This is what I do on my day off...

So many ingredients for Gluten free bread

My new mixer. What should we name her?

Dan Lepard's Gluten Free White Bread  - resting

Jeanne's (@fourchickens) Sourdough

White Bread Rising!

1 batch of English Muffins in a pan

Making some English Muffins in the skillet

The sourdough WON'T stop growing!

English Muffins - millet, sorghum, brown rice, potato starch, tapioca starch

Oh, how I've missed you...

Holey Bread. So yum.

Can't wait to toast this.

Sourdough monster - I don't have a Dutch oven so I used my high sided round pan

Sourdough - delish with garlic butter

Getting ready to BBQ on the deck

The neighbour dog taking herself for a walk

Chicken Thighs, Grilled Broccoli and Cauliflower, Carrots, Onions, Peppers in Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto

Buffalo Wing and BBQ

Grilled Veggies

Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!

The smells of fresh herbs in the garden... Anyone can grow herbs and they are almost always going to grow just fine. My garden is bursting with oregano, thyme and rosemary. The vegetables didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped this year. Too much heat at the wrong time I think.

The brussel sprouts just didn't sprout, the beans looked deformed, the onion sets never took and the peas just tangled with the onions. My roma tomatoes did just fine and my pepper plants flourished. I must go pick some of the jalepenos though. I have some peppers drying inside for an upcoming chipotle dish.

I picked some of the basil early to make some pesto and we didn't have as much as I would have liked near the end of the summer. Off to the market and we came home with a nice large bouquet of basil.

I could definitely make more with this batch.

Years ago, at a restaurant I worked at, they made a pesto dipping oil for the bread for guests. I never enjoyed it then. I don't know what was wrong with me. A couple years ago, I bought a pesto dip/sauce/just pesto in a fancy jar at a festival and then I brought it to a party along with a baguette and some extra oil to make it a bit more of a dipping oil. It was incredibly addictive mainly because of all the garlic in it I think.

There are so many pesto recipes out there. I don't enjoy pine nuts and there are plenty of alternatives out there such as walnuts or almonds but I choose to leave it out altogether.

Easy Pesto

• 4 cups loosely packed basil, washed and dry
• 3-5 cloves of garlic or more - Hey, why not? I have no one to kiss.
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste

I throw all the ingredients into the Ninja ( food processor) and give it a few pulses.

Voila!!

I added lots of oil to it afterwards to swirl it up.

I had some Italian flatbread from GF Patisserie, and warmed it for a nice bread to dip.

We'd recently bought some fresh mozzarella to make Insalata Caprese... fresh tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt and pepper, maybe a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if you're feeling crazy.

We had just come from the market and I was planning on having some bread with pesto and since we had fresh cherry tomatoes, I decided to change up the Caprese a little.

Little ripe cherry tomatoes...

Fresh pesto...

And small chunks of fresh mozzarella...

The basil thoroughly mixes with the tomatoes and cheese for much grander flavour.

Another day, I wanted to make something along the lines of My Sundried Tomato and Basil Cheese Dip.

I was making some of the Easy Pesto and placed about 7 pieces of sundried tomatoes in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes until they plumped back up. Then I added them to the Ninja processor and pulsed it all on up.

I poured a little olive oil on some baguette from Aidan's Gluten Free and broiled it for a couple minutes and then added some of the Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto. Delicieux!

And to round out the Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!, a delightful little number I like to call Sundried Tomato Basil Stuffed Chicken. A little chicken, a little cheese, a little STB pesto, grilled on up...

Fresh new potatoes, green and yellow beans with dill and parmesan

I think I won't have enough frozen pesto to last out the year. Might need to start growing some indoors I think!

This post is linked to Simply Gluten Free's Gluten Free Photo Contest.

Sundried Tomato and Basil Cheese Dip

Oh the colors... perfect for the holidays. The creamy white cheese, the fresh green basil and the dark red sundried tomatoes all combine to create a festive party appetizer.

I'm always asked for the recipe and it really couldn't be simpler.

I make it two ways. There's the classic way and there's the messy way. Go for whichever one you prefer.
I don't even have any exact measurements for it in fact.


Havarti cheese, fresh basil, sundried tomatoes ( not the ones that are oil-packed ), garlic, salt and pepper. Sound easy enough?


Let's get started.

Boil a couple cups of water and let the tomatoes rehydrate for about 10 minutes while you work on the basil and garlic.

Rinse and dry your basil and pull off all the leaves. Roll them up and then chiffonade and chop the basil into small pieces.

Take your garlic cloves and peel them and then mince them all up. I'd use 3 cloves for this size piece of cheese. I only used 2 here and found it could use a little more.



Now that your tomatoes have soaked up some of the water and become grown-up tomatoes again, drain and chop them up. My knives are never sharp enough so I cut them into pieces with scissors sometimes.

Time to make the cheesy dip!!

Toss your tomatoes, garlic and basil together and season with salt and pepper to taste.


Here's where the 2 ways to make this come in.

You can lay the cheese in a nice bowl and spread the tomatoes and basil over top. We're going to microwave it until it's nice and melty so then you can dig in and get a nice cheesy smear.


Or

You can coarsely cut the cheese into small cubes and mix it into the tomatoes and basil. This way, when you melt the cheese, it's all mixed up for you.


For a party, the first way is more presentable but I like to make this and then freeze some and the second way makes this a little easier.

Stick it in the microwave for about 1 minute or until it's all nice and melty.

To finish it off, if you don't have a nice gluten-free baguette all sliced and ready to go, I like Rice Works Sea Salt Crisps.



Grab a crisp and smear some cheesy dip all over it!

Check this out for more party ideas!!








Since it's summer and basil is growing like crazy, check out more basil recipes here.  The W.H.O.L.E Gang's Friday Foodie Fix - Basil



Enjoy!!