Don’t miss out on this old time favorite.  Salad Niçoise definitley has a list of ingredients needed in order to call it such, but you know me.  I do like to play with my food and I’m not very good with rules.  As a matter of fact I’m not sure I’ve made this salad the same way twice nor have I seen two recipes the same.  I totally change up the way an ingredient is prepared or add in some new ones.  The great thing about this salad is everything is a whole food making it a gluten free recipe and keeping with our easy, healthy, gluten free life.

Here are two examples of recent versions.

Now it’s your turn to share what’s in your gluten free Salad Niçoise.

Do you love those quick and easy recipes where you can get dinner on the table in less then 20 minutes?  Me too.  Anything to keep that easy, healthy, gluten free life accessible.   Here is an old standby that was inspired by Tacos el Pastor.  It includes quick fry pork chops, pineapples and beans.  It’s great served with a side salad or just toss it on top of the plate!  If you have any guacamole hanging around by all means add it to the plate.  Enjoy this gluten free recipe and let me know what you add on your plate.

This was shared on gluten free easily.

I’m talking of course of the latest meatball craze.  Meatballs are so hot there are meatball only restaurants and cookbooks.  They have recipes for Goat Balls and Bunny Balls.  Don’t think I’m trying either of those.

We’ve been eating a variety of meatballs around here for some time.  I love to make them because there are fast, easy and you can put just about anything into them.  They make great every day food, party food, special occasion food, can be served alone, with a side dish, in a soup or in a sandwich and are easy to make as a gluten free recipe.

I’ve made Meatballs with a Heart, Chicken Meatballs, Simply Dressed Meatballs, North African Meatballs, and the traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs.  With the price of meats increasing I’m sure I will be making more balls from assorted foods.  What’s the most interesting ones you’ve made or eaten?

If you get my newsletter you’ve already seen this cool gadget and gotten these two recipes.  What you’re not receiving the newsletter!  Sign up now so you get the scoop first, plus any offers and discounts will be in that newsletter.  Click Here for more info.

Love this new kitchen gadget! I don’t know why I waited so long to get one. I’ve seen others use it and thought wow that looks cool but really, can’t I just do that with a knife?

I could if I had all day to prepare my meals. If you have endless hours to prepare your meals no need to read on any further.

However if you want to have an easy healthy gluten free life, lots of fun, make great meals and have people who don’t typically eat vegetables start asking for second helpings, well check this out.

For lunch I made a Cucumber and Tomato Salad.

For dinner I made a Zucchini and Squash Pesto Pasta which had no grains in it whatsoever.

Oh the fun I’m going to have with this tool.

So I’ll share the recipes for these two dishes along with the great boulettes de poulet et de porc au pesto.

Welcome back to our weekly event, Friday Foodie Fix.  This is where you link up your gluten free recipes each week that contain the Secret Ingredient!

You will also find each week there will be loads of information on that ingredient so even if you don’t have any recipes to share, you’ll gather some useful information.

Make sure you check back to see what recipes have been added.

To let everyone know where you are linking your recipes you can add the FFF badge into your post and on your sidebar.  Here is the code you can just copy and paste.

<a href=”http://www.thewholegang.org/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.thewholegang.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FFF-thewholegang.jpg” width=261 height=256 border=0></a>

Simply Dressed Meatballs on bed of Spinach

Healthy Facts

Spinach is a power house of nutrients.  It is packed with Vitamin K, essential for blood clotting and bone health, and has been shown to help reduce inflammation. Not to mention spinach provides a good source of calcium and iron, beta carotene and potassium.  If you are looking to increase your Vitamin B6 and C as well as folate and magnesium this is a great option.   Keep in mind that your B6 and C vitamins are water soulable and cannot be stored in your body so you need to replenished daily and any excess would be simply flushed out.  Vitamin B6 helps maintain healthy brain function, normal nerve function, forming red blood cells, and breaking down and digesting proteins.

How to Buy

I love to pick up spinach at the farmers markets and buy from a local source.  With spinach the fresher the better as far as holding on to nutrients.  Look for bright green leaves without any slimy leaves or dark spots.  Spinach is also something you should buy organic.  It’s very high up on the Dirty Dozen list from the EWG which means it’s exposure and absorption of pesticides is high.  But I’d rather you eat conventionally grown produce is better than eating none at all.

How to Store

When you get home with your fresh spinach give it a nice cold bath, literally.  Fill a clean sink or bowl with cold water and toss in your spinach.  Give it a good spin around and then let it sit for a little bit so any grit can sink to the bottom of the bowl.  Take out the spinach and repeat until no grit is at the bottom of your bowl.   Once done wrap the leaves in a paper towel and put into a plastic bag to store in your refrigerator.  Now it’s ready when you want to nibble, cook or make that morning green juice or smoothie.

Favorite Tip

If you want your leaves crisp let them stay in the refrigerator after washing for an hour or two.  I love to add spinach to my juicer or smoothie but it’s great sauteed in scrambled eggs, stuffed inside a chicken breast and cut into ribbons or chiffanod and put on your pizza.

