Dairy Free Stuffed Shells

These are so delicious! I am an enormous cheese lover and I can honestly say, you won't miss a thing!

DAIRY FREE STUFFED SHELLS

Ingredients:
- 10-12 Jumbo pasta shells
- 8oz. package of dairy free cream cheese(Tofutti is my go to) at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2C  of dairy free mozzarella shreds(Daiya or Go Veggie) divided 
- 3 Tablespoons of grated Brazil nuts( These will have the nutty flavor and consistency of grated Parmesan) 
- 1 8-10oz. package of frozen spinach completely drained of excess water.
- 2 Turkey Italian sausage links, casing removed. Crumbled and sauteed until cooked through
- 1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasoning divided
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- A scant bunch of fresh basil and flat leaf parsley chopped
- 1 1/2C of homemade or your favorite pasta sauce

Grated Brazil nuts as a Parmesan cheese substitute.

Directions:

1. Prepare the shells according to package instructions. Drain and let stand until cool enough to handle.

2. Saute the Italian sausage in a pan with just a touch of oil to start the browning process. Saute until cooked through.

3. Add the drained spinach to the sausage and add half of the Italian seasoning and 1 clove of the minced garlic. Cook until just warmed through. Let cool

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

5. While oven preheats and spinach and sausage mixture cools prepare the foe cheese mixture.

6. In a medium size mixing bowl combine the room temperature cream cheese, egg, half of the dairy free mozzarella, remaining garlic, and Italian seasoning, basil and parsley, 2 tablespoons of the grated Brazil nuts.

7. Once mixed together add the cooled sausage/spinach mixture. This will be your filling.

Filling mixture

8. In an 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish pour enough of the pasta sauce to line the bottom of the dish.

9. Stuff the prepared shells with the filling. About 2 Tablespoons per shell. (I use a small ice cream scoop). Place in the sauced dish and top with the remaining sauce allowing more to drizzle into the bottom of the dish. Add the rest of the grated Brazil nuts to the top.

10. Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle the remaining Dairy Free mozzarella and bake an additional 5-7 minutes until completely melted. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and serve!

Prior to nut topping and baking

Final plated product

Hot out of the oven!

Just before baking, already topped with grated Brazil nuts.

Dairy Free Living

After a few days and weeks of persistent heartburn and nausea, I tracked down the source of my problem. DAIRY! So upsetting to someone who adores cheese, milk, butter, and all things creamy and filled with dairy deliciousness!

In the coming weeks the blog will have as many dairy free substitutes and recipes that I can possibly come up with. I'm throwing in some photos of things that I have already come up with and tested and I will then begin adding the full recipes.  In an effort to make things easier for my followers whom choose to travel this road with me, I welcome any and all of your suggestions as well as feed back! I will also try my level best to connect us all with products and ingredients that we can actually find and use.

And Food!!!

A virtual smorgasbord of party favorites.Shrimp Cocktail, Bacon wrapped Stuffed jalapenos, Smoked Salmon Frittata, Pigs n a Blanket, Tomato Basil Brushcetta, Country Fried Steak fingers, & Wings! Yes please!

Back to the Kitchen!

After some craziness with the blog. I have managed to work out some of the kinks and and get back to the kitchen! The page has a bit of a longer address until the glitches are fixed, but at least it's back up and running, cooking and posting!

IEADTT

Springtime Succulant Salad

This new take on the traditional Cobb salad will have you adding to your meal planner as a cheat meal!

Rotisserie Cobb Salad

Ingredients:
- Italian lettuce blend (Crisp Romaine and Radicchio)
- Rotisserie chicken (ready made from your grocery or you can roast your own. I use Italian herb or Garlic herb)
- 2 slices of bacon cooked until crisp (Reserve about a tablespoon of the rendered fat)
- Medium red onion, sliced
- Matchstick carrots
- Jack and cheddar cheese blend shredded
- Medium Haas avacado diced into large chunks
- Croutons
- Sea salt and black pepper sliced almonds
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Peppercorn ranch dressing
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Remove the skin and breasts from the chicken and give a rough chop. 1-1 1/2 inch bite sized chunks.
2. In a large salad or mixing bowl; combine all of the ingredients according to your own personal taste. Adding more or less of each item to make it perfect for you. 
3. Toss everything together with enough dressing to evenly coat the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

I serve this with garlic bread sticks or grilled Texas toast. Very filling and very delicious.  

Baked Cauliflower Cakes

These are the best things that I have tasted in a while! A super healthy alternative to traditional fried tater tots or potato cakes. These are so flavorful. Creamy and crunchy and more depth of flavor. A most certain do over side or appetizer.

Baked Cauliflower Cakes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium head cauliflower, cut in pieces and cooked

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons sour cream

• 1/3 cup sharp Cheddar, grated

• Kosher salt & Freshly cracked pepper

• 1 extra large egg white

• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS

Pulse the cauliflower with the butter and sour cream in a food processor to a clumpy consistency. Add the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Whip the egg white to a stiff peak in a bowl, and then fold into the cauliflower mixture to lighten it up. For best results, chill for about 30 minutes so they hold their shape.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll a spoonful of the mixture in the breadcrumbs, shape into tater tots using your hands and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I use a small ice cream scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop for this.

Bake until slightly browned, about 30 minutes. If you would like a more browned appearance, set broiler to low and brown for a minute or two until desired color is achieved. Be careful not to burn if following this step.  Serve

Keep it Real

I know we've all heard and known about the risks and health effects of artificial sweeteners.  I decided to put the information to the test and see what I learned.  One of the biggest issues that have been touched upon by the medical and dietary industries is that, the chemicals that make up our favorite sweeteners are anywhere from 200-600x sweeter than real sugar. This tricks our brains and taste buds into thinking that we've consumed this large amount of something sweet, but is leaving the receptors in our stomach and digestion craving even more, because there are no calories to satisfy what the brain has told the stomach should be there.

I am a huge diet soda lover!  My number one choice is the one and only Diet Pepsi.  I love all products that the Pepsi company makes, so this is in no way a dig or complaint at Pepsi.  When I decided to eliminate the artificial sweeteners; it was time to put my go to beverage to the test.  I had my diet on hand and then purchased the original and even chose the THROWBACK can.  I was shocked to realize that the research was correct. When drinking the drink made with real sugar, it wasn't nearly as sweet as my favorite diet drink.  It actually took me a few days to get used to having the sugar instead of the chemical make up of the sweeteners.

So folks let's just keep it real! I challenge all of you to try this test.  Even do a blind test. Let's get back to appreciating and enjoying our sweets in all their natural glory and let our bodies purge out all of the unwanted manufactured chemicals.