We’re moved into our new house and have an amazing opportunity to travel for a few weeks before David starts his new job.  I’m sad to leave our home but excited for the adventures that lie ahead in the next few weeks.  Life is rough, right?  We’re leaving today to head west, where we will spend a couple of weeks camping, exploring and seeing friends in Wyoming and Montana.

Our new porch!

I’ve decided not to take my computer with me, which will be weird but I’m happy about it.  I think it will be good (and freeing!) to get off the grid for awhile.  (Who am I kidding?  David will have his fancy new computer and I’ll still have my Iphone so ‘going off the grid’ might be a bit of an exaggeration.)  That’s all to say that I probably won’t be updating the blog very often for the next few weeks, but don’t worry, I’ll be taking lots of photos and eating yummy meals that I’ll be ready to report back on in late September.  In the meantime, here are some recipes from the last year if you’re looking for some cooking ideas:

Savory Bites:

Balsamic Glazed Salmon

Black Bean Chicken Chili

Roasted Pork Loin Wrapped in Pancetta

Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts

Baked Butternut Squash

Lentil Soup

For Your Sweet Tooth:

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Blondies

Cinnamon Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

Granola

See you soon!

I’m excited to announce my latest article just came out in Atlanta’s Finest Dining Magazine. Not only am I happy that I’ve gotten published again (woohoo!), but I’m also thrilled that a mainstream magazine is committed to giving attention to the gluten-free community.

Please check out my article, “Enjoying the Seasonal Bounty.”  Isn’t “bounty” such a great word.  I have to give my friend Mary Stuart credit for the use of bounty associated with local food.  We get to share in the bounty of what our local farmers harvest, even in these swelteringly hot summer months.

Thank you, Farmers (Paige, Justin, Joe, Judith, Nicholas, Gretchen, John, Ashley, Stephanie, and many others), for working your tails off so we can eat your delicious food.

“Meals from a Gluten-Free Kitchen: Enjoying the Seasonal Bounty”

One of the best parts about being on the Shore (besides lots of reading), is the cooking and eating.  During the summer months, there are so many fresh veggies that meal prep is pretty minimal.  Last week we enjoyed many laid back dinners, but one of my favorite meals involved homemade crab cakes.  I can never get crab cakes at restaurants because they’re breaded, so it’s an extra special treat for me to enjoy a summer crab cake.  We happily ate them for two dinners.  (Side note: Urban Pl8’s crab cakes are GF!)

Gillian's Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs

We bought fresh crabmeat at Edward’s Seafood in Onley.  When you buy the best crabmeat, you don’t want a lot of filler in your cakes, but you do need enough to bind it together.  I bought Gillian’s Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs at Herbal Instincts Natural Food Market in Onancock (141 Market Street).  They have an amazing selection of gluten-free goodies, including Udi’s bagels, Pamela’s cookies, quinoa as well as organic meats.  A great place for Mom and me to stock up.

Herbal Instincts Market (Onancock, VA)

I’ve written about crab cakes before but I experimented a different recipe here.  I briefly referred to Mark Bittman’s crab cake recipe, but of course I wanted to add Old Bay and didn’t particularly want to use scallions to my crab cakes so I changed it up a little bit.  Here’s what we did:

ESVA Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons Gillian’s bread crumbs
• Less than ¼ cup mayonnaise (depends on how mayo-y you want your cakes)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• s&p
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix crabmeat, egg, Old Bay, mayo, dijon, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs in a bowl.  Refrigerate mix for about 30 minutes.  Remove mixture from fridge and make into tightly packed cakes.  (About 4-6 per pound of meat, depending on how big you want them.  I find them easier to flip if they’re smaller.)

Heat nonstick pan on medium high heat.  Add butter and olive.  Let melt and butter bubble.  Once bubbling has subsided, add cakes to pan.  Cook for 5 minutes (until nicely browned) and flip, cooking for another 5 minutes.  Serve warm.

We enjoyed our crab cakes with homemade deviled eggs, fresh corn and tomatoes, both grown on our road.  A truly local meal!

Perfect.  (And obviously, there was wine too, served by our favorite bartender.)

Dear Mini-Food Processor,

You have been a wonderful kitchen gadget for our family.  Making hummus with you has been a favorite Sunday activity.  Your salad dressings are delicious and you always know just the right amount to make.  The perfect size for a batch of pesto, you’ve been a great friend in our tiny apartment.  Even though we keep you on the top shelf, almost weekly I stand on my tip toes, grab you, and put you to work.

You’ve been working overtime recently, as we’ve had an endless supply of basil.  Thank you for your hard work.  You never disappoint.  Even when I fine a large chunk of garlic in my hummus that you forgot to chop up, I don’t mind because I know that I ask a lot of you.

