Jack Daniel's Garlic Chicken with Fettuccine Alfredo (Gluten and Dairy Free)

Forgive me if my recent trend of recipes with alcohol is irritating. Last week I made an unofficial plan to try Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey in recipes for every type of meat I could think of. Today's recipe is a chicken marinade. 

Besides, what else would I do with this huge jug of whiskey?

In an attempt to educate myself while cooking I was doing some research on the interwebs about marinating meat with alcohol. I had been under the belief that it was a fine idea to throw some of the hard stuff into a marinade to make the meat more tender. It seems some would disagree stating that the alcohol cooks the exterior of the meat in effect keeping the flavors of the marinade from absorbing fully into the body of the meat. 

I quickly gave up the debate and carried on with my plan of adding the hard stuff to the rest of the ingredients. All I can say is that the chicken turned out very tender and flavorful. I cast my vote in favor of alcohol in marinades.  

Jack Daniel's Garlic Chicken with Fettuccine Alfredo (gluten and dairy free)

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, fat trimmed and butterflied to make thin fillets

1/4 C olive oil or canola oil

1 tsp dry mustard (or prepared mustard if out of dry mustard like I was)

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey

5 large garlic cloves, minced

The Preparation Method:

Gather ingredients.

Whisk together in a bowl. Add butterflied chicken breast fillets. Poke lots of tiny holes in the chicken with a fork. This helps the flavors penetrate the meat even further, just in case the alcohol was making it hard. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, up to four hours.

When ready for dinner, place the chicken breasts on a very hot grill. Be sure to carefully spoon the minced garlic from the marinade all over the breasts.

Turn once and cook 'til done.

Serve over Fettuccine Alfredo with a side of broccoli. Here's the link to my gluten and dairy free Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo recipe. Yum-yum-a-yum-yum!

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Eli Young Band - Always The Love Songs

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Perfection

I'm reposting this recipe because it is so dang divine. 

My husband's face lights up when he walks in the house and smells it cooking.

In fact, last time I served this meal my husband kept referring to it as nothing short of “perfection”. 

He asked me if I had a name for the dish. I told him yes, I did. It's called Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken. 

"Oh no, no, no," he lamented. "That won't do. You need a good name for this. It's perfection."

"Ok, I'll call it Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Perfection then," thinking this would do the trick.

To which he replied, "That's not a suitable name. It's not just the chicken, it's all of it... together. That's what makes it so good."

"How about Perfection in a Pot?" I offered.

"Oh no, no, no," was his response once more. "This is not about the crock-pot. Nor is it about the chicken. It's about all of it... together. It's hearty. It's tasty. It's easy. You need a really good name."

I've been thinking about this for days now. And this is what I've come up with—Perfection on a Bed of Rice with BBQ Chicken and Slaw. That's kind of a long name, I know. 

So maybe something a bit shorter. How about Jump for Joy BBQ Chicken. 

Or perhaps something a touch more lengthy would adequately describe it—Make You Want to do Cartwheels in the Middle of your Meal Crock-Pot BBQ Delight.

Anyhow, whatever you want to call it, next time you want to put your feet up while dinner cooks itself you know what to try. This Cartwheel Inducing, Jump for Joy, Perfection in a Pot on a Bed of Rice with BBQ Chicken and Slaw is nourishing, simple to prepare and surely a crowd pleaser.

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Perfection with Judith's Slaw

You'll Need:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

12 oz BBQ sauce

1/2 cup Italian salad dressing

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 TBS Worchestershire sauce

The Preparation Method:

In the base of a large crock-pot, whisk together the BBQ sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce.

Trim excess fat off chicken breasts. Place meat in the crock-pot. Stir to coat with the sauce.

Cook on the high setting for 3 - 4 hours or on the low setting for 6 - 8 hours.

Just before serving, take a large spoon and shred the chicken. It will fall apart on its own when stirred around. Mix to coat well with the sauce.

Serve over brown rice with a hearty portion of Judith’s Slaw on top.

It is done when the chicken separates easily.

Serve over brown rice with a hearty helping of slaw, or in a taco shell with slaw on top.

You can make this up to one day in advance. 

Take your time, drink a little wine, and stir it up girl.

Judith's Slaw

You will need:

1/2 head of cabbage

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 TBS rice vinegar

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp sugar

The Preparation Method:

Combine mayonnaise, rice vinegar, celery seed, salt and sugar. Mix well.

Shred the cabbage into thin pieces. Simply cut the head of cabbage into quarters and start slicing into thin strands. It shreds itself.

