Speaking of standing, have you ever heard that joke about how you can tell a male bell pepper from a female one? — the answer being that the female peppers have four nubs on the bottom, so they can stand on their own, but the male peppers only have three, so they fall over without another pepper to lean on.

It’s not actually true, the fruits of the pepper plant have no gender, and the number of feet is just genetic variation. Factual biology isn’t very funny after all. But it is true that the ones with more feet tend to have more space inside, so choose your serving size accordingly. You can fill anywhere from four very-large to eight rather-small peppers with this recipe.

The fastest way to clean them out is to use a pair of kitchen shears to snip straight down the inner ribs…

…then just reach in and pluck the guts out whole. Very efficient.

For the filling, first chop up 1 cup of cilantro, which is conveniently about one bunch, in grocery store packaging terms.

Also dice up 1 onion, and dump in two 4-oz. cans of diced green chiles. Don’t worry, “mild” in this case means truly mild, it’s not too spicy for kids at all.

Add in 2 teaspoons of cumin…

1 teaspoon of chili powder…

…and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Now mash around 1 pound of ground turkey until everything’s nice and meaty. Incidentally, I originally got this recipe from the fantastic Elana over at Elana’s Pantry, but somehow mine come out looking completely different than hers. I think she must use fresh chopped up turkey, even though her recipe says ground. It would certainly be a good way to use up leftover holiday poultry.

Stuff the meat mixture inside each pepper, making sure to press it all the way down into its little feminine feet.

Lay them in a greased dish, and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. If you’re especially fastidious in choosing well-footed peppers, you could save space and cook them all standing up, but only if you don’t overload them like I did here.

Mine are so crammed full of deliciousness, they couldn’t even make it down a chimney.

Happy Holiday Eating!

Stuffed Red Peppers

4-8 large red bell peppers
1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 onion
8 oz. diced green chiles
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt

I vote yes!

Before I started all this dang cooking so many years ago, I didn’t even know they made ground chicken. I mean, of course I knew they could, just like you could put a shoe in the meat grinder if that’s what you felt like grinding up that day. But oh, my eyes were opened. A chicken sandwich does not, in fact, have to come breaded and fried from a skeezy drive thru.

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The “Southwest” part of this recipe should be readily apparent here. But don’t be afraid, they’re not spicy. (Well, the mild ones aren’t, at least.) Toss in 2 Tablespoons with the same reckless abandon you would use with any other seasoning. In fact, I have it on good authority that reckless abandon itself is an excellent flavor enhancer.

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Also add in 3/4 teaspoon of chili powder…

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And 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

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Smoosh it all together until it’s well-blended, and form 4 patties out of it. The mixture will be a little wetter than you are used to, and will distinctly need to be plopped into the pan rather than laid there. If you need to, just make them meatballs with your hands and then squash them flat in the pan.

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While they are cooking (about 6-7 minutes per side,) heat up your gluten-free buns. My store was out of our regular ones, so I ended up with this O’Doughs brand. They were okay. A little on the dense side for my tastes, but not crumbly or dry at all, which is good. For those of you who find the Kinnikinnick buns to be too lightweight and chewy, these may be a better fit for you. And of course, these have the added benefit of having actual sesame seeds on them, if appearance is an issue you have to consider.

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I really like using chipotle mayo with these, but you could do normal hamburger condiments as well.

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And, of course, an avocado rounds out the Southwestern theme. I adore avocado. If you are one of those people who doesn’t like them, well, we can still be friends — but it’s a little like insulting one of my children.

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Speaking of my children, no, they do not eat sprouts on their chicken sandwiches. But I do! These are radish sprouts, which are just the tiniest bit zesty. Horseradishy, if you will.

Please pay no attention to the fact that my burger has been constructed upside down. Obviously I wasn’t.

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Happy Eating!

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The GFCF Lady’s Southwest Chicken Burgers

1 lb ground chicken
2 TBS diced green chiles
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

GF hamburger buns
chipotle mayo
avocado
sprouts

Anyway, my nightly cooking has reflected this uncontained chaos, and the truth is I haven’t been cooking much at all, let alone trying to experiment with new recipes. On the other hand, I was forced to be a little more creative most nights given my lack of time, and did actually manage to throw together something that turned out unexpectedly great.

