Favorite Winter Recipes for a Gluten-Free Diet

Warm up Winter with cozy gluten-free recipes.

Cook Up a Lustrous, Cozy Winter

Karina's Best

Gluten-Free Wheat-Free

Recipes

Cozy up and find sustenance with my updated collection of favorite winter recipes, from classic comfort food like gluten-free mac and cheese, to nourishing slow-cooked stews and hearty healing soups that warm you body and soul. From cider roasted vegetables and turkey enchiladas to holiday goodies like Flourless Chocolate Cake, and Gingersnap Stars, you'll find plenty of winter favorites to keep you well fed.

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake

A rich, devil's food style chocolate layer cake for the holidays.

Angel Food, Devil's Style...

Sharing food in winter is one of life’s quiet joys. As poet Edith Sitwell noted, “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

I contemplate her words and feel an ache that is dangerously flirting with longing. As we invest more and more of our (fleeting, precious!) time into our virtual lives, connecting not by touch or even by voice, but via endless shallow streams of social media- texting, downloading, uploading, scrolling through visual tidbits of other people’s lives (often strangers), privy to their breakfast, their political opinions, and goofy pictures of Fido and Kitty- I yearn to throw a party. To embrace the old fashioned ritual of baking from scratch, lighting candles, and inviting some human beings over for an evening of conversation and real time companionship.

Laughter and chocolate cake are good medicine, feeding not only our sweet tooth, but our sun deprived spirit as well. The spirit of connectivity, friendship and inclusion.

Yet for those of us living gluten-free (and dairy-free), the deep mid-winter season- with its twinkling celebrations centered around sharing food- too often feels the opposite of convivial. It feels gated. Off limits.

Look. Don't touch. Or taste. Smile graciously.

When you need not be hyper-vigilant about each and every forkful, the food centric holidays are, as the saying goes, a piece of cake. But to those of us with celiac disease and dairy allergies, a table heaped with food (glorious food) is a big steaming reminder of how different we are, a symbol of separation. Of not belonging.

This is when a gluten-free dairy-free chocolate layer cake is more than just dessert. It is a marvelous, beautiful thing. Bordering on luxurious.

Because to indulge (and share food) without worry is a true gift.

So pick a date. Text family and friends an invite. Or pick up the phone and call. Fire up your oven. Gather plates and candles.

Conviviality, connection, and cake await.


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Lemon-Iced Ginger Thins

A holiday cookie for grown-ups. Ginger thins with lemon icing.

Thin and Sweet Winter Treat

Indulge me a little, won't you? I promise it won't hurt a bit. This week I'm sharing a wonderful gluten-free wheat-free Christmas cookie recipe I created for Allergic Living magazine last year. A recipe too good not to post here on the blog and share online. Some of you Allergic Living readers may remember it. It is a lovely, crispy-chewy ginger cookie with lemon icing. There is a slight change in the recipe. I've switched out the brown rice flour for sorghum flour- a gluten-free wheat-free flour I much prefer.

We are still settling in to our Connecticut abode. Gearing up for our first winter in three years- since Northern New Mexico. Unpacking books. And art supplies. Installing a wall easel in the studio. Hanging a pine wreath. Watching for chickadees. Anticipating the coming Winter Solstice.

Moving into Winter- and the darkest weeks of the year- from sun abundant Los Angeles is both surreal and invigorating. Embracing change. Welcoming the new. Dreaming of what the New Year will bring us.

It's all good.


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Easy Vegetarian Minestrone

Easy Vegetarian Minestrone

This is an easy toss-together soup, perfect for rainy or damp weather. Serve with grated Parmesan, or make pesto toasts - gluten-free toast triangles with a dab of basil pesto.

