Gluten Free Tabbouleh

This was another dish I decided to take to the BBQ/Housewarming we went to on Saturday. Super easy to put together and the final dish is quite tasty. You can eat it as just a side dish or get yourself some pitas and eat it with that.

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package directions

1 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

5 green onions, finely chopped

2 cups small grape tomatoes, halved

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, thinly sliced

Juice of 1 to 2 lemons, more to taste

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients together in a large serving bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Serve room temperature or chilled.

Chocolate Meringue Cookies

I went to a BBQ/Housewarming party yesterday and decided to take these tasty little treats. For one, they're gluten free which makes them perfect for people on a gluten free diet, and two, they're really easy to make! And quite delicious I might add. I decided to scale the recipe up to 24 servings so below are the following measurements I used. I also decided to pulverize the sugar in a food processor to make it really fine. I then put the chocolate chips in the food processor and made them almost like chocolate crumbs. Mmmmmmmmm, chocolate in every bite.

4 egg whites
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup and 2 tbsp. and 1 tsp. white sugar
1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup and 3 tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Combine egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla. Beat until the whites form soft peaks. Slowly add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form and mixture becomes glossy. Fold in cocoa and chocolate chips.

Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls on to a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes.