Gluten-Free Goddess

Gluten-Free Picnic Recipes - Karina's Faves

2012-05-24T13:20:00.002-07:00

Easy, easy! Grilled veggies for gluten-free pasta salad.

The summer kick-off weekend is here Darling. Let the picnics and grilling begin. June is nigh. 'Tis the season for dining alfresco. From a casual backyard family get-together to post-graduation parties, it's time to celebrate. And time for a little romance- a picnic in the park, a sunset dinner at the beach, feeding each other beneath the stars.

So air out those picnic blankets, blow the winter dust off your beach chairs and wire brush that grill. I've got some fabulous Gluten-Free Goddess® recipes for you. My best top ten gluten-free dairy-free picnic recipes, in fact. And nine of them just so happen to be vegan.

We are moving in less than week.

A stone's throw north, to Studio City. My year at the ocean is winding down fast. As I pack up our last bits and pieces, our favorite pasta bowls, spoons and cake pans, I listen to the waves and breathe in the salt air. This has been a nourishing year. Four seasons by the sea. Seasons that deepened my love for my family, nurtured my marriage, and illuminated my ongoing gratitude for each new day.

May you enjoy a meaningful Memorial Day, defined by love, gratitude, and the support of family and friends.

I'll catch you on the flip side- I'll be blogging from Studio City next week.

Be safe.

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Gluten-Free Pasta Frittata with Kale (Dairy-Free)

2012-05-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Karina's Gluten-Free Pasta Frittata with Kale (Dairy-Free)

It's crunch time here at Casa Allrich. Moving day looms. Packing has begun. I've been sitting on the floor like a cast-off princess in a fairy tale assigned to her individuating task, combing not through haystacks or mountains of tiny grain but musty boxes of thirty-five-year-old letters, stacks of faded photographs and yellowed clippings, evidence of another life allegedly my own. I am struck most by the persistent echoes, the parallels spiked with the quirky twists of fate that led me here, to now, the line between seeking and creating blurring into a narrative that persists in your life like an ache.

We seek what we need to become. We long for the parts of ourselves we discarded out of necessity or people-pleasing acquiescence. Accommodation is a common theme in many a woman's life. Mid-life sharpens this trend into focus in subtle ways. When you begin counting seasons, and fewer summers await you, each choice you've picked up to now- and every discarded loss- becomes bittersweet and ripe with meaning.

All this contemplation and dust as we recycle the last remaining things we carry.

Our life has been whittled and sanded and simplified these last six years. An empty nest has its gifts. From the east coast to the west coast we have pared down and let go with each move (five times in six years). No original furniture remains. We own a sofa (a floor model bought in Marina Del Rey). A bed. Two desks. The truckload of books and old paintings is now a carload.

My boxes of cookbooks have shrunk from twenty to two.

Our move to Studio City is a gesture toward community (writing and film). A move closer to family (both sons- and a new daughter-in-law- live closer to Studio City than Redondo Beach). A move away from the ocean, but toward sun. From fog to heat. Our new neighborhood is a quiet, leafy one, framed in well tended white fenced gardens that rival Provincetown. We walked the block last week. Waist high lavender bushes, roses, iris and honeysuckle feed me in ways concrete and steel cannot. Small town New England is in my bones, I guess. And forever will be.

Today I offer you a recipe spun from the magic of leftover brown rice spaghetti and eggs- a creamy, light frittata. Perfect for when you're simply too tired to cook. Or you have nothing in the fridge but a carton of eggs, half a bag of kale salad and last night's leftover spaghetti in eggplant marinara.

The "cheese" I used was a vegan "mozzarella" (my current favorite is Vegan Gourmet).

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Gluten-Free Zucchini Quinoa Breakfast Cake

2012-05-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Karina's Gluten-Free Zucchini Quinoa Breakfast Cake

Remember those maple sweetened almond zucchini mini-muffins? I do. They've become one of our favorite grab-and-go gluten-free treats. I tuck a bag of them- fresh out of the freezer- into my bulging ~~purse~~ ~~knapsack~~ ~~beach bag~~ tote whenever we venture far afield. Like. The Valley. Because, well. You never know. It can get crazy. In L.A. you might end up jammed on the 405. Stuck as in four lanes = a parking lot stuck. Stuck as in, Dude that's my hunger growling louder than Kurt Cobain's rasp on the rattling radio speaker pleading, What else could I be? All apologies.

