The BEST Everything-Free MAC N CHEESE!

 Two words.

Mac.

n

Cheese.

Also known as the most beautiful thing humankind ever invented.

The catch?

It's packed full of dairy, soy, gluten, even garlic. 

All of which are no-no foods for this girl (imagine me pointing at myself) who's everything-free. 

The first ten years of my life wouldn't have been the same without the hundreds of thousands of meals I ate of glorious mac n cheese. 

However, when I first found out I had all of my food sensitivities, in 2015, there were no macaroni and cheese options that were vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and garlic free. A couple years later, Daiya came out with a brand of mac that was all clear except for the bane of my label-checking existence: garlic. Nevertheless, I actually ate quite a few boxes of it, and of course it didn't really agree with me, but it was SO good. My mom eventually made me give it up though, since, ya know, garlic.

Recipes were tried, but ultimately all of them failed. I basically gave up all hope after that of ever finding a mac n cheese that I could actually eat. 

But then.

Lo and behold.

A few years ago, my absolute favorite brand of mac n cheese from when I was a little kid, Annie's, came out with a boxed type that was...

EVERYTHING-FREE

Yes! Including garlic-free!

I was SO excited. But the real test was obviously the taste test.

It passed.

It's amazing!

I'm addicted to this stuff. I'm actually cooking some right now while I'm writing. Like, the noodles are literally cooking in the boiling water in the other room while I'm typing this out right now haha!

Here's the picture of the box. It's Annie's Vegan Mac (the gluten free kind- because they have another vegan kind that actually does contain gluten!)

The directions are on the back of the box, but I have my method of cooking it down to a complete science. I cook the noodles until they're soft (which takes longer than 7-9 minutes. Don't be fooled by the box haha). Then I strain the water out and rinse them real good. The box says that adding 2 tablespoons of butter is optional, but it makes a world of difference when you add it. So in goes the Earth Balance Soy Free butter, and the 1/3 cup of rice milk. I mix those until the butter is melted, add the noodles back in, and stir until the noodles are all wet from the butter/milk mix. Then, finally, I dump the cheese powder packet, stir it all in, and into my mouth it goes!

And for the record, the picture on the box is actually pretty accurate. Here's the batch I just devoured while writing tonight (this bowl is only about half of what the box makes):

Also, don't forget to follow my:

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Have a fantastic mac n cheesey day! :)

Everything-Free Banana Muffin Recipe

Not gonna lie- everything-free cooking in general is hard. But baking? Forget about it. 

When I first found out about all of my food sensitivities, my mom and I scoured the internet for everything-free recipes. Needless to say, we didn't find a whole lot of them that were free of my huge list of no-no foods. And as for the ones we did find, they either didn't turn out, or tasted horrible. Or both. 

After searching endlessly for something that seemingly didn't exist, we finally, finally, stumbled upon a banana muffin recipe that was, indeed, every-thing free. Or at least would be with a few minor tweaks. Of course, the ingredients list is only half of it. The real test was the taste test. 

We had to change some of the ingredients from the original recipe so I could actually have it. Three bananas, a little experimentation with substitute ingredients, and 30 minutes later, deliciousness exploded across my tastebuds. It was actually good! Like, really good. I've been making these muffins for years, and they're great for a quick breakfast or snack. 

This recipe is vegan, free of gluten, soy, nuts, seafood, and pretty much every other allergen in the book. It truly is everything-free!

 So, without further-ado, here's the recipe!

(But first- proof of the perfection!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake time 25-28 minutes.

Ingredients:

Makes 1 doz. small muffins or 8 large muffins.

1 1/2 cups of all purpose gluten-free flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

3 tablespoons applesauce*

1 cup mashed bananas (I always use 3 that are overripe)

1/4 cup honey

1/8 cup coconut oil

*The original recipe says to use applesauce, but I avoid eating apples, so I just leave it out completely. It still makes good muffins without, but if you can have the applesauce, by all means use it!

These are my go-to brands of ingredients. Most of the ingredients are just everyday baking stuff that's already in the kitchen. Any gluten-free flour will work, and for the chocolate chips I use Enjoy Life's mini semi-sweet. They're so tiny, taste incredibly real, and are of course, everything-free.

Once you grab all of the ingredients, mix the dry mix together, then the wet mix, and then add them together.

(Look at all those chocolate chips!! I'm drooling already)

The batter is going to be a really weird consistency... really fluffy and thick. Then again, I make mine without applesauce. So if you add that in, it might be more normal haha.

