Baked Chicken Breasts (dairy-free, gluten-free)

I eat a lot of chicken since I’m allergic to anything that comes from a cow as well as most other red meats. So I’m always trying out new chicken recipes and this is an old recipe I found while digging around for blog posts in my old cookbooks and files. It originally used almond flour and nut butter but I’ve updated it and removed those ingredients and added several healthier options. It can be served with some cranberry sauce (see Cranberry Compote). Be careful with the baking times — its a very moist breast due to the marinade but will dry out around the edges if cooked too long. Its difficult to tell when its cooked just by looking at this chicken; take it out of the oven and check it for firmness to be sure its cooked. Depending on how thin the breasts are pounded will vary the cooking time. Mine were around a 1/2 inch and I cooked them 35 minutes which turned out to be about 5 minutes too long since they were a little dry around the edges.

This recipe serves 4 using two whole (versus half) chicken breasts. Place a breast in a gallon storage bag. With either a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer (flat edged), pound out breast until its about a half inch thick. Repeat for the second breast.

Spray a shallow 10″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add the flattened breasts. In a small bowl mix:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
juice from one lime
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon dry parsley
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Pour over chicken breasts. Turn over the breasts several times to be sure that all parts of the breasts have some marinade on them. Cover with plastic wrap and marinade for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a second shallow dish (like a large pie plate), combine:

1/4 cup ground flax/hemp mix
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dry parsley
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Stir to combine. Press a chicken breast into the mixture to cover. Turn it over to coat the other side and don’t forget the edges. Repeat with the second breast. Place in a greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes depending on thickness (for 1/2 inch breasts; for thicker breasts increase slightly). Serve plain or with cranberry sauce. I paired mine with the celery root and parsnip mash (see Side Dishes) which is now one of my favorite sides — can’t tell you the last time I ate a potato!

Spice Cake with Parsnips (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, refined sugar free, vegan)

My mother always made a spice cake for my sister’s birthday. It was her favorite and she would have loved this one. Its light and moist texture will make even the pickiest cake eater happy. Topped with a spiced cream cheese frosting, its a delight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need:

9×13 baking dish, lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
1 cup cooked and pureed parsnips (steam the parsnips until tender; blend in food processor with a little water, up to 1/4 cup, to make puree; you’ll need approximately 1 pound of parsnips to make a cup of puree)
1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice or nutmeg (I don’t like nutmeg so I usually use allspice but if you do like nutmeg, feel free to use it instead of the allspice)
1/2 cup date sugar
1 tablespoon lucuma
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup avocado oil
3 tablespoons ground flax combined with 1/3 cup hot water, cooled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup club soda
1/2 cup hemp hearts (or if you can eat them, chopped walnuts)

Before beginning anything else, combine the ground flax and hot water so that it can stand for about 5 minutes and cool for later use. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk to aerate and set aside. Combine the parsnips, oil, date sugar, lucuma, vanilla, baking powder and flax gel and beat to combine with a hand or stand mixer. Add to the dry ingredients along with the milk and club soda and beat until well combined.

Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Mixture is quite thick so needs to be spread evenly in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let cool on the counter for an hour before frosting.

To make the frosting, combine:

1/4 cup of vegan margarine
10 ounces of non-dairy cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon monk fruit powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or allspice

Using a hand mixer, beat until smooth and ingredients well combined. Frost the cake and top with hemp hearts or chopped nuts.

Pumpkin Spice Stuffed French Toast (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegan)

I’ve always wanted to try stuffed French toast but how to make French toast without eggs was the dilemma. Here’s the solution. It takes a bit of forethought but its well worth the effort. Makes four servings.

You’ll need:

8 slices of gluten-free bread, the thicker the better
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon date sugar
6 ounces of non-dairy cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup milk of choice
2 tablespoons ground flax
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1 cup cranberry compote (see separate recipe)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Spray a 8×10 inch baking dish. Mix:

6 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon date sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Using a fork, mix until well blended. Spread on all 8 slices of bread. Heat the milk and add the ground flax. Let cool until just warm. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla and whisk to combine. Spread some of the cream cheese mixture on each of the bread slices. Add a tablespoon of cranberry compote to 4 slices. Top those slices with the other 4 slices of bread. Place in the baking dish. Top with the milk mixture. Let sit 15 minutes and then turn the bread over so that the other side can absorb milk mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Turn the bread over again.

