A big impression

Ah, holiday food traditions. Turkey at Thanksgiving, cookies at Christmas, the Easter ham. And for Memorial Day? The family and/or friend BBQ. There is nothing like lighting a big fire and roasting meat. Now in my family, grilling has taken on new meaning over the last 5 years. Long gone are the days of hot dogs and burgers. Oh no. We grill veggie kabobs, pineapple, salmon, bananas, pizza, shrimp, rosemary chicken...you name it. We like to experiment, try new things. We watch a lot of Bobby Flay. (Dad is addicted to the Food Network.)

So it was quite the nostalgic treat this past Monday when I attended a burger and brat BBQ. No, my family was not revisiting the past. It was someone else's family. The new boy's family. (I don't want to say much about him. Don't want to jinx things. Let's just say he is interested, he's sticking around and I have met his whole family. It is good.) He knows about and understands my dietary needs. Monday was a big deal. Not only was I seeing his whole family congregated in one place, but they were cooking. I was eating. A bit nerve wracking.

Now, my momma taught me that you bring food to a party. It is polite and you just do it. These days I make sure to bring a couple of dishes so that I know I can eat food and the host does not feel the full burden of making a GF meal. Anyhow, they kindly set aside a brat for me (did not soak it in beer.) There were potato chips. I brought along a large fruit salad. Watermelon, grapes, raspberries, pineapple, and bananas. Yum! While the fruit salad is nice, it is the dressing I want to share.

I'm not sure when I started doing this, but if I make a fruit salad there must be a yogurt or sour cream dressing. Put it on the side, mix it in...I don't care. It began as sour cream and powdered sugar. Simple and tasty. This has since evolved. I have realized, though, that I have a bad habit of cooking and not measuring my ingredients. I mix things together and adjust to taste. For those of you interested, here is a rough sketch of what I made:

Ginger Lime Fruit Salad

plain yogurt
juice of one lime
honey
ginger (powdered, paste, or a combination of both)
a mix of fresh seasonal fruits

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. Start with a little bit of the honey (1 T) and ginger (1 t), adding more to taste. Serve with salad.

Wow, not exactly specific. Mainly I just wanted to share the ingredients/flavor combination. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo. I assembled some of the fruit at their house. They might have thought it a bit strange if I started photographing the food the first time I ate with them.

The cool thing is that nearly every person in his family had a friend or co-worker who is gluten free. We are everywhere! After tasting the salad and (later) the GF cookies I baked, I was told I was invited back for dinner again since I brought such wonderful dishes. Yay! Don't worry I will share the GF cookies soon.