Blueberry Oat Muffins

We woke to the sound of water. It is raining in the desert this morning. The overflow is spilling over the edges of the canales, splashing onto the wedges of flagstone scattered in the sand around our casita. It feels like we are living inside a Zen fountain- waterfalls on all sides. The mesa is hidden in mist. The air is heavy with the scent of juniper and wet bark. I am deeply comforted by all of this. Moisture is a rare commodity here.

I breathe in the friendly air and flash on a rainy autumn day in New Hampshire, the sidewalk wet with red and gold leaves. I remember a cup of coffee and an American Spirit, sipped and smoked in a clammy car parked at the edge of a beach in Orleans, the surf a dense gray-green from the chop of a spring storm. I think about a blue and breezy afternoon at Venice Beach, taking photographs of sand and seaweed. All this, conjured from the smell of the desert in the rain.

I miss the ocean more than I ever thought possible.


In the dreamy rainy day mood I'm in it is difficult to concentrate. I lazily edit photographs of blueberry muffins. I sip peppermint tea. I smile big and wide and send the State of California Supreme Court a big wet kiss for today's wise and compassionate decision (long time readers know my thoughts on this particular issue of love and marriage- you will always find me on the side of love). Love is the bigger, deeper, sweetest thing, after all.

So here is a muffin recipe in celebration of all things sweet and good. A muffin to love. Brown sugar oatmeal goodness that is vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and even soy-free. One thing it isn't? Free of flavor. I'm not lying. Make these and see for yourself. You'll thank me. With a big fat blueberry kiss.

Blueberry Oat Muffins

I have been using either Laura Scudder's GF Oats or Bob's Red Mill certified gluten-free oats in my baking- both the rolled style and the steel cut. When I make muffins, I like to use rolled oats- the topping looks so pretty.

What you'll need::

1 cup certified gluten-free rolled oats

Soaked in:

1 cup warm vanilla rice or hemp milk, for 20 minutes

Beat together:

1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
3/4 cup organic golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey

Whisk the dry ingredients in a large separate bowl:

1 cup sorghum or rice flour- or a blend of your favorite flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

To assemble you'll need:

Egg Replacer (or two eggs, beaten):

1 tablespoon Energ-G Egg Replacer
4 tablespoons water

Whisk till frothy.

Add at the end:

1 cup blueberries- fresh or frozen* see note

For crumble topping:

Rub together 2 tablespoons each:

Certified gluten-free rolled oats
Organic brown sugar
Spectrum Organic Shortening
Add cinnamon, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners. Or a 6-muffin jumbo pan.

Add the soaked oats to the shortening mixture; combine briefly and scoop into the dry mixture. Mix by hand to combine.

Add the Egg Replacer or beaten eggs.

If the batter appears too stiff or dry, add 1 to 4 tablespoons of vanilla rice or hemp milk- one spoon at a time- till soft and moist. Add the blueberries right at the end of mixing.

Divide and plop the batter into the twelve muffin cups. Sprinkle with brown sugar oat topping.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes; if you are making large jumbo muffins, bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Note* If you use frozen berries, your muffins may need five extra minutes to bake. Keep an eye them.

Check doneness with a wooden pick.

Remove the muffins from the tin and cool on a wire rack (this keeps the bottoms from getting soggy- no one likes a soggy bottom!).

Serve however you like- warm, or at room temperature.

Just be sure to kiss the people you love today.

More Blueberry Goodness:

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
Brown Sugar Blueberry Muffins (vegan)
Summer Blueberry Crisp
Blueberry Cobbler (vegan)

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My First Pork Roast

It's Monday. Right? I've been sitting at my desk for an hour. And not a single sentence has been birthed. Even after one hot mother of a mug of coffee (and a decaf peppermint green tea that really doesn't count because, well. It's tea!), I'm still in a post Hallmark fog today, basking in the afterglow of a Sunday afternoon spent with Joey and Will- those two delicious friends of mine. We ate and drank our way through six hours of non-stop conversation. I get all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. And then my head spins.

I love these two so much. And I'm more than a little tempted to wax poetic about friendship and how we choose our true family, and what a head banging blue-in-the-face relief it is to sit at a table with soulful people who wrestle with big questions and hunger for authenticity and integrity while also making you laugh out loud without covering your teeth and feel proud of your three-inch pie roll and your potato salad.

But I won't. I'll tell you about my first pork roast instead.


I'll say it up front. It took decades to get me here- to ease into a place in my life where I might actually, finally, consider buying a hunk of pork and roasting it. I started off slowly, slyly, trying turkey bacon ten years ago. Then I graduated to the real deal roughly six years ago. Organic Sunday smoked bacon. Nitrate-free, of course. And when my body did not protest and the world as I knew it did not go up in a hellish ball of blistering flames, I decided to move on to the hard stuff. I was ready. It was finally time to roast a pork loin.

And Dear Reader- was I intimidated. You know it. In fact yours truly was almost quaking in her Rocket Dogs. Well, maybe not quaking. More like, shivery-nervous. So I decided two things.

