GF Pastry

Yummy!

 Almost a year after going gluten free, I feel like we are finally coming to a successful recipe collection. One thing that was sorely missing was pastry though. Thankfully Mennonite Girls Can Cook has come to the rescue!
This pastry was flaky, it held together and it tasted fabulous (and even tasted not so bad raw!).

I used all butter instead of shortening since I didn't have any, and it still turned out great!! I was finally able to make my favourite Chicken Pot Pie again! And the kids actually ate supper without fuss :) And I'm super excited to be able to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!


INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
1 cup sweet rice flour
dash of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
rounded teaspoon of xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp ice water
sweet rice flour for rolling


Blend well together the flours, xathan gum, salt and sugar.
Cut in butter and shortening
Beat egg , add vinegar and ice-water.
Stir into flour mixture forming a ball. (Add a little more water if too dry)
(You may knead this a bit since rice flour crust can stand handling.) Knead until you have a smooth soft ball.

It looks like 'real' pie dough!!

Refrigerate dough for 1 hour or more to chill.
Roll out between wax paper or saran wrap dusted with sweet rice flour. Peel off top layer of wax paper/saran wrap , flip over onto pie plate and then carefully peel off the other layer of wax paper and fit pastry into pie shell -- for single crust pie or for double add filling and then top with top crust .
Bake at 375' until lightly browned.

Finished product

Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

My son (and usually my daughter too) miss out on a few things that most kids take for granted...being able to stop in at (gag) McDonalds and have a happy meal, or even just being able to have chicken nuggets on a whim at home. I try my best to make sure if we go somewhere where other kids will be eating something (usually pizza at Christmas parties!), I bring 'exactly' the same thing for him to eat so he feels included, otherwise I don't usually let either kid have anything. They are too young to understand why one gets to eat something yummy in front of the other (I don't have any either if that's the case!). 

I've been kind of stumped on what to do for the inevitable McDonalds birthday parties. In fact, we went to 1/2 a birthday party earlier this year just to avoid such a problem (we played and had cake (the mom was nice enough to make a gf one!!!), and gave presents, but then we left when everyone else headed to McDonalds). Today I finally solved that problem!! I made some amazing (if I do say so myself) chicken nuggets. They were easy to make, freeze well uncooked and fry up in a matter of minutes. Don't look at me like that, yes, I deep fry things for my kids occasionally. Due to the high heat used and the minimal time immersed, I really do think they absorb less oil then if I pan fried them in 1/2" of oil. But I digress...I'm sure these would be tasty pan fried, or even baked. At least now I have an option that I could cook at home, bring to the party and let him eat along with everyone else. Yay!

I hesitate to call this a recipe, but here goes:

Ingredients
1-2 Cups Corn Flake Crumbs (GF)
2-4 Tbsp. Oil
4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Milk (If you need dairy free, I'm pretty sure water would substitute here just fine!)

Place Corn Flake Crumbs in a shallow dish and sprinkle 2 Tbsp. of oil over them for every 1 cup used. Mix up crumbs. Corn does not absorb liquid as wheat does, so this seems to be a necessary step to make it 'sticky'. (Although this may be a gf specific step, I'm really not sure...experiment!) Chop chicken breasts into nugget size pieces or strips. Mix together egg and milk in a bowl. Dip chicken pieces into milk/egg mixture, then roll in corn flake crumbs. Place on a baking sheet. When the baking sheet is full, place in the freezer.

NOTE: If you are making these from previously frozen chicken, you must cook all of the pieces once re-frozen to avoid becoming ill, if you are making these from fresh chicken then the freezer life (I think) would be the same as if you just froze the chicken.

When you are ready to cook, either bake in the oven (from frozen) at 425F for 20-30 minutes (I'm guessing here since I fried them!), or pan fry until cooked through. For deep frying, set your fryer to 375F and when the oil is up to temperature, place a single layer of frozen nuggets in the basket. Fry for 3-5 minutes (depending on size). When the oil stops making a lot of noise, generally whatever food is in there is done! That's my rule of thumb :)

I have not tried to freeze these after cooking. I have some leftovers in the fridge that I intend to re-heat in the oven tomorrow, but I think they would freeze ok.

