Chicken Salad is whats for lunch!

I love some chicken salad! When my husband was first diagnosed with celiac disease I thought we would be left with NOTHING to eat! I was SO wrong! In our house we are dairy free, gluten free and tomato free.   

I thought chicken salad was out of the question because I was unsure of whether mayo would be gluten free! I have found that Spectrum Organic Mayo IS gluten free! I have read on the celiac forums that other brands are gluten free but I have not tried them and can NOT promise for sure that they are in fact gluten free. I will try them in the future and update you all with what we find out. The ones they say are gluten free are: Duke's Mayo, Hellman's Mayo, and Kraft Mayo. If any of you have actually tried these or verified that they are gluten free please leave a comment below letting us know! : D

 

We have found that the chicken salad has been easy on my husbands stomach. Its also great protein! 

We keep ours simple but chicken salad options are endless! 

We do shredded chicken (roasting a whole chicken and deboning is MUCH cheaper)

green grapes, quartered

chopped celery 

spectrum Organic Mayo

Sea Salt 

I put mine on bread because I love a chicken salad sandwich! With that said I did not want many carbs and with the mayo being high in fat...I only used 1 piece of bread and ate it with a fork! :) 

One last look!

 

Would you like the recipe to the Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan Multi Grain bread I made for this sandwich? Then Click Below! 

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan Multi Grain bread

Multi Grain GF Bread! YUM!

So I have tried several bread recipes and I will continue to try more. I made a delicious Whole Grain bread yesterday. It has a nice flavor that goes great for sandwiches. Its not sweet like some GF breads I have tried!


Excuse the low quality pics. I snapped them with my cell phone. :)

 

So here is the recipe that I tried! 

Oh and I used my Breadman Bread Machine. I used a Gluten Free cycle. Mine is set at a 1.5lb loaf and Medium Crust. It goes for about 1:19 mins. Once my machine stops I add 15mins on Bake Only to finish baking. Otherwise the inside is too doughy to me! 

Proof your yeast first! 

2 1/4 tsp of bread machine yeast. You can also use rapid rise or instant yeast I believe. I buy the actual Bread machine yeast. Mix the yeast with 1 1/4 cup of warm water and 1/8 tsp of raw organic sugar.

Dry Ingredients (In separate bowl)

2/3 cups Sorghum Flour 

1/3 cup of buckwheat Flour 

1/2 cup Millet Flour 

1 cup Potato Starch 

2 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 1/4 tsp sea salt

Ener G Egg replacer for 2 eggs

(mix these together with a whisk to ensure it is mixed well)

Wet ingredients (pour directly into bread machine)

Proofed Yeast 

4 TBL EVOO

3 TBL Raw Agave Nectar 

1/2 tsp rice vinegar 

Ok so in your bread machine you will pour in your proofed yeast, then your other wet ingredients, then pour all of your dry ingredients (already mixed) on top of the wet ingredients. 

Set your machine like I said above and Once the machine is done with the Kneading process before the rising process, you will remove the paddle! If not it will be INSIDE your bread when its done. 

**Every bread machine is different and may cook things shorter, longer, just differently! So if the bread does not look done enough - set your bake only for additional bake time! I had to do 15mins as suggested above.  You may have to use your own judgement on that. **

Please let me know if you have any questions! I really hope you try this. It is good for gluten free but delicious enough for everyone! 

You could make this even healthier by adding seeds like flax, caraway, chia, hemp seeds etc. It will change the flavor and texture but I think this bread can be versatile! I would try it the original way first and then add to it as you see fit. :) 

***If you do NOT have a Bread machine - LOOK HERE!!!***

Preheat oven to 350.

You will mix your dry ingredients in one bowl, your wet ingredients in another bowl. In your mixer add you dry ingredients, then your yeast (proofed - should look foamy), then slowly add in your wet ingredients. Do NOT over mix or it will cause the yeast to not rise correctly. 

