Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. For your gluten-free munching pleasure.

I suppose you could argue that one oatmeal cookie recipe is enough. I mean, how many oatmeal cookie recipes does a person need? To this I answer, at least two. Why? Well, first you have one with raisins. Raisins give oatmeal cookies that old school chewy sneaky nutrition boost. They're old fashioned and comfy cozy. Kinda like spending one of those Saturday afternoons at your Aunt Martha's house, chillin'. Watching Mr. Rogers and laying on the floor with a pile of coloring books. Coloring outside the lines with a beat up box of Crayolas.

Wishing the silver crayon was more than a lonely nub.

And right at that nub lamenting moment she'd bring you a plate of cookies.

I never had an Aunt Martha. But I did have a chain smoking platinum blond Aunt Patty who liked martinis a little too much. Or maybe it was gin and tonics. There was ice in the glass. If I was lucky enough to scrounge up a coloring book and some crayons, I would hide behind the sofa. I didn't want to hear her opinion on pantyhose or how you could tell a woman's age by looking at her knees. I'd wait out the tedious afternoon without cookies. If I was lucky, I might get some tap water Kool-Aid. Or a plastic bowl of Cheetos.

Perhaps that's why I'm not a fan of raisins in oatmeal cookies. I don't nurture comforting memories of their shrunken grape taste, though I appreciate their fine qualities- in an abstract, theoretical sense.

No, I'm more of a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie kind of girl. Especially when the cookies are warm and the chips are melty. Chocolate makes everything right with the world. So here's oatmeal cookie recipe number two. Bake some up this week.

I say, be your own Aunt Martha.

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Lemony Gluten-Free Pasta with Grilled Asparagus

A light, lemony vegan pasta salad. Gluten-free.

Light + Lemony Gluten-Free Pasta Salad

To speak about something as prosaic as pasta salad seems downright ho-hum. I mean. It's just a pasta salad. It's something I tossed together with stuff I had on hand. I hadn't planned on it. I didn't spend days contemplating the ins and outs and quirks of gluten-free penne. In fact, if I'm being unabashedly honest here I rarely think about food at all.

Until I'm hungry.

Until those familiar, nagging pangs begin gnawing their pesky little way into my consciousness, distracting me from my preferred, visual nomenclature- which rarely includes anything edible.

I daydream about paint, the plight of bees, and Clint Mansell's score for Moon. I notice the temperature of light and the curve of negative space against a jar of old spoons. I think about expectations and illusions and perceptions. I ponder where my soul is taking me, tugging at me to pay attention to my life, inviting me through dreams and the random snippets of music or ideas or theories that skitter and skate and ripple the mental stream I wade in day after day, to consider time itself- if I believe in it- sliding by in a cool constant flow of now.

I rarely eat breakfast. I often forget lunch. And dinner time always surprises me. As if each day takes figuring out all over again how to (****ing) live (to paraphrase the Deadwood Zen master David Milch).

This doesn't mean I don't appreciate good food.

Or that I hate to cook (well, some days I am less than enthusiastic).

I loathe junk food and processed food. I can't take credit for this- it's simply the way I'm built, the way my body so pointedly rejects any easy, packaged fix.

Even before I discovered gluten intolerance and FODMAPs I knew on some instinctual level that in order to keep this body of mine healthy and strong for the here and now I have to pay it some attention.

I know I have to eat.

And eat consciously.

And so I find myself rummaging in the little white painted cupboard that is my pantry.

And I find a box of gluten-free penne.

In the fridge I locate a fistful of spring asparagus.

One lemon.

A few sprigs of dill, marjoram, parsley and mint.

The rest is history.

Now in my belly.

Fuel for instigating thoughts of rebirth, fragility, and the particular pink that is ranunculus.


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Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Scones

To Do List: Bake These Lovely Weekend Scones

The almighty weekend is here at last. It's Friday, Babycakes.

My advice? Bake up some scones.

Scones are (totally!) easy to throw together. In less than half an hour (in between Saturday morning bouts of dusting and laundry and vacuuming to Mumford & Sons) you'll have a tender gluten-free morsel to share and savor. Gently spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and studded with sweet bursts of raisins, I predict these cinnamon raisin scones will make you smile.