Once it's all mixed, toss them in the muffin pan and into the oven they go at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit). 

(This picture is actually a screenshot from my Instagram story because I forgot to take the picture for the blog. Go figure. Guess this is a good time to say go follow my Instagram! @Theeverythingfreegirl)

Baking it for about 25 minutes is good, but if you want them a little more brown on top like mine, 28 minutes is the way to go.

All done!

Another thing worth mentioning is you can use this same recipe to make a banana bread loaf. I've done it a couple times and the result is just as great as the muffins! 

Happy baking! :)

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Plant-Based Everything-Free YOGURT!

While typing out the title for this post, I had a mini-flashback to almost six years ago, when my mom bought a yogurt maker to, well, make yogurt. Extremely bland, sour, chunky yogurt that I choked down alongside microwaved eggs. Thanks, SCD diet, for nothing. Nothing but apprehension towards yogurt. 

Fast forward to today, I absolutely LOVE yogurt, though my definition of yogurt is the sugary store-bought kind, not the homemade kind. Of course, I can't eat the normal stuff that has dairy in it, since I'm everything-free (gluten-free, soy-free, garlic-free vegan that can eat meat). Fortunately, there's a number of brands that make plant-based, everything-free yogurt alternatives- and in all of the heavenly fruity flavors I adore! 

So Delicious

My go-to choice for everything-free yogurt is by So Delicious. They have 12 different flavor options made with coconut milk, which is incredible! They have...

• Blueberry- Has little blueberry chunks in it and is SO good.
• Chocolate- Not one of my favorites but is still pretty good! (I mean, it's chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate).
• Key Lime- This one is kinda interesting. You anticipate it to be really tangy but is actually sweet. 
• Peach- Has peach chunks. YES. Just. Yes.
• Plain- It's plain. Whatever.
• Raspberry- This is one of my favorites. It's really sweet and has an amazing flavor.
• Strawberry Banana- I haven't had this in a long time but I think I remember it being super good. I'm a huge sucker for anything strawberry banana flavored, but I can't have strawberries so that's pretty sad.
• Strawberry- It's strawberry, what can I say?
• Unsweetened Plain- I don't think I've ever tried this and don't ever care to. Sounds really bland and boring.
• Unsweetened Vanilla- Add some stevia and you're golden.
• Vanilla- It's vanilla. It meets expectations.
• Pineapple Brûlée- Um, excuse me?! I didn't know this existed until I just went onto So Delicious' website. I'm going to go on an epic quest to find this flavor now because I NEED this in my life!

All of these flavors come in the single-serving cups that you can buy individually at Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, Walmart (actually has some of the best prices) etc. 

Plain, Unsweetened Plain, Vanilla, and Unsweetened Vanilla also come in their bigger tubs.

Now it's time to make you drool. Enjoy the pictures.

Yeah. I'm gonna be going insane until I get my greedy little hands on that pineapple brûlée and shovel it into my mouth so my tastebuds can throw a party. 

Also- I haven't seen these in-stores, but they look amazing- So Delicious has 4 flavors of those little cups that you pour the crunchy stuff into (I'm so good at descriptions, I know).

• Coco Almond Crunch
• Spiced Blueberry
• Key Lime Pie
• Salted Caramel Cluster

Okay, now I'm sitting here obsessing over the Salted Caramel Cluster.

And lastly, So Delicious also has a line of Oat Milk Yogurts. I haven't had any of these, since I'm not really supposed to have oats... but I figured they'd be worth mentioning. 

Daiya

Across the board, there's definitely a love-hate relationship with Daiya. Some people love it, some people hate it. Like, with a passion. 

I kinda fall in the middle. Their cheese is weird, but their yogurt is pretty good. They only have 6 flavors though, and it's more expensive than So Delicious, which is dumb since I think SD quality is better. But hey, options are options. Here's their flavors:

• Strawberry
• Peach
• Blueberry
• Black Cherry
• Vanilla Bean
• Plain

Real exciting. I'd probably stick with So Delicious, since it's not like Daiya has a whole lot of new thrilling flavors. Unless you're madly craving Black Cherry. Daiya has the upper-hand when it comes to that department.

Alright, that's all for this post! Be sure to follow my Instagram @Theeverythingfreegirl for updates whenever I upload a new blog post. And also, be sure to check back this Thursday for a recipe post! Yes- that's right, I actually make and eat food rather than just talk about it all the time. Haha.