It will look like batter more than dough! That is normal for gluten free bread!  Then you will pour it into your 1.5lb loaf pan.  cover the bread pan with a cool damp towel and let bread rise for 20 mins in a warm spot. I put on top of a preheated oven (stove top). 

Once bread is done rising you can bake it for 30-45 mins. Every stove varies. You should be able to tap the top of the bread and it sound slightly hollow. If you feel its not done enough...add 5 mins at a time to ensure you dont burn it! :)

If you give it a try PLEASE come back and let me know what you thought! :)

Gluten Free Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins

I made some very yummy blueberry almond flour muffins today! Thank you to the Gluten Free Goddess! I used her recipe and for the first time since going gluten free we are enjoying MUFFINS!!! YUM! (click gluten free goddess above for the original recipe!

The only thing I did differently - I did NOT have the vanilla powder so I exchanged it for vanilla extract. I also added 1/4tsp MORE xanthan gum to make up for the extra liquid.

Some suggestions I have and will try out in the future -

Grated lemon peel in mixed with the blueberries.
dash of fresh grated nutmeg
cinnamon

You could do any of those, all of those or something completely different! I just think it would add a little more flavor. With that said, these were good all by themselves.

Now for whatever reason I needed to cook them for an extra 10 mins. It was too doughy for me @ 25mins.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Today was a GREAT morning for a large family breakfast! You would think that the men would take over in the kitchen to serve the ladies BUT nope....Thats ok because we had the best time cooking together this morning! To me there is NOTHING better than spending my mothers day with the many people I enjoy in my life! Hey....if you gotta cook your own Mothers Day meal.....at least its nice to have someone to cook with! ♥

We had a full spread of things to eat and it was ALL gluten free! I sadly forgot to take pictures!!! (Maybe I can find a way to score a couple pics from the left overs!)

We had scrambled farm fresh eggs. They were scrambled with unsweetened almond milk. Boars Head bacon (gluten free), and Applegate Bacon (gluten free from Whole Foods). Then my mother in law made some delicious homemade sausage! She used ground pork, thyme, sage, red pepper, and sea salt. It was good! There was also home cut squared hashbrowns.

I tried my hand at a Gluten Free Southern Biscuit! It was good and you could actually cut the dough with your biscuit cutter! We made mini biscuits and large biscuits. We had regular homemade gravy for our southern biscuits!

*The gravy was made with sausage drippings, all purpose flour (made from our biscuit dough), water, salt, and cayenne. The gravy was NOT a favorite with everyone. We will have to work to find and perfect a good white gravy!


 For a nice dessert we had the famous Almond biscuits that I have come to LOVE from Elana's Pantry! We ate those with our delicious chocolate gravy! mmmmmm....

For those that do not enjoy almonds....this recipe is not for you and the chocolate went fantastic with the southern biscuits too! 

All in all it was a delicious gluten free breakfast that the entire family enjoyed! 

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! Tell us what you had for your Mother's Day gathering! Even if it was not gluten free! Share it with us anyways.

My First Yeast Dinner Rolls!

MMmmmm....Dinner Rolls!

I am not a huge fan of bread but I do like it from time to time. So when I do eat it... I would like for it to be GOOD! I knew Easter was going to be a challenge b/c for the first time we were doing as much gluten free as we could. So I decided to try my hand at gluten free rolls! I wanted to have bread on the table that I knew we could eat.

I searched and searched for a good recipe. I was looking for a certain thing and I was not finding it....AND then...I found it! The recipe I was hoping for! haha. I was super excited to try these. I then realized...I did NOT have the SWEET rice flour. I had to find a substitution and quick. So I decided to go with Tapioca Starch.
Here is the link to the original recipe! This was from The Art of Gluten-Free Baking.

First I made the recommended All Purpose Flour recipe. This is were I had to make the substitution for tapioca starch versus sweet rice flour!


1 1/4 C brown rice flour
1 1/4 C  white rice flour
1 C  tapioca flour
1 C tapioca starch
2 tsp. xanthan gum


I did have some left over and I stored it in a glass jar in my pantry.


