Cranberry-Apricot Muffins (Gluten, Dairy and Sugar Free)

Cranberry muffins with apricot jam.

By the time you read this post, Dear Reader, I'll be walking Venice Beach. And sighing a long slow sigh. At last. A long overdue getaway- the first vacation since our last visit to the City of Angels- way back in the fall of 2007. Which, considering the roller coaster ride of a year we've all had- personally and collectively- feels like a virtual lifetime ago.

I'll be away for a week. But don't worry. You know I couldn't leave you on your own without a new recipe to tempt you into the kitchen. So I stirred up a new batter for you- some tender breakfast muffins. A fresh combination of tart cranberries and golden apricot preserves in a flour base that features buckwheat, sorghum and quinoa flours- yielding a higher protein profile than your average gluten-free muffin. And, as a bonus to those of you eschewing sugar cane, this recipe has no added sugar. (I didn't add nuts this time, but if you like a little nutty crunch in your muffins these would be lovely with chopped pecans, or toasted almonds.)

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Savory Vegetable Pancakes

I love savory pancakes- shredded veggies add so much flavor.

Savory or sweet? That is my question today- not to indulge in the duality of either/or and divide the pancake universe into opposing sensibilities or anything, but if push comes to shove (and I'm four square against shoving, honestly) the naked truth is I'm more of a savory, salty, golden crunchy pancake lover than a soft, sweet and sticky with maple syrup craver.

Maybe it's because I love pancakes for supper.

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2008 Food Blog Awards- Vote!

Have I got news! The Well Fed Network’s 2008 Food Blog Awards have announced their top five nominations in fourteen categories. And guess what? I am honored to convey to you today that Karina's Kitchen is among the finalists chosen for Best Food Blog- Theme.

Score one for the celiacs and food sensitive! Humble gluten-free and GF/CF recipes get to party with some amazing foodie-worthy food. I am seriously stoked. It's akin to graduating from the kiddie folding-table at your clan's Thanksgiving and being offered a chair at the grown-up's feast.

I couldn't be more pleased. Big thanks to this year's judges, and Andrea, Ilva, and Susan who graciously nominated me for this category.

Congratulations to my fellow finalists in the theme category: Wild Yeast, Lunch In a Box, Prudence Pennywise, and Hunter Angler Gardener Cook- do stop by and check out their blogs.

To vote:

The polls are now open and will accept votes up until Saturday, January 24th at 8 pm EST. Official winners will be announced on Monday, January 26th.

Good luck to all the food bloggers participating (see the main list at Well Fed Network here).

And most of all, thank you, Dear Reader- for reading, commenting, and supporting Karina's Kitchen for the last three years. Without you? I'd be more than a little wan, and sad, muttering to myself as I wrestle with xanthan gum and quinoa flour out here in the New Mexico desert.

Instant Corn Dhokla

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Making Approx. 20 pieces

Ingredients:
1 cup sweet corn kernels (Makai ke dane)
½ cup curds (dahi)
1 cup semolina (Rawa / Soji)
5 long green chillies
1 small piece of ginger
Salt to taste
1 tbsp fruit salt
¼ tbsp lemon juice
¼ tbsp oil for greasing
¼ cup corn kernels for garnish
Ingredients for temper: 11/2 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp oil
A pinch of asafetida ( Hing)
Method:
Step 1: Cut chillies and ginger and combine with the sweet corn and blen in a mixer till smooth.

Step 2: Add curd and blend it.

Step 3: Take the semolina in a bowl and add 1\2 cup water and salt.

Step 4: Add Ginger-green chilli paste and mix well.

Step 5: Just before steaming, sprinkle the fruit salt and lemon juice over it.

Step 6: When the bubbles form, mix gently.
Step 7: Pour spoonfuls of the batter immediately into thali or moulds and shake the thali clockwise to spread the batter in an even layer.

Step 8: Steam in a steamer for 15 to 20 minutes or till the dhoklas are cooked.

Step 9: Cool slightly and cut into square shape.

Step 10: If you like without oil then serve immediately granished with boiled sweet corn and coriander.

Step 11: Heat the oil in a small vessel.

Step 12: Add mustard seeds when the seeds crackle, add asafetida, mix well. Saute on medium flame foe few seconds.

Step 13: Remove from the flame. Pour this tempering over the dhoklas.

Step 14: Serve hot with tomato ketchup or fresh green chutney.:)

Recipe of tomato ketchup click here.

Recipe of Green coriander leaves chutney click here and here.

Recipe of red chillies chutney click here.

Feel free to grow, follow your life’s path and do as you desire, but whatever you do, do it with love.

