Pork Tenderloin

This recipe was concocted based on a basic batter and fry technique I've used for all fried foods. Buuuut the difference is I fried bacon first, and used that grease to fry the tenderloins. In the recipe below, the frying is done warming oil. 

You'll need:

*1 lb hunk of pork tenderloin

*parchment paper

*meat tenderizer

*1/2 cup (or more) coconut flour

*1 T pepper, 1 T salt

*1/2 can coconut milk

*egg

*Frying oil, about an inch high in pan (I used grease from frying bacon)

Take the hunk of pork tenderloin and cut into slices about half an inch thick. Placed the slices in a single layer between parchment paper and tenderize by lightly "hammering" each slice; then flip and do the same for the other side. 

In a large bowl, mix the egg and the coconut milk. Place the pork slices in the mixture to soak for about 20-30 minutes. 

In another large bowl, mix the coconut flour, salt and pepper. 

Once the oil is hot, place a slice of tenderloin in the flour mixture. You want to throughly coat each side. Then fry up in the oil! Repeat until all slices are fried up, about 5 minutes each side. 

Pork tenderloin is a staple in my family. We make them for dinner while anticipating them for lunch. 

Soooo good!! They made great leftovers for sandwiches today! 

We really enjoyed the coconut flour. The flavor was not as robust as I expected; I tasted very little coconut and a nice hint of pepper. 

This will continue to be made in our house, especially going towards our carb free dinners. (Even though this is more like grain free)

On Instagram, I couldn't figure out if they were considered carb free or paleo...

I'm still not sure, but they're definitely gluten free! 

Hope you enjoy!

Catching Up

Y'all, January has gotten the best of me. Between the holidays and life events, I have been going non stop all month! There was a bachelorette party, trip to Vegas, a couples shower this weekend...its been nuts at the Langthorn house. 

So today, even though it's Thursday, I have made it a Sunday. 

I'm combing through my coupons and various store sales, planning meals for the next couple days, and finishing up some school stuff. 

I'll have a real Meal Plan Monday post up next week!

For now, I'm finishing my shopping list and attempting to make gluten free crescent rolls :) 

Check back tomorrow to see how it goes!!

Meal Plan Monday // Week 3

Another round of Meal Plan Monday :)

Today is Husband's birthday, and it's our first birthday as a married couple!  I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he's opting for Los Cucos.  You can't be $1.99 margaritas on your birthday!


Breakfast is our usual Meal Replacement Shakes - we have chocolate, mint chocolate brownie, and white chocolate peppermint to choose from.  We'll be at home this weekend, so I'm going to experiment with cinnamon rolls or donuts using gluten free flour! I'm pretty pumped.

All of our lunches this week will be leftovers from dinner.  That being said, we have...

Sage Pork Chops with Roasted Brussel Sprouts + Bacon

Indian-Spiced Beef Short Ribs with mashed sweet potatoes

Homemade Pizza (a Sunday tradition)

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with Steamed Broccoli

Chicken Patties with Bacon + Garlic Roasted Veggies

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms + Steamed Asparagus with Lemon




With the exception of pizza, all these recipes are from Emeals.  You can pick what type of plan you want - these are all paleo.  Most have been really good, very rarely do we not like the recipe.  We pick between weeks which recipes we want to use.  The best part - if you get a week that you like everything on the list, there's a completed grocery list on the last page! SUPER CONVENIENT




Which recipe should I post? Comment to vote below!



Have a great week!

Meal Plan Monday // Week 2

I'm excited about this week's meals! I tried to mix it up a little for us - Tex-Mex, Italian, BBQ, and (paleo) Chinese.  They're all pretty simple recipes!

Even though I'm not super busy with school right now, we still have a lot of work going on around the house.  Who knew so much stuff comes with getting married?!

I find that making meals that can be served more than once is a HUGE help for cooking during the week.  For example, I have a meeting in the morning, so I'm prepping lunch for tomorrow (enchiladas) tonight, and it'll be easy to pop in the oven tomorrow when I get back! Even better, there's enough for lunch on Tuesday, too!

