Buffalo Chicken Wrappers

Food, GF

I’ve been teasing this recipe for a while. It’s GOOD good. My parents got a preview when they visited us in March and they were impressed. It’s a crowd pleaser and tastes like it is much less healthy than it is!! Note: I have substitute options for several ingredients in this recipe because although I’m gluten and dairy free, John isn’t, and these flavors POP with or without the gluten and dairy.

This recipe is multi-step. We love to have these on Friday nights or Saturday’s because they feel like a “Weekend Food!” If you love buffalo, ranch, and chicken – this recipe is for you. You’ve GOT to try it. Seriously.

It’s also great to have if you have leftover chicken tenders from this post — heat them in the oven or stovetop in a cast iron. This will cut down on prep time a little

Ingredients

A batch of chicken tenders
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast tenders
- 1 egg
- 1/2 box of Mary’s Gone Crackers
- 1/2 tsp each of onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne
- 1 tsp salt
- sprinkle of pepper
- Avocado oil spray
For Coleslaw
- 3/4 cup avocado oil mayonnaise (I like Chosen Foods!)
- 10 oz coleslaw mix
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
8 Siete Almond Flour Tortillas (or HEB Bakery Butter Tortillas)
8 ounces Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded freshly (dairy free, shreds as necessary)
Pickle slices
3/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
Sir Kensington’s Ranch for topping

Procedure

Prepare a batch of my gluten free chicken tenders as detailed in this post.
While chicken is baking, whisk mayonnaise, honey, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl until a smooth dressing forms.
Toss the coleslaw mix to coat. Allow the coleslaw to rest.
When chicken temps up to 165 fahrenheit, add tenders and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce in a large mixing bowl. Toss gently so to avoid pulling breading off of tenders.
When tenders are coated, allow to rest in the remaining hot sauce.
Assemble the chicken wraps as follows: top tortilla with one chicken tender, a tablespoon of coleslaw, 2 pickle slices, cheddar, and a drizzle of Sir Kensington’s ranch.

Recipe notes: If you’re in Texas, I HIGHLY recommend swinging by your local HEB store and grabbing the bakery made butter tortillas. They’re chock full of wheat and butter but they’re so good. Freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese is key here! It’s best if you let it set while you prepare the rest of the recipe so it isn’t quite as cold. It really makes the recipe next level!!

Serve these Buffalo Chicken Wrappers with carrots and baked fries for the gameday experience. Share them with friends, and you’ll be the talk of the party. Try these wraps ASAP. They’re bomb.

Be sure to snap a picture and share it with me on instagram using #biteswithbeth – there’s nothing I love more than seeing my recipes being used! Let me know how you like them!

Crispy Gluten Free Chicken Fingers

Food, GF

If you’ve recently gone gluten free, you’ve likely traveled down the sad road of pre-packaged gluten free items because you just weren’t sure how to handle this new lifestyle. I get it. I’ve been there. What the in-store items lack in wheat, they make up for in excess salt and crumbly texture most of the time. Not a fan.

This goes for frozen items like gluten free chicken fingers too! I have not once been impressed by a pre-packaged gluten free chicken finger. So, I set out to create my own recipe…and it’s one of the first gluten free recipes that I made up and perfected on my own! I’m so excited to share this with you!

Whether you’re gluten free or not, give these little guys a shot! They crisp perfectly in the oven, have few ingredients, and come together quickly. I don’t have an airfryer but I bet they’d be DIVINE in an airfryer.

John and I have been loving this recipe for years but our littlest toddler taste tester approves too!!

