Fast and Fresh recipes for your gluten-free (or mostly gluten-free!) life

Bacon, Kale, Tomato and Shallot Salad

There is just about nothing healthy about this salad, but it’s delicious and perfect for summer picnics, impressing your kale-hating friends, justifying bacon in your “diet”, and reminding yourself that the best things in life include bacon. Read more here…

Beet, Apple & Fennel Salad with Creamy Ricotta Dressing

I love a simple, fresh and healthy salad. I try to eat salads every day at work. But if you do the math on my years at the Gap times days of work less days of vacation less cheating with a burger plus days I justify my burger by adding a side salad…well…that would be a lot of salads. This salad has a salty, creamy ricotta “dressing” that amps your salad up and makes it crave-worthy. The fennel/apple/beet combo will brighten your winter work day. Read more here…

Paleo Crab Cakes

Happy New Year and happy Crabby Patty season! Those dates around November – January are known in the Bay Area as Crab Season. Farmers Markets and local grocers are chock full of crab fresh from our bay. These little buggers are delicious just by themselves, but why not dress them up for a little fun? I love crab cakes, but in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, I wanted to come up with a version that was Paleo-friendly and delicious. This recipe eliminates gluten and mayonnaise, leaving only fresh, healthy, and satisfying ingredients. Read more here…

Shrimp and Zucchini “Zoodles” with Hummus Sauce

The Spiralizer slices veggies in a spiral shape, which makes those thinly sliced veggies ideal for salads, noodle substitutes, and curly veggie fries. While the Spiralizer has many uses, I mostly use it to make Zoodles. They are “noodles” made of spiraled zucchini that can be used as a spaghetti noodle substitute. They’re ideal as a substitute for gluten-free, guilt-free and paleo-friendly recipes. And they’re shockingly delicious. So let’s get to Spiralizing! Read more here…

Crispy Prosciutto, Squash and Kale Salad

I’d like to note two things before we start this recipe to settle any angst you may have about making this gorgeous salad. One: Crispy Proscuitto is hard to spell but not hard to make. Two: I’m going to show you the easiest way to make your own salad dressing. In sum: this recipe is easy. Read more here…

Fried Squash Blossoms and Shaved Zucchini Salad Recipe

For this recipe, you’ll need a mandolin slicer. And if you don’t have a mandolin slicer, you’ll need a vegetable peeler. You’ll also need a nice 1/2 bottle of inexpensive oil (vegetable or canola), a deep pan for frying, and all your fingers so you can afford to lose one or two between the slicing and the frying. Note this recipe is not gluten free, but has a light flour dusting that can be substituted with Almond Flour. Read more here…

Sarah’s Kale Salad

My lovely friend, Sarah, came over to my house for family dinner and offered to make us a salad. Little did she know, I was poaching her recipe the whole time for this blog! This is a delicious and healthy salad that requires almost no dressing. Because it’s kale, it also holds up overnight for leftovers the next day. At the end, there’s a little secret paloma to congratulate you on being such an amazing cook. Read more here…

Trio of Burrata Salads: Traditional Tomato, Sweet Fig, and Pickled Peaches

These three burrata salads are sure to be crowd pleasers, inviting everyone to enjoy tasty bites of fresh tomatoes, honeyed figs or sweet & sour pickled peaches.
Before we start, a few things:
Burrata comes either in a plastic container filled with water & the burrata ball (like mozzarella) or wrapped in a specialty waxy/plastic paper. The easiest way to handle burrata is to take it out of the vehicle it comes in and place in a small bowl. Once you cut into the ball, the creamy mozzarella & cream inside will go everywhere, so it’s best contained somewhere it’s free to go crazy. Read more here…

Roasted Tomato, Tomat-oh Soup with Basil Olive Oil

Since tomatoes are the key ingredient in this recipe, make sure you buy the best you can find. I recommend heirloom tomatoes in all different varieties from local farmers for a rich, ripe tomato soup. The soup is made a touch spicy with a thai pepper and topped with avocado, basil olive oil and greek yogurt. It’s fresh, fast, and oh-so-tasty. Say tomato, tomato-oh and let’s get roasting! Read more here…

Sugar-Free Meyer Lemonade

New Year, new you! Quite a few of my friends are sober/cleansing/detoxing in January. I am not – my friends all know I can barely go an evening without Pinot – but I’m hosting a dinner party for some of those healthy January friends and needed to find them a tasty drink. Serendipitously, our dear friend Todd brought us beautiful Meyer lemons from his family’s home in Napa. So when life gives you lemons in sober January, you make sugar-free sparkling lemonade! Read more here…

Farm Fresh Blackberry Ice Cream with Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette

Blackberries are in season and they pair amazing with fresh, organic cream. Aged balsamic vinegar reduced with sugar provides an unexpected salty topping for your fresh ice cream. Get ready to cheat and like it, because here’s the delicious recipe.
Three notes that apply to all ice cream before you start:

• Ice cream generally has few ingredients, so make those ingredients count: buy the best and freshest. If you are buying your blackberries from Costco (Mom!), you’re doing it wrong. Read more here..

Complete Meal: Osso Buco, Veggies, Bone Marrow & Polenta

First off, I will say that the reason this is easy(ish) is that the recipe for osso buco is in no way mine. Rather, I used a recipe hack by leveraging a Williams Sonoma braising sauce. I added my own side elements, threw together a surprise appetizer that takes almost no extra effort, and pulled together an entire meal. This recipe, therefore, is for the full meal pictured below. Read more here…

Mom’s Apple Crisp

This recipe is one of my mom’s favorites. It’s delicious, crowd-pleasing, easy, and can be made ahead and frozen for later. I’m pretty sure my mom always has a rotating frozen apple crisp in her freezer. The only thing you really need to know about this recipe before we get started is that it’s really addicting. Really. And you will, somehow, justify eating this with each meal including as your morning breakfast (it’s apples!). Read more here…