Easter Recipe Roundup from "The Gluten-Free Slow Cooker"

Are you already thinking about what you're going to make for Easter?  I know, I know, you're probably making a ham, but have you thought about what you're going to serve for breakfast?  How about for dessert?

Well, your day is about to get a little brighter because I'm bringing you 3 of my recipes from The Gluten-Free Slow Cooker to help make Easter day go just a little bit smoother!  The Gluten-Free Slow Cooker is my newest cookbook and was released on October 2.  It's FULL of all sorts of recipes, from appetizers, breakfast food, main courses, side dishes and desserts!  If you need more suggestions beyond the 3 recipes listed below, I highly suggest you pick up a copy of my book and make it the easiest Easter EV-AH! ;)  How about some Lasagna Roll-Ups or Apple and Onion Pork Loin for your Easter Main course instead of the usual Ham?  The recipes are in the book!  Or, how about making some Black-Eyed Pea and Ham Soup with those leftovers?  The recipe is in the book and it's one of my FAVORITE soups ever!  You'll love it!  You can purchase it here.

Photography by JNV

So, let's talk the recipes I am giving you right now.  How about starting Easter morning off with some delicious Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal?  YUM!  It's like dessert for breakfast!  Seriously, you have to have some!  You'll thank me later!

Moving on, I'm going to suggest serving my Brown Sugar Mashed Potatoes as a healthier alternative to the traditional mashed potatoes you may usually serve.  Your family will love this new twist!  

Let's end Easter dinner on a VERY good note!  How about my Hazelnut and Chocolate Cheesecakes?!  YES, PLEASE!!!!!!!  Seriously.  You'll get brownie points for the cute individualized jar presentation!  Everyone will leave happy ;)

Alright....I'm going to get on with it now!  Here are the recipes:

Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal

Finding gluten-free cinnamon rolls can be difficult. Making gluten-free cinnamon rolls takes way too much time. Making Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal is simple and quick! Drizzle your oatmeal with a delicious cinnamon frosting, and you’ve got a decadent dessert-like oatmeal for breakfast.

1½ cups (120 g) steel cut oats

½ cup (115 g) brown sugar

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

6 cups (1.4 L) almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup (115 g) cinnamon frosting, storebought, or follow the frosting recipe on page 159, substituting cinnamon for the pumpkin pie spice.

» Spray your crock with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in the oats, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour the milk and vanilla over the top and give a quick stir.

» Cover the crock and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.

» When you are ready to serve this, swirl in the cinnamon frosting.

RECOMMENDED SLOW COOKER SIZE:

3 quart (3 L)

YIELD: 6 servings

RECIPE NOTE

You can easily make this recipe dairyfree by replacing the cinnamon frosting with the following alternative: Mix together 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) almond milk, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon.

TIPS & SUGGESTIONS

>> If you don’t like the thickness of your oatmeal in the morning, you can thin it out by adding a bit of milk when serving.

» You can change the flavor of this oatmeal by experimenting with different types of milk. Try coconut, cashew, vanilla-almond, or soy milk to change things up.

Brown Sugar Mashed Sweet Potatoes 

5 INGREDIENTS OR LESS

This recipe provides all the goodness of mashed potatoes, but it’s sweet and delicious instead of savory. You won’t need dessert after eating these amazingly easy sweet potatoes.

6 cups (660 g) ½-inch (1 cm) peeled sweet potato cubes

1⁄3 cup (75 g) brown sugar

6 tablespoons (85 g) butter

½ cup (120 ml) vegetable stock

» Spray your crock with nonstick cooking spray.

» Place the sweet potatoes into the crock and sprinkle the sugar over the top. Place the butter on top, and then pour the stock over the top as well.

» Cover the crock and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours, or until the potatoes are very tender and pierce easily with a fork. Mash the potatoes right in the crock.

