Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings

I was on Facebook and saw a post by Udi's Gluten Free Foods that included a link to making Chicken and Dumplings using one of their products.

I think in order to underline the importance of this discovery I need to give you a little background.

My maternal grandmother is Southern.  From Missouri (pronounced Mizz-er-uh.)  She cooks like a Southern Lady, lots of flour and lard and fried things.   Most of my cooking talents come from her.  One of her specialties is her Chicken 'n' Dumplin's.  Amazing stuff.  Every time we would go visit her or she'd come visit us I would beg her to make us Chicken 'n' Dumplin's.  It is one of those ultimate comfort foods for me.  When I was a teenager I forced her to teach me how to make it.  She has made it so many times and for so long that she doesn't even have a recipe, it's just one of those dishes she grew up making and just "knows".  I had to hover over her and write down every thing she was doing.  Even when I tried to make it myself it was never quite as good, Mamaw just has the touch.

Then came the Celiac Disease.  Obviously there were a lot of comfort foods that I had to give up or try to find substitutions for.  I've looked for recipes, and tried to come up with my own with no luck.  Part of the problem is that Mamaw makes Southern Dumplings, they're big, soft, flat noodles.  Apparently to the rest of the world dumplings are more like boiled drop biscuits.  I can't quite wrap my head around that, so I haven't been able to find anything to fill that particular hole in my diet.

Until now!!!

I also learned how to add video to my blog!

It's Chicken 'n' Dumplin's!!  USING PIZZA CRUST!!!  I don't even have to make the dumplings from scratch using 8 different hard to find flours!  Here's the written recipe just in case I borked the video some how.

I made this for my family on Wednesday night and it was excellent!  I am so happy to have found a replacement for my comfort food.  This time of year is just perfect for it too!  The one complaint I have is that the recipe is too small.  There was only enough for the five of us to have one serving each and everyone wanted seconds.  I will have to double it next time, if not triple, and there definitely will be a next time.

Cupboard Soup

I posted this on my other blog and thought other people might like a nice gluten-free, vegetarian soup recipe.

From Random Heather:

I tossed a bunch of canned food yesterday that had expired and it killed me. Ugh. I hate waste, but throwing away food is the worst. Especially since if I'd been a little more organized I could have avoided the spoilage.

Today I decided to use up a bunch of canned foods that were precariously close to their expiration point. I want to be sure nothing else goes to waste just because I forgot.

I decided to make Cupboard Soup, an idea of my own creation. (See also: Mulligan Stew and Stone Soup.) Since I'm such a dear I wrote everything down so I could share the recipe with you, my three readers.

Cupboard Soup

1 14.5 ounce can Stewed Tomatoes with Onion, Celery, and Bell Peppers (I think somebody gave this to me, I seriously don't remember buying this and I can't think of any recipe I wanted to try that uses it.)

1 14.5 ounce can Diced Tomatoes

2 cups Broth (I used a Gluten-Free, Vegan Chicken Broth powder)

1 15.5 ounce can Black Beans

1 15.5 ounce can Red Beans

1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt (Regular and Sea Salt would probably work just as well, Kosher was just the first one I saw in my cupboard.)

4 cups Cooked Rice (I used Jasmine Rice that was left over and sitting in my fridge. If I'd had more or less then that's what would have gone in the pot!)

Over medium high heat add the tomatoes to a good sized stock pot. Bring them up to a heavy simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the broth and the undrained beans. Turn down the heat to medium. Bring the mixture back up to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Mix the salt in well. Add the rice, breaking up any clumps. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and leave it until the rice has absorbed as much liquid as you'd like. For us it was about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle it with grated Parmesan if that's the kind of thing you like.

This makes a big pot of Cupboard Soup, enough for our family of 5 to have seconds and some left over for Eric's lunch tomorrow.

That's with Parmesan on the right and without on the left.

