Gluten-Free Hazelnut Crackers with Herb Spread

Gluten-free hazelnut crackers and vegan herbed cream cheese.

Make Your Own Gluten-Free Crackers!

The wheel of the year has turned once again and New Year's Eve is fast approaching here! And that means party food, Dudes and Dudettes. Appetizing little bites of joy and peace.

On my list? These gluten-free hazelnut crackers you can serve your guests without apology. Snowy soft herbed cream cheese you can offer your favorite vegan and your die-hard carnivore. That's right. Both. At once. To whet their appetite. A tease. A taste of deliciousness to get the festivities rolling.

And no one has to know how crazy easy it was to conjure these goodies.

They'll just be totally impressed you made your own crackers.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Karina's Four Must-Try Gluten-Free Recipes

Four Gluten-Free Recipes You Must Try- Now

Looking back was never a favorite pastime for me. I prefer looking ahead. Imagining the new. Rather than rehashing the past (excuse me while I yawn). Or at the very least, enjoying what hipster philosophers deem The Now. The Present. Here. Today. This minute.

It's all we've (really) got. This. Moment.

And here, where I sit, in the now, in the stream, rowing (ever so) gently, I am conjuring four lip smacking recipes. All gluten-free. All dairy-free.

And the best part?

These favorite recipes are so darn good you won't be pining for the past- those wheat-infested glory days of a bygone gluten era. Nope.

Babycakes, you'll be so in The Now as you taste (devour?) each forkful of this Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Or nibble the golden crisp edges of these Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Or sink your teeth into these fudgy, rich, and tender Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Or surrender to the creamy, silky, peanutty bliss that is (my favorite) vegan ice cream, ever- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

So as the New Year dawns, all shiny and brand new... conjure a little kitchen magic and rustle up these recipes pronto.

Now is where it's at.

Karina's Chocolate Truffle Cake

Rich, easy, gorgeous truffle cake.

To celebrate a bright New Year, I say we bake a cake. A flourless cake. A cake so rich it tastes like a truffle. Not the infamous pig snuffled treasure. No, Darling. The chocolate truffle. That heavenly impostor, hiding in the guise of that woodsy French piggery fungi. Spoonfuls of deep, dark ganache rolled in cocoa powder (to look like dirt, of course).

And I didn't want just a chocolate cake topped with ganache, either. I wanted to bake the ganache itself. I wanted the cake to taste like a sweet and satiny truffle- I wanted the cake to live up to its name. Truffle Cake inspires expectations.

So I fiddled around with my Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe and rustled up a divine and creamy chocolate cake so special you'll want to share it with company. It's simply too good to keep to yourself. Try it. It's shockingly easy to make. Just give yourself time to make it ahead. It is at its best chilled overnight.

Silky satin chocolate cake with a dusting of dirt- I mean- organic cacao powder with a secret ingredient. Raw maca powder. Throw in a little superfood magic. Why not?


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Winter Holidays: Celebrating Gluten-Free

Celebrate: Gluten-Free Style!

Looking for recipes and inspiration for your gluten-free Christmas breakfast? Winter solstice brunch with friends? Vegan Hanukkah guests? A romantic New Year's Eve? Some simple winter comfort food?

Here is my collection of holiday friendly favorites. Browse these gluten-free wheat-free recipes (most are dairy-free as well) and create your own winter holiday menu.

Celebrate gluten-freestyle.

With love.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Gingersnaps Recipe

Gluten-free gingersnaps- a classic holiday cookie.

This time of year simply begs for gingersnaps- the classic and humble cookie that tastes old fashioned and elegant and post new wave all at once. A subtle, spicy, gingery bite that snaps with a crunch to awaken satiated taste buds soaked in a holiday sea of egg nog, cheese logs and peanut butter balls. Fancy cookies, these are not.

Slathered with green icing and star sprinkles?

Not exactly.

Though, you could, I suppose. Slather these. And sprinkle with abandon.

If you're of a mindset that more is more, and nurture not the minimalist mantra of Less.

The choice is yours.

Go old fashioned and let the gingersnap goodness tingle on its own.

Or go wild.

And get your frosting on.

It's your party.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Snowy Lemon Cookies

Light and lemony gluten-free wheat-free cookies.

My Luscious Lemon Cookies Recipe...

It is a vaguely unnerving thing to look back and see the past curving away behind you, blurring into a soft and distant memory. So often we food bloggers write about the future, imagining holidays- like Christmas (and lemon cookies)- perched in a hot, noisy apartment on a bright September afternoon, conjuring the stillness of snow and December candlelight.

Such is the blogging life- often a life lived forward, imagining the new.

I am in a Terence Malick sort of mood. Wanting to escape with my iPad and watch To the Wonder- for the third time this week.

And wishing I had some of these Snowy Lemon Cookies.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe

Delicious chocolate gingerbread loaf. Gluten-free yum.

