Tag: easy weekday meals

Gluten and Dairy-Free Spicy Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Dressing

by Madison

I am soooooo excited to write about this recipe. My family has been making this caesar salad recipe for as long as I can remember. We would make it every Friday night with either pizza or hot dogs or hamburgers and I would look forward to having this dressing all week. We had this recipe on our book stand on our kitchen counter for my entire childhood. ANYWAYS, all of that to say that this recipe has withstood the test of time and is the best caesar dressing you will ever have — and it’s SO easy. So let’s get to it.

Caesar Dressing Grocery List:
1 Tablespoon + 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic or 2 teaspoons of minced garlic (add more of either if you love garlic)
1 egg
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice
2 teaspoons of dijon mustard
Half of a 12oz can of anchovy fillets, drained
A few sprinkles of pepper
Head of romaine or container of baby spring mix
Optional: Dairy-free or regular shaved parmesan
Optional: Gluten-free or regular seasoned croutons

Spicy Grilled Chicken Grocery List:
1lb chicken breast (or prepackaged grilled chicken strips from Costco or your favorite grocery store); cut into bite-sized pieces if you don’t prefer strips
1 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce

Let’s cook:
1. Marinate your chicken in buffalo sauce. I marinate mine for 2 hours-ish. You can marinate longer or shorter. I am all about the flavor and the longer the marinade, the better, IMO.
2. Place all of the ingredients from the caesar dressing grocery list above into a food processer. This Ninja food processor works perfectly to mix all of these yummy flavors together.
3. Cook your chicken. You can grill your marinated chicken breasts on your outdoor grill. You can also place your marinated chicken on a hot pan; cover. Flip and cook to your liking. You can also bake your chicken! However you prefer to cook your chicken, go for it.
4. Prepare your spring mix and romaine (or whatever lettuce you choose) and pour a generous amount of dressing atop the lettuce. Toss in the dressing.
5. Place your marinated (or simply grilled chicken, it’s great either way!) right on top.
6. Enjoy!

If it’s not easy, I don’t want it. This dressing is full of flavor and lasts so long in the fridge for a full week of delicious salad. Also, the chicken marinated in the pre-made buffalo sauce is a no brainer. We enjoyed this meal with seasoned fries but you can add veggies or any other side to complement the salad. You can also make this salad as a side! I just love it so much I eat it as my entree. This recipe highlights an incredible GF/DF caesar dressing that is a staple in my personal recipe book. I would LOVE to hear and see you guys make this recipe so make sure to tag me on Instagram @MadisonCrowley. You can also keep up there to see more day-to-day recipes before they hit the blog.

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I and my family do!!!

Gluten and Dairy-Free Buffalo Cauliflower Bites Recipe

by Madison

I would live in Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce if I could. I could drink that stuff like coffee. I mean, my stomach couldn’t physically handle that. But if I could, I would.

That means I would eat buffalo wings (gluten-free boneless or bone in, whichever) all day long. And I mean, we shouldn’t just sit around eating chicken wings all day if we are striving to be our healthiest selves. I have seen this recipe going around during quarantine and decided it was finally time to try it out for myself!!!

For those of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning, welcome back and welcome to a new era of V&L. Where I spend my money has changed, where I spend my time has changed, and where I spend the majority of my efforts for work/passion projects have changed. Instead of buying incessant amounts of clothes, I am buying food and making new recipes that I can share and help people who can’t eat dairy or gluten add some new meals to their repertoire.

With that being said, let’s dive into this yummy recipe.

Grocery List:
¾ cup gluten-free flour (I used brown rice flour)
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¾ cup oat milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1 head cauliflower
Buffalo sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce)

Let’s cook:
1. Preheat the oven to 450˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, add the gluten-free flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and oat milk, and stir until well-combined.
3. Cut the head of cauliflower into small florets. You want them bite-sized so that you can evenly coat them with the mixture. You want every side covered!! Add the cauliflower florets to the batter.
4. Arrange the coated cauliflower on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, bake for another 10 minutes.
5. Brush buffalo sauce evenly on all sides of the florets. I like a heavy dose, as stated at the beginning of this post, so feel free to douse those suckers. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, bake for another 10 minutes.

After making this recipe from a different one, I changed some things up to achieve peak buffalo bite perfection. We didn’t lather the buffalo sauce enough or make sure to evenly coat the batter on all sides. Flipping is important so that all of the sides of the florets are as crispy as possible.

Tbh, they taste freaking delicious. They aren’t chicken wings, but they are crispy at first bite and the perfect texture inside once you start chewing. They are a great alternative for chowing down on heavily battered and fried chicken wings or strips and also a great way for kids (or adults who don’t like veggies – ME) to get some nutrients in. I am not sure if this would work for other veggies but who knows! It just might. We put potato salad and pineapple with these and I got the Follow Your Heart vegan ranch to dip mine in.

Make sure to follow along at @MadisonCrowley for more in-the-moment recipes and photos! Feel free to share if you used this recipe and loved it!!