Feeding the Missionaries

   In my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons, we have young missionaries that share the gospel with others.  These missionaries pay for the mission themselves.  As members, we try to help them by feeding them dinner.  I have not been able to sign up to feed them in a while, so I was excited to have them over and made a really big meal.  Our ward, or congregation that meets together, has two sets of missionaries.  One set are Elders, single young men 18 or older, and one set are Sisters, single young women 19 or older.  They both came to dinner last week.  I used to have them over at least once a month, but have been busy with life and I am in the Primary at church, so I do not get as much of a chance to see the calendar and sign up.
   The Primary is what we call our young children's group.  It consists of children from 18 months to 11 years.  Once they turn 12, they go to Young Men's or Young Women's classes.  When they turn 18 they go to Priesthood for the men and Relief Society for the women.  It is a wonderful program that the Lord set up for us.  I just love it!
   Anyway, I made a big dinner and tried a few new things for Duane, my husband.  He has been on a diet that is anti sugar and amylose, which is a sugar like substance that is in a lot of root vegetables, wheat and grains, and stuff like that.  So he cannot eat potatoes, bread or any desserts.  I have made a lot of changes in my diet since I have been with Duane, but that is something I am not ready to do.  I love potatoes, I love breads and I love desserts!!  I have cut back a little on all of those, just because I think it's rude to eat them in front of him and I like to be around my husband.  He got the diet from a book called "Loose the Weight You Hate!" by Ritchie C. Shoemaker, M.D.
 

We eat a lot of salads.  This is just as American blend salad mixed with some romaine lettuce that we had in the fridge.  Nothing fancy, but tasty.  We like to put avocado oil or olive oil on our salads, instead of dressing.  Some Parmesan cheese adds a little extra flavor too.

These are some really yummy biscuits that are supposed to taste like Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits.  I got the recipe from a Pinterest post which you can find here.  I have adapted this recipe to what I have on hand.  I had Krusteez pancake mix instead of Bisquik biscuit mix, so I omitted the sugar and buttermilk.  I just added water as the liquid, since Krusteez is a buttermilk mix.  It tastes almost the same and is still good.

These tasty little cornbread like biscuits are my invention.  Duane can eat corn, for some reason it has a different type of sugar in it, which is ok for him to eat.  So he eats a lot of corn tortillas and corn chips instead of noodles or rolls or regular chips.  So I wanted to make something he could eat instead of the cheesy biscuits.  I started out just making them like I would regular biscuits.  I added the corn flour, some baking powder, some baking soda, some salt and water.  I did not measure, sorry, I don't like measuring unless it is a recipe that I am following for the first time.  This was just one I was making up, so I did not keep track.  I believe it was 2 cups corn flour, 1- 2 tsps. baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 Tbsps. powdered buttermilk, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 2 cups water.  I was trying to make it similar to the cheesy biscuit recipe, but stuff Duane could eat.  So no sugar and he can eat mozzarella cheese more so than cheddar cheese.  I added some more water until I got about the same consistency as the other recipe.  Corn flour is different from wheat flour, I have learned this by experimenting.  Almond flour, rice flour, graham flour, soy flour, whole wheat verses white flour, they all have different properties and work for some things better than others.  So just try a little hear and a little there and you will find what you like best.   

This is what the dough looked like.

 

I made some rice for everyone else, since that is what I like, besides potatoes, with my Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I just followed the cooking directions on the package of brown rice and left it in a little longer, so it got sticky, which is fine for pouring the chicken over.  I made my Chicken Cordon Bleu crock pot style.  I also found the recipe for that on Pinterest and adapted it to my needs and what I have on hand.  The recipe can be found here.  I am not sure if that was the original site I went to, but it looked like the same recipe.

My version is 6 to 8 frozen chicken breasts, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup or one family size can, rinse can and add water from can, cubed ham (about 2 cups), cubed swiss cheese (8 oz. package), salt and pepper to taste.  Sometimes I add garlic powder or onion powder to it, if I think it needs more flavor.

We had a good time and everyone liked the food.  Do you have some favorite recipes that you have adapted and would like to share?  Please leave your comments and suggestions, I can always use more ideas.  Happy Cooking!!!