To give credit where it's due, I based my soup on a recipe I got from Real Simple Magazine. I've added all kinds of things to that Minestrone, and I think you could do the same thing to this soup. Whatever veggies you've got, fresh, frozen, or canned. (Just be sure to add them last if it's a kind that gets mushy.) Pasta, brown rice, chopped potatoes, whatever. I've also added leftover chicken to the minestrone, and if I'd had some I would have added it this time.

Usually Eric isn't a big fan of  the Minestrone I make, he said this is his favorite version. As a matter of fact, he said I have to make it like this from now on. I am allowed to add chicken if I want!

As it stands this is a vegetarian (possibly Vegan) recipe, it makes a great meal. It's incredibly filling.

If you actually make this recipe I would love to hear about it in the comments. Let me know what you added or left out and how you and your family like it!

Pasta

I love pasta. Really love pasta. Before my diagnosis it was one of my go-to basics for cooking. When the doctor told me I had Celiac Disease and what it meant the first thing I said to him was "You mean no more pasta? No! Can't I give up meat instead?"

Yes. I would rather have gone without bacon than pasta.

Unfortunately life doesn't let you chose your challenges. Fortunately there are some pretty decent gluten free pastas out there. Now I'm not saying that there is a magic gluten free pasta that cooks up to taste and feel just like the gluten full stuff you're used to. Not even a little bit. What there is are a few kinds that resemble the stuff you're used to.

Rice has mostly replaced pasta as my staple carbohydrate for dinners, but we do still enjoy the occasional spaghetti dinner.

Here's what we've discovered.

1) Corn pasta gives us the closest match to gluten full pasta. Even my husband can eat the corn pasta but he can't stand the rice stuff.

2) De Boles brand makes pretty darn good corn pasta
but their rice stuff is gross. Mrs. Leeper's and Tinkyada both make decent rice pasta, but we really prefer the corn pasta at our house. Mrs. Leeper's also makes corn pasta, but I haven't found it locally yet.

3) The thicker the pasta the easier it is to tell that it's gluten free. With spaghetti you can almost fool yourself into thinking that you're eating the 'real' thing. With rotini or shells the difference is more noticeable. I did find a package of Tinkyada lasagna noodles but my son used it for a school project before I could try them and see how they turn out.

The other really big difference with gluten free pasta is how you cook it. You cannot just dump the pasta into boiling water and wait for it to turn al dente. You will end up with a pot full of sticky, gritty nastiness.

This is very important so pay attention!

First of all you cannot look at the package for cooking times. They are almost universally too long. Gluten free pasta cooks fast. Very fast. The thinner the pasta the faster it cooks. If you over cook wheat pasta it gets mushy. If you over cook gluten free pasta it gets gritty. There is a very fine line between undercooked hard and overcooked gritty. The only way to find that is to pull a noodle out of the water (Let it cool slightly!!) and eat it. If it feels right (not too hard, a little al dente) then you know it's done. When it's done you have to get it off the stove FAST. Have a colander in the sink before you put the pasta in the hot water. As soon as your pasta is done dump it in the colander and run cold water on it to keep it from cooking any more. Then put sauce, oil, or butter on it as soon as possible to keep it from clumping together.

Second, you cannot just dump it into the pot of boiling water. Especially the long thin spaghetti noodles. You have to constantly stir the pot while you are slowly adding the pasta. Add a little pasta at a time. If you dump it all in it will stick together. Giant thick 1/2 pieces of spaghetti are not very appetizing. They also defeat the purpose of getting thin pasta to taste better. Clumping is not good. When we were first figuring this out it was actually a two person job. One person to stir and another to add the pasta slowly. Now we can do it by ourselves but we still have to be very careful.

We had spaghetti for dinner last night. The way we make it is two packages of spaghetti, two jars of Prego spaghetti sauce (Be sure to check the label. Some are marked gluten free, the others have ingredients that are really iffy.), and some kind of meat. If we're in a hurry we'll just use our good old stand by Polish sausage, if we're more leisurely we'll brown some hamburger with garlic. Either way is good.