Dump cabbage into mayo concoction. Stir it around. Coat cabbage well. Refrigerate. Done.

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Something else that makes me want to do cartwheels in the middle of my meal... this song.

Jack Johnson - Better Together (Kokua Festival 2010)

Pot Pie Upcycle Style

 

Yes, I did frame this picture of Turkey Pot Pie. If I had made a Beef Pot Pie I would have framed that too. It is that good. It deserves a place on my Wall of Fame.  

This is a most fantastic way to use up leftover meat and is equally good with chicken, turkey or beef. Simply change the bullion flavor from chicken to beef based on your meat choice. I used leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Perfect.

I shan't waste another moment of your time. Below is the step-by-step pictorial of how it's done.

Pot Pie Upcycle Style

Ingredients:

Crust

3/4 C white rice flour

1/2 C buckwheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 C shortening (we love Earth Balance Natural Shortening)

5 TBS cold water

Filling

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 red potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes

10 oz frozen peas

2 TBS olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp marjoram

fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 1/2 C almond milk (we love Almond Breeze by Blue Diamond)

1 1/2 tsp chicken bullion or beef bullion

1 lb cooked meat, chopped - chicken, turkey, beef - really anything you have leftover that needs a place to go

The Preparation Method:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Crust

 

Combine the white rice flour, buckwheat flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well.

Fold in the shortening until it is cut into pea sized pieces.

The easiest way to get the shortening completely folded into the flour is by working it with your hands. Massage the mixture until all the flour has been touched by the shortening. When ready, the mixture resembles sand on my favorite beach in Southern California.

 

Add one tablespoon of cold water at a time. Blend in with a fork, pushing the wet flour to the side as you go along.

 

Continue adding water one tablespoon at a time until you've added 4-5 total and the dough is completely moistened. It will still be crumbly.

Sprinkle some white rice flour on a large cutting board.

 

Form the dough into a ball with your hands. Place on the prepared surface.

 

Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to a 1/4 inch thick.

 

Place your casserole dish upside down on the flattened dough. Press down gently to make an impression of the dish.

 

Cut out around the mark and voila... now you have the perfect size top for your pot pie. Set aside.

Filling

Steam carrots and potatoes, covered, approximately 12 minutes, just until they begin to soften. You should be able to penetrate the veggies easily with a fork. Don't overcook them. They have more cooking to do in the oven.

When ready they will look all steamy and lucious. Remove from heat. Remove lid.

Add frozen peas. Mix the peas into the carrots and potatoes. Set aside uncovered.

Heat olive oil in a sauce pot over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, thyme, marjoram and pepper. Saute until soft and brown.

Remove from heat. Stir in the veggie mixture, chopped meat, almond milk and bullion. Mix well.

Place the pot pie filling in a deep casserole dish.

Gently place the crust on top. Cut slits in the top for steam to escape.

Place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Then broil on the High setting for 3-5 minutes to brown the crust.

 

Let sit for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Find the printable recipe here.

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken

At dinner tonight my little girl counted eight members in the family.

Dada, Mama, Big Brother, Sis, Bubba and...

The Ladies.

But I think she was missing one in her headcount. 

Ol' Bessie. 

She deserves a spot at the table too. She is a workhorse around here. We couldn't live without her. 

We love you trusted ol' friend. 

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken with The Slaw

You'll Need:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

12 oz BBQ sauce

1/2 cup Italian salad dressing

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 TBS Worchestershire sauce

The Preparation Method:

Trim excess fat off chicken breasts. Place meat in the crock-pot.

In a small bowl, mix all other ingredients together. Pour over the chicken. Stir to coat.

Cook on high for 3 - 4 hours or on low for 6 - 8 hours.

It is done when the chicken separates easily.

Serve over brown rice with The Slaw, or in a taco shell with Slaw on top.

Facebook news flash: "I am alarmed to have spotted not one, but two people sporting hammer pants today." on Tuesday

In honor of my dear childhood friend who had to bear witness to such an atrocity - my favorite MC Hammer song.

MC Hammer - Turn This Mutha Out

Five Fold Burrito

Oh yeah baby!

The long awaited Beans and Rice with BBQ Squash was worth every second of the three week delay.

This recipe has five parts, which could easily feel overwhelming if you attempted to do it all in one shot. I chose not to feel that way - and after all, I am the master of how I choose to feel - so I worked on the pieces to this puzzle over the span of a few days.

