Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole

Recently, I've needed to eat a dairy-free diet on and off. One thing I've been missing a lot are those tasty creamy casseroles that are so easy to make and so yummy! But, alas, they usually contain cream, cheese, milk, and/or other dairy products. I went on a hunt for a dairy-free casserole and found this gem. It seemed like it might be a bit bland, so I made a few modifications, including adding onions and french fried onions.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked rice
• 2 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3-4 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme, plus more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, plus more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder, plus more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
• 3 cups water
• 1-1/4 cup frozen peas 
• 1/2 cup sliced frozen carrots
• 1/2 cup sliced onion
• 1/4-1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs (make sure they are dairy-free)
• 1/4-1/2 cup french fried onions (make sure they are dairy-free)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. In large skillet bring 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp water to a light simmer.
3. Add flour slowly and blend until smooth.
4. Add 1/4 t. thyme, 1/8 t. onion powder, 1/8 t. garlic powder.
5. Slowly add 3 cups of water and bouillon then continue blend until its a smooth consistency.
6. Add cooked chicken and stir.
7. Lightly grease a casserole dish and layer rice in bottom.
8. Layer peas, carrots, and onion onto rice and sprinkle with salt and any additional spices you want.
9. Carefully pour chicken mixture over vegetables.
10. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the casserole.
11. Bake for 25 minutes. 
12. Top with french fried onions and bake 5-10 minutes more.

This casserole turned out better than I'd expected a dairy-free casserole to be! For not having any cheese, it was very good! It hit the spot, and I hardly missed the cheese and milk (ok, I did kind of miss them).

Easy Barley Soup

I invented a recipe today. We are always looking for affordable meal options, and barley is almost as cheap as it gets (this whole pot of soup was less than $3 to make)! We don't get fancy barley, just the simple kind, where you buy a bag of dry barley like you'd buy a bag of dried beans.

I got the inspiration for this recipe from the back of the Hurst's barley bag. I made quite a few modifications, though, so I think I can call it my own. It turned out so much better than I'd expected it would!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. barley
• 7 c. water
• 1-1/2 c. diced ham
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1, 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 t. salt
• 2 beef and 2 chicken bullion cubes
• basil to taste

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a large pot.
2. Boil gently for about 2 hours, checking and stirring occasionally. Add water during cooking to reach desired consistency, if needed.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve. Makes about 4 bowl servings.

Super-Easy Hummus

I've been looking for healthy snacking ideas lately, since my body needs to eat small amounts more often during breastfeeding. I found a hummus recipe and have tweaked it to make pretty good hummus—especially for how easy it is to make! Here's my tweaked recipe:

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• sesame seeds to taste

In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients. Blend on low speed, gradually adding reserved bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.

I've been eating it with sugar snap peas. Yum!

This will be a great addition to my other snacks, which currently include yogurt, fruit, string cheese, granola bars, and trail mix.

What are some of your favorite healthy snacks?

Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Several weeks ago, I had some friends over on a Saturday morning, so I decided to serve them this apple cinnamon oatmeal that I'd been wanting to try. I'd gotten some steel-cut oats for the first time and wanted to make something simple with them using the slow cooker, since working full-time I'd not had time in the mornings to cook steel-cut oats on the stovetop.

It was delicious! I served it with various topping options (cinnamon, syrup, sugar, natural cane sugar, honey, butter, brown sugar, dried apricots, and ground flax seed) and found I loved it with a little brown sugar and dried cranberries for some extra flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2-1/2 to 3 cups chopped)
• 1-1/2 cups fat-free milk (or substitute non-diary alternative like almond milk)
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or substitute maple syrup or other desired sweetener)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons butter, cut into 5-6 pieces (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Optional garnishes: chopped nuts, raisins, maple syrup, additional milk or butter

Directions
Coat inside of 3-1/2 quart (or larger) slow cooker with cooking spray. Add all ingredients (except optional toppings) to slow cooker. Stir, cover, and cook on low for approx. 7 hours (slow cooker times can vary). Spoon oatmeal into bowls; add optional toppings, if desired. Store leftovers in refrigerator. Freezes well.

To reheat single servings: Put 1-cup cooked oatmeal in microwave proof bowl. Add 1/3 cup fat-free milk. Microwave on high for 1 minute; stir. Continue cooking for another minute, or until hot.

Recipe can be doubled in 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Increase cooking time 1 hour.

Nutritional Info (per 3/4 cup serving): 149 calories, 3.6g fat, 27.3g carbs, 3.9g fiber, 4.9g protein; Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 4 pts

An Announcement and a Creamy Potato Soup Recipe

First, an announcement:

We're pregnant!

Most of the readers of this blog probably already know, but I thought I'd make it blog-official.

A berry special baby is coming! (Photo by Heather)

Our little "Poppyseed," as we affectionately call this little one

Eric loves Poppyseed. And Mama. (Photo by Heather)

Second trimester just began two days ago!

I'm sure there will be more posts to be written about pregnancy, morning (or all-day) sickness, trusting God in it all, you name it.

For now, I'll share the recipe we had for dinner tonight. I'm especially excited about it for multiple reasons:

1. I love soup right now (even though it's summertime). Nothing better than soup in this nauseated season (except pineapple and raspberries... hmm... now I want to make a smoothie).
2. The nausea is slowly subsiding, and I've actually started cooking things again for the first time in a month or two. Things from scratch! That are made of things like fresh vegetables! Hooray!
3. I made fun modifications to a recipe I found, so it's kind of my own creation!

