Whether using naturally gluten-free ingredients or a special mix, these gluten-free dishes will wow!
Roasted Vegetable & Farro Salad with Creamy Shallot Dressing
Ever since I got my grill, it’s been tough pushing myself to try new recipes that don’t require me to just throw things on the grill, because it’s my new favorite thing ever.
But this recipe has been a staple the last few months as I’ve navigated moving, living in a temporary apartment for a couple months (with a terrible kitchen set-up), and then trying to balance the gluttony of travel and meetings with the need to fit into my clothes. The key is that it’s not just healthy, it’s YUMMY.
There’s a fair amount of “dealer’s choice” in this recipe. It’s incredibly flexible and forgiving…you can substitute different vegetables, use different grains (I use farro, but barley, Israeli couscous, wheatberries, or other similar grains would do), and I’ve even had to substitute dressing ingredients in a pinch. One time I didn’t have fresh lemons or oranges, so I used a combination of lemon juice & rice wine vinegar to get the tang and acidity, and one time left out the Greek yogurt, and it was still great.
So that’s all to say, I’ll tell you how I’ve done it a few different times, but if the spirit moves you go with your gut. Grill, roast, and drizzle your way to healthy deliciousness.
Korean BBQ Cauliflower & Chickpeas (vegan, gluten-free)
I’ve been completely obsessed with this this recipe for a couple months now. I’ve seriously made it three or four times in six weeks. And I cook like…maybe once a week?
This dish is super healthy done right—it’s so delicious that you don’t feel like you’re giving something up, and so easy that you don’t have to work hard to convince yourself to make it. Another bonus is that the main ingredients are really affordable, which isn’t always the case when using fresh, healthy ingredients.
Given how hectic things have been lately, I’ve tried out a couple of meal prep delivery services to see if they would help me be better about cooking and eating healthier—rather than relying on UberEats. I recently tried Terra’s Kitchen and focused on largely paleo and vegan recipes for my first box, to try and counteract the rest of my life.
This is a slightly adapted recipe of the first meal I made from them, and it was a WINNER! If you are wanting to try out a meal delivery service that has a lot of really healthy, fresh options, you might give them a try. This code will get you $40 off your first box (just a referral link, not a partnership of any sort).
The star of this dish is the sweet, tangy, spicy sauce that coats everything. But don’t underestimate how awesome the different textures are in combination—solid yet tender cauliflower, chewy chickpeas, crunchy peanut pieces. Nom nom nommity nom!READ THE POST
Sweet Potato Chickpea Buddha Bowl
So…I’ve been chastising myself lately for my diet. Between crazy work schedules, travel, and being on crutches, I’ve just been a bit too reliant on Uber Eats and definitely lacking in fruits and veggies. It’s kind of amazing I don’t have scurvy.
Then this morning as I was working I decided to finally get around to watching “What The Health?” on Netflix, which talks through a lot of the things wrong with our diets and how that’s impacting our health, and the medical establishments and lobby groups that are set on keeping it that way.
Its basic conclusion is that we’re meant to eat plant-based diets, and that anything else is unhealthy. It’s definitely an interesting watch, and while I don’t completely agree that meat is the devil—I grew up on a family-run cow farm, after all, and I also believe that God designed us to eat some meat—I 100% agree that we’ve totally screwed up our food chain in so many ways and that a heavier plant diet is a good thing, and overall it guilted me REAL HARD into really putting on my adult pants today.
So I did some digging on plant-based diets and found some recipes that I want to try to rotate into my everyday routine. This was the first one I came across that made me go “Hmm!” The flavor combos are awesome, it’s easy to make, I’m a sucker for a good tahini sauce, and I’m hoping it’ll make an awesome lunch for a couple days this week as well. For a non-pasta vegetarian meal, I’m totally on board with this one!
Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Corba)
I’m on the record as stating that soup is not a meal, in and of itself, with very few exceptions.
This is one of them. (My mom’s baked potato soup is basically the only other.)
