Salsa Chicken

The salsa chicken was a recipe I came across on Pinterest, I believe, and modified to be safe for Mandie.  My baked bean recipe is a combination of many I have experimented with over the years, and have made completely Mandie safe.  The chicken is fantastic, as it cooks in the crock pot! This recipe could easily be modified to use your favorite brand of salsa.  I may even play with cooking the rice in the slow cooker with the chicken. 

Salsa Chicken Over Rice


5 chicken breasts
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 diced green pepper
1 diced Vidalia onion
1/2 fish pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. pure cane sugar
3 cups jasmine rice
chicken broth

Combine tomatoes, pepper, onion, fish pepper, and sugar in a bowl.  Mix well. Pour 1/2 of mixture on bottom of crock pot.  Lay chicken breasts on top of salsa. Add the rest of the salsa on top of the chicken.  Cook on high for 4 hours.  After 4 hours, make sure chicken is fully cooked, then using two forks, shred it finely, and mix with salsa.  Leave lid off while you cook the rice. 
In a rice cooker, combine rice and chicken broth.  Cook until done.    Serve chicken and salsa mixture on top of the rice.

Crispy Polenta with Bacon and Baby Bellas

This is a wonderful, yummy meal that we make on our kid free nights, as Mandie can't have polenta (corn), and none of the kids like mushrooms.  It is very easy to do, but requires just a tiny bit of advanced planning, as the polenta has to cool and set up in the fridge before it can be fried.  The taste and texture is incredible.  The polenta is crispy on the top and bottom, and creamy on the inside, making it the perfect pairing for the bacon mushroom gravy. 

Crispy Polenta with Bacon and Baby Bellas

Polenta:
4 cups water
1 cup corn meal
1 tsp salt
2-3 cloves garlic, diced

In a small pot, bring 3 cups of water and salt to a boil.  In a small bowl, whisk together corn meal and garlic.  When water boils, stir cornmeal mixture into boiling water.  Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Cover and cook on low for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Place plastic wrap in and over the edges of an 8x8 baking dish.  Pour hot cornmeal into dish, smoothing the top with wooden spoon.  Cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours.  

Bacon and Baby Bellas:
1 lb bacon, chopped
1 lb Baby Bella or other mushrooms, chopped
1 Vidalia onion, diced
chicken broth
balsamic vinegar 

In a skillet, cook the bacon until cooked, but not quite crispy.  Add onion and mushroom, cooking for about 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup of chicken broth and maybe 1 Tbsp. of vinegar.  Cook another 5-10 minutes, until some of the liquid reduces.   
 While you in the last cook time of the bacon, heat 1/2 inch of olive oil in a skillet.  Turn cooled polenta on to a cutting board, and cut into 4 pieces.  Fry polenta in oil until crispy, flip over and fry other side until crispy.   Serve with bacon mushroom gravy on top. 

Linked to: Weekend Whatever #47 

Linked to:  Gluten-Free Fridays #14

 

Allergy Free Wednesdays 

  

My version of Maid Rites

Unless you are from IA, you may not know what Maid Rites are.  My parents are both from IA, and my mom grew up near Muscatine, where Maid Rites are from.   Naturally, she figured out how to make our favorite food, which just happens to be totally allergy friendly for us!  

This is what ours look like.  Of course, if you get them at a Maid Rite Diner, they come on a bun, with fries, a pickle, and ketchup and mustard if you like.  I like ours on fresh homemade bread, and I usually top mine with a bit of mayonnaise, and a few dill pickle slices if I am in the mood for them.     

Maid Rites
1 lb ground pork
salt
pepper
minced garlic
1/2 finely minced onion
dash of celery salt

Combine everything in a skillet, breaking up meat as it cooks.  

See?  Simple!!!   Maybe it's just an IA thing, but I think they are totally yummy!!!!

Weekly Menu for 11-12-12 to 11-18-12

Since this blog is all about living with extreme allergies, I thought I'd post my weekly menu plan each Monday, and if the meal recipes aren't already on here, I will post them during the week.  This was brought up to me as an idea to help people new to the allergy world figure out what exactly to eat.

Monday: (no kid night) Leftover Maid Rite meat on toast, canned asparagus, canned corn     Free of dairy, soy, gluten, nuts

Tuesday: (Kids eating at Grandma's before church) Crispy Polenta with Bacon and Baby Bellas    Free of dairy, soy, gluten, eggs

Wednesday: Rice Bowls   Top 8 Free, corn free, Mandie-safe with variation

Thursday:  Beef Veggie Stew with toast   Top 8 free, corn free, Mandie-safe

Friday: Chicken Tortas, Baked Fries, Salad w/dressing  Mandie-safe


Saturday:   Shredded BBQ Chicken & Baked Beans     Top 8 Free, Mandie-safe

Sunday:  Spaghetti, green beans, salad w/dressing  Top 8 Free, Mandie-safe


 

Mock Corn Bread

Since losing corn, one of the things we missed the most was cornbread.  I have spent much time thinking and stewing over this issue, as we LOVE cornbread with chili or other soups.    As I was thinking about the issue a few nights ago, planning to put my White Chili in the crockpot for our Thursday night dinner, it hit me.  Millet!  Millet flour, especially freshly ground in my Magic Bullet, should be an excellent sub for corn meal.  The texture is similar when home ground, the color is fairly similar, and the taste ought to be close.  I found my favorite cornbread recipe, played around with ingredients to fit Mandie's current restriction list, and came up with a HUGE hit!  The kids and Steve all LOVED it, and agreed that it was far better even than corn bread.   We ate it the same way, cut in half and spread with Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread (all except Mandie, as it is not safe for her due to the palm, safflower, corn, and sunflower) and our choice of toppings. Steve, Mandie and I love pure maple syrup, Truman loves honey, and Hunter insists on sorghum.     However you top it, I'm sure this will be a huge hit!

