Swensen's Chicken Noodle Soup Both Regular and Gluten Free

During Thanksgiving I made "Swensen's Chicken Noodle Soup" for my family for lunch one day. Since then Honey has asked me to make more several times but I declined because it makes a lot and I didn't have the ingredients to make it gluten free. Today Honey took me to our local "The Living Diet" store to buy pasta for some homemade chicken noodle soup.

I remember eating ice cream at Swensen's when I was a child. I always thought that their ice cream was the best and could not imagine them having anything else so good. If I had only know I bet I would have paid them more visits during the cold weather months.

That's all water under the bridge but I am so glad to now know about their soup and to be able to convert it to gluten free. Ya'll it is great, I just ate a bowl and may go back for more.

I cut the gluten free recipe down because Honey and I can't eat as much as my whole family.

Swensen's Chicken Noodle Soup Converted to Gluten Free

Ingredients:
2 qts. water

Orrington Farms Chicken Flavored Broth Base, adjust to your taste

3/8 tsp. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 ½ Green Onion finely chopped and sautéed in butter 
(8-ounce) of your favorite gluten free ribbon style pasta
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use Great Value brand)
1 c. white chicken breast; cooked and shredded


Instructions:
Bring water to a boil. Add bouillon and all seasonings. Add noodles and cook until tender. Add cream of chicken soup, green onions and chicken cook until hot through and through Makes 2 quarts.

For those who can have gluten:

Swensen's Chicken Noodle Soup
Servings: 10
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Source: Mississippi Magazine

Ingredients:
1 gallon water
¾ jar (2.25-ounce) chicken bouillon; granulated
¾ tsp. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
½ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. black pepper
(8-ounce) extra-broad egg noodles
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
½ Tbs. butter
1 c. white chicken breast; cooked and; shredded
1 ½ green onions; finely chopped

Instructions:
Bring water to a boil. Add bouillon and all seasonings. Add noodles and cook until tender. Add cream of chicken soup. Saute' green onions in butter in saucepan. Add to mixture. Add cooked chicken, then stir well and serve. Makes 1 gallon.

So whether you can or can not eat gluten here is a great soup recipe just for you! Let me tell ya you will love it!!! Try it and let me know your thoughts!

New 2010 Gluten Free Holiday Baking E-Book - Download it NOW!!!

I love my readers, family and friends and because of this I have teamed up with some other wonderful cooks to create a holiday gift just for you! So many of you have impacted my life in many ways whether it is by your support, comments, e-mails or actually cooking for me in your home and I  want to say a big Thank YOU!!!!

My friend Jeanine of "The Baking Beauties" has put this cookbook together for all of us to benefit from and I was to say a huge thanks go her, I think she did a first class job! 

So lets get started and... Happy Holidays!

By clicking the above image, you will be taken to Google Documents. You do NOT need a Google account to be able to download the e-book, no worries. You WILL need Adobe Reader to view it though. Once the document opens up in Google Docs, you can either open as a PDF in Adobe Reader, print it, or save it to your hard drive. I know I'll excited about having all these recipes in my kitchen!

Thank you so much to all the contributors, make sure you check out their blogs as well. There is a LOT of great food on these GF food blogs, so there is no reason any of us should feel left out this holiday season.

Aine Olson

Amy Green - www.simplysugarandglutenfree.com

Annette Ross

Beth Maurer

Carla Spacher - http://glutenfreerecipebox.com

Carol - www.easytobeglutenfree.com

Carolyn Ketchum - www.dreamaboutfood.blogspot.com

Deb Steel

Grace Good - www.gracefullyglutenfree.blogspot.com

Jeanine Friesen - www.thebakingbeauties.com

Jeanne Sauvage - www.artofglutenfreebaking.com

Johnna Perry - www.52Sweets.com

Kathleen Duquette - www.imadetoast.com

Kathryn Hogan

Lady Fire-Eyes

Linda Etherton - www.glutenfreehomemaker.com

Maggie Savage - www.SheLetThemEatCake.com

Nancy Guppy - www.chapmanslanding.blogspot.com

Sara Jeanne Burke

Sarah Roberson - www.lifeisstillsweet.com

Shoshana Ohriner - www.couldntbeparve.com

Tamara Wheeler

From our homes to yours...Have a Blessed Holiday Season!

