Category Archives: Gluten-Free

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Fall / Gluten-Free / Pescatarian / Savory / Soup / Stay Healthy / Vegan / Vegetarian

Soup Recipes for Rainy Evenings

December 3, 2014

Just like I go crazy for salads during the summer, I love making a giant pot of soup when the weather gets cold in the fall and winter. Soups are so wonderful because they generally require fairly little effort, and have a big payoff with enough food to cover more than one meal. Plus, it’s an awesome way to get a crapload of veggies into your body (always helpful when trying to fend off the plague when you ride BART).

I’ve posted a lot of my favorite soup recipes on here already, but thought a recap post might be in order (I always like to have a one-stop-shop for the “what am I going to make for dinner” dilemma).

Sooo, here we go! (Just click on the name of the soup to link to the recipe.)

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Black Beans and Butternut Squash

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Black Beans and Butternut Squash

You guys, this soup is the business. It doesn’t make a TON of soup like some of the other soup recipes, but it’s so delicious and easy to make — perfect for a weeknight meal. And trust me: you shouldn’t skimp on the toppings!

Split Pea Soup

This is a great, basic recipe for split pea soup; and it’s another nice option if you don’t want to be eating the same soup for the next 7 meals (it makes about 6 generous servings).

Not Your Mama’s Chicken Soup

This soup is a little more time-consuming than some of the others, and makes A LOT of soup. But it’s awesome if you or someone you know is feeling a little under the weather. Maybe whip up a batch and give half of it to your neighbor who isn’t feeling so hot.

Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup

This soup is so delicious and comforting — perfect for a cold, rainy night. I like it with some Grana Padano grated over the top and a big hunk of sourdough bread. (But really, I like most things with a big hunk of sourdough bread…)

Potato Leek Soup

This soup is so crazy-easy to make. And it’s just a little indulgent (not quite as veggie-full as many of the others on this list). It’s so delicious though, and awesome to make for a crowd.

Winter Minestrone

Winter Minestrone

This is my go-to soup during the fall and winter months. It makes a ton of soup and is overflowing with all kinds of good-for-you ingredients. Grate some fresh parmesan on top and have at it.

Butternut Squash Soup

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I made up this recipe after being dissatisfied with butternut squash soups that were either lacking flavor or wayyy too sweet. This soup is a good balance of salt, spice and sweet. It tastes rich and creamy, but it’s actually full of veggies. Yum!

Spicy Tomato Soup 4

Customizable Spicy Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is great for picky appetites — there’s a million and one ways to modify it. Make it upscale with spices and some coconut milk, scale it down and make it basic — whatever your little heart desires. Just don’t serve it without the grilled cheese if you’re making it for me. 🙂

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Gluten-Free / Meals for Two / Pescatarian / Salads / Savory / Stay Healthy

Salmon Salad

September 3, 2014

This salad was made out of random desperation and tiredness last week when I had zero energy to spare for cooking. KC suggested that we go to Whole Foods and make a salad from the salad bar for dinner (and pick up a bottle of wine. What can I say? I married a him for a reason.) After perusing the salad bar buffet, I ended up getting an idea for this salad — using some ingredients from the salad bar and finishing it off with things I had at home.

This salad would be good with just about any assortment of veggies — so feel free to customize it with whatever you’ve got in your fridge. I used some summer tomatoes which rounded things out nicely, so I’d recommend using tomatoes if you’ve got them laying around.

This is a great “second night” salad — meaning, if you’ve made salmon the night before and have leftovers, this is a great way to re-purpose the fish (which is what I was doing here). It’s especially awesome if you made salmon with brown rice, as you can throw both the leftover rice and the salmon into the salad.

Salmon Salad

serves 2 as a meal

Salad:

leftover salmon
leftover brown rice (or any cooked and cooled grain — quinoa, cous cous, whatever) — I like to mix this with a little minced fresh mint, but that’s totally optional
lettuce (I used a mix of romaine and mixed baby greens)
tomatoes
red onion
beans (I mixed in garbanzos and edamame)

Dressing:

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 – 1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 – 1 tsp agave
salt and pepper

Mix together all salad ingredients in your salad bowl. Whisk together ingredients for the dressing, then toss with the salad.

Breakfast / Dairy-Free / Gluten-Free / Savory / Uncategorized / Vegetarian

Breakfast Burritos! (And Tacos, too.)

August 26, 2014

Those spicy roasted veggies ended up lasting us through two full dinners (breakfast burritos one night, tacos the next) and a couple random lunches as well.

And man were they delicious.

