Chicken Fried Chicken with Country Gravy

I feel bad for my husband some days. He really is a blessing. He has given up some of his favorite foods to support me in my food challenges. He’s kindly finished his plate of quinoa or asparagus. He’s choked down veggie burgers and cauliflower pizza. At first I knew it was hard for him, but overtime he has accepted our new diet just as I have. I try to make as much for him as I can that resembles his comfort food. I’m not sure why I never thought of this before but I wanted to make him some chicken fried steak – healthy style. It’s just a comforting home-style dish in our area and it was very simple to recreate. Instead of steak, I had some organic ground chicken and it worked perfectly. Serve this with some green beans and mashed potatoes and you’ve got a meal!

Chicken Fried Chicken with Country Gravy

Chicken & Dumpling Soup

Is it cold where you are?? It’s pretty frigid here and we needed something comforting and warm! I had never made dumplings before going gluten free so I can’t tell you how close these are to traditional dumplings. However, I can tell you that they taste great and are much easier than I thought! This is a healthy, hearty soup that is full of flavor. This recipe serves 6-8.

2 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

3 cups water

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp oregano

2 bay leaves

4 small potatoes, cut into small chunks

2 cups carrots, cut into chunks

2 celery stalks, diced

1 onion, cut into chunks

Dumplings

2 cup GF flour

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 egg

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp parsley flakes

• In a large stockpot, combine chicken, water, broth, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion. 
• Bring mixture to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. 
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, pepper and parsley flakes for dumplings. Add in milk and egg and stir or mix until well blended. 
• Form dumplings into small dough balls and place in stockpot with boiling soup mixture. 
• Once all dumplings are in pot, cover with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes or until dumplings are cooked. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with additional parsley if desired. 

Crockpot Roasted Chicken

I honestly can’t believe I have never done this before. I really should use my crockpot more than I do but it kind of scares me a little. Anyway, I had heard that roasting a chicken is so easy in the crockpot so I tried it. I’m not sure that I will cook it any other way again. It’s so easy and tastes great! I made my own rub below but you could use whatever spices you wanted. One of the great things about doing this is after you are done roasting the chicken, you can make chicken bone broth that is very versatile and healthy. Bone broth is supposedly very good for its healing properties for your gut – therefore I’m making all that I can! Having extra broth around is nice anyway to give your dishes extra flavor.

 

1 whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs)

1 onion, quartered

1 tsp minced garlic

½ tsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried sage

½ tsp dried oregano

• In a small bowl, combine spices and mix together until well blended.
•  In a crockpot, put in chicken and stuff cavity with onion. Rub spice mixture all over chicken. I also put a little rub under the skin of the chicken breast. 
• Cook on low for about 6 hours (depending on your pot’s settings). 
• Remove chicken from crockpot and serve. I usually shred mine and then whatever leftovers we have we use during the week.

 

To make the broth: remove the bones from chicken and return to the juice in crockpot. Add about 5 cups of water to chicken juices (enough to fill the crockpot) and cook on low for about 8 hours. You can also add in celery or carrots to the broth mixture before cooking for extra flavor. My crockpot made about 3 quarts of broth. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

This recipe may trick you. It looks like a cheesy, fattening, heavy casserole. However, it is a slimmed down, lean, tasty casserole that you can feel good about eating. This low fat, low carb dish is still comforting and delicious. Chicken Cordon Bleu can typically be very heavy and most casseroles have a rich and creamy but fatty sauce. I swapped out the heavy cream for a lighter but still savory sauce. I kept the swiss cheese but it could easily be substituted for a diary free cheese and still taste great. I also swapped out the carb filled pasta for some carb free spaghetti squash. I even added a few extra veggies to get more nutrients. Any way you make it (traditional or modified), this dish is savory and wonderful. Perfect for a fall or winter day.

