Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

About six weeks ago I became obsessed with the chocolate/peanut butter combination. A friend of mine picked up these huge peanut butter cups for the two of us, and I happily ate it over the course of a few days. The next week she picked them up again for us. Somewhere in there was Easter (with lots of PB/chocolate combinations), and then again she brought the PB cups over. So, needless to say, I’ve been enjoying a few bites of peanut butter cups most days of the week, and I love it! However, the last time she brought them over she mentioned that they were $5 a piece. While they are absolutely delicious, that’s just ridiculous! Because of that, I decided to try to make my own. While not quite as pretty, they were just as delicious, and MUCH much cheaper! I used this recipe from “comfort of cooking” (head over there for actual recipe). This can easily be made lactose free, which is another great benefit to making your own candy and desserts!

Ingredients 

• chocolate chips (I chose semi-sweet)
• peanut butter
• butter (I used Earth Fare which is lactose free)
• powdered sugar
• salt (optional- the original recipe doesn’t call for it, but I thought it might be fun to add a little salty to half of the batch)

each layered step of the process

That’s it! It was really easy to mix up. The only thing that took a little time is that each layer of the cup needs to be made and frozen at each individual point, so that takes a bit of time.

With the top layer of chocolate, I put a little sea salt on half the batch. It was definitely delicious to have the salty and sweet together (I’m a fan of that combination), but it’s certainly not necessary.

With just a little salt on top!

One thing of note: it didn’t work the best to have the peanut butter all the way to the edge of the cup. With the first bite of the cup, the layers separated a bit and the peanut butter spilled out the sides. Eating them inside the liner definitely helped. While it didn’t impact the delicious taste of the cup, I’d definitely suggest leaving the peanut butter more in the center of the cup instead!

If you’re looking for a cheaper, healthier (I didn’t say healthy, but it certainly has less chemicals if you make them at home), and fun way to make candy/dessert, this is it! You can store these in the refrigerator for a few days to keep them delicious 🙂

If you want more delicious recipes, check out my recipe page!

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Homemade Lactose Free Hot Chocolate {with a few variations}

Tags

Cooking, Lactose Intolerance

One thing that I missed an awful lot when I first became lactose intolerant was hot chocolate. A staple in the winter, I missed cuddling under a warm blanket with it! Back in late 2010 my mom found this recipe for hot chocolate from “Hints from Heloise”, and we modified it to make it delicious and lactose free!

ingredients

• 2 cups powdered soy milk (can use regular powered milk too)
• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• a dash of salt
• 1/3 cup powdered non-dairy creamer (check to make sure it’s lactose free. Can use any flavor to change it up. I typically go with vanilla flavored).
• *optional: Can add any other spices to the mix (i.e. cinnamon, all spice, cloves) or add a bit of flavoring (I love almond and peppermint. orange is also interesting) once you have the mix stirred into the water or milk (i personally like to use almond milk)

(I got that mug while in town for the Monumental Half Marathon)

Combine together and store in a cool, dry place in a sealed container (or in the freezer if you’re going to use it slowly). Like I mentioned, you can mix in other spices or just put them into the cup itself upon cooking. I love to add in things like a piece of peppermint to mix it up as well. Another thing I have done on occasion- poured a cup of coffee and then put 1-2 tsp of the mix into it. It makes a nice mocha flavor- YUM!

Yet another thing to add to my list of “happiness in the winter” 🙂 Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite way to drink hot chocolate? 

Ham and Swiss Sandwiches

Tags

Cooking, Food, Holiday, Lactose Intolerance

One of my favorite Thanksgiving holiday traditions is the Friday following Thanksgiving: for as long as I can remember my mom has made these delicious hand and swiss sandwiches. These don’t taste like a normal ham and cheese sandwich- they’re special and DELICIOUS. And best yet- they can easily be made lactose free! Here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

• Bun
• 1-2 large pieces of ham
• 1 piece of swiss cheese (I use kraft brand since it has 0g of lactose)
• 1.5 tsp butter (I use Earth Balance)
• .5-.75 tsp mustard
• 1-2 shakes of poppy seed
• 1/2 tsp minced onion

Put butter, mustard, onion, and poppy seed in a bowl and microwave for 20 seconds on half power. Stir together. Assemble sandwich (butter mix on both sides of the bun with ham and cheese in the middle).