I don’t think I really need to tell you how to assemble a taco or a breakfast burrito, but I’ll tell you what I made for ours (in case you’re curious).

First, along with the veggies, I made some pico de gallo. With only three ingredients — chopped tomatoes + onion + cilantro — pretty much nothing could be easier.

For the breakfast burritos, I grilled some chicken sausages KC had picked up at TJ’s (I think they were the Jalapeno Chicken Sausages), heated up some refried beans, whipped up some scrambled eggs with cheese, and layered all that business together with the veggies, pico de gallo, some greek yogurt, and a healthy dose of hot sauce.

For the tacos we used all the same fixins (aside from the eggs and sausage), and added some grilled carne asada (pre-marinated from TJ’s). We layered that business onto corn tortillas instead of flour.

I was too hungry on taco night and so didn’t snap any photos, sorry!

These tacos and burritos are super customizable, so mix and match things as you like. The veggies are nice and hearty on their own, so feel free to leave out the meat altogether (or sub in crumbled bacon instead of sausage on the breakfast burritos…omg yum.) The below is just what we had in our burritos/tacos, so don’t take this to be an exhaustive list by any means.

Breakfast Burritos

Spicy roasted veggies
Grilled jalapeno chicken sausage
Pico de gallo
Refried beans
Scrambled eggs with cheese
Greek yogurt
Hot sauce
Flour tortilla

Tacos

Spicy roasted veggies
Grilled carne asada
Pico de gallo
Refried beans
Greek yogurt
Hot sauce
Corn tortilla

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Gluten-Free / Savory / Stay Healthy / Vegan / Vegetarian

Double-Duty Spicy Roasted Veggies

August 25, 2014

I make an effort to make dinner during the week. Tackling dinner while holding down a full-time job can be challenging (and tiring — let’s just be honest). I’ll be the first to admit that I get stuck in the rut of making the same couple of salads over and over when I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed with life.

Our CSA box has helped a bit in pushing me outside of my normal cooking repertoire (because, like what the hell do you do with kohlrabi?)

This week’s box inspired me to whip up a bunch of spicy roasted veggies which I decided would be perfect for both breakfast burritos one night and tacos the next.

Nothing like cooking once for two meals, eh?

These vegetables are a great end-of-summer blend of things you probably have sitting in your fridge right now (and, frankly, are so easy and delicious, there’s really no reason not to make them.)

Double-Duty Spicy Roasted Veggies

2 medium squash, diced (I used round zucchini, but any summer squash works here)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 large bell peppers (any color you like — I used a mix of green and red)
1 cup corn kernels (cut off the cob or frozen)
2-3 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.
Place all veggies onto a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add all the spices (feel free to just eyeball the amounts — it doesn’t need to be exact, by any means). Toss everything together until evenly coated, then spread out the veggies so they’re in a single layer on the pan.
Bake 15-20 minutes, until desired done-ness is reached (I wanted a little bite left in mine, so I just did 15 minutes).

Post on our breakfast burritos and taco feast coming up!

Cocktails / Dairy-Free / Drinks / Gluten-Free / Happy Hour / Sweet / Vegan / Vegetarian

Bourbon Blackberry Smash Cocktail

August 6, 2014

Given that it’s the middle of the week, I thought a cocktail post might be in order. Sometimes a Wednesday night calls for this sort of thing, y’know?

This cocktail is a summery twist on the classic whiskey-ginger, and is perfect for mid-week drinking (given that it takes almost zero effort and brain cells in order to make.) The recipe is also highly adaptable, so feel free to sub in a different berry and/or herb if you feel like it.

Bourbon Blackberry Smash

makes one cocktail

Bourbon
2 large, ripe blackberries
4 mint leaves, torn
Ginger beer
Ice

In a rocks or double old-fashioned glass, muddle together the blackberries and mint leaves.
Add 1.5 ounces bourbon.
Fill glass with ice and top with ginger beer.

Notes and Modifications:

I used Woodford Reserve, but feel free to use any whiskey or bourbon you like here.
Cherries or blueberries would be a nice alternative to the blackberries, if you’ve got them on hand. If your berries are more on the tart side, add a little sugar during the muddling step.
Feel free to try basil in place of the mint.
I used Cock & Bull ginger beer. If you find the cocktail too sweet (as different types of ginger beer will add different amounts of sweetness) add a squeeze of lime.

I mean, it’s pretty much rocket science, right? Maybe I’ll recreate this around the holidays with cooked cranberries and rosemary. I think that might be quite a treat!