I know this from experience. I learned the hard way (the way I learn most things in life). Driving in L.A. can lead to stop-n-go squatting in the baking sun where is my nail file and why did I leave the apartment without food and water and ice in a cooler panic. Because the thirty-three minutes it took yesterday to get to Studio City is seventy-five minutes today.

That's when I started imagining a zucchini cake. For breakfast. On the 405. Heading north (allegedly). To sign a lease. On a new apartment with an ample well planned kitchen and an open living room with a fireplace. And two balconies- one sunny for growing herbs, one shady in the afternoon, facing a quiet leafy green street lined with lavender gardens and rose bushes and honeysuckle and song birds.

We'll be moving in two weeks.

Your intrepid Gluten-Free Goddess has some packing to do.

Good thing we baked a zucchini quinoa cake.

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Strawberry Spinach Salad with Berry Dressing

2012-05-10T11:23:00.002-07:00

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Berry Dressing

The older I get the more I crave simple. The sweet, relaxed comfort of home cooking. An impromptu picnic on the patio with family-style classics like horseradish spiked potato salad and strawberry rhubarb crumble. Instead of growing worldly and sophisticated and dabbling with truffle oil, each new ~~gray~~ silver hair spins my taste hula hooping into simplicity faster than Lady Gaga can waggle. Well, maybe not that fast. She is pretty nimble. But you get my drift. I'm whipping up ten-minute rice stir-fries, not Coq au Vin. I’m blending up pomegranate smoothies, not roasting Duck a l'Orange.

And lucky me, the summer season is all about simplicity. Who needs complicated and fussy when the farmers’ markets are abundant with glorious, fresh ingredients? Vegetables in every color. Ripe and voluptuous fruits. And every one of them gluten-free. And dairy-free. That’s the beauty of it. No imitation here. No game of let’s pretend. This is nature’s bounty, pure and raw and beautiful. No deprivation. Zero. None.

When folks with celiac disease first learn they need to live gluten-free (for life!) a throat tightening panic strikes. In a sudden, blinding flash they begin to mentally catalog every favorite food they must now avoid like the plague. The list begins with sandwich bread for many, and often ends with pizza, bagels, spaghetti or cupcakes (by this point, imagined in all their lustrous glory through an unexpected blur of angry tears). Our wheat-based food culture is insidious, ubiquitous, and gluten saturated. Our nemesis- the grain protein gluten- is infused in or added to too many foods to count (soy sauce, really?).

This is why I gently suggest going naturally gluten-free. At least for starters.

Diving into the complexity of gluten-free baking (with multiple flours and starches), or spending hard earned cash on packaged gluten-free foods full of odd ingredients such as tapioca starch, quinoa flakes and xanthan gum, can pinch not only the budget, but the soul. Taste buds need time to adjust. Your palate was raised on wheat and dairy foods. And trust me- both are acquired tastes. I know this is true, because after years of living gluten-free and dairy-free, I can honestly report that I hold my breath walking past the bread shelves and the gourmet cheese displays at our favorite local market. Baked goods made with wheat flour exude an odd, sickly- sweet aroma that does not smell appetizing. And cheese? When you haven’t eaten dairy in years, it smells exactly like spit up- no offense to babies. And milk? Cow's milk smells like a creepy combo of cheese curds and animal hair.

I am sorry to tell you.

So if you are newly diagnosed, or an old pro celiac who's been tempted by the news of a Domino's gluten-free pizza (just say no!), step back and take a breath. Visit your local farmer’s market this weekend instead. Drink in the gorgeous, gluten-free abundance of the fledgling summer season. Go vegetal. Toss together cool and tangy salads. Grill zucchini, asparagus, and peppers in a rainbow of colors. Blend creamy smoothies with fresh strawberries and coconut milk. Take advantage of juicy, local fruit and make a quick and elegant salad that will lift your spirits and nourish your body. Grab someone you love and dine al fresco

You won’t miss the gluten. I promise.