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 Tbsp Olive oil

¼ cup onion or bleu cheese dressing (homemade or bought – I used a sweet Vidalia onion dressing)

½ spaghetti squash, cut lengthwise

¼ cup water

¼ cup onion or bleu cheese dressing

2 cups swiss chard, cut into thin, short strips

4 slices of swiss cheese

3 oz of sliced deli ham, diced

2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic, minced

• Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook chicken breast chunks in olive oil and ¼ cup of the onion or bleu cheese dressing. Cook chicken for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through completely. 
• In a greased 2 quart baking dish, pour water and place one half of the spaghetti squash, cut side down. Pierce squash shell with a knife or fork. Cook in microwave for about 10 minutes. Once spaghetti squash is cooked, drain any extra water from the baking dish. Turn over squash and scrape edges and bottom of shell with a fork to make spaghetti “noodles”. Place scraped squash into a separate bowl. 
• While squash is cooking, quick-blanch the swiss chard. Bring two cups of water to boil in a sauce pan. Put swiss chard in boiling water and cook for about a minute. Drain water quickly from chard. 
• In the same baking dish, spread cooked chicken on bottom. Sprinkle spaghetti squash over chicken. Pour the remaining ¼ cup of dressing over squash and chicken. Place swiss chard over squash and then sprinkle on diced ham. Next, layer on slices of swiss cheese until mixture is covered. Layer on sliced tomatoes until dish is covered. Finally, sprinkle on salt pepper and minced garlic.
•  Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes until cheese is melted and mixture starts to bubble around edges. 

Zucchini Pasta with Secret Ingredient Alfredo

Any recipe with the title “secret ingredient” may raise some eyebrows but I’m hoping your curiosity will give the desire to give this recipe a try. Zucchini pasta is a nice, low carb, low fat, naturally gluten free substitute for pasta. I used my veggie spiral cutter to create “pasta” out of the zucchini and squash. Now, for the secret ingredient…. CAULIFLOWER! Yes, believe it or not, cauliflower has the ability to taste so different depending on what you do with it. Cauliflower in pizza crust is awesome; cauliflower steamed plain.. not so much. Cauliflower smells awful cooked but aside from that, it takes on a variety of flavors in recipes. In this recipe, the cauliflower takes on a wonderful garlic flavor that in a strange way resembles alfredo sauce. The best part is there is no heavy cream, fatty milk, etc in the sauce so you can feel good about eating it. The next best part is that this recipe is completely natural/vegan/paleo/etc. I served some grilled chicken on top of ours but shrimp would work well too. Also, it tastes just great without meat or cheese for those eating a vegan diets. This makes 4 servings.

1 small to medium zucchini, ends removed, spiral cut

1 small to medium yellow squash, ends removed, spiral cut
1 tsp sea salt
Alfredo Sauce
1 small head of cauliflower, steamed
1 cup vegetable broth
1 ½ tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chives
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ cup almond milk
¼ cup shredded cheese, if desired
Parsley, if desired

• In a medium saucepan, combine zucchini and squash spirals, cover with water and bring to boiling. Add in sea salt and continue boiling for about 7-8 minutes or until spirals are soft.
• Meanwhile, puree steamed cauliflower and vegetable broth in a high powered blender until smooth.
• Pour puree into a medium saucepan and add in garlic, chives, salt, pepper and milk. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in shredded cheese if desired and let set so cheese can melt.
• Place vegetable spirals onto a plate, top with sauce and sprinkle with parsley. 

