Gluten-Free Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Mmmmmm. This is a good one! I originally got the recipe from Stephanie's A year of Crockpotting website. I switched it up a bit, and cooked it in the oven rather than the crock. But it turned out FABULOUS, and I'd highly recommend it for a switch-up on your old fashioned lasagna.



Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

1 box of ready to bake lasagna (I used gluten-free rice lasagna)
2 cooked chicken breasts
1 jar of prepared pasta sauce
1 cup of buffalo sauce
15oz of ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheese blend)
1 cup shredded parmesan
1 cup of corn
1/2 cup water

Cut the chicken into chunks and mix together in a bowl with the buffalo sauce, corn and pasta sauce. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 3qt casserole dish with your choice of spray or EVOO or whatever you like to grease pans with.

Building the lasagna:
Start with a ladlefull of sauce/chicken mixture. Spread that across the bottom of the dish then cover with a layer of lasagna. Spread a layer of ricotta cheese over the lasagna, then a layer of cheese blend. Reapeat. Then for the top use the rest of the sauce mixture and cover the top of the lasagna with the parmesan cheese. Pour the water around the edge of the lasagna, (it will be absorbed by the noodles as it cooks). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let the lasagna sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.

I really, really liked this lasagna. It's even better the next day after all the flavors meld together. It's sort of spicy, perhaps to spicy for kids (depending on their tastes), but it's a great variation from traditional lasagna. Also, it makes a lot and you can eat it all week. So it's really cost concious.

Give it a try! It's easy, cheap, and tasty. Who could ask for more?

Gluten-Free Crockpot Chili Recipe

I'm trying to make a few easily reheated meals for my Husband and children while I am out of town taking care of my Father's passing. I have a tried and true chili recipe but it's loaded with gluten. So I reluctantly threw together this crockpot chili, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!



Gluten-Free Crockpot Chili

1 lb ground lean turkey
1 bag Trader Joe's Roasted Corn
1 Packet gluten-free taco seasoning (I used Nueva Cocina Chipotle Taco Seasoning)
2 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 tsp ground Tumeric
1-2 Tbsp light brown sugar (start with 1 and add the 2nd if needed)
1 tsp sea salt (or more to taste)
1 tsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
Dash of Olive Oil (I used Annie's Natural Roasted Garlic Flavored EVOO)
1 large can of diced tomatoes (I used organic)
2 cans pinto beans (I used organic)
2 cans kidney beans (I used organic)
I can Rotelle tomatoes and chiles (I used mild, the hot chili expands the chiles and makes it spicy enough for my family's taste)

Cook the ground turkey in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray then dump it in the crockpot. Dump everything else in the crockpot. Mix very, very well. Let the chili simmer on low for 2 hours, then check the taste and if needed add more salt and brown sugar to taste. I like the spicy sweet flavor of the cumin and brown sugar, but if you aren't big on sweet chili then hold back and use just one tbsp of brown sugar.

I let this cook for about 6.5 hours on low, and it was perfect! We are going to top ours with little cheese and sour cream, maybe even some bacon crumbles. The possibilities with chili are endless! That's what I love about it!

I hope you enjoy this warm, easy recipe on a cold and rainy day.

Cheers,

Erin

Gluten-Free Food Review #2

This is going to be short and sweet because frankly, I feel like crap. But I just couldn't let this experience fall into the crevices of my bad memory. I must warn you before you fall victim to the temptation of exotic soup.

Thai Kitchen Coconut Ginger Soup


I think I'll rename it Thai Kitchen Coconut Ginger EWW. Yes, eww. It's gross.

As you open the can you are welcomed by a dull sweet smell and a thick layer of coconut milk/grease that sticks to your fingers (I discarded that part). Once you've heated it the house is permiated with a spicy sweet and milky musty aroma (if you'd like to call it that). One taste and it was down the drain. It was so over the top gingery that it burned my mouth and throat. Even after I poured it down the garbage disposal you could still smell it for about 10 minutes.

From start to finish this soup is pure torture. Heed my advice and save yourself the agony of this odd combo of cream and ginger.

Oh, and one parting note: It has leaves in it. Just eww.

The Stubborn Lady and her rice... A True Story.

I'm on a mission... A rice cooking mission.

I've always wanted to make sticky rice. About a year ago my aunt bought me some "Thai Sweet Rice" from the Asian grocer in her area and I bought myself a rice cooker. After several failed attempts at cooking ALL types of rice in the rice cooker I gave up and stowed my cooker away in the darkness of defeat, (you know, the cupboard above the fridge with the sushi cookbook and fancy 10-in-1 slicer dicer grater chopper). Well darnit, I want to make my own damn rice and this time I'm not giving up!

Last night was my first attempt at cooking this tricky Thai rice. I called my Mom who swears that she's made it before and she rambled off this much too easy seeming list of instructions for me to try. Despite what I'd heard she swore that you do not need to soak the rice.

You need to soak the rice.

We ended up with a gloppy, gluey, disgusting mess of white goo which resembled nothing even remotely close to rice. Now she says she doesn't remember. Convenient? I think so...

So, after that debaucle I took it upon myself to begin research. I started by asking all my Asian friends how they cook sticky rice. I mean go directly to the source, right? Of course, none of them have cooked Thai sticky rice which I guess is different but is what I am trying to cook. Then I began a long and confusing internet search. Many websites suggested that you steam the rice in a basket over a special pot. But I don't have a special pot, or an even slightly irregular one for that matter. Since I do have a rice cooker I thought maybe I could steam the rice in the specific cooker for which it was created. But of course that didn't work. After soaking the rice for 5 hours then rigging it into a special homeade basket for steaming, the rice cooker did absolutely nothing. Aparently rice cookers are not meant for "steaming" rice, but more for boiling it. I threw the damn rice cooker away, then got it back out of the garbage can, because I'm stubborn and I figure perhaps someday I could use it for something... not cooking rice mind you, but maybe something. Any ideas?

I found a recipe that uses a regular pot and other everyday type items that I have in my house and don't have to order online to make my rice. As we speak now I am patiently awaiting tender kernels of chewy rice for my pure enjoyment. I just checked on it and so far the rice is still not cooked at all, but I say that's better than the rice being a ball of glue.

Well after about 30 mins of steaming in my homeade rice steaming device I turned the water off, covered the rice and left it to sit and steam. Hours later I came back to check on it and yes, in fact it had worked! I made thai sticky rice!!! Here's what I did.

I used a large pot and filled it about half full with water. Then I put a steamer basket over the water and lined it with a piece of raw cotton that I had on hand. You could of course use cheesecloth but I didn't have that, so I used cotton. I put the soaked rice in the lined steamer basket, and covered it. I then turned on the water and let it boil for 30 mins and then just let it sit until it was time to eat it. I checked it a few times throughout the day and it was getting dry so I just sprinkled it with a little water and stirred it. We ate the rice with some chicken, and then I made rice balls out of the rest which my kids enjoyed later.

So, I mastered the thai sticky rice. Boy was it sticky too. Not just to eat, but the whole process. Next I think I'll try making jasmine rice. I hear it's much easier, and perhaps I can even use my rice cooker... We'll see. Wish me luck!