Chicken Chowder

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but it has been cold where I live!  Days (and nights) like this just cry out for hot homemade soup, don't you think?  This is a recipe that I concocted out of about three other recipes.  I thought it turned out well and hope you'll enjoy it too.  It makes enough for 6-8 people.

Chicken Chowder

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1-1/2 lbs potatoes, scrubbed and cut into cubes (about 3 Cups)
1 Cup chopped onion (about 1/2 large)
1 Cup chopped celery (about 3 medium stalks)
3/4 lb cooked, cubed chicken (about 2 Cups)
1/2 Cup dehydrated potato flakes OR 3 Tbsp rice flour
2 tsp instant minced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
2 cans Swanson chicken broth
2 Cups frozen corn, thawed
1 Cup half-and-half
1/2 Cup cooked, chopped bacon (about 6 slices) (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the potatoes, onion, and celery.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.  If you don't have cooked chicken on hand and are using raw, add the raw cubed chicken along with the vegetables and cook it all together.  The chicken will be done about the same time as the vegetables get softened.  If using previously cooked chicken, add it after the vegetables have softened.

Sprinkle the potato flakes or rice flour (or regular flour if you're gluten tolerant) over the chicken and vegetables, mixing in well.  In a small bowl, mix together the instant minced onion, salt, garlic powder and parley flakes.  Add to the chicken/vegetable mix.  Add broth, corn, half-and-half, and bacon, if using.  Simmer over medium-low heat until the flavors have blended and the soup is thickened slightly, about 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve.

Stay warm!

Chicken and Dumplings

OK, you're finally getting my all-time favorite, ultimate comfort food recipe.  Be warned, however, that it is also labor-intensive, but totally worth it.  For the ultimate experience, you'll want to pay attention to the following, in order of importance:
1.  A cold day, preferably snowing or storming (this is definitely not a warm-weather dish).
2.  A day when you have a block of time with no deadlines and no stress, so you can just enjoy being in the kitchen (it turns out better with the love flowing).
3.  Make sure you have the ingredients you need on hand so you don't have to run to the store in the midst of making it (see #1).
4.  An evening coming up (not necessarily the day you make it) with family or close friends invited who love honest, simple, delicious homemade food and will appreciate your efforts (optional if you hate entertaining).

I have made this recipe for years and given it out numerous times.  I adapted it the first time (pre-GF) from a recipe I found in a magazine. That version was more casserole-y, with the chicken still on the bone in pieces, which I thought was weird because it was so hard and messy to eat.  So I changed that and a few other things that I'll explain later.  It became an immediate family favorite, and is usually what we have for Christmas Eve dinner (made a day or two in advance, when I can manage it--thank goodness it keeps well).  When we found out about Ron's allergy to wheat, I was determined to adapt it again so that we could continue to enjoy it -- it was impossible to imagine our lives without ever having chicken and dumplings again!  It took a few tries, at least for the dumplings, before it was back to its previous status as #1 fav.  I hope it becomes one of your family favorites as well. 

Chicken and Dumplings (makes enough for 12 generous servings)

5 lbs chicken breasts and thighs, skinned, or 2 whole chickens cut into pieces
6 Cups thickly sliced carrots
6 Cups thickly chopped onions
3 Cups thickly sliced celery
13 Cups water
6 cans Swanson's chicken broth
Bouquet garni:  3 Tbsp dried parsley, 1 large bay leaf, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp rosemary, 1-1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns or coarse ground pepper.  The traditional way to make a bouquet garni is to put the ingredients in a couple layers of cheesecloth, and tie it with string.  I rarely have cheesecloth on hand, so I use a large spice ball.  The picture below shows 2 spice balls with a teaspoon in the foreground so you can get an idea of the size.  I most often use the one on the right, as you can tell from its beat-up appearance :).  Incidentally, large spice balls like these also work great for the spices used in spiced cider (I'll be sharing my favorite recipe for that soon!)

