Author: mitchellmeals

Candy Bar Bars

This recipe comes from Jeff’s Mitchell Family Cookbook, so I definitely wanted to include it. The taste is similar to No Bake Cookies, but with a nice crunch from the peanut butter. Haha, it may be the only time I ever buy crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth.

For gluten free, you just need to use gluten free oats and make sure you use a new jar of peanut butter or one not contaminated with crumbs.

Candy Bar Bars

  • Servings: 12?
  • Difficulty: medium
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From the Mitchell Family Cookbook.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 c. Butter

  • 1 c. Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. Vanilla
  • 1/2 c. Corn Syrup
  • 4 c. Quick Cooking Oats (or gluten free oats)
  • 1 c. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
  • 2/3 c. Crunchy Peanut Butter

Directions

Lightly grease a 9×13 pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the vanilla, corn syrup, and oats. Pat this dough into the greased pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes (don’t overbake). Meanwhile, over low heat, melt together the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Allow the cookie base to cool slightly, spread the chocolate peanut butter mixture on top. Cool completely and cut into bars.

 


Alice’s Best Sugar Cookies

This recipe comes from Grandma Alice, and I just love whenever cookies have almond extract in them. It makes such an amazing flavor.

FYI, I found a recipe a few years ago for sugar cookies, and they just rolled out the dough onto Silpats right after it was made and still room temperature, then covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to chill for half an hour. Then you cut them after. Ever since then, I’ve been rolling cookies like that because it’s much easier than trying to flatten out a block of cold dough.

I haven’t made this one gluten free yet, but of course you’d want to switch out the flour for a gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum and maybe add a few tablespoons extra. Also, you may have to add a few minutes to the cook time.

Alice's Best Sugar Cookies

  • Servings: 4 dozen
  • Difficulty: medium
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Almond extract gives them a wonderful flavor.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Butter, softened

  • 1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, sifted

  • 1 Egg

  • 1 tsp. Vanilla

  • 1/2 tsp. Almond Flavoring

  • 2 1/2 c. Flour, sifted

  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda

  • 1 tsp. Cream of Tartar

Directions

Cream sugar and butter. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and almond flavoring. Sift and measure flour and blend dry ingredients; stir into mixture. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Heat oven to 375°. Divide dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured area to 3/16″ thick. Cut with floured cookie cutters (dip in flour and shake off extra before cutting). Sprinkle with sugar. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes or until delicately golden. Makes 4 dozen 3″ cookies.

 


 

Strawberry-Banana Cheesecake Salad

This recipe comes from Grandma Alice. It’s one of those delicious sweet salads that could count as either a side dish or a dessert. It would be a wonderful cool dish on a hot day, like at a barbeque. I will say when I made it for the photo that after adding the pudding mix to the cream cheese, it slightly clumped up like cottage cheese. Maybe I did something wrong, but I think in the future, I’d mix the pudding in with the Cool Whip to keep it smooth.

As for making it gluten free, I thought at first that this recipe was naturally gluten free, but it turns out the cheesecake pudding mix contains barley as an ingredient.

Make it a meal with:

  • Burgers or Salmon
  • Green Salad or Potato Salad

Strawberry-Banana Cheesecake Salad

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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A delicious sweet side, but it does take several ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1 pkg. Cheesecake Flavor Instant Pudding Mix or pie filling mix (this is not gluten free)
  • 16 oz. Vanilla Yogurt
  • 8 oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
  • 3 Large Strawberries, sliced
  • 4 Bananas, sliced
  • Juice of 2 Lemons
  • 1/2 Bag Miniature Marshmallows
  • 1 Container Raspberries

Directions

In a medium bowl, whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it becomes creamy. In the beaters, it will knot up, but proceed as is and it will loosen up. Add the dry pudding mix to combine. Add the yogurt and Cool Whip, beating until well mixed. In a large bowl, add the strawberries, banana slices, and lemon juice. Stir to coat the fruit pieces with lemon juice, then add the fruits to the creamy mixture. Stir in the marshmallows and finally add the raspberries.


Vegetables in a Cloud

My sister-in-law Stephanie brought this to a dinner, and it was very good–so I asked her to share the recipe. She sent me a photo from a newspaper, with the original recipe attributed to Michele Broadbent in Orem. It’s a great creamy, cheesy way to eat your vegetables.

And this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

Vegetables in a Cloud

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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A creamy, cheesy way to enjoy your veggies.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp. Butter
  • 1/2 c. Onions, chopped
  • 1 5-oz. can Sliced Water Chestnuts
  • 3 c. Broccoli
  • 3 c. Cauliflower
  • 4 Carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 c. Water
  • Seasoned Salt

Topping:

  • 1 c. Extra Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1 c. Mayo
  • 1 c. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese

Directions

In a frying pan, melt the butter, then sauté onions and water chestnuts until tender. Add all vegetables and water, then cover tightly. Let vegetables steam until crisp-tender. Drain well. Place vegetable mixture in a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and mix well. For the topping: In a mixing bowl, whip the cream until peaks form. Fold in mayo and cheese. Spread cream mixture over vegetables and bake at 350° for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown.


