pizza

i've been reading a lot of food blogs recently.  more specifically, i've been reading a lot of gluten-free blogs. across the board, one thing people miss the most when cutting gluten from their diet is bread. that's not much of a surprise though, really. who doesn't love bread? what did surprise me was how many people miss pizza.

epicurious (a great site, if you've never checked it out) had a reasonable looking gluten-free pizza crust recipe that i tried out last night. granted, i had to change some things up since i didn't have chickpea flour or sorghum flour - i substituted with some more rice and tapioca flours - but the end result was...yummy!

we topped the pizza with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, caramelized onions, pepperoni and fresh basil. i tried making the pizza sauce from the recipe but ended up throwing it out. it was just way too salty. luckily i had some store-bought stuff on hand.

lime kabobs with a little heat

for an easy dinner, we grilled on saturday night. i put together some kabobs with chicken, onions, zucchini, and red and yellow peppers and marinated everything for a couple of hours. this marinade has a great lime flavor but with enough chili and cayenne spice to give it a little heat.

curry chicken salad

when we have visitors i often make up some food just to keep in the fridge in case someone gets hungry. this time, i made up some curry chicken salad which always reminds me of my mom's recipe (though i think my version has more fruit in it!).

minestrone soup

i got a great recipe for minestrone soup from a gluten-free blog called the gluten-free girl. (recipe here.) the result was very very tasty, healthy, and of course gluten-free (though dave enjoyed some sliced french bread with his). the recipe was really easy, too, so i'll definitely be making it often!

pot roast and mashed potatoes

it feels like fall around here (though someone in dublin told me i needed to call it "autumn" - always), so i made a meal that works in cold weather - a pot roast. i haven't made one of these in a long time since it takes all day, but a little bit of comfort food was great on a chilly evening. (and i used tapioca flour in place of the wheat flour i would normally use to thicken things up.)

tomatoes and salmon over rice

i first made this dish a few years ago when we were in hawaii and it's been part of a regular rotation ever since. the salmon has dill, paprika, salt and pepper on it, and the whole pan gets a sprinkling of tabasco before it's sprinkled with parmesan. the flavors sound a bit quirky, but it's always tasty over rice!

baked ziti

it's hard to go wrong with baked ziti. unless you're not eating gluten, that is. i went on a limb today and made the traditional bake with rice pasta. dave says he wouldn't have known the difference if i hadn't told him. i only wish i could say the same for the bread i made this afternoon with a combination of rice and almond flours. i won't say that it was bad...it's just that i can't say it was good....in fact, it tasted pretty much as good as it looked.

marcona almonds

i couldn't believe it when i found marcona almonds at the grocery store last week since i've looked before and been unsuccessful. dave popped a few in his mouth when he saw them in the cabinet, made a face and asked me if they had gone stale. Well no, they hadn't, but i also hadn't toasted them yet. i took care of it this morning. they're now dave-approved.

pesto chicken, honey roasted potatoes, and spruced up spinach

yummy! dave didn't love the spinach (though he doesn't really like spinach to begin with), but the chicken and the potato recipes are keepers for sure.

sushi rolls!

there are three delicious foods you can't get in cheltenham: a good steak, decent mexican food, and sushi. to finish off the asian food kick for a while, i took a stab at sushi making today. i made a shrimp and veggie roll, a salmon roll, and a spicy tuna roll. there's no doubt about it - my sushi pales in comparison to even super-market rolls, but it'll have to do for now.

thai spring rolls and peanut noodles

our friends kevin and wendy were in town this weekend and we ended up talking a bit about hong kong and our other travels in asia (kevin and wendy met while they were studying at the hong kong university of science and technology - where i studied as well). it made me decide i needed to make some asian food!

hummus sandwich

i switched up dave's lunch today.  hummus, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, and carrot on a pita = yummy.

leftover monday

i can't even claim credit for this leftover! this is what was left of my pollo con pesto from zizzi's on sunday night.  dave ate quiche.  easy peasy.

weekend quiche

since we have friends in town, i made up a quiche to have in the fridge for breakfast or for a snack. this one is sans crust and naturally gluten-free.

saturday morning pancakes

one of dave's new favorite breakfasts (for the weekends, anyway) is banana pancakes.  since we had a bit of time yesterday morning, i tried them out using a gluten-free flour they sell at waitrose that is a combination of rice, quinoa, maize, and buckwheat flours. while the flavor is a bit different, the result is still yummy. just in case, i added some chocolate chips to dave's stack.

grilled lime salmon with veggie quinoa

as it's basically turned into fall already (we've turned the heat on), i was pleased and surprised to see the temp hit 68 today. meaning of course that we had to grill (for maybe the last time). though i'll do it, i usually don't like cooking fish - salmon in particular - in the house since it really stinks things up. today was the perfect opportunity to cook outside. i did a veggie quinoa as a side.

gluten substitutes: 1, ashley's assumptions: 0

at the store yesterday i gave in and purchased what appeared to be truly questionable crumpets. the longer i go gluten-free the more i'm beginning to think that it's a good thing for me, so i'm starting to try the gluten-free products out there. one of the five foamy crumpets from the package became the foundation for my turkey sandwich at lunch today.  i took a little nibble before i started and determined it needed a little toasting, but all in all, i'm impressed. it doesn't have the same nice consistency that we're all used to, but honestly it wasn't nearly as bad as i've been imagining. i'll have to revisit the gluten-free aisle at the market.

dave's daily wrap

we were doing some pretty delicious hummus veggie pita sandwiches for a while.  to switch things up, i've been making these turkey wraps for dave to bring for lunch.  because of my gluten-free test i can't eat them, but dave says they're being permanently entered into the lunch rotation.

spicy chicken soup

this turned out to be a tasty, hearty soup that in all honesty is probably better suited for autumn or winter. regardless, we enjoyed ours topped with a bit of cheese and some tortilla chips.  yum! the best part: it's gluten-free!!

for starters

i've been cooking a lot since we've been over here.  toying with new recipes, tweaking old ones, and just having fun.  i thought it might be fun to share.

tonight's meal: spicy chicken soup.