The Baking Beauties » Appetizer

Gluten-Free Spicy Chicken Taco Salad

Jeanine Friesen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:33:00 +0000

My favorite dinners are the kind that are quick to prepare, yet full of flavour. Pasta dishes are always a good option, but as the weather gets warmer and the sun shines longer into the evening, it’s nice to have a repertoire of lighter, healthier salads as well. This Spicy Chicken Taco Salad is filled with all of my favorite tex-mex flavours – lettuce, black beans, tomato, lime, avocado, jalapeno, and cumin. While grocery shopping I saw riceworks Salsa Fresca crisps, and knew they be perfect for this salad, since they have a really great crunch and are full of flavour. They are also gluten-free, like all the riceworks crisps. If you can’t find the riceworks crisps, you are welcome to use your favorite salsa/cheese flavoured chips.

Another shortcut that I took was using a bottled salad dressing. The President’s Choice Avocado Dressing with Lime and Jalapeno is perfect for this salad. Since the dressing can only be purchased at certain stores, another alternative is to serve it with this Creamy Avocado Dressing from Closet Cooking.

Please visit Mommy Moment to view my guest post and get the full recipe.

Canned Tomato Soup

Jeanine Friesen — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:18:29 +0000

Welcome to canning season in this Baking Beauty’s kitchen. I don’t can much, but when those tomatoes turn red, I’ve got my work cut out for me. Besides making salsa, I also make this Canned Tomato Soup.

This recipe comes from my Mother-in-law, I have no idea how long she has made this soup, but when I started dating her son 16 years ago, I know she was making the soup then already. I always found the soup to be too warm though. Like, beads of sweat on your forehead warm. But, that must have been a year for strong onions, strong peppers, and a few more dashes of cayenne, because I don’t find it to be too spicy anymore.

Ever since going gluten-free, I’ve been sure to make enough of this tomato soup to fill my pantry shelves, sometimes even making enough for a few years (you never know when you will have a bad tomato crop, so better to plan ahead). This soup has become a staple in our house, and I hope your family will enjoy it as well. You are going to want to print it out, put it in a plastic sleeve to keep it free of splatters, and bring it out whenever the tomatoes start ripening.

Canned Tomato Soup

Author: Jeanine Friesen

Recipe type: Canning

Yields 8-10 pints.

Ingredients

1 1/2 ice cream pails (24 cups) tomatoes, cut into chunks (I prefer to use Roma tomatoes because they are less juicy than other tomatoes
2 cups chopped celery
4 cups onions, roughly chopped
2 large green peppers, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped (about 3/4 – 1 cup chopped)
1-2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp whole cloves

Instructions

Put chopped tomato into a large stock pot. Mash them with a potato masher to extract some of the juice. Begin to heat the tomatoes on a low-medium temperature while you prepare the rest of the vegetables.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the tomatoes, and bring the mixture up to a boil over medium – medium/high heat, stirring often, being careful not to burn.
Once ingredients have come to a boil, reduce heat and allow the vegetables to slowly boil for another 2 hours, or until the vegetables are all very soft.
Remove bay leaf (if you can find it, if not, don’t worry about it). Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until smooth. Note: If you do not have an immersion blender, you will have to wait for your soup to cool before using your regular blender. Hot liquids in a blender can be very dangerous.
Carefully scoop some of the soup mixture into a Chinois or rotary food press fitted over a large bowl. Press the juice through the press, and discard the peel and seeds. Repeat until you have pressed/strained all the soup. Reserve 2 cups of the soup mixture. Return the rest of the soup to the stock pot
In a medium bowl, whisk together:
/4 cup cornstarch
/4 cup granulated sugar
/4 cup salt
/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
Add 1/2 cup melted margarine, and the reserved soup.
Slowly bring the strained soup back up to a gentle boil. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture, and continue to boil until the soup has thickened.
While the soup mixture is reheating, place your canning jars in a large canner with enough water to cover them by at least 1-inch, and bring to a boil. Boil for at least 10 minutes. Also place your lids in a pan of simmering water, and simmer for 10 minutes. This ensures that the jars and lids are sterilized before adding the soup to them.
Lift the sterilized jars from the boiling water bath and empty them. Half should be emptied into the sink, and half should be emptied back into the pot to keep the boiling water level up.
Fill each jar with tomato soup, to within 1 cm of the rim. Wipe the rim clean with a paper towel dipped in boiling water, and place the lids and rings on top of the jar. Return the jars to the boiling water bath and boil them for 20 minutes, well covered in water.
Remove from waterbath and set jars on a dry towel, free from drafts. Allow to cool completely before checking that each jar has sealed (the lid is pulled down slightly, and no longer “pops” when you push on it). Label and store in cool, dark place. It is best to used home canned goods within 12 months.

Notes

To serve the soup: Empty the contents of the jar plus an equal amount of milk into to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until soup is hot & steaming. We like to serve ours with tortilla chips, shredded cheese & sour cream for a quick, simple tortilla soup.

Southwest Chicken Mango Quinoa

Jeanine Friesen — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:20:02 +0000

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I love quinoa. Ask me 2 years ago, and I’d never heard of it. Weird how 2 years ago, one hadn’t ever heard of an ancient grain before, but so it goes! I love how quick it cooks up (perfect for those “What’s for supper today” days). I love the nutty flavour it has behind it. That you can eat it hot or cold, and it’s great either way. And I love that you can do anything with it. Flavour it anyway you want. You want it to be filled with Greek flavours? Done! How about a nice creamy dessert (which is healthy enough for breakfast)? Done! Add some Mexican flair? Why not? It is a very versatile grain. And totally healthy too.

