Category: Gluten Free

Ranch Dip for Veggies

Recipe here.

Another tray that I made for Girl’s birthday party.  This is great as a salad dressing or a dip and is vastly better, despite what The Pioneer Woman says, than the stuff in the green and white package.  Sorry I don’t have a better photo of the dip, itself, but I was taking these photos as 11 hungry girls were standing by, eager to dig in.

I’ve added the gluten free tag to this post, but, be sure that your ingredients (sour cream, mayo, etc.) don’t have any starch wheat-based additives or thickeners.  If you make this with all-natural (sour cream is supposed to be just dairy, and mayo is supposed to be just eggs and oil, maybe a little lemon juice) ingredients, it will be gluten-free.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Recipe here.

This dip is really tasty and extremely kid-friendly.  It’s basically just cream cheese frosting, made with brown sugar, so it’s quite sweet and a little bit goes a long way, but whenever I’ve made this for Boy or Girl’s friends, or to take in to school for a class party, it has been INHALED.  Just make sure that folks know what it is, because I made the version pictured above with half dark brown sugar and it turned out so much darker than usual that some of the girls at Girl’s birthday party last night thought that it was peanut butter.

The Moosewood’s Caribbean Vegetable Stew

Recipe here.

This was quite yummy.  I added a bit of garlic (about 2 cloves, pressed) and about 2 tsp of Jamaican Jerk seasoning.

For the chile, I used one roasted hatch green chile from Central Market (although it would have been even better with two.)  I just LOVE the Hatch Chile festival week!  If you’re in Central Texas and haven’t already checked this out, you are missing a bet.  Head over there right away – only 2 days left!  They have huge grills set up outside the store and roast hatch chiles all week long.  They sell bags of the roasted chiles (hot or mild, your choice) and feature all kinds of hatch chile products all week (tortilla chips, enchilada sauce, chile con queso.)  They are the best chiles EVER.  I always buy a bag to use right away and another to chop and freeze for future use.  YUM.

Pimm’s Cup cocktail

Recipe here.

This was REALLY, REALLY tasty and refreshing and has the potential to be a new favorite summer drink.  I muddled a strawberry in with the cucumber, to add a little more sweetness and omitted the rhubarb garnish, because it just seemed a little superfluous.  Frankly, you could probably omit the lemon slice and herb sprigs, too.  They don’t impact the flavor (other than for you to be able to smell them as you sip,) but they do make a pretty presentation.

I took this photo before topping the cocktail off with the ginger beer and forgot to take another one afterward (I was too eager to start sipping, I guess!,) so the finished drink will be a little lighter in color and will fill the glass a little more.  I halved the batch and only made one drink, because Hubby’s not a gin guy and isn’t a fan of sweet-ish drinks.

Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Puddings

Recipe here.

Make these now.  Really.  Yum.  They are like a creamy pudding-like version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  Absolutely delicious and very simple.  They would be perfect for a dinner party, because they can be prepared in advance (they actually need to chill for a couple of hours before serving.)  They are VERY rich and you could probably make them a little smaller than the recipe calls for to stretch the number of servings to 8 (rather than the specified 6,) without feeling too deprived.

We will DEFINITELY be making these again.

Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese

Recipe here.

This was delicious and ridiculously quick.  The Easy Herb Vinaigrette in the recipe was indeed, easy and was quite tasty, but you could also use a balsamic vinaigrette or any other dressing that you prefer (although I would stay away from anything creamy, so that it doesn’t overpower the cheese.)  I highly recommend allowing the cheese to come to room temperature, as the cheese is much more palatable that way.  Nothing worse than a cold glob of cheese, in my opinion.  I used lowfat cream cheese for The Boy, because goat cheese is a little too gamey for him.  Boursin would also be good.

I was planning to grill some chicken to serve with this, but I forgot until I had the salads completely prepared and ready to go.  It was a very light dinner, but we didn’t miss the chicken at all, because we were having a VERY decadent dessert.  (Check out the next post for details.)