GF Chicken tender coating with seasoning

Ingredients

1.5-2 pounds of chicken breast tenders
1 egg
1/2 box of Mary’s Gone Crackers (6.5 ounce box)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
Sprinkle of pepper
Avocado oil spray

Procedure

Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
In a blender or food processor, pulse Mary’s Gone Crackers until they’re ground into a flourlike consistency.
Pour cracker flour into a shallow dish for coating tenders with onion powder, garlic powder, ground paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
In a shallow dish for dredging, whisk egg until it is an even yellow consistency.
Using a paper towel, dry each chicken tender – this will help you coat each tender evenly and allow coating to stick better.
I like to set up a dredging station of shallow pyrex dishes like this. I set up a small assembly line on my counter in this order from left to right: raw chicken tenders, egg wash, flour coating, a sheet pan sprayed with avocado oil.
Dip each chicken tender individually in egg wash, then in the Mary’s Gone Cracker flour coating, put each on the prepared sheet pan.
Continue the process until all tenders are dipped.
Spray the sheet full of prepared tenders with avocado oil on top – this helps your chicken tenders get the nice crisp factor!
Bake tenders for 30-35 minutes (be sure to temp the chicken up to 165 to ensure that it is done, as ovens may vary.)
Remove from oven and serve with your favorite dipping sauce!

These gluten free chicken tenders are an amazing addition to your normal dinner rotation! I hope you’ll give them a try and let me know how you like it!! Share your recreations on instagram and tag me @bethannsbites – I LOVE seeing people try my recipes!!

Southern Chicken Salad

Food

Chicken Salad is such a simple thing that I so frequently overlook. It always resurfaces when the weather gets warmer and I start thinking about patio lunches with my friends and family. You know the daydream where we’re all dressed like a Vineyard Vines catalog (lol at the thought of John wearing Vineyard Vines…if you know my husband, you know), we have fabulous drinks in crystalware that I don’t mind taking outside and I won’t have to wash later. Anyways, of course there would be fabulous finger sandwiches with the finest of toppings – finest of all, this chicken salad. It’s that good.

I’ve always loved chicken salad and could never seem to get the consistency of my chicken to be just right. It was always too dry or big, or too tough somehow even though it was smothered in a delightful dressing.

Enter Sharon Knight, her daughter Jennifer is one of my best friends and before she left me to move across the country and do amazing things, she always raved about her mom’s chicken salad. Jennifer had the same problem. The consistency wasn’t right. When her mom visited she learned that her mom boils the chicken for about two hours. Yes, two hours sounds like a long time, but when a Southern Woman tells you to boil your chicken for two hours before making it into salad, you do it.

Although I don’t know Sharon’s fabulous secret family recipe, her chicken trick has transformed my chicken salad recipe forever. Let’s dig in to this recipe my instagram followers have been dying to get their hands on.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup mayo (I use Chosen Foods – no soy to be found in there!)
1/8 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, and ground mustard
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons honey
Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup red grapes, halved
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Lettuce wraps / bread / crackers / croissants

Procedure

In a medium saucepan cover chicken breasts with water so the tops are covered. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium low and allow chicken to boil, covered, for two hours. Yes, really! Two hours, you don’t know Miss Sharon, but I do. She wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Allow chicken to cool before shredding with a fork or food processor. (If you’re toasting your almonds as you go, now is a good time to take out a skillet and toss the slivered almonds in it to toast until they’re lightly browned.)
In a medium mixing bowl, add mayo, onion powder, garlic powder, ground mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, honey, and lemon juice. Whisk together until you’re left with a smooth dressing.
Add shredded chicken, grapes, and almonds to the mixing bowl. Toss to coat – I like to use my tiny tongs to incorporate everything but a wooden spoon works well too!
Refrigerate or serve directly. This recipe is even better after it’s had time for the flavors to chill together!

This recipe is perfect for meal prep, luncheons – precisely as I listed above with only the epitome of class, and summer days. Add this chicken salad to a lettuce wrap, as I have here, or stick it in a container to take on the go and eat on crackers. If you’re operating at your classiest level and not gluten free, this also goes perfectly on a croissant. (Side note – if you ARE gluten free and you’ve found a good gf croissant, help a girl out! I need ya!)

