gluten free sauces Archives

Kale and Basil Pesto

You can never have too many good sauce recipes. Sauces can enhance any meal from pasta to roasted vegetables to grilled meat and fish. Pesto is especially versatile. It can dress a salad, potatoes or even be added to cream cheese for a delicious dip.

I will admit, I am not a huge fan of kale, but I do recognize its health benefits. This recipe blends the kale with basil, mint and lemon to make a fresh pesto to brighten up any meal and it freezes well!

5 from 1 vote

Kale and Basil Pesto

A fresh pesto to brighten up any meal

Ingredients

1 cup fresh basil leaves torn
1 cup fresh kale leaves torn and removed from stem
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon mint chopped
2 ounces pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Parmesan shredded
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil may need more or less to make desired consistency

Instructions

Add all ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or food
processor.
Slowly add the olive oil while the blender or food processor is on
medium speed, until everything is blended together and the pesto is your desired
consistency. Add slowly because you can always add more, but can’t take away
what was added.
Serve with your favorite gnocchi or pasta.

Follow me on my Instagram page for the most up to date information on my cooking experiments, trials, successes and failures. I promise I will keep posting here, just not as frequent as I would like, but I’m busy testing some great recipes for a cookbook and raising 3 amazing children, among many other things 🙂

Strawberry Sauce

Having different sauce recipes in your repertoire to change up meals and desserts can expand your menus tremendously. Sauces are not just for savory dishes. My strawberry sauce is simple and delicious! Strawberries are so tasty and sweet. My kids love them, so when they are on sale, I buy them up! Often that means that they can start to go bad before we have had a chance to finish eating them. With all the amazing fresh fruit and vegetables coming into season, they are more cost effective and much more abundant. Here is this crazy easy recipe that you can use to top pancakes or waffles, ice cream or yogurt or whatever you like!

Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients

16 ounces of fresh strawberries, sliced

2 Tablespoons of sugar (add ½ Tablespoon at a time and taste because it depends on how sweet your strawberries are naturally)

2 Tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, optional (but I think it adds such a great depth of flavor! Doesn’t taste vinegary)

Directions

Add all the ingredients to a sauce pan on medium high heat on the stove. Stir every couple of minutes until the fruit breaks down and it becomes a sauce, about 15 minutes. Serve warm over pancakes or cool and pour over ice cream or swirl in with yogurt. Can keep in the fridge 3 or 4 days in an airtight container.

You can also make this with blueberries, raspberries or blackberries and just adjust the sugar based on how sweet the fruits are. Don’t let those summer fruits go to waste!

There are just so many uses for this sauce. You can make ice cream sundaes, pour this sauce over gf angel food cake or my biscuits for a version of strawberry shortcake.

What is your favorite summer sauce? How do you use it?

Basic Recipes You Can Adjust To Your Own Taste

After taking a much needed break, the blog is back! I’ve been busy cooking, cleaning out closets and celebrating. I turned 40 and then had a restful Mother’s Day. I have so many great recipes and gluten-free finds to share from the past couple of weeks! Stay tuned!

I am continually thinking about how to put into words the kinds of recipes I like to make and then I had an epiphany while driving by myself in the car the other day. I turned on NPR (WGBH Boston, 89.7) and heard Christopher Kimball’s voice. It was Milk Street Kitchen Radio with Christopher Kimball (formerly of America’s Test Kitchen) and Sara Moulton (who has a show on PBS now but I used to religiously watch her cooking show on the Food Network, over 15 years ago). They took an interesting caller, asking about how to get his fiance to eat more of a variety of foods. He wanted to know any good cookbooks for kids, as he compared her palate to that of a child.

Mr. Kimball’s answer is exactly what mine would be, although much more eloquently said. He said that instead of trying to cook down to her taste level, to make what he calls “bridge recipes.” The light bulb went off in my head. That is exactly what I do! His example included finding a basic recipe for fried chicken and then change up the flavors, because most countries have their version of fried chicken (Japanese tempura, etc).

Here are some of my “bridge recipes” and some variations you can make to help expand your family’s palate or just change up your weekly menu.

My basic meatball recipe can be changed up by making Italian Stuffed Meatballs, Vietnamese flavored meatballs, Tex Mex flavored meatballs, Greek Meatballs, Swedish Meatballs or even Meatloaf meatballs! Meatballs are a familiar shape for kids or even picky adults 🙂 By changing up the flavors you can expose them to new tastes.

There are a million ways to make roasted chicken. It is also something many people like and are familiar with, so it is another great vessel to make “bridge” recipes from. So instead of Herb Roasted Chicken try my One pan Roasted Chicken with tomatoes and feta, Honey Lemon Roasted Chicken Thighs or Marinated Roasted Teriyaki Chicken.

Another great way to create “bridge” recipes is to change up the sauces you use. Try these sauces to change up your grilled chicken, steak, fish or even veggies: Barbecue Sauce, Balsamic Honey Mustard Sauce or Tomatillo salsa (this post also has a basic quesadilla recipe which you can make many variations of! A great “bridge”recipe!).

Thank you Christopher Kimball for helping me articulate my style of cooking. I make basic recipes and create “bridge” recipes from them by using different sauces or spices from a different culture. What is your favorite “bridge” recipe? Check out Milk Street Radio to find out when it is on in your area or download the podcast! They are great!

Balsamic Honey Mustard Sauce

Sauces are a great way to transform your leftovers. If you are grilling, grill extra chicken or veggies and then use different sauces to make completely different meals from the same base ingredients.

Last week I shared my favorite Apricot barbecue sauce. This week I’m sharing a super simple sauce that would be great on your Easter ham. This sauce also works well with chicken, steak, carrots, asparagus and more!

Balsamic Honey Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of honey

3 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons of spicy brown mustard

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together and microwave for 20 seconds or heat on stove, medium low, just until warmed through.

I made this sauce earlier this week to top grilled pork chops. It was amazing! Served with some polenta and rosemary corn.

Try this sauce with your spring grilled meats and vegetables or on your Easter ham or disguise your Easter ham leftovers 🙂 Let me know how it turns out! I’m working on some dessert recipes for the upcoming holidays. Any requests?

Spring Grilling Time! My favorite barbecue sauce recipe

I am going to ignore the fact that there is snow in the forecast for this weekend and instead focus on the tulips starting to sprout in my front yard.

Some brave the snow and cold to grill year round. I applaud your dedication. I rarely grill in the winter, which is why I am so excited to start grilling again! Sauces can help transform your simple grilled chicken into a sweet and savory delight. Gluten can hide in places like store bought barbecue sauce, so its great to have a recipe on hand when you need it. Make sure the ingredients you use are gluten-free as well.

Apricot Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

1 ½ cups ketchup

2 Tablespoons spicy brown mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons of onion power

4 teaspoons of chili powder

¼ cup of apricot jam

3 tablespoons brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour, up to overnight to allow the flavors to develop.

Serve with your favorite chicken wings, ribs, meatballs, grilled meat or even as a dip for gluten-free chicken tenders. What is your favorite sauce for grilled meat?