Gluten/Egg/Soy Free, Easy to Chew Chicken Nuggets

"Egg" Mixture
1 tbsp milled flax seed
1/4 c water

Breading Mixture
1/4 c gluten-free corn flakes (can be substituted by any smashed cereal or bread crumb-type item of your choice)
1/8 c brown rice flour (can also be substituted by any flour)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp salt or seasoning salt
pepper to taste

Chicken Mixture
1 chicken breast, boiled and shredded (you can also use un-cooked chicken but I'm not skilled enough to make sure it gets cooked all the way through when I fry the nuggets so I use pre-cooked chicken)
a dash of the following: oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, salt or seasoning salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

abt 1 1/2 cups canola oil

1. Stir flax seed and water together in a small bowl and let it set up. After several minutes it should resemble egg-white

2. In another small bowl, mix together corn flakes or bread crumbs, flour, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour about 1/3 of the mixture on the edge of a plate.

3. In a food processor chop chicken into a fine paste. Add oil or water if you need more liquid to make a paste. Add oregano, garlic and onion powders, parsley, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning to the paste.

4. Roll chicken paste into nugget-sized balls. Roll in flour mixture on the plate. Heat canola oil in a deep frying pan. Oil should sizzle if you toss a little flour in the pan, but it should not be smoking.

5. Take each "floured" ball and dip it in the flax mixture, then roll it in the bowl with the rest of the breading and drop in oil. Turn when outside is golden (about 2 minutes, depending on how hot your oil is).

6. Dip in honey mustard sauce (equal parts of mustard and honey) and enjoy!

*Makes about 16 1 1/2 inch nuggets.

Mine kind of fell apart easily. I'm open to suggestions of how to avoid that. Guar gum in the chicken mix, maybe? But they tasted really good! I'm addicted. I'm going to try making a huge batch and freezing them for quick and easy meals. The chicken I used was actually the chicken off of one I boiled yesterday to make chicken broth. I used most of it for chicken enchiladas and the leftovers were just enough for a batch of nuggets.

Homemade Coconut Ice Cream in a Ziplock Bag

1 cup coconut milk*
1 tsp vanilla
3/8 cup (6 or 7 tbsp) sugar
optional flavorings of your choice

ice
rock salt (abt 6 tbsp)
quart-sized ziplock bag
gallon-sized ziplock bag
newspaper or hotpads
packing or duct tape (if using newspaper)

*Use partial combination of coconut milk and rice milk for fewer calories or milder coconut flavor.

Pour milk, vanilla (or other flavoring of your choice), and sugar in quart sized bag. Remove as much air as possible and seal it. Place a layer of ice cubes and rock salt in gallon sized bag and put in quart sized bag in. Surround with additional layers of ice and rock salt until full. Seal bag. If using newspaper and tape (to keep your hands from getting cold) wrap in several layers of paper and tape shut. If using hot pads use the gloved pads. Shake bag vigorously for 15 minutes or until ice cream is hardened. Remove quart sized bag, rinse salt off very quickly (so ice cream doesn't melt) in cold water. Eat straight from the bag or transfer it to a bowl.

This turned out to be delicious! Coconut has been my favorite flavor of ice cream for a long time. The flavor was a little strong for the kids so I recommend using a blend of coconut and rice milk for kids with a strong sense of taste. (My kids sure need the calories from the coconut milk though!)

[ETA 3/16/12]: This recipe is included in my new book, Barrett's Unusual Ice Cream Party.

Dairy/Soy Free Hot Fudge

*picture coming soon.

This one turned out to be very delicious! Drizzle some over coconut or rice milk ice cream, dip banana slices in it, or drizzle some on your favorite pastries.

3/4 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
2/3 c coconut milk
1/3 c corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c canola oil or 1/3 c margarine substitute of your choice

Mix sugar and cocoa in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Stir in coconut milk and corn syrup. Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and oil or margarine.

Variation: melt in peanut butter to taste for a different flavor or added protein or calories.

Mine was a little thin because the coconut milk I used was watered down. You can use a more concentrated coconut milk to make it thicker.

Soy/Dairy/Gluten Free Shortening and Margarine

I just discovered these two items:

Earth Balance Soy Free Natural Buttery Spread
This one is relatively new and so not widely available. I haven't been able to find any yet but I am in the process of requesting it at our local stores. I wish I could just order it online but they don't do direct sales.

Spectrum Organic Shortening This is made from 100% palm oil. I haven't tried it yet either but I'll write a review as soon as I do. You can only order this one online. They don't appear to sell through stores. Of course the disadvantage of that is it's $7 for 24 oz plus $6 shipping. Not cheap. But they do have a monopoly on it so I guess they can get away with it.

Gluten/Dairy/Soy/Egg Free Applesauce Bread, version 2

(pictures coming soon)

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 1/4 c flour*
• 1 1/2 c brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp guar gum (or xanthan)
• 3 tbsp milled flax seed (my egg replacer)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cashews and peanuts**
  
• 1 15 oz can applesauce
• 1 c canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl combine cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, guar gum, and flax seed, flour, and nut paste. Slowly stir in applesauce and oil. Batter should be thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough.

5. "Glop" into muffin cups, about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes about two dozen.

*For this I used 1/2 c gluten-free oats made into flour in a food processer, 1/2 c brown rice flour, 1/2 c coconut flour, 1/2 c (2 parts potato flour, 1 part tapioca starch) 1/4 c Bob's baking mix

**I wanted to add protein and calories and Barrett won't eat anything with chunks so I blended the nuts very finely, almost like peanut butter.

The goal was to make these not quite as dense is the last ones and I accomplished that goal. I still want to put coconut milk in but it just had too much moisture last time. I could possibly do 1/2-1/2 ratio oil and coconut. I could also put coconut milk in place of applesauce but that would still make them pretty heavy. I'll have to check to see which has more calories. But maybe heavy isn't bad since the kids ate the last batch just fine.

Gluten-Free Cream of Chicken Soup

Sorry it has dairy, but I needed a substitute that I could eat for sauce on Hawaiian haystacks and to use in casseroles.

4 oz softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used homemade broth with chicken bits in it)
1 tbsp potato flour (or rice flour or whatever)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp parsley

Beat cream cheese. Slowly beat in broth (try to keep the chicken pieces out until you are done beating). Stir in herbs and spices. Add chicken. Once the broth and cheese are mixed together you can heat it on the stove, stirring often. Or when everything is mixed together you can microwave it for 2-3 minutes. Make sure and stir every once in awhile if you do it in the microwave. You can change the consistency by adjusting the amount of flour you use.

Makes about 2 cups.