Category: nut free recipes

Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Red Grapes

This Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes is the perfect dish for cookouts, hot summer nights, easy lunches or any day you want something quick and wonderful

This Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes is the perfect dish for cookouts, hot summer nights, easy lunches or any day you want something quick and wonderful

What I love about this recipe is it is so easy and very different from your usual pasta salad. It is very lemony so the red grapes are needed to balance it out. There is nothing better on a hot summer night then this. It is so cool and satisfying. This summery pasta salad is the perfect one dish meal for any occasion. A pasta salad this easy is something you need in the rotation. Get a rotisserie chicken, break it apart, add it to your favorite pasta with chopped spinach and chopped grapes along with the wonderful dressing in the recipe below and you are good to go. A warm summer night just calls for this cool and satisfying Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes/

My good friend Pam has always made this summery pasta salad and I finally convinced her to share the recipe with me. So she will get full credit for her culinary prowess.

Check out my other products here on the RECIPES page of my blog Sunday Chefs.

Summertime is always the best of what might be

Charles Bowden

Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Red Grapes

Print Recipe
Course dinner, Salad

Ingredients
  

  • 1 12 oz box Pasta Bowties or Rotini work well
  • 3 cups Cooked Chicken Breast rotisserie chicken works great here
  • 3 cups red grapes sliced in half
  • 3 cups Baby Spinach coarsely chopped
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup Fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup Olive oil
  • 1/2 cup Red wine vinegar
  • 1.5 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Cook the pasta as directed and rinse under cool water.
  • When the pasta is cooled, add the chicken, grapes, and chopped spinach
  • For the dressing. Mix lemon juice, zest, olive oil, red wine vinegar and spices.
  • Mix the dressing well. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
  • Refrigerate for about a half hour and enjoy.

Notes

Great for a hot, summer evening!
Allergy Friendly: Contains gluten but can be made with gluten free pasta.
 
Keyword Allergy Friendly recipe, american cuisine, appetizers, barbecue,, chicken, chicken recipe, cookout, cookout food, dinner, easy recipe, grapes, pasta salad, salad, spinach

Simple Mango Salsa

Simple Mango Salsa is the perfection addition to your summer menu. The versatility is endless. Add something here or subtract something there. It is all wonderful. Spring is here …. despite the 40 degree weather. And it is time to break out all the spring and summer recipes. This Simple Mango Salsa is the first one that I thought of. It is so wonderful and versatile. I first made this salsa years ago and it has been on regular rotation ever since. It is simple to make and elevates anything you put it on …. grilled chicken or fish, tacos, salad, chips or in any bowl now a days. This is especially good on my Crazy Good Fish Tacos.

We have some food allergies here, so sometimes I leave out the beans and add the red peppers. Some like it spicy, so I add more jalapeno. You really cannot go wrong here. Chop all the ingredients and combine in a bowl. Good luck cutting the mango. I think mangos are my least favorite thing to deal with. I make a huge mess trying to cut them, but it is worth it. Well worth it.

My advice is to let the salsa sit in the fridge for a few hours, but if you don’t the time, feel free to eat immediately.

Life without Mexican food is like no life at all.

-Unknown

Simple Mango Salsa

This mango salsa is great as an appetizer, condiment, side dish. Great on fish or chicken. Perfect to bring to a party as chips and dip also. So easy and fun to eat.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Appetizer, condiment, dinner, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Mexican

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Fresh Mango Peel, sliced and diced
  • 1 cup Black Beans Rinsed
  • 1/2 Red onion Diced
  • 1 Red Pepper Diced
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp Fresh cilantro Chopped fine
  • Salt To taste
  • 1 Jalapeno De-seeded and diced fine. This is optional and you can add as little or as much as you want to.

Instructions
 

  • Peel and dice the mango into small pieces.
  • Chopped the red onion fine and add to mangoes.
  • Rinse the black beans and add.
  • Chopped the Cilantro fine.
  • Combine all the ingredients along with cumin and orange juice.
  • Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Notes

This mango salsa is the perfect addition to any meal. It goes great as an appetizer or snack combined with tortilla chips as a chip and dip recipe. You can also serve on top of grilled chicken or fish or a side dish. 
This fruity salsa is healthy and kid friendly. Mango salsa is also allergy friendly. 
Allergens: Contains black beans which are a legume. DAIRY FREE, TREE NUT FREE, PEANUT FREE, EGG FREE, GLUTEN FREE, SOY FREE
Keyword appetizers, black beans, chips and dip, condiment, fish tacos, fruit salsa, grilling, healthy salsa, mango salsa, mangoes, salsa, side dish

If you are looking for some other great recipes, check out the recipes page of my Sunday Chefs blog.

