Product Review: Attune Foods Erewhon Cereal

Not too long ago I was offered the opportunity to try Attunes line of Erewhon cereal.  Their cereals are organic and made in nut free and dairy free facilities.  Both of the cereals we tried are also gluten free.   

I have never been a huge breakfast eater, especially as a kid.   My kids, on the other hand, LOVE breakfast and especially cereal.   The minute their feet hit the floor in the morning they are looking for breakfast.  One of the challenges is finding cereal they will like that is still healthy.  So far we have been pretty successful at keeping the junk cereals out of the house but they get tired of the same old thing. So we are always on the hunt for something new, tasty, and healthy.  They were just as excited as I was when our box of cereal arrived in the mail.  We got to try the Rice Twice and the Strawberry Crisp. 

Even though I have never been a huge fan of cereal, as I have gotten older I have found that there are a few types that I  really like. I have pretty high standards and won't eat just anything. Actually, I am super picky about cereal.  I don't like super sugary cereals, or ones that get soggy quickly. I want my cereal to be healthy, but to not taste like cardboard. See?  High standards.  

The first box opened the morning after it arrived was the Strawberry Crisp.

I was especially excited about this one because it is similar to an old favorite of mine that happens to contain dairy. (Why would corn flakes with strawberries contain dairy anyway??  That doesn't make sense to me.  But I digress...)
 My Middle One was the first to dig in to her bowl and she gave it Two Thumbs Up.  That's our rating system for food, by the way.  If something gets two thumbs, it's really good!

 We also tried the Rice Twice cereal.  We gave that one to the Littlest One.

This still sleepy little monkey also loved her bowl of cereal.

Of course I had to give it a try too, so I had a bowl of the Strawberry Crisp with  almond milk.  It was so much better than my old favorite!  The flakes stay crispier, and there are a ton of the strawberries. I seldom finish a bowl of cereal, but I certainly finished this one.  Sadly, I have already eaten the entire box.  I am still on the hunt for it at my local grocery store but have not had much luck.  As soon as I find it I will be stocking up!

 I have been wanting to make a batch of homemade granola and I had found a recipe that called for crisp rice cereal as part of the ingredients. I will be sharing that recipe soon, but I will tell you that this worked perfectly!

I will also be using the Rice Twice to make those marshmallow treats for the kids from now on. 

As a Mom, I am thrilled to find a wholesome, great tasting cereal that my kids love.  As a dairy free consumer, I am so glad there is a company out there that is catering to the needs of those with food intolerances.
For more information visit the Attunefoods website.

Black Beans and Roasted Potato Bowl

My husband's job requires him to have dinner meetings from time to time.   On nights when he is at one of these dinners, I am the only one here to deal with dinner time, or what my friend and I call "the witching hour".  If you have young children, or have had a toddler you will completely understand what I mean.  If not, here is what the witching hour is: Somewhere between 4 and 6pm babies/ toddlers/ kids seems to get louder, crankier, more hyper, more demanding than at any other time of the day.  This is the time of day the toddler is getting into EVERYTHING- climbing on things, emptying my cabinets, stealing crayons and attempting to write on stuff  ( like walls).  When Daddy is here he  keeps the little one entertained while I make dinner.  When he's not here, I need quick easy meals that require very little attention.  We still have to eat a healthy dinner after all!
A few weeks ago I came up with this easy dish on the fly.  I had black beans in my cabinet, fresh potatoes from the farmers market in my fridge, and a spice cabinet full of spices to play with.  So I put it all together and made a really tasty, filling, easy dinner for myself and my oldest daughter. The middle one and little one had chicken tenders (don't judge), some of the potatoes, and veggies.  I didn't know it would turn out so good so I didn't take pictures.  When I made this again a few nights ago I made sure I had my camera on hand.  With the help of my 8 year old we recreated this delicious meal (with a few changes and a lot more spice).

Black Beans and Roasted Potato Bowl

Ingredients:

• 4-6 medium white potatoes- diced
• 1 can black beans
• Olive Oil
• 1 can Rotel Tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 jalapeno diced (remove seeds for less heat)
• 1/2 red onion- diced
• juice of 1half of a  lime
• 1 teaspoon Hot Mexican Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• Trader Joes South African Smoke Seasoning (optional)

Preheat your oven to 430F. Spray your cooking sheet with your favorite cooking spray.  Dice your potatoes, toss with olive oil and seasonings of you choice.  Roast in the oven until done. (I usually broil mine for the last few minutes to help crisp them.)