RECOMMENDED SLOW COOKER SIZE:

2 to 3 quart (2 to 3 L)

YIELD: 6 to 8 servings

TIPS & SUGGESTIONS

This dish pairs well with the Apple and Onion Pork Loin on page 92, the Cranberry-Glazed Turkey Breast on page 102, and the Honey Garlic Pork Chops on page 106.

Hazelnut and Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

These individual cheesecakes are decadent, smooth, creamy, hazelnutty, chocolaty, and delicious. They are incredibly charming, served in individual mason jars, which makes for a beautiful presentation for your guests.

1 box (8 ounces, or 225 g) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup (230 g) nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1⁄3 cup (60 g) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

¾ cup (195 g) chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella

6 mason jars (6 ounces, or 175 ml, each)

» Using a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla on mediumlow speed. (You may use a hand mixer if you do not have a stand mixer.) When it is well mixed, add the eggs, one at a time. When this is well combined, add the chocolate-hazelnut spread.

Continue to mix and scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

» When the mixture is well combined, pour or spoon the batter evenly into the 6 jars. Leaving the lid off of the jars, place them into your crock. Carefully pour water into the crock around the outside of the jars, until the water level is about halfway up the outside of the mason jars. (Be careful not to get any water in your cheesecakes.)

» Cover the crock and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or on HIGH for 2 to 2½ hours.

» When the cook time is up, wearing an oven mitt, carefully remove the mason jars from the water bath and place them on a cooling rack.

RECOMMENDED SLOW COOKER SIZE:

5 quart (5 L) or larger

YIELD: 6 servings

TIPS & SUGGESTIONS

» Tie a ribbon around each jar, correlating to whatever theme or holiday you’re celebrating.

» For serving, top each cheesecake with a dollop of whipped cream and some mini chocolate chips.

"S'nores" S'mores Oatmeal - Gluten-Free

Oh, YES I DID!

I turned S'mores into Oatmeal!

Why the "S'nores?" in the title?

You see, on the 4th of July, we were all sitting around a campfire and my son asked for something unusual!  Let me show you...

Our FitAddict friend Andrea Lauren challenged me to make S'nores Oatmeal, so we did!

How does it taste?  Incredible.  No, for real.  It's amazing.  Sinful.  And OH SO GOOD!  And you know what?!  It's really not all that bad for you!  You can leave out the brown sugar and cut down on the calories, but I threw it in there for the kids' pleasure.  I owed them one.  They eat everything healthy I throw at them.  They make me a super proud mommy!

We used dark chocolate chips, but you can use milk chocolate if you like.  We also used gluten-free graham crackers, but you could use regular if you're not gluten-free.  

This is a super fun recipe for the kids because it's EASY to assemble and then when it's done, the kids get to "decorate" their oatmeal!  My kids are suckers for this!

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten-free steel cut oats

2 cups almond milk

2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Toppings:
Dark Chocolate Chips

Mini Marshmallows

Gluten-Free Graham Crackers

Directions: (Use a 2-3 quart Slow Cooker for this)

In a well-greased crock, place the steel cut oats.

Pour in the milk, brown sugar and vanilla.

Give it a stir.

Cook it on LOW for 8 hours, or on HIGH for 4 hours.

Stir and place into bowls.

Place your toppings into separate bowls and let your kids (or you!) decorate their bowls of oatmeal!

It's super fun for the kids to do!

I took a quick video of my kids decorating their oatmeal!

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Frittata with Tomatoes, Avocado and Cilantro - Gluten-Free

My good friend Maria suggested I make a Frittata for dinner this week, so I said "why not?!"  We all LOVE breakfast around here, so this was the perfect fit for us!

A Frittata is very simple, you see.  All it is is eggs, some seasonings and some delicious add-ins.  We love tomatoes in our eggs, so that was a "for sure" add-in.  I had avocados in the fridge, and that was a no-brainer for me.  They are such a healthy fat to have!  The cilantro was hanging out in the fridge and was about to go bad, so I used some of that too.  However, you can make this with anything your heart desires!  Add in meat if you want!  Add in some bell peppers if you like those!  Own it!

