Pumpkin Polenta Recipe with Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

My inspiration this week- pumpkin polenta with salsa fresca.

Time Travel

(Edited from a previous entry...) It's been quintessential Autumn here on the Cape. Cool blue skies. Honeyed sun. Flirty sea breezes that coax you to slow down. And breathe deep. Garnet and gold mums that nestle against white washed fences. Pumpkins on porch steps. Cider and apples.

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.


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Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust, Gluten-Free Goddess Style

The best gluten-free pizza crust to date.

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust, Goddess Style

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.

And it's not from lack of trying, this pizza deprivation.

I've been rustling up g-free versions our nation's most cherished Italian import since week one of going gluten-free twelve years ago. I've made pizza crust from cookbooks (bready and yeasty). I've tried gluten-free mixes (and tortured my loyal little body with bean flour bloat). I've rolled out yeast-free biscuit dough (not bad, actually, but not real pizza). I've topped Italian style flatbread with roasted vegetables. I tried the whole Chebe thing (gum city). While some attempts proved passable, they never hit that elusive sweet spot. They failed to quell the longing. I used to make my own pizza dough, you see, before I discovered I harbored a faulty gene predisposing me to celiac disease. I was never a frozen pizza kind of gal.

I used to knead pillows of dough on my antique bread board, humming along to Crowded House. Ignorance was bliss. For awhile. And Friday night was always homemade Pizza Night.

So I've been a tad bereft on pizza-deprived Fridays.

But last week I started experimenting with a gluten-free dinner roll recipe. And as I tore a warm roll in half, golden and crusty and tender in the middle, it hit me.

This would make a fabulous pizza crust! I murmured to my husband through a mouthful of fresh baked loveliness. I tore him off a piece. He munched. And nodded.

So I tweaked and baked.

And lo and behold. A new gluten-free pizza crust was born.

And this one doesn't suck.


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Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Two Ways (one vegan)

Cooking light- gluten-free shepherd's pie with lovely gravy, two ways.

Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Two Ways (one vegan)

A cold rain is rolling through Connecticut, interrupting a whisper of mist with sudden bursts of stinging wet drops. The skies are wooly gray, gloomy and low. It's the kind of day that calls for comfort in the form of food. Something baked in a crock. Something piping hot and old fashioned. Something with mashed potatoes...

A savory pie, I said out loud, standing at the kitchen sink, listening to the staccato of rain drumming the skylights.

Don't tease me, said my husband, looking up from his latest screenplay.

I wouldn't joke about a thing like pie, I assured him.

Seriously. I'm thinking a shepherd's pie, I said. But not the usual shepherd's pie. No beef. No onion. No peas.

Please, he said. No peas.

You know, that could get you into trouble, I told him. Your pea prejudice. The foodie police will be at our door before you know it. Demanding equal time for peas. And I'm already in enough trouble with their ilk.

Their ilk? he asked.

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Gluten-Free Baked Stuffed Shells

Italian Dreams

There isn't a speck of Italian blood in me. Allegedly. No blood lines (even faint ones) to trace back to Italy's flavor and culture rich boot. I claim no Italian grandmother with deft, gnarled hands who could roll out ravioli dough in her sleep. No puttering, gardening grandfather who offered me my first taste of a sun warmed tomato straight off the string-tied vine. We didn't have lasagna on our Thanksgiving table. Or baked ziti. My mother never mixed me an almond infused Italian soda after a rough day at school.

So why is Italian food- forever, for me- the ultimate comfort food? Hungry, angry, lonely, tired- what do I crave? (Besides a bottle of wine? Darling those days are gone.)

Spaghetti slick with garlicky olive oil. Bubbling hot lasagna. Fresh baked focaccia. Bruschetta. Risotto. Baked stuffed shells.

All heaven.

The tough part is- living gluten-free AND dairy-free can seriously crush your Italian gilded comfort food dreams.

