Gluten Free Herb Chicken

I have had the need to cook gluten-free several times in the past few years. Gabriel has been on and off a gluten free diet (and may go on it again), I have a couple gluten-free friends, and now my sis-in-law is trying it to see if dietary restrictions can cure her tummy issues. 

One of the HARDEST things about gluten free is the lack of carbs, and therefore people often do not feel full. When you start a gluten free diet, at first it is completely overwhelming because you focus on what you CAN’T have, and it’s a lot. But, as my sis in law wisely did, you try to focus on what you can have. Even then, it can be a daunting task to figure out how to make allowed food that is also delicious.

When Joanna let me know that she was trying out a Gluten free diet, I wanted to really cook for her...not just have a thing or two around. I used a Gluten Free mix by Red Mill to make her Chocolate Chip Cookies. They don’t taste like the original, but they will certainly satisfy a sweet tooth or chocolate craving.

Then I found a great idea for dinner--use potato flakes instead of flour to bread chicken. The recipe I found called for instant potato flakes, but I used potato cake mix instead, thinking it would crisp up better.  We were not disappointed, and all of us gluten eaters liked this chicken as much as any. So, the following is my adaptation for gluten free chicken strips. We ate them with guacamole and corn tortilla chips and cantaloupe. We made another gluten free dish--rice with apples and cinnamon, but never got around to eating it!

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken. I cut mine into tenders/strips

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 cup potato cake mix 

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. basil

2 tsp. thyme 

(or 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning)

about 1/3 cup oil

Why I use Grapeseed oil: A byproduct of wine making, Grapeseed oil is nearly colorless and tasteless. It is very light (so light I use it on my skin or in the ends of my hair on occasion), and has such a high smoke point--over 400 degrees Farenheit, whereas when Olive Oil is hotter than 350 degrees it starts to break down--that it is ideal for any type of frying. Additionally because of the make up of Grapeseed Oil, if you use proper techniques for frying, like using enough oil and now crowding the pan, and cooking at the right temp, your food will absorb less oil, and is much more compatible with a low fat diet than other oils. It is costly--though not more than Olive Oil, but the benefits for me outweigh the cost.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces.

Salt and pepper them (if you want)

Mix the seasonings and potato cake mix in a bowl or shallow dish

Lay paper towels or a rag on the counter next to the stove, and put a wire rack over them.

Heat the oil in a sturdy pan (cast iron or the like) on high heat. You know it’s high enough when a drop of water dripped on   

        the oil sizzles and crackles.

Roll each chicken piece in the mix and transfer straight to the hot oil.

Cook about 5 minutes on the first side, flip and cook about 4 minutes on the other side.

They are done when both sides are dark golden brown and crisp.

Transfer to the wire rack to cool.

Hints: 

~Don’t crowd the pan. Don’t let pieces touch each other.

~The chicken needs to be pretty dry before being coated. I rinse the chicken under running water, put it on a towel, and pat it dry, then let them dry while I get everything else prepped.

Serving Suggestions:

Dip in Ketchup or ranch (not all dressings are gluten free, so pay attention).

Make small pieces for kids like chicken nuggets.

Homemade "re-fried" Beans--Cheapest Meal on Earth

What you need to do:

Never buy cans of refried beans ever again.


Buy a really big bag of pinto beans at a wholesale store. Keep it sealed up tight, and stored in a cool, dry place. It might set you back about $5.00.

Are you ready? You will not believe how easy this is!

At night:

1. Pour 2 cups of pinto beans into a collander and rinse well. As you rinse, look for anything black and discard it. That is a funky bean, and you don't want it.

2. Put the rinsed beans into your crock pot and cover them with water (I use filtered water at this point since I live in CA and tap water is yucky). Add 1 Tbsp salt and stir. Put the lid on and walk away.

In the morning:

3. If anything floated overnight, discard it. Drain the beans and get rid of that water.

4. Put the beans back into the crockpot and cover with water (filtered for me) to about an inch above the beans.

5. Add:
One onion, peeled and cut into fourths
5 cloves of garlic, peeled, or 3 Tbsp garlic Powder
1 heaping Tbsp cumin
2 tsp corriander


I do not add any more salt than the salt from the soaking water. Some people do. You can add salt at any point if you like them saltier.

6. Cook all day on high.

7. About an hour before you are ready to serve them (can be more or less though), drain the beans but KEEP THE LIQUID. Put the drained beans back into the crockpot, and turn it on warm or low. Pick out the onion and the garlic cloves (or you can leave the garlic if you want). Mash with a potato masher, adding a little liquid at a time, until you get nice creamy beans.

