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Gluten-free Crunchy Coconut Chicken Drumsticks

September 16, 2013

Coconut crusted gluten-free Chicken Legs — Gluten-free Crunchy Coconut Chicken Drumsticks

I wasn’t sure what to do with a bunch of chicken drumsticks that had thawed during our freezer disaster but I knew I wanted to do something gluten-free and out of the ordinary, and these coconut-quinoa encrusted drumsticks fit the bill.

I got inspired while searching the internet for chicken leg recipes and came across this one for Crunchy Coconut & Lime Drumsticks from The Family Feedbag, so I took the recipe and tweaked it a bit to meet my wheat-free household’s needs. And, I didn’t have a lime but I did have a lemon, so that filled in. Instead of the chile powder called for, I used a Cajun spice mix. Just a small change.

The bigger changes came from making the drumsticks wheat-free by substituting spelt flour for wheat flour, and quinoa flakes for Panko bread crumbs. While spelt does contain a gluten protein, it is different enough from wheat gluten that many gluten-intolerant people can tolerate spelt just fine. To make this recipe completely gluten-free, swap out the spelt flour for almond flour. In fact, next time I’m going to make these with almond meal and I think they would be even better.

I love using quinoa flakes in place of bread crumbs in lots of recipes. Quinoa flakes make a very simple gluten-free breadcrumb solution.

I also skinned the drumsticks simply because I don’t like chicken skin. You can leave it on, of course, when you make your own version..

My family gave this recipe a double thumbs up for deliciousness and has already asked me to make it again.

Here’s the recipe for fun and different chicken legs.

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Gluten-free Crunchy Coconut Chicken Drumsticks.

3 lbs. chicken drumsticks (about 12), skinned
1 lemon
3/4 cup spelt flour or almond flour/almond meal
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cajun spice mix (I use a blend from the Savory Spice Shop. You can also use plain chile powder.)

Place the skinned (or not) chicken into a dish. Zest the lemon and reserve the zest, then slice the fruit and squeeze lemon juice over the chicken. The acid will start marinating the chicken. If you have time, cover and place in the fridge for a few hours.

Spread the flour or a plate. Beat the eggs in a bowl large enough to fit a drumstick.

In a medium bowl, mix together the lemon zest, shredded coconut, sea salt, and spice mix.

Create an assembly line:

Roll the drumstick in flour.
Dip it in the egg.
Roll the drumstick in the coconut mixture.

Place the drumsticks on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet leaving space between each one. Put the sheet into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until the chicken brings a meat thermometer up to 180 degrees F. For best results, turn the drumsticks after around 25-30 minutes to brown all sides.

Making Meals to Stock Your Freezer

September 11, 2013

What do you do when you’re faced with hundreds of dollars of thawing meat?

I haven’t been posting much this week because on Sunday morning I went to the basement to do laundry and stepped into a puddle of cold water: the freezer door had been left open overnight! !Quel horror!

We belong to a frozen food co-op, Town and Country Foods, and they come and load our freezer with vacuum-sealed organic foods every six months or so. Luckily, it has been a few months since we were last re-stocked, or it could have been much worse. As it was, we still faced close to 100 lbs. of thawing meat, mostly chicken.

My husband advocated for calling up everyone we know and offering them free organic chicken. But I’m the one who balances the family budget and the thought of losing all of that meat that was meant to feed us for another few months was heartbreaking. There had to be a better solution.

First, I immediately put all of the partially thawed meat and veggies into the fridge. All of the processed foods like ravioli and frozen burritos had to go into the trash, but most of the meat was still partially frozen and hadn’t gone bad yet. My husband pointed out that if we cooked the meat we could freeze it again as a part of a dish. I just needed a plan.

I hit the internet for inspiration and then went to the farmer’s market and grocery store to load up on veggies, herbs, and other complimentary ingredients.

Then I started cooking and freezing. I’ve been in a cooking frenzy all week and I’m still not through it all.

Over the next few posts I’ll share with you some of the meals I’ve been cooking up and preserving for quick and easy dinners later in the winter.

Finally, we’re going to use up the rest of the meat by throwing a party and feting our friends and family.

What Causes Headaches? It Could Be A Food Sensitivity.

September 3, 2013

Last month I noticed that I began to get headaches regularly every afternoon. I didn’t immediately suspect that it was a food sensitivity reaction, but once I realized what was causing it, I was able to make the headaches disappear.

I’m not a person prone to headaches and after the third day in a row of having dull pain above my right eye I began to suspect something was wrong. Of course, I jumped to all sorts of rational conclusions first: it was a tumor that was causing the pain, what if it were a parasite behind my eye, or maybe I had brain-eating amoebas!

Then I gave it some thought and asked myself to remember when the headaches had started and what had changed at that time. I realized that my headaches had begun after we had arrived back home from our east coast vacation. I had been suffering from a cold that week so hadn’t thought of a headache as notable since my sinus cavities were full, etc. But then the cold ran its course and I still had the headache every day more than a week later.

