25 Greenslove: Gluten Free Balsamic Arugula Salad

Hey everyone! I've had a fairly busy past month with all things work and life related, but I'm excited to be ramping my blogging up again, starting with #greenslove. I became overly excited with the theme of greens this month when I walked into my local Whole Foods and saw all the amazing, colorful, fresh produce.

There's already an amazing amount of green recipes thus far, and I'm excited to share my first of the month, an Arugula salad interlaced with bell pepper, topped with london broil, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a balsamic dressing. I just love the combo of the bitter greens, the richness of the beef, the saltiness of the feta, and the sweet addition of balsamic.

Its a great recipe to use if you have left over london broil, and if not it can easily be substituted with leftover chicken.

Thank you to all of the wonderful co-hosts for this month's #greenslove!

Al Dente Gourmet ~ Aldy ~ @AlDenteGourmet

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~  @astigvegan

Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cheap Ethnic Eatz ~ Evelyne ~ @cethniceatz

Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica ~ @kbelleicious

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

My Twisted Recipe ~ Dudot ~ @mytwistedrecipe  

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Queen's Notebook ~ Elizabeth ~ @Mango_Queen  

Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood 

Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil 

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~@TAofCRF

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd 

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma  ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

And be sure to check everyone's post on the bloghop! And feel free to add your own green recipes as well!

Gluten Free Arugula Salad with London Broil & Balsamic Dressing

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1

Ingredients
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder

2-3 handfuls of baby arugula and frisee
1/4 bell pepper
3-4 thin slices (as thin as you can get!) of london broil
sprinkle of feta cheese
2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
dash pepper


Steps
In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, garlic, and onion powder until well combined. Set aside.

Thinly slice the bell pepper into strips. In a single serving bowl or plate, mix together the argulua and bell pepper. Fold the london broil and layer on top of the salad. Sprinkle the top with the feta and thyme leaves. Add a dash of pepper, and hooray! A quick, single serving salad for a dinner or lunch.

0 Gluten Free Beef Stew

I believe soups and stews are wonderful foods to make when you don't have a lot of time during the week to cook but still want to have a healthy meal. During busy weeks, I cook a stew on Sunday so I can microwave it for dinner the next few nights.

One stew recipe I like is one of Paula Deen's (recipe link here), with a few modifications.

Browning the beef

1. Before browning the beef, brown about 3 ounces of diced pancetta or bacon. The addition of the pancetta adds a wonderful salty pork taste to the stew.
2. Substitute the 2 cups of water with 1 cup of beef broth and 1 cup of a good red wine.
3. When adding the wine and beef broth, add 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

When the vegetables are added

The stew after cooking for several hours

I hope you all enjoy! Its an easy recipe to follow, and rather delicious!

0 GF Almond Lemon Pound Cake with Raspberry Balsamic Sauce

Hey! I hope everyone had a good weekend! This weekend I decided to experiment with a flour that I haven't dealt with before, almond flour.

Almond flour consists of ground up blanched almonds, and is rather popular in the world of gluten free, judging from blogs and such I've searched through. One of my friends on Twitter, @GlutenFreeFinds, referred me to Elana's Pantry, a gluten free blogger who's written several cookbooks on using almond flour. In summary, almond flour is high in protein and healthy fats, and is low in carbohydrates. The major con that kept me from trying almond flour all this time is the price: its the most expensive gluten free flour I've come across, at ~$15 per pound. Yikes. But if you want to risk the cost for the taste of it, please go to Elana's Pantry to learn everything you'd want to know about almond flour. It's a fantastic resource. The one thing I've learned is that Bob's Red Mill almond flour is not the best out there. Elana mentions it on her blog, and I back her up on it, the texture while cooking comes out overly wet, and takes longer to bake. Once again, go to her blog for more suggestions on where to get the best almond flour, and for a lesser cost than $15 per pound.

Along with trying a new flour in baking gluten free desserts, I wanted to make a cake with a fresh citrus flavor to celebrate the coming of spring (I don't know about others, but I've always associated the freshness of citrus with spring). In the recipe I include how to make a raspberry balsamic sauce that I like to pair with the cake. It provides a good counterbalance to the sweetness of the cake and ice cream (if you decide to serve it with ice cream, which I wholly recommend).

