Salad. You know that it’s good for you and that you should be eating it more often, but I bet you think it’s unappetizing and unexciting. Well, it doesn’t have to be! Here are some easy guidelines to create delicious salads that are anything but boring!

Salad featuring mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, and herbed goat cheese on a bed of butter lettuce and spinach

First and foremost, you have to use lots of veggies. Personally, I prefer a veggie to lettuce ratio of about 60/40. My tried and true favorite salad vegetables are:

Mushrooms – white, crimini, they are all delicious
Cucumber
Carrots – a little crunch that isn’t a crouton!
Onion- but keep it minimal, you don’t want to scare people away
Bell peppers – red, orange or yellow are bit sweeter than green
Broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Snap peas
Beets – give them a chance, they are pretty good
Artichoke hearts
Avocado – mashed up and mixed with a little bit of oil or vinaigrette creates a creamy dressing that is quite tasty, or just slice some and put it on top

Now let’s talk protein. People often forget to include protein in their salads, but this is a mistake. Not only does it make any salad more exciting; it helps turn a simple salad into a more filling meal. Not to mention, getting plenty of protein is especially important for vegetarians. Try adding any of these options to your salad:

Tofu – plain or marinated
Hard-boiled egg
Edamame
Chickpeas – probably my favorite addition to salad
Lentils
Walnuts
Pecans

Cheese options. The point of salad, at least for me, is to have a healthy meal that is light on carbs and fat. Don’t go crazy with the cheese, however a little bit can go a long way with these delicious additions:

Goat cheese – honey or herbed are both great
Shredded cheese – any kind you like, but I usually choose cheddar
Parmesan
Mozzarella

Lettuce comes in a variety of flavors. I tend to enjoy a mix of at least two of these types:

Butter – slightly sweet
Romaine – crunchy
Arugula – leafy
Spinach
Iceberg – 99 cents at Ralph’s!

You can also find pre-packaged bags of mixed greens or spring greens, which combine various lettuce types. Try out some options and see what suits you.

Next comes dressing. There are so many different options out there. Creamy ranch, vinaigrette, you name think of a combination, it has been made. But in my house, there is a super top secret dressing recipe that guarantees a delicious salad. Lucky for you, I’m going to share!

You will need:

Olive oil
Fresh Garlic
Grated Parmesan cheese
A lemon (a fresh one is SO important, lemon juice will just not be as good. Trust me.)

This recipe will cover about two heads of romaine lettuce, which feeds about 4-6 people.

Start with about ¼ cup of olive oil. Add about 2-3 small cloves of garlic, pressed. Sprinkle the mixture over your salad, mixing well. Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese on next. Finally, squeeze ½ a lemon and drizzle to taste. I sometimes use a whole lemon, depending on the size of the salad, and how lemony you want it. Enjoy!

I also wanted to share an alternative to a traditional lettuce based salad, one of my new favorite dishes, and super easy to make. It’s my variation on a caprese salad.

You will need:

Mozzarella pearls
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
Pepper

Cut the tomatoes in half.

Mix with the mozzarella pearls.

Coat with a small amount of balsamic vinegar, about a tablespoon.

Sprinkle on kosher salt and pepper. The kosher salt is important, it’s a very different taste than regular salt. Devour!

As many of you already know, Jennie is the boss of me. That’s right. I fear her wrath. And since she and I have a GMS video conference scheduled for tonight, and I was supposed to post about this shrimp recipe about a week ago, I am scurrying to post this quickly and hope she never knows the difference.

This is probably a fool-proof plan, right?

Ignoring the obvious irony that I’ve just admitted my own scheme in a public forum, I’m just gonna launch right in here.

August was the month I rediscovered the magic of frozen shrimp. Fun fact: Did you know that frozen shrimp is usually fresher than the fresh stuff you buy at the grocery store? (Unless you live right on the coast, of course) This is because most frozen shrimp is frozen right away and does not thaw out again until you take it out of your freezer, but “fresh” shrimp is also frozen right away, then thawed out again in order to sit all fresh and pretty in the seafood section of your grocery story.

This is fine if you intend to cook it immediately that night. But do you really always do that? Or do you sometimes buy it, forget to cook it and end up leaving it in your fridge another night or two before finally realizing you need to eat that stuff TONIGHT or it will definitely not be good anymore. Yeah, me too. The answer, for so many reasons, is frozen shrimp.

Start by thawing your shrimp and peeling it.

Heat the sesame oil. You can use olive oil, but it won’t be as delicious. Saute your garlic and let it brown.

Than add your shrimp and grated ginger and let the shrimp cook and start to turn pink. My shrimp was pre-cooked, so this was mostly an exercise in letting the shrimp really pick up the ginger and garlic flavors. It also resulted in the most delicious smell you can possibly imagine.

While all this deliciousness is wafting through your kitchen, juice your limes or lemons. Limes are really better, but lemons will do in a pinch. In this case, I only had lemon.

Measure some wine. Of note: you can see my notes in the background, here, and also a shot of the original Real Simple recipe from which I adapted this. I couldn’t find the recipe on their website, but it’s from a 2010 issue. I think August?? Also, I’d like to point out that my mother has this filed in her recipe binder under F, for Fish. I’m telling you, it’s like the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler trying to find a recipe in her binders, sometimes.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, combine the lime (lemon) juice, wine, and vinegar.

Add the liquid mixture to the shrimp and let simmer.

MMM. Scallions.

Almost done!

Grab some sesame seeds and sprinkle ’em on top of everything. Maybe throw some in the air, dance around a little. You know, if that’s your kinda thing.

In theory, 1 pound of shrimp could serve 4, but three of us polished this off with no trouble as it’s very hard to stop eating…

Full recipe here.