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First, start grilling two chicken breasts in a pan with a little olive oil. Make sure you are looking at something more important when you season them, so you waste a bunch of salt and pepper in the pan like I did. Don’t be nervous about seasoning without measurements, it’s only salt and pepper. Just make it look like the picture does.

Resist the urge to turn them too early; you want the cooked part to be crawling more than halfway up the sides, and the underside to be good and browned before you flip them over.

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Meanwhile, start boiling about 4-8 ounces of gluten-free pasta. Given the color I’d say mine was at least partially corn-based, but the truth is I have no idea what brand this was.

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After it’s cooked and drained, drizzle 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in and stir well. I’d blame the steam for the blurry photo, but really it was just my unsteady hands.

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Now then: lazy secret ingredient number one. This is a random jar I found near the spaghetti sauces in my grocery store. It’s basically chopped up artichokes, garlic, oil, and salt. I think it’s supposed to get dolloped onto little toasty rounds of bruschetta at a fancy dinner party or something. But instead, I scooped about 1/2 cup of it directly into my pasta. I bet your store has something similar. Of course you should always be extra careful to check the label on any unfamiliar foods you buy.

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And lazy secret ingredient number two, a pre-made pico de gallo, which you may remember seeing before. I’m nothing if not consistent. Adding in the mango bits is a local thing, but if you’re too far north of the border to get anything remotely like this, you could always make your own. It’s literally just one red onion, one tomato, one small jalapeno, (one mango,) and a little cilantro, diced finely. I think I probably dumped in about a cup. I was not measuring this evening, believe me.

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Around this time your chicken breasts should be close to being done.

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Cut them into slices, lay them neatly across your bowls of pasta, and you might even get away with looking like you put some effort into this.

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Happy Eating!

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The GFCF Lady’s Artichoke Pasta

2 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
4 ounces gluten-free pasta
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 cup diced artichoke mix
1 cup pico de gallo

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First, put two boneless chicken breasts on to boil in a small pot. While that gets going, dice up a medium yellow onion.

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Add a little oil to a very large skillet and begin sauteeing your onion pieces on low heat while your chicken continues to cook. (It should stay at a rolling boil for about 15 minutes, maybe more depending on how thick your chicken pieces are.) Add 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 cloves of minced garlic to your onion.

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Also add 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Stir it so the spices are evenly distributed, then let the onions settle in to get nice and translucent.

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Meanwhile, chop up about 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro. Unless you are morally opposed to cilantro, don’t skip this step. It completely makes the dish. Then, while you continue to tap your toes waiting on your onions and your chicken (will this 15 minutes never end?!) whip up a double batch of avocado cream, for a total of 2 cups. Set it aside for now, we’ll get back to it in a minute.

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About this time your chicken breasts should be done, so yank them out of the water and give them a quick chop job. Then dump both chicken and cilantro into your giant sautee pan (you did choose a large enough one like I told you to, right?) Mix everything together thoroughly, then let it hang out and keep warm while you start to assemble your layers.

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First, start with a gluten-free tomatillo salsa, also known as salsa verde. This is kind of a specialty food, so there aren’t any nationally-recognizable brands I can suggest for you all (mine’s actually made in Mexico, so you’re not likely to be able to find it unless you live near the border like I do.) Of course the best thing is if your label contains nothing but whole, recognizable ingredients, but in a pinch I’ve even pulled out my cellphone and called a manufacturer’s customer service number right there in the grocery store aisle. Whatever gets the job done.

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Pour about 1/4 cup of the tomatillo salsa on the bottom of your greased 9″ by 9″ baking dish. This is just a thin little drizzle that’s going to help keep your bottom layer from sticking, it doesn’t really count as a layer. Your official first layer will be corn tostadas, broken up and overlapped a bit as necessary. You could also use soft corn tortillas, or even tortilla chips — though both are going to get soggier than these nice thick tostadas — as long as it’s 100% corn, whatever it is.