I also don’t like lentils usually. That is, until I went to Istanbul last year and we ate in a Kurdish family’s house and were served corba as an appetizer. Corba is a hearty red lentil soup, super flavorful and comforting. When I returned to the States, I started pinning recipes right away so I could try it myself. I learned that red lentils are very different than the dark ones I’d had before, and didn’t have as many texture issues for me.
I’ve made this recipe a few times, trying to get the texture and flavors just right. For some weird reason I have issues with it separating a bit (so becoming a little watery), but since I like it better with crushed up crackers in it anyway, I decided to just let that go. One time I even tore up half a bagel into the soup, and the texture was awesome!
One of the great things about this soup is that it comes together really quickly—like half an hour from start to finish. So you can get home from work, get it simmering, and go about your business until it’s time to blend everything up and serve. Efficiency FTW!
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Chocolate, Cinnamon, & Almond Loaf Cake (gluten-free)
My dessert tastes don’t always quite jive with other people’s. I don’t like things super sweet, I tend more toward fruity desserts rather than super chocolate, I will always choose dark chocolate over milk (and don’t even talk to me about white chocolate and its lies…).
I was blown away by the complexity of the flavors in this cake, yet how subtle they were. I cut back on the sugar quite a bit from what the recipe called for, and for me that made it perfect—letting the chocolate have more of a bittersweet quality and the cinnamon shine through. Also, whoever thought to put cinnamon in whipped cream is a genius and I can’t believe I haven’t done that before. But I assure you I will forever moving forward…
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Clean Eating Banana Muffins (gluten-free)
*womp womp* After the last couple months of travel gluttony, it’s time to get back on track, and these muffins at least have the consolation of being delicious as well as super healthy.
In the interest of full transparency, to be truly clean eating you’ll need to omit the chocolate chips from the recipe and use one of the other mix-ins instead (nuts, dried fruit, etc.). But unless you’re completely following a clean eating diet, the mini chocolate chips do really add something to the muffins so I’d recommend leaving them in. Because, duh.
I made these on a Sunday night on a whim, and brought them to work the next day. They were scarfed by my co-workers within a few hours, and got rave reviews. They’re moist, flavorful, and—best part—insanely fast and easy to make.
They’re the kind of healthy breakfast that gives you the fiber and protein you need, but still makes you feel like you’re getting a bit of a treat to start the day. That’s a win in my book. Add a couple strong espressos and you’re all set. Bring it on, Monday.READ THE POST
Gluten-Free Rosemary Cheddar Biscuits
Oh my goodness, this has got to stop. It has been way too long. I literally made these for our Fitzco #fitzgiving back in November, but haven’t had a chance to post until now. And that’s not fair, because these are pretty darn good.
I offered to make a bread, so threw together my whole wheat olive oil rosemary bread, which is the bomb. But at the last minute I asked if we had any gluten-free folks and since they weren’t sure, I went searching for a good, easy GF biscuit or roll recipe.
As I’ve mentioned several times before, I don’t like using all sorts of weird ingredients that the average person wouldn’t recognize or be able to find. Don’t be alarmed by how many ingredients are listed in this particular recipe either, most of them are ones you already have on-hand. I did make my own gluten-free flour mix (I used an easy 1-1-1 mix of corn flour, brown rice flour, and cornstarch), but even if you want to leave that out you can just substitute more almond meal.
Because they’re made largely (or entirely) with almond meal, their texture definitely isn’t like a fluffy dinner roll. It’s a little grainier, denser. But I inhaled a few just the same (though be warned, because of the almond meal, they’re higher-calorie than you might think). The garlic is intense but awesome, and the cheddar great—I went light on the butter wash at the end. They were also still really moist and delicious several hours later when I actually reheated and served them.READ THE POST
Dynamite Grilled Chicken
Last Sunday I just wanted something SIMPLE. I’d had a super long, exhausting week at work and even after resting up over the weekend I just found the prospect of cooking daunting.
