Arroz Con Pollo

(this recipe is a tweaked version of my mother in laws amazing recipe)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut/olive/canola oil

1 finely diced white onion

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (can also be breasts or tenders) diced

1 cup brown rice (can also use white)

2 cups water

1 packet Goya Sazon con azafran seasoning

12 oz package mixed vegetables

½ jar green olives with juice

½ jar Spanish capers with juice

Directions:

Sautee onions in the oil until they become translucent, add rice and stir for 2 minutes. Then add the diced chicken and seasoning packet and stir for two additional minutes then add water, cover, lower heat to medium and cook until the chicken is white. Then add the olives, capers, and mixed vegetables; stir and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until the rice is done.

*If you prefer your rice with a more risotto like texture, add an additional ¼ cup of water when you add the vegetables.

Gluten Free Trial

In my house we are starting a gluten free food trial next week (June 16). We are doing this to see if we have any of the success that some of our other friends have had with behavioral improvements with their children on the autism spectrum. I am cautiously optimistic that this will give us some help with some problem behaviors and other digestive issues that we have faced with our older son who is on the autism spectrum. I want to emphasize that I am not doing this to "cure" him of his autism, as I have seen some people recently say that they were making dietary and supplemental changes to "heal or cure" their child of their autism. My view is that my child may need some extra help with social behaviors (he is very high functioning autism) but he is not in need of a cure or being fixed. He is a very bright child who reads a full grade level ahead of what he should and has a memory that would astound you. Does he need a little extra help? Sure, but there are worse things than needing extra social coaching/teaching. Does he need a little extra grace and patience from me? No doubt. Is it hard sometimes? Without question, but we have gotten to a place where the good days tend to outnumber the bad and that's a great place to be. I look forward to sharing some gluten free recipes with you all as we progress through the summer, and since I LOVE to bake you're guaranteed some delicious desserts.

"Loaded" Mac and Cheese

This is a completely gluten free recipe!

One box Gluten Free elbow pasta ( I use Ancient Harvest Quinoa elbow pasta)
1/2 pound bacon cooked, drained, and chopped
One steam in bag broccoli florets

For the cheese sauce:
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp coconut flour
Dash salt
Pepper to taste
3 cups finely shredded cheese (I use Kraft Triple Cheddar)


Cook pasta, bacon, and broccoli according to their individual instructions and combine when all finished. While the pasta is cooking, combine the sour cream, heavy cream, coconut flour, salt and pepper in a sauce pan, and heat until it just begins to boil whisking frequently. Once the mixture just begins to boil slowly add the cheese while continuously whisking so that there are no clumps. Once the cheese is all added and fully blended you are ready to add it to the pasta, bacon, & broccoli. This does make a good amount of cheese sauce, add it slowly and mix until you get your desired amount of cheesy goodness. We like our mac super cheesy so I ended up adding the entire batch. You can also add jalapeno to spice it up or more veggies like kale, customize to your own taste and ENJOY!

*In my haste to get dinner on the table I did not get any photos this time, but I will be making this again, so Ill be sure to take some next time!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Okay, so these cupcakes come from a cake recipe I found on Pinterest  (from www.melskitchencafe.com) and adapted it to make cupcakes so amazing that no one can tell they're gluten free unless you tell them! Seriously far better than my normal gluten filled recipe and I doubt I will go back to so called "normal" chocolate cupcakes. Hope you all enjoy these as much as we did!


Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: ~ 20 cupcakes

You'll need about 1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) dry quinoa for 2 cups cooked. Make sure to measure the quinoa for the cake recipe after it is cooked and cooled. Also, make sure to cook the quinoa in water not broth.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (see note above)
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcakes pans with cupcake liners. 

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Process just until combined. Add the cooked quinoa and the butter. Blend well until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
Add the contents from the blender and mix with a wooden spoon or whisk until combined.

Using a cupcake scoop fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake on a rack in the middle position for 26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcake pans from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Place cupcakes onto cooling racks and cool completely.

This is how the cupcakes will look when they are cooled, so don't worry when yours look like this. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

Ingredients: 

1 cup salted butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup caramel sauce (I used hershey's, but you can make your own)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add powdered sugar and blend on low speed until mixture comes together. Then, add vanilla and caramel sauce and whip on medium high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 

The finished product. Yum!

Welcome!

Welcome to Delish & Dish! This blog started as an idea by my sweet friend (and occasional contributor) Shelbi for me to share some of my recipes online and it's my sincere hope that you enjoy the ones you try and maybe even get some inspiration to try new foods. I am a mom to two boys (ages 7 and 2) and they don't typically afford me much time to make elaborate dishes, so much of what you will find here are fairly simple recipes, and if not, I will try to include a "shortcut" version of the recipe. This summer we will be doing a gluten free trial, so I will be sharing those recipes and some that still have gluten. In my house, we try to do a themed family night once a month, so I will share some of those ideas, menus, and recipes in addition to everyday meals & special occasion dinners. On occasion we all run across some fabulous find that we feel the need to share with everyone we know, and I will be posting those fab finds here as well.