Tutorial Tuesday - Chinese Chicken Morsels

The hubs and I tried out a new recipe last night and it was too delicious not to share. 

History: the hubs and I are on a budget trying to pay down our debt to secure our future, soooo.... we are trying to figure out ways to save in areas such as groceries.  We found a book at a yard sale called "Once a Month Cooking" which basically is a plan for you to cook one day a month (and shop one day a month), make various foods out of one set of supplies/groceries, and then freeze the food to cook later that month.  I don't want to make large amounts of any recipe we have never tried, so we are trying out a few of the recipes to see if we like them first.

The first recipe we tried was this one, called Chinese Chicken Morsels.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (we use La Choy which is gluten free)
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1 cup of regular uncooked rice

Steps:
1) Combine all ingredients except chicken and rice, mix thoroughly. 
2) Cut chicken into one inch cubes
3) a: If you are eating this the same night or the following day, put chicken into marinade bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes.  b: if you are freezing, put chicken and marinade in a one gallon ziplock and freeze

Cooking/to Serve:
1) If frozen, thaw out marinade.
2) Remove chicken from marinade and place evenly on a broiler pan.  Broil for 7 minutes placed about 4-5 inches from the flame. Remove from oven, turn each piece over and brush with marinade.  Broil for additional 4 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, put marinade into small saucer and heat up (note - this is do at your own risk as it did contain uncooked chicken - I did this step at simply brought to a boil and then simmered for a bit to ensure that it would be safe to eat). 
4) Cook rice according to packaging.
5) Spoon rice onto plate, cover with chicken and pour marinade onto dish for extra flavor. 

This was easy and delicious.  The hubs made me promise that I will make it again.  Here is a pic (courtesy of my super spectacular image quality cell phone - ha!).  Enjoy!

If you try out this recipe, be sure to post a comment and let me know what you thought!

Thankful Thursday - Kudos to BJ's Brewery

I am so lucky and thankful to live in California where BJ's Breweries are abundant. 

I LOVE BJ's and was so thrilled when they added the GF pizza last year and even more thrilled when they recently added the GF pazooki.  I love them both - the pizza is more like a thin crust pizza rather than their usual deep dish style.  I prefer deep dish style, but this is still delicious and the best GF pizza I have tried to date (much better than the new California Pizza Kitchen gluten free pizza in my humble opinion).  The pazooki is also fabulous.  However, my 2 non-GF friends did not care for it - perhaps its because they have the regular one to compare it to, which I do not.  Whatever, more for me and I scraped my pan clean :)

I also love that they have made the gluten free pizza and pazooki available for their Party for Two promotion (which my friend Jenny and I took advantage of on Tuesday night), however I was bummed at my birthday celebration (back in June) that they do not offer the GF pazooki in the free birthday size so we had to pay for it in order for me to have my birthday treat.  It was still worth it.

Kudos to BJ's for keeping up with the need for gluten free alternatives! They are definitely on my short list of restaurants which have REAL gluten free menus - PF Changs and Melting Pot round up that list.  Outback and Lonestar I enjoy too, however when you order its more like you are ordering from their regular meal without all the good stuff like seasonings and marinades - I like the PF Changs, Melting Pot, and now BJ's have SPECIAL items just for Gluten Free folks like me where you don't feel like you're missing out on anything. Although the Outback flourless brownie is bomb-diggity (ya I said that). 

Happy Thursday everyone, and thanks for reading.  If you're gluten free - where is your favorite place to dine out and your favorite menu item to order there?

Go-to meal: Impossibly Easy Chicken 'n Broccoli Pie

This is one meal that is a go-to for me when I want to cook something yummy, cheaply, and quickly. It is Betty Crocker's Impossibly Easy Chicken 'n Broccoli Pie.  It's also surprisingly relatively low-calorie.  I of course substitute the Bisquick with the Gluten Free Bisquick as recommended on the glutenfreely.com website. 

Enjoy the photos and here is a link to the recipe and nutritional info.

Getting the oven ready.

These onion goggles really do work!

Ingredients all ready!

Ready to put 'er in.

Voila!