Back in the day, there were no gluten-free lasagna noodles or stuff-able GF pasta shells (not in my neck of the woods, anyway). Though times have changed, pasta-wise- thank goddess. Most supermarkets now carry gluten-free pasta in all shapes and sizes. And if you cook it just right (in salted water, till al dente) and immediately drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil- most of it tastes mighty good. And if you are among the agriculturally evolved among us who can digest milk, your cheesy world still glitters with buttery glory (cream, butter, and cheese go a long way to improving the flavor of gluten-free recipes, let's be honest). But.

If- like yours truly- you have to live without the salty flavor punch of Parmesan or creamy tang of fresh goat cheese, comfort food can turn into one big, ho-hum yawn. Vegan cheese is no substitute (yes, I've tried them all). Unless your concept of cheese involves an aerosol can, plastic-shiny slices in peel-away shrink-wrap or orange powder you added to hot milk (no offense to corporate giant produced fake foods, or anything). In that case, processed oil with pea protein vegan cheese might remind you of something seemingly related to the cheese family.

I can't get past the funky sock odor and poly-vinyl texture.

Maybe because I was lucky. I had two years of Home Economics class. I cooked my own whole milk white cheddar sauce for baked macaroni and cheese (the first thing I learned to cook, at 13, stirring a white roux with flour and unsalted butter). Post honeymoon I shaved velvet slivers of golden Parmesan from precious wedges of Italian Reggiano, thanks to two weeks in Italy. And I spoon-stuffed pasta shells with a classic blend of ricotta and shredded mozzarella thanks to an armful of hippie-vegetarian cookbooks.

So, yes, there are days I miss dairy food. Especially in winter.

And thus, began experimenting, inventing ways to make up for the loss of genuine cheesy goodness. The first part was easy. I turned to organic soft tofu for a ricotta substitute (my mainstay for years as a vegetarian goddess). I may as well admit I not only tolerate tofu, I love tofu. And lucky for me, this fermented bean curd stuff loves me, too (I know this is not the case for everyone- and for those of you with a milk allergy AND soy allergy, I truly feel your pain).

For the topping I use a blend of Italian seasoned bread crumbs (I use Udi's gluten-free white sandwich bread processed into crumbs with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and herbs) and almond meal (almond meal has a soft, powdery mouth feel faintly reminiscent of grated cheese) with sea salt for a salty-cheesier taste.

The latest version (created back in West Hollywood) was a winner- and we've been making it ever since. The family loves it. Even the gluten-eaters.

All I know is there is never a scrap left over.

Which as any cook knows, speaks volumes


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Easy Vegetarian Minestrone

Classic flavors make this easy soup fresh and fabulous.

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. 

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Gluten-Free Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-dried Tomatoes and 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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Turkey Meatballs with Asian Style Noodles

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

Let it Roll, Baby, Roll

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

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

No doubt about it, I've been more attuned to Asian inspired flavors since moving to Santa Monica. Understandable. It's hard not to respond to the fresh, Pacific-infused tastes and heady scents of Asian fusion out here. So when we decided to play around with meatball recipes this weekend, yours truly started conjuring fusion-style tweaks for the humble Mediterranean meatball recipe I know and love.

First- I wanted to use organic free-range turkey (come Spring, I favor lighter meatballs and meatloaf, don't you?). And I knew I wanted to use fresh chopped herbs- mint, cilantro and parsley. Perfect with a splash of lime. Some spring onion. A little ginger and chile. Boom.

This Asian fusion meatball was born.

A quick note on my noodle choice- I've discovered Ancient Harvest Gluten-Free Quinoa Pasta-- and I love the texture and flavor. This is the least starchy gluten-free noodle I've found. And the best part is (perhaps due to the higher protein content of quinoa flour?) it stands up to pan tossing for brilliant stir-fries.

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Gluten-Free Chicken Chili with White Beans, Sweet Potato and Lime

Gluten-Free Goddess chicken chili with white beans.

Game day looms. Tight ends are tightening. Quarterbacks are quarterbacking. And after that field goal miss by the Ravens at the last Patriot's game, kickers are praying to the football gods they won't be called in for a chip-shot, with 11 seconds to spare, in the season finale known as The Super Bowl. Do I sound like I know what I am talking about? I don't. I just overheard some manly sporty banter over lunch. To which I smiled politely.

