This recipe came about as so many of mine often do – out of running late and laziness.Before I learned better I used to throw dinner parties that would consist of complicated time consuming food preparations and while the food was great, I was too stressed out to enjoy my guests.

Now when I entertain I keep it much simpler. I love dishes where I can get a lot of prep work done ahead and the more people I have over, the simpler the preparations become.

This Grilled Vegetable Salad started out life as a side dish I made for a dinner party for 20. I had grilled up tons of eggplant slices, layered grilled peppers, onions, arugula and goat cheese on to each slice, rolled them up and tied them with blanched chives the sprinkled on toasted pine nuts. They were delicious but they took me hours to make and were consumed in minutes. I felt less than satisfied.

As labor intensive as they were I loved them so much I decided to serve them again for an Easter brunch. However with all the egg dying the night before Easter and the egg hunting and Easter baskets that takes place on Easter Morning I was ill prepared when the guests started to arrive. So I made the dish into one big salad instead of individual rolls and viola! This great salad was born. It is a staple for me and my most requested “bring along” dish. You can grill up all the veggies the night before and just put it together quickly. The whole salad can even be assembled ahead because the arugula stands up to being dressed ahead well.

This is the perfect side for a barbeque so if you are looking for a new salad try this!

I like to make a sort of flower arrangement out of the vegetables for a pretty presentation. I put the eggplant slices in concentric circles, place the pepper slices in concentric circles radiating out from the center over the eggplant (like the petals of a sunflower) and mound the onions in the center.

I have an idea for a travel ad for Florida in the summer. Want to hear it? Here goes:Come to sunny Florida and experience temperatures found only in the fire and brimstone of Hell. Discover the delights of humidity ranges that are technically called icky, sticky, muggy and yucky. You will be amazed to find you have never sweated so much in your life, at how the most gossamer of fabrics feels like the heaviest of scratchy wool overcoats and how you practically grow gills trying to process the steamy tropical air.

Hmmm, maybe not.

The point is that it is HOT! Blazing HOT! Unbelievably, unbearably HOT! And when I am spending what amounts to cost of a first class vacation to Bali to air condition my house I am a tad reluctant to heat it up with the oven or even the stove. Outdoor grilling would be an option, but did I mention it is HOT?

My solution for dinner when we are experiencing a tropical heat wave is to buy pre-cooked shrimp and serve them on a bed of tropical fruit salsa. No cooking. All you need to do is defrost, rinse and chop.

And the best part? Standing in front of the frozen food section at the grocery store while picking out my shrimp, of course. Ahhh, for a few minutes there I actually felt cool!

If it is not hot enough in your area to scramble your brains then by all means skewer up some raw shrimp that have been tossed with some lime juice and olive oil and throw them under the broiler or on the grill for a few minutes and enjoy!

Cold Shrimp with Tropical Fruit Salsa
Serves 4 – 6

1 pound extra large frozen cooked shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
2 papayas - peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch dice
2 mangos – peeled seeded and cut into ½ inch dice
½ small white onion – finely chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper – seeds and veins removed – very finely chopped
1 handful of cilantro leaves – chopped (about 1/3 of a cup)
Juice of 2 large limes – use divided
Chili powder – optional

Defrost shrimp under cold running water and pat dry.

In a bowl toss together the papaya, mango, onion, jalapeno pepper, cilantro and juice of 1 lime. Put salsa on a platter or divide among individual plates.

Toss the shrimp with the juice on 1 lime briefly. Pat shrimp dry again and place atop the salsa.

Sprinkle shrimp with chili powder if using.

Here’s something I have learned about entertaining – if you serve even the most basic food in teeny portions, it seems way fancier and is much more fun to eat.

I love tomato soup! My favorite comfort food of all time is tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course the tomato soup of my childhood (Campbells) is off limits now because of the gluten and I don’t eat much bread (even gluten-free) anymore, but I still love the concept.

So I looked for a way to update basic comfort food into fancy party fare, thus was born this grown-up tomato soup and “grilled” cheese.
I took my basic tomato soup recipe and turned it into a Bloody Mary soup shot and made some fancy Parmesan Cheese Baskets filled with Herbed Goat Cheese. Tomato soup is the perfect soup to put into small containers like shot glasses, egg cups or cappuccino cups and serve as an appetizer. Temperature is not so important to tomato soup as it is delicious hot, warm or cold.

