The Very Best Beet Salad

We have been making this for a really long time.  There is just something about the earthy flavor of the beets with the freshness of the parsley and the salty tang of the feta.  "They are REALLY good friends." as my daughter likes to say.  This recipe pre-dates our CSA life. But has been very handy since beets seem to be standard CSA fare.   

The Very BEST Beet Salad

Ingredients:

1# Beets, beets rinsed and cleaned with a vegetable brush.
      Large beets - trim leaves and root, cut into 1 - 1½" pieces.
      Small beets - 1-2" diameter, ok to leave - 1-2" stems, trim root.

1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup crumbled feta
Olive oil

Optional:
Balsamic vinegar
Green leaf lettuce/arugula
toasted pine nuts or walnuts


1.    Toss cleaned beets in 1-2 tsp of olive oil.

2.    Lay beets on a foil-lined roasting pan.  Roast in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until a knife can slide in easily.  Remove from oven and allow to mostly cool.  (See grill method below.)

3.    Transfer beets to a bowl and toss with feta, parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. 

At this point, it makes a wonderfully easy and delicious vegetable side.  But you can also convert this to a salad:

4.     Toss beet mixture with some leafy green lettuce and arugula (we love the peppery bite) and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  Toss in some toasted pine nuts or walnuts for crunch.


Notes:

• It's a little easier to clean the grit off beets if you soak them for a bit in water.
• To pan toast pine nuts or walnuts, pour into a pan and turn on heat to medium low.  Stay very close and shake/stir the pan every couple of minutes until they are the color you want. Cool 10 min before tossing into the salad. 
• If it's too hot to turn on the oven, enclose the beets drizzled with olive oil to a double layer of foil, close and roast indirectly on a grill for about 20-30 minutes.  The actual time will depend on how hot your grill is.

Gluten Free Campfire Potatoes

We made these for our recent trek to the Black Hills of South Dakota for a semi-family reunion.  We missed the St. Louis contingent.  Maybe next year?  We had a fabulous time anyway.  Before the trip we decided that each family would make one dinner for the group.  Our dinner was cedar plank salmon (which we will post soon), a double batch of these potatoes and pan-fried green beans from our CSA sautéed with onion, garlic and sprinkled with toasted almonds (with much thanks for the green bean recipe from my friend Michele who really needs to start posting her delicious recipes!).  We also brought  Skinny Marinated Salad to have with picnics at the sites. 

Gluten Free Golden Campfire Potatoes

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 - 2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces about 1"
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp canola oil
1 Tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese (or any other flavorful cheese like cheddar or gruyere)
Salt and pepper
Optional: a sprinkle of fresh herbs such as dill, thyme and/or rosemary.

 

1.     Par boil potatoes: Cover the potatoes with water in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Cook until you can just get a fork into the potato.  Drain and rinse with cold water. Lay out on a sheet pan to dry.

2.     Meanwhile, slice the onion and add to a pan with 2 teaspoons canola oil and a sprinkle of salt. Cook over medium-high heat until they start to brown.  Then turn the heat down to low, cover and cook until softened and almost caramelized about 20 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the Worcestershire sauce and butter. Season with salt and pepper.

3.    Line a disposable metal roasting pan (you can find these at dollar stores) with parchment.  You can skip this step and just spray the pan with non-stick spray or rub the pan with some canola oil.  I used parchment so we wouldn't lose any of the delicious potatoes by sticking to the pan.

4.     Add the potatoes to the disposable pan.  Pour the onion mixture over the potatoes and sprinkle with the shredded cheese and herbs if desired.

5.    Cover with another layer of parchment (optional again) and a layer of foil.  Refrigerate or store in a cooler until ready to use. 

6.    Cook for about 30 minutes indirectly over medium coals until hot and golden.   You could also just bake these at home for a great side dish - 375° for about 20-30 minutes.

Skinny Marinated Salad

How can anything marinated be skinny?  Well, let me tell you...
My mom used to make a salad that I LOVED.  A vegetable salad. This was usually only for potlucks and contained vegetables that were mostly not grown in our Fargo garden. Though I'm sure we could throw in some carrots and green beans and it would still be great.  I go the traditional Italian vegetable salad route. But instead of a bottle of Italian dressing, I wanted to lighten it up.  Combined with a lighter version of vinaigrette, the salad is a no-guilt side dish that is always in our fridge in the summer.

