Crockpot Indian Butter Chicken---Gluten Free

This is not low calorie, and even the title sounds fattening!!   This is the latest in my efforts to cook one new dish a week that's gluten-free.  It turned out good, and my husband seemed to enjoy it.  He's not one for very spicy foods, and this was 'mild' in the hotness category, so he ate well tonight!

I found this recipe on my favorite Crockpot website---A Year of Slow Cooking.  Apparently the blogger from this website had been given this recipe from another website--Meal Planning 101.  Check them both out!   I cooked this in the slow cooker on high for about 4 hours.  A difference of mine from the recipe was that I used chicken thighs that still had the bones, and I used ground cardamom rather than cardamom pods (I was clueless about where to find pods!).  It all seemed to work!

I have enough left over for a couple of lunches for work, and for dinner with Alana tomorrow! 
Try this out---it was easy.

Sweet Mustard Pork Roast--Gluten Free

Yesterday, I had Alana over for dinner and then we went to a play at my church.  The play--"Into the Woods" --was great, entertaining, funny, and completely put on by church members (so professionally)!  Live orchestra, great sound system, creative set and costumes and fabulous singing.... We both loved it!  The cow was particularly cute!  I'm amazed at what dedicated people can do!

Dinner prior to the play was a new recipe for me---Sweet Mustard Pork Roast--taken from one of my favorite websites, A Year of Slow Cooking. 

This was very easy to make---simply put all of the ingredients in a slow cooker, and turn it on.   My crock pot was a 6 quart and the recipe did say 4 quart.  Take some time off of the cooking time, if you have a bigger one like mine.  I probably cooked mine too long.  It was still very tasty, and everyone ate well!

Chicken in Curry Simmer Sauce---Gluten Free!

When I first went Gluten Free, I was overwhelmed by the lack of conveniences.  Our family was, at that time, typical of many families with working parents----pizza and carry-outs happened often, and processed foods from the grocery store were staples in our freezer.  Of course, most of these contained some type of wheat product, so suddenly, I was forced to live off of potatoes and cheese, due to a lack of knowledge of wheat-free alternatives.   Gradually, I've developed a repertoire of recipes, and I've found some easy convenience items that work for when I get home after 4:00, and have to entertain out-of-towners (like the ones that are coming for the big wedding this weekend!)

Tonight's dish was very simple---two jars of Curry Simmer Sauce from Trader Joe's, and a couple of packages of boneless chicken breasts.  I followed the instructions on the jar---easy.  Made a salad and rice, and we were good to go.  My sister in law and her son were supposed to arrive right at supper, and presto!  a delicious dinner was cooked up.  (Minor glitch---they are still sitting in Cleveland with a flight delay as I'm typing this up.  Oh well, this will still taste good at 11:00 tonight when they do get in!)
  The verdict about this dish----nothing beats 'made from scratch', but for a convenience dish for a working person---this was good. 

Silver Linings

The eastern part of the state is still recovering from Hurricane Irene, but around Chapel Hill, life has gone on as normal.  School was unaffected, people went to their jobs, no flooding happened, and UNC had its first home football game.

Our house still has a rather large dent/splintered wood area in the roof, but rather than fixing it ourselves which would have been a horrible, exhausting job, David has hired a contractor,  we received a nice insurance check, and we now have enough firewood (elm) to last for quite a while.   Maybe we'll have a record cold winter!  We're ready!

It was my turn to cook and to celebrate all of our new firewood, I made an extra special recipe.  One of my favorite gluten-free websites is Gluten Freeda.  It has everything from appetizers, to breads, to desserts, to main dishes.  One category is '30 minute meals' and that's where I found "Almond Crusted Chicken Breasts".  Gluten Freeda fans had rated it with 5 stars--very easy to make and delicious!  David approved.  (Even if you are not gluten-free, this is a great recipe.)  Check it out for yourself here.

Mentoring fun---Cookie Fine Art

cookie cutter phase

 What happens when you put a couple creative girls in the kitchen with no restrictions? They start with traditional rolled cookies, and then the 'art part' of their brains take over.  Cookie cutters are abandoned.  Results below.

Hand-sculpted phase

More sculpture

Mentoring fun

This is short---Both mentors (David and I) and mentees spent a couple hours at the pool.  Then with the twins help, there was heavy math going on as we made pizza, added toppings, and cooked it.  For those of you who are considering being a mentor, here is a little glimpse into one time of mentoring fun. No bells and whistles--we all just were making pizzas together. 

 

The end result was delicious and the meal was great!

Julia Childs meet special needs cooks!

I'm not a gourmet cook, but really love cooking with kids.  In school, there are a myriad of considerations to take into account when preparing food with children---allergies, school nutrition guidelines, sanitation, time, cost, availability of appliances, and the general pickiness of some kids.  That being said, cooking is a nice way to present a sequenced set of directions with the end product hopefully being something yummy!  I was pleasantly surprised to see a website all about cooking with special needs kids.  In addition, it was developed by a Girl Scout for her gold award!  (Both of my daughters are lifetime Girl Scouts.)

Click here for the website!


Here are some screen shots.

The web designer--a gold award Girl Scout

Each recipe has a lesson guide

The screen shot of one of the recipes.  Each has step-by-step directions.

Way to go, Girl Scouts!!!!!