Chicken Saté with Peanut Sauce

Try something different for dinner!
Chicken Saté with Peanut Sauce (if you have a nut allergy you can use sunflower butter)

SATE´ (pronounced sah teh)
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into 8 strips
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons Tamari Sauce

2 teaspoons bottled ground fresh ginger
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 inch skewers (soak for 30 min in water before putting on the grill to keep them from burning up and charring)
1 can coconut milk
cooking spray

sauce for dipping
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons natural-style peanut or sunflower butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions
*****THE NIGHT BEFORE - SOAK CHICKEN IN COCONUT MILK (GALLON SIZED BAGGIE) in the refrigerator.*****
Start up the grill!

Prepare the saté by combining chicken and next 6 ingredients (through the garlic) in a bowl. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 min - I prefer 2 hours.

Prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Stir until sugars dissolve.

Thread chicken onto each of the skewers. Place chicken on grill coated with cooking spray. Grill for 2- minutes per side. Serve immediately with sauce.

PERSONAL NOTE: This serves 4 so we double the recipe. This is good cold and could be included in a lunch box.  (might be advisable to snip the tip of the skewer or un-skewer the meat)
If the sauce is too thick, I thin it a bit with mirin. We serve this with a salad.

Chicken Pineapple Summer Salad Recipe

You can make this all year long but it is very nice and refreshing! This is a crowd favorite at a party.

Ingredients
1.5 Cups grilled chicken (I prefer mine marinated in teriyaki marinade)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Wasabi Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon honey mustard
1/2 teaspoon ginger (dried, ground)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon mirin or rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon pineapple juice
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled (Feta will work well)
1 tomato chopped
1 cucumber
2 teaspoons mango chutney
1/2 cup nuts of your choice (optional)
1 large egg, hard boiled, sliced thin rounds
Lettuce
Gluten Free Chow Mein Noodles

Directions
Mix all ingredients except for the last three.
Serve in a bowl with iceberg or butter lettuce surrounding the sides, the chicken mixture should be mounded in the middle, the hard boiled egg slices can line the side of the bowl laying on the lettuce around. Sprinkle the top of the chicken mixture with Gluten Free Chow Mein Noodles. Beautiful presentation. Serve with crackers cucumber rounds or flatbread alongside.

Gluten Free Chow Mein Noodles

Bare with me...I am going somewhere with this...

If you have left over noodle from making spaghetti, this is a great way to use them up. Traditionally, chow mein noodles are served below vegetables, chicken etc. They are meant to be a bit crispy.

Either cook up some noodles or use the leftovers. Rinse them thoroughly with cold water (two times won't hurt) and then coat them with 1 teaspoon sesame oil. (you can find this in the Asian food section) A little goes a long way.

In a large non stick skillet heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable or peanut oil. Add in your noodles and flatten them out to fill the bottom of the pan. Let then "fry" for about 5 min. If you prefer crispier then leave in the pan longer. Use a dinner plate and invert it on top of the noodles in the pan in order to turn the noodles out onto the plate. You are simply using the plate to turn the noodles over. You could use a spatula if you like. Now you will add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and let it heat up for a minute. Slide the noodles back into the pan so that you are now "frying" the other side of the noodles. (you are simply turning them over) Let them cook for another 5 minutes and then you can slide them out onto the plate. The noodles are now crisp.

If you have some leftover vegetables and/or meat you can pan fry them or put them in a wok and serve on top of the chow mein noodles (a sauce or gravy of some kind would be a nice touch) These noodles are great on salad. I am posting a Chicken Pineapple Summer Salad that the chow mein noodles will go on top of before serving.

To Die for Chicken Salad - RECIPE

To Die for Chicken Salad Recipe

So, this is my go to recipe if I have all the ingredients on hand BUT if I don't there are a few you can leave out and it still tastes great!

I have used cooked chicken breasts chopped up, canned chicken and rotisserie chicken (my favorite choice). They all work. If I am using canned chicken, I use Kirkland Signature Premium Chunk Chicken Breast packed in water (you buy this at Costco - they sell it in 8 cans). I have been known to marinate chicken breast in a Teriyaki Merinade over night, grill them and use those in the chicken.