French casserole Chicken – Supreme of Old Hen

This recipe brings back such fond memories of my childhood. It is not hard, but it is a bit time consuming. For some reason my late-father who loved to cook did not like to cook this. But he always made it for me on my birthday because he knew it was my favorite. It still is…. I have such wonderful memories of my birthday and this meal. I remember one time, he spent all day making it and we were all sitting at the table waiting for dinner. He liked to make a big deal out of the fact that he made it and was presenting it with a flourish, as he brought it to the table.

“To be a good cook you have to have a love of the good, a love of hard work, and a love of creating” – Julia Child

Continue reading “French casserole Chicken – Supreme of Old Hen” →

Simple Suppers – Chicken Tortellini Soup

This soup is a staple in our house and now that my college student daughter has her own apartment, it is time she had some simple dinners for college students that are easy and cheap. We need to get her going, so she and her friends can join the Sunday Chefs Club and not starve in college. Soups and Stews are always a great go to when you are looking for a simple and hearty meal. This meal is both impressive and simple.

Nothing brings people together like good food…. Unknown

  • Two 32 oz. cartons of low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 bag of baby spinach
  • 8 -16 oz package of tortellini (depending on how many you are feeding)
  • diced chicken (Optional)
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top (Optional)

Boil water and cook the tortellini separately. Cook it a little al dente. If it says 7 minutes cook it for 5, so it doesn’t get mushy when you add it to the soup.

In another big pot add the chicken broth, chicken (if you don’t have leftover chicken for the soup, you can leave it out or add a raw boneless chicken breast and poach it in the broth until its done, then remove it, shred it and then add it back) and spices. Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes and then add the spinach. It will seem like too much but it wilts down to nothing. Simmer for a few more minutes. Put the tortellini in a bowl and spoon the soup over the tortellini. Top with a little Parmesan cheese and serve with some crusty bread.

Allergens: Gluten

Baking Tip – How to cut the perfect brownie.

I know this sounds silly, but ever since someone told me about this trick, I use it every time. As a parent of a child with food allergies, I always bring the snacks….so I make a lot of brownies. I tend to cook brownies a bit underdone on purpose, which is our family’s preference. The trick is to use a plastic spoon when cutting them. The edges come out perfect and clean and the brownies do not stick to the knife. It is miraculous. Give it a try next time you are making brownies or blondies, you will be amazed.

 

It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life – J.R.R. Tolkein

 

Chocolate Muffins

These seriously are the best muffins ever and so easy to make.  I cannot take credit for these, someone gave me the recipe and I am not sure of the origin. But thank you to whoever thought of it. The idea seemed strange but I quickly realized what a great way to get a vegetable into my child who seems to be allergic to almost every other vegetable except broccoli and cauliflower.  So here it is …. couldn’t be any easier and they will never even know there is pumpkin in them. Preheat oven to 400 degrees  Fahrenheit.

It is always the simple that produces the marvelous – Amelia Barr

  • 1  15 oz can of pumpkin puree
  • 1 box devils food cake mix

Spray the mixing bowl and all the utensils with cooking spray because the mixture sticks to everything without it.  Mix the two together, it will take a while, but don’t give up. ( I have tried to do this in my mixer and it doesn’t work… don’t bother).

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray (do not use paper muffin cup liners, it will not work) and use an ice cream scoop to split mixture evenly to make 12 muffins.

Add to oven and cook for 15 minutes.  That’s it and they are the best muffins. They are so moist and are perfect for breakfast or a snack.

Chocolate pumpkin muffins

Allergens: Wheat, Check your cake mix for other allergens.

Linguine with Clam Sauce

When I was a young girl we had a summer house on Cape Cod and my godfather would go clamming and make steamers.  I loved them… I would eat more than most of the adults.  Then I got a little older and turned into a squeamish little girl and that was the end of that.  Well this dish made me love clams again.  It is so easy to make and everyone is always impressed with how it looks even if they won’t eat it.

Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air – Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • 1 lb. linguine cooked (reserve a cup of the boiling liquid) Regular or Gluten Free
  • 2 lbs. clams (washed and scrubbed clean to get rid of the sand that may have been left on)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • fresh parsley chopped (about 2 tbsp.)
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lemon
  • Parmesan Cheese to taste (contains dairy)

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until garlic is translucent. Add the white wine and the red pepper and simmer a minute and the reserved water. Add the clams and cover the pan. Leave the cover on and cook for app. 5 minutes until all the clams have opened.  If you need a few more minutes, take it and then throw out any of the closed clams.  Add the juice of half of a lemon. Take off the heat and add the pasta to the pan and very gently toss.  At the last minute add the parsley and serve. Garnish with lemon.  I put a little Parmesan Cheese on top also. Goes good with a Chardonnay and crusty bread.  Enjoy!