Here's what I have planned for the week:

Monday/Tuesday - 
B: Meal Replacement Shake + banana
L: Enchiladas + rice & beans
D: "Spaghetti" (Squash) with meatballs + salad & broccoli

Wednesday/Thursday -
B: Meal Replacement Shake + banana
L: Honey BBQ Chicken Burgers + coleslaw, green beans & chips
D: Paleo Teriyaki Chicken + "rice"

Friday -
B: MRS + banana
L: Honey BBQ Chicken Burgers + coleslaw & chips
D: Pecan crusted salmon + salad & corn

Snacks vary by day, but I have strawberries, blackberries, and protein snack packs on hand :)



Saturday and Sunday we will be celebrating Hubby's birthday with his family! We're excited to see our nieces and nephew!!





What kind of meals are you looking forward to this week?

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

We've experimented with gumbo a couple of times now.  The best one was two times ago.. I don't know what was different about it, but it was sooo good.  Even the roux was the right color despite it being gluten free.

The downer was that we had to reheat everything really good in order for the flour to not clump together.  We decided for this attempt, I would give corn starch a try.

SUCCESS

I found online that the cornstarch ratio to flour is 1:2.  However, I used more than half the amount calculated.  Still, it totally worked!

Look at that roux! (Plus onions/celery/garlic :| )

I can't wait for lunch!

Ingredients:

2 lb. smoked sausage (can substitute andouille)

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

vegetable oil

1/2 c. cornstarch (again, I used more as mine needed more thickening and darkening in the roux)

2 lg onions, chopped

6 ribs celery, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 Qt chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1 T cajun seasoning

1 bunch green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. In large heavy, lidded cast iron pot on medium-high heat, cook and stir sausage until it starts to release it's fat juices.

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then add to the pot.  Cook, turning with sausage occasionally until they are both well browned.  Remove and set aside.  *I put mine in a colander in the sink so that the grease dripped off

3. Making the roux - guesstimate how much fat juices you have in the pot and add enough vegetable oil to make 1 cup.  Slowly add in the cornstarch; add about half and stir constantly (The roux will burn if you don't!).  Once it's well mixed, continue adding the cornstarch.  The roux will darken slowly; mine took about 20 minutes to reach a medium brown.   *At about 10 minutes, I had added the total amount of cornstarch but my roux completely stopped darkening.  I added about another couple T and it instantly started darkening again.  Altogether I added a total of 2/3 c. cornstarch.  BUT start slow! Every roux is different!!

4. Add the onions, celery, and garlic.  Cook, still stirring constantly, for about 4-5 minutes.

5. Add the stock, bay leaves, cajun seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste.

6. Add back the chicken and sausage.  Raise the heat to get the gumbo to boil.  One it has begun, reduce the heat to low and cook covered for at least 2 hours.

7. About 15 minutes before serving, add the green onions (we omitted these).

8. Remove the bay leaves before serving over rice.

I mean, come on..

You are going to love this!

Meal Plan Mondays (late)

This week my husband and I decided we were getting back on track. Back to Advocare. Back to healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners... you get the point. 

The big change, though, is that Spens has agreed that we will not have carbs with dinner. We'll still use mayo and I'm sure I'll make a balsamic reduction eventually, but no bread type forms. It's already really hard. Really really hard. 

Breakfasts:

Spark + Emergen-C

Meal Replacement Shakes - Mint Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Peanut Butter (omg) + banana

Lunches:

Leftovers

Gumbo (here) + rice & salad

Dinners:

Chicken salad + veggie

Skirt Steak fajitas 

I'm so excited! I already feel better properly fueling my body with Advocare products. We'll even be placing an order early courtesy of the Cyber Monday week long special!! (White Chocolate Peppermint Shakes, come to mama!)