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How To Make Vegan Pesto

2012-05-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Vegan pesto is all about the herbs and nuts. You won't miss the cheese.

Making pesto is not an exact science. It's intuitive. It's flexible. And lucky for us dairy-free folks- whipping up fresh pesto sauce is easy-as-pie (I should say, easier than pie, because gluten-free vegan pie is not all that easy).

You can whip up a vegan pesto from any combination of fresh herbs, nuts and good tasting olive oil that your little heart desires. You can use cilantro or basil. Or both. Or try a light and fresh combo of mint, basil and parsley- my favorite. Choose pecans or walnuts or traditional pine nuts. Even hazelnuts.

Dairy-free sauce never packed so much goodness.

More than just a pasta sauce- pesto adds a big flavor boost to all kinds of recipes. Stir it into tomato sauce just before serving. Or plop a dollop into a bowl of Italian soup. Add a spoonful to stew. Schmear some on croutons, gluten-free toast and grilled cornbread. It's a fabulous base for pizza toppings.

You can also add pesto to roasted potato wedges and grilled vegetables. Stir it into polenta- or spread it on wedges of broiled polenta. It dresses up rice and risotto, pasta, noodles, and even grilled tortillas. It kicks up salad dressings and hummus.

For flexitarians, pesto is a bright, herbalicious accent for grilled salmon, shrimp, and fish. Not to mention, egg dishes. Pesto and huevos is a match made in ovo-lacto vegetarian heaven.

So even if pesto is considered passé by some, an eighties foodie fad gone by...do we care?

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Gluten-Free Sun-Dried Tomato Bread

2012-04-30T11:36:00.005-07:00

Today's new recipe? Gluten-free sun-dried tomato bread.

Moving season is upon us. Yes, Los Angeles has a moving season. Southern Californians do not like to move in cold weather- in other words, when the mercury dips below the 60º mark. 58 degrees? It's time for UGGs and cocoa and ordering in. Not for hoisting sofas up or down a flight of stairs. Are you crazy?

And yes. We are moving. Come June 1st or thereabouts we are joining the migrating, apartment swapping masses. We are weeding through the promises that bloom on Craigslist (a veritable bouquet of alluring superlatives). Amazing! Gorgeous! Light and bright! And the ever popular- HUGE! This whole searching (and so far, not finding) process inevitably makes me insanely hungry for bread. Not store bought bread. Freshly baked warm from the oven bread. The kind of rustic, crusty loaf that conjures the word hearth. And home.

Because when you're searching for a place to live, nothing whispers home to your soul like the yeasty sweet aroma of baking bread.

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Spring Veggie Dip - Gluten-Free and Vegan

2012-04-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Karina's gluten-free vegan veggie dip with carrot sticks.

Living rootless is a mixed gift bag. There are no neighbors who know my history, or my family. Or even my name (unless they happened to glance by accident at the removable punch-label on our mailbox that sports our shared surname, one half of the story). I have no garden to weed. No leaves to rake. No fence to paint. I walk the city block unnoticed (flirting with invisible) in frayed men's Levi's and a four-year old sweatshirt. I do not mind the anonymity. I find it kind. It suits me. Like my faded Converse One Stars.

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Gluten-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp-Crumble

2012-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Warm from the oven gluten-free crumble with quinoa flakes.

I've been a tad under the weather this week with a mysterious IBS attack (though I think I've uncovered the culprit- chicory also known as inulin, my nemesis) so I am mustering just enough energy to reprise one of my favorite springtime recipes. A fabulous strawberry rhubarb crisp-crumble with a secret ingredient. For you. With love.

We've been blessed with fecund weather here in Southern California. Love is in the air. House finches are singing. Mourning doves coo. Roses are unfolding their velvet petals. Jacaranda trees are budding violet-blue. In other words, picnic perfect.

I've been messing around with crisp and crumble dessert recipes this week, intent on creating an easy summertime dessert for backyard get-togethers and grill side dining. So although I have featured a strawberry rhubarb crisp in the past (kissed with a hint of balsamic vinegar) I decided to play around with an alternative topping to the classic pairing of tart rhubarb and sweet ripe strawberries. And I grabbed a secret ingredient from my pantry.

