Honey-Nut Chicken Stir-Fry

My youngest sister has some friends that get together once a month and swap recipes. This month they swapped "healthy" recipes and she sent them to me since most were GF. Little did I know she was holding out on me. Included was her "Honey-Nut Chicken Stir-Fry." It sounded so yummy that we had to have it for dinner. But it called for peanuts and since we have allergy issues we changed that. Then we decided we needed to add things, so we added onions and then at dinner my daughter suggested it needed mushrooms and I have to agree. So while they aren't pictured, mushrooms are now a part of the recipe.

Honey Nut Chicken Stir-Fry  (printer friendly)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¾ cup orange juice
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ tsp. garlic powder
2 cups sliced carrots
1/2 C sliced onion
1/2-1 C fresh mushrooms or 1 can drained
1- ½ cups sliced celery
4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½ -inch strips
¼ cup coarsely chopped cashews or almonds (original called for peanuts)
Hot cooked rice
Peanuts or any other yummy nut

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients until smooth; set aside. In a nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry celery, carrots, onion, & mushrooms in 2 teaspoons oil until crisp-tender. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, stir-fry chicken in remaining oil until no longer pink.

Return vegetables to the pan. Stir orange juice mixture and gradually add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over rice and sprinkle with nuts.

Meals for Jan 26-31

This is dinner for the week:

M-Honey Nut Stir-Fry (my sister sent this recipe and it sounds yummy!)
T-Chili (we were going to have this last week and didn't)
W-Vegetable Soup with Biscuits (GF & Regular)
Th-Cranberry Chicken in Crockpot
F- Date Night - Kids get leftovers
S-Pizza -- I might order out for us and then make my daughter's on a frozen pizza crust from Kinnikick or maybe we will do Pier 49 which makes a GF pizza

German Pancakes (Gluten-free)

So I had some left over whipping cream from making Roasted Tomato-Pepperoni Soup that I HAD to use so we had German Pancakes for breakfast. This is probably one of the first recipes I ever adapted to GF. It is also one of the easiest. The one thing you must do, however, is if you use a glass pan make sure the pan is not really hot from melting the butter, otherwise you will crack it when you add the batter to the butter. And yes, unfortunately I have been reminded of this from experience -- what a mess!

German Pancakes
Measurements in parenthesis are for a small single person portion, use a smaller pan
3 eggs (2)
1/2 C flour (3 T)
2-4 Tbsp butter (4 T)
1/2 C milk (3 T)
pinch salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (1/8 tsp)

Melt butter in a 9"pan (round or square). While butter is melting mix eggs, flour, milk and salt in a blender or food processor. Pour into pan with melted butter. bake for about 20 minutes. Serve hot with sliced fruit or applesauce and whipped cream or with powdered sugar. (I should have got a photo but forgot -- oops!

Kitchen Hint: My blender can't go in the dishwasher :( so this is my method of cleaning it: Fill with warm water and some dish soap and run the blender on high for about 30 seconds. Remove and wipe the sides and lid with a rag. Rinse and let air dry.

Roasted Tomato-Pepperoni Soup

So last week I was looking at Family Fun Magazine and they had this fabulous recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup that I couldn't live without trying. So I made some, and it was fabulous! However, I thought it would also make a good base for a Pizza-type soup so I added some Turkey Pepperoni and basil to some of my leftovers and loved it. So this is my new concoction based on their recipe (I also lowered the fat a little with Evap milk). I figured a pureed soup would be difficult for my 5- & 2-year old to eat with a spoon so I put it in mugs for them to drink. My 2-year old decided to treat it like fondue and dipped her Grilled Cheese Croutons in the soup and when she ran out she just dipped regular bread.


Roasted Tomato-Pepperoni Soup
6 C (3 pints) cherry tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves
1 C chopped onion
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 pkg (6-oz) turkey pepperoni*, chopped
4 C chicken broth
1/2 Tbsp fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 C whipping cream**
1/2 C evaporated milk**

1. Heat oven to 400-degrees. On a cookie sheet, combine the cherry tomatoes, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients to coat evenly and spread in a single layer. Roast the tomatoes until they are shriveled with brown spots, about 35-45 minutes.