Chocolate Gingerbread, Gluten-Free Goddess Style

In the deep midwinter, I cheer my fragile spirit by baking. I put on Yo Yo Ma and stir cocoa laced batter with a wooden spoon, imagining my fellow gluten-free bakers- all of you- out there- standing in your humble kitchens, beating strange flours and non-traditional ingredients with an odd blend of dread and hope. Crossing fingers and scooping tea bread, cake and muffin batter, rolling cookie dough between nervous palms, praying to the kitchen gods.

By Winter Solstice- I will celebrate my twelfth thirteenth anniversary of living gluten-free. Yep. December 19, 2001 was the day I decided to shun gluten forever. What timing. Right before Christmas. I could have waited until December 26th. Or even the New Year.  But I didn't. 

I couldn't.

As soon as I connected the dots- from my plague of symptoms to their instigator gluten- I couldn't wait to begin my new life. If I had eaten my very last buttery croissant, so be it. If I had unknowingly crunched my last iced sugar cookie, so what. I was done.

Few of us have to make such choices.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust, Goddess Style

My best gluten-free pizza crust to date.

For years I've missed pizza. Not because there isn't gluten-free pizza available. It's out there. You can find it if you look hard enough. Take a gander in the frozen food aisle of your favorite natural market. Snoop around in the dairy case, next to the gluten-free bagels. You might even hit pay dirt at your local pizza joint (if they understand the ins and outs of cross contamination). So yeah. There are some choices out there. Problem is, most gluten-free pizza sucks.

It's usually heavy on the chewy aspect. Or dry as dirt. With zero flavor. Yawningly bland. Certainly nothing to brag about. I mean, you wouldn't eat it if you didn't have to. You know what I'm sayin'? It's okay in a pinch. If you're famished on a Friday night. But it's not exactly inspiring.

So last week I started experimenting. I tweaked and baked. And lo and behold. A new gluten-free pizza crust was born.

And this one doesn't suck.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes & Tips

Scones, pie, pumpkin bread, acorn squash, quinoa salad with pears...

Thanksgiving. Nothing sends shivers of trepidation up a gluten-free dairy-free girl's spine like the mental image of Grandma's white bread dressing, or shimmying slabs of Aunt Ida's pumpkin pie. It's a butter and wheat flour gorge fest with danger at every turn- the gut-twisting threat of thirty-six hours chugging Pepto Bismol poised to strike on every holiday decorated plate. Jovial forkfuls of tradition and conviviality aside.

It can be a nightmare, Darling.

If you're lucky, your family is tuned in to the ins and outs of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, and they are well aware of the angst and anxiety food centric holidays can trigger for those of us who need to be vigilant about each and every spoonful of food that enters our quirky gluten-free universe. 

If you are blessed, they are thoughtful and well schooled in where gluten might lurk (turkey broth, marinades, gravy, seasoning packets, spice blends, traditional stuffing, cornbread mixes, crackers, pie crusts, soy sauce). And they don't ask questions like, You can eat "whole" wheat crackers, right? with the emphasis on the word whole as if somehow, the word itself makes the wheat magically safe for gluten sensitive folks to consume (it doesn't). 

And they don't indulge in meta messages and all that spooky passive-aggressive weirdness. They won't sigh when you politely decline a slice of Aunt Ethel's pecan pie and say, Why don't you just eat the filling and not the crust? 

They won't hold up a pitcher of turkey gravy and whisper, A little bit won't kill you.

Or my own personal favorite, Oh, go ahead... I have food allergies and I cheat.

Right.

If these persuasions are foreign to you, then you, Dear Reader, have much to be thankful for this holiday season. You are blessed with a clan that gets you, loves you without judging you, and honestly cares about every morsel that enters your fragile autoimmune universe.

So this post is for them...

The attentive Moms and Dads, compassionate Aunts and Uncles, smart-as-a-whip Grandmas and Bubbes, sisters, brothers and best buds who believe that if food is love, Thanksgiving should be fun and worry-free and delicious.

For everyone.  

No big whup.

Because after all- we know true love has great taste.

Key Tips for a Safe and Delicious

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free 

Holiday Season

If you're new to gluten-free living here's a Gluten-Free Diet Cheat Sheet to print out and keep handy. Because gluten is devious. Label reading is a must.

Marinades, broth, soy sauce, and bouillon may use wheat or barley in flavors and seasonings. Although I urge you to check your turkey for gluten-free status, most I've seen are safe- if you avoid the seasoning or gravy packet.

Bottom line?

Know your bird. Know your source. And know your ingredients, Dollface.

TIPS: For thickening gravy, whisk in a tablespoon or two of sweet rice flour. Or make an arrowroot starch slurry. {Potato flour is another choice- but be careful you don't add too much and end up with gelatinous, thick gravy you have to slice to serve}

For a non-dairy sub in pumpkin, squash and sweet potato recipes try using coconut milk- it's creamy and delicious (full fat tastes best). If you can't do coconut milk, soy milk or almond milk works beautifully. {Rice milk is rather thin. Hemp milk is an acquired taste and may be too grassy for the uninitiated.}

Another tasty non-dairy vegan choice is orange juice or apple cider. Cook carrots or cubes of winter squash with a splash of orange juice or apple cider for a lovely vegan flavor boost. Drizzle a touch of pure maple syrup.

For creamy mashed potatoes that are dairy-free I use a combo of light and fruity extra virgin olive oil and my favorite gluten-free vegan buttery spread. For creaminess, whip in some warm non-dairy milk- coconut, soy, and nut milks all work. A light gluten-free broth works, too. The trick is don't beat the potatoes to death until they're gluey (what did a potato ever do to you? Be kind).

For a dairy-free vegan butter sub in baking, my new favorite fat is organic coconut oil. I love the texture and subtle coconut flavor. 

Hate coconut oil? Try organic expeller pressed canola oil or grape seed oil (both have very neutral flavor). Any of these work well in muffins, quick breads, bread, cookie bars and cakes. When one half to one cup butter is called for in a recipe, these oils will usually work- though I typically start with a little less than the amount of butter called for and see how the batter looks.

For a vegan butter substitute in pastry and gluten-free pie crust recipes I'd choose Earth Balance sticks, Spectrum Organic Shortening or organic coconut oil.

For stuffing, simply follow your favorite recipe and substitute toasted cubes of gluten-free cornbread, corn muffins, or a loaf of store-bought gluten-free white bread. Or try my personal favorite stuffing recipe- Cornbread Stuffing with Curried Apples and Cranberries.

For a crunchy bread crumb topping, try my Crunchy Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs (process toasted gluten-free waffles into perfect golden crumbs- they make a delicious topping that can be quite the conversation starter- waffles? Really?). And no, a (true) waffle is not sweet.

For a gluten-free mac and cheese try my Kicked Up Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe or my dairy-free Baked Mac and Cheese or my totally from scratch Cheesy Uncheese Mac and Cheese (fab for vegan guests).

For a classic cookie crumb pie crust use Pamela's or Midel's Gluten-Free Gingersnaps or Pamela's cookies (Lemon or Ginger or Chocolate, depending upon the filling) processed into crumbs. I use Joy of Cooking's classic cookie/cracker crumb recipe and simply substitute with gluten-free cookies. For a butter replacement, try organic coconut oil, a good tasting vegan spread like Earth Balance.

Read on for more tips and my Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Thanksgiving worthy recipes ...

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Butternut Pecan Scones

Get sconed, Babycakes, with these fab gluten-free scones.

Have a warm, tender scone for breakfast. Or afternoon tea.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Praline in Coconut-Pecan Crust

A slice of vegan pumpkin pie heaven. Chill overnight for best texture. 

Karina's Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Praline and Coconut-Pecan Crust

By Karina Allrich November 2010.

The key to this version of vegan pumpkin pie is the cashew cream. It thickens the pumpkin custard filling without eggs. I kid you not. This is one beautiful pie. You'll love it. And so will your guests.

The trick is to make it ahead of time- and give the pie a chance to chill thoroughly.

Prepare a 9-inch Springform pan by lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper. (Note: This recipe really needs a 9-inch pan- I mean it. Don't use a smaller pan, Babycakes. It might overflow.)

First, make the crust.

Crust ingredients:

1 cup flaked unsweetened organic coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend
1/2 cup organic light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Place all of the dry ingredients into a food processor bowl and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add in the vegan butter and pulse several times in short bursts until the crumbs are moist and begin to fall away from the sides of the bowl.

Dump the crumbs into the cake pan and spread them evenly. Using your fingers gently press the crumbs across the bottom and up the sides- about 2/3 of the way up.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 7 minutes- to set.

Remove the pan and set aside.

Meanwhile... make your filling.

Ingredients:

2 14-oz. cans organic pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups thick cashew cream- see below for instructions
1 1/4 cups organic light brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice or orange juice
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a whisk attachment (if you have one- if not, use standard beaters) beat the ingredients on medium high until you have a smooth, creamy custard texture.

Pour the pumpkin custard into the Springform pan and smooth it out evenly. Your pan should be quite full- about 1-2 inches from the top. Place the pan into the center of the preheated 350 F degree oven. Bake for about one hour, till set, and up to 70 minutes or so, if necessary. If the cashew cream was very cold, for instance, you'll need to bake it longer. If the cashew cream was room temperature, the pie will set/bake sooner.

Check the pie at about 50 minutes, to make sure the top is not over-browning (some ovens may run hotter, etc). If the top gets too brown too soon, tent it with a piece of foil.

