Recipe: Rice Paper Roll Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing

I love rice paper rolls... but Jesse? Well, I think it’s safe to say he errs on the side of caution hating them. 

The list of reasons goes on and on... they’re chewy... they taste like plastic... the texture... they’re just plain weird. 

But I’m not a short order cook and I'm not cooking a bunch of different dinners - so when I feel like rice paper rolls, I’ve got to get creative.... and that’s where this rice paper roll salad comes in. 

You see, I’ve found a loophole. While Jesse hates rice paper wrappers, he’s okay with rice noodles - and this salad has been a huge favourite since the very first time trying it. Best of all? It’s so much easier than making rice paper rolls too!

And now that daylight savings has given us a little more light in the evenings? I had a chance to photograph it for you too. I suppose you could call it a Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad - but we're sticking to what we call it at home.

So let me share the recipe with you >> 

The Ultimate Monogrammed and Personalised Gift Guide for Women

It is officially birthday season in our world. July and August are the key birthday months for the majority of our friends and family - including my own birthday!

And with my birthday just under a month away (August 12!), I thought I'd share some of my favourite gift ideas with you all! These are all tried and tested gifts that I own and love and that would be perfect for a lovely lady in your life!

Monogrammed and personalised gifts are currently on trend and I am so glad because they feel so much more special. They're my go to gifts when buying for friends and family as it can turn an average gift into something wonderful. 

So let me share my favourite personalized gift ideas with you! >> 

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie Pasta (Healthy & Gluten Free)

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Happy New Year, friends! I thought I'd start the New Year with one of our favourite dinner recipes of the moment. One that's a comfort food made healthier and, dare I say it, more delicious and one that should fit in with whatever New Years Resolution you may have decided on. 

Inspired by a classic chicken pot pie but made 100x easier, this pasta recipe is super quick to make and will be loved by the whole family. Sneaking in veggies and coated in a rich and creamy (but secretly healthy!) sauce, it's a recipe that you'll be making over and over again. 

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You might be asking, why pasta? And the answer to that question is pretty simple... laziness. 

You see, I love all the flavours of chicken pot pie - but not being able to buy decent gluten free pastry means that chicken pot pie is a recipe that takes way more minutes than I'd like and always gets left for special occasions instead. 

Pasta, however, is quick and you can boil the pasta whilst you get the sauce ready - meaning this recipe can be made and on the table in less than 20 minutes. 

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But not only is it quick and easy - it's also all sorts of delicious. Whether you use gluten free or regular spaghetti or zucchini noodles (or any other vegetable noodles) for a low carb option, it's a healthy recipe that tastes anything but. 

So let me share the recipe with you  >> 

Recipe: Chicken Cordon Bleu Rice Casserole (Healthy & Gluten Free)

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There's actually a secret behind this recipe. You see, whilst Jesse thought this was another successful show of my creativity, it was actually the result of a serious inability.

You see, I really suck at stuffing chicken breasts. Chicken cordon bleu may be a classic dish - but it's totally a hit or miss for me. I either succeed with delicious results or fail miserably.

And in the words of my pal Kim "Sweet Brown" Wilkins...
Ain't nobody got time for that.

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When you have a husband who pretty much lives to eat and you love nothing more than delicious food, fail dinners are definitely no bueno.

So what do you do when you love the flavours of chicken cordon bleu but don't want to risk failure?

Why, you take those flavours and turn it into something even more delicious!

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And that, my friends, is how this recipe was born! Best of all? It's SO good that it's become a regular in our house - and no one will ever know that you chose the easy route either!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Gluten Free Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

We're huge soup fans here in the SIL house. It's a warm and comforting meal option that's quick and delicious - but more importantly, delicious!

Whilst many might turn to store bought and canned soups, that's something that just doesn't happen when you have coeliac disease and a million and one intolerances. Luckily, I'm always coming up with quick and easy soup recipes that we can make in big batches to either freeze or enjoy all week long. 

