Relish is a compendium of things to enjoy greatly and that add a little flavor to your gluten-free life. And it is fresh, sunny and a tropical treat.

Well, I am mostly moved in now. I still have some stuff at my parents’ house and a living room with no where near enough furniture, but I am getting there. My dining room is all set and I have been cooking and baking up a storm in my new kitchen. (Single lady suppers anyone? This week there was tikka masala, steak with a parsley & mustard sauce and pasta with the famous Marcella Hazan sauce. Oh, and some friends came over for a pre-holiday taco dinner. )

I turned 30. One of my college roommates had a baby. A dear friend got hitched. I made it to a few festivals and a conference. I’d say it was quite the month.

Who’s thirsty?

Summer is for front porch sitting, festivaling, outside cooking and beach walking. Most of these things can be improved upon with a cocktail, and the internet is delivering quite the variety.

I’ve never actually had a mudslide (other than those horrible pre-mixed bottles friends bought in college), but this Coconut Kaluha Mudslide (01) recipe from Irvin at Eat the Love has me thinking of excuses to make it. Over at GFree Foodie, they shared a Peach Cooler (02) from Tina, A Girl Who Loves to Eat. And then there was this Blackberry Shrub Lemonade (03) from Kitchen Confidante. Can we just say “oh, boy!”? I love me a gin cocktail (in fact, I made a fabulous one with basil and grapefruit last year! (04)

Flavor of the month

He’s tall. Ultra nerdy. Has a thing for dessert and… Oh, wait. We are talking about real life. I was thinking about writing a few recipes based on an ingredient, flavor or theme. You know, now that I am cooking every day again, I think it could be fun.

Besides, summer gives us the perfect chance to try this out. Produce is abundant – I trip over it on my way home every Wednesday at the neighborhood farmers market. This month is all about parsley – the least appreciated of the fresh herbs I have at my disposal this season.

Relish is a compendium of things to enjoy greatly and that add a little flavor to your gluten-free life. And sometimes things are uncertain.

Hello, June. Thanks for showing up. After a long winter, and a May that just seemed so very, very long – which happens when you are excited about something big that happens to be imminent.

I moved the last week in May to an apartment less than half an hour from my office – a huge change from my old 2.5 (and often longer) commute. I now live with one of my good friends, Helen. I am currently living in a 1920’s apartment decorated in what my cousin called “transitional nomad” style. Soon, I hope to have it feeling like home – but for now, Old Faithful, my KitchenAid, has a home. And that is good enough for me.

If you missed it, while I was in transition, a few friends wrote guest posts for me. Check out posts from Jean, Jane and Willow with tasty treats!

Chow

Thank goodness the weather here in Chicago has finally warmed up and (mostly) stayed that way. Meaning produce is starting to appear at the farmers markets. Walks to the grocery store are enjoyable. And it’s time for food that tastes like summer.

There is something about popcorn. It’s comforting. It’s tasty. And it is a flavor chameleon. This Coconut Cacao Popcorn (01) from Aime at the Healthy Apple looks simply fantastic. Summer is here, and I love a good smoothie to cool down. An Açaí Smoothie (02) from Kitchen Confidante fits that bill perfectly. Brussels sprouts and potato salads are two of my favorite foods, and Irvin’s combination of the pair (03) seems downright genius. Some nights, you just need a little steak, and Pete from No Gluten, No Problem delivered some (04). He even made it better by adding bourbon – sounds like celebration food to me.

Mixed Messages

I know most people don’t share my outright aversion to box mixes. I’m sure if you scroll through the archives here you will find more than one post where I have talked about how little I like them. And that’s mostly true. I’ve eaten one too many beany, gritty, dense cake from a mix in my life. The chemical after taste from many commercial baking mixes feels like an insult to anyone who is eating a dessert.

These days, there are a few standouts out there. Mixes that I don’t mind cooking from and am not embarrassed to serve to my friends. so if you are more comfortable baking from a mix or you need something that comes together easily, these mixes are all ones that I have no problem keeping a spare of in my pantry.

Brownies are one of my favorite desserts, and I have my recipe memorized, but I know that isn’t reality for most home cooks. Cup4Cup is my favorite commercially available flour blend, so when I heard they had a brownie mix (01), I knew it was going to be good. Their products are developed for customers who don’t settle for something that is good for gluten-free. It has to be actually good. And they succeeded.