Cook chicken in 10 cups of the water.  Boil, skimming often, until chicken is cooked through.  Remove chicken from water and keep broth.  If you use whole chickens, you will, of course, have to remove the meat from the bones, which is more work.  Using skinned boneless chicken breasts and thighs speeds things along a little.  After it cools, cut into bite-sized chunks.

Cook the veggies in 3 Cups water, canned chicken broth and bouquet garni.  When veggies are done, remove bouquet garni and vegetables from broth.  Keep broth. 

While the meat and vegetables are cooking, mix up the dumplings:

6 Tbsp shortening
2 eggs
2/3 Cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 Cup rice flour
2/3 Cup potato starch flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp dried parsley

Beat the shortening and egg together.  Whisk the dry ingredients together.  Stir in the buttermilk alternately with the dry ingredients.  Do not overbeat.  This will be a fairly stiff dough.  Set aside.

3 cubes (1-1/2 Cups) butter
2 Cups brown or white rice flour
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp ground pepper

In very large stock pot, melt butter.  Add flour, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes.  Pour in 16 cups of the reserved veggie and chicken broth.  If you need additional, add water to make the 16 cups.  Stir until thickened.  Bring to a boil; lower heat until gravy is at a good simmer that is producing steam.  Drop dumplings by heaping tablespoonfuls into hot gravy.  Only put in as many as can fit comfortably, not touching each other.  Cover with tight lid and steam for 10 minutes.  Do not lift the lid while cooking dumplings.  It is the steam that cooks the dumplings.  You can test for doneness in the normal way - with a wooden toothpick.  They will be coated in gravy, but should be done in the center like biscuits.  Remove dumplings from broth and put in your next batch.  Keep cooked dumplings warm on an oven-proof plate in the oven.

Here's what they look like when done.  They aren't real attractive, but it won't matter.  Keep reading!

When all the dumplings are cooked, add the veggies and cut-up chicken back into the gravy, stirring well.  Lower heat. 

To serve, put a dumpling in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the chicken stew on top. 

Note:  Don't be tempted to put the veggies and chicken into the gravy before cooking the dumplings.  The veggies and meat will sink to the bottom and burn while the dumplings are cooking. Getting the gravy hot enough to produce the steam necessary to cook the dumplings without burning on the bottom is the trickiest part.  If you discover that the gravy has stuck and burned some on the bottom, don't panic.  Just transfer the gravy into another large pot, without scraping the burnt part with it, then add your vegetables and meat into the gravy and reheat at a low temperature.  The veggies and meat are usually still pretty warm and the gravy is hot, so it doesn't take long at all to get it to eating temperature.

There it is -- total comfort in a bowl.  And as an added bonus, your house will smell divine! 

For my gluten-eating followers, just use regular flour instead of the rice flour in the soup part, and here's the original recipe for the dumplings:

3 Cups flour
1-1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
15 Tbsp milk
2-3 Tbsp dried parsley

Mix dry ingredients and parsley in a bowl.  Mix milk and eggs together.  Add to dry ingredients and mix until just blended.  Dough will be sticky.  Proceed as directed above.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

This easy to make spread is great on the pumpkin muffins, and pancakes, and waffles, and anything else you want to spread it on.  Mmmmmm.  Thanks, Better Homes and Gardens!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup canned pumpkin
1/4 Cup sugar
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.  Makes 1-1/2 Cups.

With this and this in your refrigerator, you can forget about buying those expensive cream cheese spreads at the supermarket! 

Clam Chowder

I think I've mentioned this in other posts, but my husband is also allergic to milk.  However, we figured out that it's only the whey he's allergic too, so he can tolerate cheese since the whey is taken out.  For whatever reason, he can also tolerate reconstituted evaporated (canned) milk when I use it in cooking.  I don't know if it's something about how it's processed or what, but I'm glad because it really opens up a lot of recipes to me.  This is one of them.  The original recipe calls for whole milk, of course, but I just substitute reconstituted evaporated milk (an equal amount of water reconstitutes it), and it works fine.  I've served this alot at parties and dinners, and it's always a hit. 