And reached for a pickle.

Even after watching every episode of Friday Night Lights, I still don't understand a down. Football is a mystery. Back fields in motion. Penalties! Off sides. Snap. Blitz. Gotta love the lingo.

It's a language alluringly foreign to me.

Like math.

Or for some, perhaps it's akin to say, abstract expressionism.


Thing is, I get negative space. In my bones. This is my territory. Now you're talkin' my language. I appreciate analogous color. Gesture. Tooth. Value verses tone. The sensual beauty of surface. The seduction of action. The painter's hand. Unprimed and primed. Gels, and viscosity. Transparency and opacity. Cool against warm. Lost and found edges.


Though it's not all yin yang, a wrestle of opposites.

As in football- and life- painting is a focus of expression, sometimes true and authentic, and sometimes disappointingly off the mark.

Like that Ravens field goal.

We try. We sometimes miss. But what matters is- we make the effort. And that is all we can do. We kick the ball. We brush wet paint. We string words into a lyric. We make chili.

And sometimes?

We get a winner.

And if not?

Tomorrow is another day.


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Creamy Penne Pasta Bake with Zucchini

A light and creamy pasta bake recipe for Spring.

Mac and cheese gets a makeover. Just in time for swimsuit shopping (also affectionately known around here as the annual Parade of Shame). It's time to start cooking light again, and give your body a break from all that white rice pasta, butter, and double cheese. It's time to kiss bacon good-bye. Hot weather is coming, Babycakes. The beach and poolside beckon. And I am not prepared. Are you?

I've been lax with my downward facing dogs (actually, I'm forbidden to do downward facing dogs these days, but that's another story). My lumbo-pelvic complex is cranky. My core is catnapping. And my biceps need curling. Or something like that. What it basically means is I've got some flab I need to banish. Remember that roll around my middle I call Doris? She's still here. She has not skedaddled. My usual winter weight gain of five hibernation pounds is eight this year.

I could blame those Raspberry Coconut-Almond Bars my husband keeps making (he who can eat cookies and brownies and still sport flat abs). I could blame fructan and fructose, and various unfriendly members of FODMAPs who may be the bottom line bloat culprit in my ongoing emulation of my halcyon pregnancy days (those of you with IBS symptoms despite going gluten-free might want to look into this fructose and polyol thing- it appears to have some merit).

But mostly I blame how much time I spend on the iMac. Sitting. Typing. Sitting some more. Social networking. The Internet is an amazing gift. But it is damn hard on the body. I'm vowing to get up and move more frequently. Shake my booty. Feel the burn. Or at least feel some heat.

So just in case you're in the same mood, too. I've made a lighter version of the classic baked mac and cheese.

I used gluten-free brown rice penne with rice bran for the pasta. Organic soy milk and Smart Balance vegan "butter" for the cream sauce. Zucchini and garlic and chives for a flavor boost. And it was fab. Light. Creamy. Perfect for Spring.


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Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas - Fabulouso

These gluten-free enchiladas won the Whole Foods Budget recipe contest.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

Just in case you missed it, I'm sharing one of the all-time favorite recipes here on Gluten-Free Goddess- my sweet potato black bean enchiladas smothered in salsa verde. This budget-friendly vegetarian enchilada recipe is one of those happy accidents that spring from a burst of creative inspiration. I was craving the soft and spicy comfort of enchiladas one windy spring night back in 2003, and I had none of the usual suspects on hand (no chicken, or beef, no pinto beans).

But I had one lovely mother of a sweet potato.

I had a can of organic black beans in the pantry.

Some roasted green chiles.

One lonely lime.

And your intrepid Mamacita at large thought, Hmmm. Why not?

Deliciousness ensued.

These wrapped little gems are soft and creamy and a little bit spicy- just like a certain cook, my husband would say. It's the yams, I tell him. Er, sweet potato. I can never tell the difference. In the end, it doesn't matter. What matters is how it tastes.

