Speaking of Gluten | Discussing anything and everything gluten free

Anybody who has followed this blog for any length of time is familiar with my affinity for all things breakfast. What I am about to describe is a gluten-free wonder of old school baking: a magical combination of fluffy dough with crispy edges and apples drenched in a cinnamon and sugar glaze.

Apple Pancake

The Apple Pancake

The apple pancake was something I wasn’t introduced to until I was in my teens, so I never really craved this beast of bakery magic until I could no longer have it. This isn’t an every week thing in my house, but it really hits the spot in late summer and fall when the apples are ripe and you find yourself lucky enough to have a weekend morning free.

Ingredients:

  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 2 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored, and sliced thin
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (Authentic Foods or King Arthur brand work well for me)
  • 1 cup milk – low fat or 1% is fine
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon Authentic Foods vanilla powder

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, add flour, milk, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
  2. In another bowl, mix brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon.
  3. Add butter in a 10″ pyrex-type deep dish pie container and put in oven.
  4. Turn oven to 400°.
  5. When butter is completely melted, remove from oven.
  6. Pour batter into buttered dish and put in oven for 20-25 minutes.
  7. In a separate pan, warm apples, butter (to taste) and cinnamon. Cook for 13-15 minutes.
  8. Remove batter from oven and add apple mixture.
  9. Cover entire dish with brown sugar/sugar/cinnamon mixture.
  10. Return dish to oven for 20-25 minutes.
  11. Remove from oven, let cool, cut into portions and enjoy!

Depending on your oven and your altitude, cook times may vary, so do pay close attention to this dish while cooking. It took a couple of tries to really get this recipe right, but it is totally worth it when you get it down.

Before Cinnamon and Sugar

Before cinnamon and sugar

cinnamon and sugar-topped

Cinnamon and sugar-topped

Serving size

Serving size? Sure.

Let me know how yours turns out or share any tips and tricks in the comments. Cheers!

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Generally, I avoid getting into political discussions, but I can’t help but draw a comparison between what’s happening on Wall Street right now and what is happening across America at breweries who are letting down gluten-free beer drinkers like you and me. Please follow along as I make an impassioned attempt at tying my own (admittedly minor) personal disappointments to those (serious issues) of the world.

To the best of my knowledge, the Occupy Wall Street movement is a plea by people who have been excluded from the democratic process and have been forced to sit on the sidelines while big business pulls the strings of the American political system. Gluten-free ladies and gentleman, I feel I hardly have to begin drawing comparisons to our gastronomic plight, but I’m going to spell it out anyway.

We are the outsiders

But you knew that already. While the Occupy Wall Street folks are the unofficial representatives of the 99%, we have the responsibility to represent the 1% of people out there forced to live in gluten-free abandonment, courtesy of the brewing industry.

Breweries are our oppressors

I can already hear the cries of “Blasphemy!” Allow me to explain. It is true that many within our digestive minority are satisfied with the handouts, the bits of crumb, the substandard alcoholic swill that has been doled out in the hopes of silencing our meddling voices. I am not one of those folks, and I’m guessing that you are not either. I can count the number of nationally-available gluten-free brews on one hand. I can count the ones worth drinking on less than one finger. And while it is true that an occasional micro-brewery or brewpub will throw us a bone once in a while and make us feel loved, the majority of the time, these brewers are laughing with the bar crowd about how little they give us and how much we are willing to pay.

We have no voice

False. Inspired by the events happening across the country, I present to you the Occupy Breweries Movement, OBM for the sake of brevity. The idea is that each weekend, a group of like-minded gluten-free folks (and those who would support our movement) will stand outside of a brewery with signs and sandwich boards, demanding that a gluten-free beer be developed, brewed, packaged and sold at a fair price. After all, the national brews that are available don’t match craft beer in taste or quality. Why the heck are they so expensive? You’re thinking, “How about an example of a sign, friend?” Well, how about this? “We came here, We want beer, We refuse to drink in fear!” My lack of skills in marketing and propaganda not withstanding, it’s a start and I’m sure more creative wordsmiths than I will succeed where I might fail.

