Garlic and Herb Chicken Hot Pot Chowder

A quick and easy hot pot chowder to prepare on a busy night that also happens to be  Gluten and Dairy-Free!  Bonus!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
• 2 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 3 small fresh oregano leaves, chopped
• 1 small sprig of thyme, chopped
• 1 can of corn kernels
• 8oz can of chopped tomatoes
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
• 3 Tbsp. sorghum flour
• 5 cups organic free-range sodium reduced chicken stock
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of GF noodles, should be small, such as the kinds you may find in chicken noodle soup

Directions

1. In a large pot heat avocado oil and add chicken pieces.  Cook until golden brown, then add onions, garlic and fresh herbs, cooking until onions are translucent in color.
2. Deglaze pan by adding the red wine, making sure you scrape all of the good bits off the bottom of the pan. 
3. Add the flour and stir vigorously to mix well.  Almost immediately add the chicken stock a little at a time, making sure to continue stirring so that you don’t get any clumps of flour in your chowder. 
4. Add the corn, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  Let come to a boil.
5. Add your noodles of choice.  I used small round thin GF noodles as well as some GF orzo I had.
6. Cook until the noodles are al dente and enjoy.

Chicken and Wild Mushroom Bake

Greetings to all you lovely bloggers that have ventured or stumbled upon my blog today.  I’m so glad that you are here. 

Did everyone get a chance to check out and/or partake in yesterday’s The Great Fundraising Act?  Oh my gosh, there were some amazing items to bid on. Over $26,000 was raised on behalf of Susan, a truly amazing Canadian blogger behind The Great Balancing Act.  She was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has quite the battle and medical bills ahead of her. My thoughts go out to her and her family during this difficult time in their lives. 

Now on to food...

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Last night I decided to make something with chicken.  And that’s how my chicken bake came to be.  Sometimes I really do enjoy making things that are simple, especially on busy nights. 

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Gluten-free flour mix (or all-purpose)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 can cream of Wild Mushroom and Garlic Soup
• 1 cup Non-fat Greek yogurt
• 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2/3 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Set the oven to 350F.  Combine your flour, salt, paprika and pepper in a ziplock bag.  Shake the chicken, one at a time, in the flour mixture.  (remember to shake off the excess flour).

In a large frying pan, brown the chicken on all sides.  Place them in a baking dish large enough to hold them all.  In the same pan, sauté the mushrooms and pepper until tender.  Spread over the chicken.

 

 

 

 

 

In a small bowl, combine the soup and yogurt.  Pour over the chicken and vegetables.

Bake for 1 hour until the chicken is tender.  Sprinkle the casserole with cheese and return it to the oven until the cheese is just melted and a little brown. ( I didn’t have enough, but oh well).

Serve with a tossed salad or over some rice or gluten-free rice noodles. 

This casserole can even be prepared the night before.  Just refrigerate it and when you get home from a long day at the office or after running the kids to swimming, soccer or hockey practices, just pop it in the oven and get ready to enjoy. 

Bon appetite!  Back soon.

Bea

xoxo

Another Gluten-Free Pizza

It’s been a long time since I’ve had pizza, let alone made it myself again.  Since having started bootcamp in April, I tried to stay away from that type of food, but hey, there is no reason why I can’t make a healthier version myself, right? 

I bought some gluten-free frozen pizza shells, which are individual sized and perfect for a meal.  Once again, I had some chicken thighs in the fridge, so on to the pizza it went. 

For the sauce I used pesto, since I have an open jar in the fridge that also needs to be consumed before it goes bad.  Then I layered the pizza with some baby spinach, chicken and 2 slices of dill Havarti (hmm..my favourite cheese at the moment).

Into the oven it went for 10 minutes on 400F. 

It was pretty good.  I find that the trick with gluten-free crusts is that they get crispy.  By doing so, it’s still chewy on the inside.  I tried making these pizzas on the BBQ the other night, but the crust was crispy at first and then started tasting like stale bread, especially when it got a little cold. 

Hope everyone is having a good start to their week. 

What do you like to put on your pizza?

Bye for now.

