Last weekend I hosted a baby shower for my friend, Meredith, who’s expecting a little boy in August.  My jobs for the shower included making gluten-free blondies and a quinoa salad.

Last summer I made this quinoa salad for another baby shower, but when I saw the following recipe on Heidi Swanson’s blog, 101 Cookbooks, I couldn’t resist.  I love random ingredient combinations and this recipe fits that description.  I was a little nervous about the dill in the salad but I really enjoyed it, especially with the feta cheese.

I tripled the recipe below since I was making it for a crowd.  There were plenty of leftovers too!

Quinoa with Currants, Dill and Zucchini (from 101 Cookbooks)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• ¾ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups water
• ¼ cup dried currants (you could use dried cranberries too)
• 1 lemon
• 2 medium zucchini, grated
• 4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds*
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Feta cheese, crumbled

*To toast sesame seeds, I put a dry pan on medium heat on the stove top, added the sesame seeds and toasted for about five minutes, tossing a couple of times during the cooking process.  They will brown and start to smell yummy.  That’s how you know they’re ready.  Toasted sesame seeds are quite possibly my new favorite thing!

For quinoa: Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add most of the green onions, a pinch of salt, and cook until onions soften, a couple of minutes.  Add the quinoa and cook, stirring occasionally, until the grains toast a little bit, about 3 minutes.

Add the water, currants, and remaining salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, decrease heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked, about 15 minutes.  (Even with tripling the recipe, I didn’t need to cook any longer so you might want to check on it after about 10 minutes.)

While quinoa is cooking, zest the lemon and squeeze 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a small bowl.  When quinoa is cooked, remove pan from heat.  Stir in zucchini, lemon juice and zest, most of the sesame seeds, and most of the dill.  Add salt as needed.

Put quinoa into a serving bowl.  I refrigerated it for awhile before adding the feta cheese.  Add as much feta as you’d like.  (When eating leftovers, I’ve been adding a little more.)  Refrigerate and serve cold or at room temperature.

This dish is great if your hosting a shower, summer cookout or any other warm weather event.  It would go perfectly with this grilled chicken.

Enjoy!

PS: My friend, Mary Stuart, made this amazing (GF) popsicles, with cool flavors like mango, watermelon mint, and blueberry lemon.

One of my favorite foodie writers is Heidi Swanson, creator of the blog, 101 Cookbooks.  I love her photographs, recipes and writing style.  I feel like she and I would be friends…if she knew me.   All of Heidi’s recipes are vegetarian, yet filling and full of flavor.  In the past, you’ve seen me make her Brussels sprouts and chunky lentil soup, two of my all time favorites.  One of my most tattered, well-loved, cookbooks on my shelf is Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking.

For the last year, I’ve been following on 101 Cookbooks that Heidi was hard at work on a new cookbook.  Of course the moment it hit shelves, I ordered a copy of Super Natural Every Day: Well Loved Recipes from my Natural Foods Kitchen from Amazon.  Heidi’s personality and flavors are pervasive throughout the book.  The formatting and style is similar to her first cookbook, but she organizes it differently and of course, the recipes are new.  Because she cooks vegetarian, Heidi uses a lot of unique grains and flours, which appeals to the gluten-free girl in me.  While not everything Heidi makes is GF, it’s easy to navigate around those pages and even the recipes I can’t copy verbatim, I find to be inspirational in my own culinary endeavors.

Last week I had my “Fight Club” over for dinner.  This group of girls that I meet with weekly has played a huge role in why I love Atlanta so much.  It’s hard to believe that 18 months ago, I didn’t know any of them!  Since it was a Ladies’ Dinner, I decided this would be the perfect time to break out Super Natural Every Day. I also knew that I wanted to use the grill and didn’t want to be running back and forth between the kitchen and the back yard.  Heidi’s wild rice casserole stuck out to me because all of the prep can be done ahead of time and then it just bakes in the oven, leaving me to do my thing on the grill.