I have a confession to make, Mini Food Processor.  You’re going to have a new home.  It’s not that we don’t love you, but it’s time for us to buy a bigger food processor.  You will always be our first and I  have many fond memories of our time together.  Now that we’re moving into a home with a more spacious kitchen, it only seems right to buy a larger model.  I’m looking forward to working with our new food processor, chopping onions and other veggies, but just know that you will never be forgotten.

Your new home with the Williams will be much more spacious than the living conditions you’ve had for the past year.  Meredith will take good care of you, I promise, and make many yummy foods with you.  Keep chopping away.

Love,

Betsy

Basil Dressing (in the Mini Food Processor)

This is a great dressing for salad and delicious to add to other summer dishes. Lighter than pesto, so it absorbs better into whatever you’re making.  Also, let’s be honest: Sometimes I’m a little cheap to make pesto.  Pine nuts are pricey so this is a solid alternative to pesto and not as rich.

Great to use with:

• Roasted potatoes
• Pork chops
• Grilled bone-in chicken breasts
• Tossed in a cold quinoa salad
• Salad dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 cup tightly packed basil leaves
• juice from ½ a lemon (add more if you want it to be more tart)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
• s&p

Put all of the ingredients, except olive oil, into food processor and mix.  Once blended, add olive oil.  If you want it to be more liquid thank thick (less like pesto and more like salad dressing), add more olive oil and white wine vinegar and less cheese.

Other Great Uses for the Mini Food Processor:

Hummus

Pesto for pasta or pizza

Recently a group of us hosted a luncheon to celebrate my good friend, Mary Stuart, and her baby that’s on the way.  On a steamy, summer day, it can be difficult to create a menu.  When it’s hot outside, we’re not looking to eat heavy, rich, foods.  Instead your food should be light and refreshing.  Also, this luncheon was not at my house, so I had to take transportation into account when planning.  I  didn’t want to be assembling my dish upon arrival, so my ‘quinoa for a crowd’ actually tastes better when made a day in advance.

As the name implies, this recipe makes a lot of food, and I always make too much food when I’m playing host.  Leftovers are delicious and this quinoa makes for a great lunch during the week.  In our Atlanta group of friends, I’m not the only gluten-free eater, so we labeled the items for the luncheon that were gluten-free and kept them at the beginning of the buffet line, in order to best avoid contamination.

Quinoa for a Crowd (Serves about 10-12)

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups quinoa
• 5 cups vegetable broth (or water)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoons salt & ¼ teaspoon pepper

• 1 red onion
• 1 bag frozen, shelled edamame
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes

Vinaigrette

• ½ cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 table spoon white wine vinegar

Rinse and drain quinoa if package instructs you to.  (Some do and others don’t.)  I have a very fine strainer that I use for rinsing my quinoa.

Heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add quinoa and stir for a minute while cooking.  Add 1 cup broth and stir while the quinoa absorbs the liquid.  Once liquid is absorbed, add 3 more cups.  Lower heat to medium-low.  Let cook, stirring occasionally.  Add salt and pepper.  Add more liquid as needed.  You’ll know the quinoa is done because it will ‘pop.’  Not like popcorn, but you’ll see that the quinoa becomes bigger and there will be a little line in the middle of each grain.  It will take about 20 minutes for quinoa to cook.  (Unlike risotto, I think it’s hard to overcook quinoa.)

Remove quinoa from heat and let cool to room temperature.  Meanwhile, finely chop red onion.  Heat shelled edamame (according to cooking instructions on bag).  Drain and let cool.  Cut tomatoes in half.  Put onion, edamame and tomatoes into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk lemon juice, honey, olive oil, white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard.  Taste.  Depending on how tart or sweet you like your food, add more honey and olive oil (for sweetness) or add more mustard or lemon juice (for tartness).  This is completely about your flavor preference.  I find that anytime I make a vinaigrette, I keep sampling it until I’m content with the flavors.  (Not very precise or scientific, I know!)

Once your quinoa has cooled, add the grain to your large bowl.  Mix with tomatoes, edamame, and onions.  Add your vinaigrette and toss.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  If your salad dries out a little, just add some more lemon juice or olive oil before serving.

As I mentioned, this quinoa, is the gift that keeps on giving, so I brought the leftovers to a dinner that same night.  Still delicious.  And I ate it for lunch the next day.  And the next.

Another highlight of the luncheon was the chicken salad that my friend Meredith made, using one of Emeril’s recipes.  I loved the cashew and apple combination.  Salty, sweet and tart, all in one.  Not too much mayo either.  You can see this naturally gluten-free recipe here.  (The only change Meredith made was omitting the parsley.)  Of course, thoughtful Meredith even remembered to bring gluten-free crackers for the chicken salad!