Be sure to share this recipe with a friend who needs it! Tag me @bethannsbites on Instagram or use the #biteswithbeth so I can see that you’ve made it! There’s literally no bigger form of flattery to me than people making my recipes!! Wishing you sunny skies and delicious eats. ❤️Beth

Better Than Takeout Gluten Free Griddle Sandwiches

Food, GF

I don’t know about you, but this quarantine has me craving allll the comfort food…or maybe it’s just that I’m bored and I love creating recipes and making things I don’t always have the time for. Regardless of its cause, my curse is your gain!

Whatever you do, don’t leave the house just for a McGriddle – it’s not worth breaking your quarantine for! I GOT YOU!

I used to LOVE McGriddle sandwiches! I also worked at McDonald’s for about 8 years of my life so I was familiar with the calories and questionable ingredients. If you work at a fast food restaurant as long as I did, chances are you familiarized yourself with the healthiest options available for your free meal on your shift. I never used to get the McGridddles because, spoiler alert, they’re not great for you.

My nostalgia got the best of me and I created for you – drumroll please – these better than takeout gluten free griddle sandwiches!! I love the idea of customizing these to your dietary needs and restrictions. Here’s what you’ll need to make my version!

Ingredients and equipment

Skillet or electric griddle (I recommend a griddle if you have one because it allows for more cakes at once and is easy maneuver. If you don’t have one, fear not! A skillet is fine.)
6 rings to wide mouth mason jars – this is important to making the griddle cakes!
Spatula/pancake flipper of your choosing

For the griddle cakes:

1 cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 flour WITH xanthan gum (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk of choice, I used cashew mylk
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
cooking spray of choice, I used avocado oil

For the sandwiches:

3 large eggs
1 pound of bacon or 5 sausage patties, cooked
2.5 cheese slices

Procedure

Preheat skillet or griddle medium-medium high heat. Place mason jar rings on the surface.
In a large bowl, mix gluten free flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
Add milk, avocado oil, egg, and vanilla extract mixing until combined. The mixture will be smooth.
Spray mason jar rings with cooking spray and add just enough batter to cover the bottom of each ring. This will create a sort of batter seal.
Very carefully, dribble small dots of maple syrup into the batter of each ring, trying to stay towards the inside.
Add enough batter to cover the syrup you drizzled into each ring. There should be a little room left for your pancake batter to expand.
Allow each griddle cake to sit until you see that the bubbles on top have popped. (It’s important to wait long enough so your griddles aren’t gooey inside!!
With a spatula, carefully flip each ring. Gently remove rings with the corner of your spatula. The rings will be VERY hot.
Allow griddle cakes to sit until both sides are lightly browned. (This batter should make 10 griddle cakes)
As each set of griddle cakes is finished, allow to cool on a cooling rack. I do not recommend stacking the cakes as they may become soggy.
Scramble all three remaining eggs, adding salt and pepper to taste. Place a mason jar ring on your cooking surface and spray with cooking spray before adding eggs. (Your eggs should be split eggs into 5 rings.) Allow to cook almost through before flipping and removing the ring as you did with the griddle cakes.
Remove eggs from heat when finished and add 1/2 slice of cheese of choice to each egg patty to melt.
Assemble sandwiches with 2 griddle cakes, 3 half slices of bacon or 1 sausage patty, scrambled egg patty, and cheese.

Some notes:

If you’re making this recipe during NON-quarantine times and you’d like to have it ready for before school/work lunches, I recommend simply making the griddle cakes as suggested and freezing them. You can easily pop them in the toaster and add fresh eggs, meat and cheese.

A second option to make this a quick, grab and go recipe: wrap the sandwiches in parchment or wax paper and then with foil to prevent freezer burn. You’ll be able to remove the foil and heat in the microwave for 1-1.5 minutes, flipping halfway through.

I hope you’ll try these and love them as much as we do! It’s a great little brunch treat without the icky feeling of fast food sandwiches!