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Next, grab your avocado cream, and dollop half of it (or about 1 cup) on top of the tostadas, using the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly.

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Next, add a layer of tomatillo salsa. It’s about 1/2 cup, I think, but I just kind of eyeball it.

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Then, layer on half of your chicken mixture. Press it down a bit so it’s not full of air bubbles.

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Now, the final item in our layering scheme is diced green chiles. “But GFCF Lady,” I hear you say, “that can says whole chiles.” Well, yes, so it does. My son really, really likes the grocery store, you see, and shopping trips with him can be classified anywhere from mildly hyperactive to a Category 5 hurricane. In my hurry to get out of there on this particular occasion, I grabbed the wrong can. But no biggie, I just diced them up on my cutting board. Whether you buy them whole or diced, however, this is another one of those items that should contain nothing but the chiles. Don’t settle for added junk.

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Sprinkle half of your chile bits over the chicken, then start the layers over: tostadas, avocado cream, tomatillo sauce…

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…chicken mixture, green chiles. Bake uncovered in a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes, and the result will be the creamiest, tastiest enchilada casserole this side of the Rio Grande.

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Happy Eating!

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The GFCF Lady’s Enchilada Casserole

2 chicken breasts
1 medium yellow onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

8 corn tostadas
2 cups avocado cream
1 1/4 cups tomatillo sauce
1 can chopped green chiles

But can I really improve on these delectable GFCF chicken nuggets I showed you how to make way back when? Oh, indeed. You may recall that at the time, I said, “I’d probably bread everything in nothing but almond meal, if the stuff weren’t so darn expensive.” Well it turns out, there was a less expensive source sitting right under my nose. Much less expensive, in fact!

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Honeyville Grain sells blanched almond flour at half the price of Bob’s Red Mill. (The price drops even more if you buy it in 25 lb. bags, but I realize most of you aren’t going to be able to go through it that quickly — though it does keep for a very long time in the refrigerator…) I’ve been experimenting with this stuff like a madwoman, and I have to say, I’m an almond flour convert at this point. The texture is just miles better than anything else out there in my opinion, and with the obstacle of cost removed (or at least reduced to the equivalent of every other GF flour out there,) there’s no reason not to use it in practically everything.

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I’ll try to post some recipes for baked items involving almond flour in the near future, but for now, let’s get back to these amazing chicken tenders, shall we? I was exaggerating slightly when I said “nothing but” almond flour, there are a few seasonings that help this meal reach its full potential. Specifically, that’s 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, garlic powder, and ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon of paprika.

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Blend all that into 1 cup of almond flour. (That’s another important distinction between the Honeyville product versus Bob’s Red Mill, by the way: Bob’s Red Mill officially makes almond meal, which is a coarser texture, and doesn’t work as well for baking. It would still work fine here, except for the part where it’s twice as expensive.)

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I’m using 2 pounds of chicken tenders straight out of the package, but you could certainly cut up your own chicken bits if you’d prefer. As always, make sure you get chicken meat that isn’t injected with broth, as that may contain gluten. “Retained water” = good, “up to 3% solution” = bad. There’s really no need to do an egg wash in this recipe, especially since the almond flour is already packed with protein. I just use about a Tablespoon of high-quality olive oil.

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Roll your oiled chicken in the breading, and lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

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I sprinkle any leftover bits on top for a little extra crunch. The reason you can get away with doing these in the oven instead of frying them in oil is because the almond grains are too dense to get soggy in the oven like other GF breadings. They come out just as crunchy, with less effort.

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30 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees, and just look at that golden deliciousness! My whole family prefers the taste, plus it’s more nutritious, costs the same as anything else a gluten-free cook would use, and involves less work and cleanup than frying. Time to light the fireworks!

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Happy Eating!