Also, I would like to mention ICCK's gluten free pound cake, as this cake recipe is a variation of that one.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 1-1.5 hours

Cake Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp butter, room temperature, cubed
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 2 cups almond flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Raspberry-Balsamic sauce (optional, recipe below)

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 325F, and grease and flour (with almond flour) the inside of a bundt pan.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the butter until fluffy. Beat the sugar in by the half cup until creamy.
3. Beat in each egg one at a time. After the last egg, beat in the vanilla and lemon zest and juice.
4. In a small bowl, mix the flour, powder, and salt. Slowly beat the flour into the wet mix by the half cup.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan, and place in the oven for at least an hour. Once the edges brown and a toothpick comes out clean and dry, remove the cake from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
6. Slice and serve with ice cream (optional) and sauce (also optional, recipe follows).

Raspberry-Balsamic sauce


Ingredients:

• 4 oz of raspberries
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon
• dash of pepper

Steps:
1. Preheat a small pan on low heat. Cut 3oz of the raspberries in half, and cook until berries have loosened, and become jam-like.

2. Press the jam through a fine strainer or cheesecloth to remove the seeds, and return to the pan.

3. Add all other ingredients, and increase heat to medium low. Cook the sauce for about 5 minutes. Cool and serve with the cake.

2 Foodbuzz 24x24: Brinner and a Book

Flashback to a year ago, when the greater Washington D.C. area saw the worst snowstorm its had in years; people dubbed it the only thing logical. The snowpocalypse. D.C. and its surrounding cities experienced upwards of 2 feet of snow that shut the metro area down. It was such a big deal that whenever I enter the word "snow" into my phone it now decides to auto-fill with snowpocalypse.

Why is something a year ago relevant today you may ask? Aside from the fact that D.C. experienced another snow storm this past week that turned rush hour commutes into 8 to 10 hour events rather than the normal .5 to 1 hour routines, the weekend of last year's snowpocalypse was supposed to be my roommate Zak's birthday party. Sadly, due to people's inability to travel he had to cancel his birthday party. A year later, I came across the opportunity to participate in the January Foodbuzz 24x24, a 24 hour dinner party hosted by 24 different individuals across the world. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I learned that I could participate in this event, and celebrate my roommates birthday with our closest friends. So welcome to my first Foodbuzz 24x24 post!

When Breakfast meets Dinner...

That's where we come to Brinner and a Book. A few months ago, while out in D.C. with friends, one of my friends vocalized the idea of spending the day relaxing with friends while wearing pajamas, drinking wine, and reading books under the warmth of blankets. I then mentioned the idea of adding brinner to the event, which  is having a breakfast meal for dinner. Needless to say, we decided right then and there to have a relaxing, book reading, food eating birthday for Zak on the last weekend of January.

We all gathered together on Saturday afternoon in our PJs at my home in Northern Virginia. Zak loves exploring different types of cheeses, so we started the afternoon catching up on events post New Years with mimosas and assorted cheeses.

After a few mimosas and learning that, even in teams, Trivial Pursuit was none of our strong points (however, I did gain the quite valuable knowledge that Orville Redenbacher died in the bathroom) I decided to go off and start dinner while the others read books and explored their knowledge of Scrabble.

The Food

Breakfast for dinner gave me the opportunity to flex my creativity and turn some classic American breakfast platters into fun dinner items. The other fun twist on this meal was the dietary restriction. I found out last year that I needed to be on a gluten-free diet (which makes the consumption of many traditional breakfast dishes impossible) so I had to come up with gluten-free alternatives for some dishes. Also, I found out that some of our guests were vegetarians, so I made some tweaks to parts of the menu that I will share with you all. So, onto the first dish...

Steak and Eggs: NY Strip Steak and Bacon-Tomato Frittata

The main course of the dinner was a spin on the tradition steak and eggs dish, which became NY Strip Steaks with a side of Bacon-Tomato Frittatas.

How to Cook the Steak
Cooked the steaks using a grill pan over medium heat. Once the pan comes up to heat, spread some olive oil over the pan, and salt and pepper both sides of the steak. Cook the steaks on each side for about 5-6 minutes per side, and cover them with either a lid or a sheet of aluminum foil to capture the heat. Apply pressure with the back of a fork on the tops of the steaks to tell if they are done rather than cutting it open. If you feel quite a bit of resistance when you try to push down the steak, it should be close to done. Remove the steaks from the pan, and cover for about 5 minutes. This lets the juices of the steaks to rest inside the steaks, while cutting a steak open to test for done-ness leaks juices and dries out the steak.

The Frittata
I wanted to make a frittata instead of typical eggs or omelets to have a fun, cultural twist on traditional eggs. A frittata is similar to omelets, but has a few differences. Frittatas normally have the eggs poured into a pan, and then the fillings are added on top. Also, the eggs are not stirred when poured into the pan, allowing a crisp outer layer to the frittata. The link to the detailed recipe is located here. I've included a video below detailing how to make it, including important cooking and safety tips.