What do you like to make when cooking for a crowd?

I know it’s summer when I find any excuse to slip tomatoes into our meal.  Once you’ve had great, fresh, local tomatoes, you can never buy a grocery store tomato again.  These tomatoes from Crystal Organics Farm are the real deal.

Bright red slicers…

Heirloom tomatoes…

Cherry tomatoes…

Last week we had a tomato overload in the Metcalf house but I didn’t get sick of this seasonal treat.  Here’s what we made:

Quinoa with edamame and cherry tomatoes

BLT’s

And of course the family favorite, tomato pie.  One of the easiest recipes, the key to making this delicious dish is using huge, beautiful, summer tomatoes.  No excuses here.  This is truly a seasonal recipe.  A great centerpiece to a summer meal, I like to serve tomato pie with corn on the cob and a salad.  David likes to eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Tomato Pie…

Tomato Pie:

Ingredients:

• Gluten-free pie crust (I use Whole Foods Bakehouse, but of course you can make your own too)
• 4 large tomatoes, cut into extra large slices
• 4 tablespoons Chopped basil
• 4 green onions, chopped
• S&P
• 1 cup mayo
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat empty pie crust in the oven at 350 degrees.  Remove crust from oven and let cool completely.

Place one layer of tomatoes in the pie crust.  Sprinkle with s&p and add basil and green onions.  Add remaining tomatoes in another layer.  Mix cheddar and mayo in a bowl and spread evenly on top of tomatoes.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until cheese/mayo starts to brown.

(The juicier the tomatoes, the more watery the pie can be.  Don’t be dismayed if it’s not beautiful when you slice and serve the pie.  It’s still delicious!)

Happy Cooking!  What are some of your favorite tomato recipes?

The 4^th of July gives us a great excuse to break out the grill, cook for a crowd and do some low key entertaining.  Here are a few photos and recipe ideas to get your creative juices flowing for the 4^th.

Old Bay Burgers

Pulled Pork Barbecue

Grilled Salmon

Roasted Okra

Heirloom Tomatoes with Feta Cheese, Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peach Blueberry Crisp

Happy Independence Day!  A special Happy 4th to my family and friends who will be celebrating outside the US of A, in Japan, Austria, and Mexico.  You are missed!

Summer squash is a favorite of mine.  I love the different colors, textures and shapes.  Squash can be roasted simply but I also use it in squash casserole.  Yes, ‘squash casserole’ sounds a bit funny, but I promise, it’s delicious.  This is my grandmother, Dot’s, recipe and even though I never actually ate her version of it (because I was too young to appreciate squash casserole), it reminds me of her.  This recipe also makes me think of my mom because she always makes it in the summer, when I’m around.  My dad doesn’t like squash so when I’m in town, there’s someone else to enjoy it with her!

I found myself with a bounty of squash and onions this weekend so I made squash casserole for a dinner group.  You can bake it before hand so it transports easily.  I posted this recipe last summer, but I realized when making it on Sunday, and following my blog recipe, that I forgot to mention that you should melt the butter.

Oops.  It still turned out alright but I had to laugh at myself for messing up my own recipe.  (It looked a little funny but tasted yummy.)

Dot’s Summer Squash Casserole

Inngredients:
3 pounds summer squash, chunked
3 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup water
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
Parmesan cheese (the original recipe also calls for crumbled crackers on top but we just skip that step now to make it GF! Instead I sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top)

Directions:
Cook squash & onions with water, sugar, salt and pepper until mashable (about 45 minutes).
Beat two eggs lightly.
Add milk to eggs and mix well with squash. Add butter and mix.
Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes. (With 10 minutes left in cooking, remove from oven and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.)

Perfect for a 4th of July cookout!  Transports with no trouble and reheats easily.  You make make it and freeze, and just reheat before serving.  Happy cooking!

It’s hot in Altanta.  Really hot.  I’m sure there are better ways to describe this weather, but the only word that comes to mind is brutal.  The heat hasn’t broken either.  Despite the mini-rainstorms, it hasn’t been enough to side track these crazy temps.  It continues to be hot…and brutal.

On Monday, after a sweaty afternoon of running errands  (Who knew it could be so sweltering just to run errands??), I came home to find a bag full of Georgia peaches outside my door.  My wonderfully generous friend, Maury, left me this beautiful treat.   What is a better answer to heat and high temperatures than making a peach crisp?