This recipes was one of those. Jesse was talking about canned cream of chicken soup, however, a quick look at the ingredients of a can had me running off and creating my own recipe instead.

Not only is this soup way healthier, it's also tastier. In fact, we make it at least a fortnight and Jesse has crowned it the best creamy chicken soup recipe ever. 

It's delicious enjoyed on it's own, served with crusty bread or used in a recipe that calls for canned cream of chicken soup as it will give you the same (or tastier) results without all the added nasties. 

I let this bubble away in the Cuisine Companion whilst I work, however, it's just as easily cooked on the stovetop and either whizzed up in a food processor or blender - or you can shred the chicken by hand for bigger chunks!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Chicken Pot Pies (Gluten Free!)

Since we're friends (are we friends? I consider you a friend.... you probably consider me as some kind of weirdo who essentially talks to herself through the internet.... moving on), I think there's something you need to know. 

You see, people ask me all the time how I come up with recipe and post ideas for the blog. 

They look at me expecting some big secret, some fancy formula, some detailed plan of creativity.... but they get the polar opposite. 

You see, friend (I'm calling you my friend, you just play along).... there's no secret. 

9/10 when it comes to creating recipes... I wing it. 

In fact, I wing it so much that I just googled the definition of wing it to ensure that was indeed an accurate description of my throw-everything-together-and-hope-it's-a-success kind of cooking. 

In case you were wondering; to wing it means to improvise. To do something without proper preparation or time to rehearse. That pretty much sums up the scene in our kitchen most days. 

When I decided to make these Healthy Chicken Pot Pies for the first time, I was doing exactly that. You see, I'd never in my life eaten a chicken pot pie, I'd never cooked a chicken pot pie and I'd never actually seen a chicken pot pie in person... but that's what I told Jesse we were having for dinner.

In these situations, there's two end results; I either succeed with no idea how it happened - or I fail miserably. This time I succeeded and seeing as I've made them many many many times since, I thought I'd share this delicious success with you!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Baked Pretzel Chicken Tenders

They say that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach... and that's certainly the case with my husband. 

You see, I married a man who remembers movies by the foods featured in them. Who considers himself a little bit of a food critic and who can never say no to his favourite sweets - even if his stomach is bursting at the seams. 

I also married a man from the South. A man who grew up on fried foods. A guy who probably had oil and grease running through his veins. 

So what happens when a Southern gentleman marries a gluten free healthy living blogger from Sydney? Well, that girl just has to show off her culinary prowess ;) 

This Pretzel Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders Recipe was one of those times were I was definitely flexing my culinary muscles. When you marry a guy who lived off fast food for 20 or so years, you have to know that he's going to crave it every now and again. 

But instead of sending him off to the closest golden arches, I decided to come up with my own healthy fast food recipes so we could enjoy the meals together - and so they didn't necessarily have to be once in a blue moon treats. 

They're quick and easy to make but taste absolutely delicious! Whilst we have a bunch of different healthy chicken nugget recipes/crumbed chicken recipes, this is currently our favourite!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Chicken and Ricotta Lasagna

A quick note for us: Whilst Jesse may wish we were at home eating this lasagna, we're still in beautiful New Zealand! Be sure to follow us on Instagram or Facebook to check out what we've been up to!

Lasagna is one of those recipes that always seems to be a family favourite. For years, it was one of my favourites too, however, first I found out I couldn't eat tomatoes - and then I found out I had coeliac disease and gluten was off the cards.

For years I simply went without lasagna - until I realised that lasagna didn't have to be made with tomatoes - and it certainly didn't have to be made with gluten either. 

This recipe isn't pretty and it isn't fancy - but it is one of our favourites. It's the dinner Jesse asks for week after week, month after month and one that never ceases to satisfy. In fact, Jesse's already told me it's what we have to have for dinner as soon as we're back from NZ on Saturday.

