Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a recipe I got from my sister in law that pushed me beyond the traditional soups that I was used to making (beef stew, chili, chicken noodle, chicken pot pie).  It's a wonderful recipe that has great texture and will make your house smell delicious!  The best part is that it is naturally gluten free.  I've pared down the recipe to minimize the prep work.  it can be as complicated or easy as you want it to be.  There are two parts (potentially three if you want to make your own chicken broth) to this recipe.  The first part involves the crockpot.  The second is adding the prepared 'mix' to the broth and vegetables.  I usually double this so I can put one frozen "mix" in the freezer for later.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

6 Chicken Breasts

1-2 Tbs. Cumin

2 cans of Black Beans

1 pound of Corn (give or take)

1 jar Salsa (whatever spice level you desire)

10 cups Chicken Broth (make your own, or be sure it is gluten free...it isn't always)

3 Potatoes

4 stalks Celery

1 chopped Onion
1 Tbs. Piccapeppa Sauce
dash of sugar
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Tortilla Chips (for garnish)

The first part of this recipe calls for a crockpot.  Put 6 chicken breasts into the crockpot.  Add cumin and mix (so it doesn't just sit on top).  Cook for 3 hrs on high, or until it is cooked and shreds easily(ie. with no effort on your part!).  When the chicken is cooked it should shred easily.  Add the salsa (the entire jar), bag of frozen corn, and two cans of black beans.  Mix this until it is evenly distributed.  If it looks like it needs more of something, add more of whatever it needs (like if it needs more corn, or needs more beans...).  Divide this in half and put into labeled freezer bags.  Each bag will make one regular pot of soup.  Use one now, and save the other for dinner another day.  Or, make a large pot and invite a family over for dinner. :)

If you want to make soup right away, then either make or buy chicken broth.  Two large cans should do it...I really have no idea what quantity this is....8-10 cups?  To the broth, add one bag of soup mix (or one half of what was in the crockpot). Piccapeppa sauce, potatoes, celery and sugar.  Add salt and pepper to taste, but remember that the salsa adds some salt.  Let this simmer until potatoes are tender.  Serve with tortilla chips crumbled on top (or use the chips as spoons as our boys like to do). :)

There are also many ways to personalize this recipe.  Green chili, cilantro, cholula sauce and cheese are all excellent additions or toppings for this soup.

Special notes:

Add the beans after the chicken is cooked...the black beans will cook away and leave their skins if you add them when you start cooking the chicken in the crockpot.

The Piccapeppa Sauce is optional, but adds depth to the flavor.  Also, the sugar mellows the acidity of the tomatoes and blends the flavors well.  It just works. :)

You can make this totally from scratch by making your own broth, and cooking your own black beans.  If you want directions for that, email me.  That's what I do.

GF pizza crust...that actually tastes great! :)

What does every person eating GF really want on a Friday night?  PIZZA!  Not just something that will pass as a pizza like food, but real, soft crust, yummy pizza.  Well, I have the recipe for you! :)  I also just discovered Daiya 'cheese' so we are in gluten free, dairy/casien free heaven!!! :)  Prayers have been answered yet again. :) 

 (photo courtesey of Jules blog)

I have made this recipe several times and have not been disappointed.  The fact that I made it more than once says a lot! :)  The boys love it.  It tastes better than the picture.  I bet you can even smell it now....

It's Jules Gluten Free pizza recipe(click to go directly to the recipe).  I made some minor modifications but her recipe will work as it is.  For one, I couldn't understand what would feed the yeast if you didn't put in just a little sugar.  Maybe the sugars in the flour, or 'milk', but since we use GF flour and SoDelicious Coconut milk as our milk substitute I have added some sugar to the recipe.  I think it deepens the flavor of the crust too.  or, maybe I just like sugar. hehe :)

Here's the skinny on the recipe:  I have separated the dry and wets to make it easier to make sure you have all the ingredients, the wet ingredients are also written out separately.

Pizza Crust

Before you start, set two eggs on the counter to warm up

Dry Ingredients
   1 1/2 cups Jules Gluten Free flour mix (click for the recipe, or purchase it online)
   1/4 tsp oregano
   1 pinch of garlic powder
   1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
    wet bowl 1
           2/3 cup milk or milk substitute (110 degrees-no hotter, don't want to kill the yeast!)
           1Tbs sugar
           2 1/4 tsp yeast

   wet bowl 2
           2 egg whites (room temp from sitting out...you saw to do that right?) :)
           2 Tbs olive oil
          1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Mix together dry ingredients in medium bowl:

Measure out 2/3 cup milk or milk substitute into pan and warm to 110 degrees F.  When up to temp add 1T sugar and 2 1/4 tsp yeast.  Whisk to dissolve.  Set this pan aside to let the yeast 'grow'.

Separate eggs and put 2 eggs whites into small bowl, add 2 Tbs olive oil and 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar and whisk.

When yeast has proven to be active, add the egg mixture and pour this wet mixture into bowl containing dry ingredients.  Stir for several minutes (or combine the wets and drys in a Kitchen Aid mixer and leave it running for 4 minutes). 

Grease pan (I use cast iron) with olive oil, sprinkle with cornmeal(optional) and put half of dough mixture in one pan and half in the other.  Jules says this makes one crust, but I can get two nice 9 1/2 inch crusts out of one batch.  (I have two large cast iron pans the same size so this works for me).

Let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.



Extras:

At this point I usually take them out of the oven and put them on a cooling rack. 

You can either leave them in the pan and add toppings and pop back into the oven to finish up, or you can wrap and freeze the crust when cool.  They freeze and defrost really well. :)  Just like a Boboli...remember those?...well, actually better than those...  Jules has the actual directions for freezing and using later on her blog post.

