Weekly Round Up Allergy Series: Vegan Recipes

I thought maybe I’d start this WRU with a helpful summary of what the definitions of vegan vs. vegetarian are as they can be quite confused and interchanged frequently. They are similar to many, but to others they are very different.

Let’s start with definitions:
Vegetarian – A person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.

Vegan – All of the above, but also avoid the use of all products tested on animals, as well as animal-derived non-food products, such as leather, fur and wool.

There are different variations on vegetarianism (such as including fish into their diets or allowing any milk products, but do not eat meat). Vegan is very strict and more of a lifestyle which includes their foods versus just the foods in a diet.

Okay! Now let’s get to the FOOD! This was rather fun and way easier than I thought it would be to find strictly vegan recipes, but they are very accessible and easy to find. Here are some of the ones I found the most appetizing and look amazing!

Vegetable Lasagna w/Ricotta Nut Cheese via LunchBoxBunch.com

Mango & Hatch Chile Pizza w/White Garlic Crust via Vegan Richa

Raw Ranch Veggie Wraps via Food and Yoga for Life

Vegan Fajitas via Charlie Harvey

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls via What Vegan Kids Eat

Don’t those look amazing?

I have a few recipes for vegans, too! Very easy (as always) and delicious!

Artichoke Salsa

Chickpea & Cucumber Salad

Very Veggie Pasta

Olive Tapenade Stuffed Shells (just take off the cheese or use vegan)

Cornmeal-Dusted Potato Wedges (sorry, sweetheart not included!)

I can’t wait to hear if my CDSM friends make any of these recipes. PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I love to hear how recipes go. Also, be sure to come back next week for the next part of my allergy series on nut-free recipes. YUM!

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Weekly Round Up: Authentic Mexican Recipes for Cinco de Mayo!

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

It’s finally May and it’s time to embrace our Mexican friends’ heritage and culture by celebrating Cinco de Mayo! In case you aren’t familiar with the history of this holiday, here is an except from The History Channel:

Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.

Since this is foodie blog, I figured the best way I could support the holiday is by doing a Cinco de Mayo Weekly Round Up. It was relatively easy to find authentic Mexican recipes, so I had to include a bunch! They are are unique recipes and I think it would be great to make a lot of these and try them. If you don’t like it, at least you can say you’ve eaten it before! Not everyone can say they’ve eaten menudo!

Foodie Blogs with Authentic Recipes:

Enchiladas Caseras via Beyond Wonderful

Corn Tamales via Mexico in my Kitchen

Menudo Rojo via La Cocina de Nathan

Chicken with Mole Sauce via Penza Family

Tres Leches Mexican Flan via Cooking with Alia

Arroz con Leche via Girlichef

Here is a list of “Mexican” foods from my blog. They may not be authentic, but they are delicious and easy to make, especially for those who want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and are less than enthusiastic about trying something from the pictures above.

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Mexican Chicken & Black Bean Filling

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Easy Chicken Fajitas

Now that you have the history and some food ideas for Cinco de Mayo, what are your plans? Are there any celebrations in your area? I’d love to hear what you cooked or other ways you celebrated. Please share on CDSM’s Facebook page — I love to see others’ creations!

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Weekly Round Up Allergy Series: Dairy Free Recipes

In case you missed the previous posts, I am doing a 5 part series on recipes for those with dietary allergies or intolerances. Last week I did the Gluten Free Series and can be found here at this link in case you missed it.

Moving on! It was amazingly simple to find dairy free recipes. When you think of all the foods that have some sort of dairy in them, you’d assume that there would be very few left to eat or modify, but I was wrong! Here are some of the best and had some of the best reviews on them. I also made sure to choose things that seemed to me were the ones that I’d miss if I had to give up dairy products (i.e., ranch, ice cream, cheese spread, etc.).

DF Expresso & Sea Salt Cookies via Around My Family Table

DF Coconut Chocolate Ice Cream via Food Wanderings

DF Ranch Dressing via My Whole Food Life

DF Yogurt via Living Without

GF Ham & "Cheese" Scones via Once a Month Mom

DF "Cheese" Spread via Natural New Age Mum

Here are a few of my own recipes that are dairy free:

Pot Roast with Veggie Gravy

Smoky Chicken Skillet

Chilled Roasted Vegetable Salad w/Horseradish-Dijon Dressing

No one in my family has dairy or lactose allergies, so we are big fans of eating it in our house. I’d love to hear some suggestions on modifying recipes that have cheese to be used in a dairy-free way. Please, share with others on our Facebook page or here on the blog for those who may be new to dairy free eating or are thinking about changing their diets!

