Flatbread Grilled 'Cheese' with Chicken & Tomatoes

The hardest part in eliminating my reactive foods has definitely been cutting out CHEESE. No matter how many alternatives you try, or the different 'nut' cheeses you make... nothing can substitute cheese. One day while I was wandering the aisles of Vitamin Cottage I found a dairy free cheese... there are several actually but this one was the only one I could find that didn't have yeast. By itself the taste is...similar to plain rice milk with a hint of cardboard... (sorry Galaxy). With something the taste completely disappears and it tastes like... nothing really... So I guess lesson learned is that if you are intolerant to dairy but crave a grilled cheese every time your boyfriend makes one... Suck it up and eat the cheese! Sure you may have a slight stomach ache but hey... you only live once!

Anyway... Back to the recipe of this post!

The plan for dinner was for me to make a homemade soup and delicious filling for a grilled cheese on the side. The soup idea fluttered away once I got home from a very hot and long bike ride, but my determination to have a grilled cheese was still in sight. 

Using the recipe I posted for the Gluten free, Dairy free, Yeast free Pizza, I made flatbread!

For the pizza I used Quinoa flour, Amaranth flour and Millet flour (which held together nicely and when toasted gave a great crunch!) For the flatbread I used Amaranth, Millet and Sorghum and added 1/2 tsp of sugar. This was yet again delicious but did crumble more than the pizza. Without toasting the flatbread feels a bit soft and may actually hold together better than when heated (if you try this let me know!), but you can't hope for rice cheese to melt without heat so yes.. I assembled my sandwich and put it into the George Foreman. The cheese didn't really melt at all but the warm sandwich was still nice. 

What I love about a grilled cheese for dinner is that there are endless possibilities for what can accompany the cheese and bread. In this case here's what I did... 

For the Chicken:

2 c shredded rotisserie chicken (I always keep some in the freezer for nights when you want to get creative!)

1 1/2 c mushrooms

2 cloves minced garlic

a generous amount of italian seasoning

salt & pepper

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar (or more to taste)

1 tbsp olive oil

fresh sliced tomatoes

How to prepare:

Heat oil in a medium skillet, add mushrooms and sautee until soft. Add garlic and sautee with mushrooms until fragrant. Add shredded chicken, spices and vinegar. That's it! Feel free to cater the spices to the type of sandwich you are craving, or use fresh spices if in season. 

Assemble grilled cheese as normal (if I could have cheese I'd put one slice on the top and bottom pieces of bread), add as much of the chicken mixture as you like and grill! (If you don't have a George Foreman or a Panini Press you can use a skillet.. it'll work just fine!) Wait to add the tomatoes until the sandwich is ready, the moisture will make your bread soggy. 

And voila! Dinner is served! 

One more note, if you have a certain bread you like or can tolerate store brand GF bread, Udi's makes a great one for sandwiches! However, you'll give yourself even more praise for this truly homemade sandwich ;-)

Enjoy!