Gluten-Free – Page 8 – in thriver words

Let the Food do the Work

When you’re tired and overwhelmed, don’t do more shopping, let the food do the work! The past few weeks have held multiple family gatherings. I decided to make chicken spaghetti for one of them. That was always my mom’s go-to for a dinner party when I was small and I’ve been wanting to make it for a while.

Most chicken spaghetti recipes contain cream of mushroom soup and most readily available cream of mushroom soups contain wheat flour. That may work for most of the family, but there are several of us who can’t tolerate gluten. Rather than driving from store to store in search of an acceptable soup brand or taking the extra step of making soup, I simply let the chicken make soup for me!

To make chicken spaghetti, I needed to cook some chicken to cube up. I decided it would be easy to make soup while I cooked the chicken. I started by spraying an extra large roasting pan with olive oil spray. I then covered the bottom of the pan with rough chopped white button mushrooms and topped the mushrooms with 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and 6 thighs liberally seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

The next addition was a 32 oz box of gluten-free chicken broth that I always keep in the pantry. I poured it around the chicken. I did the same with a pint of heavy whipping cream and enough milk to reach the top of all but the largest chicken breasts. I dotted any exposed chicken with butter.

From that point, all I had to do was bake the chicken for 50 minutes at 350º. While the chicken baked, a delicious cream of mushroom soup formed in the bottom of the pan. After the cooked chicken cooled, I removed each piece, scraped the mushrooms may have that stuck to them back into the broth and then placed the mushroom soup into a sauce pan. Before simmering the soup to reduce it a bit while I assembled the spaghetti, I gave it a quick taste test and added a bit more salt, pepper, and garlic.

The resulting soup was rich from the cream, full of flavor from the chicken and mushrooms, and the only additional time required was the time it took to chop the mushrooms. That’s much less time than it would have taken to drive to the store and I’ve never had packaged cream of mushroom soup that I couldn’t stop eating because it was so delicious.

Another bonus to this approach was that I had more than enough soup for the chicken spaghetti. I added some cubed potatoes to the left-overs for a hearty lunch the next day.

The idea for this cream of mushroom soup may have come from a desire to let the food do the work, but the result convinced me there’s no reason to make it any other way. And knowing I don’t have to travel from store to store gathering ingredients makes it more likely that I’ll make chicken spaghetti again soon!

Gluten-Free Bowl Mix

You may think Gluten-Free Bowl Mix is so named because it’s made in a bowl or served in a bowl. I guess that COULD be true, but we call it that because we like to crunch on big old handfuls while watching football during the holidays. Of course, that means we’re watching lots of bowl games – you get the picture!
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It’s easy to find the mix ingredients now that mainstream food companies are making gluten-free cereal and most boxes are clearly marked. Be sure to check the Cheerios box to make sure you see the gluten-free stamp. I saw some boxes in a dollar store the other day that were not gluten-free.

My sister recently introduced us to Certified Gluten-Free baked Goldfish Mega Cheese Puffs. Now I like to include them in the mix for an occasional cheesy bite. You can add even more than I’ve included in the recipe; just make sure to add them at the end after everything has cooled off.

Here’s the recipe I used for tonight’s College Football Playoff National Championship game:

Gluten-Free Bowl Mix

6 tbsp butter
4 cups Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
2 cups gluten-free Cheerios
1 1/4 cups mixed nuts
1 1/4 cups small gluten-free pretzel twists
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 cup gluten-free Goldfish Mega Cheese Puffs

Preheat oven to 250º.

Place butter in a large roasting pan and put in oven until melted. While butter is melting, mix cereals, nuts, and pretzels together in large bowl. Remove butter from oven and stir in Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder and onion powder. Pour cereal mixture into roasting pan and stir until all pieces are coated in the butter and seasoning.

Bake at 250º for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. If you like a few burned edges, after 45 minutes of baking, increase the temperature to 350º and reduce the cooking time by 5 minutes. Once the mix has baked, remove it from oven and place on paper towels to drain and cool. Once completely cool, stir in Goldfish and place in an airtight container until time for the game.

We’re carrying our Bowl Mix to a friend’s house to watch the game and enjoy sausage balls, vegetables and hummus, and personality Snickers. That’s what we call food, football and fun! I hope you have some fun planned as well.

Roll Tide! (That’s for my daughter-in-law.)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

It’s a Good Day for Chicken Soup!

It’s a good day for chicken soup! It’s raining outside and I have a cold…or something. I don’t feel horrible, but I don’t feel good. At first my sinuses hurt, then my throat got scratchy, and now I’m getting a cough, but certainly not the worst I’ve ever had. I really just want to go to sleep.
Soup
Sometimes it’s really hard to know when to give in, go to bed and rest, and when to push on. I was able to work out this morning. That didn’t seem to increase my cough or leave me feeling drained. I knocked out some work and went to the post office. It was when I got back that I began to feel draggy and my cough increased.

I’ve been chugging orange juice and it seems like the perfect time to add some chicken soup! Of course I don’t really feel like a lengthy cooking session.

Luckily, I keep organic chicken stock and rice in the pantry and I always have baby carrots in the fridge. Today, I also have celery. It may not look quite the same as my favorite recipe, but I can have some warm, tasty soup ready in a matter of minutes.

