In My Gluten-Free Kitchen with Valerie of City|Life|Eats

Welcome to my small city kitchen in Washington, DC. In fact, it is smaller than every kitchen in every New York apartment where I ever lived, except for the apartment on Avenue B. That kitchen was more like a hallway, but that’s a whole other story.  Instead, let’s talk about today’s kitchen, which I should really say is our kitchen, as my husband cooks as much as I do.  We cook gluten-free at home, though my husband eats some gluten-based snacks, which are not kept anywhere near the kitchen.  Despite the small size, however, I do love our current kitchen very much because it has a dishwasher, a nice work surface and can accommodate both of us cooking at the same time.

Also, having learned how to live with a hallway-like kitchen when I lived in New York, I have maximized every nook and cranny of this kitchen, including the entrance-way, which houses the dehydrator and a microwave cart that doubles as a pantry with a fruit-bowl atop.  You can see the contents of the pantry/microwave cart here.

When Wendy announced this series and invited me to participate, I was thrilled.  I love kitchens.  I love to cook. I love cookbooks.  I love good food, and pack a lunchbox every single day. I even did a 360 tour of my kitchen last year.  I also really love to maximize space and time, and I get to do that all the time in this kitchen.  For example, I decided to keep the Vitamix and the rice cooker in that precious slice of counter space to the far left of the sink because I use the Vitamix almost every single day, usually for a smoothie (some favorites ) but often for salad dressings  too.  I use the food processor almost as frequently, so for a while the food processor lived in the Vita’s spot, but since I make a lot of smoothies, the Vita makes sense – especially since for things like dressings, I can use the Vita or the food processor. The food processor now lives under the kitchen sink and the Vita and the rice cooker stay on the counter.

My husband and I both use the rice cooker often and I think rice cookers are a fantastic tool for gluten-free cooks.  Since we knew we would be an urban couple living in apartments with small kitchens, we chose a rice cooker over a slow cooker when we got married, and this one has been going strong for almost six years.  Initially we only made brown rice in it, but over the years, and especially after I switched to eating gluten-free we use the rice cooker frequently.  We make quinoa to use as the base for many dishes, such as Reinvented Mac and Peas, with Mushrooms but also to cook dishes like Quinoa Buckwheat Pilaf and Curried Quinoa Salad with Lentils.  Finally, we use the rice cooker for steaming vegetables and as a great time-saver to cook dried beans.  When the rice cooker is in use, I pull it out into the middle of that part of the counter because otherwise the steam sticks to the underside of the cabinet.  You can see the cutting boards behind the Vitamix and rice cooker, for quick access.  The rack for pots and pans holds a few things I use often, i.e. our sauté pan, the colander, strainers and a splatter screen.  The pans I use the most are this two in one pot which lives on the stove as I use it so often, followed by a tie between the sauté pan you see hanging, and a 3 1/2 quart oval Le Creuset dutch oven that is under the kitchen sink for quick access.

The dehydrator lives to the left of the fridge, and the juicer on top of the fridge. You can see the cabinet space around the fridge as well – the tall cupboard is part pantry, part appliances storage, and also holds our remaining pots and pans:

The cupboards above and behind the fridge hold items I do not use as often (ice cream maker, baking pans, toaster) as well as the spiralizer, which I do use more frequently and can be easily accessed.  The tall cupboard to the right of the fridge (which has two parts) holds quite a bit:

• coffee grinder to use as a spice grinder
• Cuisinart chop and grind (honestly, I do not use this much anymore)
• 5 quart oval Le Creuset dutch oven (this was the first Le Creuset I bought and I have been so happy with it that I have continued to build a collection)
• 7 quart round Le Creuset dutch oven
• Cast-iron Le Creuset skillet (perfect for quinoa pizza or scallion pancake)
• Wok (this was my husband’s favorite wedding present)
• Crepe/flatbread pan (the one non-stick pan we own)
• 2 quart metal pot (useful to make pasta or boil water for something)
• The Vitamix dry blade jar
• More pantry items, like protein powders, raw cacao, and carob (I store all our nuts, seeds, nut butters and sunflower seed butters in the fridge and freezer)

While I love the idea of keeping everything in one place, there is no way the food processor would fit in that cupboard, which is why it lives under the kitchen sink and, conversely, the five pound bags of beans are better off in that cupboard than living in the pantry/microwave cart.

And that, friends, pretty much covers the kitchen. You can also peek inside the drawers  and I should mention that the cupboard under the dehydrator contains things like oils, vinegars and more pantry items, all within easy reach of the stove, though all our spices live in the inside the freezer door to maintain freshness.  The cupboard under the sink contains lids for some of the pots and pans, the food processor, a 3 1/2 quart dutch oven and my husband’s Foreman Grill (which also makes beautiful grilled tofu incidentally, and which he uses often to make quick meals.

I am a big believer in using appliances and tools to maximize time and efficiency for food preparation for meals one enjoys.  As you probably guessed by now, the mainstays of my gluten-free diet are vegetables, beans, smoothies, green juice, quinoa, gluten-free grains and some fruit (mainly frozen fruit, for smoothies). After some experimenting, I concluded a gluten-free and vegan diet with an emphasis on raw foods works best for me and the kitchen reflects that in terms of what appliances are easiest to access and why, despite the small size of the space, we own a dehydrator.  That said, I do love cooked foods as well (I eat semi-raw to high-raw and my husband likes cooked foods, though as a result of my diet we eat a lot of large salads for meals often) which is why you will find a selection of both gluten-free raw and cooked recipes on my blog as well as thoughts on yoga  and mindful living.

Thank you Wendy for having me guest blog today!

Thanks, Valerie, for a lesson in packing a tiny kitchen full of organizing ideas and recipes just like you pack a lunch box full of delicious gluten-free food. I have to say it took me a long time to get this post up because I was following all the great links Valerie has in here. Don’t miss a single one!

Next week we travel to Ohio in our year of kitchen snooping. And please join me on Sundays where we share kitchen ideas each week. Last week it was cookbooks and this Sunday we’re linking up posts that share how to organize all those gluten-free baking supplies. On Wednesdays look for more guest posts with gluten-free kitchen themes and a few well-known gluten-free cookbook authors will be making surprise visits throughout the year to share their kitchens.