Our taste buds work just fine

We know good gluten-free beer exists. Talk to all those who have taken gluten-free brewing into their own homes and produced such libations that would rival gluten-filled beers from major breweries. What is currently available more closely resembles the miserable beers all of America was forced to drink before the craft brewery explosion. The most popular gluten-free beer nationally simply calls itself ‘beer.’ So uninterested are they in this bottle of suds that even the website purportedly advertising this product was never updated to show off the new six-pack packaging. Sure, you can find an ale here and there, but the great majority of gluten-free beer is some sort of fruit and spice experiment that never should make it to mass production. At what point do we stop torturing our taste buds and demand something better? When do we get a hop-blasted India Pale Ale or a legitimate stout? Several of the beers taking home medals from the Great American Beer Festival the last few years have been fruit experiments soaked with lemon or raspberry. I can accept that these beers taste good and may be plenty flavorful, but we have enough limitations put on our palates. I’m sensing a dangerous precedent is being set where the brewing industry will continue to throw alcoholic fruit juice at us. Friends, I can no longer sit quietly and grimace in disgust. My previous proclivity to beer-snobbery will simply not allow me to.

The Plan

But, seriously, what are we going to do? Obviously, there are too few of us spread around in too many places to have a great impact on this issue in the conventional sit-in, stand-out, protest sort of fashion. So my thought is to inundate the biggest craft brewers, the people who really make the brewing industry tick, with emails, phone calls, twitter messages, letters delivered by homing pigeons, whatever, describing our plight and gently suggesting that they do something nice for us. After all, most of us were good enough to them before we knew we were gluten-free, how about a little reciprocity? Perhaps a request for a gluten free ale, lager, stout, porter or another fine traditional beer style to pacify our weary palates? My thought is that if a craft brewer with a high enough profile heeds our suggestion and creates something wonderful for us, that others will follow and soon we’ll have legitimate gluten-free craft beer choices. I’ve listed several top notch craft beer pioneers of our time who have the knowledge, means and influence to make our craft beer dreams come true. Reach out to these people in every conventional mode of communication. Be gentle, but firm. We deserve this.

Craft Brew Contacts:

Sam Koch, Brewer of Sam Adams Boston Lager and a host of other great craft beers:
The Boston Beer Company
One Design Center, Suite 850
Boston, MA 02210
617.368.5000

Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, Brewers of Levitation, Arrogant Bastard and many other beers:
Stone Brewing Co.
760.471.4999
email@stonebrew.com
1999 Citracado Parkway
Escondido, CA 92029

Sam Calagione, Brewer of incredibly inventive ales and more (I think our best shot at a big-time gluten-free breakthrough):
Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

Brett Porter, brand new Head Brewer of Honker’s Ale and loads of other terrific Island beers (they sold a portion of the business to A-B, but I believe they’ll continue to push the limits of quality craft beer):
Goose Island Beer Co.
1800 West Fulton St.
Chicago, IL  60612
info@gooseisland.com
(312)226-1119

So these are the big timers of craft brewing. These are some of the most open-minded brewers of our time and if we want gluten-free craft beer to improve, one or more of them will need to step up. If you think up a great slogan for our movement, share it in the comments below so we can all use it. And if anybody in the Chicago area does want to occupy the sidewalk in front of Goose Island on a Saturday, let me know. I’ll bring the posters, markers and hopefully something witty to chant.
Cheers!

Aug/11

19

Venice Gluten-Free Store

I wanted to post a quick update about a great little shop I found while traveling through Venice. I know others have blogged about this place as well, but I figure the more exposure the better for this great gluten-free resource. It’s called Mea Libera Tutti. It’s a little tucked away, but it’s worth your time to seek it out.

