Monday, September 28, 2009

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Sweet potato topped shepherds pie is gluten free and delicious
Sweet potato topped shepherd's pie.


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 dark experience and that if we only embrace  The Lesson, we'll be free.



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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Gluten-Free Quinoa Breakfast Bars

Gluten free quinoa breakfast brownie bars
Gluten-free quinoa breakfast bars, Baby.

We were treatless this week. Specifically, breakfast treatless. No Pear Polenta Muffins were hiding in the freezer. No Apple Cake with Cranberries. In fact, the only food items in the freezer were a solo bottle of organic vodka and a bag of frozen cranberries (does vodka count as food?). Which turned out to be a good thing. Because we had to bake. [Had to!] So we experimented (send smooches to Steve for initiating said experiment; if it were not for him, Dear Reader, you'd be looking at an archived recipe today).

As the breakfast treats were baking I started thinking (always dangerous). I started pondering (even more dangerous) why certain people believe they have things AFO. All Figured Out. And they'll tell you so, of course, spooning out advice in words that taste metallic. Like teeth fillings. They have all the neat little answers for you, judged and predigested, wrapped snug in tidy psychic ribbons.

If only life were that simple.

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Easy Chicken and Balsamic 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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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Apple-Pear Multigrain Muffins

Tender and sweet apple-pear muffins

Today I have new muffin recipe for your gluten-free repertoire- with apples and pears. And a story. A story not about muffins or fruit or sunlit pastoral memories of picking apples with my grandfather (he wasn't that kind of grandfather). No, no childhood ramblings. A story instead that's more of a snippet. A conversation, actually.

The dating game.

"I wish I knew you in high school," I tell my husband.

This is not news to him. I say it all the time lately, now that I am in my second adolescence, fifteen years past mid-life. I sketch for him study hall humiliations sharing a bottle of red table wine and mixed olives. I search for words to depict how it feels when a snickering jock punches your clutch of books with his fists, sending you to your knees to rescue the sprawl of English homework, algebra and biology books that emit the faint smell of ink and gum.

He hates to hear this. 

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

White beans curry with tomato gravy

Happy Navratri to all my blog FRIENDIngredients for curry:
100gm white beans.
1-tbsp red chilli powder,
1\2-tbsp turmeric powder,
Salt to taste,
Coriander leaves for garnish.

* Soak white beans whole night in warm water.


* Add 2-cup water in cooker with one tbsp salt and presser cook for three whistles.

* Drain extra water from white beans.


Ingredients for Gravy:
2-big size tomato,
2-big size onion,
10-12 pieces garlic,
2-green chillies.

* Crush all gravy material in to mixer until smooth paste.
Ingredients for Tempering:
1-tbsp mustard seeds,
1-tbsp cumin seeds,
1\2- tbsp hing (asafoetida),
6-7 curry leaves.
2-tbsp oil.
Method:
Step 1: Heat the oil in pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing and curry leaves.

Step 2: Add tomato gravy in it and cook until they becomes thick.

Step 3: After that add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt in it.

Step 4: Mix well and add cook white beans in it.

Step 5: Cook on medium flame for 5-minutes and stirring continuously.

Step 6: Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.
Step 7: Serve with Roti, Papad and Achaar.:)


Let us love everone, who come our way, every element that is a part of our life....

To make this world more beautiful.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Ruby Applesauce with Cranberries

Homemade cranberry applesauce recipe
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.



Ruby Applesauce recipe



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


Karina

Friday, September 11, 2009

Roasted Hatch Chile Stew Recipe with Sweet Potato, Corn + Lime


Green Chile Stew Recipe

Scrumptious slow cooker stew with roasted chiles, sweet potato and lime

Ho-la! It's that time of year again. The annual roasted Hatch chile madness is upon us here in chile blessed New Mexico. You can smell the intoxicating smoky-sweet scent of roasting green chiles everywhere you go. Even Walmart. Seriously. There's a roaster out front in the baking hot Espanola Walmart parking lot as we speak, firing it up, doing his New Mexican green chile roasting thing, turning his dented blackened barrel over a fire. Wiping his brow. Slugging down his cola. People are lined up waiting for their batch. Inside the store's entrance stacks of crated fresh chiles dominate the floor space like so many Stanley Kubrick obelisks (cue music).

