Chicken Breasts with Wild Mushrooms, Marjoram & Marsala

Recipe Title: Chicken Breasts with Wild Mushrooms, Marjoram & Marsala
Recipe Link: http://www.celiac.com/articles/1092/1/Chicken-Breasts-with-Wild-Mushrooms-Marjoram-and-Marsala-Gluten-Free/Page1.html

Status: Approved
Rating: 9/10

Jen's Notes: Another great-tasting, easy-to-make recipe today! I made this for dinner last night, along with some green beans and homemade mashed potatoes. Picky husband took one bite and said he loved it.

There were very few bumps in the kitchen while making this. I only have a few recommendations for this recipe:

• If you have thick chicken breasts (which seems to be the trend these days), cover them while they are cooking so they don't take forever to cook completely.
• You may want to add some potato or corn starch to the sauce to get it to thicken properly. I followed the instructions in the original recipe exactly, but I ended up adding some potato starch to get it to thicken up the way I wanted. Keep in mind that it will thicken up a little more when you remove it from the heat, but not a tremendous amount.
• To save a little cooking time, start the sauce in a separate skillet after you get the chicken going. Then, once the chicken is done, transfer the sauce to the chicken skillet so it can absorb all the chicken goodness.
• Homemade mashed potatoes work really well with this - just pour a little of the sauce on top of the potatoes before serving.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  20 minutes
Start to Finish: 30 minutes

Ricotta & Pesto Meat Loaf

Recipe Title: Ricotta & Pesto Meat Loaf
Recipe Link: http://www.celiac.com/articles/859/1/Ricotta--Pesto-Meat-Loaf-Gluten-Free/Page1.html

Status: Vetoed


Jen's Notes: From the cooking side of things, this was a pretty simple recipe. I made the pesto first, using this recipe. Beat the egg in a separate bowl, then dump turkey, pesto, ricotta and egg together.

Problem #1: The mixture felt very wet to me. I've made a lot of meatloaves in my time, so I have a pretty good idea for the consistency that you need. I remedied this problem by adding about a half cup of brown rice breadcrumbs to the mixture. You could also add some gluten-free oats, if you prefer.

Problem #2: The meat mixture came out green. When you add a strong color like green to turkey (white) and ricotta (white), there's not much there to tone down the green color. Admittedly, this is just a visual complaint. But I found it a bit disconcerting to eat green meat. When I pulled it out of the oven, the green effect had toned down some but the final product was still a light green.

Problem #3: This one is the deal breaker. In spite of having ingredients like basil and ricotta, which are very flavorful ingredients, this turned out very bland. I think the parmesan/romano toned down the flavor of the basil enough that it didn't get to really stand out like it should have. You could try using a different cheese (mozzarella, maybe?) or cutting the parmesan.

However, I think this recipe has seen its last day in my kitchen. I'm all for "fixing" a recipe, but there's gotta be something worth working with in the first place. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about this recipe. Normally, we save the leftovers to eat the next day for dinner so that I don't have to cook every day. These leftovers went down the garbage disposal.

After the relative kitchen failures we've had this week, I've decided to give poor hubby's taste buds a break and make quiche for dinner tonight, so the chicken that was originally on the menu for this week is getting bumped to next week. I'm thinking of trying some GF baking this weekend, though, so be sure and check back for that.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Start to Finish: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Chipotle Orange Chicken

Recipe Title: Chipotle Orange Chicken
Recipe Link: http://www.elanaspantry.com/chipotle-orange-chicken/
Status: Vetoed by hubby
Rating: 3/10

Jen's Notes: I made this recipe almost exactly as specified, except that I substituted chicken breasts for the whole chicken, and there were no chipotles because they didn't make it home from the grocery store somehow.

It was a very easy to make recipe. The marinade took maybe fifteen minutes to prepare, including chopping garlic and squeezing oranges. I let it marinade overnight, then tossed it in the oven when I got home from work. Because I used chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken, the bake time was only 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the flavor. The orange flavor is very overpowering. None of the flavor of the garlic or the herbs de provence came through. For the same effect, I could have just marinated hte chicken breasts in orange juice. I imagine the chipotles, had they made it home from the grocery store, probably would have come through because chipotles have such strong flavor. However, I don't think I'll making this one again. Making this with a whole chicken might make a difference, but I prefer to use chicken breasts because of the fat factor. So, for me, this recipe is failed out.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Start to Finish: 45 minutes