Butterflied Chicken - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Dairy Free

Butterflied Chicken

This is a recipe originally from Alton Brown, I changed it just a tiny bit, and it turned out terrific!  The only problem was it took longer to cook than I expected, and the skin got darker than I wanted before the inside got up to safe temperatures.  That all may have been due to my pan, a bigger, shallower baking dish may have been better.  I served this with roasted veggies from cooking under the chicken, and cauliflower say cheese (also Alton Brown).

3 large carrots

3 large stalks celery

1 large onion

1 3-5 pound chicken, remove giblets, etc.

1 T garlic cloves, chopped

1 T lemon zest

1 t lemon juice

2 t salt

1 t ground pepper

2 T red wine

1 C chicken broth

Alton Brown suggests using "past their prime" vegetables and throwing them away afterward, but all my veggies looked good, so instead of throwing them away, I put them back in to roast longer once the chicken was done and cooling.

Cut up veggies in to large chunks (around 2" or so) and place them in a large roasting pan.  Meanwhile, using kitchen shears, cut up the backbone of the chicken, all the way through and then with the palm of you hand and lots of pressure, press down on the front of the chicken until the breastbone cracks and the chicken is flattened.  (Both the cutting and flattening were harder than I expected).

Loosen the skin from the breast and thighs of the chicken.  Take the garlic, lemon zest, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix them to form a paste.  Push up under the chicken skin.

Place chicken breast side up on top of veggies and put in oven, broiling until the skin browns on top.  Flip the bird over and broil on the other side until a thermometer shows safe temperature (165 degrees).  Remove from oven and set on a serving platter to settle.  Meanwhile, place vegetables in another roasting pan and return to oven and roast at 425 degrees until soft (around 15 min), stirring if necessary.  

Using a splash of red wine (I used around 2 T) deglaze the original chicken roasting pan, by scraping up the brown bits and incorporating them with the wine (you can use one of the veggies as a scraper).  Add 1 C chicken broth and reduce slightly to make am au jus sauce.

Cut up chicken into sections and serve with veggies.

My chicken seemed unusually fatty, so I ended up straining about half the fat off the chicken when making the jus sauce.  The original recipe doesn't call for you to do that, so use your own judgement.

Makes around 8 servings with some leftover chicken.  Calories:  290, 6 gram carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber.

Caprese Inspired salad - wheat free/grain free/sugar free

Caprese Inspired Salad

Caprese salad is usually made from sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, coated in balsamic vinegar.  I had fresh mozzarella, but wanted something more traditional.

1 C romaine lettuce, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 C fresh mozzarella, chopped

1 T balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing.

Toss all ingredients.

Tonight I had this salad with grilled bratwurst.  Warning, this doesn't keep, so if eat any leftovers or the lettuce will wilt.

Calories:  129, carbohydrates 8 grams, fiber 1 gram

Faux Fettucini with Tomato sauce - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Sugar Free - can be dairy free

Faux Fettucini with Tomato Sauce

 Yes, I finally got around to making the most popular wheat free substitute, zucchini instead of pasta.  In this case, I used it as a substitute for fettucini noodles since I don't have one of the tools that makes it more like spaghetti, but I do have a mandolin that cuts just the right size for fettucini.  If you don't have either, just slice the peeled zucchini and then cut into strips.  I have plenty of zucchini so I left the inside seedy part mostly out.

1 large zucchini or two small ones, peeled and cut into fettucini sized strips
1/5 pound bulk italian sausage, or one sausage with the casing removed.
2 T onion
1/4 C sugar free marinara sauce.  Kirkland brand makes an organic one with no added sugar and no ingredients that I don't recognize.

Cook the sausage and onion together in a frying pan until both are browned.  Pour on marinara sauce and continue heating while you prepare the zucchini.  Microwave the zucchini fettucini on a microwave safe plate until soft.  Top with the sauce and serve.  Optional, add a sprinkle of parmesan.

This recipe can be increased to feed the whole family.

Serves 1 - calories: 130, carbohydrates: 16, 5 grams fiber.

Buttermilk Biscuits - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Gluten Free/Sugar Free

Buttermilk Biscuits

These aren't exactly like the regular flour biscuits I used to make, but they are a close enough approximation, and great with soups or to make a sausage egg biscuit in the morning  One word of warning, although Gourmet Girl manages to split them, I never have, they fall apart too easily for me, so I leave them whole.  The basic recipe is from Gourmet Girl.  I halved the recipe since the leftover ones get a bit soggy for me, then I adjusted it just a little because 1 - I don't usually have regular buttermilk around, and 2 - it's hard to halve an egg.  :)

 1 1/2 C almond flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 C buttermilk powder
2 T butter
2 T cream cheese
1/2 C water
1 T egg white

Preheat oven to 350 and line a flat baking dish or cookie sheet with parchment.  Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients and slowly mix in the butter and cream cheese until they look like little pebbly lumps (see picture).  Mix together the water and egg white and pour into the dry ingredients and butter/cheese mixture.  Mix until the liquid is evenly distributed.  Use a cookie scoop or using your hands, set out around 8 balls (see below) and then carefully, with dampened hands, flatten the tops.  Bake at 350 until just barely browning, around 20 minutes.