Last Week’s Favorite Links

Tess the Domestic Diva’s Homemade Fruit Cereal Bars

And Love it Too’s  Strawberry Coconut Butter

gluten free easily’s Gloris Fruit Easily

Did you vote for your favorites?  Each week check the recipes shared and click the Like button for your favs!

Linking up Guidelines

• Share your own recipe using the Secret Ingredient. This must be your recipe, not copied from someone else.  If you were inspired by another recipe you MUST ALWAYS note that in your recipe.
• Link the URL of your Specific Individual Recipe Post,  NOT to your home page.
• Please link back to this post, not a static page so your readers can find the recipes here.
• When you link, please tell us what you’re sharing.
• This is a Gluten Free Resource so please make sure you share gluten free recipes.
• Recipes do not need to be brand new on your blog, just your own and contain the Secret Ingredient.
• There is no limit to how many times you can post on any given Secret Ingredient,  just Link Back.
• Please use the FFF icon in your post and feel free to add it to your sidebar!  Here’s the code:  <a href=”http://www.thewholegang.org/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.thewholegang.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FFF-thewholegang.jpg” width=261 height=256 border=0></a>

Next Week’s Secret Ingredient for Friday Foodie Fix is …… Spring Onions!

Now it’s your turn to share your gluten free recipes with spinach below.

This gluten-free and dairy-free dish of Sautéed Endive, Mushroom and Crisp Pancetta with Wine will melt in your mouth and make your body dance with joy (read on to see why).   It will also have your diners asking for more.  Shhh plus I snuck in a bonus recipe for the Almond Chicken I served this with at dinner.

In fact it was so good I only had time to grab my iPhone to get a picture before it was devoured.  This dish was so fast and easy to make and tasted so amazing that I will be making it many more times for sure.   Maybe the next time I make it I’ll steal some off to my photo table to get more shots.

Let me share just a little about the ingredients before I share the recipe.  Endive might be one of those items you passed over in the grocery store because you were not sure what to do with it.  Let me assure you there are many ways to enjoy endive but more importantly I’m going to give you the reasons why you should give them a try.

Endive are of course low in calories, fat, sodium and cholesterol free.  They are loaded with vitamins and minerals our bodies need such as vitamins B and C, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, folate and selenium.  Plus they are a good source of both beta-carotene and potassium.   If you are looking to have more fiber in your diet and you don’t eat whole grains then endive is a great option since it’s high in complex fibers.  It also aids in digestion including helping to remove toxins from your digestive track.    Are you sold yet?

I love to put them into a pan and sauté or keep them raw and fill them with amazing morsels of shrimp and crab or maybe something as simple as egg salad.  They are really very versatile.  Don’t forget if you are a smoothie or juice goddess like me, toss them into your morning smoothie and get all of those health benefits in your drink.

Mushrooms, especially the Shiitake mushrooms used here are also filled with great health benefits.  Mushrooms are a great source of your B vitamins and minerals such as selenium, copper and potassium.  Mushrooms have been shown to help protect against some cancers and are full of antioxidant power.  But here are my two favorite benefits of mushrooms.  They are one of only a few sources of Vitamin D in real food, not added or fortified.  Plus mushrooms, especially shiitake, oyster and split gill mushrooms contain beta-glucans that have been shown to stimulate immunity in our bodies helping us resist allergies and help in the process to metabolize fats and sugars in our bodies.

So now you see why your body will be doing the happy dance with both endive and mushrooms helping your body stay healthy.  Now this recipe does include pancetta which you can add more or less or even take out completely to keep this a vegetarian and vegan recipe.  Serve this recipe for your best dinner party or your Tuesday night family dinner.   Either way, get these great ingredients on to your plate and into your body.

If you grew up near Philadelphia chances are you have either eaten or heard of scrapple.  It has been a favorite of mine since childhood.  Early on in my gluten-free life I decided I would need to recreate this favorite food that was safe for me to eat.  So using the traditional ingredients minus the wheat flour I shared my Scrapple with you and have been making it ever since.

Lately our house has made more of a shift to a Paleo/Primal diet.  We’ve cut out all grains which meant the cornmeal in my scrapple had to be changed.  The flour I use most often in the house is almond flour.  I’m very thankful for Elana Amsterdam and her blog Elana’s Pantry and her book The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook that introduced me to almond flour cooking and baking.

So out of curiosity I thought I would change up my recipe and swap out almond flour for cornmeal and add in another ingredient that also has a great deal of nutritional benefits.  The result was better than I had hoped for.  We actually like this new scrapple a lot better than my original.  It just goes to show you that you must try new things even when you are unsure of the results, especially in the kitchen.

orange/beet, carrot/orange, kiwi/cucumber

Serve this up for breakfast, lunch or dinner with a bit of fruit and vegetables or you can always drink your fruit and vegetables.

Now a note on bacon.  There is bacon in this recipe and I want to be very clear on what I consider to be the proper type of bacon to keep this recipe Paleo/Primal.  You can buy uncured bacon from pastured pork without nitrates.  Pay attention to the salt content too.