Gluten-Free Bisquick™ Hearty Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie...a winter dinner winner for sure! I had a lonely box of gluten-free Bisquick that I bought when I had a coupon but had yet to use so I checked out Betty Crocker's website for a recipe. I found this awesome recipe there and I'll be posting it here as well for convenience, reflecting some very minor changes I made in the veggie department. This was awesome and honestly, I would never have known it was gluten-free if I hadn't made it myself! My only thought would be for the next run, I would like to add a little more seasoning and maybe double the topping (I like lots of biscuits). This makes about 6 servings.

(make me, I am soooo tasty!)

Pot Pie Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1/2 can (~8 oz) of peas
- 1/2 can (~8oz) of corn
- 1 diced celery stalk
- 2 diced, cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth (check your label and make sure it is gluten-free!)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch

Topping Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup of Gluten-Free Bisquick
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- Dried parsley flakes (to sprinkle on top)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In 3 quart saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter.
3. Add onion and cook until tender.
4. Add chicken broth, chicken, veggies, salt and thyme.
5. Heat to a boil. In separate bowl, whisk together corn starch and milk until smooth.
6. Add cornstarch mixture and bring to boil.
7. Pour mixture into ungreased casserole dish (the deeper the better!)
8. Combine topping ingredients and stir until blended. Drop by spoonful across the top of pot pie filling in casserole.
9. Sprinkle with parsley.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes (I baked this around 30 minutes)
11. Enjoy it! Mmmmmmm.

Thanks, Betty Crocker, for a solid gluten-free product. Check out their website for more fabulous gluten-free recipes.

Eating Out Gluten-Free: Pizza (A Review)

I think I can safely say on behalf of many of us gluten-free eaters that I miss pizza. I miss the deliciously melty cheese and the joy of going to a pizza joint with a group of friends for the social ritual of eating pizza. However, with the growing awareness of Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS), some (I almost said many, but I'm not sure I'm willing to go that far...) pizza joints have developed their own gluten-free crusts or have gotten used to having premade gluten-free crusts on hand. AWESOME! This is such an awesome effort on their behalf to help out an ever-growing population. One chain restaurant that I know of, Uno's Pizzeria, has a gluten-free pizza on their menu so that those of us who cannot have gluten for one reason or another can still indulge in the tradition of sharing pizza with friends (and do so at a chain restaurant - another serious plus). This pizza is really just okay -- think frozen pizza taste -- but to be honest, I will continue to order it because I just love having that option when I am dining out. We also have two great pizza places in Brattleboro, Vermont (okay, one is in West Brattleboro) that have their own gluten-free pizza options. One of these is Champ's and one is West Brattleboro Pizza. I have tried both and they are great in their own way. Can I tell you what impresses me the most? The obvious effort both places put forth to avoid cross-contamination of food. While I am not a diagnosed Celiac, I have strong reactions to contaminated but otherwise gluten-free foods (we'll go into why I am not diagnosed another time) and I know sometimes it is hard for people who do not share this sensitivity to understand the importance of making sure not even a single crumb of gluten touches our food. I guess that is the point of this post...to talk about how you might be able to best choose a pizza joint offering gluten-free pizza.

Here are some of the "tips" I try to follow when selecting somewhere to eat:
1. Does the restaurant seem to have a knowledge of what gluten is?
2. Do they seem to understand that eating gluten-free is not a "fad diet" or something like the Atkins craze - that it causes harmful affects on those whose bodies cannot tolerate it?
3. Do they take cross-contamination seriously?
4. Do they seem put-off by your concerns about gluten consumption?