First- that I would use my trusty slow cooker. Simple. Familiar. Not too much to screw up. Second- that I would make a sauce with pomegranate juice and a jar of apricot jam. It just seemed like a good fit.

And guess what? Tender, juicy, tangy-sweet deliciousness ensued.



Pork Roast with Mushrooms and Brown Sugar Apricot Sauce

I made this sauce intuitively- starting with a jar of jam. It was delicious- I admit. But next time I'm going to add a dash of wine or brandy. Just because.

2 pounds boneless pork loin
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 cups sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
A sprig of fresh rosemary

For the sauce:

1 8-oz. jar apricot jam- no sugar style
1 1/2 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons organic light brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs- oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Turn on your slow cooker to low.

Place the pork loin into the slow cooker. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Throw in the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Toss in a sprig of rosemary.

Make your sauce:

Combine the apricot jam, pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar. Stir in the brown sugar, herbs and spices, till smooth. Pour over the pork loin and mushrooms.

Cover and cook for about five hours. Test the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. It should read 145 degrees F. To be honest, I let the temperature get up to 160 degrees F. I wanted my first pork roast to be well done.

Take the roast out of the cooker, tent with a piece of foil, and allow it to rest for ten minutes.

Remove the sprig of rosemary and pour the sauce and mushrooms into a medium sauce pan; keep warm until serving. If the sauce is thin, thicken it with a slurry of tapioca or arrowroot (dissolve 1 tablespoon of either starch in two tablespoons cool water or liquid; then add it to the heated sauce; whisk until thickened).

Serves 4.

We enjoyed this with Champagne Vinegar Potato Salad- but this fruity mushroom sauce would be fab on cooked rice. Next time? I'm going to serve this dish spooned over a bed of white or brown rice.

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Pomegranita

I'm delirious. I could blame it on the wind. There is a loco spring wind, you know. And it can make you, well. Crazy. It rough rides up the Chama River like nobody's business and bitch slaps the mesa behind us. It buffets the casita absolutely senseless and whips tumbleweeds into a frenzy. I'm not kidding. There are moments when you wonder when the roof will lift off. You start looking out the window for flying monkeys. You hunker down and make hemp mashed potatoes to cope. You bake lovely cheesy vegan casseroles. You cook buffalo meatballs in salsa.

But I'm not ready to post those recipes. Why? Because, Darling Sane Reader (you are more sane than I am, right, even if only by a whisker?) I whipped up something smoothalicious this morning. And I don't have the heart not to share it. Pronto. Now. Like, yesterday.



We all know that dark and vibrant hued fruits are good for us. You've read about all those studies, right? And all those yummy antioxidants and goodies like anthocyanin that feed our brains and keep us sharp, on the edge, where we need to be?

Psychology Today reports that preliminary results indicate that people who eat a cup of blueberries a day perform 5 percent to 6 percent better than a control group on tests of motor skills. I'm not good at math (will blueberries help?) so I'm unsure if "5 to 6 percent better" is a huge deal, but, Hell. For the sake of my asymmetrical motor skills (I was the Aspergian geek who was never, ever, picked for any team in school- ever!) I'm willing to eat more blueberries, pomegranates and cranberries.

Because they taste so good!

Pomegranita

This slushy treat is more like a granita than a smoothie- though with added hemp milk it could be nudged into the smoothie category. Play with it and see how you like it. I'm thinking of making this some warm and windy evening- and adding a shot of Chopin vodka to it. Or tequila. Hmmm. Pomegranita Loca!

For a single smoothie::

1/2 cup organic frozen peach slices
1/2 cup organic frozen wild blueberries
1/2 cup organic unsweetened pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 cup vanilla hemp milk- or non-dairy milk of choice

Toss the frozen fruit into a sturdy blender; add the pomegranate juice and agave. Cover and blend on high. It will be thick. Add the vanilla hemp milk. Blend. Add more liquid if you need it.

I served it slushy and thick and, Oh my- it was smoothalicious. Can you see me smiling?

Browse more smoothie recipes.

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Pesto Bacon Lettuce & Tomato Wraps

Flour tortillas and sandwich wraps have always been a favorite around here. How simple can you get? Throw some deli, salad greens, tomatoes, avocado and dressing onto a soft flaky tortilla and boom. You've got a meal. A portable meal, in fact. Perfect for picnics. Customizable. Accommodating. And tasty as all get out. What could be easier? It's clear why America has gone wrap crazy.

You lovely and talented wheat-eaters out there get all kinds of choices- whole grain lavash, flax and spinach wraps, low carb, garlic herb, and classic flour tortillas. But a gluten-free wrap is tough to come by. Your intrepid goddess at large has been mourning her wraps and lime infused burritos for quite a few sad and wrapless years now. And I'm sorry- those teff wraps you can sometimes find in the health food store? Please don't e-mail me about them. They smell so funky- like a gym sock used yesterday in some unspeakable act- although they do roll around a tube of fresh ingredients with a flexibility akin to the flour tortillas I vaguely recall. I might even try them again- if I can just get past the smell. Perhaps I could pinch my nose while munching.