Clam Chowder

2 cans clams, chopped or minced (I use one of each so there's variety in the size of the pieces of clam)
1 Cup finely chopped onion
1 Cup finely diced celery
2 Cups diced potatoes
3/4 Cup butter
3/4 Cup rice flour (or regular flour for the gluten-tolerant)
1 qt milk (see note above)
1-1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sugar

Put vegetables and clams with juice in sauce pan.  Add enough water to barely cover vegetables.  Simmer covered over medium heat until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).  In meantime, melt butter in a stock pot.  Add flour, blend and cook for one to two minutes.  Add milk all at once and stir until smooth, creamy and thickened.  Add veggies and clams (with cooking water) and heat thoroughly.  Season with salt, pepper, and sugar.  Serve.  Makes about 3 qts of soup.

I'm not into embellishments on soup much, but this looks pretty boring, so I probably should have added a little something.  Trust me, though, it tastes great!  Perfect for a cold day. 

Cream Cheese Spread

I recently found some notes I took a long time ago while watching a "Barefoot Contessa" show on the Food Network.  I had just finished making some muffins and decided to throw together this super easy recipe from my notes and try it out on the muffins.  Nirvana!  Plus, it would be wonderful on pancakes, waffles, sugar cookies, etc. etc. etc. or just by the spoonful out of the bowl -- not that I did that, of course, I'm just sayin'.  Plus, if you wanted it lemony, you could just substitute lemon zest for the orange zest, and think of all the things you could use that on....yumminess!

Cream Cheese Spread

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
1 heaping Tbsp fresh orange zest
1/3 Cup sugar

Beat together until well blended.  Store in refrigerator.

That's it!  On your mark, get set, go!!

Potato Soup

I made this soup today, thinking I had made it before, but discovered that I hadn't!  I have no idea where I got the recipe, although it was written out on a card in my handwriting.  At any rate, it is delicious.  My husband's comment was, "This is a potato soup that you would get at a fancy restaurant!" 

When I started making it, I assumed it would be a creamy soup -- all my other potato soup recipes are -- but surprise, it's a broth based one.  Plus it has some carrots and mushrooms (lots of mushrooms) in it, which also makes it different.  Anyway, I hope you'll try it.  I think you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Potato Soup

3 Tbsp butter
2 chopped green onions
2 sliced carrots
8 Cups Swanson's chicken broth
2 tsp dill weed
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
5 Cups potatoes, diced
1 lb sliced fresh mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 Cup light cream (half and half) or 1/2 Cup heavy cream and 1/2 Cup water mixed together
1/4 Cup rice flour

Saute green onions and carrots in 3 Tbsp butter for five minutes.  Add chicken broth, dill, salt and pepper, bay leaf and potatoes and cook about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Remove bay leaf.  Saute mushrooms in 1 Tbsp butter; add to above.  Whisk cream and flour together and stir into above a few minutes prior to serving to thicken slightly.  Makes about a gallon and a half of soup.

Hot Fudge Sauce

I got this recipe from my friend Linda years ago when my kids were small.   It makes a quart of the best hot fudge sauce ever.  When you're done making it you just pour it into a quart jar, let it cool, and store it in your refrigerator until you need some.  Beware, though -- it may disappear right out of the quart jar while you're not looking.  It's so thick that you'll find the telltale spoon marks if there are chocolate snitchers at your house like there were at mine :).  When you want to use some on ice cream or over another dessert, just scoop out what you need, put it in a microwave safe bowl, and heat until it gets liquidy again -- easy!  If you want to keep some long-term (say you're making some for gifts), pour the hot fudge into cute little canning jars and put the lids on immediately.  As it cools, it will self-seal.  Who wouldn't love a jar of hot fudge? 

