Funeral Potatoes

When we were going on a wheat-free diet, I thought our days of Cheesy Potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, or Church Potatoes (whatever you call it) were over. I was completely wrong. We can still have them and they actually taste better without all the preservatives and added ingredients that come in the can of cream of chicken soup.

1 1/2 cups of milk (reserve 1/4 cup)
1 chicken or veggie bouillon cube (I used Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable Bouillon from Sprouts)
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
Salt to taste
1 cup sour cream
1/2-1 cup grated cheddar cheese (depends on how cheesy you like it)
1 stick melted butter
12 oz shredded potatoes (or 1 box dehydrated potatoes, rehydrated)
1/8 cup dried chopped onions
1 cup crushed cereal (corn flakes, chex, and crispix all work fine)
1 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat milk and bouillon cube in saucepan until almost boiling.  In small cup mix reserved 1/4 cup milk and cornstarch until smooth. Whisk cornstarch mix into hot milk mixture until smooth. It should thicken as it comes to a full boil. Salt to taste. Add sour cream, cheese, butter, potatoes, and onions. Mix well. Pour mixture into 8x8 casserole dish. In small container, mix crushed cereal and 1 Tbsp melted butter. Sprinkle over potato mixture in casserole dish. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Cream of Chicken Soup

It had been so long since my last post that I had actually forgot my blog address and had to look through all my old facebook posts to figure out what it was. :-(  E is now on a wheat-free diet to see if that helps clear up his Eosinophilic Esophagitis. One of the (many) things that we can't have anymore is cream of (fill in the blank) soup. Until tonight. I had found a recipe online on how to make the soup with bean flour. Ummm, no thank you. Ryan had the idea to just use cornstarch instead. Brilliant! (And delicious to boot!) Here's the recipe:

Cream of Chicken Soup

3 cups of milk (reserve 1/4 cup)
2 chicken or veggie bouillon cubes (I used Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable Bouillon from Sprouts)
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 can chicken chunks (or just precooked is fine)
Salt to taste

Heat milk, bouillon cubes, and chicken in saucepan until almost boiling.  In small cup mix reserved 1/4 cup milk and cornstarch until smooth. Whisk cornstarch mix into hot milk mixture until smooth. It should thicken as it comes to a full boil. Salt to taste.

If you are trying to use this in place of the cream of chicken soup in a can, this recipe equals 2 cans, un-reconstituted.

What I loved most about this recipe is that it uses basic ingredients (that are easily substituted) and took less than 10 minutes to prepare. I would say that it was just as good, if not better, than any canned soup I've tasted. Best of all, I can feel happy knowing that I didn't put a bunch of artificial chemicals into our bodies.