I had a request for some Gluten-free recipes so I got to working on that right away. I have had family members with Diabetes so there are a lot of recipes that are sugar free and gluten free around. I know watching my Pop Pop not being able to enjoy some of the foods we did was kind of heart breaking. I always wanted to make him something he would be able to enjoy as well as keeping it healthy for him. Sadly, my pop pop passed away on February 1st,2011. It was one of the worst days of my life and I will always try my best to make food that is all around healthy that works for everyone.
I came across this recipe and thought it sounded pretty delish! :p

Cherry Vanilla Chip Muffins

Ingredients
- 1 banana (peeled and mashed)
- 1/2 cup egg substitute
- 3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2 cups white rice flour
- 1 tablespoon sucanat
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
- 1/2 cup vanilla baking chips

Instructions


* Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
* line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
* In a large bowl blend the banana, egg substitute, soy milk, oil and applesauce together.
* Stir in the rice flour, sucanat, baking powder and salt.
* Mix until moistened, then stir in the dried cherries and vanilla chips.
* Pour batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 full.
* Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

As always let cool for about 5-10 mins and enjoy!

Desserts

Snowman Cupcakes

The winter season is here for us in New Jersey and with that means there is not much to do with the kids. It is too cold for playing long outside and being stuck in the house kind of makes us all a bit stir crazy. My oldest son had a class party before the Holiday season break from school, and I figured these were so cute and the kids would love them! My oldest son even liked to help a bit with making these for his classmates. They are really easy to make and everyone will love them!

Ingredients

- 1 box of cake mix ( any flavor you like, and if you need more then 24 well you know to buy two boxes then! )
- 1 tub of Vanilla or white frosting ( if making more then one box of cupcakes, buy a tub of frosting to go with each box of cupcake mix you make! )
- 1 tube of Orange decorating gel
- 1 bag of mini chocolate chips
- 1 bag of mini marshmallows
- 1 can of red decorating icing
- 1 package of cupcake liners ( more if your making double )
- 1 tube of black decorating gel


Instructions

* Bake cupcakes as directed on box.

* After all the cupcakes have cooled completely, ice them with Vanilla frosting.

* Place mouth on bottom of cupcake using 5 or six mini chips inserted pointy end in cupcake.

* Take orange decorating gel and use it to make a carrot for his nose.

* For the eyes you can either use more mini chips or use black decorating gel ( I used the black gel )

* Place six mini marshmallows in a curve just above the eyes for his hat. ( Leave space above marshmallows to fill in with red icing for his hat!)

* Use red decorating icing in the can and fill in above the marshmallows for the hat.

* Place one more mini marshmallow on the red icing for the top of his hat!

* Serve and watch the kids make a mess out of it! :)

Mini Cream Cheese Cakes

This is probably one of the first recipes I learned as a young girl. It was really easy for me to do and it tasted great! I was never a big fan of cream cheese but these changed my taste buds for sure! I made them and had everyone in my family try them. They were practically begging for more! That boosted my ego a bit, I thought :::Heh, I will be the next great baker!::: Not so fast Amy! There is so much more to learn yet, like how to ice those cupcakes and make em look pretty! :::Damn it!::: Anywho, here we go!

Mini Cream Cheese Cakes

Ingredients

-1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese

-1/4 c. sugar

-1 egg

-9 vanilla wafers

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-topping- any fruit or pie filling you like

Instructions

* Beat softened cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract for 2 minutes ( do not fret, batter will look slightly weird and lumpy but will thicken as you beat it )

* Using cupcake pan, line the pan with cupcake papers.

* place 1 vanilla wafer in each paper.

* Divide cream cheese filling evenly on top of wafers in pan.

* Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes ( or until the edges of cakes are a golden brown )

* Cover and refrigerate

* before serving, top with fruit!

Appetizers

Homemade Olive Garden Bread sticks
Credit: fullbelliesmakehappykids.wordpress.com



omg! Have you ever been to Olive Garden?? The bread sticks are AH-MAZING! Now if only you can have them whenever you wanted! Well, Thanks to my friend over at http://fullbelliesmakehappykids.wordpress.com/ now you can! She has found a way to do it and I have tried it! Pretty damn close!

These are great and pretty easy to make. Plus it is a whole lot cheaper then going to Olive Garden, and hey let's face it, your not just going to go there to order the bread sticks! :)

After reading this please go on over to Sandra's blog. She is an amazing food blogger who I have been following for well over a year now. I have learned many new things from her and she has also inspired me to start my own food blog! A big thanks to her!

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 cups warm water (between 110 - 120 degrees F)
- 1 package of active dry yeast
- 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt

Instructions

* In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes, covered. Mixture should be frothy.

* In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt.

* Add the flour mixture to yeast mixture. Add the melted butter and mix with paddle attachment of stand mixer or wooden spoon until fully combined.

* Knead the dough for a few minutes just until dough is smooth, do not over knead!

* Grease a cookie sheet. Pull off pieces of dough and roll out into strips.