Hot Fudge Sauce
1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa
dash salt
3 Cups granulated sugar
1 Cup evaporated milk (keep rest of can for adding later)

Melt butter.  Add rest of ingredients slowly.  Stir well.  Bring to a boil and boil until sugar is dissolved.  Take off heat and add rest of milk left in can.  Cool slightly.  Pour into blender and blend for about 1 minute.  Be sure you have your hand on top of the blender lid when you turn it on so you don't end up with chocolate sauce all over your kitchen!  Enjoy!

This is gluten free, dairy free ice cream -- amazing!  It's made by Rice Dream.  Ron said it tasted pretty good, but the chocolate sauce was better!

Herbed Tomato Soup

If you like tomato soup and have tried to buy it at the supermarket, you've probably noticed that most have wheat flour in them.  Here's a recipe for homemade tomato soup that's so simple and quick to put together that you could do it for lunch.  I got the recipe from my niece Jeanee years ago.  If you like chunkier soup, you can use fresh tomatoes or chunky canned tomatoes.  If you like smoother soup, you can blend up fresh tomatoes or use canned crushed tomatoes.  Either way, this is quick and easy for the next rainy day when you want tomato soup with your sandwich.

Herbed Tomato Soup

3 Tbsp butter
1 Cup chopped onions
Cook together until onions are tender, but not browned.
6 medium tomatoes or enough to yield 4 cups or 1 28-oz can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp dried crushed basil
1/2 tsp dried crushed thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
Add all to onions.
4 Cups Swanson chicken broth
Add to above and simmer for 30-40 minutes (or not if you're in a hurry --it still tastes great :)

Homemade Mayonnaise

I can hear you asking, "Why would anyone want to make their own mayonnaise?"  I've always asked the same question.  However, recently my doctor put me on a totally sugar-free diet -- like not just giving up desserts and candy, but checking every label for hidden sources of sugar and no cheating with fake sugar.  Yikes!  And guess what has sugar in it -- mayo!  Who knew?  Well I'm here to tell you that it's hard to live without mayo, so I started researching homemade mayonnaise recipes, and found one that is pretty tasty, despite the fact that it is sans sugar.  Since some of you out there in blog land may have allergies to some of the ingredients in commercial mayonnaise, I'd thought I'd pass this along.  One of the great things about making your own is that you can choose what kind of oil you use.  Lots of people are allergic to soy, which almost all commercial mayonnaise is made with.  I have noticed new types made with other oils on the shelves lately (in my search for a sugar-free one, which was not to be found), so there are commercial options, but making your own is easy, so you choose.  Here it is:

Homemade Mayonnaise

1 egg
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Cup salad oil (I like canola)

Place egg, seasonings, lemon juice and 1/4 cup oil into blender container;  cover and process at blend.  Remove feeder cap and pour in remaining oil in a small steady stream slowly.  This is critical.  If you add it too fast, it won't emulsify, and you'll be left with an oily mess and have to start over.

My blender flicks little droplets out the top when the feeder cap is off, so I hold a folded paper towel over the opening except where I'm pouring in the oil.  Be sure you use a measuring cup with a good pouring spout.  When all the oil has been incorporated, let it run a little while longer to mix it well, and then spoon it out into a container and store it in the refrigerator.

And there you have it!

Black Bean Soup

This is a black bean soup with a little zip to it, and it doesn't require a thickening agent -- you just puree some of the beans and voila!  Stick-to-your-ribs texture and delicious taste too!

Black Bean Soup

1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 15-oz cans black beans
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or more for more zip
1 tsp ground cumin
1 14-oz can Swanson or other gluten-free chicken broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1-1/2 cups frozen corn or 1 can corn, drained

Put oil, onion, and garlic in stockpot over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft but not brown.

Open one can black beans and rinse well.  Put in blender with 1/3 cup chicken broth, sauteed onion mixture, red pepper flakes and cumin.  Cover and blend on high until smooth.  Pour mixture back into stockpot.