Ingredients:

4 cups low sodium V8 juice or tomato-vegetable juice
3 cups water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet or red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, medium, chopped
1 cup cubed butternut squash
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed, cut
1 zucchini, medium, halved lengthwise, sliced into half moons
1 14-oz can chick peas, or white beans, drained, rinsed
2 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs- oregano/thyme/basil/marjoram
1 bay leafPinch of sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
A dash of balsamic vinegar, to taste
Fresh basil, chopped, for serving

Optional additions:

• Add roasted corn, chopped green chiles, cubed potatoes or parsnips, celery or jicama

• Add a pinch of raw sugar or agave nectar if the broth is too acidic

• Add more water, if necessary

• Add a splash of red wine

Instructions: 

Heat a large soup kettle (heavy bottomed pot) on medium heat and saute the onion in olive oil until transparent. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Cover and bring to a high simmer; then reduce heat to simmer the soup for about 45 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Taste for seasoning adjustments.

This soup tastes better the second day, as the flavors mingle and develop.

Serves 4.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you. 

Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing + Roasted Squash

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash Two Ways- Stuffed + Unstuffed (Cornbread Stuffing)

While we're all adjusting to turning the clocks back (excuse me while I yawn), I thought I'd reprise two Thanksgiving friendly recipes today. Both recipes are redolent with old fashioned autumnal goodness. Warm and subtle spices. Maple. Apple. It doesn't get any comfy-cozier.

First up is an easy, favorite side dish of mine- maple roasted acorn squash (and it's vegan, therefore perfect for those of you sharing your humble meal with vegetarian and dairy-free guests). The second dish is one of my oldest tried and true recipes.

It is from my very first Thanksgiving as a married woman, in fact.

We won't discuss how long ago that was, Darling, but I will admit it was way back with Husband Number #1 (it being first and all). I was anxious to do it up with style on my first Thanksgiving (as any blushing bride would be) and had the sudden inspiration to use cornbread and apples as a stuffing instead of the traditional- and familial on both sides- bagged white bread and sage dressing. And then I added curry. Maybe that's when they began to notice I wasn't exactly a dyed-in-the-wool Pilgrim-esque kind of girl.

I'm not at all certain Husband #1 cared for it.

Husband #2 is a huge cornbread fan. And a curry fan.

Coincidence?


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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Donuts

Tender and light, gluten-free pumpkin donuts, darling.

Pumpkin Crazy

You might think I'm on a pumpkin bender, glancing through recent recipes here on Gluten-Free Goddess®. And you'd be right. I do this. Every October. I go on one long, crazy, pumpkin love affair. I am head-over-heels nuts about it. Because pumpkin is magic. In fact, if pumpkin was in a fairy tale, it would be the Fairy Godmother- not the humble buggy. It makes gluten-free baking transform, you see, as if touched by a star-tipped sparkling wand.

That's why I knew I had to tackle pumpkin donuts. Because donuts can be tough to replicate gluten-free. But I knew pumpkin would bring me luck, and sprinkle good fortune on my baking endeavors today. So, yes. I am pumpkin crazy. Crazy in love.

And you know what?

If pumpkin be the food of love, play on.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fabulous pumpkin cookies, gluten-free + delicious.

My restless spirit has been wandering far and wide and away from dreams of butternut chili and baked rice casseroles toward the tempting, sweeter things in life. As in cookies. Like the character Ana Pascal confesses in one of my favorite movies, Stranger Than Fiction, I decided that if I was going to help make the world a better place this week, I'd do it with cookies.

So today's post, Dear Reader, is brief and sweet. Just like the treat I baked this weekend when I began with the idea of a pumpkin cookie. I craved something different than my Pumpkin Pecan Cookies and my nutmeg icing drizzled Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies. I craved dark chocolate. And peanut butter. So I threw them in the bowl with pumpkin and coconut flour and, well.

There was a happy ending to the story.


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

How do I say this? These new chocolate chip cookies are the best.

The subject of cookies is a favorite topic on Gluten-Free Goddess, and for good reason. I've written about cookies before- in posts too numerous to count.

So why are these different?

Why are these chocolate chip cookies blog worthy?

Because they are golden and gently crisp on the outside, and soft and chewy within. Like the cookie you remember- that gorgeous, sweet caramel bite of homemade love. Warm from the oven these taste remarkable like the classic Toll House cookie recipe I baked a thousand times.

I credit the new flours and fat I used.

