Blue Cheese and Pear Salad

It's been kind of hot this week, and that makes me want to eat salad. Leave out any of the ingredients that you don't like.

Ingredients:
Romaine lettuce or baby spinach
Crumbled blue cheese
Red grapes, cut in half
A couple of pears, cut into chunks about the same size as the grape halves
Chopped walnuts
Raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette (read the ingredients to make sure, but most are gluten-free)

Mix everything together and enjoy not turning your oven on! You can add pieces of chicken or tofu if you want to make this a bit more substantial.

Macaroni and Cheese

I actually don't make this very often because I've always thought macaroni and cheese was kind of boring, but I know some people really miss it after they have to stop eating gluten, so I thought I would post my recipe. When I do make it, it's usually because I'm going out of town and I have milk and cheese to use up, so I mix it up and freeze it in small portions (and I usually also add any random vegetables that are hanging out in the fridge - the last batch had kale, red bell peppers, celery, mushrooms, and onions in it).

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon (plus extra in case it doesn't thicken right away) sweet rice flour (also called sticky rice flour or glutinous rice flour - don't be alarmed by the word "glutinous", it just means sticky. It's made from the same rice they make sushi out of and it's really good for thickening)

2 cups milk

2-4 cups grated cheese (I use cheddar usually, but use whatever you like or a mixture)

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional, leave it out if you hate blue cheese, but it tastes really good if you're a fan)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 16 oz package gluten free macaroni

Feel free to add random vegetables if you want to be a freak like me. If you're feeling really adventurous, bake up a spaghetti squash and use that instead of pasta.

Directions:

While you're making the sauce, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

To make the sauce: In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the sweet rice flour. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Heat the mixture almost to boiling, stirring almost constantly. Make sure you don't burn it. It should start to bubble and thicken. If it looks like it's not going to thicken, whisk in a tablespoon or so of more sweet rice flour. When it starts to get thick, add the cheese and stir until the cheese has melted uniformly into the sauce. Mix the sauce with the pasta and serve. You can also put it in a casserole dish and top with more cheese and broil it if you want to be fancy like that.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Hey kids! I'm back with some more recipes. I'm trying an experiment - since I actually have some time to write blog posts right now, I'm going to schedule them to post on different days so I don't have a million posts all on one day and then none for months. We'll see how this works.

First up, spinach and artichoke dip. This is very easy and doesn't have a ton of ingredients. It also has a fairly high vegetable to cream cheese ratio. I hate how sometimes you get spinach and artichoke dip and it's basically a pile of mayonnaise with a few token pieces of spinach in it. If I wanted to eat a pile of mayonnaise, I would eat a pile of mayonnaise. In fact, my recipe doesn't even have mayonnaise in it.

You can serve this hot as a dip for vegetables or gluten-free crackers or tortilla chips, or cold as more of a spread. It's really good with celery.

Ingredients:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
Approximately a pound of fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (or a 1 pound package of thawed and drained frozen spinach)
1 small jar of artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup diced onions (optional - I know some people hate onions)
A bit of olive oil or butter (or cooking spray)
A few tablespoons of milk
Optional - shredded cheese, whatever kind you like (old cheddar or parmesan is good)

Directions:
Heat the oil or butter in a large (you'll want a lot of stirring room) frying pan to about the medium setting on your stove (or just spray the pan with cooking spray). Add the onions and spinach (along with salt and pepper to taste), and cooking, stirring frequently, until the spinach is starting to wilt and the onions are getting a bit translucent. Add the cream cheese and chopped artichoke hearts. You can cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces ahead of time to help it melt, but even if you throw the block in whole, it will melt eventually. Stir the mixture until everything has melted evenly into the cream cheese, adding a bit of milk if necessary to thin it out. At this point you can scoop it into your serving dish as is. You can also melt in some extra shredded to cheese to play with the flavor a bit, or you can scoop it into an oven-safe dish, top with shredded cheese, and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. If you want to be extra-festive, top it with some smoked paprika.

Cucumber Feta Salad

Another feta salad!

Ingredients:
1 cucumber
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Sugar
Cumin
Feta cheese

Slice cucumber very thinly (you can leave the skin on if they're English cucumbers). Add about a teaspoon of olive oil, about two teaspoons of white wine vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar, and some cumin. Mix and put them in a covered bowl in the fridge to marinate for an hour or overnight. If there is a lot of liquid in the bowl, drain it, and top with crumbled feta just before serving.

Watermelon and Feta Salad (Dairy Free Option)

Light and refreshing for a summer day that's too hot for cooking and eating. Amounts are variable. Just mix thing in until it tastes good. Allow 1/2 cup to 1 cup per person as a side dish, depending on what else you're serving.

Ingredients
Fresh watermelon in bite-sized chunks
Crumbled feta cheese (try shredded coconut if you don't eat dairy)
Chopped fresh mint or crumbled dried mint (optional, leave it out if you hate mint)
White wine vinegar (can substitute other vinegars, but this one is my favorite)

Mix the watermelon, feta or coconut, and mint together in a serving bowl. Drizzle white wine vinegar over top and serve.