Thanksgiving {Egg-free}

Ah... Thanksgiving week!  Are you getting ready to cook your feast?  It can be a little stressful, especially when food allergies are involved.  Here is a list of some of the holiday favorites you can find on our egg-free Thanksgiving Menu.

Herb Turkey Breast {Slow-cooker} (EF, DF, GF)

Cornbread Dressing (EF, DF)

Cinnamon Jello Salad (EF, DF, GF)

Pumpkin Pie (EF, GF)

Ham and Beans {Slow-cooker}

Winter is almost over and Spring is upon us.  So, I thought I would post one more cozy winter recipe in our last few days of winter.  I make my recipe for Slow Cooker Pinto Beans (EF, DF, GF) often.  One of the times I was picking up dried pinto beans at the grocery store, I noticed a dried bag of bean medley.  This mixture of dried beans intrigued me.  I wanted to find something delicious to make with them that would expose my family to some legumes we don't regularly eat.  When my husband saw the bag laid out on my counter, he was skeptical.  But he really enjoyed the end result as did the kids, especially when it was served with Honey Wheat Cornbread (EF, DF).

We enjoyed this recipe so much.  I think I will use leftover Easter ham to make it again soon!

Ham and Beans {Slow Cooker}

6 c water for soaking

6 c water for cooking

4 cups ham, chopped

1 lb dried beans*

1 lg sweet onion

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 t sea salt

1 t black pepper

The night before, rinse beans and discard any obviously shriveled and/or discolored beans.  Put in slow cooker with 6 cups of water.  Put on lid and soak the beans overnight. 

In the morning, drain soaking beans and re-rinse.  Put beans back into the slow-cooker.  Peel onion leaving it whole and place in the beans.  Do not chop or slice the onion.  This allows you to remove it after cooking but still benefit from the flavor.  Add 6 cups of water for cooking, ham, minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook beans on high for 8 hours.  Serve with cornbread.  

*I used a bean medley and we loved it!  It had dried great northern beans, pinto beans, green split pea, small red bean, baby lima bean, light red kidney beans, small white beans, black eye peas, pink beans, lentils, yellow split peas, large lima beans, black beans, dark red kidney beans and garbanzo beans.

Gluten-free notes:  If you have a gluten allergy, double check your ham ingredients to make sure they do not contain gluten.

Main dish – serves 4-6

Taco Chili {Slow-cooker}

It doesn't get much easier than this recipe!  I love it because it works well on a day when I am running low on fresh produce.  I can pull the meat out of the freezer and almost all of the other ingredients out of the pantry.  It is also nice to put this on in the morning and have a nice hot meal at the end of a long cold day.  I thought I better share this before our cooler days come to an end, soon I hope!

The taco chili pictured below was actually made with one pound of lean ground beef and one pound of venison.  Our neighbor gave us several pounds of ground venison.  My kids didn't even notice anything different in the chili.  Chili has so much flavor, it is a great way to feed your family wild game without them even knowing the difference.

This recipe goes great with Cornbread (EF, DF) or Honey Wheat Cornbread (EF, DF).  If you like this recipe, you may also like Chicken Taco Chili {Slow-cooker} (EF, DF, GF).

Taco Chili

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 lg onion, chopped

2 (14oz) cans no salt added diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (10oz) can tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

1 (15oz) can chili beans, undrained

1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14oz) can corn, drained

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 pkg chili seasoning

Brown meat and onion together.  Drain.  Place in slow cooker and add all other ingredients.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Top with shredded cheese and serve with tortilla chips or cornbread.

Serves 8-10

Skinny Potato Soup {Slow-cooker}

A friend of mine made this soup for me for lunch years ago.  I wrote down the recipe and just now got around to making it myself.  It is so easy, delicious and pretty healthy!  It doesn't have all of the fat that most potato soups have.  It also smells wonderful while it is cooking.  We had this with a nice salad when another friend came over for lunch!  I also put some in the freezer for later.  

Skinny Potato Soup

6 baking potatoes, peeled and cut up

1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, trimmed and diced

4 c chicken broth*

1 T dried parsley

1 t salt, or to taste

1 t black pepper, or to taste

1 12 oz can evaporated milk (I used 2%.)

Place all ingredients, except milk in slow-cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.  Stir in milk during last hour.  Mash potatoes with potato masher before serving.  Top with chopped chives, if desired.

*If on a gluten-free diet, make sure the brand of broth you are using is gluten-free. 

Dairy-free notes:  I think this recipe could easily be made dairy-free by subsituting a non-dairy milk.  Let me know if you try it and which milk you used.

Vegetable Beef Soup {Slow-Cooker}

It has been two years since I started this blog!  By the end of 2012, my blog was up to about 2,000 page views a month.  At that time, I was hoping it would get to 5,000 page views a month by the end of 2013.  As of the end of 2013, I have been getting 7,000 page views a month!  Thanks to you all for following my blog!  My hope it is helping some with food allergies cook and enjoy somewhat normal foods.

Here is a recipe for Vegetable Beef Soup.  It is inspired by the recipe for Amazing Beef Vegetable Soup from The Vintage Mom's food blog.  The recipe says to simmer all day.  Anytime I read this, I think slow-cooker.  That is how I cooked mine.  I also made a few ingredient adjustments and additions, as you can see below.  I love that this warm, comforting soup is so full of so many yummy veggies!

Note:  This recipe makes a lot of soup!!  You need a BIG slow-cooker.  I cooked Mine in a 6 quart capacity slow-cooker and it was almost filled to the brim.  We shared half of the soup with friends and still had enough for two meals for our family.  I even froze a couple of containers for lunches.  

If you like this recipe, you may also like Taco Soup (EF, GF).

Vegetable Beef Soup

Inspired by The Vintage Mom’s Amazing Beef Vegetable Soup

1 medium onion, diced

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

1 T olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 carton low-sodium beef broth

1 large 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

½ head of cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 c frozen corn

1 c baby carrots, chopped

1 c frozen peas

1 c fresh or frozen green beans*

5 medium yellow potatoes, cubed

1 packet of Lipton Beefy Onion Soup mix

2 T celery flakes

2 T Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

1 T ground black pepper

1 T dried parsley

In a skillet, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil.  Move onion and garlic to slow-cooker.  In same skillet brown the beef.  Drain beef and place in slow-cooker.  Add broth, tomatoes, vegetables and all remaining spices.  Cook on low for about 8 hours.  Remove bay leaves prior to serving.

*I used canned green beans, adding them about half way through the cook time because that is what I had on hand.  I also think you could put canned green beans in for the entire cook time.  They may just be more likely to come apart.