Quinoa with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Leeks and Slivered Almonds

Gluten-free quinoa with Brussels sprouts, leeks and almonds.

If you've been hanging with me for awhile here on Gluten-Free Goddess, you already know how much I dig quinoa. It's one of my favorite gluten-free grains. I've grown to love- even crave- quinoa's distinct smoky-nutty flavor. More assertive than rice or oatmeal, the taste of quinoa gives gluten-free baked goods and grain dishes a certain je ne sais quoi that feels nourishing, healthy, and satisfying all at once. In a very understated, happy blue skies kind of way, I mean.

Not in a pious eat-this-it's-good-for-you kind of way.

Though I'm sure there are plenty of quinoa converts that proselytize its admirable qualities in the nutrition arena (and why not? Its protein profile is a vegan's wet dream) I prefer to love my quinoa on its own unassuming terms. Even though folks have dubbed her Queen of Grains and Mother of all Vegan Goodness in the Bunny Scampering Universe, I love her just because. Without projection. Without expectation. Or assumption.

I meet quinoa where she stands. I accept her for who she is. In all her cute as a button faux grain glory. After all, her botanical name is Goosefoot. Not a very glamorous moniker. Imagine being saddled with that one.

Hey, you! Goosefoot. That's right. I'm talking to you.

Sweet Mother Mary. Can you imagine? No wonder she chose to change her name. Quinoa is so much sexier.

So Quinoa, honey. What are you doing tonight? Wanna come over? I've got some Buble.

You can even stay for breakfast.

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Asparagus with Maple Tahini Dressing

Vegan maple-tahini dressing adorns the Queen of Spring: Asparagus.

Spring here in BoHo infused West Hollywood means trading in your Uggs for flip-flops. And hurtling downhill on your skateboard past midnight, apparently.  For four nights in a row now I've been startled awake by the rolling wheels of wild ones zooming past our bedroom window in the wee small hours of the morning. I suspect they are taggers, or teenage paparazzi on the hunt for misbehaving Melrose prey (there have been more helicopters lately). Sleep has been edgy and restless. The season of change is afoot. Or rather on a roll.

Which in an odd and sleep-deprived way, brings me to asparagus.

It's a welcome signal of warmer days (and nights!) when those bundles of slender green stalks are back, standing tall in elegant rows at the local market. Erect, perky little beauties.

My deep and abiding craving for asparagus is surprising for someone who never tendered a single bite of fresh asparagus until my third decade here on planet Earth. Yes, you read that right. Three decades. I admit it.

I was anti-asparagus.

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Millet with Carrots, Mushrooms and Mint

Gluten-free millet makes a tasty grain side dish.

To be honest, the only thing I knew about millet was what I read in fairy tales. You know, some evil, jealous stepmother or warty witch in the spooky woods would capture a flaxen haired and beautiful Princess down on her luck and pining for true love. The lovely but modest and misunderstood maiden would then be forced to find needles in haystacks or pluck wool off surly sheep or sort millet seeds. 

Tasks any one of us can relate to, right?

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Warm Winter Coleslaw with Chili-Lime Dressing

Warm winter coleslaw recipe kicked up with chili sauce, lime and mint.

Need a little kick to warm your chilled winter bones? How about a warm and slightly spicy coleslaw with crunchy cabbage, chili, lime and ginger? It's a healthy vegan side dish your body will love. And the best part is, it's easy to throw together. You can do it in no time flat. Which is why I always keep a cabbage in the fridge (don't you, Darling?). You never know when hunger pangs will strike, what with all this detoxing and sugar shunning and working out with Jane Fonda's new Prime Time DVD -- which I must confess, I love to pieces. Jane is gentle and warm and encouraging (I don't respond well to bullying and drill sergeant meanies, do you?).


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Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Fries

Easy, tasty gluten-free sweet potato fries baked with spices.

Like my pal Kalyn I'm a big fan of sweet potatoes. And sweet potato fries. Kalyn's recipe has a different spice blend than mine but our recipes are quite similar. Check out hers if you don't happen to care for my particular spices. Or get down-and-dirty personal and make up your own signature concoction.

Cooking is all about making recipes your own. Developing your own tastes. Your likes and dislikes. Cooking is flexible. And highly personal. It's not precise like, say, brain surgery. Unless you're baking something fussy. Baking folks swear by precision. But I've never actually been that kind of cook. I'm intuitive. I fly by the seat of my jeans. I look at a glistening picture of pasta and vegetables and I feel inspired. I open my pantry and get juiced to play the What If? Game. 

What if I take this ingredient and add it to that ingredient? I wonder. What would that taste like? Then the fun begins.