Can you guess what it is?

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Gluten-Free Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins - Berry Goodness

2012-04-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Gluten-free low sugar whole grain strawberry muffins.

With all the recent news about sugar, I've been thinking about muffins. And not just any ordinary, ho-hum, run-of-the-mill, starchy, gluten-free muffins. Nope. A tender, whole grain, lower sugar, vanilla scented muffin that bursts with fresh strawberry flavor. Warm from the oven, these pleasantly grainy breakfast treats are pull-apart soft with juicy bites of strawberry. Sweet- but not too sweet.

I used pure maple syrup for the primary sweetener, and a mere two tablespoons of organic brown sugar. And now for the interesting part.

I also experimented with no xanthan gum.

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Lemon Infused Pasta Salad with Fresh Herbs and Grilled Asparagus

2012-04-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

A light, lemony vegan pasta salad.

To speak about something as prosaic as pasta salad seems downright odd to me. I mean. It's just a pasta salad. It's something I tossed together with stuff I had on hand. I hadn't planned on it. I didn't spend days contemplating the ins and outs and quirks of gluten-free brown rice penne. In fact, if I'm being unabashedly honest here (and I am- sometimes to a fault, I know) I rarely think about food at all. Until I'm hungry. Until those familiar, nagging pangs begin gnawing their pesky little way into my consciousness, distracting me from my preferred nomenclature- which rarely includes anything edible.

I daydream about paint, the plight of bees, and Clint Mansell's score for Moon. I notice the temperature of light and the curve of negative space against an object. I think about expectations and illusions and perceptions. I ponder where my soul is taking me, tugging at me to pay attention to my life, inviting me through dreams and the random snippets of music or ideas or theories that skitter and skate and ripple the mental stream I wade in day after day, to consider time itself- if I believe in it- sliding by in a cool constant flow of now.

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Living Without Your Daily Bread

2012-04-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

May is celiac disease awareness month.

Living Without Your Daily Bread

by Karina Allrich

Since the birth of agriculture, when our ancestors began to cultivate and harvest grains, human beings have cherished bread. It was a minor miracle, this almost magical transformation of grain into dough. Bread became the staff of life, a daily source of nourishment, symbolic of spiritual renewal.

But what if bread was suddenly poison? What if wheat was toxic, and every bite of a toasted bagel, slice of pizza or forkful of penne inflicted damage to your body?

This scenario is a daily reality for those carrying the gene of an autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease.

Little did I know as I wrote my second cookbook, happily creating recipes for lemon infused pasta primavera and olive-rosemary focaccia, that a hidden twist in my own eclectic heritage would soon disrupt my life. After years of subtle symptoms, an acute phase produced a twenty pound weight loss, joint pain, skin rash, and malabsorption. By December, 2001, I knew I had celiac disease.

According to the Mayo Clinic, celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue or gluten sensitive enteropathy) is on the rise, and more common than previously believed, affecting 1 in 100 Americans.

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Green Chile Egg Bake

2012-03-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

This puffy golden egg bake is easy (and pretty enough for brunch guests).

This simple egg bake recipe flirts with being a souffle. She imagines herself in an Anais Nin novel, puffy and voluptuous, trembling on a sunlit, blossom strewn table, about to be devoured by a Henry Miller style character, an unknown writer, all bluster and Brooklyn guff, with a surprising, childlike glint to his laughter.

In a Kerouac novel she imagines herself liquid, a stream of golden beats syncopated in hot opposition to the heart's rhythm, strangely, vertigo defyingly more in tune with how the stars blink- on and off- cradling her humble, unassuming beginnings in feather injected hay, spinning cool and restless past the farmhouse windows lit yellow by a single lamp on the center of a wooden kitchen table strewn with cereal coupons and finger smudged newspaper and coffee cups stained not with lipstick but with infinite tiny cracks, scenting the air with morning that rushes into this author's highway memory like a distant train whistle crooning its tug toward reckless freedom, toward shed dreams and mockingbird awakenings that mimic the familiar just to confuse you, just to keep you anchored, just to clip you from flying in your own, crazy trajectory, your one chance at what might be possible.