Bea

xoxo

Egg Frittata

Whenever I have the urge to make eggs, it’s the basic eggs with toast, especially for breakfast.  My favourite is either easy-over or soft boiled eggs.  But sometimes I get the urge to make something more. 

I had already eaten breakfast before bootcamp this morning, but when I got back home, I was definitely hungry for more. By the time I had showered and refreshed myself, it was time for lunch anyway.

I had some leftover sautéed onions and red peppers in the fridge, along with some fresh spinach that was starting to go limp.  I had some cooked chicken thighs in the fridge as well. 

I threw everything into the frying pan along with 1 Tbsp. of pesto sauce, then added a couple raw eggs and stirred it all together.  Right before serving, I added a small amount of grated dill Havarti cheese.

Another great lunch idea….it’s quick, simple and has lean protein and healthy fats. 

BON APPETIT !

No excuses

So I really have no excuses for not posting more frequently.  So much going on, I lose track of time and then it’s off to bed.  I will try to get better, so please bare with me.  So for this post, I’ll try to not bore you too much… how about a quick recap of what’s new and the food I’ve eaten.

Food pics first…..

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Chicken tomato bake

First I cooked some boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  Then in a casserole dish, layer together:  chicken thighs, onions, spinach, garlic.  Then I added a jar of tomato sauce.  Top off with some grated cheese and stick in a 350F oven for about 35 minutes.  Serve with whole-grain pasta or rice.

Turkey 6 bean spaghetti

Another quick and easy weekday meal.  In a large pot, sauté onions, garlic and carrots.  Then golden in color, add ground turkey.  Cook until no longer pink.  Add a can of beans of your choice (I used a 6 bean mix), a can of diced tomatoes and a jar of tomato sauce (about 475mL).  Cook for about 20 minutes or until sauce has thickened a bit. 

Asian-inspired Stirfry

Slice thinly some pork tenderloin.  In a wok, sauté the pork with 2 Tbsp  green curry and some grated ginger.  Then add stir-fry veggies of your choice.  I used baby bok choy, broccoli, red peppers and mushrooms.  After about 5 minutes, add some fish sauce, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, worstershire sauce and reduced sodium chicken broth.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes.  Then add your pre-soaked rice noodles and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are al dente.  Sprinkle with some peanuts before serving.

BBQ Salmon with Mushroom Risotto and garlic veggies

I used my BBQ for the first time this spring to whip up this awesome goodness.  For the salmon, I made a rub of brown sugar, dill, cumin, salt and pepper.  I mixed the rub a bit with some olive oil and then basted the salmon fillet.  It took about 15 minutes on the BBQ, skin side down over low heat.  (The skin was burnt, but the salmon juicy and nice and firm). 

For the Risotto…it actually contains mushrooms, but they were underneath, so you can’t see them.  I added saffron to my risotto to make it nice and yellow. 

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And some other stuff…..

1. I had a follow up appointment with my doctor a little while back and found out I am pretty anaemic, even after taking an iron supplement every day. I eat a lot of iron-rich foods too, so this is a mystery to me and my doctor.  I’m tired of always feeling easily exhausted.  So I was given several referrals, one of which was for a surgeon.  I had an appointment last week and he’s scheduled me for a colonoscopy and gastroscopy.  Not fun, but I do want to get to the bottom of this anaemia.
2. I’ve been training for my 8km adventure relay race. It’s less than 2 weeks away now…May 1st is the big day…eek   I just got the trail route today and am hoping to be able to run/walk it next week to familiarize myself with the route before the event.
3. I won a free week of bootcamp and loved it, so I joined for month.  This is now the second week and I can already feel it.  After the first week, I could barely sit down on the toilet or walk the stairs as my legs were shot.  It hurt to sneeze too… we worked out abs.  Classes are Mon/Wed/Fri.
4. I went to a concert Friday night…. Fefe Dobson came to town and put on an awesome concert. 

Hope everyone is having a great start to their spring.  I’m really looking forward to seeing more sunshine and warmer weather soon. 