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Oven-Baked Chicken Tenders

2 lb. chicken tenders
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup Honeyville almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika

Guess what, y’all? Today is this website’s one-year anniversary. Happy birthday to us! To celebrate, I’m going to have a little giveaway. All you need to do is post a comment below, telling me what kind of recipes you want to see more of in the future: maybe it’s dinners, or desserts, or maybe you’ve just got a pile of rutabaga sitting in your kitchen and you need a good GFCF recipe to use it in — you tell me!

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I’ll draw one post number at random to receive this Cuisinart immersion blender, in the winner’s choice of white or chrome. This handy little tool is truly indispensable in my kitchen, and I use it to make smoothies, soups, and most especially, to puree veggies to an absolutely smooth consistency so I can hide them in a variety of places in my children’s diet. I want to share my blending joy with you, so post your comment below, and then make sure to check back to see if you won! The contest ends at 9 PM Central Time (US) one week from today, on May 2nd, 2010.

And just to get your imagination working on what amazing things you’ll be able to do with your new immersion blender, here’s one way you can use it!

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The key to chicken and garlic soup is neither the chicken, nor the garlic. Well, the garlic is pretty important. But the key for us is the mirepoix, which is just a fancy French word for starting a soup with a base of common aromatic vegetables. Of course 18th-century French children didn’t get the modern advantage of having their veggies turned into pureed ninjas, they just had to suffer.

In this case, I’m using zucchini, onion, and celery, but the more traditionally-used carrots will also be coming in a minute. Right now that’s one peeled zucchini, four stalks of celery, and one onion, sauteeing slowly in a little olive oil. Plus 2 cloves of minced garlic there in the middle.

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Meanwhile, heat 6 cups of gluten-free chicken broth (Pacific Foods is one safe brand, or you could always make your own) in a giant soup pot, and submerge 3 whole chicken breasts to start cooking. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

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Dump in one chopped carrot, and an 8-ounce container of sliced mushrooms. Now, I throw these big pieces in because my kids don’t care about carrots or mushrooms. But if yours do, just put them in the sautee pan with the other veggies instead, and it’ll be our secret.

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Add 1 Tablespoon (or roughly 6 cloves) of minced garlic to the soup pot…

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1/2 teaspoon of pepper…

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And 1 teaspoon of celery salt. Since this is technically a spice blend, there’s a chance some off-brands will add a gluten ingredient to keep the grains from sticking to each other. McCormick spices aren’t all gluten-free, but they have committed to always disclosing any source of gluten on their labels, so we can check that this one is safe.

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Once your sauteed veggies are nice and soft, probably a good 15 minutes on medium-low heat, spoon them into your blending container, keeping in mind that you may have to do multiple batches.

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You’ll need to steal a couple of scoops of liquid from the pot to make it blendable. Be careful not to burn yourself like I did, unless you like wearing bandaids. (Actually, as a kid I loved the smell of Curad plastic bandaids. How weird is that?)

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Immerse your immersion blender, and fire away!

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If I’d sauteed the carrots and mushrooms instead of dumping them in whole, this concoction would be a lot more brownish-orange instead of light green. Feel free to switch up the vegetables to your liking, or put in two or three times as many to beef up the nutrition content, it’s not really going to make much difference: it’ll still taste like chicken and garlic soup in the end.

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Eventually your chicken breasts should be cooked all the way through, at which point you can drag them out with a pair of tongs, dice them up, and throw the pieces right back into the pot.

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I also like to add in a drained can of diced tomatoes. (This is one of those foods that should have nothing but tomatoes and maybe a little salt listed on the label, by the way. Don’t even bother with anything else.) The tomatoes are just kind of a nice addition, though, not a dealbreaker, so if you’re not a fan of tomato chunks in your soup, then by all means, skip it.

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Near the end, add in about 1/2 teaspoon of sage, and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. If your soup has been simmering for such a long time that the broth has become more concentrated, you may need to adjust these spices downward a bit. Or alternately, you could add a little more chicken broth to thin it out. When it comes down to it, as long as the chicken meat is cooked, you can simmer for as little or as long as you like. I like to get it going in the late afternoon and then just let it hang out on the stove until I’m ready to serve dinner. Much easier than trying to tie everything together at the last moment before eating.

