Crunchy, gluten-free Chex chicken

*not my image, but my chicken looked exactly like this! I got the image here. 

So last week, I made very yummy coconut chicken strips on a night when my step-daughter was visiting. She doesn't eat gluten, so we couldn't share our chicken strips with her, and she was disappointed, so I decided to see if there was a way to adapt the recipe to be gluten-free. 

As it turns out, neither my hubby nor I wanted to eat coconut chicken again so soon. It's good, but it's definitely not a weekly dish at our house. So I decided to do just plain old panko-style chicken strips instead... seemed easy, right!?

First was figuring out how to get gluten-free panko. Turns out, Chex cereal is a great substitute! I bought a box and crushed up enough for the chicken and it worked perfectly. In fact, I liked it better than Panko because it wasn't as sweet. Next, I had to find a flour to use to coat the chicken. This, I think, will be an ongoing challenge. I looked first for coconut flour but nobody in my area had any, so I  chose an all-purpose baking flour that was gluten free instead. It smelled a little weird, but it was actually not bad at all. I might even use it for baking someday lol. 

Overall, the were good but bland. My step-daughter liked them, but she likes any meat she can get her hands on so this is not a surprise. My hubby and I found them good but a little bland to eat. The coating was super crunchy and delicious, but the flour was a little gooey, and since I didn't really season them, they didn't have any real flavor. Next time, I will add seasoning to the flour before dragging the chicken through. 

What you need:

1 to 1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into strips. You could use pre-cut tenderloin strips if you don't want to trim the chicken yourself. 

2 eggs, beaten

2C crushed Chex cereal. You could probably crush your cereal in a food processor, but I just did it in a bag and that was fine. 

2C gluten-free flour

salt and pepper (and other seasonings!)

What you do:

Set up your prep station as follows: chicken strips, then a bowl with your flour, then a bowl with the eggs, and then a bowl with your crushed Chex cereal. 

Turn on the oven to 400, and lightly spray a cookie sheet with Pam (Original Pam = gluten-free).

Take a piece of chicken and coat it in flour. 

Next, drag it through your egg wash, ensuring the entire strip is wet and eggy. 

Next, press the strip into your Chex cereal, coating both sides with Chex bits. I press my chicken in pretty hard so the Chex sticks well. 

Repeat with each piece of chicken, lining the finished pieces up on the cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Flip. Bake for another 10 to 12 minutes. Check your chicken for done-ness, but it should be ready to go. 

Take it out and eat it. I paired it with rice... I don't recommend this. Pair it with salad instead! I also dipped my strips in President's Choice Memories of Thailand spicy sauce... yum, yum, YUM! 

If you have any suggestions to make this recipe better, please post them in comments! 

Wrap and roll breakfast for dinner

*yup, this is my image... and my dinner!

You have no idea how much I love breakfast. I never tire of breakfast food... like, never. So when I'm bored with recipes and want to do something delicious, I often explore breakfast options. Why not, right?

When Tim and I were dating, we would often go to Chez Cora for breakfast or brunch. It's delicious and they have a little more variety than your standard breakfast place on their menu. That's where the inspiration for this recipe came from: we tried a "Good Morning", and we were both hooked! Essentially, it's a basic crèpe wrapped around fried eggs, bacon, and cheese, then pressed in a panini press and served with fresh fruit. I skip all the formalities like pressing and fruit... who do I think I am?

The nice thing about this is you can make most of it ahead of time. I've done the prep work the night before so we could have a really nice breakfast without cooking for an hour first. I make the crèpes and bacon ahead, then fry up the eggs when we are ready to eat. Yum!

What you need:

Crèpes:
1C flour (AP)
2 eggs
2/3C milk
1/2C water
1/4tsp salt
2TBSP butter, melted

1 package of bacon (I like John Morrell Applewood Smoked)
Your favorite cheese (we used pepperjack cheese this time; I highly recommend it!)

What you'll do:

Making the crèpes:
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour and eggs. I mixed by hand, and got them as smooth as possible.
Slowly add the milk and water, stirring continuously to try and keep the mixture as smooth as you can.
Add salt and butter. Beat until no lumps remain.
Heat a pan to medium. Use about 1/3C of batter per crèpe. Cook on one side until there are bubbles across the entire surface, then flip for a few seconds.

Once they're done, set the crèpes aside for a bit. I put mine into a ziploc bag, each separated by a sheet of wax paper. This keeps them soft and pliable.

Next, cook your bacon however you like to. I vote BBQ, but that's just me. You want to let it drain and pat it dry as much as possible... you don't want too much grease getting into your wrap/roll.

Finally, if you're ready to eat, fry up some eggs. We use one egg, 1.5 pieces of bacon, and 1 slice of cheese for each wrap. Tim and I both prefer our eggs over hard for this sandwich, but you could do them lighter if you prefer.

Assembly:
Put a crèpe on your prep surface and place your cheese in the centre. Take your egg right out of the pan and put it right onto the cheese, then put the bacon (broken into smaller pieces) on top. Fold up the bottom 1/3 of your crèpe, pulling the edge towards the centre. Then fold in the sides, and roll the whole thing up until you've got a tidy little packet. I throw my little packets back into the egg pan for a few minutes to seal them up and crisp up the outside as well. Serve and eat them hot!

You could (probably, you should...) serve them with fresh fruit or a light salad. You could also douse them in maple syrup, if you're so inclined, and I'm pretty sure honey or jam would work really well too.

Enjoy!

Sweet Molasses Steak

*Not my image, it came with the recipe. Also, those are PC molasses, so we know the recipe is from Canada. Yay!

The more I eat, the more I love to cook. The more I cook, the more I like to eat!

Over the past eight months, I've learned to cook a whole lot of new things, but we were still using store-bought marinade for beef. So when I saw this recipe, originally from Allrecipes.com, I had to try it.


Overall, I loved this recipe, but it was much sweeter than we were expecting. It really was very sweet, but that works with a nice juicy steak! Also, I expected the marinade to burn off a bit more on the grill, but because I was grilling rare and medium-rare, the steaks came out a little bit saucy. It works, but if you don't like sauce or gravy, you might want to wipe the marinade off the steaks before grilling.

Next time I make this, I'm going to spice it up a little bit. I would almost add jalapenos to the marinade... Or perhaps serve it with a spicy veggie/rice dish instead? I'm not sure. But anyway, enough maybe, here is what you came for.

Admittedly, it takes a lot of discipline for me to use molasses in cooking, because my instinct is instead to eat them directly out of the jar. I definitely had a few tastes along the way, but managed to get my 1/2 cup in the bowl.

As usual, I can't follow an original recipe to save my life. So I made some changes. This is my version.

What you need:

1/2 C molasses
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C tomato ketchup
1/2 C spicy ketchup (I used Heinz chili ketchup)
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP dried oregano
1 Tsp minced garlic
2 TBSP minced white onion

What you do:

Ready? Easiest. Directions. Ever.

Take all your ingredients. Mix them in a bowl and stir them together. Put them in a zipper bag with your steaks. Let them sit anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. Grill to taste. Serve with something. Or nothing. As you like it.

One suggestion: If you can't marinade for at least 4 hours, I suggest you tenderize your steaks with a fork... lots of holes means the marinade will get more surface area and help make your steaks soft and juicy. Yums.