Swiss Butter Lettuce Salad

This is one of those recipes that I crave as the weather is starting to get warmer. It is a tell tale sign that my body believes that Spring is here. My sweaters go back into the closet, I start running outdoors again, and this salad starts making a regular appearance. You will need:

2 large heads of butter lettuce
1 10 ounce bag of fresh spinach
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 red onion chopped
2 roma tomato chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup of fresh grated Swiss cheese
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup drained cottage cheese,

Dressing:
3/4 cup of sugar
1 Tbs brown or Dijon Mustard
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups of the oil of your choice (I like olive but it does make your dressing a little more dense)

Start by tearing your butter lettuce and spinach and placing it in a large salad bowl. Never chop your leafy greens with a knife as the sharpness perforates the cells and they basically go limp and wilty. We are going for a fresh crisp salad here. Now add the remaining salad ingredients on top and cover until you are ready to serve. For the dressing combine all ingredients into your blender and let your blender run for about 30 seconds to emulsify everything together.  Don't you just love homemade dressings? I do. They are so much fresher tasting and preservative free plus you have the ability to play with it and add less or more of those ingredients you love. Once you are ready to serve the salad, pour the dressing on and toss everything together. I'm sure you will love this gem of a salad as much as I do!

Gluten Free Funeral Potatoes (aka the best potatoes you have ever eaten)

I grew up on funeral potatoes and to me they are the ultimate comfort food. In our house we eat these with any pot roast, turkey, or special sunday dinner. My mom swears to this day, she was the first one ever to coin the term 'Funeral Potatoes' in the early 80's. She claims to have witnesses, you know who you are :) Either way I am certainly glad to have grown up with them. One of the main ingredients in traditional funeral potatoes is condensed cream of chicken and or cream of mushroom soup (Yuck). Well since the allergy is now present in our home, those cream soups are not. Years ago I tried making them with the gf canned cream soups but the recipes were always off due to the soup not being condensed and they also had a gnarly aftertaste. So after many special meals of trial and error my mom and I have come up with recipe that our family likes even better than the traditional gluten filled recipe. You will need:

32 ounce package of frozen shredded hash browns
2 cups canned milk
4 Tbs of cornstarch
1 Tbs of chicken better than bullion
1 tsp of sea salt
1/2 cup chopped onion (my husband likes me to add just a little fresh red bell pepper as well)
1 cup of sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I personally believe the sharper the better)
1 package of cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of crushed kettle potato chips

In a small saucepan mix your canned milk and cornstarch with a whisk. After combining, add the chicken better than bullion, salt, and onion. Bring to a boil but be sure to stir constantly as to not scorch the milk mixture. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in sour cream, cream cheese, and 1 cup of cheddar cheese.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Pour your hash browns and cheesy mixture into a large bowl to coat. Stir until combined well. Pour into a 9x13 pyrex like baking dish. Top with remaining cheddar cheese and crushed potato chips. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 F for 1 hour. Serve! Your taste buds will thank me :)

Petite Heirloom Tomatoes, Caprese Style with a Twist

Here in Utah we have a few big farmers markets that are well known and decently expensive but we also have a few diamond in the rough farmers markets hidden in the small suburbs or towns . Well the neighborhood where I grew up started a farmers market this past year, only in the fall and I love it. I got a nice basket of baby heirloom tomatoes for three bucks, fresh basil for a dollar, and some other great finds. After eating many of the baby heirloom tomatoes like candy I decided that I would get some fresh mozzarella and that we would do a caprese salad but at our house instead of olive oil we use balsamic and some times give a gently squeeze of a lemon on top as well. So very simply you will need:

petite heirloom tomatoes (the best kind of all :)
fresh mozzarella sliced
washed basil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
balsamic vinegar
a small lemon half (optional)

Basically wash the tomatoes and basil, slice the mozzarella, and the cheese basil, then tomatoes on top. Finish with a gentle squeeze of lemon if you like the flavor of citrus and then drizzle balsamic vinegar and dust with salt and pepper. Simple, easy, clean snack or appetizer that screams summer is at an end and the harvest is upon us. Enjoy!

Twice 'Baked' Corn on the Cob

In the summer we like to barbecue with my siblings. It's relatively fast, you keep the heat outside, and the food is always great. One thing that finds it's way to all of our family BBQ's is twice baked corn on the cob. It's another relatively simple recipe but when friends taste this corn their reaction is always the same. Their eyes get big, you hear a big Mmmm, and they look down at the corn wondering what you did to make it so tasty.

All you need is:

6-8  very fresh corn still in their husks (I prefer the salt and pepper variety of corn)

1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice (approximately 3 regular sized limes)

1/2 cup of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

That's it! Shuck the corn, boil it in water for 10 minutes, while the corn is boiling mix together the olive oil and fresh lime juice, sometimes its easiest to do this in the blender so it emulsifies well. You can more easily extract the lime juice by cutting the lime in half and putting them in the microwave cut side up for 15-20 seconds until almost warm before you try to squeeze them. Then using a pastry brush baste and bath the boiled corn cobs in the lime mixture before throwing it on a medium heat grill. Rotate corn every few minutes until grill lines appear all the way around the cob. You can continue to baste it as it grills. Yes, these babies are eaten how they come off the grill. No need to add butter, the lime and olive oil does the trick and gives it a unique delicious flavor. Salt and pepper to your liking. This corn will melt in your mouth. Enjoy!

Crockpot Stuffing Gluten Free

One of the things my husband missed most when going Gluten Free was Stuffing on Thanksgiving. We've tweaked a lot of different recipes but think that this one is our best one yet!

1/2 cup of melted butter
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1 can of 8 oz mushroom pieces
2 pkgs of Gluten Free Croutons
2 cups of Swanson Chicken Broth
Dry rubbed sage to taste (I like A---LOT, as in a whole regular size bottle)
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 pepper

Mix everything together in a crockpot and cover. Cook for 3-4 hours on low (first 45 minutes on high).

Yum! Happy Thanksgiving

-Amy

Udi's Style Oven Stuffing

Ingredients

1 loaf of Udi’s Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread
1 loaf of Udi’s White Sandwich Gluten Free Bread
1/4 cup of fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons of fresh sage (I used 3/4 of a bottle of dry rubbed)
Salt
Pepper
1 cup of unsalted butter
2 onions
1/2 cup of chopped celery
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy crea
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Methods/steps

Lightly butter each side of Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain & White Sandwich breads.
Broil Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain & White Sandwich Bread till slightly brown/toasted.

Allow bread to cool completely on a wire rack.

Put bread in a Ziploc bag and slightly break toasted bread into bread crumbs (or cut into pieces). Place in bowl with parsley, sage, salt and pepper.

Melt butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat; add onions and celery saute until onions are softened.

Transfer vegetables to bowl with the toasted Udi’s gluten free bread crumbs. Add eggs, stock, cream and gently toss.

Transfer mixture to a buttered shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in middle of oven for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. To brown the stuffing, uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes.