Baked Grape Tomatoes with Basil Cornbread Crumbs

Baked Tomatoes with Cornbread Crumbs. Yes, in Winter.

Bi-Seasonal Flirtations

I'm all for eating local (if it's organic- I can't see the point of chowing down on pesticides for the virtue of having traveled only sixty forty twenty miles to my plate). I'm also prone to eat in tune with the seasons. I sashay right by strawberries in February- with nary a twinge of envy. I ignore tomatoes in January with a disdain worthy of a cane-wagging Dowager Countess.

With one glaring exception.

Those flirtatious little baskets of grape tomatoes- and those shameless, curvy cherry tomatoes. So plump and sweet and brazen. So... come hither. The rosy taste of summer itself.

Beckoning.

And although my winter cravings tingle toward a melting, bubbling, butter soft gluten-free lasagna hot from the oven, I admit without shame I miss the bright, acidic burst of Venus' favorite fruit. And I succumb. I cave like a saddle-shoed Catholic school girl offered a menthol in the girl's room. Without a blink of embarrassment. Because I have a plan, thanks to food blogger Lydia at The Perfect Pantry.

A plan to coax these devilish beauties from their summer vacay glory into the guise of winter comfort food.

I gather them and cradle them in olive oil and toasted gluten-free cornbread crumbs.

I bake them.

A taste of summer, hot from the oven.

As soon as I saw the recipe for Baked Cherry Tomatoes over at The Perfect Pantry I knew I would love it. Tiny tomatoes, fresh garlic, Italian herbs, olive oil, breadcrumbs. What's not to love? It's Mediterranean cooking at it's simplest and most sublime.

I've tweaked the recipe to make it gluten-free, of course. There's not a speck of gluten in my version. But you'd never guess. Which makes this easy-to-create side dish an instant top ten favorite for pot lucks and picnics and any number of anxiety inducing gatherings we gluten-free goddesses fret about.

Serve this heavenly dish without a whisker of apology. Don't even bother mentioning its gluten-free and vegan status. These Italian baked tomatoes are so tasty you'll be asked for the recipe. By gluten eaters. By carnivores. I promise.

In place of plain bread crumbs (a definite no-no for gluten-free folks) I used a wedge of my Yeasted Quinoa Cornbread to make tender golden crumbs that taste like polenta. For the tomatoes I used both yellow and red organic grape tomatoes (to me they're slightly sweeter than cherry tomatoes; but use what you can get in your part of the world; both are delicious baked). And for the oregano I used basil.

Just because.

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Gluten-Free Carrot Bread with Chai Spices

Gluten-free carrot bread with raisins and chai spices.

I've got a lovely tender tea bread recipe for you- a gluten-free carrot bread fragrant with chai spices and studded with juicy sweet raisins. Ever since I baked those happy, sunny carrot muffins I've been pondering carrot bread. I wanted to create a new gluten-free bread recipe that featured several whole grains, including (gasp!) brown rice flour. Shocking, I know. Long time readers will confirm I'm not the biggest fan of rice flours. I almost never bake with them. And yet. There I was. Standing in the Whole Foods check out line. Buying a bag of Bob's Red Mill organic brown rice flour. On impulse. Because it just sounded good to me. Wholesome. Nutty. And friendly to carrots.

Which is important in a gluten-free recipe. The friendliness. You want all your ingredients to get along. You want your flavors co-mingling in savory-sweet bliss. Supporting one another's strengths. Forgiving each other's weaknesses. No single gluten-free flour is perfect on its own, as you well know. Going solo doesn't work. It needs a supporting cast. It needs to find balance and achieve harmony via relationships. Give and take. That's what it's all about in the crazy game of gluten-free baking.

Kinda like love.

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Gluten-Free Orange Almond Muffins

A kiss of orange infuses these sunny gluten-free muffins.

Life in short bursts.

Here comes the sun. Baby daylight is yawning herself awake, stretching like a blinking blue-eyed kitten into a brand new year. Little by little we are inching ever so nonchalant toward Groundhog Day, toward snowdrops poking through the crust of winter snow, toward pink horizons and bird calls. But I am not bothering to count the days of winter. And I am not bothering to count calories. I am lingering in my passion for comfort food. For baking. For muffins.

