Archives for “Slightly Indulgent”

Black-Eyed Pea Soup (with Ham and Chicken)

March 4, 2010 · Filed Under Crockpot Wednesday, Slightly Indulgent, What can I eat ..., chicken, crockpot, dairy free, easy, entree, flourless, gluten free, recipe, slow cooker, soup, sugar free ·15 Comments

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, What can I eat that’s gluten free?, Crockpot Wednesdays, and Pennywise Platter.

One of my favorite people and, also, one of my favorite gluten-free bloggers is Stephanie of A Year of Slow Cooking. For a year, she literally cranked out crockpot recipes day after day—without fail. Now she stays busy with so many other things including two other blogs (that makes three in total), a new baby (that makes three children), a hubby, and so much more. However, she still gives us, her loyal readers, enough recipes on her slow cooking blog to keep us happy. All of her recipes are gluten free, but I love that so many of them are naturally gluten free. That’s a large part of the gfe approach. For one thing, it just makes life easier not to have to remember to order a case of gluten-free X or to have to run out to get gluten-free Y, particularly since there are no gluten-free specialty items in my grocery store. So, in my opinion, cooking with real food just makes sense for convenience. That may seem contradictory to many, but it’s true. But let’s get to my latest favorite recipe of Stephanie’s.

Stephanie posted a Black-Eyed Pea Soup recipe for New Year’s Day. I have loved black-eyed peas long before they were the name of a hip musical group. Give me some black-eyed peas and I’ve got a wonderful meal. So, this recipe has been in the back of my mind. With a support group meeting coming up, I wanted a dish that would serve many, but I wanted to use mostly what I had on hand. Stephanie’s recipe calls for spiced sausage, but I didn’t have any. My mom and my sister always save the ham bones from holiday meals for me so I can use them to make soup from scratch. Sometime that’s potato soup, but more often than not, it’s a soup that combines veggies and other meat, like chicken or turkey (or sometimes small amounts of several meats, like in my Everything Soup). My sister had given me a nice big ham bone, with a decent amount of meat left on it. The freezer yield two chicken carcasses. I also had a big bag of carrots and package of celery in the refrigerator just waiting for some action.

I added a few inches of water to my big stockpot and brought it to a boil and then added my frozen chicken carcasses. I let them simmer for a while as I did other things in the kitchen. Occasionally, I’d stir them, and finally I turned the burner off and left the lid on a while. Once I was sure the meat was ready to be picked off the bone, I put a colander inside another stockpot and poured the whole pot through the colander. My lovely broth was in the pot and the chicken—bones and all—remained in the colander. Once that cooled a few minutes, I picked the chicken off the bone and set it aside. This is really a great way to get the most from a chicken and not have waste. Even if I buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, I know we will eat a few meals from the chicken before I freeze it and it eventually gets turned into great broth and other meals. So even at a price of $6.99 for a rotisserie chicken, I can end up with several meals and at least a quart of chicken broth. That sounds like a bargain when you look at it that way. So imagine what a savings, roasting your own chicken could be. I often make broth from my chicken carcasses; then I use the “found” chicken for soup or other favorites like chicken pot pie and chicken and rice casserole. However, feel free to use safe packaged chicken broth and chicken from cooked chicken breasts, etc. for this recipe.

Black-Eyed Pea, Ham, and Chicken Soup
(Click here for a printable version of this recipe.)

1 pound dried black-eyed peas (I don’t recommend using canned as a substitution, but fresh or frozen would work well)

1 ham bone (ideally, with some meat remaining on it)

2 cups, cut-up chicken

2 diced onions

2 cups diced or sliced carrots (I prefer slices, but I halve the larger slices)

1 cup diced celery

6 cloves garlic (I used 3 tbsp minced garlic)

6 – 8 cups of chicken broth (I used my homemade broth and just kept adding until my crockpot was almost full)

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp coarse sea salt (any salt will work though)

Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (e.g., discolored beans) in the morning.

