Cooling Down

Cooling down this summer can be a delicious experience. Salads are back in season and with so much variety to choorse from you can put your recipe book away and get creative with your own favorite ingredients.

My favorite way to make salads in summer is very simple, with a family of 9 everyone has different likes and dislikes, so to please everyone I chop everything up into separate bowls and they can add what they want to make their salads with a choice of salad dressing. My MIL calls it a rainbow salad, very appetizing name for little ones! Put leftovers in the frig for lunch the next day. Carrot, celery, zucchini sticks make a great snack choice with this awesome organic hummus dip from Costco. Get your friend to take you there for some if you're not a member.

 

Rainbow Salad Recipe - Epicurious.com

Mix blueberries and walnuts into your greens with raspberry vinigarette, add lemon juice for a zest twist on a shrimp sald, or create a chilled vegetable salad full of crunchy vegetables.

Kids also love cold treats on a hot day, so why not combine some juices in ice pop molds with chopped fruit. Get family and friends together this summer and cool down with these yummy ideas and some of your very own.

See more Fun Food Snacks on my Pinterest board.

 

How to Make Gluten Free Flours at Home

 

 

I found myself with 2 5lb bags of flour last night, both with bugs! I gave up a long time ago on these, my house was infested with them for years before I was around. I compromised by keeping all my grains and anything else they might like in the freezer. But I have only so much room, and when we shop only once a month it gets a little crowded.

I was making these delicious curry basil falafel, and couldn't find anything to use to substitute. I tried a little breadcrumbs but they were still not cooking well so I finally added some ground oats.

Its very easy to make most of the basic gluten free flours. I find them way too expensive and when used in most dishes the home made is an excellent cheaper substitute with the added plus of not having to fill my freeze with 5 different flours.

Basically you just thrown the cup of whatever you need in the blender....and don't forget the throwing part lol. When I used almondsin baking I simply grind them first then add most of the ingredients right into the blender. They grind up surprisingly well in my 3rd hand 10 year blender which is outlasting my Vitamix! Yes we killed our Vitamix, like everything else in the house. Luckily Costco has a lifetime warranty on their products, so my husband took it back.

So to make oat flour you throw it just the same way, I find 1 cup at a time works perfectly. If you need to see formatted instructions, wiki seems to have everything these days. The only further comment I would make is that you may find you need a little extra moisture with some of these flours, maybe an extra egg, or I tend to use ground flax mostly.

And I just realized I have wheat berries in my frig, which I obviously haven't used for a very long time. If you don't have a problem with gluten and not substituting for health purposes, adding different flours to your cooking will add extra nutrients and in some cases cut down on the carbs and calories.

How to make flour

How to make rice flour

How to make oat flour

How to make coconut flour

All purpose gluten free flour

In case you require some specific flours for baking these are the basic recipes for baking flours you could adapt.

How to make cake flour

How to make self raising flour

In case you're interested my very old still working blender is an Oster. Gosh it's on sale for $34.99 right now, maybe I should buy myself a new one :)))

 

 

For a great list of gluten free flours and the best flours to use as substitutes wheat-free.org has a wonderful list right here!