These are just a few, and maybe you will come up with some of your own (and share them, I'd love to add more!). However, I think one of the best ways to judge a pizza joint (especially one whose production line is visible) is to watch them as they prepare your pizza. A great and careful pizza place will make sure that your pizza is separate from the others in the oven, usually by using some sort of physical barrier (cardboard, pan, etc) and they will make sure, from start to finish, that your pizza is uncontaminated. If you see something you don't feel comfortable with or a place where you see contamination, do not be afraid to speak up. This is not only a time for you to be proactive and protect your body but for you to spread awareness and educate a business to better serve a group of people (and any respectable business would be happy to do that). Remember: it is their responsibility to provide you with the most accurate information about the preparation of your meal but it is YOUR responsibility to make sure that you take care of your body.

So take a chance! Research some gluten-free pizza joints in your area. If you don't have any, don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and others and ask some of your local pizza places if they would ever consider serving gluten-free pizza. It may seem that everyone knows about the gluten-free population, but it never hurts to offer some suggestions...it would increase their business market AND give you a new option when you're looking to dine out - awesome! :)

Happy Eating!

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Buns

In case you have not noticed, while I love cooking, baking is my passion. I find baking relaxing and a serious stress reliever. There is also the added bonus that 1) I love eating baked goods and 2) other people love eating them too. I have been jonesing for some cinnamon buns (think those big ooey, gooey suckers from Cinnabon...drooooool) like it's nobody's business. So, armed with my love for baking and a few gluten-free pantry basics, I went to town. These can be made with relatively inexpensive ingredients and some dedication to the bakery arts. I found an awesome recipe by Andrew Mollman on Food.com that can be found here but for simplicity's sake, I will post it here as well using my minimal modifications. I pretty much followed this recipe to a T with the exception of subbing the flour blend Andrew suggested with my trusty Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour and using fast acting yeast instead of traditional yeast. Please try these if you are a cinnamon bun lover...they are so awesome that you'd never ever guess they were gluten-free! Did I mention the cream-cheese icing? Drool.

Ingredients:

Dough:

- 1/4 cup white sugar

- 2 Tbsp butter

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 2/3 cup of warm milk (I used 1%, the original recipe calls for skim)

- 1 egg

- 1 1/2 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 packet of fast acting yeast (approx. 2 1/4 tsp)

Filling:

- 1/3 cup butter, softened

- 2 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

- 1 cup brown sugar, packed

Icing:

- 8 Tbsp butter, softened (1 stick)

- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 1/4 cup whipped cream cheese (or regular, but make sure it is softened)

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/8 tsp salt (I literally just put a dash in)

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, butter, oil, vanilla, egg and milk.

2. In a separate mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and yeast). Slowly stir dry ingredients into wet mixture. If your dough is still quite sticky, add some more flour.

3. Remove dough from mixing bowl into a greased container and place someplace warm for 45 minutes to rise. I usually cover mine with a wet paper towel to prevent drying and getting a "crusty" texture on top. 

4. While dough is rising, I used this time to combine the filling in one bowl and the frosting in another. The original recipe did not say to add the butter to the filling, but I suck at reading and did it anyway. It turned out a little easier that way, actually.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6. Remove dough and place it between two well-floured and large pieces of parchment paper for rolling.

6. Roll dough until it is approximately 1/4" thick between parchment paper. I suppose you could do this without the parchment paper, but the parchment paper will make your life sooooooo much easier. 

7. Remove top sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle filling mixture across the entire sheet of dough with the exception of a 1" portion on one side of the dough (this will help the outside hold together). I then pressed it with my hand to smooth it out a bit but the original recipe did not call for this. I thought it helped the actual rolling of the rolls. This is also a lot of filling and will spill out the bottom of your rolls on the baking sheet you use. I thought it made a nice cinnamon-y crust on the bottom of the rolls. If you don't want this, cut the filling recipe in half.

8. Roll dough into a log.

9. Using a serrated knife, cut it into 8 pieces. If you, like me, aren't really good with eye-balling, you will probably end up with a couple less or a couple more buns like I did (I ended up with 9). 

10. Place on a greased cookie sheet for baking. Make sure it is one with sides because these babies WILL leak delicious cinnamon goo and you don't want all that stuff all over your oven. 