Then again.

Maybe she's just an egg recipe.

With attitude.

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Gluten-Free Pineapple Coconut Muffins

2012-03-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tender pineapple muffins with toasted coconut.

I thought I'd reprise this important post (and fabulous muffin recipe) from a year ago- when the gluten-free community was buzzing from insults on every side. Consider this my UNapology for living gluten-free.

April Fools Day looms. But you won't find any tricks up my sleeve. Unlike the greater, broader world beyond my kitchen that apparently harbors a few individuals contemptuous of living gluten-free. This was a tough week to be a celiac. Assaults ranged from the merely mean-spirited to the stunningly ill informed. There was the alleged chef in Colorado (I say alleged, because it turns out this nudnik may have actually been a waiter) ridiculing gluten-free diners (the term he favored was "idiots") and crowing on Facebook that he passes off regular pasta as gluten-free (join the lively discussion here). There was the Dr. Oz show calling gluten-free a "fad diet", asking is it "just a myth?" (in full disclosure, I believe he meant as a weight loss tool, as a certain gluten-free celebrity has been claiming in her g-free book- ironically, featured on Dr. Oz last year). And finally, there was a famous food blogger-turned-author whose foodie envied blog-to-movie deal has apparently not cultivated much compassion for those of us stricken with gluten sensitivity. She barked on Facebook, "If I have to read one more thing about going gluten free I'm going to stomp on someone's face." And more than one person agreed with her. One of her fans (a food blogger) added, it's "too precious".

Strap on your helmets, Campers. There's not a lot of love out there.

I know this. You know this. Some of you have even shared stories about not only eye-rolling waiters and could-care-less food preparers, but family members sneaking gluten into what they feed you, just to "see what happens". Just to test you.

Let me repeat that.

Family. Feeding you gluten. On purpose.

No wonder strangers feel they can openly spout contempt. If we are not respected within the bosom of our own clan, our flesh and blood, how can we expect random strangers to care?

The truth is, they don't.

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Raw Cashew Dip

2012-03-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Eat it raw baby. Crisp fresh veggies and cashew dip.

I've been eating hummus all weekend. Help. I can't stop. It all started when I whipped up a big batch of my tried and true favorite, a classic chick pea hummus recipe with tahini and lemon (though in full disclosure, I used lime juice instead of lemon). I munched it as a party worthy snack, with retro bunny carrot sticks as we caught the season premiere of Mad Men - sophisticated serial television that just keeps getting better and better, does it not? Mad Men is a show with keen originality, surprises, and rare insights into sexual politics, power, culture, and marriage- not only enlightening those of us who lived through the sixties (I was exactly Sally Draper's age, so many aspects of the show are akin to watching home movies), but connecting the dots that birthed our current consumer pop culture, in all its tarnished glitz and trashy glory.

Then I nestled dollops of the stuff on warm and comforting bowls of brown rice and stir-fried vegetables (recovering from said cultural insights, and newly minted wife-slash-copyrighter Megan's saucy rendition of Zou Bisou Bisou).

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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cornbread Recipe

2012-03-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

A wedge of vanilla cornbread. Gluten-free yum.

This is not your average weeknight cornbread. You know, the one you toss together from a gluten-free mix to serve with a bowl of white chicken chili as you catch up with Mad Men season four. Nope. This tender cake-like cornbread is a pinch more elegant. A gently sweet treat you might serve at high tea with a gaggle of girlfriends (or low tea, depending upon the company you keep). Picture fresh cut flowers on the table, stemmed glasses filled with dewy fresh berries, a pot of Earl Grey tea or organic chamomile buds steeping beneath a cozy.

This is the sort of cornbread that begs to be served with style. That longs to be gussied up. The kind of cornbread you eat with a fork.

A cornbread that secretly dreams of being cake.

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Quinoa with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Leeks and Slivered Almonds

2012-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Gluten-free quinoa with Brussels sprouts, leeks and almonds.

