Chocolate Lavender Honey Tart

I have been making a lot of sweets recently and today I dared to try a chocolate pie-like dessert for an Easter dinner with friends. My dad always makes an awesome flour-less chocolate cake for Passover and I wanted to make something similar, but with more crunch. The hint of lavender along with a chocolate honey crust made for a new and tasty treat. Happy Easter and Passover to everyone! Makes 12 super rich slices

Ingredients

12 chocolate graham crackers, broken into 1/4s 

1 12oz bag of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1.5 tbsp honey

2 tsp dried lavender blossoms 

(found in bulk sections at some grocery stores like Whole Foods)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp powdered sugar- optional

Non-stick baking cooking spray

-PAM has a good baking one*

*NOTE: this is not gluten free, other cooking sprays are, so if you plan to use it again in gluten-free recipes, look out for the hidden wheat ingredient

Preheat oven to 350 F

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie dish*

*If you don't have one use, a round pan. 

*If you have a pie dish that's a different size you may just need extra graham crackers

In a food processor, grind together crackers, honey, and 4 tbsp butter

Once fine crumbs are formed, press them evenly into the bottom of the dish

Place in the oven for 10 minutes

Meanwhile, bring cream and lavender to a boil in a small sauce pan

Place chocolate chips in a medium sized pot

Once the cream mixture boils, strain it over the chocolate chips

Put heat on medium-low and stir until creamy

Then add the remaining 1 tbsp butter and cocoa

Place in fridge for 1.5 hours

Bring out and let sit for an hour before serving

Can be topped with powdered sugar 

Healthy Gluten-Free Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken lettuce wraps tend to be packed with sodium, oil, and calories, so I decided to make up a healthier recipe that was still tasty and satisfying. These wraps were super easy because I actually got a lot of the ingredients off of the salad bar at my grocery store. The carrots, mushrooms, peppers, and green onions were already pre-cut, making this a simple dish! Eat over a plate, these can get messy. Enjoy!  Serves 4

Ingredients
1 small head of iceberg lettuce*
1/2 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp sesame or peanut oil
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup diced red peppers
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 green onions, chopped (about a half cup)
Juice from 1/2 of a lime
1 tbsp shredded ginger root
1 tsp garlic powder or one clove garlic chopped
3 tbsp low sodium gluten-free soy sauce
Sriracha to taste (I used 2 tsp)

*to make cups, cut off stem and slowly take off the leaves one at a time
Clean off then dry in a spinner or on a paper towel

In a large non-stick pan (or pot) cook chicken on medium heat with oil
After 5 minutes of stirring with a fork, add mushrooms
Cook until there is no more pink in the chicken

Meanwhile combine carrots, lime juice, green onions, peppers, ginger, garlic and soy sauce
When chicken is cooked, add it too the mixture
Add Sriracha to taste

Scoop evenly into lettuce cups

Enjoy!

Strawberries and Cream Cake

I tend to steer clear of dessert duty unless cookies are acceptable. The thought of baking and being precise with measuring makes me anxious. After being asked to bring a dessert to a girls dinner, I looked up recipes that included strawberries because I just bought an lb of them in hopes to eat a bit healthier. This recipe is a hybrid between an old Martha Stewart recipe and a Barefoot Contessa deconstructed recipe. It turned out to be very satisfying! Serves 8

Ingredients
1 lb strawberries, tops cut off and sliced into small pieces
1 stick butter at room temperature, plus a little to butter the pan
1.5 cups flour, plus a little to flour the pan
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
2 eggs plus two yolks 
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

one bunch mint
1.7 oz Grand Marnier 

Preheat the oven to 350F
Butter the bottom of an 8 inch pan
Then line with cut out parchment paper
Cover again with butter and the sides, then sprinkle with flour

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt
In a mixer, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the stick of butter
Beat on high for about a minute (until creamy)

Use a large knife

Slowly add in eggs, one at a time allowing to mix fully
Then add the two yolks
Add vanilla

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture
Then half of the milk
Repeat and end with flour mixture

Pour the dough into the pan and cook for about 30-35 minutes
Once the cake can be poked with a knife and nothing remains on the knife when you pull it out, the cake is done
Allow to cool for 10 minutes

Meanwhile, toss strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar and Grand Marnier (do about half of the bottle, then taste test to get desired amount)

