Snowy Lemon Cookies

Light and lemony cookies for the holidays.

It is a strange thing. To write about the future, imagining Christmas (and lemon cookies) in Connecticut from a hot, bright, sunlit apartment here in Los Angeles. Such is the blogging life- often a life lived forward, imagining the new.

By now (as you read this) we are on the East Coast, sleeping on a blow-up mattress in our barn studio loft, waiting for the cross-country movers to arrive with our bed, our dishes, our books.

I imagine we are scrambling eggs in the skillet I packed. We are shopping for a used car. One that won't slide sideways in the snow (remember the Honda Fit in New Mexico snow?). We are stocking up on Udi's bread at our village market. Driving up to Great Barrington for the best cup of coffee since our honeymoon in Italy- at Fuel.

I sent ahead a winter coat. Warm boots. A cozy aviator hat (faux fur lined) with puppy-like ear flaps (oddly, bought in Studio City on a ninety-degree day). I imagine I am shivering more than I do in Hollywood. I imagine I am still tired and mildly dyslexic from the red-eye flight on Thanksgiving night.

I imagine I am happy.

And drinking in the pine scented air by the lake. Snapping iPhone pics of brambles by the river. Buying a waterproof map of local hiking trails at the general store. Boiling water for my favorite ginger tea.

And wishing I had some of these Snowy Lemon Cookies.


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Gluten-Free Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

Cider roasted vegetables- pair with polenta, rice or quinoa.

We are almost packed. This week is moving week. This will be my last post from California.

If, like me, you happen to be celebrating without the bird this Thanksgiving, here's a quick round-up of my favorite vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes to inspire you. Most of these recipes are actually vegan- a dairy-free plus for those of us gluten-free and casein-free. The few recipes garnished with cheese can be easily converted to dairy-free by using your favorite vegan cheese.

Here's to a gentle Thanksgiving- next time- see you in New England!

Peace.

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Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes & Tips

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes and Tips

The Big T. Thanksgiving. Nothing sends shivers of trepidation up a gluten-free or dairy-free girl's spine like the mental image of Grandma's sage pungent white bread dressing, or shimmying slabs of Aunt Ida's pumpkin pie. It's a butter and wheat flour gorge fest with danger at every turn. The gruesome gut-twisting threat of thirty-six hours chugging Pepto Bismol is poised to strike on every holiday decorated plate- jovial forkfuls of tradition and conviviality aside.

It can be a nightmare.

If you're lucky, your family is tuned in to celiac disease and aware of the angst and anxiety that food centric holidays can trigger. If you are blessed, they are thoughtful and well schooled in where gluten lurks (turkey broth and marinades, gravy, seasoning packets, spice blends, stuffing, crackers and pie crusts). They don't ask questions like, You can eat "whole" wheat crackers, right? with the emphasis on the word whole as if somehow, the word itself makes the wheat magically safe for celiacs to consume (it doesn't).

They don't indulge in meta messages and all that spooky passive-aggressive weirdness.

They won't sigh when you politely decline a slice of Aunt Ethel's pecan pie and say, Just don't eat the crust.

They won't hold up a pitcher of gravy and whisper, A little bit won't kill you.

Or my personal favorite, Go ahead- I'm allergic. And I cheat (actually said to me by an in-law).

Right.

If these persuasions are foreign to you, then you, Dear Reader, have much to be thankful for this holiday season. You are blessed with a clan that gets you, loves you without judging you, and cares about every morsel that enters your fragile cellular universe.

So this post is for them...

The attentive Moms and Dads, compassionate Aunts and Uncles, smart-as-a-whip Grandmas and Bubbes and best buds who believe that if food is love, Thanksgiving should be fun and worry-free and delicious.

For everyone.  

No big whup.

Because after all, we know true love has great taste.

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Applesauce Crumb Cake with Cinnamon

Cake lovers unite. Skip the pie. An apple pie spiced cake!

Coffee Cake to the Rescue

Knee deep in book boxes, I decided to bake a cake. Because trying to wrestle gluten-free pie dough for an apple pie just seemed too fussy. Too complicated. Though in all honesty, that isn't the whole, unvarnished truth. The whole, unvarnished truth is, Yours Truly is more of a cake person than a pie person (downright blasphemy this time of year, I realize, as Thanksgiving looms large). But yeah. It's true. Pies have their charm. I've been known to inhale a slice or two of apple pie in my day. But here's the thing.