2. When the tomatoes are almost done, in a large pot, heat the butter and the remaining Tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and saute until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes with their juice, pepperoni, chicken broth, basil, thyme, and the roasted tomatoes, including any liquid and oil left on the cookie sheet. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.
3. Using a food processor or blender, puree the soup until it's smooth. Return it to the pot and stir in the milk & cream. Without letting the soup boil, warm it over medium heat, stirring often, until steaming. Add salt and pepper, if necessary.
4. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with Grilled-Cheese Croutons or grated mozzarella cheese. Makes about 10 cups

*Hormel is GF -- says it right on the bag, love companies that do that!
**Or 1 C of either

Meals for Jan 19-31

Last weeks crockpot week was such a success. We actually ate dinner at a decent hour every day. Plus, dinner time wasn't the crazy hectic time it usually is. The only downside is sometimes the dishwasher wasn't in sync with when the crockpot needed to be cleaned so it was sometimes a little bit of a pain to clean. Anyway, I decided I need to make use of my crockpot more often. Usually I just use it for roast or chili, but no more! That said, this is what we are eating this week.

M- Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons -- I saw this in the Family Fun magazine last night and can not stop thinking about it. I'm not sure the kids will eat it. If not, they get grilled cheese and fruit and a Vegetable. It calls for whipping cream but I think I might try evaporated milk either instead or 1/2 & 1/2 it.
T - Spaghetti and my friend Cynthia's Rosemary Peasant Bread. It isn't GF but I was thinking I could make GF breadsticks for my daughter.
W - "Gunge" (Recipe below)
Th - Salmon
F - Chili in the Crockpot
S - Black bean Salsa with Tortilla Chips

Gunge
This is so easy there really isn't a recipe but the kids LOVE it

Rice (as much as your family will eat
Frozen Peas or mixed veggies (again as much as your family would eat)
1 lb chicken or hamburger (or less, depends on how much you want)

Cook Rice, Cook Peas, Brown meat then mix together in a bowl. Serve with soy sauce.

Cream Puffs

So today on the Yahoo! Gluten Free Recipes Group someone posted that they loved eclairs and missed them. Which made me think of Cream Puffs which I haven't made in years, but love. So I decided to try to find a way to make Gluten Free ones. I started by looking through me 2 GF cookbooks and found one in my Bette Hagman cookbook. Then I pulled out my regular cookbooks and looked for a recipe. I must admit I kind of collect cookbooks and have recipes in all of them I love. That said, I have a lot. It took me 5 tries to find a recipe. I couldn't believe it since Cream Puffs are so incredibly easy. Anyway Bette Hagman's and Better Homes & Garden's recipes were similar but Better Homes & Garden used BUTTER, my one true baking love! The processes they used were slightly different as well. So I decided to combine the two recipes to make mine. I also made regular ones as well for everyone else. Anyway this is the recipe I used.

Cream Puffs (printer friendly recipe)

Makes 6 puffs
1/2 C water
1/4 C butter
scant 1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (opt.)*
2 1/2 T potato starch
1/3 C Rice Flour
4 eggs
Filling: pudding, ice cream, whipped cream, chicken salad, or anything else that sounds yummy!

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, salt, and sugar (if using). Bring to boiling. Meanwhile mix potato starch & rice flour in a small bowl. Once the water/butter mixture boils add flour in all at once and stir vigoriously. Cook and stir until the mixture forms a ball and it all sticks together. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

3. Drop by 6 heaping Tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 400-degrees for 30-35 minutes, or till golden. Cool on a wire rack. Fill with your favorite filling.

I put both my GF and regular ones on the same pan with a piece of tin foil separating them. The regular ones are on the left and are twice as big only because the recipe made 12 and I only had room for 9.

This is a closeup of the GF cream puffs.

4. When cooled, cut tops from puffs and remove any remaining soft dough from the inside. Fill with your favorite filling and replace tops. If you want you can sift powdered sugar over the tops of dessert puffs for an extra pretty presentation.