Items you could leave out and it still taste great (Greek yogurt - you could just add more mayo, turmeric, mirin - if you take this out I would add a Tablespoon of sweet relish, candied pecans - you could use plain or any other nut you prefer or leave it out altogether, allspice)

Don't be scared - this is going to look like a lot of ingredients but it is minute amounts of most of them. They are all great to have on hand if you are cooking from my blog and it doesn't take as long as you might think to put it together. THE SAVING GRACE...there is no cooking after you put in the ingredients and mix them together!!!

Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts or 2 - 12.5 oz canned chicken or 2.5 cups chicken from a rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt (I use FAGE)
1 Tablespoon honey mustard (if you don't have it but you have mustard, mix some honey in the mustard)
2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (grated)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 Tablespoon basil (I love basil so I usually add a bit more)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper (I prefer close to a Tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons mirin (mirin is in the Asian food section close to rice wine vinegar but it is much milder)
1 cup grapes cut in half (pineapple will work well - if you get canned, add a little of the juice in too) You could even add both pineapple and grapes
1 small cucumber diced fine (celery or crisp apples work too)
1/2 cup candied pecans (smashed but large pieces) (you can use any nut you prefer - my kids love these)

Mix it all together and serve it however you like! My favorite way used to be on croissant but alas this is the one item I miss! We serve it on Udi's Cinnamon Raison bread, Udi's sandwich bread, Udi's pizza crust (use it like flat bread) and with Glutino Crackers. It is amazing served at a party on a cucumber round for an appetizer.

Shoe Peg Corn Dip

A great party dip - be careful it is so...addicting - Just in time for the Super Bowl

Shoe Peg Corn Dip - will need to chill overnight

Ingredients:
3 cans shoe peg corn (drained)
4 oz sour cream
8 oz mayonnaise
3-5 jalapeños (to your taste)
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped (green part not white)
Garlic Salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon) - I use garlic powder and add salt as needed
2-3 dashes paprika (for color)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and let chill overnight.

Best served with Big Scoop Fritos!

Thank you Kathy Smart for the recipe and the addiction! :)

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from scratch...RECIPE

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from Scratch...RECIPE

You can guess that I have someone missing ranch dressing. Most cream based dressings are not gluten free. We eat a lot of oil and vinegar based dressing. My standby is this balsamic dressing. There are some things that just beg for Ranch dressing so I found recipe. The flavor is good. It is not as thick as the store bought.

Ingredients:
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1/4 teaspoon of dry dill

Directions:
In a bowl, stir together the buttermilk and mayonnaise until fully mixed. Add in the other ingredients, adjusting for taste. Put in an airtight container.

Will keep for a week in the refrigerator. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

taken from Simply Recipes - posted by Elise Bauer elise.com

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Recipe

I have been trying to stay away from mixes and develop recipes that are gluten free. I usually do that by reading through four or five recipes and deciding what will work best.

Pizza crust is easily purchased Gluten Free but if I have a large crowd I want to be able to make it in larger sizes. I found this recipe, converted it to gluten free and everyone loved it!

This is Valentinos's Pizza Crust that I got off of the Allrecipes.com site and converted it to Gluten Free.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. A pizza stone is recommended.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used C4C Flour)

Directions:
Stir water, sugar and yeast tougher until dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy. If the yeast doesn't get foamy you will need to start over with fresher yeast. Add in olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. Stir in C4C Flour until well blended. Let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes.

The dough is fairly bland. I recommend adding in a teaspoon each of basil, thyme and oregano. Pat dough onto pan using fingers dipped in olive oil (you can sprinkle cornmeal on the pizza stone before rolling out the dough if you like the flavor). You can spray Pam (or cooking spray) on your fingers if you don't have olive oil but the oil adds flavor.

The recipes does not call for baking the dough before adding your ingredients. If you want a crisper crust I would bake in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 5-8 minutes before adding ingredients.

Top with ingredients of your choice and back from 15-20 minutes. I set the time for 10 minutes and switch the pan to anther shelf in the oven for 5 minutes and then back again for another 5 minutes if needed. This helps to ensure it cooks evenly on the top and bottom.