GF Journey: Haunts in a Haystack

Haunts in a haystack is a go-to meal for me. Its quick. Its easy.  I can cook it up in under 30 minutes.  The kids like it, and Sarah requests it frequently.

This is the recipe:

Haunts in a Haystack

1 Chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 TBS butter or oil

Chives

1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Can Mushrooms, drained

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup Sour cream

Rice

Brown the chicken in the melted butter.  Add chives as chicken is cooking.  

When chicken is brown, add drained mushrooms, Cream of Mushroom Soup, and water.  

Stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer.  Add Sour Cream til combined.  Do not boil.  

Serve over hot cooked rice.

A super simple recipe that is warm and creamy.

However, Cream of Mushroom soup is not gluten free.  It uses flour to thicken the soup.  Therefore, I have to find a new way to make this dish.

I know that there are recipes for cream of mushroom soup, but that doesn't work for this recipe, because I need something a little thicker.  A couple weeks ago, I tried this recipe using a modification of a recipe I had been given, and it didn't work out too well. But I decided to try again last night.  

This time I didn't follow a recipe, I just threw some things together, and it turned out really well.  It was rich and creamy and I thought it had a good flavor.  (Ian thought it had too much onion!)  This is what I did last night.

Cut Chicken into bite size chunks.

Melt butter in a large skillet

Brown chicken in the butter.  (I would have added chives, but I didn't have any)

When Chicken is cooked, remove from pan.

Add more butter to skillet, about 2 Tbsp.

Add Diced Red Onion and Diced Canned Mushrooms to melted butter.

Saute Onions and mushrooms.

When veggies have cooked down, add 2 Tbsp of GF Flour (I used King Arthur Brand last night) to make a roux.

Cook roux to remove flour flavor.

Slowly add 2 cups of Heavy Cream to roux (I would pour in a little bit, stir until it thickened, then add some more.  I don't know if this affect the recipe differently from adding it all at once, but I keep doing it.)

When all the Cream was added and slightly thickened, add chicken back to skillet to warm it up.

Add 1/2 cup sour cream and combine.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

I will have to try this again.  I do need to find a way to make it go further, whether it is by doubling it or just thinning it out a little.  It was creamy and tasty, and not enough for me to have leftovers.  And I wanted some!

GF Journey: Fried Chicken

In case I don't get around to creating a post about it, Steven was diagnosed as having Celiac on November 5, 2019, after an endoscopy on October 21. So we have been working to make Steven's diet gluten free.  We have been having moderate success.

Tonight wasn't much of a success.

For Sunday dinner, I decided to make chicken for dinner.  Typically when I have made this, I dredge the chicken in flour mixed with seasonings then bake it in the oven.  Since flour isn't gluten-free, I decided to change things up.  America's Test Kitchen has a gluten-free cookbook that has a recipe for crispy fried chicken, and I decided to try it out.

I never make fried chicken.  The dredging in flour, then milk, then flour again always seems so messy.  And I really don't like dealing with hot oil.  But I thought that I could try it this time (especially since I no longer had time to bake it in the oven before the Ward Christmas activity which started at 5:30).

I followed the recipe for coating the chicken and frying it (but I didn't do the brining step or the one where I put the chicken in a 200 degree oven until I am ready to eat because the cooling rack I put the chicken on won't fit in my oven.).  That didn't seem so bad.  And I fried it up in the electric skillet so that it could keep the temperature constant.

I cooked the first batch for the recommended time, and the thermometer gave the right reading, so I took it out.  But it looked a little dark and maybe overcooked.  So I turned the temperature down a little, and tried the next batch.  It came out looking better, but was totally not cooked all the way.  I had to put it back in to make sure they were thoroughly cooked.  The third batch got cooked a lot!  I was definitely cooked all the way through.  But it was also super dark, and I had no inclination to eat it.

Also, as I was cooking the chicken, I realized that, despite my best efforts, I had sabotaged myself. When I fry food, I tend to save the oil to be used in later frying recipes.  Today was no different.  I brought in the old fry oil to cook up the chicken, not even thinking about cross contamination.  However, as the chicken cooked, I could smell faint hints of teriyaki sauce and lumpia-- the last thing I had cooked in the oil. And I realized... My chicken was contaminated from the oil/lumpia wrappers. I was so dejected to realize that.

I think everyone only ate one piece of chicken, so there are a lot of leftovers.  And the verdict was that no one liked it much.

AND, we didn't sit down to eat dinner until nearly 5:15, which is when I had been wanting to leave for the ward Christmas activity!  So we got to church a little late, but were still able to view the Nativities that had been set up, and eat the delicious snacks that others had brought, and listen to the children sing their Christmas song.  And then we came home to watch the First Presidency Devotional so that we didn't have to worry about whether the little kids were reverent during the broadcast.

So that was my adventure tonight.  I don't think I will ever make real fried chicken again unless someone gives me lessons.  Next time, I will bake it in the oven using a flour substitute.

And maybe next time I post, I will tell you about the Muffin Cups we made.