Eclairs: You can make them using the same recipe, but put the dough in a piping bag with a 1" hole and pipe them 4" long on the cookie sheet and bake, poke, and split (if desired) as above. Fill with pudding or cream and frost with chocolate glaze or frosting.

*I don't particularly like sweet cream puffs, especially to use for a sandwich. I like the combination of the salty/buttery dough with sweet fillings. But adding 1 tsp sugar could be a nice touch for a dessert puff if you want.

Play Dough

So on Friday my kids were out of school and were playing nicely and one of them asked to play with playdough. Which wouldn't have been a problem except we didn't have any. So I set out to find a GF playdough recipe and found one on the "Cel-Kids" website. I followed it the first time, but it turned out a bit stickier than I would have liked. So I am added more flour to the recipe. I also added some Vanilla for flavor. I decided not to color so there wouldn't be any fighting over what color they wanted me to color it or what color they wanted to play with. Here is my new recipe:

GF Playdough
3/4 C rice flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1/2 C salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 C water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Food Coloring

Mix ingredients. Cook and stir quickly on low heat for 3 minutes or until it forms a ball. Cool completely before storing in a sealable plastic bag. I like to keep mine in the fridge, I think it stores better.

Taco Soup in the Crockpot

Tonight I was going to make Scalloped Potatoes in the crockpot but realized I didn't have enough chicken broth so I decided to make Taco Soup instead. Only now I wish I had sour cream -- oh, well. The potatoes I used were gleaned by my family (thanks Family) in Idaho and sent to me. They are DELICIOUS, however, they are hard as rocks and take forever to cook so I decided to give it a boost and cook on high 1 hour. Here is the recipe I made today, as with most soup at my house it is somewhat a little of this and a little of that but the measurements here are pretty close.


Taco Soup (printer friendly)
4 potatoes diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can green chilies
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1-lb hamburger, browned* (optional)
1 C beef broth
1 C chicken broth
1/2 tomato can of water
1 tsp garlic powder*
2 tsp onion powder*
1 Tbsp chili powder
1-2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
Cheese
Sour Cream
Fresh Onion
Corn Chips

Dump in crockpot. I am going to cook on high 1 hour and reduce to low for 5 hours since my potatoes take forever to cook!

*I had frozen browned hamburger. If you want you could brown hamburger with 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small onion.

Dinner Nachos

This is a favorite "quick" meal at our house and insanely easy. Basically add how much you want of each ingredient or some of your own and bake.

Dinner Nachos
Tortilla Chips
Refried Beans, heated*
Black Beans
Olives, sliced
Tomatoes (fresh or canned added at different times), chopped
Jalapeno or Green Chili Peppers
Cheese
Onions, chopped
Salsa
Hot Sauce

1. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray if desired.
2. Lay tortilla chips on Sheet
3. Top with Refried Beans, Black Beans, olives, canned tomatoes, peppers cheese.
4. Place in a 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
5. Top with Onions, fresh tomatoes, salsa & hot sauce

NOTE: My kids don't like spicy foods so my husband and I add salsa & hot sauce to the nachos on our plate.

*I like to add a little garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin and dried cilantro to plain refried beans for extra flavor.

4-Cheese Pasta Bake

This was originally my Sister-in-law's recipe that I fell in love with. Over the years I have tweaked it a little bit and done various versions. This particular time I made it without meat - I was too lazy to thaw and cook it - but I included everything in the actual recipe. This is one of the few recipes I actually make 2 versions, Gluten-Free and regular. I usually freeze GF leftovers in portion sizes for school lunch.

The Regular is on top, the Gluten-free is on the bottom.