Gone is the brown rice flour. Gone is shortening. I've nixed the tapioca starch. And the result is a truly wonderful, soft dough that tastes closer to a real Toll House cookie than any other gluten-free chocolate chip cookies (though delicious!) I've baked.


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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Karina's fabulous gluten-free pumpkin streusel muffins.

Did someone say streusel?

This isn't a Halloween post. Or a Thanksgiving post. Technically. Though Thanksgiving is just a stone's throw away- if you somehow conjure a metaphorical stone to metaphorically hurl into the time-space continuum, piercing the veil of eight and a half weeks that blows by in a singular exhale, surely faster than light. And this exhale, it was only following a previous breath- a breath I took yesterday- which turns out to be one year ago. A year since that Pumpkin Praline Pie I baked. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around this.

This is a post about time.

Some days I feel as if I am slave to the calendar, an unwitting cog in the wheel of the year with Sundays and holidays appointed by proxy, designated by some superior force that rules my random wandering nature with an unforgiving fist, demanding obedience. Charting the course of my life.

Then I remember the truth.

Time is an invention born of the Big Bang. Debris hurtling through space- at increasing velocity. And here we are, hurtling along with it. Stuck to a rock spinning its own orbital logic. Logic so tiny in the fantastical face of infinity, the depth and breadth of vast, hollow, endless space. In the beyond-comprehension scheme of things, we are all walking talking miracles. It is truly beyond extraordinary that we are here at all, with all the subatomic quantum level things that could go wrong. With all the near misses. And all that never was.

Life is breathtakingly rare, intricately fragile, and so surprising.

Perhaps that's why we set apart a season to ponder the harvest, to cultivate gratitude. I'm all for it. I'm all for it because of all the petty, surface level annoyances we endure, all the itches and aches and heartbreaks and mundane difficulties, all the tricks and rationalizations we serve ourselves to distract ourselves, just to survive. To get through the day. To endure until tomorrow. To re-imagine what is possible. Or ignore the inevitable. To flirt with meaning. To invite love in. To create a connection. To let go of something toxic. To embrace something raw or something tender. To risk something wonderful. Or scary. Because the risk gleams with promise.

The microcosm of this past year has been the microcosm of my life. Contractions and expansions. Sloughing off and gathering in. There's been some blooming. And some fading. Inner strength toughened. Muscles softened. Authenticity inches one step closer. Understanding melts into compassion. For myself, first of all.

I am learning to hold my imperfections to the light and examine them with less acidity. This single choice alone creates more room for compassion toward others. It's true what the sages say about loving yourself first. I no longer care to be my own worst enemy.

I'll leave that purpose to someone else.

Life Aging burnishes you. And tenderizes your heart. And things fall away. Often by themselves. So many concerns I once worried about- and obsessed over- are beginning to lose their charm, their once magnetic hold on me. What is important is spinning a new magic, a silvery soft magic that you can almost inhale just before dark, when the sky deepens into that particular November blue and tastes like snow.

I am grateful for so many things this year. For the ongoing privilege of motherhood. For the new family joined to us now in marriage and through heart strings. For old and new friends. For a warm bed shared. For the means to put food on the table (thank you Blogger). For these six years of gypsy living, taking the long way home. For this opportunity to string words together in cyberspace, and share recipes and ramblings with you.

Thank you.

Have a beautiful week. And while we're at it- a spooky-lovely Halloween. A heartwarming Thanksgiving. Small and quiet or big and boisterous. Be well fed, in every way.

On to the Muffins... 

A friend was coming by to visit. So I wanted to create a new pumpkin muffin based on my moist and tender Pumpkin Pie Bread. I thought I'd add walnuts and a streusel topping. And cinnamon. I played around with my recipe and baked a batch of these little golden lovelies.

You could substitute pecans for the walnuts, if you like.

And then go read a page or two of A Short History of Everything. And we can talk about the whole time-space continuum thing.

It'll blow your mind.


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Gluten-Free Pecan Crackers Recipe

How to make your own gluten-free crackers- with pecan meal.

Crunchy, nutty, salty crackers. 


