Super Easy Hearty Gluten Free Chicken Soup

I sometimes cook for the church where I am one of the pastors.  Some of our members are on gluten and dairy restricted diet and I wanted to make a simple supper for a crowd that would be enjoyed by most and not a problem for anyone to eat.  I also am pretty busy with my various responsibilities as a pastor, as a chaplain, with my family and in my community involvements.  This morning I went to the store to figure out a quick, hearty soup to make for a meeting tonight. I don't usually use frozen vegetables, but since I was in such a hurry, they were great in a pinch.  Here is the result.  I think it came out pretty good.  It has a bit of a southwestern taste.  If you wanted to thicken it up you could blend a couple of ladles with a corn tortilla until smooth, pour it back in and bring it to simmer for a bit, but I like it just the way it is.

Super Easy Hearty Gluten Free Chicken Soup

2 T olive olive
4 chicken thighs with skin on
4 chicken breasts with skin on
2 cloves of garlic minced
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 bag of frozen chopped onions
4 boxes of low sodium, gluten free chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 medium red peppers, chopped
1 bag of frozen corn
1 bag of frozen Lima beans
1 bag of frozen hash browns (cubes, not shredded)
1 t. cumin
a pinch or two of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to tase

Brown the chicken very well in the olive oil in a large soup pot.  Remove chicken and set aside.  There should be a good fond in the pan.  Sweat celery and garlic in the fat remaining and when somewhat cooked add the frozen onions, salt, pepper and cook together until veggies are soft.  Add the chicken stock , the bay leaves and put chicken back in the pot.  Simmer for about and hour. Remove chicken, set aside and let it get cool enough to handle.  Remove any skin or other bits remaining in the pot.  Add the peppers, the frozen corn, the Lima beans, the hash browns, the cumin and cayenne pepper. Cook until veggies are soft, about 30 minutes or so. Take the chicken meat off the bone and add it back into the pot.  Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Enjoy!

Delicious Mac and Cheese

Delicious Mac and Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 and 1/2 stick of butter
1/4 medium onion, minced
4 T flour
1 can evaporated milk
4 c milk
1/4 t. white pepper
1/2 lb of american cheese grated
1/2 lb sharp cheddar grated
1/2 lb diced ham
1/2 fresh breadcrumbs
2 T melted butter

Cook macaroni in boiling water until just done. Melt butter in large sauce pan. Add onions and cook until clear. Add the flour and cook until bubbly. Add the evaporated milk and regular milk and cook until thick and bubbly. Add the pepper, and the cheeses. Add the cooked macaroni to the sauce. Fold in the ham. Put the macaroni into a casserole. Toss breadcrumbs in melted butter. Top macaroni with breadcrumbs. Bake in oven until the sauce is bubbly and the topping is crunchy and brown.

Enjoy!

My Quest for the World's Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

I love meatloaf. A tender and savory slice of meatloaf napped in brown gravy beside a pile of buttery mashed potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. For years Christine has made the meatloaf recipe that is on the back of the Lipton Mushroom Onion Soup Mix box. I have to say that it is a pretty good recipes and great in a pinch. It is the one that i have been making for years. Lately though, I have wanted to put my own signature on our meatloaf so I have begun to experiment with different additions and subtractions in the quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf. My first attempt about a month ago was a disaster. I don't usually have out and out failures in my cooking but this one was. I used way to much bread and other wet ingredients so the meatloaf came out mushy. I also used to much Worcestershire sauce and the flavor was over powering. My next attempt which I served last night was much better. In fact my middle son with his highly developed pallet gave it a 9. On further thought he lowered the rating to 8.5. So it was a good meatloaf, but had room for improvement. My quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf will be an continuing series and I will report on my ongoing quest in future posts.

Worlds Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 stalks of celery finely chopped
2 T. butter
1 stale roll or 3 slices of stale bread
enough milk to soak the bread
1/3 c. ketchup
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/3 c. milk
1 egg
1.5 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground pepper

Glaze

1/3 c ketchup
2 T. spicy brown mustard
1 T. brown sugar

Break up bread and soak in milk until soft. Squeeze out the milk and add enough milk to have 1/3 of a cup. Saute onions and celery in butter until soft. Add this to the rest of the ingredients, except the glaze ingredients and mix together well until blended and all ingredients are evenly distributed. Put into roasting pan and form into a loaf. Mix glaze ingredients together and spread this on top of the meatloaf. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Add about 3/4 c of water to pan about half way through cooking. Increase heat to 400 and bake another 15 minutes to get the glaze to be nice and crusty. Remove meatloaf from pan. Add additional water to pan and scrape up any brown bits. Add a flour and water slurry to make a gravy. Serve with meatloaf.

Enjoy!