The pie should look set and slightly firm- though it will still shimmy a little if you shake the pan slightly. You want the center firmness to match the firmness near the outer edges. I baked mine for a full 67 minutes. Every oven is slightly different. Start with an hour in mind- and be willing to bake up to 70 minutes, if it the pie looks "loose".

That said- know that this pie firms up when chilled. It is the chilling of the cashew cream that replaces the eggs in this recipe.

Cool the pie on a wire rack until it is cool enough to handle. Place a piece of parchment paper across the top, and a dinner plate to keep it in place. Chill in the fridge for at least six hours- but preferably, overnight. It will slice best when thoroughly chilled.

Before serving, remove the outer ring of the Springform pan. Top the pie with Pecan-Pumpkin Seed Praline (recipe follows).

The pumpkin seed and pecan praline adds a delicious crunch.

Pumpkin-Pecan Praline

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegan butter
A couple of shakes of cinnamon
A pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons organic light brown sugar
2 tablespoons gluten-free brown rice syrup or maple syrup

Instructions:

Grease a baking sheet and set aside. Heat a well seasoned, lightly oiled iron skillet over medium heat and add the vegan butter, cinnamon, sea salt, pecans, pumpkin seeds and brown sugar. Stir for a minute or a two to toast the seeds and pecans. Add the brown rice syrup and stir till bubbling and sticky.

Remove from heat; spoon and spread the praline onto a greased baking sheet to cool. Break the praline into pieces for garnishing the top of the pie. I added the praline as a garnish to slices just before serving, but if you need to make this entirely ahead of time, you could top the whole chilled pie with cooled praline pieces.

Serves 16.

GFG Notes:

Folks are sure to ask me if you could make this pie with eggs. But it's not that kind of pie. The cashew cream is a star in this recipe. If you add eggs, I suspect it would create quite a mess.

If you would like to use real butter instead of vegan butter, that would work.

If you must avoid coconut milk, you could use your usual non-dairy substitution- if the milk is rich- like a good organic soy milk. I wouldn't use rice milk. Too thin. If I had to use rice milk as the only alternative, I would choose a vanilla rice yogurt instead.

Soaking raw cashews to make cashew cream.

How to Make Cashew Cream

Cashew cream is super easy to make, and keeps for several days in the fridge, stored in an airtight container, covered.

You'll need:

2 cups organic raw cashews
Fresh filtered water

Rinse the cashews in a colander and place them in a glass or ceramic bowl. Cover them with fresh filtered water. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let them soak for two hours.

Drain the cashews and pour them into a Vita-Mix or blender.
or macho blender.

Add:

A small pinch of sea salt

A small splash of full fat coconut milk- maybe 2 tablespoons

Process the cashews for a minute or two until they form a paste, adding a tiny bit more of coconut milk, if necessary, to create a thick, rich cream. Don't thin it too much, however- you want it really thick for the pie filling.

Use immediately or store, covered, in the fridge until using.

Yields roughly two cups of cashew cream.

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 Banana Muffins

Light, lovely banana muffins.

With all the focus on pumpkin- and pumpkin spiced everything- this harvesty time of year, sometimes you just crave a well worn classic. A simple, homespun, kind to quirky tummies treat. 

A banana muffin. 

Simplicity. Fresh, home-baked, warm from the oven classic banana muffins. No gluten. No dairy. Just big banana flavor.

From me (said Celiac) to you (beloved Reader).



READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Autumnal Gifts - and favorite pumpkin recipes

Catherine, with eggs from hens Fiona, Molly and Mona.

My Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Recipes

From the archives, with a dash of autumnal pumpkin love... The bittersweet, textured beauty of Autumn has always gripped my heartstrings, pulling me in deeper, connecting with some invisible part of me, so much more so than Spring. Much more so than summer's flirtatious pleasures. And Winter, well. She is a dark and icy mistress. That relationship has always been complicated. So unlike my truly, madly deeply love of Fall.

And here am I. In L.A... Where Fall is just a pumpkin spice latte.

Los Angeles is without an Autumn. I know apologists who claim there is seasonal change (deciduous leaves do transform here- from dry green to crispy brown, sometime before Thanksgiving). But there is no Yankee eruption of brilliance- no reds, golds and coppery oranges. There is no softened, morning skyline heavy with balsam scented mist. Ardent Angelenos do not seem to bristle with three digit heat in October (it was 106ºF yesterday). They do not seem to crave L.L. Bean flannel shirts and cotton turtlenecks, like I do. Flip flops and tank tops are year round fashion choices. Along with hair dye, tanning lotions and injectables that promise eternal Spring. Los Angeles is a town of perpetual 21. In platform heels.

