Top Ten Gluten-Free Recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess

Reader's faves: the top gluten-free recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess blog.

As the first decade of the new millennium chugs to a long slow finish like the spunky little engine that could, top ten lists are sprouting up everywhere. Top ten movies, top ten playlists. Which begs the burning question for celiac survivors. Hello! Where is our own gluten-free top ten list? Where is our shining and sparkly Top Ten Gluten-Free Goodness? It's a new year. A spanking new decade. Let's party.

So without further ado, here is my own humble contribution to the Best of the Best in the expanding gluten-free recipe universe.

A Bevy of Gluten-Free: Fruit and Vegetables

Jewels at the farmers' market -- naturally gluten-free.

Walking the Santa Monica Farmers' Market beneath dove gray December skies I fell in love with the quiet beauty of seasonal fruits and vegetables protected under netting. There is something so poetic, so archetypal about it. So shy and evocative. Seductive and beckoning. So downright bridal. So understated gorgeous. So rather than waxing all Emily Dickinson on ya and conjuring words for the experience I thought I might use my camera instead.

And let my pictures do the talking.

Chocolate Quinoa Brownies- Gluten-Free and Vegan

Vegan gluten-free brownies made with quinoa flakes.

Your stubborn and chocolate obsessed gluten-free goddess has been working overtime. In between shooting photographs of the holiday lights and skaters in Santa Monica and battling the return of the flu I fought off some weeks ago (I believe in recycling, Darling, but this is a wee bit ridiculous) I have been utterly possessed. Haunted by the ghost of chocolate brownies. Vegan chocolate brownies, to be exact (because I've already served up the best egg-based gluten-free brownie I can think of, so if you haven't tried my Dark Chocolate Brownie recipe or the Chocolate Brownie made with pecan meal, Darling- Go!).

Baking failures do not sit pretty with yours truly. Especially when I am achy and voiceless and my head feels like a giant damp wad of gluten-free dough with too much xanthan gum added (you gluten-free bakers know exactly what I'm talking about). I feel like the goddess of sticky, thick and dull. And there ain't no cure. Except maybe a hot toddy. Or three.

Lucky for me I have a husband who likes to bake. A husband who says (as his brittle, grumpy hot-flashing wife is muttering expletives and scraping another gooey not-in-a-good-way gluten-free vegan brownie failure into the perky polka dotted trash can), So. 

How can we make this work?

For a split second I panic and think, He's over it. He's finally tired of living gluten-free. Living without baguettes and bagels and croissants out of love, a sense of duty, or comradeship and support. 

He's done. Finished. He's out the door, no looking back.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Wishing you and your family 

the warmest of winter greetings 

for a safe, healthy and beautiful holiday season.

xox

Karina

Jewels at the Santa Monica Farmers Market

Gorgeous fresh picked carrots in a rainbow of colors.

This week at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market the jewels of the season glow. Among my favorites? The rainbow carrots in orange, ruby, purple and gold. Some roots were so young they were the tiniest of crooked fingers, delicate and naturally sweet. These carrots make wonderful crudities for hummus.

Serve raw with:

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Jalapeño Lime Hummus
Classic Hummus Tahini with Spiced Olive Oil

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.

Thumbprint Cookies with Buckwheat Flour + Brown Sugar

Gluten-free thumbprint cookies made with buckwheat flour + brown sugar.

'Tis the season for baking cookies. So I feel no guilt at all tempting you with my latest gluten-free baking success. What kind of gluten-free goddess would I be if I didn't keep conjuring up cookie recipes? I ask you. Not a goddess worth her salt- er- sugar. So I am not going to apologize for the calories, or the fat or the organic golden brown sugar in this recipe. Goddesses do not apologize for their cookies. Not during cookie season, anyway. And besides, Sweetcakes, a treat should be a treat. Life is short. Daylight is dwindling.

Live a little.

Gluten-Free Chicken Soup for Body and Soul

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

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.