Fruit Salad with Balsamic Almonds

I wanted to make a light side dish to counter-balance some of the heavier dishes, so a light fruit salad was the logical choice to me.

Ingredients
-Strawberries
-Blueberries
-Red seedless grapes
-Raspberries
-2 oranges
-1 crisp ted apple
-Juice of half a lemon
-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-1 tsp white wine
-1/4 lb sliced almonds

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread a layer of almonds on a cookie sheet, and lightly salt. Toast the nuts for about 3 minutes. When out of the oven, toss in a tablespoon of the vinegar.

1. Slice the greens off the strawberries, and slice in half. Add to a medium bowl.
2. Peel the orange, and slice into half-pinwheels. Add to the bowl.
3. Core the apple, and slice into pieces the same size as the oranges. Add to the bowl.
4. Add all the other fruits to the bowl.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the wine, juice, and remaining vinegar. Add the nuts and juice to the bowl, and lightly toss.

Sweet Potato Hash

Another iconic dish to breakfast is hash browns. For dinner, I wanted to use fresh, local sweet potatoes and flavors such as cinnamon and maple to tie in some other breakfast flavors.

Ingredients
-2 to 3 sweet potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
-1 medium onion, diced
-2 tbsp ginger
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tbsp cinnamon
-1/4 cup maple syrup
-dash salt and pepper





Steps
1. Preheat a deep pan over medium heat. To this add the potatoes, ginger, cinnamon, S&P, and maple syrup. Cover with a lid, and stir occasionally.

2. While the potatoes cook, sautee the garlic and onions in a tbsp of olive oil until the onions are translucent.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the potatoes, and cook for about 20-30 minutes, stirring constantly, or until a fork inserted to the potatoes goes through.

All together on one plate...


When cooking all of the above, I found out that some of our guests were vegetarian, so I made one or two alterations, such as cooking an additional frittata without the bacon. The entire meal was a huge success, and everyone loved the main course and sides, especially the frittata and hash.

However, there was one more surprise for everyone. I mean, you can't have a dinner party, nor could you have a breakfast party, without some...

CHOCOLATE WAFFLES

Needless to say that this was the star of the show. For this I used a gluten free flour blend of 1 cup white rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 tapoica flour, and 1/2 tsp xantham gum. I like this blend because of the flavor and texture. Also, with this I've realized that homemade coffee ice cream is completely and utterly (ha, cow joke. get it?) amazing...

LINK TO DARK CHOCOLATE WAFFLES WITH HAZELNUT COFFEE ICE CREAM HERE

Thank you to everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed preparing it. Also, thank you again to Foodbuzz for this wonderful opportunity. The recipes for the Steaks, Fruit Salad with Balsamic Almonds, and Sweet Potato Hash are included in this post, while the recipes for the Frittata and Waffle can be found here:

• Bacon and Tomato Frittata
• Dark Chocolate Waffle with Hazelnut Coffee Ice Cream

Happy Sunday Everyone! And...

Happy Birthday Zak!

6 Sirloin Steak with Bacon Balsamic Sauce and Green Beans

So I normally don't like a lot of sauces or butters on my steaks if they're of a quality cut such as sirloin or better. However, with the right flavors, a believe a good sauce can add to the flavor without overpowering the steak. If you want to serve with appetizers and other dishes, Mozzarella with Tomato and Balsamic and a good red wine. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
- Top Sirloin Steak
- 3-4 Slices bacon
- 3 tablespoons red wine
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 clove garlic minced
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 pound green beans
-2 cloves garlic minced





Steps - Prep:
1. In a skillet, over medium heat, cook the bacon, flipping over after about 3 minutes. Cook the bacon until done.

2. Pat the bacon dry with paper towels on a place. Pour about half of the left over bacon fat onto a grill pan.
3. Slice the meat of the bacon into smaller pieces.

Steps - Green Beans
1. Slice the beans into half.
2. Over medium low heat, in the pan that the bacon was cooked in, add the green beans, 2 cloves garlic, and a little bit of olive oil. Cook for about 4-6 minutes until green beans are softer.

Steps - Steak
1. On the grill pan, add a small amount of olive oil and warm to medium heat. Add the steak, and cook for about 6 minutes on each side. Cook for a little longer for a more well done meat.