The best gluten-free wrap I've tried is Food for Life's brown rice tortillas. If you nab a package when they are piping fresh and pliable, you're in for a treat. The problem is, they turn stale faster than Madonna's reinventions. And far too often you tear open (what you thought was) a fresh package from your local Whole Foods only to cry slow tears of salty frustration when your much anticipated wrap falls apart and splits into an unappetizing melange du jour you sullenly eat with a fork.

Right about now you might be wondering if I've feverishly been testing wrap recipes and come up with a fail proof wheat-free tortilla worthy of a blog premiere as snazzy and hyped as a deb's coming out party. Sorry, but no. Although wraps are on my list of recipes to conquer, my revelation today is much more modest. So scale back your expectations, Dear Hearts. I'm feisty and determined, but also very Zen when it comes to conquering the hurdles in my gluten-free quest for deliciousness. I bake a little. Toss a little. I walk away for awhile and come back. Throw out $18.00 worth of ingredients. Pour a vodka martini (very dry by the way, much, much drier than my Scottish distant cousin who purred, Shaken, not stirred).

No, today's advice and recipe is simple and sweet. It originates not from moi, but from my fabulous son, Alexander. When he and his girlfriend Jess (also gluten and casein free) visited us this spring we made these wraps for our trips to Santa Fe. Alex's instruction?

Fire up your George Forman Grill on medium heat. Roll your sandwiches. Brush the filled wraps on the outside with a little olive oil. Grill the wraps briefly (and lightly- don't press down). The pesky rice wraps warm up and soften. The rolled edges fuse together. They behave!

I love it when I learn from my kids. Is there anything on Earth more thrilling than learning from your children? I think not. And lucky you. You get the recipe.

Pesto Bacon Lettuce & Tomato Wraps- with smoked turkey

I am experimenting with wrap and tortilla recipes, but in the meantime, consider Alex's solution to the brown rice tortilla problem. Because, well. These are damn tasty.

Note to my vegan readers- I love you! You know I do. Ignore the bacon and turkey part and use your favorite BBQ flavored baked tofu.

You'll need, per person::

1 brown rice tortilla wrap
3 slices of organic smoked turkey- we like Applegate Farms (gluten and casein free)
Dab of your favorite pesto- we like it with this vegan Cilantro Pesto
3 slices of cooked and crispy organic nitrate-free bacon- we like Applegate Farms
A handful of crisp organic baby lettuce greens- or herb mix
5 organic grape tomatoes, halved
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Olive oil, as needed

Heat up the grill on medium high.

Lay your tortilla flat. Add the smoked turkey slices. Schmear some pesto on the turkey.
Add the cooked bacon strips, baby greens, tomatoes. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Roll up and lightly brush with olive oil. Place gently on the grill and lower the top, but don't press hard (unless you want a squashed sandwich). After two to three minutes, open the grill and turn the roll-up on its side (to keep it rounder and less flat); lower the grill top again- gently- and heat through- maybe three minutes.

Slice in half and consume with gusto- or wrap in foil for picnics. These wraps travel well in a cooler.

Serve with my Snappy Crunchy Coleslaw (egg, soy and dairy free).

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May Brings More Than Flowers- it brings celiac awareness!

Warm Steak and Orange Salad
Photo courtesy of Amy Sherman and GlamDish

May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. Around this little casita, that's no big deal. After all, we live with celiac disease 24/7 (and have been gluten-free- in our various kitchens- since December 19, 2001). Living gluten-free- to us- is second nature. But what about the over two million and several hundred thousand other celiac citizens- the vast sea of the Undiagnosed? You're out there. Somewhere. Swimming in gluten. And you don't even know it's wreaking havoc.

This post's for you.

Throughout the month of May Karina's Kitchen will be spotlighting gluten-free recipes that pop up in sweet and unexpected places- especially food and cooking blogs, and sites that don't necessarily focus on gluten-free cooking. Spotting and tagging safe recipes for celiac disease in a blogging community with a passion for taste, fresh ingredients and style will be not only fun- but help to raise awareness for celiac disease.

Read on for the first fabulous find.



The first tempting recipe find is this sexy Warm Steak and Orange Salad posted by food writer and recipe developer Amy Sherman at Glam Dish- tasty morsels served with style. It's impossible to feel deprived when you can dig into a dish like this. Get more Amy at her Cooking With Amy blog, too. She's got some tasty gluten-free recipes to share- like these delightful crepes.

Fellow bloggers and food lovers- if you have a particular gluten-free recipe you'd like to share this month, please e-mail me at the contact link in the top navigation bar, and I will do my best to include it. Check back each week for more delicious recipes around the web.

Wondering about celiac- and if you have it?
Take an on-line test: Do I Have Celiac?

Find out more at Celiac Central: The NFCA

Find more informative links selected by Karina here.

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