Monday, August 6, 2012

summer barbecue

Gluten-free eating has been fairly easy when it comes to summer dinners on the backyard barbecue. This is my favorite way to cook with simple, fresh ingredients, so it’s not much of a stretch.

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Peel and devein a pound of shrimp or prawns. Apparently, prawns is the name for freshwater forms of palaemonids, and shrimp is the term for the marine penaeids. In this case, I used large shrimp (although that seems to be a bit of a contradiction in terms).

Throw them on a hot grill and drizzle with a little melted butter (or olive oil) and finely chopped garlic. Cook until the shrimp turns pink, turning frequently, for about two and a half minutes on each side. 

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Serve them with some brown rice, fresh corn (I’ve cut mine off the cob), and sauteed veggies. 

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Spicy, gluten-free chili sauce and this yum yum sauce add a little zest.

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I purchased this sauce in the sushi department at my local grocery, but you can easily make your own.


Yum Yum Sauce
Approx. 12 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Best Foods Mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
A dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:
Blend all ingredients by whisking together until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate overnight.

Yum yum!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

little free libraries


Have you noticed any small wooden boxes set on posts in your neighborhood? While on an evening walk with the doggies recently, Iz and I discovered this charming painted box just a few blocks away...



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It took us a few minutes to figure out what we were looking at. Once we figured out the concept of book trading, we couldn’t wait to come back with books of our own to place in the box. 


The Little Free Libraries is a movement that appears to have started when the son of a former teacher wanted to honor his deceased mother. Todd Bol built a small model of a library, filled it with books, and placed it on the lawn outside his Hudson, Wisconsin home. Sounds like the perfect legacy to a woman who loved books!

No library card necessary. The concept is take a book, return a book. Open 24/7. Apparently, many people find this concept as charming as I do. Little Free Libraries are cropping up on lawns all across the country and several places worldwide. They’ve created a web site where you can find everything you need to get started: plans and pre-made boxes for purchase; ideas for setting up and operating your own little library; and book suggestions for stocking one.

Photo courtesy of Little Free Library

They make me smile too!