It seems that gluten-free restaurants and shops promote each other everywhere I travel and Italy was no different. Mea Libera Tutti was recommended by multiple restaurant owners we met in Venice.

When we arrived, the owner was immediately springing into action, showing us all of the newest and most exciting items in her shop. She is gluten intolerant and so is her son, so she understands the issues of Celiac disease very well. My wife and I talked to her at length and she ran around gathering samples of candies and cookies for us to try. We bought as much as our arms could carry. We were especially excited to purchase loads of different pastas and breads to bring back to Chicago with us. We had such a great experience that I promised her I would blog specifically about her store when I returned home.

One of the most exciting products we found was a gluten-free chocolate coffeecake filled with espresso-flavored cream filling. I know it wasn’t healthy, but it made for an excellent breakfast and snack on the go. We also found small loaves of french bread for making quick sandwiches. We even bought several bottles of Estrella Damm Daura gluten-free beer for wandering around Venice with.

The bottom line is that any trip to Venice isn’t gluten-free complete without a visit to Mea Libera Tutti. You can find it here:

Mea Libera Tutti
Cannaregio 3805, Venice
+39 347-8488284

I’ll blog more about the wonderful gluten-free Italian places we discovered in Venice, Rome and Florence soon, but I wanted to be sure to take the time to call out Mea Libera Tutti in advance. Have you been to this place? Know of other great gluten-free resources in Venice? Post them below! Cin Cin!

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Aug/11

16

Fun at the Old Ball Park

Baseball. The very word conjures up memories of glories on the field, family moments in the living room watching the games, standing under the Wrigley Field sign for the obligatory tourist picture. For me personally, there are innumerable memories that I still carry with me. I’ll never forget Harry Caray phonetically spelling player names backwards. I’ll never forget going to Wrigley Field as a young man and catching a baseball thrown by Damon Berryhill (look him up, kids). And most recently, I’ll never forget my first gluten-free meal at Wrigley Field.

Baseball

My First Game Ball

I knew that Wrigley offered Redbridge gluten-free beer at select beer stands throughout the stadium. I also knew you might find some sort of pumpkin seed and dried fruit mixture if you looked really hard. What I didn’t realize was the incredible offerings you can find nestled in the right field corner of the stadium at the Sheffield Grill.

I found myself wandering into Sheffield Grill for two reasons. I knew they had gluten free beer and I knew it was air-conditioned. When I walked in and ordered a Redbridge, the lovely young lady behind the register inquired whether I was aware that they also had gluten-free hot dog and hamburgers. I was not.

I ordered a hot dog with grilled onions and the cooks countered with a pickle, potato chips and the first hot dog I’ve eaten in almost three years. Everybody behind the grill knew exactly what they were doing. The hot dog bun took a few minutes to prepare (I’m assuming it was frozen), but the cook took the time to explain to me that everything he was putting on my plate was indeed gluten-free. He even went so far as to clue me in that the gluten-free rolls they serve come from everybody’s favorite: Rose’s Wheat-Free Bakery north of Chicago in Evanston. I’ll spend some time singing the praises of Rose’s in another post.

Ballgame

Out with the Crowd

Just like that, I’m part of the crowd. I’m enjoying an ice-cold beer at the ballpark while chowing down on the quintessential ballpark cuisine and not feeling even a bit left out. I even went back for another round. I was stuffed and couldn’t finish the second hot dog (the rolls are quite filling, but taste amazing).

So I have a new tradition to enjoy at the old ballpark. I keep hearing that more and more sports venues are adding gluten-free vendors to the mix. I’ve been adding them on Gloodies.com as I come across them, but feel free to talk up your local sports venue in the comments if they support the gluten intolerant. Cheers!