This has about a 4 hour cook time on LOW, so I cooked it on HIGH for 2 hours when I got home from work (Wednesdays I get home around 4:00.)  While it cooked, the kids played outside, I mowed the lawn, got lunches ready for the next day and read with Ella.  It was a very productive 2 hours in which I didn't have to babysit anything on the stove or oven!  

This. was. delicious! The kids cleaned their plates.  Hubby and I cleaned our plates.  I'll be making this far more often!

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

10 eggs

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

8 dashes hot sauce

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4-1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup tomato, chopped

1/2 cup avocado, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions: (Use a 5 Quart or larger slow cooker)

In a bowl, place the eggs, grated parmesan, hot sauce, pepper and salt.

 Mix it up.

Spray your crock with non-stick spray.  I used a slow cooker liner and sprayed it.  I was able to lift the entire frittata out of the crock this way to cut and serve it easier.

Pour the egg mixture into your crock.

Sprinkle in the onions,

tomatoes,

avocados

and cilantro.

Cook on LOW for 4 hours, or on HIGH for 2 hours (or until the center is set)

Serve and enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

This was SO easy and SO good!  I  knew it was only going to be a high of 17 degrees here today and I immediately thought of oatmeal!  It's one of my comfort foods!  It just seems to instantly warm you from the inside out.  It really tasted just like the mixed apple cinnamon oatmeal packets I remember as a kid!  The biggest difference was the nice, real chunks of apples!  So tasty!

Because I thought of doing this at the last minute, I could only use what I had in the house.  I had apples, steel cut oats and vanilla almond milk.  So, Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal it was!

I did not have to add ANY sugar to this oatmeal.  How wonderful is that?!  Almond milk has 50% more calcium than regular milk and is lactose and dairy-free.  I use it in my cereal, in recipes and just by the glass.  It's delicious!

If you choose to use dairy milk, you may want to add a bit of sweetener of your choice.  You can do it by the bowl full so you can really control it.

I hope your family enjoys this oatmeal as much as mine did!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Ingredients: 
(Serves 2-3 people)

1/2 cup steel cut oats

2 cups Vanilla Almond Milk

1 small apple, diced

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Place your steel cut oats and almond milk into your crock.

Add the apples and cinnamon and give it a stir.

Cook on LOW for 7-9 hours.

Stir, Serve and Enjoy!

Cheesy Hash Brown Breakfast Bake

As part of my Slow Cooking Through the Holidays series with Ginger from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange, I thought I'd throw in a breakfast recipe!  Plus, some of you are going to have a whole lot of extra ham after the Holidays and you're going to want some suggestions on what to do with it!  Well, here's one the whole family will love you for!
Cheese.........hashbrowns........you just can't go wrong here!  My family LOVED this Breakfast Bake (Even though we had it for dinner!  My husband went straight to the refrigerator after his first bite and said, "You know what these flavors would be great with?!" and then he came to the table with syrup!  Syrup?!  YES, syrup!  I tried his first and then drizzled it over mine too!  It was seriously delicious!  
If you want to make this for dinner, you could assemble everything but the frozen hash browns the night before.  In the morning, just mix them in with the rest of the ingredients, dump them into your Crock and turn it on! 
If you want to make this for Breakfast (like normal people, I guess!) then simply assemble everything before you go to bed, turn it on, and wake up to deliciousness!  Your family will be so impressed!
Cheesy Hash Brown Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:2 lb. Frozen Hash Browns1 can Cream of Chicken Soup1 cup sour cream6 eggs1 onion, minced1 tsp. garlic powder1/4 tsp. salt1/4 tsp. pepper8 oz. pre-cooked ham (I bought a ham steak)2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:Spray your crock with non-stick spray.Mix together the soup, sour cream and eggs, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Add the onions, ham, hash browns and cheese and stir until well-mixed.(I almost forgot the cheese!  WHOOPS!!!!  How do you forget the cheese?!  LOL)

Pour into your crock.