This is the best seasoning blend ever!  If you haven't tried it ( and you live near a Trader Joes) you really must try this!  It's awesome on just about anything.

While the potatoes are roasting: Saute your onions until they are slightly softened.  Add your jalapeno and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add your drained and rinsed black beans, tomatoes, lime juice and your seasonings. Let simmer until the liquid is mostly gone.

If you don't have canned tomatoes, you can use fresh diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, or even some salsa.  

Serve the black beans over the roasted potatoes. 

This recipe was really pretty spicy.  The first time I made this I did not use the jalapeno so it was a lot milder ( and I ended up adding sirarcha ).  It's totally your preference as to how hot you want it. I love it with the potatoes instead of  rice because it makes it so much heartier and more filling.  Plus if you season your potatoes you get even more flavor.

After I made it I realized this was a totally gluten free, vegan meal. It's actually free of most allergens. While this version is vegan, I think I may try it with a fried egg on top one of these days.  

Strawberry Merlot Vinaigrette

I shared our recent Strawberry Picking trip yesterday.  We brought home about a gallon of fresh berries and lots of ideas of what to do with them all.  Since I had just gotten a new Merlot Vinegar at the Farmer's Market on Thursday, I thought that the vinegar mixed with the berries would make a great summer salad dressing.

Ingredients:

6-8 Strawberries hulled

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Merlot Red Wine Vinegar (Or a red wine vinegar of your choice)

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon dried basil

pinch of sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Put the strawberries, honey, vinegar, oil, basil, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender.  Pulse until it is liquefied.  It's really that easy.  Add more honey if you want it sweeter.  You could use fresh basil too, I just didn't have any on hand. 

Pour over your favorite salad and enjoy!  

Those are carrots, not cheese;-)

Even my kids loved this dressing, and usually the only kind they will eat is ranch. This is definitely one that we will be making a lot this summer!

Friday Favorites ( On a Monday)

I realize it's Monday, but I did not want you all to miss out on last week's Friday Favorites.  I had to go out of town unexpectedly  at the end of last week to help out a friend so I didn't have the chance to post this on Friday.  I have a few favorites from last week's shopping trip that I wanted to share, even though it's few days late.  There will still be a Friday Favorites at the end of this week too.

Honest Tea 

I love to have these around  instead of soda.  

Crispy Rice Cereal Bars 

 I bought these for my two year old as a grab and go snack.  They are like rice krispie treats, but fluffier and larger.  She LOVES them! ( and so do I!) 

Ground Flaxseed with Mixed Berries

This has actually been a favorite for a while.  I always have a bag of this on hand to use in my overnight oats, on cereal, in baked goods, or sprinkle in the kids' pb&j's.  My kids love it because of the dried berries in it- I love it because they'll eat it!

 Flat Bread

I found these at my local grocery store last week.  If you can find them I highly recommend them! We used them in the Flatbread Pizzas.

Daiya Cheese

This is the best vegan cheese I have ever had ( and I have tried several!) It melts great, tastes like cheese, and is soy free.  An all around win!  You'll notice I wrote the date on it- I write the date on everything in my fridge so I know when I opened it.  

And Just Because...

I thought I would add in my favorite beer.  It is baseball season after all!  

Did you miss last week's Friday Favorites?  Check them out for some really delicious dairy free finds!

Do you have some new favorite dairy free finds?

Egg Salad ~ with a Kick

I love eggs- scrambled, over easy, hard boiled, poached, baked, you get the idea.  I also happen to love egg salad but it can get a little boring unless you change things up a bit.  I recently came across a delicious avocado and egg salad recipe by Sarah at The Pajama Chef.  If you like avocados and you like egg salad, you are guaranteed to love her recipe!  I had a craving for her egg salad earlier this week but I didn't have any avocados on hand.  I did have a a few other ingredients that I had not yet tried in egg salad, so I decided to wing it and make up something new. 