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Whether you have traditionally followed me on this blog or not, you may have noticed that it has been over a year since I have published anything. So much has happened. I’ve become quite good at brewing gluten-free beer. I have discovered fabulous new recipes and gluten-free grocery products that I look forward to sharing. I won’t bore you with personal details, but last year, my work life exploded and my career carried me to a place where I averaged fifty-some hours per week for the year. I spent many nights and weekends in the office. How I managed to maintain my gluten-free lifestyle during the past year is a discussion for another post. Recently, I have regained control of my professional life, but one thing stood out to me last year that led me on a very different path than the one I was on.

A struggle that became increasingly apparent last year while I was working so many hours, was that locating places that are friendly for gluten-free folks is still very difficult. If you are reading this, I don’t have to tell you that gluten awareness is growing and more products are flooding into the market every day. But when it comes to eating and drinking on the run, we still have very few options. There is a gluten-free restaurant directory, but it is difficult to navigate. There are maps that require you to download additional software. There are sites where piles of restaurants are uploaded via user submission and no moderation is done to provide any sort of consistency or quality.

As soon as I had the time, I started planning, coding and stockpiling information from my own personal travels around the country. What if there were a place that featured every restaurant, bar, bakery and market that catered to the gluten free community? What if that place featured sortable content, mapping and a description of what to expect at each location? Finally, I wanted to know how helpful that site would be if it was moderated by one person who investigated each and every gluten-free location to ensure accuracy of information.

What started out as a way for me to map my personal gluten-free travels quickly became a passion for sharing knowledge with others who also find it difficult to locate gluten-free accommodations in their neck of the woods. Now, I am happy to present Gloodies. Gloodies.com was born out of personal necessity, but has grown into a robust search engine and mapping tool for people who live the gluten-free life.

My favorite part of Gloodies.com is the way you search for information. Enter a city or zip code and away you go. If you’re planning a trip, you can enter the location you’ll be going before you ever leave. I’ve been using the site as a way to prepare an itinerary before I head out. There is an area where users are encouraged to upload any gluten-free locations that they are aware of that haven’t yet been uploaded to the site. I moderate all submissions to make sure the wrong sorts of sites aren’t being uploaded.

So, what are the right locations? Gloodies.com features only restaurants that offer either gluten-free menus or offer individual gluten-free items such as pizza. I only upload bakeries that offer daily gluten-free options. I only upload bars that feature gluten-free beer. Finally, the only markets that get added are markets which have made a concerted effort to make life easier for us in living on a gluten-free diet.

There are many upgrades planned for Gloodies.com. First, I am looking at ways of presenting more location results per page. I’d like to make it easier to determine which sites are which on the map without having to click to see them. Finally, I plan on rolling out applications for iPhone, iPad and Android. I believe Gloodies will work even better as an application than as a web site, since GPS will make searching even easier.

I have added locations all over the country so far. Since I am from the Chicago-land area, I have uploaded way more sites there than anywhere else. My travels have recently taken me to Washington, D.C. and Houston, TX, where I was shocked at the amount of gluten free options, so those are the areas I would like to focus on next. If you have suggestions, feel free to email me or submit them on Gloodies.

I hope you find the site as useful as I have found it. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know. I look forward to sharing this site with the community. I also promise not to be such a stranger on this blog…

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If you keep up with my blog at all, you know that I’m a huge brinner (breakfast for dinner) fan. Breakfast being the most important meal of the day, I try to eat it as often as possible at all times of the day. This particular recipe is a traditional breakfast skillet with potatoes, meat, cheese and eggs and it serves 2 people. This is also another recipe that is easier and more fun with 2 people. Let’s get started.

Skillet Brinner

Skillet Brinner

Ingredients
1 Potato
4 strips of bacon
6 oz shredded cheese or 2 slices of Kraft American cheese
4 eggs

Instructions
The first step is to cut up the potato into 1/4″ chunks. You can cut them smaller if you like, but 1/4″ is a nice bite-size serving. Grease a small skillet pan with butter or your preferred gluten free cooking spray and toss the potato chunks in. Cook them covered over medium heat for 10 minutes or until they soften up a bit. Add in a dash of salt and pepper to taste at this point if you like. If you really like butter, feel free to add a pat of butter to the potatoes as well. This can help them to soften up a bit. Don’t forget to move the potato chunks around from time to time during cooking to ensure that every chunk gets a proper amount of attention from the heat.