 

Pizza Skulls

You may have seen the videos on social media where they have a dough skull and they pull open the mouth to reveal a sausage ball surrounded by cheese–like its brains! It looked perfect for Halloween, so I splurged and bought the skull pan. We enjoyed it so much that I bought another one so I could make gluten free skulls too. So before you attempt this recipe, buy the pan here–and don’t wait until October because it’s often sold out. The original recipes call for sealing the skulls with dough on the bottom, like a calzone. But we learned that it gets really bready if you do that. So we just fold over the corners a little and top it with cheese. It holds together and is more enjoyable than eating tons of bread. This is what the bottom looks like when you do that. When we let the girls make their own skulls, we’ll mark each one with an indicator, like Marilyn’s has a pepperoni slice.

If you’re making it gluten free, I generally use the easy gluten free pizza dough recipe. The dough always makes much more than needed, so I make a small pizza to go along with it. I’ll spray the skull pan, then I’ll use my fingers to spread the dough as thin as possible in the skull cavities without causing holes. You want it very thin because you’ll blind bake it for a few minutes, and it’ll puff up a bit, which takes up precious space for toppings. And of course I top it with more cheese instead of more dough. I have done it with dough, but you have to bake it separately and then put it on top of the toppings, which is annoying. The crust is a little crunchier than regular pizza dough, but it’s still fun and you still get definition in the skull’s face. Here’s what the gluten free version looks like.

Make it a meal with:

  • Green Salad or Grapes
  • Root Beer

Pizza Skulls

  • Servings: 6 skulls
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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Fun for Halloween, but takes time and one skull isn’t as filling as you’d think.

Ingredients

  • Nordic Ware Haunted Skull Cakelet Pan
  • 1 can Refrigerated Pizza Dough
  • 8 oz. + Shredded Mozzarella or Pizza Cheese
  • 1 jar Pizza Sauce
  • 1 lb. Italian Sausage, cooked and crumbled
  • Pepperoni
  • Other toppings as desired, such as ham, pineapple, olives, peppers, or basil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400° and spray the pan. Unroll the pizza dough and cut it into 6 rectangles about 3.5 inches wide for each. For each skull, lay a dough piece into a cavity in the pan. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of cheese on the bottom (if you put sauce first, it’ll soak through the dough). Then add toppings as desired, 1-2 Tbsp. of pizza sauce, and fold the corners of the dough over the toppings. Sprinkle with more cheese to seal everything in, and sprinkle with basil if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. To remove the skulls, place a cutting board or platter over the cooked bottom of the skull pan. Then invert the pan while holding the cutting board against it, and the skulls should easily slide out.


Granola

Jeff has talked about his mom making granola as a special treat for Christmas morning when he was little. They would eat it with milk as a cereal, but this can also be a topping for yogurt. This is one of the two granola recipes from his family recipe book, and this one is credited as coming from Make a Mix Cookery 1978. FYI, wheat germ can be hard to find, but recipe substitution sites say you can use ground flax seed. Also, the recipe says to spread in 9×13 pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, but I spread it on a large cookie sheet, and even with more surface area, it took SO much longer than 20 minutes to get any sort of crispness. Like maybe even 38 minutes.

If you’re making this gluten free, make sure to use flax seed instead of wheat germ, use gluten free oats, and check all your bags to make sure they don’t say “May contain wheat.” I was going to make this gluten free so I could try it, but both the Kroger sunflower seeds and flax seeds said they may contain wheat.

Granola

  • Servings: 2 large cookie sheets full
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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May take considerably more time to get crisp.

Ingredients

  • 5 c. Rolled Oats (or gluten free oats)

  • 3/4 c. Wheat Germ (or ground flax seed)

  • 1 c. Coconut Flakes

  • 3/4 c. Raw or Toasted Sunflower Seeds

  • 1 1/2 c. Chopped Mixed Nuts

  • 1/2 c. Brown Sugar

  • 3/4 c. Water

  • 3/4 c. Vegetable Oil
  • 1/4 c. Honey
  • 1/4 c. Molasses
  • 3/4 tsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
  • 2 c. Raisins, Chopped Dates, or Other Dried Fruit

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, water, oil, honey, molasses, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla, stirring until dissolved. Pour over oat mixture and mix well. Spread evenly into ungreased 9×13 baking pans (we used large cookie sheets instead). Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Check for desired crispness–you may need to add a lot more time). Cool completely, then stir in dried fruits. Store in an airtight container.

 


 

Zupa’s Chicken Pesto Sandwiches

Zupa’s makes amazing sandwiches, salads, and soups–and we even served Zupa’s at our wedding lunch. My favorite sandwich is the chicken pesto sandwich, but of course I couldn’t ever have it again with their bread. So I searched out a copycat recipe from Baking with Blondie and altered it a little to use jarred pesto. You can serve it cold instead of as a panini, but it’s so much better as a panini. Also, it’s a bit messy and not as great as a leftover, so eat it all in one sitting.

If you’re making it gluten free, make sure your almonds are gluten free and don’t say “May contain wheat”–I accidentally made myself sick that way. Also, use gluten free bread and make your sandwiches first. We have a George Foreman grill with removable plates that we can put in the dishwasher, so it’s much safer.