There are weeks (months?) on end I do not see a single woman sporting natural gray hair like mine. Never mind a natural neck- or- well. You know. That's another story. You get the picture. Not only do I feel invisible in sexualized So-Cal culture, I feel irrelevant, and bored. Restless. And unconnected. Year-round summer feels shockingly dull. Artificial. And uninspiring.

So I took my husband on a trip.

We spent a week on Cape Cod (my old stomping grounds, for decades). And I ate up every minute with a spoon. I spent entire days outside, wandering, hiking, drinking in the sea air, the peace and solitude, the creativity of the community (artists and writers, gardeners, crafters, gentlewomen farmers and furniture makers). Strong, independent women with silver streaked hair, and natural beauty that had never known a dermatologist's needle. Women not focused on a mirror. But focused on their curiosity. On creating something with their hands. Their spirit. It was grounding. And enlightening.

And it felt like home.

New Englander Ralph Waldo Emerson said, What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

Not to wax too geo-pious, but New England does infuse your blood by birth. It roots you to its culture, its distinct sensibility. Its Yankee eye for simple elegance. An appreciation for patina. For thoughtfulness.

For me, my rural New England beginning fostered a life-long love of books. Music. Antiques. Landscape painting. Simple nourishing food. Walking in the woods. Quiet rather than noise.

Show rather than tell.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Karina's Roasted Hatch Chile Stew

Karina's Santa Fe Inspired Stew

If you are lucky enough to live in enchanted New Mexico (as we were- a few years back), chances are you worship at the Sacred Temple of the Holy Chile Pepper. During the all-too-short chile harvest season you can smell the intoxicating smoky-sweet scent of roasting chiles everywhere you go. Teasing. Tantalizing. Infusing your daydreams with green chile fantasies.

The devotion to roasted chile runs deep in these parts and yes, it's with an e never with an i; if you call chile chili in these parts you may as well kiss your white bread tuchas good-bye, pendajo, because you'll be laughed out of the state. Shunned. Scorned. These folks get very serious about their autumn roasted chile. Don't mess with 'em. It's harvest time.

If you're up to roasting your own chiles, you can do it on the grill or even over an open flame like Elise does at Simply Recipes; here's her How to Roast Chile Peppers Over a Gas Flame. After roasting, cool and peel; then stem, seed and chop.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

Karina's awesome new pumpkin bread recipe. Gluten-free.

Autumn in Portland, Oregon, is soft and rainy. Foggy. And slow to frost. The scents of Ponderosa pine and red cedar infuse our morning walk with a woodsy familiarity my New England soul craves, as yellow willow leaves flutter earthward, dreamlike, cinematic.

Time to pull on sweaters. Dig out a favorite scarf. Stack kindling and firewood. Choose a new book to love (I am reading Mink River by Brian Doyle- a lovely, lyrical, michievous book infused with Irish-American sensibility and Salish stories).

And best of all, it is finally time- for pumpkin lovers everywhere- to fill the pantry shelves with tins of our favorite curcurbit. Because, Dear Reader... it's time to bake. And I have a fabulous, flavorful, autumn-worthy gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe for you.

A huge, gorgeous pumpkin loaf.

Enjoy warm from the oven, with butter or cream cheese. Or make it ahead: Bake it. Wrap it. Freeze it.

And Babycakes, it will feed a crowd.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Applesauce Crumb Cake with Cinnamon

Coffee Cake to the Rescue

I decided to bake a cake. Because trying to wrestle gluten-free pie dough for an apple pie just seemed too fussy. Too complicated. Though in all honesty, that isn't the whole, unvarnished truth. The whole, unvarnished truth is, Yours Truly is more of a cake person than a pie person. It's true- pies have their charm. I've been known to inhale a slice or two of apple pie in my day. But here's the thing. And I'm going to be blunt.

Gluten-free pastry crust is simply not as flaky and tender and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful as wheat pastry crust. There. I said it. Fighting words, to some. And if you are among those true believers feel free to disagree. And go eat your gluten-free pie. I bless you with a thousand sprinkles of pie fairy dust. With love. And kisses. And pink ponies.

Respectfully.

Gluten, you see, is more than a pesky protein with a bad rep. Gluten is what makes pastry dough soft, flaky and tender. Gluten is what inspired bakers to bake all those years ago, firing up their hand-hewn brick-lined ovens. Gluten was their muse. Their seductive mistress. Gluten took them beyond three ingredient pancakes and palm-tossed flatbreads. Gluten fed their imagination. Inspired tarts, baklava, cupcakes. Napoleons. And yes. Apple pie. Because gluten is a magical ingredient (despite its bad press these days). We have to admit it. She's not an easy paramour to replace.

Perhaps some day soon I'll be tempted to experiment with a gluten-free wheat-free pastry dough. I'll be lured into believing I can recreate such delicate, fragile beauty. But not today. I'll bake this 'no apology necessary' Apple Crisp or this amazing Pumpkin Pie with Coconut-Pecan Crust.

