MMMmonday - Gluten Free Chocolate Nut Brownie Cookies

My friend Heather from Out of the Box Into the Kitchen found this recipe on  and I've found another fabulous blog - this one is gluten and dairy free because of the blogger's allergies, so I thought I'd showcase both Out of the Box Into the Kitchen and Everything Reconsidered and share this yummy and easy GF/Dairy free recipe today... 


Unlike the Chai bread recipe from a few weeks ago that required unusual ingredients, this one is simple and easy for those who aren't specifically looking for gf.  Visit either site for pics, cause you know I'm horrible at taking pictures of my baking...


chocolate walnut brownie cookies

• 3 c confectioners sugar
• 3/4 c cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 c semi sweet choco chips roughly chopped
• 1.5 c walnuts or pecans roughly chopped (i've tried both - walnuts will save you some $$$)
• 4 large egg whites room temperature

whisk together confectioners sugar, cocoa powder & kosher salt. stir in choco chips & nuts. add egg whites and stir until just combined - do not over mix. drop 1/4c heaps onto a parchment lined baking sheet. bake in center oven 20-25 minutes at 325, rotating 1/2 way thru. remove cookie sheet from oven and place on cooling rack - cool completely before removing cookies from parchment. this recipe makes around 12 large cookies.  


Here is the recipe link up for March - feel free to add your favorites and come back every MMMmonday to add something new and check for great recipes!

MMMmonday - Gyros Burgers with my twists...

I was excited to read about another great recipe to try on my friend Heather's blog Out of the Box and Into the Kitchen - Gyros Burgers...

Our family is a huge fan of the real authentic gyros, shaved pressed lamb and beef, grilled and served with tzatziki sauce and other additions... so I thought we'd try these...

and even before I could try them, I recommended them to my cousin who was looking for an interesting supper choice too!  They really liked them so it redoubled my resolve to make this recipe...

But, I also learned that the burgers were hard to keep in the pitas, and so modified our meal to be cooked ground beef (like you would for tacos or meat sauce) rather than formed burgers... this also appealed to me because I could better control just how cooked the meat was... and being pregnant, this was important to me!

Here is the original recipe from Heather's site with my modifications in Red:

Gyro Burgers
1 lb ground beef(or ground turkey)
1/2 onion, diced
3/4 tsp oregano
2 cups plain yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt - easy to find these days at most supermarkets)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried chives (I had fresh, so I used fresh instead)
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp ground pepper (We like pepper so used 1/2 tsp instead)
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted the salt completely)
1 cucumber, seeded, peeled,chopped (We only needed 1/2 a cucumber)
pita (we used Greek flat bread pita - most authentic...)
mozzerella cheese (we used crumbled Feta instead for a more authentic taste)
tomatoes - for topping
spinach leaves - for topping
Mix one cup of yogurt with seasonings(except oregano). Place half the mixture in with meat, oregano, and onions. Mix meat together and form patties , grill until done to your likeness (As I said, I just pan sautéed the meat rather than make patties. Take the rest of the yogurt and mix it with the cucumber and 1 cup of plain yogurt to make the sauce. Stir and place in fridge. Once burgers are done, place in pitas and top with sauce. I steamed the pitas in the microwave with a damp paper towel for 30 seconds before placing the sauce onto the pita and then scooping meat, tomato, cheese etc onto it.  The nice thing about the ground meat rather than the patty was you could control how much you wanted...


These weren't quite as good as authentic gyros... they lacked the slow cooked meat flavor, but were good none-the-less and we will make them again!  

MMMmonday - Yummy Recipes from friends...

Today I thought I'd do something a little different... instead of one recipe, I'm going to share four that I have found on various blog friends sites and have put together for a yummy meal for my family!

The first inspiration came from Hallee the Homemaker's Scrumptious Sweet Potato Sticks, which are quick and easy and healthy to make.

My variation to her recipe is to add some fresh ground black pepper with the sea salt at the end for just a little more kick!

I'm planning to pair it with:
Italian Mama Chef's Baked Italian Lemon Chicken, which I made the other day and we loved!  It has all the lovely breading without the frying and a fabulous tart lemony flavor, which I think will go well with the sweet potato! (This one isn't gluten free unless you use GF flour, which I haven't done, because Liam is pretty  much a vegetarian and won't eat chicken)

for our veggies:
Roasted Tomatoes from Out of the Box and Into the Kitchen.. cause I have a hankering to make these again.... they were just yummy!  I will also have salad greens and cucumber spears on the side

and for dessert:
More lemon with Pear Crisp with Lemon Sauce... from the Sporadic cook... cause Pears were on sale last week at Publix and this recipe was easily adapted to gluten free, with the use of GF all purpose flour, 1/2 a teaspoon of xanthum gum and GF oats!  I served the lemon sauce on the side, because the pear crisp alone was great... but I love me some lemon :)

I hope you enjoy this week's MMMonday post - I would love your feedback about whether you prefer this style or my one recipe a week format... or if you'd like to see a combination of both - maybe recipes most Mondays with a featured MMenu once a month...  Please check out these fabulous blogs which are full of other great recipes, tips and more...