Gluten-Free Banana-Blueberry Muffin Cake

Kick up your gluten-free banana cake with blueberries.

My partner in culinary crime- the infamous and ever-up-for-baking husband Steve- informed me our bananas were mucho ripe. In fact, to be completely accurate, he poked his head into my cozy little studio the other day and declared, Our bananas are ripe. I should bake something.

I looked up from my iMac and murmured Hmmm, in assent. 

But what, exactly?

Ripe bananas were calling. Begging to be a part of some grander life affirming tastebud tingling scheme. But do readers really need another banana cake recipe? I pondered, slurping cold coffee with vanilla hemp milk. Which reminds me. I should share this.

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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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Mix vegetable curry with white gravy

Something different flavor in curry….
Ingredients for white gravy:
1-cup milk
10-15 pieces of cashewnut
10 pieces of garlic
2 pieces of ginger

* Crush all this material in mixer.

Ingredients for grounded:

1-tbsp mustard seeds
1-tbsp cumin seeds
1-tbsp green raw fennel

* Crush all this dry masala in mixer.

Ingredients for boiled:
1-cup green peas
1-cup chopped potatoes
1-cup chopped cabbage
1-cup chopped cauliflower
1\2-cup chopped carrot

* Boiled all ingredients until they are soft.

Ingredients for curry:
1-cup chopped tomatoes,
1\2-cup chopped onion,
1-tbsp butter,
1\2 tbsp turmeric powder,
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Step 1: Heat butter in thick bottom pan.

Step 2: Add chopped onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Then add chopped tomato and cook until they are soft.

Step 4: Add white gravy and cook for 3-minutes.

Step 5: After that add turmeric powder and grounded masala in it.

Step 6: Add boiled vegetable in it.

Step 7: Mix well and turn off the flame.
Step 8: Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti.

How To Cook Quinoa in a Rice Cooker (with recipes)

Quinoa makes any dish special - even taco salad!

Last night I twittered about quinoa- where else but on Twitter (and by the way, Dear Reader, if you're not following me on Twitter, maybe you should; when the muse hits I share tidbits from my life- often from my kitchen- such as what I might be cooking, or thinking about cooking, or simply wrestling with out here in the lonely snow kissed desert) and my tweet stirred up some interest when I mentioned- in passing- how I cook my quinoa.

I do it the way I thought everybody did it. But judging from the response- even from seasoned vegetarian cooks- it appears my method of cooking quinoa might deserve a mention. So here's how I do it.

I cook it in a rice cooker. Fast. Simple. Rockin'.

In fact, quinoa is the easiest no-fuss grain you'll ever cook. It's healthy fast food. Cook up a batch ahead of time and you can stir up a fabulous light lunch (like the Lime Quinoa Salad with Mint) in a New York minute.

Well, maybe a Los Angeles minute.

A Venice Beach minute.

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New Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey + Green Chiles

Slurp worthy green chile stew with turkey.

Looking for a simple but truly fabulous slow cooker recipe to warm you up? Here is one my favorites. A New Mexican style stew with budget-friendly ground turkey spiked with roasted green chiles, lime, and cilantro. Make it as mild or as spicy as your taste buds prefer. It's perfect comfort food for any time of year.

Need more slow cooker inspiration? Check out the tasty gluten-free cookbook Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by fellow food blogger Stephanie O'Dea.


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Yeasted Cornbread

Tender gluten-free yeasted cornbread baked in a skillet.

The pairing of a tender, grainy bread (freshly baked, still warm) with a bowl of soul-fortifying soup or stew is a favorite combo for winter comfort around here. Steve and I are big fans. We slow-cook a lot of soup. And we bake a different cornbread every week. So today I'm posting such a pairing. Two recipes- a new yeasted cornbread I am crazy about, and a New Mexican Stew that will chase away the January back-to-reality blues and blahs and whatever else may ail you, Dear Reader.

When all else fails, a simple earthy meal of hot soup and rustic bread can soothe the crankiest of beasts. Especially when that beast happens to be my mood, infused with cabin fever.

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Gluten-Free Consulting with Karina

My credentials: 

Since my celiac diagnosis in December 2001, I haven't eaten a speck of gluten. And since June 2007 I have been cooking and baking not only gluten-free, but dairy-free and egg-free (vegan). I have been blogging original gluten-free recipes since late 2005 (I have over 400 recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess).

Consulting:

I offer private consultation on an hourly basis, and individual coaching for the newly diagnosed celiac and those living gluten-free and dairy-free, and gluten-free vegan.

My fee is $100 an hour for personal consultation by phone or chat. Contact me by e-mail to discuss your needs.

Please note I am not a registered dietitian or medical professional; my consulting is culinary and lifestyle based.