Hands down the best gluten-free cake mixes on the planet are Kyra’s Bakeshop cake mixes (02). They make great cakes and cupcakes as-is, or you can dump the cake mix (the snicker doodle variety, if you have it) on a pan of frozen peaches, add a little melted butter or oil, and you have an easy, peasy cobbler.

When I saw this mix at the GFAF Expo in April, I wasn’t sure what I loved more – the mix or the outfits that all the Bumbalooza staff members were wearing. Their mixes are unique, fun and delicious. If baking from scratch isn’t your thing, and you want to make something a little more exciting than a basic cake or brownies, this pink lemonade donut mix (03) is a great place to start.

Last but not least is the bread and pizza flour blend (04) from Karen at Blackbird Bakery. It is by far my favorite pizza crust mix. All of the blends have been developed with a specific end-use in mind, rather than being multi-puropse like other blends. I think that is how this one is such a stand out. A pizza crust that is crunchy with just enough chew is hard to find in the gluten-free world, but this one is head and shoulders above the rest. It requires a bit more work and patience than some of the other blends out there, but it is well worth it.

Up next

I have officially moved into my new apartment, and it feels great to be cooking my food for every meal. I’ve started exploring the rich food culture in my new neighborhood. There is an asian grocery, a persian market, a middle eastern deli and a european importer all in walking distance from my new home. There is even a grocery store that I have dubbed food heaven on my way to work.

I’ve been spending my evenings inventing clever hashtags (#kaledit and #singleladysupper have been making regular appearances on my instagram) to use when I share my kitchen adventures.

Presents!

The lovely folks at Cup4Cup are giving away one of their brownie mixes to one of my readers. Enter by leaving a comment with your idea of the perfect brownie. You must be in the US and over 18 to win. Entries must be in by 12am CST on June 12, 2014.

[box type=”info”]I was not compensated in any way for this post, but I do consider Tess a friend. The cookbook is great, and I wouldn’t write about it if I didn’t love it.[/box]

I am never going to be a raw-food enthusiast or a vegan. It is really not ever going to happen – you know, with my love of butter and macarons and maybe even bacon. But I do love all kinds of foods – brussells sprouts, green beans fresh from the garden and carrots are a few of my favorite things. It’s all about balance because, for the most part, I want to eat better and have the chance to indulge on those cakes I so dearly love.

So, I have been collecting cookbooks with a healthier focus lately. I know how to make a killer cake and I can whip up pancakes or brownies from memory, and I can whip up a dinner from the random things in my pantry. But, and this is a big but, I tend to get in a rut. I buy the same vegetables week after week and my go-to dinners are always delicious. They aren’t as exciting as they could be.

Or, there is the breakfast connundrum. I know I need to eat it. I know that Fruity Pebbles are really not the best choice for a strong breakfast and I am struggling with the concept of greens for breakfast. (If you follow me on Instagram you know that I have been slowly adding greens to my smoothies but I have yet to declare kale smoothies a favorite food. It’s all about the baby steps).

This book, much like Brassicas, makes veggies and green beverages sexy. The photos hook you. The recipe names just sound delicious. The writing keeps you engaged. (Ok, most people don’t read cookbooks cover to cover like I do, but that is besides the point.) You might just start to believe that intense green smoothies taste good.

I can hear Tess in every recipe head note – friendly and passionate with just a dash of kooky. In The Blender Girl, Tess’ notes about health and ingredients come off as smart suggestions – the kind your best friend might make if she was a nutritionist or raw vegan belnder expert. She walks the line between confidently talking about nutrition/ her dietary preferences and diet evangelism. I almost believe I could be a vegan. Almost.

While I am not turning into a raw vegan on an alkaline diet, I am working green smoothies into my mornings and I appreciate a good chimmichuri. When a recipe calls for a soaked date, I will probably substitute some local honey. If I can’t find maple syrup, I might just use agave nectar. It is quite possible that I will never embrace green powder or confuse cashew cream for the real deal. It’s all good with this cookbook. There are often substitutions listed so that you can use foods that fit your diet, taste or budget. If there aren’t any listed, you should go for it anyway. Cooking is about passion and making yourself happy.

So far, I have made the Chia Choo-Choo, Cheerful Chimichurri Bowls, Papaya Pleasure, and Rosewater and Cardamom Lassi. All of them have lived up to what I was imagining after reading the recipes. The book is perfect for anyone looking for creative ways to add fruits and veggies to their diet.