Restaurant Review - Scott's Restaurant & Bar (and Valentine's Day)

Add caption

(please note the photo is one I found online as I totally forgot to take any photos of the restaurant or food - oops!)

Scott's Restaurant & Bar

3300 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (714) 979-2400 ‎ scottsrestaurantandbar.com

Tim and I enjoyed a very gourmet and luxurious Valentine's Day dinner at Scott's Restaurant & Bar located in Costa Mesa, CA (it's on Bristol directly across the street from South Coast Plaza mall).  It was absolutely perfect. 

From the moment you arrive, the tone is luxury.  Valet only parking, a gorgeous fountain out front (which we did manage to take a pic in front of and I will add hopefully tonight when I upload to the computer).  When you walk in it's a very modern elegant feel.  The layout reminds me of the Mission Restaurant at the Mission Inn in Riverside, but this is much more modern.  We sat at a cozy 2 top table in the back and were presented with the Valentine's Day special menu in which we were able to select one appetizer, one main dish and one dessert each for $65.00 pp (not including alcohol, tax or tip).  Yes, this is a little pricey, but well worth it.

We ordered a nice bottle of champagne.  Wow.  I had never had such a quality bottle of champagne.  It was the Piper-Heidsieck Brut.  I don't know that I can ever go back to my good friend Korbel now (haha, seriously). 

The service was superb.  I was torn between several of the menu items so I asked for the waitress's thoughts and she was spot on. 

For our appetizers I had the caramelized black pepper scallops, sumonomo salad and Tim had the stuffed king crab leg cocktail, romesco.  We shared a little with each other.  Both were divine.  The crab was so tender it nearly melted in your mouth.

For our main course I had the 6 oz. Australian lobster tail with fresh steamed vegetables (I couldn't have the sun dried tomato cous cous which was originally paired with it but contained gluten).  Tim had the grilled mahi, dungeness crab, olive oil-dill emulsion.  Both were beyond amazing.  I even ate the vegetable which included squash - I hate squash, but this squash was no ordinary squash!

For dessert I was unable to have the options on the menu so the chef whipped up some pomegranate sorbet with fresh berries especially for me and Tim opted for the chocolate terrine, almond brittle, with pistachio gelato.  My pomegranate sorbet was marvelous and the berries were perfectly sweet. 

Following dinner we went and sat at their chic bar and I enjoyed a pear martini (with a slice of fresh pear) and Tim had a rum and coke and a coffee. 

This was truly the best food I have ever eaten. Ever.  Perfectly cooked, perfectly flavored, perfectly paired.  Amazing.  The portions were on the smaller side, but we were both adequately full at the conclusion of the meal and completely satisfied.  I told Tim I want to go back immediately, or as soon as our bank account would allow (haha). 

This particular restaurant was selected by mere chance.  It was not something that was referred by a friend or that I had heard about through the grapevine.  I was on a website called urbanspoon.com (similar to Yelp but for food only) and was searching "gluten friendly restaurants".  I happened upon Scott's and after checking out their website and being impressed with their delicious sounding food and the fact that they attempt to use natural organic ingredients, buy from local farmers and sustainable fisheries, I shot them an email asking if they had a gluten free menu.  I was promptly responded to by email that the chef would be able to accommodate my dietary need with no problem and to just advise them ahead of time as to when we would be coming.  I sent on the link to Tim that I would love to go their sometime and he suggested Valentine's Day. 

Luxury was a requirement for this year's Valentine's Day as last year I agreed to go primitive camping with Tim for the 3-day Valentine's Day weekend at Anza-Borrego.  Primitive camping means there are no camp sites, which also means.... no toilets! Eek! We had a nice time though, but I was promised nothing short of luxury this year.  I definitely got what I was promised.

Tim and I also exchanged gifts.  Tim got a Leatherman Mut EOD.  Don't ask me what it is, it's just something Tim had mentioned he wanted after he went shooting with a friend of ours a month or so ago.  It's some kind of hand tool that has various shooting tools in it.  Here is a link.

I received a gorgeous Coach wristlet.  It's called the Madison Clover Print large wristlet and is style number 44368 if you want to check it out on Coach's website.  It's adorable and I love the colors combining brown, tan and a gorgeous magenta.  It's adorable and I can't wait to use it out on the town. 

