Whole 30 Approved Skillet Chicken Divan

I was introduced to "Chicken Broccoli Casserole" when I was in college. I'd never had it before then and I doubt I ever would have eaten it in college if they hadn't consistently served it on the same day the served "Shit on a Shingle" (or whatever less negative name you call it). Eventually, I did try both of these dishes and found that I actually really like Chicken Broccoli Casserole.  I've made it a few dozen times over the years when I get the urge, but haven't had it in at least  two years, and that's been largely due to the high dairy content.  So, I was quite happy when I stumbled upon this recipe and realized it was basically the same thing, except dairy-free.  As soon as I read it I knew I'd be giving it a try and soon. Soon turned out to be the very next day.

I headed to the store earlier today to make sure I had the couple of ingredients I knew I was lacking: cashews and broccoli.  The fresh broccoli was looking a little piqued so I opted for frozen. It was 4:30 when I decided I should pull up the recipe and make sure I knew what I was doing before I started cooking... and that's when I saw that I needed to soak the cashews. Luckily, she provided a quick way to do so, or I'd have had to put this dish off until tomorrow.  So, I got those going knowing I still had plenty of time before Paul got home and finished working out.

Once Paul got home I started on the rest, cooking the chicken and throwing everything else in the blender.

Somehow I missed the part about adding the chicken stock to the blender so I was fighting to get everything to cream. I finally pulled it out of the regular blender and ran it through my Tribest (which will blend anything) and got it fairly creamy. I then added that to the pan with the broccoli and chicken and poured in the chicken stock stirring it all together.

I let that cook down for a little bit and  walla! Paul finished working out and commented that he smelled curry (which made him happy and more willing to try something that I wouldn't give him the ingredient list for). I wasn't sure how he'd react but he was quite happy with it (as was I). I'm sure it would be better if I'd added the chicken stock during the blend phase, but it was still very good and now I know how to make a dairy free cream sauce.

Ok, it looks a little gross, but it was really really good.  Oh, and I topped it with almond meal instead of the flax meal, which did give it that nice bread-crumb texture.  I'd definitely make this again.

Bacon covered meatloaf for 2

As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it and soon. Everything is better with bacon, after all.  Luckily, we had some chicken sausage in the freezer. I forget the brand but it was a gluten-free chicken sausage we picked up at CostCo. I will say that this particular sausage seemed really greasy when we cooked it.  We were all out of ground beef, though, so that meant a run to CostCo. Once I had everything in hand I set out to make the meatloaf of all meatloafs.

I've really got to get better at taking more pics as I go, but it's a little hard when your hands are all sticky and covered in meat mixture.  Since there are only 2 of us, I cut the recipe in about half. My recipe looked like this:

1lb ground beef
2-3 chicken sausages (casings removed)
1 egg
1/2 red pepper (diced)
1/2 red onion (diced)
handful of parsley (I used dried because it was all I had)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup almond flour
3Tbsp horseradish mustard (we had Dijon but horseradish just sounded better)
2 Tbsp bbq sauce
1/2 lb of bacon
salt, pepper

Preheat over to 350. Grease your loaf pan with coconut oil. (Do this first or, like me, you'll have to get someone else to do it later when your hands are all covered in meat). Mix the ground meat, sausage, egg, red pepper, onion, almond flour, garlic, mustard, salt & pepper together in a bowl. Use your hands, it's really the only way to mix a meatloaf.  Form it into a nice loaf shape and drop it into the greased loaf pan. Salt & Pepper the top of the loaf. Cover the top with BBQ sauce.  Then cover it with bacon.  I tried to lay them out ahead of time like they did in the other recipe but then I couldn't figure out how to transfer them to the loaf. So, I laid a few pieces across the loaf in one direction then went back the other way and so on, until it was nice and covered. Then place it in the over for 90 minutes.  Note, I found that my loaf was creating a lot of grease (I blame the sausages I used) so I took it out at about 60 minutes and drained most of the grease off.

I served our meat loaf with some nice sauteed (and slightly crispy) baby bella mushrooms.  It was quite yummy.

Brownies > Bread

I was trying to make bread, really I was.
I've been wanting to try this Paleo bread recipe for a while and today I was all set to do just that. Unfortunately, I only managed to properly seperate 3 eggs. I ended up dropping the yolk of the fourth egg into my whites and there went my plan.

Left with 4 eggs, I had to find something to do with them, so I went through my dessert board, figuring that I'd find something I could do with 4 eggs. Then I found these brownies sitting at the top of my Paleo dessert board.

I whipped everything together wondering how well this would really work.  I was craving some coffee so I threw a little into the mix before throwing it in the oven.