Potatoes

Potatoes Cooking

While your potatoes are cooking, begin cooking your bacon. It’s up to you if you decide to cook your bacon on the stove or bake it in the oven. Regardless, just be sure you have a gluten free bacon and that it is well cooked. If you cook it on the stove, be sure to place it on a bed of paper towels and dab it with paper towels to remove a bit of the excess grease when finished cooking.

De-greasing bacon

De-greasing bacon

Around the time that your bacon and potatoes are wrapping up, you should begin cooking your eggs. I prefer my eggs over-easy, but you can cook them to your own liking.

Cooking Eggs

Cooking Eggs

While your eggs are cooking, break apart your bacon into small pieces and mix it in with the potatoes. Once you have them mixed well, you can add shredded cheese to the mix. If you want to use American slices, you may prefer to wait until the mix is plated.

Cheese, Bacon and Potatoes

Cheese, Bacon and Potatoes

Finally, it’s time to plate your masterpiece. I prefer to serve my skillets in a bowl. Place the cheese, potato and bacon mix in the bowl first. If you are using sliced cheese, place that over the mixture now. Finally, take 2 eggs and place them on top of the mixture. Salt and pepper to taste, if you like, and you are all finished.

Brinner is Served

Brinner is Served

This is a very basic skillet recipe, but you can add whatever you like to make it your own. Try Bob Evans crumbled sausage or spicy turkey sausage for a kick. Pile in sauteed vegetables or some hot sauce for more flavor. There are no limitations. Just be sure, as always, that your ingredients are gluten free. Let us know how you make this recipe your own in the comments.

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I wish I had a better name for this recipe, but strawberry pretzel cream cheese dessert is all I’ve ever known it as. It is really easy to make and satisfies the sweetest tooth. If you haven’t enjoyed pretzels and strawberries together, then I just feel sorry for you and it’s time for your taste buds to have their minds blown. I’m thrilled any time I get to enjoy Glutino gluten free pretzels. Even my friends who still eat gluten agree that they are the best pretzels ever. This recipe features pretzels as the main ingredient in the crust, so let’s start there.

Strawberries and Pretzels

Strawberries + Pretzels = BFF

Crust:
3/4 cup crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Glutino Pretzels

Super-versatile Glutino Pretzels

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. I crush my pretzels by placing them in a clear baggie and running a rolling pin over them until the largest pieces are about 1/4″. Use a spoon or your hands to mix the ingredients together in a bowl.

Crust Ingredients

Crust Ingredients

Lightly grease an 8 x 8 pan and flatten out the pretzel mix in it until the entire bottom of the pan is covered. I prefer a Pyrex glass dish, but any pan will do. Cook this mixture for 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and allow the mixture to cool for at least an hour.

Pretzel Crust Cooling

Pretzel Crust Cooling

Middle Layer:
4 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/2 cup sugar
approximately 7 oz. Cool Whip

Remaining Ingredients

Remaining Ingredients

Once your crust has had ample time to cool, begin the middle layer by whipping your cream cheese. While whipping, gradually add the sugar.

Cream Cheese and Sugar Mixture

Cream Cheese and Sugar Mixture

Once you have whipped the cream cheese and sugar, fold in the cool whip. 7 oz. is difficult to measure out. Adding a bit more or less will not hurt this recipe. I prefer a fluffier middle layer, so I tend to err on the side of adding too much.

Fluffy and Ready

Fluffy and Ready

Once your mixture has been sufficiently folded, pour it over the crust and smooth it with a spatula. Allow this layer to sit and firm up for 10-15 minutes.

