Another Gluten Free Blog

...With some great-looking recipes! I have her carrot cake in the oven right now, made with Ener-G egg replacer. (The girls helped me make it for my birthday today.) And I plan to make the coconut frosting as well. Yummy!

Top Secret Recipes

Have you ever wanted an In-n-Out double double, but been miles from Southern California?

My Recipes

So, I've been working with Accuchef for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say, it really has made a difference. I can find recipes faster, it's easier to put together a creative menu with a shopping list, and if I find a recipe I want to try - it's a breeze to add it!

People often ask me how I learned to cook this way. The answer is trial and error! I have made many many things that did not taste good, but practice pays off. I have been cooking several meals a week since 2000, so I've had some time to experiment. So, with that said, here's a CSV file of my recipes. If you download Accuchef, you can also download this file and import it. Then, you should be able to view all the recipes easily. I could also make a PDF of them, if anyone is interested, but I didn't want to think that hard. Let me know if you want me to though, and I will. Some of the recipes in this file are favorites and some I haven't actually tried, but they all (with minor changes) represent the way we eat around here.

Please let me know if this is helpful to you, and feel free to share some of your favorites too - I can always use new inspiration!

Encouragement

This has been kind of a tough week for me, for various reasons. Staci sent me this site last week, and it has provided so much encouragement to me this week, both spiritually and in the food area. I have never found any site that had recipes with only things we can all eat! Plus, she uses all natural sweeteners. It's amazing for me to be able to cook straight from a recipe, without tons of substitutions that may or may not work. Plus, her food is SO good.

Recipe File

In my never-ending attempt to save money while eating healthy, I'm currently trying a 60-day trial of AccuChef. Before you laugh, let me tell you what this thing does. You can put all of your recipes in it, organize them by type, add them to a grocery list, price out your meals, do meal planning, and probably other things I have yet to figure out. You can even import recipes from recipe websites, and print out recipe books to give to friends or as gifts. I think it's pretty cool. And it's shareware, so after 60 uses, the registration is only $20. Pretty good deal, I think.

Gluten Free Playdough

We made this and played while we waited for Daddy to come home from his half day of work today.

Gluten Free Playdough recipe:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup hot water

1 tsp. cooking oil

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in saucepan, cook on low heat, stirring occassionally for at least 5 minutes or until it forms a ball. Remove from heat, let cool for 10 minutes. Scoop into a large bowl, add at least 1/2 cup more rice flour, and 1/2 cup more corn starch, knead until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in airtight container. If it gets to dry, add a few drops of water, If it's too sticky add more rice flour and corn starch in equal amounts.

Um...yum.

Gluten-free sugar cookies for Christmas. If that doesn't do it for ya, I made them sugar-free sugar cookies, by using 3/4 c maple syrup in place of the sugar, and skip the 3 T of milk. They look good, they smell good, they have gluten-free sprinkles on top, and they won't make anybody sick. Nice.

Chicken Soup

I thought of something constructive to say...

When I was probably...8? My mom got very sick for what seemed like weeks. I don't remember what was wrong with her, as childhood tends to keep you from understanding things like that. However, I do remember an older lady in the church bringing us a huge pot of this soup. Ever since then, it has been a staple food in our household. When I was in labor with Audrey, this was the only thing I wanted. I actually made several batches while I was waiting those last few weeks, because I wanted to make sure I had it on hand for blood sugar issues during labor.

Dr P tells us every time we are sick, to eat nothing but chicken soup. Although I'm not a very good patient as far as eating ONLY this, I do love to make a batch to help with colds, etc.
So, without further adieu...


Bonnie Leese's Chicken and Rice Soup

8c. water
1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

Cook chicken in water over medium low heat until done, 30-45 minutes. (The water should steam, but not boil here. Too much heat makes the chicken tough.)

Add to pot:
2-3 stalks celery
3-4 carrots
1/4 of a bell pepper
1/4 of an onion
pinch of garlic (I always use lots more. Fresh garlic would be good too.)

Boil until tender. (I always pull out the chicken and shred/cut it into chunks at this point. Or you can just leave it and it will fall apart somewhat on its own.)