Cook on LOW for 7-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.
Serve (with syrup!!!!) and Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

At the Farmer's Market this past weekend, I picked up 3 large zucchini super cheap!  (Mine haven't come in yet...)  One I used in a foil packet on the grill with yellow squash and shallots.....yummy and the second one I used for this Zucchini Bread! Maybe the third will make it into the Slow Cooker as well this week??? Hmmmmm......

Back to the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread! This was so quick to put together and it didn't heat up my house at all, on this very humid and hot day we're having!  The bread was moist and flavorful.  I tasted more of the chocolate chips than the zucchini, but I'm not sure that was a very bad thing!  LOL  If you choose to leave the chocolate chips out, please do!  I think this bread will still taste wonderful!  You may want to add in more sugar if you like your bread sweeter and don't use chocolate chips.  It's up to you!  I hope you give this a try!

UPDATE:  This is even better the next day cold!!!!!!  I'm seriously LOVING it.....maybe a bit too much!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

3 Eggs

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 cup All Natural Applesauce (or use 1 cup vegetable oil)

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chocolate chips (or more!)

2 cups peeled and grated zucchini

Directions:

Spray your slow cooker insert with non-stick spray.
Mix together the eggs, sugar and applesauce.

Next, mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.

Next, mix in the Zucchini and chocolate chips and pour batter into your Slow Cooker Insert.

Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours, depending on the size of your slow cooker.  I used a 3 Quart, so the smaller, the longer it will cook because it is "deeper."  If you're using a bigger slow cooker, I would check it around 2 hours.

Flip it over onto a plate or serving platter.  It should fall right out if you sprayed your insert!

Enjoy!

Apple Pear Delight

Well, I wanted to use my homemade granola in SOMETHING I cooked in the Slow Cooker, so last night, I threw together this concoction.  I'm so glad I did!  My daughter ate this RIGHT up this morning!

I mean, seriously, what could go wrong with Apples, Pears, Granola, brown sugar, etc.?????  Absolutely nothing!  I knew I wanted to try and cook this on "Warm" so that I didn't wake up to Apple/Pear Sauce!  For the topping, I used Bisquick, but I didn't want to mix milk or eggs with it because I was scared of giving my family food poisoning with the Slow Cooker sitting on warm and not low.  I was nervous the topping wouldn't cook as well, but it was cooked perfectly when I woke up!  Score!

I hope you try this for your family!  Mine really enjoyed it!

Apple Pear Delight

Ingredients:

3 Apples, peeled and sliced

3 Pears, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup brown sugar + about 2 Tbsp. for the topping

1 Tbsp and 1 tsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. Orange Juice

2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup Granola

2 Cups Bisquick

1 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. Sugar

Directions:

Spray your Slow Cooker liner with non-stick spray.

In the liner, toss together the first 8 ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix together the final 4 ingredients.

Pour over the top of your apple/pear mixture and sprinkle with some brown sugar.

Cook on WARM for 8-10 hours.

Enjoy!

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

I really wanted to do something with Chorizo, so this is what I came up with!  It was very good!  My husband and I ate 2 helpings each!  Ella, well, she was in a "mood," like she so often is these days! (I love my child, I love my child, I love my child....LOL Oh, how I adore the "threes!")  I must say, it doesn't look the greatest, but I promise it's packed with flavor!

This is definitely a recipe you could put in before bed and wake up to in the morning, or, you could have it for dinner like we did!  Best of all, it really is very simple to make and I promise, you'll want to do more with Chorizo after trying this!

