Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Corn Muffins


Pumpkin Corn Muffin Recipe
Gluten-free corn muffins with a pumpkin twist.


Pumpkin + Cornmeal


Today's muffin recipe is seasonal favorite- a tender and golden pumpkin corn muffin. It's one of the most popular recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess.

The coyotes were up bright and early this morning, yelping in the cool blue air as my old English tea kettle sputtered and complained. Tea for breakfast is not an efficient way to wake up. It's more of a coaxing than the throttle of a double espresso fueled Americano, but right here, right now, it will have to do. At least this week.

The closest cafe is an hour's drive away. 

When people ask what it is I miss most living out here in the wide, rural desert, my answer varies.

But the contender list is growing...

Maple trees
Songbirds
Ocean surf
Sea air
Green leaves
Wet bark
Woodsy paths
Thickets
Cafes
Bookstores
Espresso
Vintage finds
Beachcombing
Lilacs

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Recipe Index

Yep. No Wheat. No Gluten. No Dairy.


Welcome to my Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Recipe Index. This GFCF recipe collection is a labor of love dedicated to all the beautiful folks out there coping with celiac disease, wheat and milk allergies, lactose intolerance, and all the aspie and autistic angels out there- and the ASD families supporting neurodiversity with their own daily labors of love. I hope to make your day a little more delicious. 

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Moroccan Coconut & Chick Pea Soup


Spices for Karina's Moroccan Coconut Chick Pea Soup Recipe
A delicious gluten-free soup with Moroccan flavors


The Best Exotic Soup Recipe- Evah?


On a whim I threw together this North African inspired fusion of flavors led by cravings and intuition. We slurped it down and scraped our bowls. Turns out that sweet potatoes, chick peas, roasted green chiles and coconut milk make for one scrumptious soup. I think you'll love it.

Dairy-free never tasted so good.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Whole Foods Market Food Blogger Budget Recipe Challenge


Gluten-Free Goddess blog has made it into the finals for The Whole Foods Market Food Blogger Budget Recipe Challenge. The recipe? A personal (and family) favorite- my Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas. Why am I mentioning this? Because, Dear Reader, if you visit and vote for my vegetarian enchilada recipe, you just might win a $500 Whole Foods Gift Card- and other prizes!

How cool is that?

This audience sweepstakes will run from today through Wednesday, October 8th. Anyone who posts a comment on any of the contest recipes (at the Whole Foods website only) will be automatically entered to win a $500 gift card or other prizes. So please support Gluten-Free Goddess by giving the Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchilada recipe some comment LOVE.

The winning recipe will be selected primarily on audience feedback, and the winning blogger will receive $250 worth of Whole Foods gift cards (I'm giving mine to my two sons, Colin and Alex, if I win). The winning recipe will also be featured on the Whole Foods website.

Starting this Friday, September 26, 2008 the Whole Story blog will feature a daily Q+A with one of the 6 finalists.

And much good luck to my blogging pals: Hannah, Jaden, and Rachel!

Stay tuned-

And thank you for your support!


Saturday, September 20, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Blue Corn Muffins with Green Chiles


Harvest time in New Mexico is just an excuse to declare a fiesta and eat roasted green chiles and corn until the cows come home. Or you turn blue. I'm not kidding. I can't keep up. I love me my Green Chile as much as the next Gringa, but. Breakfast, lunch and dinner? Hola. Maybe I lack the gene. I'm starting to crave lettuce. Celery sticks. I'm dreaming of multi-colored cherry tomatoes. Something crisp and raw and fresh.

You know, bunny food.

And speaking of blue, higher-in-protein blue corn just happens to be a New Mexican specialty. (There's even a Blue Corn Cafe in Santa Fe, and rumor has it- if you call ahead they'll accomodate a gluten-free request). When you bake with blue cornmeal it it isn't exactly blue, I find. More like dark green. But maybe it's just me. We all see colors differently you know.

No two people see the exact same shade of blue. Kinda like politics. And life.


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Monday, September 15, 2008

Gluten-Free Pasta with Homemade Ragù Sauce

Jarred sauce? Nah. Make your own ragù- it's easy.


Homemade Pasta Sauce. Si.


Before I share my new ragù pasta sauce recipe, I have a note about the blog. Gluten-Free Goddess now has a FAQ page. (Thank you, David Lebovitz for the reader-friendly blogging tip.) What took me so long? Who knows, Babycakes. I sure don't. I could blame it on my preoccupation with Mad Men. Or hot flashes. Or the simple fact that living way out here in the sand swept hills of Northern New Mexico is making me crazy. Not shooting caribou from a helicopter crazy, but. 