In a 10-12″ skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or your oil of choice). Add the 4 bread pieces and cook over medium low heat for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over and repeat. The slices may slip slightly from the cream cheese stuffing getting warm so be careful in turning. Here we want to allow the milk mixture to cook along with the bread but not overheat the middle cream cheese mixture which will then run out of the bread thereby taking away the “stuffed” part of the French toast. So keep the heat fairly low even it takes slightly longer to cook. When done, slice each diagonally and top with more cranberry compote or maple syrup if preferred.

Alternatives: If you don’t like pumpkin and cranberries here are some alternatives. Use instead of the pumpkin, apple or pear sauce (preferably chunky) along with a berry jam or apple butter. OR delete the pumpkin from the cream cheese mixture and use strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, or cherry jam instead of the cranberry compote.

Chickpea, Sweet Potato and Quinoa Patties (dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, soy-free, vegan)

If you love quinoa and sweet potatoes as much as I do, this recipe is a must for your side dish repertoire. It easy to make and delicious to eat, flavorful from the herbs and garlic as well as the sweet potato, crunchy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. Garnish with your favorite aioli or eat them plain. Be sure to add lots of scallions to garnish as well since sweet potatoes love them. I used a curry aioli which I made by adding 2 teaspoons of curry powder to 1/2 cup of hot olive oil. Let it cool before you begin blending the aioli. Make sure you don’t heat the oil after you add the curry powder or it will burn very quickly. Makes 6 servings (2 patties each).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need:

1 cup cooked quinoa, whatever color you like
1 cup sweet potato puree
1 15 ounce can drained chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 of a medium onion
1/4 cup quinoa flour
2 scallions sliced for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon seasoning mixture such as Mrs. Dash
1 tablespoon ground flax, preferably golden
2 tablespoon arrowroot
1/3 cup water
1 to 1 1/2 cups breads crumbs, with seasonings added — remember if you need more, you can add more but you can’t take it away or use it again once you’ve covered your patties.

Mix the ground flax with 3 tablespoons of hot water and let sit until cool. In a food processor, add the chickpeas, garlic and onion. Blend until well mashed. In a bowl, put the quinoa, sweet potato puree, chickpea mixture, flour and seasonings. In a small bowl, mix the arrowroot with the other 3 tablespoons of water (cold this time). Combine the arrowroot and the ground flax mixtures and add to the quinoa mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Spread the bread crumbs in a small baking dish (I used a small cookie sheet with sides). Scoop out the quinoa mixture by 1/4 cups (it doesn’t have to be exact). Put the scooped mixture on the bread crumbs and cover with more bread crumbs as you flatten it. Place on another sheet while you finish the remaining patties, make sure you wipe off excess bread crumbs.

Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and when the patties are browned, put them on this cookie sheet in a single layer. In a large skillet, put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and heat (more may be needed as the patties fry). Add the patties to the skillet without crowding and brown on each side. When all are fried, bake them for 15-20 minutes to heat through and cook inside. Garnish with aioli and scallions.

Savory or Sweet Seed Crackers (dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free)

Sometimes the best comfort food is something small, quick and within reach. These seed crackers fit that need for me since I can’t have anything pre-made like store-bought cookies or crackers. The savory crackers go well with hummus, guacamole, or other dips and even with some non-dairy cheeses. The sweet ones are tasty by themselves or with some hemp cream. And with both of them, you can vary the herbs and seasonings to fit your taste.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

For the savory or sweet crackers, put in your food processor:

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup water

Process until blended and the rice is broken down, adding small amounts of water as needed. The amount of water used will depend on the moisture in your rice and quinoa. The mixture should have a dough consistency. Remove half from the processor and form into a ball. Make a hollow in them middle and add herbs such as:

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dry parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Need herbs into the dough. Place dough on a piece of greased parchment the size of your baking tray (preferably one without sides so you can slide the rolled out dough onto the sheet easily, before and after baking. Place a second greased parchment sheet on top and using a rolling pin or heavy can, roll out dough until very thin. The thinner you can make it, the crispier the crackers after baking. Place on baking sheet, remove top layer of parchment and bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from over, flip over (this is always difficult for me and I usually end up with some of the dough underneath so I have to pull it open again but if you’ve cooked it long enough, this is easily accomplished), and cut into cracker sized squares. Put back into the oven for another 20-30 minutes until crackers are crispy and browned on the edges. If you have some that are thinner than others (usually the middle of my crackers are slightly thicker), remove the thinner ones and continue cooking the thicker ones until they are dry and crispy.