Finished Middle Layer

Finished Middle Layer

Topping:
1 small package strawberry Jell-O
1 cup hot water
1 large package frozen strawberries (be sure your strawberries contain only strawberries, some additives contain wheat)

This is the trickiest layer of the recipe. Mix Jell-O and hot water until dissolved. While still frozen, add in the strawberries. It is important to allow the frozen strawberries to cool down the Jell-O mixture to prevent the topping from soaking into the lower layers and making the pretzels a soggy mess. Once at a sufficiently cool temperature (but before it begins to congeal), pour over the top of the fluffy middle layer and smooth out accordingly.

Ready to Eat

Ready to Eat

At this point, place the entire concoction in the refrigerator and wait for about 2 hours. When you are ready, cut into slices and serve. It takes a bit of time, but all of the techniques are simple and the ingredients are all generally readily available on the shelf at your local grocery store. If your local grocer doesn’t carry Glutino pretzels, ask them politely to consider it. They make a great snack even when not being used for a wonderful crust in a tasty dessert. Try out this recipe and be sure to share your experience in the comments.

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Update: Sadly, these chips no longer have “Gluten Free” printed on the package.

There’s nothing better than a good, safe, gluten free snack. We all have our favorites. A quick look online will produce lists and lists of foods that “do not contain gluten.” But in order to really feel good about my snack food, I prefer to see the words “GLUTEN FREE” right there on the package. I want to share a new snack I found the other day that I’m throwing into the WIN column.

Grande Chips

Grande Tortilla Chips

Jay’s Grande Tortilla Chips are amazing. I can’t remember coming across a tastier, more exciting gluten free chip. They are extremely airy and very flavorful. The texture is just perfect for this type of snack. My wife was crazy about these too and she usually doesn’t care for gluten free snack food.

Munch Munch Munch

Munch Munch Munch

This is a new product, so the Nacho Cheese flavor is the only one I’ve tasted. They were discovered at a grocery store chain in Chicagoland called Strack & Van Til’s. I’m assuming they will be sold at any store that carry’s Jay’s brand chips in the future. Do yourself a favor and look for these chips at your local grocery store. Let us know where you find them in the comments area.

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I’ll take advantage of just about any opportunity to head to downtown Chicago for food. Last night, the wife and I found ourselves headed to a theater near P.F. Chang’s China Bistro at 530 N. Wabash Avenue and decided to sample their new gluten free menu.

Our server, Juanita, was very attentive and from the second I ordered a Redbridge beer was aware of my gluten intolerance. We each wanted to try a couple of things, so my wife and I both ordered from the gluten free menu.

We enjoyed one order of gluten free mongolian beef and one order of gluten free Chang’s spicy chicken. This came with a huge bowl of rice for us to share. As soon as we ordered, Juanita removed the sauces from the table and came back and mixed up some spicy gluten free soy sauce for us.

We were both blown away by the food. The mongolian beef dish was cooked perfectly with a sweet crispness around the edges. The portion was huge and the scallions that came along were also very good. The spicy chicken dish was beautiful as well. Moist chunks of chicken cooked quickly with a sweet and spicy sauce paired nicely with the white rice. Everything was flavorful and filling.

We were too full to take advantage of the flourless chocolate dome. I do, however, plan on making that a priority on my next visit. It was obvious throughout the entire meal that the staff has been well trained to be as accommodating as possible to diners with food allergies. The food, the service and the atmosphere are all top notch and I highly recommend finding out for yourself. Share your experience in the comments area and recommend a favorite dish.

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Anybody who knows me, knows that I love Mexican food. For many of us, Mexican food is a mainstay of the gluten intolerant diet. I will admit to not knowing anything about cooking authentic Mexican food. But one thing I do know, is nachos. This little recipe is fun, fast and completely gluten free. Sharing the cooking duties with your significant other is part of the fun. So start an assembly line and get to work. You’ll be reaping the delicious rewards in no time.