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Those are Boulder Canyon rice & adzuki bean chips that I’m enjoying with this delectable bowl of soup, by the way. They may claim to be “natural salt” flavor, but they have a definite kick to them. My kids still like them, but my kids like salsa too, so keep that in mind.

Don’t forget to post a comment to enter the giveaway!

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Happy Eating!

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Chicken & Garlic Soup

1 medium onion
4 stalks celery
1 small zucchini
2 cloves minced garlic
1 carrot
8 oz. sliced mushrooms

6 cups Pacific Foods chicken broth
3 chicken breasts
6 cloves minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp McCormick celery salt
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt

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All of which is to say, your onions need not be quite so thoroughly sauteed as mine are here. If you’ve got the luxury of leaving your diced onion on the lowest heat setting for upwards of 20 minutes (or if you, too, have bleeding offspring to attend to,) then have at it. But normally, you’d just want to sautee this onion in a little olive oil until it’s just starting to turn translucent, nothing major.

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Meanwhile, warm up 3 1/4 cups of gluten-free chicken broth in a small pot. Pacific Foods is one safe brand. Just keep it at a simmer until we’re ready to use it. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change ingredients without warning. Always check your labels!]

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After your onions get to somewhere between translucent and sauteed-to-death, add 1 teaspoon each of basil, parsley, and minced garlic. (That’s roughly two cloves for those of you who do your garlic the real way.)

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Also, dump in an 8-ounce container of sliced mushrooms…

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…And 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

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While the mushrooms start to soften, measure out 1 1/2 cups of arborio rice. As you can see, my funny little measuring cup indicates this is approximately 16,000 grains of rice. The other side is even funnier, with things like “volume of the brain of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.” I don’t get to use it as often as I’d like because it has a hairline crack in the bottom and is no good for liquids, but I love it just the same.

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Now, add 3 Tablespoons of oil to the pot. Because we’re putting in so much, I’m actually using grapeseed oil here, because it’s got a milder flavor than olive oil. Any oil will do, really, but a healthier oil is always preferable to basic cooking oil.

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Now pour in your arborio rice, and stir everything thoroughly. This species of rice is what makes a risotto a risotto, by the way. Could you make this recipe with another kind of rice? Yes, but then it would be a rice casserole instead of a risotto, and that doesn’t sound nearly as impressive. If you do substitute, you’ll definitely want to use a short-grain, stickier rice rather than a long-grain dry rice.

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Now, there is a type of chef out there who will tell you that in fact, to properly make risotto, you have to add the boiling liquid a tiny bit at a time, and stir quickly and constantly for as much as 45 minutes straight to get it all absorbed. But I firmly believe that this type of chef has only fooled himself into believing that his food tastes better just because he worked harder for it. Me, I can tell that it tastes just as good this way.

The reason they say you have to do all that stirring is that arborio rice is so soft, if you throw it in a rice cooker it will just congeal into one large mass. What we’re doing here with the oil is similar to what we do with Mexican Rice: we’re sealing each grain of rice by cooking it in hot oil before boiling it. With regular rice, this makes each grain dry and distinct. With arborio rice, this gets it to a sticky-but-separable consistency, without all the stirring.

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After the oil in the pan has been mosty absorbed, pour in your chicken broth, which should still be happily simmering away in your side pot.

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You can also toss in about one cup of frozen peas if you want. I love peas, so I always want to add them to things.

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Put on the lid, and place the whole thing in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. If you don’t have any ovensafe cookware, you can also do everything up to this point in a normal pot, and then pour the whole mixture into a 9×13 glass baking dish and cover it with foil.

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Doesn’t that just look so warm and inviting? If you can’t convince your family that a meatless item counts a main dish, you can also place some boneless chicken pieces right on top of the whole thing before putting it in the oven, and it becomes that great family classic, chicken and rice casserole. But you and I will know it’s really a risotto.

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Happy Eating!