Share this with a friend who loves McGriddles! Be sure to tag your recreations on instagram @bethannsbites or share to my Facebook page Bites With Beth! Drop me a comment or message if you have questions. Let me know what you think!

Healthy-ish Homemade Reese Eggs

Food, GF, Treats, Uncategorized

Is it even really Easter without Reese’s eggs? If you’d asked me as a kid…or even three years ago as an adult, I probably would have told you no. The cute, festive wrapper, the egg shape – obviously the best of all the giant Reese’s shapes, and the perfect peanut butter to chocolate ratio made those babies perfection. They’re still delicious, I’ll admit, buuuut so not worth the way that the soy, dairy, and sometimes wheat in the Reese’s makes me feel.

On top of icky side effects, it’s quarantine time so we’re going to the store ONLY for essentials. Reese’s eggs – no matter what your heart may tell you at the time – are NOT an essential item. Keep your booty home!! The good news is: I bet you’ve got the ingredients to make these healthier-for-you nutty chocolatey eggs in your pantry RIGHT now. (Note: if you DON’T have ingredients listed – see me on insta or Facebook and I’ll help you find a suitable substitution!)

Ingredients

Okay, the sooner we get started, the sooner you get to enjoy the deliciousness, so let’s dig in!

1 cup peanut butter – you want the good stuff, JUST nuts and salt (I actually used Trader Joe’s Almond Butter because it’s a pandemic and Thrive Market is way behind on orders so no PB in my house!)
3 Tbsp cassava flour – other good subs: coconut flour and almond flour (you’ll need more than 3 Tbsp if using almond)
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl, add nut butter, cassava flour, maple syrup, and salt. Stir until well combined.
Using a cookie scooper, portion out filling then flatten and form into an egg-like shape.
Freeze eggs for 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil – I like to use the double boiling method: a glass bowl overtop about 2 cups of water boiling in a saucepan.
Remove chocolate chips from heat and dip the eggs using a fork to flip and cover both sides.
Drop onto wax paper and refrigerate for at least ten minutes or until chocolate sets.
Store in the refrigerator until serving.

You’re looking for eggy shapes – they don’t have to be perfect to be cute!

Try these babies out and let me know what you think of them! Be sure to post to Bites With Beth on Facebook or @bethannsbites on Instagram! Better yet, share it with a friend who you know would love it too!

Whole30 Fried Pork Chops

Food, GF, Whole30

Fried pork chops, roasted red potatoes, and green beans

Okay y’all, these pork chops DO NOT taste gluten free/grain free/healthyish. I promise you won’t miss traditional flour in this dish. Holy yum! I tested the final batch while my parents were eating dinner with us and my mom, who typically eats little to no meat, ate her whole pork chop! If you know my mom that is a BIG compliment. *Brushes dirt off shoulders*

Seriously though, I modeled these pork chops off of my husband’s legendary fried pork chops. He said last night these were “easily the best fried pork chops I’ve ever had.” Going to pretend for a brief moment my mother-in-law totally isn’t reading this. Shhhh. No one tell her!

Okay, I’ll stop talking these up and get to the nitty gritty. You’ve seriously GOT to try this recipe out ASAP! Pair it with some red potatoes and your favorite green veggie and you’re set! It would seem like the breading would make these so that they aren’t good leftovers…but that assumption is wrong. They reheat very well so those bulk packages of pork chops are your friend here! To keep that perfect crispiness, just reheat in a cast iron skillet.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup arrowroot starch/flour (you’ll see it marked both ways)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs
2 pounds of pork chops

Procedure:

Prepare a dredging station with two medium prep bowls – I like mine to be near my stove so I can just pop the prepared chop right into the pan.
In the first prep bowl, stir two eggs until even in yellowish color and yolks are completely broken up.
In the second prep bowl, add arrowroot flour, almond flour, salt, and pepper. Mix well until the mixture is even.
If your pork chops are slimy or wet, use a paper towel to try them off – this will help the breading to stick better!
Dip the chops in egg, allowing the excess egg to drip off.
Dip the chops in flour mixture, being sure to coat the pork chop evenly.
Drop that baby right into the skillet and let it sizzle! Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes for thin pork chops or 3-5 minutes for thicker chops. (When in doubt, use a thermometer and be sure it reaches at least 145 degrees fahrenheit.)
Continue cooking until all chops are cooked, letting the completed pork chops land on a plate with a paper towel covering it or a cooling rack.

