Gluten Free Spring Brunch and Seed Party...

(All recipes are at end of post...)

I love to grow things. If you read my blog, you know this. The excitement of coming home each day from work to see what has pushed up through the earth and is emerging and growing is exhilarating.
Every spring, I host a Seed Party to get my garden planned and prepped and get all my fellow gardeners excited about this year’s seed sowing. Now, we are not master gardeners, some have plots of ground, others just pots. Some veggie gardens, other English gardens, but whether pots or plots, it works for all!

The recipe is simple:
• A handful of seasoned gardeners
• Usually 1 or so new gardening recruits
• A delicious brunch
• Stir in some lively plant discussion
• Sprinkle with tips and tricks, and you have it!

Here is how I host mine, scale yours back if you want to. No matter what, its fun!

Menu: (Recipes at the end)
• Strawberry-chocolate smoothies
• Garden salad (truly, everything was from the garden!) with fresh pear vinaigrette
• Herbed potato strata
• “Dirt-clods & mud” for dessert
• Strawberry water to drink

1. Everyone gets a bag to tote their seeds home in.
2. Everyone gets a garden layout to plan their garden or pots (this helps you to see what you have room for, and what to plant where).

3. Then, share, exchange, and organize your seeds!
4. Have guests bring seeds to share and exchange.

If you love this idea, but just need a smaller scale production, do a Flower Pot Party (think cookie exchange, but with flowers).

1. Have each guest bring a 6-pack of any flower from the local nursery, and their own pot.
2. You provide the potting soil.
3. Then each guest pots a beautiful pot full of a variety of the flowers each guest brought.
4. Have a simple dessert and refreshing drink to go along with it, and that is a fantastic spring party!

Everyone goes home with a beautiful mixed-flower pot full of flowers.

So the scene looks like this: children dig joyfully in big pots of soil, the gardeners chatter and laugh and share their gardening successes and disasters, the dog steals someone's napkin and runs off, the bees buzz the flowers on the table...

So, pick a warm day, some good friends, and just enjoy a few hours on a saturday of dirty hands and doing something that makes you feel good and alive–like growing something.

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RECIPES FOR THE BRUNCH | This brunch is nearly allergen free, and is all gluten free.

Strawberry-chocolate Smoothies | Makes 8 6-ounce servings.
Creamy and yummy!

• 2 pints of strawberries, stemmed removed
• 1.5 cups (or more) coconut milk (this can be any soy, milk, or almond)
• 2 very ripe bananas
• Agave nectar (to sweeten to taste if needed)
• 3 tbs cocoa powder

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend well till smooth. Adjust the milk to make it thinner, add ice if you like it thicker.

Garden Salad with Fresh Pear Vinaigrette | Makes about two cups

Salads don't just have to be lettuce; add whole bunches of parsley, dill and basil in like lettuce leaves. I added raisins and peaches too.

• 1 fresh pear, halved and cored (no need to peel)
• 1 tbs pomegranate molasses (or use honey)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1/3 cup white wine (or apple juice)
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs chopped fresh herbs of your choice (I used dill, thyme, basil, scallion, curry herb, sage)
• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar

 Put all this into a blender and let it whirl! You need to taste it and adjust. If too tangy, add more fruit or honey, of too oily, add more wine or juice.

Our truffles and chocoalte sorbet made up our 'dirt-clods' & mud.

No one can do chocolate sorbet better than Ina, so this is her recipe. Use any truffle recipe you find, they are all the same basically.

Strawberry Water...

So refreshing!

Its this simple:

1 pitcher filtered water

2-3 sliced strawberries

Ways to make it more interesting:

• 
  
  Add sliced cucumbers
• 
  
  Add sliced lemons

Herbed Potato Strata...

Herbed Potato Strata | 8 servings.

This is rustic, but so delicious!

• 3 large russet potatoes 
• 4-5 tomatoes, sliced thin 
• 1 red onion, medium, sliced very thin  
• 1 cup fresh mixed herbs (any you like) rough chopped 
• Salt and pepper 
• Olive oil 
• Optional garnish is sour cream

 Slice the potatoes on a madolin or slicer on the thinnest setting.

In a large oven proof skillet, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan well. Layer on the thin potatoes, tomato, onion and herbs. Continue to layer until all ingredients are used. Season each layer with a little salt and pepper.


Put the skillet on medium high on the stove and cook with a lid on until the bottom potatoes start to sizzle and brown (check with a fork). Then, place the skillet with lid on in a 350-degree oven and cook until the potatoes are tender all the way through (could be up to 30-minutes). Test with a fork.This can be served hot, or room temperature. Slice into wedges and spoon out onto a plate. Garnish with sour cream if you like (I suggest it.)

New options on my blog...

I was pretty excited to find that I could change a setting on my blog that was allowed people to comment without registering! So now that is fixed, people (should be) able to comment freely! (Sorry it took me so long.) Test it and see!

I also now am able to index all my recipes on a recipe page. Up top there are two links, HOME, and RECIPE LISTING, visit the recipe page and you can see them by category, all the links at a glance. Hope that is easier for you all!

That is all for today's post, but I posted a picture of my lettuce patch! It is arugula, mizuna and other various lettuces, that have gone to bolt (seed) and are flowering. Did you ever think a lettuce patch could be such a gorgeous field of flowers?

I suggest when your weather warms, that you grow lettuce, anywhere! Then let it flower! It promotes bees, which is good for other crops, and you can also harvest the seeds for next year (plus, you get to eat all the lettuce it produces!)

