First Flagstaff Dinner Party

Last weekend, we finally finished decorating the apartment by hanging pictures and putting out some of our “pretties.” It finally feels like a real home and we are surrounded by things we enjoy. With a smaller space, it did challenge us to narrow down and edit. It also pushed us to be a little more creative with the arrangement of stuff, so we have put some items in new places this time around. Having the goal of finishing our decorating was motivated by the fact that we had invited over some of our new friends that helped us move of all our crap in a few weeks earlier.

We had a few menu challenges in that we had a wheat allergy and several veg heads. Really, I didn’t mind. It gave me a chance to push us from a culinary standpoint and do some online research of gluten free food blogs. J seemed very touched that we went to that extra effort and said normally she just deals with whatever is being served and works around it. It was really no big deal to us and I got some extra warm fuzzies from the appreciation she expressed in being able to eat everything that was being served without any worries of allergic reactions. I am not sure that I have really had any regular contact with anyone who has issues with gluten, but several of my new co-workers have to avoid them so it has been on my radar a lot more lately. I never realized what a challenge that must be until I planned this menu. The menu itself was not hard or unusual from foods we would normally eat, but it just took more intentionality in being aware of the ingredients being used. So, onto the food! Here is the menu with links to recipes. I have a couple of pictures, but I am still struggling with being in the mindset of taking pictures of everything, both in progress and the final products, while cooking.

Coleslaw with Peanut Dressing from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog: We followed this recipe with

the exception of changing the agave nectar to honey and we added some green onion. Our veggies came from the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market. Yum!

Toasted Quinoa, Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella Salad from Cooking Light: This has been one of our go to recipes for a couple of years now. It is a great pot luck recipe and is always well-received. Neither of us are big cucumber fans, so we tend to leave those out. The tomatoes came from the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market.

Indian Chickpeas and Spinach in a Tomato Cream Sauce from the Savory, Spicy Sweet Blog: This super simple recipe has become a favorite and staple in our house and seemed like the perfect vegetarian, wheat free main dish to serve. Typically, we only use one can of beans and use coconut milk instead of cream. It is ridiculously easy if you keep these types of ingredients in your house on a regular basis like we do. Seriously, try it, this week.

Flourless Chocolate Cake from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog: This was the icing on the cake, so to speak. I only have three words to describe it. OH…. MY…. GOD…. Seriously rich, seriously tasty, seriously easy. I made the whole thing in our food processor. The only problem with that is that it exceeded the liquid level of our processor bowl… so R had to help me lift it out with the blade still in the bowl to avoid it going everywhere through the middle hole part.