Sausage & Zucchini Polenta Bake

A wonderful way to use up that zucchini from your garden!  This is super simple to make, and delicious.  ALL of my kids loved this dish.  I posted a similar recipe quite awhile back, but have improved on it since then.

Sausage & Zucchini Polenta Bake

Ingredients:

18 oz polenta (if you live near Trader Joe's, that is where I got mine)
1/2 lb italian sausage
26 oz. jar pasta sauce
1 large or 2 small sliced zucchini
shredded parmesan cheese

Grease a 9 x 13" pan. Brown sausage and drain; slice polenta into thin slices. In pan, layer half of the polenta, followed by half of the sausage, and half of the sauce. Top with parmesan cheese (however much you desire...I like lots) then repeat layers and top with more parmesan. Cover with foil. Bake in 400 degree oven for 35 minutes, then take foil off and bake another 5 minutes. Let stand for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a tossed green salad.

Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

Ahhhh....there is no comfort food quite like pot pie, is there?  Previously I had been making my gluten free pot pie with a pie crust made from Pamela's bread mix, but I didn't totally like the overall flavor.  So, I experimented using a biscuit topping, and it turned out really yummy!  I used leftover chicken from a whole roasted chicken.  Here is what I did:

For the filling:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup rice flour
1/4 tsp pepper
few dashes of salt
1-3/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
leftover chopped chicken (approx. 1-2 cups...I use whatever I have on hand and it always works)
2-1/2 cups vegetables (varies...see below)*
2 cloves minced garlic

In a medium saucepan, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.  Stir in flour, salt, and pepper.  Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk.  Simmer over medium low heat until thick.  While that is simmering, get a large bowl and put your chicken, vegetables, and garlic in it, and toss all together.  *For the veggies, I either use 2-1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies, which is definitely the easiest, or if I don't have that, I will mix a combination of chopped carrots and celery, frozen or canned corn, and frozen green beans.  Any combination will work great.  If you do the fresh carrots and celery, it works best to boil them for a couple of minutes first to partially precook them.

Next prepare your biscuit dough.  You will need:

1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar (you might want to omit if you don't want sweet dough)
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients in a mixer bowl.  Add oil, egg, and buttermilk, and beat on high about 30 seconds.  Then, what I did was I put a "blob" of the dough in the bottom of a pie plate, and spread it to cover the bottom to make a thin crust.  Sorry I can't be more specific on the amount, but I put just enough to cover it.  Next, pour your chicken/vegetable mix into the pie plate on top of the crust.  Then pour your thickened hot filling over the top of that.  Finally, drop the remainder of the biscuit dough, by spoonfuls, over the top of the filling, covering as much of it as possible.

Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until dough is golden brown and filling is bubbly.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

If you try my recipes and you like them, please leave a comment!  Thank you, and enjoy!

Gluten Free Italian Goodness

This links over to my other blog, to a post on gluten free cooking:

http://countrymomto4.blogspot.com/2010/08/gluten-free-italian-goodness.html

Enjoy!!

Shepherd's Pie

I don't promise low fat, but I do promise good!

Ingredients:

• 7-8 medium potatoes
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• cream, as needed (or milk, or half n half...use whatever)
• 1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 1/3 c. ketchup
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• a few dashes of salt
• a few dashes of pepper

1) Chop potatoes into 1-inch chunks and put in a large saucepan (I don't peel them; you can peel if you prefer).  Cover with water; bring to a boil and boil for 15-20 minutes, until soft.  Drain and return to pan.  Add butter and mash with potato masher until most lumps are gone.  Add both cheeses, sour cream, salt, and pepper.  Beat with electric mixer until smooth.  Add cream as needed until desired consistency.  Put lid on pan to keep potatoes warm, and set aside.

2) Pour broth into a small saucepan and place on stove over medium heat.  Pour cornstarch into a small bowl; add a small amount of water and stir with fork to form a paste.  I start with a very small amount of water, and keep adding a little more at a time until I can stir it into a paste.  Add to broth; stir constantly with wire whisk until broth comes to a boil.  Boil and stir until thickened.  You have just made gluten free gravy!  Set aside.

3) Turn oven on to 400 degrees.  In a large skillet, cook onion and ground beef, until onion is soft and beef is browned.  Drain and return to pan.  Add gravy, ketchup, vegetables, salt, and pepper.  Mix well and cook 5 more minutes. 

4) Spread meat mixture evenly in a 9 x 13" pan, and top with mashed potatoes, spreading potatoes evenly also.  Sprinkle with additional cheddar cheese.

5) Bake for 40 minutes.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, preferably longer.

Enjoy!  This is one of our favorites. 

*Note:  I have made this dairy free also.  I omitted the cheese and sour cream, used Earth Balance spread in place of the butter, and used rice milk in place of the cream.

Amazingly Delicious Gluten Free Brunch

Here is a post that I put up on my other blog quite awhile ago.  Rather than repost it on here, I'll post a link to it:

Amazingly Delicious Gluten Free Brunch

Enjoy!!

Burritos

Made with homemade beans and corn tortillas, these really hit the spot!

To start off, you need to get some beans going in the crockpot in the morning.  I use this recipe .  The only thing that I do differently is to cut the amount of salt in half.  It calls for 5 teaspoons and I cut it back to 2-1/2, and even that seems a bit salty.  Also, you want to add the salt in at the end of the day, AFTER the beans have cooked.  If you put it in with the rest of the ingredients in the morning, the salt is going to prevent the beans from softening and it will take a lot longer for them to cook.

Later in the day when the beans are done, toss some corn tortillas onto a flat grill...

See the steam coming off of the one on the right?

Carefully spin the tortillas as they heat, flipping them frequently, until at desired temperature and texture. Transfer to a plate, and spread with beans:

Add grated cheese:

Then, if desired, salsa (I leave it off the kids' burritos, but I love it on!):

Roll up tightly:

And enjoy!  The ends will be open as corn tortillas don't close up well on the ends.

Happy eating!!

Chicken a la King

This is a wonderful way to use up leftover chicken!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. brown rice flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-1/3 c. chicken broth
• 1-1/2 c. milk
• leftover chopped chicken, approximately a cup...use whatever you have
• 1-1/2 c. frozen mixed veggies
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

In a medium saucepan, melt butter.  Add onion and red pepper and cook until softened.  Stir in flour, salt, and pepper (I usually use Mrs. Dash instead of pepper, just because I like it!).  Add chicken broth and milk; heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Stir in chicken, mixed veggies, and garlic.  Heat through.  Serve over rice.  I prefer brown because it is healthier, and I just think it has better flavor.  Enjoy!

This goes great with gluten free drop biscuits.  I will post that recipe soon!