* I usually have all different sized bread sticks but you should end up with about 12
* Cover the dough and let it sit in a warm place for about 45 minutes to an hour.

* Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and then pop in the bread sticks. In a microwave, combine the following:

~ 1 stick unsalted butter (or 1/2 cup margarine)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt

* After 6 or 7 minutes of baking, brush the bread sticks with half the butter mixture.

* Continue to bake. If you like a more crispy bread stick 15 minutes will do. If you like a more softer one, 12 minutes should do the trick.

* upon removing bread sticks from the oven, brush the rest of the butter mixture over the bread sticks.

* allow to cool before trying to stuff your face, trust me I know it's hard. Oh, and enjoy!

Product review

Sof'ella

* Red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting *

I picked these up at my local BJ's store the other day. I have never had vanilla bean frosting before and have heard so many good things about it. I also have a recipe to make my own vanilla bean frosting but have been unable to find the vanilla beans in stores around me. :(

So when I saw this at the store where my husband and I were only supposed to get a " few things " ( bahahaha! You know how that works out! ) I threw them right in the cart.

Making these is just like making any other cake mix, directions vary a little. I was super excited and just could not wait to dig my teeth into these little guys,
So bake away I did!

Just look at it!

Tell me you do not want one!

These were amazing! I passed them out around the house and everyone loved them! I would recommend you pick these up if you ever see these in a store somewhere! Grab em fast before I get them all!

Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread

Credit www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride

Ok, so today is game day for the NY Giants vs. Falcons and my husband is a HUGE Giants fan. That being said you can imagine what will take place in my house today. You got it! Yelling, cheering, maybe a few bad words along with me yelling

watch your mouth!

Game day usually brings on a hunger of weird sorts for this house. Pizza, buffalo wings with hot sauce, and maybe some beer? I love finding new ways to make some great food that mostly everyone will enjoy and is pretty easy to make. I have been following a few blogs for a while now and I love almost everything they have posted. So here is one I have already tried a few times and REALLY like this one!

This is called Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread. Enough said.
This little snack really hits the spot. I know my family loves anything that is pizza related so I knew once I saw this it would be a big hit. Being I am short on time today I am not making homemade pizza dough or using store bought. Instead I will be using biscuits to make these today.


Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tsp. Parsley flakes
- Tsp. garlic ( or more if you love a little garlic with your food )
- 2 Lbs. pizza dough ( I used biscuits this time, 4pk )
- 6 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into small chunks (I used shredded or you can use mozzarella sticks to make it a bit easier )
- 48 slices of pepperoni ( 1 bag )
- 2-3 C. marinara sauce ( warm ) for dipping


Instructions

* Melt butter and mix garlic and parsley into a small bowl.

* Lightly brush the inside of a bundt pan ( or any oven safe pan ) with butter mixture ( you will have some left over.)

* Pull off a small chunk of pizza dough ( about the size of a marble ) or one slice of biscuit and flatten. Top with a slice of pepperoni and a cube ( or a small amount of shredded ) cheese.

* Fold the dough over the cheese and pepperoni and pinch closed.

* Place into the bundt pan and repeat until all the dough is gone. ( using the biscuits I made about three rows around the pan. )

* There should still be plenty of the butter mixture left so again brush the rolls with some more.

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

* Bake for about 35-40 minutes ( or until the top is very brown.

* Remove from oven and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.

* Turn out onto a platter and serve with marinara sauce.

~Makes about 48~

First Post!

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Little Bites of Big Yumminess!
I just want to start by saying I am very new to blogging and am learning the ropes as I go. It's not as easy as it seems trust me! I am hoping this will be a nice little project of mine and hope you enjoy it as well. I want to update this at least three times a week to start. I will be adding things about other websites I follow as well as new recipes, crafts and family life. Yes, I said family life too. I am a married mother of three great kids ( Landon, 6, Damian, 4, and Jenna, 2 ) who keep me very busy! My husband and I have been married six years and is a boat operator on the Hudson river in NJ booming in big big big ships! He also helped clean up the oil spill in the Gulf  ( since that is part of his job! ) not too long ago!  I am very proud of him and how hard he works for his family. I am a stay at home mom, who is also on my son's school PTA and helps out with class parties, taking my son to his Karate classes, does food shopping ( not fun with three kids lol ), cooking, cleaning, reading, and now BLOGGING! Did I mention we have two dogs? Yes, add Maggie and Abby into the mix. My days are usually long and I am always tired, I spend a lot of time running around trying to keep clothes on my 2 little ones, or trying to get them to keep using the potty ( which then leads to again putting clothes back on! ) or laundry ( does it ever end? ), making meals, dropping off at school to picking up from school ( yeah there is no bus here! ), doing homework, cleaning bedrooms before bed, giving baths, snacks, brushing teeth, reading stories and then finally sleep!?!? But if you yourself is a mom as well, you already know all this! It's crazy sometimes but its a great life. Ahhhh!:::::deep breath::::: Now as I said, being new to blogging I would love any advice given! Gotta start somewhere right? Thanks for reading my ramble and come back soon to see some updates!