Pumpkin Polenta With Browned Butter & Sage | Guest Post From The Pig & Quill

I want to introduce you all to my lovely friend Emily! She writes the witty and oh-so-delicious blog The Pig & Quill. I dare you to go to her page and not drool all over your computer screen. Seriously. Do it.  Now excuse me while I go and try to figure out a way to take a bath in this polenta! 

Hi friends! Emily here. First off, so many thanks to that funny lady ya’ll like so much, Gina, for having me over to her place. Isn’t she great? All this talk about sometimes wearing pants and polar bears that can use the phone – and homegirl knows how to milk a nut, just saying.

Over at my usual digs, I do a little bit of clean cooking dirtied up with the occasional side of pig, young adult novel references and 90’s dance tracks, but today I’m here whipping up a gluten-free ditty that’ll feel right at home on your supper table come this holiday season.

My weekend started with a trip to Trader Joe’s, which, it turns out, is going GANGBUSTERS with pumpkin stuff. Cake mix to the left, ice cream to the right – all sporting big, imaginary “PIN IT” buttons (Arby’s Hat-style, of course), because if there’s one thing Pinterest has taught me to love, it’s Oreos melted cheese mason jars pumpkin. […]

One-Pan Crispy Chicken Legs & Brussels Sprouts {Gluten-Free & Paleo}

Brussels sprouts, oh how I love thee. It’s taken us a long time to get here, but I’m so glad we did.
When I was a kid, I was fairly certain Brussels sprouts were evil. These were clearly tiny cabbages made of nightmares, sent here to earth by aliens  in order to slowly poison us humans (I’ve always has a slight flare for the dramatic). It’s not that my parents were forcing me to eat them. Quite the contrary. We never ate sprouts at home, ever. I think my parents were also skeptical that these lil’ veggies weren’t indeed just the devil neatly disguised in a tiny cabbage suit. If my mom (the Lima Bean Pusher) was skeptical of a vegetable, I was pretty sure it must be  heinous. The only time I had fully experienced the Brussels sprout was through a friend. I was staying the night at friends house, and her mother insisted I eat my vegetables before I left the table. I thought, sure. Fine. I love veggies. This should be no big deal. And, then it happened. A slotted spoon emerged from a pot of lightly stained green liquid. A mushy pile of lifeless sprouts made a sad little mountain on my plate. These sprouts were boiled to disaster. They were bitter and mushy. I had entered into my own nightmare, and the only way out was with hasty large bites and a lot of water. Awful.  […]

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

Back up, Dudes. This girl totally learned how to grill this summer!  That’s right, I made fire. I made the charcoal glow. I totally put stuff over it and let it get all warm and crispy. I flexed my inner stud-muffin and grilled the heck out of  meats and veggies alike!  Did I almost light my hair on fire? Maybe. But you know… there’s always a learning curve. Me + Fire + General Clumsiness = Could have been worse. I think I might make my husband nervous. Even though I told him to back off, and in his attempt to not tell me what to do (because, really…who likes that?)  I can see him peeking at me from the other side of our sliding glass doors. Probably best. It’s always good to have a teammate when you set your hair on fire. One person to scream (me) one person to extinguish (him).

So… we all have vegetarian friends, right? I know I do. For some reason most of my really close friends are of the non-meat eating varietal. This used to stress me out. Am I allowed to say that? I know, I know, weird right? This coming from the girl who doesn’t eat gluten. Look at that big fat double standard, eh? I’m sure my gluten eating friends totally talk about how frustrating it is to feed me. It’s cool. We make due. I respect you. Let’s all just have a glass of wine. That’s vegetarian. I think it’s even vegan. If we found a bottle of wine in a back alley, that would technically be freegan. Beautiful. I like where this is going. It’s most likely going to end with a lot of exuberant dancing and a headache.  […]

Cherry Tomato & Goat Cheese Galette {Gluten-Free}

I know, I know. Here I go about tomatoes again. But, OMG…

You guys. I totally didn’t kill my tomatoes this year.

This is BIG news. As someone who is enthusiastic about growing things, it can be slightly disheartening when I kill my succulents. Correct. I have killed various cacti in my gardening career. Don’t even get me started with my various vegetable growing flops. It’s a sad scene.

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