If you've been hanging with me for awhile here on Gluten-Free Goddess, you already know how much I dig quinoa. It's one of my favorite gluten-free grains. I've grown to love- even crave- quinoa's distinct smoky-nutty flavor. More assertive than rice or oatmeal, the taste of quinoa gives gluten-free baked goods and grainy side dishes a certain je ne sais quoi that feels nourishing, healthy, and satisfying all at once. In a very understated, happy blue skies kind of way, I mean.

Not in a pious eat-this-it's-good-for-you kind of way.

Though I'm sure there are plenty of quinoa converts that proselytize its admirable qualities in the nutrition arena (and why not? Its protein profile is a vegan's wet dream) I prefer to love my quinoa on its own unassuming terms. Even though folks have dubbed her Queen of Grains and Mother of all Vegan Goodness in the Bunny Scampering Universe, I love her just because. Without projection. Without expectation. Or assumption.

I meet quinoa where she stands. I accept her for who she is. In all her cute as a button faux grain glory. After all, her botanical name is Goosefoot. Not a very glamorous moniker. Imagine being saddled with that one.

Hey, you! Goosefoot. That's right. I'm talking to you.

Sweet Mother Mary. Can you imagine? No wonder she chose to change her name. Keen-wa is so much sexier.

So Quinoa, honey. What are you doing tonight? Wanna come over? I've got some Adele.

You can even stay for breakfast.

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My Favorite Gluten-Free Spring Recipes

2012-03-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lighten up. Celebrate Spring gluten-free!

Celebrate a Gluten-Free Spring

Spring is here! It's time to lighten up and get your fresh on. So here is a collection of my favorite gluten-free recipes to celebrate. Soups are vibrant, clean and simple, brunch is all about eggs, and quinoa is queen.

Shake off the winter blahs.

Try a new recipe today and wake up your taste buds.

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Gluten-Free Soda Bread: Spotted Dog (and tips on baking gluten-free)

2012-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

This Spotted Dog Irish bread is yeast-free and gluten-free.

If I call this new bread an Irish soda bread, traditionalists will snicker. Raisins are not traditional in an Irish soda bread, you see. If a yeast-free soda bread has raisins in it, it's called Spotted Dog. I never knew this, growing up on the white clapboard wilds of the Connecticut shore. I was blithely ignorant of this quaint canine moniker, despite a hefty streak of familial Irish blood. We ate more pierogies than Irish soda bread. So when I started baking, my Irish soda bread had raisins. Why not?

When it comes to traditions, I admit, I'm an upstart. I wiggle and chafe beneath constraint and "should" like an itchy little girl with pinching new shoes. I admire traditions. From afar. At least, in theory. In an abstract, symbolic way. The meaning and the message is more interesting to me than formula. When it comes to formula, I usually prefer to wing it.

Which is why I enjoy gluten-free baking.

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Easy Crispy Kale Chips

2012-03-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

Crispy kale chips with sea salt.

You've heard the news, right? It's all over the blogsphere. And foodie sites galore. Bunny food rocks. Dark leafy greens just might save our lives, so packed are they with deeply needed nourishment and nutrition. And kale! Tuscan kale is the queenly green It Girl.

I resisted her charms at first, I admit. I tip-toed into kale territory last year, with a hefty head of curly kale. And found it, shall we say, a tad, um, swampy. For my taste, anyway. I'm a woman who loves wedge salad, after all, believing (without irony) that a thick slice of crisp, cold iceberg lettuce is the perfect summer vegetable. And highly underrated.

But Tuscan kale- with its long slim elegance (sometimes known as Lacinato or dinosaur kale) has decidedly won my undying loyalty- especially when roasted in olive oil.

And toasted to a crispy crunchy whisper of a chip.

It's like an ugly potato chip. Sans the guilt of a potato chip. You get the pleasing, delicate crunch. Then a burst of briny green flavor. An aftershock of bitterness. Which perks up your taste buds. And if you haven't Botoxed your forehead, may even raise an eyebrow. Or two.

The odd sensation you will feel next is your body murmuring, Thank you.

Followed quickly by, More please.

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Gluten-Free Pan Fried Catfish

2012-03-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Golden pan fried catfish fillet with crisp baby greens and brown rice.

