Gluten free? Try this rice salad to start

A reader asked if I could include some gluten free recipes in Vegetarian on a Budget. I haven't eaten gluten free by choice, though a lot of things I eat are, by definition, free of glutens. I thought I'd try out a few things.

A gluten-free diet is a diet that excludes the protein gluten, which is found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye.

Forget about what you think about bread, cake, pie, cookies and even some other dishes. There are some people who argue that oatmeal contains gluten so change what you think about breakfast too.

Like I said, I haven't  consciously eaten gluten free so I had to start simple...besides I had to make something quickly today because I was heading out the door.

So...to the fridge to see what was there that was gluten free and good. In the future, I'll make some dishes that I've put more thought into.

Today, we'll settle for a dish of tasty leftovers combined into a tasty salad.

Thanks for the suggestion, Charlene, this is going to be a fun path to travel.

Gluten Free Rice Salad

4 cups of cooked brown rice, chilled

1/4 cup of oil 

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 carrot, diced

1/2 cup of snow peas, chopped

1/4 cup of rice vinegar

1 stalk of celery, diced

1/2 green (or whatever color you have on hand) pepper

3 green onions

In a small bowl, combine the oil, the salt, the pepper, the sugar and the sesame oil. Stir this combination until all the sugar dissolves.

Pour it over the rice. Toss it all around just to coat all the rice. Set it aside.

Steam the carrots and snow peas, then stir them into the rice.

Add the rest of the ingredients and pop it all in the fridge to cool it down.

Vegan and gluten free