PF Chang Mongolian Beef

My husband left to work at a hop harvest, and for our goodbye dinner we went to PF Chang's for their gluten free menu. Talk about delicious food. Usually when I try to eat out, I always finish thinking "I could have made this better at home." But not then! The service was great, the food was wonderful. I deffinately plan on going back. In the mean time though, I found a good gluten free recipe for it! I tried it out tonight, and it was wonderful. Room mate approved as well.

I also tried the La Choy soy sauce, which is gluten free as well. It was ok as an emergency store pick up, but I plan to keep using Bragg's Liquid Aminos as soon as I get into town to buy some more.

Anyways, the recipe!

Mongolian Beef

Sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup GF soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Minced Ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar

Beef
1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 green onion stems

Cut your beef into 1/4th inch strips, bite sized. Give them a thin coating of cornstarch and let them set for a couple of minutes to absorb. Afterwards heat your oil in a skillet and cook for a few minutes, not all the way through. Remove from pan to a plate with a paper towel to drain oil. Dump remaining oil our of your skillet.

Mix your sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, let boil for a few min.

Add your beef to your skillet once more on medium high, cook for a minute and add sauce. Let simmer till your beef is cooked through. Should take less than 10 minutes. Once done coat the green onion stems in the sauce and serve over rice. Enjoy!

Scones!

Made gluten free scones today, which came out pretty goood! A little tweaking and I'll post, along with a yummy pizza crust.

Heidi's San Francisco Chicken!

Well, I've been trying new things this week. I made a stuffed acorn squash, which was a hit! I also made my own pizza crust from scratch, which was closer to a rising crust pizza than the thin crust I got from the mix I bought. I'll post it soon, when I make it next.

So in following my newly found, nightly recipe hunt I discovered Heidi's San Francisco Chicken recipie. I made it tonight and wow, it was amazing! The sauce alone was to die for. The only issue I had was the cornstarch clumping, but I transferred to a sauce pan and used a whisk to get it properly mixxed. Here it is:

San Francisco Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 cloves finely minced garlic
4 TBSP soy sauce
3 TBSP brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 TBSP cornstarch
Optional:
1/2 tbsp minced ginger(really added to the flavor, for me)

Brown your chicken on both sides, then remove and set aside. Mix your garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and 1 c chicken broth in pan. Add chicken, set heat to medium, and let simmer till cooked through(took me about 15 min.) Again, remove chicken and set aside when cooked through. Add your remaining chicken broth and cornstarch, bring to boil until sauce thickens. Serve over chicken!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole!

I've always been a fan of breakfast buritos, and having gone gluten free its a challenge. So I started scoping out recipies for gluten free tortillas, since I'm now stocked with GF basics. In the process I found this recipie which has a lot of positive feedback, and is simple which I'm a big fan of.

The biggest issue I ran into was how sticky the dough came out--I couldnt get it off my hands! After a few attempts I managed to flatten them out, but still ran into sticky dough issues. And I dont think I got them as thin as would be ideal. When I pulled them off the gridle they were more like thin pieces of flat bread than flour tortillas. I think its more an issue of tweaking and learning than a fault with the recipie, though. Maybe a tortilla press is in order.

Anyways, haveing achieved a vauge imitation of tortillas I decided to make enchiladas! My husband is half mexican, and never had an appreciation for the food--then again, he is a picky eater. Healthy? Him? Never! Although, that said, he will often eat foods he doesnt like and enjoy them if I've cooked it into a meal. Thus I decided to make him enchiladas he'd enjoy, and that were GF as well.

The great thing about enchiladas, like quiche, is that its a very versatile recipe you can add to and substitute with. This can easily be made with ground beef, but I chose chicken for a few reasons. 1) I like chicken. Yum. 2) Red meat has a tendency of upsetting my stomache. 3) It makes my husband's digestive system less lethal as the evening wears on...haha.

Enchilada Casserole!

2 chicken breasts
1/4c diced or grated onion
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can GF refried beans
5-6 GF tortillas, or corn if you prefer
1 can enchilada sauce(28 oz.)
2 1/2c shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a sauce pan boil the chicken breasts in water until tender and cooked through. Shred into bite sized pieces and place in skillet, on low, with refried beans, onion, garlic, and 1/2c of enchilada sauce. Mix well.

In a 3qt casserole dish pour enough enchilada sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of tortillas, either whole or torn up(I tore up to make it easier to serve) and coat them in the sauce.



Using about half your chicken mix, creat a layer over the tortillas.



