Gluten-Free Multigrain Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Multigrain gluten-free lemon poppy seed muffins.

I usually don't bake in the summer. I mean. Do you? Who in their right mind likes to crank up the oven when it's hot and steamy outside? At my age darling, I'm sticky enough as it is. Hot flashing and fanning myself with the latest issue of AARP as I bounce and waggle on one of those bubblegum hued balance balls, lurching at my desk like a pear-bottomed yoga reject seeking not enlightenment, I am sorry to tell you, but the promise of burning three hundred extra calories as I sit and write. Apparently using one's sacred core (or is it sacroiliac?) to perch atop a ridiculously big ball with a penchant for rolling sideways requires fuel. More fuel than say, slumping.

Or lying on the sofa reading a book. With the oscillating fan on high.

Which is what I'd rather be doing.

Preferably with a bar of organic dark chocolate.

I would rather keep the kitchen cool. By not cooking (that's why The Goddess- in her infinite wisdom- invented tomato sandwiches).

But a certain husband had a craving.

For a lemon poppy seed muffin. Our son planted this idea in his head last week, during an impromptu visit. Said son was blithely munching on a lovely looking gluten-free lemon poppy seed muffin. Freshly baked. Adapted from one of my muffin recipes.

He mentioned, in passing, it was fabulous.

His secret?

I used a little cornmeal, he told us.

And thus the muffin craving was born.

And who am I to deny my husband.

He buys me dark chocolate after all.

And turns on the fan. So that I don't have to get up from the sofa.


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Gluten-Free Pasta Frittata with Kale (Dairy-Free)

Karina's Gluten-Free Pasta Frittata with Kale (Dairy-Free)

It's crunch time here at Casa Allrich. Moving day looms. Packing has begun. I've been sitting on the floor like a cast-off princess in a fairy tale assigned to her individuating task, combing not through haystacks or mountains of tiny grain but musty boxes of thirty-five-year-old letters, stacks of faded photographs and yellowed clippings, evidence of another life allegedly my own. I am struck most by the persistent echoes, the parallels spiked with the quirky twists of fate that led me here, to now, the line between seeking and creating blurring into a narrative that persists in your life like an ache.

We seek what we need to become. We long for the parts of ourselves we discarded out of necessity or people-pleasing acquiescence. Accommodation is a common theme in many a woman's life. Mid-life sharpens this trend into focus in subtle ways. When you begin counting seasons, and fewer summers await you, each choice you've picked up to now- and every discarded loss- becomes bittersweet and ripe with meaning.

All this contemplation and dust as we recycle the last remaining things we carry.

Our life has been whittled and sanded and simplified these last six years. An empty nest has its gifts. From the east coast to the west coast we have pared down and let go with each move (five times in six years). No original furniture remains. We own a sofa (a floor model bought in Marina Del Rey). A bed. Two desks. The truckload of books and old paintings is now a carload.

My boxes of cookbooks have shrunk from twenty to two.

Our move to Studio City is a gesture toward community (writing and film). A move closer to family (both sons- and a new daughter-in-law- live closer to Studio City than Redondo Beach). A move away from the ocean, but toward sun. From fog to heat. Our new neighborhood is a quiet, leafy one, framed in well tended white fenced gardens that rival Provincetown. We walked the block last week. Waist high lavender bushes, roses, iris and honeysuckle feed me in ways concrete and steel cannot. Small town New England is in my bones, I guess. And forever will be.

Today I offer you a recipe spun from the magic of leftover brown rice spaghetti and eggs- a creamy, light frittata. Perfect for when you're simply too tired to cook. Or you have nothing in the fridge but a carton of eggs, half a bag of kale salad and last night's leftover spaghetti in eggplant marinara.

The "cheese" I used was a vegan "mozzarella" (my current favorite is Vegan Gourmet).



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Gluten-Free Cranberry Bread Recipe

Gluten-free cranberry bread for the holidays.

Christmas and cranberries. The two go together like Beatles and Sunday. Brad and Angie. Milk and cookies. I was imagining a tea bread that might work for gluten-free French toast, you see. The sort of breakfast you'd like to wake up to on Christmas morning. Something warm with melting butter and cozy cinnamon. Something festive. Special. Not your average grab-on-the-go with coffee nosh. A gluten-free bread worthy of a holiday. That's how it all started. When it dawned me. Cranberry bread. Why not? It's simple. And not too sweet. It flirts magically with maple syrup. So I started daydreaming about the tart little berry that is a bog's ruby jewel.