Open second can of black beans and rinse well.  Put in blender with remaining broth and puree until smooth; add to stockpot.

Open third can of black beans and rinse well.  Don't puree, just add to stockpot with can of tomatoes with green chiles and corn.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes (or not if you're in a hurry :).   Makes about eight 1-1/2 cup servings.

Jambalaya

This is a milder Jambalaya (more family friendly) than you may have had in a restaurant, where it can be plenty spicy!  It's quick and easy to make, and a satisfying, filling meal.  This recipe makes enough for four, and can easily be increased to feed more, or halved for just two.

Jambalaya

2 chicken breasts, sliced
2 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, depending on how much heat you like, deveined, seeded, and diced
celery, sliced, as much as you like
mushrooms, sliced, as much as you like
2 cans Swanson chicken broth
cooked rice

Saute veggies in olive oil.  Saute meat separately in olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.  Add chicken broth together with meat to the vegetables. Serve over cooked rice in a bowl, or do it the New Orleans way and put the jambalaya in the bowl first and a scoop of rice on top!

If you would prefer that the broth have more of a gravy consistency, you can thicken it slightly in one of two ways:  1)  sprinkle the meats with a couple tablespoons of rice flour and blend in well before adding it to the veggies and broth, and then stir until it thickens or 2) dissolve a couple tablespoons of cornstarch in a small amount of cold water, and add it to the broth at the end, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Yumminess in a bowl!  If you have any left over, it's even better the next day!

Taco Soup

I love Mexican food, probably because I grew up eating it regularly in southern California where I lived as a child.  I'm not sure if taco soup is an authentic Mexican dish or not, but it has those wonderful flavors, and so is a favorite.  I actually have several taco soup recipes, but this is the one that I use most frequently because I think it has the perfect blend of flavors and doesn't call for a packet of taco seasoning, which all my other recipes do.  Taco seasoning from the supermarket seems to always have some objectionable ingredients in it, especially if you have allergies, so this "from scratch" recipe works better.  It's still quick and easy and always delicious.

Taco Soup

1 lb lean hamburger
1 chopped onion
Brown together; drain off grease.  Put into a soup pot and add:
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp onion salt
2  8 oz. cans tomato sauce
2  14 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes and 2 cans water
1  15 oz. can dark red kidney beans, or your favorite beans, drained and rinsed
1  small can mild green chilis
1 Cup frozen corn

Heat together.  Serve with garnishes:  grated cheese, sour cream, Fritos, chopped avocados, sliced olives, other favorite toppings of your choice.  Be creative!

Super Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce for Chicken

This is a great recipe, one I've used often.  I've never met anyone who didn't like it and have given it out dozens of times.  I originally got the recipe from a women I worked with years ago.  There's only three ingredients:

Super Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce for Chicken

1 small bottle Russian salad dressing
1 pkg dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix
10 oz. apricot preserves

Mix together and pour over skinned chicken pieces (makes enough for 1 large chicken, cut up).  Bake at 350 for one hour. 

As far as I've been able to find in my supermarket, WishBone is the only company that makes Russian Dressing.  Because I know you read labels, you will notice that after the ingredient maltodextrin it has corn, wheat in parentheses.  I wondered about that, so I looked it up on the internet.  The source is Gluten Free Living Magazine's website glutenfreeliving.com if you want to check it out.  They publish information about many ingredients and here's what they say about maltodextrin:

"Maltodextrin is gluten free.  It can be made from a variety of starches, including corn, potato, rice or wheat.  However the source does not matter because maltodextrin is such a highly processed ingredient that the protein is removed, rendering it gluten free.  If wheat is used to make maltodextrin, "wheat" will appear on the label.  Even in this case, the maltodextrin would be gluten free."

Also, even though there is no wheat listed in the ingredients of the Lipton Onion Soup Mix, after the ingredients it says, "Made in a facility that processes milk, egg, soy, wheat, sesame and sulfites."