So, when I saw a recipe for a sandwich on a recipe site, I thought…those flavours would be absolutely perfect in a quinoa dish! Well, it was after the “oh my goodness, I wish I had bread good enough and big enough to hold that load of toppings!”. But, you do what you can, and I took the flavours from that sandwich, and incorporated them into this wonderful Southwest Chicken Mango Quinoa Salad.

Southwest Chicken Mango Quinoa

Author: Jeanine Friesen

Recipe type: Salad

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4

This quinoa salad is filled with flavours that compliment each other beautifully. For a vegetarian dish, omit the chicken and use a gluten-free vegetable broth instead.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed & drained if necessary (mine says “Pre-rinsed”)
3 cups gluten-free chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, cut into bit size pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 mango, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions

In a medium size sauce pan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the quinoa and stir. Turn the heat down to low and place the lid on the pot. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed.
In a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat, saute your chicken in the olive oil until nearly done. Season with salt & pepper.
Turn the heat down to medium and add the minced garlic, red onion, red pepper and jalapeno pepper. Saute, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chili powder and stir.
Place the cooked quinoa in a large bowl. Add in the chicken/onion mixture, lime juice, mango and cilantro and stir until mixed. Serve immediately, or allow to cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Baked Potato Soup

Jeanine Friesen — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:32:19 +0000

The evenings are starting to get cooler here already, and we all know that autumn is just around the corner for us. We’re enjoying the hot days that we get now, knowing that in a few short weeks, we will have forgotten all about the heat and humidity that we had this summer. On rainy days, it is usually quite cool already. And on those cool days, when you can open the windows & let the cool air blow through the house, there is just something comforting about being able sit around the table with your family and enjoy a nice, hot bowl of soup.

This Baked Potato Soup is pretty flexible, you can include the ingredients you like, and omit those you don’t care for, much like when you top your baked potato. If onions aren’t your thing, omit them. And if you don’t like bacon, don’t add it. It is totally up to you to make this recipe to suit your family’s tastes.

Baked Potato Soup

Author: Jeanine Friesen

Recipe type: Soup

This Baked Potato Soup is pretty flexible, you can include the ingredients you like, and omit those you don’t care for, much like when you top your baked potato.

Ingredients

3 bacon strips, diced (optional) – If omitting bacon: 2 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups gluten-free chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
minced fresh chives

Instructions

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 Tbsp of the drippings. Set bacon aside. (If not using bacon, add oil and butter to the pan in place of the drippings)
Saute onion and garlic in the drippings (or oil and butter) until tender. Stir in cornstarch, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and boil and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the potatoes, cream, and hot pepper sauce. Heat through but do not boil.
Garnish your soup with the bacon, cheddar cheese and chives.

Notes

You can either use leftover potatoes, or you can bake your potatoes in the microwave. To do that, simply scrub your potatoes with a brush to clean them, pat them dry, poke them numerous times with a fork or knife. Place across from each other in the microwave, and microwave in 2 minute intervals, flipping each time, until a knife easily penetrates the middle of the potato.

Colorful Grilled Corn Salad

Jeanine Friesen — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:49:27 +0000

Welcome to August! Wow, where on earth is the summer going? We’ve been having a fantastic summer so far, I just can’t believe how quickly it is flying by. We will need to do some back-to-school shopping soon, I guess. I love buying the new markers, pencils and supplies for the kids, but this year, I’m just not ready to think about sending them back yet. July went by so quickly though, that if I blink twice, August may be past too.

We have actually been having a beautiful, hot summer this year. Some years, we have a very cool and rainy summer. This year, it is hot and humid, and the rain just isn’t falling much. My garden (of tomatoes, mostly) is still doing well, I have 20 tomato plants, I think, and they are all setting on, I’m just waiting for them to start turning orange. There is nothing as tasty as garden fresh tomatoes. Mmm… Plus, I have a lot of salsa that I need to make this year, since my last year’s tomato crop was a bust, they all started rotting before they turned orange. Very disappointing. So, we will see what this year brings.

Along with the hot weather, comes grilling season. Mainly because no one wants to turn on the stove or be in the kitchen when it is so hot outside. That is where this recipe comes in. I had some fresh corn on the cob at home, and decided to create a Colourful Grilled Corn Salad using grilled corn as the base. DELICIOUS! You can eat it as is, or you can scoop it up with corn chips, the choice is yours. This salad pairs beautifully with grilled steak, chicken, or even fish.

Colorful Grilled Corn Salad

Author: Jeanine Friesen

Hello, summer! Embrace the hot days with this Colourful Grilled Corn Salad.

Ingredients

6 cobs of corn, shucked and cleaned
1 can black (or kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced (optional)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
dash hot sauce

Instructions

Grill cleaned corn over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until slightly blackened in areas, allow to cool and cut off corn into a bowl. Add black beans, red pepper red onion, cilantro and jalapeno pepper.
In a small bowl, whisk to combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, agave nectar, salt, garlic, cumin, black pepper, chili powder and hot sauce.
Pour over corn mixture and stir to coat.
Refrigerate for at least half an hour, or until ready to serve.

When it is summer and hot at your place, do you still use the stove, or is use of it banned until it cools off?