And Babycakes, these are so very mucho scrumptious. Seriously. I kid you not. Make a batch for a girls' night in, or laid back Sunday brunch.


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Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Stew with Sausage

Hearty and tasty gluten-free slow cooker stew.

Here's a bright and delicious slow cooker stew recipe with sausages - and it's tasty using any sausage you choose, from free-range roaming buffalo to furry-friendly vegan. Scrumptious. Seriously. Make it for the Big Game. You know, the one with a pigskin ball and helmeted men in shiny tights. Throw all the ingredients in a Crock Pot and go root for your favorite tight end. Make a hot artichoke dip and grab some gluten-free chips. Game on.

Go Cubs!

Okay I confess. I'm not watching the game. Game fever is something utterly, totally beyond me. Apparently I lack a few mirror neurons. Sports? Yawn. I dare you to make me comprehend football. Go ahead. Try. Many have tread that tortuous path and failed, my friend. Great minds have worked tirelessly to convey the rules, to communicate the strategy. The triumph. The back field in motion and the blitz.

But what they don't realize? Deep down inside my private tiny girl heart- my neurons don't CARE. They really don't. And I know you think that if only I let you explain The Game to me I would finally, miraculously, ecstatically get it! And paint my face red and blue, but. It's never going to happen.

It's a non-conforming neuron issue.

So, the Patriots? Are they the soccer team Mel Gibson coaches? Excuse me while I alphabetize my spice rack.

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Gluten-Free Chicken Soup for Body and Soul

A gluten-free chicken soup to cure all ills...

Gluten-Free Chicken Soup for Body and Soul

We've been living on soup since Sunday. No, not turkey leftovers soup. Jewish penicillin soup. You see, Steve- that ordinarily upbeat and tenacious husband of mine- has been feeling a tad under the weather these past few days. In truth, more than a tad. He's caught a nasty cold. The kind of cold where you ache all over and do nothing but lay in bed watching a marathon of Lost on your laptop because to even zombie-walk to the sofa loveseat too-small-to-lay-on requires functional navigation skills and balance beyond your sinus-throbbing capacity.

Poor guy.

Lucky for me, I've not succumbed to the zombie-walk inducing bug. Yet. And just in case, I've been cranking out soups. An ounce of prevention and all that. And medicine. Because when I'm not in top gluten-free goddess form conserving energy means dragging out the Crock Pot for some easy slow-cooked comfort.

This is a simple healing soup with the goodness of cabbage (so beneficial to a celiac's tummy) and lots of garlic (an all-purpose fighter of evil and undead mayhem not to mention, a natural immune booster and cold-fighter). Green chiles.

I made this recipe like a peasant-style stew, starting with a layer of split chicken breasts on the bottom of the crock pot- drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, of course. Then I added eight cloves of fresh chopped garlic, lots of cut-up veggies, herbs, a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, green chiles, and just enough organic chicken broth to cover the veggies. Good stuff.

But is my chicken soup powerful enough to stave off zombies?

Ah, that is the question. And here is another. I ask you (in honor of my zombie literate son who knows from zombies).

Running zombies?

Please. Do zombies run? Go.

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Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Sweet potato topped shepherd's pie. Gluten-free.

A certain individual living by the mesa has some news. Can you guess? We sold the house. We're moving lock, stock and barrel (in reality, more like Macs, books and UGGS) to Los Angeles, packing up the Honda Fit again to head West and start our new life as Los Angelenos.

I am almost too wired to write.

The quasi-plan is to rent a furnished place for a month. In mid October. Once we're out there, we'll begin our search in earnest for a longer lease- a space we can call our own, not too far from the ocean, I hope. A place with a workable kitchen. Windows. Light. Simple criteria.

As I sort through art books to sell (all the impressionist/landscape books I once mooned over- like a school girl- no longer tug at my attention) I am imagining the new again. I am fueled by the scent of possibility and change and consumed with the urge for going. Three and a half years in the desert have inked their big sky imprint upon me.

I feel as if I sport an invisible tattoo.