Thanksgiving Menu Ideas

I can’t believe it is already time to post this. I’m a little nervous about the holidays this year. This will be the first year for a gluten-free Thanksgiving. Last year I was on a pretty strict diet, but I cheated a little and suffered the consequences. This year – none of that! I’m not nervous about the food. I’m nervous about the interactions during meal time. I definitely don’t want to hurt feelings or step on toes about not eating what the family cooks. However – I simply can’t afford to have a bad day due to poor diet choices. So here goes nothing (wish me luck!) As I’m sure many of you are doing, we are traveling some. We aren’t traveling far but we do have several dinners to go to or make. One thing I will miss this year – my mom’s pumpkin pie and my mother-in-law’s ham. Oh gosh… my mom always makes an extra pumpkin pie, just for me! I take it home; eat it again that night, for breakfast the next day, etc. We will have to work on an alternative but for now, no “Mom’s Famous” pumpkin pie for this girl. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t have to suffer or feel guilty about not eating holiday meals. There are many options out there; you just have to find what’s best for you. What we have decided to do is to just make our own “traveling” Thanksgiving dinner. I will make our own meal and take it to the dinners we are going to. For those coming to our house to eat, they can eat what we cook. If they don’t want to, they can bring their own. It’s not the best solution I’m sure, but it’s the best one we’ve come up with. I can’t touch, eat, or be around gluten. If anyone has other suggestions – I’m all for hearing about them! Anyway – I wanted to present some options to any of you having this same problem. Or if any of you are just wanting to try something new this holiday season, try one of the recipes below! Either way, it’s Thanksgiving and it’s a great time of year to be thankful for what we have. Whether you are doing a typical family tradition, or like us – trying something new, just remember how fortunate we all are. I sometimes find myself wondering why this happened to me, but at the end of the day I have to be thankful. I’m thankful God put me in this position to help me learn and challenge me. I have learned so much about taking care of my body and my health. My situation has also made me realize how fortunate it is to enjoy a meal with family. Something as simple as dinner can be taken away so quickly. Some may not be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner due to food allergies or illnesses. Others may simply not be able to afford it. Regardless, I am so very thankful for the opportunity to create a tasty, healthy meal on this wonderful day and I hope you all are too. Of course, I’m thankful for millions of other things but this is a food blog after all! Check out the full day’s menu options below and try some of the recipes – they should all be linked to the original posts complete with pictures. Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

    

Breakfast:

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls (Maple or Original)
Banana Oatmeal Pancakes – my most popular! (for extra energy if you have having a late lunch)
Cinnamon Scones
Appetizers
Shrimp Dip
Veggie Pizza
Watermelon Mint Jam – served with crackers/chips
Smoked Chicken Antipasto
Lunch/Dinner:
Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts - for an alternative to turkey
Made Over Mashed Potatoes
Balsamic Green Beans
Roasted Fall Veggies
Deceptive Mac & Cheese
Stuffed Acorn Squash (or stuffing)
Mushrooms, Onions & Swiss Chard
Butternut Pumpkin Biscuits
Red Wine Cranberry Sauce
Desserts
Upside Down Apple Cake
Cranberry Pear Crisp with Lavender – my favorite!
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – for the kids!
Pumpkin Pie with Almond Crust – if you want to get real fancy
Beverages
Apple Cider
Pumpkin Spiced Chai Latte
Strawberry Lemonade  - for the kids

Smoked Chicken Antipasto

My husband hates olives – with a passion. Therefore, I don’t make many things with them but I love antipasto! Sometimes I just make a little bit for myself since I know no one else will eat it. This is a different take on the traditional version but it’s still delicious! Instead of using salami or pepperoni, I added some leftover smoked chicken and it worked great. Serve this as a side dish or it is also good on crackers or pita chips. Makes about 1 cup.

¼ cup cooked chicken, diced

¼ cup kalamata olives, sliced
¼ cup artichokes, chopped
¼ cup roasted red peppers, chopped
½ tsp white wine
1 tsp Italian dressing (I’ve used red wine vinaigrette also)

• In a small bowl, combine chicken, olives, artichokes, and peppers.
• Pour wine and dressing over mixture and stir until combined.
• Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken can sometimes be hard to bake. You have to really watch it or it can get really dry, really fast. I find that if you stuff the chicken breasts with something, they tend to stay pretty moist and also cook fairly quickly. I love chicken cordon bleu but it can be loaded with fats and other nasty things. I re-vamped my old (unhealthy) recipe and was very pleased with the results!

