Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Quinoa flakes make a lovely gluten-free oatmeal-style cookie.

My last cookie post stirred up a veritable stew of feelings. From oat-loving high fives and boogie till the cows come home oatmeal cookie bliss, to very sad, That's okay, I'll sit this one out in the corner moping. Because oatmeal? It's not for everyone. Apparently, oats can be unkind to sensitive celiac tummies. So while many celiacs celebrate the availability of certified gluten-free oats (thank you, Bob's Red Mill!), just as many shun this humble cereal grain for the sake of symptoms or safety.

Avena sativa? Not welcome in many a gluten-free kitchen.

Some believe the trouble starts with its globulin or legume-like protein called avenalin. Some think it's the soluble fiber factor. Others believe that the prolemine in oats called avenin triggers a celiac-like response. The debate rages on. And I'm no scientist, I'm sorry to tell you, so I'll sit this one out. But.

The truth is, Babycakes, you don't want to be around moi after I've eaten oats- gluten-free certified or not. Although I tested negative for oat allergy, these tasty chewy little cereal devils produce enough, um, wind in my nether regions to keep Wyoming well lit for a week. 

It ain't pretty, is all I'm saying.

Continue reading

Quinoa Breakfast Bars with Blueberries

Quinoa flakes make a delicious gluten-free breakfast bar.

For those who live gluten-free and also oatmeal-free (yes, Darling, there's more than a few of us who don't respond well to either the fiber or the protein in certified gluten-free oats) I have good news. Quinoa cereal flakes are enough like oatmeal that I use them in baking recipes as a tasty, nutritious alternative to gluten-free oats. 

I love the nutty, complex taste quinoa flakes bring to a sweet recipe. 

I hope you do, too.

Continue reading

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe with Quinoa Flakes

Dunk worthy gluten-free peanut butter cookies with quinoa flakes.

We are one week into the New Year and I have changed my blog design twice. That shows you how restless a spirit I am. I am always tweaking, trying some new twist or changing up something. Whether it is an ingredient in a peanut butter cookie recipe or a photograph in a blog header, I am forever focused on improving. On creating. Inventing something beautiful. That and, well. I get bored easily. It's a curse. And once I took a gander at these warm from the oven cookies, posed so temptingly next to that virginal glass of ice cold rice milk, I had no choice but to shake things up around here.

You know how I feel about cookies (I've confessed my love before in my Ode to Cookies love fest on Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies). A good cookie is no small thing.

Especially if you must live gluten-free. Double that if you must live dairy-free. And triple that if you live egg-free. Holy Mother of Muffins, it ain't easy. 

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading

Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies

Pumpkin cookies made with quinoa flakes taste like oatmeal- but better.

Dear Reader,

Yes, Babycakes, I'm talking to you. You know I love you, right? In fact, I'm crazy about you. I read your comments (beyond ten thousand now!) and I smile at your Twitters (or is the correct nomenclature actually tweets?). I'm giddy you follow the blog on Facebook. I am humbled by your generous and warm e-mails (I save them). Your feedback and support keeps me going and inspires me. Does this sound suspiciously like an anniversary post?

Yeah. I can't fool you, can I?

Continue reading

Quinoa Breakfast Brownies

Gluten-free breakfast bars - quinoa breakfast brownies.

We were treatless this week. Specifically, breakfast treatless. No Pear Polenta Muffins were hiding in the freezer. No Apple Cake with Cranberries. In fact, the only food items in the freezer were a solo bottle of organic vodka and a bag of frozen cranberries (does vodka count as food?). Which turned out to be a good thing. Because we had to bake. [Had to!] So we experimented (send smooches to Steve for initiating said experiment; if it were not for him, Dear Reader, you'd be looking at an archived recipe today).

As the breakfast treats were baking I started thinking (always dangerous). I started pondering (even more dangerous) why certain people believe they have things AFO. All Figured Out. And they'll tell you so, of course, spooning out advice in words that taste metallic. Like teeth fillings. They have all the neat little answers for you, judged and predigested, wrapped snug in tidy psychic ribbons.

If only life were that simple.

Continue reading

Quinoa Muffins with Pecans

The  secret to these yummy quinoa muffins? Guess.

Not since my Quinoa Breakfast Cake recipe have I enjoyed a morning treat more. I am seriously digging these cute little quinoa beauties. I started out imagining a quinoa breakfast bar, an easy to-go treat that might fuel my morning walks on the beach (I've been walking three miles almost every day- which is a minor miracle, for those of you who remember the trippy Richard Gere incident). I wrote up a recipe I thought might create a higher protein snacking bar I could munch with my mug of Irish Breakfast Tea as I browse, bleary-eyed and yawning through the morning chirps over at Twitter.

But it became apparent rather quickly this batter was born to be muffins. I could just tell. It had that perfect stretchy je ne sais quoi that I knew deep down in my private tiny girl heart would urge the dark chocolate studded dollops of earthy quinoa goodness to rise into tender golden domes like champs.

So I followed my intuition and switched gears and veered into Muffin Land.

Continue reading

Quinoa Breakfast Cake Recipe

Tender and moist quinoa breakfast cake- really delicious.

There are some days [okay, I confess!] I eat a brownie for breakfast. And not just a brownie. A tender, dark chocolaty coconut and brown sugar laced delectable gluten-free blondie style brownie. A brownie to delight in. A brownie to savor. A brownie even gluten-eaters would covet. And I lick my fingers. Is it a nutritious choice? Um, probably not.

Except as food for the soul.

Continue reading