4-Cheese Pasta Bake
1 12-oz pkg short cut pasta*
1 jar pasta sauce, approx depending on how saucy**
1/2 - 3/4-lb hamburger or sausage browned***
1 can mushrooms, drained***
1/2 C cottage cheese
1 3-oz pkg cream cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
2. Cook according to package directions, Drain and place in a greased 11x7 baking dish.
3. Mix the pasta sauce, and cottage cheese into the pasta
4. Top pasta with about tsp size pieces of cream cheese and turn so they are mixed in slightly.
5. Sprinkle Parmesan and Mozzarella on top. Cover with greased tin foil and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes or until cheese is melted.

NOTE: Once you cover the pasta you can refrigerate until ready to heat.

*penne, spiral, etc. we used a variety in the Regular version

**I used some Marinara sauce from my freezer
***Not in the photo, I didn't use it this time.

Cinnamon Apple Snacks

Today on the YAHOO! Gluten free recipe swap group, Jackie, posted a snack idea to take sliced apples, cinnamon & flax seed meal and toss them together in a bag for a snack. That sounded so yummy I decided to do that for my daughter's afterschool snack. However, I added a few more ingredients. It was so yummy. I also think it could make a good dessert or appetizer. I have the suggestions below the recipe. Anyway, here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Apple Snacks
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fruit fresh
1 tsp sugar, opt.
1 tsp flax seed meal
1 tsp almond meal
1 Apple, sliced into about 12-16 sliced

In a ziploc bag or other larger bag (I used a "food & bread" plastic bag) mix everything but the apple. Add the apple and toss. Yummy!

Dessert Version
Microwave a 2 minutes and 30 seconds each after that until the apples are soft. Serve over ice cream or eat plain. I haven't tried this, but when I do I will make a post.

Appetizer Version
Chunk the apples before tossing.

Baked Potato Cordon Bleu Casserole

So I haven't been blogging much for a while since I am pregnant and was feeling so sick that the thought of cooking and writing about it made me feel even sicker. I have to thank my wonderful husband who has done most of the cooking for the last 2 months along with the cleaning and many other household chores. I am finally starting to feel like I am among the living, YEAH! and last night I made a new recipe.

For Christmas my husband got me a Kitchen-Aid Food Processor that has 3 different bowl and does a myriad of things. To my wonderful joy there were several recipes that came with it that were already Gluten Free. One of them was a Loaded Baked Potato Casserole. It reminded me of a recipe I love that we affectionately call "funeral Potatoes" (you can guess why). Anyway, my Father-in-law used to make them with ham and chicken so I decided to do the same and altered the recipe. It turned out pretty good, but I needed to add more flour, I altered the recipe accordingly.

Baked Potato Cordon Bleu Casserole
8 oz cheese,recipe uses 1/2 sharp cheddar & 1/2 smoked cheddar*
1 oz Parmesan cheese
2 1/2 qts water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs russet potatoes (I think this is about 10 med)
1/4 C loosely packed fresh parsley, chopped or 4 tsp dried
6 green onions, chopped
1 16-oz container sour cream
2 Tbsp potato flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 C. diced cooked chicken
1/2 C diced or shredded ham
Corn Flake Crumbs***
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted***

1. Grate cheeses and set aside
2. In a dutch oven pot add water and 1 1/2 tsp salt, bring to boil. Shred potatoes and add to boiling water. Return to boil and cook for 1 minute or until crisp-tender. Drain well
3. If desired, chop fine the chicken & ham in the food processor**
4. In a large mixing bowl combine sour cream, flour, pepper, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 Tbsp butter melted,if desired. Mix well. Add potatoes, shredded cheeses, onions, parsley, chicken & ham; toss gently to mix well. Spread into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
5. Sprinkle Corn Flake crumbs over potatoes and drizzle with melted butter.*** Bake at 350-degrees for 45-60 minutes or until golden brown and edges are bubbly.

Yields 12 - 3/4-cup servings

*I am using a combo of cheddar, swiss and havarti since it is what I
have in the fridge.
**I did this and it made it smooth, however I think I will leave them whole next time.
***You can also top with cheese or the original recipe calls for:a slice bread cut in half then butter both sides and place buttered sides together. Cut into 1-inch pieces and in a food processor process into fine crumbs (10-12 seconds). Sprinkle crumb mixture over potatoes.

Yummy!