I have a confession to make. It begins with crackers. Crunchy, nutty, salty crackers. And the doom of shortening days. The curse of narrow daylight. The long slow creep of SAD and carb cravings has begun. The Fall Equinox is right around the corner. After-dinner walks will soon be pre-dinner walks. The wind that weaves through the cottonwoods down by the Chama riverbed will have a chilly edge to it that hints of winter skies and stirs the urge for goin'. I get that every year. The urge. The longing to clear out, let go and move on.

I feel the gypsy spirit in my bones--- screws and all.

And if I am stuck, as I now am stuck, back in this ancient rural desert where I feel--- screws and all- I don't belong, this urge goes underground. This urge- and it is a she- attempts a guise of humming patience and a veil of vague distraction knowing all the while that this ruse of hers is thin and she will soon be gnawing away at my futile attempts to remain buoyant and calm and satisfied with crudities and lettuce wraps. I will be rifling the cupboard for crackers and tortilla chips and baking starchy potatoes to smother with roasted vegetables and rustling up plates of steaming spaghetti and meatballs.

All to satiate The Need. The carb need. The Fix.

The serotonin impostor.

For those of you blessed with a friendly chemistry, those of you already anticipating the fall and winter holidays with their frosty allure of goodies and gaity, the ice skating and skiing, and the boisterous camaraderie of football- I salute you.

As for me?

I am preoccupied with conjuring lower carb crackers. And tossing up prayers to the wise and (one can only hope) merciful Real Estate Goddess. Maybe she'll take pity on me. If the house does not sell by November, we'll invent Plan B.

Gluten-free pecan crackers.

Gluten-Free Pecan Cracker Recipe

By Karina Allrich

These crackers taste a bit like rye crackers, due to the caraway and cocoa powder. If you're not a fan of rye bread or rye crackers, leave out the caraway.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

1/2 cup millet flour or sorghum flour, more as needed*
1/4 cup potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 cup GF buckwheat flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons organic cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon caraway, to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme or dried crushed rosemary

Stir in:

1 1/2 cups pecan meal
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 1 egg mixed with warm water
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 cup warm water or non-dairy milk, to start
1 teaspoon raw organic agave or brown sugar

Stir the ingredients until a stiff dough forms- you'll need to press the dough out into a thin layer, so if it appears too dry, or it falls apart, add a tablespoon of warm water at a time until the dough is malleable but not too sticky. My dough used almost 2/3 cup liquid- but this will vary according to flours and humidity.

Note*

The second time I made these crackers I needed three extra tablespoons of millet flour to get the dough sturdy and glossy. As always- dough and batters vary slightly with humidity.

Instructions:

When dough is mixed, divide in half.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a reusable Exopat.

Using oiled hands flatten and spread half the dough on the prepared baking sheet. Make as thin a layer as possible. Use the edge of a rubber spatula to straighten outside edges, if you like. The thinner the cracker is, the crisper it will be.

Prick the dough with a fork- or not- it's your choice.

Score the flattened dough into cracker sized pieces. I used a pizza cutter to do this.

To bake:

Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt, if desired.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes till firm and slightly crisp (they will crisp up more as they cool). I use an Exopat, so the crackers baked a little longer- and were done at 24 minutes. Keep an eye on them.

Remove and allow the crackers to cool on a rack.

Store in an air-tight container. Or freeze. If they soften from humidity, reheat them on a baking sheet for a few minutes before serving.

Makes 36 crackers.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you. 

For substitutions, please see my guide to baking with substitutions here.

Gluten-Free Turkey Meatloaf with Pecan Crust

Gluten-free turkey meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes and pecan crust.

A Turn Toward the New

The morning was cool and bright. It was going to be one of those quintessential Cape Cod autumn days. A day tourists swoon over. Worthy of a post card with The weather is sublime- wish you were here scrawled in black gel cursive between sips of a Hot Chocolate Sparrow latte. The sky was a cake bowl of cobalt blue with that particular pink edge to it that only painters notice, the blush that softened the tree line at the north end of the West Barnstable marsh gentling the heavy greens of the pines and oaks into a bluish, almost violet gray.

