Tag Archives: recipe idea

Chicken Soup With Rice & & Vegetables

10 Aug

Chicken Soup with Rice & VegetablesNote:  My motherboard died so I was without a computer for the last month.  I will slowly be catching up on the posts.

This soup recipe takes all day to make so be sure to start early.   This is a definite plan-ahead meal.

Chicken Soup With Rice &  Vegetables
Gluten Free/Dairy Free

Chicken Broth Ingredients:

  • 2-4 carcasses from Chicken (We save these in the freezer until soup day)     Or     2 Roasted Chickens (Roasted chicken gives the broth better flavor)
  • 2-3 Carrots cut to around 4-5 inch pieces
  • 4 Celery stalks cut to around 4-5 inch pieces
  • 3 Onions
  • 1-3 Leek
  • 2 Bay LeavesIMG_0593
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • Fresh Thyme to taste
  • OLD BAY Seasoning to taste(Super secret ingredient but don’t use too much)

Directions:

  1. Fill a large stock pot with water.
  2. Add chicken, carrots, celery, onions, leek and bay leaves to the water.
  3. Bring to boil and then set to simmer.IMG_0592
  4. At this time add salt, pepper, thyme, and OLD BAY Seasoning.
  5. Simmer until the liquid is half of what you started with. If you used less chicken than simmer until you have a third of what you started with.
  6. Skim the fat off the top of the broth as it floats to the top to save time at the end.
  7. When your broth is nicely reduced, remove from heat and skim the remaining fat off the top.
  8. Remove the carrots, celery, onions, leek, and bay leaves and discard.
  9. Remove the chicken and when it is cool enough to touch, pull chicken meat from the bones to save for the soups. When you have all the meat, then discard the carcasses.
  10. If you are making soup the same day or the next, then store the broth covered with a lid in the pot.  If you are not, you can put the broth into separate containers to freeze.

Chicken Soup Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups of Rice(We used a brown rice/wild rice mix)IMG_0596
  • 2 Carrots diced
  • 2 Celery stalks diced
  • 2 Parsnips diced
  • 1 small Turnip diced
  • 2 medium sized Sweet Potatoes diced
  • 2 Leeks diced (This time be sure to remove the green when dicing.  This will not make our soup taste good.)

Chicken Soup Instructions:

  1. Prepare the rice in a separate pot according to the instructions.  This should make about 4 cups of cooked rice.
  2. Using the large stock pot, bring your broth to a boil and then set to a medium flame.
  3. Add the diced carrots, celery, Parsnips, Tunip, Sweet Potatoes, and Leek to the broth.
  4. Cook until your vegetables are tender.
  5. Add in the rice.  (You do not have to use all the rice if you feel it is too much.  We serve the extra rice with the soup for those that wish to have more.)
  6. Bring soup back to the boil and then serve.

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Lego Cakes

12 Jan

legocakeSomehow I found myself in the position of the one person who brings the unusual and fun dessert the kids all love.   In keeping up with this tradition, this past Labor Day I made Lego cakes. Using the basic recipe idea from Betty Crocker.  I modified it a little because I find the Wilton dyes to be a bit more stable in frosting.

Lego Cakes:

Ingredients:

  • 2 box of cake mix – the flavor is your choice but we used white vanilla
  • 2 cans of white frosting
  • 1 bag of standard sized marshmallows
  • 3 – 1oz Wilton icing dye bottles – Golden Yellow, Red-Red, and Royal Blue
  1. Bake the cakes according to the packaging in 13×9-inch pans.  Be sure to grease the pans well because you want it to be easy to remove without any cracks on the bottom.
  2. While the cakes are baking, cut at least 20 marshmallows in half.  You want to make sure you have enough so going a little high is okay.
  3. When the cake are finished baking, wait 20 minutes and then carefully remove the cakes from the pans and onto a flat surface.  I used cookie sheets for this.
  4. Freeze both the marshmallow halves and the cakes for at least two hours.
  5. Take two bowls and put half of each frosting can in each.  This leaves you with 4 portions of frosting.  Put 1 portion to the side.  In the other 3, add dye to each to reach the desired Lego colors(red, blue, yellow).
  6. Cut the tops of the cakes where it domed off using a serrated knife to give you a flat surface.  Cut the cakes each into rectangular portions.  (As you can see some of my cake had an accident so one of my rectangles is smaller than the others.)legobaseplate
  7. ***I made a special display for my cakes using printed images of the Lego green baseplate on top of cookie sheets and covered them with cling wrap.  You can display yours how you wish but it made the Legos look more Lego-like to be on their own base.
  8. Place the 4 pieces of cake neatly upside down on the display you are using.  Lightly frost the outside of each cake the color they are going to be and then put the cakes back in the freezer for an hour.  Then finish frosting each cake.
  9. Nolegoblocksw the fun and messy part, take you marshmallow halves from the freezer.  Carefully frost the halves to match each cake and place into location to look like a real Lego building block.   When you are finished the cakes should look like several Legos.  This step can be really messy so be careful.

