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Gluten Free Mother's Day Dinner

Gluten Free Mother's Day Dinner

Salmon over a bed of Asparagus and Quinoa

There is nothing I love more than a fresh piece of wild caught salmon. This is a Mother's Day dinner, I make specially for my mom!

What you need:

1/2 pound of fresh salmon per person

1/4 of quinoa per person

1/3 of a bundle of asparagus person, or about 7-10 stalks.

Chicken broth

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

To Star:

First, take your fresh salmon out of the wrapping and let it sit on a paper towel for a few minutes to absorb any excess moisture or water. Next, put a frying pan on the stove at medium-high heat, and pour in a 2 tsp. of olive oil, or just enough for the entire bottom of the pan to be coated. While you wait for the pan to heat up, get your quinoa simmering. To do that, measure how ever many cups of prepared quinoa you need, and reduce the raw quinoa to half. So, say you need 2 cups of finished quinoa, you will only use 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. Now, measure double the amount of chicken broth as the amount of quinoa and bring it to a boil, in a medium pot. Once the quinoa comes to a boil, reduce it to low and cover.

To start the fish cooking, lightly coat both sides with salt and pepper. Put the fish skin side down, into the heated pan. Add 1 tbsp. of butter. Don't flip the fish too soon. You are looking to get a nice brown crust on the skin, so let cook for 5-7 minutes before flipping. Once the salmon is able to be easily lifted, it is time to flip it. Let the second side cook for 2-3 minutes. To make sure the salmon is fully cooked, it should flake easily. The internal temperature of any fish should reach 145 degrees. Take the salmon of the heat, put it on a plate lined with a paper towel and cover with aluminum foil.

To prepare the asparagus, cut off the end, so the stalk has no hard part. Put the asparagus in the pan you cooked the salmon in at a medium heat and brown the asparagus. Once the asparagus has been slightly browned, add 1-2 tbsp, of butter. Reduce the heat, and allow the butter to caramelize and infuse flavor into the asparagus. Lightly season the asparagus with salt. Let it sit on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Take the asparagus off the heat, and put it on the bottom of the plate you are going to serve. Check to see if the quinoa is fully cooked. There should be no water left, and the white endosperms should have all popped out. Add the quinoa onto the asparagus, and top with the piece of salmon.

 Congratulations, you have just cooked a fantastic meal your mom will love. Even if you burnt it, I'm sure your mom doesn't care! She is just happy you made a meal just for her! I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Gluten Free at Disney World - Part 1.

Gluten Free at Disney World - Part 1.

Last week I visited Disney World, and I want to share a few of my favorite places to go for gluten free food. Disney offers gluten free options at almost every sit-down or quick service restaurant they have, so it is pretty easy to eat gluten free at Disney. 

The first restaurant I would like to share is Harbor House.

  This is one of my favorite restaurants in Disney World!
It is quietly located near the Haunted Mansion in Frontierland and is almost never really busy. The building has two levels, and you can sit either at the lower level or go upstairs into the higher level. You can sit right next to the windows you can see in the picture, and you will overlook the water and boarding area for the Liberty Square River Boat. The prices are average as with any Disney quick service restaurant.















They have one menu for all of the different allergies. Personally, I like the chicken tenders the best, so that is what I got! I also got the Enjoy Life cookie, since it was gluten and dairy free, unlike the OMG It's Gluten Free Cookie.





















They give you a generous serving of fries, which are cooked in a separate fryer, and about 4-5 chicken strips.

The chicken strips a lightly breaded and very moist inside!
The breading is good, but a tad too acidic.















I hope this review and the upcoming reviews help you if you can't decide where to eat at Disney. There are so many great places, but it can be hard to choose, especially since Disney doesn't publish all of the allergy menus.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below!

Review Krusteaz Gluten Free Brownie Mix

                      

Taste: 6.9

Texture: 7.8

Nutrition: 4.7

Cost: 10




This is one of my favorite gluten free brownie mixes! It taste great and isn't expensive at all. I found it at my local Sam's Club for only $6.99, for three packs of brownie mix!!! It's also super easy to make, as most box brownie mixes are.

.

I especially like this brownie mix, because it actually is "certified" gluten free. I am always weary of buying anything without this, because who knows if they properly tested the product!

It looks just like any regular brownie mix.

***Quick Note***
If you're like me, and love eating the batter, do it before you put the egg in, just to be safe!


 The batter taste amazing! It almost didn't make it into the oven.








Finally, the taste of the brownie!

  They have an excellent rich and deep smooth chocolate flavor. The one kind of big thing I don't like about them though is, they have a slightly off-putting burnt flavor. I think it's because they have lots of chocolate chips in the batter, and if you've ever melted chocolate chips, you know they get a very terrible flavor if they are burnt. I even baked a second batch and cooked them less, but I got the same flavor. It's not really bad or noticeable, but if you're super picky, you might notice it... The texture, on the other hand, is flawless!

Initially, these brownies look fantastic nutrition wise! That is, until you see that a serving size is a 2 inch brownie! Who is going to eat one little 2 inch brownie!?! If you're like me, it will wind up being more like two 2 inch brownies.
    Fine.....!  Probably more like 3... ;)

Post Baking Tip!

What I like to do, after I eat a few, is to wrap the rest up in plastic wrap while they are still warm and stick them in the freezer!
This will keep them moist for when you     defrost or microwave them.
Now you have lots of delicious brownies ready whenever you are!

  Please leave any comments, suggestion, or ideas for future reviews in the comment section below!


                                                                        With Love,
                                                       Mel