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!!!

Chicken Rice Casserole - crock pot

This dish isn’t Christmas-y at all, but it’s a tasty and simple dinner recipe!

Chicken Rice Casserole in the crock pot

2 Chicken breasts
2 cups uncooked rice
3 cups gluten free chicken broth
2 cups water
S and P to taste
Shredded cheese – optional

Put the rice and chicken in the crock pot and cover with broth, water, and S and P. Cook 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 on low. Sprinkle with cheese about 30 minutes before it’s done if you wish. We didn’t do that this time, so you won’t see cheese in the picture. I put some parsley on the chicken, so that's why it's greenish.

It’s really that simple, and really that good! As long as you use gluten free chicken broth, it’s naturally gluten free.

Christmas Cookies!

When my friend Morgan told me she was going to do some gluten free Christmas cookie baking, I directed her to Carrie’s gluten free cookie roundup at GingerLemonGirl. Once I browsed through the plethora of cookie recipes, I decided that I needed to do a gluten free cookie baking day, too.

I have a friend from my church who was diagnosed with Celiacs two weeks ago. So I invited her over and we baked cookies all morning and afternoon last Saturday!

We made Chocolate Chip Cookies (of course!), Cranberry Orange Cookies (since I have a love affair with cranberries), and Sugar Cookies.

I’ll definitely be saving these recipes to use again. The cookies were so scrumptious!

On a side note; yes the sugar cookies are a donkey and a pig. Unfortunately I don’t have any “Christmasy” cookie cutters, just barn yard animals. But, I figured there were probably donkeys and pigs in the stable when Jesus was born, so it works!

Chicken Black Bean Soup

I learned a very good lesson this week, one that many of you probably have known for years.

I found out that dried beans don’t fully cook in a soup in the crock pot for 8 hours on low.

I made Chicken Black Bean crock pot soup on Wednesday. Even without the beans being fully cooked, it still was quite tasty. I’ll definitely make this soup again, but not in the crock pot next time. I think it’ll turn out better on the stove. Or maybe a combination of crock pot and stove.

Here’s what’s in it:

16 oz. dried black beans

1-2 chicken breasts

28 oz diced tomatoes and juice

4 cups gluten free chicken broth

2 onions, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

16 oz frozen corn

Coriander to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

I just threw everything in the crock pot (minus frozen corn), and turned it on low all day. Next time I think I’ll cook everything except the corn and beans in the crock pot, cook the beans on the stove, and then add the beans and corn just before I serve it. That way the beans won’t be crunchy, which is always a plus!

I work with an elementary girls group at my church on Wednesday nights. This past Wednesday we were supposed to dress up like Christmas. Here’s what I came up with:

I’m a Christmas tree! I had on brown pants (which you can’t really see) to be the tree trunk, green to be the boughs, ornaments hung up with care, and an angel on top!

Weekly Menu - Gluten Free

Thanks to Diane for the breakfast burrito idea. We’ve used up quite a few of our tortillas on those, and, boy, are they yummy!

I survived my crazy busy week, and now I’m on to a calmer and more relaxed week. Of course I’m trying to do Christmas shopping and baking, and trying to get caught up on the housework that was put on the back burner last week (laundry, anyone?), but for the most part, it should be a nice week.

That doesn’t take into consideration the fact that I’m sure I’ll be staying super late at work since open enrollment is closing and the enrollment forms can’t enter themselves… That would be stellar if they could!

I’m going to try a few new recipes that have been floating around in my head, so I’ll actually have food stuff to put up here on my blog.

Here’s what I have planned for a naturally gluten free menu:

• Monday – Burgers and rice
• Tuesday – Rice noodles
• Wednesday – Chicken black bean crock pot soup (recipe to come later this week)
• Thursday – Tomato soup and sandwiches
• Friday – Chicken nuggets and mashed sweet potatoes
• Saturday lunch – Chicken and rice casserole (again, recipe to come later this week)
• Saturday dinner – Split pea chowder
• Sunday – Cobb salads

Weekly Menu

I'm playing with the symphony this weekend for their Holiday Pops concert, so I'll be at rehearsals Tuesday and Thursday. That means that I need something quick and easy for dinner on those two nights.

