Gluten Free Goodness

I love raspberries, and I didn’t know it for years. It was only once I grew them that I realized that, in fact, they’re awesome. I grew them for DH, now most of them make it to my mouth. We’ve finally gotten enough canes to have a nice big crop, so there’s plenty to go around. And it works beautifully, really. It’s so nice to go outside and be able to have some luscious berries! The birds have not yet pillaged; I’m crossing my fingers that they just somehow don’t notice. I do cover the canes with tulle, but it doesn’t work that well when they’re sufficiently motivated.

This week I posted a roundup of recipes for Sea’s Yum-e-baby shower. Check it out and wish the new momma to be good luck!

I’ve also posted “Gluten Free on the Go“, this month’s edition of my GF newsletter. I’m holding a class on Healthy GF eating on June 27th, so if you’re in the area, you should come! Much fun will be had by all.

Also, pretty please sign up to host Menu Plan Mondays! I do love seeing all of the menus, and would love more host/hostesses. Just drop me a line at cheryl (at) eharrishome (dot) com.

Monday:
Quinoa with garden fresh herbs and Kalamata olives

Tues:
Grilled turkey breast with grilled herb-y peppers

Weds:
Chicken in a minty sauce with asparagus (if I can find some!!!)

Thurs:
Avocado and chickpea crackers. I promise I’ll post the recipe this week
Baked kale chips

Friday:
Beef in a coconut curry sauce and cumin roasted cauliflower with lemongrass tea

Baked good:
I’m testing one of Sally’s recipes, and I’m sure it’ll be a winner! I’ll post more when I can.
Chickpea crackers

From my garden:

• Raspberries, of course
• Thyme, mint, rosemary, stevia, parsley, and a little arugula
• Garlic scapes
• Blueberries (not many)
• Lemon grass
• garlic
• spring onions

From the market

• Asparagus (fingers crossed)
• Kale
• Apples–I bought gobs of goldrush (my favorite) stored from last year’s harvest.
• Carrots
• Rhubarb

Sea of Book of Yum checks in with an ambitious menu, especially considering she’s in her 3rd trimester (yay Sea!).  She shares an adapted recipe for cornbread madeleines.  I love the idea of a red pepper version!

Esther shares a picture of her adorable little munchkin.  She loves raspberries, but they’re not quite in season yet over the other side of the pond.  However, she still had a great day of berry picking!  She’s got a lot of rhubarb-rich recipes on the menu, and I’d love to hear how they turn out.

Kim has been out of town for a few weeks for a fun trip with her family and so she’s trying to reorient herself.  She’s got a great menu planned, including Thai Chili salmon, which sounds incredible.

Wendy of Celiacs in the house tempts us greatly with the strawberry tart.  How can you go wrong there?  and she points out that as long as something is delicious, we should be able to go free form and not worry about jagged edges.  Hear, hear!

Heather joins us with a berry fruit salad for Father’s day, which sounds yummy.  And do check out her past entries for Sea’s Shower, they are just about the cutest things I’ve seen!

Elizabeth has a nice article on almost meatless meals on her site.  I love the idea, money wise, health wise and environment wise.  As always, she has a varied international menu planned.

How the heck could it be Monday again?  Weekends fly and I realize I’m perpetually behind.  But last week was a good one!  I became an aunt for the first time, and my nephew is QUITE the cutie pie (picture coming soon!)   We’re looking forward to meeting him soon.  Which reminds me…if you haven’t posted a recipe for Sea’s Yum-e-baby shower, please do so ASAP.

I plan to put up that post soon!

Sea is also our kind hostess for this week, with the theme of pizza.  I’ll be makign a socca pizza for the occasion.  And calling all hosts/hostesses for future weeks…that means you…drop me a line and let me know a theme!  cheryl(a) eharrishome(dot)com

Monday:

Garlic scape pesto on halibut with roasted asparagus
Tuesday: Malasian curry–recipe from the Spice and Herb bible–with lemongrass tea

Weds: Socca pizza for lunch Chicken in a tomato sauce with steamed broccoli

Thursday: Sea’s Chickpea and Spinach Curry

Friday: Leftovers, baby

Baked good: Carob truffles bread

Weekly harvest:

From my garden
Garlic
garlic scapes
parsley
RASPBERRIES!!!
assorted herbs: rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.
lemon grass

From the market:
asparagus
apples
strawberries

arugula

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

Ah, made you look.  That lovely blueberry cheesecake is part of today’s Daring baker post.

Do you want to host a menu plan?  Come on, you know you do.  Drop me a line at cheryl(at) eharrishome (dot) com if you’re interested, with your food of choice.

I’ve opted for carob this week, which I’ve really grown to like.  I do think there’s something really wrong with pretending that carob is, or tastes like chocolate.  But if we’re being honest, and appreciating what it is, it’s pretty darned yummy.  Most of the incentive for this week’s ingredient is Ricki’s recipe for Carob Coconut Sweeties.

It’s been a fun week of baking, including these cookies, my Nana Skillet Bread, and the Daring Baker challenge, which was a whole bunch of luscious cheesecakes.

Monday:
Salmon and herb-y roasted peppers

Tuesday:
Avocado and crispy herb crackers

Weds:
Mint Chicken and roasted asparagus

Thursday:
Freezer diving: turkey chili

Friday:
National Foundation for Celiac Awareness GF cooking spree

Treats:
Hazelnut chai cookies

And everyone else?

Sea from Book of Yum joins us with a great menu with a wide range of global cuising.  She shares a recipe for Tahini beet salad, and plans to make a carob-rice milk concoction that sounds delicious!

Elizabeth of A Modern Gal shares about her kitchen philosophy.  She has garlic ginger chicken on the menu, which sounds great, and many of her recipes have unexpected extras, like cabbage in the sauteed spinach.