If you're interested, you better hurry! Catalyst has already SOLD OUT of the event pricing :(((

Annnnd I beat my mile time today! First time under 9 minutes in at least a couple years! 

(I just find this hilarious)

HEB Noodles

For quite awhile we have been trying different noodles to see which are good and which are crap...but mostly which actually taste like real noodles. It's no secret that as soon as someone asks what my favorite brand is, I immediately say "HEB". With ZERO hesitation. 

So I thought, why not explain what I do with them? 

This is my local HEB in College Station. Can I just say how awkward it was to take this photo? A woman to my right gave me weird looks, a guy walking across stopped for me to take the photo but realized what I was doing and probably got confused as to why, aaaand the couple that was to the left of me still wasn't sure why I propped the bags. But I did it anyways because I'm excited. 

For the first time (that I've found) HEB has their own gluten free lasagna noodles!! My HEB also has fusilli (the cork screw looking one), penne, and spaghetti noodles. So awesome!!

To help out a gluten free part of our family we made a couple casseroles for them to have as freezer meals. I naturally thought of King Ranch Chicken, and Lasagna. Duh. Hence this post. 

I have a lasagna recipe that Spens and I have used for a couple years now, it's pretty great. But you could honestly use any recipe you'd like. 

Couple tips: 1) check your sauce ingredients unless you're making it from scratch, like we do. 2) blanch the lasagna noodles! For some reason, even though it says no boil, we have found that they bake and reheat better if you blanch them first. Maybe 7-10seconds in boiling water, then layer as you normally would. 3) when you reheat the leftover lasagna, do it in the conventional oven! The microwave just doesn't get it right. Trust me. 

I use the penne or fusilli for Alfredo or other pasta dishes. Spaghetti for spaghetti, so on and so on. Sometimes I get real fancy and make Mac and cheese. 

Do you have a favorite lasagna recipe? Should I post mine? Happy baking to you!

Bacon Breakfast Sushi

I'm not sure how I didn't post this before, so here we go...

Bacon Breakfast Sushi

Preheat oven to 400'F

1. Lay your bacon in rows across your non-stick sprayed baking sheet vertically. Starting with the second piece, flip it on its self so only an inch is laying like the other pieces. Continue to do so for every other piece. 

Then take a piece of bacon and lay it horizontally, stretched across the vertical pieces. 

(The best example picture I could get because I forgot...)

Put the flipped bacons back in their normal position. 

Now flip the odd slices, and follow the same steps. Continue alternating odds and evens until all bacon is layed out and you have a beautiful bacon lattice. 

2. In a bowl, mix 1 egg, 1 cup of shredded cheese (dealer's choice), and about 2 cups mashed tater tots. *optional chopped chives and onions to be mixed in, about 1/4 cup each

3. Spread mixture across the finished bacon lattice as evenly as possible. 

4. Roll bacon in a sushi like fashion, wrapping as tight as you can. Once rolled, pin with toothpicks to hold in place. 

5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until bacon at desired crispness!

Hope you enjoy!!

Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain Hamburger Buns

These are the best buns I've had yet. It also helps that I added a new trick...

1) Melt some butter in microwave safe bowl. 

2) Place buns flat side down onto melted butter. 

3) Let said buns soak up said butter. 

4) GRILL!

5) Devour. With or without burger/chicken/bacon/vegetable additions. Your choice. 

You can see the buttery goodness ..

Find them in your local grocery store, possibly in a special gluten free freezer section!

What's your favorite burger combo?

Hey! Gluten Free: June Review

Looking to try truly gluten free products? Hunt no more! hey! gluten free is now providing a monthly subscription service full of gluten free products!! The box comes straight to your door! How awesome is that?!

I received mine a couple weeks ago, and I have not been disappointed! Even the kale energy bar was yummy!!

c/o hey! gluten free

I'm always a fan of green so the box itself won me over. Inside I had a very nice variety of products to try! My favorite so far has been the chapstick/moisturizer... It's chocolate, for reals. 

