Quinoa Salad with Baby Spinach and Grape Tomatoes

Quinoa salad with baby spinach and tomatoes.

Quinoa + Spinach = Salad Days

Here is a wonderful year-round salad that is inviting, fresh and vibrant. The sort of salad a certain individual needs on a damp, late winter day when the sky is paper white and the clouds are thick with snow. On a day such as this it is tempting to head straight for comfort food. That leftover Kicked Up Baked Mac 'n Cheese in the fridge. That wedge of Roasted Vegetable Kugel. But what the body craves may- or may not be- what the body needs.

I'm just saying.

I'm no expert on cravings. But I do know that if I make a habit of indulging every gnawing whim and urge that wiggles its way into my sun deprived brain I'd munch Blueberry Crumb Cake for breakfast and eat Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad every noon hour from now till the Vernal Equinox (a serotonin-boosting strategy not recommended, by the way, for those of us past a certain age where you can pack on voluptuous pounds faster that you can say blueberry pancakes on a stick).

It also doesn't help that yours truly sports three honkin' titanium screws in the left hip joint, curtailing one's enthusiasm for certain popular aerobic routines. Maybe if I Zumbaed I'd still fit into my summer winter jeans. As of last week there's not a pair of jeans in the house I can riggle into. [And by the way, why do doctors insist on referring to hip screws as pins, embroidering knitting group safe visions of a petite and delicate procedure that in no way involved a couple of workbench sized clamps and a battery operated power drill?]

All I can say is thank goddess for black leggings. Paired with a tunic top they hide a multitude of muffins.

And cake.

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Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Two Ways (one vegan)

Cooking light- gluten-free shepherd's pie with lovely gravy, two ways.

Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Two Ways (one vegan)

A cold rain is rolling through Connecticut, interrupting a whisper of mist with sudden bursts of stinging wet drops. The skies are wooly gray, gloomy and low. It's the kind of day that calls for comfort in the form of food. Something baked in a crock. Something piping hot and old fashioned. Something with mashed potatoes...

A savory pie, I said out loud, standing at the kitchen sink, listening to the staccato of rain drumming the skylights.

Don't tease me, said my husband, looking up from his latest screenplay.

I wouldn't joke about a thing like pie, I assured him.

Seriously. I'm thinking a shepherd's pie, I said. But not the usual shepherd's pie. No lamb. No beef. No onion. No peas.

Please, he said. No peas.

You know, that could get you into trouble, I told him. Your pea prejudice. The foodie police will be at our door before you know it. Demanding equal time for peas. And I'm already in enough trouble with their ilk.

Their ilk? he asked.

Yes, I said solemnly. My shepherd's pie is going to have tofu. And in some circles, that could get you killed.
Seriously, he echoed. And shook his head. He shifted in his seat.

Hey. Honey?

I turned toward him.

No offense, but. Can I have a chicken pie? Nothing against bean curd, but.

I know, I assured him. I know tofu doesn't always float your boat.

I have a legume issue, he stated. Never been a fan.

I love you anyway, I said.

For better or for worse.

Legumes or no legumes.

This was my shepherd's pie with organic tofu - vegan and dairy-free goodness.

Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Recipe Two Ways

This a light and healthy version of shepherd's pie made without dairy, lamb, or beef. I made two versions- one vegan (for moi) using organic non-GMO firm tofu, and one with Mary's organic free range chicken, for Steve. The gravy is golden and creamy and reminded me of the pot pies I used to love in childhood.

Ingredients:

For the mashed potato topping:

3 cups peeled, diced gold potatoes
Sea salt
Plain soy, nut, or light coconut milk, as needed

For the filling:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup zucchini, sliced into half-moons
1 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained, quartered
1 cup cubed organic non-GMO firm sprouted tofu, or diced cooked chicken
2 teaspoons Italian style herbs (blend of oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, parsley)
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon rosemary, minced
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

For the gravy:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons rice flour
1/2 cup warm broth (light vegetable or chicken broth)
1 cup non-dairy milk, warmed
2 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 teaspoon mild GF curry powder
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

For the potato topping- boil the potatoes in a pot until fork tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well. Mash with a potato masher; add a splash of non-dairy milk and season with sea salt, to taste. Stir till smooth and creamy, adding a little more 'milk' until the potatoes are fluffy and smooth. Set aside.
 