Super Wolf Blood Moon

Last night was a total lunar eclipse, so of course, I needed to try to take some pictures of it.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

This is one of the first pictures I took around 10pm.  The moon was only about halfway eclipsed.  Its not perfect, but I like the effect.

This was about 15 minutes later, with a shorter exposure time.

This one and the next 2 were taken about 10:45 pm, when it was completely eclipsed.

 I didn't get any really good pictures of the partial eclipse because I don't know how to change the exposure well enough.  All the partial eclipse pictures were like the first one, with reflections and over exposure.  Maybe next time.

Also, this was a super moon because it was really close to the Earth.  The first full moon of the year is called a Wolf Moon.  And moons during eclipses are red colored and called Blood Moons.  Hence the Super Wolf Blood Moon.

Baby Blue Jays

Christopher found a fledgling blue jay (or two) outside this morning, and I had fun photographing them and watching Momma and Poppa take care of the little one.  I took over 100 photos trying to get some good ones!  It is really hard to take zoomed in photos of little birds who move fast and don't want to you get too close.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Momma Jay checking on Baby

"Whatchoo looin' at?"

Calling for his parents.

Blue Jays seem to be a little more protective of their fledglings than Cardinals or Robins. Last year, when the robins left their nest, I don't remember seeing the parents nearby, and when we rescued the baby cardinals that fell out of their nest during a storm, the mom and dad were nearby, but kept their distance. With the blue jays, both parents were nearby and, whenever I got near the babies, they would yell at me and sometimes swoop low over my head. I also got to see one of them come in and feed this fledgling.

Poppa Bird telling me to keep away

I just love the colors!

Still calling a warning to me.

Here is a short video of one of the adults flying in to feed the fledgling.  I thought it was pretty cool. (I hope it works!)

Eventually, the fledgling hopped off the concrete pad and moved to the trees and bushes beyond the fence in the backyard. And because I followed, I got to see one of the bunnies that likes to visit our yard.

The bunny I saw.

There really were two fledglings, but it took the other one a lot longer to get to the bushes.  The first bird just hopped all the way back, but the second seemed to want to fly.  He kept trying to fly up the chain-link fence to the top of the wooden fence, but he couldn't make.  He did make it about halfway to the back, but then needed to take a nap on the chain-link fence, behind some leaves.  He finally made it back around 1pm, while the first made it back to the bushes about 9am.  I kept hearing the second fledgling on the side of the house, so I went to look for him.  I was afraid he might be trapped in the wheelbarrow or something.  Instead, I found him here, perched on the top of the chain-link fence.

Hanging out on the bike.

Polka-Dot Brownies

Have you ever mispoke, and because of that lingual blunder experimented with something new?  Today was one of those days for me.  I was baking cookies, and I asked Ian, "Would you mind getting a sheet of brownies ready for the oven?"  Ian looked at me and said, "A sheet of what?"  Thinking about brownies and cookies made me wonder what would happen if you shaped some cookie dough balls and baked them in a pan of brownies.

So I saved some of my cookie dough and rolled it into small balls.

Then I whipped up a batch of brownies and placed the balls into the batter.  Some, I pressed down and others I laid on top.  I followed the baking directions and cooked the brownies for baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, the brownies were completely cooked.

Verdict:  Not a failure.  This is one instance where I agree with Dad's philosophy of taste--  That adding a 10 and a 10 doesn't equal 20.  Cookies are great and brownies are great, but adding them together this way did not make the dish super-great.

I know that isn't a rousing success, but at least they didn't suck.  If I were to do this again, I would (1)  make the cookie balls smaller, so that I could put more in.  (2)  I would place them closer together-- I thought the cookie dough would spread out, so I spaced accordingly, but I think the cooked balls were about the same size as the uncooked balls.  Also, (3)  I wouldn't bother pushing the dough into the batter, because it didn't make a difference to the way the balls cooked.  And lastly, (4) I would cook the brownies for about 25 minutes (instead of 30) to make the brownies more moist (my favorite part of the brownie is the middle, when it is nice and soft and moist.

Banana?

Hailey crawled into bed with me this morning, as she sometimes does.  She then proceeded to talk with me and cuddle, as I attempted to ignore her and get a few more precious moments of sleep.  Eventually, I heard her say, "Mnana.  Wan mnana!"  In an attempt to get her out of bed, I told her to go get a banana.  But she kept repeating, "Wan mnana.  Wan mnanna!"  I finally opened my eyes and realized that Hailey had her eyes closed, and was talking in her sleep! 

So I said, "Here is a banana," and touched her hand.  At which point, Hailey brought her hand to her face and said, "Mnana!  mnum mnum mnum." And she was quiet and happy....

Until she had another dream which made her say, "Where Simon!  Simon broke it."

Missionaries?

For Easter, I prepared a yummy feast with a turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, and green bean casserole.  To make room for all the food, I added the leaf to the table.  Christopher noticed me putting it in and asked, "Are the missionaries coming for dinner?"  I guess that is usually what happens when we expand the table.