Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites. I had a craving for buffalo chicken - This seems to be a regular occurrence for me. I don't know what it is, I guess it was a favorite way to get chicken in my Pre-Gluten Free Days, but now, having a kitchen I can experiment on my own recipes I can go crazy with it!

This one I had some confusion on the initial recipe so I ended up making some edits as I went, and my only downside on it would be The quinoa needed to cook a touch longer.

Ingredients: 
1 Cup - Quinoa. 1 Large Egg
1/4 Cup -  chopped scallions
1 Cup - chopped cooked chicken (I used the chicken in the can)
1/2 Cup - Frank's Buffalo Sauce
1/2 Cup - Blue Cheese crumbles
1/2 Cup - Gluten Free Breadcrumbs
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic
Pinch of Salt and pepper.

This is the easiest thing ever! 
Cook the quinoa, make sure it's nice and fully. 

Take all the ingredients and mix them all together in a bowl. (How simple) 
Once everything is mixed together, scoop into mini cupcake pans. Pressing down to make sure each pan is full. For me this made just over 24, so I used all 3 of my cupcake tins. 

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. When I turned over the cupcake tin, the bites fell right out. I got some frozen mixed veggies and french fries, and dinner was served.
Viola! I have to say this was the first meal in a while that I made, that had so much color to it. My boyfriend joked that it looked so "Southwestern" with all the orange, and yellow and green. I have to say, it was a pretty meal, AND pretty tasty!!

I've made a similar dish, but with peperoni and mozzarella cheese as the main ingredients, with a side of pizza sauce... That one may make a new appearance soon!

Andy's Jazz Club - Gluten free and Jazz

This one is an anomaly to my gluten free eating out theory. I try only to go places that advertise they do Gluten free, or have a menu. This one did neither, but it was my brothers’ girlfriends’ birthday, and she made my brother call ahead and talk to the manager. He talked to him mentioned it's a "bad allergy" and that it'd mean a lot to his girlfriend that I can eat with them. The manager assured him they had options and they could make the meal safely. So ultimately I caved. It turned out to be OK, but I’m not planning on making this a regular occurrence. Andy’s is a cute little live jazz club tucked away in River North, not far from Navy Pier. Michelle really wanted to check it out for dinner prior to going on a nice sunset boat tour on Lake Michigan. 

Andy’s has been at this location since the early 1950’s, and has been playing Jazz since the late 1970’s. It reminds me of a cute little speak-easy with waiters dressed the part and friendly jazz artists playing live music. We had a reservation for 4:00 on Sunday, when they are less busy. (Friday’s and Saturday’s it’s quite the hopping place!) Our server came over asked who was the birthday girl, and who was the gluten free diner. I was happy; they noted it on the reservation. He asked a few questions, he confirmed it was an "allergy", and if I had any other allergies they needed to know about. He said he’d double check everything with the chef before he guessed what was safe. He came back with a list and pointed out the dishes they could do gluten free. It was a huge selection, but it had a variety of beef, chicken, salmon and risotto. The disappointing part is they seemed to be missing was a dessert option, so we skipped dessert, but made it up by stopping at Garrett’s for popcorn before boarding our boat! 

I got the risotto – One word – Fabulous! It was plated so pretty I didn’t want to disturb it at first, but really it was tasty, if I could have licked the plate I might have done it!  When the food arrived it was even announced at gluten free, so there was no mistake on the meal. I was really glad I came out, even though I was a bit nervous about it, everything turned out really well. 
I give them 4 dragonflies, despite not having a dedicated menu the server took great care of handling the gluten free dinning and checking with the chef for options and modifications. I would love to go back again since the entertainment was amazing and the food was extremely tasty and unique. I'm not sure I could have made anything this good myself. 

Gluten Free Beer Cheese Dip Ala Cindy

This would be a GREAT Super Bowl dip!! I love this one - Use any beer you like, or works for you. I would recommend an IPA or one that has a full beer flavor. 

Here is another family favorite recipe that I adapted to make it gluten free after being diagnosed. We sat there and thought can we do it gluten free? Sure use a gluten free beer! I had to go back to the dips originator a friend of my brothers to get a half recipe because the original makes a LOT of dip. She was shocked that I was still making her dip since I've been GF since she has a gluten free friend she wanted to make it for herself, so we shared out gluten free hack. Here is the gluten free adapted version. 