Keep warm in the crockpot until you are ready to serve. In fact, for large groups I serve them right out of the crockpot, next to a crockpot of salsa chicken. I have 2 crockpots for this very reason. 

If you refrigerate and reheat your beans, that is where the rest of the liquid comes in. Use it to re-hydrate them, water makes them taste bland at this point.

Optional Additions:

-Chili powder and/or cilantro added in step 5 for Spicier Beans.
-Chorizo (a little goes a long way) cooked and added at the end.
-Cook them in chicken stock instead of water. I have not tried it, because it costs more, but I am sure the flavor would be rich and delicious.

-Some people heat some lard up and "re-fry" these the authentic way. I do not. But I won't judge you if you do.

Serving Suggestions:
-On the plate with enchiladas and rice, or any other Mexican dish. Add Cheddar, or even better Queso Fresco (that crumbly white cheese in Mexican restaurants), and cilantro on top.
-In Burritos, with or without meat and cheese.
-On chips with cheese for nachos.
-With Scrambled Eggs and salsa for breakfast.
-The possibilities are endless!


These Freeze really well. Make a BIG batch and freeze half in a tightly sealed container. The trick is to fill the container up so that there is very little air space. The other trick is to add some of the cooking water back into them before you freeze them, so that they seem a little runny. When you heat them back up they will be perfect.

Crock Pot Meals--Throw in and Forget

I love to use the crockpot. Oh, how I love it. Put the food in, turn it on, and at 6:00 dinner is ready!

Let’s start with some of my all time favorite stand-bys. Both of these dishes are good for more than one meal, and I made meal suggestions after each recipe.

Salsa Chicken 

(My friend Donna gave me this idea at least 9 years ago. It is an absolute life saver).

2 Ingredients (you like it already, right?):
Chicken pieces -- with bones if you plan to serve it whole; boneless/skinless if you are going to shred it.

Salsa -- For large batches I use Pace from Costco--cheap! Use your favorite, or make it yourself (recipe coming), and experiment, because changing the salsa changes the flavor.

Cover the bottom of the crockpot with a little salsa to keep the bottom of the chicken from drying out.
Add chicken--it’s okay to really fill the crockpot on this one.

Pour salsa over chicken--about 2 cups of salsa per 5 chicken breasts; enough salsa to be able to see it but the chicken does not have to float in it. Turn crockpot on high, cook 6-8 hours.

Meals:
First Night:
-Serve it as a whole piece of chicken with spanish rice, green beans, and orange slices.
or -Serve it whole with tortillas, homemade beans, rice and guacamole--the authentic way.

After Dinner transfer remaining meat to a cutting board and shred it with 2 forks. Store it in the frige with some of the juice from the crockpot.

Second Night:
-Shred it and use in: tacos, burritos, quesadillas, or casseroles.

I always make a crock pot full of this, because once it’s shredded it freezes well. When we go camping, I take a ziplock of shredded salsa chicken, tortillas and a batch of homemade beans, and we have dinner the first night.

BBQ Country Style Ribs

Again, 2 Ingredients (I know, you love me):

Country Style Pork Ribs. They go on sale often. This does not work for all kinds of ribs; fortunately these are the cheapest kind.

~The best ones are trimmed with no bones (At Costco, about $1.69 per pound).

~Untrimmed and/or with bones is fine, but cut off as much fat as you can before you start cooking them.

BBQ Sauce. Nothing fancy, even homemade is fine.

~If you watch sales, you can find a bottle for under $1.00.

~Different flavors change the taste. We prefer a honey BBQ, and we buy the really cheap stuff for this.

1. Pile up the Country Style Pork Ribs in the crockpot; it's okay to put a lot of meat in.
2. Squeeze in a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce--different sauces add different flavor, but they all work.  I like to really cover the meat well, but it doesn't always take a whole bottle.
3. Turn crockpot on high, and cook 6-8 hours, or low and cook 10-12 hours. The longer you cook these, the more tender they will be.

Meals:
First Night:
-

Whole ribs, with some sauce from the crockpot or plain BBQ sauce spooned over them, with mashed potatoes and corn or salad--mmmm good.

After Dinner, transfer remaining meat to a cutting board, and shred with 2 forks. Store in the frige with some of the remaining sauce from the crockpot to keep it juicy.

Lunch the Next Day:
-Shredded meat, heated up with some BBQ sauce to make them saucy, with grilled or carmelized onions and melted jack cheese on your favorite roll, toasted.

A 3rd day:
-Shredded and saucy over potatoes or rice, with broccoli on the side.

5 Simple Chicken Marinades

Make these in batches, and freeze according to your family's size,

usually one piece of chicken per person. 

