"Creamy" Chicken and Rice

This is our version of the Classic Chicken and Rice dish made with French Onion Soup Mix and Cream of Mushroom soup.  We season it with our own onions and spices and plain old natural chicken broth.  All the girls love it!
To Serve 5-6:

Heat the oven to 375°F,

1 1/2 or 2 cups of rice : depending on how much your family likes the rice
3 or 4 cups of chicken broth: depending on how much rice you used.
Enough chicken to feed 5-6 people: this can be boneless chicken breasts or thighs, or bone in chicken pieces.  Just adjust the cook time accordingly.
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup dried minced onion
paprika

Pour the rice into a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Add the chicken broth.  Place the chicken on the rice.  Sprinkle over all: salt, pepper, onion and generously sprinkle the paprika to give it all a good color.
Cover tightly with foil.  Place in the hot oven and bake for time according to chicken choice:

35-40 min. for boneless
45-50 min. for bone-in

To use any boneless pieces smaller than breasts, you may need to reduce the rice to 1 cup so as to cook for 25-30 min. and not overcook the tenders.

Enjoy!

Fish Tacos

Some like it hot, some like it not so hot!

I made these fish tacos the other night for the whole family.  I used Ian's Gluten Free Fish Sticks for Hannah's tacos.  I used Van De Camp's fish sticks for the rest of us (much less expensive).  I have also made these with tilapia or cod battered and fried, but that was not Hannah food safe.  One time, Kim, my husband, made the Pico De Gallo recipe that follows.  The other night, I used a store bought fresh Pico De Gallo from the produce cases at Fred Meyer.  In both cases, the jalapeno pepper in the Pico De Gallo was little much for Hannah and Emily, her younger sister. The picture above has the store bought Pico De Gallo on it.  I suggested to Hannah the next time we have fish tacos, maybe she would just like to use salsa on her taco.  So if you can't handle the heat of a little bit of jalapeno, just use your favorite salsa!

1-2 tacos per person is a good rule of thumb.  3 tacos if you have big eaters.

Needed for 1 Taco:
1 corn tortilla
3 fish sticks, cooked
Shredded cabbage
Pico De Gallo (recipe follows or fresh from the store) or salsa of your choice
White Sauce (recipe follows)
1/4 lime to squeeze over all

The Pico De Gallo, if you make it yourself: (Makes enough for 8-10 tacos)
1 medium tomato, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (wear gloves!)
2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

White Sauce:  Makes enough for 8-10 tacos.  Half the recipe to makes enough for 4-5 tacos.
1/2 cup Follow Your Heart Vegenaise, Soy-Free or Earth Balance Mindful Mayo made with Olive Oil
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. dried dill weed
1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 a head of cabbage will usually make enough cabbage for 8-10 tacos.

To soften the tortilla:
Prepare a plate with paper towels ready to layer between each tortilla as it comes out of the oil.
Heat a saute pan to medium-high heat.  Add about 1 T. oil.  Heat.  Carefully place one tortilla into the hot oil. Cook only about 15 seconds, carefully flip with a flat spatula, cook another 15 or so seconds, just enough to soften and warm the tortilla. Cook it too long and it will get too crisp.  Remove the tortilla to a paper towel on the plate, cover with another paper towel to prepare for the next tortilla.  Repeat the remaining tortillas.

Assemble:
Take a softened, warmed corn tortilla.  Place 3 fish sticks in the middle, add cabbage, pico de gallo, white sauce and squeeze of lime.  Fold up and enjoy!

Stir Fry

You can use chicken or pork in the recipe.

This picture contains crunchy chow mean noodles that are not gluten free.  Hannah eats her Stir Fry without the crunchy noodles.

1 1/2 cups rice

3 cups water.