Make the whipped cream by combining remaining 1/4 cup sugar with heavy cream in the mixer
Combine until peaks form

When cake is cooled, plop it onto a plate upside down carefully
slice in half horizontally
Place one half on the plate and save the other
Top with 1/2 of the strawberries and half of the whipped cream
Place the other half of the cake on top
Spread remaining whipped cream
Top with strawberries and mint

Beef with Brussels

Do you love Beef with Broccoli? This recipe is very similar with a healthy and less questionable ingredient twist. In the past two months, I have seen three variations of a recipe for stir fry beef with brussels sprouts. Because this idea seemed to be so popular, I decided to combine and fine tune a few recipes to create the perfect dish. I made this for my boyfriend before going out to a girls dinner and I ended up eating so much of it that I could hardly eat at the restaurant. I am not a red meat lover, but I found myself sneaking beef to "taste test" constantly (Sorry C!) I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 lb of flank steak
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp peanut oil, divided into two
1 cup gluten-free beef broth
2 tbsp light brown sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
juice from one small lime
2 tbsp corn starch
12 oz fresh brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
1 jalapeno pepper sliced (I just used 1/4 cup chopped canned peppers)
1 tbsp grated ginger- fresh
1 clove garlic, diced
8 mint leaves
Cooked rice

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan on high
Cut steak into thin strips, equally sized
Rub with salt and pepper and place in the pan
Flip over with tongs after about a minute
Cook for 2-3 minutes total, then remove and put on a plate
Use a paper towel to carefully clean out juices

Heat other tbsp of oil on medium high
Add Brussels and stir around for two minutes, until browned lightly
Sprinkle in garlic and peppers

Meanwhile whisk soy sauce, lime, broth, and corn starch in a small bowl
Pour over Brussels
Stir for 5 minutes
Add steak back, along with fresh mint

Put rice in a bowl and pour the yumminess over it

Enjoy

Gluten Free Chicken Tortilla Soup

If you know me, you know that I use any excuse possible to celebrate with Mexican dishes. For this past Cinco de (March) I was fortunate to be home with my parents, brother, and his girlfriend. My brother has Celiacs, which is why I started concocting gluten-free dishes in the first place. I decided to make light chicken tortilla soup to go with heavy fajitas and it was amazing! It's crisp, tasty, and refreshing! Serves 8

Ingredients
Breast meat from one rotisserie chicken, shredded
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained
1 corn cob, boiled, sliced into 8 pieces
4 cups gluten-free/msg free chicken broth
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

Sorry the pictures are so orange!

1 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
Toppings:
1 avocado, sliced into 16 pieces
3 green onions (light green and white parts only), chopped
1 lime, cut into 8 slices
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
chips

In a large pot, heat oil over medium
Stir in onions for about 2 minutes then add garlic
Stir for 2 more minutes then add spices
Add in tomatoes, broth, and beans
Bright heat up to high and bring to a boil
Let boil for 3 minutes then puree with a hand blender
Add chicken and let simmer for about 5 minutes
Add corn
*If you dont have a hand blender, dont bring to a boil, just puree ingredients, bring to a boil then add chicken
Pour soup into bowls, add avocado, lime and sprinkle cilantro and onions
Dip in chips right before serving and reserve some for guests to take more

Snicker Doodle Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches-Gluten Free

After talking about one of my favorite desserts at a local restaurant, my friend (who eats gluten-free) and I went to Whole Foods looking for a snicker doodle mix with no luck. So we made these melt in your mouth cookies from scratch and stuck them on either side of our favorite coffee ice cream. The hardest part is waiting for the cookies to cool before making the sandwich. They are sweet, melt in your mouth, and are the perfect treat. Makes about 24 cookies- 12 sandwiches

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp gluten-free all purpose flour
(we used King Arthur brand)
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pinch salt

Cinnamon sugar*
Combine 3 tbsp sugar and 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon in a bowl

Preheat oven to 400F
Combine sugar and butter in a mixer on medium
Once creamy, decrease speed to slow
Add the egg, then flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and salt
Once combined, roll into 1 inch balls

Roll balls in cinnamon sugar
Place on a baking sheet

Cook for 8-10 minutes

Allow to cool, scoop on desired ice cream

Enjoy right away or stick in the freezer