For breakfast, I'll eat Applesauce cake.

Right now, I can live with that.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gorgeous Quinoa Side Dish

A dazilious red quinoa salad with fruit and vegetable jewels.

Today's recipe is perfect for Fall. It's a beautiful red quinoa recipe I tossed together one weeknight, featuring roasted butternut squash, cranberries and pecans.

Classic Autumn flavors.

Gorgeous color.

Serve this as a colorful vegan side dish.

Or stuff a vegetable (it would be fab and hip served in roasted bell pepper halves).

Red quinoa has a milder taste than the standard quinoa.

So if you think you don't like quinoa, try the Inca red.

I suspect you'll convert to quinoa love.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Pumpkin Bread Pudding - Gluten-Free

Pumpkin Inspired : Bread Pudding

Don't ask me where the craving came from. Because I honestly couldn't tell you. I haven't a clue. I rarely even think about food these days (I seem to have returned to my art school habits of running on fuel comprised of coffee, painting, and music). I don't daydream of desserts or breakfast, or intricate candlelit suppers. I do not spend much time at all on the Internet lately.

I am hungry instead for inspiration. For autumn's burnished light and shadow. Rusted jewel colors and texture. Pattern. And rhythm. I am walking the local woods and creeks, listening, breathing in. Fed by the foggy morning softness and water sounds, and leafy, wet wood smoke. Gathering images and emotions for markmaking and paint slinging. Food- for better or worse (I'm not a judger)- is simply not on my radar these days.

But this weekend I woke with a curiously strong hankering for old fashioned pumpkin bread pudding. And gluten-free goodness ensued.



READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Pumpkin Polenta Recipe with Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

Vegetarian pumpkin polenta with salsa fresco.

The first gifts of Fall have arrived. Time to dig out the Crock Pot and your favorite flannel shirt. If you can find it, that is. It's got to be around here somewhere, right? You used it wore it to death last year. Or was that the year before?

The harvest moon is playing tricks with your memory again. The crows outside in the oak trees caw like the crows in tomorrow's dream. Days turn into weeks and lunch turns into next month's breakfast. Hours spill through worm holes of time like so many episodes of Lost. And the Buddha imagines the universe.

And gets it close to right.

We're talking atoms, people. Particles of teeny tiny specks of even tinier teenier fragments of a single point of something so small the naked eye perceives it as invisible. Yet the Buddha perceived this. In 528 BC.

I ponder this as I walk in a stream of brittle bronze oak leaves.

The succession of days that adds up to a life is only a blink. The moment when you started reading this sentence is already the past. You think about this stuff as you get older. When you squint into your future you see a shorter slope than the path that winds behind you. It can cause a slippery sense of vertigo. A tipping sideways melancholy that infuses every lost opportunity with meaning, bittersweet.

I remember a West Hollywood walk to the market past ninety-pound skateboarders and a gaggle of thin actors smoking outside the Lee Strasberg Institute. I think about the Russian speaking men with impossibly sad eyes brushing past me, their impeccably groomed wheat-blonde wives carrying shopping bags of kale. I smile at the memory of my brown-eyed neighbor sitting on his front wall listening to Miles Davis on a transistor radio.  

Great music, I tell him, feeling myself altering my cadence to the beat. It's JAZZ, Baby! he shouts, laughing as I pass by. I feel his joy in my chest. And I know he is exactly right. This whole life thing? This whole circuitous method of survival called living?

It's jazz, Baby.

And you just gotta go with it.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake

Gluten-Free vegan pumpkin cheesecake- creamy and dairy-free.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake, Darling

Quick question. It is officially October. The annual Pumpkin Love Fest has begun in earnest. So. I ask you. Is this the time to shun dessert in favor of green kale chia fiber smoothies and ginger laced cabbage detox soup?

I can answer that.

The answer is no.

As in N. As in O. NO. Nope. Nada. Not gonna happen.

Because I, my darling, am a temptress. I am not going to write about healthy Fall desserts today, or some virtuous fat-free bean brownie with chicory fiber, or three-bean dirt-brown chili that will keep you tooting fumes for a week. Instead, Dearest Gluten-Sensitive One, I am going to tease you. I am going to lure you- with a silver fork-worthy dessert recipe totally worth baking this all-too-soon-to-be-upon-us holiday season 2014.

This is a silky, creamy pumpkin cheesecake that begs for a party. Or a family rumpus. One of many last hurrahs as daylight dwindles darkly toward the Winter Solstice low point, flickering her last sigh Northward before the pale glare of January dawns in all her cold and sober glory (and I step- ever so gingerly- on the reality check scale). And maybe sigh. A little hint of a sigh.