Crazy enough.

At any rate, now that I've come to my senses (I'm sure it's only temporary) you, Dear Reader, will find a platter of helpful links and answers to the most frequent questions asked here at the brand spankin' new Gluten-Free Goddess FAQ page. If I've overlooked anything obvious or important, I'm sure you'll let me know- won't you?

On to ragù! Up until quite recently I had never attempted a meat ragù. My red gravy of choice was always a simple vegetarian marinara sauce with plenty of garlic and basil- vegan by default (and choice). It's a recipe that I've been simmering on my stove or in my slow cooker for years. Decades, in fact. Way better than the jarred stuff. Sometimes I add ground turkey. Or free range organic beef.

Here's the recipe.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Friday, September 12, 2008

Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies






Espresso laced chocolate chip cookies- gluten-free + vegan.


You knew it was only a matter of time before I'd post another cookie recipe. I love baking cookies- it's painfully obvious. (What the bleep else are you going to do in the desert, stuck out in the middle of sand and pinon with no neighbors to speak of- if you don't count the coyotes and stink bugs, that is?)

That's right. You start thinking about gluten-free flours and raw agave nectar and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You conjure cookie dough in your mind's eye- a richly flavored hearty dough made with buckwheat, millet and quinoa flours. You add a generous dusting of cinnamon. Some strong and hot espresso. Bourbon vanilla.

You taste the dough on your fingers.

This is gonna work, you say out loud. So you write it all down on a slip of paper. You slide a baking sheet into the waiting oven. The kitchen starts to smell like the bakery in Stranger Than Fiction. Warm and spicy and sweet all at once. (What, you don't have Smellavision?)

Your husband walks through the pink stained wooden door. He smiles.

Here, you say, breaking apart a tender, melting biscuit and lifting it to his lips.

Have a cookie.



READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Roasted Corn Chowder with Lime

View toward Abiquiu by Karina Allrich
View toward Abiquiu, New Mexico.


Roasted Corn Chowder with Lime


A young rattlesnake curled on a flat warm stone by the laundry room door yesterday. So easy to miss, I almost walked right by him as I carried a basket of rolled clean socks and sleeve-tucked tee shirts. He was next to invisible, pristine and silent, his distinctive pattern dovetailed into pinon-filtered sunlight.

It was pure animal instinct to turn my gaze left and spot him. One sharpened second out of my usual preoccupied saunter. I backed away and sprinted (with a moment of rare agility) into the casita to fetch Steve.

I think you should see this! I blurted, interrupting his work at the laptop. My husband didn't hesitate. He's found the Save key before I can deposit my dryer warmed cargo on the bed. He knows the desert gives up unexpected gifts. He doesn't want to miss a trick.

We stared in tandem at the tiny threat for three minutes until the youngster uncurled and nosed himself back into the rock embankment.

After all the excitement, I settled in with a mug of tea and searched through blogs, looking for some indefinable solace or connection. One moment of relief from my isolation. Looking for others navigating the serpentine process named the incomprehensible name of peri-menopause.

What I found instead was one veiled advertisement after another. Chatter about soy and phyto-estrogen creams. Herbal remedies promising relief. A litany of symptoms and wallet emptying cures.

But no wild wisdom.

The perky Remember, it’s natural! doesn’t help me much through this intricate, sweaty mess, Darling. It does nothing to quell my dizzying, racing heart. We seem a generation without much guidance in these feminine arts beyond denial. We really have no ample bosomed baudy comfort. No grinning painted shaman. At least I don't. Every woman before me in my extended family had hysterectomies. Cutting out the sickened uterus. Circumventing hysteria (the root word and meta implication after all). Then came the HRT they swallowed with promises of eternal youth conquering the cruelty of Nature via horse urine.

When I was new in this process, oh yeah. I tried the yam creams. The vitamin E. The herbal teas. The yoga poses. After awhile you begin to weigh the cost and benefit of all this focused energy. You get tired of fighting. Fighting It. Cajoling It. It's exhausting, and I exhausted and bored myself with all the research and reading. What I spent on menopause books and yam cream could have bought several cases of organic dark chocolate.

Twelve years into it now, I just feel ridiculous.

How many hot flashes does it take? How many sweaty necks and palms and damp upper lips- as you stand in the bank lobby listening to a mortgage broker discuss the local art scene (and it is all you can do not to claw your way to the door)? How many sleepless two A.M.'s, lying in the dark listening to your husband's even breathing? How many bumps of acne, and broom hair that pulls out in fragile nests when you brush it, standing in front of the mirror noticing, with a startle, there is a stranger looking back?