It's quick and easy to make - especially if you use fresh pasta sheets! We used to make these with dried lasagna sheets (just par-boiling them beforehand), however, when Latina Fresh launched their GF lasagna sheets we started using them and haven't looked back since! 

This recipe is also super adaptable. We change it up each time we make it - adding in sliced mushrooms to our chicken layer or adding thin slices of zucchini on top of each of the pasta layers for something different! 

So let me share the recipe with you >> 

Recipe: Healthy Greek Style Chicken (or turkey) Baked Meatballs

I feel like I must have a thing with ugly food at the moment. First this Healthy Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipe and now meatballs..... I mean, there's not really anything attractive about a meatball, is there? 

I almost wasn't going to share this recipe as I wasn't happy with the pictures, however, when I realised I've been making this recipe at least once a week for the last two months, I knew I had to share it with you ASAP. 

Whilst these meatballs may not be pretty and they may not be fancy - they're stupidly, ridiculously delicious. 

Regardless of whether you make them with chicken breast mince or turkey breast mince, these meatballs are jam packed with flavour whilst also being gluten free, low fat, high protein, low carb and even paleo/grain free - so what more could you want?!

I've been eating them with EVERYTHING! On top of brown rice and lentils with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, on their own as a snack, with soup, on top of spaghetti (allllllllll covereeeeeeeeeeeed with cheeeeeeeeeeeseeeee - name that song), in sandwiches - you name it. I'm obsessed and can't stop making them - and I bet you'll find yourself in the same situation!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

As soon as the weather gets colder, Jesse and I turn into eskimos. All of a sudden we're trawling the aisles of stores searching for the thickest, fluffiest and warmest socks/jumpers/hoodies/etc and thinking up a menu plan for the week filled with steaming hot dishes.

Both of us are not fans of the cold but we are fans of wintery foods, especially soup - and this Healthy Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe is our current favourite obsession, so much so that we've been making at least a batch a week for lunches and/or dinners. 

It's thick and hearty and full of flavour and you would never guess that it's healthy, low fat or gluten free - but that's what makes it even more addictive! We make the soup a couple of different ways so you'll see two versions in the recipe below so you can make the one that best suits you! 

So let me share the recipe with you! >>

Recipe: Easy Healthy Chicken Pesto Risotto

So, this weekend Jesse challenged me to a switched off weekend. What does that mean? No phone. No emails. No social media. 

I know what you're thinking, hold up a second girl, you've just posted a blog post. 

No, I'm not a wizard who can blog from my mind (though that would be cool) - my lovely husband gave me an hour of switched on time so I could smash out a recipe for you! See, I told you he was lovely. 

The purpose of the switched off weekend is, of course, to spend more time together. Actual time together not I'll sit next to you and watch netflix in bed whilst I madly type out recipe ideas on my iPad and spend way too long trolling instagram time.

A few weeks ago Jesse decided he was going to give up playing his video games on the weekend which meant we got to spend more time together and I spent less time mindlessly flicking through web pages or scribbling ideas in my umpteen billion and five different notebooks but this weekend he set me the ultimate challenge - and I have to say it isn't actually as bad as I thought.. 

I'm a bit of a social media addict given that I manage companies social media pages for a living and I run a blog which involves a lot of social media-ing and we have friends and family all over the globe that I can't just meet for coffee.

One of the things we've recently started doing together on the weekend is making dinner together!

Usually I do all of the cooking and Jesse just does the consuming but I've been getting to help me out more and more in the kitchen and he's actually found that he loves it. Risotto and Cornbread Bakes are two of his favourite dinners to make so I thought I'd share this delicious risotto variation we whipped up last night!

We've got our Lightened Up Healthier Basic Risotto Recipe (as well as our super scrumptious Healthy Boscaiola Risotto Recipe) already on the blog and this recipe uses that base, adding some deeeeeeeeelicious ingredients for a flavour packed meal.

So let me share the recipe with you! >>