Mock Corn Bread

1 ¼ cups millet flour (I grind my own, to make it a bit rougher texture)

½ cup sorghum flour

½ cup Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free flour

1/3 cup Domino Pure Cane sugar

2 tsp. Hain Featherweight Baking Powder

¼ cup whole millet or flax meal

1 ½ tsp. guar gum

1 tsp. sea salt

2 large eggs (or 2 Tbsp. Flax meal dissolved in 4 Tbsp. hot water)

1 cup hemp or hazelnut milk

1/3 cup grapeseed oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If using flax, combine it with water and let stand 5 minutes.  Grease and 8” square baking pan with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, flax meal, guar gum, and sea salt.  Make a well in the center.   In a small bowl, combine eggs (or flax gel), milk, and oil.  Stir into dry mixture.     Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.   Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until top is firm and lightly browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve warm with Earth Balance Buttery Spread and pure maple syrup, sorghum, or honey. 

Linked to:
Weekend Whatever #46

and Gluten Free Fridays #13

and Women Living Well Wednesday LinkUp

Breakfast Bake

BREAKFAST BAKE

2 cups quinoa flakes/gluten free quick cooking oats

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (Domino brand)

1 ½ tsp. Hain Featherweight grain free baking powder

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cloves

¼ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. sea salt

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup milk

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. grapeseed oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts

Milk or syrup or brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8”x8” square baking dish with cooking spray.    In a medium sized bowl, combine the quinoa flakes (or oats), brown sugar, baking powder, salt, spices, and nuts.  In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil.  Stir into the dry ingredients until well blended.  Let stand 5 minutes to absorb moisture.      Pour mixture into greased pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a table knife inserted in center comes out clean.   Cut into squares.  Serve with brown sugar or syrup and milk.

A variation of this recipe was posted in a celiac group on facebook, using gluten free oats.  I immediately thought of how easy it would be to use quinoa flakes so that Mandie could eat it.  I was really hoping that it would be something she'd love, since I felt so bad about having to pull her beloved Apple Cinnamon Chex due to corn in them....      Thankfully, I was right!  She LOVED it!!!  An 8" square pan will make enough for her to eat all week for breakfast!         I also love that this recipe is very versatile.  Next time I may try tossing in some blueberries instead of the pumpkin, and add some grated lemon peel. I could add cashews instead of the walnuts.  Another time I may toss in finely chopped apple, and sub pecans for the walnuts.    I also want to try this recipe in mini muffin cups, so I could send it as a snack for Mandie for the school week.  I am also anxious to try it with gluten free oats for the rest of our family.  

Linked to Allergy Free Wednesday Week 42

Coffee Mug Swap

Last month a friend posted a link to Cook Family Chronicles blog and the Coffee Mug Swap that Heather was going to do.  It sounded like the perfect idea to me, as I really love my hot tea 2-3 times a day, and ADORE fun, meaningful mugs.   I also really enjoyed reading Heather's blog and Twitter feeds.    I was so excited when I got the e-mail with my swap partner's name, Christie Hill.  I found her blog, Satisfaction Through Christ and immediately loved what she had to say.  I friended Christie on Facebook, and followed her on Twitter.  The more I got to see of who she was, the more I got excited to find a wonderful mug for her.    I saw a beautiful mug in a catalog, and went online to order it.  It was a beautiful nativity scene, which seemed to be perfect for my new friend. I tried for three days to order it online, but every single time, something went wrong and it would not work.  Closing in on the deadline, I went to Christianbook.com one night and searched for coffee mugs.  The selection was overwhelming, but I asked God to help me know when I saw the right one.  After searching multiple pages, my eye kept being drawn to a beautiful sunny yellow mug that said blessings. Both the color and the verse from Psalms seemed to be a perfect fit for Christie's inspiring blog, so I had it sent to her with a note, praying that I'd picked the right one.  A few days later I heard from her and found out just how much she loved it.  :D Obviously God knew what she needed and loved much better than I did.

The day after I sent out Christie's mug, I got a phone call after my morning bus route that sent my world into a tailspin.  My best friend Becky, who was closer than a sister to me, and was the ONLY one (including my family) who saw the troubles in my marriage and helped me make the decision to leave  and supported and helped me through everything, had passed away suddenly from a blood clot in her lungs.  The day afterwards, which happened to be my birthday, there was a box at my door. I honestly didn't even think about the coffee mug swap. I just figured my mom had sent me a birthday gift, instead of waiting til our family dinner that coming weekend.   I was so excited and moved to tears when I opened the box to find the sweetest note from Christie, and this beautiful mug

I was moved to tears.  How totally perfect for me!  The verse is Matthew 6:8 "Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him!"  This verse has proven true so very many times in my life, in my dangerous marriage.... in the lives of my kids and them coming into my life.... in how I met my fiance and how God has worked all of those circumstances out before I even knew what or how to pray...    God also blessed me by having it be delivered as a bright spot in that most difficult day.  Every time I use my mug (multiple times all day long) I think of how the yellow matches Christie's mug, and of how God always knows what we need and is always there for us.    I am certain He directed me to the mug swap in the first place, for this and myriad other reasons which we can't yet see.  I don't know about you, but I am excited each day to see how God is going to speak to me and use me to bless others.

Check out Christie's post here Satisfaction Through Christ Mug Swap ,  and all of the other wonderful swap stories here: Cook Family Chronicles Coffee Mug Swap Link Up

Linked to Weekend Whatever Linkup #45