Scalloped Potatoes

This is the first time I've ever made scalloped potatoes, and they were easy and awesome.
I received some organic red potatoes from my CSA and wanted to make something special with them Scalloped potatoes make a beautiful presentation and are creamy and delicious. They were the perfect choice.

This recipe does require that you slice the potatoes very thin.
I was able to slice the potatoes very thin in just minutes using an inexpensive Mandolin Slicer ( kitchen gadget- about $ 15)  that I've had sitting in my closet and have been wanting to try.

 I wish I had started to use it a long time ago; It's the easiest tool I've ever used. I sliced 3 pounds of potatoes in perfect thin rounds in just minutes. I used these thin rounds to line a Pyrex pie pan to make the scalloped potatoes.

If you don't have one of these little slicers, I recommend it highly that you get one.
I bought this one:

Super Slicer Mandoline Slicer - All Purpose 5 in 1 Mandolin Slicer with Free Bonus Waffle Blade

You can easily and quickly slice just about any kind of vegetable into thin consistent slices with it . It is truly a great time saver. Honestly, I don't believe you can achieve the uniformity and thickness/thinness of slicing vegetables without one. It's worth the minimal investment especially if you want to make scalloped potatoes.

Scalloped potatoes make a great gluten free side dish any time of the year.

Author: Judee Algazi @ Gluten Free A-Z Blog
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time:  50 minutes
Temperature: 375 degrees

Ingredients: 
5 medium/large red potatoes, sliced thin
2 ounces of butter
1/4 cup of coconut flour ( or any GF flour)
2 cups of almond milk ( or 1 cup of almond milk and 1 cup heavy cream)
1 cup of chopped onions, sautéed
1 and 1/2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese


Directions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sautee the onions until soft in a skillet and set aside.
Slice potatoes and line them in a pyrex pan with the slices and set aside. Make a roux of the butter and flour by slowly melting the butter and whisking in the flour. Then add the milk and sauteed onions and continue to whisk. Pour the milk and onion mixture over the potatoes. Cover with the Parmesan cheese and bake at 375 for 50 minutes.

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Raspberry Thumbprint Butter Cookies ( Grain Free)

Another gluten free tasty little gem that is easy and can be whipped up rather quickly!
If you a new to gluten free baking, this is a good recipe to get you started.
There are no exotic flours or hard to find ingredients; the recipe just calls for ground almonds ( available at Trader Joe's as almond meal) .

Thumbprint cookies are a basic butter ( or coconut oil)  cookie that are fun to make and especially fun to make with kids. These delightful gluten free cookies are made quickly, bake quickly, and look beautiful. What kid ( of any age) doesn't love pressing his/her thumb into cookie dough and filling it with a teaspoon of rich fruit jam.

If you are craving a cookie, these won't disappoint you. The recipe makes a small batch ( about 9) , so you won't overeat them either.

Ground almonds are a naturally gluten free flour that is perfect for baking cookies and cakes, is easy to work with , and tastes great. I've made lots of different recipes using almond meal.

Vegan? In addition to being grain free and gluten free,  this recipe can also be made vegan by substituting coconut oil for the butter.

Author: Judee Algazi
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes at

Ingredients:
2 cups of ground almonds/meal ( I got mine at Trader Joe's
6 Tablespoons of softened organic butter ( vegans- substitute coconut oil)
4-5 Tablespoons of coconut sugar ( I bought mine at Trade Joes')
1  teaspoon of organic vanilla extract
1/2 cup of raspberry all fruit natural jam or jelly

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond meal and coconut sugar. Add the butter and vanilla extract and cream into the dry mixture using a large spoon. When mixture is well creamed, take enough to make a small ball and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Repeat until the dough is finished ( makes about 10 cookies) . Press your thumb into each cookie and help it out to make a well. Fill it well with a half teaspoon of jelly and bake at 350 degrees fro 12 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown.  Check frequently after 10 minutes so they don't over bake. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before lifting them. ( they will crumble)

Before baking

After baking 

My notes

This is a crumbly cookie dough ; however, the dough will respond to the warmth of your hand and become  workable. If you absolutely find the dough too dry, add a teaspoon of almond milk and try again. I choose to use raspberry filling but of course any flavor filling would be fine.

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Food is my passion. I am gluten intolerant, busy. and strive for a healthy balanced lifestyle. It has taken me many years to come up with easy healthy recipes that meet gluten free, vegetarian and real food standards. On my blog I share my journey, my struggles, my discoveries, and my new recipes. I hope you find ideas, resources, and recipes that will be helpful to you. Come Back soon.



Author: Judee Algazi
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Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna ( GF)

Are you a lasagna lover? This zucchini lasagna is made with sliced zucchini strips instead of pasta noodles and is absolutely so delicious you will not even miss the noodles.

Quick, Easy, Healthy

But what you'll love most about it is how quick and easy you can prepare it.  You can assemble it the night before and cook it when you get home from work.

It's always a challenge to find healthy recipes for your family that fit into your busy working schedule. This is an easy recipe which cuts down on carbs but not flavor.  Truthfully, this recipe was very fast and easy to make and helped me use up some of the abundance of zucchini that I have right now. How much zucchini do you have ??

Loaded with Zucchini ?

I received 8 medium-large organic green and yellow zucchini from my CSA farm. It was truly a challenge to eat them all before they went bad. So, I made a variety of zucchini dishes this week. Each recipe was different from the others, and each was really delicious!
 Zucchini is low calorie, low carb, and very diverse as you can see.

We enjoyed the following recipes this week: 

• I've used my spiralizer to make raw Zoodles in Pesto Sauce for lunch-yum
• Baked Parmesan Zucchini Spears as a side dish
• Nona's zucchini quiche was a good dinner one night

However despite my zucchini frenzy, I still had 2 nice size zucchini left. 

