1 Week Gluten Free

It has been exactly 1 week since I was diagnosed with all my lovely food ailments.  And I am HAPPY to report that things could not be going better.  I feel better, I have more energy and the bags under my eyes are smaller.  Nothing wrong with any of that.  This Friday, I am going to a specialist to figure out the extent of my allergies.  They will be testing the severity of each of the current things on my list as well as looking at other foods.  I am really hoping that my list of "no's" does not get any longer. But if it does, I am confident that it will work out.

 

One of the BEST meals that I've made since going gluten free, corn free, soy free, peanut free, pork free and dairy free (I'll just call that GF in the future) was a Sante Fe Chicken Chili.  This chili was SO good that even Scott was surprised (and he is a chili and chili dog connoisseur).  I found the recipe on the Gluten Free Goddess' website.  So far, her and Gluten Free Girl are my new heros.  I'm reading the Gluten Free Girl book and already want the cookbook that her and Chef wrote. 

 

My favorite thing about these 2 ladies is they took the same approach as I did to this whole gluten thing.  They received their diagnosis, had a short grieving and then embraced everything they could.  I am trying to follow that same mentality.  And while it has only been a week, I have no intention in ever going back to feeling as crappy as I once did.

 

Sante Fe Chicken Chili from Gluten Free Goddess
 Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 1 medium sweet onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced (I used dried powder)

• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste

• 1/4-1 teaspoon ground cayenne or chipotle pepper, to taste (I used chili powder because that's all I had)

• 1 sweet potato, peeled, diced

• 2 15-oz. cans pinto or white beans, rinsed, drained (I used 1 can garbanzo and 1 can black)

• 1 28-oz. can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes, with juice

• 8-oz. (1 cup) chopped roasted green chilies- mild or hot (hot)

• 2 cups chicken broth, more if needed

• 1 tablespoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar (forgot this part)

• A small drizzle of agave (forgot this part)

• 2 heaping cups cooked chicken pieces- hand torn looks nice

• Juice of 1 lime, or to taste (lemon juice)

I threw everything but the chicken in the crock pot and accidentally cooked it for almost 36 hours.  I didn't realize I had left it on overnight (I was sleepy!) and woke up to it being just fine.  I just added additional chicken stock and went on my way.  The day we were eating it, I plugged in my other crock pot and threw 3 frozen chicken breasts in some olive oil in and put it on low all day.  When I got home, I simply shredded the chicken, added the lemon juice and we dug right in.

 

To serve this, I put sour cream and shredded cheese on Scott's bowl.  I am still using up some of my gluten full foods and haven't replaced these with GF versions just yet.  Greek yogurt would have been good, but mine was expired (naturally). 

 

I imagine if I had felt like venturing to the store to get all the ingredients that this recipe is actually supposed to have, it would have been better.  I used what I already had and it still turned out good. 

 

Nom nom nom.

 

I promise I'll do an update soon on the house (since this is a house blog after all).  But this happens to be all that we are "talking" about in my house right now.