Homemade Gluten Free Granola

You know how you can get gluten free granola at the store and it costs like $20 for a tiny bag of it? Yeah, well, it turns out that it's very easy and cheap to make your own. Just choose from the list of ingredient suggestions below, and mix it up in a ziplock bag. Keep it in the freezer for long-term storage. Traditionally granola seems to be mixed with some kind of sweetener and then baked in the oven, but that is certainly not necessary and just mixing the ingredients together and eating them raw is easier and has a lot less sugar. You can throw in some cinnamon for flavor if you like cinnamon. Eat it with milk like you would eat cereal, or sprinkle it on top of yogurt. Or just eat it plain.

Ingredients suggestions:
GF rolled oats
Toasted quinoa or millet
Puffed quinoa, millet, or rice
Dried cranberries
Raisins
Dried apples
Chopped dates
Broken up banana chips
Dried mango
Dried pineapple
Dried apricots
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Sesame seeds
Shredded coconut
Flax seeds
Chia seeds
Peanuts
Sliced almonds
Chopped walnuts
Chopped pecans
Chopped cashews
Mini chocolate chips

Black Bean and Corn Taco Cups

You can make these with any kind of taco filling. This is just one particular version that I came up with one day. But feel free to use meat, melt cheese on top, leave out anything you don't like or add things you do like. Just experiment. That's what I do.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas
Black beans (cooked or canned - drain and rinse them)
Frozen corn
Chopped fresh mushrooms
Chopped fresh zucchini
Taco seasoning (either a pre-made gluten-free one, or just mix chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt and pepper until you think it tastes good)

To prepare the tortillas, soften them either in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. Press them into lightly greased muffin pans. They'll be kind of cone-shaped, but once you put the filling in and bake them in the oven the bottoms will flatten out and they'll look like cups. It's okay if they crack a bit when you do this. The tops of the tortillas will stick up out of the muffin pans. Cook all of the other ingredients in a little bit of oil or butter until the zucchini and mushrooms are soft. Fill the tortillas with the filling (put in enough so that it goes up as high as the top of the muffin pan). Bake in the oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes, until the tortilla edges are crisp and you can lift them easily out of the muffin pan. Top with salsa, sour cream, avocado, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, or whatever you like. They do fall apart a little bit, so you'll need to eat them with a knife and fork, but it's a nice change from regular every-day tacos (which really do become an every day thing when you're gluten free!).

Two Smoothies

I make these a lot. They're very simple but very good. I can't drink milk these days, so I use Coconut Dream milk (http://www.tastethedream.com/products/category/772.php), but feel free to use whatever dairy or non-dairy milk you prefer. Vary the amount of fruit vs milk depending on whether you like smoothies that or more drinkable or more milkshake-like.

Chocolate Peach Berry Smoothie
A handful of frozen peaches and berries (there's a Safeway brand bag of frozen peaches, strawberries, and blueberries that's really good) - you can use fresh fruit if you have it, but throw in a few ice cubes if you do
Chocolate Coconut Dream milk

Mix in the blender and enjoy!

Banana Smoothie
1-2 bananas
A few ice cubes
1/2 tsp vanilla
Coconut Dream milk unsweetened original

Mix in the blender and enjoy!

Lentil and Tomato Stew

Ingredients:
1 large can of diced or crushed tomatoes (don't drain it)
1/2 cup dry red or green lentils
4 ribs of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups water

Place everything in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Add more water if it starts to get too dry.