I've also liked the granola and protein bar. They've been perfect for quick snacks at the hospital!

I'm excited to try the cocobacon. Yeah, it sounds awesome. Update: It was better than awesome..it was like bbq bacon. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it. It'll be so hard to keep myself to the serving size...

It's a little warm out for soup, but I think it'll be nice one day when I don't have a meal packed. *cough cough tonight* Quick & easy!

There was a juice and granola that I'm excited about, too!

I love baking, so the Muffin mix sounds fun, too! I may even try to mix a blueberry lemon concoction out of them. 

Most of the products in my June Box were paleo/vegan friendly. But definitely all of them were gluten free! 

Sign up today!

I know you'll find something you love! and when you do, signing up allows you to get discounts on the products by ordering them yourself! It's a no brainer! 

Beef Enchiladas

I think the first thing Spens ever cooked for me was enchiladas. It was the first time I hung out at his house, he made enchiladas and I made a cobbler. The in between consisted of football...shocker. 

For the last few months, I've been trying really hard to truly be gluten free. Something I crave pretty often is Tex-Mex, specifically enchiladas. But for one reason or another, many places add flour to their different sauces. I'm sure it has to do with thickening them or whatever. Regardless, it sucks. 

So Spens has edited his original enchilada recipe in order for them to be Kayteeyumms approved, aka gluten free. 

First, cook your ground meat. We have venison for days, so that's our go to. (#paleo. #welovetohunt) Follow your seasoning directions - ours this time was Pioneer Brand Gluten Free Taco Seasoning. It was around $1, found at our local HEB. Find them, seriously. 

Pour some enchilada sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Heat oven to 350*F.

We now use corn tortillas. He kind of swirls both sides in a plate of sauce. We used Mild Green Chile Enchilada Sauce. I'm pretty sure it was El Paso brand (I forgot a picture of the can). 

Please excuse the iPhone photos. 

If you can get fresh corn tortillas, that would be ideal. Bagged ones will work, but they don't roll as well, and of course are missing some of the great flavor. 

After both sides of a tortilla are sauced, scoop some of your taco meat onto the tortilla and sprinkle some cheese. About half a palm of meat and a solid pinch of Mexican blend cheese. 

You don't want to completely fill the tortilla because you need room to roll. 

...so now you roll the tortilla. I've seen some people use toothpicks to hold the enchiladas together. We aren't really worried about them unraveling because we tag team them so we've gotten pretty quick together. I'm not bragging or anything, we're just pros. 

Continue this process until your dish is filled. Then sprinkle on the remaining taco meat, enchilada sauce, and cheeeese. 

I go a little overboard (according to some) in the cheese department. I think it's the perfect amount. And Spens doesn't complain, so I'm good. 

Bake for about 15 minutes. Basically until the cheese melts. And then you're ready to eat!

Makes about 3 American servings.  

Let me know if you try it!!

Chēbē Original Cheese Rolls

In the last month, I have had my engagement ring for 5 days. FIVE DAYS. I got it back, I'm wearing it again and it's like it's brand new all over again.  It feels heavy, and it's super shiny and I looove it.  all. over. again.

Now, it's pouring outside, there's flooding all over Corpus, and Spens can't get home.
SO. I'm on my break between semesters and I thought I would try to get a blog post out...


I've seen these rolls a few times in the freezer section at my local HEB.  I'm pretty sure that I even have their breadsticks in the back of the freezer somewhere. I always seem to remember them after everything is all done and eaten.

source

The directions are pretty basic - heat the oven, place on baking sheet, blah blah blah.

I'm not sure if it's our oven or Corpus or what but I had to bake for longer than the recommended time.  Still, they were worth it.

They were a little pale at first, hence why I kept baking.  That being said, they came out more like biscuits, not rolls.

They were cheesy, soft, and delicious.

I think they priced at around $0.50 per roll...there was 12 in the pack.  They paired nicely with an alfredo I made.

They will definitely become a staple to our pasta dishes! What are some gluten free rolls you've enjoyed?