Chicken and Dumplings

We had a great Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for. My Dad was able to come visit for a couple of days which is always special.

Uncle Allen at his 80th birthday celebration, before Honey and I married!

The day before Thanksgiving we received a call that Steve's uncle had passed away. This is not just any uncle because he is the one responsible for getting us together. You see my friends, who are more like parents, were also Allen's friends in Pensacola, Florida. After my divorce I visited them often and one Sunday in particular I was at church with Fred and Marion and we set behind Allen and his family and talked to them several times. After I left Florida to return to Mississippi Allen told Fred that he had a nephew that he wanted me to meet. Fred tried telling him that I was not ready for that but when Uncle Allen made up his mind there was nothing going to change it and he had his mind set. That Christmas Fred and Marion asked me to come down to Florida and visit them during Christmas. Ashia was gone and I was home alone and bored so I decided to go to Pensacola for a few days. I had only been there a short time when Allen found out and called his nephew. Steve who farms for Allen always had business to conduct so he drove from Mississippi to Florida a couple of days after Christmas to meet with Allen. We all ate supper together that night and Fred and Marion had Steve and I over to visited a little then he left to return to MS. This was the VERY beginning of a new friendship, that I knew deep down was something special but never thought it would end up in marriage. Steve swears that night when I walked into the restaurant he knew that one day he was going to marry me. So here we are 6-years and 11 months later and we just attended the funeral of Uncle Allen. He was a man full of mischief and lots of fun and he sure will be missed.
In memory of Uncle Allen 1923-2009

The  day of the funeral I made Chicken and Dumplings for our family and Fred and Marion. Fred and Marion also brought Allen's long time pastor and friend Mike with them who helped with the service. I cheated on this recipe because there was not much time I bought the dumplings pre-made. This IS NOT a gluten-free recipe. I've tried making it gluten-free in the past but my dumplings never turn out just right. Sorry!


Chicken and Dumplings
Servings: 8
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 chicken; cooked and deboned
2 quarts broth; from cooked chicken
3 cups self-rising flour
1 cup water
2/3 cup Crisco shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
½ cup milk; to taste optional
1 stick butter' optional

Instructions:
Cut Crisco into flour, add water and mix. Roll out thin onto floured pastry sheet, cut into strips and small squares. Drip into hot boiling broth, stir gently as needed. Cooks quick! Cook about 3 minutes, then gently stir in butter, milk and deboned chicken. Let simmer until all ingredients are hot. Serve immediately!

The visit of our children.

What a great week! Our girls and their families, except for son-in-law Eric, were home for a few days and we had a blast! Well most of us had a blast our two grand-daughters Alayna and Emma were sick most of the time so it may not have been a blast for them. The aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents had fun visiting each other and with baby Austin.

We also worked in a little celebration, Alayna's 8th birthday was the 14th so we had her a small party with her grand-parents on Sunday afternoon. Then we had the local Good's over (pardon the pun) to visit with the girls and their families, some of them managed to get in some Austin time too. I'm not sure what Austin thought of all the attention, she acted as though she enjoyed it.  It was so funny Alayna was excited that so many people came that day just to celebrate her birthday. 

My Dad came and spent a few days to see everyone and he had a little Austin time also. Our next guest are to be some more of Austin's adopted great-grandparents, we're excited to see them again and to show Austin off once more.

Steve had to leave in middle of our visiting and return to the Delta to try and finish up harvest there. Ben has been popping in and out and working late nights here. I'm sorry that I was the one able to spend most of the time with Mary, George and the girls NOT!!! :)

Here are some photos along with a recipe for a "Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf" that I want to share with you!

Ashia or Austin received more gifts from the family! 