I truly hope you’ll give this recipe to try. It’s a really good one!! Pork chops are so great for weeknights because they cook up quickly, saving you precious weeknight time. They’re also great for entertaining because it’s an economical cut of meat!

No matter why you decide to try it, just do it! Be sure to share the recipe and let everyone know how you like it. Especially helpful if you share with someone who is Gluten/Grain Free!

As always, share your creations using #biteswithbeth and tagging me @bethannsbites on instagram.

Soy-Free Korean-Not-Bulgogi Chicken

Food, Uncategorized

This recipe is comin’ atcha…late, like super late on a day that I wasn’t even scheduled to release a post. Life has pulled me in so many directions over the past couple weeks and I’ve gotten a bit behind. It’s a stage of adulthood that feels like a constant juggling act. Not like a GOOD juggling act, though, like the one where it’s just a middle-schooler who’s learning to juggle. They’re embarrassed at the number of balls they can juggle so they keep adding 1-2 more than they can actually successfully keep in the air. So the balls drop and the juggler dodges and dives and before long, all of the balls are on the floor. Shew. Yep, that’s pretty much how life has felt for me the past few weeks.

I mention all of this to say: thank you for coming back after my absence! Thank you for hanging around! (I promise this recipe is worth it!)

Several weeks ago, I set out to make “Chicken Bulgogi” as I’ve had it several times and it’s amazing! Unfortunately, I’m allergic to soy so traditional “Chicken Bulgogi” comes with hefty side effects for my brief enjoyment. So as any good aspiring recipe creator would, I researched and practiced my own bulgogi sauce to create a better-for-you Korean-style Chicken Recipe.

A little background: I sought out to create “Chicken Bulgogi.” My husband, who has been deployed to South Korea a couple times during his Army career, and I were discussing how in Korea near the Army base all types of meat are labeled “Bulgogi.” Everything is labeled “bulgogi” to the extent that he assumed bulgogi was more the method than the dish. Street food, barbecue joints, and random houses that little old grandmas cook in the back and call a restaurant in the front, all have many forms of “bulgogi.” We tried to figure out what the word “bulgogi” meant but didn’t have much luck so I decided I’d ask my coworker who is Korean.

The next day at lunch, I mentioned to him that I was working on a chicken bulgogi recipe and we were curious what bulgogi actually meant. He sort of chuckled and said, “you’re making chicken bulgogi?”

“Yes, well sort of, it’s my own rendition but we were wondering what bulgogi meant.” He chuckled again before explaining that “bul” = beef, so it’s not possible to make chicken bulgogi. Apparently, it’s another example of things being oversimplified for tourists/visiting soldiers!

In any case, this Korean-style Chicken stir-fry dish is wholesome, healthy, and meal preps wonderfully! I will admit, this one is far from a “quick, one-pan” dinner but it is SO worth it. You won’t regret this fresh and tasty Korean Inspired dish!