Heat oven at 350 degrees and put the sandwich in until the cheese starts to melt.

These are so simple to make and are absolutely delicious! When I first became lactose intolerant I was SO sad to miss out on these sandwiches. Now that Kraft makes 0g lactose Swiss cheese and I’ve found Earth Balance, I can once again enjoy these delicious sandwiches and maintain my holiday tradition!

Do you have a favorite sandwich that has become a tradition for you?

© 2013, Journey To Wellness, Caroline

Glazed Pumpkin Donut Muffins

Tags

Cooking, Fall

Last fall as I was searching for pumpkin recipes, I stumbled upon these glazed pumpkin donut muffins. I immediately pinned the recipe and made them a few times throughout the fall. What are donut muffins, you might ask? Exactly what they sound like! These are muffins that are very much a donut consistency, and are all together absolutely amazing! I also loved that I could easily make these lactose free! You’ll have to click on the link above to see the recipe in total, but I thought I’d share part of it here:

Ingredients:

• Butter
• All purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• ground allspice
• buttermilk
• vanilla
• pumpkin puree
• brown sugar
• eggs
• powdered sugar
• half & half (I used almond milk)
• vanilla
• pumpkin pie spice

It sounds delicious based just on the ingredients, doesn’t it?

This is what the cooking process looked like:

Mixed all together

After cooking

Glaze all mixed up

Dip muffins in the glaze. Let dry. Dip again. Let dry. Dip again.

I put a piece of wax paper underneath the wire drying racks to make clean up easy and effortless! The glaze really makes these muffins absolutely delicious. I froze a few of them and enjoyed them later in the season, and they held up surprisingly well in the freezer as well.

Last year I enjoyed one of these on Thanksgiving morning, and they were a perfect way to start the day… after a Turkey Trot anyways 🙂

Looking for more delicious recipes? Check out my recipe page!

The One With The Quiche

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

Today felt like a great day for a Friends reference!

I’ve never made a quiche before. In fact, until I recently stumbled across lactose free cheese (Cabot Cheddar Cheese and Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese), I wouldn’t have ever considered making one. One day last weekend, my friend  (the one I walk with) stated that she was in the mood for a quiche, and we set out to make one on Monday evening.  With a few easy substitutions, we created a delicious lactose free quiche!

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made crust (we went the easy route because of time constraints)
• 1 8 oz container of plain greek yogurt
• 1 container pico de gallo
• 3/4 cup mushrooms, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup olives, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup onion, cut into small pieces (any type)
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (1 cup Kraft cheddar, 1 cup Cabot cheddar)
• 3 eggs
• black pepper

Here’s what I did:

Layer the cheese, mushrooms, olives, and onions in the crust. Feel free to add other ingredients if you’d like! In a separate bowl, whisk 3 eggs together and then add in the container of plain greek yogurt. Dump the mixture on top of the cheese and veggies and spread evenly. Top with black pepper (or other spices you might want). Cook at 425 degrees for approximately 30 minutes (somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes). Check that it is cooked through before removing from the oven.

Once removing from the oven, top with pico de gallo and enjoy!

This quiche was amazing and held up really well when it was reheated the next day! The pico on top added some other flavors to the quiche, and I loved the two paired together!

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever made quiche before? What are your favorite foods to pair with eggs? 

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

I’ve recently gotten on a far bigger cupcake kick than is healthy for myself. I can’t help it- I love ending my day with a delicious cupcake! In the name of Valentine’s Day, I thought these cherry vanilla cupcakes are perfect (and they were absolutely delicious!). One thing I really like about these cupcakes is that they are small (1/4 or 1/3 of the size of a normal bakery cupcake) and are about 250 calories, so I feel like I can eat them more frequently (which means more enjoyment!). You can find the recipe here– I’ll share my personal tips below.

