Tag Archives: salads

Happy 239th birthday, America!

Posted in Celebrations, Salads by

Monica and Daria say:

It’s Independence Day!

Yay for America!

We attended a family get-together yesterday and were so happy with the results of our red, white, and blue fruit salad!

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Several guests at the party asked “Who made the quinoa salad? It’s so delicious!” And many thanked us for bringing such a nutritious addition to the picnic!

We certainly can’t take all of the credit, though. We found the recipe through Pinterest!

Make the quinoa (takes a mere 15 minutes); cut up your strawberries, prepare raspberries, blackberries, blueberries; chop some fresh mint and basil; and prepare the citrus dressing!

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The only thing that we did differently was to use fresh slivered almonds that we toasted with some cinnamon, rather than the Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Cinnamon Almonds, used by two peas.

The dressing is what really pulls the whole salad together! It’s just bursting with citrus flavor! What a delight!

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And regarding the dressing, we used Raw Unfiltered Honey. And of course, we doubled the recipe just knowing that it would be a hit!

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So many thanks to two peas & their pod for posting the recipe for this salad! Your pictures are amazing, too!

We were so busy tasting this salad that we only took a few pics!

For more Fourth of July recipes see our previous Happy Birthday, America! post  and Our salads were a hit! from 2014!

So enjoy our country’s birthday celebration!

Long may our proud American flag fly!

© 2015, Monica & Daria of glutenfreedoubletalk

I love zucchini!

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Salads by

Monica says:

I happened to come across a Martha Stewart video featuring quinoa and of course, I had to watch it! So happy I did!

It features not only quinoa, but also zucchini, which is so abundant right now and did I tell you?

I. Love. Zucchini.

So take a quick look and see what  you think!

Zucchini and Quinoa Salad….did I say delicious?

The one thing that I did differently was to base my salad on 2 servings, since I had this little delight in my cupboard!

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 And did you notice something in the upper right-hand corner??

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Cooks in 8 minutes!! Yes, that will help! Thanks, Keen One Quinoa!

So I did everything that the host did except for toasting the pistachios….I just chopped mine after shelling them.

Amazing!

Packed with protein and full of flavor, this salad is definitely going in my “Favorites” file!

Just feast your eyes upon this…

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Thanks, Shira Bocar and Eat Clean videos!

 

© 2014, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk

 

 

Our salads were a hit!

Posted in Celebrations, Desserts, Salads by

Monica says:

Just wanted to share a few pictures and links for recipes from our salad offerings yesterday at our picnic! Our main protein was my husband’s famous chicken on the grill which was simply wonderful, too!

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Everyone gave rave reviews for these veggie delights and I was thrilled to be able to boost everyone’s nutritional intake for the day….rather than the traditional picnic fare!

Let’s start with a salad that I saw in Better Homes and Gardens magazine while at the hairdresser’s!

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It was super easy and could even be easier if you used a bag of frozen sweet corn (obviously, thawed); you would eliminate any silk that you tried so hard to remove, but when stirring the salad, you see that some still sneaked in! Oh well….

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http://www.bhg.com/recipe/corn-peach-salad/

Same source for this mouth-watering salad….Better Homes and Gardens…..this time got a link to it in my BHG email newsletter that I receive daily.

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This salad was so refreshing and had a nostalgic taste for me and my sisters. Our grandmother used to make a salad that featured fresh dill, like this one. It had such a lovely taste! And topping it with a little feta just added another dimension!

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http://www.bhg.com/recipe/cucumber-honeydew-salad-with-feta/

We love asparagus in our house and when I caught this recipe on the Leafy Cauldron blog, I had to see if I could replicate it! Oh my….it was so unusual and delicious! A marriage between fresh tarragon and fresh mint made this salad amazing…..

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http://leafycauldron.net/2014/05/28/fresh-asparagus-salad/

Another salad that is a must-have when we get together is your basic (and did I say fabulous?) Italian Tomato salad! This one is just from scratch….from my head you might say!

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I cut about a dozen fresh tomatoes “on the vine” (that’s how they are advertised in the store) into small bite-sized pieces and sprinkled salt and pepper on them. Then I peeled and cut one medium-sized onion into slivers and added it to the tomatoes. I seasoned it with ¼ cup of virgin olive oil, 1 T dried oregano, and fresh basil (about 6 leaves chopped). I marinated it for several hours at room temperature on the counter.

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This tomato salad was served with fresh Italian bread to sop up the goodness! Of course, I didn’t eat the bread, as it was for “regular people” as we refer to them!

Finally, as promised, here is a picture of our gluten-free blueberry cobbler with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries….what a way to end the day and make your tummy so happy when viewing fireworks!

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Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence Day celebrations!

© 2014, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk

Sugar-snap pea salad…..in a snap!

Posted in Salads by

Monica and Daria say:

Want an easy summer salad to take to your next get-together?

You are in luck!

This salad of fresh sugar-snap peas can be made in minutes!

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Sugar-snap peas have a high content of dietary fiber, are an excellent source of folic acid, and have more vitamin K than shelled peas. Best of all, fresh pods have more than 150% of vitamin C than fresh garden peas and are rich in many minerals and nutrients.

So, here’s how to prep the salad!

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Just get a pound of fresh sugar-snap peas and wash them in cold water and pat dry. Then trim the stem and remove the stringy fiber from each end. Place all cleaned snap-peas in a serving dish. You can sometimes find a nice big bag of sugar snap-peas in your grocery aisle….just check the date for freshness!

Next, wash some red grape tomatoes and some yellow cherry tomatoes. Pat dry and add to salad. If you have a small red onion, you can chop this and add to salad now. We omit this due to the fact that we cannot seem to digest raw red onions in our household!

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Then add some herbs….We love basil and oregano. We used dry herbs in this salad because we didn’t plant ours yet! We also added some garlic powder (you can use some fresh minced garlic) and kosher salt and pepper.

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Last for the dressing….We drizzled extra virgin olive oil on the salad and then squeezed one half of a fresh lemon. Toss it all together!

Done!

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It’s so pretty and nutritious!

Enjoy ❤

© 2014, Monica & Daria of glutenfreedoubletalk

Italy’s answer to hors d’oeuvres!

Posted in Dinner, Lunch by

Monica (mom) says:

What can whet a gathering’s appetite with just its looks?

The Italian antipasto!

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“Antipasto” comes from the Latin root “anti” meaning before and “pastus” meaning meal. It really is the perfect start to any meal!

Oh, this lovely salad provides an appealing mixture of textures, tastes, and especially color! It invites guests to relax and indulge for a moment or two before the main course. And since it’s mainly veggies and proteins, it’s naturally gluten-free!

Since we were going to a cookout to celebrate Memorial Day at my sister’s new home, I decided to make an antipasto with a slightly different take.

I upped the nutrition for the greens by using baby kale, baby spinach, and baby chard as the base. Then, I chopped organic carrots, and celery. Everyone is our family is addicted to black olives, so I chopped one can of these, too. Of course you need some fresh mozzarella to add the cheese component and since the family also loves pepperoni, I chopped one stick of that, too (not my personal favorite, but majority rules, right?). Last, but not least, baby red tomatoes were added!

I brought along a bowl of cannellini beans, too, for anyone who wanted some extra protein.  A balsamic vinaigrette topped it all off!

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Antipasto…..it’s all in the presentation!

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© 2014, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk