GF Chicken and Dumplings

Don't be intimidated, this dish takes a little time to make
 but it's pretty simple and the results are amazing!

When I went gluten free I mourned the loss of good old fashion comfort foods and I thought I would never see them again. It took me a while to figure out how to cook these foods with out using crazy stuff like fava bean flour and other legumes I have never even heard of. It seemed like the GF recipe books I looked through took ten steps when the original recipe called for one: flour.  I guess the bottom line is find a few simple things to use instead of flour and your golden...just like these dumplings!

* Use pretty much any kind of chicken. If you like the skin on then sweet if not that's fine too. I don't really like dealing with the skin so I used boneless skinless breasts for this.

Dredge the chicken in a seasoned corn meal mix.

I like this one it tastes really good. I use it for a lot of recipes because
it's less then $2.00 and can be found near the seafood in most stores.

 Your chicken should be nestled all snug in a frying pan with a little bit of oil or butter (remember this is comfort food) It doesn't have to cook all the way just brown it. It will finish cooking in the pot.
                              

Dice up some carrotts, celery and onions.

 Thow them in the skillet you just browned the chicken in (oil and all) cook on med. heat for about 3 min. Then dump in your pot.

Once you have everything in the pot it's time to add some water and GF chicken broth. Add as much as you need to cover the chicken and the veggies.

I like this kind I just mix the dry packets with water
 but homemade would be good too!

Add a little Thyme and salt and pepper to taste and a few cups of apple cider. Trust me it really works the flavors in together well. I'm not really sure how but it does! Let all of this simmer on low-med heat for an hour or two. Then take the chicken out and shred with a fork.

Return to the pot and turn the heat up just a little so you get a gentle boil.

While you wait for your yummy dish to come to a boil you can make your light fluffy dumplin's!

Here's what you'll need:

Mix 3/4 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted marg.

1 egg

Drop them in your pot of boiling soup. They will cook pretty fast!

Watch them puff up! Once they do turn the heat off the

stove and get ready to serve.

These will go pretty fast if you have a house full of boys like I do! Maybe you should scoop up a bowl for yourself and put it to the side so that you get to try the fruits of your labor!

*I forgot to take a picture of them in the pot because I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table. I'm sure you know how that goes! But I did manage to take a picture of my husbands food before he ate it. It was a race to the finish...We had a World Series game to watch...GO CARDS!

What is Gluten Free Baking?

Imagine if you were told you had to give up bread, pasta and cookies!
Here’s a statistic for you, roughly three million people in the U.S. are told that they have to do just that. The reason? Celiac disease. Celiac is an autoimmune disorder that is triggered by eating gluten, the sticky elastic protein in wheat, rye, barley, and spelt that makes pizza dough stretchy and bagels pleasantly chewy. The cure is a gluten-free diet.

For those of us with Celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, gluten-free cooking is a necessity. When a gluten-free diet is a must, we have to learn how to remove any trace of gluten from our diets. Suddenly we learn how common the use of gluten is in the foods we eat everyday.

•Whole grains, flours and starches that we are familiar with: wheat, rye and barley are all off-limits in gluten-free cooking.

Learning to cook gluten-free is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Armed with a few tips and a hefty dash of patience, most cooks can adapt recipes to be gluten-free. Don't give up bread, pasta and cookies just make them gluten free!