Use a 5- to 6- quart crockpot. (I used my 6-quart oval programmable crockpot.) This recipe will serve a lot. It served at least a dozen folks at my support group meeting. (We had about 25 folks, but not all ate soup. Those who did enjoyed at least one full mug.)

Dice the veggies, and add them to the crockpot with the black-eyed peas that have been soaked and drained.

Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning and salt.

Add ham bone. You can also add the chicken at this point, or save it until closer to the end of cooking time. As your chicken is already cooked, it’s your preference on when you want to add it. I did add mine at the beginning and the soup was great, but adding it at the end would have also worked and kept the chicken in nice little chunks.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6. About a half hour to an hour before serving, use an immersible blender to smash up about 1 cup of beans. If you don’t have an immersible blender, scoop out 1 cup of beans, blend them in a traditional blender, and add back to the soup. You will really only need to blend for a few seconds. Stir after blending. The soup will thicken and have the most wonderful color.

Adapted from Stephanie O’Dea at A Year of Slow Cooking

Shirley’s Notes: If you don’t want to use ham, but would like the flavor, Better than Bouillon makes a ham base that could be used. Probably a teaspoon or two would add some nice flavor. If you’d like fewer servings or would like to use a smaller crockpot, don’t just halve this recipe. You’ll want the same amount of black-eyed peas, 2 cups of meat, 4 cups of broth, and about the same amount of seasonings. Be sure to take a look at Stephanie’s recipe, too, which serves 8. Stephanie suggests adding Tabasco sauce to taste after you’ve ladled your soup into your bowl. We enjoyed it without, but if you like to add a little zip to your soup, that might be an option for you. Any time, we want a little taste of hot at our house, we tend to add some Texas Pete hot sauce. Many of the peppers used in Texas Pete are grown locally.

I have two cooking confessions. Confession #1—This is the very first time I’ve ever soaked black-eyed peas. I’ve always used canned black-eyed peas before, although one has to be careful to find good ones. (Some canned black-eyed peas are very mushy and come in a thick unappetizing broth. Other brands contain just black-eyed peas in salted water and taste pretty good.) These dried black-eyed peas are far better than any of the canned varieties and almost seem dainty in comparison, even after soaking. As Alta added in comments, fresh black-eyed peas are the very best when you can get those. She said that frozen black-eyed peas come in a close second. As both Alta and Stephanie said, black-eyed peas offer a wonderful, earthy flavor. I’ll definitely be using more dried black-eyed peas. I’ve never even seen frozen black-eyed peas before, but I’ll look for those, too. One benefit of using dried black-eyed peas is that like other dried beans, they are very inexpensive.

Confession #2—I’ve never used an immersion or “stick” blender before. I’ve had one stashed in a cabinet for years. Son had received one as a gift for dorm life for making milkshakes and such. That involved what he considered to be work, so he left it behind for me to use instead. When Steph’s recipe called for this type of blender, I pulled it out and was delighted at how well it worked. I’ll be using that blender a lot more for soups, sauces, etc.

Several readers commented on Stephanie’s post that they didn’t even like black-eyed peas, but loved this soup. So, if you’re not a black-eyed pea lover, you still might want to give this soup a try. Several of my members commented on how much they enjoyed this soup the other night. I heard the words “comforting” and “homey.” On a cold evening with alternating rain drops and snow flakes, this soup was indeed very welcome. Even those who didn’t comment must have enjoyed it, because there was little left from the full slow cooker. I served this soup with mini-corn muffins and that made for a great combination.

