Chicken Piccata

This was one of the best things I've made lately. I love the lemon/caper/wine/butter sauce. What a combo!

 

 Ingredients:

1 pkg. boneless-skinless chicken breasts

s/p

all purpose GF flour

2 Tbsp. EVOO

1/2 cup white wine

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

lemon slices (from one lemon)

1 Tbsp. (or more) drained capers

1 cup fresh button mushrooms

2 Tbsp. butter

cooked linguine 

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and pepper, dredge in flour. Coat a saute pan with EVOO and heat. Saute chicken just until cooked through and browned on both sides. Remove to a covered plate. Deglaze pan with wine and add garlic. Brown garlic and allow wine to evaporate off, about 2-5 minutes.

Add chicken broth, lemon juice, capers and mushrooms, allow to cook and heat through. Return chicken to pan and cook on each side for an additional minute or two. Transfer chicken to plate. Add butter and lemon slices to sauce and heat. Pour sauce over the chicken and noodles.

Restaurant Review: P.F. Chang's

Oh.My.God. For nearly a year I've been craving Chinese food....I'd made some at home with store-bought sauces....but nothing tastes as good as take-out (where there is no effort on my part).

The P.F. Chang's GF menu has several options. We sampled three things: The chicken lettuce wraps, beef with broccoli and spicy chicken.

 Everything was delicious. For one appetizer and two entrees (all gluten-free) our bill was around $40. We got two LARGE meals out of this....so overall, it's not a bad deal. I highly recommend trying out the GF P.F. Chang's options!

Restaurant review: Ciatti's Ristorante

Ciatti's has long been one of Luke's favorite restaurants - we go there occasionally to meet up with his mom for dinner (as it's halfway between us in St. Cloud).

Ciatti's has a GREAT gluten-free menu - I was nervous about eating there for the first time....but have now dined twice without incident. I can honestly recommend this place - the waitstaff was knowledgeable, I didn't have to point out that GF means no croutons on my salad, etc. Refreshing.

The first time we ate there I ordered the chicken Marsala:

The chicken was served with mushrooms,squash, zucchini and onions in a Marsala sauce - delish!

The second time I had the baked mostaccioli:

GF penne pasta with a red sauce with spicy Italian sausage covered with cheese and baked. Very, very good!

Chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce

When June's issue of Food Network Magazine arrived, Luke was super excited....as the mini recipe book inside was "50 Condiments". I was already  planning to make breaded chicken, so we looked for a sauce that would compliment the meal. I generally just use ranch dressing for dipping....for everything. So we wanted to do something else. Honey mustard was the obvious choice.

Honey Mustard Ingredients:
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
s/p

Directions:
Mix all ingredients!

For the chicken, I just used my standard recipe. An egg wash, followed by breading in Glutino bread crumbs mixed with seasonings like TS Garlic Garlic and Seasoned Salt.

Spicy chicken fusilli

One of Luke's all time favorite foods is the Spicy Chicken Penne from Ciatti's. This is my GF version of the dish.

 

Ciatti's Ristorante in St. Cloud has a GF menu....but it made me a little nervous to eat there - as they are primarily a pasta-based restaurant.  When we last dined there, I ate the chicken marsala, it was served with roasted vegetables instead of pasta - it was incredible, best of all: I didn't get sick! 

We will definitely return there for more meals, but in the meantime, I can make this replica for Luke.

Ingredients:

1 box GF pasta (like fusilli or penne)

1 small package or jar of sun-dried tomatoes

1 pound of boneless-skinless chicken breasts or thighs

1 small jar of pre-made pesto

1/2 jar of pre-made Alfredo sauce (Bertolli and Classico are GF)

1 Tbsp. EVOO

1/4 cup of seasoning (we used some paprika, cayenne pepper, Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning and some BBQ rub seasoning that I got from a spice shop in CO - use whatever you like to give the chicken a "blackened" look with the right amount of flavor).

Directions:

Heat EVOO in a large fry pan. Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Mix the seasonings in a shallow bowl and lightly coat the chicken in the spices. Place in the warmed oil in the fry pan.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions. When finished cooking, drain and keep warm until chicken is done.

When chicken is finished cooking, you can prepare the pasta. Toss cooked pasta with pesto and a small amount of Alfredo sauce, just until coated lightly. Sprinkle with small pieces of sun-dried tomato. Place a sliced chicken breast on top and serve.

 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

One of the things I've been craving the most since going GF is Chinese food. We have the best neighborhood Chinese restaurant ever. The Cleveland Wok. I miss it sooo much. I've learned that La Choy brand sauces are all GF, so I've used some of those. Here is my Sweet and Sour Chicken:

 

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 jar of La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 can of diced pineapple

2 green peppers, chopped in large pieces

1/2 large white onion, chopped in large pieces

cooked white rice

Directions:
Fry the chicken in a little oil until almost cooked through. Add the veggies, pineapple and the sauce. Heat through and cook until veggies are desired consistency (I like them still crunchy).

Serve on top of white rice.

Chicken Stir-Fry

Since going GF, I've really missed Chinese food. Rice, veggies and meat are all GF....but a lot of times the sauces (including soy sauce) contain gluten. I discovered that La Choy sauces are gluten-free! Here is a listing of the available sauces. This meal was so easy, I used the Stir-Fry sauce for this one, I have also tried the Teriyaki and Sweet and Sour sauces.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle La Choy Stir Fry sauce
2 cups cooked rice
assorted chopped veggies (I used onion, broccoli, green pepper, mushrooms, and carrots)

Directions:
Cut up the chicken and cook in a large fry pan with a little oil. When chicken is done, add the veggies and sauce and heat until veggies are soft and hot. Cook rice (I use a rice cooker - best invention ever). Eat!