Allergens: Shellfish, Dairy, gluten  (Does work good with gluten free pasta also)

Linguine with clam sauce - kingsrookdreams

lemons and parsley - kingsrookdreams

parsley - linguine with clam sauce

Linguine with clam sauce - kingsrookdreams 2

Linguine with clam sauce - kingsrookdreams 3

Linguine with clam sauce - kingsrookdreams 4

 Linguine with clam sauce -kingsrookdreams 6
Linguine with clam sauce -kingsrookdreams

Linguine with clam sauce - kingsrookdreams 7

Chicken Cacciatore

I was feeling nostalgic today and missing my late father. This dish always reminds me of him. Everyone should know how to make a good Cacciatore!

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food – Hippocrates

  • 4 Chicken Breasts (Bone In – chicken thighs or even boneless breast could be used to)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • One red bell Pepper, chopped
  • One small onion, chopped
  • One shallot, chopped
  • 8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (No salt added)
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1/2 cup good white wine
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • Parmesan rind – about a tablespoon equivalent (whole)
  • 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp. dried basil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lb. pasta (pasta of your choice depending on allergies – gluten free works great here)

Heat a deep, heavy pot over medium heat until very hot. Add olive oil and chicken breasts. Brown for about 4 minutes or until the chicken releases from the bottom of the pan. If it is still stuck, give it a few more minutes. Just leave it, do not mess with it. Flip the chicken and repeat on the other side.

Remove the chicken from the pot and put aside. Now add the onions, shallots, and peppers to the pot. Saute’ until onions are translucent. Now add the mushrooms and garlic and cook a few minutes more.

Add the wine, broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, Parmesan rind and red pepper flakes.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the chicken back to the pot, cover and simmer for at least an hour. Some will say quicker, but I think the extra time makes all the difference. Add more wine or chicken broth if needed.

Serve over pasta (regular or gluten free) with some crusty bread.

Allergens: Dairy

Perfect Roast Chicken

I spoke before of the fact that you need to learn how to cook three things in order to survive….one good breakfast, one good lunch and one good dinner.  Well this is the dinner. Roast Chicken is something I can make and be confident of.  Everyone is always so impressed and it is really quite easy.  Plus you can also make a great chicken soup after, which I will show you later. Here is a simple version for you to try….

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces. Just good food from fresh ingredients – Julia Child

Ingredients:

  • Roaster Chicken 7-8 lbs.
  • Kosher Salt
  • Fresh cracked pepper
  • Softened butter
  • Lemon

Preheat the over to 375 degrees F. Remover the giblets (I have to admit, I did leave these in one time and the whole meal was ruined. I believe more people have done it than they care to admit). Rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry with a paper towel. Put the chicken in a heavy duty roaster pan on a rack.

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Salt and pepper the chicken well, inside and out. Loosen the skin on the breasts and insert some lemon slices under it.

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Add the remaining lemon (cut up) into the cavity.  Rub the softened butter all over the chicken (Messy, but worth it!). Add some water to the bottom of the pan, (this helps with broth for soup later on).


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Cook for approximately 2 hours until juices run clear when the leg is cut or pulled on. (Internal temperature should be app. 165 degrees at breast and 175 degrees at thigh).

I usually shoot for 170 degrees at the breast, but that is my preference.   Let the chicken sit for a bit before cutting into it. Everyone in my family loves this and that is very hard to do with five picky eaters. Serve with rice or potatoes and some seasonal vegetables. Great for leftovers also
roast chicken

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage is that once a year meal I think I don’t like and then I make it and it’s great! I think the problem is, it’s not the prettiest meal to make. But it wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day in this Irish House without it.

 

May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows your dead – Irish Blessing

 

Ingredients: 

  • Corned Beef- 3-4 lbs in Brine with spices included
  • 4 potatoes, quartered
  • 5 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • One large onion
  • 1 medium size green cabbage
  • Mustard (optional)

Put the corned beef in a large heavy pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Drain off the water and cover it again with cold water. My friend Kristen gave me this tip and I don’t know what I did before. It takes a lot of the salt out. Add the seasoning packet. Bring to a boil again and then lower temperature and simmer for about 2 hours.

Add potatoes, carrots and onions. Bring to a boil again, then lower to simmer for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add the cabbage and cook for about another 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve warm. Enjoy!

Just remember….everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!

Additions: Mustard for Corned Beef

Allergens: Gluten Free, Nut free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Peanut Free, Soy free