Rhubarb Pork Recipe

Photo credit: Flickr user foodistablog

(Modified to be allergy-friendly from this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rhubarb-Pork-Chop-Bake/Detail.aspx)

Ingredients:

2.5 cups rhubarb, chopped

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbs flour (gluten free flour OK, I used rice flour)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1.5 tsp. minced fresh rosemary (if you only have dried rosemary, try .5 tsp)

olive oil for cooking

salt and pepper

Directions:

Brown the pork in the oil. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Lightly oil a baking dish. Layer half the pork, half the rhubarb mixture, and then the remaining pork and rhubarb. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Uncover and bake an extra 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Summer Tip:

So I wouldn't have to heat up the oven, I baked this in a square Pyrex dish in the toaster oven.

Worked like a charm!

Allergy Friendly Tortilla Soup Recipe

Tortilla soup is a great way to use up leftover corn tortillas. Although it is dairy, soy and casein free, the pureed tortillas give the soup a rich creamy texture. The amount of spice and heat can be adjusted to your taste. Especially delicious on cold winter nights!

Ingredients

• cooking oil
• 8-12 corn tortillas
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 serrano peppers, seeds removed, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1-2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2-3 tomatoes, chopped
• bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbs paprika
• optional garnish: lime wedges, extra cilantro, cheese, sour cream, avocado, tortilla strips

Directions

Start the chicken.

Place chicken, salt, pepper, half the onion, half the bell pepper, half the garlic, and all the water into a pot. Bring slowly to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours. When finished, the meat will be tender to the point of shredding. Save the broth to incorporate into the soup.

Toast or fry the tortillas.

I like to toast the tortillas in the toaster oven (no extra fat from frying), but if you prefer you can cut them into strips and fry them before adding to the soup. If you toast them, you can just crumble them into pieces over the pot when it is time to add them.

Start the soup.

In large pot, heat several tbs. of cooking oil. Add onions, garlic and peppers, saute for 5 minutes. Add tomato, broth from the chicken, fried tortilla strips or crumbled toasted tortillas, and spices. Simmer, cooking uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree the soup (I use a stick blender but you can use a regular blender if needed). Add the chicken and cilantro. Heat until evenly warm.

Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Chili (Gluten Free, Bean Free, Dairy Free)

Ingredients:

-2 serrano chiles

-2 jalepeno chiles

-2 Anaheim chiles

-10 or so tomatillos

-canola or olive oil for cooking

-salt and pepper

-1 chopped onion

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 green bell pepper

-1.5 pounds skinless, boneless chicken (I used about 6 thighs and 2 breasts), cut into 1-inch pieces

-1 can diced tomatoes

-1 can tomato paste

-oregano

-chile powder

-cumin

Optional garnishes: lime wedges, cilantro, chopped onion and jalapeños

Directions:

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees. Roast tomatillos, jalepenos, serranos and anaheim chiles whole for about 20 minutes or until they begin to turn brown.

Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a Dutch oven. Add onion, green pepper and garlic and saute for about 4 minutes or until they become tender and start to brown.

In a separate pan, warm a small amount of cooking oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook until browned. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.

Once vegetables are roasted, dice and add to Dutch oven with the onions, etc. If you would like a bit less heat, remove the seeds from the Anaheims and jalepenos. Add a splash of water to the mixture and puree with a stick blender until the sauce reaches desired consistency (adding additional water as needed). Stir in diced tomatoes, cooked chicken and tomato paste and season with oregano, cumin and chile powder.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and then simmer for 30 minutes. Goes well over rice. Garnish with cilantro, peppers, onion or lime wedges if desired.

This recipe was inspired by the White Bean Chicken Chili recipe in the November 2009 issue of Sunset Magazine and adapted to be allergy free.