2 large chicken breasts

2 slices of Swiss cheese (I used a dairy free alternative)
2 slices of ham, thinly sliced (like deli style)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinaigrette
2 tsp garlic, minced

• Cut your chicken breasts almost all the way in half, butterfly style)leaving the breast together just a little.
• Place one slice of cheese and one slice of ham in the open chicken breast.
• Pour vinaigrette over the chicken. Fold chicken back together and secure with toothpicks.
• Place chicken into a 2 quart baking dish and bake at 350°F until cooked completely through, about 35-40 minutes.

Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti Squash

Italian food is my favorite. My favorite restaurant was Johnny Carino’s and this little local place in Branson - Rocky's. That was my go-to dinner place for any occasion. I hate to admit it, but I could eat the entire loaf of bread by myself and then probably more. Anyway – during my pre-gluten free days, I would make a pretty decent Chicken Parmesan; full of greasy bread crumbs, cheap pasta sauce and fatty, salty cheeses. This dish is NOT that. It is light, fresh and completely homemade. It is still very filling and very tasty, just less guilt! If desired, serve this with a small salad and bread sticks. Makes 4 servings

2 large chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise to make 4 thin pieces

2 Tbsp red wine vinaigrette
½ cup gluten free bread crumbs (make from dry bread)
¼ cup gluten free flour (all purpose, almond or coconut work great)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp basil, chopped
½ tsp oregano, chopped
½ tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 spaghetti squash
1 cup homemade pasta sauce (See mine here!)
½ cup cheese, shredded (we used dairy free)

• In a small bowl, combine chicken breast pieces and vinaigrette. Stir until chicken is coated with the vinaigrette.
• In a separate bowl, combine bread crumbs, flour, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Dip the chicken into the bread crumb mixture until chicken breast is coated with crumbs.
• Place chicken breasts in a hot skillet with olive oil. Cook on each side for about 10 minutes or until chicken breasts are cooked completely through.
• While chicken is cooking, prepare spaghetti squash. I like to just cut it in a half, scoop out the seeds and steam in microwave for about 10 minutes. Once squash is done, scrap sides with a fork to make your “spaghetti”.
• In a small saucepan, heat pasta sauce until warm. On a plate, place servings of spaghetti squash, top with chicken, pour over some sauce and sprinkle with cheese if desired.

Sante Fe Chicken Chowder

My husband loves Mexican food and it is obviously fall so I decided to make one of our favorite soup/chowder recipes. I’ve taken this dish to other functions and have received great reviews. There’s typically not many leftovers which is a good sign. This chowder is perfect for game days also – nothing like football and a spicy, chunky soup on a cold day! The combination of veggies and sauce for this chowder go perfect together. This makes quite a bit but it freezes well for a quick lunch another day.

1 large chicken breast, cooked however you like & chopped

1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 cup (or one can) corn
1 large bell pepper, diced
½ cup onion, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
1 cup chicken broth, or water
1 tsp chili powder (more for spicier version)
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp black pepper
8 oz cream cheese (dairy free works great in this!)
½ cup milk
avocado, finely diced
fresh tomato, finely diced
tortilla strips
shredded cheese

• In a large stockpot, combine chicken, beans, corn, peppers, onion, carrot and broth. Bring to a slow boil.
• Add in cream cheese, cut into chunks and chili powder, salt, paprika, cumin, and black pepper.
• Return to  a slow boil and cook for about 10 minutes or until cream cheese is melted.
• Add in milk and cook for 3-5 more minutes.
• Ladle chowder into bowls and top with desired toppings. We like avocado, tomatoes, cheese and tortilla strips.

Honey Mustard Pressure Cooker Chicken

I have a new found love for my pressure cooker. We eat chicken a lot and my electric pressure cooker can cook a frozen chicken breast in about 20 minutes. It’s fantastic. I’ve been struggling to get a sauce right in it though, but this turned out great!

