Clean Eating Coconut Blueberry Quinoa with Lime Recipe Review

Clean Eating Coconut Blueberry Lime Quinoa

a mouthful, yes, but a fairly yummy one

Click here to view the full recipe at The Gracious Pantry

This recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs: The Gracious Pantry. Tiffany's site was one of the first blogs I started following, and her posts always inspire me to experiment, use fresh ingredients, and never let my kitchen intimidate me. Her writing style is very friendly, her recipes are always straightforward, and because she is always trying something new, you are bound to find something you'll like. While she isn't strictly speaking gluten-free, many of her recipes are or can easily be adapted to become gluten-free. In a nutshell--go check out this site!

Now, on to the recipe. Tiffany originally described this as a "breakfast 'salad'" created out of her desire to mix things up in the AM (like I said, she's always experimenting), but it could probably work as an afternoon snack or possibly even a side dish for a summer barbecue. Quinoa seems to be all the rage now, so that makes this recipe both tasty AND trendy--a combination sure to impress your guests, whether they are gluten-free or not!

The basic recipe is fairly simple, and preparing the quinoa is the only cooking required, so it comes together in a few minutes. If you don't like one of the original ingredients, you can easily swap them out for something you prefer. If you think of this recipe as an inspiration piece, it can open up a whole world of other options, using quinoa and fresh fruit as the base.

The ingredients

• cooked quinoa
• light coconut milk
• fresh lime juice
• fresh blueberries
• honey

A few notes

1. The lime juice was a little strong for me, so consider reducing the amount or substituting a different juice. I think lemon juice would pair nicely with the blueberries.
2. I used a small handful of shredded coconut and sliced almonds more or less as a garnish. It was a nice finishing touch, and added a nice taste boost as well.

How would you customize this dish to suit your taste buds?

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Coconut Ice Cream Recipe Review

Coconut Ice Cream Recipe Review

WARNING: Deliciousness ahead!

I recently tried this recipe for dairy-free, gluten-free coconut ice cream from Sandi's Allergy Free Recipes, and--WOW--am I glad I did. It was easy-to-make, required few ingredients, and tasted oh-so-good. If you have the double-whammy of a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, it is definitely worth checking out.

Click here to view the full recipe at Sandi's Allergy Free Recipes

The ingredients:

• canned coconut milk
• honey (or desired sweetener)
• vanilla extract
• egg yolks
• sea salt

And a few notes:

1. The recipe directs you to refrigerate the canned coconut milk overnight before using it. Make sure the cans are unopened when you do this, or the milk won't set up correctly (FYI: This is also true if you are looking to make the "coconut whipped cream" that is all over Pinterest). Personally, I used one unopened chilled can and one open chilled can, and it turned out just fine.
2. I used regular old sugar rather than honey. I am too cheap (and lazy?) for any fancy sweeteners, and I don't mind refined sugar.
3. I completely forgot to add vanilla extract and sea salt. Oops. It still tasted great.
4. The recipe calls calls for egg yolks, and I immediately wondered why you couldn't just use whole eggs. I did a quick Google search, and the short answers are a) It's tradition b) Egg whites taste "eggy" c) Egg whites contain water, which may lead to ice crystals in your ice cream.

Enjoy!

I know my pint-sized sous chef and I certainly did!