She brushed her teeth with fennel toothpaste and spit into the low slung sink, pausing to breathe. A long inhale to slow her heart. The cottage was pin drop quiet. The boys had climbed the rubber lined steps into the school bus hours ago, peanut butter and honey sandwiches bagged, milk money in their pockets. She had waved from the street and watched them navigate the bus aisle in shadow, avoiding her maternal gaze, not turning to wave back. Too risky, she understood.

The walk back up the curve of road to the rental she had found last spring felt different this morning. Not because of the air and its September clarity that sharpened the asters and the Queen Anne's Lace with impossible precision- though she felt a kinship with the acute focus the turning of the seasons always brings. That sense of realignment, a perennial return to purpose. Ironically, she always felt as if fall was the season of new beginnings. Not spring.

Fall was the season she woke up, as if from a dream.

Today was the first day of a plein air painting workshop. A post-divorce return to premarital roots, when she painted for the love of it- not the pragmatic bill-paying need of it. Painting for an income (however necessary it may be) is dangerous business. Courting the marketplace changes your work. A self consciousness slithers in and infiltrates your choices. The observer becomes observed. Judged. Rewarded for meeting expectations.

She had always been more than willing to please. To notice the cues and needs of others. It was more than habit. It was ingrained in her bones. She had an uncanny knack for it. And she hated it about herself. She hated her automatic willingness to anticipate and acquiesce. Sometimes she would hear her own words hang in the air and for a quantum, split second wonder who had just spoken. There were entire days lost to living outside herself, hovering above her left shoulder, just beyond reach.

Stepping into the tiny sunlit kitchen she stood still for a moment, tempted by the cluttered breakfast table. The sticky bowls and spoons. The allure of distraction. The comfort of routine. But it didn't take. She snatched her car keys off a hook and grabbed a canvas bag of painting gear by the door, turned the knob with her free hand and opened it wide. Three minutes later she made a right at the empty bus stop, and accelerated east down Old King's Highway.

To be continued...


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Gluten-Free Picnic Recipes for Labor Day Weekend

My newest picnic fave- quinoa salad with pears and pecans.

 

Labor Day is almost upon us. Summer's last bash. To inspire you to dine al fresco I've gathered my favorite gluten-free  picnic recipes, salads, and pot luck supper ideas- in one handy reference. Take advantage of the warm weather and get out of the kitchen. Spread a blanket under a tree or tote a basket to the beach.

Life is short.

We need more picnics.

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Gluten-Free Banana Crumb Cake

Lovely for snacking. Gluten-Free Banana Crumb Cake.

A certain someone in our household has a sweet tooth. And- best of all- he not only likes to eat cake, he likes to bake it, too (apparently baking can be a form of meditation for some folks, a calming, distracting respite from toiling away in one's head for hours, excavating the various thematic elements underpinning character motivation, conflict and story arcs. All those juicy, gnarly, invisible threads and knots we movie viewers take for granted when we settle in with our gluten-free popcorn to watch a screenplay come to life.

Something I've learned, living with a screenwriter (aside from the fact that baking is therapy)?

Don't judge the script by the movie.

Because chances are the script was good.

Chances are the script was tight and wry and sharp. And moving. And funny. Chances are the script made you leak a well-earned tear. Or two.

Then came the notes.

From the director. From the actor. From the producer. And the producer's girlfriend. Her dentist.

So the script gets whittled. And weakened. And tweaked. Scenes are added to make a character more likeable (How 'bout we give him a dog- or a koi pond?). Then locales get switched (apparently producers believe New Mexican Pueblo humor translates without a glitch to Australia's Gold-Coast). The language once precise gets watered down with unimaginative phrases you've heard before (not every actor can improvise like Robert De Niro I am sorry to tell you).

Sometimes the collaborative magic of filmmaking works.

And sometimes it doesn't.

And baking ensues.

Lately?

We always have cake in the freezer.


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How to Make Raw Cashew Cream and Ranch Dressing

Cashew cream makes a divine dairy-free ranch dressing.

