Here is the first of two recipes contributed by my mother that are family favorites. If you decide to give it a try, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Gluten Free Chicken and Rice

1. Start with a large 8 to 10 C container, and add
2. 2 Cans Progresso™ Cream of Mushroom Soup
3. 4 pkgs (dry) Lipton™ Cream of Chicken Soup
4. Stir to blend dried soup
5. Add milk to make total of 7 Cups

Then add:

• 2/3 stick melted butter
• ¼ tsp poultry seasoning
• ½ tsp sea salt (or regular)
• Optional – Add 1 ½ stalk celery diced and/or French cut green beans.
• Heat the mixture until warm.
• Add 1 ½ C parboiled rice (uncooked) to soup mixture.

Baking Instructions:

1. Pour all carefully into lightly greased 9×13 pan.
2. Top soup mixture with 4-6 chicken breasts (washed and dried)
3. Brush tops of chicken with remaining 1/3 butter stick (melted).
4. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Bake at 275 degrees for 2 ½ hours
6. Stir rice/soup mixture in pan before serving.

It is believed that 1 in 133 Americans have Celiac disease, but a very small percentage realize it. Unfortunately, lack of proper treatment can cause some very big problems, and Mentoring-UK has written a post detailing Celiacs effect on your body when untreated.

Here is an excerpt:

There is growing evidence that celiac disease affects more than your digestive system. Through nutritional deficiencies it can impact your entire body. Even more serious, though, is the toxic effect that gluten can have on your brain.

In one study, researchers found that many epileptic patients had strange calcifications in the brain. Upon further investigation, the researchers found that it was present in many of these strange cases. They also found that sometimes this disease was actually mistaken for epilepsy. Often these patients showed the classic symptoms of epilepsy, but did not respond to normal treatment. If their celiac disease was diagnosed and treated soon enough after the diagnosis of epilepsy, the epileptic symptoms were eliminated.

Celiac disease can create many different neurological complications, usually by damaging nerves. It can damage the optic nerve, it can damage the casing of the spinal cord, it can cause weakness and numbness in the extremities and it can cause dementia.

In fact, researchers have found that more than half of people with undetermined neurological conditions have celiac disease.

If it sounds interesting to you, I recommend you check it out.

Here are some flourless chocolate coconut muffins that use Espresso in them. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 6 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbl vegetable oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 (measuring) cup or one small espresso cup of espresso

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
2. Grease 6 large muffin cups, or 12 normal muffin cups.
3. In large mixing bowl, beat together eggs and sugar with electric mixer.
4. Add vegetable oil and mix well.
5. Stir in almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa, vanilla, baking powder, and espresso, and mix gently.
6. Pour into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, between 25-35 minutes.

[Recipe Courtesy of Bleeding Espresso]

Hey, you can never have enough banana bread recipes, right?   Here is one that is getting some amazing reviews, and as an added bonus it is sugar free and low fat! 

If you decide to try it, let us know how you liked it in the comments below.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe banana
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup egg white
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 cups oats, blended to make it like a flour
• 3/4 cup Splenda sugar substitute
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Baking Instructions:

1. Mash bananas in a bowl.
2. Add next 4 ingredients - mix well.
3. Add remining ingredients - mix well.
4. Pour into a greased loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.
6. Let cool completely before cutting.

[Recipe Courtesy of Recipe Zaar]