I found this excellent video on the hairpin which we’ll all have to try! It’s a video posted by Saveur Magazine where Executive Food Editor, Todd Coleman, shows us how to peel garlic in 10 seconds. I know. Just watch.

Found here

I’ll be honest; I don’t eat out all that much.  Eating in restaurants involves relying on kitchens I’ve never seen and wait staff that don’t know the difference between glucose and gluten, so I usually err on the side of caution, perhaps to a fault sometimes.  Most of the GF websites and books have resources about how to advocate for yourself, restaurant cards you can give to your wait staff explaining your condition, and how to work with regular restaurants to modify regular food to GF status.  Personally, I think that’s too much trouble and not worth the risk. In general I’m not a big fan of having to tell complete strangers that I have Celiac Disease and then explaining what that means etc etc.  I’m not always in the mood for a teachable moment.  I tend to dine at places that already have GF menu and seem to have a secure understanding of the landscape.

I am sure if I cared about eating out more I would acquire these life skills and integrate more restaurant dining into my routine.  But right now, 3 years in, the start of my second year in a new city, I don’t particularly have that desire.  However, I do have some tried and true options listed below that even I feel comfortable eating at without much fuss, because sometimes, you just have to eat out in the world…

PF Chang’s 

courtesy of gsloan

I used to work around the corner from one in Boston and it ended up being a perpetual lifesaver when I didn’t have time to cook, wanted a special treat, or wanted to go out with friends.

Things I love:

• They have integrated their GF menu onto the back of their main menu, so you don’t even have to request a special menu.
• They have GF soy sauce packets to go!
• They offer a rewards card (called the Warrior card)  that saves you 10% on your meal.  They used to even print your name on the front of it.  You can apply online, then they send it to you in the mail, and they can also email you with specials that they run and opportunities for more savings.
• The portions tend to be large enough that you can make two meals out of it.
• My personal favorite dishes are the Chang’s Spicy Chicken and the Fried Rice.  Delicious.

Don’t love so much:

• They will insist on giving you the fortune cookies, but don’t partake.  Just spread the fortune cookie love around.

Outback Steakhouse

courtesy of soeperbaby

While we have a growing tradition at eating at Outback when en route during group trips, (which I have really been enjoying), though they are not a chain I eat at often.

Things I love:

• Though it is not necessarily a fine dining option, their Chicken Caesar Salad is particularly delicious.  It has a nice edge to it. Editor’s note: That edge is garlic. Obviously the key ingredient for maximum deliciousness.
• You have to request a separate menu, but it gives you explicit ordering instructions (ie: order without bread, croutons, etc) so that you can cover your bases with the wait staff.
• It is quite an extensive menu with a whole lot of options.

Things I don’t love:

•  They serve bread at the table on funny little cutting boards with giant knives.  It looks delicious and just makes me a little sad, but it is mostly alright.

Wendy’s 

Things I love:

• They do an excellent job of updating their GF list on a regular basis, basically every month.
• Can we all take a minute for the 99c cool and creamy dairy frosted dessert also known as a Frosty?  I’m glad that chocolate frosties are still available in my GF life.  So good.
• They are a consistent and prevalent choice.

Things I don’t love:

• Unfortunately, most of the items a GF person can eat are condiments, beverages, and sides, but there is at least enough to cobble together a decent meal when you are in a jam.

In-N-Out Burger

courtesy of Aaron Friedman

This is a very recent addition to my life since moving to California and I am glad for it.  Everything everyone says about it is true.

Things I love:

• They do not have a GF menu per say, but because their food is fresh and simple it is easily and safely adapted.
• It is the first time in a good long while that I can eat french fries out in the world.  Because their menu is so basic they don’t deep fry other breaded objects with their fries, so that’s why they are acceptable to eat.

Things I don’t love:

• Any In-N-Out I have ever been to always has a fantastically long line.  I think this speaks volume about the quality and desire for their food, but it is limiting in that they can’t be a dine and dash option.

Also, depending on where you live, there will be smaller restaurants that have GF menus.  There are plenty more, but these are briefly some that I have tried (and loved).

(In and around) Boston, MA:

1. Zing Pizza
   

   interior of Zing Pizza courtesty of snowpea&bokchoi

2. Veggie Planet
3. Stone Hearth Pizza Co
4. Elephant Walk

Los Angeles:

1. Hugo’s

Until next time!

So for work I made these homemade oreos. Cookie sandwiches. Whatever.

This was the recipe (from Smitten Kitchen):

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I made two batches, as I need enough cookie sandwiches for 25 people. I ended up with about 46 cookie sandwiches (or about 92 cookies), give or take a cookie or two (Jeff and I split one to check for poison, I may have dropped a cookie and it cracked, etc., etc.)

A note on the filling: I had about 1/4 a cup left, so I think I could have either added more filling (although they are VERY sweet) or else made  a little less. And I had to add about two teaspoons of shortening because the filling was too thick. Basically, make the one batch and play around a little, see how it goes.

So here’s the dough. A note on this. I never really pay attention to size, but if you want them to be about oreo-size or a little bigger, I’d use a real teaspoon. Notice the metal spoon, discarded into the dough, and the yellow teaspoon. Notice the ball size in front of the teaspoon. Way to big, I had to start over.

Kitchen disaster.

Done cookies. 9 minutes, rotating the pan at 4:30 (or 4 if you remember or 5 if you remember early). Don’t bake more than 9 minutes, they’ll get too hard. And this is from a chronic over-baker.

Yum…

No pictures of the frosting because I figured I’d spare you the white frosting pictures.

I also didn’t pipe the frosting (can you tell?) because I was too lazy. But these are a smidge larger than oreos, and I used about a tablespoon of frosting per cookie.