Tim and I will hopefully be going back to Scott's again, maybe for our next big occasion.  We highly recommend it to all, but caution you that it is pricey.  Well worth the price. 

I will hopefully be adding our Valentine's Day photo to this post this evening.  Thanks for reading and please leave a comment if you have tried Scott's or if you do in the future with what you thought of it!

The best fast food restaurant in the world.

In-N-Out.  If you disagree, you're crazy.  Period.  They offer 2 things, burgers and fries.  Unless of course you know about their not-so-secret menu.  I order mine protein style (no bun so that it is gluten free).  I also require animal fries.  My coworker went out to pick us up In-N-Out a few weeks ago and I told him to not bother coming back if he forgot to make my fries animal style.  I just love love love In-N-Out and enjoy splurging on it as often as I can convince Timmy. 

But did you know that other big chain restaurants have secret menus? I did not until I read this awesome article. 

I don't know about you, but those Jamba Juice shakes sound heavenly! Push pop!? YUM!!

So what's your favorite fast food restaurant? Oh, and do you know of any secret menus!? Do share :)

Game Night and Recipe Reviews

Last night's game night was a hit! All the food turned out pretty well and everyone seemed to have fun.  Guests left around midnight.

See my prior post here for links to all recipes.

Pulled pork - well Walmart (don't even get me started on my Walmart rant) only had ONE type of pork - so I had to work with it - it was a bone in pork shoulder - 10 pounder.  Unfortunately it didn't yield a lot of meat and it wasn't the most tender meat making it a PITA to shred, but it tasted fine.

Tim's ribs turned out pretty well, but may have been cooked a tad too long.

The chex mix was the only thing I didn't love. It was a little too sticky. Although it tasted okay, the stickiness made it less appealing.

The fruit kabob and dip was scrump (yep, my own abbreviation for scrumptious).  The dip was absolutely divine, I could eat it plain with a spoon.

The punch was marvelous.  Even the pregos enjoyed it and the non-pregos enjoyed adding the little extra vodka.  It was so tasty that you couldn't even tell that it had vodka in it - making for a lovely headache today.

The upside down pineapple cake shots were a perfect touch.  They were spot on so a big THANK YOU to my coworker for that suggestion.

The macaroni salad turned out really well.  I don't usually enjoy macaroni salad but I really liked the addition of bacon - let's be honest, how can anything with bacon be bad?

The upside down pineapple cake was good as well, although we barely had enough for everyone - it really serves 9 and we had 15 people.  It could have been cooked a tad longer (it was a little moist) but everyone gobbled theirs up and we served it with vanilla ice cream.

I did find the recipe for the appetizer I mentioned in my previous post, pineapple wrapped ham with cherries on toothpicks - all displayed in a pineapple.  I thought it was a great touch to my Hawaiian themed night.  Check out the recipe here.

Here a couple photos of the food and layout.  Thanks for reading :)

 macaroni salad

pulled pork

ribs

drink station

appetizers

drink and appetizer table set-up

Menu Planning for Friday's Game Night

I am hosting a game night at my house on Friday (a group of my friends and I are in a group and we take turns monthly hosting a game night, it's quite fun really). 

I have decided that my theme will be Hawaiian.  Yes, I know this theme has been done before, but mine is only loosely Hawaiian based, and we're running out of available themes goshdarnit!

Yesterday I worked on the proposed menu (which is of course subject to change at any time).  Here is what I have so far:

1) Pulled Pork with Hawaiian Rolls (pulled pork recipe courtesy of my lovely friend Kim's mom). This recipe is the easiest and tastiness thing ever.  You just put your pork roast in a crockpot, pour a liter of orange soda over it and let it cook all day.  Afterwards you take it out and shred it and combine it with your choice of BBQ sauce (I use Kraft original as it's gluten free).  I know it sounds strange, but it's marvelous.  Trust me, try it.

2) Ribs (Tim is in charge of not only finding a recipe but also cooking these). 

