Starting a new series today on the blog called Tasty Tuesdays! For this first one, it's all about Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles.  And best of all, it was easy to make it gluten free!

I adapted the recipe from a very popular pin on Pinterest right now from The Pioneer Woman. I also had all of the ingredients (minus the fresh veggies) on hand which made it even easier! Hello $1.37 grocery bill!

I made two separate bowls worth of the sesame marinade -- one for the chicken, and a fresh one to add at the very end to the noodles.

I marinated the chicken for about 90mins in the fridge. I flipped and re-basted them about halfway through.

This was my first time cooking rice noodles. I LOVE noodles so it's been tough trying this whole gluten free thing, so I was excited to finally have noodles again that I could eat.

For the veggies, we chopped up zucchini, mushrooms, and yellow bell pepper and added them to a large sauté pan. I then drizzled a bit of sesame oil, gluten free soy sauce, and olive oil on top to help compliment the flavors of the marinade/dressing.

Fresh green onions always add a bright flavor to the finished dish!

To cook rice noodles, you bring a pot of water to a boil, then remove it from heat and add the noodles to soak. It was definitely a bit different for cooking and took a bit longer than it said on the box, but they eventually turned out great.

Dave grilled the chicken and basted them while they were cooking.  They turned out amazing! They almost had a sticky sweet flavor from the soy sauce and sugar in the marinade. I could not stop nibbling while waiting for the rest of the meal to come together!

Once the noodles and veggies were cooked, I added them all to the same pan. I then poured the fresh marinade/dressing to the pan and tossed everything to combine. We then plated it with the sliced grilled chicken on top and fresh green onions. Talk about YUM!

Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Marinade/Dressing Ingredients

(make 2 marinades in separate bowls, one for the chicken and one to add to the noodles)

1/4 c. gluten free soy sauce

2 Tbs. sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

3 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp. hot chili oil

(2 Tbs. olive oil to the marinade for the chicken)

2-4 chicken breasts

1 pkg rice noodles

2-4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 zucchini, chopped

1 8oz pkg mushrooms, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. gluten free soy sauce

1 Tbs. olive oil

1. Whisk together one batch of the marinade, including the 2 Tbs. olive oil, until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Put chicken breasts in a dish or bowl, and pour marinade over them. Flip to completely coat and cover the dish with saran rap. Marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, turning half way.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove.
4. Once marinaded, grill the chicken.  Baste with the marinade while cooking for extra flavor. Should take about 15-20mins depending on the thickness of your chicken.
5. While the chicken is cooking, start cooking the veggies. Add all of the chopped veggies to a large sauté pan. Drizzle with 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 Tbs. olive oil. Cook over medium high heat until done.
6. Once the pot of water is boiling, remove from heat and add the package of rice noodles. Soak in the hot water until soft, about 10 mins. Use a fork to help separate the noodles.
7. When the noodles are done, drain well and mix with the veggies.
8. Pour the 2nd batch of fresh dressing over the noodles and veggies, and mix to combine.
9. Slice the grilled chicken on a cutting board.
10. Serve the noodles and veggies in a deep dish and place the sliced chicken on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free High Altitude Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my photo of some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! I decided to give this whole gluten free baking a try and though that this classic cookie would be the perfect place to start. I figured if I could make it taste as good as the original, then I would be sold on gluten free eating/cooking...

And we have a winner!

These turned out so delicious that dare I say it, are even better than with real flour! :) Also, since I live in Tahoe at 6,500' feet, I followed the high-altitude baking instructions as well to throw another twist into the recipe.

The best part was though, I was finally able to use my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer! It has been sitting in a box in our kitchen unopened for the last 7 months since I haven't really had a reason to cook with it. It was so fun and easy to use! It was also WAY better than trying to do it by hand or using a hand mixer.

I picked up some Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour at Costco the other day and found some Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum at our local grocery store, Raley's, in their gluten free section. Luckily you only use a tiny bit of xanthan gum per recipe because the tiny bag was really expensive! 

Otherwise I had all of the other ingredients in my cabinet and fridge which made it really easy to get to baking!

I followed the classic Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and their high altitude instructions that's on the back of their package of chocolate chips.  I just substituted the flour for the gluten free flour and added in the xanthan gum.  For the high altitude instructions, they have you increase the flour, reduce the amount of sugar and brown sugar, and add 2 tsps of water to the dry mix as well.

The rest of the recipe was straightforward and I had fun taking my time and really making sure everything was mixed nicely and trying out my new kitchen gadget.

Of course I also had to try the batter a few times! I did notice that the raw batter had a slightly different taste than "normal" cookies as the soybean flour has a distinct taste. I was a little worried that you'd be able to taste it once they were cooked as well.

Its been forever since I made homemade cookies from scratch so I had a little bit of an issue sizing the cookie dough on the sheet. By the way, has anyone else used these silicon non-stick baking pads before? If so I'd love to know if you have an easy trick for cleaning them!

I ended up baking them at 375 degrees F for between 8-10 mins depending on how large I made them.  I waited until the edges starting turning golden brown but the middles were still soft and then let them set on some cooling racks.