One of the juicy, inspiring gifts of an empty nest is the big sky freedom to pull up roots and wander. And Darling, have we been wandering. We are gypsies. Moving six times since selling our family home back on Cape Cod five years ago, each time moving south, migrating west. Each time selling off more books, discarding the outworn. Until we reached the sea again.

After years of oceanic dreaming I finally call the beach my home.

I wake to the rhythmic crash of the waves. I open windows and fill the rooms with sea glass sunlight and salt air. My pillows and bedding smell like surf.

I can breathe here. I can paint here. I can cup my hands and carve the space to imagine new things.

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Frosted Carrot Quinoa Bars

2012-03-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

Frosted carrot quinoa bars. Gluten-free. Dairy-free.

My intrepid husband slash sous chef was craving a carrot cake style quinoa bar for a mid-morning snack. To be exact, he said, Hey. I'm craving a carrot cake style quinoa breakfast bar. You know. For breakfast. To which yours truly replied, Look who wants to get fancy. My chocolate chip quinoa breakfast bars aren't good enough for you? Now you need frosting? To which said long suffering husband replied, Frosting makes everything better.

Who am I to argue with that?

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Turkey Meatballs with Asian Style Noodles

2012-02-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Light and tempting turkey meatballs with fresh herbs, ginger and lime.

Okay, I confess. I admit it. When it comes to this recipe? I was totally inspired by Jamie Oliver and his Jamie's Food Revolution. I loved the flash mob stir-fry dance at Marshall University in episode four (view here at WabiSabi, one of the participants). The energy, spirit and creativity of the students, the killer combo of cooking and dance, with a generous dash of self expression and celebration got this creaky gluten-free goddess off the couch and movin', Baby.

Not to mention, craving a pan-tossed noodle stir-fry.

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Gluten-Free Orange Scented Soda Bread

2012-02-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Good morning! Gluten-free orange scented soda bread.

Confession. I wasn't into Valentine's Day this year. Not that I have anything against love. Or chocolate. Or roses. That would make me a stone cold cynic. The prickly sort who kicks away puppies. Or grimaces at kittens and babies. I don't indulge in any such blasphemy.

Though I may be, shall we say, a tad older than the estrogen-fueled audience targeted for Valentine's Day, I am not cantankerous. Yet. Or without sympathy. It's just that I find the accoutrements to our consumerist version of love rather ridiculous. All that red lace. Glitter lipstick. And goddess forbid. Thongs.

I'd rather bake a soda bread. In my flannel PJ's.

Last year we baked mac and cheese for our dinner 'o love. And settled in with a Mad Men DVD. This year it was a tofu stir-fry and a two-hour episode of Downton Abbey 2. I will miss that show madly when it ends- this Sunday! What will I do without Violet, Dowager Countess? Her wit and wisdom?

Perhaps this orange soda bread will help keep my spirits from flagging.

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Recipes for Love

2012-02-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

Romantic chocolate recipes- gluten-free.

How do I love thee, Dear Reader? Let me count the ways. And if you wouldn't mind indulging me (just a little) let me count them in chocolate- that buttery dark bitter sweetness that coaxes even the no good very bad surliest day to soften its grip.

Consider this my gluten-free chocolate valentine to you.

For starters, let me thank you with a wake-up call. How about velvety Chocolate Muffins in bed? Served with your favorite morning beverage, of course. And for your mid-morning pick-me-up, let me tickle your fancy with a plate of crunchy pecan studded chocolate biscotti (you can dunk or not, Darling, it's up to you).

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Kale Salad with Quinoa, Tangerines and Roasted Almonds

2012-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Kale salad with tangerines, quinoa, and almonds.

Something has frozen over. Or maybe pigs are flying. I actually, um, like kale. After all my mocking, my nose crinkling, my eye rolling. After tweeting disparagingly about the taste of this dark leafy green (I believe the word I used was swampy). Behold. I am converted. I have seen the light.

The turning point? Lacinato kale (also called Tuscan black kale, or dinosaur kale). The long, slender leaves are delightfully un-swamp like. And unlike many good-for-you greens, there is little bitterness to harsh your mellow. Lacinato (like its curly kale cousin) does benefit from massage- especially in silky extra virgin olive oil. But then Darling- what doesn't?

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