Wild Rice Soup - Dairy Free and Gluten Free

On Saturday, we brought lunch over to our friends Mike and Amy's house. They have a dream of a baby girl, who recently has been producing a larger-than-normal amount of spit-up. Since Amy's nursing, she's been altering her diet to try to help the baby. So far, eating dairy free has helped.

When I decided to bring them Wild Rice Soup, I realized that I not only had to modify it to be gluten free, but I had to modify it to be dairy free as well.

I used this recipe. I subbed oil for butter and rice milk for half-and-half to make it dairy free. Then to make it gluten free, for the 3/4 cup all-purpose flour I subbed a 1/4 cup brown rice flour, a 1/4 cup sorghum flour, and a 1/4 cup tapioca flour.

The soup was not very creamy; it ended up being brothier. But it was very, very good. So I'm definitely saving this recipe to use again!

Artichoke Spinach Chicken – Gluten Free

The Artichoke Spinach Chicken that I made yesterday turned out pretty good. I will definitely make it again, but it wasn’t my all-time favorite meal or anything.


Artichoke Spinach Chicken – Gluten Free

2 chicken breasts, uncooked
1 package of frozen spinach, thawed
1 can of artichoke hearts, quartered
½ cup mayo
S & P to taste

Put everything in the crock pot and cook for 6-8 hours on low. That’s it!

I served it with rice, but it makes a very nice meal by itself.

It didn’t look very photogenic, so I decided not to take a picture. Also, it smelled a bit *weird,* but when we ate it, it tasted fine. So don’t be put off by that.

I have a loaf of bread kneading in my bread machine, so I’d better go check it!

Weekly Menu

Here's what I have planned for this week:

• Monday - Taco salad
  
• Tuesday - Tomato soup and grilled cheese
• Wednesday - Artichoke spinach chicken
• Thursday - Egg salad
• Friday - My company Christmas party
• Saturday lunch - Wild rice soup
• Saturday dinner - Tim's company Christmas party
• Sunday lunch - Salsa chicken
• Sunday dinner - Salsa chicken soup
• Monday - Pancakes, or as my Dad calls them: Pandogs

One of the advantages to working in HR is that I get to assist with planning the annual Christmas party. We're having the party at our local Elks Club, and they have a gluten free option (Rosemary Chicken, I think). We actually have one other employee who also eats gluten free, so now we both get to go and eat without fear!

I'm just making up the recipe for Artichoke spinach chicken, so if it's good, I'll let you know.

On Saturday we're going to bring our wild rice soup over to our friends' house. They recently had an adorable baby, and they received an interestingly random-sounding game for Christmas, so I think we'll have a good time!

Head over to Org Junkie to find some more great menus!

Frugal Picture Frame Idea

I made this fun frame for my sister Rae. It says, “Sister: a very useful thing.”

If you’re a fan of the Tintin comic books, you may remember that Tintin once said, “Concussion: a very useful thing.” That’s where this saying comes from.

I decoupaged letters I cut out from the newspaper onto a bright pink frame. I love decoupaging; it’s so fun to do and almost always ends up looking great!

And of course you could always use a more *normal* saying. Rae and I are both a bit weird, so I like it that my gift reflects our oddity.

I was really happy with the way this gift came together. It was a thoughtful and frugal idea, if I may say so myself!

Chocolate Peppermint Pie - Easily Gluten Free

Tonight Tim and I are going to visit some really good friends of ours. They’re like my second family, really. One of the girls, Bekka, has Celiac disease, so it’s easy for me to eat at their house.

I’m bringing along a gluten free Chocolate Peppermint Pie. I used Glutino chocolate dream cookies for the crust. It looks so good, I can’t wait to try it!

Raspberry Cranberry Pie - Gluten Free

I made another Raspberry Cranberry pie, for Christmas this time instead of Thanksgiving. I paid more attention to what I was doing so I now have an actual recipe, albeit a simple one.

Raspberry Cranberry Pie

30 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen
18 oz cranberries
Sugar to taste
¼ cup minute tapioca
½ cup tapioca flour
Two pie crusts

Combine the berries and add sugar to your preference of sweetness. Mix in the minute tapioca. Let stand in the fridge over night or longer.

Prepare the pie crusts. Mix the tapioca flour into the filling and pour into the bottom crust. Cover with the top crust and follow the crust’s baking directions.

And there you go!

I always have a little extra crust, so I made two little pie tartlets for some gluten free friends from church. I hope they enjoy them!

Merry Christmas to all!!!