2. In a small saucepan, add the balsamic, wine, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce over medium low heat. After a few minutes, add some bacon bits, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

3. Slice the steak, and serve on a plate. Drip the sauce over top of the steak and enjoy!

1 Mozzarella with Tomato and Balsamic

Yesterday one of my roommates Zak made this snack, and I loved it so much that I wanted to share this with all of you. Also, it goes well with the recipe I'm posting tomorrow, Steak with a balsamic bacon sauce. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Fresh Mozzarella
• Fresh tomato (organic if possible)
• Fresh Basil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Slice the mozzarella and tomatoes into about 1/4 inch thick slices.

2. Place the basil leaf and tomato slice on top of the mozzarella.

3. Drip some balsamic vinegar on top of the tomato and mozzarella, and top with salt and pepper.

0 Quick and Easy: Apple Walnut Salad

Below is a recipe of another salad that I like to make, which is relatively easy and quick to do. I think the walnuts and apple add a much needed texture to the salad. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/2 apple, thinly sliced
• Mixed salad greens
• Handful walnuts
• Some grated Parrano cheese (aged Gouda or Parmesan are fine substitutes)
• 3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 lime
• 6 tbsp Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper

Steps

1. Rinse and dry the salad greens. Mix in the apple.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the vinegar and juices til combined. Whisk in the oil until the dressing is emulsified (well blended)
3. Drip a ring of the dressing around the outside of the salad green bowl. Gently toss the salad to coat the greens in the dressing. (Purpose of this is to not overdress the salad, or else it becomes soggy. By slowly adding a little dressing and tossing the greens into the dressing, you can easily avoid overdressing the salad.)
4. Mix in the walnuts, plate the salad, and grate the fresh Parrano on top. Enjoy!

2 Fruit Salad

Here's a really easy fruit salad to make. I love making it when local produce is available and in season. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
Mixture of fresh berries and other fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and grapes.
.25c honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
zest of one lemon
handful of almonds or walnuts (optional)

1. In a bowl, whisk everything but the berries and fruits.
2. Toss the honey mixture with the berries.

1 Raspberry Balsamic Steak

This past weekend I wanted to experiment and combine tangy, sour flavors with  the richness of steak. After entering Whole Foods, I saw fresh raspberries on sale and decided to use them in a sauce. Also, this is a very flexible recipe, so the steak can be easily substituted with chicken. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 lb steak
3 handfuls fresh raspberries
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon your favorite barbecue sauce
salt and pepper

1. Rinse and quarter the raspberries. Place the berries into a saucepan with the lemon juice, and turn the stove to a medium low. Keep the berries moving and cook them until the berries have cooked down, like in the image below.

2. Once the berries are cooked down, strain the berries through a fine strainer into a pot to remove all of the seeds.

3. Add the vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper to the juice. Mix the sauce thoroughly and taste. If you feel the sauce is too source, add another tablespoon of balsamic. Heat the sauce until it reduces down to a glaze, and pull off the stove.
4. As the sauce is reducing, cook the steak until a good medium or medium rare. Once the steak has cooked, let it stand for 6 minutes.
5. After the steak has cooled, slice and drizzle the glaze over the steak. Enjoy!

0 Balsamic Pork

I don't have any pictures for this recipe because I was tired while making it, but believe me, it turned out amazingly!

Ingredients:
2 pork chops
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp chopped basil (approximately 2 leaves)
salt and pepper

1. In a bowl, mix everything but the pork.
2. Start a pan on medium low heat, and oil it so the pork does not stick to the pan.
3. Once the pan is hot, dip both sides of the pork chops into the mixture, and place on the pan.
4. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the pork chops are cooked.

Enjoy, and happy Tuesday!

0 Strawberry Balsamic Salad

Below is a recipe for what is possibly my favorite summer salad, Strawberry and Mozzarella Salad with a Balsamic vinaigrette. This salad combines the sweetness of the strawberries and balsamic, the creamy saltiness of the mozzarella, and the crunchy nuttiness of sliced almonds for some texture.

Ingredients:

One bag of your favorite lettuce or greens, avoid ones with a bitter taste

1 pint strawberries

Fresh mozzarella

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar for the dressing, 2 tsp for the strawberries

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

sliced almonds, optional

1. Clean and slice the strawberries and place them in a small bowl. Add the 2 tsp to the bowl, and let the strawberries marinate for about 10-20 minutes

2. In another small bowl, whisk together the remaining balsamic and oil, and add salt and pepper to taste

3. Slice the cheese into cubes, and toss together the lettuce, strawberries, and dressing. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.

Its that simple! Enjoy this fresh and delicious salad!