Aunt Sarah enjoyed bragging to a cousin about where she was and who she was holding while Dad checks out the all natural huggies.

I tried to spend time with ALL my grand-children and grand-dog. LOL

Sarah having more Austin time.

Emma with her Austin time.

Alayna and Dad watching a little TV.

Alayna's Austin time.

Party Favors

Wow a tomato you can throw. She liked this better than her real gift!

The Princess Sitting pretty at the party.

The cake

Pop having a little Austin time.

My poor sick girls they spent the day on the sofas.

Alayna

Emma

Emma had extremely dry hands so we gave her a hand treatment. She's using my socks to cover the wrap. She doesn't look happy does she?

 We also had a baby shower for the baby due in December. All four family members opened gifts for baby Joshua.

 

Emma opening her gift.

Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf

Source: Gluten-free is Life

Ingredients
1 ¼ c. GF baking mix
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ c. sugar
½ c. brown sugar; packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ can (7.5 ounces) pumpkin
¾ c. chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease loaf pan.
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; blend well.
Once mixed, pour batter into loaf pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top is firm and toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes; dust with powdered sugar (if desired).

I hope you enjoyed visiting with my family. Have a good weekend.

Gluten-Free Recipe for Banana Nut Muffins

I have been home (in Macon) sick this week. I ran to the grocery store to buy a few items that I needed and found "Gluten-Free Pancake and Waffle Mix". This may not seem like much to you but I live in a small town and for the local store (Tem's) to stock ANYTHING gluten-free is a big deal! Shopping for gluten-free items reminds me of shopping for American made items in Guatemala. I use to get sooo excited when I found anything that I was use to buying here in the good old USA. Now I'm doing the same thing with gluten-free, it's funny how some things never change.


I made these recently and my family loved them. Ben said that he could not tell they were gluten-free.

Banana Nut Muffins
Servings: 12

Ingredients:

Combine in Large Bowl
3 bananas; very ripe, peeled and mashed
¼ c. oil
1 c. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg

Whisk together in separate bowl
1 ½ c. GF all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips optional
½ c. nuts; chopped optional
½ c. dried fruit optional

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
Add the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir until well blended.
Mix in your choice of add-ins. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for about 20 or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.. Cool muffins on wire rack. Wrap leftover muffins; bag and freeze for easy on the go treats. Reheat briefly in microwave, if you wish.

Eating Myself into a Coma?

I’ve often heard are said, “I’m going to eat myself into a coma,” and this holiday weekend I thought I really was.


Saturday Ashia came in with me some Sunkist fruit gems, these little jewels are great. Ben and Ashia recently toured the Jelly Belly Factory in San Francisco, California and because Jelly Belly's are not gluten-free only Steve got some. But they found these little fruit slices that were gluten-free and treated me to a bag of them. I loved them but could never find them around here and just last week Ashia found the same thing but in different form at Barns & Noble book store. Thank you Ashia you made my rain day bright.

On Sunday we visited First United Methodist Church in Macon. They had a special speaker who is a long time friend of Steve’s and we have not seen him or his wife for a couple of years now. It was fun to visit with all of our old friends at the Methodist Church. After church we stayed and enjoyed a covered dish meal with everyone. I had made a “Chicken and Broccoli” casserole that everyone loves. I got this recipe from a friend in Guatemala and have transformed it to be Gluten-Free. (Recipe listed below)




Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1-cup mayonnaise (Hellman’s is gluten-free)
2 eggs
1 onion; chopped into small pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use Glutano cream of mushroom soup mix)
1 ½ cups water
1 tsp. garlic salt
4 cups broccoli; partially cooked
1 chicken; cooked and chopped
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1-cup gluten-free breadcrumbs

Instructions:

Mix the first six ingredients together and set aside. Mix the chicken, broccoli, breadcrumbs and cheese together, add the mayonnaise mixture to it. Put in a 3x9x12 dish and bake in the oven for 1-hour at 350 degrees.
ENJOY

Sunday afternoon my Dad came for a visit and we cooked and ate the whole time we were together. Ben and Ashia joined us and supplied part of the food. We had a big variety including Rotel Dip, grilled deer sausage, pork chops, steak, hamburgers, fries, baked beans potato salad, grape salad, apple pie and Better Than Sex cake. Some of the food wasn’t gluten-free but believe me I had PLENTY!!!!