Then add:
Salt and pepper to taste
One large can stewed tomatoes (juice and all)
1 cup ALREADY COOKED brown rice

Obviously, this is one of those recipes that she probably had to think about in order to write down. It is Extremely customizable. I have always wanted to try it in the crock pot, but haven't been brave enough. I'm not a huge fan of the stewed tomatoes, but without them the soup is a little boring. I have used diced tomatoes instead, and then the pieces of them are smaller...somewhat helpful. If you are a cheese person, top with shredded cheese, although that adds to mucus issues if you're eating this to get well. :)

Let me know if you try it - enjoy!

This is my Autumn impression

I gotta be honest, there is nothing in me right now that wants it to be fall yet. Like, at all. Last winter was really tough for me, having a tiny baby and a toddler, and it was FREEZING cold, and there was snow on the ground for like 2 months solid and that never happens here, and I seriously think I might have had that S.A.D. thing...

But, I'm making a batch of these right now. And, if there's one thing I like about fall, it's pumpkin spice anything. Add chocolate to it, and you've got a winner for sure.

Gluten-free bread

By request, (here ya go, Liz!) I will talk about my latest adventures in baking.

I got sick and tired of spending $5.50 a loaf (that's what it really costs) for a terrible loaf of gluten free bread, so I decided I would start making it. I'm not entirely sure it saves us much money because I'm still new to it and too lazy to add it all up. However, it certainly tastes better. I've been using this recipe, although I want to get some cookbooks and try some different ones. The ingredients are weird, but they can all be found at the health food store. And, this bread doesn't have to be kneaded. The hardest part is the long list of ingredients. I've been mixing up a HUGE batch of the flour mix and keeping it in the freezer to cut down assembly time.
So, there ya go. Try it, you'll like it! (maybe)

I like lentil soup...lentil soup?

All evening I've been singing a song that Ernie and Bert sing.

Bert: I like lentil soup
Ernie: Lentil soup?
Bert: Yes, I do...
Ernie: I don't really like any of those things...but I...like...you!

I made lentil soup for dinner tonight. It was yummy, and Hannah even ate it. I was prepared to make her something different! Lentils are pretty cool little things. 28% of your daily fiber and 11g of protein in one serving.

I've been seeing them everywhere lately. Have you ever noticed that there are food fads? Like, sun-dried tomatoes and asiago cheese...that is SO three years ago! Anyway, I decided to try it. This recipe is really good.

The changes I made are:
Only one large onion - we're not huge onion people
One 14oz can of tomatoes - we're not huge tomato people either, and I didn't have a big can. :)
A splash of apple cider vinegar instead of the wine - I still don't have a clue how to buy wine, although I'm not opposed to cooking with it.
One cup of COOKED brown rice - add right before serving. Whole grains will make it a complete protein also. The recipe suggests adding cheese which would do the same thing and be pretty tasty, but it sure would make us all sick!

Try it - you'll like it!

My Favorite Dinner

Chicken Stir Fry, originally uploaded by sakalomi.

Nick found out he is allergic to chicken. Yes, it's weird. How can you be allergic to chicken? But, he is. He also had to work late tonight. Guess what I made?

Okay, so it's not terribly photogenic, but this is my favorite dinner of all. I lived on this stuff while I was in college. I'd make a big 'ol pan of it and eat it for days. I don't know what it is about this stuff, but I'll tell ya how I make it.

Chicken Stir Fry
Serves 1-3

1lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 different kinds of vegetables, chopped (I like carrots, celery, red pepper and zuchini)
2-3 cups chicken broth
2-3 tablespoons flour (rice flour works great for us gluten-free folk!)
Olive oil

In a deep skillet over medium heat, saute the onion in the olive oil until transparent. Add chicken, stir occasionally until cooked through. Add veggies and enough broth to not quite cover them. Put a lid on the pan and allow it to steam the veggies until al dente, or tender, whichever you like. Then, shake tablespoons of flour over the whole dish and stir gently. The flour will thicken the broth and give you almost a stew. Adjust the amount of flour and broth for the thickness you like. Add salt and pepper to taste, and a little marjoram or oregano is good too.

Serve over cooked brown rice with extra salt and pepper, if needed. (Don't be afraid to add salt for flavor - this is not as good if it's bland! :)

Voila! Healthy comfort food!