Egg Salad ~  with a Kick

Ingredients:

2-3 hard boiled eggs ( depends on how hungry you are)

1 stalk celery- diced

1 tablespoon white onion very finely diced ( you can add more if you like)

A couple tablespoons mayonnaise

Sriracha- How much you add depends on how much spice you want.  

I know what you're thinking: Sriracha in egg salad? Really?? Yes!  It's delicious- trust me!  But remember-a tiny bit goes a long way!

Directions:

Mix up your egg salad the way you normally would.  Mash your eggs, add the celery and onion, add the mayo- enough to make it creamy.  Mix well to get it to the consistency you like.  Add the sriracha last; a few small drops will probably do.  I probably added about a 1/2 teaspoon to mine.  Mix well, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  

To cut down on carbs and to add some extra veggies into my day, I served mine on a bed of  organic mixed salad greens instead of on bread.  

I layered the greens in a large bowl, added the egg salad on top, then sprinkled with shredded carrots.  It was a very filling lunch.

Of course, it is also good in a crusty hoagie roll with romaine lettuce and pickles.  

This was so quick and easy to make.  You can do the eggs ahead of time and just keep in the fridge- I had cooked mine up the night before.  Since it was so filling I didn't find myself searching for a snack later in the afternoon.  This kept me going all the way to dinner, and that was with an intense workout earlier in the morning.  

What are some of your favorite egg salad add-ins?

Homemade Pico de Gallo

Whenever we have a gathering my husband always asks me to make my homemade Pico de Gallo.  Even the kids love it. 
I am well aware that there are several recipes like this out there on the web. I promise this recipe is my very own- I made it up one summer afternoon years ago in my kitchen with absolutely no help from any cookbooks or Internet sites. So if it is similar to another, that is pure coincidence. My mother also makes a similar recipe, but she adds a small amount of garlic to hers.

I do not measure anything with this recipe- it is all according to personal taste.

Serves: 4-6 as an appetizer

Ingredients:
3-4 large fresh tomatoes
1 medium purple onion
1 jalapeno
juice from 1 lime
large bunch fresh cilantro
Kosher Salt


Directions:
Cut or dice each veggie the size you want it. I chop them as small as I can stand to, with the onion being the smallest. I also sometimes only add in half the onion depending on how much tomato I use. It really is all according to taste. We like it pretty spicy so we use a whole jalapeno with the seeds. If I know the kids are going to be eating a lot I will cut back on the heat for them. Once all the veggies are added, squeeze the fresh lime juice over top.

As for the salt- I add about a teaspoon to start with and adjust that if needed. Remember- you can always add more salt but you can't take it away once you have too much. Mix well.


To pack it up and take it over to our friends' I used a Ball jar. It looks so pretty in a jar, and if you are going to a party you could even dress up the jar with ribbon or some sort of decoration for the occasion.


The trick with this recipe to make sure you have the freshest ingredients you can find. The fresher, the better.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Fudge Ball Cookies~*Gluten Free* Version

**These are originally not gluten or dairy free. I adapted the recipe for my gluten free readers this year. They can be made with butter and all purpose flour for those of you not looking for GF or DF cookies. Just use the same measurements for the flour and margarine.**


My very favorite Christmas cookie recipe is one for Chocolate Fudge Balls. My mom has been making these every single Christmas for as long as I can recall. It truly is not Christmas until we have Fudge Balls and Party Mix (that recipe is coming soon!). This year I decided to make these cookies gluten free as well as dairy free. I have never used gluten free flour before- I don't have a need to be gluten free, but since I have had requests for more gluten free recipes I thought I would give it a try. And it worked! These cookies are amazing- just as they are every year! I had my husband try them and he agrees- they taste just like the ones my Mom makes.
If you are gluten and dairy free I really hope you give these a try. I realize it's very close to Christmas, but they take less time than most cookies, and only a few ingredients. I promise you- they are totally worth it!


Gluten Free & Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge Balls:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 and 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted Gluten Free Flour
confectioner's sugar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (makes for easy cleanup)

1. Melt margarine with chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat.


Stir constantly-Be extremely careful not to burn the chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes.



2.Add sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla extract; mix well.
Add in your flour using a sifter.

Those little hands on the sifter are my oldest daughter's. My girls were helping me make these.

Combine well. The batter will be thick.