11. Bake for 15-20 minutes. I baked mine for 18 minutes and they were a teensy bit overdone, but all ovens will vary.

12. When they are done, allow them to cool for about 4-5 minutes and then put on the icing so it melts over them (provided you have successfully resisted the urge to eat all of the icing while your buns were baking).

Hope you enjoy. Below are some more photos of this absolutely awesome recipe (which I will be making for Christmas this year - get yourself ready, fam!)

Seriously, I didn't know Cinnamon Buns could be cute but look how cute they are!

Mmmm...notice the cinnamon spillage!

Gluten-Free Hot Dog Buns

Who doesn't love hot dogs? I love them. Seriously...any way you present them to me -- mmmm! (Actually, scratch that - none of those all-beef dogs for this lady...blech!) However, I cannot bring myself to pay $4.99 or something like that for a package of hot dog buns. I have not been eating gluten-free long enough to forget the days of $.79-$.99 8-packs of buns. This prompted me to make my own hot dog buns. I found a recipe on 2 Be Gluten-Free for hot dog buns. I decided to use my All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour from Bob's Red Mill (a GF girl's best friend) to make these instead of mixing the different starches and flours together (the BRM blend is very similar ingredient-wise) and therefore used the following mixture:

- 1 1/2 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp xanthan gum (again, I used Bob's Red Mill)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 Tbsp sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/3 cup oil

1. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.

2. Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

3. Mix together

4. Spoon a hot dog-shaped amount of dough onto a greased cookie sheet (I made about 5 of these with the dough, probably could have made more like 8-10)

5. Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. (Mine did not take the full 14 minutes as indicated in the original recipe)

6. Let cool. Slice down the center like a hot dog bun, insert hot dog and enjoy!

These taste kind of like crescent rolls (doughy, a little sweet). My hot dog sort of tasted like a giant pig-in-a-blanket to be totally honest; delicious, but not quite what I was going for. I still recommend this because it is quick (about 5 minutes prep time, 12 minutes cook time) and uses some fairly common baking ingredients. However, the search continues.

Mine were a little large for these hotdogs, so next time I would probably make more buns with the dough.

Mm, tasty!

Crunchy Corn Chex™ Chicken Tenders

Before I began eating gluten-free for health reasons, I was an avid chicken tender lover. Venturing into this new world of eating caused me to have to rethink some of my favorite foods (or, for the time being, give them up). After much thinking, I decided to give it whirl to make my own gluten-free chicken tenders. Since gluten-free breadcrumbs tend to be costly and not-so-tasty, I found my inspiration in a box of Corn Chex cereal. I thought this could be made into a delightfully crunchy coating for my chicken tenders in lieu of breadcrumbs. This was very successful and resulted in deliciously crunchy and satisfying chicken tenders that my gluten-eating fiance called "the best chicken tenders ever." Hope you enjoy!

Crunchy Corn Chex™ Chicken Tenders

2 Large Chicken Breasts
3/4 cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 raw eggs, scrambled
2 cups of Corn Chex

1. Trim chicken breasts and cut into strips.
2. Crush Corn Chex.
3. Separate Flour into one bowl, egg into another and crushed Chex into a third.
4. Dip each strip first into flour to evenly coat, then into egg mixture to evenly coat and then into the Chex to evenly coat. I like to use a separate fork for each bowl because the flour, egg and Chex will clump.
5. After completing this for all chicken, pan fry until crispy and golden brown in vegetable oil.
6. Place chicken in a casserole, season with salt and pepper. Put in oven at 350 for about 10 minutes (keep an eye on them!) or until slightly more brown and crispy.

These are also great with buffalo sauce. I made my own by melting 3 Tbsp of unsalted butter, 1/2 cup of Hot Sauce and black pepper to taste in a microwave-safe container (covered with a paper towel) in the microwave -- mm!