Category: Gluten-Free Living

Simple Walnut and Grapefruit Salad

Each winter we enjoy the fruits of a Spritzer tradition: a case of ruby red grapefruit sent to us by my father.

Luckily we are a family of grapefruit lovers, like my father and grandfather before us, so we savor and enjoy the gentle and loving task of eating our way through approximately 45 grapefruits.

Nevertheless, we can only eat so many grapefruits cut in half and scooped out each morning or we’d never get through the case.

Here’s a delightful and easy salad I found online that we’ve made and enjoyed several times this month. Enjoy!

Walnut and Grapefruit Salad
Recipe adapted from the Washington Post version from Aliza Green’s book Starting with Ingredients

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup walnut oil (may substitute 1/2 cup walnut oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil)
1/3 cup sherry vinegar or rice wine vinegar
Hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco (optional – we haven’t tried this yet!)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper (lots of it!)
2 ruby red grapefruit
12 ounces mixed salad greens
4 ounces (1 cup) walnuts, lightly toasted*
3 to 4 scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced crosswise

Directions:

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, a dash of hot pepper sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Using a sharp paring knife, segment the grapefruit in whatever manner you feel most comfortable, cutting away the peel, pith and membrane around the grapefruit sections and leaving as much of the fruit as possible. My preferred method involves cutting the grapefruit in half before running the knife along each grapefruit segment, which I then scoop out and set aside. (The original recipe outlines another way.) Reserve and discard (or drink!) grapefruit juice.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with about 1/2 cup of the dressing. Divide among individual plates. Arrange the grapefruit sections, walnuts and scallions on top of the greens. Serve immediately; pass the remaining dressing at the table.

* NOTE: To toast nuts: Spread them on a baking sheet and place in a 350-degree oven, shaking the sheet occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. Watch carefully; nuts burn quickly.

Last Minute Gluten-Free Holiday Baking

The holidays come around and I start planning dessert (not that I eat processed sugar, but that’s another post). I can’t help it. I married a chocoholic and evidently that’s catching.

As the countdown to Christmas continues, we’ve been busy baking in the kitchen. Here are links to two delicious gluten-free treats that we’ve made to share with friends this holiday season.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Quick, easy (just four ingredients!) and super yummy, we gobbled down these peanut butter cookies and even made a second batch cause they tasted so good. Incredibly delicious (and high calorie), they are dangerous to have around the house. Thank you to David for bringing the rest into work to share with his coworkers. I don’t need the temptation. So. Very. Tasty.

Peppermint Bark

I’ve always been a sucker for the chocolate and mint flavor combination. My favorite childhood treat? York peppermint patties. (Okay, and Entenmann’s crumb donuts! I haven’t eaten one in fifteen years, but my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I love those coffee-cake crumbles.)

In my mind, pairing candy canes with chocolate, whether it be hot chocolate (a great way to infuse mint into your cup as your candy cane melts!) or white and dark chocolate for peppermint bark, makes for the ultimate holiday indulgence.

Thanks to fantastic recipes on the internet, peppermint bark doesn’t have to be pricey or contain synthetic dyes (thanks to more natural candy canes!). In fact, making bark can be simple and downright inexpensive depending on your ingredients. I couldn’t locate peppermint extract in our small town grocery store to make the Bon Appétit version that Amanda loves, so I used a more simplistic recipe instead and it turned out just fine.

Super easy, with just three ingredients, this simple peppermint bark recipe makes for a kid-friendly baking experience that’s fun (hammers are involved!) and each step along the way tastes delicious. (Not that we were sampling. Ahem.)

Plus it looks so fine wrapped up ready to gift!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Applesauce Friday

Another post in our First on Friday series where we share a new activity from the week season.

Suddenly winter has come to wine country: cool weather and lots of rain. We’re finally packing away the summer clothes and cooking warming foods on the stove.

We’ve been making lots of applesauce, a new something for the whole family. It turns out that applesauce making is incredibly easy and delicious. So easy and delicious that I can’t believe I waited until I was thirty years old to try it. And so easy and delicious that I will never buy jarred applesauce again.

Here’s what you do:

Peel, core and dice up a couple apples. Throw them in a sauce pan with a little apple juice or water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15-25 minutes until the apples begin to fall apart. Mash the apple mixture up with a fork. Taste. Nearly die from the deliciousness. Run out to buy more apples to make more applesauce. (Just kidding. About the last part anyhow.)

You have got to give applesauce making a try!

As my friend Sarah Gilbert says, “It’s such a feeling of power and revelation, isn’t it?” She nailed it. Oh, yes, it is! That’s exactly what it’s all about. Not only does cooking from scratch taste better, but it feels so satisfying.

I have apples in the fridge. I think I’ll go make some applesauce to eat with breakfast. Excuse me.

Edamame Salad

For a quick, healthy meal, we like this easy Edamame Salad adapted from a Sunset Magazine recipe.

Edamame Salad
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Asian chili garlic sauce (found on the specialty aisle of many supermarkets and in all Asian markets), optional
1 pound shelled edamame, cooked and cooled
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped mint
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preparation
In a small bowl, whisk together sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and chili sauce. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine edamame, green onions, mint, and almonds. Toss with dressing to coat.

Spritzer Leyba Variations
We add cooked (and cooled) quinoa or quinoa-corn pasta to this recipe to make it more hardy. We also like to toss roasted sesame seeds in for protein and more crunch; try using black sesame seeds for a colorful punch!

One Meal, Six Variations

My kid insists on eating pasta (usually with cheese) at least once a day. I can understand this. I was a kid who ate mac and cheese religiously for about a decade. However, now I’m a grown up and while I still love pasta, I can’t eat it plain every single day. REALLY. Also I am so not interested in cooking two dishes at each meal, one for my toddler and one for me. NO THANK YOU!

Here are some quick pasta additions straight from the garden/pantry that I’ve tried over the last month for you to try and enjoy.


First up, above, for mama: pasta with spinach, pine nuts, and chickpeas (similar to this chard recipe).
For the kid: plain pasta with chickpeas on the side.

Above, for mama: pasta with tuna and mayo, raw sliced zucchini, and halved cherry tomatoes.
No picture of what Miss Leyba ate, but I can guarantee plain linguine was involved.


For the toddler: mac and cheese (Annie’s gluten-free version) straight out of the box.
For mama: some halved cherry tomatoes added to the mix, though this tastes much better with fresh basil too.



For mama: a super quick addition of grated Parmesan cheese and jarred artichoke hearts halved.
For Miss Leyba: a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese (she LOVES it!) and a giant bowl of edamame to share.


Finally, for mama: putting leftovers of grilled zucchini and cherry tomatoes to good use.
For toddler: linguine with Parmesan and a circle of cherry tomatoes (she warmed up to the idea by the end of the month; score!).

All easy, all super tasty!

Some other toppings I want to try (and will undoubtedly have plenty of time to taste) include pesto with boiled potatoes and pine nuts; corn and green chilies; and asparagus, arugula and ricotta. YUM!