Australia. Yes, I know - the down under seems so lovely, right? WHY would you leave?!

Well, I'll tell you why (not that this was her reason. It would have been mine, though). There's no Mexican food. And if there is, they include balsamic vinegar in their most commonly used ingredients, which is a wam-bam-no-thank-you-ma'am in my book.

I went home that night craving rice, beans, and some taco flavor in a BIG way. I feel so lucky to have all those ingredients at my beck and call, especially since the man needs those to essentially remain a thriving human being.

This was so simple to make. I actually had some cooked rice already in the fridge from the night before, which cut down on some time. As with many of my recipes, please add in what ingredients you love to eat the most. I used tomatoes, leeks, mushrooms, onions and black beans since that's what I had on hand. As long as you get that taco seasoning in, it will be a pie-dish full of that wonderful South-of-the-border taste.

Taco Pie
Makes one standard 9-inch pie dish

Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked white rice, hot
1 egg
1/5 cup chopped leek
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste


1. Preheat your oven to 350 degree; grease your pie dish.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the hot rice, eggs, and 2 tablespoons of the chopped leeks. Spread this mixture on the bottom and up the sides of the pie dish, as you would a pie crust. Pop it in the oven for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.

3. For the filling, pour some olive oil in a medium-sized skillet  and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, dump in the onions and remaining leeks. Let cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the mushrooms and taco seasoning. Give it a stir and let cook while you mash the black beans.

4. Dump your black beans in the bowl you used to make the rice mixture. Mash the beans with a fork until they are mostly mushy, with a few recognizable chunks.

5. Once the onion and mushroom mixture is cooked and soft, add it to the beans. Stir it all up nice. By this time, your rice crust should be ready to come out of the oven - it should be slightly hardened. Add the filling to it and smooth out.

6. Place the sliced tomatoes on top, cut side down, and cover with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, until cheese has melted and it's all nice and hot. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

White Bean and Artichoke Dip

Hello there, Undippy

Dips are the best. You can dip morsels in them, eat them by the spoonful, spread them on sandwiches, they'll even let you dip your fingers in them in case you happen to be out of edible tidbits. Making your own is also way more cost-effective than buying it at the store, plus you're not paying for the weird ingredients that some companies like to sneak in. Dips are pretty bomb.

When I have a strong liking for something/one, I tend to add a "y" to their name in order to demonstrate my affection for that thing/person. (However, sometimes this doesn't tend to roll off the tongue as smoothly as I would have hoped, which is why my turquoise dangly earrings are stilll...well, you know.) So naturally, after my taste buds had a party in my mouth upon trying this dip, I wanted to call it "Dippy."

One problem - Urban Dictionary. I have a tendency to get annoyingly clingy with it, meaning I like to browse through about 5 times a day to find words I might want to add to my daily vocabulary. Or take out, whichever.

According to The Dictionary: "Dippy: Silly, foolish." And that was as tame as it gets, aside from one definition that included talk of eggs, which was just strange. 

So, DIP it is. Enjoy!

White Bean & Artichoke Dip
Adapted from Farmgirl Fare
Makes 2 cups

*This dip is fairly thick, which is how I like it for dipping purposes. However, if you like yours more fluid, reserve some of the artichoke liquid to gradually add in at the end.

1` 15oz. can white beans - drained
1 can quartered artichoke hearts - liquid reserved in case you want to add it at the end
1 sprig chopped, fresh rosemary1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

How To:


1. In a food processor, combine beans, artichoke, rosemary, garlic and lemon juice; process until smooth.


2. Add in olive oil until incorporated; take a look at the consistency and see if you want to add in any of the reserved artichoke liquid.

3. Once you have your style of consistency, add in salt and pepper and eat as suggested above, or go even more wild with it.