Keep your freezer stocked with 3-4 pre-marinated bags of chicken, 

and never wonder what's for dinner.  

If a friend has a baby, take her a couple or frozen bags, labeled with contents and instructions, when the baby is a month or so old and no one is bringing her dinner anymore; even better, make it for her with your best side dishes and surprise her, without a ton of planning.

Steps for All marinades:

1. Purchase fresh chicken (not frozen) when it’s cheap. Your choice: Breasts, Legs, Thighs, Cut-Up fryers, skinless, boneless, skin on, bone in...get it? Any kind of chicken.

2. Label a Ziplock or a freezer proof tupperware with a lid, with the name of the marinade, number of pieces of chicken, and the date.

3. Prepare the marinade. Add chicken pieces, close tightly, and shake well to coat all pieces.
Refrigerate overnight and use the next day, or Freeze for up to 6 months.

4. If frozen, take out one bag in the morning and put it in the fridge. Choose a cooking method, and start cooking approx. 45 minutes before you want to serve, unless otherwise noted.

Always add all the marinade to your pan at the beginning or throw out the remaining marinade! Do not use it to brush on the chicken after it has started cooking.

 
1. Lemon Pepper Chicken:

The marinade: 
Juice one large or 2 small lemons. To lemon juice add 2 tsp. lemon pepper, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp garlic and mix well.

Grill, Bake in the oven at 350, or cook in a heavy pan coated with a little bit of oil or butter with fresh lemon slices on each piece.

2. Rosemary Chicken (with potatoes and onions)

The marinade: 
Mix equal parts olive oil and lemon juice--I use about 1/4 cup of each for 5 chicken breasts. Add 3 Tbsp Dried Rosemary, or even better, Rosemary from 2-3 fresh sprigs.

Before cooking: Cut potatoes (half a potato per person if they are big) into Triangles (cut in half lengthwise, then lengthwise again, then chop into about 1 inch sections). Do the same to one onion (red is best, but yellow or white is fine). Optional: Add 10 peeled, whole cloves of garlic.

Put onions and potatoes (and garlic if you choose) in a large roasting pan, drizzle a little bit of olive oil on them, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Place chicken pieces on top. Bake at 375 for about an hour, or until chicken tests to done. If you have a rosemary bush, add more fresh sprigs to the pan before baking.

3. Citrus Chicken

The Marinade:
1/2 cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
1/2 cup lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage or several leaves fresh, chopped
1 1/2 inch section fresh ginger, peeled, minced, or 2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
a few drops Tabasco or 1/4 teaspoon hot salt

This is particularly good on the grill.

4. BBQ Chicken:

The Marinade: equal parts red wine and bbq sauce--be generous, you want to saturate the chicken.

Grill for best results, or bake in a 9x13.

In the last 5 minutes of grilling, brush BBQ sauce over chicken, turn, brush the other side. This marinade and method works for steaks as well.

5. Teriyaki Chicken

The Marinade: 
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
Juice of 2 oranges or 1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon ginger, peeled and minced (or powdered ginger from the spice aisle is fine)
2 teaspoon garlic, minced

You can either bake this in the oven at 350 or cook it in a pan or on a grill. My kids like it in strips, so when I marinate this chicken I cut breasts or thighs into long strips before I freeze with the marinade

Serve sprinkled with:
1/2 cup scallion (green onion), chopped
2 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Sesame Oil is one of my favorite ingredients. It is very strong, and a little adds a ton of flavor; if you are making any kind of Asian sesame recipe, especially Chinese Chicken Salad, Sesame Oil is a must. Find it in grocery stores on the international food aisle. Store it in the refrigerator if you aren’t going to use it very often.

Quick and Easy Pizza Dough

I will never, ever buy pizza dough again (and this from a lover of Trader Joe's and Fresh and Easy's Pizza Dough).  And by the way...I NEVER make only one recipe of this at a time. I always double or triple it.

Notes:
~Everything you need for this dough should be a kitchen staple. If it's not a staple in your kitchen, it is now! :o)
~If you have a large family, or bake often, buy yeast at Costco and store it tightly sealed in the freezer (Like in a Ziplock Bag). If you rarely use it, buy it in individual packets (they come in 3’s) and store it in the refrigerator.
~If you are using a bread machine, just dump all the ingredients in and select “dough”
~My flour is a 60-40 mix of white flour and whole wheat flour that I mix myself. Any flour will work.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes at 425
Yield: Dough for 1 pizza, 1 Stromboli, or 12-16 breadsticks or Pizza Sticks

Tools: Large mixing bowl and wooden spoon -or- Electric Stand mixer, preferably with bread hook attached, or Bread Machine.