Time and distance will reveal the wisdom gained here (if any is to be found). Time and distance will temper the losses. No doubt memory itself will soften the sharp hungers of the everyday isolation and doubt.

Some readers have asked me, What lesson did you need to learn? implying that there is a silver lining to every prickly, dark experience and that if we only embrace The Lesson, we'll be free.

Well, I can answer that.

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Gluten-Free Chicken Recipe with Balsamic Peppers

Balsamic chicken smothered in roasted peppers.

When it comes to big change I'm brave. I jump in feet first. In my small and particular universe it's easier to pinch your nose and hurl yourself off the edge than it is to stand there and think about it. That kind of anticipation is excruciating. Give me five minutes to think about all the things that can go wrong and I'll start making lists. And never budge an inch.

So I've learned to develop a social reflex- a Hell yeah, let's do it reflex. And in almost every circumstance this reflex has served me well (and if by some slim chance you need a list of when it has worked for me and when it has not, I've got it, filed away in my pictorial little brain).

It's the small day to day changes that can set me spinning.

The blips in routine. The interruptions of flow. The tiny changes that evolve over time into articulate curves on a chart. See this dot? This is where we used to be. See this dot? This is where we are now.

I struggle so intently on orchestrating my string of moments into some semblance of coherent awareness that within each moment I live so completely I fail to see the bigger sprawling truth. The truth that often blindsides me. I wake up to it like a child from a nap, rubbing my eyes and trying to center my bearings. I look at my aging hands and think, Whose hands are these?

I open the door to the blinding bright desert and realize I am not Georgia O'Keeffe, the weathered austere heroine in the books I devoured. I am not madly in love with the emptiness and isolation here. It does not inspire me. It steals from me. Tiny pieces day after day. The desert gnaws at me. It will leave nothing but bleached white bones. And a hip with three titanium screws.

I am trying not to feel as if I've failed somehow. Failed the desert. Or rather, some Georgia O'Keeffe fueled romantic idea of the desert. But the brittle, honest truth is- the desert does not feed me.

Karina's three year course in desert living: F

It's a good thing I can cook.

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Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin

Zucchini tomato gratin. Summer garden deliciousness.

Today's post is short and sweet. Or should I say, brief and savory. Are you experiencing an abundance of zucchini and tomatoes? Here is a favorite summer recipe updated from the archives- a basil and garlic laced gratin featuring sliced zucchini, artichoke hearts and fresh tomatoes. Use your favorite gluten-free crumbs on top (my current favorite crumbs for a crunchy golden topping are these cornbread crumbs).

Serve it as a delicious side dish with grilled chicken, fish or grass fed beef. Vegetarian? Spoon it on top of pesto penne pasta.

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Roasted Sicilian Potatoes

Roasted potato love- Italian style.

Here's an easy, vegan summer side dish recipe you can bake or grill in foil packets. It's an intuitive toss-together combo of potatoes, onion, garlic, tomatoes, olives and raisins--- with some hot pepper flakes thrown in to kick it up Sicilian style. I don't even know where the inspiration came from.

It all started with cleaning out the pantry.

We're leaving on our long pined-for road trip next Sunday (can you say, Stoked, Babycakes?). I've been trying to use up the remaining lonely bits of our fresh ingredients and whittle down our stash of friendly staples. I'm determined to scour the cupboards bare. One way or another. I'm leaving no can of fire roasted tomatoes behind. Or bags of organic popcorn. Whatever is left standing next Saturday night? It's all coming with me. Because deep in the cockles of my private tiny girl heart, I am not coming back. Nope. Not even to say good-bye.

So if you spy a black Honda Fit humming its little heart out, streaking across the Southwestern desert on its journey to Los Angeles stuffed with homebaked vegan goodies (translation: Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins, Gluten-Free Ryeless Rye Bread, Chocolate Pecan Brownies, Lime Quinoa Salad with Mint, Two Potato Salad) and gluten-free comestibles (translation: several pounds of rice pasta, three boxes of quinoa, two sacks each of millet flour, sorghum flour, and tapioca starch, five jars of sugar-free organic preserves, one unopened bottle of Annie's ketchup, a shoebox packed with a baker's dozen bottles of dried herbs, sea salt, cumin and sesame seeds), well.

