A Happy to Be Gluten Free Recipe: Chicken Taco Soup

This week we discovered that my four year old niece has Celiac Disease and Type I Diabetes. I really can only half way imagine what her parents are feeling right now. I remember when my little four year old was diagnosed with Celiac. It was devastating.

While not immediately life threatening, Celiac can lead to a plethora of problems in the future, including infertility, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, depression, etc. It was terrifying to hear these things could be in my little daughter's future. Plus, it was just so overwhelming to learn I could no longer feed her gluten. Gluten...which is in...everything.

There definitely was a steep learning curve and mountains to climb as we have learned how to live with Celiac. And that was only one major health issue. My poor little niece has diabetes to contend with on top of all that. We really have had her in her hearts and prayers this week.

I have posted a few gluten free recipes on my blog. I want to help however I can, so I plan to post more in the future...starting now...

Here's what we had for dinner tonight...Chicken Taco Soup!

Delicious, healthy, easy to throw together, and gluten- and dairy-free. There are lots of beans in this soup which makes it a great source of non-animal protein. I'm running a half marathon (plus three miles) tomorrow morning so I'm hoping this will power me through. Even if it's "gas-power". ;)

Love my little helper!

Chicken Taco Soup (adapted from a friend's vegetarian taco soup)

Olive oil
1 or 2 cans chopped green chilies
1 medium onion, chopped
3 TBSPs homemade GF taco seasoning (or 1 pkg taco seasoning)
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
2 (14 ounce) cans of peeled, cut tomatoes (or 1 qt canned stewed tomatoes)
1 can yellow hominy (or corn)
1 can white hominy (or corn)
1 pound chicken, shredded (My canned chicken breast works perfectly for this!)
2 TBSP salsa (optional)
2 to 3 cups of water
1 to 2 tsps chicken bouillon, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sauté onion and chilies in oil for about 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream.

A few notes...This can very easily be a vegetarian meal; just leave out the chicken and bouillon!

If you are using chicken, a rotisserie chicken, such as the ones they sell at Costco, works very well for this recipe. Or you can just prepare some chicken breasts and shred them.

The beans are flexible, in that, you could put in whatever beans you have on hand. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, etc.

This recipe was my first encounter with hominy. If you've never had it, you've got to give it a try! Hominy is a form of corn, but it's just not the same. It has a fantastic, almost chewy texture which I love. It can be found near the canned beans in your grocery store or in the ethnic food aisle.

I love this recipe because it is a "dump it all in and simmer for a bit" kind of recipe. Whether you eat gluten free or not...this is a yummy meal. Hope you like it as much as we do.

A Happy to Be Gluten Free Recipe: BBQ Chicken Salad

I suppose it's cheating to post this recipe on the blog, but I have no shame...I'm posting it anyway. This recipe is hardly new or inventive or complex. It's as simple as it gets, but it's healthy, easy, gluten free, and dairy free. It just doesn't get any better than that at our house!

BBQ Chicken Salad
chicken breasts
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
lettuce
canned black beans
canned corn
tomatoes
olives
onions
cheese
tortilla chips
Ranch salad dressing
more BBQ sauce
sour cream
avocado
WHATEVER you like on your salad!

In the morning, throw a few chicken breasts in the crock pot along with some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (gluten free!). Set on low and fuh-get-about-it.

As dinner time approaches, set all your salad toppings in bowls on the table. Rinse the beans and corn after opening and draining the cans. Chop up the tomatoes, grate the cheese, mix up the sour cream. You get the idea.

After sitting in the crock pot all day the chicken is tender and flavorful. Stir it around to shred it up.

Bring it to the table and dinner is served. Everyone can make their salad to their own liking.

Personally, I like to skip the cheese, olives, and sour cream (more calories than I need by dinnertime). Instead I mix together a little BBQ sauce and Ranch in a small bowl and spread it over my salad. It makes a great salad dressing.  (Obviously those who are dairy free need to skip the Ranch and cheese.) I also crush tortilla chips over the top to give it a little extra crunch. Lots of tomatoes and black beans for me and my tummy is happy. As is my daily calorie allowance too.

A Happy to Be Gluten Free Recipe {Semi-Homemade Chicken Stir-Fry}

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to have dinner on the table every night for my family. I whined about it a few weeks ago. Since I got that off my chest I've been trying to be a little less whiny and a little more proactive. Because let's be honest, whining only gets you so far, right?

Up to this point I have been sticking with a lot of things we typically have for dinner, only adapting it as needed. I imagine I'll grow more adventurous as the year goes on. As I wander through this little learning curve I thought I might post some of the things I'm making for dinner. I am cooking for myself (a mom who is on a weight loss journey), a baby, a "normal" daughter (take that "normal" with a grain of salt, would you?), a daughter who has Celiac, and a son who is very allergic to dairy and just recently discovered might also be sensitive to wheat. He's not growing so we are experimenting with a gluten free diet for awhile to see if it will help him. Wish us luck!

The first meal plan in this series of "Happy to Be Gluten Free" (there's gotta be a silver lining here somewhere; maybe in the very back of the pantry...) is Semi-Homemade Chicken Stir-Fry.

This is one of the meals we have when Daddy's out of town. He's not the biggest fan of this dish. Something about all those green veggies and lean protein. But everyone else in the family LOVES this meal. Whenever I pull that stir-fry package out of the freezer the kids begin jumping up and down squealing with joy. Who knew veggies were something to get excited about? My kids are actually really good about eating their vegetables, but I think it's the prospect of soy sauce that makes this dinner so appealing to them. They LOVE their soy sauce.

Unfortunately soy sauce is rather infamous for not being gluten free. I'm still researching this one out and I haven't found a black and white answer yet. For now I am using this brand of soy sauce that I found at my local Winco. I have searched and searched over the ingredients list and cannot see anything on there about wheat or gluten. So I use it. So far, so good.

I'm just waiting for someone to leave me a comment saying it is NOT gluten free, but if that's the case, please, dear reader, direct me to a brand that is. And thanks ahead of time!

Semi-Homemade Chicken Stir-Fry

1 package of Broccoli Stir-Fry (find at your local friendly Walmart in the freezer section. Cost is less than $2 a package and they usually carry several varieties.)

1.5 cups uncooked rice
1 lb chicken breast, chopped into chunks (You could easily use beef or shrimp too.)
vegetable oil
soy sauce (gluten free!)

First things first, I start my rice cooking. It takes about 20 minutes to cook rice. The rest of dinner can be prepared in that time.

Heat a little oil in a skillet and cook the chicken. Pour a little soy sauce over the chicken as it's cooking.

Remove chicken from skillet. Add a little more oil if pan is dry. Turn up heat to medium high, make sure oil is hot, and stir-fry your veggies. Make sure to read the package directions, but this takes about 7 to 10 minutes.

Combine chicken and veggies in skillet and serve over rice.

Simple, easy, inexpensive, fast, healthy (around 350 calories per serving), gluten free, dairy free, and delicious. What's not to love? I realize I'm no Giada or Julia Childs, but this meal works for our family. Let me know if it works for your family too, won't you?