With love

Beaglebea

xoxo

Baby it’s cold outside

Brrrr…How cold is it in your neck of the woods?  My area is in a deep freeze…we had temperatures of –8C when I woke up at 9am, but the wind-chill made it feel more like –15C.  Now I know it’s probably much colder where some of you live, but we are not used to these temperatures.  At least it was a sunny day today.  They are calling for some more snow tomorrow night and into Saturday before the rain hits and the temperatures go back up. 

So my day was more or less productive.  In my school district we get paid days off to work at home on report cards or to do other teacher prep, such as visiting other colleagues in their classrooms.  I got my reports started, but then had an appointment with the Bank for RRSP’s and also a doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  I was not looking forward to the doctor’s visit as it was time for a physical, but it went well, so no complaints.  (I was anxious since it was a male doctor, but he was great about it).  After my appointment I had to go to the school to prepare for tomorrow, so it was well after 5pm by the time I came home.

And what was for dinner you ask?  Rosemary Vanilla Chicken with a Medley of Rice

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ROSEMARY VANILLA CHICKEN WITH A MEDLEY OF RICE

How to make

This one is an easy creation.  And come to think of it…another GF and Dairy-Free meal…..First you will want to prepare your ingredients. 

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 450g chicken, boneless, skinless and chopped (you can use thighs or breasts..your choice)
• 3 cups of spinach, chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup low sodium free-range chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp  Sorghum flour and some broth to make a thickening agent
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 tsp  fresh rosemary

Chop the onions and garlic.  Cut up your chicken into smaller pieces.  Heat up some oil in a wok and add your chicken.  Cook until chicken gets brown.  Then add your onions and garlic. 

Continue to cook until most of the liquid is cooked up.  Then add your broth and wine and bring to a boil.  While boiling, prepare your vanilla bean and the rosemary.

 

Slice your vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the paste. Also chop up your vanilla bean into small pieces.   Add this to your chicken.  Also chop up your fresh rosemary and add to your chicken. 

 

Now chop up your spinach and add it to the pot as well.  Stir well and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.  Then reduce heat on low and keep warm until ready to serve.

I served mine over a bed of rice.  I love my rice….. it looks like this in the package, but turns all purple after cooking.

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Now that I’m finished with dinner, it’s back to report cards.  Oh how I love this time of year. 

I’m glad tomorrow is Friday.  My student teacher visits for the first time tomorrow as well, so here’s to hoping the kids cooperate and are on their best behaviour. 

Not sure how much time I’ll have for blogging this weekend…. we have a school function to attend Friday night…I’m at the pool all day Saturday to recertify for my lifeguarding (I hope I pass)…then back to the rec center Saturday night for a hockey game.  I’m going to be one tired cookie by the end of the weekend, that’s for sure. 

Anybody have exciting weekend plans? 

Have a great night….

Bea

xoxo

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Chicken and Dumplings

It’s been another rainy and dreary day on the West Coast.  I woke up to rain and fog, and while it’s not too cold out, I’m still missing the sunshine.  According to the weather man, Mr. Sun is expected to make an appearance tomorrow.  Perfect for hump day.  I guess I should be thankful it’s not snowing, right? 

I came home this afternoon with a craving for chicken noodle soup.  So I remembered I had a recipe in my binder for Chicken and Dumplings.  And it’s Gluten and Dairy-Free.  Even better

On to the soup…

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There are a few simple rules to ensure light, delicious dumplings every time.  The liquid must remain at a slow simmer, and the dumplings need room to expand, so never crowd them in the pot.  Whatever you do, resist the urge to sneak a peak since the dumpling's’ light and fluffy texture relies heavily on the steam that builds inside the pot. 

Soup Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 quarts low-sodium, gluten-free chicken broth
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 carrots, cut into chunks
• 4 ribs celery, roughly chopped
• 1 cup frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
• 1/4 cup  chopped flat-leaf parsley

Dumpling Ingredients

• 1/3 cup brown or white rice flour
• 1/3 cup garbanzo or garfava flour
• 1/3 cup amaranth or tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 tsp  gluten-free baking powder
• 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp Earth Balance Butter (DF, non-hydrogenated)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup almond or soy milk

To prepare the soup, heat oil in a heavy stockpot or large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to pot.  Add onions and cook until translucent and chicken pieces are golden brown. 

