Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free and Low-Sugar Tangy Chicken

My grandma passed on this recipe - it's an easy wheat-free, dairy-free and low-sugar favorite. Make it for dinner tonight, it takes 5 minutes to prepare and in an hour you've got a great main dish. Pair with wild rice and steamed green beans.




Tangy Chicken Bake

4 chicken breasts
1/8 t red pepper flakes
1/4 t black pepper
1 t garlic salt
1/4 cup Catalina Dressing
1 T mustard

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 350F. Rub red ground pepper, black pepper and garlic salt on chicken breasts. Place chicken in baking dish. Combine Catalina dressing and mustard in bowl. Brush or pour mixture over chicken. Bake 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

Happy Eating!
-Heather :)

Best Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free and Low Sugar Snack & Yummy Cookies

I love a good snack. In fact, I'm one of those people that loves to eat little meals throughout the day. So, I'm always trying to create good (and easy!) snacks for myself.

Here's my latest love affair:
1 cup No Sugar Added Applesauce (try Seneca 100% Natural Applesauce)
1 T ground cinnamon

Stir cinnamon in and enjoy!
When choosing an applesauce, just stay away from anything with high fructose corn syrup and you'll be all good.

Oh, and I made a fabulous cookie discovery this weekend - Pamela's Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies. I was hanging out with friends and was advised to bring some snackie's. So, I grabbed these and they were a huge hit. One warning - they're so good, you'll be shocked at how fast you and your friends consume the entire bag. But, it's worth it.

Have a snack favorite or a recent "love it!" product discovery?
If so, post a comment here.

Happy Snacking!
Heather :)

I Heart New Seasons Market for Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free & Low Sugar Goods

I've been having quite the love/hate relationship with New Seasons Market recently.

Sure, I love the pretty stores, yummy food and friendly staff. But, when the holidays were in full swing, New Seasons let me down when I needed them most. Their frozen spelt pie crust has been my savior for the last several years when it comes to making my wheat-free, dairy-free and no refined sugar pumpkin pie. Two days before Thanksgiving I went to pick up my pie crust. It was gone. New Seasons had discontinued it! I thought I might cry and left an unfriendly comment card noting my despair. (Insert drama queen here.)

Surprisingly, the retailer called apologizing, promising they would re-order the crusts and would have them on the shelf in time for Christmas cooking. I returned, fully trusting that New Seasons would come through for me. They didn't. Still no pie crusts. I left yet another, angry comment card, citing my blog address.

Lo and behold, I received another apologetic call with promises that the pie crusts would be in the store by the end of the week. And guess what? They were! Yay! My Christmas pumpkin pie went off without a hitch. Also, to make sure I never suffer this pie crust injustice again, I bought 4 additional crusts, just to cover my bases.

I'm also really proud of New Seasons for pulling through, despite dropping the ball. So, the moral of the story is - make sure to let your health food stores know if you need something they don't carry. Chances are - they just might come to your rescue.

Have a great health food story you'd like to share?
Leave a comment with details!

Happy eating!
Heather :)

Yet Another Reason to Eat Wheat-Free...

While we already know we feel better when we don't consume wheat, we can now take comfort knowing that we're also saving ourselves some serious cash.

That's right, eating wheat-free will save you money in 2008.

The USDA recently reported that food prices are expected to make unprecedented increases, with wheat and soybean oil (used in cooking oil and fried foods) getting hit the hardest. The price increases are supposed to be so dramatic, that the cost of cooking at home will rise 4.5 percent! This is the largest food price increase since the 1990's (during a certain war in the Middle East).

So, why are food prices increasing? No one seems to know - although oil/gas prices are believed to be at the root of the problem. The trucks/planes/trains that bring us our goods require gas/oil, and with atrocious gas prices, the price increases are simply being passed onto us. Thanks George W.!

In any event, it's nice to know that I'm not only helping my body function better by not eating wheat, but I'm also saving cash.

Happy eating!
Heather :)