Sweet & Sour CHicken

I made this recipe a few days ago and it was very good! I just used the recipe on the back of the bottle (with a few omissions).

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 6 servings (1 cup)


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Wesson® Vegetable Oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped No onions- allergic
1 large red bell pepper, seeded, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, sliced into 2 x 1/2-inch slices
1 can (8 ounces) La Choy® Bamboo Shoots, drained Left these out- not sure if my family would eat them.
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained
1 jar (10 ounces) La Choy Sweet & Sour Sauce- Gluten Free
1 tablespoon La Choy Soy Sauce-Gluten Free
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
La Choy Chow Mein Noodles (optional) Instead of noodles I served it on top of rice.

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet or wok over high heat. Cook and stir onion and red bell pepper about 2 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Remove from skillet; set aside.

2. Pour remaining 1 tablespoon oil into skillet. Cook and stir chicken about 4 minutes or until no longer pink. Add onion and bell pepper back to skillet. Stir in bamboo shoots and pineapple chunks.

3. Combine sweet & sour sauce and soy sauce in small bowl; add to skillet. Stir together cornstarch and water until smooth; add to skillet. Cook until heated through and sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 1 minute. Serve with chow mein noodles, if desired.

Butter Alternative

I recently found this buttery spread at Wal-mart. Here is the Earth Balance site. I am finding that many new products that I try are Vegan. That helps when going dairy free. I am not a vegan... I eat meat. But when looking for dairy free and gluten free milk/butter/cheese, Vegan things are an option. I have eaten it on bread and waffles and I enjoy it.

This is free of:
gluten
soy
lactose
Non GMO

Banana Bread

I found this Recipe and tried it. I love banana bread and have missed baking it. I cannot remember where I got it... so forgive me to the originator of this recipe. It is very good!

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups white rice flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas (about 4)
1 cup vanilla infused sugar (I just add 1/4 tsp of vanilla to the sugar and mix it up.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray medium bread pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease with oil. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and then make a well in the center. Add eggs, banana, sugar, and oil to the center and combine them before folding into the rest of the dry ingredients. Pour into your bread pan. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Almond Milk

I have not tried a lot of different milk alternatives, but I have found one that I really enjoy- Almond Breeze.

It is a product of the Blue Diamond company. I had tried some almond milk that was the Silk brand, but I did not like the texture.

This almond milk is free of soy, lactose, gluten, dairy, and many other things. I went for almonds instead of soy because of the amount of estrogen/ hormones that are in soy.

I have tried the original in the Silk brand. It was ok, but the almond taste/smell was strong to me. I drink the vanilla! I tell people that tastes like I am drinking a vanilla milkshake (only a thinner consistency).

Changes in Life

I have not posted any new recipes or anything since I found out I had to be gluten free. It has been a long journey! But I am finally getting things more under control.

Just as I was figuring out the gluten thing... I now have to give up dairy! Not easy, but I am surviving. I have been searching the web for good blogs with recipes and not finding a lot that have family friendly recipes. They have great things that we would not eat... so I am going to be more diligent in posting on this blog. One to keep my recipes together and two I want to help out other people like me who have to be gluten and dairy free. I will post things I find and try or things I make up on my own!

I also will be posting gluten free/dairy free foods that I have purchased and enjoy. It is hard to keep trying stuff that is not good!