Starting a new series today on the blog called Tasty Tuesdays! For this first one, it's all about Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles.  And best of all, it was easy to make it gluten free!

I adapted the recipe from a very popular pin on Pinterest right now from The Pioneer Woman. I also had all of the ingredients (minus the fresh veggies) on hand which made it even easier! Hello $1.37 grocery bill!

I made two separate bowls worth of the sesame marinade -- one for the chicken, and a fresh one to add at the very end to the noodles.

I marinated the chicken for about 90mins in the fridge. I flipped and re-basted them about halfway through.

This was my first time cooking rice noodles. I LOVE noodles so it's been tough trying this whole gluten free thing, so I was excited to finally have noodles again that I could eat.

For the veggies, we chopped up zucchini, mushrooms, and yellow bell pepper and added them to a large sauté pan. I then drizzled a bit of sesame oil, gluten free soy sauce, and olive oil on top to help compliment the flavors of the marinade/dressing.

Fresh green onions always add a bright flavor to the finished dish!

To cook rice noodles, you bring a pot of water to a boil, then remove it from heat and add the noodles to soak. It was definitely a bit different for cooking and took a bit longer than it said on the box, but they eventually turned out great.

Dave grilled the chicken and basted them while they were cooking.  They turned out amazing! They almost had a sticky sweet flavor from the soy sauce and sugar in the marinade. I could not stop nibbling while waiting for the rest of the meal to come together!

Once the noodles and veggies were cooked, I added them all to the same pan. I then poured the fresh marinade/dressing to the pan and tossed everything to combine. We then plated it with the sliced grilled chicken on top and fresh green onions. Talk about YUM!

Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Marinade/Dressing Ingredients

(make 2 marinades in separate bowls, one for the chicken and one to add to the noodles)

1/4 c. gluten free soy sauce

2 Tbs. sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

3 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp. hot chili oil

(2 Tbs. olive oil to the marinade for the chicken)

2-4 chicken breasts

1 pkg rice noodles

2-4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 zucchini, chopped

1 8oz pkg mushrooms, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. gluten free soy sauce

1 Tbs. olive oil

1. Whisk together one batch of the marinade, including the 2 Tbs. olive oil, until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Put chicken breasts in a dish or bowl, and pour marinade over them. Flip to completely coat and cover the dish with saran rap. Marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, turning half way.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove.
4. Once marinaded, grill the chicken.  Baste with the marinade while cooking for extra flavor. Should take about 15-20mins depending on the thickness of your chicken.
5. While the chicken is cooking, start cooking the veggies. Add all of the chopped veggies to a large sauté pan. Drizzle with 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 Tbs. olive oil. Cook over medium high heat until done.
6. Once the pot of water is boiling, remove from heat and add the package of rice noodles. Soak in the hot water until soft, about 10 mins. Use a fork to help separate the noodles.
7. When the noodles are done, drain well and mix with the veggies.
8. Pour the 2nd batch of fresh dressing over the noodles and veggies, and mix to combine.
9. Slice the grilled chicken on a cutting board.
10. Serve the noodles and veggies in a deep dish and place the sliced chicken on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free High Altitude Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my photo of some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! I decided to give this whole gluten free baking a try and though that this classic cookie would be the perfect place to start. I figured if I could make it taste as good as the original, then I would be sold on gluten free eating/cooking...

And we have a winner!

These turned out so delicious that dare I say it, are even better than with real flour! :) Also, since I live in Tahoe at 6,500' feet, I followed the high-altitude baking instructions as well to throw another twist into the recipe.

The best part was though, I was finally able to use my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer! It has been sitting in a box in our kitchen unopened for the last 7 months since I haven't really had a reason to cook with it. It was so fun and easy to use! It was also WAY better than trying to do it by hand or using a hand mixer.

I picked up some Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour at Costco the other day and found some Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum at our local grocery store, Raley's, in their gluten free section. Luckily you only use a tiny bit of xanthan gum per recipe because the tiny bag was really expensive! 

Otherwise I had all of the other ingredients in my cabinet and fridge which made it really easy to get to baking!

I followed the classic Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and their high altitude instructions that's on the back of their package of chocolate chips.  I just substituted the flour for the gluten free flour and added in the xanthan gum.  For the high altitude instructions, they have you increase the flour, reduce the amount of sugar and brown sugar, and add 2 tsps of water to the dry mix as well.