3) Macaroni Salad found at Buns In My Oven's blog here. Note I will use rice noodles for the macaroni to make this a gluten free dish.

4) Fruit kabobs with pineapple dipping sauce from General Mills found here.

5) Maui chips and dip (haven't quite nailed down the details of the dip yet and this is pending my review of the chips to determine that they are gluten free).

6) Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for dessert from Betty Crocker found here (using Betty's fabulous gluten free cake mix).

7) Pineapple shots for my signature drink which consists of Stoli vodka mixed with pineapple juice and a tidbit of grenadine - this is a recipe from my coworker, so we will see how it plays out. 

8) Volcano punch with no alcohol, you can find the recipe here.  I will be putting the vodka on the side as two of my friends are pregnant so I want to have an option for them.

9) Tropical chex mix also from General Mills found here.

I had also seen a cute appetizer idea that involved sticking toothpicks into a pineapple but for the life of me I cannot find the link.  Hopefully I printed out the recipe and can add it later. 

Oh and for our game we will be playing "What's yours like?". 

Should be a fun night.  A review of the aforementioned foods and the night overall to come sometime this weekend.  I will try to remember to take pics as well!

Manic for Macarons!!!!!!!!!!!!

Macarons.... NOT macaroons. Totally different. 

A coworker of mine just got back from France where she fell in love with a little cake like pastry called a macaron.  She has raved about them constantly since getting back in early January. 

Well about a week ago she found a little store in Beverly Hills and picked up a few for herself (ya thanks for thinking of me).  During that visit she saw a sign that stated they were "naturally gluten free".  She told me this and I immediately commenced research for a macaron store in Riverside county.  Of course, I did not find one.  I did, however, find a store by the name of Napoleon's Macarons (http://www.napoleonsmacarons.com/) that overnights a package of 24,36 or 48.  My other coworker (my secretary) and I were licking our chops looking at all the tasty flavor options and planning when we would purchase our first box. 

Today a box came by delivery addressed to me.  My secretary had purchased a box for me!!!! Yes I realize I have the best secretary in the whole wide world. 

I am glad I remembered to take a photo before I gobbled them all up.  Its a box of 24 with 4 each of 6 different flavors.  I have eaten 5 so far.  It's hard to hold back.  They are little tasty bites of heaven!

I highly recommend this product (and Napoleon's in particular) to anyone interested.  I shall immediately be forwarding a link to Tim and inform him he may surprise me with a box any time his little heart desires (hehe). 

Excuse me, I have 19 more to go. Okay, fine, I'll share with my coworkers.

I am Gluten Intolerant

Most of my friends and families know that I am gluten intolerant because they know how much of a PITA I am at large gatherings involving food, but others don't know, and most don't know what it really means to be gluten intolerant.  It's your lucky day, I'm here to tell you my spin on this not-so-fabulous issue.

Most people with gluten intolerance have something called Celiac's disease.  Do I have this? Well it's a tricky question.  Unfortunately the first doctor I went to to discuss this issue knew nothing about Celiac's disease, and neither did I.  So.... instead of testing me for Celiac's disease, she told me to not eat gluten for 2 weeks and after 2 weeks I "would know".  I had an appointment to come back about 35ish days later.  It was a lot more difficult than thought, EVERYTHING has gluten in it it turns out.  After 2 weeks I felt a thousand percent better.  I was so excited to finally know what it was that was making me feel so terrible all the time.  I didn't eat gluten for those 35 days.  I returned to the doctor for my follow up and relayed my terrific news to the doctor.  Here's the catch..... you can't be tested for Celiac's disease if it's not in your system.  So, in order to be tested, I would need to eat gluten again for a period of time before I could undergo testing, and there is no "cure" so to speak for Celiac's disease other than eating a gluten free diet.  Therefore, I decided that I did not want to undergo the extreme agony of eating gluten to find out for sure that I had something that I am fairly confident I already have when there is no cure for it other than to eat gluten freely which I am already doing.  Make sense? Okay, good.

