Allergy Free Chicken Parmesan

Well, last minute idea tonight for supper, Chicken Parmesan.  Didn't really want spaghetti, and I hadn't thawed out my Italian sausage but I really wanted something "Italian", and then it hit me, Chicken Parm!! YUM!

Breading is always a challenge when doing GF cooking, but the fall back for me is always EnerG. But the last time I bought some, I decided to try the OrgraN Brand.  Not real fond of them, to be honest.  I prefer EnerG.  But now I have a lot of OrgraN so need to use them up.  What a perfect way to do so with Chicken Parm!

To give a bit of flavor and nutrition (as though Chicken doesn't have enough) I used a bit of Almond Meal.  

 And added in about equal parts of the bread crumbs

 

 Then mixed in Italian Seasoning, Sea Salt and Pepper.

 Dipped the chicken in almond milk and then the bread crumb mixture

 

 Then put them in dish and baked in a 350 deg preheated oven until done.  Usually it will take about 45 min - 1 hr, but these were small, thick breasts that I cut in half to make 2 out of 1 so it took a shorter amount of time to cook.

 

What I don't like about it is that it doesn't get "brown" .  It's still done, and just as good, but my brain tells me it should be brown, so I keep thinking the chicken is not done.

Now I turn the oven to broil, add the Daiya Mozz Shreds

 and move the chicken to the top rack, broiling for about 10 minutes. 

 You have to be careful with this "cheese".  I got distracted and didn't keep my eye on it and came back to it being burnt.  You can see the burnt spot on the chicken, I didn't peel it all off as I wasn't too worried with it, I kinda like it a little burnt.  The good news about this cheese and that it peels off, so I just peeled it off and added fresh and re-broiled.  But be careful, if it is not done "just right" it can taste a bit funny.  Unlike regular cheese, I personally don't find it tasty enough to eat out of the bag, at least not the mozz.  So uncooked is not tasty at all. 

I typically use Quinoa noodles but I had 2 bags of EnerG rice noodles from before I found the Quinoa decided to use those up.  After I drained it, it glued together and I had to tear apart chunks of noodles to put on the plates.  (Bad call, but at least now I'm only down to 1 bag :) The sauce softened it up again but I cooked it too long and it became a mess.

You can see the black from the original burnt cheese but can also see the white strings of the Daiya cheese.  Unlike regular cheese, it doesn't melt and spread, it stays exactly the way you put it, as you can probably see it still clumped.

Last week I ran across a recipe for "Parmesan Cheese" that used Almond Meal, Nutritional Yeast and Salt as a substitute.  So I mixed together 1/2 c. Almond Meal, 1TB Nutritional Yeast and 1 tsp salt.  I can't find the original website to link to it, I just wrote down what I needed, Maybe someone will have seen it and let me know so I can give them the credit.

Again, as with the fake cheese, it doesn't taste like regular Parm Cheese but it wasn't bad.  The young-in's like it.   Store it in the fridge, I put it in a glass jar.  Don't remember how long they said it would hold up but I imagine a month or 2.

ENJOY!

Allergy Free (GF/DF/CF/EF) (possibly Vegan) Bread

I have made a spin-off of different bread recipes many times.  Most recipes though call for plain rice flours and starches which add very little nutrition to them.  I figure since we are cutting out so many things, I need to add as much nutrition in them as I can, so I have adjusted flours in incorporate some that have nutrition in them.  There is still a lot of starch and rice flour, and I will be working on that some more so that I can cut that down, but for now, this is what I have had work.  With the elimination of eggs, I think this may also be Vegan.  Something, that apparently, that I have to cook without knowing it.  We are eating meat, but as for any recipes for baking, I have to search for Vegan recipes.