In between bowls of vegan detox soup.

Because I know the deal. I know my body's cycle. I understand that I slow down in winter. I hibernate. I conserve energy. Translation: I put on a few pounds. I have evidence to prove it. But I no longer panic. I have danced around this yearly cycle a time or two. Well. More like fifty-two. Plus five. But who's counting?

Not me.

I dream instead. Of romance. Of ease. Of psychic room to breathe. I imagine an early spring and the scents of almond and orange come to mind- not for any particular reason or culinary logic. It's just whimsy. Or maybe it's because the sweet breezy taste of citrus feels bright and refreshing after all the dense flavors of the season, like pumpkin streusel and cranberry and sweet potato. I ponder iPhone photography apps and process images for Instagram while I stir gluten-free flours into muffin batter (I multitask my yearnings).

Truth is, I follow my cravings. And I honor them. Most of the time. Which sometimes means ignoring them, frankly (cocktail hour can be one long nightmare of an hour, especially in the grip of Midwinter). And sometimes honoring means listening to cravings. Acknowledging them. Validating them. Then grabbing them by the scruff of the neck and plunking them onto the Time Out chair.

And going for a walk- to let them sulk in silence.

But sometimes a craving is as simple and true as a muffin. A gluten-free muffin, thankfully (Goddess knows I lost my taste for wheat years ago). And in the grand scheme of things, a muffin is one craving I can live with.

Today.

And you know me.

I take things one kitten-blinking day at a time.


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10 Vegetarian Christmas Recipes

Here are a hand-picked few of my favorite gluten-free vegetarian recipes.

Winter Solstice has blessed us with a turning point. Daylight now grows longer inch by inch. Or is that minute by wintry minute? In spirit, I suspect, it is both. Christmas is almost here, and the season celebrating rebirth, light, and sliding into credit card debt is in full swing. Carolers are caroling. Gift wrappers are gift wrapping. Egg noggers are nogging. The shiny New Year crouches right around the corner.

And recipes are flooding my in-box for... ham. Roast beef. Rack of lamb. Wait a duck fat glistening minute, here.

Where are the vegetarian Christmas recipes?

I can't be the only person not forking a slab of meat on Christmas day. I can't be the single solitary soul who doesn't treasure bacon fat like it's a princess tiara. I'm not alone in my imaginings of a fresh and lively meatless Christmas dinner--- am I?

Okay. Okay. I get it. I honestly do. I realize I'm in the minority here. That to most folks celebrating the winter holidays in all their myriad and nuanced diversity, meat is the centerpiece of celebration. I acknowledge that. I even accept that. Just because I've been a vegetarian 78% of my life doesn't mean I bury my head in the sand of denial. I cope. I deal.

I go with the flow.

But just so you know? The UN thinks vegetarianism is not only a cool idea, it may be necessary to save the planet. So here's ten of my favorite vegetarian and vegan recipes for Christmas. With love.


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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Crumb Cake

A light, pumpkin coffee cake for your holiday brunch.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Coffee Cake

The Winter Solstice will be here soon. The holiday frenzy of gift buying and light stringing and cookie making is officially upon us. Everywhere I cast my gaze I am pummeled with messages. SHOP! BAKE! SPARKLE!

And that's okay.

Because I understand the hoopla. I know where this urge comes from. The itch to make a ruckus in the dark. To sing, brave and clear, cupping our tiny flames against Midwinter's long night.

The California sun hangs soft and low in the sky, as pale as ice cream. Hours feel clipped. Afternoons are shorter and shorter. Night creeps ever closer. Darkness will soon reign over light.

But only for a moment. One single, solitary, longest night of the year.

No wonder we gather to celebrate. The rebirth of light is no small thing. And a brand new year awaits. Front loaded with promise, and changes hoped for.

I had hoped to finally conquer gluten-free sugar cookies. But after tasting more than one middling batch (I also have to bake without butter, remember) I became more interested in reading a new book than wrestling with sugar cookie dough. Yes, I miss rolling out sugar cookies. And yes, I would be (more than!) thrilled to sign on here today and boast about the best gluten-free sugar cookie ever. But. It's not gonna happen. This week anyway.

I had two sad, cracked (and complaining) teeth yanked this week. (Celiac disease is not kind to teeth and bones. My childhood was riddled with amalgam and the torture inducing whine of belt-driven drills, cementing a lifelong terror of dentists.)

So that gave me the perfect excuse to nap. And read in bed.

I am reading Carolyn G. Heilbrun- The Last Gift of Time. I read a chapter on memory- and the seduction of nostalgia (a favorite subject of mine, you may remember). And I read this...

"Every time those of us in our last decades allow a memory to occur, we forget to look at what is in front of us, at the new ideas and pleasures we might, if firmly in the present, encounter and enjoy."

Carolyn (in her seventies when she wrote this book) urges us to stay present in the here and now as we age, and not drift into the mental trap of nostalgia and memories. I wholeheartedly agree. I love learning something new- every day- turning not to an assumption, a belief or a habit, but toward the thrill of a new skill, and new technologies (iphoneography is a new passion of mine- an art form in its infancy). Keeping myself open, engaged in the here and now means keeping things fresh. Letting go of the old, the stale past, the so-called good old days. Because as good as they were, they are not now. And as bad as some days may have been, today can be different.

Now is new.

And in this spirit, Steve and I baked a pumpkin crumb cake instead of recreating cookies. A new Christmas tradition, perhaps? Why not?

Cake for breakfast.

Sweet.


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Gluten-Free Goddess eBook

My new ebook- best loved recipes

[Now available on iTunes!]

My blog anniversary is just around the corner. Yep. Number six. And I am trying to wrap my little gluten-free brain around it. Six years. Six. That is a long time in blog years. (Maybe blog years are kinda like dog years? Every twelve months of blogging seems equal to seven human years. What I think I'm trying to say is that GFG feels... more grown up somehow. She's no longer a lurching toddler- or as Johnny Depp likes to phrase it, "tiny drunk"). The bumble-puppy years are over.

We're respectable now. (But hopefully not too serious.)

I  began blogging and sharing my recipes in late fall of 2005. There are over 400 original gluten-free recipes now on Gluten-Free Goddess. This astonishes me!

Looking over my recipe index this past summer I began to imagine the beginnings of a cookbook- a collection of recipe favorites from Gluten-Free Goddess. (In full transparency there have been cookbook offers, and some tempting projects pitched to me this year. But none seemed like the perfect fit. In fact, most felt like a tight shoe that pinched and chafed and left me preferring to go barefoot, taking my own meandering solo path, focusing on blogging, my first love.)

But then you know what happened. I got an iPad. And soon discovered the convenience and pleasure of bringing my entire blog into the kitchen with me. And that led to ebooks...
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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Bread

Tender, delicious tea bread that tastes like pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Bread That Tastes Like Pie

I'm feeling a tad, shall we say, under the weather, lately. Nothing serious. Just an autumnal cold that has knocked the stuffing out of me. I feel like a rag doll. An achy, cranky, ratty old rag doll with matted squirrelly hair and baggy sweatpants.

It ain't pretty is all I'm sayin'.

So forgive my delay in sharing the promised new pumpkin bars recipe. Soon, Babycakes. Soon.

In the meantime, here's an easy gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe- a lovely tea bread you can bake in a bread machine. Or in your oven, if you prefer.

As mentioned earlier the oven here in our temporary studio isn't exactly a cook's dream. So I was inspired by a reader who mentioned baking my banana muffin recipe as a banana bread in her bread machine (how brilliant is that?).

For my first excursion into bread machine tea bread baking, I converted my Big Banana Muffins recipe to a banana bread. And holy tap-dancing zombies- it worked! The trick (for a vegan egg-free bread, at least) is to use two teaspoons of baking powder. For those of you using eggs in your gluten-free baking, you may not need the extra oomph of a little more baking powder- but, please, as always, use your best judgment.