De Boles Pasta Corn Spaghetti, 8-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)
Mrs. Leeper's Pasta Organic, Corn Spaghetti, 12 Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)
Tinkyada Brown Rice Spaghetti with Rice Bran, 16-Ounce Packages (Pack of 12)
Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagne with Rice Bran, 10-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)


In the spirit of honesty and full disclosure I want to let my readers know that I set up an Amazon Affiliates account. That's where I can link to products on Amazon and if you buy that product from my link I get a little kick back. I'll put those links at the bottom of every post. (I have no idea why there is a little white box after every link and I have no idea how to make it go away. I guess I'm not too computer savvy!)

Easy Stir Fry

People with Celiac Disease need to get used to eating a lot of rice. It's a great little grain with lots of nutrition (especially the brown stuff) that goes with just about anything. If you've been recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease you should go out and buy a rice cooker. It will make your life easier. Then you can buy rice in massive bulk and save lots of money.

The problem is that it's easy to get sick of rice.

This recipe is my version of stir fry. I got part of it from a dish my mom used to make when I was a kid, part from my best friend who taught me a little about Chinese cooking, and a little of my own improvisation.

It's really easy to make and very fast.



Easy American Stir Fry

2 tbsp. Vegetable Oil (any kind)

Two bags of frozen vegetables of your choice. (We usually get a bag of the California Mix and a bag of Sugar Snap Peas)

Two Packages of Polish Sausage (That's the horseshoe shaped sausage in the case by the hotdogs. Also known as Polish Kielbasa or Summer Sausage.)

6 cups of cooked rice (That's 3 cups uncooked, don't get it confused. I speak from experience!)

Start the rice cooking in the rice cooker (or the microwave.) Pour the oil and dump the vegetables in a large pot over medium heat. Slice the sausage into 1/4 inch disks, stirring the vegetables every few minutes. Dump the sliced sausage in with the veggies. Stir everything every couple of minutes until it's all warmed through, but don't let it overcook or the veggies will get too soft. You want them to be a little firm, not mushy. Mix in the cooked rice and serve it up.


This feeds our family of five with enough left over for at least two grown-up sized lunches for the next day.

Gluten Free Bisquick Pancakes

I recently had to kill some time at a grocery store in a neighboring town, so I thought I'd look around and see if they had any gluten free products that I haven't tried.

I hit the JACKPOT!!!



GLUTEN FREE BISQUICK!!!!!!

I have been dying for some real pancakes. In the past the only kind I could find were kind of nutty tasting (nutty like actual nuts, not nutty like crazy) and were very dense. I love pancakes and have seriously missed that morning classic.

I no longer have to miss out! I can have a normal, artery clogging lumberjack breakfast complete with flapjacks!

I don't have a picture of the finished pancakes. They were too tempting all warm and fresh, and there were none left by the time we were all done eating. All you have to do is look at the front of the box. My pancakes came out looking just like the ones they show on the package. How often does that happen?!

These pancakes were amazing. They were light and fluffy, and had a perfect taste. Sweet, but not too sweet. Tasty by themselves but beyond delicious once they were smothered in melted butter and maple syrup.

The mix was sweet, so I'm sure that it will make really good Strawberry Shortcake and probably good biscuits but I'm not sure how it will work for more savory dishes like Cheeseburger Pie. Also, the box is incredibly small. I used one whole box just making a triple recipe of pancakes for my family. Lucky for me I bought three boxes.

I can't tell you how excited I am to have found this Bisquick! School starts this week and anything I can find that will help make weeknight dinners faster gets a huge gold star in my book.

P.S. My daughter has recently started a milk free diet to go along with her gluten free one. I made these pancakes with cow's milk and with rice milk and they were great both ways. So for those of you who need gluten and lactose free you can still have lovely pancakes!

Chili is Good Campin' Food

I was planning on doing a few posts about all the great gluten free foods we were going to have on our camping trip, but the trip was a fiasco and we ended it really early. The only meal worth mentioning was the chili.

I used the Bear Creek "Darn Good" Chili Mix. I cheated and cooked this on a camp stove, but I think it would be really easy to make this chili over a fire if you are the hard-core type of a camper. It's really easy. You boil the water, dump in the mix, and mix in a 6 oz. can of tomato paste. Then let it cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. We also chopped up some hot dogs and threw those in. The back of the package has some other suggestions for things you can add, but I just kept it simple.

