Hot, Sweet, AND Sour Chicken

Jake loves chicken, but hates "Chinese" food. Well, I like both and we both loved this dish. It's super easy (well, unless you're used to "cooking" frozen pizzas). Just fry the chicken quickly, then toss them in the oven with the super quick sauce and wah-lah! Delicious!

Breading:
3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 cup of corn starch
2-3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup canola oil

Extras:
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat canola oil over medium heat. Cut the chicken into small bite-sized cubes and toss into the cornstarch and spice mixture. After coating the chicken, coat in eggs. Cook the chicken for a couple minutes on one side, then flip and drain on paper towels. Place in 9x9 baking dish with vegetables.

Sauce:
1 cup sugar or honey
6 T ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 T sesame oil
1 T sambal sauce (or some spicy sauce)

Whisk sauce and pour over chicken. Stir baking dish contents until combined. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, turn chicken, then cook again for another 15 minutes. Serve with rice or greens.

Chunky Baked Potato Soup

It's been awhile since my last post, sorry! I have definitely been cooking, but for a while there it was hard to look at food or think about food, much less describe it and post pictures of it without getting sick to my stomach.... pregnancy was definitely not fun for a while there. So now I've decided I need to catch up with the posts before baby Kai comes and I have less time to do so.

It was super cold here over the weekend, hanging around freezing temperatures, and I finally understood why people like hot soup on a cold day. I'm pretty sure I never really felt the need for hot soup in the south where it never really got cold (well, with the exception of a month or so and even then I had electric heat that didn't cost an arm and a leg like oil up here).  This soup was perfect not just because it was delicious, but because we had just gotten potatoes from a friend's farm in New Jersey. I adapted this recipe from Southern Living Magazine.

4 large baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup GF flour
6 cups milk
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 green onions, chopped and divided
12 sliced of bacon, cooked, diced, and divided
5 oz sharp cheddar cheese, divided
8 oz sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the potatoes and poke with a fork. Bake at 400 for 1 hours. Cut potatoes in half and scoop out the pulp.

Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat, add flour and stir until smooth for about 1 minute. Add 6 cups of milk gradually over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Add potato pulp, spices, half of the green onions, bacon, and 1 cup of the cheese. Cook until cheese is melted, then add sour cream. Add more milk to reach desired consistency. Top with remaining ingredients and serve hot.

We enjoyed this with some gluten free spicy bread from Eva Ruth's Bakery, which is phenomenal.

vegetarian reubens

Every now and then I get a craving for a Reuben sandwich. However, I am to scared to try any deli meats for fear of gluten contaminants. Not only that, but I don't really even like meat if the meal doesn't absolutely need it. The more vegetables the better! My mom and I tried these out, loved them, and decided they're a keeper! Just prep all of the ingredients and put them in tupperware to have ready for whenever you want to throw them together in a pinch.

Ingredients:
Udi's gluten free sandwich bread
mushrooms, sliced
spinach
onions, sliced
jalapenos, sliced
swiss cheese
salt
black pepper
butter
olive oil

Saute the mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, and spinach in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then set aside. Put the sandwiches together with all of the ingredients other than the butter and olive oil. Butter a large skillet over medium heat, then place the sandwiches into the pan. Flip the sandwiches after 4 minutes. Serve with Russian Island dressing (recipe below) on the side for dipping.

Russian Island dressing:

1/2 cup soy free vegannaise (or mayonnaise)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 T vinegar
1 tsp sugar
sprinkle of black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.

muffins to flex for! ~banana quinoa muffins

These muffins are absolutely phenomenal! I got the recipe straight off the back of a Shiloh Farms bag of Quinoa Flakes. Quinoa is packed with protein, so it makes a great protein snack or dessert.

Ingredients:
2 mashed ripe bananas
2 T grapeseed oil
1 egg
1/2 cup almond coconut milk or milk
2/3 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup rice flour
1/2 cup shiloh quinoa flakes
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine bananas with wet ingredients, mix well. Mix dry ingredients in another bowl. Combine mixtures until combined but not too much. Spoon batter evenly into approximately 12 muffin liners. Bake for about 16 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I was at Barnes and Nobles today, where I could not stop staring at the blueberry muffins and I just had to go home and add blueberries to this recipe. Oh man did it do the job!

quick lo mein

What happens when people in my building order take out? Well, seeing how my sense of smell is annoyingly phenomenal, I can't help but to whip up a super quick batch of vegetable lo mein. Not only is my lo mein less greasy, but it has more vegetables, less who-knows-what in it, and the flavor is awesome!

Ingredients:
1 package brown rice noodles
1/2 cup liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
2 T worcestershire sauce, gluten free
1/4 cup honey or agave
1 T black pepper
1 T hot chili sauce, such as Sambal
3 cloves garlic, minced
veggies of choice (mushrooms, bell pepper, onions)

Boil water and add noodles when ready. While the water is heating, mix all ingredients from the liquid aminos down to the veggies together in a medium sized bowl. Drain the pasta. Saute the bowl of ingredients in a large sauce pan for about 3 minutes. Add in the noodles and mix together. Walah! Takeout... or Homein!!

crock pot chicken tacos, gluten free of course!

I've taken a bit of time off while traveling and settling back in. Not to worry, I have several recipes and posts coming up, and today was the day I made something so marvelous as to motivate me to post!!

I LOVE Mexican food. However, I've never made a truly delicious Mexican-ish meal at home, besides my guacamole, until today. I swear, I would rather eat this than go to a Mexican restaurant any day! Normally I would bake my chicken in the oven then cut it up for the tacos. However, I got the great idea to cook chicken in a crock pot then pull it apart, which is so much easier! My idea came from mommyimhungry.blogspot.com.

3 chicken breasts, or whole chicken, or thighs
2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans of Rotel hot tomatoes with chilies
splash of water, optional
shredded Cabot cheese, I used extra sharp cheddar and hot habanero
shredded cabbage
brown rice tortillas

Lay the chicken flat in the crock pot, along the bottom. Sprinkle the cumin, salt, and black pepper on top. Throw in the yellow onion, the garlic, and the tomatoes. If there is chicken peeking out of the liquid, pour in enough water to cover the chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours, then pull apart with forks. Toss out the remaining liquid and roll the chicken and remaining ingredients together into the tortillas and settle down with the most amazing taco you've ever had!