I'm so happy to report that these were some of the best cookies I've ever baked! They were super moist inside and a tiny bit crunchy on the outside. I'd dare say they came out perfect and not a single one was burnt! I will definitely be making these again :)

Gluten Free High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Nestlé Toll House

DRY Ingredients

2 1/2 c. Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

2 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. Xantan Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

WET Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 12 oz. pkg Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine dry ingredients into a large bowl (including the water)
3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in the mixer with the flat beater. The slower the better on the speed -- don't rush it.
4. Once combined, add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients allowing the dough to fully mix before adding more.
6. Once it's fully mixed, add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
7. Create dough "drops" about the size of a large tablespoon on a cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a silicon baking mat.
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Note: High-altitude baking is for above 5,200' in altitude. For normal baking, visit the linked website for the original instructions.

Enjoy! :)

Weekend Recap!

This weekend turned out to be a rather warm one here in the mountains with temps in the upper 50s! Certainly has not been much of a winter out here in Tahoe unfortunately, but we weren't complaining about the warm weather this weekend.  We've been grilling almost every night for dinner which has been really nice (and tasty!).

Thai Shrimp and Quinoa!

We tried a new thai shrimp and quinoa recipe that turned out delicious and I'll share later this week. We also spent some time with our friends over at Schue Love enjoying the beautiful weather with a leisurely walk down to the beach and then enjoyed lunch at our favorite spot at Edgewood.

Love this view!

The weather was SO nice this weekend that we even grilled some tasty sausages on Sunday and sat out on our deck enjoying lunch and the sunshine! Bondi was a happy camper sunning herself on the deck.

I also completed my first FULL week of eating gluten free! After cooking in all week we decided to order a gluten free pizza from our favorite local spot.  Unfortunately gluten free crust only comes in small or medium sizes and not a large pizza which was a bummer.  They also charge an additional $3 to make it gluten free.  I don't think we'll order pizza too often because of it, but the good news was that it turned out really delicious! I couldn't tell the difference other than the thinner crust so yay!

I also experimented with some gluten free baking and decided to tackle the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. I figured that this cookie would be the true test to gluten free baking -- if I could make it taste as good as the original than I would be sold on giving up wheat flour.

Well I'm happy to report they were a big success! I'll be sharing my gluten free high altitude version tomorrow so check back! Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

PS -- help one of my clients, Getaway Reno/Tahoe, by voting in this poll here.

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

There are few things I love more than peanut sauce. Seriously. It goes great on pretty much everything -- noodles, rice, chicken, shrimp, veggies, etc! Up until now, I'd been relying on the peanut sauce in a bottle from the store.  Sure, it's easy and convenient, but it's also not the same as a truly fresh.

I was really intrigued when I came across this recipe at Closet Cooking for Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup, and it had been in my list to try for a while. I shared it with Dave, and while he's not a huge fan of soups, he does love curries.  So with a little tweaking, we were ready to experiment with this dish and turn it into something of our own.

We have a winner! It turned out so tasty and delicious, definitely a success.  The best part was I was able to make it completely gluten free! I'm experimenting with eliminating gluten from my diet (more on that later), and this was really easy to adapt. We substituted noodles for a bed of rice, and switched out soy sauce for gluten-free soy sauce. Who knew there was wheat in normal soy sauce?! We also sped up the cooking time by buying a pre-sliced mushrooms and pre-roasted chicken at the store, shredding the breast meat, and adding it at the end.

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

(Adapted from Closet Cooking: Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup)

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1/4 c. red curry paste

1 (14oz) can light coconut milk

2 c. chicken broth 

1 c. sweet potato, butternut squash, or yams, peeled and diced

1/3 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. lime juice

2 tbs gluten-free soy sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 pkg pre-sliced brown mushrooms

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 rotisserie chicken, breast meat shredded

2 c. brown basmati rice (prepared in rice cooker)

Garnish

1/4 c. chopped peanuts

2 green onions, sliced

2 c. bean sprouts (optional)

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

lime wedge (optional)

1) In a large pot, heat the red curry paste with olive oil over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1-2 mins.  Be careful, it will start to splatter.

2) Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, butternut squash, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and turmeric to the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3) When the butternut squash is tender to be pierced by a fork (about 10-15 mins depending on the size), add the sliced mushrooms to the pot.

5) Once the squash is completely cooked, add the sliced bell pepper.

4) Continue simmering until mixture has reduced and thickened to your preference.

5) Turn the heat to low and mix in the shredded chicken meat. Once the meat is hot, the dish is ready to serve!

6) Serve over a bed of brown basmati rice and garnish with green onions and chopped peanuts.



A few notes from the first time making this -- we only used 1 c. of chicken broth and let it reduce a bit too much so we weren't left with as much liquid at the end as I would of liked. As a result, we didn't add all of the chicken meat that we shredded.  I will definitely increase the amount of chicken broth next time.  The dish also had a really nice creamy flavor, but not as much heat as Dave would of liked. Next time I'll experiment with adding some sliced red chiles to the pot and have some for garnish as well.

Now we get to battle out who gets the left-over serving for lunch today! :)  Enjoy!