The rest of the recipe was straightforward and I had fun taking my time and really making sure everything was mixed nicely and trying out my new kitchen gadget.

Of course I also had to try the batter a few times! I did notice that the raw batter had a slightly different taste than "normal" cookies as the soybean flour has a distinct taste. I was a little worried that you'd be able to taste it once they were cooked as well.

Its been forever since I made homemade cookies from scratch so I had a little bit of an issue sizing the cookie dough on the sheet. By the way, has anyone else used these silicon non-stick baking pads before? If so I'd love to know if you have an easy trick for cleaning them!

I ended up baking them at 375 degrees F for between 8-10 mins depending on how large I made them.  I waited until the edges starting turning golden brown but the middles were still soft and then let them set on some cooling racks.

I'm so happy to report that these were some of the best cookies I've ever baked! They were super moist inside and a tiny bit crunchy on the outside. I'd dare say they came out perfect and not a single one was burnt! I will definitely be making these again :)

Gluten Free High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Nestlé Toll House

DRY Ingredients

2 1/2 c. Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

2 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. Xantan Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

WET Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 12 oz. pkg Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine dry ingredients into a large bowl (including the water)
3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in the mixer with the flat beater. The slower the better on the speed -- don't rush it.
4. Once combined, add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients allowing the dough to fully mix before adding more.
6. Once it's fully mixed, add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
7. Create dough "drops" about the size of a large tablespoon on a cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a silicon baking mat.
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Note: High-altitude baking is for above 5,200' in altitude. For normal baking, visit the linked website for the original instructions.

Enjoy! :)

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

There are few things I love more than peanut sauce. Seriously. It goes great on pretty much everything -- noodles, rice, chicken, shrimp, veggies, etc! Up until now, I'd been relying on the peanut sauce in a bottle from the store.  Sure, it's easy and convenient, but it's also not the same as a truly fresh.

I was really intrigued when I came across this recipe at Closet Cooking for Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup, and it had been in my list to try for a while. I shared it with Dave, and while he's not a huge fan of soups, he does love curries.  So with a little tweaking, we were ready to experiment with this dish and turn it into something of our own.

We have a winner! It turned out so tasty and delicious, definitely a success.  The best part was I was able to make it completely gluten free! I'm experimenting with eliminating gluten from my diet (more on that later), and this was really easy to adapt. We substituted noodles for a bed of rice, and switched out soy sauce for gluten-free soy sauce. Who knew there was wheat in normal soy sauce?! We also sped up the cooking time by buying a pre-sliced mushrooms and pre-roasted chicken at the store, shredding the breast meat, and adding it at the end.

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

(Adapted from Closet Cooking: Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup)

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1/4 c. red curry paste

1 (14oz) can light coconut milk

2 c. chicken broth 

1 c. sweet potato, butternut squash, or yams, peeled and diced

1/3 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. lime juice

2 tbs gluten-free soy sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 pkg pre-sliced brown mushrooms

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 rotisserie chicken, breast meat shredded

2 c. brown basmati rice (prepared in rice cooker)

Garnish

1/4 c. chopped peanuts

2 green onions, sliced

2 c. bean sprouts (optional)

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

lime wedge (optional)

1) In a large pot, heat the red curry paste with olive oil over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1-2 mins.  Be careful, it will start to splatter.

2) Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, butternut squash, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and turmeric to the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3) When the butternut squash is tender to be pierced by a fork (about 10-15 mins depending on the size), add the sliced mushrooms to the pot.

5) Once the squash is completely cooked, add the sliced bell pepper.

4) Continue simmering until mixture has reduced and thickened to your preference.

5) Turn the heat to low and mix in the shredded chicken meat. Once the meat is hot, the dish is ready to serve!

6) Serve over a bed of brown basmati rice and garnish with green onions and chopped peanuts.



A few notes from the first time making this -- we only used 1 c. of chicken broth and let it reduce a bit too much so we weren't left with as much liquid at the end as I would of liked. As a result, we didn't add all of the chicken meat that we shredded.  I will definitely increase the amount of chicken broth next time.  The dish also had a really nice creamy flavor, but not as much heat as Dave would of liked. Next time I'll experiment with adding some sliced red chiles to the pot and have some for garnish as well.

