Gluten Free

Creamy Italian Chicken on Rice

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I love this dish! It’s simple to make and will easily feed a lot of people. This meal is almost as good as Mac n’ Cheese in the comfort-food-department. Although I’ve made this dish dozens of times – I apparently never took a picture of it.

Creamy Italian Chicken on Rice

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 3-4 c dry rice
  • 6-8 c water
  • boneless, skinless chicken pieces – 8-10oz per person
  • 1 medium onion – diced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 3-4 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1-2 tsp paprika
  • 2-3 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tsp pepper
  • 1 – 26oz can Cream of Mushroom soup
  • 16 oz sour cream

Instructions

  1. Begin by cooking the rice. Combine the dry rice and water (1:2 ration) in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
  2. Reduce rice to a simmer and cover. Cook until rice is tender and all of the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat.
  3. While rice is cooking, prepare the chicken.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350.
  5. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and spread evenly in a greased oven proof pan. (Pan should not be full because you will be adding sauce ingredients.)
  6. Sprinkle chicken evenly with dried seasonings.
  7. Spread the Cream of Mushroom soup evenly to cover the chicken.
  8. Cover with foil to prevent browning and bake at 350 until the chicken is cooked through.
  9. When cooked, remove from the oven and stir in the sour cream to create a smooth creamy sauce.
  10. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
  11. Reheat for a few minutes if needed.

Serve over cooked rice with lots of extra sauce! Can be served with steamed veggies or a big green salad.

Notes:

  1. The rice instructions written here are for short grained white rice. Adjust amounts as needed if another kind of rice is used.
  2. The rice and the sauce can help this dish easily stretch to feed more people.
  3. Veggies such as zucchini, red bell peppers, broccoli, etc. can easily be added to the chicken if desired.
  4. This dish can be frozen and then reheated BEFORE the sour cream is added.
  5. This recipe can be gluten free if a gluten free Cream of Mushroom soup is used.

Ayla’s Gluten Free Cookies

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My wonderful roommate Ayla invented these cookies last fall when she wanted a healthy alternative to the normal desserts that are packed full of refined, teeth-rotting sweeteners. Every couple of weeks she whips up a new batch for us to scarf down…
The recipe is as follows:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1/2 c. butter
2 Tbsp coconut oil (unrefined)
1 c. flax flour
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1 c. oats
1 c. shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 c. maple syrup or honey
1 tsp salt (preferable sea salt)
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (the least healthy part of these cookies)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated. Drop by the spoonful (these don’t spread very much) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Ayla has also made these with many different combination’s of gluten-free flours, as well as adding peanut butter or whole flax seeds. (The peanut butter version was a big hit!)

These cookies stay soft for at least a week. Not that I think they’ll last you that long…

Tony O Rama Bars and Job Hunting

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Job hunting makes me SCREAM! I’m just tired of filling out applications with all of the same information that’s on my resume, chatting with people that “ooh” and “aw” over my resume, and then never getting a job.
So what do I do? After another afternoon of filling out applications and turning them in – I drove to the downtown Bellingham Co-Op and continue my search (and blog writing) with the wonderful help of a gluten free Tony O Rama Bar! I don’t know why they call it that – it’s a coop thing.
This bar is like nothing I’ve ever had! I haven’t attempted to duplicate the wonderfulness yet – but I will.
The ingredients are simple: chocolate chips, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vegan (blegh) butter, coconut, brown sugar. It’s pretty much this slab of peanut buttery, coconuty heaven with another slab of coconut chocolaty goodness on top! Words can not describe. And the great thing about this bar is NO GLUTEN! So other than that 1/4 pound of sugar I just inhaled – there’s no guilt! Not that I usually have any type of guilt when I’m eating – but since Hannah and I ate most of a huge loaf of bread on the way home from the store yesterday, I’m working on cutting back on the wheat today 🙂
So the lesson to be learned here is: if life hands you something frustrating – chocolate, coconut and peanut butter will fix it!

(The best) Piquant Prawn Salad

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I love this salad! It’s full of protein, fresh veggies and delicious Asian flavors. This is another recipe from the previously mentioned Thai cook book. I normally leave a few ingredients out but I’ve italicized the adjustments I made so you can see all of the options! (Update: If you are following the Trim Healthy Mama plan, Shirataki noodles would be the perfect replacement for the rice noodles!)

Piquant Prawn Salad

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: intermediate
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Ingredients

  • 7 oz rice vermicelli noddles or Shirataki noodles (follow the first 5 instructions in this recipe if using Shirataki noodles)
  • 8 baby corn cobs – halved
  • 5 oz snow peas
  • 1 T coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
  • 2 garlic cloves – minced
  • 1 inch piece of fresh ginger – peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 fresh red or green chili – seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 lb raw peeled jumbo shrimp
  • 4 green onions – thinly sliced
  • 1 T toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 lemon grass stalk – thinly shredded

For the dressing

  • 1 T fresh chives – chopped
  • 1 T Thai fish sauce
  • 1 tsp soy sauce or Braggs Aminos
  • 3 T peanut oil (or if you love sesame oil as much as I do, use it instead of peanut oil!)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 T rice vinegar

Instructions

  1. Put the rice noodles in a heat proof bowl, cover with boiling water and let sit for 10 minutes.
  2. Drain rice noodles, refresh with cold water, drain again and set aside.
  3. The dressing can be made ahead of time by combining ingredients and either shaking or whisking all of the dressing ingredients together and then setting aside.
  4. Saute, or steam, the snow peas and baby corn and set aside.
  5. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan (or wok). Add the garlic, ginger and chili and cook for one minute.
  6. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink.
  7. Stir in the green onions, snow peas, baby corn and sesame seeds. Toss lightly to mix.
  8. Add the contents of the pan to the rice noodles.
  9. Pour the dressing on top and toss well.
  10. Sprinkle with lemon grass and chill for one hour before serving.

Enjoy this light flavorful salad!

 

Moving Frustrations…and cookies!

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I was going to write a post about how frustrated I am with the way our new land lords have been handling this whole moving situation… or about the fact that our move in date keeps getting pushed back because they are still painting… and then I decided that it isn’t great to dwell on the negative…

Instead I am going to expound upon the virtues of these – Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies – created by the Gluten-Free Girl.

After having my mom and roommate continually forget that I wasn’t eating wheat or dairy during the last two weeks – it was a joy to discover one of my favorite cookies in a wheat and dairy free form! Plus – anything from Gluten-Free Girl is bound to be wonderful, including her writing and photography. I highly recommend her blog and book to anyone who enjoys food – whether or not you are trying to go gluten-free. They are both a joy and an inspiration to read! Check out her blog here.