Because soup always thickens in the refrigerator overnight, I added some leftover chicken broth to make my mug of soup for lunch yesterday. For dinner with these leftovers though, I’ll just reheat the thickened soup and serve it over some mashed potatoes. The thickened soup would also be great over rice over or noodles. If you’re looking for some other great soup recipes, be sure to head over to Linda’s What can I eat that’s gluten free? roundup where soup is the theme this week. I already took a peek and there are some terrific, new recipes … like Diane’s West African Chicken and Peanut Stew and Jenn’s Osso Buco Stew. I love it when there are so many recipes that make your mouth water, that you’re not sure which one to try next. Linda had a great idea with her soup challenge!

What else is happening?

Chaya is hosting her first giveaway over at her Sweet and Savory blog … a Paula Deen cooking ensemble. Check it out here.

Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix tomorrow features rice recipes. If there’s something most of us who are gluten free know about, it’s rice! Be sure to link up your favorite rice recipe and check out others here. Diane is also doing a survey and soliciting input right now on eating out gluten free.

This Sunday is the Academy Awards show where those golden Oscars get presented. If you hadn’t had time before, take a few minutes to check out our Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. You can see all the links at my two posts for this event: Veronica’s Pumpkin Soup or Southern Fried Oysters.

Ginger hosted The Gluten-Free Lifestyle Blog Carnival this month. See all the entries at her site, Ging Recommends. Created by Kim, The Food Allergy Coach, this carnival features recipes, tips, reviews, and so much more. Take the time to read what’s been submitted here and consider adding your own links next month.

I enjoyed seeing the tropical vacation meals in this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! carnival over at Bean’s Without Adornment. Anything associated with the tropics is very appealing to me right now. There are some fabulous meals and even a few drinks that are so worthy of those cute, colorful little umbrellas. Get tropical here.

Next month’s Go Ahead Honey is being hosted by Amy over at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. Her theme is Guiltless Pleasures. Being the Slightly Indulgent queen on Tuesdays, she’s now going to take us to the next level! (Check out this week’s Slightly Indulgent entries here.) Fellow bloggers, start planning your post now. (You can read the rules here.) Readers look for Amy’s roundup at the end of the month. I have enough guilty pleasures already, so some guiltless ones will be very nice!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: crockpot, crockpot wednesdays, dairy free, easy, GFE, go ahead honey, pennywise platters, recipe, slightly indulgent, slow cooker, soup, What can I eat ...

Chicken Tenders—Cornmeal or Coconut

February 16, 2010 · Filed Under Slightly Indulgent, Tempt My Tummy, appetizer, bread, chicken, easy, entree, flourless, gluten free, recipe, sugar free ·33 Comments

This post is linked to the Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, and What can I eat that’s gluten free? weekly carnivals.

Mr. GFE and I had a nice, quiet day at home today. It was a scheduled holiday for him. Not so for me, but I made it one … and that was a great idea! We ate our respective breakfasts … cereal for him and a one egg “omelet” with spinach for me. Then for a mid-morning snack, we ate the last of a weekend batch of the Cinnamon-Sugar-Crusted Popovers. That indulgence, of course, made us not want anything for several hours. When we finally did eat again, instead of a quick, light lunch, I decided to go for something more substantial, but still healthy enough. The refrigerator yielded about a pound of chicken tenderloins (i.e., boneless, unprepared chicken tenders), a small container of coconut, and some cornmeal mix that I’d made for breading chicken earlier. Right then, I decided to make chicken tenders.

As an aside, perhaps the coconut idea appealed to me because I had recently read an article on using Girl Scout cookies as breading. I am not making this up. How does Fried Samoas Shrimp sound? The recipe included 5 Samoas, 2 cups bread crumbs, 2 cups flour, 1 cup coconut flakes, 4 egg whites, and cayenne pepper … all as breading for 4, yes, 4, extra large shrimp. Wowser. Nutritional information was not provided, but the recipe said it served 5 … so if you stuck to a serving, you didn’t even get to enjoy one full shrimp! And, of course, samoas are not gluten free, unless you make Jenn’s stunning gluten-free version. You can heck our her version over at The Cinnamon Quill. Her gluten-free Samoas are amazing, but I don’t think I’ll chopping them up and using them to make Samoa-breaded shrimp.

