Mac & Cheese

This post has two stories.  The first is Andrea.  She has a beautiful boy with a bright smile, a love of macaroni and cheese and special needs.  Many parents are aware that a diet free of gluten can help children with Autism, ADD and ADHD.  Andrea reports, like many parents with special needs children,  that her child is a VERY picky eater.  When I asked the question "what does he like" Andrea told he loves mac and cheese.  She then went on to say that she had tried the boxed version labeled gluten free and neither of them would eat it.  I can't say that I blame them.  Food should taste good and as many of us who have tried products labeled "gluten free" know, they don't always.  The mac and cheese Andrea prepared for her son was one I also sampled at a Gluten Free food expo.  I couldn't even finish the tiny sample we were given.  This is inexcusable! 

My second story came out of the first.  I promised Andrea earlier this week that on Friday I would make Mac & Cheese for her to take home to her adorable picky eater.  I was talking about this at work when one of the parents (my day job is working with infants for those of you who didn't read post #1).  Jill mentioned that she and many of her busy co-workers would love it if someone had a business where they made dinners that were take-out.  Busy mothers want to feed their families healthy food but lets face it, we all work too hard sometimes.  This also gave me an opportunity to try my gluten free dish on a non-gluten free family...sweet!  Those who know me also know that I love doing things for others.  I didn't tell Jill ahead of time in case I was too tired to pull it off.  Besides, I just love surprising people!

  I knew this would mean I would be getting up fairly early on to make a fresh batch.  What I hadn't counted on was having my day job hours moved up one hour earlier on Friday to accommodate someone else's day off.  OOPS!  Oh well, I can do this!  Fortunately my husband takes a class at the local community college on Thursday nights so I could prep the night before.  Thursday night found me grating cheese and laying out the ingredients and tools I would need the next morning, including a very heavy pot that you will see in a both of my first two blogs and likely in many future ones as well.  It is my favorite pot. 

Friday morning I arose at 5:00, jumped into my jeans and t-shirt and dashed downstairs to the kitchen.  Okay, someone must have thought I left the pot out by mistake because they put it away.  I smile, open the drawer and pull out the very heavy pot again.  This is an extremely easy recipe to prepare so I was able to accomplish it in plenty of time to leave for work.  I even managed to eat breakfast in there somewhere but I really don't remember doing that. 

This recipe starts with quinoa elbow macaroni noodles.  There are many gluten free pastas on the market but I like quinoia best because of the nutrient value of quinoa and the way the pasta holds up.  Some of the rice pastas I have tried get too mushy. The recipe itself I found on the food network website and is one of Alton Brown's. Or Alton John as I called him a few days ago when I was in a hurry.  I think I had Elton John on the brain. I have altered it just a little and will post the changes I made but here is the original link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/stove-top-mac-n-cheese-recipe/index.html

 I have to admit I am a little nervous about this recipe.  Not because it isn't good.  I have made it a few times and my family loves it and co-workers have requested it for potlucks.  I know it's good.  But will my little "guinea pig" (his mother's words, not mine) like it?

Mac and Cheese (the ultimate kid food)

1/2 pound gluten free elbow macaroni (I prefer quinoa)

4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs

6 ounces evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh black pepper

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Melt the butter in the pot slowly being careful not to burn.  Put the pasta back in the pot with the butter. Toss to coat. Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy. Serve to your picky eater. 

Gluten Free Chicken & Dumplings

The last time I had Chicken & Dumplings, I was about 13 years old!  As a child my mother would pack up my brothers and I for a road trips to either Marianna Florida or Gulfport Mississippi. My taste buds still remember a few of the family favorites from these trips.  Someday I would like to recreate Aunt Bertie's Sausage Bread pudding and Aunt Lela's Peanut Brittle.   But today it's Chicken & Dumplings. 

