Island Chicken

1 C. Brown Rice

¼ Red Onion

¼ C. Yellow Pepper

1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

2 T. Raspberry Jelly

2 T. Honey

¼ tsp. Ginger

1 Avocado

Cook rice according to package directions.

Meanwhile, saute largely chopped red onions and yellow peppers.

Add thinly sliced chicken pieces. While cooking, add jelly, honey, ginger.

Continue cooking until honey mixture begins to thicken

Serve over rice. Top with sliced avocados.

Easy Eggnog Recipes - Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free

Easy Eggnog Recipes - Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free

Definitely going to try this one!!
I'll let you know how it goes, and give you a review

Homemade -GFDF- Fried Chicken!

Today we had a couple brother-in-laws over after church.
I had a hankerin for fried chicken! KFC is not an option... so, what to do?

Make some! None of us are crazy about chicken on the bone, so we went to the store and picked up some boneless breasts and also some sweet-potato fries.

I used to fry chicken before Ian & I got married, but Mom had a special low-carb recipe she used, and I didn't want to go get the ingredients for that, so got home and looked online for a how-to. Found this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2029157_make-fried-chicken.html

Adapted as follows:
Things You'll Need:
2 lb chicken
1 cup Rice Dream milk (original)
1 egg
1 cup flour (I combined Rice Flour and Potato Flour. Just plain rice flour would be fine too)
1 T salt
1 tsp Pepper
Enough shortening/vegetable oil to cover (or mostly cover) chicken pieces in fryer)

I used our "fry daddy" - mini fryer. I fit about  3-4 tenderloins (or 1 breast cut into smaller pieces to ensure they'd cook thoroughly) in at once.

• 
  So here are the steps.
  
  
  1) In one bowl, mix egg and Rice Dream. Set aside
  2) In another bowl, mix flour(s), salt, pepper. Set aside
  3) Start heating oil in the Fry Daddy or skillet
  4) Cut chicken into smaller, even pieces.
  
  
   5) Dip chicken pieces into egg mix, cover well, then roll it around in the flour mix, covering well.
  6) Carefully put coated chicken into hot oil. (Mine was set to 350* and it worked great)
  7) Cook till golden, tasty, brown!
  
  Enjoy!
  I don't like ketchup, so I mixed mine with my homemade Ranch dressing.
  Here's the recipe I used... Substituting the sour cream for Dairy-Free sour cream Tofutti brand is good. Everything else stayed the same and it was delightful!
  http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/ranch-dressing-ii/Detail.aspx
  
  P.S. The guys thought it was great! (I did too) :)
  

I'm In Chocolate Muffin Heaven

So... I have been craving chocolate muffins ever since I've been diagnosed.

Why?
I have no idea. I don't think I've ever even eaten a chocolate muffin.
But I've been craving one, nonetheless.

Today, I had my chocolate muffins.
I looked online for recipes for gluten-free chocolate muffins, and all of them that I looked at seemed to call for like 4 kinds of flour. I do not have that many in my cupboard yet. I have 1. Rice flour.
I decided to adapt my search, and look simply for a traditional chocolate muffin recipe, and that I would substitute ingredients, and try my little experiment with my new bag of guar gum. (I was a little surprised that it came in a bag, rather than like, a spice container or a jar. I don't know why.)

Found a recipe that sounded fantastic:

http://www.food.com/recipe/double-chocolate-banana-muffins-9327?scaleto=8&mode=null&st=true

Or, here is the adapted version (with my addition of guar gum, to prevent crumbly muffins):

• 1 1/2 cups rice flour
• 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
  (the Kroger brand chocolate chips are dairy-free)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, combine bananas, oil and egg.
3. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups three fourths full.
6. Bake at 350 deg F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.
   (10-15 minutes for mini-muffins)

As I said, I'm in chocolate muffin heaven.... These turned out simply *perfect!*

Xanthan Gum & Guar Gum

One of the first things we tried making simply by substituting ingredients was pizza dough.
We purchased rice flour, but the pizza dough turned out very crumbly. Upon a little research, I realized it needed Xanthan gum in it, and that should solve the crumbly issue.

When I went to the store for xanthan gum, it was more expensive than I had anticipated. Right next to it was something else called guar gum... and, since it was about half as much, I got that one instead. I'm still learning, right? I figured if it went badly, I'd know for next time, but if it was fine, I just saved myself some money!

My next post will be about the experiment with the guar gum.
I wasn't sure how much to use, if I were using a traditional recipe and simply substituting ingredients, so I looked it up. (Praise God for Google!)

Found a good answer here:
http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreecookingbasics/a/xanthanguargums.htm

Or here's the summary I was most interested in:

General Tips for Using Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum in Gluten-Free Cooking

• Bread and pizza dough recipes: Add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour used in bread and pizza dough recipes
• Cake, muffin and quick bread recipes: Add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum per one cup of gluten-free flour used
• Cookie and bar recipes: Add 1/2 teaspoon (or less) xanthan gum or guar gum per one cup gluten-free flour used

Slightly Cajun Beans & Rice - Recipe

Ingredients

olive oil
red onion
cajun spice mix
cayenne pepper
cooked white or brown rice
Rice Dream milk (original)
frozen chopped spinach
1 can red beans
salsa
ketchup

In large, non-stick skillet, heat oil, and add onions and spices. sautee for about 5 min. Add rice. Stir periodically to cover rice with spice and oil mixture. Add Rice Dream if it's getting dry. Add spinach and stir until cooked. Add red beans. Stir. Season with salsa, ketchup and more cayenne & cajun spices to taste.
variations: add ground hamburger, or broccoli, or yellow peppers


I do all my cooking "to taste". I hardly ever measure... It's a creative process, and measuring disrupts the creativity. I add and adjust until it looks right and tastes right.
Enjoy!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello!
I was diagnosed in September 2010 with several food allergies/sensitivities.
I've decided to not become discouraged, but to embrace my new diet, as I know I will begin to feel better, and thrive, rather than just survive.
I am sharing my journey so that others may benefit from some of my discoveries, and probably learn from my mistakes.
I plan to periodically update this blog with recipes I've come up with, or come across that are on the "Safe" list. We'll probably also see some links to some websites I've found helpful, or valuable resources or tidbits as I pick them up along the way!
Thanks for joining me on this Journey to Health.