Back to the breading I did use … the cornmeal mix had seemed a little bland the last time I had used it with chicken. And, the coconut I had on hand was actually sweetened coconut, which I thought might be cloyingly sweet. So I added some chili powder to each.

My original idea was to bread the chicken tenders in the cornmeal mix and then dip them in the coconut, but just one attempt showed me that wouldn’t work. The coconut wouldn’t adhere to the chicken tender after it had been coated with the cornmeal mix. So I dipped half of the tenders in the cornmeal mix alone and the other half in the coconut mix alone. I just dipped the washed, and therefore, wet, chicken tenders into the cornmeal mix or shredded coconut. I didn’t need to dip them in eggs or milk beforehand as the original cornmeal mix recipe stated. Just the wetness from the water worked perfectly well (and omitting those ingredients also makes these tenders dairy free and egg free, and obviously lower in calories). Then I fried them all in some grapeseed oil, and drained them before serving. (Note: This was my first time using grapeseed oil and I liked its lightness and neutral taste very much—plus, its added health benefits.) As you can see, because I cooked the two types of tenders together, they all ended up with a little coconut “breading.” We ate them with a little honey barbecue sauce and a few chips and really enjoyed them.

Although I’m providing some ingredients and directions, these are really sort of “improvise-as-you-go” recipes, or as my friend, Erin (Gluten-Free Fitness) likes to say … Not Really A Recipe. When Erin first used that term in reference to her rendition of my Special Turkey Breast, I said something to the effect of “hey, that’s a recipe!” But, then I realized that she used that term as a category on her blog and didn’t mean anything negative at all. Instead, she was demonstrating that so many cooking sessions start out as just a concept or basic method with lots of room for improvisation. She’s totally right. Seize that idea for your cooking and you’ll be a lot happier in the kitchen and end up making some great dishes as well. And, that’s true whether you are gluten free or not.

Cornmeal Mix for Breading
(Click here for a print version of both recipes.)

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup gluten-free flour*
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¼ to ½ tsp chili powder, to taste

Mix all together. Pour into shallow bowl for breading. Fry on medium to medium-high about 8 – 10 minutes on each side.

*I can’t tolerate many of the healthier, gluten-free flours; e.g., sorghum, buckwheat. Therefore, my gluten-free flour mix is 3 parts Asian white rice flour and 2 parts cornstarch. I gently mix three one-lb bags of the Asian white rice flour and two one-lb boxes of cornstarch in a very large bowl and then store the mix in several airtight containers (like large glass jars). It’s a very economical mix that works well in most recipes. No refrigeration is needed.

Adapted from Southern Living

Coconut Breading

½ cup coconut flakes (or more if needed)
¼ to ½ tsp chili powder, to taste

Mix. Dredge wet chicken tenders in coconut breading. Fry on medium to medium-high about 8 – 10 minutes on each side.

Shirley’s Notes: The coconut I used was actually sweetened. (It was left over from making Linda’s wonderful Coconut Cashew Clove Cookies.) So I was worried that these tenders might be too sweet, but the chicken taste itself and the chili powder I added offset the sweetness by just the right amount.

From Shirley Braden

The truth is you really don’t have to buy prepared gluten-free breading mixes to end up with delicious results, and just as importantly, you don’t even need a true recipe. I’ve purchased gluten-free offerings in the past like breadcrumbs at $4.00 for 4 ounces and they’ve ended up going to the birds, literally. There are so many other breading possibilities that work beautifully and don’t break the bank. I’ve shared other options here before at gfe, including two possibilities for a similar recipe for baked chicken nuggets. One used crushed potato chips; the other used crushed cornflakes and lots of seasonings.