Skinny Marinated Salad

Ingredients

Lightened Italian Dressing, see recipe below
4-6 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
4-6 cups cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
1-2 pints grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved
2  14 oz can quartered artichokes or whole artichokes quartered, drained
16 oz button mushrooms, quartered or if you can get them at your Sam's Club - 1 - 32 oz jar of Monterray Marinated Mushrooms (I brush off the big chunks of garlic)
1-2 jars pepperoncini, drained
2 cans black olives, drained
1 sliced red onion

Other optional ingredients:
2 cups sliced celery
2 - 3 bell peppers sliced, any color
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 -3 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

Combine vegetables in a large bowl and toss with the marinade. 


Dressing

2 plum tomatoes, halved and shredded on a grater.
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning
1/8 heaping teaspoon sugar to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake until combined.  (For a more mellowed garlic flavor, mince garlic, add salt, and mash with the side of a knife to a paste.)  Set aside while you prepare the vegetables.

By reducing the amount of olive oil and replacing it with the tomatoes, we have saved almost 500 calories!!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Balls

This is one of my favorite gluten-free desserts.  It scores big in a number of categories.  First, it is so good, nobody even knows it is gluten free.  Second, my kids love them.  Three, their size is automatically portion controlled and finally, did I mention chocolate covered chocolate.  AND, {Proud Mom Moment} the kids always request these for their birthday treat to share with their classroom.



Drizzled with White Chocolate and Sprinkles

Active Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours
Yield:  about 65 chocolate balls

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix
  3 eggs
  1 stick butter, softened
  1 cup water
1 can Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting
2 1/2 bags semi sweet chocolate chips


Directions

1.     Bake cake as directed. Cool.

2.     Crumble cake with a fork and mix in container of frosting.

3.     Scoop 1 tablespoon balls and roll smooth. Freeze for at least 1 hour.

4.     Melt chocolate chips.  Using a microwave safe bowl, cook in 30 second increments, stirring thoroughly after each time until smooth.  Do not overcook!

5.     Taking about 10 balls out of the freezer at a time dip in the chocolate, scoop out with a fork and tap off excess chocolate using the side of the bowl. Using a toothpick, scrap chocolate ball off fork onto parchment or into mini cupcake wrapper.  Use a spoon dipped in the chocolate to smooth if needed.

Tips:
~If you plan to decorate with sprinkles, be sure to add them before the chocolate hardens. Be quick. Your window is small.



Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Balls

Potato Salad with Green Beans

Goal for the week: use all of our vegetables from our CSA*.  Actually, this has been a summer goal all summer for the last 6 summers since we first joined a CSA.


Grandma's egg slicer & mine

I didn't use all of the produce, but came up with a delicious recipe to use our baby red potatoes and fresh green beans.  AND I got to pull out my unitasker egg slicer.

 

 

 

 

Potato Salad with Green Beans

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of baby new red potatoes
8 ounces fresh green beans, stems trimmed
3 hard boiled eggs, diced

1/2 cup mayonnaise**
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3-1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Salt


Directions

Potatoes:  Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are just fork tender.  Drain and rinse under cold water until mostly cooled.  Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and then into chunks roughly 1 inch.

Green Beans:  Bring another pot of water to a boil and toss in beans for 90 seconds, remove the beans and plunge into ice water.  Drain and dry. Cut beans into thirds.

Hard Boiled Eggs:  In a pot, cover eggs with cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute and turn off heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  Rinse with cold water, peel, and dice. I use my handy little egg slicer from Pampered Chef, turning the egg three times to get a small dice.

Dressing:  Combine the remaining ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.

Gently fold the potatoes and beans in the dressing and then fold in the diced hard boiled eggs.  Salt to taste.

Meal Ideas: 
Add tuna and black olives and serve on a bed of lettuce for a quick and yummy Nicoise version.  I used arugula and added some Glutino bagel chips.

*CSA stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture. For more information and to find a farm near you, click here.

** I use Hellman's or Best Foods Mayonnaise, usually the light version since they are gluten free and rated very well by America's Test Kitchen.  Though, ALWAYS recheck the labels of processed foods because formulations change often and they may not continue to be gluten free.