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Easy Mushroom Risotto (aka Chicken and Rice Casserole)

3 1/4 cups GF chicken broth
1 medium onion
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
2 cloves minced garlic
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs grapeseed oil
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 cup frozen peas
boneless chicken pieces (optional)

There’s two ways you can go with this recipe: you can make a traditional chunky soup, or you can make just a basic chicken broth, which is good for cooking, or for drinking out of a cup if your kids don’t like eating soup. I’ve actually mixed it half-and-half with fruit juice before, and mine couldn’t even taste the difference.

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Start with a whole chicken, sometimes called a “fryer.” It should be somewhere between 4 and 6 pounds, not too huge. Make sure you choose one that’s all-natural and hasn’t been injected with any broth, which might contain gluten. “Retained water” is the only phrase you want to see, never the word “solution.”

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Take a pair of sturdy kitchen shears, and carve the chicken up into its typical chicken parts: cut off each drumstick and wing at the joint, then go up the middle and split the ribcage. Your chicken may or may not come with giblets (the chicken’s organs) stuffed inside, but if so, they’re good for boiling, so just toss them in the pot with everything else.

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Cover everything with filtered water and bring it to a boil. Now, there are two types of fat that are going to come off this bird. First is this nasty foamy stuff. Scoop it off with a spoon and throw it away.

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Then a few minutes later, this rich golden layer will start to rise to the top. This is the good fat.

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Good though it may be, you still need to remove it from your broth. Skimming this fat off the surface takes a more delicate touch. You can dip a spoon very shallowly like this, and remove it one spoonful at a time. Or you can just slurp it up with a baster.

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Here’s the awesome thing, though: this stuff is actually useful. Instead of tossing the liquid fat down the sink, you can put it in a tupperware, or use an empty coffee can with a fitted lid like me. Then stick it in the fridge, and soon…

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It will have solidified. Looks an awful lot like butter, doesn’t it? Cooks an awful lot like butter, too. Except of course this is 100% dairy-free, soy-free, chemical-free, everything-free. It’s just pure clean rendered chicken fat, and you can use it in pretty much any recipe that calls for butter. This is old-school pan-greasing material, right here. When the apocalypse comes and we’re all reduced to subsistance farming out of our backyards, don’t say I never gave you any tips.

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Anyway, back to our chicken broth. After the chicken pieces have boiled for 30 minutes, pull them out of the pot with a pair of tongs and set them aside. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, pull all the cooked meat off the bones. If you’re making plain chicken broth, just save the meat for an easy meal later in the week, like tacos or pasta. If you’re making real chicken soup, just hang onto it for now, we’ll add it back into the soup later. But either way, collect all the skin in a separate little area, because boiled chicken skin is not good in either soup or tacos.

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Put all the bones back into the pot (and don’t feel like you have to pick them completely clean like I got this one, just get the bulk of the meat off and throw anything inedible back into the pot.) It’s important to boil the bones, because they have just tons and tons of nutrients that you can steal away into your broth.

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At this point you want to toss in 2-3 carrots, 2-3 stalks of celery, one teaspoon of salt, and one bay leaf. Leave the carrot and celery pieces very large for now, even if you plan on putting them into your final soup. Add in some more water until the level is back up at the top of the pot. Then let it simmer for… 2 hours? 4 hours? It’s up to you, really. The longer you let it simmer, the more you’ll get out of your vegetables and bones, and the richer your broth will be. I know some people who just let theirs go all day, 8 hours or more. As long as you keep adding water so it doesn’t completely boil off, you can do whatever fits your schedule. (In my opinion it’s a waste to go for less than an hour, though.)

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When you’re ready, scoop out all the big pieces with a slotted spoon. If you’re making real chicken soup, now is the time to take those carrots and celery and chop them into little bite-size pieces. The chicken skeleton has finally worn out its usefulness, so you can toss the rest of that stuff.

Now is also the time to add your final amount of water. I generally fill it almost back to the top of the pot, because I need to feed a lot of people with one batch of soup. But if you are able to leave it more concentrated, you’ll end up with a tastier soup, so lucky you!