Here in La La Land it's been too hot to cook. So I've been going raw. Numero uno- it's easy. Numero dos- it's tasty. And as an added bonus (if you need another nudge) cooking raw keeps the kitchen cool as a cucumber- which, by all accounts, is chilly by default, and, well. Cool. As in hip. At least around these hipster parts (it's right up there with gluten-free lately).

I am way past the hipster stage of life, I confess. But I admit I've been flirting with raw cuisine on and off ever since the monkey gut incident. Eating vegan and raw seems to help heal inflammation and tame my irritable, punishing digestion. Unless it's broccoli. Or onion. Or too much raw fruit. I still need to be careful. But eating mostly vegan soothes my pesky symptoms and revitalizes my cranky, creaky body. I am amazed at how much better I feel. Maybe it's all those perky little enzymes.

Now if I could only quell the stress factor.

Good thing I have an iPhone. Iphoneography keeps me sane. It's a way I can paint. Create. Stay engaged. Hopeful. It keeps my spirit fed. And my visually dominant brain happy.

Meanwhile, an iphoneoraphy girl's gotta eat. 

So I'll be soaking almonds and cashews for raw recipes. Freezing bananas. And stocking up on lettuce.

Why not try a little un-cooking yourself these last hot days of summer? This recipe for cashew cream is the perfect place to start. It's versatile and voluptuous. It's vegan and dairy-free.

You'll love it.

So go.

Start soaking.

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Gluten-Free Zucchini Lime Scones

Fresh baked zucchini scones with lime.

Savory Wheat-Free Scones To Love

As the old Zen koan advises, row row row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily... summer is but a dream. Dear (beautiful and appreciated) reader, forgive my clumsy extra syllable as I squeeze summer in for life and stumble up the rhythm for the sake of my wandering focus today, which is how mind-bogglingly fast time goes by. In spite of the airless, oven-style heat. In spite of the sticky sleepless nights (thank goddess for iPhones).

Summer is careening into Fall faster than you can say Lady GaGa is gluten-free.

And zucchini is taking over the universe.

But I've got your back.

First up on the Z List is this moist and tender Gluten-Free Goddess Zucchini Bread that even GaGa herself might be tempted to bake (if she baked instead of practicing her waggle and ingesting only lettuce). There are these little gems- my Maple Sweetened Almond Zucchini Mini-Muffins (to die for). And this Zucchini Quinoa Breakfast Cake. Not to mention, Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies.

If savory zucchini recipes are calling to you, I've got some hot zuke favorites, too. Remember those crispy Fried Zucchini Chips with Lime-Mint Dipping Sauce? So good. And in the comfort food category, Creamy Penne Pasta Bake with Zucchini hits the spot. As does my old school Italian Mama inspired favorite- Zucchini Gratin. For a new wave no-cook vegan pasta, turn your gaze no further than this Raw Zucchini Pasta with Curry Cream Sauce.

And if that isn't enough to satiate your zucchini lust, I've got one more recipe. A new recipe we baked this morning. Perfectly light and golden, lovely for a Sunday brunch. Or any day you feel like visiting with a friend over a pot of tea.

Because life is all about flow, baby. Don't let it pass you by.

Row gently.

Bake some scones.

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Karina's Zucchini Gratin

Zucchini gratin gets a make-over. Gluten-free and dairy-free.

TRUTH. With a capital T.

On the way to saving your life there are moments that stir up a thousand kinds of trouble. Denial. Anger. Grief. Desire. The last one is the trouble I hear about the most here on Gluten-Free Goddess. The slow burn of longing. Comments and letters asking, sometimes pleading, pining, always hungry for some beloved recipe one can no longer consume. Due to evil gluten. Food is an emotional issue. Charged with hot spots and invisible buttons that can be pushed and engaged by a myriad of things. A scent. A circumstance. A holiday. Food can equal love. Evoke comfort. Mom. Or lack of Mom. Food can feel like self care and nourishment. But it can also be a fence. A barrier erected to survive. A way to numb. Escape. Live three feet from yourself.

Because some days it's hard to be a human being.