The soup takes about five minutes more to make than heating up a can of soup and while the parmesan cheese baskets are a bit more labor intensive, they aren’t hard to make and the fancy quotient is really high! Also you can make the parmesan baskets and the goat cheese ahead and just fill the baskets at the last minute.

For fancy appetizer soup, I strain it; when I just want a bowl of soup, I don’t - I like the thicker texture. For a rustic version, omit the whole blending and straining part all together. For vegetarians, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock or just leave it out. And, of course, the alcohol is completely optional.

As a note, there is controversy about the gluten in distilled alcohol and supposedly vodka is ok for people who are gluten intolerant. I personally feel like I have been poisoned when I drink vodka so I make my Bloody Mary Soup with tequila (which comes from agave and not wheat) instead. I also order my Bloody Marys this way – LOVE IT!

Bloody Mary Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small white onion - diced
1 29 ounce can of diced tomatoes (I like Organic)
1 5.5 ounce can of Spicy V 8 juice (vegetable juice)
½ cup gluten-free chicken stock
2 pinches of salt
1 pinch black pepper
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins is GF in the U.S.)
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
4 tablespoons vodka or tequila (or more or less depending on your tastes)
Horseradish Sauce (recipe follows)
Chives for garnish - optional

Heat oil in large sauce pan and add chopped onion. Cook about five minutes until soft but not browned. Add chopped tomatoes, V 8 juice, chicken stock, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until hot and bubbly – about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and basil.

Ladle half the soup into a blender and process until smooth – about 1 minute. Make sure you take the little feed top off the blender before you process hot liquids or it will explode. I take the little feed top off and put a kitchen towel over it. If your blender does not have a removable feed top then leave the top off the blender and place a towel over the opening while processing – fold the towel over a few times to make sure it is thick so you don’t get burned.

Pour blended soup into a strainer set over a large mixing bowl and process the second half of the soup as above. Push the soup through the strainer and reheat if necessary. Add the vodka or tequila. Pour soup into shot glasses, egg cups or other small serving cup. Top with Horseradish Sauce and garnish with chives if desired.

Makes about 4 normal sized servings, 8 ½ cup servings or 12 appetizer portions.

Horseradish Sauce

1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
Mix together and dollop onto soup.

Parmesan Cheese Baskets with Herbed Goat Cheese

8 ounces Parmesan Cheese – grated with the large holes of a box grater. It is important to freshly grate as this will effect outcome.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 baking sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper (I prefer the Silpat mats).  Place 1 rounded tablespoon of grated cheese onto prepared baking sheet about 4 inches apart. Gently pat the cheese into a circle of even thickness about 3 inches round with your fingers.  Bake in oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and any bubbles that form turn into a crunchy light golden crust. Your wafers should be golden in color and lacy in appearance.

Remove from oven and let cool and harden up about 1 minute – they need to be warm and still pliable. Remove from pan with a thin spatula and place on an upside down mini muffin tin, a rolling pin or even wine corks to form into small baskets. Let cool completely and blot off excess oil with a paper towel. Can be made a couple hours ahead and filled at the last minute.

Makes about 12.

NOTE: I like to bake one pan of these at a time, I find it easier to work in small batches – so I bake one sheet then put in the second while the first is cooling and I am forming the crisps into baskets.  Also if you want just a nice cheese crisp and don’t care about a fancy basket, just let the crisps cool completely on the baking sheet then blot with paper towel.

Fill with Herbed Goat Cheese.

Herbed Goat Cheese

6 ounces goat cheese – room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs – I like basil, thyme and parsley, but use any combo you like

Mix together until smooth. Can be made ahead and stored in fridge until ready to use.

Yesterday I cheated. No, not on my husband or taxes or driver’s test. On my diet. Yep, I am a big fat cheater! Hey, I think I just figured out where that expression came from … people who cheat on their diets and become big and fat. Don’t roll your eyes, it could be true!

I was having some girls over in the afternoon and I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out a couple recipes and have them taste tested by some gluten eaters. I had been toying with a recipe in my head for a gluten-free Apricot Almond Tart. I decided I would have one very small, teeny, itsy-bitsy morsel just to taste it. I had my teensy bite, decided it was delish and proudly served it up to my gluten eating friends.  Then they left.  And there was one piece left. And some whipped cream left too.  I walked over to the piece, then walked away. I walked back, put it on a different plate and wrapped it with plastic wrap. I walked away again.

It called my name.  I came back, told the piece that although it looked lovely, it was just not going to happen. I would not succumb. I have the will of iron. I have already lost 10 pounds fat flushing and this would not be the day I give into temptation. I walked away again with my head held high and my honor intact.

