Basil Heirloom Tomato Salad with Blueberry Vanilla Goat Cheese

This recipe really is an ode to Trader Joe’s and the amazing creations that keep appearing in their store. One of my favorite summertime vegetables is Heirloom Tomatoes. We’ve been growing them and receiving them in our CSA box, but we always eat them up so quickly, so I bought us some more from Trader Joe’s. I love the produce at Trader Joe’s, they always have plenty of organic fruits and veggies for reasonable prices.

On that same shopping trip, I discovered their Blueberry & Vanilla Goat Cheese, you can read more about that product here. I had no idea what I might use it for when I bought it, but really how can you not buy a creation with that delicious combination?? Finally I had some leftover Basil Vinaigrette to use, which by the way, was made with all Trader Joe’s ingredients.

Here’s what I came up with, and it was an amazingly refreshing treat on a hot summer night.

Ingredients:

3 Heirloom Tomatoes

1/2 Log of Trader Joe’s Wild Blueberry & Vanilla Chevre Goat Cheese

2 T of Basil Vinaigrette

2 T of Olive Oil

Preparation:

Slice the tomatoes thinly and arrange artistically on platter. Crumble the goat cheese on top of sliced tomatoes. Drizzle the vinaigrette and olive oil on top of everything. Let each flavor dance on your tongue as you enjoy every refreshing bite.

Thanks Trader Joe’s for being so great!

–Jennifer Gunther

Josh’s Taco Meat

My sweet husband wanted to make dinner tonight. We have a pretty empty refrigerator, but Josh used that opportunity to be creative! He took lean ground turkey (a staple we always have on hand) and dressed it up with spices to make a super flavorful dish!

1 lb. Ground Turkey

1/2 t Salt

1/2 t Black Pepper

1/2 t Garlic Powder

1/2 t Curry Powder

1/2 t Chili Powder

1 t Cumin

1 t Paprika

1/2 C Water

Brown the meat. Add seasonings and water. Simmer uncovered until most of the water evaporates.

We ate this with forks, but you could throw in a salad or wrap it in lettuce and call it a taco.

Yum!

–Joshua Gunther

Alabama Peach and Blackberry Cobbler with Almond Crust

I’m not typically a baking kind of girl. But since having a restricted diet, all baking has suddenly become enticing. Something about wanting what you can’t have? Here is a baked good that I CAN have. And it is amazing.

Ingredients: Crust

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or butter or oil of choice)
• 2 TBSP honey
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• cinnamon for dusting

Preparation: Crust

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients and form into a ball using a spatula. Lay down a piece of parchment paper and place your dough on top. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of dough and flatten in a disk shape with your hand. Using a rolling pin roll out dough until it is wide enough to drape over a 9-inch pie pan.

Once rolled out place in fridge for 30 minutes.

Ingredients: Filling

• 5-7 peaches, peeled and sliced (I used whatever stone fruit we had on hand)
  
• 1 pint of blackberries (I only had frozen blackberries, so I defrosted & used them)
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod discarded
• 2 TBSP melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey

Preparation: Filling

Toss all ingredients into a 9 inch pie pan until well incorporated. Remove pie crust from fridge and carefully drape over filling. This dough is delicate so if pieces fall off just stick them back on. Carefully tuck the edges in.

Dust cinnamon over the top and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Because almond flour is made of almonds the crust will turn golden brown quickly, this is normal and adds so much flavor so don’t think you are burning the crust.

After that place some foil over the top and allow to cook another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes. When you cut into the cobbler it will be very juicy. Normal cobblers typically have flour mixed in the filling to absorb some of the juices but in our case we obviously leave this out. The juices add so much flavor and though this cobbler doesn’t produce “pretty” slices, the taste is delicious! So just scoop some up in a bowl and ENJOY!

–http://www.roostblog.com/

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies I’ve Ever Had

Yesterday I went to make my handy chocolate chip cookies recipe when I discovered I didn’t have enough eggs. Since I’ll do most anything to avoid going to the grocery store, I dug up a new recipe to try I found on Pinterest.

Good thing I was short on eggs because… these were the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever had! They are perfectly fluffy and moist with all the yummyness that a chocolate chip cookie should have. I put these cookies to the ultimate test and brought them as the dessert to a dinner party that night. I was nervous at how everyone would like the cookies. I loved them, but I haven’t had a “real” cookie (with gluten & grains) in quite a long time, so I didn’t 100% trust my taste buds.

How did it go? They were all devoured within about 10 minutes, adults and teens alike loved them. I was paid the same compliment from one of the daughters, that “these are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.” A gluten-free and grain-free was the best she’d ever had! Since all our cookies were eaten last night, we had to make more tonight. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1 cup of chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and blend with a spoon.
3. Add the wet ingredients and blend it well with a spoon.
4. Drop about a tablespoon of batter in each cookie spot on the cookie sheets. Space them about 1 1/2 inches apart.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are starting to brown around the edges.

–Recipe taken from http://comfybelly.com/

Eggplant Crust Pizza

Pizza is one of our very favorite comfort foods. Before going totally gluten & grain free, we would always order a Papa Johns pizza after a particularly stressful and exhausting day. There’s just something amazing about the gooey cheese mixing with the marinara sauce on a thick crust. I think that pizza has been the hardest thing for me to give up. But, recently, thanks to a search on Pinterest I re-thought pizza crust. When we received an eggplant in our Abundant Harvest box, I knew it was time to try it out.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
1 bunch of fresh basil
2 C tomato sauce (I made my own, using this recipe)
1 C cooked turkey sausage cut into pieces (I used this recipe)
8 oz goat cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice Eggplant into 6 slices, arrange slices onto a baking sheet. Bake eggplant for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make or heat up tomato sauce & warm sausage.

Remove eggplant slices from oven, preheat oven broiler. Evenly spoon tomato sauce over eggplant slices. Next place basil leaves on top of tomato sauce. Then sprinkle with goat cheese & sausage. Brown slices in broiler until cheese is melted.

–Jennifer Gunther

Verdict? Super yummy! It definitely met our comfort food pizza craving. Feel free to use ingredients that you have on hand.