Turkey Chilli

This turkey chilli has the perfect amount of spice to keep you warm on a cold day! It is hardy, healthy, and gluten free! It is filled with flavour and makes the perfect meal after a day in the snow! It can be frozen and enjoyed later and is easy to make! 

It is almost winter! That means it is finally soup and chilli season and I could not be more excited. Winter is my favourite time of year to enjoy comfort foods that make me feel warm inside and out! Winter is also a busy time, so it is great to make meals that can be frozen and enjoyed later on. Soups and chillis both freeze well and make great quick meals with a sandwich or salad. Chilli is a great meal to help you stay warm on cold days. It can be made in advance and frozen as individual freezer meals for busy days, or it can be enjoyed fresh! The options with chilli are endless, you can add any hearty vegetable you want to make it truly unique. Chilli can be enjoyed as a sloppy joe, as pasta sauce, or on its own! It is great for lunches on the ski hill, on cold snowy days, or as a quick go-to when you do not have a lot of time!

Turkey Chilli

1 Pound Ground Turkey
1 Bell Pepper (Yellow) Chopped
1/2 Cup White Onion Chopped
12 Oz Canned Crushed Tomatoes
2 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tsp Chilli Pepper
1 Tsp Oregano
1 Tsp Parsley
1 Tsp Brown Sugar

In a soup pot simmer the Grown Turkey until browned and cooked. While simmering, sauté the Onions and Bell Peppers with the Brown Sugar in a frying pan. Place the Peppers and Onions into the soup pot and add remaining ingredients. Simmer on low for 90 minutes. Enjoy on rice, with pasta, or on toasted bread with some grated cheese!

Makes 6 Servings

Final season is upon us, and that also means ski season is days away! I cannot wait to get my skis out and return to the mountain! This Turkey Chilli will be perfect for cozy lunches in the day lodge! 

I wish everyone good luck during the last few weeks of classes! Stay strong, and eat well. Your brain and your body need food and fuel for success! 

K.

Christmas Rolled Sugar Cookies

Christmas is right around the corner! There are so many exciting things about the holiday season. Starbucks has their holiday drinks out, the neighbors have their gorgeous light display up, and all the stores have began decorating! It seems like this time of year many people have an extra bounce in their step. While the holidays are exciting, they can also be stressful! What do you buy for everyone on your list? How big should you order the turkey? Is there really enough time in a day to accomplish all that holiday baking you want to do? Countless hours go into preparing for Christmas, and it seems like it is over in a snap. After all the long days and hard work, the days around Christmas should be relaxing and enjoyable, filled with family, friends, food, and festive cheer!

It seems like there is always extra stress around preparing the big holiday meal. Everything needs to be timed perfectly. By the time dinner time arrives children are getting hungry and whiny, adults may have had a few to many egg nogs and need some food in their stomach, and you are exhausted from all the cooking. Placing a sugar cookie on everyone’s plate adds decoration to the Christmas table, and allows everyone to have a bit of dessert before dinner. Breaking the rules is okay on Christmas, right?

These sugar cookies are gluten free and are incredibly easy to make! They freeze well, so they can be made in advance and brought out when needed. The icing also freezes well, or they can even be iced on Christmas as a fun and festive way to keep everyone occupied! They roll out easily, and have a delicious sweet taste with a soft texture. You wont even know that they are gluten free!

Christmas Rolled Sugar Cookies

½ Cup Butter at Room Temperature

½ Cup White Sugar

1 Egg + 1 Egg White

½ Cup Coconut Flour

½ Cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour

¼ Tsp Baking Soda

½ Tsp Xantham Gum

1 Tsp Vanilla

¼ Tsp Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixer whip together Butter, Sugar, and Eggs.

In a separate bowl sift the Coconut Flour, All-Purpose Flour, Baking soda, and Xantham Gum.

Add the flour, and the remaining ingredients, to the Butter mixture and mix until combined. Dough will form.

Place in an airtight container, and set in the fridge over night, or until chilled. The dough will be too warm to roll out immediately and will stick to the counter and rolling pin.

Roll out the cookie dough in sections. Keep the remaining dough in the fridge until you are ready to roll it out. This ensures sharp and easy cuts. 

**When rolling the dough, place icing sugar on the rolling pin and counter rather than flour. Flour will add more texture to the cookies and cause them to become crumbly and more difficult to roll.**

Place cut cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet with 1-inch space. They do not need a lot of room to expand, but they do rise.

Bake large cookies for 10 minutes, and mini cookies for 5 minutes.

Makes approximately 16-20 cut cookies, depending on size.

-Let cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then move to wire racks and let cool for 30 minutes before icing.