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Unless you’ve got a very finely-slotted spoon, you’re still probably going to want to strain what’s left. I use a big pitcher set in the sink with the strainer balanced on top of it, so I can use both hands on the giant soup pot. Rinse the junk out of the pot, and pour the broth right back in, along with your good chicken meat, carrots, and celery, plus maybe some gluten-free noodles or rice if you want to make it a little more filling.

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Of course, if you’re only making plain chicken broth for cooking, you can stick that pitcher of golden perfection right into the fridge the way it is. Or if you’re cooking ahead of time, you can freeze it into ice cubes so you can thaw precisely the right amount as necessary.

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Here’s another handy tip. Remember how I said boiled chicken skin is no good? Well if you’re feeling decadent, you can remedy that sad state of affairs. Throw all your leftover chicken skin onto a baking sheet, and cook it in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes, and you will end up with little bits of crispy deliciousness that will go straight to your hips. But you know what? You spent all afternoon making homemade chicken soup for somebody, so you deserve it.

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Happy Eating!

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Homemade Chicken Soup

1 whole fryer chicken (about 4-6 pounds)
2-3 carrots
2-3 stalks celery
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt

But wait, not yet! Save your caresses for when the meat is cooked, please. First, we need to build up a little tension, am I right? You can use anywhere from 1 to 4 chicken breasts for this, depending on how much meat you want in the final product, but always use the same amount of marinade, because it’s an integral part of the sauce later and you don’t want to throw the balance off. So start with one Tablespoon of sugar…

And 2 Tablespoons of Thai Kitchen fish sauce. This brand is common enough that you will probably be able to find it in your normal grocery store, and they’re generally really good about not hiding gluten in their various Asian food products. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change recipes without warning. Always check your labels!]

Add 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Stir everything together thoroughly, cover the bowl, and stick it in the refrigerator for whatever length of time fits your dinner schedule. If that happens to be first thing in the morning before you leave the house, or no more than 10 minutes before you start cooking the rest of the meal, it’s all good.

Cut up about 1 lb. of smallish potatoes (I think I used 5 of them) into bite-size chunks. I leave the peels on, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’d like to claim I do it because the peels are the healthiest part, but really it’s just because I’m lazy.

Chop an onion into similar-sized pieces (or smaller, if your kids don’t like onions and you’re hoping they’ll accidentally get a few on their fork without noticing.)

Heat up one or two tablespoons of olive oil in a large soup pot, and dump in the potatoes, onions, and a chopped up red bell pepper as well. Truth be told, that’s actually 2 red bell peppers in mine, because I adore red bell peppers (but I absolutely loathe the green ones; go figure.) You’ve got to go with your gut on how many are right for you. Once you’ve settled that conundrum, sautee everything over moderately high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Then pour in your chicken along with all the marinade. Stir rapidly until the outside of the chicken is opaque but it’s not cooked all the way through.

Now for the most important part — the love potion, if you will. (Did I just type that? I’m really having second thoughts about this whole “romance” metaphor I’ve got going on…) Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste. It comes in a tiny jar, but you only need 1 Tablespoon of it at a time. Normally I’d give you an idea of what’s in it in case you want to approximate, but there’s really no substitute for this complex combination of flavors. Mix it into your pot and cook for one minute, just enough to get the fragrance going.

Now, add one can of coconut milk. Make sure you stir inside the can before you pour, because coconut milk will tend to separate.

Also add 1/4 cup of water…

And 1 Tablespoon of lime juice.

Cover the pot, and let it simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 7-8 minutes.

If necessary, let it simmer uncovered for another couple of minutes to let it thicken a bit.

This is best served over rice. Why is there no rice in my bowl, you ask? Because I’m a doofus and forgot to put it in there before taking the picture. It happens. The peppers and onions may intimidate some kids, but I promise you, they’re going to love this sauce if you can get them to give it a chance. Coconut milk is sweet, and you may also recall we added a Tablespoon of sugar way back when. After cooking in the sauce for so long, all the veggies have soaked up the flavor too, and the result is something you will want to embrace very deeply indeed.

Happy Eating!