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

8 Eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Pepper

3/4 cup Picante Sauce (I used Pace Mild) - this equals about half a jar

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups shredded mexican blend cheese, separated

1/2 jalepeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
1 cup frozen corn

9 (or more) corn tortillas (I used the small ones)

7 oz. (or so) of Chorizo, removed from the casing

Directions:

Mix together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

Stir in the picante sauce, onions, jalepeno, corn and 1 cup shredded mexican cheese

Spray your slow cooker liner with non-stick spray.

Line the bottom with approximately 3 corn tortillas

(I used my 3 Quart Slow Cooker, but if you have a bigger one, it might take more!)

Pour half of the egg mixture over this and then crumble half of your Chorizo on top.

Repeat this process with another layer of tortillas, egg mixture and the remaining chorizo.

Top with a final layer of tortillas and the remaining cheese on top.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Enjoy!

Granola

I have never made my own granola, but from everything I've looked at, it burn extremely quickly in the oven!  Well, thank goodness for the slow cooker!  It doesn't burn anything fast!  I overcooked my granola slightly, but that's because I've never made it before and had no idea what to expect!  However, it didn't stop it from being delicious.  It's just a little extra crunchy! :)

If you buy pre-chopped nuts, you will save yourself a lot of time here. (Almonds are not fun to chop up)  Or, if you have a food processor, throw them in there!  UGH!  It took me forever to chop up the almonds!  Never again!  I will drag out the food processor!

I added all things that sounded good to me, but you go ahead and add whatever you would like, substitute things, or add/delete things!

This granola is very versatile!  I'm using it with a Apple and Pear Breakfast Cobbler tomorrow, I had it as cereal this morning with milk, it would be great with yogurt and awesome with Ice Cream!

Notes:
I used a 3 Quart Slow Cooker, but it would have cooked better in a 5 Quart or larger Slow Cooker.  Also, you need to stir this frequently, so it's not a leave it while you're at work recipe!

Granola

Ingredients:

6 cups Old Fashioned Oats

3/4 cup almonds, chopped

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup flax seed

1 cup craisins

1 cup dehydrated apples, chopped

1 cup apple butter (you find this by the PB&J)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:

Place all ingredients the dry ingredients in a bowl.

and stir.

Mix together the apple butter, honey and maple syrup.

Spray your slow cooker insert with non-stick spray.

Pour your granola mixture in there.

Pour the apple butter mixture on top.

Mix thoroughly!

Cook on LOW with the lid vented for 4-6 hours stirring frequently until browned and slightly clumpy.

(It won't clump a whole lot)

Enjoy!

Cheesy Ranch "Tot" Bake

This was seriously, one of the most AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL dishes I've made to date!  And you know what???  I don't even like tator tots!!!!!!  LOL  I do as long as I make them like this!  Holy cow was this good!

About now, you should be running, not walking to the store to get theses ingredients!!!!!!!!  No, seriously, run!  LOL  I ate my dinner and could have had seconds or thirds.....but, I'm trying to lose these last 10 baby pounds! ;)

The ranch seasoning fell out of the cupboard at me while gathering the rest of the ingredients I needed.....so that was a very happy mistake!  The Cheddar Cheese Soup???  Well, a certain 3 year old may have dropped that in my cart by accident one day at the grocery store!  Anothe happy accident!So, fate was responsible for making this so incredibly amazing!!!!

Ok, now head to the store!

Cheesy Ranch "Tot" Bake

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey, cooked
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cups cheese, shredded (I had mexican blend, but use whatever sounds good to you!)
32 oz. bag frozen Tator Tots
1 can Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup milk
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix


Directions:

Spray your slow cooker insert with non-stick spray.

Line the bottom with the ground turkey, cooked with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the onions on top of that.

Layer on your cheese.

Dump the tator tops on top of that.

Mix together the cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese soup, onion powder, milk and ranch.

Pour that over the top of the tator tots and spread evenly.

Cook on LOW for 7-9 hours or on HIGH for 4-6 hours.

Enjoy!