Chicken with Garbanzo Beans

The whole family loves this! It is super easy, made in only one pot, it's nutritious with lots of protein, and it's cheapo too! This is gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, egg-free, corn-free, rice-free (unless served with rice!), and I make mine tomato-free!

Ingredients
8 chicken drumsticks (I use the ones with skins)
2 large cans of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)
3 large soup spoon-fulls of tomato paste or my tomato-free tomato paste
Olive oil
Salt
Water

Directions
In a large pot, coat bottom with olive oil. Add chicken drumsticks and "brown" over medium-high heat, cooking until you don't see pink anymore. Dump in the garbanzo beans. Add the tomato paste (or tomato-free tomato paste). Add enough water to cover the beans. Add salt (I use a lot). Cook over medium heat, stirring every now and then to make sure things aren't burning on the bottom. Cook until the garbanzo beans are soft enough to eat and the chicken is starting to fall off the bone.

Service
Serve this in a bowl. Each person can get a drumstick plus some saucey beans. For the kids, I usually take the chicken off the bone and cut it into small pieces and mix into the beans.

This tastes good with a side of a hearty bread, like Breads from Anna (as shown in photo). It's also really good served on top of (or next to a bowl of) rice, if you're not rice-free.

If you have a family of 4, this makes enough for 2 drumsticks each. The garbanzos with the sauce make a nice little dish by themselves too. Serve with some plain yogurt on top for those who aren't dairy/casein-free!

Chewy, Gooey GFCFSF Brownies (Egg-free and Rice-free, too!)

Since becoming rice-free I haven't been able to use the prepared brownie mixes (like Namaste). This recipe was posted by "danniah1" on the GFCFKids yahoo group, so I tried it. It's really great. My son doesn't like chocolate much, but my daughter likes these in her lunchbox, and I've been sneaking one every now and then for a yummy chocolate fix. My husband says these are "the best brownies [he's] ever had!" These are gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, rice-free, egg-free, corn-free, and coconut-free.

Ingredients
1 cup + 2 TBSP garbanzo bean flour
1/2 cup + 1 TBSP potato starch
1/4 cup + 1 TBSP tapioca flour/starch
2 cups raw or unrefined sugar (use less if you'd like)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 cup oil (olive, canola, grapeseed, coconut would work)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup GFCFSF chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Pour in water, oil, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and mix until evenly combined. Spread evenly into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. (They may need slightly more baking time if you like the brownies a little less gooey inside.)

Yield
I cut these into 24 small brownies (see photo). They are rich enough that one smallish brownie is sufficient. :)

Note
These do get gooey in the middle, but we like them that way. Let them cool a lot before slicing/removing them (if you can wait, we usually can't)! I then freeze the individual brownies in a glass storage container, stacked between wax paper. I eat them straight from the freezer; they are sufficiently gooey enough that they are not rock-hard when frozen. They're just nice and cold brownies. Delicious! Pop a frozen one into a small container and stick it in the kids' lunchboxes. These would work well for a bday party or to keep frozen at school as replacement foods for other kids' bday parties too.

GFCFSF & Tomato-Free Crock Pot Chili

Chili in the crock pot is great. It's hearty, it's easy, it's nutritious, and it can even be tomato-free. Serve it with corn-free cornbread (a.k.a. millet bread) and you're good to go!

Ingredients
1 lb. beef stew meat (you can cut it smaller if your kids need small chunks)
1 can (organic) red beans, water too
1 can (organic) kidney beans, water too
1 can (organic) pinto beans, water too (I've used white beans instead too)
Chopped onions (I use about 1/3 cup but can use more or less)
Tomato-free tomato paste (amount is up to you, I use about 5 soup spoons full)
1 jar sweet potato baby food (optional)
Spices to taste: chili powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin

Directions
Put everything into the crock pot and mix it up. Cook it on high until meat is cooked and flavors are mixed nicely. Then keep it on low or "keep warm" until ready to eat. Serve with corn-free cornbread!

Tomato-Free Beef Stew

Made this today in the crock pot and was thrilled with how it turned out. I felt very accomplished! No recipe or anything! :) This is GFCFSF + tomato-free (and other things-free).

Ingredients
1 lb. stew meat (beef)
1/3 cup onions (or more if you'd like)
5 small potatoes
2 carrots
4 handfuls frozen green beans
1 cup Pacific chicken broth
3 Tbsp. tomato-free tomato paste (if you are tomato-free; otherwise tomato paste)
1/3 cup red wine
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. tapioca starch (or arrowroot would work)
salt to taste

Preparation
Cut stew meat into smaller chunks, if needed (I use kitchen scissors for this).
Chop onions.
Peel and chop potatoes.
Peel and slice carrots.
Break green beans in half (if they're the long ones).

