Healthy Gluten-free Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's a great, healthy version of chicken noodle soup called Chicken Zoodle Soup that uses zuchinni spirals (if you have a spiralizer) instead of pasta. One nice thing about this soup is that, unlike grain-based gluten-free noodles, these veggie noddles don't expand and get mushy after sitting in the fridge for several days. This version is much healthier for you, lower calories, a way to have a grain-free comforting chicken soup during the cold and flu season. It's also full of cancer-fighting super foods garlic, celery, onions, and carrots. Plus, healthier animal protein in boiled chicken. Add parsley, moringa powder, or finely chopped spinach for extra nutrition and antioxidants.

Cancer-fighting Gluten-free Pad Thai

This recipe has become one of my favorites. It's loaded with nutrition, tastes delicious, and has tons of cancer fighting foods in it, including leeks, garlic, red onions, broccoli, ginger, mushrooms, carrots, and more. The mix of vegetables can be modified - it's all up to your tastes. I try to use organic ingredients whenever possible. It can be served on rice, rice noodles, or my new favorite, Shirataki pasta, made from mushrooms and with few calories.

Most Pad Thai has fewer vegetables, and less sauce. I added a lot of vegetables to give it more cancer-fighting and nutritional value. I am a huge sauce fan, and because I like a lot of it, this recipe is heavy on sauce. If you prefer a lighter touch, I suggest cutting the sauce in half or by 1/3 to give the veggies and noodles a lighter coating.

Pad Thai

Vegetable sauté:

1 purple onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup diced leaks

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (or powdered ginger)

2 cups chopped purple cabbage

3 carrots, grated

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 head fresh broccoli, broken into small florets (or 1 package frozen broccoli florets)

10 spears of fresh asparagus (or 1 package frozen asparagus), cut into 1 inch strips

2 cups sugar-snap peas

1-2 cups bean sprouts

3 tablespoons avocado or grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 eggs, beaten

(Shrimp, cubed or shredded chicken, optional)

1 cup peanuts

Rice noodles, cooked (or Masoya pasta zero shirataki spaghetti)

Sauce:

1 cup hot water

1 herb-ox chicken cube

3 tablespoons gluten-free organic Tamara soy sauce

3 tablespoons fish sauce

6 tablespoons brown sugar

7 tablespoons Aldi’s organic peanut butter

(if using regular creamy peanut butter, reduce the amount of brown sugar to 4 tablespoons)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Ethnic Creations Thai seasoning

2 teaspoons corn starch

Directions: Cut up onions, leaks, garlic, and ginger, and place in wok or deep skillet with grapeseed oil. Sauté for several minutes with wooden spoons until onions are tender and clear. Cut up remaining vegetables and sauté for several minutes until slightly tender. Add sesame oil.  Move vegetables over to one side of skillet with wooden spoon, and place beaten egg mixture onto skillet, scrambling until cooked through. Once cooked, incorporate eggs into vegetable mixture. Add peanuts, and any meat as desired. Add sauce mixture into skillet, and stir into vegetables constantly until sauce bubbles and starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Serve with cooked rice noodles.

calories.

Mediterranean Ragou with Gluten-Free Couscous

I first saw this recipe in a cookbook many years ago while living in West Africa, but lost the source. This is my best attempt to duplicate it, with a few of my own changes. I added the couscous (gluten-free brown rice couscous), because it just goes really well with this recipe. I always enjoyed real couscous before I went gluten-free, so this version of couscous was a nice treat. This recipe feeds about 6-8 people.

Mediterranean Ragou

Ragou Ingredients:
1 lb. stew meat or ground beef
1 large cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
6-10 large Roma tomatoes, diced
3-4 carrots, sliced in rounds
2-4 Tbsp.  Mediterranean spice
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2+ tsp. salt

Couscous Ingredients:
20 oz. Gluten-Free Brown Rice couscous (I used Lundberg's brand)
6 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 Herb-Ox MSG-free beef boullion cubes
4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. curry powder

Instructions:
Ragou: Cook up beef in small amount of vegetable oil in a skillet and set aside.  Dice vegetables and stir-in large skillet. Add cooked beef and remaining ingredients and cover with lid for about 5 minutes on low heat until vegetables are tender.

