gluten-free dairy-free Christmas salad with roasted vegetables and ham and leftovers made into soup

Some very sweet friends invited us for Christmas lunch this past Christmas (gosh, many weeks ago now), so I made a lighter supper for us to have later. 

On Christmas Eve, I roasted sliced sweet potatoes, tomatoes, walnuts, kabocha pumpkin, carrots, and red onions. 

I made a dressing, and I chopped ham and green onions. I washed an apple.

On Christmas night, all I had to do was rewarm the roasted veg in the microwave, rip up some lettuce, slice an apple, shake up the dressing, and put everything on the table for everyone to assemble themselves (along with the ham, green onions, apple, and roasted/toasted walnuts). I also warmed up some bread, but we honestly didn't need it! 

I borrowed the recipe from here. 

(Scroll down to see how I made the leftovers into soup on Boxing Day!)

For the salad, you'll need:

• chopped ham
• chopped green onions
• sliced apple
• roasted sweet potatoes
• roasted tomatoes
• roasted kabocha pumpkin
• roasted red onion
• roasted carrots
• lettuce
• roasted walnuts

For the dressing, mix together: 

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey

For the soup the next day:

• leftover roasted red onion
• leftover roasted kabocha pumpkin
• leftover roasted sweet potatoes
• leftover roasted tomatoes
• leftover roasted carrots
• chopped green onions
• chopped ham
• 1 can chickpeas plus brine
• bacon, chopped
• salt
• pepper
• fresh or dried parsley
• powdered garlic
• veg buollion
• cayenne pepper
• fried onions for topping (I buy gluten-free)

Do this:

Chop and brown the bacon in a stock pot. Throw in all the leftovers except the ham. Add one can of chickpeas plus brine. Add salt, pepper, parsley, powdered garlic, veg boullion, cayenne pepper.

Add water.

Simmer.

Blend. 

Add ham and reheat the soup as needed.

Serve and top with crunchy fried onions.

 

gluten-free dairy-free potato leek bacon soup

This is one of our favorites, and a Mamatouille original, made for my dietary needs. It's scrumptious.

HI MOM! [Added by one Bean when my back was turned.]

You'll need:

• 10 small Japanese potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 or 3 leeks, washed and chopped
• 7 or 8 pieces of bacon, chopped
• 7 cloves garlic, minced
• about 5 cups water
• 2 sachets of veggie bouillon powder
• bacon fat
• salt, pepper, and dried or fresh parsley

For the roux:

• 3 tablespoons dairy-free butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons rice flour or gluten-free flour of choice
• 3 cups soy milk or other dairy-free milk

Do this:

In a large stock pot, saute the bacon in the bacon fat and then add the potatoes, leeks, garlic, water, veggie bouillon, salt, pepper, and parsley. Simmer till the potatoes and leeks are tender.

At the same time, in a separate smaller pot, melt the margarine and whisk in the flour. When it's lump-free, slooooowly add your milk and continue whisking and bubbling until the roux is creamy and thickened.

Once your potatoes are soft, slowly add the roux to the big stock pot. 

Heat it all up together and enjoy with some gusto. 

gluten-free dairy-free sausage sweet potato apple onion casserole

For a wedding present two of my favorite professors from college gave us a copy of the More-with-Less Cookbook, a Mennonite cookbook that is much beloved and much used for the past 23 years in our household. 

I even got my in-laws this book years ago after using it first for a few years myself and knowing that it was worth it.

I've slightly adapted this casserole recipe from the book.

You'll need:

• about 400 g sausage, bulk or links (if links, then chop into small pieces), then browned in a pan
• about 7 or 8 small Japanese sweet potatoes, washed, leaving peel on, slice, and steam
• 2 Japanese apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup warm water 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice flour, or other gluten-free flour
• shakes of cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• few shakes of sage

Do this:

In the pan that you browned the sausage in, remove the sausage, then layer in steamed sweet potatoes, apples, onions, and sausage. I can get two layers in mine.

Mix the warm water, sugar, flour, cinnamon, sage, salt, and pepper, then pour over. 

Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes at 170 C/350 F.

Uncover and bake 10 minutes more. 

Itadakimasu! 

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gluten-free dairy-free apple-rhubarb crumble cheesecake

 

The base cheesecake underneath all this luscious topping is from a Mamatouille recipe here, which is a vegan and dairy-free, gluten-free amazing cheesecake. 

After you've made your cheesecake and chilled it, here's the apple-rhubarb topping that you make and then chill before spreading over the cheesecake. 

For the apple-rhubarb topping, you'll need:

• 3 or 4 apples, peeled and chopped
• a few sticks of rhubarb, chopped
• sugar to taste
• cinnamon
• ginger powder

Do this: 

Simmer the apples and rhubarb with a little bit of water, then add sugar, cinnamon, and ginger powder to taste. Cook till thick, then chill in a jar in the fridge.

For the crumble topping, you'll need:

• rice flour
• almond flour
• chopped walnuts
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• ginger powder
• dairy-free margarine

Do this:

Stir the rice flour, almond flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger powder together. With your hands, work in the margarine till it's a nice consistency, then stir in the chopped walnuts. 

Bake at 170 C/350 F till browned, about 10-12 minutes. Cool. 

For the whipped cream topping, you'll need:

• heavy soy cream
• powdered sugar
• vanilla

Do this: 

Beat till fluffy. 

Assemble it all:

1. Your baked cheesecake

2. Spread on the apple-rhubarb topping, leaving some space on the edges

3. Sprinkle with the crumble topping

4. Pipe the whipped cream around the edges

And then enjoy that sucker! It's extremely filling and magically delicious.

easy potato salad with garlic chives

 

I had leftover "baked" potatoes in their jackets from the microwave, cold in the fridge and uneaten, so I just riffed from there...

You'll need:

• cooked potatoes in their jackets (with peels on), cooled, chopped
• nira (garlic chives), chopped
• mayo
• regular yellow mustard
• Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• paprika
• dried or fresh parsley

Do this:

Mix it all together and have with a sausage smothered in sauerkraut.