Makes around 8 biscuits, 150 calories, 6 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber.

Pickled Hot Carrots and peppers - wheat free/grain free/sugar free/dairy free

Pickled Hot Carrots and Peppers

My favorite mexican restaurant garnishes most of their dishes with pickled carrots and peppers.  The carrots are just as spicy as the peppers and I think they "catch" a few diners thinking they are just plain carrots.  But I love them!  And since I have more peppers than I need right now, I'm making a batch of these.  By the way, these look absolutely beautiful going into the canner.  Unfortunately, the pretty white onion bits turn translucent but they are still pretty enough to put a bow on them and give them away for Christmas presents.

5 pounds carrots

3 pounds peppers - I used a combination of jalapeno and anaheim

1 pound onions

Distilled white vinegar (I probably used around a gallon)

several drops stevia per jar

Peel and slice carrots.  Remove stem from peppers and either coarsely chop or slice, removing seeds.  I cut the jalapenos in half and sliced the anaheim, but you can just cut them into sections however you want to use them later.  (Use gloves when working with peppers or be very careful to wash your hands and don't touch your eyes).  Loosely chop the onion.   Meanwhile in a 4 cup bowl or larger bowl with a pouring spout (I like a 4 cup measuring cup), microwave distilled vinegar and keep boiling.

Pack them in even portions into prepared hot jars - my tip, if you have a dishwasher that heats your water (has a sanitize cycle), wash them and keep them hot while packing.  Pack one jar at a time, pouring on boiling vinegar.  As the vinegar runs out, boil more.  Just before putting on the lid to each jar, drip in 2-3 drops liquid stevia.

Process in water bath canner 10 minutes for pints, 15 minutes for quarts.

Makes around 9 pints - using as a garnish with 3-4 mixed peppers, carrots and onion, around 30 calories, 2 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber.

Copy Cat Pace Salsa - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Sugar Free/Dairy Free

Copy Cat Pace Salsa

I've long been trying to duplicate Pace Picante sauce, for years.  Every time I have peppers and tomatoes coming up in my garden I rethink the recipe.  This one is the closest I've come yet, but I think I have a couple more tweaks.  Above on the left is the Pace, the right is my copy cat.  A bit too thin, next time I'll try again with about half a can more of the tomato paste, and also, strangely enough, mine tasted sweeter, which is odd because I didn't add any sugar.  Maybe a bit more vinegar and I'll post my results when I get enough tomatoes to try another batch.

3 pounds fresh tomatoes

1 pound onion

1/2 pound jalapeno peppers

1/4 C vinegar

1 T garlic powder

2 t onion powder

6 oz can tomato paste

1 t cumin

Peel the tomatoes (dipping them for 1-2 min in boiling water makes the skins peel off easier) and then loosely cut up.  Loosely chop the onions.  Cut stems off jalapenos, slice and remove the inside fiber and seeds with a spoon (I usually use gloves when cutting up jalapenos - if you don't, be sure to wash your hands, use hand cream and then wash them again and be careful not to touch your eyes).  Mix all ingredients together in a large food processor (I have a 10 cup food processor and this still took 2 batches).  Process only a few pushes of the button - don't puree, you want chunky bits in there.

At this point it's actually really yummy if you want plain fresh salsa and you can just use it as is, but if you want to can it, keep reading.  Clean and sanitize 9 pint jars, by washing by hand and either boiling or keep in a sanitizing dishwasher, having them stay hot while you fill the jars.  Fill one at a time, keeping all jars and lids as hot as possible until processing.  Since I don't have a way to test the acidity of this recipe, I use a pressure canner.  Process in the pressure canner 15 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.  Once canner has cooled, remove jars and cool 24 hours.  Wipe down and label.  The picture is after canning, which cooks the salsa as it seals.

Makes 6-9 pints, depending on how full you fill your jars, in a pressure canner, you want to not overfill or they will not seal.  For the entire recipe -around 719 calories.  For about 1/4 C serving: 22 calories, 4 grams carbohydrates, 1 grams fiber.

Oreiental Zucchini Salad - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Dairy Free/Sugar Free

Oriental Zucchini Salad

OK, one more use for my over abundance of zucchini and then I'll stop - at least for the moment.  This one is a good change of pace.  It has a uniquely oriental flavor from the sesame oil.  If you want a bit more kick, you can use chili oil, which is sesame oil that's been steeped in chilis, but be careful, a little of this stuff goes a long way.

1 medium zucchini

1 medium tomato (fresh grown is best)

1/4 C avocado

1 T finely chopped onion

2 T gluten free soy sauce (can use shoyu or liquid aminos)

1 t sesame oil or chili oil

1/2 t sesame seeds

Steam the zucchini until almost soft.  Cut up into 1" pieces, and so the same with the tomato and avocado.  Toss with chopped onion.  Mix oil and soy sauce and pour on and toss again.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Makes 1 serving - 190 calories, 13 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber.