Recipes Made in March

Caprese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

During my just-for-fun no-gluten trial, which lasted about one and a half weeks this month, I chose to make this for lunch. And then I made it again. And again. And again. Sure it would be great with crusty slices of bread, but I haven't given in to the carbs with this meal yet. It's substantial on it its own. And it's gorgeous. It's those simple flavors that you can't get enough of.

Lemon Chicken Breasts
I like to watch the Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics on Hulu. In one episode she made this recipe, and I knew I had to try it out because a) it's so easy b) I love the flavor of lemon with chicken. But seriously, let's get back to how serious it is. The only "tedious" part is making the sauce. Then you just pop it all in the oven. I don't ever buy chicken breasts with the skin still on, but I can see how it would be good visually because the skin gets nice and browned. But yeah, the recipe works just fine with skinless chicken. It's a repeat recipe.

Crunchy Noodle Salad

Another no-gluten recipe. Another Barefoot recipe. The recipe doesn't call specifically for gluten-free noodles, but I swapped them for rice noodles I think. My problem with this recipe was that it needed a kick. I think it would have been so much better with lime juice. So next time, I will try it with that. Oh, I also swapped the snap peas out for grated carrots. 

Restaurant Style Steak

Steak was on sale at our local supermarket, and I have a weakness for steak. The herb butter in this recipe was the best part. I made an excess of it, so I kept it in the fridge for later uses. 

Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese

It was chilly day, and I was craving this old standby. Fact: Tomato soup is outstanding when made from scratch. The recipe doesn't say you need to puree it at all, but luckily our kitchen came equipped with a soup blender, so I utilized it. Great leftovers too. 

Lemon, Ginger, and Basil Iced Tea

I'm sorry to say that I am horrible about drinking water. It's so boring! So in an attempt to be healthy, I made this since the flavors sounded fun. It took about a day in the fridge to cool down. I would not advise using basil, or if you do, take it out after a few hours. Leaving it in for a long time makes the water taste... mossy? It was not a good flavor. So I have another batch in the fridge sans basil.

Pico de Gallo

We have a lot of corn tortillas thanks to visitors from the US, so we've been slowly but surely unfreezing batches and nomming on tacos. Last night I made them with this pico de gallo. Oh, Martha, thank you for this recipe. It is perfection. And I could seriously eat the whole batch all by myself. Especially if I had a pitcher of marg to go with it.