I wondered about that too, so I went to several sources, and couldn't find any conclusive evidence about the danger of contamination from the facility.  Celiac.com did talk about the soup mix, though, and said that in their opinion it was gluten free and fine to use.  So...you'll have to decide for yourself whether to use it or not.  Celiac.com did offer some recipes for homemade onion soup mixes for those concerned about other ingredients in the Lipton mix that they were allergic to.

When I make this, I skin the chicken (except for the wings) and remove as much of the fat as I can before putting it in the pan, which I've sprayed with Pam to make clean-up easier.  Then I just pour the sauce over it, spooning the excess onto the chicken pieces before popping it into the oven.

After baking for an hour, it looks like this:

The sauce in the pan can be used over rice -- it's delicious.  If you've removed the skin and as much fat as you can find from the chicken pieces, there shouldn't be too much fat floating on top of the sweet and sour sauce.  Just remove the chicken pieces to a serving plate, pour off any excess fat that may be floating on top of the sauce, and then use a spatula to scrape all the yummy sauce into a gravy boat. 

It's spring -- fresh asparagus time!  Do you know this trick for keeping your asparagus nice and crisp for much longer in your refrigerator? 

Just find a container not too much bigger than the bunch you have, put about 1" of water in the bottom and put the asparagus in before placing in your refrigerator.  Easy!

Spaghetti Sauce

I got this recipe years ago from my friend Joan.  We got to know each other when our husbands were getting their graduate degrees at the same university and we lived near each other.  We have stayed in touch ever since, and she served this to us one time when we went to visit them.  Up until then, I had used one of those seasoning packets to make spaghetti sauce, which isn't too bad if you jazz it up a little with meat and veggies.  But this tasted so much better and she said it was easy, so I got the recipe and have used it ever since.  The original recipe calls for regular flour, of course, but rice flour works exactly the same.  It makes a little over 2 quarts of spaghetti sauce and freezes well, so if you have any left over, put what you need for a meal into a quart jar or tightly lidded container and freeze it for a quick and easy meal when you're pressed for time.  Also, you don't have to simmer it for an hour if you're in a hurry, but it tastes better if you do.   

Spaghetti Sauce

1-1/2 to 2 lbs lean hamburger
1 chopped onion
chopped celery, if desired
Brown together in large pan;  drain off fat.  Put meat mixture back into pan.

1 Tbsp rice flour for each lb of meat used -- stir into drained meat mixture.  Then add:

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes or 1 quart home canned tomatoes
3 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
pepper to taste
3 Tbsp catsup
sliced mushrooms (optional)
Simmer together for an hour.

Serve over prepared brown rice spaghetti pasta.  Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese if desired.

If you add the mushrooms, you can used canned ones if you like, or fresh ones sliced up.  If you use fresh mushrooms and they have soil clinging to them, just use a dry paper towel to rub it off before slicing.  If you put them in water to wash it off and leave them too long, they'll absorb the water and get soggy.  Yuck!  Some nice hot bread or biscuits goes well with this.  See March 6 post for biscuit recipe. 

Minestrone Soup

We were up in the mountains last weekend, and it is still winter up there -- brrrr!  It's warming up some and starting to melt, but there was still about two feet of snow where we were, and it snowed lightly Sunday afternoon.  So we had Light As A Feather pancakes Saturday morning (very cozy) and I made our favorite Minestrone Soup Saturday afternoon (ditto).  This recipe makes a big batch, so we noshed on it whenever we felt chilly all weekend.  I got this recipe from Our Best Bites and was surprised to discover that it was wheat free (no pasta).  I had never seen a recipe for minestrone soup without pasta before, and really wondered if it would be good without it -- and it absolutely is.  It does have the surprise ingredient of a can of Campbell's Bean with Bacon Soup in it, which gives it a lovely slightly smoky flavor.  I checked the ingredient list on the can and it has the vague "food starch" listed for the thickener, but I already knew that my husband doesn't react to it -- it's one of the few Campbell's soups that he can eat.  However, I checked their website under gluten-free and discovered that they have very stringent standards for their gluten-free labeling (as they should have) and not one of their soups measures up.  So those of you with Celiac Disease should avoid using the soup, and may want to try a few drops of liquid smoke (a brown liquid that comes in a bottle--the brand I have is Reese) or actually cooking a couple slices of bacon crisp and then chopping it fine and adding it to the soup.  If you don't use the Bean with Bacon soup, add an extra can of beans.  Also, the recipe calls for a can of great northern beans, but my supermarket didn't have any.  I had some black beans on hand (and my husband tolerates them better than other types) so I used those instead.  When I made the soup this weekend, I had some brown rice shell pasta on hand, so I tried throwing in about a cup worth towards the end of the simmering, and it turned out great! 