RC's Pizza

As is true for almost every gluten free eater I know, I am trying so hard to find the best gluten free pizza.  Up to this point, I have settled for pizza that just "cut the craving", instead of finding one that I enjoy eating.

THINGS HAVE CHANGED.

While still a thin crust, RC's NYC Pizza and Pasta pepperoni pizza was delightful! I had to stop myself from eating the whole pizza on the spot.

It was full of flavor! The sauce, the toppings, even the crust!  I've tried other delivery gluten free pizzas, but this one by far surpassed them.  I honestly think the big difference was the crust.  It had a wheat type flavor and it was seasoned nicely.  

Spens even agreed it tasted good! (He had a calzone, but we won't talk about that)

The pizza was 12", which I believe is larger than the gluten free delivery pizzas.  The base price is $13.50, with toppings costing extra; I think my pizza was $15.

Besides the price, my only other con was that it isn't a hand tossed/thick crust.  I'm still looking for that doughy, fluffy gluten free pizza bread.  We won't even discuss my breadstick dreams. 

I know I'm a terrible photographer, but you can literally see the seasoning in the crust!

I reheated my leftovers in the oven at 350 degrees for about 4 minutes.  It was even better than in the restaurant! If I'm going to eat a thin crust pizza, I want it to be crispy.  Reheating it in the oven did that perfectly. Highly recommend you doing this! I may just do take-out next time just so that I can crisp it at home...I'd rank the oven leftovers an 8.9. it was that good. 

Also, the cashier told me they are working on gluten free brownies! Can't wait for those babies!

Houston people, there are locations in Kingwood and in The Woodlands.  Check 'em out! 

Have you been to RC's pizza before? What did you think?

Eating Right for Gluten Free

That's their brand name, by the way. I found them at Randalls by complete accident! We happened to be passing the freezer section and boom! I grabbed all but one...I think it was the polenta one. 

I had the Mac and cheese for lunch today. It was a little salty, but overall I enjoyed it! It helped with the noodle cravings and cooked in much less time. I'd say about 6 minutes total (I like my cheese less saucy). 

For dinner I had the Chicken Teriyaki bowl. It had lima beans (I think) in it, but they're not in my allowable diet currently. This was delicious! Well flavored, especially for a TV dinner. 

Stay tuned for further updates :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake ❤️

We had a very relaxed Valentine's Day (saving for a wedding is expensive!), so I decided last weekend to make a little treat for us. 

Cheesecake sounded perfect! I have been on a hunt for awhile to find the perfect gluten free crust. I've tried using rice chex, and while that got great reviews, it just didn't get my motor running. So while contemplating ways to get creative, this idea hit me like a lightning bolt. I immediately felt like a genius. 

COOKIE DOUGH. 

If I'm going to indulge in a treat, I might as well get us the best of both worlds! Cookie dough as the crust!! 

Work time is about 20 minutes. Wait time is about 2 1/2 hours. A true test of patience. 

...as you can see, I even let the tension build on my snapchat. 

So...Preheat oven as directed...

Simply spray your springform pan with cooking spray, then press the entire tub of Pillsbury Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough into the bottom and about one inch up the sides of the pan.

Because this made a thin layer, I only let this bake for about 8 minutes. Using a knife, I inserted the point into the middle of the dough. No residue came up, so I pulled my crust out to cool. 

While your Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Crust is cooling, I recommend you start working on the cheesecake.  Did I mention it's a no bake cheesecake?!

In your KitchenAid mixer, whip on medium high two 8 oz. blocks of cream cheese. When that is light and fluffy, add a 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk and continue to whip well. Then add 1/8 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and a good teaspoon of vanilla. Whip all ingredients. 

Once that was nice and fluffy, I added it to my Chocolate Chip Crust in my springform pan. Covered with plastic wrap, and let sit in the fridge for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Serve when firm :)

I think Spens's exact words were, "If I hadn't proposed to you already, now would be the time!"