[Updated 6/2018 with some new photos]
I didn’t want to assemble 20 ingredients or spend an hour preparing different elements of a meal. I wanted quick and tasty and healthy. Also, I wanted ricotta, which is a weird craving but I went with it and threw together a delicious spinach, tomato, and ricotta frittata (bonus breakfast leftovers), then I added some more protein with this “dynamite” chicken.
Honestly, the main reason I made the chicken was so I’d have some leftovers for lunch, and also because I wanted to use my grill for the first time this spring. Aaaaand, that was a total fail because when I went out to grill the chicken like half an hour after turning on the grill, it was totally cold. I went to plan B (the stovetop), but still need to figure out what’s going on with my grill. [Updated photos with grilled chicken]
Oh well…it was worth it in the end, because the flavors on this chicken will knock your socks off. It’s really got some tangy bite, which was a nice complement to the more soothing, mellow frittata. Also, it was super easy, which is always a win in my book.READ THE POST
Gluten-Free Chocolate Financiers
As someone who loves all things gluten-ful (I did grow up on a wheat farm, after all), the whole idea of gluten-free makes me sad.
But the reality of gluten-free *baking* makes me even sadder. And it’s a reality for lots of people. I never really thought about it much until recently, when I had a friend who had realized he had a pretty decent level of gluten-intolerance and so he and his wife have gone gluten-free.
This guy used to devour all my cookies, load up on waffles, and eat my leftover pasta, so this is a majorly big deal. So I’ve tried to start playing around with alternative, gluten-free dessert recipes…and have discovered that it’s really hard!
See, the thing about most gluten-free recipes that I’ve found is that—in addition to their strange and interesting flour alternatives—they often call for some weird ingredients to use as a binding agent, since that’s normally where the gluten comes in.
But as much as I love cooking with real ingredients and whole foods, I just shrink back from recipes that include things like xantham gum that don’t sound like they’re that natural. So, other than puddings and custards, the pickings are slim.
Then I found this gem of a recipe…
I’ve since found some gluten-free faves…see them here!
I wasn’t even looking for a gluten-free recipe when I found it. I was (as I tend to do) going down a rabbit hole on Smitten Kitchen’s site and hopping from link to link. I was browsing the red wine chocolate cake when I found these.
They’re called chocolate financiers (pronounced all fancy and French like “fee-nahn-see-ay”), and they’re made with almond flour. I don’t know the full history, but they probably weren’t even meant to be gluten-free initially—just delicious. In fact, the traditional ones aren’t even chocolate as far as I know.
I whipped these suckers up in five minutes flat, and so they were done in about 15-20 minutes from start to finish. The almond flour gives them an interesting consistency, somewhere between a brownie and a cookie. Kind of fudgy. All delicious.
And the Dutch dark cocoa powder adds a super special flavor, as does the hint of almond extract in there. If you don’t have almond flour, you can get it at Trader Joe’s, probably in the health section of your grocery store, and most certainly online (Amazon Prime is your friend!). You will wow people with these, and they are a super speedy crowd pleaser to have in your dessert arsenal!READ THE POST
Healthy Deep-Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie (Gluten-Free)
I can tell what you’re thinking. That “healthy” and “deep-dish chocolate chip cookie pie” don’t belong together. It’s an oxymoron. I must be off my meds.
And to be fair, this should really be called “healthier“, not “healthy”. Because dessert will never be carrot sticks—it’s just a fact of life. Dessert CAN be made healthier, though, without giving up taste or awesomeness. And that’s what we’re doing here today.
This dish is pretty intense. Despite some major ingredient substitutions, it’s rich and sweet and soft and gooey. Plus lower in sugar and full of fiber and protein. And gluten-free.
I might go so far as to say I like it better than I’d like a regular deep-dish cookie pie (which has never been to my particular taste).
As you may have guessed, this healthy delight has a secret ingredient. No, it’s not the tears of a baby duck, or the hoof of a firstborn unicorn. What is it, then?READ THE POST