I will post the various peices in separate posts for ease of readability. This blog post would stretch from here to the Baltic Sea if I included it all in one place. Click on the links below for the items that you should prepare ahead of time.

First item of business - The Slaw - I did this two nights prior.


Second item on the agenda - Butternut Squash - I did this the night before.

Third piece to the prep puzzle - Chicken Marinade - I did this at lunchtime the day of.

If you don't think this is a quick meal, I'll have you know that I started cooking this meal at 3pm. The kids were eating by 3:45pm. All four of us were out the door to soccer practice by 4pm. That's about as quick as they come when cooking from scratch. Once everything got rolling the swiftness of the prep surprised me!

So, whenever you're ready to start cooking this is what you'll do...

Fourth item - Rice - This is the first thing you'll put to heat as you start to pull this meal together.

Put the rice on to cook. However much you think you're family likes to eat. We use two cups of rice for our family of five.

Fifth and final item in the Five Fold Burrito - Pinto Beans - Get these going after the rice is on the stovetop.

Sorry, no pictures for the beans. But don't worry, it's easy. All you have to do is saute half of an onion, one clove of garlic, and 1/4 tsp cumin in 2 TBS vegetable oil. Once soft, pour two cans of pinto beans (drained and rinsed) into the pot, add 1/4 cup water and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir and heat it up. Done.

Now that the rice and beans are cooking on the stovetop it's time to head outside to the grill to lay down the squash and chicken.

Simple.

Flip halfway through, about 8 minutes. Continue grilling until all items are done. Perhaps 5 more minutes. Chicken should no longer be pink in the middle. Squash should be easy to penetrate with a fork.

Cut the chicken and squash into one inch pieces. Layer all items: rice, beans, chicken, squash and slaw. Yummmm. 

You could even put it into a tortilla for the true burrito effect. Gluten-free tortillas are expensive and nasty. We choose to eat ours as a burrito bowl to maximize pleasure in the experience.

Attention all vegetarians: To make this a meatless burrito, you know what to do.

Hoppin' Chicken Marinade

You gotta love a marinade that helps a chicken breast maintain its moisture even in the most drying of climates - like the BBQ grill. This chicken is especially tasty in the Five Fold Burrito.

Hoppin' Chicken Marinade


You'll need:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/8 cup rice vinegar

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp white pepper

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

The Preparation Method:

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour over chicken breast. Coat well. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for a couple of hours - at the very least.

Coconut Curry Comfort

Coconut Curry Comfort

Everyone has a favorite comfort food. In my gluten-free dairy-free existence, this coconut curry is it. This recipe comes to the rescue anytime I need something healing for my body, soul or mind. It's especially nurturing to hear my children proclaim their love for this meal. That alone brings peace to every part of my being. The joy of this recipe is in its ease. Even a tired woman recovering from a funny tummy can concoct it in no time.

Coconut Curry Comfort

You'll Need:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast

salt and pepper

3 TBS vegetable oil

2 TBS curry powder (note that the success of this dish lies entirely in your quality of curry powder, you must find a good one)

1/2 onion, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

3 TBS sugar

The Preparation Method:

Like yesterday's recipe, you can prepare your chicken ahead of time. I prepped all of my chicken for the week in one shot under the broiler. Boneless, skinless breasts under the broiler on the High setting for 10 minutes, flipping once at the 5 minute mark. As you already know, the chicken is done when the juices run clear and the inside is no longer pink.

Another way to cook the chicken in this recipe is to cut it into one inch cubes, throw it into the pan with the curry sauce and cook it for approximately 7 minutes until the juices run clear and is no longer pink in the center. This method requires a bit more handling of the raw meat, which I simply don't prefer. 

Whichever preparation method you choose, you can start with the rest of the recipe once you're chicken is prepped.

Heat oil in the bottom of a heavy pan. Add the curry powder.

 Mix together and heat for a couple of minutes until a strong spice aroma is rising from the pan.

Stir in onions and garlic.

Cook approx. 4 minutes and coat the onions and garlic well.

Add more oil if necessary. Make it saucy.

Mix in the chicken. Coat with the curry oil. (Refer to the top of this recipe for two different ideas on cooking the chicken.)

Pour in the coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce.

And now my favorite part of any recipe... the sugar. Stir it up.

Simmer on low heat for 40 minutes.

Dish it up and serve over rice.

Just try not to make your rice overflow all over the stovetop like I do every time.


Something mellow to dance to for your healing.

Bob Marley - Stir It Up