3. Shape the dough into balls. You can use a teaspoon to measure the dough, but I usually eyeball it. The ball should be the size of a large gumball. Place on your lined cookie sheets.


4. Bake at 375F for 7-9 minutes. You will know they are done because they will get small cracks in them.


5. Allow them to cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes. Roll them in confectioners sugar while they are still warm.



Store them in a airtight container or freeze. They freeze really well!



If you do try them (and I really hope you do!)please let me know either by leaving a comment here on the blog or on my Facebook page or by sending me a tweet on Twitter.

Special thanks to my Mom for sharing this recipe with me and allowing me to share it with you all.

**This recipe is adapted from the "Pillsbury Family Cookbook" and I believe the copyright is in the late 1950's or early 1960's.**

For the Kids~Homemade Apple Chips

We belong to a Summer and a Fall CSA , and last week we got a huge bag of locally grown apples. Along with that we also got a bag of tangerines, sweet potatoes, broccoli, white potatoes, and a head of cabbage. If you aren't part of a CSA, I highly recommend finding one and joining.

Since we have so many apples right now, I decided to turn some of them into apple chips for the girls. My kids love dried fruit, and they love apples so this seems to be the perfect snack for them.
I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, then looked up several other recipes to see different variations. I put together a few different ideas and came up with my own:

Ingredients:
Apples
Ground Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to between 235F and 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.

Wash your apples. Core them but leave the skin on. Slice thinly if your corer doesn't do it for you.




Sprinkle with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. I did not add any sugar at all- some recipes do, but apples are sweet enough in my opinion. Plus, these are for the kids and I want them to be a healthy snack, not loaded with sugar.


Let cook for 1 hour. At the end of the hour, take them out and flip them. Put back in the oven and cook for 1 more hour. Your total cooking time is 2 hours so not too bad at all. I put these in the oven before I started on dinner, and they were done in time for a pre-bedtime snack.



I have to make more today- the girls have already finished these off. Luckily we got another bag of apples with our delivery this week.

An added bonus- they made my house smell AMAZING!

Two Last Minute Holiday Meal Compliments

At this point most of us are scrambling to get our Thanksgiving menu set and most of our food prepared and ready for tomorrow. I myself have been extremely busy in the kitchen today, but I am taking a short break to share these two last minute ideas with you: Vegan Raspberry Butter and Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish. One is brand new, one is a family tradition.

Vegan Raspberry Butter:
I first saw this last week on Pinterest thanks to DairyFreeBetty. I thought that it was a great idea, and decided it would go very well with dinner tomorrow night. Lots of people buy specialty butters or dairy products to compliment their meals, but those of us with dairy allergies are usually left out. Not this time! This uses Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread so anyone can enjoy it!

Ingredients:
1 tub Earth Balance Vegan Whipped Buttery Spread, at room temp.
3/4 cup fresh raspberries.



Directions:
After bringing your buttery spread to room temperature, put it in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer. (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, but you could use a hand mixer too).
Beat until it is softened.


Add your raspberries


Beat on LOW speed just until they are mixed in and slightly broken up. You don't want to mix them too much- the butter should still look pretty.

Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on your counter, and a sheet of plastic wrap on top of that. Spoon your butter mixture onto the plastic wrap. Work it back and forth until it forms a log shape. Wrap in the plastic wrap, and then again in the aluminum foil.






Freeze for at least 30 minutes before using.



It is SO good! Not too sweet, but just adds a little extra flavor. It is going to be great on my roll tomorrow night at dinner. I am keeping mine in the freezer until dinner tomorrow.

Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish:
My mom has been making this relish for as long as I can remember. We have it at Thanksgiving and Christmas, since it is delicious with both ham and turkey. My husband likes to eat it on rolls too.

Ingredients:
1 small orange- quartered but not peeled
1/2 package fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar



Directions:
Put the cranberries and orange pieces with rinds on in your food processor. Chop them until they are finely ground. Add sugar to taste- if you like it sweet, add the full quarter cup, for a more tart flavor add less. Put in a covered bowl and let chill for a few hours before serving. This also freezes extremely well, so you can save some for Christmas too.


Of course you don't have to save these for a Holiday meal. Both of these are good anytime of year!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

**The Vegan Raspberry Butter is found on Earth's Best's website.