What you will need:

3/4 Cup Water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 Tbsp of Olive oil

Start with:

3/4 Cup Water at about 100 degrees. It should feel about the same as your body temp.
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar

In a clean glass bowl or measuring cup, gently stir the sugar and then yeast into the warm water.
Let sit until there are lots of bubbles on top, or about 10 minutes.

Why does the mixture bubble? Yeast is a living organism that needs fuel, in this case sugar. It grows best in warm temperatures (hence the warm water), and as it feeds off the sugar it produces carbon dioxide (hence the bubbles) and alcohol (which is burned off in the baking process). The reason flour tastes like sawdust, but bread tastes sweet, is not as much a result of the 1 measly teaspoon of sugar we added, but because the activate yeast is breaking down the starch in the flour and releasing the sugar. For this reason, the longer you let your dough rise (in the next step) the fuller and sweeter of a flavor you will achieve.

Meanwhile
In a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine:
2 1/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
Optional:
1 Tbsp garlic powder (for pizza or stromboli)
2 teaspoons each of garlic powder and italian seasoning (for breadsticks)
1 Tbsp cinnamon (for dessert breadsticks)

When the yeast is nice and bubbly, add it to the flour mixture. Scrape all the yeast out if it sticks.

Start the mixer or start mixing, and slowly pour in:
1 Tbsp of Olive oil (a different oil would work, this tastes best)

Keep Mixing. If you are doing this by hand, at some point you will need to use your hands instead of a spoon.

Bread dough is different from pancake batter or cookie dough? Why? The yeast.  Cookies, waffles, pancakes and Quick Breads are best if stirred as little as possible once the flour is put in. They need just enough stirring to get the ingredients combined, and then STOP. Bread dough likes to be touched, so mix or knead it for up to 8 minutes.

You can stop mixing when you have one solid lump or ball of dough, no flour showing, and the dough is slightly sticky.

At this point you have many options:
1. Let the dough rise in the bowl (this is for those of you who plan ahead with perfect timing. I never get to choose this option)
2. Put the dough in a Ziplock bag and put it in the frige for later.
3. Roll the dough out on a floured cutting board.

Now you have made Pizza Dough!

For fun, let’s make something with it.

Let’s pretend we chose Door #3 (roll it out) and let’s also pretend we are making pizza sticks, because that’s what I made when Stephanie requested this recipe.

 Disclaimer. We have now exited healthy and entered kid-pleasing-healthier-than-take-out

Flour your counter, a cutting board or a rolling mat. “Flour” means sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons of flour on a surface, and then spread it around with your hand. This keeps the dough from sticking to your surface.

Drop your ball of dough onto the floured surface and use your hand to flatten it.

Either use a rolling pin or stretch the dough with your hands to make a rectangle, about 10 by 14 inches. I use the back of my largest cutting board as my surface and roll the dough to fit it.

Use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut lengthwise down the dough, and then make 5-7 vertical cuts, Presto! 12-16 pieces.

Now, lay a clean dish towel over the whole thing and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Clean up while you wait ;o)

After 10 minutes the sticks should be puffier. You can let them rise anywhere from 10-30 minutes. If it’s very cold in your house (I live in the desert, this never happens to me), wait a little longer.

Transfer them to your baking sheet (I love my stones from Pampered Chef--the bottom never burns--but your standard cookie sheet can do the trick).

Brush them with melted butter. Or don’t. You could use garlic butter (melted butter with a little garlic powder stirred in). Your choice. I like to let the kids to this when we do it.

Layer your favorite toppings on.
Cover with shredded Mozzerella.

Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven until cheese is bubbly, or about 12-15 minutes.

Dip in your favorite sauce and enjoy.

Oh, you need a sauce recipe? Click here.

When I make these, I make a double batch, under-cook a full pan (cook until they are starting to get melty, but the dough is still very soft), let them cool on a rack, carefully place a single layer in a big Ziplock and put them in the freezer flat. When my 3 Moose want something to Munch on, I simply pull out enough sticks, and bake them in the toaster oven at 450 for about 15 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

Simple and so good! Use as the sauce on pizza, or as a dipping sauce for pizza sticks or stromboli.

The earlier you combine your ingredients, the richer the seasonings will come through. But, if you forget (like me), it will taste fine for dinner, and even better for lunch tomorrow.

Ingredients:

1 can tomato sauce (10 oz)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons parmesan cheese (optional)

You can simply combine ingredients, and heat.

Or, you can use fresh onion (about 1/4 of an onion, chopped up) and 2 fresh garlic cloves (chopped or pressed), saute them in a little olive oil, add the other ingredients and heat on low while making the dough.

As usual, I never make 1 batch--this stuff flies out of my kitchen.