In the words of my 3.5 year old "These are AWESOME Mommy!". I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did! :)

Note: I purchased my corn flake crumbs (see picture below) from amazon.com, and had them delivered in the states and had someone pick them up because I needed gluten free, however if you do not need gluten free Kellogg's has a corn flakes product that is available at any grocery store. It contains barley malt, so it's a no no in our house!

Vodka Cream Sauce

This is my first time cooking with alcohol beyond wine and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed! The whole family gobbled it down in no time!
I cooked up chicken breasts and cubed them, then put them into the sauce. Poured it all over rice pasta (a twisty kind, I'm really not sure what type!) and it was delicious. I haven't been able to stomach brown rice pasta very much since we switched and I ate a huge plate of this! And it was easy!! I was out of tomato sauce, so I used 2 tins of whole tomatoes (I blended them first), and 3 Tbsp. of tomato paste and let it boil for about 15 minutes before adding it to the recipe, worked like a charm!

2/3 Cup Vodka
1 Cup Whipping Cream/Heavy Cream
3 Cups Tomato Sauce
Meat (Bacon would taste good, I used chicken)
Pasta of your choice.
Parmesan cheese, for topping.

Cook your meat, pour in vodka and boil for 4-5 minutes until it has reduced by about half. Add tomato sauce and cream. Let simmer for 20ish minutes. Serve hot over pasta of your choice and top with Parmesan cheese!

Sweet & Sour Baked Chicken

This was sooo tasty and moist I was amazed. And it honestly takes a lot for me to be amazed at supper!
This is gluten free (yay!) and my first attempt at breading without flour.

Ingredients

2 Large or 3 Medium Boneless Chicken Breasts

Breading
1-2 Cups Cornstarch
2-3 Eggs, Beaten
1/4 - 1/2 Cup Canola Oil
Salt & Pepper

Sweet & Sour Sauce
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Ketchup
1/2 Cup Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce (If going GF make sure your soy sauce is GF!)
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder/Salt

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a frying pan over medium heat (add more as needed). Cut the chicken into nugget size pieces and coat in corn starch. Then dip in beaten eggs. Place into hot oil and fry until slightly brown but not cooked through. Remove from pan and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 325°F as you do this. When they are all browned and in the pan pour the sauce over top and turn to coat.
Bake for one hour turning chicken every 15 minutes.
Goes deliciously with fried rice...recipe to follow!

I meant to take pictures but I was so hungry and it smelled so good that I totally forgot. Just envision deliciousness and thats what it looked like :)

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Crock Pot Taco Chicken

Last night's supper was amazing! And amazingly easy too. I was done making it (except the rice) by 930am! Now that's what I call a win!
BudgetBytes is a new website I have found courtesy of Pinterest, and she's got some pretty neat recipes. Also, they break down the cost of each recipe per serving. It's in American prices, but at least it gives you some sort of idea. It's a website that's worth taking a browse through :)

Ingredients
1.5lbs Chicken Breasts (I used 3 small ones and started with them frozen)
2 Cups Salsa
2 Cups Black Beans (Canned or pre-soaked and cooked)
1 Cup Frozen Corn
1/4 Cup Water
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1/2 Tbsp. Cumin
1/2 Tbsp. Minced Garlic 
1/2 Tsp. Oregano
1/4 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Tsp. Salt
Pepper, to taste
2 Cups Dry Rice
1 Cup Shredded Cheese (or more!)
Cilantro, to taste (optional)

Add everything to the slow cooker except the rice, cheese and cilantro (if using). Give it a good stir and then make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
Cook on low for 8 hours. (I have a large oval crock pot and it took less then 6, but yours may differ).
Cook rice towards the end of the cooking time.
At the end of the cooking time stir with a fork to shred the chicken.
Build taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro!



