Another Chicken recipe

Today, after reading about my uber yummy chicken recipe from before, as well as seeing that all that was thawed in my fridge for meat was chicken, I decided to make some marinaded chicken. I find marinades more complicated without soy and gluten in my life. I was searching for inspiration and found several that suggested honey and lime, which would have been good, but I don't have a lime. I found more that suggested Dijon and oil and vinegar, like a simple vinaigrette. I made the decision to go with a honey Dijon marinade. After searching around a bit more I found that basically an equal amount of honey and Dijon with some oil added would work. I found a recipe here and it was really yummy. I just mixed it up in a zip top bag and rubbed it onto the chicken breasts. Sunny Anderson recommended to let it sit for at least 2 hours. Mine was at 12 hours by the time it was cooked.

I cooked it on my griddle because it was too hot to grill..... Here is a picture:

Grilled Chicken

Remember my grilled chicken recipe found here? It is so easy to make gluten free. The only thing that you have to do is make sure that your barbecue sauce and Italian dressing are gluten free. a great resource to use when you are shopping to find if a processed food is safe or not? Google. Now, since anyone can write anything on the internet (seriously, me writing this is a good example) it is a good idea to contact the company directly unless the product is labeled gluten free.

I really like Sweet Baby Ray's sauces and they are marked gluten free on the back, by the bar code. Kraft does not mark their products gluten free, but they are very good about disclosing gluten containing ingredients. Both Zesty Italian and Light Zesty Italian dressing are gluten free at this time, but if you have been gluten free for any amount of time, you know that this can change, so please verify this information before just buying the products that I mention.

MMM.. happy grilling! And remember that this is good the next day on a salad as described here.

Spamaroni and Cheese

Since this winter, our kids are pretty into Spam. We have several meals that we make with Spam and as long as I am not eating it plain, I am good with it. The first thing that we like to do is Spamaroni and cheese. When we make this, we use a gluten free mac and cheese (usually a brand called Annies because it is relatively inexpensive and Andruw really likes it) and a can of diced Spam. If I am feeling somewhat kind, I will make Trevor, AKA Captain Gluten, Kraft Mac and Cheese. Usually this is the case. It is hard to do both kinds side by side and avoid cross contamination. Watching this happen probably seems like a whole new level of OCD to a person who doesn't understand. Separate pans, separate spatulas, don't let them touch, lots of hand washing after each time you touch the gluten spoon, separate strainers, hand washing again, don't forget that you already have separate butter containers in case of crumbs or double dipping. Being gluten free in a shared kitchen is a lot of work. Most of our dinners are just gluten free to protect me from the insanity ;)

Another meal that we have often is Spam, bacon, and egg sandwiches. Yes, the meal is as greasy as it sounds. We are definitely far from Vegetarians on this meal. I like to start the bacon on my griddle, then start the toast in the oven (because crumbs, toaster, who wants to deal with that OCD). When the bacon is cooked to your taste, then fry up the sliced spam and fry some eggs. I will say, it is better when the eggs are fried over hard IMO, but please fry your eggs how you like. About this time, your toast should be done and you can pull it out and put some Miracle Whip or whatever you use on it. Make sure that you use the right one and don't touch Captain Gluten's bread if you don't have to or, you got it, hand washing. MMM, it is so good with a little cheese, a side of hashbrowns, and a glass of juice (or Coke Zero, who am I kidding?).

Happy Spam adventures..

Banana Cake, gluten free style!

Remember when I made banana cake here? Well, this is an easy recipe to fix if you buy a flour mix. They are expensive, but it is easier than trying to make your own. I haven't yet mastered my own blend, but when I do, rest assured this will be the first place I post about it.

Here is the edited version. If I am feeling the hankering for cake this week, I will make it and take photos, otherwise, rest assured it looks about the same as the other one ;)

1 c. sugar
1 c. butter
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour (rather than all purpose wheat flour, I use a blend like Cup 4 Cup, found in the gluten free section of the store)
1/2 c. walnuts (optional)

Mix in order given. Put in greased loaf pans.
Bake at 350° for about 1 hour. Allow 24 hours before cutting.

Gluten Free

It has been a very long time since I posted for several reasons. I started a full time job and forgot how much fun cooking is. I have been very tired with all of my illnesses in flair and just trying to figure out what they all are. And part of that is that I have gone gluten free do to an intolerance thought to be Celiac Disease. The only thing that makes me not just outright say I have Celiac Disease is that I didn't opt to have a biopsy. I don't need it to know that either way, gluten free has been very helpful for me.

In gluten free cooking I have a few philosophies that I like to use:
1. Food shouldn't cost more because we remove wheat, rye, and barley
2. Fresh is best, but I will still find processed foods if I need them
3. My cooking methods weren't broke, so for the most part, they didn't change.
4. Before you overhaul everything, think of how many things you make that are already gluten free

Over the next few weeks, I will rewrite gluten free versions of each of the recipes that I have posted. Looking back, some of them were already gluten free which is awesome. I will also post about what my favorite gluten free finds have been, as well as some mainstream foods that are gluten free that were super exciting for me to find. Be ready!!

Bountiful Baskets and Menu for March 3rd through 9th

As you can see, this week's basket was pretty awesome. There is some new foods for us to try, but mostly just favorites that we have often. As you can see we got a pineapple, a cantalope, 8 bananas, 6 Kiwis, 6 bananas, 3 yellow mangos (if you haven't had these before, you have to wait until they are wrinkled to eat. They look bad, but it is good), 3 bell peppers, 5 Anaheim peppers, some brussel sprouts, 3 english cucumbers, broccoli, butter lettuce (still living.. with roots on it), and Yukon Gold potatoes.

From all that perfect produce, I came up with a great menu for suppers this week. I will bold the recipes that I plan on posting!

Saturday: Tuna Casserole and Green Beans (fail, we ate out)
Sunday: Turkey Steaks, Cheesy Mashed potatoes (left over russets), and left over salad
Monday: Cheesy potatoes and ham (left over frozen potatoes made to hashbrowns) tossed salad
Tuesday: Chicken burritos (black beans, chicken, onion, lettuce, peppers), Spanish rice
Wednesday: Lettuce wraps and Chow mein
Thursday: Lasagna and green salad
Friday: Roasted red potatoes and oven roasted whole chicken with applewood rub

A sweetly savory treat for lunch!!

Sometimes the kids want to have something special for lunch.. and I don't blame them. Well, I have been wanting to have some sweet potatoes recently, and I just really enjoy them roasted in the oven. A couple day care kids and I went off to Walmart to see what special treats we could find, and this is what came to mind for me. Also, I had been eyeing some strawberries that were on "Rollback".  

Here is what I did to create our yummy sweet taters:

 Step 1 (pictured above): Peel and dice those suckers. I think mine are in 1 inch peices.. maybe some smaller some bigger because I am not a professional chef....

Step 2: Take your ingredients, pictured above, and toss them all together on a sheet pan. I use about 2 TBLS of oil for 2 sweet potatoes, then salt and pepper to taste. If you like yours sweet, this is where you could add some cinnamon, nutmeg etc.

Step 3: bake the potatoes at 425 until you are happy with the tenderness. This batch took 20 minutes. I have had it take up to 40.. just watch them.

Pair with a little cheese melt and some strawberries and you have a delicious and healthy lunch.. YUM! The kids ate their lunch all up with no complaints, in case you wondered how it went over.