Soy and Egg Free Chicken Salad Recipe

If you have some chicken that you want to cook up or leftover Rotisserie Chicken that you are not sure what to do with, try making some Chicken Salad with it as a filler for a sandwich.  These make for easy and yummy lunches.  I posted about a vegan and soy free mayonnaise made by Earth Balance along with my recipe for spinach artichoke dip.  If you missed it, this is the link to the post. 

http://handychickadee.blogspot.com/2014/01/soy-free-spinach-artichoke-dip-in-crock.html

The recipe for the chicken salad recipe is mixing all the following ingredients together. 

diced up chicken
1 stalk of celery diced up
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
1/2 cup of Earth Balance vegan and soy free mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Yes, it's that easy,  The lemon gives a little punch to it.  The celery gives it a crunch.  If you want, you could even add some craisins to it to give it some sweetness.  I haven't tried that yet, but I am sure it would taste deelish.  Enjoy!!!

More Soy Free Products on the Shelf

Hi All.  Sorry for not posting in so long, but I finally am making the time to post my latest finds.  Finding tasty breads and breakfast food options is not always the easiest, but I'm happy to say that I have some items to share with you that can purchase from stores like Trader Joes and Giant Grocery Store.  I will start with Giant's Butter Bread.  It was so nice to find loaf bread that is soy free for my daughter. She has been enjoying toast and sandwiches once again :).  The ingredients say it contains soy, but it is soy lecithin. 

Another item sold at Giant is Joseph's Pita Bread.  These taste great toasted.  My sister found these one a grocery run this summer while visiting with me. 

Now onto Trader Joes...  I know I have shared the soy free options in one of my previous posts for soy free plain and cinnamon raisin bagels.  Well, TJ's now offers pop tarts that are soy free.  The pop tarts are very tasty and don't have a lot of the frosting on top, which I am happy about.

 TJs also has a wonderful cinnamon roll bread.  The cinnamon bread is amazing, especially when toasted in the toaster oven.   My girls and I love it!!

The final thing I want to share is TJ's Homemade Tortillas.  OMG.  These are AWESOME and best of all, they are soy free.

 Happy Shopping and Enjoy!

So What's up with Soy Lecithin?

So I am finally beginning to explore the possibility of soy lecithin with my younger daughter who has a soy sensitivity.  Here is some good information on what it is and why it is used in certain products.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-greene/soy-lecithin-why-is-it-in_b_2891780.html

I have tried certain products so far to try with my daughter.  The first is Whoppers...yes the chocolate balls.  They have soy lecithin.  I gave her one and then, set the timer.  She was fine so she is now all out enjoying whoppers :).

The second thing is Oreos.  I found this article from Nabisco, which helped me brave it and try.  All was good.

http://ctfoodallergymom.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/finally-the-definitive-word-on-oreos/comment-page-1/

Each person will be different because there are some soy sensitive/allergic people that may react to soy lecithin, but i hope, like my little one, you are able to tolerate it.

Delicious and Easy Tilapia Recipe (Soy, Dairy, Egg, Nut, and Gluten Free)

This is a recipe I usually cook for dinner every couple weeks.  Both my girls love it.  I'll usually serve it with a side of rice, steamed veggie, and a side of some dry seaweed.  I buy the tilapia from Costco where you can get a large package of tilapia.  Then I put them in freezer ziplock bags..about 3 filets per bag is plenty to feed both me and the girls with leftovers for lunch the next day :).  The following recipe works for about 3 filets of the tilapia.


Ingredients:

1 lb tilapia
salt
cornstarch
************************
Sauce:

2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce/soy sauce substitute
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Rice Wine
1 crushed garlic clove
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp water
************************

Half of a Red bell pepper or 3" geen onion slices(I prefer red bell pepper)
1 slice ginger
Instructions:
1.  Wash and Cut tilapia filets in half. Pat dry with paper towel.  Then lightly coat fish fillets with salt and let the fillets sit for at least 5 minutes.  You don't need a lot of salt.