Then it screamed my name! I said “It’s not you, it’s me. I can’t!”  Then it smiled a slow, sexy smile, seductively raised one eyebrow and said in a husky voice, “Come on, you know you want to. It’s just us here, no one has to know.” Well, I think you can figure out the rest. As I guiltily licked the final crumbs from the plate at least I had the feeling that although I cheated, it was ever so worth it!

This tart is not too sweet, takes minutes to whip up, the oven does most of the work and since I used canned apricots (shush, don’t tell…) that made it even easier. It is perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee and some lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Apricot Almond Tart

6 tablespoons melted butter, cooled slightly, plus more butter for preparing the pan
3 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for preparing the pan and dusting on top
1-¾ cups almonds – ground (I used blanched sliced almonds and ground in a small food processor, but you can also buy ground almonds)
3 large eggs
Pinch of salt
¼ cup honey
2 cans apricot halves, drained and then cut the halves in half or 12 large fresh apricots, halved pitted and then halved again

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch springform pan or tart pan and then dust with powdered sugar, tapping out the excess.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, powdered sugar, ground almonds, eggs, salt and honey. Mix well and pour into prepared pan.

Arrange the apricots in concentric circles on top of the batter. You want the edges of the apricots to stick out of the batter a bit.  Bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until browned and set. Rotate the dish twice while baking for even browning.

Let cool and remove from springform pan, if using. Dust with additional powdered sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

It is officially Spring! Yeah! I live on the West Coast of Florida and our seasons consist of the hot and humid season, the hotter than hell and so humid you can’t breathe season, hurricane season and those couple of glorious weeks we call Spring. Not too hot, not too humid, just perfect!  And Spring makes me think of delicate, tender new foods like lamb, asparagus, morels and peas.

Now I am not a big fan of frozen vegetables with two exceptions, frozen small white onions and frozen peas. And both for the same reason, it is what I call the ETT factor – Effort To Taste factor. The amount of effort it takes to par-boil and peel those tiny onions or to shell enough peas for more than one person is just not worth the difference in taste to me. (Also after nursing a friend through a face lift I discovered the real reason it is so handy to have bags of frozen peas in the freezer, they make the perfect cold compress for your swollen, bruised and sutured face that results from those nips and tucks.)

My ode to Spring is this Minted Pea Soup.  It is dead easy to make, takes hardly any time and what can I say?  It just tastes like Spring!  For my sister and anyone else who can’t eat dairy, just omit the cream and butter. It tastes just as great without it. You don’t even have to adjust the amount of chicken stock.

Minted Pea Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter – use divide
3-4 large shallots – finely chopped
½ cup fresh chopped mint leaves
¼ cup fresh chopped flat leave Italian parsley
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 pounds frozen peas (2 large bags)
3 cups gluten free chicken stock
1 cup cream

Heat oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and sauté the shallots until they are soft and translucent, not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the mint, parsley, salt, pepper and the peas (you do not need to thaw) and heat until the peas are thawed.
Put pea mixture and about half the chicken stock in a blender and puree until smooth. You may have to add more chicken stock to get it really smooth and depending on the type of blender, you may have to puree the pea mixture in 2 batches.

Return pea mixture to sauce pan, turn heat to medium-high, add the rest of the chicken stock and the cream and cook until hot, but not boiling. Take soup off heat and stir 1 tablespoon of butter to finish the soup.

Garnish with more fresh cream, sour cream or yogurt if desired. And mint leaves of course!

Serves 4 -6.

Back when I was more insecure about my gluten-free lifestyle (in the closet as it were) I would have just made regular lasagna. But no more. Now I know that great food is great food, regardless of the wheat content.  So I prepared my version of lasagna. I don’t know if technically it can be called a lasagna as it contains no noodles but whatever it is called it is FABULOUS! Even the die hard wheat eaters were begging for the recipe. So here it is.

Now I firmly believe that there is a time and place for homemade tomato sauce and that the preparation of this lasagna is not it. If you are a die hard homemade person, then by all means make your own. If you are lazy like me, use a good store bought sauce (I like Classico Tomato & Basil as it has no sugar added making it great for low carb diets) and I doctor it up with extra onions, garlic and oregano. If you have a bottle of red wine in the fridge then add it, if not then either leave it out and add a bit more water or use this as an excuse to open one!

By the way, you will see that I use dried parsley in this recipe. This is the ONLY time I ever use dried parsley but I prefer it to fresh in this case.