Ali (The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen) did this post a while back with some excellent breading options. I, and several others, contributed additional ideas in comments. Some other easy breading choices that I have used are Parmesan cheese, rice cereal (for babies), toasted and crumbled gluten-free waffles (as shown here), and instant mashed potatoes (my only, occasional use for them). I’ve heard that tortilla crumbs and corn chips make great breading, too. Along those lines, be sure to check out Diane’s (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang) Frito Fish.

So, the message with these chicken tenders is think outside the box and don’t stress. That’s the gfe way. Now, go ahead, have a gluten-free chicken tender … with cornmeal coating, coconut breading, or perhaps your favorite gfe breading. And, what is your favorite breading? Please share!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: bread, chicken, coconut, dairy free, gluten free, slow cooker

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream

February 12, 2010 · Filed Under Out and About, Slightly Indulgent, Suite of Sweets, Valentine's Day, dairy free, dessert, easy, gluten free, ice cream, pomegranate, raw, recipe, sugar free ·1 Comment

Full disclosure: Last September, I attended BlogHer Food. I paid all my expenses, but I did receive some amazing swag. Included was some Scharffen Berger cocoa. I was not paid to write about Scharffen Berger, but I think their products are excellent. October, I attended the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival in California—all expenses paid. I was not paid to write this post, but the POM Wonderful product used was given to me. However, I write about POM products because I consider them to be excellent products and, of course, they are gfe compliant.

This post is linked to the Valentine’s Day roundup at Ellen’s I Am Gluten Free and Amy’s weekly roundup, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Some of you may remember the POMerdoodle Ice Cream that I made last September for the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! blog carnival. Katrina (Gluten-Free Gidget), who greatly enjoys drama and theatrical arts had chosen a Disney theme. I couldn’t settle on a particular Disney movie for my recipe inspiration, so I decided to pay homage to all Disney dogs with a designer dog ice cream. You’re welcome to read the original POMerdoodle post, but basically I added POM Wonderful pomegranate juice to a version of Snickerdoodle ice cream and created the doggie-named POMerdoodle ice cream. Both a fun and delicious creation.

I loved the POMerdoodle flavor as did many others, but I simply had to try a chocolate version. Carrying on with my light-hearted dog theme, I decided to call it Chocolate POMerdoodle (you know … like Chocolate Lab, Chocolate Poodle). Adding just a small amount of cocoa adds richness and depth to this ice cream, particularly if you use a high-quality cocoa. I used Scharffen Berger cocoa, which I’d received in my BlogHer Food swag. I love both that cocoa and POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and I love this ice cream. It’s both gluten free and dairy free. It’s not refined sugar free, but I believe you could skip the brown sugar and simply use 2/3 cup honey or the same amount of agave nectar and end up with an equally delicious, dairy-free ice cream. (I wouldn’t use a one-to-one swap because of the liquid content of honey or agave.)

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

½ cup honey
½ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled
½ cup POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
2 ½ to 3 tbsp Scharffen-Berger cocoa (or other good quality cocoa, amount to taste—once mixed in, of course)

Mix all together in a mixing bowl or blender. Add to ice cream maker. Churn about 20 minutes until firm. You may remove ice cream from ice cream maker and store in freezer for additional firmness, if needed.

Recipe by Shirley Braden

If you enjoy the wonderful flavor that POM Wonderful pomegranate juice adds to recipes, you’ll want to check these recipes, too:

–POMerdoodle Ice Cream (pretty pale pink—lovely for Valentine’s Day)

–POM’d Pork

–Reindeer Antlers Punch (it’s the perfect color, but perhaps rename it Cupid’s Punch for Valentine’s Day … just skip the alcohol if serving to children or teetotalers)

Don’t forget to check out all the other SSS entries this week:

–Surprise Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

–Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Almond Popovers

–Perfect Pound Cake

–Pleasing Pecan Pie

And, if you’re looking for a momentary chocolate overload … pair a Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookie with a dish of this ice cream. Happy Valentine’s Day all!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!