If you are vegan and reading this, please let me know if this is indeed, Vegan.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. white rice flour
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/4 c. garbanzo bean flour
1 c. tapioca flour
1 c. sweet rice flour *
 4 tsp. xanthan gum
2 TB Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 TB sugar

1-1/2 c. warm (105-110 deg) water or milk (I use water)
1 TB sugar
2 TB active dry yeast

3 TB vinegar**
3 tsp baking soda**

1 TB apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. + 2 TB Olive oil
1/2-3/4 c. (your choice of) milk - I used almond milk (adjust as needed)

*I have also made this without the Sweet Rice Flour and it turned out just as good.  I just used another 1/2 c. tapioca flour and 1/2 c. white rice flour in place of the Sweet Rice.
**The vinegar and baking soda replaces the eggs in the original recipe

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Oil and flour pan.  I use a 9 1/4 x 5 1/4 pan.  Remember this makes 4 1/2 c. so you'll want to use a bigger pan.

In small bowl, proof yeast by whisking together warm water (or milk) and 1 TB sugar.  Then add 2 TB yeast and mix until dissolved.  Set aside to foam.  If it does not foam, your yeast is bad and try again.

In separate bowl, whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, Baking powder, salt and remaining 4 TB sugar, set aside.

In large bowl (I use my mixer bowl) mix together 3 TB Vinegar and Baking Soda.  (I usually add the Apple Cider Vinegar now as well so that there is only the 1 reaction instead of 2, but that is up to you.)

Mix in 1TB Apple Cider vinegar (if not done in step above), Olive oil and 1/2 c of milk.  Mix until combined.

Add in Yeast mixture, mixing about 30 seconds until all combined.

Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Slowly add the remaining 1/4c of milk to the mixture as needed.  (For me, some days I need the entire 1/4 c plus a little more, and others I dont need any of it.  Funny how GF breads work!)

Mix dough for approximately 2 minutes on "stir" or 2 speed if using Kitchen Aid.

Pour into bread pan...

and let rise for approximately 30-40 minutes, or until it rises just slightly above the top of bread pan.  If, after 45 minutes, it doesnt rise that high, put it in the oven.  I've had some days where that happened and I can't figure out why.  This happened to be one of those days.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes, checking the temp of the bread after 40. You want the internal temperature to be about 208 degrees.  If you notice the bread getting to dark, cover with foil.  Getting the internal temp to above 200 will help eliminate the doughy center.

Remove from oven and let cool. 

Enjoy :)

Gluten Free, Soy Free, Casein Free Chocolate Cake Pops

Oh, so many things made but nothing blogged.  Time hasn't allowed it. I have a hundred pics of foods I've made, maybe one day I'll get them on here.

However, I did want to get these up. I am not finished with them yet but wanted to get what I have done and if I don't get back to it today, I can always update with the finished pics later.

I saw a post last week about Cake Pops.  They intrigued me.  With having to make a cake at every school event, I am trying to be creative instead of sending in the same thing every time.  So I thought, wth, I'll give these a shot.  They are easy to make but take a lot of time and steps to do it.

If you're familiar with GF cake mixes, you know that to make a normal size cake you have to double the recipe.  I never understood why that is.  Why not just make a recipe for what everyone considers "normal".  Oh well, either way, the chocolate cake recipe I used today is been the best tasting recipe I've made.  I know everyone says that their non-gf friend/family/spouse says it tastes like normal.  I must be doing something wrong because when I made them, no one I know thinks so.  THIS recipe, however, to me, DOES taste like normal and my family and school kids also think so.  Tho I imagine the 1st graders don't count, as all sweets are awesome lol

I don't have original recipes, and I don't have the authors permission so I hope that by  posting where I got it from, that will suffice.

From the cookbook:  Special Diets for Special Kids - Two  by Lisa Lewis
Lisa Ackerman's Chocolate Cake

I doubled the recipe to make a 9x13 cake, this is the doubled recipe:

• 2 cups white rice flour
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1cup oil
• 1 cup milk substitute (I used Almond milk)
• 1 cup hot water
• 4 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat to 350.

Mix together dry and stir to combine.  then add liquid ingredients and stir until well mixed.

Pour better into greased and floured 9x13-inch cake pan and bank approximately 40 minutes. Longer if needed to pass clean toothpick test.  (I forgot to write down how long it took before it was done but I originally set the timer for 35 min, then again for 7 min, I think.)