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease four single serving 10-oz ramekins with vegan buttery spread (such as Earth Balance). Set aside.

First, make the mashed potatoes. I used "Buttercream" gold potatoes- so full of flavor.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and stir in the garlic. Add the carrots, zucchini, and broccoli. Stir and cook lightly until fork tender, roughly ten minutes. If you prefer your veggies crisper, cook only until tender-crisp.

Add in the artichoke hearts, tofu or diced cooked chicken, and herbs, season with sea salt and ground pepper; set aside.

Make your gravy. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-low heat; stir in the rice flour to make a paste. Stir and cook for half a minute. Slowly add in the warm broth, and non-dairy milk; keep stirring. Add the vegan butter, curry powder, and sea salt. When it begins to thicken remove from heat and taste test. It should taste mild and creamy. The herbs in the veggies will add rosemary-sage flavor.

Pour the gravy over the filling mixture and gently mix until the veggies are coated with gravy.

Spoon the filling into the ramekins. Top with a big spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Sprinkle with non-dairy/vegan shredded cheese, if you like.

Place the ramekins on a baking sheet (to catch any bubbling-over drips) and bake in the center of a hot oven for 30 to 35 minutes. I tented my ramekins with foil for the first half of baking time to keep the mashed potatoes moist. Then I removed the foil and let the the topping brown a bit.

Cook time: 30 min

Yield: 4 servings

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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Two pies. Two ways. 
Steve's had organic free-range chicken in his. Mine, tofu.

GFG Notes:

We used plain organic soy milk (non-GMO) as our non-dairy milk of choice. We love its creamy richness. Though a neutral tasting coconut, or nut milk would also work. (And for those of you asking about using moo-derived milk, butter, and real cheese, sure. Dairy will work in this recipe.)

For those of you into the vegan nutritional yeast thang, you could season the gravy with a spoonful of nutritional yeast; add just enough to give the sauce some depth.

If you need a vegan pie without soy, use drained canned chick peas for the protein.

Best Gluten-Free Pancakes

Wonderful pancakes for a gluten-free diet.

Sunday Worthy Gluten-Free Pancakes

When I was small and clueless I ate the world in tiny bites. I chewed apologetically, counting each deliberate grind in time to the spiral beats of a song in my head that only I could hear. A tune not unlike a mosaic of bird calls, and the powdery flutter of wings feeding on the garden lit by young Mozart's star.

Colors were a mysterious and spiritual language infused with deep logic and meaning. A lime green Jello box invited tunneling and confusion, but the sweet brush of balsam as I sought asylum beneath its rooted symmetry petted my pining fatherless heart.

Trust is green and hard to paint, but so is betrayal.

Not only the betrayal by others. The betrayal you participate in. The hammering of your spirit self into propriety. The brittle, safe shell you construct and will curl inside for the rest of your life. You inhabit it sullenly. Sometimes willingly. Because sometimes it works. Mostly to fool them. Fool them into thinking you are someone else. Someone uncomplicated they can love. Someone like themselves.

In order to keep this armor snug you must give up on certain pieces of yourself. The ugly, muddy parts those in charge find distasteful or irritating or inscrutable. What no one tells you is, you end up missing these rejected quirks and knots. And spend the rest of your life searching for all those abandoned bits and wrinkles. The shining fragments of earlier music and jewels of petaled rain.

But if you are lucky you meet a painter.

A soul adept at conjuring a thicket within their non-judging arms. You learn about green and its secret origin. How to stir ivory black with cadmium yellow and a teaspoonful of cerulean. You dream of butterscotch pines and inhale and your spirit-body becomes too big for the worn out shell.

So you crack it.

Sideways at first. Sticking out fingers and elbows when no one is looking. Digging out fragments long forgotten. Rubbing off neglect and holding wobbly pale parts of yourself closer to the sunlight.

And you meet yourself for the first time in a long, long time.

In the rays escaping.

 ***

I use a stove top griddle across two burners on medium-high heat.

For the first time in a long, long time I made pancakes. 

Because I craved a family Sunday with pancakes.

And The Beatles.

And lots of maple syrup.

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