The Rating

Author: Tess Masters
Title: The Blender Girl
Format: paperback, full color photos
Stars: 5/5*
Buy it or Forget it: Buy it, buy it, buy it.
Must try recipes: Every one in the book? I might be addicted to the Chia Choo Choo, Cheerful Chimichurri Bowls and Rosewater Cardamom Lassi
*Read more about my cookbook review criteria.

Make something

The recipe requires a few pans and some coordination in the kitchen for all of the moving parts, but the results are delightful. You could substitute whatever veggies you happen to have on hand or that are in season where you live in place of the ones used in the recipe. You could grill the veggies outside in the summer and make the quinoa in a rice cooker. The star of the recipe is the chimichurri. A vibrant herb-based sauce much like pesto or pistou but without the nuts or cheese, chimichurri is a great alternative to those sauces for people with dairy or nut allergies. It is also fabulous on grilled steak or fish.

[box]Two disclaimers: First, a copy of Brassicas was provided by Ten Speed Press free of charge for this review. Second, I consider Laura a friend, but I would not have written about the book if I didn’t love it.
Jump to the recipe for Charred Brussels Sprouts with Fig Glaze[/box]

Vegetables are beautiful. I seem them all the time on Pinterest. Looking just a little bit sexy and tempting…and then I see a macaron. I have this problem. You all know about it. I love dessert. If candied kale were a thing, I probably would have jumped on that band wagon ages ago. Probably around the same time I decided that cupcakes were an acceptable coping mechanism.

It’s why this blog is mostly of the dessert flavor.

But I’ve been branching out lately. I even made Gluten-Free Kale & Sweet Potato Lasagna. So, when my friend Laura Russell (the brilliant writer behind the Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen), told me she was writing a cookbook about vegetables, I was tentatively excited. I mean, we’re talking veggies. And she had to go and choose the healthiest type of veggies – brassicas, which incidentally, is the title of the lovely cookbook that comes out on April 8th.

There are no recipes for candied kale or broccoli brownies in this book. (I am actually relieved by this – the whole avocado / black beans in brownies trend freaks me out). And it is downright amazing. That’s right. I said that about a cookbook all about vegetables. Freaking amazing. I want to make and eat everything in the cookbook kind of amazing.

When the book first arrived, I opened it and left it on my desk at work. At least three coworkers paged through it at my desk when they came to see me – before I even got to look. There is currently a waiting list of friends who want to borrow it because they can’t buy it yet. The book itself is gorgeous. Rich, slightly moody photos of vegetables making you want to saunter into your kitchen and get to cooking. The book has chapters on kale, broccoli, root brassicas and leafy brassicas.

There is a handy-dandy chart in the back to help you identify and adapt the recipes no matter if you are gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, egg-free, vegetarian, vegan or fish/shellfish free. Most of the recipes are naturally gluten-free or say right in the recipe notes how to make the recipe without an gluten-containing ingredients. Which is excellent, because when I am making dinner, I need it all spelled out for me – it’s nothing like making cupcakes (those I can do blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back).

This cookbook might just get me to eat my vegetables with a bit more zeal. Let’s be clear though – this is not your mamma’s diet food. This is not a lose weight in three weeks kind of book. This is a see how wonderful and complex these ingredients are kind of book. This is an explore that crazy looking UFO veggie kind of book. This is a make your friends jealous when you Instagram your dinner kind of book.

The Rating

Author: Laura Russell Title: Brassicas: Cooking the world’s healthiest vegetables
Format: hard cover, full color photos
Stars: 5/5*
Buy it or Forget it: Buy it, Instagram your dinner and fall in love with vegetables
Must try recipes: Charred Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Fig Glaze, Spicy Kale Stir Fry
*Read more about my cookbook review criteria.  

Let’s get cooking

The best part of cookbooks? Trying new recipes! I made the Spicy Kale Stir Fry last week and ate it for three meals straight. Then I made these Brussels sprouts, and I decided that the recipe really was only 2 servings – my dinner and leftovers for lunch.

Due to my dad’s pork allergy, I made this recipe using turkey bacon in place of the pancetta. It was still incredibly delicious, but I can only imagine how good it would be as written. That might just be the best part of this cookbook – the recipes can work as a framework for a dish, rather than being a roadmap that has to be followed to the letter.

This recipe might be love.