How do you cook? 

Do you wing it like Chet Baker? Or do you prefer a road map, with precise direction?

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Pumpkin Polenta Recipe with Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

My inspiration this week- pumpkin polenta with salsa fresca.

It's been a gloomy, rainy week here in West Hollywood. Weather-wise, that is. The kind of fallish, comfort food craving weather that has WeHo citizens ditching their flipflops and plucking pumpkin colored sweaters off hangers, while tucking umbrellas into faux leather satchels. If you can find the dang umbrella, that is. It's got to be around here somewhere, right? You used it last year.

Maybe.


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Quinoa Salad with Pears, Baby Spinach and Chick Peas in a Maple Vinaigrette

Autumn quinoa salad recipe with pears, chick peas and baby spinach.

If you're looking for a fresh idea to liven up your ho-hum salad plate, Babycakes, have I got a recipe for you. Light, vegan, and packed with protein, this is no ordinary bunny food. It's got teeth- er, I mean, quinoa. Studded with nutty, buttery chick peas and crunchy toasted pecans and succulent jewels of ripe, juicy pears. And did I mention, in a bowl licking maple vinaigrette? In fact, this is a salad even salad haters would eat. You know, those stalwart gotta have my meat and potatoes aficionados who eschew anything leafy. Who snicker at fiber. And mock carrot sticks. The sort of individual who gets misty eyed for melted butter and bacon martinis. To said individuals, salad could never be anything but rabbit chow.


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Baked Grape Tomatoes with Basil and Gluten-Free Cornbread Crumbs

Got tomatoes? Bake them with gluten-free cornbread crumbs.

One more favorite recipe from the archives as we unpack and set up a blogging friendly kitchen in our West Hollywood apartment. Deliciousness will soon ensue. I promise. xox Karina

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 (adapted from Faith Heller Willinger's Adventures of an Italian Food Lover according to Lydia, one of the best cooks I know, by the way) 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.

Seriously. 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; both are delicious baked). And for the oregano I used basil. Just because.

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Vegan Coleslaw Recipe with Peanut Dressing

Crunchy cool vegan slaw with a light peanut dressing.

It's almost the end of July. How has your summer been? Moonlit and sultry? All Popsicles and kiddie pool? Or just plain flat out busy as a bee? If it's been busy, Sugar, I can relate. Here in our tiny corner of the world we've been too crazy to cook much. We've been living on salads and smoothies. We're apartment hunting. Spending hours in the car navigating the neighborhoods of West Hollywood, searching for the perfect place. Or rather, the quasi-perfect place because perfection is unattainable. I know this. I do. But I still (naively) make a top ten priority list.

If I find a unit with a window over the kitchen sink (high on my list) there's inevitably no dishwasher. If I tour one with a dishwasher, there's no  window, and no patio (I'd love some outside access to put a small table and plant a few pots by the door). Washer and dryer? Ha. You know that saying, If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans? Well, if you want to hear the gods laugh even harder, make a wish list. For an apartment in West Hollywood. For example...

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Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

Quinoa pilaf with mushrooms, scallions and bell peppers.

In between bouts of rain and nostalgia (I prickle using the word nostalgia, to be honest; it smacks of sentimentality, not a trait I cultivate or suffer gladly, but I'll get to that later) I've been craving quinoa like there's no tomorrow, as if I'm living in my own post-apocalyptic genre movie, foraging for nuts and berries on a desert highway in my fashionably shredded mud spattered get-up complete with goggles and chain link bracelets, wishing I had the taut burnished thighs of Tina Turner instead of my own wobbly, pale set of limbs.

Yeah. I'm talking voracious.

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Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Pecans

A dazilious red quinoa salad with fruit and vegetable jewels.

Today's recipe is a beautiful red quinoa recipe I tossed together featuring roasted butternut squash, cranberries and pecans. Serve this as a colorful side dish or stuff a vegetable. It would be fab and hip served in scooped out roasted vegetables such as big bell peppers or tomatoes. 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.

But first, a side of life. A prose poem. About a lot of things. Including food.

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Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Recipe

Red pepper hummus - a fab gluten-free vegan snack.

Get your hummus on. It's party time! The holiday season is upon us and that means it's time to whip up your favorite hummus and dip recipes. After all, the days are still getting shorter (my personal excuse for partying). And Winter Solstice- also known as the shortest, darkest day of the year- is only days away.

Then it's here comes the sun, Baby. So. Huzzah! Let's celebrate. To help in such a worthy cause, here's one of our favorite hummus recipes.

Let the sun shine in.