Now, sit back and watch the smiles because every kid loves to eat a piece of Lego cake!

 

 

 

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Lactose Free Pumpkin Pudding

25 Dec

Merry Christmas!PumpkinPudding

Lactose hurts Suuki’s stomach something fierce so we avoid it as much as we can. They loves pumpkin pudding and at the holiday time it is hard to find anything made without milk. I adapted several recipes I found online to make a pumpkin pudding for Christmas day that not only tasted great for everyone else but was lactose free.

One of the major ingredients is sweetened condensed milk which by its name alone implies lactose. I have a simple recipe for a Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk that can be adapted to many allergy types. You can find it at my Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk blog. A search on Google will bring up many other methods as well.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of Jell-o Instant Pudding – Vanilla, French Vanilla or Cheesecake(We used French Vanilla)
  • 2 cups of Lactose-Free Milk(If you are using any other milk alternative you will be using 1 1/2 cups.)
  • 1 29 oz can of 100% Pumpkin Puree (You don’t want anything else in there to mess up the flavors.)
  • 8 oz Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk(You can use any type but this link is to mine)
  • 16 oz of Whipped Topping – like Cool Whip(If you are looking for the healthy alternative try TruWhip. It comes in a 10 oz which would work fine but your pudding will be less creamy.)
  • 8 oz tub of Whipped Topping(Once again, the healthy alternative is TruWhip. This is to top off your pudding so you can sacrifice some for the recipe itself if using the alternative.)
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon(You can use pumpkin pie spice as an alternative. You may also add more to taste if you wish.)
  • 1 package of ginger snaps

Directions:

  1. Mix the pudding powder with 2 cups of milk alternative.  If you are using Lactose-Free milk then use it cold.   If you soy or nut based milks then heat them first before mixing.  (Jello Instant Pudding and Soy Milk)
  2. In a large bowl, combine pudding, pumpkin, lactose-free sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon.  Stir until mixture is uniform throughout.
  3. Slowly fold into the mixture, the 16 oz tub of whipped topping.
  4. Transfer to your serving bowl. (I made individual portions using 9 oz clear, plastic cups and garnished the serving platter with mini-marshmallows.)
  5. You can top the pudding with the 8 oz tub of topping or serve it on the side.
  6. Serve the pudding with ginger snaps for dipping.

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Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk Recipe

15 Dec

This recipe as written is for those who are lactose free. If you need to be dairy free, substitute the lactose free milk with your preferred milk alternative like almond milk(Suuki’s preference), soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, sunflower milk, or oat milk.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of lactose free milk(we used 2% but if you want less fat then use the percentage of your choice)
  • 8 cups of grandulate sugar – separate into 4 cup portions(you can use raw sugar as well but the taste will be slightly different)
  • 1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract(you can use the imitation but note that this form can contain unhealthy chemicals)

Tools:

  • 5-6 Glad LockWare™ Extra Small containers(You can use alternate containers that hold 8 ounces or more.)
  • 4-quart saucepan(This should give you plenty of room to prevent it from over-boiling)
  • 1 wooden spoon

Directions:

  1. Place the milk alternative into the saucepan and, using a medium flame, heat until scalded.
  2. While stirring add 4 cups of the sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla into the saucepan and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
  3. While stirring add the remaining 4 cups of the sugar into the saucepan and continue to stir until the mixture reaches a taffy-like consistency.
  4. Let cool for around 5 minutes.
  5. Divide mixture into containers and store in the refrigerator.  They can be stored for around 3 months.

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