I started this post on Friday, day 8 of my Gluten Free adventure, when I received a call that 3 of my nephews are in town and I had to get out very quickly to pick them up. You can only imagine that there was little time left to blog when I got back home with 3 teenagers. On top of everything else one of them just celebrated his b-day, so we had to make sure to celebrate again.
The day after we remodeled and I had a photo shoot, leaving me with no time to blog. Yesterday was equally crazy. So, with all this said, let me dive into day 8-10 of my Gluten Free living, as I started it on Friday, November 13th.
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The day after we remodeled and I had a photo shoot, leaving me with no time to blog. Yesterday was equally crazy. So, with all this said, let me dive into day 8-10 of my Gluten Free living, as I started it on Friday, November 13th.
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I am going to start off by making up for cell phone pictures I had to take while on vacation. So, here is the image of Raw Salsa with corn chips:
Green Salad
and Roasted Potatoes all from day 1 of our vacation.
Today, after getting home early from our vacation, I plunged straight into the kitchen--there was nothing to eat and we still had a long day ahead of us. Instead of coming back to the kitchen several times, I decided to make enough for the whole day today and some for tomorrow, since we will be working on the house. So, I made Rice & Potato soup, Raw Alfredo Zucchini Noodles, Baked Potatoes and a super delicious Spinach Salad with Creamy Dressing. And I actually jotted down a recipe for the dressing, which can be used both as a dressing and Alfredo Sauce.So, here is to Gluten Free Friday!
Rice and Potato Soup
[Makes 6.5 quarts of soup—reduce ingredients proportions if you are not planning to feed 4 people for 2 days with is, as I did ;)]
Ingredients
• 6 quarts filtered water
• 1.5 cups rice
• 3 extra large potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• ¼ cup or less olive oil
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Favorite seasoning, to taste
• Choice of your greens: 1cup cilantro, 1-2 cups parsley or any other kind of greens, chopped
• Chopped dill to garnish
Preparation
• Pour water into a large pot and place on HI on the stove
• Add rice and potatoes and salt, bringing to boil
• Reduce heat to Medium or any point where the ingredients can still be cooking (my cookware allows me to reduce it to LOW)
• While rice and potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet with oil, adding in onion, bell pepper, carrots and seasoning
• Sauté on Medium heat for up to 5 minutes
• When potatoes and rice have cooked through (takes 20-25 minutes), add sautéed vegetables and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes
• Add chopped greens, leaving them in hot soup for a couple of minutes to wilt
• Serve hot, garnishing with dill, if you like
Raw Zucchini Pasta with Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients• 3 medium-large zucchinis, cut by a spiral slicer, see details here
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Alfredo Sauce (recipe below)
Preparation
• After making zucchini noodles, combine them with Cashew Alfredo sauce
• Serve immediately or refrigerate
Spinach Salad with Creamy Dressing
Ingredients• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• ¼ onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• Anything else you might want to add [I had some left over quinoa veggie spirals, so I mixed them in]
• ½-3/4 cup Alfredo/Creamy Dressing [recipe below]
Preparation
• Toss all ingredients together
• Add dressing, toss again
• Serve immediately or refrigerate
Now for my new invention: Cashew Creamy Dressing/Alfredo Sauce. You can use it on non-wheat, gluten free pasta of your choice and salads alike. However, I would not suggest it for those of you who might have cashew allergies.
Cashew Creamy Dressing/Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup water
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• 2 medium size cloves of garlic
• 1-2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs favorite seasoning [I use Kirkland’s organic mix]
Preparation
• Soak cashews in water for at least an hour, up to two hours
• Place ALL ingredients, including soaking water, into a high speed blender (I use Vita-Mix 5200)
• Blend until smooth (I start with a low speed and increase it to the highest setting)
• Pour over your salad or noodles
• Refrigerate leftovers and use as needed
With all these recipes I hope I have earned your forgiveness for not posting for 3 days :). Have a great Gluten Free Monday!