So, I took out my mandolin slicer ( love it)  and quickly sliced up the remainder of my zucchini into thin strips. I didn't even pre cook the strips. I just lined them uncooked in a pyrex pie plate, layered in some ricotta cheese mixture, some more zucchini slices, some marinara sauce and some shredded cheese. Baked my lasagna for 55 minutes and enjoyed a meal for dinner!

I actually made two of lasagnas and put cooked broccoli raab in one of them .
I'm froze that one !
You could add any cooked veggies of your choice-
The prep for the recipe is a very fast and easy and it then bakes for about an hour

Author: Judee Algazi - Gluten Free A-Z Blog
Prep Time: 10-12 minutes
Cook Time: 50-60 minutes ( depending on your oven)
Pre-heat : 350 degrees

Ingredients:

1 medium/large zucchini, sliced thin ( I used a mandolin slicer)
2 cups of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsely
1 egg, beaten
1/2 -3/4 cup of marinara sauce
1 cup of shredded cheese ( I used cheddar - could use mozzarella)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ricotta cheese, egg, parsley and 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce in a medium bowl and set aside.
Spray a 9 inch pyrex pie plate with cooking spray and then line thin zucchini slices to cover the bottom of a 9 inch pyrex pie pan.
Spread  the zucchini with the ricotta cheese mixture.
Spread the ricotta cheese layer with another layer of zucchini slices.
Spread the remaining 1/4 cup of marinara sauce over the layer of zucchini and cover with the shredded cheese. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 50-60 minutes.

Make this layer twice

End with cheese topping; then bake

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Zero Carb Pancakes

Looking for a fast, delicious and healthy pancake that you can make in the morning before work? This is it. This fabulous zero carb recipe has just 2 ingredients that are mixed in the blender. These gluten free /grain free pancakes cook quickly and taste divine. Fresh hot high protein Pancakes for breakfast? Yes, please.

I'm not usually a pancake lover because I find pancakes heavy and way too filling, leaving me feeling stuffed and bloated. However, these gluten free zero carb pancakes are different. Since they have no grain (flour), they are light and satisfying without being too heavy.

If you don't add any toppings, these delicious pancakes really do have absolutely no carbs, and they are so fast and easy to make you could eat them everyday! They are high in protein and very low in sugar so they won't trigger sugar cravings. They are actually more like crepes and are a great basic pancake or wrap for anyone who eats low carb, gluten free or grain free.

The pancake batter is made in the blender in seconds, and it takes about 1 minute on each side  for each pancake to cook, so you can make them fresh each morning or freeze them ( put a layer of waxed paper between pancakes)  and take out what you need when you need it.

Of course you can add fresh berries like I did in the picture above, which adds a few carbs but also adds some healthy antioxidants and flavor. 

1/4 cup of Blueberries = 4.35 net carbs

Blueberries are extremely rich in antioxidants, are relatively low in sugar, and are low in calories.

These pancakes are so versatile you could eat them topped with all kinds of variations!

Toppings To keep them really low carb

• Top them with softened butter mixed with a little vanilla extract and then dust the pancakes with cinnamon.
• My husband suggested melting some cheese over them
• Top them with fresh 2 minute blueberry sauce ( recipe below) ( adds 4 carbs) that can be made in advance. 
• Whipped cream

I made a low carb blueberry sauce in two minutes

  I made a very simple, but delicious blueberry sauce by just using 1/4 cup of berries and heating them in a skillet in 1/4 cup of water until they burst ( about 2 minutes) and then mashed them with a fork. They made their own outstanding sauce- with a nice rich sweet blueberry taste. Fresh blueberry sauce is so much better than any syrup and it's blueberry season, so why not enjoy a few!

So so so so good! yet just made from sweet berries

Don't these look fabulous? Just 4 carbs- for 7 small pancakes and the sauce from 1/4 cup blueberries

Make a strawberry or raspberry sauce the same way

If you are not a fan of blueberries, you could slice up 2 or 3 strawberries. 

4 medium strawberries= 3.35 net carbs

Slice 4 medium strawberries and cook in 1/4 cup of water until soft. Smash and eat over your pancakes . 

I find that cutting down on carbs is a good way to keep my weight down. 

My pancakes a small because my skillet is small- this recipe should make 3 medium sized pancakes

Author:  Judee Algazi @ Gluten Free A-Z Blog
Prep Time: 2 minutes 
Cook Time: 5 minutes ( to cook all the pancakes)


Ingredients: 
2 eggs
2 ounces of cream cheese ( about 1/4 of an 8 ounce cream cheese bar )
1 tsp. of vanilla or almond extract if desired ( will add some flavor)

Directions:
Place all ingredients into the blender and blend well.
Pour batter into circles  onto a hot griddle or well greased skillet.
Cook for a minute on each side
Serve plain or with a topping!

Enjoy them for your breakfast or even a quick snack!

What kind of skillet do you use to make your pancakes? I've tried so many different kinds of skillets ,and the batter always sticks.-even when I grease it. Although I'm not a fan of coated pans- it seems to work the best. 

Please share in the comments if you have a healthier solution.. thanks 

If you don't care about low carbs, then I have another way you can make easy grain free pancakes that are also delicious.. Another 2 Ingredient pancake 

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I am an affiliate for Amazon and I do receive a very small compensation if you purchase on Amazon through my blog. I appreciate the support to help cover the expenses of running the blog.

Food is my passion. I am gluten intolerant, busy. and strive for a healthy balanced lifestyle. It has taken me many years to come up with easy healthy recipes that meet gluten free, vegetarian and real food standards. On my blog I share my journey, my struggles, my discoveries, and my new recipes. I hope you find ideas, resources, and recipes that will be helpful to you. Come Back soon.

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