I think you could get away with adding double the beans and make this recipe go even farther. Everything is so flavourful that extra beans would just make it better :)
I love that I was able to make this with frozen chicken breasts. Freezer to crock pot to plate. I love it!



This recipe makes about 8 Servings. It's hard for me to estimate because hubby eats enough for 2 adults most of the time! We had a wonderful supper plus I had enough left over for 2 lunches for him and 1 lunch for me. I think this is my new favourite crock pot recipe!

I haven't tried it yet, but the original poster of this recipe said it freezes wonderfully, rice, cheese and all! Just throw in the microwave to reheat!

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What's On The Table?

Yummy yummy Crockpot Taco Chicken on rice topped with cheese!
So easy and so good. I really need to use my crockpot more often :)
Recipe to follow soon!

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Fresh Salsa

My garden is producing! Very exciting except I need to use lots of cherry tomatoes! The ones I planted produce small yellow tomatoes first then medium orange ones then large (relatively speaking since they are cherry tomatoes!) red ones. Right now I have lots of yellow and a few orange. They are wonderfully sweet!

I threw together a salsa tonight and even my veggie-loathing hubby said it was good :) Only problem is I put red pepper flakes in not realizing how spicy they were and made it too spicy for me to eat more then a couple of bites!

This makes enough for 1-2 servings.
1/2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Medium Green Pepper
Seasonings to taste: Onion powder, granulated garlic and red pepper flakes.
A small amount of water to let the spices mix.
Chop your veggies small and add spices, lemon and water. Let sit in the fridge for about an hour to ensure a crispy flavourful taste.

I served it over chicken breasts cooked in vinegar and water (cayenne, onion powder & garlic powder to taste) on the stove top. A delicious combination!!

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Chicken Pot Pie

Ever since discovering lard free pie baking I have been on a pie frenzy! I have 9 years of pent up pie baking to get out!
This recipe is extremely economical, it only took 2 chicken breasts and it made enough to feed us for 2 meals and everybody was full! In our house thats a huge win!

My pie plate is really deep so if you are working with shallow dishes make sure you have enough pie dough for at least 2 pies since this is a big recipe!

Ingredients
2 Batches of Lardless Pie Dough (or enough of your favourite recipe to do a top and bottom pie)
3 Cups of Chicken Broth (I made mine using 3 heaping tsp. of Better then Bouillon by Superior Touch and 3 cups of water)
2 Chicken Breasts, cubed
4-5 Carrots, chopped
1 Green Pepper, chopped (mine was small, from my garden!)
3 Large Potatoes, cubed
3 Tsp. Butter or Margarine, heaping
2 Tbsp. Flour, heaping
1 Cup Milk (I used Plain Coconut Milk but any type will do!)
Pepper, to taste
Dried Onion, to taste
Celery Salt, to taste
Add whatever veggies/ spices you want this is just what I had on hand and what I knew my veggie-hating family would eat!

Boil carrots, pepper, potatoes and chicken in the broth until cooked through. In a seperate pot melt the butter and add the flour, pepper, onion and celery salt. Cook for a minute or two then add milk. Cook until it thickens...watch it closely it thickens fast!
Add milk mixture to veggies and chicken and stir to combine. Cook for a few minutes to let it thicken. Brush the bottom pie crust with egg white to prevent it from going soggy. Pour mixture into pie crust and place (if you want to) top crust on. Note: I made the big one covered and a little one with some leftover dough uncovered and it thickened up a lot more uncovered. But both tasted good! Cover edges of crust with tin foil if its a topped pie.
Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes, remove tin foil and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown.

You will notice there is no picture...it was too yummy smelling and I lost all thought of picture taking!

Baby Food - Mango Banana Chicken Puree

My daughter is 11 months old but still isnt so great with chunkier food so Ive been trying to become creative with her meals. Today I made mango banana chicken puree and she gobbled it up! I even tried some and it was quite tasty :)
Ingredients
1 Ripe Mango
1 Banana
Handful of cooked chicken
Put all ingredients in food processor and process until desired consistency is reached.
I havent tried freezing this yet but I would imagine it would freeze well.

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