3-4 frozen chicken breasts

½ cup honey
¼ cup mustard (or use ½ cup bottled honey mustard instead of honey & mustard)
¼ cup sweet & spicy mustard
¼ cup water
1 tsp garlic salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp tapioca (or corn) starch

• Place frozen chicken breasts in the pressure cooker.
• In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients except starch. Pour sauce mixture over chicken.
• Cook on the “pressure” cook setting for 20 minutes. After the chicken is done, remove and make sure it has reached the right temperature. If it hasn’t, pressure cook for a few more minutes.
• Once chicken is cooked through, finish sauce on “brown” setting. Add the tapioca or corn starch and stir until blended.
• Cook for about 5 minutes stirring constantly or until it starts to thicken. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and return to the sauce. Serve by itself or over rice.

Chicken Enchiladas - sort of

Okay – one of my biggest complaints about going gluten-free is tortilla shells. I’m not a huge fan of corn shells-I’ve even made my own and was still not that impressed. I really just like flour ones, especially the spinach wrap shells, tomato wraps, etc. My first GF tortilla shell was a package of large 10” teff flour wrap shells. They are really dry and do not “wrap” at all – more like a solid crumble. Anyway, I had them for a while and thought – let’s try enchiladas. They still did not hold together well so it ended up being like an “open-faced” burrito but tasted great. Give it a try (and if you have any suggestions for better GF tortilla shells, send them my way!)

2 chicken breasts, thawed, trimmed

2 tsp of taco seasoning (homemade or store bought)
1 cup of water
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup onions, diced
¼ cup green pepper, diced
2 cups brown rice, cooked
½ cup low fat sour cream or plain yogurt
4 10” teff flour tortilla shells
Shredded cheese or cheese slices (we used leftover thick mozzarella slices)

•  First step is to cook chicken. I cooked mine in my pressure cooker, which is why you need the water. I threw my chicken breasts into the cook pot with the taco seasoning and water and pressure cooked for 12 minutes. If you want to grill your chicken, bake, pan fry, whatever – you just won’t need the 1 cup of water.
• Once chicken is cooked, shred it and put into a skillet with olive oil.
• Add onions, peppers and brown rice and cook until heated through.
• Slowly stir in sour cream (you may want to add a little extra water with the sour cream if you want the mixture a little creamier)
• Place ¼ of the chicken mixture into the middle of a tortilla shell and roll up like a burrito (or at least try, like I said the shells fall apart).
• Place enchilada into a 9x9 baking dish. Repeat with the next three shells.
• Sprinkle or place the cheese slices on top of the enchiladas and bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes or until the shell edges start to crisp and the cheese is melted.
• NOTE: This may be messy trying to get this out of the baking dish onto the plates without it falling apart. If it does, no worries – just scoop up mixture with fork and eat
• NOTE: Serve this with fresh corn, salsa verde and extra sour cream. We always like to make our own “pico” with tomatoes, cilantro, onions and avocados.

Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

Amazing. That’s the only thing I have to say about this one. Well – and the fact that I got a remarkable response out of my 5 year old. He told me, “Mom, this tastes even better than asparagus AND corn on the cob!” He hates asparagus but corn on the cob is his absolute favorite food. Therefore- we know this recipe is a keeper!

1 large chicken breast

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 small head of broccoli, cut, steamed or cooked

1 small onion, diced

½ cup mushrooms, diced

1 cup brown rice

1 cup water

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp sage

1 ½ cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

2 Tbsp starch (corn or potato)

1 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into small chunks

½ cup GF bread crumbs

•  In an electric pressure cooker (or other method of cooking rice-just adjust water amount), cook rice and water.
• While rice is cooking, sauté chicken in oil in a large skillet until cooked through. Add in onion, mushrooms and cooked broccoli and cook until onions are tender.
• Add in cooked rice and mix together. Then pour into a large baking dish, probably 2 quarts.
• Combine milk, spices and potato starch until starch is well blended.
• Spread mozzarella chunks evenly over the top of the casserole mixture. Pour the milk mixture evenly over the dish.
• Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and bake at 375°F for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly and the bread crumbs have started to brown