When the cake was done, I let it cool for 10 minutes then removed from pan and let it cool completely.

Once cooled, break cake apart, I found it easiest to do with my hands, breaking apart until it was a big crumbly mess.

(oops, I forgot to take a pic before I added the icing)

I then made the following icing from The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook  by Cybele Pascal

• 1 cup dairy-free, soy-free vegetable shortening  (I used Palm Shortening)
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup rice milk (I used Almond Milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In the bowl of stand mixer, cream shortening and salt on medium speed for about 1 minute.
2. Add the sugar, milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. 

From here, add the icing into the cake crumbs and mix until the icing is all mixed in. 

Then roll into small balls and freeze for about an hour.  This yielded 54 balls.  I should have made some of them slightly smaller, I think. 

Now here is where I ran into a problem.  The coach called and they are having a last minute T-ball practice in 30 min, so I had to take them out of the freezer, because they can't be frozen, and now it's too late to decorate them tonight.  So I'm gonna hope that they stay ok and I can finish them in time in the morning.  I will update this after they are finished.
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May 24 - Ok, so I decided to put the cake balls into the fridge last night to stay cold.  They were fine in there overnight.  If anything, I should have put them in the freezer again before finishing them this morning, as they needed to be colder but I was very short on time.  

I used 1 1/2 bags of  Enjoy Life GF/DF/SF Mini Chocolate Chips, added 1 1/2 - 2 TB oil (I prefer grapeseed) and melted them in the microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each 15 seconds.  The general guideline is 1 TB per bag of chips, but I don't know if it is because these chips have different ingredients or not, but it seemed very thick, the extra 1/2-1 TB oil seemed to smooth and thin it out much nicer.  

Be sure the bowl is deep enough that you can cover the balls.  I left some chips unmelted completely and used the melted chocolate to melt the unmelted chips as I didn't want it burnt.  (huh???? lol)

The Cake Balls have a flat spot on the bottom from sitting and resting in the pan, 

So I used this end to put the sticks in them.  I wasn't sure what size sticks to get, I thought the 6" Wilton Popsicle Sticks would be a good size but they were too big to fit in my container, so I cut about 2" off of them so they would fit in my carrier.
  To prepare the sticks, dip them in the chocolate, about 1/2"-1" (this picture shows a less amount that what was needed, I ended up redipping)

Insert the stick into the cake balls, approximately 1/2 way, making sure the chocolate is coming out the bottom

Then dip the ball into the chocolate, as you can see, my bowl was deep enough but I could have used more chocolate in it to cover it.  Instead, leaving the ball centered, I moved the stick back and forth so that the chocolate would cover the ball completely.

I came across a problem here, the first cake ball was coming off the stick.  I know the problem was that they weren't cold enough, and needed to go back into the freezer but I didn't have the time to do that. So for the rest of the pops I put them on the stick and spooned it over the balls.  I did stop 1x (out of 40 balls) to stick them in the freezer for 15 min, and that made things so a lot more smoothly, they stayed on the stick a lot better.  But next time I will probably do it for every 10 balls or so, of if possible, leave them in the fridge and take them out 1 at a time.  Make sure you hold the sticks over the bowl to drain off a bit.  Lightly tapping the stick helps the drips.  Be sure you get plenty of chocolate around the bottom of the ball where it meets the stick, this helps to hold them in place.

Next I added the sprinkles

I used a 12"x1" piece of Styrofoam circle, it fit perfectly into my container but I had a horrible time trying to get the pops to stay upright.  I never did figure out how to keep them upright so eventually just made 20 pops and 20 balls.

 

I put plastic wrap over the foam so I could use it again.  But you can clearly see they didn't stand upright.

Here is the final product, hanging every which way

And the rest were cake balls

The kids and adults alike all loved them and wanted 2nds.  No one knew or believed they were GF/SF/CF

School Valentine Cupcakes

As you know, parties as school are always a challenge.  As dh said to me, so no matter who's turn it is to make the treats WE (ha! yeah sure thing, *we*  <eyeroll>) have to make something?  My response..  yes of course!  I can't expect every parent in class to make something that is allergy free for us! And of course I can't make just enough for our kids, I have to make enough to share with the class, so it's full batches.