Add broth, thyme and bay leaf then cover, reduce heat to low and cook until chicken is tender. Add celery, carrots and parsley and stir to combine.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat or until just tender.       

To prepare the dumplings, put rice, garfava and amaranth flour, baking powder, thyme and salt into a bowl and whisk together until blended.  Add margarine and crumble the mixture with a dough mixer until it resembles course meal. 

Using your hands, work quickly to mix in egg and 1 Tbsp at a time of the milk until the dough forms a shaggy ball. 

Be sure not to overwork the dough, mixing it just until it comes together but isn’t too wet.  (I actually didn’t use all the milk).

Shape the dough into 12 small balls.  Drop each ball into the slow simmering liquid. (You may need to cook your dumplings in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot).

Once the dumplings are in the simmering liquid, cover the pot immediately and simmer for 10 minutes, resisting the urge to look inside the pot.  Ladle the chicken and dumplings into bowls and serve hot.   

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Hope everyone had a great day.  See you all tomorrow.

Hugs,

Bea

xoxo

Another Asian inspired meal

Well I wasn’t up to anything too interesting this weekend. I was actually feeling a bit under the weather. It was a rainy weekend to boot and so I decided to lay low and hang around town.  Had another hockey game Saturday night (and yes, I scored another goal ) and Sunday was a quiet day of cleaning up and shopping for groceries. And it was my friend’s Birthday Sunday.  Too bad she lives too far away to celebrate with her.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA! 

A couple of highlights of my weekend were:

#1) I did finally get around to purchasing a new pair of running shoes at our local running store.  After trying on 3 pairs of shoes and walking around the store numerous times, I went with these:

Brooks Cascadia Trail runner. 

They are a trail runner, perfect for my May 1st event.  I think they will be well broken-in and this also means that tomorrow I can finally run shin splits free (I hope). 

#2)  I bought a new Wok.  Been meaning to get one for a while now and after my very successful attempt at making Pad Thai last week, it was time to buy one.  It came in handy Sunday night too

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ASIAN INSPIRED CHICKEN AND SHRIMP STIR-FRY WITH COCONUT SAUCE

Another successful attempt at making a flavourful stir-fry.  And guess what?  It’s Dairy Free and Gluten-Free…the best of both worlds.

Ingredients:

To make the sauce

• 2 Tbsp  olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp  ginger puré
• 2 tsp  curry paste
• 1 tsp  Tabasco Sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 can Coconut milk
• 4 Tbsp  peanut butter
• 2 tsp lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

To make Stir-fry

• 2 Tbsp  olive oil
• 8 oz  boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in small pieces
• 8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 800 gr assorted veggies
• 1 Tbsp sesame seed oil
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Garnish – chopped peanuts, cilantro, green onions (your choice)

How to make

Make the sauce first.  Heat oil on medium heat.  Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook until onions translucent.  Then add your curry paste and hot sauce and cook for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes, coconut milk, peanut butter and lime juice.  Reduce your heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Now transfer the mixture to your blender (I used my Vitamix) and blend until you get a smooth sauce.  Return to saucepan and keep warm until you are ready to use it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now time to make the Stir-fry.  On medium heat, heat your oil in your Wok.  Add your shrimp and chicken and do a quick sauté.  Careful not to cook too long as you don`t want to make your shrimp tough.

Add your veggies and sesame oil.  I used carrots, broccoli, pepper and bok choy.  Continue to sauté until your veggies are mostly cooked. 

Laddle a desired amount of the reserved sauce into Wok and continue cooking until your chicken is tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add your cilantro right before serving.

Serve over rice.  Garnish with more cilantro and chopped peanuts. 

   I also had one of these to go with my meal.  It was left in my fridge after having a few friends over. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stay tuned for a gluten-free applesauce cake coming soon to Beaglebea. 

Did you do anything interesting this weekend? Make anything new and exciting?

See you soon.

xoxo

Bea