Green Pozole Recipe

Made Pozole tonight... for the first time. For those of you who have never heard of it (which was me until about a week ago) it's a Mexican soup made with hominy. I had never had hominy aside from grits, but I was pleasantly surprised by this soup. I found a big drawn out recipe that included cooking and grinding pumpkin seeds, but I simplified it with great success!

1-1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
2 32oz containers of chicken broth
8-10 tomatillos (peeled)
1 small white onion (quartered)
1-2 Serrano peppers
2 tsp minced garlic
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
2 cans hominy
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

(A jar of salsa verde can be substituted for tomatillos & peppers)

Combine all ingredients except hominy and cilantro in a large pot. Heat until chicken is cooked through and tomatillos are dark. Remove onion, pepper, and tomatillos & purée in a blender with 1-2 cups broth from the pot (add garlic and salt to taste). Remove chicken shred once it's cool enough to handle. Return tomatillo purée (salsa verde) and chicken to the pot with broth. Add hominy and cilantro. Heat until hominy is warmed through.

Garnish with cheese, avocado, or lime.

I added sweet corn to mine and it worked well.

Chicken Tapenade

I apologize for not having a picture of the dish.

This dish came about one night when I was searching the cupboards for something different to make. I literally made this with whatever I had on hand, so feel free to add or subtract as you wish. 

Ingredients

1 pkg boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 bottle Italian salad dressing

1 - 4oz can chopped black olives

1 - 4oz can mushrooms chopped

1/4 cup green olives chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes chopped

Gluten free bread crumbs

Oregano 

Garlic powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Pound out the chicken to about 1/4 inch thickness and place in a shallow pan. Cover with Italian dressing and allow to marinate for 20-30 minutes. Combine olives, mushrooms, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl. Place a few spoonfuls of the tapenade mixture on the chicken and roll up (you may want to place a toothpick through the chicken to hold it together). Season breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder. I just give the bread crumbs a generous sprinkling of these seasonings. Since the chicken was soaked in dressing you shouldn't need to dip it in egg or milk (I'm allergic to both so I don't use them). Coat with bread crumbs and place in baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. 

*Optional additions:

If egg and dairy are ok for you, add a little parmesan cheese to the tapenade and breadcrumb mixture. Either egg or parmesan will help bind the tapenade if you're worried about it being too loose. Chopped artichoke hearts and capers make nice additions to the tapenade as well.

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Years ago I had the unique opportunity to learn how to make chicken enchiladas and salsa verde from a master... a lovely Mexican woman named Lupe who I worked with at the time. Lupe didn't work from a recipe. She just knew how to do it. She learned from her mother who learned from her mother, and so on. It was a family tradition, and now it's one of my favorite dishes. 

I'll do my best to put it all down for you, but since I learned without a recipe I apologize in advance for my approximations.

Salsa Verde

Ingredients

6-8 tomatillos

1-2 serrano peppers (you can substitute whatever peppers you prefer)

3-4 cloves of garlic

1/2 medium onion

Salt

Juice from 1 lime

Handful of cilantro leaves

Drunken Chicken Recipe

From Balanced Platter

This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but sounds awesome! The original site has some great information about the benefits of garlic. Check it out!


Ingredients:
¼ lb Organic Bacon (nitrite free), cut into ½ inch pieces (such as Applegate Farms)
3 lb bone-in, skin-on organic chicken pieces
1 tsp salt, or more to taste
½ tsp pepper, or more to taste
1 tablespoon: olive oil
1: large organic yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 pound: organic carrots, sliced diagonally in 1 inch pieces
8 ounces: artichoke hearts, in water, drained
½ cup: fresh organic mushrooms, left whole (I used Baby Bella’s)
1 ½ cup: dry white wine 
(I used an organic white from Napa, however, you can use a 12 oz bottle of gluten free beer instead of the wine – lends an awesome flavor if you are not sensitive to yeast)
½ lb organic fingerling potatoes, halved OR Sweet Potatoes cut into 2 inch cubes
1 ¼ cups: gluten-free organic chicken stock, or homemade bone broth
2 teaspoons: fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons: fresh basil, coarsely chopped
1: bay leaf
10: cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced
1/3 cup: green onions, sliced white and green parts
3 cups: brown rice or quinoa, cooked

Chicken & Mushrooms with Swiss Chard

From Allergy Free Foods

Boneless skinless chicken breast with white wine mushrooms and Swiss chard.

This is a 30 minute meal- pretty easy peasy.  

Ingredients
3-4 Boneless skinless chicken breast 
1 pkg button mushrooms
1 heaping spoonful gluten free flour mix
Seasonings of your choice
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine
Swiss chard