Here’s my simple soup making plan:
32 oz box Imagine Low Sodium Free Range Chicken Broth
3/4 cup water
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Italian Herbs paste
Pinch of black pepper
12 – 15 baby carrots, sliced into thin rounds
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2/3 cup quick-cooking Texmati rice

Pour chicken broth and water into a large saucepan. Add salt, garlic powder, herb paste, and pepper, then stir. Bring to a boil. Add carrots, celery, and rice to broth and stir. Cover and turn heat to low. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

If I had a leftover chicken breast or a roasted chicken from the grocery store, I’d tear it into small pieces and add it to the broth along with the rice. This isn’t the first time I’ve fixed chicken soup in a pinch. Sometimes I add a little turmeric or substitute curry powder for the Italian spices. Sometimes I throw in fresh rosemary and sage in place of the herb paste or top things off with arugula or green peas. Of course there are a million options. Since I’m feeling under the weather, the point is to use what’s handy and keep it simple.

I’m planning to pair the soup with a piece of homemade gluten-free bread from the freezer and a cup of hot herbal tea…followed by a nap.

I should be back to normal in no time. I won’t be reaching for the meds unless some complication develops. After all, this is Get Smart About Antibiotics Week – when the CDC reminds us that we overuse and misuse antibiotics which, by the way, are not helpful for colds and flu in the first place.

So if you’re feeling just a bit under the weather, won’t you join me for a cup of comforting chicken soup?

http://www.hhnmag.com/articles/6720-hospitals-around-the-world-unite-to-battle-antibiotic-overuse

An Easy Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu

Looking for an easy gluten-free Thanksgiving menu? You may be surprised how similar it can be to your family’s normal holiday menu.
table setting

Let’s start with my grandmother’s regular Thanksgiving choices:
Turkey
Cornbread Dressing
Cranberry Orange Relish
Corn
Black Eyed Peas
Green Beans
Candied Sweet Potatoes with Pecans
This is about 2/3 of her menu. Up to this point, the only change required to Gran’s menu is to make the cornbread without using wheat flour. Two-thirds of the way through the menu with one minor substitution seems pretty easy to me. And we all love how the cranberry orange relish dresses up a tall glass compote. Besides that, it’s delicious!

My mom makes it using the recipe straight from OceanSpray®:
1 unpeeled orange, cut into eighths and seeded
One 12 oz package fresh cranberries
3/4 to 1 cup sugar

Place half the cranberries and orange slices in a food processor and evenly chop. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat to chop the other half. Stir in sugar. Store in refrigerator or freezer.
stuffing
The rest of the meal isn’t hard to make gluten-free either. My grandmother always served brown-n-serve rolls. We just leave those out and eat more dressing since we like it better anyway. If one of us is really craving bread, but we don’t want to go to the trouble of making yeast rolls, we whip up some biscuits. Truth is, we prefer biscuits to rolls pretty much any day anyhow.

Another change I make is to simplify the sweet potatoes. This isn’t required to make them gluten-free. It’s just a preference. Ben & I like baked sweet potatoes with butter or mashed butternut squash better than anything candied. I think that’s pretty much it for the required alterations to the main meal. Once we’ve digested these changes, we’re suddenly hungry for dessert!
SweetPot
My grandmother served pecan pie, cherry pie, and pumpkin pie. We still serve pecan pie with fresh whipped cream, but our tastes run more to sweet potato rather than pumpkin. We’ve found that we can use traditional sweet potato and pecan pie recipes for the filling. Only the crust has to change. For that, we use a Cooking2Thrive gluten-free crust recipe that takes less than 10 minutes to make.

Several of my neighbors include mac & cheese in their tradition. I think they call it a vegetable, although for the life of me I can’t figure out why. If it’s on your family’s menu, there’s plenty of ready-made gluten-free pasta to be had. Just make sure to pair it with a cheese sauce thickened with something besides wheat flour. I have used sorghum flour or besan as a substitute in sauces and gravy.

My sister likes casseroles so she gets excited when I vary the menu to include a corn soufflé or a green bean casserole made with fresh onion topping and a brown butter sauce. She’s also a big fan of mashed potatoes made with real butter and cream and left a bit chunky.

Ben votes for Brussels sprouts as an added bonus every time we take a vote. Here’s how he likes them:
2 tbsp bacon renderings
1 lb Brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed, and halved
2 spring onions
1/2 manzano chile pepper, sliced thin
1/4 tsp salt
7-8 grinds of black pepper

Heat bacon renderings in cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add Brussels sprouts cut side down. Sauté without stirring until sprouts begin to brown. While sprouts are cooking, chop the green tops of the onion into 2 inch long strips and rough chop the head of one of the onions (both if bulbs are small). Add onion tops, chopped onion, and chile pepper to pan and cook for about 2 minutes (save unused onion bulb for another recipe). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir. Sauté for two more minutes. Turn off heat. Cover pan and allow to sit for 8-10 minutes.

As you can see, you may not need to reinvent the wheel in order to have a gluten-free Thanksgiving. Sometimes a simple tweak to the routine fare is all that’s required for a satisfyingly traditional meal.

Here’s looking forward to a delicious holiday!

http://www.oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Sauces,-Sides-Salads/Fresh-Cranberry-Orange-Relish.aspx