Ingredients

• Butter
• Egg whites
• all purpose flour
• baking powder
• salt
• baking soda
• buttermilk or sour milk
• maraschino cherries
• powdered sugar
• almond extract
• milk

Here’s what I did. I mixed up the cupcake batter per the recipe. Be aware that it includes butter and egg whites standing at room temperature for 30 minutes, so the entire cooking process takes a bit of time. After mixing up the batter, I took 10 maraschino cherries and cut them each into six smaller pieces. I dumped them into the batter and very quickly mixed into the batter before pouring into the cupcake liners (the original recipe calls for putting half a cherry on top of the batter, but I liked having the bits of cherry mixed throughout).

After baking I let cool, and mixed up the cherry-almond butter frosting (recipe can also be found here). I frosted these by filling a ziploc bag with frosting and snipping of a small corner of the bag. This takes some practice to get it right. If you’d like, you can add another cherry to the top before eating!

These are amazing! While they definitely work for Valentine’s Day, the flavor would also be perfect throughout the spring and summer! While these cupcakes do take quite a bit of time (between letting ingredients sit, mixing things up, cooking, and frosting), but it’s definitely worth it! And best yet, this recipe is also lactose free!

Now it’s your turn to share! Growing up my mom used to make a heart cake on Valentine’s Day. Did you grow up having a special dessert for V-day? What’s your dream flavored cupcake? 

Vegetable Bean Rice Dish

Tags

Cooking, Food

I’m a huge fan of the “one dish meals”, especially for lunch! They are easy to make ahead of time and refrigerate, meaning I get healthy (and cheap) meals for almost no work throughout the week! (Seriously- can you get better than that?) I often use quinoa as the base for these meals, but I occasionally like to mix it up and use rice! Here’s an example of one such meal!

Ingredients:

• 1 can beans (any type is fine. I usually go with garbanzo, pinto, or black bean)
• 1/4 cup onion (I prefer red, but any type will do)
• 1 can of corn
• 1 small red pepper
• 3 large handfuls of spinach
• 1-2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp red cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of dry rice (could replace rice with quinoa)

I started this off by putting the rice with some water in the rice cooker and sticking it in the microwave. As the rice was cooking, I dumped the rest of the ingredients into the frying pain and stuck it on medium low. I let simmer until the rice was done. After cooking, I tossed the spices on top, and mixed the rice in with the veggies. Viola! Dish complete!

I typically do this on Sunday nights, and put in individual containers that I can warm up at work. This makes incredibly delicious, quick, and cheap meals that will fuel me for my workouts in the evening. You can also change up this dish by putting a drippy egg on top (pictured in the above collage)- a delicious twist to this meal!

So that’s that. It’s incredibly simple, and takes maybe 20 minutes total to make lunch for the entire week! (of note: I tend to pair this with some greek yogurt and a piece of fruit to complete my lunch)

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one of your favorite “go to” lunches? 

Homemade Lactose Free Pizza

Tags

Cooking, Lactose Intolerance

I know I talk about lactose intolerance quite a bit when it comes to posting recipes. When I found out I was lactose intolerant (2007), I had to give up so many of my favorite foods. One of those delicious foods was pizza (along with grilled cheese sandwiches)! I didn’t eat pizza for a few years, which was quite sad. However, I’ve recently found a way to remedy the problem of cheese on pizza! In fact, this solution is so fantastic that my entire family ate this pizza for lunch on Christmas!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• Pizza Crust (I buy mine pre-made, without lactose)
• Pizza Sauce
• Spinach (optional)
• Red or Orange Pepper (optional)
• Red onion (optional)
• Pepperoni (optional)
• Kraft or Cabot Cheese **

**I just recently discovered that many of the Kraft cheeses say “0g lactose” on the packages. YAY!! I’m so happy that I’ve found a cheaper cheese that is lactose free! I LOVE Cabot Cheeses, but they are 2-3 dollars more than Kraft, so for every day use I now have a more practical option!