For the sweet crackers, you should have left half the dough in the food processor. Return the bowl to the processor and add:

2 tablespoons carob or cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon monk fruit powder
2 tablespoons hemp hulls

Process until well mixed; you shouldn’t need to add more water but if you do, add it by tablespoons being careful not to get mixture too wet. Remove from processor, and follow rolling and baking directions above.

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Patties

I love sweet potatoes any way I can get them. For a long time, I was content with just baking them and serving them with margarine and cinnamon or dicing and steaming them and then whipping them with margarine and spices. This recipe goes a step further producing a silky, smooth interior with a crunchy fried exterior. So yummy and so easy to do. The hardest part is probably putting enough oil in the pan so that the patties don’t touch the bottom of the pan and burn. Sweet potato will burn very quickly so be sure to add at least a half inch of olive oil to your pan and get it good and hot before you add the patties. Fry over medium heat once the oil gets hot.

Mix:

1 cup mashed cauliflower (I love the purple variety but any will do; 1 small cauliflower will make right around 1 cup of mash)
3/4 cup of baked sweet potato (one medium sweet potato will yield just about 3/4 cup)
4 tablespoons of sweet potato flour (or all purpose gluten free flour)
1 tablespoon of ground flax seed (or you could use a mixture of flax, chia and hemp seeds ground)
1/4 teaspoon of spice (I used cinnamon but allspice, ground cloves, ground ginger or nutmeg will work as well depending on your taste)
Salt and ground pepper to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper)

With a hand mixer on low speed, mix the cauliflower and sweet potato until well blended and the cauliflower is broken down. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Heat the oil (I used my 12 inch fry pan and cooked all 4 patties at once) and oil your hands. Make four patties using your hands (each should be about 1/2 cup of mixture and you may need to put a little more oil on your hands after the second patty).

Fry on each side for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Remove to paper towels to remove any excess oil and then transfer to plates. These are very soft, not firm like meat patties so treat them with care.

TIP: These would also be great with a little maple syrup over the top.

Smoothies

I am a creature of habit and one habit I’ve had for a number of years now is my breakfast smoothie. Rarely do I eat anything other than my smoothie for breakfast. I like to make them thick and creamy — almost like a soft-serve ice cream. I never imagined that this would be a satisfying breakfast but it sure fills me up and gets my day going. Here are some of my favorites.

TIP: To really mix it up, double the recipe and put it in an ice cream freezer. Eats more like “ice cream”, very satisfying. I make 4 cups at a time, freeze in 1 cup containers and eat these as a dessert after lunch or supper.

TIP: When making the fruit purees, they don’t have to be perfectly smooth because you’ll be adding them into a blender to make your smoothie and that will complete the puree process. Also, if making the purees with the skin included, be sure you use only organic fruit since you won’t be peeling them and the pesticides are usually found in the skin.

Another TIP: Be sure to mark your containers so you don’t get one out expecting a certain fruit and then find you’ve made an entirely different flavor! Been there done that.

TIP: Change up the flavor of your smoothies by alternating cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, etc., depending on your taste. Use one or several spices. You can also alternate the flavor of your protein powders for entirely different tasting smoothies. I usually use the vanilla flavors but chocolate goes very well with the strawberry and wonderful with prune.

TIP: I usually find these are sweet enough for my taste but add a little stevia, agave or coconut nectar, date syrup or honey if you want them sweeter.

TIP: I also add a scoop of marine collagen for my skin and nails. It doesn’t change the taste however it does affect the texture making it slightly smoother or creamier.

Put in a blender:

1 cup non-dairy milk of choice
1-2 scoops of protein powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground flax seed (the golden work best since you don’t get the discoloration)
1/2 to 1 cup of frozen fruit (see suggestions below)

Strawberry

Add 6 ounces of frozen strawberries

Start blending on the lowest setting and as the smoothie starts to come together, increase speed. If you find you’ve added too many strawberries (often happens to me!), add milk until you get the correct consistency.

I sometimes like to add some frozen acai, 1/2 a frozen banana or 3-5 pieces of frozen mango. Be sure to adjust the strawberries to account for the other fruit so that you still have 6 ounces of fruit.

2. Fig or Prune

This is one of the creamiest smoothies I’ve found and is also my favorite. It involves some planning since you have to prepare the figs ahead of time but its well worth the trouble.

First, in a saucepan:

10-12 fresh ripe figs (1 pound), washed and stems removed
2 tablespoons of water

24 ounces of dried figs or prunes
1/2 cup of water

Cover the saucepan and cook over a low heat until the figs or prunes are soft. Be sure to stir if you’re using the dried figs to be sure all of them become rehydrated. Cool and then using a potato masher, mash the figs (or you can put them in your food processor and pulse for a few seconds). Place in 1 cup containers (don’t fill completely but leave a little room for expansion), freeze and use as above. Will make 2-3 cups of puree depending on the size of your figs.

3. Pear and Blackberry

Depending on how much you hate seeds, you can either use whole frozen blackberries or cook 2 cups of blackberries in a saucepan with a little water and then put the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the seeds (TIP: I freeze this, when cooled, in an ice cube tray and after it freezes, I put the cubes into a freezer bag).

The pears are much easier. Just quarter and core your pears (my favorites are the Asian or Korean pears but any pear will work), and then pulse in your food processor. Place in 1 cup containers and freeze. Usually, I’ve found that 1 pear will make roughly 1 cup of puree, depending on the size of the pear. Also, I don’t worry about peeling them since the processing will take care of the peel.

This is case, I like to add the 1 cup of pureed pear and then 4-6 whole blackberries or 2-4 of the frozen blackberry ice cubes.

4. Plum, Peach or Apricot

One of the easiest to prepare, just wash and make sure you remove any stems from the fruit, half to remove the pit and pulse in your food processor. Put into 1 cup containers and freeze. Depending on the size, 2 plums will make roughly 1 cup of plum puree, same for apricots, but 1 1/2 peach will make you roughly 1 cup of peach puree. I like to add some raspberry coulis to the peach smoothie.

If you prefer, you can cook the diced plums, peaches or apricots in a little water; this will make the skins more palatable while keeping the fiber contained in the skins. It only takes 5-10 minutes to cook them and you can spice them up at the same time.

5. Pumpkin or Sweet Potato

1 cup of canned or prepared pumpkin or sweet potato
6-8 ice cubes
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon of stevia, 1 tablespoon of agave or coconut nectar, or honey

6. Carob and Cherry

Use a 1/2-3/4 cup of frozen pitted cherries. I add 1 tablespoon of carob powder (you could use cocoa) along with 1 tablespoon of date syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Yummy!

“Healthy” Chicken Tenders (gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free)

My husband has always been a big fan of the deep-fried, breaded chicken tenders while I didn’t find them that appetizing. They always seemed so tough and stringy to me. These chicken tenders are as far away from that as you can get; delicious and healthy!

Place 1 1/2 pounds of chicken tenders in a bowl and cover with your favorite milk. Let sit while you make the breading. Preheat oven to 400 degrees if using a conventional oven. My Cuisinart convection/air fry oven does a beautiful job making these crispy while keeping them fat free. And they came out so tender, juicy, while remaining crunchy on the outside.

Mix

1/3 cup ground golden flax
1/4 cup gluten-free bread crumbs (make sure they don’t have any sugar in them)
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste (I used approximately a 1/4 teaspoon of each)

Prepare an 8×10″ or 9×11″ baking dish by spraying with a non-stick spray.

Dip each chicken tender into the coating mix and place in the prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes until chicken feels firm when pressed and coating is a golden brown. In my Cuisinart, I air fried them for 6-7 minutes and then turned them over for another 6 or 7 minutes.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce; honey mustard or marinara.

Honey mustard dipping sauce: whisk together 1/4 cup of your favorite mustard with 3 tablespoons of honey (or agave or coconut nectar).