A creature other than yourself. Some tired woman with an eggshell smile. Longing to feel engaged. Ravished.

Visible.



READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Gluten-Free Quinoa, Rice, and Sides

The best quinoa recipes as well as rice side dishes and gluten free salads


Karina's Favorite Quinoa, Rice, 

& Vegan Side Dish Recipes


My favorite gluten-free vegetarian side dish recipes often include quinoa (here is an easy way to cook quinoa), baked rice, risotto, cornbread stuffing, roasted vegetables, and calabasitas.

Reader favorites include Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad and Lime Quinoa Salad with Mint. (Be sure and rinse quinoa thoroughly in cold water before cooking.)


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Recipes for Soups, Stews, Chili and Roasts

Gluten free soup and stew recipes including Crock Pot recipes for slow cooking chili and curries

Slow Food - Old School



Here is my collection of gluten-free slow cooker recipes for the Crockpot. I love using a slow cooker year round. In the winter it warms the house with comforting spices and inviting aromas and in the summer it helps keep the kitchen cool- not to mention, it does all the work and frees up the day. Reader favorites include African Bean & Sweet Potato Soup,  Karina's Beef StewNew Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey and Beef in Pomegranate Sauce.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Dinner Recipes and Comfort Food

No Wheat. No Gluten. Just good taste.



Browse my collection of gluten-free wheat-free dinner recipes- favorite main dish recipes from my humble Brown Sugar Turkey Meatloaf to slow-cooked Beef in Pomegranate Sauce. For an easy company-worthy entree, try my Agave Lime Salmon recipe.


Vegetarian or vegan? I didn't forget you, Babycakes. 

Vegetarian and vegan dinner recipe favorites are listed below for a green change of pace. The most popular gluten-free vegetarian recipe? My Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas.



Make tonight delicious!



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Gluten-Free Bread and Tea Bread Recipes

Gluten-free whole grain bread.

Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Breads + Tea Breads


Gluten-free bread is the Holy Grail of a newly diagnosed celiac. After years of experimenting with gluten-free flours (and tossing too many loaves to count into the garbage) I share with you my hard won favorite recipes for gluten-free bread- both savory and sweet.

My favorite flour mix for baking tender gluten-free bread includes sorghum flour, millet flour and potato starch (not potato flour!). See this essential post: Gluten-Free Bread Machine Tips for helpful hints, problem solving, and a lively readers' discussion (in comments) on making your bread machine baking a success. The bread machine I use is a Breadman; lately I use the Super Rapid cycle with a dark crust setting.



Gluten-Free Goddess Multi-grain Sandwich Bread recipe.
 

Our Favorite Gluten-Free Bread Recipes











Karina's Zucchini Bread- a readers' favorite


Tea Breads and Treats









Karina's gluten-free pizza crust. Add your favorite toppings.


Best Pizza Crust, Flatbread, Wraps





Karina's whole grain olive bread. So good.


Gluten-Free Bread Machine Tips



Gluten-Free Appetizers and Easy Snack Recipes

Gluten free crackers and appetizer and snack recipes by Gluten Free Goddess

Gluten-Free Appetizers and Easy Snack Recipes


Here are our favorite gluten-free appetizer and snack recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess. From wheat-free nutty crackers to vegan dairy-free pesto, from kicked-up hummus with jalapeños to Italian style baked grape tomatoes in olive oil and basil cornbread crumbs, you'll find our family's most requested appetizers. So, Bubela.



Who's hungry?



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Gluten-Free Seafood Recipes: Salmon, Shrimp and Fish



Gluten-Free Seafood Recipes













Friday, September 5, 2008

Gluten-Free Muffin, Scone + Brunch Recipes



Here is my collection of favorite brunch-worthy gluten-free muffin, scone, and coffee cake recipes for breakfast in bed, brunch by a cozy fire, or a laid back morning spent reading the Sunday paper on a sunlight dappled patio.

I've also included my best egg recipes- easy frittatas and crustless quiches (my all time favorite brunch egg dish is the spicy Eggs Diavolo served on creamy polenta). And if you haven't tried one of my crustless quiches studded with roasted vegetables or my light but filling pasta frittata-- Babycakes, what are you waiting for? 

If you're going vegan continental, browse my bakery recipes for tender scones, tea breads, and warm, fall apart muffins. Or zap up a smoothie. 

