Gluten Free Goodness

So it’s that glorious time of year again when things are starting to get fabulous at the Farmer’s Market. Here in VA, strawberries, asparagus and spring onions are the main superstars of this late Spring time period (at least in my humble opinion) so they’re the themes of this week. But you certainly don’t need to have them all together

If you haven’t yet sent in a recipe for Sea’s baby shower, please email me a picture and the link to cheryl (at) eharrishome(dot) com. I’ve finally posted mine, Chocolate Strawberry Cakes, and I’ve gotten a bunch of lovely sounding links! I just need to get my act together now.

Also, calling all hosts! Please let me know if you’d like to have your very own week to host a menu swap.

I’ve done a good bit of cooking and baking in the last few weeks, but haven’t been good about pictures, writing down what I do or posting. So I’ll have to work on all that.

Monday:
Turkey burgers with grilled peppers

Tuesday:
Avocado, tomatoes and chickpea crackers (yes, I’ll post them soon, I promise!)

Weds:
Lemon thyme salmon and roasted asparagus

Thurs:
Quinoa with garlic scape pesto and steamed broccoli

Friday:
some sort of leftovers

Baked goods:
Chickpea crackers

Karina’s blueberry muffins (maybe)

From my garden:

Garlic

• garlic scapes
• lemon thyme
• oregano
• rosemary
• Serrano peppers
• spring onions

from the market:

• strawberries
• asparagus
• apples

Yummy GF menus:
Sea is joining us with a great, inventive menu as usual.  She and her DH have been on a real salad kick, so she shares her buttermilk dressing recipe.  The picture alone makes me want to run to the farmer’s market again…

Elizabeth was lucky enough to find artichokes at her local market, so she must be somewhere warmer than me!  I love the idea of grilled fruit, too, and wonder what she plans to grill this week.

Angela is quite busy as the year winds down for her children.  I am so jealous, she’s got a rhubarb patch and she plans to make jam.  AND she’s growing asparagus, too!  She’s got a salad with crispy chickpeas, too, which are delish.  Mental note: go see Angela soon.

Heather has an adorable 4 year old who seems to be a grocery list stealer (or hider?).  She’s got chicken vindaloo on the menu, which sounds great, and maybe she’ll share the recipe.

Wendy has such great pictures.  She’s got some of her bounty from the market, and of her herb garden, too.   I love the sound of the quinoa black bean bake.

Did I miss anyone?  If I did, drop me a line and have a great week!

Just as I’m about to sit out another menu plan, someone picks one of my favorite foods and so I *have* to play.  I love avocados: their decadent rich moist flavor, their portability, their yumminess!  They’re amazing on salads, perfect with soup, great as guac, and fabulous as desserts.

This is how an avocado (ok, an avocado face) ended up as a logo for my nutrition practice…

Here are a few of my recipes with avocado:

Southwestern Quinoa and Bean Salad

Chocolate Banana Pudding

My birthday celebration didn’t quite go as planned. A tick decided I was tasty, and it’s really sapped my energy. Hopefully I found it in time and I’ll be as good as new soon (fingers crossed)

Don’t forget! Sea’s yum-e-baby shower is soon, so please send along your recipes and good wishes for Sea and her little darling.

Oh yeah–if you’re interested in hosting, please drop me a line.
Monday:
out in WV with my sweetie, who knows what we’ll be eating.

Tues: Chickpea crackers with avocado slices and cherry tomatoes a ginormous pineapple

Wed: Something from my freezer, TBD

Thursday: Coconut beef curry with cauliflower

Friday: Salmon and grilled peppers

Well, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve done menu planning, and I’m eager to get back into more organization.  Otherwise, there are just too many trips to the store and last minute scrambles.

Our hostess this week is Sea, of Book of Yum, and she’s chosen zucchini.  I’m mildly allergic to almost all members of the squash family (although I do have watermelon and butternut squash once a season).  But it looks like I’ve got a “volunteer” plant from the squash family.  Perhaps it’s a zucchini?  At least it looks like a squash plant to me.  If anyone else is good at ID’ing mystery plants, I’d love to hear your 2 cents.

The last few weeks have been busy, and my time in the kitchen has been sporadic. When I do bake, it’s been rushed so I don’t really know what I put in…making it hard to share recipes. But, do check out Sea’s yum-e-baby shower and submit a recipe/good wishes to the new mama to be!

Also, check out Ricki’s new book!!! You can buy it here. I had the fun of being one of the testers, and the recipes are great. Some are GF, some not, but all are vegan and low/no sugar and totally delish. Not only that, most converted very easy to GF.

So here’s the plan:

Monday:
Turkey garden burgers with grilled red peppers

Tuesday:
Chicken thighs in a fresh parsley/garlic/rosemary marinade with carrots and asparagus

Weds:
Chickpea crackers with avocado and some greenhouse tomatoes
Rhubarb compote

Thursday:
Quinoa with kalamatas olives, fresh herbs from my garden, pine nuts and sauteed garlic

Friday:
leftovers…

Saturday (my birthday!)
Salmon with a mustard rub and steamed broccoli
An apple/hazelnut concoction (we shall see how this goes)

Baked good:
Chai breakfast cake
some birthday treat

From my garden:
garlic scapes/shoots
parsley
oregano
rosemary

I’ve been away all weekend and not had time to put together a menu plan!  If someone wants to host this week/future weeks, please do drop me a line at cheryl (at) eharrishome (dot) com.   I don’t have time to do a round up this week (my apologies) but if you can pick up the slack, please leave a comment.

Cheers!