World's Best (and easiest) Pot Roast

My mom is known at our church as the Pot Roast Lady. Whenever someone is sick or have some crisis from the church, she brings over a dish of pot roast to make their life a little easier. Her Pot Roast is so coveted, that folk in our church have been known to feign illness, in order to be recipients of her roast. Pot roast is one the most simple of comfort food. It is the epitome of meat and potatoes. You can put this on in the morning, turn the heat down and have a great, warm comforting meal in the evening. Since we had the first hint of fall in the air yesterday, I cooked my mom's recipe of pot roast. As usual, it was delicious.

Pot Roast

2 T vegetable oil
1 4-6 lb bottom round beef roast
1 large onion sliced
salt and pepper
1 c water
8 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 c potato water (the reserved water from boiled potatoes)
1 T butter
2 T wondra flour

In a heavy dutch oven, brown the meat very well on all sides, add the sliced onions, heavily salt and pepper the roast, add 1 cup of water and reduce heat. Allow meat to braise for 3-4 hours until it is tender. Add carrots 1-2 hours before you are finished cooking the beef. Check occasionally and add more water if necessary to keep about an inch to 2 inches of liquid in the bottom of the pan. Remove meat from pan and cover with foil. Allow to rest at least 10 minutes before slicing. Remove carrots and onions from pan and set aside. Pour off cooking liquid from dutch oven and reserve for later. Deglaze pan with potato water, making sure you get all the browned bits from pan, pour into reserved cooking liquid. Melt 1 T butter in pan, add 2 T wondra flour and cook for about 2 minutes until flour is bubbly and slightly golden. Return cooking liquid to pan and whisk with flour making sure all lumps are removed, cook for 5 or so minutes until gravy is thickened. Slice meat against the grain. Arrange on platter with carrots and onions. Serve with gravy, mashed potatoes and red cabbage.

Enjoy!

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Remaking My KIds' Favorite: Kicked Up Shepherd's Pie

One of my kid's favorite meals is Shepherd's Pie. For years this dish has been a quick and easy weekday meal, but for me has always been marginal because we always use prepared ingredients that are in the pantry. Our usual way of making this dish is to brown a pound of ground beef, mix in a can of mushroom soup, pour in a can of drained corn and top the dish with instant mashed potatoes and bake the whole thing in the oven. (Sounds gross, I know). I decided to do this dish, but to kick it up a notch, (to quote Emeril). I browned the beef as usual and deglazed the pan with a little beef stock. Then I browned some chopped onions and sliced mushrooms. I mixed these with the beef as well as some left over corn I had cut off the cob. Then I mixed in a thick bechamel sauce. Next I made fresh mashed potatoes that I enriched with cream cheese. Finally, I topped the whole casserole with Muenster cheese and cooked it in the oven until it brown and bubbly. It came out pretty good!

Kicked Up Shepherd's Pie

Filling

2 T butter
1 package mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion
1 lb ground beef
1/2 beef stock
1 c thick bechamel sauce
1 & 1/2 cups corn removed from the cob or a can of corn
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. sweet paprika
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
salt & pepper

Saute the onion until slightly caramelized. Remove from pan. Saute mushrooms until soft. Remove from pan. In the same pan brown the ground beef. Pour off excess fat. Remove beef from pan. Deglaze the pan with beef stock. Return all the ingredients to the pan. Blend in bechamel sauce, corn and spices. Pour into a casserole dish.

Topping

4-5 medium potatoes, boiled
2 T butter
1/2 c. cream cheese
milk
1/2 c. shredded Muenster cheese.

Mash potatoes with butter, cream cheese and milk. Spread on top of beef mixture. Top with shredded cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour until top is nicely brown and the filling is bubbly.

Enjoy!

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Pea Soup

This is a great recipe to make when you have a ham bone left over. We had a spiral sliced ham when my daughter was home from college and I put the bone and the leaving in the freezer. When it snowed the other day it was my signal to make this simple and stick to your ribs comfort food. You have to make the homemade croutons. It just isn't the same without them.

Pea Soup

Stock

Ham Bone and left over ham
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery ribs
bay leaf
thyme
6 pepper corns
water

Place all ingredients in stock pot. Add enough water to cover. Bring to boil. Skim any scum that rises to the top. Lower heat to a gentle simmer, cook for 4 or more hours. Strain stock and put aside ham bone and ham pieces. Chill stock and remove fat. You should have 6 to 8 cups of stock.

Soup

2 leeks
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
2 T olive oil
ham stock
1 bag of dried peas, rinsed and picked through
salt and pepper to taste
ham or smoked sausage
croutons


Dice the leeks, carrots and celery. Sweat the vegetables in the olive oil. Add the ham stock and simmer for about 1 hour. Add the dried peas and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until peas are tender. Take about half of the soup and put through a food mill. Shred the left over ham or dice the smoked sausage and add to soup. Correct for seasoning. Serve soup with croutons.

Croutons

Good quality bread cubed
olive oil
garlic salt

Toss bread in olive oil and bake in one layer until brown and crispy. Sprinkle with garlic salt.