There's no excuse to reach for the cold cereal box.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Egg, Quiche and Frittata Recipes

Gluten-free pasta fritatta

Crustless Quiche, Frittata, Eggs

Here is my Gluten-Free Goddess® collection of quiche, egg, and frittata recipes. Flourless never tasted so good.

Artichoke and Jalapeno Savory Pie with Cream Cheese and Jalapenos

Blue Chip Frittata with Roasted Red Peppers, Greek Yogurt, Feta and Blue Corn Chips and Cherry Tomatoes

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Gluten-Free Chocolate Biscotti

Gluten-free chocolate biscotti recipe
Gluten-free sugar-free chocolate biscotti.

A Cookie for Grown Ups


I was seriously jonesing for a crunchy coffee treat this week. But what could I make? Eating lower carb and lower glycemic means I'm eating no sugar, white flour or starches. The sweetest thing I've eaten in a month was the half of a frozen banana I tossed yesterday into a berry breakfast smoothie. Tasty, yes. But not exactly the chocolaty crisp indulgence I was daydreaming about.

As a side note to those of you following my posts on lower glycemic eating and wondering about sugar cravings and the South Beach Diet, I can report that Phase 1 is worth the two week tough love/low carb approach because it does reset your sweet tooth and diminish your gotta-have-it-now cravings for refined carbohydrates. And that's a big plus. It also banishes the carbohydrate bloat that many of us with celiac disease experience when we eat gluten-free starches. And that is a big plus. Pulling on a pair of jeans with a little room and give in the waist feels kick-ass great.

It is, however, very difficult to manage Phase 1 with multiple food allergies.

Where the unencumbered soul might eat one of Kalyn's delicious mini-quiche muffins or eggy casseroles for breakfast and Slow Roasted Tomato Hummus for a mid-afternoon snack, this intrepid gluten-free goddess was stuck popping cherry tomatoes. I admit up front- it was a humbling and hungry two weeks on a program where you are not supposed to go hungry.

My other disappointment was not losing as much weight as I had hoped to shed on the strict Phase 1. I lost two pounds. Upon deeper investigation I discovered that the stringency of Phase 1 works most dramatically on a different body type than I happen to inhabit (I'm a tall pear shape; if you're an apple body style you'll see more dramatic results in Phase 1).

So I've switched to Plan B.

A hybrid. I'm still eschewing- not chewing- refined carbs, high glycemic starches and sugar. But I'm also keeping an eye on calories and switching food choices to a more Mediterranaen Diet approach (less meat, more fruit and a wider range of vegetables- like SB off-limits carrots and butternut squash).

I discovered- to my pie-roll horror- I was eating way more fat calories on the South Beach plan because of my limited food choices. Too much high calorie beef and pork and salmon- for protein. And way too much olive oil. The olive oil problem is totally my bad. I never measure. I just pour from a handy little spout. Usually while chatting about how impressive Michelle Obama is or how sad I am that HBO cancelled John From Cincinnati and now we only have the first season on DVD to ponder and decipher- with all it's tantalizing clues and unfinished story lines. I don't know Butchie, instead.

When I started adding up the daily glugs of olive oil- Holy Mother of Fat Grams! Talk about hidden calories. I was eating 500 to 600 calories a day I never thought twice about. I gotta get one of those nifty olive oil sprayers.

Words of wisdom from my smart and trim-waisted husband? Don't limit your food choices so much that you deprive yourself, Babycakes, or you'll feel discouraged and cranky (Cranky? Moi?) and you'll reach for a bucket of popcorn or a fistful of fudge brownies because you've starved yourself into a low blood sugar feeding frenzy.

He has a point.

And so I've added fruit smoothies back into my menu- lower carb fruits like frozen wild blueberries and organic strawberries whipped with a cup of hemp milk- and I'm eating carrot sticks and sweet potatoes and butternut squash and apples (no one ever got fat eating carrots and apples, he tells me). So it's not exactly South Beach any more. But it is sugar free and refined starch free. I'm lower glycemic instead of low carb, I suppose. And I calculated my calorie output with my calorie input and my height and weight and all that numbers stuff to lose my extra pounds the old fashioned way- slow but sure. No magic pill or instant fix. Just common sense and an olive oil sprayer.

So back to my biscotti.

I decided to try a new mix of high protein lower carb flours and agave to make a lower glycemic cookie. Not an all-you-can-eat cookie. But a smarter cookie choice. A less sweet sugarless cookie for grown-ups. And guess what? If you're looking for a sugar-free treat that is chocolaty and crisp and dunk worthy- and if you've tamed your sweet tooth and don't expect a sugar high sexy explosion- this recipe just might tickle your fancy.



READ MORE and get the recipe ...