So, as I went to make the Valentine cupcakes for DD2's school party I realized I was completely out of cocoa powder.  Now dd2 was very adamant about chocolate cupcakes with white icing.  UGH!  So I dug through everything I had and found a carton of Betty Crocker GF Chocolate cake mix.  I had bought it when I bought the vanilla, thinking it was safe to use, as is their vanilla cake mix.  WRONG!  It has soy flour in it so I never used it.  Now I'm feeling the pressure.  Vanilla cupcakes won't look the same as chocolate.  So I decided that soy is low on our list of "no-haves" and  I didn't know what else to do, so I kept telling myself it was ok, for 1 cheat.  After all, it's sensitivities we have, not full allergies. (such a bad bad thought I know!!)  So I made them.  I'm glad I did, they haven't really had much of a reaction and the cupcakes turned out REALLY well!  I used Pamela's Vanilla icing mix and heart toppers.

I was too busy doing these and the kids and the new Bum lambs (story for another time) I didn't get pics taken during the process, but I did get a final result, which I think is the best part anyway.

Where I've been

So life has been crazy lately. My dh had surgery on his ankle, 2 1/2 weeks ago, than found out my mother has Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I believe Stage 3 because it is above and below her diaphram. I think that is the guideline for that stage. It is under her arm pit, her throat, her ear, her intestines, stomach, kidney, groin and several more places. The one in her throat was growing quickly. It was 5.1 on Monday and I think 5.5 on Friday. They did the biopsy that Thursday, got results on Monday, started Chemo on Wednesday.

So I decided to go to her next chemo treatment. Turns out she also has to have a bone marrow test done. So instead of chemo every 2 weeks, this time, the bone marrow is done at 2 weeks and the chemo is done at 3 weeks.

It was then my turn for surgery. I had a lump on the fleshy part of my vocal cords. Aka false vocal cords. It has cut off my airway a few times, causing me to gasp for breathe. It hurt when I would swallow and at randoms times when trying to speak it would flare up and feel like it was "pushing" against my airway.

When I went to the ENT, he sent me to see a specialist. Said I had the 2 lumps, one on each side, and he's not certain what they are but my followup with him will be with another doc in the office that specializes in the vocal cord area. I was supposed to come back in a month but it started getting worse so she agreed to see me earlier.

I saw her on November 24. Her diagnosis, Acid Reflux. More specifically, Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease or LPR. With Arytenoid Ulcer/Leukoplakia . These pics don't really show what I have but I think generally, it means a white spot. She said it is "suspicious" because it is white but said it will likely take 9 months and more before it gets better. Normally she sees patients for followup in 3 months, but because it is white, she wants to see me in 2 months. Said she's likely going to want to biopsy it. I asked for a pic of what it looks like and this is what I got.

This was her Medical Diagnosis:

By history, reflux mediated laryngospasm wtih concern for lesion R arytenoid
FLexible laryngoscopy: After informed consent is obtained verbally, the nose is spraysed with afrin and lidocaine adn the scope introduced in the L naris: nasopahrynx and oropharynx are normal with no frank lesions, mucosa somewhat red, B TVF are mobile; there is marked post-cricoide and periarytenoid edema and erytheam, mild secretoins, interarytenoid hyperplasia with almost fibrinous exudate/leukoplakic region of medial R supraarytenoid complext. NO other lesions

After thinking about it, I was really disappointed. Not only was I going to have to continue to deal with feeling like I was gasping for breathe, it was going to take 9 months or more to fix, but my insurance deductible was met for the year and now was going to have to throw out another $2500 if she was going to biopsy it.

So after talking with my regular Doc and the speech pathologist the first doc had me see, they both told me to ask if she could do it this year. So while the girls and I were in California, I called and asked. She agree to see me on the 28th and pencil me for surgery on the 31st, depending on the results. So when I saw her on the 28th, she said, yeah, I want to biopsy that. She thought it had changed some and the area on the other side was also starting to get some white color to it. She said cancer isn't at the top of her list, it's actually towards the bottom. She believes it is just irritation due to the reflux. here's the pic, it's that white are towards the center. The color is really bad, but the dull white areas are the areas that she is looking at.

