Mexican Style Lasagna

I'm writing this as I nibble on left overs from dinner last night and I'm already planning when I can make this again!  Who doesn't love a cheesy, gooey, spicy and garlicky dinner?  No, this one isn't grain free but isn't a grain splurge either.  To make this gluten free you could use an alternative white sauce base.


Ingredients:

• Green Bell pepper, sliced
• Red Bell pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• Shredded chicken (I roasted chicken for the week and used breast and leg meat)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp white flour
• 1 1/2 cups of whole milk
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 of a chipotle in adobo
• 1-2 cloves of garlic depending on size
• 2 cups monterey jack cheese 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Extra olive oil for drizzling
• 6 corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet to medium and drizzle with olive oil.  Add the peppers and sauté, then add the onion after about 5 minutes, stir every so often.
2. Add in the chicken after about 10 minutes to heat through, add a couple shakes of salt and stir.
3. In a sauce pan, heat the butter and olive oil, add the flour once the butter has melted.  Stir to mix and cook for about a minute.  Add the milk slowly and whisk to avoid clumps.  Bring the heat to medium stirring with a spoon until the sauce thickens to coat the back of the spoon.  Allow to cool for several minutes.
4. In a food processor, add the garlic clove(s), chipotle, white sauce and spinach and puree until it is fully blended.
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a baking dish, put a small amount of sauce to coat the bottom.  Place 2 corn tortillas to cover the bottom, layer 1/3 of the pepper/chicken mixture, then a layer of monterey cheese, then drizzle 1/3 of the sauce.  Add two more layers like this.  For the top layer, I added more of the cheese so it could get extra brown and bubbly in the oven.
6. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the top is browned!
   
   
   

Gluten Free: Beef Stir Fry

We were having a Chinese takeout kind of craving so that is what inspired this one.  We love broccoli with garlic sauce and what we love about it is how the sauce gets trapped in the broccoli and how it's so tasty and garlicky.  This is something I was never able to mimic until last night!  Obviously I had to add more than just broccoli to make nutritionally dense but it only enhanced the flavor and heartiness.

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup Tamari
• 1-2 tsp organic Sriratcha
• 3 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger

Stir Fry:

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 small green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 chopped white onion
• 2 cups thawed, frozen broccoli (I thawed it on a paper towel so the extra water was removed)
• 10 sliced button mushrooms
• 2 NY strip steaks, sliced thin (I used 0.8 lbs total)

Directions:

1. Mix the soy sauce, sriratcha, garlic and ginger together in a bowl.
2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large cast iron skillet, add in the steak to the hot pan and sear until they are just a little pink and set aside in a separate bowl.  Pour a small drizzle of the soy sauce mixture over the steak and let sit.
3. Cook all of the vegetables in the heated pan for about 10 minutes while stirring every minute or so, until they reduce in size but are not mushy. Add in the beef and the rest of the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.
4. I served this over a small portion of brown rice.