Ingredients:

Ingredients

Ingredients at the Ready

1 Large Chicken Breast (1/4 pound ground turkey or beef will work as well)

1 Bag Corn Tortilla Chips (Mission brand round style work great)

1 16 oz can La Preferida Fat Free Refried Beans (if you can find a smaller can, 8 oz is all you really need)

1 4.25 oz can Black Pearls Chopped Ripe Olives (fresh olives are fine, sliced or chopped)

1 7 oz package Wholly Guacamole Classic (or homemade guacamole)

1 16 oz tub Daisy Light Sour Cream

The most important thing to remember, is that you can modify this recipe in any way, as long as you keep it gluten free. We’ll discuss some of the ingredient choices throughout the instructions, so let’s get started. First, chop a large breast of chicken into 1/4″ cubes. The smaller you can chop them the better, but I’m not chef and I’m certainly not any good with knives, so I stick to 1/4″. I have used ground turkey before and it works just fine, but sometimes I just get a taste for chicken.

chicken

1 Large Chicken Breast

Cook the chicken over medium heat on your stove top until fully cooked. I like to add some seasoning here to spice up the dish. I find that a dash of salt, a dash of garlic powder, a dash of red cayenne pepper or some blackening seasoning work well together. Feel free to use whatever spices you like to give this meal a bit of flare. While your chicken is cooking, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Pull out a 9 x 12 non stick pan and lay out 24 round chips on it in neat rows.

chicken cooking

Seasoned Chicken Cooking

Once your chicken is fully cooked, it’s time to fire up the assembly line. Begin by taking a knife or other spreading utensil and wiping a layer of refried beans across each chip. There is a fine line between under-beaning and over-beaning. The general rule of thumb is that if you can stick a piece of chicken in the bean spread and it doesn’t roll away, you’re in good shape.

Perfectly Beaned

Perfectly Beaned

Next, add your chicken or meat of choice to each nacho. Be sure to ration them out so that each nacho gets an appropriate amount of meat. Feel free to skip this step if you don’t want all that meat on your nachos. There are plenty of ingredients to come, so adapt the recipe to suit your taste.

With Meat

Adding the Meat

Next, add the black olives. If you have chopped black olives, you may want to scoop them onto the nachos with a spoon. For sliced black olives, you might decide that using your hands works just fine. And if you don’t like black olives, leave them out.

Black Olives

Adding the Black Olives

Our final step before sliding them in the oven is to add cheese. Chihuahua cheese is great. So is cheddar. Tonight I have some shredded Mexican cheese and that will work out very well. Be liberal with the cheese. It always seems like there’s too much before it cooks, but it can be surprisingly deceptive.

A Lot of Cheese

Lots of Cheese

Place the nachos in the oven on the middle rack and let them cook for about 8 minutes or until the cheese is sufficiently melted. Depending on the amount or type of cheese, this number could vary widely. Be sure to check on the nachos occasionally during this time to prevent a burnt cheese disaster.

Perfectly Cooked

Perfectly Cooked

Shut the oven off and pull the nachos out. Be careful during these next couple of steps because you will be working near a very hot metal pan. If you prefer to move the nachos to a plate at this point, be sure to use a good spatula. The next 2 steps are perfect for those of you working in teams. First, begin dropping a dollop of guacamole on each nacho. I prefer Wholly Guacamole. If you can find it, give it a try. There is also a spicy version available and all Wholly Guacamole is gluten free and comes with 2 – 7 oz bags in the package.

Adding Guacamole

Adding Guacamole

A dollop of sour cream on the top of each nacho will cap off these wonderful little treats. If you haven’t already moved your nachos to plates, now would be a good time to do that.

Done!

Done!

And there you have it. Eat them as a meal or set them out for a party. They pair especially well with a pint of gluten free brown ale (homemade, of course). Make this recipe your own and don’t forget to let us know how it turns out in the comments.

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