This is the condensed version. :)

If you are craving pizza, you will not be disappointed with this one!  We haven't!  And I feed this to my non-GF husband. :)



GF Flour Mix - Jules Inspired Rice-Free Mix

With much thanks to The Washington Post:

For the basic Jules GF flour mix:

1 cup white rice flour
1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or tapioca starch
4 teaspoons xanthan gum

Mix well and store in closed container.

Of course you can also buy Jules flour online too:
Search Amazon.com for Jules Gluten free flour

The mix I use is inspired by hers, but is rice free.
Jules Inspired GF Rice-Free flour mix:


1/2 c millet flour
1/2 c sorghum flour
1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or tapioca starch
4 teaspoons xanthan gum

Rolls.....Mom's rolls! :)

Here's the recipe for rolls that I used yesterday.  I nearly cried they were so good. :)

Dinner Rolls

2 Tbs butter (olive oil or butter alternative)

3/4 cup water (100 degrees)

2 Tbs sugar

1/2 Tbs yeast

    Melt butter, add warm water and check temperature.  When it is at 100 degrees, add sugar and yeast and whisk until sugar is dissolved.  Set aside until you see the yeast 'blooming'.  Then it is ready.

2 1/4 cup Flour (I used the Jules GF Flour Mix found posted online)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Turn oven on to 200 degrees.

When yeast mixture is ready, pour into bottom of kitchen aid mixer, then pour the flour mixture and vinegar on top.  Beat the mixture for a few minutes.

Turn oven off.  (I know, sounds odd, but trust me) :)

Grease a piece of plastic wrap and use a spatula to get all the dough/batter onto the plastic wrap.  Grease a knife blade (sounds risky doesn't it?) and cut it in half, then in half again, then each into three.  You will end up with 12 pieces.  If you want clover rolls, divide each piece into three and generously grease hands and roll each piece into a ball and place into a muffin tin  - three balls per greased muffin tin thing (don't know what they are called).  When finished, cover with a piece of oiled parchment paper and place into warm oven for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, turn oven on to 350 degrees. 

 They'll look like this as they're baking...

The rolls should be ready in about 30 minutes.  I brushed mine with egg whites (because I had some, though I think I should have used the yolks instead...).

Enjoy!!!! :) 

You can also purchase Jules flour online if you don't want to mix it up yourself. :) 

Search Amazon.com for jules gluten free flour

GF DF Carrot Cake

This is the epitome of carrot cake.  The perfect balance of cake, spice and moisture.  And the best part, it doesn't taste the least bit GF. :)  You know what I mean. :) It is essentially the Betty Crocker carrot cake recipe, with some shortcuts.  I put the carrots in the blender to chop them into fine pieces (I had baby carrots that I didn't want to grate), then froze them in one cup measurements.  Then, when I want to make carrot cake, I pull out the number of 'frozen carrot chunk' that I need.  Easy peasy! :)  We had ours for Valentines day.  Oh, another great part of this recipe is that you can freeze it, then pull it out later and it tastes just like it came out of the oven. :) 

Carrot Cake

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup veg oil

3 eggs

       Blend first three wet ingredients for 30 seconds in kitchen aid mixer.

2 cups GF flour mix (I used the rice-free GF flour blend)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

     Mix these drys and add to wet ingredients already in mixing bowl.  Blend for 1 min.

1 tsp Vanilla

3 cups carrots (grated or chopped)

    Stir in vanilla and carrots.

Grease bottom and sides of pan, then flour.  Bake at 350 degrees until cake tester comes out clean and they look and feel done. 

13x9x2  bake 40-45 min

2 rounds 8 1/2"  bake 30-35 min

cupcakes (2 doz?)  bake ~ 25 min

Bake times are approximate so adjust as needed. :)

With some of the leftover batter from the above cake, I made some heart shaped cupcakes, iced with leftover icing and garnished with pink/white sugar and fresh raspberries.  (I love the look of huge sugar crystals in a picture!)  :) 

Introducing...the new blog!

Welcome! Welcome to my new blog where I will compile recipes, book reviews, GF/CF baking hints, and personal experiences from our allergen free journey. I'm excited to put all this information in one place, finally. :) Suggestions are always welcome!

(Image from etsy.com)

I thought this summed up things pretty well. Eating allergen free isn't usually a choice for most people (except for the self sacrificing family members!) so finding food that is good, and beautiful is all about what this sign is talking about. We're not waiting for the "storm" to pass (to get real food again), we're learning how to dance in the rain (so to speak) and find beautiful, yummy food using ingredients that are free from the ingredients we have to avoid. :)

Gluten-Free Coupon and food sites

Have found several neat websites that have great coupons and money saving ideas for gluten free and natural products.

EarthFare is a store that is not local, but many of their coupons are manufacturer coupons. Be sure to check.

Mambo Sprouts often has printable coupons that add up to significant savings.

If you use the SoDelicious coconut milk products, be sure to check out their website now. They are offering coupons! And, good ones too! $1 off.

The GFCF Pantry is a blog by a lady eating gluten/casien/soy free. It is a well put together blog with good money saving tips and other information.

The Allergy Superstore has some great products, and just had a special. Unfortunately that special seems to be gone now, but they have a clearance section where they appear to put food items that are close to their expiration date. Worth keeping an eye on.

Don't forget Amazon.com. We order our Glutino pretzels through them. Great prices, but be sure to double check with your local grocery store. I've been finding local grocery store prices on gluten free items to be more competitive lately. Yeah for that! :)