Gluten Free Fan Not a Fad

Some of you who have read my blogs from time to time know that my husband is highly and deathly allergic to wheat.  Within ten minutes of ingesting wheat – he’ll swell up and stop breathing.

Well – most recently (as of January of this year) my 12 year old son grew into these same allergies. I’m pretty sure as his body chemistry is changing and his external allergies are out of control, his food allergies just kicked in.  So now – we have gluten free and nut free everything.

For us it’s not a dietary fad or a diet we’re trying.  Most people assume my family suffers from celiacs – which would be a blessing compared to what my family goes through if they ingest the wrong item.  It’s an Epi-pen, and ambulance, and a lot of prayers for survival if my family eats the wrong thing.

Needless to say – food is not something we take for granted.  It’s a luxury for us to be able to eat something.  And it’s just in the last 5 years that gluten free cooking has become so popular, to which now I have a lot of recipes available to me.  I’m so thankful that people are hopping on the gluten free train – whether it’s for a fad diet or  a digestive need.

This week I stumbled across a really great gluten free chicken pot pie recipe and I’ve made it twice.  My son is usually a very picky eater, which now he doesn’t have the luxury of.   Now he has to eat what I make for him, as he doesn’t have many options at his disposal.  Imagine how heartwarming it is when you can feed your child something that won’t take him to the ER, and it doubles as something that he goes back for seconds, thirds, and fourth helpings.

I am one happy momma today.  And if the meantime, if any of you want the recipe – read below:

2 Tb butter

1 md onion

Whatever veggies you choose to include – it will vary depending on what is in your refridge and use whatever quantity you choose to taste.

I chose the following: One chopped potato, Chopped broccoli, Sliced carrots, Sliced celery, ¼ of the medium onion – chopped

1 ½ cup cut cup-cooked chicken

1 ¾ cup Progresso chicken broth

1 tsp seasoned salt

½ dill and lemon seasoning

¾ cup milk

3 Tb rice flour

Topping ( I doubled the order for this part )

¾ cup Bisquick Gluten free mix (comes in a small orange box)

½ milk

1 egg

2 Tb melted butter

1 Tb Italian seasoning

1 Tb shredded parmesan

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In 3 qt saucepan – melt 2 Tb of butter over medium heat and add onions. Cook and stir frequently until butter is slightly boiling and onions are tender. Stir in all your veggies, chicken, chicken broth, and dill and lemon seasoning. Heat until it boils.

In small bowl, mix ¾ cup milk and the rice flour with wire whisk until smooth. Then stir it into the chicken mixture until it all boils. Once at a slight boil, pour your saucepan full of all that good stuff into an ungreased 2 qt casserole dish.

In a small bowl, stir all topping ingredients together until perfectly blended. As I’ve called for you to double the mixture – drop the mixture by as many spoonfuls as it takes over the casserole chicken pie.

Bake at 25-30 minutes or until your knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Enjoy.

A Bit More About the Script

Everyone has a ‘what if’ in life. As I took mine and put it paper with FINDING KYLIE, I wrote it visually.  So much so that when you read it –  it’s very easy to picture it in your own mind as you unravel Chastity’s story.  To give you a look into FINDING KYLIE – it is a dual storyline that gently segues between past and present, following two women, weaving a tale about the ultimate love of a mother for a child, and how far a mother would go to keep her daughter safe.

After the release of FINDING KYLIE, film producer and my friend, John Schwab, reached out in efforts to convince me to allow permission to convert the book to a script.

Over the last six years we’ve adapted the novel into a 3-part miniseries. The script has been worked and has gained a lot of ground, but the stars hadn’t aligned until just recently for a monumental step in our journey, which was the hard read for the script.

Recently, we have had an opportunity present itself for our script. This past weekend, a nationally known drama department made room within their packed school schedule to perform a week-long dress rehearsal which led to this past Sunday, in which a hard read was preformed.  It was essentially a reading or a workshopped script, which allows us the means to listen to the script develop and ensure it will have the time needed to grow.

Below is the photo of the most AMAZING cast, which breathed life into the characters and poured themselves into this script.  We were so blessed by them.

Now that this stage is complete – next come the edits to finish the final touches.  And we’ll have video clips for PR purposes – and a final product to hit the film market with.

Since John’s still in London, we’ll skype around his schedule to wrap this up but it will most likely still take months.  However, with John’s accomplishments in the film industry as an actor, producer and award-winning film director he has the right contacts to reach out to after this important step in the life of the script.

Don’t wish me luck – please say, ‘break a leg’ and keep our project in your prayers.