What is Celiac's disease? Well I am quoting this from the Mayo Clinic's website which defines Cleiac's disease as follows: "Celiac (SEE-lee-ak) disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is primarily found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients. Celiac disease can cause abdominal pain and diarrhea. Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment. No treatment can cure celiac disease. However, you can effectively manage celiac disease by changing your diet."  For more info from the Mayo Clinic you can go to this link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319

You would never guess how many everyday products contain gluten (a protein in wheat, rye or barley).  Obvious items from pasta and bread to things you wouldn't think about such as salad dressing, meat seasonings, toothpaste, lipstick/gloss and beer, yes, beer.  This has been a complete lifestyle change for me.  I have been eating gluten free since June 2009. I used to joke (pre June 2009) that I was on the all beige diet. Anything that was a carb, was my favorite.  Figures doesn't it?

We now eat corn, rice or quinoa pasta at our house.  Obscure salad dressing brands.  Cookies that taste like cardboard.  You get the idea.  My husband has been such a trooper and is so supportive.  He eats all gluten free meals with me (but does have his own bread stash for sandwiches). 

Going out to eat is always fun (sarcasm).  There are very few restaurants that actually can honestly say they offer gluten free options.  A gluten free option in my humble opinion should be a complete dish.  Something anyone would want to eat.  Ordering the steak, with no sauce or seasoning, the steamed vegetables with no seasoning or lemony butter sauce and the spinach and artichoke dip with no chips, is not a "gluten free option" to me.  What do I eat the dip with, a spoon?  So I appreciate the restaurants that DO offer complete gluten free options for people like me - Outback Steakhouse, PF Changs, BJ's Brewery just to name a few.  I reward (haha that sounds funny) these restaurants with my loyalty by being a regular customer.  More restaurants should take notice of this growing need in our community and begin offering even one option.  Some have - Olive Garden and Old Spaghetti Factory do both offer one gluten free pasta dish.  Hey it's a start. 

Haven't ever heard of Celiac's disease or gluten intolerance and you're thinking "ya right, why should restaurants have to cater to you?".  It's more common than you think - according to celiac.com, Celiac's disease affects at least 1 in 133 Americans.  It is common.  I'm sure restaurants get more than 133 customers a day, there should be a bigger push for restaurants to take action.  I just don't understand why there is not. 

Grocery shopping has become a whole ordeal in and of itself.  If I am at a regular grocery store I now spend a minimum of an hour there and up to two and half hours depending on the length of my list.  There are health stores, such as Henry's (which I love), that do label their shelves with lovely signs so you don't have to read each and every label.  At stores like Stater Brother's though, I am required to read the labels of 20 cans of  alfredo sauce before I find the one that works for me.  I have started to cook a lot more from scratch so that I can be certain something is gluten free, which is great, but let's be honest, I am gone 12 hours a day, when I get home, sometimes I just want to open a can of alfredo sauce and not have to spend the extra time making it myself. 

My friends and family have been SO supportive.  I am in a game night group that meets once a month.  The majority of the time my friends have been so gracious to cook something that is completely gluten free and in some cases make me something special on the side if the main dish isn't.  This is totally not expected but oh-so-sweet of my friends and I truly do appreciate it.  My parents have always been supportive of me since finding out and they too will eat gluten free when we are together and while I was living at home prior to getting married. 

I do want to say that more name brand products are coming out with gluten free products which is VERY exciting such as Betty Crocker's FABULOUS dessert line and even the GF Bisquick! Every single recipe I have tried with those products has been superb and I hope other big name brands follow suit soon. 

I should add that on occasion I do accidentally ingest something that contains gluten.  Following such an episode I am completely miserable.  It affects my mood - making my immediately irritable, gives me a headache, makes me feel like there is a troll in my belly trying to push his way out (bloating of the abdomen), and yep, you guessed it, gas.  Lucky Tim. 

Occasionally you will see me posting product reviews or recipes that I just love that are gluten free.  Don't be afraid of these gluten free products or recipes.  Many of the new products are delicious and I would never post about something that I wouldn't have thought was delicious prior to June 2009.  When I do find or make something delicious I get so excited I just have to tell the world, so bear with me.

Celiac's disease is prevalent and I hope that it begins to get the attention it deserves so that people who have it can stop feeling like "that guy" at a restaurant or store.