The wild rice casserole involves quite a few steps along the way and some chopping but it’s worth the work.  AND, when your guests arrive, you’ll no longer be laboring away, but looking relaxed and ready to sit and chat with friends, not slave over the stove.

This yummy recipe makes rice flavorful and adds depth to a grain that, in its most traditional state, can be so bland.  I didn’t change a thing about the recipe and it turned out really well.  I might add a little more salt, but other than that, it was delicious.  And, even better the next day, and the next day, and the next day, for leftovers!  The cottage cheese, sour cream and gruyere cheese complement the rice but also don’t overpower it.  You don’t feel like you had a sour cream and cheese casserole with rice, if you know what I mean.  While this is a hearty dish, it doesn’t feel ‘wintry.’  In fact it was perfect for a spring night on the porch.

Wild Rice Casserole (from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day cookbook)

• Ingredients:
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or unsalted butter
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 cups cooked wild rice and/or brown rice (I used a combination and I really liked the different textures)
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Gruyere cheese
• 1 teaspoon chopped  fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 350 with oven rack in top third of oven.  Rub a medium to large casserole/baking dish with butter or olive oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard and ½ teaspoon salt.

In a large skillet over high heat, combine the olive oil and a couple pinches of salt.  Stir in the mushrooms.  Stir them once to coat with olive oil, then let them cook until liquid is released and evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Continue to cook and stir every few minutes, until mushrooms are browned.  Add the onion and cook until translucent and tender, about 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.  Remove from heat.  Add cooked rice to the skillet and mix.

Add the rice mixture to the cottage cheese mixture and stir until well combined.  Put entire mixture into your casserole dish.  Cover with 2/3 of the cheese and cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 30 minutes, then remove tin foil.  Cook for another 20-30 minutes until cheese looks brown but not burned. Top casserole with remaining cheese and thyme.  Serve warm.

Enjoy!  What’s your favorite Heidi Swanson recipe?

When we moved from Virginia to Atlanta this summer, we left a lot of our books behind in Virginia.  I could not bear to part with my beloved cookbooks though.  My cookbooks fill up the kitchen and pantry in our very tiny apartment.  My friend, Mary Stuart, couldn’t believe how many I own as she helped me unpack multiple boxes of cookbooks last summer.

I’ve learned so much from the pages of my cookbooks.  I feel like I know some of the authors personally, as I’ve made many of their recipes and read their thoughts and philosophies on cooking.  I even refer to them by their first names (especially Ina and Heidi) as I pull these old friends off of the shelf.

Are you looking for any last minute holiday gifts for a friend or family member?  I think cookbooks make great gifts as they are useful, and can reflect your interests.  I love how cookbooks have identities of their own, based on the writing, photographs, and personalities of the authors.  I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite cookbooks that I love using in my kitchen.  Who knows, maybe some day I’ll be asking you to buy my own cookbook!

The New Best Recipe: Made by the folks at Cooks Illustrated, the authors of this cookbook experiment in their test kitchen to find the best recipe for many traditional favorites.  I’ve used the ‘thick and chewy’ chocolate chip cookie recipe as a guide to creating my own and I love their ‘oven fries.’  While there aren’t beautiful photographs in this cookbook, there are great illustrations for ‘how tos’.  The explanations are very clearly written and I love their discussion of why certain procedures and ingredients work better than others.  They explain everything from ‘shaping burgers the right way’ to ‘cleaning your food processor.’  I pull this cookbook off the shelf whenever I have questions about how to make something.  It’s a great guide in the kitchen.  The authors actually just came out with More Best Recipes this fall. I haven’t check that one out yet.

Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking: This vegetarian cookbook has provided me with many delicious meals and ideas for vegetarian cooking.   Swanson also writes the blog 101 cookbooks which also offers great ideas in the kitchen.  I’m not a vegetarian, but this is one of my most used cookbooks.  I love her chapter titles, including, ‘Cook by Color’ and ‘Know your Superfoods,’ as opposed to the typical cookbook structure. Swanson writes a lot about using different grains, which is great for us gluten-free folks.  (I usually still have to make some substitutions but she has great explanations of different grains.)  Heidi’s Chunky Lentil Soup is one of my favorite winter dishes.  After the holidays, I’m going to make her ‘Do it Yourself Power Bars.’