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Weekly Round-Up Allergy Series: Gluten Free Recipes

It seems everywhere we look now a days everyone is advertising gluten free options: restaurants, bakeries, and a lot of mainstream companies.  Having a gluten free diet has been shown to be beneficial for many ailments, including migraines, ADHD, SPD, chronic pain, and more. It can be difficult to find recipes that taste like regular foods. It can  be done, and with more and more companies hopping on the GF bandwagon, it will only get easier.

To help those with gluten intolerance, allergies, and Celiac’s Disease, I decided to do my first first in the allergy series about gluten free foods.

GF Fudge No-Bake Cookies via Sally’s Baking Addiction

GF Pizza via What’s That Smell?

GF Buckwheat Pancakes via Mountain Mama Cooks

Red Quinoa w/Butternut Squash via GF Goddess

GF Cinnamon-Sugar Donut Holes via GF Girl

GF Spicy Orange Chicken via Celebration

GF Fruit Scones via The CoffeeShop Blog

Here are a few of my own Gluten Free blog posts:

Crock Pot Chicken Posole Stew – Guest Post Recipe

Homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni

Quick Crustless Quiche

Included in the quiche recipe are some gluten-free tips for those new to this diet.

Are there any recipes that you’ve found really good and gluten-free that’d like to share? Has going GF helped you or someone you love? Please share! I love hearing from my CDSM friends.

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Breakfast Yummies Weekly Round Up!

I love breakfast. My family loves breakfast. If you do a search on my website for “Breakfast”, 45 pages of recipes will show up.  Per usual, I have included a few of the best recipes I could find from fellow foodie bloggers, as well as a few recipes from my own CDSM collection. Read on and drool away…

Breakfast Corn Dogs via High Heels & Grills

Breakfast Puffins via Chef in Training

Healthy Breakfast Hash  via Green Lite Bites

Tuscan Sunrise Breakfast Wraps via Menu Musings

Here are a few of my recipes from my blog, though I restrained myself to only four:

Biscuits with Loaded Eggs, Bacon & Gravy

PB&J Breakfast Sandwiches

Baked Eggs with Bacon & Cheese

Cranberry-Pear Oatmeal with Maple Sugared Walnuts

All the recipes look amazing, but I know you want even more! How about 110 more in my e-book called, Better Breakfasts — 110 Breakfast Recipes which you can buy for only $5.50 by clicking right here!

Did I leave out your favorite recipe from CDSM or do you have a special recipe you’d like to share? Tell me about it!

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Spring Break: Fun Food Kids Can Make – Weekly Round Up!

Spring break here in Michigan began last Friday (Good Friday). I know there are a lot of schools across the U.S. on Spring Break now or coming up soon. By about Tuesday, the kids are antsy and whiny. So, to make MY life a little easier and give them something to do, I figure I can have them help make their own food. It is surprisingly difficult to find recipes that don’t use the oven or eggs, but I found a few good ones – not the healthiest, but fun and can be done in just a few minutes.

Funfetti Dip via Lee, Me, and the Girls

Banana Dogs via The Village Cook

PB&J Sushi via ValSoCal

Easy No Bake Chocolate PB Bites via A Minneapolis Homestead

PB, Granola, & Chocolate Apple Sandwiches via The Peaceful Mom

Do you have any favorites that you do with your youngsters to keep them busy and fed at the same time? I’d love to add it to a future Round Up.

I hope everyone had a great Easter and are having a restful Spring Break! Enjoy!

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How to Reuse Your Beautiful Dyed Easter Eggs – Weekly Round Up!

I don’t know about you, but every Easter I look at all the eggs my family decorated and think, “WHAT A WASTE!” Of course it was fun, but after Easter, what do we all end up doing with them? Eating them for DAYS. Is there anything else we can do with them on top of making them into tasty meals? I thought I’d make a weekly round up of ideas to help with reusing or repurposing the colorful eggs from Easter.
I’m breaking this down into food, decorating with them, and using the leftover carton in a nontraditional way.

FOOD - Here are some of my favorite recipes for using up hard boiled eggs:

American Deviled Eggs via The Candid Cook

8 Layer Salad via The Meaning of Pie

Egg Salad via Bella Eats

DECORATION  - Reusing Egg Shells:

Egg Shell Candles via Paint Cut Paste

Egg Shell Seed Pots (grow your own food!) via Just 5 More Minutes

Egg Shell Art (great for toddlers!) via Blog Me Mom

Egg-stra Special Earrings via Naughty Secretary Club

What about the CARTON?:

DIY Egg Carton Wreath via Homemade Serenity

Egg Carton Building Blocks via Parenting

Chocolate FILLED Strawberries via LilyShop

There were so many different recipes, ways to use egg shells that weren’t decorations (supplement your dog’s food, anyone?), and repurposing egg cartons, that it was hard to decide what to use in this blog.  I am happy to see I am not the only one who wonders how else to use every part of Easter eggs besides just eating them and trashing them.