We also have a ton of tortillas left over from when we had salsa chicken last week. So, I need some creative ways to use them up.

• Monday -Bean burritos
• Tuesday - Tortilla pizzas
• Wednesday - Chili
• Thursday - Chili again, I think
• Friday - Cheesy chicken rice casserole
• Saturday lunch - Egg sandwiches
• Saturday dinner - Eat out, I think, since I have a 2:00 show and a 7:30 show. Not much time left for cooking!

I sometimes feel a little anxious about eating out before a show. I prefer to eat something that I know will not make me *sick*. Maybe I'll come up with something to throw in the crock pot Saturday morning. That way I won't have to cook in between shows, and I'll get to eat at home.

Do you have any creative ways of using up corn tortillas before they go stale?

Cranberry Raspberry Pie - Gluten Free

Here's another picture of my cranberry raspberry pie. I was so happy with the way the filling held together. It didn't get at all soggy.

Thanks to Blondin for taking this photo!

Blue Cheese - Gluten Free?

Gluten Free Kay asked me about the blue cheese that I had on Thanksgiving. I served Amablu blue cheese. I emailed Amablu to ask if their cheese was gluten free and received a response in 18 minutes. Here’s what Beth at Amablu said:

“That is a very common question and I’m glad you asked. Our Amablu products, including our blue cheese, gorgonzola and our award winning St. Pete’s Select blue cheese are all gluten free. We are careful to purchase our Penicillium roqueforttii from manufacturers that culture without the use of wheat or rye breads.

We here at Faribault Dairy take pride in making handmade, all natural, award winning cheese and ultimately strive for you, the consumer to have a pleasurable palate experience. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.

I hope you enjoy your blue cheese experience.”

I have a fond connection with Amablu. My grandfather worked in the sand caves in Faribault making blue cheese many years ago. They shut down the caves for a while, and then recently the Faribault Dairy company bought them and began production again.

My sister and I have very thin skin, so you can easily see our veins beneath it. We like to say that we have blue cheese coursing through our veins. When people ask how we can eat moldy cheese, we say, “It’s in our blood!” We follow in the footsteps of our grandpa!

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Dinner - Yum!!!

Well, Thanksgiving is all over with. We had a great time with family and lots o' food. Here are a few pictures from our meal.



We had cheese and crackers and deviled eggs for appetizer. Tim and I were really looking forward to the special cheeses. We had creamy havarti, dill havarti, Dubliner, Gruyere, and blue. Of course, most blues are started on wheat bread, so be careful about eating blue cheese.






Then we started the meal out with a fresh julienne veggie salad with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette and popovers. I used the popover recipe from the Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread. They didn’t “pop” a lot, but they tasted just like their glutenful partners.




We got out our china for this special meal. I just love the look of our accent plates!




The main course consisted of too much food. We had a beef roast with lots of onions, mashed garlic sweet potatoes...




green bean casserole...




Carrie’s sweet corn pudding, cranberry salad...




and cranberry sauce.






Then, much later in the day, we had our dessert: raspberry cranberry pie and chocolate pie. Can you tell that we like cranberries in my family?




For breakfast this morning we had fruit soup (a family tradition) and a Swedish coffee cake from the Gluten Free Gourmet Makes Comfort Food that really turned out great! I’ll definitely be making that recipe again!




I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too. And don’t forget to give thanks!

Thanksgiving Menu

Sorry I’ve been *absent* recently. I have so much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving!

My mom, sister, and great-aunt are coming down tomorrow to stay through Friday. I’m glad I’ll have a bunch of extra hands to help in the kitchen!

I’m so excited for our Thanksgiving meal! We’re already prepping some of the food and I just want to eat it all right now!

Here’s what we’re having…

Appetizers
Cheese and crackers
Deviled eggs

Dinner
Julienne veggie salad with raspberry vinaigrette
Pot roast (I know, I know, it’s not turkey, but it’s still so good!)
Garlic mashed sweet potatoes
Green bean hot dish
Carrie’s sweet corn pudding
Pineapple salad
Popovers
Cranberry sauce

Dessert
Cranberry raspberry pie (with this pie crust recipe)
Dark chocolate pie
Ice cream

Oh, I’m getting hungry just typing this out.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that my family members have unusual diets. I don’t eat gluten, my sister’s a vegetarian and doesn’t eat tomatoes or peppers, and my mom doesn’t eat wheat, potatoes, and corn. It’s a challenge to cook for all of us, but I think I have enough here to satisfy everyone.