Sara Foster’s Fresh Every Day: If you’ve been following Gluten Freedom, you know that this is one of my favorites and go-to cookbooks.  Founder and owner of Foster’s Market in Durham, NC, Sara Foster makes beautiful food with fresh ingredients.  Foster’s recipes are all ‘doable’ and cooks of all levels can find delicious things to make here.  She also gives tips on how to use leftovers to ‘reinvent’ new meals and provides ideas for which side dishes go well with her entrée recipes.  Some of my favorites include Foster’s ‘Red Wine Braised Chicken with Onions and Thyme’ and ‘pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies.’

Frank Stitt’s Southern Table: Frank Stitt owns three restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama.  His cookbook is beautiful and has many unique recipes.  His recipes tend to involve a lot of ingredients, so I might purchase Stitt’s cookbook for one of my more culinarily ambitious friends.  If you like southern food, this is a great choice.  I only wish I used this cookbook more, so hopefully you’ll see some of his meals on Gluten Freedom in 2010.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook: Last but not least, is Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.  Besides Joy of Cooking, this was the first cookbook that I owned.  I love all of Barefoot’s cookbooks, and yes, I own them all,  but this one is my personal favorite, maybe just for old time’s sake.  My sister-in-law, Heidi, introduced me to Barefoot Contessa through her Perfect Roast Chicken and it is truly perfect.  David and I have been referring to Barefoot for recipe ideas throughout the last 5 years.  I love pulling this book off the shelf because it’s stained with red wine and bits of food and reminds me of many fun and delicious meals created with Ina’s help.  Definitely a well used cookbook!

You might have noticed that none of these cookbooks are specifically gluten-free.  These chefs use many recipes that are naturally gluten-free and I’m yet to find a recipe in one of these books that I can’t modify some in order to make it gluten-free and still delicious.  Tweaking recipes just makes the kitchen that much more of an adventure!

What are your favorite cookbooks?  I’m always looking for new ideas and recipes so please share your top choices with me.

I mentioned Heidi Swanson the other day and her Super Natural Cooking cookbook. Well, I just found out that she has a great website with tons of vegetarian recipes. She also has a section of gluten free recipes! Hopefully this will give you some good ideas for Thanksgiving. Just looking at the pictures will make you want to cook!

www.101cookbooks.com

While the husband and I love to go out to dinner, we like to cook even more! Even since I was diagnosed with celiacs, we still use ‘normal’ cookbooks because there are so many delicious recipes out there that are naturally gluten free. Our three favorite cookbooks are,

- The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (Ina Garten) The husband’s sister, Heidi, introduced us to the world of Barefoot! While all of her cookbooks are great, the original is our favorite. Her perfect roast chicken is so simple, easy and amazing! (Just skip the 2 tsp. of flour.)

- Super Natural Cooking (Heidi Swanson) Given to me by Heidi, this cookbook is vegetarian and uses many different (non-gluten grains) in its recipes. My personal favorite is the chunky lentil soup. It’s so hearty and perfect for the upcoming cold months. Serve it with GF corn bread and it’s a great dinner.

- The New Best Recipe (Cook’s Illustrated) The husband gave me this cookbook for Christmas last year and it has over 1,000 recipes. For example, the writers experiment with the best ways to make oven french fries and they tell you what the best method is. Lucky for us, the fries are GF and so good! You don’t even need a frier to make them!

Both of our lives are hectic and busy, so taking the time to prepare meals together is one of the things we like to do most. In this blog, I hope to share some of our favorite recipes with you in addition to just reviewing restaurants because for the celiac, eating at home is always the safest and most comfortable place to eat!