Summer corn salad

Super-simple fresh salad.

Ingredients:
1 can of corn (or a few ears of fresh corn
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced
splash of vinegar
splash of lime juice

Directions: 
Mix!

Chicken Piccata

This was one of the best things I've made lately. I love the lemon/caper/wine/butter sauce. What a combo!

 

 Ingredients:

1 pkg. boneless-skinless chicken breasts

s/p

all purpose GF flour

2 Tbsp. EVOO

1/2 cup white wine

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

lemon slices (from one lemon)

1 Tbsp. (or more) drained capers

1 cup fresh button mushrooms

2 Tbsp. butter

cooked linguine 

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and pepper, dredge in flour. Coat a saute pan with EVOO and heat. Saute chicken just until cooked through and browned on both sides. Remove to a covered plate. Deglaze pan with wine and add garlic. Brown garlic and allow wine to evaporate off, about 2-5 minutes.

Add chicken broth, lemon juice, capers and mushrooms, allow to cook and heat through. Return chicken to pan and cook on each side for an additional minute or two. Transfer chicken to plate. Add butter and lemon slices to sauce and heat. Pour sauce over the chicken and noodles.

Seven layer salad

Let's take a salad.....originally healthy....add mayo, bacon and cheese to it. Delish! Crisp, refreshing....and totally not healthy.

There is something about summer that makes me crave this dish. Mine actually had eight delightful layers.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 bags of shredded lettuce (or you can chop/shred your own...I opt for the convenience of the pre-shredded)
1/2 package of frozen peas
2 cups of shredded cheese
1/2 to 1 cup of mayo
6 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled
1 bunch of scallions, sliced
1 green pepper, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced

Directions:
In a 9x13 pan, layer lettuce, peas, green pepper, celery and onion. Spread mayo on top of veggies. Sprinkle cheese and bacon on top. Chill for at least two hours so everything gets good and cold!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Great movie, great food. Yummmm.

This was always my favorite food item at the State Fair....now that I am GF I'll have to make it at home. I was sad to not see any green tomatoes at the farmer's market last weekend, so on our way out I asked a vendor and he had one basked of gorgeous green tomatoes - yesssssssss.

Ingredients:
3 large, firm green tomatoes
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
1/2 cup cornstarch
s/p
oil (for frying, I use vegetable oil) - cover a large frying pan in oil, about 1/2 inch high
Ranch dressing, for serving

Directions:
Wash and slice tomatoes:

In three shallow dishes, place cornstarch in first, eggs in next (cracked and yokes broken) and cornmeal with s/p in last. Pat tomato slices with cornstarch:

 

Coat in egg:

 

Dredge through seasoned cornmeal:

Fry in hot oil until crispy golden brown:

 

Serve with salt and Ranch dressing!

Cuban sammie

Hmmmmm, I love Cuban sandwiches and since seeing the "Tony O's Cubans" at Target Field I haven't been able to get them out of my mind. I found an easy way to make them, totally GF!

 I  love the flavor and texture of pulled pork...but didn't want to take the time to make it myself (in this instance)...because I wanted the sammy right away. I find this product at Lunds, and it says gluten-free right on the package! Yay! Most of the pre-packaged shredded or pulled meats all have sauce...which I did not want. This was a super find!

Ingredients (for MY version:):
pulled pork
deli turkey (or ham)
pickles (I used Claussen sandwich slices)
deli or spicy mustard
mayo
GF bread (I use Udi's)
Muenster or Swiss cheese
butter

Directions:
Butter the outside of two slices of bread (for grilling). Slather the inside of one with mustard and the other with mayo. Stack the other ingredients on the inside and grill to perfection!

 

You're welcome.

Restaurant Review: P.F. Chang's

Oh.My.God. For nearly a year I've been craving Chinese food....I'd made some at home with store-bought sauces....but nothing tastes as good as take-out (where there is no effort on my part).

The P.F. Chang's GF menu has several options. We sampled three things: The chicken lettuce wraps, beef with broccoli and spicy chicken.

 Everything was delicious. For one appetizer and two entrees (all gluten-free) our bill was around $40. We got two LARGE meals out of this....so overall, it's not a bad deal. I highly recommend trying out the GF P.F. Chang's options!

You know you’re a Celiac when....

I adopted (and adapted) this list from another blogger's site (http://gluten-free-doll.blogspot.com/) and thought I'd share it.

You know you’re a Celiac when....


1. You don't remember what crackers are supposed to taste like, you actually think your GF ones are delicious.

2. You bring "special" beer to the party, and don't share.

3. You compare all of your food to "normal-people-food."

4. You know that Xanthan Gum is not for chewing.

5. You don't lick stamps or envelopes.

6. Your family and friends are afraid to cook for you.

7. You know that spelt is a distant cousin of wheat, but buckwheat is not related to wheat at all.

8. Construction workers could EASILY substitute your bread for one of their bricks.

9. You burst into tears of relief at the sight of the words "certified gluten free" stamped on the box of….anything.

10. You wept the first time you tried to make gluten free cookies.

11. You’ve "brown bagged it" to an elegant dinner engagement.

12. You've brought a suitcase full of food with you on a vacation.

13. You pace and circle the store three or four times when deciding on a new product, only to leave without it, figuring “why bother”?

14. You have actually considered using a gluten-free bagel for a hockey puck.

15. You have ever dreamed about a sandwich.

16. It drives you crazy when someone says they completely understand your diet, they did Atkins

17. You talk about endoscopies and colonoscopies like these are normal everyday occurrences.

18. Your friend invites you over for a meal, you act as though you don’t want them to go through the effort – but you are secretly terrified of the cross-contamination risk.

      19. You go to a potluck at a friend’s place; you dive into your dish first so that you get something to eat        before others contaminate it.

      20. Having solid poop is the highlight of your day.