Chicken & Potatoes in the Oven

I got a Pampered Chef stoneware baker from one of our Lend4Health moms, Penny (mom to Logan), and I just love it! It really makes baking stuff so easy, and everything turns out yummy! (And Pampered Chef stoneware is apparently the only stoneware on the market that is lead-free.)

I recently did another round of IgG tests on the family, as well as a bunch of other tests too, and it seems like there's not much we are "allowed" to eat anymore. So I need to get really basic with the food.

So I made this last night, and even my 5 year old son (who has been hating everything but waffles and peanut butter lately....ugh!) ate it up!

I forgot to take a picture before it was all gone, but here's what I did...

Ingredients
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used about 10, enough to cover bottom of baker)
- One bag of small red potatoes, peeled & cut into quarters
- Some peeled baby carrots
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
- 1/4 cup + a bit more of Pacific chicken broth
- Some olive oil
- Some ghee (optional)
- Some salt
- Some herbs de provence

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat bottom and sides of baker with olive oil. Place chicken on bottom of baker. Squeeze lemon juice onto chicken. Sprinkle garlic over chicken. Sprinkle salt and herbs de provence over chicken. Put potatoes and baby carrots on top of chicken. Sprinkle a bit more salt if you'd like. Dot top with some ghee (optional). Add chicken broth. Cover and put in oven. Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. After an hour, stir up the chicken and potatoes a bit to "baste" the potatoes. Leave cover off at end. It's ready when the potatoes are soft, the chicken is cooked, and everything looks yummy.

YIELD
This made enough for our family of 4 for dinner, plus leftovers for 2 lunches the next day.

Teff Carrot Mini Muffins

This was my first attempt at using teff, a gluten-free (GF) grain used in the Ethiopian highlands that is high in dietary fiber and iron. I based this on the other carrot muffin recipe I use (click HERE), but I made it with a lot less sugar (we're constantly battling yeast here). I made them as mini muffins, the theory being that my sensory son might be more apt to eat a smaller muffin than a full-sized one. I thought they turned out great, and my son agreed! He had these for snacktime at pre-school. I also served them for breakfast.

Ingredients
4 oz. jar carrot baby food (organic is best)
1/3 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1 extra large egg
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Teff Flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground clove
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions
Mix carrots, oil, sugar, and egg in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a bit at a time and mix. Fill mini muffin panand bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Notes
This makes 24 mini muffins. Double the recipe for regular-sized muffins.

GFCFSF Spring Rolls

We made these for the first time this past weekend. Fun to make and soooo yummy. My 6-year old loved them; my 3-year old not so much (although he had strep and was cranky all weekend so....).

These are gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF), soy-free (GFCFSF), egg-free, potato-free, tomato-free, yeast-free...

Disclaimer
We have never made this before, nor were we following a recipe. Neither my husband nor I grew up in a culture that ate these, so we have no idea if we came close to what you are supposed to do with these. I'm sure there are much yummier fillings to put in your rice wrapper, but this is what we did on our first try.

Ingredients We Used
Spring roll wrappers (rice paper)
Iceberg lettuce
Baby shrimp (frozen, from Whole Foods)
Bean sprouts
Shredded carrots
Thai peanut sauce (contains soy)
Plate or shallow bowl of warm water

What We Did
Take a rice paper wrapper and slide it gently into the warm water on both sides. Put it on your plate. Put your ingredients inside. Roll tightly. After you've rolled about 1/2 way, fold the sides in then continue rolling (so the stuff doesn't fall out). By the timem you're done, it will be translucent and sticking to itself. Dip in peanut sauce.

Notes
Since my GFCFSF 3-year old wasn't interested in these, we didn't worry about the soy in the peanut sauce. We did make him a little sauce out of some thinned peanut butter, but he didn't use it as a dip. I'm sure there are places online where you could find a soy-free peanut sauce recipe.

Tip
A lazy susan in the middle of the table makes this much more fun!

A Simple, Yummy GFCFSF Dinner

Here's what we had for dinner a few nights ago. Some homemade chicken soup made from leftover rotisserie chicken (recipe HERE), and some yummy Breads from Anna bread (more info HERE). Both were gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF), soy-free (GFCFSF), corn-free, yeast-free, rice-free....!

I served this again for my 3-year old's pre-school lunch -- just put it in a thermos.

Rotisserie Chicken Soup in the Crock Pot

Use the leftovers from your grocery store rotisserie chicken to whip up this healthy, yummy soup in your crock pot. This is naturally gluten-free, casein-free, and soy-free.

Ingredients
Leftover rotisserie chicken (make sure it's GFCFSF)
1 potato
2 carrots
1 celery rib
2 green onions (spring onions), whites & tops
2 cups GF chicken broth
1 tsp. refined coconut oil (optional, yeast-fighter)
1/2 tsp. minced garlic (optional, yeast fighter)
1 Tbsp. salt

Preparation
Wash, peel, and chop the veggies. Rip or cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Directions
Add all ingredients to crock pot in this general order: potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, oil, chicken broth, oil. Then add enough water to fill up your crock pot (about 4 cups). Cook on high until veggies are soft and flavors have mixed; or cook on low all day then turn up to high an hour or two before dinner.

Cost
Less than $10.00 (with all-organic veggies).

Note
I have another (very similar) crock pot chicken soup HERE.

Carrot Muffins

Just got these out of the oven. Kids snarfed them down as a snack. These are gluten-free, casein-free, and soy-free (GFCFSF). They do contain eggs, and they have 2 cups of sugar in the mix.

Ingredients:

4 small jars of organic carrot baby food (4-oz each)
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
3 cups Bobs Red Mill GF All-purpose Baking Flour (buy some HERE)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. GF baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Line baking cups or grease with Spectrum vegetable shortening (buy some HERE). Mix carrots, oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, spices, baking soda and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to carrot mixture and mix. Add flax seed meal for some extra fiber and omega 3s (optional). Spoon into muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 24 muffins. Eat some now and freeze the rest for breakfasts or snacks!

I had some Miss Roben's frosting leftover, so used it as a little icing on the carrot muffins to thrill the kids a bit...that's what you see in the picture.

(Recipe adapted from Sarah's pumpkin muffin recipe at www.autismshare.com.)