Now we get to battle out who gets the left-over serving for lunch today! :)  Enjoy!

Recipe Review: Teriyaki Salmon and No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites

You may recall that one of my New Year's Resolutions was to cook one new recipe each week. Pinterest has been one of my favorite resources for new recipes over the past year, with some turning out better than others.  Last night I decided to try not one, but two new items, and thought it would be fun to provide a bit of a review on how the recipes/meals turned out!

Photo Credit: Damn Delicious

First up, Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce from Damn Delicious. I've had this one pinned in my Food Board for quite some time now and finally decided last night to give it a try.

This recipe was really easy to follow, especially with the step by step photo instructions listed on the website. I also had the majority of the ingredients already in my cabinet/fridge so only had to purchase a handful of items including the sweetened condensed milk, green onions, and cornstarch -- I couldn't believe I didn't have any on hand! Oh, and of course the salmon.

I made the marinade first and it smelled amazing while it was simmering! I will definitely keep this teriyaki recipe on hand for other dishes! I love that it was so simple too -- no more bottled teriyaki sauce for me!

After marinating the salmon for close to an hour, I finally started cooking dinner. We opted to go with brown rice for a healthier option, and to also add some zucchini for a veggie to make a more complete meal.  For the zucchini, I thinly sliced them and put them into a pan with some of the teriyaki marinade from the fish to give it a nice flavor and complement the meal. We had some large pieces of fish and it took exactly 20 mins at 400 degrees for them to cook, just like the recipe said, and they were cooked perfectly!

The Sriracha Cream sauce was also super easy to whip up, and added a really nice flavor pairing to the fish! Everything went together quite nicely.  You can see how our version turned out -- need to work on my drizzling skills and get some white plates for better photos!


Overall, we loved this dish and will definitely keep it on hand for the future.  I will also try some different versions of the teriyaki marinade as well -- maybe even thicken it up a bit more for grilling.




After dinner, we were in need of a dessert! One of the more popular food pins I've found recently are no-bake cookie dough bites.  It seems every blog has a version of them and I've been waiting for one that looked super easy and didn't require a ton of ingredients.  This version from Lauren Conrad's site finally sold me to give them a try.  For this recipe I had to buy most of the ingredients including the cashews, oats, agave syrup, and mini chocolate chips.  But, the good news is I now have these items on hand to make more batches next time!

Photo Credit: Lauren Conrad

This recipe said it would make one dozen dough bites, and from the photo it was hard to tell how large they actually would be.  You only use 1 cup of dry ingredients to make them though between the cashews and oats, which made me a bit skeptical that I would get a full dozen.  The recipe is ridiculously easy, although I did run into a bit of a problem when mixing the dough in my food processor.  I have a larger processor, which seemed a bit too big for the small amount.  I think it would work better if I doubled the recipe in the future.


Once the dough was ready, I started rolling the dough bites.  I ended up making 6 of them, all about 1" in diameter, so not very large at all. I wouldn't want to make them much smaller. Dave tasted one before I told him what it was made out of it. He liked it, but wasn't quite sure of the flavor.  I used raw unsalted, un-roasted cashews since it wasn't specified in the recipe.  Once I told him what was in it, he suggested that in the future we try it with the salted and/or roasted to add a bit of salt to complement the sweet with the agave and maple syrup.

You can see how our version turned out -- looks almost identical to the original! This is a recipe that will take a bit more fine tuning to really get the right flavor combination, but it definitely has potential, and I love that it's a bit of a "healthier" option to cookies!  These were perfect little sweet treats to enjoy after dinner while we continued our Big Love marathon.  Almost done with Season 2! Definitely a successful (and tasty) evening of new recipes!

A Relaxing Weekend and Homemade Gourmet Hot Pockets

This weekend was a nice and relaxing way to kick off the new year. On Friday we headed out to dinner in Incline Village with Dave's mom, sister, and her boyfriend. One of our favorite restaurants, Bite is located in Incline and it's always a good time when we have an excuse to go there for dinner. It's an American tapas restaurant that is very innovative with fun twists on classic dishes. Some of my favorites include the Ahi Sliders, Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs, Pan Seared Sea Scallops, and the Prawn Wontons... it's just all so tasty!

Not a bad view from Heavenly!