Ingredients:

For the pickled carrots:

1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp avocado oil
2 tbsp water
2 cups shredded carrots

For the chicken:

1/2 cup coconut aminos
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp garlic powder (or 4 fresh cloves, minced)
1 1/2 tbsp avocado oil
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch of black pepper
4-6 chicken thighs (about 1-1.5 pounds), cut into small bite-sized pieces

For the cilantro-lime drizzle:

1 bunch of cilantro
1 clove of garlic
juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup avocado oil

For serving:

julienned cucumbers
cooked rice

Procedure:

Whisk together 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of honey, salt, and 2 tablespoons each of avocado oil and water before pouring the mixture over the shredded carrots in a jar.
Refrigerate for at least an hour. (This step works really well if you do it the night before.) If you enjoy pickled carrots to top other things as well, make a larger batch – they’ll keep for several weeks due to the acidity!
In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut aminos, honey, rice vinegar, garlic powder, ginger, and black pepper. Add chicken thighs and marinate for one hour or overnight in the refrigerator. Note: make sure the chicken is well-coated in the sauce. I recommend using a large stasher bag or a shallow dish to allow as much of the chicken to touch the sauce as possible.
Add cilantro, garlic, lime juice and avocado oil to a blender or food processor. Run until well blended into a drizzly sauce.
Wait for your stuff to marinate. The hardest part, to be honest. 😦
Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil in a large skillet.
Cook marinated chicken thighs until completely cooked (165 degrees fahrenheit if you’re using a thermometer) about 10 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces!
Assemble your masterpiece: layer rice, chicken, cucumbers, pickled carrots, and cilantro lime drizzle

Not the quickest meal I’ve shared on Bites With Beth but definitely a flavor bomb you’ve got to try!! This is definitely a crowd-pleaser for anyone who likes Asian food. You can make this to impress your friends at dinner, buuut if I’m being honest, you might want to be selfish with your hard work and enjoy it all work-week long as your meal prep!

Either way, you won’t regret giving this recipe a try!

Whole30 Chicken Zoodle Soup

Food

John and I completed our first Whole30 in January. It was an enlightening experience that also made us both feel proud of our accomplishment and the fact that coming out of it, we felt totally in control of our nutrition and the way that we choose to eat. It helped us come up with creative, healthier solutions to our normal obstacles to eating well. During our January Whole30, I also had the unfortunate experience of a three day stomach bug. Like many people, my normal remedies for an upset stomach are sprite, plain crackers, and maybe toast. If you know anything about Whole30 you know that exactly ZERO of those options are Whole30 approved.

Enter in: my chicken and zoodle soup. Chicken noodle soup is a family favorite and we go through phases where we eat it almost every week. It’s simple to whip up on the stove or in the Instant Pot if you’re busy and can’t watch it, and you can pack it totally full of veggies to get in a good serving!

For this recipe, I’ve made some substitutions to the “normal” chicken soup we make. I’ve swapped out the chicken broth for bone broth. Whole30 enlightened me to the fact that they’re adding CRAZY CRAP to our food…even our chicken broth, God bless it! Many store-bought chicken broths have sulfites and added sugar…why?!

Bone broth has the benefit of protein, collagen (great for skin, hair, nails and joints), and many studies suggest that the gelatinous property of bone broth is great for healing a leaky gut. To keep the Whole30 compliance, I’ve also swapped zoodles for the regular noodles. This boosts your veggie content and eliminates the grains you must avoid when completing a Whole30. The garlic is not a sub — we always use lots of garlic in our chicken soup! Garlic is both immune-boosting and helps you overcome a cold even after you already have it!

Combine the following ingredients and you’ve got a superfoods soup!

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
5 medium to large carrots, chopped
2 cloves fresh minced or finely chopped garlic
4 cups chicken bone broth
4 cups water
- (Please note: if you’re using broth or stock instead of bone broth, double the broth or stock and omit the water!)
3 small to medium zucchini, spiralized into zoodles
1/2 tbsp onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

In a large stock pot over medium heat, place chicken breasts, chopped carrots, garlic, and bone broth. I used frozen bone broth and simply dropped it all in, allowing the bone broth to melt gradually.
When bone broth has liquified, add onion powder, salt and pepper.
Allow the mixture to boil until chicken has reached about 160 degrees.
Using tongs, pull partially cooked chicken and chop it before returning it to the boiling pot.
Add in zoodles and allow to cook until chicken reaches 165 degrees and zoodles have softened slightly.
Allow soup to cool a bit before serving.
Store in wide-mouth mason jars in the refrigerator for an easy packed lunch or a quick dinner to heat up leftovers with little to no spillage.

