Gluten Free, Dairy Free Chicken Cordon Bleu

I know that Chicken Cordon Bleu is supposed to be oozing with cheese. I thought about replacing it with fake cheese, but there really aren't any good swiss cheese substitutes. Honestly, if you get a nice flavorful ham, you won't even miss the cheese. Sorry about the shadows in the picture, I had to take it myself. I've learned a lot from amanda, but I don't think I will ever be the photographer that she is. :)

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Thinly sliced ham, enough to fill chicken
1 Stick of dairy free margarine, melted
about 1 c of Gluten free bread crumbs

Grease a baking dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

There are two ways to go about preparing your chicken. My favorite way is to place a chicken breast in a gallon size ziplock bag and pound it until it is about ¼” thick, then roll it up. The other way is easier, simply slice your chicken breast across the middle and open it like a sandwich. Sprinkle the chicken with a little salt and pepper. Place the ham inside. If you are rolling it then do so now and secure with a toothpick, otherwise just close your “sandwich”. Dip it in the melted margarine, making sure that every bit is covered, then fully coat with breadcrumbs. Place in baking dish. Repeat with each piece of chicken. Sprinkle any remaining breadcrumbs over the top and drizzle any remaining margarine over that.

Bake for approximately one hour, or until chicken is fully cooked.

P.S. Don't forget to take out the toothpicks!!! (oops)

Turkey Meatballs and Spaghetti

I linked back to my breadcrumb recipe, I feel like a pro! :)
My husband's family is Italian, so I've been making meatballs since before Emily was born. The original recipe calls for beef and lots of garlic, both of which Emily can not have. If you make these and you are able to have garlic then add a little garlic powder to the meatballs themselves, and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic to the sauce. Also, these are best when simmered in the sauce for a couple of hours, but if you only use a few at a time (like we do) then freeze the meatballs without the sauce so they will be easier to portion out later.

Meatballs
1 ¼ lbs Ground turkey
½ t Salt
¼ t Black pepper
½ t Onion powder
¼ c Gluten free bread crumbs

Mix well. Roll into walnut sized balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pour a jar of allergen free marinara sauce into a large pot. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so I used Hunt's canned sauce. I've never used canned sauce before but it was actually pretty good. If you are using garlic then crush a couple of cloves into the sauce now. Add the meatballs and stir them in. Simmer on low heat for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn or stick to the bottom. Serve over your favorite pasta. We use Tinkyada rice pasta.

Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

Well here I am making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and thinking "oh I should post this", meanwhile my chicken cordon bleu recipe is waiting in the wings, and I realized that I really should have my breadcrumb recipe posted somewhere on this site since I use them so much. I mentioned bread crumbs in my turkey meat loaf recipe, but this will be a post that I can link back to every time I use them. So here it is...

Basically you are just using whatever bread you normally eat. We make our bread from Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free mix (available through my Amazon store to the right). Emily doesn't usually eat the heels, so I cut them off and dry them overnight on the counter. If I cut her bread into shapes, like her flower hamburger buns, I set the scraps out to dry too. If you don't have extra heels or scraps then by all means you can just dry out a few slices of bread. Also, if you are a more sanitary person than I, and you don't like the thought of your bread sitting out all night, you can bake it in a low temperature oven until it is completely dried out.

Now that your bread is dry, we are going to grind it into crumbs and add some seasonings. Put the bread into your blender with some salt and pepper and whatever dried herbs and seasonings your little heart desires. OK, OK, you want a recipe??? Here is a VERY general guideline. Tonight when I made breadcrumbs for Emily I measured what I put into them for the first time ever and this is what I came up with...

1 c Breadcrumbs
½ t Salt
¼ t Dried basil
½ t Onion powder
A couple of dashes of dried oregano
A couple of grinds of black pepper

Blend all together in blender, pulsing or shaking when needed, until it reaches a very fine crumb.

I would definitely add garlic powder too, if Emily weren't allergic to it. Now you have dried, seasoned bread crumbs that you can put into an airtight container and keep indefinitely, adding to it whenever you have more to add. I have found so many uses for it now that I make sure I never run out.

If You Can't Join Them, Beat Them!

Hmm...That title sounds a little violent. It was supposed to be a twist on the old saying "if you can't beat them, join them". You get it, right? Anyway, the point here is that as much time and effort as we put into trying to eat what everyone else is eating, it's really great when we get to have something that's even better. I have read many stories about mom's who worry that their child will be lonely and isolated at the school's peanut free table, only to find out that it is now the "popular" table and their friends are fighting over the limited number of seats. My heart sings with joy every time I make something for Emily and one of her friends asks "can I have one?". My post this week is not so much a recipe as a revelation I finally had. I have been trying to make gluten free, egg free, dairy free hamburger buns that are soft and fluffy for a few years now with no success. I have made buns that are good from Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free bread mix, but for a child who has had the cheap fluffy white buns before it's just not the same. OK...so let's go with that...not the same...how about better? Do you know how to make just about anything better to a 6 yr old girl? You turn it into a flower! Yes, it was that simple. I took 2 slices of bread and cut them with a flower shaped cookie cutter. Emily LOVED it! I could just hear the other (imaginary) 6 year old girls saying "can I have a flower bun too?"! I have done this a few times now and, although I didn't do it for this picture, I have found that you can make it more bun-like by using the 2 heels of the loaf of bread. We throw on a turkey burger, some Vegan Rella, some fixin's, and voila! Happy, happy 6 yr old girl eating her flower burger

P.S. Don't forget to save the scraps for breadcrumbs :)

Chex Party Mix- Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and Peanut Free

I had planned on posting this recipe for New Years but I haven't been able to get at my computer for a week. Things have been a little frantic around here. Santa brought mice for Christmas thinking that maybe a very small animal would not be so allergenic...Santa did not know that you can NOT buy peanut free mouse food! So my latest mission is home made mouse food (sigh). Then, on New Years day, our power went out for 6 hours due to insanely scary winds and our internet, telephone, and cable TV went out for 24 hours. Anyway, today the kids go back to school, the power is up and running, and the mice are fed :)

So here it is...better late than never.

6 c Rice Chex cereal (Rice Chex are gluten free)
1 ½ c Gluten free pretzels (Glutino)
6 oz can Blue Diamond honey roasted almonds (or pumpkin seeds)
1 bag Ricepod crackers (about 1 cup?)
6 T Dairy free margarine
2 T Worcestershire sauce ( Lea and Perrins is gluten free)
1 ½ t Herbamare season salt (or plain salt or other season salt)
1 t Onion powder
2 T Brown sugar

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Melt margarine in large roasting pan in oven. Stir in Worcestershire, seasonings and brown sugar . Gradually stir in remaining ingredients until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container. Happy New Year!!!

P.S. I'm actually thinking I should try to "market" this mouse food. I don't know how many others have been faced with this problem. If anyone has any thoughts or comments as to weather or not this is a needed product I'd love to hear from you.