It was very tasty and hearty. It has a little bit of a kick to it, but it isn't too spicy for little kids or people with sensitive stomachs. I know everything tastes better when you're camping, but I love this stuff even when we're at home. We added sour cream and cheese as toppings, and some of us scooped it up with Frito's. I just ate it with a spoon, but that's 'cuz I was too hungry to mess with the chips. There were four adults and four kids in our group and there was plenty of chili for everybody. More than half of us even had seconds.

This chili was definitely the highlight of an otherwise dismal camping trip.

The Bear Creek Country Kitchens has a few other soup mixes that my family really loves, those reviews will be coming soon.

Vegetarian Nachos

Lucky me! My husband made dinner tonight.

No really. It's a good thing. He made our family's version of Nachos.

Here's the recipe:

One 40.5 oz. can of Refried Beans
One bag of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Sour Cream
Chunky Salsa (We use mild or medium, just use whatever your family likes.)
Corn Tortilla Chips

Heat up the beans. We nuke 'em for three minutes in the microwave, stir, then nuke 'em for three more.

Spoon the beans into bowls, top with the cheese. If you want, pop the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese. I do this for hubby and me but not for the kids.

Top the beans and cheese with whatever combination of sour cream and salsa. (I like a lot of salsa and a little sour cream, my husband likes lots of sour cream and lots of salsa, my daughter likes a little sour cream and no salsa, my son likes lots of sour cream and a little salsa, the youngest son doesn't get sour cream or salsa.) You can also add some chopped olives if you're feeling fancy.

Use the tortilla chips to scoop the nachos into your mouth. Yum!

I was getting us ready for our upcoming camping trip, so I didn't get a chance to take pictures. The next time we have these nachos for dinner I'll post some pictures.

I'll be back in a few days with lots of posts about the trip.

Mrs. Leeper's Creamy Tuna dinner

One of the things I miss about my pre-Celiac days was having all the quick meal options. I mean just because I've got Celiac Disease doesn't mean my super busy days suddenly disappear. Right?

My local health food store had Mrs. Leeper's Creamy Tuna on sale and since it looked vaguely like Tuna Helper (which my family loved) I thought I'd get some to try it out. Worse case scenario would be that it tasted awful and we'd have hot dogs or pb&j instead. Best case I find a new boxed dinner to keep in my cupboard for busy days.



The box comes with the noodles and the sauce packet. I had to add 2 1/2 cups of hot water, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon of butter per box plus the tuna. I made two boxes and it fed our family of five quite well. I also added two cans of tuna for each box instead of just one. What can I say, my family likes meat!

The instructions are super easy. Drain the tuna and dump everything but the noodles into a pot. Bring that to a boil and then add the noodles and lower the heat. Cook it for 10 minutes, then let it set for a few minutes more. Easy peasy. It is important to let it set for awhile though, the sauce thickens up as it cools. The box says to let it set for three minutes, I let it set for five.



Okay, I know it looks kinda gross. It really doesn't photograph well at all. Trust me though, it tastes amazing.

The noodles have a really nice texture, not at all gritty. The sauce is just awesome. The flavor is rich without being too strong, and really very creamy. I don't really know how to describe it, so I'll just say that there was silence around the dinner table. My incredibly chatty kids were too busy eating to talk. Even my meat and potatoes loving husband liked this. He went back for seconds.

I think that this could be really good with a can of sweet corn or a can of peas added in. I also think it would be good with some crushed potato chips on top to add some crunch. I'll have to try that next time.

Overall I really liked the Creamy Tuna dinner. Preparation was easy, it tasted really good, and everyone in my family loved it. The only downside is that it was quite pricey. It cost about $5 for each box (on sale), so $10+ for a meal. That's about average for gluten free convenience foods, so it isn't overly expensive. It's just pricey for somebody on a budget, but I will be getting more the next time they go on sale. It's worth it for a quick meal on a tough day.