Be sure to give this recipe a try and share it with a friend. Better yet, drop some off to a friend in need! Show off your hard work using #biteswithbeth and tagging @bethannsbites on Instagram.

Grain Free S’Mores Cookies

Food, GF, Treats, Uncategorized

With just 6 days until Valentine’s Day, now is the perfect time to start thinking about ways to treat your sweetie, or your bestie, or maybe your favorite co-worker. Today’s recipe is a little self-serving because I was thinking ways to treat my valentine too!

One of John’s favorite flavor combinations is a s’more. We recently ordered the Girl Scout cookie version of a s’more and we were not wishing for some more…it wasn’t our favorite cookie combination by any means. So this year for Valentine’s Day, I’ll be treating John with a big batch of these Grain Free S’mores Cookies by ME rather than the Girl Scouts.

Since John is still currently away for work, the recipe will be new to him (even if he gets a preview of these bad boys online) but they’ve been co-worker and student approved! They’re so easy and quick to whip up, you’ll want to add all of the ingredients to your grocery order…like now!

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cassava flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp melted clarified butter or ghee (coconut oil will also work but I prefer the clarified butter flavor!)
2 tbsp creamy almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup marshmallows
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (if you’re dairy free I like Enjoy Life!)

Procedure:

In a medium mixing bowl, add both types of flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until combined.
Add in eggs, maple syrup, melted clarified butter, almond butter, and vanilla extract. Stir until combined well and lumps are gone.
Stir in marshmallows and chocolate chips. Note: Highly recommend using miniature marshallows (usually found by cake and cookie decorating stuff) or cutting your marshmallows into fourths. I simply used my kitchen shears and cut them into fourths before I began mixing because the mini ones were $4 and store brand was $.88 and mama didn’t raise no fool. — The reason for this: if you have larger marshmallow pieces they explode and don’t give you as much of a s’more property but more of the empty tomb Easter roll effect.
Roll dough into balls and flatten slightly before dropping onto a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper.
Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

These bite-sized beauties would pair perfectly with coffee, if you’re like me or a glass of milk, if you’re more like John! Low in added sugar, grain-free, and super delicious! Give these a try this weekend and let me know how you like them.

Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding

Food, GF, Uncategorized

Inspired by First Watch’s superfoods bowl, this Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding is excellent as a breakfast, snack, or even a post-dinner dessert. I personally, love to have this as a breakfast. It packs well, I like to drop it in a wide-mouth mason jar with plenty of room for berries, granola, and stirring. It also holds up well from a Sunday meal prep.

This recipe is especially great for expectant and breastfeeding mamas because chia seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids, and high in both fiber and calcium. Coconut is a lactogenic food and many mothers who breastfeed credit it to replenishing a low supply.

Ingredients:

1 – 13.5 ounce can of full fat coconut milk (Trader Joe’s is my favorite but there are many other good options!)

1/2 cup chia seeds

splash of good quality vanilla extract

1/4 cup agave (I like Wholesome organic Blue Agave)

pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

Procedure:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until well combined. It will be a watery consistency but will thicken quickly. (One note about the coconut milk: you wanted canned coconut milk to get the correct creamy consistency but you do not want it to be separated completely. If you open your can of coconut milk and it is separated or chunky, simply heat it on the stove on low heat until it has an even consistency.)

2. Refrigerate the entire bowl of chia seed pudding for 3 hours. The chia seeds will expand as they absorb the liquid from the coconut milk creating a delightful pudding-like texture.

3. Serve chia seed pudding in a bowl (or jar for meal prep). Top with fruit and granola as you please.

This is an easy recipe to whip up tonight! Give it a try and share it with me and all of your friends on Facebook or Instagram using #biteswithbeth!