Man grub

Last night's supper was a hit with the testosterone crowd. Gluten and dairy free doesn't mean girly. This was classic man grub.
Beef stew is one of hubby's favorites and adapting it to GFCF was easy. Start with a cut of beef (I used a chuck roast) and cut it into one inch pieces. In a covered container or freezer bag, combine 1/3 cup of your favorite GF flour blend, salt, pepper and other seasonings (I used Penzeys Beef Roast seasoning). Shake beef pieces in the flour mix and brown in a few tablespoons of heated oil. Add a chopped onion to browned beef for a few minutes and then put beef mixture in the crockpot.

Add 4-5 carrots, 5-6 potatoes, some celery (I was out of celery so don't look for any in the picture), 2 cups GF beef broth, a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce, and a bay leaf. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 10 hours.

This recipe for Cornmeal Flatbread from the Gluten Free on a Shoestring cookbook is the perfect accompaniment for the man meal. Man grub. Grunt grunt.

So good and pretty, too!

Want a great crock pot chicken meal? Tonight I made Chicken Cacciatore with this recipe. This is definitely going to be a repeat meal. It was delicious and pretty, too!
The recipe calls for onions, mushrooms, garlic and a red bell pepper in the bottom of the crock pot. (I used 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow bell peppers in case you are wondering where the yellow specks came from.)

Layer chicken next. I used boneless thighs and breasts.

Combine tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, cooking wine (I didn't have white so I used a cooking sherry), and seasonings. I let it cook all day and then added the cornstarch and water during the last 30 minutes.

Rice and broccoli completed the meal.

Soooo good and pretty, too!

Share the love

Last night we made individual GFCF heart shaped pizzas for Valentines Day. Java enjoyed being able to express her creativity while Bean focused on taste. He's become a real spice fanatic!

Java came home with a load of candy from school but after she and Bean each had a piece, I offered her $5 for the rest. She thought that was a great deal! We're sending the candy to a cousin who is in college. ♥ Share the love...and food dyes, sugar, high fructose corn syrup....

Chicken Quinoa Spaghetti

Last night I made supper for our family and my daughter and son in law. I had to make it heart healthy, gluten free, dairy free and vegetarian (my daughter Latte doesn't eat meat).

No problem.

I made our favorite Quinoa spaghetti with two spaghetti sauces...one with ground chicken and one without.

Our local co-op has organic ground chicken at a decent price so we'll work this into the menu more often. I can imagine that people would think it was rather bland if they didn't season it well...but I've been to Penzeys. ♥ With their salt free Italian seasoning, some fresh garlic and an onion, the ground chicken really came to life! (Not literally. That would have really freaked out my vegetarian daughter.)

I added tomato sauce and poured it over the quinoa noodles. It looked and smelled so good that I couldn't even take a picture of the finished product! (You know the kids are excited about the meal when the prayer is said very, very quickly!)

Getting through it

I have found that we can get through most challenges as long as we have a plan. My son in law is still in the hospital. They were able to get his blood pressure out of the danger zone but they need to find out what caused it to be so extraordinarily high. They are concentrating on kidneys and doing a lot of tests.

My son in law has very few family members and only one lives within driving distance from here. I am spending as much time as possible at the hospital to support both him and my daughter. This means I have to be more planful about meals.

Yesterday afternoon I made tator tot casserole. I've made this in the crock pot before but last night I made it in the oven and ran errands with Java while it cooked.

Tonight we're having bean and ham soup. I soaked a 13 bean mix last night and it is now in the crock pot (pictured above) with vegetable broth, a ham hock (I had it in the freezer from our last ham), carrots, onions and seasonings. We'll have pizza crust garlic bread with it. I've got several pizza crusts in the freezer.

We'll find out more this morning after the doctor makes his rounds at the hospital. I pray that life will return to our "normal" soon. But if not, we will get through it as a family.

Quick fix supper

Some days, like yesterday, are difficult. Our son in law had a severe headache and after two days he finally went to the doctor. They rushed him to the ER and he was promptly admitted to the hospital. It was slightly lower by the time I got there, but the nurse said his blood pressure was 240/180 at one point. (180 /110 is considered a medical emergency.)

They are doing a lot of tests and we'd appreciate your prayers. I love my son in law. He has a great sense of humor and he puts up with a lot being a member of our family.

Thankfully I was somewhat prepared for a quick fix supper last night. I had roasted 6 chicken breasts to use some time this week. I had also made a large batch of rice (I often make hot rice and almond milk for breakfast.) So I threw the rice and chicken together with some amazing sauce I bought at Whole Foods (Cindy's Kitchen Mango Coconut & Pepper Sauce) and made some broccoli and a fresh spinach salad to go with it.

Before making these changes in our diet, last night would definitely have been a pizza delivery night. I'm glad we're doing things differently now. Health is important.