Seafood Chili

Okay, I know what you are thinking… seafood chili?? What?! Yes – don’t hate it until you try it. When I was throwing this together, I was seriously thinking “What on earth are you doing?! This is going to be awful!” but I still kept throwing things in the stockpot. Here’s what happened.. It was a cold, snowy Monday. My husband wanted chili – but I don’t eat beef. My turkey and chicken were frozen and it was “meatless Monday”. I had some tilapia and shrimp.. and some other stuff. I threw it together and surprisingly it worked! The paprika and chili powder give it a smoky flavor but the corn and edamame give it a little sweetness. Honestly, it is best served with some tortilla chips crumbled on top. It’s like a weird, tasty cross between a fish taco and chili. You just have to try it!

Seafood Chili

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. 

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

Cold Veggie Ranch Pizza

This dish makes a perfect appetizer or even a light dinner/lunch. A girl that I work with makes this dish anytime we have a “food day” and I love it. She uses Pillsbury croissants for the crust and bottled ranch dressing but otherwise, my recipe is pretty much the same. Feel free to substitute the vegetables you like for the ones I’ve listed. My kids (and husband) love this plus it’s a good way to get the kiddos to eat their share of vegetables without too much fuss.

1 pizza crust dough (I made my own gluten free from a mix)

½ cup ranch dressing (You can use salad dressing, make your own or use those ranch “dip” mixes)
½ cup broccoli, finely chopped
½ cup carrots, finely chopped
¼ cup tomatoes, finely diced
½ cup romaine lettuce, finely chopped
¼ cup green onions, finely chopped
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese (if desired or tolerated)

• Bake pizza crust according to package directions. If you are using croissants, just roll them out onto a baking sheet like a crust. You could also cut some time out and use a pre-made pizza crust. Let the pizza crust cool completely.
• Once cooled, spread the ranch dressing or dip over the pizza crust. Layer on the veggies as you wish. We don’t really care how pretty it is, we just threw everything together and put it on the crust.
• Sprinkle with cheese if you’d like and enjoy!

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