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Ruby Applesauce with Cranberries

Cranberry applesauce- deliciously tart.

Apple season is upon us. Bring on the apple recipes. First up- a favorite New England pairing- apples and cranberries simmered to create a luscious slightly tart sauce, sweetened with organic raw agave. Make it as sweet or as tart as you prefer. This beautiful ruby red applesauce is a lovely side dish for so many fall recipes- from Turkey and Sweet Potato Enchiladas to classic Sweet Potato Latkes.

Ruby Applesauce with Cranberries Recipe

Simmering the fruit in juice gives a big flavor boost. I used unsweetened cranberry juice to do this, but if you prefer a sweeter applesauce, try using cranberry-apple juice.

2 rounded cups peeled chopped apples- preferably mixed varieties for best flavor
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
1/2 cup cranberry juice or cranberry-apple juice, more as needed
1 cinnamon stick
Raw organic agave nectar or honey, to taste (I used 2 tablespoons, as I wanted it tart)

Combine the chopped apples and cranberries in a medium sauce pan and pour in enough cranberry or apple-cranberry juice to barely cover the fruit. Add a whole cinnamon stick. Cover and bring to a simmer.

Cook until the fruit is very soft. Remove the cinnamon stick. Using a potato masher, mash the fruit until you get a sauce texture you like. I prefer mine with a little bit of texture. If you like your applesauce  smoother process it in a food processor or Vita-Mix.

Taste and sweeten the sauce with agave or honey. Stir and allow it to cool a bit.

Spoon into a storage container, cover and chill until serving.

Makes about a pint of sauce.

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Serve as a side dish with these compatible recipes:

Sweet Potato Latkes
Turkey + Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie with Black Angus Beef

Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin

Zucchini tomato gratin. Summer garden deliciousness. With pesto!

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 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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Snappy Crunchy Coleslaw (No Mayo!)

A tasty slaw recipe without a drop of mayo.

Here's a crisp and crunchy slaw recipe without a drop of mayo. That's what I'm craving. How about you? Stop by and share your favorite spring side dish recipe in comments.

From the archives: By April I'm itchy with anticipation. By May I'm storing sweaters and mittens. Winter is behind us. Spring is officially here. Days are longer, inch by inch. If not for juniper allergies I might even be out walking, testing out my new cocoa suede Skechers- albeit gently, Dear Reader, treading softly down our bumpy dirt road, shiny new walking cane in hand.

The craving for comfort food is fading. Slow cooked stews, Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie, and bowls piled high with embarrassingly hefty mounds of gluten-free pasta are feeling a tad, well, bottom heavy. Thick. You know, like the more-than-an-inch pie roll I've acquired around my waist. My great grandmother Josefa would be kvelling, She no longer eats like a bird! (Yeah, well, that's obvious.)

And while I believe the Sweet Husband when he tells me he likes me with more meat on my bones- and who am I to complain about (finally!) absorbing food and calories after years of celiac malabsorption- your intrepid expanding goddess is simply hankering for lighter fare.

Something to perk up the taste buds.

Something with snap and crunch. Something fresh and green that makes you feel virtuous and light and happy to be alive with summer on its way.

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Warm Quinoa + Spinach Salad with Grape Tomatoes

Light and fresh quinoa salad with baby spinach

Here is a wonderful year-round salad that is warm and inviting, fresh and vibrant. The sort of salad a certain individual needs on a damp winter day when the sky is paper white and the clouds are thick with snow. On a day such as this it's tempting to head straight for comfort food. That leftover Kicked Up Baked Mac 'n Cheese in the fridge. That wedge of Roasted Vegetable Kugel. But what the body craves may- or may not be- what the body needs. I'm just saying.

I'm no expert on cravings. But I do know that if I make a habit of indulging every gnawing whim and craving that wiggles its way into my winter-fevered brain I'd have hips to write home about. I'd chew Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares for breakfast and eat warm Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad every noon hour from now till the Vernal Equinox (a serotonin-boosting strategy not recommended, by the way, for those of us past a certain age where you can pack on the pounds faster that you can say, Blueberry pancakes on a stick). And by the way, if we are what we eat, and we can "change our life" by what we visualize, does dreaming of Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat make us fat?

Surviving three months of virtual inertia- followed by ten months of slow and steady wins the race recovery- with three honkin' titanium screws in your hip (by the way, not that it invalidates and softens the tedious struggle of last year or anything, but why do certain family members- who claim to be compassionate- insist on referring to these suckers as pins, embroidering knitting group safe visions of a petite and delicate procedure that in no way involved a couple of workbench sized clamps and a battery operated power drill?) not to mention double digit extra poundage adhered to one's backside makes you appreciate a recipe like this.