These are the ingredients to the Rolls from The Art of Gluten-Free Baking.

Ingredients I used

3 C Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
2 tsp xanthan gum
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 C sugar
2 TBL active dry yeast (see pic below for the one I used)
2 C  warm vanilla Almond Milk
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar with "Mothers"
2 large brown organic eggs
1/4 C EVOO

This is how I made the rolls


I sprayed the muffin tins with EVOO (It had a good flavor but I would like to try it with coconut oil next time and tapioca flour...Might give it a hint of sweetness). The EVOO did cause my rolls to be darker.
I also did not flour my muffin tin.


In a small bowl, I mixed together  1 tbl spoon of  raw sugar into the warm Vanilla Almond Milk. Then I added the yeast stir and set aside.

 

In a medium bowl, I mixed the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, the remaining raw sugar, and sea salt.

I mixed together the organic brown eggs, apple cider vinegar and EVOO into my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment. Then I added the yeast mixture. Once that is all mixed you will add flour mixture slowly, beat on low for one minute and high for 3 minutes.

Now it is ready for the pan!☺

Then I spooned the dough into the muffin tins and put on top of the stove to rise for about 40-45 minutes.

Baked in oven at 375 (let preheat first) for about 30 minutes. Because of the EVOO it got brown much faster. If you try my way then please set it for 30 and then check it. You can always reset the timer.☺

This was MY finished product!!

Pork Fried Rice!

I love some good pork fried rice! Bad thing is....Chinese food is kind of out of the question when you are living gluten free!

Good thing we can make it at home! :) We had pork chops and rice one night last week and decided that we would reuse the two by making a NEW meal with those items. We came up with Pork Fried Rice.

You can use many different veggies in your Pork Fried Rice. We chose Peas and shredded carrots.

I started with EVOO, diced onion, chopped fresh garlic, frozen organic peas and shredded carrot mix saute until tender (you can add mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, etc.).

Once tender you will use your already cooked rice and add it to the pan. 

I used:

Then you will chop your pork into bite size pieces, add Gluten Free Chicken broth to the pan, about 1/4 cup (maybe more depending on the amount you are cooking). Then you will add any other seasonings you may want. I added garlic powder, onion powder, and a little Sea Salt.This is when I add my Tamari Sauce, about 3 tbs. You will cook rice until it begins to resemble fried rice. Then you will slide all your rice to one side of the pan. Crack one or two eggs on the empty side of the pan and scramble the eggs. 

After egg has been scrambled, mix it in with the rice! Once you have mixed it all together, you are DONE and it is ready to eat! mmmmm....

Ingredients:

Pork sirloin

Rice 

garlic

onion

garlic powder

onion powder

tamari sauce 

peas and carrots 

chicken broth 

organic eggs

sea salt 

Let me know if you try this super easy dinner idea! I would love to hear feedback in the comments below! :)

Breadcrumbs!

I have to drive at least 20 minutes to a Whole foods to find bread crumbs! I figured there HAD to be a better way!

In my house we RARELY eat the end pieces of our loaves of bread. So...I kept all of them! I placed those pieces on a baking sheet.

Bake at 250 for about 15-20 minutes. At a low temp it will just dry out the bread mostly versus browning the bread. Once the bread is dry and crisp, then you will break the pieces into a blender or food processor and pulse!

This will create breadcrumbs.

I then placed mine in a bag, labeled it and placed it in the freezer. You can season your breadcrumbs before freezing if you would like BUT I personally like to season mine as I cook.

Voila! Gluten Free Breadcrumbs! These were made with UDI bread but now that I bake my own bread....I will be using my bread crumbs! :)

My First loaf of Bread!

This is my first loaf of bread! I was SUPER excited to give a try at baking my own bread! 

