Category Archives: Gluten Free

Garlicky Hummus

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Sorry it’s been a while.  A few days ago, I finally pulled it together and wrote a post about this amazing hummus that I made, well, a long time ago, and just as I finished writing it, I clicked save, and WordPress went ahead and ate my post.  I had flashbacks to late nights in college involving lots of coffee and last-minute papers.  I suppose it’s been too long since those days, because I forgot the cardinal rule of writing anything longer than will fit on a post-it note: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE.  So after crafting a nicely worded, polished post… I threw in the towel.  Nothing’s more depressing than trying to re-do something you just finished.  DSC_0035 Continue reading

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Filed under Gluten Free, Snacks

Chipotle Sweet Potato Chowder

Call the doctor! It seems I have a fever.  And the only prescription is more chowder!

I’m really sorry for what just happened there.  See, I haven’t slept for a whole night for the past 8 or so months, and among other things, my sense of humor is really suffering.  (Or, getting more awesome, depending on your personal taste in funnies.) Continue reading

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Filed under Gluten Free, Soups and Stews

Simply Delicious Pot Roast

The word “pot roast” can conjure up a wide array of images- anything from thick brown gloppy stuff in a school cafeteria to a glistening boeuf bourguignon served in a fancy French restaurant.  In most of our everyday realities, it’s somewhere in between the two.  I really never made pot roast at home because it’s just kind of… boring.  But after we ordered our side of beef, I find myself wanting to revisit some old classics that will really let all this good meat shine.

This recipe fits the bill.  Turns out that the key to delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, flavorful pot roast is simplicity.  I mean, it makes sense, but for some reason, it didn’t occur to me how exceptionally tasty pot roast could be.  And how much satisfaction it can give you for such minimal work.  Oh, the satisfaction.  The meat falls apart beneath your fork, the vegetables are tender but not mushy, and the flavor is surprisingly subtle for pot roast- I think the fresh herbs make a big difference here. Continue reading

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Filed under Gluten Free, Meat

Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

I don’t know about where you live, but around Chicago it’s been a pretty freakishly hot summer.  I’ve been effectively using the baby as an excuse not to leave the air-conditioning pretty much since June, and I’m sorry to say that my poor garden has gone completely neglected.  The tomatoes were left cage-less (hmmm… cage-free tomatoes, maybe there’s a marketing spin there…) , there was not a chip of mulch to be found until last week, and everything is looking fairly sad and withered-looking.  Except of course, the mint and parsley, which I’m convinced could grow out of the cracks in our sidewalk.  As sad as I am about the lack of beautiful homegrown tomatoes, which I’ve been looking forward to since we finished the last of the tomatoes last year, there is a bright side.  And the bright side is this quinoa tabbouleh.

Tabbouleh is a middle-eastern herb salad typically made with bulgur.  I’ve always really liked tabbouleh, ever since my mom would buy it at the fancy-pants grocery store, Treasure Island, when I was a kid.  This was back in the early nineties, and things like tabbouleh weren’t exactly available in the usual chain grocery stores, so it was a treat.  And I kind of felt pretty grown up eating it.  Something about the fresh herb flavor with a hint of garlic and lots of big lemony tang still brings back memories of the stuff mom used to buy at Treasure Island.  However, I’m sure this is so much better than that stuff ever was. Continue reading

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Filed under Gluten Free, Salad, Side Dish, Snacks

Homemade Ricotta

For those of you who are thinking that you would never make homemade ricotta, and that I’m just going overboard in the other direction after giving you this tube-dough abomination…. you may be right.  About the going in the other direction thing, not that you can’t make homemade ricotta.  The first time I made this, it was as kind of a fun experiment.  Then I realized how easy it was, and how unbelievably delicious the resulting ricotta was, and it became serious business.  Why does nobody talk about how easy it is to make your own cheese?!  I feel like I’ve been cheated, like I’ve wasted some of the best cheese-making years of my life! I’m practically a cheese-making spinster, if you will. Continue reading

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Filed under Gluten Free, Other