Trust me.

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Cool As A Cucumber Salad

Cucumber talk. And a salad recipe.

It started with a visit from a fellow food blogger. And ended up as a side dish. No wait. That doesn't sound right. Because it's more than just a side dish. And the food blogger? Well. She's more than just a food blogger. She's Alanna!

And a certain individual got to make her dinner. Talk about nerve wracking. Cooking for a second-generation food columnist? It's enough to give anyone schpilkis! And I'm no exception. I was afraid I'd burn the quinoa. Or ruin the ribeye. But dinner went off without a hitch. Even with two glasses of wine and a pre-repast stroll to watch the sun set over Abiquiu. I think we talked for five hours.

And the cucumber salad? I made it based on Alanna's simple instructions via cell phone (and via the no-fuss wit and wisdom of Old Liz) and it was such a lip-smacking tasty little number, I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day.

Now that's a good recipe.

Thanks Alanna! And muchas gracias to dear Old Liz, who apparently (as we say back east) knows from cucumbers.

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Quinoa Salad with Lime + Fresh Mint

Cool and refreshing quinoa salad with lime and mint.

This is the post where I confess, Dear Reader, that I am now pear-shaped and lumpy and thick in the middle- obviously adept at gaining weight. I may even be considered gifted. This is not fun for me. But then, who promised fun during hip surgery recovery? Who said it would be easy? (Um, no one.) Throw menopausal hormone pandemonium into the sticky mix and you have a double roll nightmare.

I gained twenty damn pounds.

And who claimed that wedges of Green Chile Cornbread and Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones and Peach Crisp were calorie-free, anyway? Certainly not moi. But geesh. How much can a girl give up in one lifetime?

Okay. So the rumors are true.

Your intrepid plucky gluten-free goddess is trying the South Beach Diet. Or as well as one can follow the famous low glycemic diet without the comfort of eggs and dairy foods (on my allergen verboten list). This should be interesting.

Lucky for me I have a Guru.

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Red Potato Salad with Horseradish

Serve this horseradish spiked red potato salad warm or cold

Ready for some spud love? Here's one of my favorite potato salad recipes. And just in time. Summer has arrived almost instantaneously here in the desert north of Santa Fe. Last week I was layering t-shirts and hoodies to keep warm. I stood shivering at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market (wind always makes me cranky). It felt more like March than May. This weekend? It was quintessential summer weather. Hot bright sun. Dry air. An almost too-warm casita. We turned on the ceiling fans.

On weekends like this you kick off your shoes and peel off your long sleeved black jersey, opting instead for the lime green tank top. You feel your bones begin to knit as you soak up the longer daylight and linger by the roadside during post-dinner walks in the rose hued sun. You smile at the young jackrabbits and their impossibly erect ears. And your thoughts turn to dining al fresco, sitting beneath the dappled shade of the portal with a chilled glass of white and a zesty potato salad. Life in the slow lane.

Last night's Twitter:

Cheap thrills in the desert: S is making animal sounds to alarm a jackrabbit. The sound that makes it freeze in terror? A chicken cluck.

Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad Recipe

If you really, really prefer sour cream or mayonnaise in your red potato salad- by all means, Babycakes, add some in. But if you've never tried a mayo-free dairy-free version of this popular summer side dish, why not give my vegan potato salad a whirl? You might even make some new friends at your next barbecue. Those vegans? Sprouting up everywhere these days.

2 to 2 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
Sea salt
1/4 cup fruity tasting extra virgin olive oil, as needed
4-6 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar, to taste
1 smallish red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish- I used Bubbies
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-2 teaspoons dill, to taste
1 teaspoon caraway seeds- optional

Wash and cut up the red potatoes, toss them into a pot of salted fresh water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the potatoes until they are fork tender. Drain well.

Pour the cooked potatoes into a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Toss to coat and to soften the edges of the potatoes pieces a bit. Add the diced onion, horseradish and toss to distribute. Taste and season with more sea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Add the chopped parsley, dill and caraway; mix.

Taste test. Add more olive oil or vinegar, sea salt or herbs.

Serve warm (so yummy!) or cover and chill.

Remember that chilling the potato salad will subdue its flavor considerably. I always season my potato salad more vigorously if I am going to serve it chilled. Taste test after chilling it and add more seasoning if it needs it.

Serves 6 to 8.

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Karina's Notes:

This a food allergy friendly recipe- it is gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, dairy-free.

If you're not a fan of horseradish try my Champagne Vinegar Potato Salad recipe.