Sugar Cookie Icing

1 Cup Powder Sugar

1 Tbsp Milk

½ Tbsp Light Corn Syrup

In a mixed combine all ingredients. If you want the icing to be runnier add milk very slowly, I recommend ½ a tablespoon at a time. If you want it thicker add more icing sugar slowly, I recommend ½ a tablespoon at a time. I prefer to make a variety of consistencies and place them in separate bowls. Then I can dip some cookies into the thinner icing, and use thicker consistencies for piping.  After dividing the icing into various bowls, add food coloring to make your preferred color. After icing allow the cookies to dry for a few hours before placing into freezer bags or containers so they do not stick and to prevent the icing from getting wrecked.

Sugar cookies are a holiday favorite! These sugar cookies allow a person with gluten intolerances to enjoy Christmas baking with everyone else, and they add a pop of color to any holiday arrangement. Placing a cookie on everyone’s plate is also a great way to decide where everyone is sitting, just in case you have an Aunt Tina who can not sit to close to Uncle Jim, and a Cousin Cecil that decided she does not want to sit in view of the turkey! Place these perfect cookies with a nametag, and no one will argue about where they want to sit!

I heard a rumour that Santa loves sugar cookies too, so why not make a few extra for him too? Pair them with a glass of milk or egg nog, and you will guarantee your spot on the nice list for the next few years!

I hope you enjoy this holiday season! I am sending my wishes for a stress free, gluten free, fun filled Christmas. With lots of family, food and cheer! I hope everybody has the time to do some baking, and hopefully tries these gluten-free Christmas favourites!

K.

  

Gluten Free Chicken Fingers

These Chicken Fingers are gluten-free, healthy, and have the perfect mix of sweet and salty. They are baked, but still have the crispy coating as though they were fried. These chicken fingers make the perfect comfort meal, or appetizer for a party!

Every year time changes and I feel like I could sleep for a week. We get an extra hour of sleep for one night, and daylight begins earlier. However, I still struggle to function for the first few days. This week is about getting back into a daily routine! As the days get shorter it become easier to let routine slip away. Because of a few rough weeks my routine is long gone and I feel awful about it. When I have a normal routine I am more productive in school, I feel better about myself, and I am a genuinely happier person. Now that midterms are over I am taking some days to refresh and relax with my Mom before I have to worry about final exams and the term papers that are looming over my head. It is the perfect time to get back on schedule and to start living a healthy life once again! I am going to find the balance of school, healthy eating, working out, and studying that I had, but lost.

My favourite part about getting into a routine is getting my day planner organized. I need to know exactly where I have to be when, and when deadlines are coming up. I need to see where I have time to go to yoga, the gym, or take a nap. I need to-do lists, and organization. I thrive on organization, it is a calming experience to see how much control I have over my life when so many things seem out of control this time of year. Every aspect of my life is categorized and given a colour in my day planner. This way nothing gets forgotten and I can visually process what is a priority and what is not.

Before getting back into routine in full force I granted myself a grace period to eat the things I crave and catch up on my sleep. This time of year makes me want to curl up on my couch and relax with a cup of earl grey while the fireplace roars. My favourite thing about fall is comfort food! I find myself craving all my favourites from childhood, but this week my weakness was chicken fingers! It took me awhile to decide how I was going to tackle breading the chicken, but I managed to find a way that had flavour and made these chicken fingers as healthy as possible and gluten free!

Gluten Free Chicken Fingers

1/4 Cup Gluten Free Flour
1 Large Egg
2 Cups Gluten Free Honey Chex Cereal (Crushed)
1 Tbsp Parmesean Cheese
1 Tsp Oregano
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
10 Ounces Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (Approx. 2)

Preheat oven to 425 Degrees. In one bowl beat the egg, place flour in another bowl, in a third bowl combine the crushed Chex cereal, cheese, and spices. Cut each chicken breast in 4 pieces. Dip the pieces in the flour, then the egg, and then the Chex, and place on a cookie sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, flipping half way. Each chicken finger is 2 weight watchers points plus and pairs perfectly with mustard! 

Cooking gluten free does not have to be difficult. You just have to experiment with the items that you have in the kitchen. It involves thinking outside the box. Cooking regular foods comes more naturally because it becomes a habit, you know what you need and what conventionally goes into what. You cannot think conventionally when you are cooking gluten free, you have to start combing the foods that you enjoy and be creative! I realize that not everyone enjoys cooking, or is creative in the kitchen, but do not let that discourage you from trying new things!

Remember that things happen and it can be difficult to stick with a routine. Life gets busy, people get sick, and sometimes you just cannot keep up. Try not to be to hard on yourself, and keep pushing along. When life calms down you will be able to develop a routine again. Just try to maintain a balance that keeps you healthy during the rough times, so you can thrive in the good times!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
K.