Dutch oven dinner with lamb, root vegetables, and quince: simple and quite delicious

Dutch Oven Dinner

Dutch oven dinner with lamb, root vegetables, and quince, May 2013

This simple one-pot dinner has lamb, root vegetables, and quince. Quince is a lesser known fruit that’s currently out of season locally. However, in our globally supplied produce aisles, we have year-round access to it and many other interesting items. It’s round and bright yellow, a little like a pear, a little like an apple, and very tough when raw. It can be made into jam or jelly, which requires a lot of sugar, or roasted, which softens and caramelizes it.

Recently I teamed up quince with parsnips, carrots, and lamb and roasted them in the oven. It was a quick and lovely weeknight dinner that I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve to company (perhaps by substituting a small lamb shoulder roast and cooking longer).

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Posted in Comfort food, Gluten-free, Main dishes, Recipes on May 14, 2013 – 12:49 pm | Comments (0)
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Favorite homemade mayonnaise has Meyer lemon juice and light olive oil

Homemade Mayonnaise

Homemade Meyer lemon mayonnaise, May 2013

Some of our most common convenience foods are close (or not-so-close) versions of their homemade counterparts. In my opinion, mayonnaise is in this category. Especially when you use some extra-light olive oil and the sweet juice of Meyer lemons, it stands head and shoulders above store-bought.

Mayonnaise isn’t difficult to make, but it is exacting. Your ingredients need to be at room temperature, and you must add the oil in as thin a stream as possible. A food processor gives me consistent results. Some people can get it to work using a blender, but whenever I’ve tried it in mine, my mayonnaise wouldn’t thicken.

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Posted in Condiments, Gluten-free, Recipes, Uncategorized on May 7, 2013 – 10:24 pm | Comments (5)
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Clean out the fridge for a nutritious, budget-savvy salad

Main-Dish Salad

Main-dish salad, April 2013

Do you find that as your refrigerator gets emptier you have produce odds and ends and leftovers that are still in good shape but aren’t enough for a dish of their own? Having a main-dish salad every so often will keep your supplies turned over and make good use of what you might otherwise have thrown out. I find that sorting down to the bottom of my produce bin also makes me aware of longer-lived foods I had forgotten about, like beets and carrots. After I’m finished sorting I not only have a wonderful salad, but my fridge is cleaned out and ready for a fresh supply of produce. Read More »

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Posted in Main dishes, Recipes, Salads on April 23, 2013 – 9:05 pm | Comments (8)
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Orange and oregano complement smoky grilled asparagus

Grilled Asparagus With Orange-Oregano Mayonnaise

Grilled asparagus with orange-oregano mayonnaise, April 2013

Hooray—at last, grilling weather is on its way back! Grilled meat, chicken and fish are always delicious and popular, and grilled vegetables can be a welcome and wonderful part of warmer-weather meals too. They have lovely smoky flavor, and they’re quick and easy to throw on the fired-up grill in a grill basket or on a piece of heavy-duty foil.

Grilled asparagus is great on its own, but sometimes you want to dress it up. Lemon is a predictable choice, but when asparagus is smoky from the grill, orange has notes of flavor that complement it nicely. This recipe has orange juice and zest stirred into mayonnaise and an added touch of fragrant oregano.

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Posted in Gluten-free, Recipes, Sides on April 16, 2013 – 9:43 pm | Comments (3)
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Creamy pumpkin custard as a side dish, dessert, or snack

Pumpkin Custard

Pumpkin custard, April 2013

We recently served pumpkin custard as a side dish for a dinner with friends. Because I had turkey thighs in my freezer I had decided on a “Thanksgiving in the spring” menu of roasted sage and garlic-rubbed turkey thighs, cranberry sauce, roasted green beans, whipped cauliflower and the pumpkin custard. The custard was filling and date-sweetened and added a festive touch to our gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free meal.

The custard can be made a day ahead and served at room temperature, but it’s also good warm or cold.

Enjoy as a side dish, dessert, or snack. To help break the dessert habit, I like the idea of this custard with a meal. As a dessert it may not be sweet enough for some people’s taste, so you might want to try it first before serving to company. I first made it to eat on its own when I had a bad cold, and it was wonderful comfort food.

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Posted in Comfort food, Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes, Sides, Snacks, Thanksgiving on April 10, 2013 – 9:59 pm | Comments (3)
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Dessert without refined sugar can still be sweet

Whipped Coconut "Cream" With Berries

Whipped coconut “cream” with berries, April 2013

Nowadays, many people are looking to reduce or eliminate refined sugar from their diet. But then when entertaining or for special meals, what to do for dessert? Here’s an appealing and simple yet nutritious recipe for berries and whipped coconut cream that you and your guests and family are sure to enjoy. The berries might provide the right amount of sweetness, but if you prefer a little more, add a couple of chopped dates.

Use full-fat (not light) canned coconut milk. Some recipes say to pour off the separated liquid from the chilled coconut milk and use only the stiffer “cream.” I found that my coconut milk didn’t separate when chilled, but it still whipped nicely, even with the liquid. Also, with the liquid incorporated I thought it had more subtle—and more agreeable—coconut flavor.

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Posted in Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes on April 2, 2013 – 5:13 pm | Comments (1)
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Custom-made trail mix for a nutritious energy boost

Trail Mix

Custom-made trail mix, March 2013

When you’re out and about and the “hungries” hit, do you find yourself resorting to sugary low-nutrient snacks just because they’re convenient? A healthier strategy for taking the edge off your hunger might be to keep a small bag or two of your own custom-made trail mix tucked into your handbag or backpack.

Here’s a recipe for a homemade trail mix that’s high in protein, low in salt, free of refined sugar, and full of color from red goji berries, green pistachios, and white coconut. It even has chocolate (unsweetened cacao nibs).

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Posted in Gluten-free, Recipes, Snacks, Superfoods, Vegetarian on March 26, 2013 – 5:27 pm | Comments (4)
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