Gluten Free Shake and Bake

NOTE:  We lean towards veganism lately, and don't eat chicken anymore.  But I'm not deleting this post because too many have asked about this and want the recipe.  And I respect them and don't judge them for it.  Hopefully vegetarians will respect that too, as some of them used to eat meat at some point in their life.  Thank you!

I think I've only had Shake & Bake twice in my lifetime, and it was when I was under 10 years old. And it was at grandma's house. Because it was grandma's it was an extra special treat. I have fond memories of shake and bake chicken. It's complete comfort food that's kid friendly. I had a craving for this a few months ago and did a search for it on the Internet. I couldn't find anything on a gluten free shake and bake type recipe. So I made this one up, and I think it's a complete success. Not only does my gluten intolerant son have multiple food allergies, but he's the pickiest kid on the planet. So he'll be the real test! Now earlier I mentioned that we don't do well with chicken, so we greatly reduce our consumption of it.  I've found that if we only eat chicken a few times a year, we're ok. It's when we regularly consume it that we've noticed problems. And if my daughter gets rashy again, we'll cut it out for a while. So if you have the same problem, substitute another meat, or tofu! The cooking time might be different though. I used dark meat chicken for this and took the skin off. I've never been a fan of chicken skin, so I always do without it. The meat is still moist and not dried out. Next time I will try it with chicken breast, but maybe I'll leave the skin on so it doesn't dry out. I'll have to experiment on that one. So if you feel like you're a little deprived of the comfort food you had when you were a kid, or if you have a picky, celiac child that needs a decent meal, this will definitely work for you!

Ingredients:

1 cup GF bread crumbs

1/2 cup potato flour

2 tsp. salt

lots of fresh ground pepper

1 1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence

2 pkgs. of chicken pieces, I used dark meat

2 eggs beaten, or egg substitute like Ener-G egg replacer, or Faux Eggs (refer to that post)

suitable veg. oil like Safflower or EVOO (I hate it when Rachael Ray says that, now I'm doing it!)

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl or shallow dish for dredging. Pie plates are good for this. If you prefer to use the plastic bag for shaking, you can, I just don't like putting another plastic bag in the landfill. Then beat your eggs in another dish and set aside. Then skin your chicken.

Oh, at some point prepare your baking dishes. I coat them with enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the dish. Set it aside. Then take your skinned chicken and coat in beaten eggs.

Then dredge in crumb mixture and really smash those crumbs into the meat for a good coating.

Then roll it in your baking dish to get a coating of the oil all over the chicken.

Then bake at 400 degrees for around 40 minutes or until chicken reads around 180 degrees with a thermometer.

When it comes to GF comfort food, this is awesome! And it's been kid tested!

Amazing Gluten Free Lemon Pound Cake with Citrus Glaze

Here in NY we are experiencing Spring, finally. The daffodils are out, as well as snowdrops, crocuses, and other bulb flowers that come up right after the snow. Next will be tulips and I can't wait for the Tulip Festival. One thing farmers experience here in the country with their chickens is spring flush. As soon as the days get longer and there is more sunshine, chickens go into an egg-laying frenzy! They lay more than the average number of eggs. So we have acquired a couple dozen eggs from freinds who simple have too much as well as a basket full of goose eggs. Geese only lay in the spring. One goose egg is the equivelent to 3 chicken eggs. And don't get creeped out, they actually taste better than chicken eggs! They are milder in flavor and make excellent cakes. Edie, my 2 1/2 year old, decided she was hungry yesterday morning, so she got out the bowl of goose eggs and dropped them on the floor! A bowl of goose eggs is actually pretty heavy. So I had four cracked goose eggs that I could save, the rest were spread all over the floor. So after cleaning all that up off the floor, I thought what am I going to do with 4 goose eggs! That's 12 chicken eggs! Then it came to me, "Pound Cake!"

This pound cake recipe I made up yesterday is the best I've ever made, so far. There are a lot of ingredients, but don't let it scare you. Most GF pantry's have an assortment of flours on hand, because we've learned, one just doesn't cut it. If you want the best texture, and flavor, you have to combine them to make an excellent product. Everything I use is GF, like the lemon extract. Flavorganics is the brand I've purchased. This recipe is doubled, so cut it in half if you don't want so much cake lying around. There are 5 people in my family, and one loaf might last a day and a half! Especially with my husband's appetite. And you just can't resist it when it comes out of the oven, you have to try it warm with the warm glaze on top. That's why I called it Amazing lemon pound cake.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or grease with oil 2 loaf pans. (9x5)

Ingredients:
5 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp., broken down:
2 cups white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
1 cup corn flour (not starch, not meal, something inbetween, found at Sprout's markets in the bulk bins in AZ)
2 Tbsp. white bean flour (not garbanzo, or fava. I love this for the texture it creates)

2 1/2 tsp. Zanthan Gum
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. GF baking powder

Wisk the above together in a bowl to combine and set aside.

4 sticks of butter or suitable margarine (1 pound)
3 cups of sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
2 tsp. GF lemon extract
1 cup plain yogurt (can be So Delicious coconut yogurt or goat yogurt)
10 large eggs
1/2 cup of suitable veg. oil (I use grapeseed or safflower)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Glaze:
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a KitchenAid fitted with the paddle attachment (or electric hand-held beaters on low speed) add butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon extract, and yogurt on medium speed till combined and fluffy, a couple minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the bowl down with a spatula as needed. Beat in the oil and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time till all combined.

Spread batter in prepared loaf pans. Smooth out the tops.

Bake for around an hour at 350 degrees. I started with 50 minutes, then checked on them and added a few minutes as necessary. Test with a toothpick or cake tester in the center, if it's clean, it's done! Let cakes sit in pans for 10 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Add your orange juice and lemon juice to a small saucepan, and heat up on low. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, wisking till sugar dissolves. When mixture comes to a clear boil , it's done.

Invert your loaves onto a cooling rack or decorative plate, and pour glaze on top.

And voila! It's done! This is not your typical pound cake recipe, you can probably see that I had to make a few adjustments to the traditional pound cake, but the texture is perfect for a GF cake. And you can see that I didn't use loaf pans, but a bundt pan and 2 mini loaf pans to give to fellow celiac friends. Try it warm! It's irresistable!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and nut free

Intro

My name is Alina. I am a mom of 4, and many of us nowadays have to deal with food allergies. My family hit the jackpot as far as I'm concerned. My son, Jude, has gluten, soy, dairy, and peanut allergies. I, along with two other kids have egg, dairy and meat allergies. My daughter Emi is allergic to beef, pork, and crab of all things, but we can all eat fish.  So how do I adapt our diets to handle all this?  Well the meat thing I can handle, because I was strict vegetarian for over ten years of my life so adapting to that is easy. I've actually never prepared beef or pork ever in my life. Adapting to the gluten free diet was challenging, but the hardest thing for me to change is our dairy habits. But it's so hard to do! I don't need to give up cheese, half & half, and ice cream! Darn those casomorphins!  Jamie, my husband, and Emi, don't have any reactions to dairy, they can tolerate them more than the rest of us.  So having meat, dairy, soy, peanut, egg, and gluten allergies in the family is a little hard to accomodate. So what's a mom to do? After running screaming I put on some relaxing music and crochet! Because I can't cook anything for any of us, right? Well now I can say, wrong! Hey I was a professional cook back in the day, it's just another challenge I can take on. Since then, I've actually adapted to this whole situation and come up with, not a few, but many meals and desserts that fit our dietary needs and I'd like to share them to anyone out there who has a remotely similar situation. So stay tuned for my recipes!