For this scrumptious pumpkin pie flavored pumpkin bread, I used a Breadman bread machine, but I don't see why any bread machine wouldn't work- as long as it has a rapid cycle and can accommodate a 2-lb loaf. Double check your manufacturer's instructions for baking an un-yeasted sweet bread.

Pumpkin pie bread.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Bread Recipe

Originally published October 2009.

I kept tasting pumpkin pie with every bite of this moist and delicious tea bread, hence the name. I baked it in my Breadman bread machine but you could also bake it in a conventional oven. Just be sure it bakes long enough- I'm guessing, about 50 to 55 minutes up to an hour at 350ºF. This is a large loaf.

Ingredients:

Add to the bread machine:

1 cup packed organic light brown sugar

4 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/4 cup light olive oil

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water (or two large eggs, beaten)

1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin is fine)

1/4 teaspoon light tasting apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

1/2 cup GF buckwheat flour

1/4 cup GF millet flour

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or gluten-free Pumpkin Pie Spice blend

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

As needed for liquid as it mixes:

Pure apricot or peach juice

Instructions:

Using the 2-pound setting with light or medium crust (not the dark setting or it may create a tough crust) program the bread machine for the Super Rapid setting.

As it begins to mix the ingredients, use a soft silicone spatula to scrape down the sides. After a minute or two of mixing check the consistency. If the batter is at all like my batter, it will be a bit thick and stiff. Add a tablespoon at a time of your favorite unsweetened pure apricot or peach juice until the batter becomes slightly thinner than muffin batter but thicker than cake batter. Not too thin, but not too thick. You'll know it when you see it. When you are happy with the consistency, close the lid and let the paddle beat the batter.

When it pauses to let the batter rest and rise, reach in and remove the paddle; smooth the top. Cover and let the rapid cycle do its thing (rest and bake the loaf).

When it beeps done reset the program to Bake. Set a timer and bake for an additional 10 minutes. It's a large loaf.

*(Now, if for some unknown reason your bread looks ready at this point, test it before you add on ten more minutes baking time; I'm at sea level now, so I imagine my baking times are in the normal range, but as we all know, humidity and temperature and ambient weirdness- not to mention, the fickle baking faeries- can affect gluten-free baking times.)

When the top is domed and the loaf is firm to the touch, and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean, this is a good sign it's done. Using a pot holder, remove the bread pan from the machine and cool it on a wire rack for five minutes or so, until it's a tad cooler to handle.

Using a clean tea towel and a pot holder, grasp the pan and carefully tip it upside down to release the pumpkin bread onto the wire rack; set the loaf upright on the rack and continue to cool.

Although you'll be tempted to slice and eat it warm, wait if you can. This moist bread only gets better as it cools. In fact, I did an experiment.

Half the bread- we ate that day. It was tender and moist. The other half we wrapped in foil, bagged and froze. Although the fresh loaf was tasty, I thought the frozen and thawed half tasted even better, and had an improved (less fall-apart) texture.

Makes one generous loaf.

Karina's Gluten-Free Bread Tips:

If you'd rather bake this pumpkin bread in the oven, use a large loaf pan and  bake in a preheated 350ºF oven, for 50 to 55 minutes, until the top is firm but gives slightly to a gentle touch.

If your gluten-free baking is gummy in the middle, try cutting back on the amount of liquid- one tablespoon at a time. Your flours may be damp from humid weather (or from storing them in the refrigerator).

I also find that using too much agave or honey can create gumminess. When I develop a recipe with fruit puree (such as pumpkin or banana) I prefer to use a little less olive oil in the recipe, and no agave or honey. This improves the texture.

At sea level you need less honey or agave than you would need at dry higher altitudes; adjust the liquid-to-dry ratio to see what works best for you.

If your ingredients are cold, allow the batter to rest and come to room temperature.

Check your oven calibration; several readers have reported that their pre-heated ovens had not- in fact- reached baking temperature when they tested their ovens with an oven thermometer.

I'm now using less brown rice and brown rice flour, and eating fewer rice cakes, etc. Here's why- there is elevated arsenic in rice.

Enjoy sugary treats in moderation. Gluten-Free Goddess advises consuming no more than 2 tablespoons of sugar a day.