Posted on by LydiaA1614

Foodie-Friday – Gluten Free & Tasty!

chickenfingersI sometimes long for traditional food favorites that with all my and Hubby’s health issues have been all but eliminated from our diets. Many of these could be easily adapted, but I don’t always have the time or energy to figure it out.

Chicken strips are something I love. There are a lot of ways to do them gluten-free, but the egg-wash is the tricky part. You need something that will make the crumb coat stick.

I got some very nice looking chicken tenders the other day and today was the day to put them to use. I tried coconut milk for the wash, but it was too thin. Next time I think I will take Hubby’s suggestion of making a flax gel with the coconut milk to make it the consistency of a standard egg-wash. I use it all the time to replace eggs in quick bread, muffins, and even cake, but didn’t think about it here.

I wanted a panko-like crumb coat, so I took a couple of gluten-free potato-flax hot dog buns and ran them through my mini chopper. They were perfect. I added salt, pepper, and a Chili Lime seasoning mix I had on hand. It was just enough to give a little kick, without being overpowering.

So, after the coatings went on, I laid them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 375F for 15 minutes. The strips don’t take a long time because they are small and being white meat you don’t want them too dry.

As a side dish, I tossed a bunch of halved baby potatoes in olive oils and a mixture of rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. I through them in the oven about five minutes before the chicken and they were done at the same time.

To finish off the meal I just cut up some cucumbers and grabbed a handful of grape tomatoes for Hubby (I am allergic).

It was a simple, and delicious meal and no glutens were harmed in the making! 😉

13 Replies to “Foodie-Friday – Gluten Free & Tasty!”

    1. Thanks, Keith. When I was faced with the idea of not cooking with eggs, flour, (refined) sugar and dairy, I almost headed for the hills. But instead I met the challenge and sometimes it works out nicely!

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  3. In a few months I will publish a book and maybe even a cookery magazine where I will put all my knowledge and experience of food and cookery. Among them will be the question of gluten free. How dare they attack pasta a food that I worship! The all thing of gluten free is a clever marketing plot and scaremongering that has given rise to a gluten free industry that is making a lot of money out of people. Although there are people allergic to gluten they are only a very tiny percentage 1% of the population. I’m Italian and we have been eating pasta, bread and pizza for generations after generation without any ill effects. We have also have won four football world cup with pasta which incidentally is the favourite food of most athletes. I’m thus declaring war on the gluten free army of this world and whoever goes against controversial cook in matters of food is destined to be crushed into a glutinous paste by my infinitely superior culinary knowledge haha 🙂 You also mentioned chicken. Well, while free range chicken can be a healthier meat choice those raised in battery chicken plants are some of the unhealthiest food that one can eat. If one takes a whole battery raised chicken and put it into a special machine to separate its components one will get nearly a pint of greasy and yellow liquid fat. This is because such chickens cannot move in their enclosures for total lack of space and never see the sunlight so they convert their food intake into fat. Besides the fact that such chickens are fed with growth hormones and antibiotics to make them grow faster and bigger and are infested with all sorts of bugs and parasites. So my suggestion is to brush away all this silly hype about gluten and eat free range chicken.

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    1. Well, it isn’t that easy. You see, both my husband and I react differently to gluten. I do better on some gluten-free items (like this wonderful potato flax bread we get from a bakery across the river from us) that I do better on than wheat products. Pasta is not one of them. I use regular pasta. Hubby finds he does better with a corn/quinoa/brown rice pasta I get next door to the bakery. I get most of our meat from a butcher that deals with local farms so it is free range, organic or what have you. We also eat basically no processed foods. I make everything from scratch down to sauces (even ketchup). Our other difficult areas are eggs, dairy, soy (hubby), tomatoes (me), refined sugar (me), and almonds (hubby).

      One may say that those can’t be allergies or intolerances; however, we have been tested and we just listen to our bodies when we eat certain things.

      I do appreciate your input. As a chef I ended up working mostly with special diets and loved it. And I put that knowledge to good use…when I have the energy to cook! 😉

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      2. My husband and I are gluten intolerent and have been avoiding it for many years now. I find people are becoming more aware and less opinionated about it but it has not been easy. His Mom still wants us to come over for the Mac and Cheese and potato pancakes he grew up on and is the type that will be hurt if you don’t eat. I provided her with some GF flour and pasta awhile back and she has been good about using it. I spent a summer cooking at a kid’s camp as the special diet’s cook and was surprised how many people there were either full celiac or intolerant to gluten. It was sometimes challenging as there were overlaps with vegetarians, lactose intolerance, etc. but I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to following you.

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      3. I just got diagnosed back in May. My mom has tried to go GF (she does try to cook a lot of GF foods), but my grandma doesn’t fully understand what it means. It is hard! People are becoming more aware, and restaurants are too! Which makes eating out easier. I’ve been trying to find good GF flour, do you have any recommendations?

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      4. I am in Canada, but I have heard good things about King Arthur’s gluten-free flour. I love Bob’s Red Mill Cup for Cup as well. It also depends what you are using it for. A simple white rice flour/tapioca starch/potato starch blend is good for thickening sauces, breading or coating meat, etc. A heartier blend with xanthan gum pre-added is better for breads, cookies and other baking. The two I mentioned are great examples.

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