We also had some of our ski lease friends up this weekend, so on Saturday we had a fantastic day hanging with them. We hit the slopes at Heavenly for a few hours, and then had a delicious lunch of homemade gourmet hot pockets, jumped in the hot tub, napped, watched Rush, and cooked some amazing spicy burgers for dinner and enjoyed time with some awesome friends. Definitely a great weekend to kick off the new year.

Now on to these delicious hot pockets! These are so much better than the frozen kind you find at the store, and the best part is you can customize them to fit your taste buds! You can also make them as large or small as you want, which makes it great for satisfying your whole family. We've already made these 3 times in the past week!

Gourmet Hot Pockets (serves 2 adults)
You'll need:
- 1 package crescent rolls (each additional package makes 2 large hot pockets).
- Mesquite Turkey deli meat
- Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Pesto
- Sun-dried Tomatoes
- Garlic Salt
- Paprika
- Parmesan Cheese

You can change up any of the filling ingredients to fit your preferences. Dave likes to make his with hot habanero cheese, turkey, and mushrooms!

1) Preheat the oven to Bake at 375 degrees F.

2) Open up the package of crescent rolls. They come perforated to make 8 dinner rolls. You'll want to separate the sheet into quarters, consisting of 2 rolls. Using your fingers, gently smooth the perforation out and blend the dough together.

3) Add in the filling! Start with a thin layer of pesto, and make sure to leave room around all of the edges to seal it. Next, add your cheese, then turkey, and top with some sun-dried tomatoes!

4) Take another quarter that has the perforation smoothed out, and place over the top of the filling. Then starting folding the bottom dough up and over the top piece around all of the sides, using your fingers to help smooth out the dough. You want to avoid any holes and gaps so that the goodies don't leak out while baking.

5) Sprinkle a bit of paprika, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese on top.

6) Place on a non-stick cookie sheet, and bake for approx. 12 to 15mins. Keep an eye on it as it is baking. You want it to turn a nice golden brown.

7) Enjoy!

Christmas and Strawberry Snowballs

It's been a whirlwind couple of days as we squeeze the entire Christmas season into about 48 hours. We finally got home from Europe around 1:30am early Monday morning (I'll post final thoughts and recaps on the last day of the race soon). When we walked in the door, we were greeted with a cute little Christmas tree already decorated with lights! Such a fun surprise after an incredibly long day of traveling. After a few hours of sleep, it was time to get up and get ready the house ready for Christmas!

Even though we had just gotten back, Dave and I were hosting Christmas Eve dinner for his mom, sister, and grandma Lolly - the Christmas Tree culprits. I love hosting dinner parties, especially for holidays. Unfortunately with the limited time we had to get ready, I had to simplify things a bit, but there was still time for a few fun and easy touches.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some fruit into the meal somehow. We went a full 2 weeks without fruit and hardly any veggies while we were in Europe, so I was really craving some fresh produce. While we were at Costco I stumbled across some gorgeous strawberries and knew immediately what I wanted to make -- Strawberry Snowballs!

With the limited time I had to get everything ready, these were the perfect dessert to satisfy my fruit craving and of course, who doesn't love things dipped in chocolate!

Amazingly fresh and delicious strawberries!

You can pick these up at Michaels Craft Store

The "snow" for the snowballs!

These were a big hit with just the right touch of whimsy, and made me feel like I had at least done something a little festive since I didn't have time for a full on baking marathon.

Strawberry Snowballs

You'll need:
- 1 large box of fresh strawberries (rinsed and patted dry)
- 1 package of White Chocolate Candy Melts
- White sparking sugar sprinkles (sanding sugar also works)
- Double boiler
- Parchment paper

Directions:
1) Melt the white chocolate candy in a heatproof bowl or pan over a pot of lightly simmering water. Keep an eye on the chocolate and stir occasionally.

2) Once the chocolate is melted, set the pot aside for a min or two to allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

3) Dip one strawberry at a time in to the melted chocolate, leaving the green end out.

4)  Place the chocolate covered strawberry on a sheet of parchment paper. Immediately sprinkle the sparking sugar sprinkles over the chocolate so they'll stick.

5) Allow the strawberries to cool at room temperature before sticking in the fridge to keep fresh until the party.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spent with friends and family! Hard to believe it's time to get ready for New Years!