She said normally she can do it right there in the office but that this is in an odd location and because of the angle, she can't get to it without putting me completely under.  So we scheduled the surgery for New Years Eve.  Thats a nightmare story in itself that I won't go into.  Let's just say, he is his mothers son!  We had to be there at 9:45 for a 10:45 surgery.  Well, Doc was late.  They came at 10:05 and told me she is running at least 1 hour late.  I would be in prep for an hour, than surgery for an hour and recovery for an hour.  So about we figured I'd be finished around 1.  HA thats a joke.  I finally went back in to surgery at 1!  I guess I took a hour and a half in recovery and was back to the room around 3:15ish.  I only know that from the text message that dh sent after he was called back in the room.  I remember them telling me they were going to get him and then them talking to him.

For some reason I am one of those people who takes awhile to come "out of it" .  It takes me at least an entire day before I feel normal again.  Dh, he's up and out in 20 minutes and can't understand I guess, why it takes me so long.  I was back in Phase II of recovery until about 4:30.  I had a horrendous headache, could hardly stand and was feeling sick and half asleep.  That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Doc gave me pics of what she actually saw and took out.  Much better pics that what I've shown you so far.

Biopsy results should be in for my followup appt on Wed Jan 5.  I am not supposed to talk for 5-7 days.  However, my grandmother passed away yesterday, so not talking is really not an option.  But OUCH! my throat hurts now.  It never really bothered me much after the surgery but it really hurts now

Well, I think that's all I'm gonna say for now.  I have a lot to do since I fly out on Wednesday.   I have to make lunches and bread and pack and get things together still and only have 1 day to do it..  I'll try to write more soon but don't hold your breathe.  At the moment the viewing is schedule for Friday and Saturday with Burial on Sunday.  My mother will have her Bone Marrow in Atlanta on Thursday than we will drive the 8 hrs to Orlando for the funeral.  <sigh> I feel like Forrest Gump, That's all I'm gonna say about that too.

Tonights Dinner Throw together

So I couldn't figure out what to do with the ground beef for supper.  I'm so sick and tired of the same ole stuff.  So decided to just throw things together. Easy and allergy free!

Brown ground beef, add a bag of frozen green beans, a cup of rice and Pacific foods gluten free Beef broth to cover.  Toss in some Thyme, salt and pepper and cook til done. Waa-laa.  Kids loved it!

Had I not been in "eat" mode I'd have taken a pic :)  Maybe next time :)

Bread Again

Well I made more adjustments to this recipe.  It turned out softer and higher but still not quite right.  I'm not sure what I will do with the next loaf, I am still thinking on it.

This is what I did this time:
2 1/2 c. Orgran
1/2 c. Sorghum flour
1 3/4 c. warm water
2 TB honey
2 tsp oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Put it in the bowl and mix.

Measured it, this time I put a smidgen of dough above the line. 

This time I preheated oven to 200 Deg.  Turned off the oven and put it in there to rise for approx 20 min because my wood stove wasn't very hot.  After 20 min I put it on the wood stove.  It wasn't as hot as the other day but I think hot enough.

As you can see, it rose quite a bit.  I believe a lot more than the last time.

I popped it in the oven at 350 for about 50 minutes.  The finished product looks like this

It has a decent thickness, the edges aren't too tough to cut and it's not gooey on the inside.  However, the top is difficult to cut though and crumbles, even with my best bread knife.

Overall it's a good loaf.  I'm still not 100% satisfied with it and will make some more adjustments as I said before.  I just have to figure out what it will be :)

later today I plan to make spaghetti and meatballs.  This will be a real test as Lea had sensitivities to tomatoes and we have only slightly introduced them, successfully.  I hope she doesn't show a reaction and we can go back to having tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes :)  My Italian self is really missing spaghetti!