And I'm going to be blunt.

Gluten-free pastry crust is simply not as flaky and tender and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful as wheat pastry crust. There. I said it. Fighting words, to some. And if you are among those true believers feel free to disagree. And go eat your gluten-free pie. I bless you with a thousand sprinkles of pie fairy dust. With love. And kisses.

And pink ponies.

Respectfully.

Gluten, you see, is more than a pesky protein with a bad rep. Gluten is what makes pastry dough soft, flaky and tender. Gluten is what inspired bakers to bake all those years ago, firing up their hand-hewn brick-lined ovens. Gluten was their muse. Their seductive mistress. Gluten took them beyond three ingredient pancakes and palm-tossed flatbreads. Gluten fed their imagination. Inspired tarts, baklava, cupcakes. Napoleons.

And yes.

Apple pie.

Because gluten is a magical ingredient (despite its bad press these days).

We have to admit it. She's not an easy paramour to replace.

Perhaps some day soon I'll be tempted to experiment with a gluten-free pastry dough. I'll be lured into believing I can recreate such delicate, fragile beauty. But not today. If I do crave pie I'll bake this no apology necessary Apple Crisp and serve it warm with a snowy scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream. Or this vegan Pumpkin Pie with Coconut-Pecan Crust.

And for breakfast, I'll eat cake.

Applesauce cake.

Right now, I can live with that.

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Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash Two Ways- Stuffed + Unstuffed (Cornbread Stuffing)

While we're all adjusting to turning the clocks back (excuse me while I yawn), I thought I'd reprise two Thanksgiving friendly recipes today. Both recipes are redolent with old fashioned autumnal goodness. Warm and subtle spices. Maple. Apple. It doesn't get any comfy-cozier.

First up is an easy, favorite side dish of mine- maple roasted acorn squash (and it's vegan, therefore perfect for those of you sharing your humble meal with vegetarian and dairy-free guests). The second dish is one of my oldest tried and true recipes.

It is from my very first Thanksgiving as a married woman, in fact.

We won't discuss how long ago that was, Darling, but I will admit it was way back with Husband Number #1 (it being first and all). I was anxious to do it up with style on my first Thanksgiving (as any blushing bride would be) and had the sudden inspiration to use cornbread and apples as a stuffing instead of the traditional- and familial on both sides- bagged white bread and sage dressing. And then I added curry.

Maybe that's when they began to notice I wasn't exactly a dyed-in-the-wool Pilgrim-esque kind of girl.

I'm not at all certain Husband #1 cared for it.

Husband #2 is a huge cornbread fan. And a curry fan.

Coincidence?


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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts

The new road home, and pumpkin bread recipe.

Pulling Up Roots. Again.

It's been brewing for awhile now- our dissatisfaction with LA and the film business, the slow, dawning realization that living out here is simply not sustainable. Every penny I make goes for rent and bills. The financial pressure is suffocating. And I have no space to paint. Physical space, of course. But also psychic space. The energy of LA is so imposing, so invasive. Someone else's narrative is always intruding. Even if that narrative is only a car alarm. Or a leaf blower.

I can't hear my own voice here.

And so I haven't felt like an artist in a long, long time. I hoped Redondo Beach might be different. But I still didn't have the studio I needed. It was healing to live at the ocean for a year. But again, not sustainable.

My husband and I have been empty-nesters now for seven years or so. Pursuing Steve's mid-life dream of writing screenplays. We've been living like gypsies, in a series of small apartments. But it wasn't always this way. We used to both paint for a living. We used to be homeowners, with a house and a studio, a garden. A family. Steve taught painting for extra income, but we lived off our art. We sold work in galleries, and lived well as artists. I met Steve in a painting workshop. And two and a half years later, he asked me out for coffee.

Art and painting have always been our first bond.

Truth is, these last few years I have missed our "life as artists". I miss having a home, a garden, a private studio. And I told Steve, after visiting New England for our son's wedding last year- I miss New England. I miss the seasons- which connect me to a sense of belonging, connect me to the Earth. I miss New England people.

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