I love helping newbies to the world of Gluten Free living.  After a few successful tries at converting my family recipes to gluten free I have begun to ask others a simple question.  What dish do you miss most since going gluten free?  That's where the Chicken & Dumplings inspiration came from.  My current day job is primary care giver for infants.  Kristen is one of the mothers and she it is she who said she missed Chicken & Dumplings.  Okay Kristen, this one is for you...

Living With Chicken & Dumplings...Most recipes for Chicken & Dumplings start with you stewing the chicken in water.  I probably would have started here myself if it hadn't been for a night of insomnia recently.  I spotted an interesting recipe link on a friend's facebook page.  Always looking for the next great recipe I spent the wee hours of the morning looking at one recipe after another till I came across this one.  This is the moistest chicken recipe I have ever found and since it's done in a crock pot it practically cooks itself.  This is the original link but following is my version of it modified for Chicken & Dumplings.
http://cleverlyinspired.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-meal-monday-whole-chickenand-nothin.html

Chicken
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 large onion sliced
4-5 carrots in 1 in chunks
1 large roasting chicken

Put onions and carrots in the bottom of a large crock pot.  Mix all of the spices together. Rinse your chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spices all over the chicken.  Don't be shy, it's just a chicken and your hands will wash.  Place the freshly rubbed down chicken on top of the vegetables.  Plug the crock pot in and turn the dial to low.  Set your kitchen timer for 5 hours.  When it goes off you have a moist flavorful chicken.   You could stop here but if it's Chicken & Dumplings you're craving...read on.

Chicken & Dumplings
One chicken recipe (above)
1 cup Gluten Free pancake & biscuit mix *
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter melted
1 egg beaten
1 Tablespoon of your favorite fresh herb (I used green onion because I had it on hand)
3 Tablespoons cornstarch

Remove the cooked chicken from the crock pot.  Put a strainer over a bowl and pour the contents of the crock pot into the strainer.  Measure the crock pot liquid and add chicken stock to make 6 cups.  Put a little of the liquid in a small bowl and add cornstarch.  Whisk till smooth and pour back into stock.  Put the vegetables in a food processor and rough chop or blend with a submersible blender after putting them into the stock. Put stock and vegetables in a large heavy pot.  Bring stock to a boil.  While waiting for the stock to boil mix remaining ingredients together adding the milk slowly till mixture is the consistency of bread dough.  Add one heaping tablespoon of dough to the boiling stock by lowering the spoon till it's just above the hot stock and pushing it off with another spoon.  Gently place spoonful after spoonful of the dough into the pot taking care not to crowd them too close to each other.  Keep the stock at a low boil and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.  The chicken should have cooled by now.  Remove the meat, leaving the skin and bones behind.  Gently pull the chicken into bite size pieces.   Add the chicken to the pot.  Cover the stock and continue simmering on low for 15 minutes. Stir gently as to not disturb the dumplings.  Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

*You may be one of those cooks who mixes their own flour blend.  If you are I only have one thing to say.  You have a lot more room to store all of those different flours than I do and much more time on your hands.  There are so lovely flour blends on the market so don't hesitate to use one.  I used Pamela's pancake and biscuit mix for this recipe.  I also enjoy Arnel's Original and The Pure Pantry blends.  When I was in Colorado last summer I found a lovely blend by Deby's Gluten Free.  The nice thing about this Deby's is that it's already blended to compensate for high altitude.   Below are links to all three gluten free companies. 
http://thepurepantry.com/
http://www.arnelsoriginals.com/
http://www.debysglutenfree.com/

This was a fun recipe to convert.  I now know why we only enjoyed this dish on Sundays.  It was a little time consuming.  You could prepare the chicken one day and finish the next.  I was tempted to prepare a mess of collard greens to go with our meal.  For those of you who didn't spend your early years in one of our southern states, a mess is the equivalent of a family size dish of greens.  SinceTonight's Guinea pigs were my in-laws and my sweet husband Steve, none of which have ever resided in our southern states, I sided our meal with green beans and a nice salad.  

Happy cooking and if there is a recipe that you would like to be Living with...send it to me.  I'd love to give it a go.