Ok, so I didn't wait 3 hours (or throw them in the fridge), I cut in after about 20 minutes because I just had to know.  In the picture above you can see that they are actually a rather cakey brownie and honestly were a little dry. I'm hoping that maybe after they sit a little while and cool off they will be a little better. I expected fudgier brownies since they were flourless.

Trying them again a few hours later and pieces in the middle seem to be somewhat fudgy but at the same time still really dry.  Hubby tried them and said they were good, but dry. He suggestd that the added coffee may have decreased the moisture.

Coconut milk coffee creamer

I've been gluten and dairy free for a little over a year now. I'm not a fan of the processed milks and creamers, but I do like something in my coffee.  I've taken to just using canned coconut milk or fresh almond milk.  I'd run across this recipe on Pinterest for Coconut Milk Creamer. There's just two problems with it... butter and egg.  The  two Paleo foods that I avoid.

I decided to try my own take on this recipe. 

1 can coconut milk

1/2 banana

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Peppermint extract

I put all that in the blender and blend well.  Store it in the fridge until needed.  

Depending on the fat quality of your milk, it will stiffen into a heavier cream in the  refrigerator. If you use a full fat coconut milk it will become not unlike a really good frosting or (frozen) cool whip after a few hours in the fridge.  Then you can just eat it with a spoon.  Nope, I've never done that... never! :)

When ready to drink, add 10oz hot coffee plus 1/2 cup of above creamer to blender and blend. It will give you a nice frothy consistency, not unlike cappuccino. 

Paleo Banana Bread

I blame the change in hormones following my surgery (or something), as today I seem to be in full on "nesting" mode and can't seem to focus on much else.  I started off the morning making Hot & Sour Soup (of course I was missing most of the veggies and tofu, and it was snowing outside, so it's not quite the same as the recipe I posted previously). I haven't tried the soup yet because someone got me a little distracted... with banana bread.

Paleo Banana Bread

My friend Cassy posted this recipe on Facebook and tagged me with it. I think the implication was "let's get the person who probably has the ingredients to make it and try it before I waste my time, etc".  I took the challenge and learned a lot in the process. As I was making it I texted her "This better be good because I'm using the last of my almond flour". Turned out I had exactly 2 cups left (might have been more if I'd had a sifter).

Of course, since I'm completely incapable of following recipes, my recipe was more like this:

3 eggs, separated (keep the yolks and whites separate!)
3 or 4 tbsp honey (up to you!)
4 tbsp (soft) coconut oil (you may need to warm it up if it's hard).
3 mashed bananas (3 small, or 2-3 big)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups almond flour
1 cup pecans
2 large handfuls of chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the egg yolks and honey in a large bowl until light and fluffy. I use a hand-held mixer for this. It didn't take long.
3.  Add the coconut oil, vanilla, and mashed banana to the bowl, mixing well.
4. In a smaller separate bowl, mix the cinnamon, baking powder and almond flour and sift well.
5. Add that mixture of spices and powder to the bowl and stir well.
6.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Use hand mixer on high. Stiff peaks are vital. 
7.  Fold the egg whites into the banana mixture to pull it away from the sides before gradually folding the rest of the egg whites into the mixture.
8. Add nuts and chocolate chips (if desired)
   
9. Grease bread pan with coconut oil (or butter)
10.  Place in oven for 40-45 minutes, until top is golden brown.
11. While the bread is still warm coat the top with butter or substitute (I use coconut spread)
    

I did my best to actually follow the directions given. However.... 

1.  I use coconut oil in EVERYTHING 
2. I like a LOT of cinnamon
3. I don't own a sifter (I need to rectify that).
4. - I was running low on honey so I used a little less, figured the bananas would be sweet enough (and I was right). 
5. Everything is better with chocolate!

Why can't I get stiff peaks?

I had never whipped eggs to a hard peak in my life. I guess there is a first time for everything, and as usual this first time didn't go so well.The picture on the left is me NOT getting it right. I literally stood there with the mixer for probably 15 minutes. Paul came home from work early and I told him what I was doing. He looked at me and said "why don't you try putting it on high?". I did that... it didn't help. 

Tip: Make absolutely sure that you don't get any yolk in your egg whites or they will not get stiff!  That said, I ended up using 6 eggs for this recipe because I had to start over.

I used coconut oil to coat my bread pan and when I first pulled the bread out and tasted it I felt like it was missing something. That's where I decided to try a good coat of coconut spread (I don't do butter) on the top. It tastes just like butter so it gave it that same flavor and tasted quite good.  I took Paul a piece to try and when I tried to walk away after his first bite he grabbed the rest out of my hand, then came back for me.  Verdict: It was worth using the last of my almond flour and wasting 3 eggs to make.

Pintest: Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Going gluten & dairy free has been interesting, but not nearly as interesting as it will be in about 2 months when I start trying to figure out how to make Thanksgiving dinner.  So, when I saw DAMY's recipe for vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, I thought I'd try to get a head start.  And, when I showed it to hubby, he let me know (with that look in his eyes) that I was going to have to test this recipe sooner rather than later.