The GFCF Lady’s Green Curry Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts
1 TBS sugar
2 TBS Thai Kitchen fish sauce
1 TBS minced garlic
1 tsp black pepper

1 lb. small potatoes
1 onion
1-2 red bell peppers
1 can coconut milk
1 TBS Thai Kitchen green curry paste
1/4 cup water
1 TBS lime juice

Of course ours isn’t truly Buttered Chicken, but Margarined Chicken just doesn’t have the same ring to it. I hope you can understand why I called this recipe decadent a second ago: the first step is to melt an entire stick of Fleischmann’s Unsalted (not Original) Margarine in a very large pan. Yes, an entire stick. Just remind yourself how glad you are that it’s not an entire stick of real butter going straight to your hips. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas without warning. Always check your labels!]

As a side note, you could also use the traditional Indian butter known as ghee, which is what truly authentic Buttered Chicken recipes call for. While ghee is made with real dairy butter, the cooking process that makes it into ghee removes the casein. You have to balance how sensitive your kids are to dairy, and how much you trust the manufacturer to really process out every last molecule of casein. I have known families that use it with absolutely no ill effects, but we don’t bother with it.

Meanwhile, dice up two onions, and toss them in with the margarine over low heat so they can start getting nice and golden.

One of the defining features of Indian cuisine is the ridiculous number of spices (especially when you consider the fact that garam masala is a blend of spices in and of itself!) But if your family ends up loving this recipe as much as mine does, you can measure out a second little container of all these spices as you’re going along so you’ll already have one pre-made for the next time. We’re going to use 2 tsp garam masala, 2 tsp cilantro (also known as coriander,) 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1 tsp salt. Whew!

You’re also going to add in 1 teaspoon each of minced garlic and ginger. If you want to do the extra work and mince it fresh yourself, be my guest. Me, I’ve got laundry to do. Among other things.

Just in the last year, the GFCF community has been granted a huge gift in the form of this new coconut milk yogurt by So Delicious. Of course, various soy yogurts have been around forever, and you could still use one of those in this recipe if you prefer. But can I tell you? I do not prefer. I really, really hate the taste of soy-based anything. I can smell that stuff across the room, and it is not my cup of tea. Plus, soy is one of the top 8 major allergens, so it’s really nice to have an alternative, or at least one that you don’t have to ferment yourself in your own yogurt machine. Conveniently, we need exactly one container, but if you happen to be working with a larger tub of yogurt, it’s going to be roughly 2/3 cup.

Then add 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste, stir vigorously, and your sauce is ready. See, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Do double-check that your tomato paste brand is gluten-free. There should be nothing in that can but tomatoes.

Cut up 4 chicken breasts, and combine with the sauce so everything’s nice and coated. Yes, this is kind of a large recipe. On the one hand, you could easily cut it in half. But on the other hand, it reheats extremely well, so leftovers are a great choice too.

By now your onions should be looking good, so you can go ahead and turn up the heat a bit and stir the chicken mixture into the pan rapidly. You don’t want to cook the little pieces all the way through yet, just get the outsides seared — maybe 5-8 minutes, max.

Then pour in 1/2 cup of water…

And snuggle two bay leaves under the surface. Let them simmer in their fragrant little hot tub for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After your dish has been simmering for 30 minutes, it’s time to start your rice. (Do yourself a favor and buy a rice cooker, if you haven’t already. You can’t put a price on perfectly-cooked rice.) I usually prepare about 1 1/2 cups, but my plan is never to have leftover rice, just leftover buttered chicken. So if you’ve made peace with the texture of reheated rice — obviously I haven’t — you may want to make more so your leftovers are in equal amounts.

Stir in 1/3 cup of almond milk, and allow it to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, until the rice is done.

Don’t forget to fish those bay leaves out of the pot before you serve it though. The kids might think you’re trying to poison them if they find plants hidden in their meal.

Happy Eating!

The GFCF Lady’s Buttered Chicken

2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cilantro (coriander)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2/3 cup coconut milk yogurt
2 Tbs tomato paste

1 stick (8 TBS) Fleischmann’s Unsalted margarine
2 onions
4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup almond milk