Minestrone Soup

1 lb Italian sausage
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves minced garlic
4 Cups water
2 stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1-2 small zucchini, quartered and chopped
1 box Swanson's beef stock (the aseptic beef stock is gluten free; the can of beef broth is not)
1 10-oz can Bean with Bacon Soup or liquid smoke to taste (see note above)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1-2 cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed well (see note above)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Remove casings from sausage and crumble meat; brown with onion and garlic. 

Add rest of ingredients in a large stock pot or slow cooker. 

Bring to boil; cover and reduce to simmer.  Cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.  For slow cooker, cook all day on low. 

See the cute little shell pasta?  Excellent soup with or without -- you choose.  Serve with grated parmesan on top.

I forgot to sprinkle on the parmesan (it was so yummy anyway, we never missed it), and I made my favorite GF biscuits (see recipe on March 6 post) as a side -- a very satisfying meal. 

Chicken Wild Rice Soup, rice flour as a thickener

I don't know what your weather has been like lately, but here it's been typical March -- a couple of warmer days to make you think that spring is finally almost here, and then back to winter!  These last two days have looked good (read sun is shining), but when you go outside, there is an arctic wind blowing and the temperature is maybe 23.  Brrrrr!  When it's like this, I always want comfort food -- you know, like hot homemade soup.  So today I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite soups.  I actually have several similar recipes for Chicken (or Turkey) and Wild Rice Soup, but my favorite one was sent to me by my friend Kayce.  I have adapted it to be gluten free.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

4 cans (14-1/2 oz) Swanson's Chicken Broth
2 Cups sliced carrots
1 Cup sliced celery
2/3 Cup sliced green onions
2/3 Cup wild rice
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Cups chopped, cooked chicken or turkey
4 Tbsp. butter
6 Tbsp. brown or white rice flour
2 Cups milk (I use 1 cup evaporated 2% milk and 1 cup water)

In large pan, mix broth, carrots, celery, onion, uncooked rice, thyme, and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for 50 minutes or until rice is tender.

Melt butter in sauce pan.  Stir in flour and cook 2-3 minutes.

Stir in milk all at once.  Stir constantly until thick and smooth and bubbling. 

Slowly add to vegetable/rice mixture, stirring constantly.  Stir in chicken or turkey.  Heat through.  Makes about 2-1/2 qts.

Doesn't that just make you feel cozy?  The perfect antidote to cold weather.

If you can't have the milk, just add another can of broth to the roux and proceed as usual.  The soup won't look creamy, but it will have a nice texture to it.

The original recipe called for regular flour as the thickener, of course.  Happily, rice flour thickens just like wheat flour, in the same proportions, so you can use any of your recipes for gravy, white sauce, etc. and just substitute rice flour for the wheat flour.  Most recipes that begin with a butter/flour roux say to cook them together for about 1 minute and then add the liquid.  I've found that when using rice flour, it helps to cook them together longer -- 2-3 minutes -- before adding the liquid.  If cooked together for only 1 minute, you will detect graininess in the finished product, but it will be nice and smooth if you cook it longer, and no one will ever know that you used rice flour instead of wheat!