Is it a crisp?  Is it a cobbler?  I’m not really sure.  I tend to use those words interchangeably, but I’m sure there’s a proper distinction.  (I do know, however, that it’s not a pie.)  I created this recipe on the spot and I made sure to write down what I did so I could share it with you.  I love the combination of GF oats and chopped pecans.  It’s the perfect crunchy duo with the soft, tender peaches.  I’ve found in the past that it can be difficult to find the proper ratio between fruit, crisp topping, and butter.  Too much flour and oats, makes it too dry, too much butter makes for a soggy crisp/cobbler.  Sort of like Goldilocks, I want it to be just right.  (Our girl, Goldilocks was eating porridge…Crisp is much better!)

Peach & Blueberry Crisp

• 8 peaches, peeled and sliced
• 1 pint blueberries
• (Really, any combination of fruit works.  These are what I had on hand.)
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 ½ T. cornstarch
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup white rice flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup gluten-free oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 6 T. cold butter, chopped into cubes

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter an 8 x 8 pyrex dish.

In a bowl, mix peaches, blueberries, cornstarch, lemon juice and sugar.  (I add the sugar last to eyeball just how much I need.)

In another bowl, mix flours and brown sugar.  Add oats and pecans and mix.  Then add butter and mix with dry ingredients.  (A food processor can be helpful for this step but I was feeling a little lazy.

Pour fruit mixture into Pyrex dish.  Spread evenly throughout dish.  Add flour mixture on top of fruit.  Spread evenly.  (It will look like you have too much but you want it to be thick.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until fruit starts to bubble.  You can make this ahead of time and then just reheat for 10 minutes before serving.  (I think it gets better over time.)

Serve warm.  Of course everything tastes better with vanilla ice cream.  Mmm…just right.

Growing up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, my summers were full of adventures outdoors, on both land and water.  At the time I had no idea how unusual it was to have a dock in your back yard that provided hours of entertainment for my brother and me.  We repeatedly threw sticks for Sadie, our chocolate lab, into the creek, watching her belly flop after them.  We caught jelly fish in our crab net, and watched their tentacles dry out on the dock.  Weekends involved day trips on our boat, with the big decision being, “Do we go to the seaside or the bayside?”

We lived in the middle of nowhere.  It took 20 minutes to get to school, to the grocery store, and 90 minutes to reach the nearest mall.  Besides the post office and a boat ramp, the only places within 20 minutes of our house were farms.  One of the summer activities for my brother and me was going to the local blueberry farm just down the road, in Hacksneck.  You could pick your own berries and pay as you picked.  My brother hated blueberries (and most foods besides peanut butter) so the farmer would pay Rob to pick for him.  (There were probably some child labor laws violated in this exchange, but the farmer’s wages seemed like riches compared to the penny my mom paid us for every Japanese beetle we gently picked off of her rose bushes.)  We happily spent an afternoon on the blueberry farm, picking away, until our buckets were full and we grew tired from the summer sun.

This blueberry farm from our childhood still exists today, but has new ownership and a new name, Mason Beach Fruit Farm.  You can still pick and pay for only 75 cents a pint.  That’s quite the bargain.

After our trip to the farm, Mom and I would wash the blueberries and set to work on a batch of blueberry muffins.  It’s funny.  When I was little I loved picking blueberries, and making blueberry muffins, yet I always scoured the batch for the muffin that contained the fewest blueberries.  I preferred the cake aspect of the muffin as opposed to the fruit.  I even remember asking my mom if we could make one in the batch without any berries.  In my old age, my taste buds have thankfully flip flopped and I have grown to love these delicious bites of blueberry goodness.  Now I immediately pick out the muffin that contains the most blue and purple spots before David can select his.

When I saw the first of the season blueberries recently, I immediately thought back to my childhood on the Eastern Shore.  The activities that I associate with this piece of fruit flooded my mind as I planned what to make with the blueberries: Driving down the road to Hacksneck in our very dusty, grey, Chevrolet mini-van. Rob and I riding on the farm’s ATV after we bored of picking berries and grew tired of the heat.  Being in the kitchen with my mom, watching her drink her afternoon tea, while enjoying a blueberry muffin.

How does food make us so nostalgic?  I’m not sure, but I love it.  The memories and emotions that come to mind from seeing a pint of berries are amazing.  What are your favorite summer food memories?

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s barefoot contessa at home)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sorghum flour
• ½ cup tapioca flour
• ½ cup white rice flour
• ½ tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
• ½ tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 stick, unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (plus more if you like to go heavy on the berries)
• ¾ cup sugar (plus one tablespoon for topping)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line muffin tines with paper liners.  Spray with PAM.

Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Stir to make sure they combine well.

In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs and melted butter.  Make a hole in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well and stir until just combined.  Don’t worry if the mix is lumpy.  Add the blueberries and sugar.  Stir gently to combine.

Spoon the batter into muffin cups to fill liners  In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Sprinkle on top of each of the muffins.  Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until you can cleanly pierce with a toothpick.  Makes about a dozen.