2.  Go ahead and mix the sauce ingredients.

3.  Cut the half red bell pepper/green onion into slices.  Make sure to clean and
deseed.  Cut one slice of ginger.

4.  Coat the filets with cornstarch.  You do t need a lot of cornstarch.

5.  On a pan, heat some canola oil.  Cook the coated fillets back and
front.

6.  Put the cooked fillets on a plate.  Heat a little more oil in the pan. 
Throw the red bell pepper slices/green onion and ginger slice into the pan.  Just toss
it around for a few seconds or so.  Then put the cooked fillets into the
same pan.

7.  Pour the marinade sauce into the pan.  Bring the sauce to a boil.  Then
put the heat to low for a few minutes.

That's it!!

Soy and Dairy Free Ice Cream Sandwiches

Just found these at Wegmans.  They are sooooo good.  My younger daughter has a nut allergy but is not allergic to coconut, which is part of the palm family.  I have been looking for a soy free ice cream sandwich dessert because she loves them.  We had to stop getting them after discovering tht soy triggers her eczema.  Not anymore....woohoo.

http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut-milk-frozen-desserts/coconut-minis

How to Make School Color Pom Poms Out of Things You probably have at home.

This is Spirit Week at my daughter's school so we are preparing for Friday's Cheetah Cheer Day.  One of the things we made for the girls was pom poms.  It was so easy, and I knew there was a reason I saved off empty paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, wrapping tissue paper from shopping bags and gift bags :).

So this is what you need.

cardboard toilet paper rolls/cardboard paper towel rolls
construction paper with the school colors(ours are yellow, green, and white)
used wrapping tissue paper (I used white, but you could use any color or combo of school colors)
glue stick
stapler
scissors
ruler

With the cardboard paper towel rolls, I cut those in half with scissor. 

I then decided to make green the main background color and then yellow for the stripe.  So first I measured out the length and width for the construction paper to wrap around the cardboard roll.  I used the ruler to draw out the outline.  Then I cut out a strip of the yellow to be the same width as the green construction paper.  I then glued the strip to the middle of the green construction paper.

Then I glued and wrapped the paper around the cardboard roll to cover the outside of the roll.  Using the stapler, staple the paper to the cardboard roll.

Using two sheets of the tissue paper, I folded it lengthwise first and then widthwise.  I then started cutting strips from the folded end.  You can make them as wide or narrow as you want for your pom pom.

Once you are done.  grab the pieces by the folded end and stuff them about 1/3 up into your covered cardboard roll.  Then you can press down on the end of cardboard roll and staple it across to hold the tissue paper in. 

Wallah, you are done.

Soy free Spinach Artichoke Dip in a Crock Pot

I am finally getting around to posting some new finds for cooking soy free. Well, first off, I discovered soy and egg free mayonaise by Earth Balance. I found it at My Organic Market, which is a health grocery store near me.

Once I discovered Earth Balance soy and egg free mayo, I was on a mission to make a delicious and healthy spinach artichoke dip.
So here goes.

• 10 ounce bag baby spinach, fresh or frozen 
• 1 can (14 ounces) artichokes, drained and chopped 
• 8 ounces reduced fat sour cream 
• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese 
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded You can sprinkle some shredded mozarella cheese too if you like. 
• 1/2 cup 1% or skim milk 
• 1/2 cup feta 
• 1/2 cup mayonaise 
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper  

How to make it

1. Place all ingredients in a slow-cooker/crockpot. Mix well with a spoon until the ingredients are combined. Cook on high for 1 hour 30 minutes or on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes. 
2. Stir and pour into a serving dish or set the slow-cooker to warm and serve out of the crockpot. Serve with tostitos, crackers, pita chips, or a sliced baguette.

So Yummy!!!   You won't be disappointed.