I LOVE whole wheat bread and was SAD to see that I was NO longer able to eat it! After paying $5.99 for UDI bread a few times....I realized.....I did NOT like paying that price! I will say that it is a very good store bought bread! If you are going to buy store bought bread then UDI is the way to go! It has a great flavor and holds together wonderfully. It also makes yummy toast!

I just could not go another day without making my own! :) Nothing like fresh baked bread, right?

So this is how I made my bread!

Ingredients


YEAST
1 cup warm water
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp raw sugar (could use agave)

DRY INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup ground flax
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup almond flour/meal
2 1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
1 1/4 tsp sea salt

WET INGREDIENTS
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 brown organic eggs
2 brown organic egg whites


*I wanted to take more pics but got caught up in the bread making. haha. I did manage to capture a few though!*

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease loaf pan.

In a small bowl combine water, yeast, and sugar. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. This will allow the yeast to proof and it will shorten the rise time.

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Mix well and set aside.

In mixer add your wet ingredients and blend until combined.

Add yeast mixture to mixer and mix at low speed until combined.

Switch to a dough hook and begin slowly adding dry ingredients.

This bread did not really form a "dough ball" It was just doughy. haha Not sure if that makes sense.

Pour your dough into your loaf pan and shape. **It was very hard to shape.**

 

Let the dough rise in a warm draft free place for 30-40 minutes or until dough rises to the top of the pan. 

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

***I did 35 minutes the first time and it jiggled a little. So...I put it back in the oven and set the timer to 10 minutes. It seemed perfect at 45 minutes in my oven but all ovens vary. :)

I was really excited that it tasted so good! It had that wheat feel to me.  My husband says it has the homemade "wheat" bread taste. SCORE! : D

I really hope you try this bread because its yummy! Its good for anyone, not just because its gluten free!

 

 Let me know what you think! I would love to hear your comments! :)

Sautee Chicken with Sage Browned Butter

So I found a recipe and wanted to try it....It called for all purpose flour and I decided that was not going to stop me! I used rice flour BUT I think it needed a little bit of a hearty flour. I have not tried most of my flours yet but it did do just fine with the rice flour!

 

Here is the recipe I found and gave a try - 

Sautéed Chicken with Sage Browned Butter

 

Photo by: Photo: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

This recipe was found Here! 

This is how I did the recipe:

Ingredients I used: 

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves thin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• EVOO
• 1/2 cup Rice Flour
• 4 tablespoons butter (I added a tbl spoon more of butter)
• 4 sage sprigs (I added 2 more sage sprigs)
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Fresh sage leaves (optional) *did NOT use this**

I purchased Hormone free, no antibiotic, cage free chicken. You can get full breast and cut them so that they are thin or you can pound them between plastic or parchment paper to thin them. I however purchased mine already thin so that I could cut my prep time! :) 

Salt and pepper (we did not use pepper) your chicken and then dredge your chicken in the gluten free flour that you choose (mine was rice flour). 

Place the chicken in an oiled skillet. I used EVOO. Cook until both sides are browned. (I found that it was a little tough but I think by adding a lid to the skillet, you may be able to hold the moisture better in the chicken). 

While that is cooking prepare the ingredients for the sauce by chopping the shallots and thyme. Cut the lemon in half and get out the butter and sage. 

Once the chicken is cooked and browned, remove from pan. In the same pan add your gluten free butter and sage springs. Cook until butter begins to brown. Then remove your sage, add your shallots and thyme. After about 30 seconds add the lemon juice. Then add the chicken BACK to the pan. 

You are only adding the chicken back to the pan to cover it in the sauce. No cooking left so turn the pan off and then plate the chicken! Add spooned additional sauce over the chicken. 

We did green beans but this would have been fabulous with rice!!!

My Green Beans! We like them soft. Mostly b/c we have always used canned until recently!

 

I purchased frozen french style green beans from Trader Joes! They were a GREAT price the day I went and so I bought several. You can find frozen green beans in the frozen section of your local store as well! 

Place your green beans in a pot and remember that they do look like there is more when they are frozen than we they are fully cooked so you may want to add a little more to the pot! 

