What I Made on Sunday

 Gluten Free / Vegan Chocolate Covered Pretzels

1 bag of GF / VG chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli )
1 TBS Earth's Balance VG Margarine
1 bag of your favorite gluten free pretzels - I used sticks (easier to dip) from Whole Foods
And, you can use any toppings, for some I used unsweetened coconut flakes, you could also use crushed peppermint sticks, sprinkles, chocolate shavings etc

First line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Put any toppings you may want on a plate, to roll the pretzels in once they have chocolate on them.

I did not have a double boiler, so I put a glass bowl over a pan with about an inch of water in it, once the water started boiling, I put the Earth's Balance and chocolate chips in the glass bowl.   You must keep stirring the chocolate the whole time!  

Start dipping your pretzels in the chocolate and rolling them in the toppings.  Lay flat on parchment paper.  Once you have made all the pretzels you want, put the baking sheets in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

Gluten Free / Vegan / No Oil Granola
The great thing about granola is that you can make it with whatever ingredients you feel like.  Try different  nuts, seeds, dried fruit, sprinkle in some chocolate chips or coconut or both.  This recipe used what I had on hand.  Have a medium bowl and a large bowl ready, pre-heat oven to 320 degrees.

In medium bowl:
Wet Ingredients
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/2 c date sugar

In large bowl mix together:
Dry Ingredients
6 c GF oats
1c walnuts
1c pistachios
1c pumpkin seeds
1c dried cranberries

Pour wet ingredients in with the dry, mix until thoroughly coated, then transfer onto two baking sheets covered in parchment paper.  Bake at 320 for 10 minutes, stir the granola, then another 10 minutes.  I baked mine for an extra 5 minutes which made it extra crunchy. This makes a LOT of granola - get ready to share.

Dinner - Mary McDougall's Black Bean Chili
I have posted about this before, so I will spare you the details, but Chad and I both LOVE this recipe.  Super easy, after making the above two recipes I was ready to get out of the kitchen.  It is spicy, so only one girl liked it. We do not use yams, I added white potatoes this time, but will leave them out all together next time.  Scroll down the newsletter to find the recipe for Black Bean Chili

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/sep/recipes.htm