Creamy Lime Squares

This is really good but nobody else in my family liked it.  I will try it again when L is older and more willing to try new things.

Note:  Make sure you grease the pan REALLY well.  I just sprayed a light layer of my olive oil spray and it wasn't enough because you have to press the crust into the bottom.

This is not my own recipe.  Where did I find it?  Pinterest of course.  And HERE is the original blog where I found the recipe.

Ingredients:
For crust:
1 cup corn-free flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1stick butter, cold and cut up
For creamy lime filling:
Juice from 5-6 limes (I used 6 like the recipe but it was almost too strong)
1¼ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
4 eggs
Zest of 1 lime
Green food coloring (optional but without the color it is a clear yellow; so far I have not found a trustworth corn-free food coloring)
Corn-free powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
To make the crust, combine the sugar, flour and sea salt in a large bowl.  Cut the cold butter and work with your fingers until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  Press into a greased nine inch pan and bake for 20 minutes, until golden.
To make the filling, whisk together the granulated sugar and flour in a bowl.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.  Add the zest, lime juice and food coloring and mix well.
Pour filling over hot crust and return to oven to bake for another 20 minutes.  When done, the filling will not jiggle.
Chill.


NOTE:  Make sure you chill this.  The original recipe did not say to chill but it was way too strong before it was chilled.  Somehow being cold made the bars taste better.

My picture isn't even close to as pretty as the one on the original recipe blog.  But here it is anyway.  Can we say St. Patrick's Day treat?

Honey Lime Grilled Chicken

I have a new favorite citrus fruit.  LIME!  I never knew I even liked lime.  I can actually eat slices of lime.  I had no idea how great these little green things were.  I am so glad I tried this.

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 12-15 chicken tenders

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup olive oil

½ cup lime juice

Zest of one lime

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried rosemary

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. black pepper

1½ tsp. salt

Directions:

In a bowl, mix well all ingredients except the chicken. Place thawed chicken in a large Ziploc bag and pour mixture over making sure the chicken is coated well.  Marinate for a few hours up to overnight.  Grill until cooked through.  This could also work as a freezer meal.  Just toss into freezer instead of the fridge for marinating.  Set the bag out in the fridge the night before you are going to cook the meal.

Greek Seasoning

This is another store bought convenience which we were surprised contained corn.  We used Greek seasoning on vegetables a lot.  Using this is how I've gotten my husband, daughter, friends and other family member to eat green beans.  Try it on green beans.  It took some taste testing and many modifications to get this recipe right.  But it is pretty close the the Greek seasoning you buy at the store.

Ingredients:
½ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried marjoram
1½ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried parsley

Directions:
I have a mortar and pestle I used for this.  Some people may not mind the larger dried leaves from the herbs but I like it so that I can put it in a shaker to shake on food.  Not to mention, my family is picky about textures.  Just mix all of the listed ingredients together and grind in the mortar and pestle.  Dump into a shaker and use.

Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini

NOTE:  This is not corn/dairy free as is.  Cheese has cultures which could include corn.  I am working on a different recipe.

This was amazing!  Even the toddler loved it.  I probably have the only toddler I've ever known who prefers the green veggies.  She picks the spinach out of lasagna and she went crazy over the pieces of chicken with zucchini on them.

Ingredients:
olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced (garlic powder is good in this too if you don't have fresh)
1 medium sized zucchini (shredded)
¼ cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 Tbsp. Parmesan or Romano cheese
3 oz. part skim shredded mozzarella (again, I didn't measure)
salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts (I only made 3 and really stuffed the chicken)
½ cup Italian Breadcrumbs (You can use my homemade version HERE)
Juice of 1 lemon
olive oil spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°F.  Lightly spray a baking dish with the olive oil spray.  In a large skillet, pour in enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan for sauteing.  When the oil is hot, add garlic.  When the garlic turns golden add in zucchini, ¼ cup Parmesan or Romano, salt and pepper. Saute for 3-4 minutes.  While the zucchini mixture is cooking, pound the chicken breasts down to ¼-½ inch thick.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  Take the zucchini mixture off of the heat.  Add in the mozzarella cheese.  In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the rest of the parmesan or romano cheese.  Put the breadcrumbs aside for now.  Spread the zucchini mixture over the chicken breasts and roll up.  Place the chicken roll seam side down on the baking dish.  Bake the chicken rolls for 20 minutes.  Take the chicken out and drizzle with olive oil.  Then sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.  Bake for 5-10 more minutes.  Serve immediately.

Homemade Italian Bread Crumbs

Again, since the toddler is allergic to corn, we cannot even use store bought bread crumbs.  So I looked up a way to make my own.

Ingredients:
2-4 slices of bread depending on the size of the loaf (This must be homemade for corn and gluten-free)
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. dry parsley flakes
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. dry oregano
¼ tsp. dry basil leaves
¼ tsp. sugar

Directions:
Toast the 2 pieces of bread to desired consistency.  Break the bread up and put in a food processor or blender.  When the bread is all crumbs, pour them into a bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients.

I was not thinking at all when I was making this so I didn't use the blender.  Duh right?  So the picture below doesn't look quite right and still has larger bread pieces.  But next time I will do it right.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

This was one of those recipes I put together one night when I was craving muffins but had to make them with what I had in my pantry. I threw the blueberries in at the end but this can be just lemon muffins if you prefer.  Or you could put a different fruit in them.  I'm thinking Lemon Strawberry Muffins, Lemon Raspberry Muffins...  The possibilities are endless when you start getting creative in the kitchen.  This is actually a mix of a couple of different recipes but they came out great the first time.

Ingredients:
2 cups corn-free all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
5 Tbsp. butter, melted (I have had good luck baking with grapeseed or coconut oil for dairy free)
1 cup canned coconut milk
1 egg
Zest of one large lemon
Blueberries
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss the first measure of sugar, baking powder and flour together in one bowl.  In a separate bowl mix together butter, milk and egg with a fork.  Add the lemon zest and stir.  Combine the dry and liquid ingredients.  Mix together but don't over mix.  Add blueberries now.  Spray 12 muffin tins with olive oil or line with muffin cups.  Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  While the muffins bake, stir together the second measure of sugar and lemon juice.  Do not mix until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over hot muffins as soon as they come out of the oven.  Let set for 5 minutes.  Then dump out the muffins.

Sweet Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken

This recipe requires marinating.  I marinated for about an hour and it was perfect.

Ingredients:
½ cup honey (As usual, I didn't actually measure this.  I just poured until it looked right.)
Zest of one lemon
Juice of the fresh lemon
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1½ tsp. dried rosemary or 1½ Tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced (or ¼ tsp. garlic powder)
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast (butterfly before grilling)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.  Place the chicken in a large ziploc bag and pour the mixture over the chicken in the bag.  Mix around to coat the chicken.  Marinate for at least one hour.  We use a charcoal grill so just before we take the chicken out, we have to get the charcoal started.  Brush the grill with olive oil to prevent sticking.  Butterfly the chicken breasts and place on the grill.  Grill until cooked through.  We pour or brush the rest of the marinade on the chicken while it is cooking.  Serve.

I don't have a picture of this one.  I totally forgot to take one but trust me, it is good!  I will try to take a picture next time I make this meal.