I used Omission beer which gave the dip a very similar to the original, we'd made it with Redbridge and it was ok, we figure Prairie Path or New Grist would give a similar full beer taste to it as well. Pick wisely you want a full beer flavor to get the best taste. 

Ingredients:

1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar

½ Package of the Hidden Valley Ranch (or .4oz package)

¼ Cup Beer.

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve. I recommend making the night before so that you get a more full flavor of the beer.  

Major Goolsby Sports Pub

Major Goolsby's Sports Pub and Grill in Milwaukee is a typical sports pub just East of Marquette University. While in the area for work recently we stopped there for a quick bite to eat on lunch. The decor is traditional college town bar. The food is a bit better. 

If you want a burger or sandwich they have gluten free bread by Udi's that they can toast up and make quite the sandwich for you. 

The gluten free options are listed right on the menu, and the staff seemed fairly knowledgeable on what to modify to make the burgers gluten free. I'd read a review on their wings being gluten free, which really is what I wanted, but the server confirmed they were not actually safe, because of the shared fryers.

Since the fryers are shared that meant the french fries were off limit too, (Darn!) which was sad, but understandable. I got a side of coleslaw to compliment my burger. Over all the food was decent. I would say it was the best burger I'd ever had... But in a pinch, cheeky decor and TV's all over it's a good place to grab a quick meal and drink with some friends after work, with enough things on the menu to keep most people happy.

I give them 3 dragonflies, they had burgers and salads, not too much more beyond that, so it was a bit limiting, but the food wasn't bad and we had a decent meal pretty cheaply. 

Gluten Free Versus Wheat Free

What is Gluten?? That's a good question, and can something be gluten free an contain wheat, well actually yes! Just as something can be wheat free and still contain gluten.

Let's not make things too easy to follow now. The crazy part was the new labeling laws that were established in the US came with a lot of fan-fare and excitement that things would be easier and clearer, 6 months in, and it seems to be murkier and more convoluted. Now the US says Wheat Starch is ok to used in gluten free products. This is already a norm in Europe, so it's now been approved for the US. How safe is it? A study done in 1999, says it's not harmful to Celiacs...

From the FDA's site directly -
# 3 - How is “gluten-free” defined in the rule?
In general, foods may be labeled “gluten-free” if they meet the definition and otherwise comply with the final rule’s requirements. More specifically, the final rule defines "gluten-free" as meaning that the food either is inherently gluten free; or does not contain an ingredient that is: 1) a gluten-containing grain (e.g., spelt wheat); 2) derived from a gluten-containing grain that has not been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat flour); or 3) derived from a gluten-containing grain that has been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat starch), if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food. Also, any unavoidable presence of gluten in the food must be less than 20 ppm.

There are some products already big name companies using wheat starch on Certified Gluten Free Products. Go-Picnic is one of them. As you see below the item is certified gluten free, but contains wheat... I see people question this regularly. Why? Because it's confusing!!

Well another big name brand, Dr. Schar's is going to be launching croissants in the US! They already sell croissants in Europe, and those croissants, contain Wheat Starch. So the products being brought over to the US now, follows that ingredient list and also has Wheat Starch. When you look at the ingredients it's the first thing listed! 

So now what?! Well we each need to figure out what this means for us. In the US it means if an item is labeled "Certified GF" and contains wheat starch. That amount is less than 20ppm of wheat starch. Now if you have a wheat allergy You HAVE to read all labels extra carefully. If you have a gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease, you have to determine if this product will cause any reactions for you. Remembering that any product labeled GF can contain up to 20ppm of any gluten, even from cross contamination of the facility. 

Cross contamination is a whole different story, but just as complex because manufacturers are NOT required to disclose items are made on shared lines or in shared facilities. So any manufactured product is a gamble unless you know how the product is made. 

Personally - I really miss croissants, and I will give them a try, I miss them so bad. As for this Candy from GoPicnic, I've probably eaten this candy from GoPicnic in the past without realizing there was wheat starch in it, only because it comes in a box labeled gluten free, I assumed it was safe! 