Make it a meal with:

  • Tomato or Tomato Basil Soup
  • Spinach Berry Salad with Cinnamon Almonds
  • Chocolate Strawberry

Zupa's Chicken Pesto Sandwiches

  • Servings: 4 sandwiches
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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Best served as a hot panini.

Ingredients

  • 1 large Chicken Breast, cubed

  • 1/4 c. Roasted Red Pepper from jar, chopped

  • 1/2 c. Slivered Almonds, toasted (or gluten free almond slices)

  • 3 Tbsp. Pesto from jar

  • 3/4 c. to 1 c. Mayo

  • 4 Ciabatta Rolls (or Kaiser Rolls), split in half (or gluten free bread)

  • 1 large Tomato, sliced
  • 1 c. Alfalfa Sprouts
  • 4 slices Muenster Cheese

Directions

In a frying pan, cook the chicken then place in a bowl (leaving in pan melts the mayo to oil). To the chicken, add the red pepper, almonds, pesto, and mayo, and mix until combined. If you’re not making a panini, place your bread on a cookie sheet and broil slightly before assembling the sandwich. If you are making a panini, preheat your machine while you assemble. On the bottom half of the ciabatta roll, layer on your muenster cheese, chicken mixture, tomato (seasoned with salt and pepper), and alfalfa sprouts. Top with the other half of the roll, then carefully place in the panini maker or George Foreman and cook for a few minutes until the bread is toasted.

 


 

Lemon Bars

Jeff loves lemon, and I enjoy making him lemon treats because I love him so much. This recipe comes from the family cookbook that Grandma Marilyn Mitchell compiled, with this recipe attributed to Louise Durman, Food Editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel. It’s great and less expensive than many lemon bar recipes because you may already have all the ingredients. Lots of lemon bar recipes require lemon zest, and I was afraid the lemon flavor wouldn’t be as strong without it, but Jeff says it tastes good as is. So it’s great just to use your bottle of lemon juice instead of having to buy and zest lemons.

I haven’t made this one gluten free yet, but of course you’d want to switch out the flour for a gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum.

Lemon Bars

  • Servings: about 12
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
  • Print


Cool before serving and use a wire strainer to cover with powdered sugar.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Butter, softened

  • 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar (plus more to sprinkle over top when finished)

  • 2 c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum, plus a few tablespoons extra)

  • 1/2 tsp. Salt

  • 4 Eggs

  • 2 c. Sugar

  • 5 Tbsp. Real Lemon® Juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream together butter and powdered sugar. Blend in flour and salt. Press mixture into a buttered 9×13 pan. Bake crust at 300° for 20 minutes. While the crust is baking, in a medium bowl, blend together eggs, sugar, and lemon juice. Pour over crust. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Cool on rack; when cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into rectangles.

 


 

Quick Potatoes and Kielbasa

This comes from Grandma Marilyn Mitchell, and Jeff says they had this quite a bit growing up. They mostly just had potatoes with kielbasa, but the recipe says you can add vegetables as desired, so I added green beans for more fiber. FYI, the recipe calls for 1 lb. of kielbasa, but the package I bought was only 12 oz., and it definitely could’ve used more. So next time, I’ll just buy two packages and use it all so it’s extra meaty.

And this one is naturally gluten free as long as your kielbasa is gluten free, which most are. 

Quick Potatoes and Kielbasa

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Easy and great with ketchup.

Ingredients

  • A few tablespoons Olive Oil

  • 1 (32 oz.) bag Frozen Diced Potatoes

  • 1/2 tsp. Salt

  • 1/2 tsp. Pepper

  • 1 lb. fully cooked Kielbasa, sliced

  • (Optional: Bag of frozen vegetables)

Directions

Heat olive oil in a skillet, add potatoes, and brown slightly. Season with salt and pepper, and add kielbasa (and vegetables as desired), stirring well. Top with sour cream, salsa, or ketchup.

 


 

Dairy and Egg Free

Sometimes when I’m recovering from being glutened, I’m extra sensitive to dairy and/or eggs, even if I take lactose pills. Like it may take several weeks or months to heal. I can usually handle butter just fine, though, since there’s so little lactose. So for my own reference, I’m making a list of dairy and egg free foods that are also gluten free–excluding butter because I can still handle it. Some of the recipes are naturally dairy free, and some can easily be made dairy free by leaving off cheese or whatever. You can also click the tags “Naturally Dairy Free (excluding butter)” or “Egg Free” at the bottom of any recipe to see all recipes with that tag.

Naturally Dairy and Egg Free Main Courses (butter is fine, though, for me)

Naturally Dairy and Egg Free Side Dishes

Naturally Dairy and Egg Free Desserts (and still gluten free)–still may include butter

Naturally Dairy and Egg Free Appetizers and Drinks

Of course some foods aren’t dairy or egg free, but it’s easy enough to leave off the cheese or replace the milk with almond milk. Some things just can’t have those replacements, though.

Easy Enough to Make Dairy and Egg Free, with some modifications

Dairy Free but not Egg Free (sometimes I can handle some eggs but not dairy)