And a gluten-free cranberry bread recipe was born.


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Gluten-Free Muffins, Scones + Brunch Recipes

Gluten-free muffins like these grace any brunch table.

Karina's Gluten-Free Muffins, 

Scones, and Brunch Recipes

Here is my collection of favorite brunch-worthy gluten-free muffin, scone and coffee cake recipes for breakfast in bed, brunch by a cozy fire, or a laid back morning spent reading the Sunday paper on a sunlight dappled patio.

I've also included my best egg recipes- easy frittatas and crustless quiches (my all time favorite brunch egg dish is the spicy Eggs Diavolo served on creamy polenta). And if you haven't tried one of my crustless quiches studded with roasted vegetables or my light but filling pasta frittata-- Babycakes, what are you waiting for? 

If you're going vegan continental, browse my bakery recipes for tender scones, tea breads, and warm, fall apart muffins. Or zap up a smoothie. 

There's no excuse to reach for the cold cereal box.

 

Eggs + Brunch Recipes

Artichoke and Jalapeno Savory Pie
Blue Chip Frittata
Buckwheat Cereal with Maple-Cinnamon Apples

Cherry Clafoutis

Eggs Diavolo (Diablo) on a Nest of Soft Polenta
Gold Potato Frittata (Quiche)

Green Chile Egg Bake
Karina's Gluten-Free Latkes and Cinnamon Applesauce
Mediterranean Pasta Frittata with Goat Cheese

Pancakes! Karina's best.
Pasta Frittata with Kale
Pumpkin Waffles

Roasted Vegetable Cheddar Quiche
Roasted Vegetable Frittata

Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta
Savory Vegetable Kugel with Sour Cream
Smoked Salmon, Spinach and Goat Cheese Strata

Zucchini Lime Scones

Gluten-Free Muffins, Scones, Donuts, Tea Breads + Coffee Cake

Almond Yogurt Cake
Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
Apple Cake Muffins
Applesauce Crumb Cake

Baked Donuts
Banana Blueberry Muffin Cake
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Banana Corn Muffins
Banana Crumb Cake  
Big Banana Muffins

Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins
Blueberry Corn Muffins
Blueberry Crumb Cake
Blueberry Muffins- my fave
Blueberry Muffins- Vegan
Blueberry Oat Muffins
Blueberry Scones

Butternut Pecan Scones

Carrot Muffins
Carrot Quinoa Bars
Cherry Almond Muffins
Cherry Clafoutis 

Chocolate Muffins
Cinnamon Apple Muffins 
Cinnamon Raisin Scones
Cranberry Apricot Muffins
Cranberry Bread

Gluten-Free Breakfast Bars
Gypsy Soda Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Maple Sweetened Almond Zucchini Mini-Muffins

Oatmeal-Quinoa Breakfast Brownies
Orange Scented Soda Bread

Peach Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel Topping
Peach Muffins with Almond Flour
Pear Polenta Muffins
Pineapple Coconut Muffins

Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
Pumpkin Corn Muffins
Pumpkin Donuts
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Raisin Bundt Cake
Pumpkin Scones with Maple Nutmeg Icing

Quinoa Breakfast Brownies with Chocolate Chips
Quinoa Breakfast Cake- scrumptious

Rustic Strawberry Cobbler Cake

Skillet Cornbread with Green Chiles
Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
Sour Cream Apple Cake

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

Sun-Dried Tomato Bread
Sweet Banana Polenta Cake
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Sweet Potato Coffee Cake

Vanilla Cornbread 
Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins
Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Cake- maple sweetened
Zucchini Lime Scones

 

Dairy-Free Smoothies

Banana-Apricot Hemp Shake
Blueberry Smoothie Veganluscious

Carob-Almond-Banana Smoothie
Chocolate-Strawberry Smoothie
Cranberry Banana Smoothie

Pomegranate Smoothie
Strawberry Hemp Smoothalicious

Karina's Savory Gluten-Free Vegetable Kugel

This gluten-free kugel is Jewish soul food.

What the heck is a kugel, you ask? Jewish comfort food. And if it's done right- with handfuls of roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, and crunchy toasty gluten-free breadcrumbs- it can make you weep, Bubela. Because kugel is soul food - wrapped in love.

But first- as with any good family recipe- a story.

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