Couscous: Add all ingredients into a pot with a lid, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring every few minutes, until couscous absorbs all the water.

Serve ragou on the couscous. Serve with side of sliced fresh apples. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Soup with Homemade Gluten-Free Noodles

Creamy Chicken Soup with Homemade Gluten-Free

Noodles

2 Tbs. coconut or vegetable oil

3 Tbs. butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

3 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

5 cups water

2 tsp. garlic powder

4 Herb-Ox chicken bouillon cubes (MSG-free)

3 Tbs. dried parsley

2 tsp. each salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

Egg noodles:

2 cups gluten-free flour mix

2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

¼ cup water

Instructions: Add 1^st 7 ingredients to small stock pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer till carrots are tender.  

While pot is simmering, mix ingredients for egg noodles and kneed together with hands until a ball of dough forms. Roll out flat on surface floured with gluten-free flour (tapioca flour works well). Cut into noodle shapes of choice.

Add garlic powder, bouillon cubes, parsley, salt, pepper, cream and milk to boiling mixture, and bring to boil on medium heat. Add noodles a few at a time, breaking apart loosely as they are added, and let cook in boiling mixture for at least 2 minutes. Stir gently only.  Cool and serve.

Gluten-Free Twinkies? Yes Please!

Ok, so I know most of the food on this blog is healthy, but as a kid I used to love Twinkies, and like many who have had to switch to a gluten-free diet, some of the time I crave the things I can't have.  So when I found out Hostess came out with a Twinkies maker, I just had to try it. Thankfully I was gifted one for Christmas this year, and so naturally I had to try the recipes out with gluten-free ingredients.  The appliance comes with a small recipe book with the original Twinkies recipe, as well as Chocolate Twinkies, even Red Velvet Twinkies, and a variety of fillings, including the classic marshmallow fluff filling, that all sound like fun to try. They only took 7 1/2 minutes to cook. This time I substituted flour with Glutino's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and they turned out pretty good. For the recipe, well, you'll have to buy the appliance yourself and try it, since the booklet is copyrighted. But for Twinkies lovers, whether you have to be gluten-free or not, it's easy and fun to use.

Smoky Gluten-Free Seafood Corn Chowder

Smoky Gluten-Free Seafood Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

10 small to medium potatoes, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 onion, diced

4 cups water

1 package frozen shrimp, tails removed

2 cans clams

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil 

2 Tbsp. dried parsley

2 tsp. McCormick Perfect Pinch Cajun seasoning

4 Herb-Ox Chicken cubes

1 bay leaf

1-2 tsp. salt and pepper, to taste

1 small package frozen corn

1 package Hormel Natural Nitrate-Free bacon, fried and crumbled

2 cups heavy cream 

1/2 cup corn starch

2 fresh tomatoes, diced

Fritos or Clancy’s gluten-free corn chips

Instructions:

Bring potatoes, bell pepper, garlic, and onion to boil in water till potatoes are tender.  Add shrimp, clams and seasonings.  Add frozen corn, bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix corn starch with heavy cream, then pour into mixture while boiling until thickened.  Remove from heat. Add diced tomatoes and stir.  Add more salt to taste as needed. Serve with gluten-free corn chips.

Gluten-Free Sausage, Spinach, and Mushroom Quich

Gluten-Free Sausage, Spinach, and Mushroom Quiche

1 Tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 package Jimmy Dean All Natural Breakfast Sausage
8 large eggs

2 cups milk
1 cup potato starch flour

1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh spinach

Dice onion, and sauté in butter, set aside. Cook breakfast sausage and set aside. In medium bowl whisk the eggs; add milk, flour, baking powder, salt and cheese and whisk together. Add sausage and onions and stir.  Grease a 9x13 baking pan and place spinach and mushrooms on the bottom of pan.  Pour mixture over vegetables.  Stir slightly. Bake at 350° F for 40 minutes or until firm.  Cool slightly. Slice into squares, and serve.