With anything it's our responsibility to research and know what is best for us, and make sure we make the best choices possible when it comes to our health and eating gluten free.

Marcello's Father and Son Restaurants

One of the best gluten free dinning options I've found that everyone loves is Marcello's. They have a couple locations around Chicagoland. We frequent both Northbrook and Lincoln Park for dinner. From what I hear their broasted chicken is amazing, and the non-chicken eaters we know love it there. Unfortunately that is not on the gluten free menu. But their Gluten free menu does have some good options. 

Abbe's Gluten free menu includes pizza, pasta, salads, dessert even GF beer! We've been here a few times, my absolute favorite dish is the fusilli pasta baked with mozzarella cheese. They use a corn pasta, no mater what sauce you pick it will be fabulous. Keep in mind the dish is Hot when it arrives!

Last time I decided to finally break down and get their pan pizza. (I Really like the pasta!) I asked the waitress to confirm I could get any toppings or pizza options with the gluten free crust. She confirmed yes, so I got the buffalo chicken pizza. Yum! I might have a new food love here. 

It's not a huge pizza, it is only 8 inches, square. But was enough to fill me up. The crust again is a corn base, crispy, and thicker than a normal pizza. I'm not sure which I liked better the crust or the toppings. The crust had moisture to it and wasn't dry. With any meal they will bring out a complementary cup of coleslaw, which I've heard is tasty, I can't find any muscle in me that likes any coleslaw so I always pass on it. Maybe on our next visit I'll branch out and try dessert!

I give Marcello's 4 dragonflies, they take a lot of caution with preparing their food, and I've never had any issues ordering, or getting my food. There are lots of options for everyone on both menu's and the staff is very friendly.

Crockpot Rootbeer BBQ Chicken

Working 8-5 Monday-Friday, Moving into my own place with my boyfriend, it seems the first thing everyone says is "you need to get a crock pot!" Sounds great, what do I do with it?! My mom NEVER used a crock-pot, One day her cousin and her talked about how they got them for their weddings, and gave them away, years later; unused. So I was bestowed a crock-pot from a friend, so I started asking other friends if they used them. Most told me "once or twice... That's about it." Honestly my apprehension comes from the setting it to cook, and leaving for 8 hours. I really fear burning the house down!!

So to try and start getting over that fear, I thought, I'll make something in the crock-pot on the weekend, when I'm home and doing stuff around the house, that way I can totally babysit the whole process and get more comfortable with the idea of leaving it on the counter and going to work.

Heck - I read the original recipe for this and went, well this seems easy, I must be missing something. I did a few Tweaks to make it my own, so here goes. The original recipe called for Sweet Baby Rays BBQ; which is Gluten Free, and A&W rootbeer; also gluten free. I'm a huge fan of Two Fat Guys BBQ Sauce, and my grocery store didn't have a small bottle of A&W Rootbeer, so I had to settle for Barq. 

Ingredients - 
1 crock-pot
1/4 cup of water
4-5 chicken breasts thawed
1 18oz bottle your favorite BBQ Sauce
6oz your favorite Rootbeer
A Dash of Salt
A Dash of Pepper
1 Tablespoon of Honey (Optional)

For a first try at using a crock-pot this was an easy one. Put the chicken and 1/2 cup of water in the crock-pot and set on High for 3 hours, or medium for 6 hours. Drain the chicken juices  at the end of the time. 

Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl right before you drain the chicken. Pour the mixture into the crock-pot and then place the chicken back into the pot, making sure the chicken is covered with the mixture. Set the timer to cook on high for another 45 minutes. 

Once the time is up the chicken will be ready to pull out, and will be super tender. Spoon some extra sauce on the side to pour over the chicken. My sauce came out a bit thin but was sweet with a bit of a bite on the back end. We did a pasta dish on the side, but could have easily shredded the chicken and served over bread or rice as a pulled chicken dish. 

I love this as a good entertaining dish as well, when some friends are coming over for dinner, it's low maintenance enough that you can set it up before they come and just plan to serve it once dinner is ready. Now let's see what our 2nd crockpot meal is!