All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Friday, November 12, 2010

Thanksgiving Countdown: four vegetarian, gluten free starters/salads








This Thanksgiving is going to be a little bit different, with four year old Izzie on a strict gluten-free, dairy-free diet. She is already feeling the isolation of "being different", so my approach is to try to have everything ( except the rolls) within her diet range. Not difficult, with these beautiful appetizers/salads! I like to plate these up ahead of time - I use these square , inexpensive plates from Crate and Barrel.
My father used to start our Thanksgiving dinners with fresh oysters he had dug from Wellfleet Harbor , a fresh, briny beginning to the holiday meal. These salads have the same feeling, with fresh, seasonal ingredients and zesty dressings.
From the top, there's Fresh Shaved Fennel Salad, tossed with parsley olive oil, and lemon or orange juice ( I'll skip the tablespoon of buttermilk) and paper thin strips of fennel bulb.
Next is Roasted Butternut salad with arugula and a tangy pomegratate dressing and shaved parmesan, always pretty and delicious. Just omit the shaved Parmesan for dairy free diets.
Roasted eggplant salad is tossed with parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper and lots of lemon juice, - my favorite new recipe this year!
Last is Crunchy Bok Choy salad with mandarin oranges - another delightfully fresh way to complement the turkey and all the trimmings.
Of course, you don't have to wait for Thanksgiving Day to enjoy these!



9 comments:

Dinetonite said...

wow! That was looking Delicious

katrina said...

Hey, Dinetonight - glad you enjoyed!

Barb said...

I think Izzie is a lucky little girl to have such a talented grandma cooking for her! (I know you can make lots of gluten-free foods - is gluten-free bread good? It would about kill me to not be able to eat good bread!)

katrina said...

Barb - I have no idea if gluten-free bread is good - but I'm determined to try sometime. It must be so hard for her, as her favorites were always pasta and cheese. Luckily, there are some good pastas out there now, I'm told, that are gluten free. Poor sweetie:(

Barb said...

I know you are a fabulous cook and baker (your photos are proof of that!!) but it occured to me that King Arthur has some gluten-free mixes. Have you ever tried any of those? (Don't you just love KA!)

(I'm with Izzie - I love pasta and cheese, too!)

Daphne DeLaurier said...

Hi, Katrina! These salads look lovely! Will be posting a gluten-free gravy recipe tomorrow on my blog and will send you the link :D An early Happy Thanksgiving to you, Izzie, and her family!

katrina said...

Barb, I haven't - yet. I'm hoping to get a feel for how gluten-free baking goes first - but I have picked up some other mixes for Izzie. I haven't heard back, so I don't know if she's tried them yet. Also, King Arthur ( of COURSE I love them!) now has a somewhat pricy gluten-free flour.

katrina said...

Thanks, Daphne! I can't wait to share the day with Izzie and family!

katrina said...

Thanks, Daphne! I can't wait to share the day with Izzie and family!