Who is going to try any of these? I am definitely going to be using the egg shell plants and decorating carton blocks for the kids. Cheap fun for both Mommy and the young ones!

Hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Easter with their families!

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Getting Ready for Easter Weekly Round Up!

I figured since Easter is only a week away that I should do a weekly round up to help with Easter meal planning.

Here are some of the best from fellow foodie bloggers:

Orange, Brown Sugar Glazed Ham via Simply Scratch

3 Variations of Deviled Easter Eggs via Not Eating Out in NY


Rosemary Roasted Carrots via Oh My Veggies


Carrot Cake via Stick Gooey Creamy Chewy

Here are a few that I like to make for my family’s Easter dinner. They’re tried and true hits for the whole family – grandparents through the little ones!

Asparagus Swiss Cheese Strata

Melon Minted Salad

Roasted Asparagus with Red Onions & Feta

Here are a few more sides I adore:

Homemade Crescent Rolls
Garlic & Parsley Fingerling Potatoes
Very Veggie Pasta Salad

Don’t forget DESSERTS!

Lemon Bars w/Glaze & Candied Peel

Lemon Raspberry Cake

Yes, it’s official. Making this week’s round up has made my stomach literally growl. Doesn’t everything look so delicious? I’m starting to get excited for Easter Dinner already!
Did I leave anything off the list? Is there something in particular your family always makes that I didn’t think of? Tell here or on Facebook. ENJOY YOUR EASTER MEALS!

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Just in Time for St. Patrick’s Day: Traditional Irish Recipes Weekly Round Up!

As we all know, March 17th of every year we celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in one form or another, but does anyone know the history of this tradition? I thought I’d take a moment to give a few interesting tidbits the holiday we loving call, “Saint Paddy’s Day”.

• The Irish people have celebrated the holiday for over 1,000 years
• Because of Lent, Christians would go to church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon with “meatless” meals with cabbage and bacon
• The first parade to honor St. Patrick was not in Ireland, but in the United States
• St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated not only in the U.S., Ireland, Canada, and Australia, but also in Japan, Singapore and Russia
• The Chicago River is dyed green every year with 40 pounds of vegetable dye and it lasts several hours

If you want to learn more about the history of St. Patrick’s Day, here is the link to the History Channel’s article. It’s very interesting!

As requested by a majority on my Facebook page, I am now going to list some recipes for traditional Irish cuisine. As I said, they are traditional dishes and not known necessarily for being especially appealing. It would be a great history lesson for your children to discuss why certain foods are used in the dishes listed. They certainly have fun names!

Colcannon via VeganYumYum

Farl Bread via OnePerfectBite

Yellowman Toffee via KitsChow

Champ via FearlessKitchen

There are A LOT of traditional Irish recipes out there to choose from and there are a lot of different variations of the recipes I posted. Search for other recipes and get an amazing feast to celebrate with your GREEN Irish stout beer. If you make any of these recipes, please let me know how they are! I am excited to give them a shot myself.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Luck O’The Irish to Ya!

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DIY Girl Scouts Cookies for Girl Scouts Week!

Every year, the second week of March is Girl Scouts Week. In particular, March 12th is the Girls Scouts’ Birthday! This year, March 12, 2013 is pretty spectacular — The Girl Scouts turn 101! You’d never know it. Those Daisy Scouts look no older than 5 years old!

This year’s theme is “The Future is Now” and says, “When it comes to investing in girls, the future is now. There is no better time to make sure girls have the skills, experience and knowledge they need to succeed. There is no one better prepared than Girl Scouts to make this happen.”

To celebrate the Girl Scouts, I am doing a Weekly Round Up of Girl Scout Cookies. If you’re anything like me, those cookies get eaten nearly as soon as they enter the door. This round up includes how to make these popular cookies yourself. Knowing the ingredients can also help those with food allergies or intolerances modify and actually be able to enjoy these delicious little goodies! Enjoy!

Thin Mint Cookies via BakingBites.com

Tagalong Cookies via BakersRoyale.com

Lemonade Brownies via CookiesandCups.com

Samoas via CookingClassy.com

Do-Si-Dos via WeAreMartha.com

Watch out next week when I put together a St. Patrick’s Day themed round up! Anything in particular you are looking for or just curious what you should cook for a St. Patty’s Day party? Respond on this blog post or send me an email and I will see what I can do!

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