Angela has a busy week in store, between orchestra practices, classes and all sorts of running around, including the Breast Cancer 3 day.  Her almond crusted chicken sounds yummy.

Kim from Gluten free is life is enjoying the warm weather, and has a variety of yummy baked goods on the menu, like bread, brownies and PB cookies!  She’s even got some real food, like bourbon chicken, too.

Ginger of Fresh Ginger has an exotically flavored menu as well.  I’m all about the Chimichurri sauce and hope she shares her recipe.  Stop by her site to see the pics of her morels!

I planned on sitting this one out for time reasons, but changed my mind when I was at the grocery store and realized I didn’t know what was on the menu, because I hadn’t planned…

Above is a pic of my sweetie and his kitty. They seem to master the art of sharing. When it’s me and my cat, we’re both shoving away until one of us up and leaves (usually me…) So I share this photo in the spirit of a peaceful week.

I’ve been busy in the kitchen last week, making my Easy Almond Cookies, and also pralines, both for my sister and for Mamafish (Shellyfish’s mama) as part of her 60 day project. I just need to inspire my tush to the post office…

Manda of Asparagus thin is our kind hostess for this week, and she’s chosen rhubarb. I LOVE rhubarb. I wasn’t able to find the good stuff at the store, so I’ll be using rhubarb from the freezer. Rather tasty, rather un-photogenic.

Monday

Spice rubbed butterflied leg of lamb with kale

Tuesday:
Arugula pesto with broccoli and pine nuts, an avocado

Weds:
Chicken with a red curry coconut sauce (using Red Curry paste from my freezer) and bok choy

Thurs:
Turkey and rhubarb compote and celery in a chestnut sauce

Friday:
Darned if I know! most likely leftovers

Baked goods:
the daring baker challenge
Nana skillet bread
cookies (maybe)

I hope everyone had a good holiday! We had a good time–great to see family, and of course, great food

This week’s ingredient is flax. To be quite honest, I don’t use flax as much as I’d like to, so I was hoping for a little inspiration! I’ve been meaning to make the cookies and flax coating, and now I have a good excuse. Often I use salba (chia seed) instead, but both have a lot of benefits in terms of fiber and lignans, and, of course, it’s great to get variety. If you’re interested in learning more, I have some info on flax and its benefits here.

Monday:
Trout with slivered almonds and roasted peppers

Tuesday:
Quinoa in a lemony thyme sauce, probably with an avocado

Wednesday:
Roast turkey with celery in a chestnut sauce

Thursday:

Chicken with Cajun Flax coating from Shelly Case’s book and steamed broccoli

Friday:
Leftovers!

Baked good:
Almond 5 spice cookies (using a lot of flax)

And everyone else???

I’m very jealous of Wendy, who has a clean kitchen. That makes her queen in my book! She’s got a lovely looking menu, with fun stuff like GF ravioli.

Sea, of Book of Yum has a new camper and so she’s mobile! Obviously, she’s still got a great menu plan, and shares a quiche recipe. She’s even got instructions on dying Easter eggs naturally with cabbage.

Elizabeth has a lovely baked oatmeal dish with flax on her menu, and chipotle sweet potatoes sound delish.
Hooray for Kim! She’s officially going to be the mom of a teenager very soon. Check out her menu, she got a lot planned and her Easter menu, and had me drooling at the thought of lemon bundt cake.

Patti has me intrigued by her cocoa mint lamb. There’s a great variety in her menu, and she’s got some really lovely pictures on her website.

I just love Spring. It’s such a beautiful time of year when I know I have as big a gap as possible between now and Winter. And, of course, it’s lovely to watch the plants start to poke up their heads. I’m behind on starting my own plants, but I’ve got a few (pictures next week, I guess!)

I haven’t given Passover enough thought yet. But since I don’t eat grains and can’t eat dairy, it’s pretty safe to say that whatever is on the menu is kosher for passover. That makes it pretty simple!

Our kind host of the week is Wendy of Celiacs in the house. I’m making on of my favorite salads in honor of her pick, a hearty quinoa salad.

Monday:
Chicken in a marinara sauce, with broccoli in sauteed garlic
or, a white sauce using a cashew base. We shall see!

Tuesday:
Southwestern Quinoa Salad
Pineapple for dessert

Weds:
Turkey cutlets breaded in quinoa flour with thyme
Roasted asparagus

Thursday:
Leftovers. Late night!

Friday:
I know salmon is on the menu, and I’ll likely find something yummy to take along…I haven’t figured out what to do about matzo, yet, thought. I used this recipe last year

Baked good:
Hazelnut cookies (experimental, fingers crossed)

Manda of Asparagus Thin is our kind hostess this week, and her food of choice is rice.  Rice is such a versitile food, and probably the mainstay of most GF diets.  Most regretfully, I’m quite sensitive to rice.   Despite my repeated requests, my body is quite insistent that rice stays on my “to avoid” list.  But I have posted my favorite rice recipe from the past…and hopefully future, Spiced Forbidden Rice pudding.

This isn’t a glamorous, snazzy menu, it’s much more one of those utilitarian, how do I get by kind of weeks.  I get the joy of a colonoscopy, and thus will be on a liquid diet Thursday and Friday and no nuts OR seeds between now and then.  I can’t say I’m looking forward to any of it, but I did make a ginormous vat of turkey broth for the occasion.

Monday:
Sea’s Chickpea and Spinach Curry

Tuesday:
Tuna in lettuce cups with avocado
Roasted Red peppers

Weds:
Chinese 5 spice chicken with broccoli

Thursday:
Coconut water and turkey broth

Friday:
Coconut water and turkey broth

Baked good of the week:
I’ve been experimenting with a dairy free frozen almond mousse…and hopefully will revisit the crackers, too.