Vegan asparagus with tahini maple dressing is a lovely gluten free side dish
Vegan maple-tahini dressing adorns the Queen of Spring: Asparagus.

Spring here in BoHo infused West Hollywood means trading in your Uggs for flip-flops. And hurtling downhill on your skateboard past midnight, apparently.  For four nights in a row now I've been startled awake by the rolling wheels of wild ones zooming past our bedroom window in the wee small hours of the morning. I suspect they are taggers, or teenage paparazzi on the hunt for misbehaving Melrose prey (there have been more helicopters lately). Sleep has been edgy and restless. The season of change is afoot. Or rather on a roll.

Which in an odd and sleep-deprived way, brings me to asparagus.

It's a welcome signal of warmer days (and nights!) when those bundles of slender green stalks are back, standing tall in elegant rows at the local market. Erect, perky little beauties.

My deep and abiding craving for asparagus is surprising for someone who never tendered a single bite of fresh asparagus until my third decade here on planet Earth. Yes, you read that right. Three decades. I admit it.

I was anti-asparagus.


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Grainy and crusty gluten free dinner rolls
Fresh baked gluten-free dinner rolls- warm and tender.

We've been slurping lots of soup this Spring while the temperatures hover well below my chilly bones preference of 72 degrees. I hate to complain about 52 degrees, but, honestly. I'm shivering like a kitten in a Steve Martin movie. This is L.A. not New Hampshire. Where is my sunshine and technicolor blue sky?

Hiding its good humor behind wrinkled duvets of fuzzy gray clouds, that's where.

So we make gluten-free soup.

But the soup needs a companion. Our potage is lonely. And so I play matchmaker. I've been inviting gluten-free roll recipes to come and play. I've been flirting with their quirks and grainy idiosyncrasies, trying to be a good host. Coaxing their prickly little batters into behaving. As in, taste GOOD. And I've had some almost there success. But nothing to brag about. Nothing blog worthy.

Until today. These rolls are a balance of whole grain flavor and softness. Just crusty enough. These were tender and lovely warm from the oven. Not gummy. Not heavy. Not too grainy.

Just right.


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Gluten free peanut butter banana cake
My gluten-free peanut butter banana cake was inspired by a sandwich.

It has been an awful week. Our hearts ache for the profound and inconceivable loss suffered by Japan. To conjure sweet nothings about cake or cookies, or celebrating the first day of spring rings a tinny, grating note. So I am excavating a recipe from the archives instead, sharing it now for those of you new to the blog, or those of you who may have missed it the first time around. It's a simple, sugar-free recipe based upon a childhood favorite- the peanut butter and banana sandwich.

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Artichoke and Jalapeño Savory Pie
Gluten-free pasta pie, a savory and delicious frittata style dish.

Happy first weekend in March! Spring is in the air. To celebrate, here's an eggy, savory pie for the coming greening season, spiked with the kicked-up heat of jalapeños. It's a hybrid of traditional kugel, quiche, and pasta frittata. Kinda postmodern eggilicious. And the best part is, it's a super easy recipe. Perfect for a light brunch, a weeknight supper, or any time you crave huevos. Which is less fraught with guilt, now that the Powers That Be have decided eggs are not the enemy they once touted. Especially if you use organic eggs from humanely raised, vegetarian fed free-range chickens. Happier eggs contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene and vitamins A, D and E, it turns out. Which makes this frittata pie idea a nutritious way to use up leftover gluten-free spaghetti. 

Your mother's pasta frittata, this isn't. Your mother didn't make you pasta frittata?

Babycakes! 

What are you waiting for?


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