4-minute brunch...

A gluten free 4-minute brunch? really, it is doable.
Now this is simple food. To its basics...only a few ingredients and fast to make. I am not sure what to call these, I created them the other morning when I had little will to make a complicated breakfast, and a lot of extra eggs in the fridge.
I like this because it takes the same amount of time to make it for one as it does for 10. It is an excellent brunch dish (or casual Sunday afternoon dinner for that matter). Its so easy!

What you will need for four servings. Scale up to 10 or more if you want to.

• 1/3 lb. gluten free deli smoked ham or turkey, cut into strips (Boar's Head is GF)
• 4 extra large eggs
• ¼ cup dill pickles, extra small dice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your broiler. Then, in an oven proof skillet, place it over medium heat on the stovetop. Layer on the bottom 1 tbs olive oil, then the turkey sor ham trips. Sprinkle over the pickles, then crack the four eggs on top whole.
Cook until the whites begin to cook on the bottom, about 1 minute.
Then transfer your skillet to the top rack of your oven under your broiler. Broil for 3 minutes, or until the whites cook over and the insides are still soft and runny.
If you like a solid yolked egg, keep it under longer, but watch it so it doesn’t burn.

When it comes out, a big scoop; including the egg, meat, and pickle goes onto a crusty piece of toast (GF store bought).I drizzle a hot sauce, like a Tobasco (mmm), but it is optional.
If making for a crowd, make this in a large skillet that will hold about 10-12 eggs…and scale up the recipe.

For an entertaining menu, pair this with:

• Orange juice spritzers
• A fresh fruit salad
• Some scones or muffins

And you have a fantastic brunch!

Love and cupcakes...

Love and cupcakes…
There is something special about a cupcake. It’s personal. It’s individualized. It’s just for you. It’s not just a 1/12 slice of a whole other thing. It’s yours. You feel special about a cupcake. And you should. They take extra time to make, and because one is making 12 little cakes, and not one big cake, extra time in baking usually is equal to putting extra love into the baking.
This week love and cupcakes came together in a wedding. I (along with the help of a dearly devoted friend) created hundreds of cupcakes for a bride in lieu of a wedding cake. And it was an appropriate fit. These two people who married had true, genuine love for each and every guest who attended, and so the cupcake– one for each and every guest–I think, truly complimented their sentiments. They wanted each and every guest to feel special, important, and loved. (I don’t think the almond buttercream hurt either :O)

These cupcakes are divine. The recipe belongs to Ina Garten, and it lends itself brilliantly to being GF. The buttercream whirl on top is all mine. And while you don’t have to decorate yours with a big whirl, or with the buttercream at all. It’s the little tad of added love right on top.

 Cupcakes: (Makes about 12 cupcakes)

1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup (recommended: Hershey's)

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup Tom Sawyer gluten free flour (or your GF flour blend)

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don't over beat, or the cupcakes will be tough.

Line muffin pans with 12 paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't over bake! Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly in the pan.

For the ganache glaze:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces chocolate (these can be chips, or a great dark bar)
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (optional but recommended!)

For the ganache, heat the heavy cream, chocolate, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler, or very gently in the microwave on short 1 minute cycles until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Once warm and melting, whisk until all chocolate comes together into the cream and makes the ganache.
To glaze, invert the cupcake, holding it from the bottom and dip the top of each cupcake in the ganache. Dip an twist, and then upright and you will have a perfectly smooth top! 

For the buttercream: (optional, but yummy and special)

1 stick room temperature butter

1 stick (or equal amount) shortening

1 1b. powdered sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

2 tbs water

Whip all ingredients in a mixer until combined. Increase the speed and whip for 2 minutes until super light and fluffy.

Note: When these are refrigerated they take on a new texture. Very dense and fudgy. While equally as delicious, if serving within a day, leave covered on your counter until serving.

Steak house salad (gluten-free & guilt-free)...

The steak house salad reinvented. So, we all love those steak house salads; think bleu cheese, bacon, crispy-crunchy romaine. Ah—yes, but A) they are expensive, and how often do we all go out to steak houses? And B) they really are not that healthy for you.
So, I make them at home, but I reinvent it for every-week eating, instead of once-a-year anniversary dinner eating.
You use super crisp romaine (same as the original), the hearts are the best. Then add sliced, GF smoked turkey breast (adds meatiness and smokiness that the bacon used to lend), add sundried tomates (they are a bit chewey and crispy like bacon, and they add a deep-rich flavor that is as pronounced as the bacon-plus a richness that you had with the bleu cheese), and top it with a creamy drizzle of your favorite dressing (also adds creaminess like the bleu cheese did).
So while the flavors vary, the textures and subtle notes in richness and notes of flavors like smokiness are still there. All in all, this salad is just as equally as satifying as the once-a-year original, but is super healthy and can be indulged anytime, even once a week.

Ingredients: Makes 4 salads.

• 1 head of romaine/ or 2 hearts of romaine
• 1 cup sun dried tomatoes (I dry my own from the garden, buy a dried kind not packed in oil)
• 1/3 lb. sliced smoked turkey breast (Boar's Head brand is all gluten free! Get it from the deli)
• 8 tbs. of a gluten free creamy dressing of your choice
• Rings of red onion sliced thin (this is optional)

Directions:
Chop the lettuce and divide into four bowls. Dice the turkey into slices or pieces and divide into the bowls. Add 1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes to each bowl (dice smaller if too large). Drizzle each salad with 2 tbs. of dressing.