Sometimes I get tired of blogging about food. Sharing recipes. Because in all transparency, I don't feel like a foodie. I don't build my day around a meal or shopping for ingredients. Food is fuel. And often (in my house) food is an after thought. As in, Sweet Tap Dancing Bodhisattva, I'm starving. It's six PM. And I have nothing in the fridge except a jar of organic peanut butter.

And lettuce.

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Vegan Peach Ice Cream

Gluten-free dairy-free peach ice cream.

A small gift for you this weekend. Some cool, frosty, non-dairy peachy goodness. A vegan ice cream recipe for the sticky dog days of late summer. Wait. Is it August already? Good goddess, the summer is careening by. It's true what they say about the concept of time. It speeds up and gets fluid as you get, um, shall we say, older. Seasoned.

One might even venture, weathered.

During your ritual morning walk your husband turns to you and mentions a moment from yesterday and the dirt path beneath you starts to swim (not that swimming surfaces are all that unusual out here in the shimmering southwest sun).

You ask, Wait. Was that yesterday? 

And he thinks a minute. Wait, he says. Friday? 

You hear the brittle dryness of the desert wind. The roar of the loud cobalt sky. There are red and sienna stones beneath your feet. The same stones as yesterday, last week, last year.

That was last week, you offer gently, shaking your head in a spin cycle of empathy and disbelief and astonishment. 

Dude, he says. Recalculating.

Tell me about it, you sigh.

Weeks morph into days.

How about some peach ice cream for breakfast?

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Gluten-Free Whole Grain Olive Bread

Crusty, fragrant gluten-free olive bread, warm from the oven.

Grainy, whole grain bliss.

Giving up bread is hard. Bread is basic. Almost a need. Like air. Like breathing. It is both routine and celebratory. Prosaic and divine. A simple, torn-off hunk of good bread embodies a deep sense of nourishment, for body and soul. The bewitching mix of a handful of flour, some yeast, some salt, some water.

Stir. Knead. Rest. Bake.

And as if by magic, this warm and fragrant alchemical creation called bread appears.

And all is right with the world.

When I think of our honeymoon in Italy (seventeen years ago, darling) I think of the color of the evening sky above the cypress. A shot of burnished gold that shimmered with the faintest veil of pink and lemon yellow. I think about the shopkeepers sweeping their doorsteps each morning, nodding their Buon giorno! as we walked to fetch a New York Times and a cappuccino not served in a paper cup. There was love, yes. And wine. And olives.

And there was bread.


The best bread I had ever devoured. 

My go-to breakfast was a plate sized flat-bread studded with olives, paper thin tomato slices, or chopped fresh garlic. Chewy, salty, sweet, and earthy. A bread worth the walk into town. I must have eaten dozens in our too-short two week stay.

Here in southern California, I have been living almost breadless. By choice. The hundreds of gluten-free breads I have baked in the past nine years have not tempted me into the kitchen. Not even the best gluten-free bread recipes. Starch, you see, is not agreeing with me lately. I think we may be breaking up. For good. My body hums happily without it. My waistline is trimmer without it (though not quite up to honeymoon standards, I am seeing the promise of a waistline appear). But this week I started remembering.

The bread.

In Italy.

And the craving began.

So I began bargaining with myself. The dialogue went something like this.

Okay. You want a piece of bread, darling? You're going to have to bake it without starch. Without sugar. You know that, right? And you are prepared to plunge into abject failure if this gluten-free whole grain concoction doesn't turn out? It is a risk, you know. Baking without gluten. Making bread without starches. It's tricky. It's fickle. So if this turns out badly, promise you won't despair.

I pulled out every non-starchy flour and ingredient from my snug little pantry and imagined my pre-celiac Italian memory. I stood and stared at the tumble of half-used bags and battered boxes on the counter for a good ten minutes. Steve walked by and glanced at his wife of seventeen years standing deer-in-the-headlights still.

He knew not to ask.

I grabbed brown rice flour. Almond meal. Millet flour. Quinoa flakes. Rice bran. Garlic. Sea salt. Olive oil. An impossible, motley crew of ingredients that would prompt any Italian baker to raise her eyebrows in a justified Che cosa succede?

And guess what, my Bella Bambina?