Why they're perfect for the weekend:

These scones make a light and simple continental breakfast or a perfect mid-morning (or afternoon) pick-me-up. Make a pot of tea and invite a friend. Serve with some yogurt and tasty girl talk. Discuss the lovely Vanity Fair article on Johnny Depp by Patti Smith that you finally (finally!) got to read.

Bookworms never seemed so deeply beautiful.

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Whole Grain Gluten-Free Bread

Whole grain gluten-free deliciousness.

Whole Grain Bread- No Xanthan Gum

Just when you think you have it all figured out, life snakes you a curve ball and rattles your position. Just a little a bit. Just enough to make sure you're still awake, still paying attention. Because what is life about if not change? Change is the only constant. Change is our true companion.

Nothing stays the same.

Especially persnickety celiac tummies. I know this from readers. I know this from gluten-free bloggers. I know this from personal experience. We start at A, oblivious. We skip and stumble to D. We settle in. We think G or J is pretty cool. Then Q throws us into a tizzy.

We discover gluten is an enemy. Then maybe milk. Or mustard. Or kidney beans. FODMAPs. You name it. Fill in the blank.

Most of us with celiac disease end up with a few additional culprits on our Need to Avoid List. Maybe not right away. But over time, many of us will have to fine tune our repertoire of ingredients.

If we want to stay healthy.

If we want to grow stronger, not fatter.

If we want to feel trim, not bloated.

Which brings me to bread. (What celiac conversation doesn't lead to bread, I ask you?)


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Flourless Chocolate Cake - Easy Gluten-Free Recipe

Flourless Chocolate Heaven-

Perfection for a Gluten-Free Diet

Dense, sexy chocolate deliciousness on a plate. This is such an easy recipe, especially if you use a food processor to do the work. Serve this to non-gluten-free folks with no apologies. None. Zip. Nada.

And for gluten-free folks? Hand out seconds (we deserve it, don't we?).

And the best part is- the recipe is inherently gluten-free and wheat-free. No substitutions. In fact, this is the same flourless cake I've been making for years. It never contained flour. The only thing I've tweaked post-celiac diagnosis is adding more coffee and vanilla.

Just because.

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Why Gluten Hurts: The Truth About Celiac Disease

Living Without Our Daily Bread

by Karina Allrich

Since the birth of agriculture- when our ancestors began to cultivate and harvest grains- human beings have cherished bread. It was a minor miracle, this almost magical transformation of grain into dough. Bread became the staff of life, a daily source of nourishment, symbolic of spiritual renewal.

But what if bread was suddenly poison? What if wheat was toxic, and every bite of a toasted bagel, slice of pizza or forkful of penne inflicted damage to your body?

This scenario is a daily reality for those carrying the gene of an autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease.

Little did I know as I wrote my second cookbook, happily creating recipes for lemon infused pasta primavera and olive-rosemary focaccia, that a hidden twist in my own eclectic heritage would soon disrupt my life. After years of subtle symptoms, an acute phase produced a twenty pound weight loss, joint pain, skin rash, and malabsorption. By December, 2001, I knew I had celiac disease.

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Gluten-Free Mother's Day Recipes

Karina's Green Chile Egg Bake

Recipes for a Gluten-Free Mom...

We wouldn't be here without her. Or the other nurturing, supportive, maternal figures in our lives- be they sisters (by blood or in spirit), aunties, teachers, mentors, grandmothers, or mothers-in-law. All those who nudge us and inspire us and believe in us. But especially She Who Knows Us- with all our quirks and wrinkles, all our stumbles and scrapes and broken hearted misery- and loves us anyway.

You know who they are.

So if you happen to love such a Person, and they're gluten-free?

Have I got some recipes for you.

Note: Above: A favorite recipe for guests (and popular with B and B hosts)... Whip up these easy baked eggs with roasted green chiles topped with a golden, toasty circle of gluten-free bread, and fresh herbs. Totally Mother's Day worthy, baked in individual ramekins (fancy!).

Gluten-Free Goddess Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins

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