I wondered if the problem could be caused by the agave syrup I used to sweeten my cup of decaf coffee at home. On vacation I was using cane sugar in my coffee, but at home I usually use agave. Food sensitivities can be delayed by up to four days, so a headache beginning around 3 pm could very well result from a drink at 7 or 8 am.

I stopped using agave syrup the very next day and had only a faint headache that afternoon. Two days after ceasing using the agave I was completely headache-free. It has now been four days without a headache and I am convinced it was the agave.

I feel lucky to have been able to identify the culprit and find relief so easily! Many of my clients complete MRT food sensitivity testing and find they are sensitive to as many as thirty or forty foods. After they complete a washout and some healing time, they often find that there were one or two big offenders that were tipping the scales for everything else.

I worked with a 29-year old attorney who had suffered from migraines almost daily since she was twelve years old. With MRT testing and the LEAP Immunocalm Diet, she was able to identify her biggest sensitivity as being from the additive fructose. As in High Fructose Corn Syrup. She realized that everything she used to eat as a busy career woman contained fructose and she had been unwittingly keeping herself in pain.

The first two weeks after removing all fructose from her life she went through a washout period and experienced about a dozen migraines. Then they stopped for good. Now she lives a migraine-free life as long as she avoids her fructose trigger. She feels like a new person. She received a raise and a promotion and is happily living migraine-free.

Sometimes you just don’t know until you know.

A Banner Year for Mushrooms

September 2, 2013

Some friends of ours are mushroom foragers.

Every fall they forage for mushrooms in secret spots in the Rocky Mountains and come home with baskets of beautiful mushrooms.

Shelly holding two giant Crimini mushrooms. — Shelly holding two giant Porcini mushrooms.

This year Shelly and D have reported a bumper crop of Porcini mushrooms as a result of our wetter-than-usual summer weather, and their harvest was truly spectacular. We were lucky enough to receive a couple of massive toadstools from their haul and plan to cook them up for supper tonight.

Mushroom foraging must be undertaken with caution as eating the wrong mushroom can make you sick or even kill you. Positive identification of mushroom species involves spore prints, examination of the gills and growth patterns, and more.

I love this warning from AmericanMushrooms.com: “There ought never be such a book as “The Dummy’s Guide to Edible Wild Mushrooms,” because identifying edible wild mushrooms and eating them is sort of like packing a parachute: any one mistake can be your last.”

Luckily, Shelly and D know what they’re doing when it comes to foraging for mushrooms. The only question left was what to do with a abundance of mushrooms? Once harvested, mushrooms won’t last too long. Keep them in paper bags in the fridge if you’re going to use them fresh, or dry them for long-term storage.

Daughter Milan showing off her mushrooms.

Shelly and D sliced the fungi and laid the slices out to dry on screens in the sun. Dried mushrooms store well and rehydrate easily with hot water. They make excellent additions to soups, stews, sauces, stir-fries, and of course, to Glorious One-Pot Meals, too!

Problems Sleeping? It Could Be What You’re Eating!

August 29, 2013

Do you have problems sleeping? If so, you’re not alone. Almost 9 million Americans take prescription sleeping pills. What’s eating everyone… literally?

Believe it or not, sometimes the foods you are eating during the day are keeping you awake at night.

It’s well-recognized that caffeine can keep us awake and that some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others. I used to be a caffeine-aholic, not able to start my day without a cup or two of coffee and often drinking coffee late into the night. Funnily enough, I had terrible insomnia many nights, not falling asleep until the wee hours of the morning.

Then I gave up both coffee and caffeine because I was trying to stop the hives (that’s another story). The funny thing was that I started sleeping better and I realized that I didn’t need the caffeine to feel awake in the morning anymore. After a couple of years, I reintroduced decaf coffee and seemed to be fine, but the moment I had a sip of a caffeinated drink, my teeth would clench, my jaw would ache, my legs would tremble, I wouldn’t sleep well and I would feel hungover the next day. All that from a sip or two of regular coffee.

I’m happier without the caffeine, and I feel lucky to have figured out a secret to sleeping better. More than ten years later, I’m still falling asleep easily and waking up without any craving for caffeine.

Food sensitivities may be delayed by as long as four days after ingestion, making it very difficult to identify the culprits that may be keeping you awake at night. In my nutritional therapy practice I hear over and over how much better people sleep once they identify their inflammatory triggers and change their diet accordingly.

Whether it’s caffeine or another food or chemical that is triggering reactions in your body, what you are eating can make a huge difference in how well you are sleeping. Food sensitivity testing can point you in the right direction.

Gluten-free Crunchy Coconut Chicken Drumsticks

Making Meals to Stock Your Freezer

What Causes Headaches? It Could Be A Food Sensitivity.

A Banner Year for Mushrooms

Problems Sleeping? It Could Be What You’re Eating!

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