Note: I had taken all kinds of great pictures during the process of making this, but evidently my phone ate them.

Now, I'm all about some substitutions, and I still say this could be made with almond butter, but he let me know that wasn't going to happen. So, while at Earth Fare (the closest thing we have around here to Whole Foods) I picked up a $10 jar of Cashew Butter. Man, is that stuff expensive!  And since I couldn't seem to sit still last night and needed a distraction from an upset tummy and boredom, I figured I'd cook instead of eat.

So, as instructed, I mixed up all the ingredients (a word I evidently can't spell) for the filling. Doing so, used about 1/3 of a jar of the Cashew butter and about 1/2 the can of pumpkin.  Seeing this, I just said screw it and doubled the entire recipe. Call me crazy! For the record, I used 4Tbsp honey & 2 packets of Stevia (ok, Truvia) for the entire (double) filling batch.

When it came time to make the crust, my substitutions started showing. I only had a handful of pecans in the house, so I decided to try making the crust with almonds instead (something we always have on hand). Since I'd already doubled the filling, I figured I'd go ahead and double the crust recipe too. Looking back, that might have been either a mistake or a genius idea.  I probably didn't need as many almonds as I used, as I ended up adding a few extra dates just to get everything to mix good enough to form a decent crust.  It never did form that dough-like consistency that Amy had mentioned in her recipe. I finally just gave up and decided to work with what I had and it did press together well enough to form into the bottom of the dish, like a good crust should. However, I didn't take into account that I was still using the same size baking dish. So, I had a lot left-over.

Finished Product

After pouring in the filling, I topped it all off with a little left-over crust mixture, some coconut and a few pecan pieces. Hubby was sadly disappointed to find out that it had to sit in the freezer all night before he could try it. I did, however, let him taste the filling and we both agreed that it tasted great and should make for an excellent Pumpkin Pie substitute once it reached the proper consistency.

I figured I had to do something with all that left-over crust mixture and it seemed like the perfect base for some Larabar like snack bars. So, I combined it with the remnant of filling mixture that remained in the small processor bowl and mixed it all together. I mashed that out into a flat pan and stuck it in the fridge.

This evening when he came home, he found me taking pictures of the finished product (since my phone ate all the pics I took last night).  The bars on the left turned out really good. There was just enough pumpkin filling left in the processor when I added the left-over crust to give a perfect pumpkin pie flavor to the "larabars".  They got his seal of approval with a "I hope you wrote down the recipe".  Well, I did. Kind of. The problem is that in order to make those, I have to make the whole pumpkin pie thing (and that is a little spendy).  He said he was ok with that. Then he tried the actual "cheese"cake.  He commented that he felt like it was missing something, but could'nt quite figure out what it was. My thoughts were the only thing it could be missing was whipped cream. That said, it was better than any real pumpkin pie without whipped cream, and as good (or better) than any pumpkin cheesecake.  We definitely have a win here (substitutions and all).

Tip: This is best closer to the frozen consistency. The longer it sat in the fridge the closer to a pudding texture it got.

Bulked up Hot & Sour Soup

Ok, so I've gotten a little addicted to Pinterest, as I've found some really awesome recipes there. One that I ran across was Crockpot Hot & Sour soup. I was happy when I found the recipe as it was also gluten-free.  Then I found another recipe for Hot & Sour soup... and well, I'm really just not known for following recipes. So, I used those two as a base and created my own, adding more veggies to bulk it up a little, and after waiting a day for it to cook in the crockpot.... it is delicious!  So, I thought I'd share.

Dealing with Fibro, cooking needs to be about keeping things simple and that's where Crockpots are awesome.  This soup requires very little prep and the crockpot does all the work.

3 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

2tsp white pepper

1 cup soy sauce

1tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

2 medium kale leaves (about 1 cup chopped with large stem removed)

2 medium carrots

2 asparagus stalks

8oz package of mushrooms (sliced)

2 chicken breasts - cooked &  finely chopped (I used a rotisserie chicken)

1/2lb of tofu cubed 

1 can of bamboo shoots

Finely chop the veggies and chicken. Cube the tofu.  I used a rotisserie chicken so that made life even easier. If you opt to use regular chicken breasts, dice up the chicken and cook it in some canola or olive oil.

Add all of the items above to the crockpot and cook on high for 4-5 hours (or low for 9-10 or longer). It's soup. The longer you let it cook the better.

I love my Hot & Sour soup both HOT and SOUR! You can adjust those levels by increasing/ decreasing the vinegar (sour) or the pepper (hot).

I didn't really think about just how much everything would cook down. Next time I do this I would probably double all the veggies and add a second can of  bamboo shoots.