A Summer Staple – Gluten-Free of Course

It’s summer. That long awaited season. When the breeze looses its crisp edge and instead a waft of heavily scented air blows lazily through the windows. Once I sense this shift I start craving summer things. Beach days, flowy skirts and flip-flops.

Oh—and the food. Avocado, lime, and corn salsa, key lime pie, crab cakes, fried clams, crispy onion rings, and drippy ice cream cones (with Nona’s jimmies of course!).

Summer foods, however, take on a slightly different ring when faced with a gluten-free dilemma. Goodbye my favorite fried seafood restaurant and hello to ice cream in a cup.

But, no, this is not something I am willing to accept. You see, I love food. I love food and cooking it more than almost anything else. So this whole gluten-free thing is mearly something I need to work around.

Luckily so many of my favorite summer foods are already gluten-free. Like my all time favorite avocado, lime and corn salsa. But when life throws you lemons (or key limes) why not work around them.

Key Lime pies are super easy, super delicious, and you couldn’t make a more summery dessert if you tried. Despite the fast that we live in New England and key limes don’t naturally pop up in our snowy region, they’re easy to recreate. The typically gluten-full crust is a minor set back but homemade ones taste way better anyway! 

Key Lime Pie 

3 egg yolks

2/3 cups key lime juice (or use the juice of 3 limes and two lemons depending on size)

1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 prepared gluten-free graham crust (recipe to follow)

-Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined and pour into crust.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

-Let cool and refrigerate until completely set. Serve with home-made whipped cream!

Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups gluten-free graham crackers (crushed)

5 tbsp butter (melted)

¼ cup of sugar (brown sugar works too if you are so inclined)

1/8 tsp salt

-Mix all ingredients and press into a lightly greased pie dish and bake for 5-8 minutes.

-Use leftover crumbles for top of the pie.

Whipped Cream

1 pint of whipping or heavy cream

1 heaping table spoon of confectionary (or granulated if you don't mind potential grit) sugar

1 tsp of vanilla.

-Using a stand mixer or a hand-held mixer whip the ingredients together until you get soft peaks being careful not to overwhip -- you don't want to make butter!

Check back for more summer staples! Enjoy!

For additional recipes and posts visit my website at www.thelifeofkerin.blogspot.com!