Because even though it is pre-Halloween, pre-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, pre-Hannukah (and all that pre-winter holiday jazz) I can already see that the annual jean shrinkage has begun. You know- that time of year when (mysteriously!) my favorite jeans come damp-dry out of the dryer a size too small. And that familiar jolly pie roll affectionately known as Doris is itching to start rolling her merry way up and out of my favorite black leggings. It's rather comical. And honestly, she makes me smile. I pat her affectionately.

Like a pet bunny.

Because the truth is I am not about to start counting calories.

Though I admit I may possibly probably definitely feel the need to cleanse my palette in the bright new year that lurks and leers around the post-holiday corner. Detox mulligatawny is surely in my future, come 2015.

If for nothing else, for the sheer love of shedding old stuck energy. A fresh start feels good.

If you do it with a big dash of humor.

And humility.

I know from experience that January will ignite the urge to clean out closets, chase those dust bunnies and walk off our collective Doris's. Or would that be Dori, for plural? We'll have ample time, come 2015, for detoxing and courting virtue with ginger laced green soup, and recipes that will encourage our lovely pinchable pie rolls to skedaddle. I promise. I'll be first second third in line with fresh whipped smoothies and cleansing soup recipes come January.

But this month? Nah.

There's a vegan pumpkin cheesecake recipe to share.



READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Icing

Gluten-free dairy-free pumpkin cupcakes for Fall.

I need to wander off a bit. Because it's who I am. A person who wanders. Ponders. Finds solace in books. I've been like this since girlhood. Curious. Serious. No good at catching balls. Or dressing dolls. I am beyond inept with hair. And eyeliner. Nail polish. I get anxious and non-verbal if I have to wear anything that isn't a pair of jeans.

I hold the opinion that there is more to life than collapsing in front of the television and microwaving hot dogs. I think that beauty- as Steve Jobs believed- is important, has value. That we are deeply interconnected. That life on Earth is precious- from the house sparrow to the living sea. That we are part of a vast and mysterious collective- not merely of our absurd egos (who natter inside our heads and squander our attention on drama, conflict, acquisition and the need to control)- but of a newly unfolding awareness of astonishing inner space and outer space. Infinity in every direction.

Which begs the question.

Who am I? Really. I know I am not the car I drive or the laundry detergent I use. I know I am not what I identify with. I am not what I embrace- or reject. Though for years I thought so. I believed my opinions created a self. Made me Me. Now that I am old enough to have lived through countless opinion reversals, I realize opinions are temporary. And not defining.

Just as I am not my baby teeth. Or my once lactating voluptuousness. Or my sprouting silver hair. Or what music I listen to. Or what jeans I outgrow. I am not even the woman baking pumpkin cupcakes for her readers. Or am I? Well, maybe I am. Just a little. But wait. Doesn't that make me the sum of what I do? I bake therefore I am?

I am trying lately not to be so much of a human doing. And more of a human being.

It's not as easy as one might think.

And therein lies the trouble. The whole thinking thing. Our brain. Our wired hardware. It disconnects us. It addicts us. It overrides the heart and soul of what is really going on. The being we really are. Beneath the seductive and glossy surface of things. The spark that burns from the greater whole.

I see that spark in you.

It's why I made you cupcakes.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

  

Warm from the oven buckwheat chocolate chip cookies.

I know what you're thinking. Not another cookie recipe. Please. I've had it with melty chocolate chips and crunchy, chewy sweetness. Where are the rutabaga recipes, dagnabbit? And what about beets? Or parsnips? I've got a hankering for kale the size of Wyoming. I yearn for jicama. Cook me up some kohlrabi, already. Sorry, Darling. Not today. You'll have to be patient.

There are cookies to bake.

And these are gluten-free.

And wheat-free.

And dairy-free.

And vegan.

But I'll be honest.

Baking egg-free, butter-free, gluten-free cookies (that actually taste tempting) can be tough. So if you- or an angel you love- are allergic to one- or several- of the top food allergens, or consciously living GF/CF for ASD reasons, just know I'm in the weird and rocky boat with you.

Which is why I keep experimenting and tweaking recipes.

And if the butter-eating glutenous In Crowd doesn't get it, I say, You know what, Cheese Breath? Just go eat your Twinkies, will ya?

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bars Recipe

Frosted gluten-free pumpkin bars with a secret ingredient.

Tuning in to the particular (and fleeting) pleasures of each changing season as we ride the wheel of the year may be my favorite spiritual practice. A practice that requires one simple thing. Attention. Which turns out to be not so simple, inevitably. Because life is anything but simple, with its whitewater rush of mind numbing distractions that demand less and less of our soul and more and more of our mental focus on exterior minutia. Micro decisions. Cleaning out our email in-box. Catching up with Facebook feeds and Twitter streams and Google+. Texting about grocery lists. Scanning streaming video options- thousands of choices may glitter and ooze their high definition glow but I find I am not feeling the abundance.

I am less and less enamored with more.

I know. It's showing. My age. My childhood brain was wired for mud and bird calls, blackberry thickets and butterscotch pine. Hours spent reading in a grove of birch trees dug their neural groove. The wild luxuries of inner connection, rather than social networking. And TIME. That plastic, misunderstood, precious commodity that shape-shifts experience from an endless afternoon of liquid daylight into a heart clutching warp speed tumble of confusion. Decades become tiny sandwiches of memory you can barely taste anymore.

Weeks blink by with alarming velocity.

And here we are again.

In pumpkin season.

And so. I stop. And notice the way the late day sun drops low and shimmers golden in the treeline. The crows are gathering earlier. Glossy black and strutting with authority. The smell of burnished leaves scuttling across a wet Cape sidewalk is the same smell I inhaled on a road trip in Vermont fifteen years ago, standing on a wooden bridge above a clear shallow creek while our sons balanced on the slick rocks below us, fishing for smooth round stones.

Do they remember this? Do they remember the same hours I do, in the sand on Skaket Beach? Do they ever have a sudden itch to feed their senses with the scents and sounds of a freshwater riverbed, a sun warmed tide pool? Do they crave a winding path through apple trees? Were their brains hardwired for this connection, too?

I ponder this as I stir a new pumpkin batter.

And breathe in the scents of ginger and cinnamon, listening to the leafy rustle of an almond flour bag as I fold up the cellophane and pinch it closed with a clothespin.


READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Zucchini Flaxseed Muffins

Warm from the oven zucchini flaxseed muffins- gluten-free, wheat-free.

Harvest Moon Muffins

It's been a Supermoon Summer. We've been blessed with not just one, but a triad of big bright beautiful moons worthy of a cameo in one of my all-time favorite movies, Moonstruck. Tonight's Supermoon is the Harvest Moon. 

And like the previous two, this is a moon to swoon by. 

Smooch by. 

And yeah, bake by.

Because baking can be romantic. And fresh baked muffins can mean love is afoot.

So if you've got an extra late zucchini kicking around the garden, darling- harvest it ASAP! Grate it up. And bake these fabulous zucchini flaxseed muffins pronto.

Moonlight and magic might be afoot.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

My Best Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

The best gluten-free apple crisp I've made. In this lifetime anyway.

The I in my disease.

I've been pondering identity lately. As in, am I the I writing this as Gluten-Free Goddess--- or am I a word-free, less defined kind of I that isn't actually I at all, but merely a spark in the collective energy source that is the Great Mystery? Or Universe. Or Divine. Or whatever conceptual nomenclature you prefer.

Am I my thinking mind- or am I more of an essence, what we call soul, a truth beyond the assumed collection of thought patterns, personality traits, and personal history framed by a set of beliefs and separation known as the ego?

I do know I am not my disease.

One of the reasons I chose not to use the word celiac in my blog title was for just this very reason. I do not define myself as a celiac. In an identity sense. I do not identify with my this disease. That would be identifying with my gastro-functional limitations.

Hello, my name is Karina. And I have screwed up villi.

But I am not my screwed up villi. Just as I am not my post-cataract lens implants. Or my mended broken hip. Or the silvery streaked hair that bristles like a squirrel on this prone-to-migraines head. I am also not this post-menopausal body that has brilliantly succumbed to a gravitational force superior than lunges and squats (in the end gravity wins, I am sorry to tell you).
 
The older I get, I find less and less comfort in defining myself at all- never mind defining myself by my various bodily quirks (not to mention, my southerly migrating butt). I derive no solace in my mental quirks either. My beliefs, or assumptions, or my random monkey thoughts. Even my skills are a poor capture of who I really am. I do not identify with how many paintings I've painted or sold, or how many likes I receive on Instagram. I do not crave recognition as a mirror. The alleged prize of fame and fortune remains less than compelling, my least urgent motivator.

I instead wander the hours of my days seeking answers that lead to more questions. Not answers that close the book. As in, subscribing to a system that has it all "figured out".

As Anne Lamott likes to say, certainty is the opposite of faith.

Certainty is finite.

The end of growth. It clips the wings of possibility- the bigger truth that exists beyond my small understanding. Closing the book on the question of Who am I, exactly? would be foolish. The Big Mystery is far greater and more full of awesome than I can ever attempt to imagine. And whatever micro-teeny part I play in this infinite universal system called Life, I intuitively know one aspect of it, thanks to five-plus decades of living. Whatever It is, It is fluid. Everything changes. Including time. The past, present and future. The Universe (it's expanding, you know, faster than they first calculated). My experiential perception of myself (also expanding). The I that does not exist, because the I is only ego. The nattering, unreliable voice in my head.

So if this I does not exist--- who is craving this apple crisp?

Perhaps the only sensible response is this.

Be one with the apple crisp.

Now that I can do.




READ MORE and get the recipe ...