Next cover the green beans with your favorite chicken broth. We use Kroger brand chicken broth b/c it is Gluten Free and says so on the box. Also, it is under $2! 

Then you will add garlic powder to the pot. Sometimes I also add Onion powder. I would say to my pot I added about 3tbl of garlic powder. No onion powder this time. 

You do NOT need to add salt! Most chicken broth has enough salt and adding salt will make them TOO salty! I made this mistake once! lol

Please leave your thoughts below! If you try the recipe, please let me know what you think!!! :)

Gluten Free Bacon!

I have found a couple Gluten Free Bacons!

The first one I found and used was at Whole Foods! It was Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon!
It was a little more than $5.00 I was WRONG! It was only $2.99! I picked up about 9 packs while we were at Whole Foods the other day. I froze most of them. I REALLY like this bacon. It is not fatty at all and has a great flavor! I HIGHLY recommend this bacon! 

 

Now....Whole Foods is NOT close to me and I have to make a descent drive to get to it which can be very inconvenient! So I do MOST of my shopping at Kroger!  I finally found a Gluten Free bacon at Kroger! It was labeled as Gluten Free in the store. I do NOT see Gluten free on the packaged BUT it was labeled gluten free and my husband who is Celiac....has had NO problems with it! :) He LOVES bacon Sandwiches! :) 

This is the bacon we recommend from Kroger. It is fattier so I do not recommend this often if you are watching your waistline! :) 

*I did find another brand the last week at the Kroger Marketplace. It was a Boars Head Bacon. It was $6.49 I believe (I will have to double check that price).

I will update this post if I find other bacon and/or sausage that are local convenient and yummy!

My Azure Order is HERE!!!

Well....It took almost a week to receive my order but...at least it is here! :)

I was happy with the way the items were shipped. I have been wanting to make bread and desperately NEEDED my millet flour........UNFORTUNATELY, in the mix of many searches for the best price for 5lbs.....I overlooked that their Millet flour IS processed in the same mill as WHEAT products! :(
I paid $3.60 for 5lbs and now I know why! lol Guess I am on the search for a NEW bread recipe until I can get a GLUTEN Free bag of Millet flour!

So here is what I ordered and how it was packaged! (Want to see my order post - CLICK HERE!)

 

I thought it was packaged nicely! 

Ok first thing was the hemp seed! I had to order 12-2oz packs to get the best price! Not a problem for me though b/c I transfer to a jar and refrigerate so this allows me to pantry the unopened packs!

 

Hemp is becoming much more popular again! It is found in many forms but for this post I am going to mention that you can get Hemp Milk, Hemp Protein and Hemp Seed. I have all three! I will discuss them all at some point but for now we are going to discuss the SEED only! 

Hemp Seed taste and smell very nutty! They make a GREAT addition to smoothies which is how I use it most often! It is also good in breads and can be sprinkled on salads. 

Benefits

Hemp is high in protein and it contains nine of the essential amino acids. It has high amounts of fatty acids and fiber. Not too mention it has a good amount of vitamin E. It has a good amount of Omega 3s. It is NOT the highest in Omega 3s but it is a good source. 

We use the hemp mostly in our smoothies. It is a GREAT source of protein and taste MUCH better than any protein powder we tried, including the hemp protein. Some people really like the protein powders BUT we personally were not a fan! 

I came across a website that has a good article regarding Hemp Seeds! Check out the article here! 

The information below was copied from their article! It is NOT my info and I urge you to check out their page for further info! 

Here are just some of hemp's many uses:

• Food - Hemp seeds can be turned into hemp seed oil, butter, hemp milk and even flour. The list of food applications is endless. Over the years, hemp seeds have been part of the food supply in many cultures around the world. In parts of Asia, roasted hemp seeds are eaten as a snack, like popcorn (tasting similar to pine nuts).
  