That would be, me.

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Best Gluten-Free Italian Meatball Recipe

Gluten-free Italian meatballs recipe with pesto g-free pasta.

Craving meatballs but shun evil gluten?

Have I got a meatball recipe for you. And it's so good you won't even have to apologize to your Aunt Carmella. I promise. She won't ever suspect you pulled a switcheroo on the old family recipe and made it gluten-free.

Mum's the word (or is it Mama mia?).

Let's face it. When it comes to making meatballs every family boasts an ultra-special top secret meatball recipe, right? There's a loyalty to meatball mojo as fierce and tooth baring as the die hard belief that Mom's meatloaf can cure all ills, mend bruised hearts, and restore order to chaos theory.

So why am I putting myself on the line here? How do I even dare to post a gluten-free meatball recipe? The wrong ingredient or technique might actually lead to fisticuffs. Or bristling. You might turn away from Gluten-Free Goddess in utter, sheer contempt.

I'm putting my reputation on the line here, and I know it.

So why risk it? Why torture myself with the inevitable backlash? Reason one- an obvious plea. My meatballs are gluten-free and casein-free, in other words, GFCF. My audience. My people.

These meatballs also happen to be egg-free (yes, I hear the snorts of derision- may you wake tomorrow with a blooming albumen rash and come crawling back to peruse my egg-free recipes).

Reason number two? My spaghetti and meatballs? Killer. I'm serious.

Meatball bliss.

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Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta aka Eggs Ranchero

Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta Recipe aka Eggs Ranchero

Huevos rancheros- a traditional Tex-Mex recipe featuring fried eggs, refried beans and salsa on top of warm corn tortillas- is a delicious brunch recipe, no doubt. But I decided to change up tradition. Just because.

Using a roll of pre-made polenta makes this a perfect weeknight supper or a quick and easy Sunday brunch. For the more ambitious cooks out there, stirring polenta from scratch isn't hard, it just requires a little patience. Kinda like motherhood. And meditation. And selling a house. For how to make make polenta from scratch see below.

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How to Live Gluten-Free on a Budget: 10 Tips + 2 Recipes

Farmers' market potatoes. Gluten-free and budget friendly.

How to live gluten-free on a budget? It's a legitimate concern. I feel your pain. $7.95 for a gluten-free baking mix? Ouch.

There's a lot of chit chat lately about food budgets, food prices, and stretching a dollar. Budget talk is in the air. Eating in and cooking from scratch is a trend now. And for those of us living gluten-free, a trend unlikely to burn out soon.

So if- like me- you are struggling to balance your cranky budget, here are ten tips and tricks to stretch the green and keep it tasty.

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Gluten-Free Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Creamy potato soup- no dairy needed.

Twenty-nine hours. That's how long I've been awake. I could blame the full moon, big as a gleaming white soup plate hanging in the clear desert sky last night. Or the pollen. The hostile spiky spewing of hundreds of junipers rooted round our plucky little casita. Every time I drifted toward the promise of sleep I would sneeze straight up and fumble in the dark for a Kleenex, my throat as raw as Tom Waits' vocal chords after belting forth, Make It Rain. We're talking ragged.

It ain't pretty.

So excuse me if I keep today's ramblings short and sweet. I'm hovering outside my body- nineteen inches to the left of myself. Any moment now, I might spin off with the tumbleweeds and roll down the dirt road to the highway. I might not even mind, if I end up tumbling west, rolling into the City of Angels in my sleep, snoring down Sunset Boulevard all the way to Ocean Avenue and south to Venice Beach where I live a parallel life in an alternate universe surfing at dawn. And if you see me, give me a sign. Any sign will do. As long as you dream walk the same blue wavelength.

But before I spin toward the rutted crooked highway I'll leave you with a perfect soup for spring. Stir it up when the March winds blow, and soothe your winter weary bones.

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