I am having another flair up with my stomach, I guess I’m going to have to break down and call my Gastroenterologist and get an appointment for him to decide which step to take. The last time he did the procedure to stretch the opening from my stomach to my intestines, he said if it keeps closing he’ll go in and put a shunt there to keep it opened. I hate any type of surgery no matter how small so I always put it off as long as I can. The last few days I have been extremely uncomfortable every time I eat anything and sometimes I can’t get the food to go down, this is a sure sign that something needs to be done.



I went to the grocery store today and my favorite butter, “Brummel & Brown“ vegetable oil spread, it is now labeled Gluten-Free! As you probably know I get so excited when I see this. It will be no time and everyone will know about or have heard about living life gluten-free. Thank you to all of those out there who have helped to make a difference.

Headaches in the storm!!!!

I hope you have or had a good Mother’s Day, I don’t think we always realize what a special day it is until we loose our mother. I always miss my Mom so much on Mother’s Day. For years I couldn’t stand to look at Mother’s Day cards but I am doing better in that area now, for those who have lost your Mom, healing of some things comes with time.

I feel as though I have not accomplished much this past week because I have been sick everyday with a headache. I've had to take my migraine medicine a couple of times (Relpax) and after that was useless. I thought at one time I had figured out something going on out of the ordinary that might be causing them I would even look forwarding to going to bed and getting some rest. But, I guess I was wrong because I corrected the problem but the headache is still with me. I have come to the point a couple of times this week of wanting to cry, I know I am just overly tired. This too shall pass, it always does. I just hating dealing with it day by day and not feeling like going anywhere are doing anything.

Sometimes I think my environmental allergies are worse than my problems with gluten. With celiac I can at least stay on my diet. With environmental if there is dust, pollen, grass, animals, mold, mildew and the list is enormous I get a headache. The different trees pollinating now could be triggering my headaches. Some of the main ones at this time are hickory, oak, pecan and ash. There are several of these around our house and farm so basically I live with headaches!

OK so here is my question. What do you cook and eat that is gluten-free when you don’t feel like cooking and have no leftovers? It's hard for me to eat anyway when I feel so bad and poor Steve he just about has to cook for himself.

I am keeping Sydney this weekend while Ben and Ashia are gone to Jackson to attend a baby shower for one of my cousins. When Sydney stays here we don't go outside and she misses that. She is puppy pad trained so I just keep fresh pads in her bathroom. Yes, she has her own bathroom at grandmas, if not every time someone goes in it she scratches on the door to get in. She is a little spoiled to say the least! This is a photo of her on her couch; she has her own blanket, toys and pillow! We call it hers because with my allergies I don't let her use my blanket etc.

Steve and I went riding around the farm to see how much the crops have grown in the last few days and Sydney (the dog) went with us. She enjoyed riding with her head out my window and letting her ears blow in the wind. Though she is not big enough to stand up to it by herself so she stood on my leg. She can be so funny, lazy too, she stood a while and then lay back with her head against me and her leg propped up on the window for a while. I guess she needed to rest. ☺

To make goulash.....

For supper last night I made one of our favorite dishes, goulash. I was in the grocery store and they had some fresh yellow squash that looked great so I bought some, I already had fresh sweet potatoes and carrots to add to the mix. To make goulash I use fresh vegetables, whatever you

have on hand. I clean and cut them up in chunks, add salt and pepper to taste and then mix in enough rice flour to coat. I fry them in a little EEOO (extra virgin olive oil) until brown and tender. My family absolutely loves this it is a dish my mom use to make every summer. You can use any combination of vegetables. My favorite is different types of squash, onions, potatoes, bell peppers and okra! UUMMM it is good, you need to try it.


Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again soon!