Put whatever toppings you want on the pizza and cook it up! The pizza is delicious, and I love having a more healthy and lactose free version to make for myself!

Making homemade pizzas is also great because you get to choose whatever toppings you like! Another helpful hint: A jar of pizza sauce generally covers 2-3 pizzas, and a bag of pepperoni covers at least that many. If you aren’t making a lot of pizzas at once, simply freeze the two items and pull them out right before you make your next pizza! It’s a tiny hassle but it saves lots of money!

Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever made homemade pizza before? What are your favorite pizza toppings? 

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

Back in June I made a passing comment about a root beer cupcake that I had eaten at a high school graduation party that I attended. I continued to think about this cupcake at least once a week for months, but it took until December 30th for me to do something about it. I finally found a delicious recipe (you can see it here), and decided I needed these cupcakes to help ring in the new year! Let me tell you- they did not disappoint!

Ingredients

• Butter (I used earth balance to make it lactose free)
• Eggs
• Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Sugar
• root beer extract **
• vanilla
• root beer
• Float Frosting (powdered sugar, ice cream- i used lactose free!, vanilla, butter)

** A note on the root beer extract. While the recipe calls for root beer extract, I used root beer concentrate, and this works just as well. I know that you are supposed to use a smaller amount of concentrate than extract (technically), but I used an equivalent amount (meaning I used 1 tablespoon of concentrate when it called for 1 tablespoon of extract). This really gave it an extra punch of flavor, and it wasn’t at all overpowering.

I also used earth balance butter and lactose free Breyer’s vanilla ice cream in this recipe, so I made it lactose free!

Another word. While I didn’t use cupcake liners, I did grease the inside of the muffin tin and then cut out small pieces of wax paper to fit on the bottom of each little tin.

When the muffins came out of the oven, I lightly ran a knife around the edge of each little tin, and the cupcake came out easily! Just remember to peel the wax paper off the bottom! After cooling I made the frosting, and then frosted them. They are delicious, and were even more delicious the second day once the flavors had a chance to sit together!

These aren’t that difficult to make, and taste AMAZING! You’ll have to go check out the original recipe (linked above) for the actual quantities for the recipe, but I wanted to give a little preview and shout out here! Oh, and in case you are wondering, these taste exactly like a root beer float. YUM!

Now it’s your turn to share! Are you a cupcake fanatic? (I am– everything in moderation :D) What’s your favorite flavor of cupcake? If you don’t like cupcakes (gasp!), what’s your favorite dessert? 

Cranberry Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

When I found out I was lactose intolerant back in 2007, grilled cheese sandwiches were one of the many foods in my life that just had to go. I missed them, but I moved on in life and more or less forgot about them. Fast forward to this summer when I found Cabot’s Lactose Free Cheese. Throughout the fall, I’ve been making all sorts of variations of grilled cheese (like this Pumpkin Spice Grilled Cheese Sandwich), starting a new love affair with cheese 🙂 I’ve made this cranberry apple grilled cheese sandwich a few times now, and decided I couldn’t hold out on you all any longer!

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of bread
• butter to lightly spread on 1 side of both pieces of bread
• apple slices
• dried cranberries
• spinach
• cheese
• onion (optional)
• sliced chicken, turkey, or ham (optional)

Everything loaded on the piece of bread

Perfectly grilled on the outside

The perfect balance of melted and crunchy on the inside!

I can’t get enough of this sandwich. Like I mentioned in the ingredient list, I sometimes like to add meat (protein) and onions to this sandwich, but other times I skip it. The sweetness of the apples and cranberries go perfectly with the taste of the spinach and cheese. My ONLY regret with this sandwich is that I can’t make it at work, but often crave it during lunch. It’s delicious, and definitely worth the very short amount of time it takes to make it.

Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn! Have you ever spiced a grilled cheese sandwich up in any way? Are you doing anything holiday-ish this weekend? 

© Journey To Wellness, Caroline, 2012