Directions
Mix beef, onions, potatoes, carrots, green beans, chicken broth, "tomato" paste, red wine, garlic powder, and salt in crock pot. Cover and set on high for a few hours, till meat is cooked. Then switch it to low or warm for the rest of the time. About 30 minutes before serving, use strainer + a bowl to separate the juices from the crock pot. Whisk in tapioca starch with juices, then pour back into crock pot for the rest of the time.

Service
This served our family of 4 with no leftovers. We thought it was hearty enough to stand alone (although hubbie had a piece of bread with it). We had fresh champagne mangoes for dessert.

Note
I am unclear on whether or not wine is gluten-free. I do know it has sulfites, so if you are sulfite-sensitive, skip the wine.

Another Note
I made this a second time and used 2 cups chicken broth. Still worked, just more soupy than stewy. I also used different spices: garlic powder, cumin, chili powder (a touch), and cinnamon (a touch), plus I added a jar of sweet potato baby food. (why?! because I had some, that's why!) hahaha

Rice, Black Beans, and Corn

Don't laugh. I know this is very simple. But THAT, my friends, is what this blog is all about! ha ha!

Here we have a lovely dinner of (drum roll, please) rice, black beans, and corn. I can't remember if I did this or not, but you can make your rice with chicken broth and/or coconut milk instead of (or together with) water to give it a little extra "oomph."

Don't shoot me, but the black beans and corn were from cans. (remember, I'm a working mom emphasizing the simple ways of cooking!)

Directions
Make your rice. Heat 1 can of black beans in microwave (eek! yes, I use a microwave!). Heat (or not) your canned corn (mine was leftover from something else I think). Dump it all together. Chow down.

My kids love things like this. Easy, filling, yummy. (don't forget the salt!)

Quinoa for Breakfast

For this breakfast we have:

1. Quinoa mixed with rice and garbanzo beans. [click on the picture to see the quinoa in action!]

2. Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, and a medjool date)

3. Pear juice.

Note
Serve the rice/quinoa/garbanzos in a pretty tea cup for a girl.

Crock Pot Chili with Sweet Potato

The sweet potato in this recipe is un-detectable but infuses the chili with some great vitamin A! My kids love this!

Ingredients
1/2 lb. ground beef for chili (thicker grind than regular ground beef)
1/2 red onion
1 can red kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 or 2 jars sweet potato baby food
1 Tbsp. salt
chili powder to taste

Directions
Sautee chopped red onions in some olive oil. Add ground beef and brown. Drain oil. Put onion and beef into crock pot. Add kidney beans (with liquid), pinto beans (with liquid), tomatoes, and sweet potato. Add salt and chili powder. Add some water to fill pot. Cover and cook on low all day (or all night). YUM!

Turkish Green Beans with Meat ("Taze Fasulye Yemegi")

Fresh green beans make a yummy dish. Let the kids join in the fun by helping to snap the ends off the beans. Smaller hands can snap beans in half. This is naturally gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF), soy-free (GFCFSF), corn-free, egg-free...enjoy!

Ingredients
Fresh green beans - a bunch!!
1/2 an onion
1/4 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken...)
tomato paste (a couple of big scoops-full)
olive oil
about 1 Tbsp. salt, or a bit less

Preparation
Chop onion. Snap off ends of beans and wash. You can also snap beans in half if they are long.

Directions
Sautee onions in olive oil. Add ground meat; sautee until brown. Add tomato paste and stir. Then add the beans. Add enough water to cover the beans plus some more since some of it will cook off. Add salt. Cook over medium heat for about 40 minutes.

Nohutlu Pilav (Turkish Rice with Chick Peas)

My Turkish-born husband makes this to add a little protein to rice, and the kids eat it up. I thought I'd post it in case anybody is looking for something different to do with their rice. This is gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, and egg-free (GFCFSFEF).

All you do is add 1 can of drained garbanzo beans (AKA chick peas) to your rice once you turn your rice down to low.

And for those of you who aren't rice-savvy (it's very easy to make rice, but there's a first time for everybody!), here are the step-by-step directions:

Put 4 cups of water into a pot on high heat. Add some salt to taste (we like ours pretty salty to make up for the butter we no longer use!). Once the water boils, add 2 cups of rice. Stir a couple of times. Once the water boils again, turn the heat to low and cover. Once the boiling subsides and the rice is just sitting there soaking up the water on low, add in your garbanzo beans on top. Don't stir. Re-cover the pot. Cook on low for 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed (stick a spoon or fork down the side of the pan and lift up a bit to see if the bottom rice is still wet or if it has absorbed the water).

That's it! For less rice, use 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice.