Chicken, Bacon and Wild Rice Soup (Gluten free)

It is February in Texas, such a glorious time of year.  Bathing suits, sunglasses and sun screen....NOT!!!! (I am so over this weather people) I think Carl Reiner said it best when he said, “A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”  I know, it is not as cold as Minnesota, or Canada but I don't live there!  I live in West Texas, and being a Texas woman,  I may as well ease the pain of this 22 degree high by cooking a great, meal for my family. 

 

This soup is a hearty, full soup.  Not low in calories but high in comfort for sure.  For it to be gluten free you have to make your own broth or buy broth stating it is GF, and you MUST use

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. 

 

Here are the ingredients you need:

• 2 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
6-8 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled 
5 cups of water to boil your chicken in, thereby making your own broth
• 2 Knorr Chicken bouillon cubes (or your gluten free choice)
• 1 cup of uncooked wild rice
• 1/2 cup green onions chopped (not too much of the green)
• 1/2 cup celery chopped
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2 cups half and half
• 3 Tablespoons of pimiento
• 1/4 cup of dry sherry

 

Place your chicken breasts on a low boil in 5 cups of water, season water heartily with salt and pepper.  Place your bacon in the oven on broil while chicken is low boiling.  I trim a lot of the fat off of the bacon because I don't like it in my soup, but you can do whatever your family prefers.  Once chicken is cooked, strain your water to clean it up, and add your bouillon cubes, rice, celery and onion.  Remove bacon from the oven and crumble.

Set meats aside for now.

 

 

 

 

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Heat to medium low, stirring constantly, until smooth and a little bubbly. Gradually stir in half and half with the butter/flour mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.

 

Add this creamy mixture into the pot with the rice/broth. Add remaining ingredients (chicken, bacon, pimiento, and sherry). Heat on low, NOT boiling and NOT covered.  The 1/2 and 1/2 will scorch on the bottom quickly if you heat too fast. The soup may look thin, but the longer you heat the soup, the more it will thicken.

 (If it is thicker than you prefer in the beginning add water to thin it) 

My boys like it thick enough to eat with a fork (that's not soup boys-that's a casserole)

This soup is so great on a cold day.  I baked a home made loaf of gluten free bread and toasted it for complementing the soup. It was so good, my son had me call him out of school at lunch the next day to finish it off!  This recipe will make about 6-8 bowls.

 

  

Yukon Gold Baked Potato Salad

This "salad" can be served cold or hot, each member of my family has their own preference for how they like to eat it.  I like either :) 

Here is what you need:  12-14 Yukon gold potatoes, 8 strips of bacon, 3 green onions, 1/4 cup of mayo, 1/2 cup light sour cream, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, salt and pepper to taste. 

I know Yukon Gold's do not have thick skin like a russet, but I have grown people in my house who act like I fed them hair if I leave the skins on.....therefore, I peel and boil my potatoes.

While they are boiling I fry the bacon, chop the green onions, and shred the cheddar. 

When the potatoes cool, add your mayo and sour cream to coat.

When you have them coated add your onions, bacon, cheese salt and pepper and serve. Like I said, it will be cool and you can serve it like that or heat in the microwave for those who like their cheese melted.  But this dish can be made ahead of time and served the following day or taken to a picnic ect.  ENJOY :) 

 

 

 

 **Sarcasm Note:  If you want to skip frying your own bacon, you can use artificial bacon bits.  I'm sure it would be just as good.

Chicken Broccoli Bake

This recipe is so easy and so good, even your kids will eat the broccoli in it!  

I won't give you measurements, because I want you to decide how much you need/want

in each serving. 

No recipe can ever be bad if it starts with bacon.  This one does!  I counted on 2 pieces per chicken breast, but you can use more if you so desire. 

Next you need to get shredded cheese and ranch dressing.  (again, I did about 1/2 cup on each breast except for my daughter who wanted more!) 

I used one large bunch of fresh broccoli and 1 chicken breast per person.  As you can see these breasts were HUGE so I cut them in half; placing the 'toppings' in the middle instead.

So, salt and pepper your chicken, cut into if you so desire and top with broccoli, bacon, cheese and how ever much Ranch dressing you want.  About a tablespoon is what I used.  Then I placed the other half of the chicken on top of the mixture and wrapped it up in foil.  Each person had their own foil packet.

This is what it looked like before putting it in the oven at 400 Degrees for 30-40 minutes...

This is what is looked like after I removed it from the foil and slid it on the plate.  It was such a great meal.  Easy and here comes the sarcasm....next time I won't use bacon.  HA (I'll use more)

 In the words of my son, "bacon is fairy dust for food".