Eggplant Lasagna Style

2 medium or large eggplants
¾ cups olive oil
5 teaspoons dried oregano – use divided
3 teaspoons kosher or sea salt – use divided
2 teaspoons ground black pepper – use divided
5 cups Tomato Sauce – about 1 ½ jars of 26 ounce store bought
1½ pounds Italian sausage (mild or hot depending on your preference)
1 large white or yellow onion - chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup red wine – optional
1 large container Ricotta Cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese – grated or shredded
2 large eggs – beaten
2 teaspoons dried parsley
3 cups mozzarella cheese - grated

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix olive oil with 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice into ¼ inch slices. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil mixture. Grill on a hot, dry grill pan or broil under pre-heated broiler for about 4 - 5 minutes (until browned) and flip, cook on other side until browned and slightly soft about another 3 -4 minutes. It will cook more in the oven so slightly under cooked is ok. Set aside until layering the lasagna.

3. Remove the casing from the Italian sausage and crumble into a large stockpot or skillet that has been heated over medium high heat. (If your pan is not non-stick, add just a touch of olive oil to the pan first. Cook until browned and no longer pink inside, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. Add chopped onion and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Add tomato sauce, wine if using and 1 teaspoon dried oregano. Let cook for about 15 minutes until heated through. Check the consistency, you want it a little saucy so if too thick add some water. I usually have to add about 1/4 - 1/3 cups.

4. In a large mixing bowl mix the ricotta cheese with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, the parsley, parmesan cheese and eggs.

5. Brush a large lasagna dish with some olive oil. Ladle in a little bit of the tomato sauce and spread over bottom of dish. Try to just add the sauce, no sausage chunks.

6. Layer half the eggplant slices in the bottom. Add half the ricotta mixture then top with half the sauce. Repeat layering.

7. Top with mozzarella cheese and spread evenly over the top.

8. Bake about 1 hour until hot and bubbling and cheese is browned.

Trust me; no one will miss the noodles!

BTW – if you have extra eggplant slices keep them. Serve cold or room temp with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum!

Macaroons exemplify my philosophy of gluten-free eating and cooking. They are naturally and simply gluten-free cookies. They require no mixing of other gluten-free flours in a futile attempt to replicate the taste and texture of their glutenized counter parts. Macaroons require no flour, just a mixture of egg whites and nut meal or coconut.

These Mocha Macaroons are amazing! Crunchy around the edges, chewy in the middle and rich, dense flavor through and through. Positively addictive!

Fortunately they are a snap to make so you can go from craving to satisfaction in just over 15 minutes.

I have made these using almonds that I grind myself in a mini food processor or purchased almond meal. The almond meal is quicker and the texture a bit more refined but they are delicious either way. Just beware in purchasing ground almond meal as not all brands are gluten-free. Don’t assume that just because the ingredients lists only almonds that they are gluten-free. Some brands process the almonds in the same equipment as they process glutenized products causing cross-contamination. Make sure the packaging says “Gluten Free”.

Usually I sift in the powdered sugar but sometimes I’m too lazy and honestly the results are the same so I will leave that up to you. Also I don’t bother rolling the dough into balls as they spread out anyway; I just sort of pinch up some dough, roughly shape it into a ball and drop it on the pan. I think that shaping the cookies with spoons would be difficult because the dough is very sticky but if you are obsessive compulsive about all your cookies being exactly the same size then by all means try it out and let me know how it works!

Prepare to become addicted!

Gluten Free Mocha Macaroons

2 egg whites – unbeaten
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup ground almonds
3 tablespoons cocoa powder – I use dark
1 tablespoon instant ground espresso or coffee granules
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 2 baking sheets with either parchment paper or Silpat Mats (I prefer these).

Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until well blended. If you have a sticky, gooey, chocolaty mess then it’s perfect.

Wet your hands with water and pull up a ball the size of a small walnut, and place on prepared pans leaving at least one inch between each cookie. You will probably have to re-wet your hands several times.

Bake macaroons for 11 minutes. They will still seem a bit squishy when done but they harden up a little as they cool and you want the insides chewy. Don’t worry if the bottoms of the cookies look a bit sticky.

Let cool on the pan for about 1 or 2 minutes then remove to a rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 24 depending on size.

I suppose you could store any left over cookies in an airtight container or pretty cellophane bag but honestly, I’ve never had these last for more than a few minutes, they get gobbled up almost immediately!