Hearty Chicken and Rice Soup with Asian Veggies (Naturally Gluten Free)

Since I've been feeling a little sick lately,

I thought that I should make myself some soup to feel better.

It was super easy to make - perfect if you don't feel great!

Originally I wanted to make chicken noodle soup but I 
wasn't sure how the gluten free noodles would hold up as leftovers, so I went with rice which was a lot simpler.

I started by adding chicken broth and water to a pot. (I bet it would be even better with homemade chicken broth!!) Then I coarsely chopped an onion, and threw in 2 frozen chicken breasts.

I added a couple of tosses of herbs/seasonings to add 
some flavor to the broth.

I brought the broth to a boil and left it to simmer for about an 

hour and a half while I did other things. I occasionally came around to stir the broth and shred the chicken.

 About 30 mins before I wanted to eat dinner,

I gathered up the veggies I had on hand.  I didn't have many 'traditional' veggies so I used carrots, enoki mushrooms, 
garlic, baby bok choy and savoy cabbage.

I chopped the carrots and enoki mushrooms into bite-sized

chunks and threw them in a frying pan with a healthy dose of

powdered ginger, minced garlic and olive oil.

 After sautéing the mixture for a few minutes, I threw

it all in the pot. Then I chopped up my bok choy and cabbage,

and added it to the mix.  Then I added some jasmine rice.

After letting that cook for about 20 mins,

it was ready to eat!

It was really tasty!  But then as I was happily eating 

my soup and I thought maybe I should add a bit more flair to

clear out the sinuses and threw in some sriracha.

That was *extra* yummy!

The Recipe

Broth
- 4 cups chicken broth (I used Wegman's Organic Low-Sodium Broth)
- 4-5 cups water
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/2 tsp crushed rosemary
- 1/4 tsp celery seed

Veggies
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 2 packages of enoki mushrooms, chopped
- 1.5 cups chopped savoy cabbage (about 3-4 leaves)
- 2 small bundles of bok choy, chopped
- 2 tbsp minced garlic

Other
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 cups jasmine rice
- salt & pepper to taste


Putting it together:

1.  Put all broth ingredients (chicken broth, water, chicken breasts, onion, poultry seasoning, rosemary & celery seed) into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and leave for 30 mins to an hour (or more).
2.  Saute the carrots, mushrooms, garlic and ginger powder in the olive oil for approximately 3 minutes, then pour into the broth.
3.  Add the cabbage, bok choy and rice to the broth.
4.  Add salt and pepper to the broth to taste.
5.  Let the soup cook for an additional 20-30 minutes on low heat, until the rice is soft.

**I wanted a really thick and hearty soup.

If you prefer a soup with more broth, you could

either add more broth, or reduce the rice to 1 cup.
Because of the nature of rice, this soup will continue 
to thicken as it sits out, and by the time you're eating it as leftovers it's almost a porridge.  If you'd like to preserve
the 'soupiness,' collect some broth to store separately and add back in when reheating (or add new broth when reheating).

*Find a printer friendly version of this recipe

on my Google Docs here!

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie (...and regular Chicken Pot Pie, too!)

Nothing says fall like comfort food...

and my favorite comfort food of all is probably chicken pot pie.

(Followed closely by chicken & dumplings!)

It was easier to make pot pie a couple years ago before

we figured out that Clint has a gluten intolerance,

but that shouldn't stand in the way of good pot pie!

L - Pamela's Baking Mix, R - Pillsbury GF Dough

In our continuing quest to eat the best tasting

gluten free foods possible, I actually made 2 pot pies, each with

different GF crusts - so Clint could do a taste test comparison.  (Actually, we had company, so I made 4 pot pies 
total - 2 GF and 2 regular).

The GF Crust Options:

Up at bat were Pamela's Bread Mix & Flour Blend and a (new?) premixed Pillsbury Gluten Free dough.

(Next time I might try this King Arthur Flour recipe.

Previously we have tried the 'Gluten-Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust' and I don't remember how it tasted, but it was definitely more complicated to make.  We'll have to try it again.)

The Dough Comparison
	Pros	Cons
Pillsbury	No mixing required, very easy to roll out, very quick to use	Thinner dough is slightly difficult to work with - the dough stuck to the parchment paper a lot when trying to put the crust into the pie dish and when covering the pot pie
Pamela's	Rolled dough is easy to work with, comes off parchment paper without difficulty	Time consuming to make, difficult to get dough into the right consistency

In terms of taste, Clint said that the main difference he noticed was that the Pillsbury crust was thinner. (There was more Pamela's dough than Pillsbury, so they did roll out a little thicker.) He didn't seem to have a preference between the two, and claims he would eat either happily.

The Pamela's crust is a little thicker and crispier, and the Pillsbury was a little softer, and possibly flakier.
This did make the Pillsbury crust more susceptible to
getting soggy from the filling.

The (GF) Recipe

This recipe is my adaptation of a recipe originally

found on allrecipes.com, available here.

This recipe will make 2 deep pies - I like to load 'em up! 

Crust

- 2 pairs of your favorite 9" GF pie crusts

- 1 egg white

Filling

- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken; cubed (I prefer thighs)

- 6 large carrots, sliced (~4 cups)

- 4 stalks of celery, sliced (~2 cups)

- 2 or 3 small waxy potatoes, cubed (~2.5 cups)

- 1 can of corn

- 2 cups frozen peas

- 5 or 6 cups chicken broth

Gravy

- 2 or 3 small onions, diced (~2 cups)

- 3/4 cup butter

- 1/3 cup sorghum flour

- 1/3 cup potato starch

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 1/2 tsp celery seed

- 1 tsp poultry seasoning

- 1/2 tsp garlic salt

- 2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

- 1 & 1/3 cup milk

Putting it together:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Place bottom pie crusts. Beat egg white and brush pie crusts with egg white  Bake bottom crusts at 375 for 5-8 mins. Save egg whites for later use on upper crust.

3. Combine filling ingredients (chicken, carrots, celery, potatoes, corn, peas, & chicken broth) into a large pot and boil for 10 mins. Strain filling while saving the chicken broth for us in the gravy. Set filling aside.

4. In a large saucepan, cook onions in butter until soft. Stir in salt, black pepper, celery seed, poultry seasoning, and garlic salt. Stir in sorghum flour and potato starch. Slowly stir in milk & chicken broth. Simmer over low heat until gravy is thick.

5. Fill bottom pie crusts with filling mixture. Pour gravy mixture over filling. Sometimes if the gravy is really thick (and doesn't seem like it will naturally fill the spaces well), I use a large spoon to manually mix the gravy and filling.  This also allows me to add more gravy. More gravy = more yummy!

6. Cover pies with top crust, seal pie edges cutting away excess dough. Cut small slits into the crust for escaping steam. Brush top crusts with remaining eggwhites.

7. Bake pies in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow pies to cool prior to serving.

**If you prefer to make a non-GF pot pie, simply

replace the GF pie crusts with your favorite regular pie crusts,

and substitute the (1/3 cup sorghum + 1/3 cup potato starch)

mixture with 2/3 cup flour.

*Find a printer friendly version of this recipe 
on my Google Docs here!