So, here it is:

Slow Cooker Creamy Potato Soup (Christi style)

Ingredients

• 6 handfuls of diced ham (accurate measurement, I know)
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled & sliced
• a few green beans, cut up (I threw these in because I had a small crop of about 8 of them from my garden... I'm sure you could leave them out or add some other veggie)
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 6 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 3/8" cubes
• salt to taste
• thyme to taste
• parsley to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 4 oz (1/2 pkg.) cream cheese
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• shredded cheddar for topping (optional but highly recommended)
• bacon bits for topping (optional but highly recommended)

Directions

1. Place onion in a skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until onions are soft. 
2. Transfer the onion to a slow cooker, and stir in chicken broth, water, potatoes, ham, carrots, green beans, salt, thyme, and parsley. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 7 hours.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and half-and-half. Stir into the soup along with the evaporated milk and cream cheese. Cover, and cook another 30 minutes before serving.
4. Optional step (I did it and liked it better): Blend with a hand blender for a bit to blend some (but not all) of the potatoes and veggies for the preferred thickness and texture.
5. Serve with shredded cheddar and bacon bits for toppings.

Slow Cooker Creamy Potato Soup

I found the original recipe here, and then modified it based on my preferences, what I had available, and comments on the website.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup

I invented this recipe as a mix of other recipes last week. It was pretty good! It was a good last wintery soup before the warmer weather comes for good. And you know I love to use my slow cooker so it all cooks while I'm at work!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2-4 potatoes, sliced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 c. frozen peas
• 3 small carrots, sliced
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 4 c. beef broth (I ended up using a combo of broth, water, and boullion cubes, based on what I had available)
• 1 c. water
• garlic powder, parsley, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste
• 1 c. cooked barley

Directions

1. Place ground beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. 
2. Place a the potatoes in a layer to cover the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle the celery over the potatoes, and cover with a layer of ground beef. Season each layer with salt, pepper, herbs, and garlic powder. Throw in the carrots, onions and peas. Mix together the tomato soup, water and broth, and pour over the top. Cover, and set to low for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Close to the end of the cooking time, add the cooked barley and stir.

Banana Apple Buckwheat Muffins

I found this gluten-free, honey-and-fruit-sweetened banana apple buckwheat muffin recipe in my parents' Whole Living magazine. I make it all the time. These make a great breakfast or snack!

They say one recipe makes 4 muffins, but I've found that one recipe makes more like 7 muffins.

I usually use gala apples and found that they work great. These muffins are moist and yummy and healthy!


Ingredients

• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp coarse salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 mashed banana
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 finely diced (peeled and cored) sweet apple (such as Honeycrisp)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place four baking cups in a muffin tin.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, banana, and honey. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, then fold in apple and walnuts.
3. Fill the batter to the tops of the lined cups and fill remaining cups halfway with water.
4. Bake 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Cook's Note

Store muffins in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Patty Cakes: A Food Invention

I made a food invention today. They're nothing crazy or super-innovative, nothing with ingredients you haven't already eaten together. I call them patty cakes. 

It's one of those Saturdays where we're just working on things around the house... and then I remembered: "Oh, I guess we need to eat lunch." So, I looked in the fridge and freezer to see what I could scrounge up. And I found some hash brown patties in the freezer. So I decided to make breakfast for lunch with my patty cake invention. You can really just use whatever you have on hand in this recipe.

They're so easy. You'll need:

• Hash brown patties (same number of patties as cakes you want to make)
• Eggs (same number of eggs as cakes you want to make)
• Cheese (optional, I used cheddar and pepper jack)
• Salt & pepper (optional)
• Other optional toppings include: sausage pieces, diced ham, bacon pieces, diced onion, diced green pepper, mushrooms, or anything else that you like to eat in your breakfast.

To do:

1. Heat some oil in a skillet and put the hash brown patties in the skillet for about 5 minutes.
2. Flip over the patties and heat the other side for another minute or two. Season with a little salt & pepper, if you want. Then flip back over.
3. Try to make a little cut/hole/dip in the middle of each patty. It didn't work very well for me. It's ok if it gets messy. 
4. Crack an egg on top of each patty and pull any runny egg goop back over onto the patty. Then flip each patty over until the eggs are cooked through. 
5. After the egg is cooked, flip back over. Add any toppings you like—we added sausage and ham. Let cook for another minute or so.
6. Put cheese on top. We added cheddar and pepper jack. Cover and let cook until cheese is melted. 
7. Serve immediately. Hot and yummy. And only one skillet and one spatula to wash. Yes.

Do you have any recipes you've invented? What are they?

Sharing Slow Cooker Recipes!

Last night we enjoyed some wonderful beef stroganoff that had been cooking in the slow cooker all day. This was my first slow cooker cooking experience! It turned out GREAT!

Here's the recipe:

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

• 1 lb cubed beef stew meat
• 1 10.75-oz can condensed golden mushroom soup
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 c water
• 4 oz cream cheese

Directions

1. In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce and water.
2. Cook on Low setting for 8 hours, or on High setting for about 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese just before serving.

(from allrecipes.com)


Your turn! I'm trying to learn more slow cooker recipes. Please share a comment with a link to your favorite recipe!

Strawberry Picking & Pie Recipe

Yesterday, we went on a strawberry-picking double date, and then made pie. Yum!

Eric and me

Gerrit and Lauren intently picking

Not-so-intently picking

The most perfectest berry of the evening

Arranging the berries in the pie crust

Berries all ready for pie

Four perfect pies!

So pretty!

Fresh Strawberry Pie Recipe (from AllRecipes.com)

*** One personal note about this recipe: I've found it's best to make a double batch of the gelatin filling, especially if you make 9 or 10 inch pies! It doesn't quite fill up the pie as-is the way the recipe says to do it.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 inch) pie shells, baked
• 2 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
  

Directions

1. In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely. Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix, and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature.
2. Place strawberries in baked pie shells; position berries with points facing up. Pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries.
3. Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.