Cauliflower Salad

Today I am just going to give you a recipe for a really delicious salad.  I was paging through a gluten free booklet that I found and I saw a lentil and chickpea salad that looked really delicious. I went to the local supermarket and bought .. cauliflower. They didn’t have lentils or chickpeas. When you live in a rural area you get used to it but you also become very resourceful, learning to improvise with what you have. This morning the black Labrador got hold of my Princess Camille (just for a second) and fortunately no damage was done. She definitely knows now that he doesn’t share everyone else’s opinion that she’s just the very cutest girl in town!

The cutest girl in town

I cooked the cauliflower florets. One tiny cauliflower is more than enough for one serving. I fried three rashers of bacon and roasted some pumpkin seeds on the grill. I love having a hot grill always available. Well, when no-one is making burgers or toasted sandwiches it’s available. I crumbled some feta cheese, (homemade –  I’m going to have to share the recipe too) chopped a small tomato and some onion, and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds. Drizzle this with some balsamic vinegar and voila! What a tasty salad. Here’s a more logical version:

 

Gluten Free Cauliflower Salad

1 small head of cauliflower (boiled)

3 rashes Bacon (fried)

1 handful pumpkin seeds (roasted)

1 small tomato

half a small onion

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

sprinkling of sunflower seeds

Toss together in a bowl and drizzle with balsamic vinegar

ENJOY!

Gluten Free Cauliflower Salad (I remembered to take a photo before I finished eating!)

By the way, the banana muffins I posted in a previous blog (Little Foxes) work just as well if you use grated butternut squash instead of bananas and add some orange juice for a lovely citrus taste and the extra moisture needed.

 

 

What’s the difference?

As I was pulling up the weeds in my vegetable garden I was reminded of the parable of the tares. Matthew 13:24-30.

Some of the weeds look exactly like the plants when they start growing eg. Tomatoes. As I was working I was thinking how hard it was to distinguish between the weeds and the plants. I let the plants grow a little before I take out the weeds so that I’m sure I’m not pulling out the plants. And that is how it is with people. Some people really show all the characteristics of believers, but its just for show. At the end of the day when the genuine plants bear fruit there is no fruit to show on the look-alikes. I looked up “tares” and its a weed that looks exactly like wheat when it starts to grow.

This photo actually has nothing to do with this blog. I just thought it was so funny – my husband had been practicing his chipping and a golf ball landed in the centre of the cycad!!

Every person deserves a chance, and its not for me to judge whether he is heaven or not. I’m really grateful that I don’t get to judge because that’s a very scary assignment. Way out of my comfort zone. God will be our judge and He even set out a day for it – The day of Judgement.

On a lighter note, I have discovered the nutritional value of lentils and I’ve made a few different variations of lentil salad. What wonderful little legumes. They’re very low GI, gluten free, and versatile.

To make a salad you boil a cup if brown lentils ( the red ones become mushy) in two cups of water for 25 minutes. Let them cool for a bit and add your favorite salad ingredients. Mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, gerkins etc. Either salad dressing or mayonnaise works well with it.

This salad also has roasted pumpkin seeds and I used Ranch salad dressing that my American friend, Jackie gave me.

Have a great weekend.