  Historically, the most famous hemp seed consumer was Buddha himself, who ate them during his fast of enlightenment.
• Fiber - Hemp is used to make a variety of materials from the coveted natural fibers of hemp fabric to rope, paper and building materials.
  
  In fact, hemp was the fabric used in the original Levis jeans, but the fabric had to be abandoned by Levis due to lack of supply.
  
• Fuel - Hemp is considered one of the most efficient plants for biofuel as an alternative to gasoline. Woody Harrelson recently drew attention to the myriad of uses for industrial hemp by touring the West coast with a diesel bus run on hemp biofuel.

Benefits of Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds are nutrient-powerhouses containing:

• All 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential amino acids (EAAs) our bodies cannot produce.
• A high protein percentage of thesimple proteins that strengthen immunity and fend off toxins.²
  
  Eating hemp seeds in any form could aid, if not heal, people suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This conclusion is supported by the fact that hemp seed has been used to treat nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away.³
  
  
• Nature's highest botanical source of essential fatty acid, with more essential fatty acid than flax or any other nut or seed oil. ⁴
• A perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 Linoleic Acid and Omega-3 Linolenic Acid - for cardiovascular health and general strengthening of the immune system.
• A superior vegetarian source of protein considered easily digestible.
• A rich source of phytonutrients, the disease-protective element of plants with benefits protecting your immunity, bloodstream, tissues, cells, skin, organs and mitochondria.
• The richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids. ⁵

Hemp seed oil has been attributed to helping: increase energy, soften skin, relieve arthritis and normalize blood cholesterol.

Check back to see what Hemp recipes I can find and come up with! :) 

NEXT on my order was Coconut Flour!

Coconut flour consist of 14% coconut oil and 58% dietary fiber!


Coconut flour is perfect and ideal for baking!

Coconut flour has as much protein as wheat flour. 

Coconut Flour consists of the highest percentage of dietary fiber( 58%) found in any flour. Wheat bran has only is 27% fiber. 

Next in the order - MILLET flour!

 

The millet flour I ordered was NOT guaranteed gluten free and I will NOT be using it!!!

However if you DO find a guaranteed gluten free Millet flour here are the benefits and uses for it! 

Click Here to read about the benefits and uses!

OR 

Here!

Please leave your comments or question Below if you have any! I will update you with recipes regarding these items! :)

Sorry for my absence!

I am feeling really Ill this week and will post more info when I am feeling better. I did get my Azure order and cant wait to share! I did not want you all to think I gave up on the blog. I just need a few days to recoup!

Thanks! Check back soon!

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly!

This is a favorite of mine from childhood! My mom and dad use to make us these when we were little. My friends thought it sounded crazy but to us it was divine! I LOVE this sandwich! :)

We make this gluten free by using only products that are gluten free! I wish I had a good bread recipe to share with you but as of now I have yet to make my first loaf. I will be making some soon though. I am waiting on my order from Azure. For now I am using bread that was made and given to us. Thank you so much to the sweet lady that shared her bread with us b/c it is DELICIOUS! I cant wait to get the recipe!

So first you will pick out the Jelly and Peanut Butter/Almond Butter you want to use. This is what we used! 

I got the Strawberry Preserves at Trader Joes and the Apricot Spread at Kroger. Both the Almond Butter and the Bee's Knees cam from Kroger. 

You will make your sandwiches first. Just like a normal Peanut butter and Jelly! 

Then you will put some butter in your skillet 

(We used I Can't Believe its NOT Butter Sticks- They have No Trans Fat and is Gluten Free)

Then you will place your sandwiches in the skillet like you would a grilled cheese. I always top my sandwich with a little more butter so that both sides are buttery. mmmmm....

Now all that is left is flipping it, browning it and putting it on a plate! Be sure to grab a fork b/c it will be hot and gooey! You will follow in LOVE with this SUPER EASY and Super Quick meal. 

This is What your finished product will look like! 

B

Be sure to comment on how you liked it! What kind of Peanut Butter and Jelly did you choose?