3 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into 1" bite sized pieces

2 T. canola or olive oil, twice

1 package frozen stir fry vegetables (be sure it is free of noodles, they contain gluten and/or eggs)

2 T. cornstarch, tapioca flour, potato starch, or arrowrroot (or your choice of thickening agent)

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. onion powder

2 T. wine vinegar

1/2 t. ground gingerroot

1/4 c. Coconut Aminos

1/4 c. dark corn syrup

1 c. chicken broth

sesame seeds

Combine the rice and 3 cups of water in a large saucepan with a fitted lid.  Place on stove burner set to high heat.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 min.  Fluff with a fork.

Place a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.  Add 2 T. canola or olive oil.  Add the chicken and cook and stir until browned and cooked through.  Remove chicken from the pan to a plate.  Add another 2 T. canola or olive.  Add the stir fry vegetables.  Cook and stir until cooked and somewhat tender.  

In the meantime, combine the cornstarch (or other thickening agent), garlic powder, onion powder, wine vinegar, gingerroot, Coconut Aminos, dark corn syrup and chicken broth in lidded container.  Shake well to combine.

When vegetables are tender, add the chicken back into the pan.  Add the stir fry sauce you just shook well.  Cook and stir over Medium heat until the sauce is thickened and bubbly.  Serve with the steamed rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. (This is good with crunchy chow mein noodles too, if you can have the gluten in the noodles.)

Shepherd's Pie

Another good old comfort food- Hannah Certified~!

This recipe made just enough for about 6 servings.  You can easily double the batch to feed more like 8-10.

The potato topping:
4-5 russet potatoes (3/4 lb.), peeled and quartered
1/4 cup beef or chicken broth, we use Pacific Foods Free Range Chicken Broth
2 T. Earth Balance soy free buttery sticks
1 T. potato starch
1/2 T. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

The meat and vegetable filling:
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 carrot, peeled and diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 lb ground meat, beef or turkey
2 T. potato starch
1/4 cup beef or chicken broth
1 tsp. Coconut Aminos
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 T. ketchup
1 tsp. freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp. freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. peas

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and boil until potatoes are tender, 15-20 min.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the meat and vegetable filling.  Heat a large saute pan over med-high heat.  Add the chopped onion, diced carrots, minced garlic and ground meat.  Cook and stir until vegetables are soft and meat is browned.  Drain any excess fat from the pan.

Sprinkle the potato starch over the drained browned meat.  Add broth,  Coconut Aminos, seasonings, corn and peas.  Cook and stir until sauce has thickened slightly.

Spread the meat mixture into a casserole dish.  We used a 2 1/2 quart, deep dish Corelle casserole.  Use any casserole dish you choose.  Just keep in mind, the more shallow the dish the more probability of boil over in the oven.  You may need to place a sheet covered in foil or parchment paper under the casserole dish to catch the boil overs.

For the potatoes:  In a large mixing bowl, add the broth, Earth Balance soy free buttery sticks, potato starch, salt and pepper.  Drain the potatoes.  Add the potatoes to the mixing bowl.  Mash everything together until the buttery sticks are melted.

Spoon the mashed potatoes on to the top of the meat mixture.  Begin with smaller spoonfuls around the edges, smoothing out the seal the edges.  Continue placing spoonfuls in the middle and smoothing to form and mashed potato top crust.

Place the casserole dish in the oven. (use the baking sheet under it if you used a more shallow dish.)  Bake 25 min. until the potatoes are nicely browned.  Remove from heat.  Allow to stand 15 min. before serving.

YUM!

Snickerdoodles!

They smell like them.  They look like them.  And, yes, they TASTE just like traditional Snickerdoodles!

 Hannah's first submitted photo with her Ipod!

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery sticks, softened (1 cup total)
1/2 c. water
3 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 3/4 c. Rice Flour Mix*
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, buttery sticks, and water in a large bowl.

3. Stir in the egg replacer, flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. If dough if still a bit too dry, add another tablespoon or two of water, one a a time.

4. Mix the 1/4 c. sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

5.  Shape the dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake 8-10 min. or until set.  Remove from cookie sheet.  Cool on wire rack.

*the Rice flour mix we used in our first batch of these snickerdoodles had homemade gluten free-oat flour in place of the sweet sorghum flour.  Please refer to the Rice flour mix recipe.

