Blackened Chicken Pasta Pisavera

Namaste Foods makes this delicious gluten free italian pasta dish very easy to make. It is the perfect thing to feed Taylor when I am in a bind for time. I am also thrilled that I know this high quality mix that is free of gluten, wheat, soy, corn, potato, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and casein, will be available for her to make easily. 

 I added Chicken, red pepper and olive oil. That is it. Simple and Scrumptious and it made two full meal servings.

What you need:

1 9oz package of Pasta Pisavera  

3 Tablespoons Olive oil

1/2 Chicken Breast

1/2 red pepper 

Add pasta to approximately 3 quarts of boiling, salted water. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain. DO NOT RINSE.

Heat up 3 TBSP oil. Add contents of seasoning packet and stir well. 

Dip the chicken in the seasoning. 

In another skillet heat up 1 TBSP oil. 

Fry the chicken until blackened on both sides. Should just take a few minutes if you slice the chicken thin. 

Cut Chicken and red pepper into bite sized pieces. Toss with pasta, and the seasoned oil. Serve! 

Easy Peasy!

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Fried Mozzarella With Marinara

I admit I love Fried Cheese. To me it is better than any meatball you can get out there. Not great for a weightloss plan, I know. I never said I was a diet blog... Look, if my daughter already has to live without wheat, give the girl some comfort food! Although, this recipe is probably more for me than it is for her. I love love love fried cheese. I even like most of the chain restaurants mozzarella sticks. Another guilty pleasure of mine I guess. Pretty much all the fried cheese you get in the restaurants are full of gluten. No need. Mixing a little bit of crushed parmesan with some Kinnikinnick gluten free panko crumbs and salt, and you have a great gluten free substitute. This recipe is a great appetizer to serve during the holidays. 

You can see my Marinara Recipe Here.
Or use your own, or if you don't have the time, use your favorite canned Marinara.

For the fried mozzarella:

3-4 cups canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

2 lb. mozzarella Ciliengine

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour

1cup Kinnikinnick gluten free panko crumbs


Drain the cheese from its liquid. Place the cheese on a paper towel-
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
 Put the egg mixture and bread crumbs in separate wide, shallow bowls. Combine the panko with the teaspoon of salt and Parmesan in another wide, shallow bowl. 
Roll the cheese in the flour, dip into the egg mixture and coat with the bread crumbs, shaking off the excess after each step.
Repeat the breading process one more time for each cheese piece.
In a large, deep sauté pan over medium-high heat, pour the oil to a depth of 3 inches and heat to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer.
Working in batches, fry the cheese until golden, about one minute or until golden brown
 Transfer the fried cheese to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper.
 Place the cheese on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while frying the remaining cheese.


Serve with the warm Marinara Sauce.

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Orange Chicken gluten free

Christmas is getting closer! What are your plans? We will be spending time with friends and family back home. My husband has to work the week after Christmas in Oregon, so we are making the trek back home to get a little taste of Winter. I am excited to see my Dad and my Best Friend, and all the ladies back home that I used to hang with. Unfortunately Taylor can't get off work here in Cali. I am sad. It is my very first Christmas away from my daughter. Not to worry. The entire house will be full of her friends. We have a 4 bedroom house and all the girls have decided to make it a mini vacation to move in here. They all have jobs and are busy and so I figure the more the Merrier. That way the pets will always have someone.  I don't even want to know what the house will look like while I am gone. Before I get a bunch of negative comments... I know I have been blogging about her for 2 years now, but she is 18 now, yes she is growing up. She has 2 jobs and this is busy season for them. It is the bosses fault and not mine. When we planned the trip, we thought she could take time off. Unfortunately, we were wrong. I have stocked the fridge and freezer and she has access to all of my recipes. She is planning on cooking Christmas dinner for her friends following my holiday cooking guide. I hope I did a good enough job writing down the recipes so she can do it. She will have a lot of help. I say all the time that I am exhausted cooking all day for them, but the truth is, these kids are all family to me. I hope if only for a while I can be a positive influence in their lives. Still, a vacation is always nice. A break from non stop feeding and cleaning. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. The kids are all growing up and this will be a good test run for them.

So before I leave, I wanted to make a little Comfort Food. What do you consider your comfort food? I have said before that mine is pasta. Pasta and cheese to be exact. My kids however, would go for sweet orange chicken. 

This dish has been a family favorite long before the Celiac diagnosis. I adapted it years ago from food.com. If you do all the steps correctly it is very very yummy. I like to make mine with red pepper flakes, but I have to leave them out when I make it for the kids. They don't like spice.  If you are a fan of sweet asian dishes, then this is your dish! Enjoy!

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

canola oil

1/2 cup corn starch

1 TBSP corn starch

1/4 cup rice flour

1 TBSP minced ginger root

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers (you can omit if you don't like spice)

1/4 cup green onion

1 TBSP rice wine

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 1/2 tablespoons braggs amino acid or gluten free soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons water

5 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons white vinegar

Place chicken pieces in large bowl.

Stir in egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil and mix well.

Stir 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/4 cup gluten free flour together.

Mix corn starch/flour mixture and chicken stirring to coat. 

Add egg mixture, stirring to coat.

Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees.

Add chicken, small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp.

Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside.

Put a large saucepan over high heat  for 15 seconds.

Add 1 tablespoon canola oil.

Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds.

Add and stir-fry crushed chiles and green onions.

Add rice wine and stir 3 seconds.

Add Orange Sauce and bring to boil.

Add cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed.

Stir water into remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to chicken.

Heat until sauce is thickened.

Stir in sesame oil 

Serve over cooked basmati rice.

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Penguin Sugar Cookies with my Daughter

One of my daughters customers gave her a Penguin cookie cutter for no reason. How nice was that?!?! If you are not a regular reader, my daughter has a Penguin addiction. She loves them. Especially baby ones. I have this thing I do on her facebook. I post a daily penguin picture. It is the little things like that, they remember down the line... at least I hope so. 
Here is today's picture:

The comment I wrote: "If you write a song again after midnight I will bite your head off". My daughter is a singer and song writer. You can see one of her songs here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150248522857108 The timing is a little bit off, but you will get a feel for what she does. 

 She is working hard, saving up to record her music... and yes it is original. She writes all of her own stuff. So when I say she is working hard... this is what she is working toward. I do however hope she will write her music during the day at some point, instead of when we are trying to sleep. 

Tired and on little sleep...today we are making gluten free Penguin Sugar Cookies.

I have been making sugar cookies for years. This is the first time I am making them gluten free. I adapted this recipe from Betty Crocker. Using  Maninis Multipurpose gluten free flour  We could not tell these cookies were gluten free at all. They were too good.

1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

1 cup Butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 egg

2 1/2 Maninis Multipurpose gluten free flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg. 

Add flour, baking soda and cream of tartar and mix well. 

Roll out cookies by using saran wrap on the counter. Place your dough on top and cover again with saran wrap. Gluten free batter can be hard to work with, but not with saran wrap! 

Roll out the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. 

Cut out your shapes. 

Taylor enjoyed helping cut out the penguins.

Place shapes on a parchment lined baking sheet or stone.

Baking will depend on the size of the shapes you chose. For us it was 9 minutes.

Let cool completely.

 Repeat the process until all the dough is used.

While cookies are cooling make your royal icing. 

I made the royal icing with 

2 cups powdered sugar 

1 egg white

3 tsp water

Whip until it is a light fluffy texture. 

Add your colors decorate!

We ended up with a crowd by the decorating time.

These are my "regulars" =) 

You can find them at my house on any given day waiting for food. 

They helped decorate. We ended up also making trees. 

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