If you live in Nuevo Mexico, you worship at the Sacred Temple of the Holy Chile Pepper.

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.


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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes

Gluten-Free Cookies. Made with love.


Here are my favorite gluten-free cookie and cookie bar recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess. Because a good cookie is no small thing. Especially when you have to live gluten-free. So bake up some cookies- with love.


Almond Flour Cookies with a Nutty Crunch
Almondy Almond Butter Cookies (with sugar-free option)
Almost Sausalito Cookie Squares
Anise Biscotti

Banana Cookies
Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
Breakfast Cookies
Brown Sugar Buckwheat Thumbprint Cookies
Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Biscotti
Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chunks
Coffee Biscuits with Chocolate Chips

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gingersnaps + Star Cookies
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies
Pumpkin Pecan Cookies

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies
Quinoa Pumpkin Cookies

Raspberry Coconut-Almond Cookie Bars
Rice Crispy Treats (vegan)

Sunbutter Cookies
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies and Vanilla Brownies



Gluten-free biscotti. A cookie for grown-ups.

Karina's Tips:
Preserve the fresh baked taste and texture of gluten-free cookies by bagging in small bags,  then bagging the bags in a larger freezer bag, and freezing; preserve cookie bars by wrapping, bagging and freezing them.
Thaw for best taste.
Briefly- just briefly- warm gluten-free chocolate chip cookies in the microwave for a melty gooey treat.



Karina

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Gluten-Free Cake + Cupcake Recipes

Gluten-Free Cake + Cupcake Recipes
Gluten-free cupcakes anyone?


 Karina's Gluten-Free Cake + Cupcake Recipes

Here are my favorite gluten-free cake recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess- from decadent, dessert worthy cake to simple coffee cake, from rich and fudgy flourless chocolate elegance to vegan and egg-free cupcakes.

Apple Cake with Cranberries

Banana Bundt Cake
Banana-Blueberry Muffin Cake
Banana Polenta Cake
Banana Snacking Cake with Almond Flour
Banana Spice Cake

Blueberry Babycakes
Blueberry Cobbler
Blueberry Crumb Cake

Cherry Clafoutis
Chocolate Banana Cake (scroll down the page)
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing
Chocolate Truffle Cake

Coconut Apple Cake
Coconut Carrot Cake
Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake
Coconut Frosted Banana Cupcakes
Coconut Layer Cake

Dark Goddess Cake

Flourless Banana Snacking Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake

Lemon Almond Yogurt Cake
Mexican Chocolate Cake
Maple Frosted Pumpkin Cake

Orange Creme Cupcakes

Peach Cake- vegan
Peach Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping
Peanut Butter Banana Cake

Pumpkin Chai Bread
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Raisin Cake

Quinoa Breakfast Cake

Rustic Strawberry Cobbler Cake

Sour Cream Apple Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Icing
Vegan Flourless Chocolate Cake



Karina's rich Chocolate Truffle Cake


Karina's Cake Baking Tips:

New to baking gluten-free cakes? See my post Gluten-Free Cooking + Baking Tips for what to expect and how to problem solve.

Gluten-free vegan batter (without dairy and eggs) behaves differently than wheat batter. It is generally stickier, and thicker than standard batter.
Eggs are a boon to gluten-free baking. They add lift, moisture and lightness to heavy gluten-free flours.  If fat is a concern, use whisked egg whites instead of whole eggs, and an extra egg white.
Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven. If your cakes sink in the center you may be adding too much liquid to the batter, not baking it long enough, or your oven temperature may run a tad cool. Conversely, if the cake rises high and fast, then collapses, your oven may run hot.
For essential tips on baking gluten-free and dairy-free without eggs see my Vegan Baking Cheat Sheet, with trouble shooting strategies for baking success.



Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Gluten-Free Pecan Crackers Recipe

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

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

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

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