Crunchy pan-fried chicken with roasted potatoes and gravy.

Immediately after taking this picture, I poured gravy over the entire plate. I love gravy, as a true Minnesotan should. This meal was excellent. Luke wanted to make chicken and biscuits, with taters and gravy. I've had trouble finding gluten-free gravy, so I made this from scratch.

Ingredients for chicken and taters:

1 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup breadcrumbs, I use these
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. season salt, divided (or any combination of seasonings)
1 egg
2 Tbsp. EVOO (divided)
1 pound new potatoes, sliced (I leave skin on, but you could peel as well)

Directions:
Lightly beat egg in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, mix breadcrumbs and 1 tsp. of seasoning. Heat 1 Tbsp. EVOO in a large skillet. Dredge chicken through egg, and then through breadcrumb mixture. Fry in oil until cooked through and crispy.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the sliced potatoes with 1 Tbsp. EVOO and 1 Tbsp. seasoning. Lay out on cookie sheet (I used stoneware baking pans) and roast in oven until cooked through. Time will depend on size and thickness of potato slices.

Luke loves all kinds of bread. I have really been missing any kind of bread-like food since becoming gluten-free. We finally found some GF Bisquick  and were anxious to try biscuits. We just used the recipe on the box (although we just made 1/3 the batch), the texture was good (far better than some of the frozen GF biscuits I've purchased) but the flavor was a little blah. I recommend adding a little flavor.....like extra butter, salt, some chives and/or cheese. Overall, not bad.

 

For the chicken gravy, I used cornstarch as a thickener and used the recipe on the box, I used Argo.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter

2 cups of chicken broth (Swanson's is GF)

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add chicken broth. Remove from heat. In a separate cup mix cornstarch and cold water until smooth, add to the chicken broth and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and boil for one minute (or longer, until desired consistency).

Yummmmmmm. Here is the full meal, plus a shot of my plate smothered in gravy.

Lemon chicken pasta toss

Jennie gave me this recipe a long time ago, but I had never tried it. There are several prep-steps that take a little time, but this dish is well worth it. Really great flavor, good mix of textures and filling.

Ingredients:
8 oz. uncooked gluten-free radiatore pasta
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced (or small diced) carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 cup small broccoli florets
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups diced, cooked chicken breast
1 cup prepared gluten-free Alfredo sauce
1/2 cup hot water
1 lemon, cut in half
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook pasta for 2 minutes less than package directions. Drain and set aside.

Chop onion and slice carrot. Spray a skillet with non-stick spray oil. Cook and stir onion, carrot and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes. Steam broccoli, red pepper and salt until slightly tender (I used Pampered Chef micro-cooker in the microwave for 2 minutes).

 Add pasta, steamed veggies, chicken, Alfredo sauce and water to the skillet. Squeeze lemon over and cook until heated through. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Serve with gluten-free french bread and garlic butter:

Parmesan-crusted chicken and roasted vegetables

 

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, breaded with gluten-free breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, black pepper and creole seasoning.  I fried the breaded chicken in a little EVOO.  I cut parsnips, carrots and potatoes, tossed them with olive oil, seasoned them and roasted them on a stoneware pan at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. Yummy.

 

Chicken with capers and tomatoes

I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook and didn't change much. The flavor was good, but I would recommend seasoning the chicken more heavily, as without the tomato sauce it was a little bland. I love capers (salt) and this was a good use of them!

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. rice flour
s/p
2 Tbsp. EVOO
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 white onion, minced
1/2 cup white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
2 tsp. small capers plus 1 tsp. caper juice
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 cups cooked white rice

Directions:
Heat 2 Tbsp. EVOO in a large saute pan. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Fry in the EVOO until cooked through, remove from pan, keep warm.

Add garlic and onion to pan, cook one minute (until tender), remove skillet from heat and add wine. Stir to loosen browned bits from bottom of pan. Return to heat; simmer one minute.

Add capers, caper juice and tomatoes, stir until heated through.

 Return the chicken to the pan and coat with the sauce, heat until chicken is hot again. Serve with white rice.

Chicken lettuce wraps

 I first tried lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's and loved them. I love the crisp cool lettuce and raw veggies, paired with warm chicken and noodles. I found a recipe for this in a Pampered Chef cookbook, but made some changes to make it my own.

In the summer, fresh and crisp meals like this are especially delicious.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, shredded (or packaged matchstick carrots)
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
large lettuce leaves (for wraps)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 package chicken ramen
1 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. EVOO
s/p

Directions:
Prepare chicken ramen according to package instructions, except drain off all the water once the noodles are cooked through, add seasoning packet and mix, set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp. EVOO in a large fry pan, add chicken. Season chicken with salt and pepper. As chicken browns, brush with 1/2 cup of bottled hoisin sauce. Cook through, slice.

In a large bowl, mix together the prepared ramen noodles, 1/2 cup of bottled hoisin sauce, the soy sauce, peanuts and chicken. Add 1/8 cup of each of the veggies, diced in small bits. Reserve the rest of the veggies.

Serve the noodle/chicken mix with the raw veggies and lettuce leaves - yummm!