You know what.

Smooches. xox


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Our New Apartment: Design By Color

Create a budget-friendly built-in look with IKEA bookcases.

Design By Color

My mind is a wee bit toasted this happy June Monday. No Darling, I haven't been indulging in any fragrant mind-altering substances. I've been unpacking. I've been organizing (like a sixties housewife popping mother's little helpers). I've been making hundreds thousands one million micro-decisions. Important, earthshaking decisions. Like, where should we stow tea boxes? Chocolate? Quinoa flakes? And what drawer would be most convenient for the ice cream scoops? (Yes, I have three.) Where should the recycled aluminum foil and rolls of toilet paper go- you know, in a feng shui sense?

Because above all else, I am seeking calm. I am cultivating peace. I am inviting inspiration. Preparing for my muse. Opening to a new chapter in this winding road journey of ours, hurtling as we are, ever faster to our mortality (yes, another June birthday looms).

We have landed in Studio City on a quiet leafy street, where pajama clad neighbors walk their dogs early, sipping soy lattes and yawning to birdsong.

These are my people.

I haven't been cooking much (though I did bake some chocolate mint cupcakes for a certain son's birthday this weekend), which means I don't have a new recipe to share- yet. So I thought I'd share a few iPhone shots of our new living space. A quick peep into our new apartment. And just so you know?

I shelve my books by color.

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Gluten-Free Pasta Frittata with Kale

Cooked brown rice pasta makes a lovely little crust for the eggs.

An Italian Classic - Updated

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). But if you prefer using dairy- select one or two of your favorite organic cheeses.



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Strawberry Spinach Salad with Berry Dressing

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Berry Dressing

Don't cook. Go RAW. Go FRESH.

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

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

The thing is, 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 Focaccia Bread

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

 

A Focaccia To Love

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

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

Ramblings and Veggie Dip

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.

Craving attention- for me- is like craving bacon ice cream or hot dog stuffed pizza crust or fried chicken in buckets. I simply do not. It's innate. I just don't have an appetite for it. I practiced it endured it in childhood when necessary (for survival). Growing up can be excruciating if dropped into the nest of an extroverted party giver. Performance anxiety will indeed tongue-tie an observant three year old who already understands on some unspoken secret level that the push toward the spotlight is not about her, it's all about the pusher.

So I've never been prone to elevate the art of competition or believe in the religion of winners and losers. Keeping score or handing out awards is as unpleasant to me as sniffing haggis. Competition (when viewed up close and personal) is mental illness. The vigilant urge to be Number 1 or the beeline drive toward fame is a symptom. You can cloak it in a "pursuit of excellence" all you want. It's all an illusion with no more meaning than a pink slime infused wiener-stuffed gob of dough baked with cheese. Time will prove that to you.

In more ways than one.

Sprouted tofu veggie dip with fresh herbs.

Who needs ammonia doused pink slime or buckets of greasy fried gluten when you can whip together this light and creamy vegan dip? Serve it with crisp carrot sticks or an array of fresh spring veggies.

Feel good.

Inside and out.

Creamy tofu vegan dip for spring veggies.

Spring Veggie Dip Recipe - Gluten-Free and Vegan

By Karina Allrich April 2012.

I used sprouted tofu in this vegan-lovin' dairy-free gluten-free veggie dip. Sprouting the soybeans makes them more digestible, apparently.

Ingredients:

1 lb. soft or medium-soft organic tofu
1/2 cup Vegenaise
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
1 clove fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Drain the tofu (if water-packed) and press the excess water out with a paper towel.

Place the tofu in a food processor bowl and turn it off and on briefly to break it apart.

Add the Vegenaise, lemon juice and garlic, and process till smooth.

Scoop the mixture into a bowl and add the fresh chopped herbs. Season with sea salt and black pepper, to taste. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or more to blend flavors.

Serve with fresh carrot sticks and raw spring veggies.

Serves six.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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More gluten-free veggie dips from food blogs:

Creamy Tofu and Green Pea Dip at The Kitchn

Hummus Dip with Kalamata Olives and Capers from Jeanette's Healthy Living