Add a thin layer of enchilada sauce, and a layer of cheese(this would be about one cup, or more if you're extra cheesy.)Place another layer of tortillas, and your final layer of chicken. Add a layer of enchilada sauce, and use the remainder of your cheese. Place in oven for 15 minutes. When done let sit 10 minutes, then serve with a side of sauce and sour cream!

Stuffed Eggplant!

Today I found myself grocery shopping...which I enjoy immensly, to my husband's chagrin. While happily browsing along the produce, I stumbled accross an eggplant! I havent had anything with eggplant in years, so I decided to pick one up. My room mate was, as ever, my brave taste tester and she's given me a clear 2 thumbs up. Also I've been following Gluten Free Mama's blog and facebook, to which she posted this wonderful cottage dill bread recipie. I used some left over pieces for my bread crumbs. Hope you enjoy!

For two people:

One eggplant(mine was only about the size of a coconut.)
1/4 cup grated onion(or diced, its a preference.)
3-4 grated cloves of garlic(or more if you're the garlicy type, I wont tell.)
1/2 cup diced ham
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus a little extra for topping
1 cup bread crumbs(gluten free!)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and cut your eggplant in half, then hollow them out(leave about 1/4 inch of flesh along the sides.) Dice up the insides to small pieces, and mix with your other ingredients in a bowl. Make sure your bowl ingredients are evenly coated with the oil. Next you'll want to pack the halves of your eggplant with your stuffing. Put as much on as you can! There may be a little extra stuffing, thats ok. At this point you'll want to put a little extra cheese on top, then pop it in the oven for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, pull it out, cover with foil, and pop it back in for another 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Well

Attempted a gluten free pizza tonight. I turned out alright! I'll post more about it when I actually pay attention to what I did. I'm thinking artichoke chicken pizza witha cream cheese base. I had something similar once which was wonderful.


Also I made a flourless chocolate cake, which creamcheese frosting. It was a great success in my household! The recipie can be found here and thanks to Heidi for posting it.

Gluten Free Soy Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:
1/2 c. Soy sauce alternative(I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos, gluten free and very good.)
1/4 c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbsp. minced ginger
2 chicken breast diced
3 c. cooked brown rice
Garlic and Herb seasoning salt(salt free)

Mix your soy, ACV, and ginger and add chicken, heat on high. Season lightly with garlic and herb, mix, season again. Don't add any more, this should be sufficient. When your chicken has cooked through, add rice and mix it in until heated. Turn off heat and serve!

Brown Rice Pudding, Dairy Free.

Here is a great dairy free pudding, pretty easy to make, and is also gluten free! It's pretty win-win.

Ingredients:

3c. Cooked Brown Rice
1 1/2 c. Almond Milk(I'm sure soy milk would work fine as well)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
Cinnamon to taste, nuts and fruits to taste.

Mix your ingredients together(I used 1 tsp of vanilla, but I like the strong vanilla flavor) and bring to a boil. Then lower temperature and let simmer for 25-30 minutes, until most of the milk has been absorbed, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and chill, roughly 2 hours. Serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon, and whatever else you'd like to add! I personally used dried cranberries, which were delicious. Enjoy!

Potato Fried Chicken!

Found this out today...giving it a shot.

Instant potato flakes for 2 servings
1 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp. seasoned salt
1 egg
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. butter
Dash pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix potato flakes, cheese, seasoned salt and pepper. Beat egg with 1/4 cup water until mixed. Dip chicken in egg mixture; coat with potato flake mixture. In a pan, melt butter. Arrange chicken in pan turning over to coat with butter. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, turning over half way, until fork tender.

Just pulled it out of the oven and its pretty good! Very simple to prepare and depending on your oven done closer to 40 minutes. Would go great with french fries or stuffing.

Roma Garlic Chicken YUM

You'll need:

3-4 roma tomatoes

an onion

ground ginger

4 cloves of garlic

olive oil

apple cider vinegar

2 pieces of skinless chicken breast

rotini pasta

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First you'll want to slice up your tomatoes and put them in your skillet with 2 tbsp of olive oil(I use virgin,) one tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar and set it low to start simmering. Mince up 1/4c onion and add to tomatoes. Peel, crush, and add 3 cloves to your simmering tomatoes. They should be developing into a sauce at this point.

Now dice up your chicken to preferred bite sized pieces and mix it in, add another tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and let it simmer till the chicken cooks through. You'll want to add anywhere from 1/4 tsp-1/2 tsp(depending on your taste for spiceyness) of ground ginger.

In the mean time, get your pasta going. I like to add some garlic to it while it cooks, for even more flavor.

Drain your pasta and serve your chicken over it!

(Hopefully I can update with photos later, as of right now there is no camera.)