One Year Ago...and Lemony Chicken!

It was one year ago in March 2013 that I began this recipe blog for Hannah and all our special diet friends who ask about Hannah's recipes.  In this past year, I have posted over 70 recipes I have either created or adapted to be free of the foods that cause Hannah allergic reactions.  In the beginning, I did not add photographs of the food.  I soon learned how to add the photos.  Sometimes I forget to take photographs.  As I continue to work on this recipe blog, I will try to go back and add photographs to the recipes that are missing photographs.  It has also recently come to my attention, that some of my recipe's instructions are not very beginning friendly.  If there is a post with confusing instructions, or that needs more explanation, please just ask.  I would be happy to review the post and edit as needed.

Tonight I present for you:  Lemony Chicken.  I created this one after reading many other Lemon Chicken recipes.  As it turned out, Hannah has not tasted this one.  She went off to a friends house to watch a movie.  I will have to update the post after she tastes it to tell you what she thinks.  I really liked it with the purple rice in the picture below.  If you love strong lemon flavor, use 1 1/2 lemons.  To go for a more mild lemon flavor, use only one lemon and maybe only half the lemon zest.

Lemony Chicken served on Purple Rice

2-3 Boneless Chicken breasts, cut in to 1 inch pieces

(really you could make this with chicken in any form, bone-in, boneless, leg, thigh, or breast.  You will just need to adjust your cooking time longer for larger cuts of chicken.)
1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. olive oil

zest from one lemon* 

the juice from 1 or 1 1/2 lemons, depending on just how lemony you want it.

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. red wine vinegar

1 T. dried oregano

1 tsp. kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large skillet over med-high heat.  Add olive oil, heat a moment before you add the diced chicken, onion and garlic.  Cook and stir, turning the chicken pieces until chicken is beginning to brown, and onion and garlic are soft.  (Again you could use whole boneless chicken breasts or larger pieces of chicken.  You may need to hold off on adding the onion and garlic until the last 5 min. of cooking these larger pieces.)

While chicken is cooking, combine the lemon juice, chicken broth, cornstarch and vinegar in a measuring cup or small bowl.  When chicken is nice and browned and cooked through, add the liquid cornstarch mixture, the lemon zest, oregano, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until sauce is thickened.

Serve Lemony Chicken with rice, pasta or potatoes.  It would go well with broccoli, asparagus or brussels sprouts too.

Lemony Chicken served on white rice

*How to zest a lemon:

You will need multi-sided cheese grater that has a zest side, or an actual citrus zester.  I used a the multi-sided cheese grater.

Wash a whole lemon.  Dry the lemon.  Place the zester on a clean plate.  Hold the zester with one hand and the lemon in the other.  Rub the lemon up and down the zester just until you begin to see the white layer under the yellow rind.  

You do not want to zest so far down you actually get the white layer.  This layer can be bitter.  Turn the lemon and rub up and down against the zester until no more yellow rind remains on the lemon.  You should now have a about 1 to 2 T. of lemon zest on your plate.  This is what you will add to the lemony chicken.

Sloppy Joes

Hannah really likes this seasoned meat.  She will eat it straight up, or on a bun.  You can use the bun of your choice!

Makes 6 sandwiches

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/3 c. chopped celery (optional)
1/3 c. chopped green bell pepper (optional)
1/3 c. ketchup
2 T. gluten free oatmeal, chopped to quick size*
1/4 c. water
1 T. Coconut Aminos
3-4 drops Tabasco red pepper sauce

*I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal.  The pieces are little big though.  So I put it on a chopping board and using a  large chefs knife I chop through the Oatmeal, cutting it into smaller pieces that are more like the size of quick oatmeal.

Heat a 10 skillet over med heat.  Add ground beef and vegetables.  Cook and stir until beef is browned and vegetables are tender.  Stir in ketchup, chopped oatmeal, water, Coconut aminos, and red pepper sauce.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer 10 min.  Spoon onto the bun or your choice, or in Hannah's favorite way, straight onto a plate!