I’ll post some pictures and recipes later this week.

My Thanksgiving guests will be leaving Friday afternoon, and then my cousins and two of their friends will be coming Friday evening to stay through Sunday. I’m pretty sure I won’t have too much blogging time; I’ll be having way too much fun!

Thanksgiving

I’m getting excited for Thanksgiving. We’re having my Mom, sister Rae, and Great-aunt Cheryl down for a few days. They’ll be here the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so I’m going to put them all to work in the kitchen helping me prepare the big meal! I’ll be glad to have the help!

I really enjoy planning out a special Thanksgiving meal. I’ll post our menu and food pictures next week. I should tell you that we’re going to have a raspberry cranberry pie to whet your appetite!

Tim and I have been setting aside some extra money each week to help fund our Thanksgiving meal; we couldn’t afford such an elaborate meal on just our $50.00/week grocery budget.

It’s nice to have the extra money in cash so that we know how much to spend and don’t over spend. And it’s nice that it doesn’t all have to come out of our checking account in one fell swoop.

Here are just a few things I’m thankful for:

Tim
My family and in-laws
My church and pastors
My friends
My job
My home

Really, this list could go on and on.

Thank you, Lord, for all of your blessings!

Chicken Soup Variation

I had a semi-failed experiment last week. I had a great idea, but looking back, I should have realized that it wouldn’t play out quite like I intended it.

I thought that I should make sweet potato dumplings to go in my chicken veggie soup. So I made some mashed sweet potatoes and dropped them into the boiling soup by spoonfuls.

Of course, they dissolved!

The end result was still very good. The sweet potatoes thickened up the broth and made it a little creamy.

Sometimes “failed” experiments can end up with good results!

Chili

I made a huge crockpot full of chili on Monday. Chili is so easily gluten free! Here’s what I put in it:


Beef broth
Tomato sauce
Diced tomatoes
Ground turkey
Carrots
Celery
Onions
Turnips
Corn
Black beans
Cumin
Chili powder
Paprika
S&P
(And a little Franks to my individual serving, of course!)


It’s a little thinner than most chilis, but I like that it’s full of veggies.

And the turnips are a nice substitute for potatoes. You can hardly tell the difference!

The corn bread that I made was actually the recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I subbed a mixture of sorghum, brown rice, and white rice flours. It turned out crumbly, but so good! I think I’m going to use that recipe from now on.

Yummy Fruit!

We had a few dollars left over in our food budget this week, and since Wal-Mart had pomegranates on sale for $1.88, I thought I’d get one.

It was quite juicy and flavorful, although after I finished getting the seeds out of it, I was full of red juice!

Soup Menu

I’m still recovering from my wisdom teeth removal. I’m brushing and rinsing 4 to 6 times a day, as recommended.

I mixed together water and tea tree oil to make a mouthwash, since tea tree oil has always helped me heal super quickly! It does taste pretty gross, though.

We’re sticking with soups this week because of the afore mentioned reason, and since it’s in the 30’s outside, if we’re lucky. It went from very nice out to very cold in just a few days!


Sunday dinner – tomato soup
Monday – chili with corn bread
Tuesday – chicken veggie soup
Wednesday – chili served over mashed sweet potatoes
Thursday – chicken veggie rice soup
Friday – split pea chowder
Saturday lunch – spaghetti
Saturday dinner – small steaks


Soups are such a nice way to warm up on a cold day. Another nice way to warm up would be a hot water bottle, but I can’t find one to purchase anywhere! I’ve mentioned before that our microwave died months and months ago, and we never replaced it. Apparently the only hot packs that you can buy now are one you have to heat in the microwave. I’d love to put a hot pack on my cheeks to help the swelling in my jaw go down, but I think I’m out of luck until I come up with a microwave-less alternative.

Let me know if you have any ideas!

Check out Gluten Free Goodness for some great gluten free menus.

There's more menus at Org Junkie, as well!