Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Mediterranean diet ingredients are fresh, whole, and healthy.

Mediterranean Diet, Gluten-Free Style

In the spirit of celebrating a fresh, clean start as we hit the reset button and bid farewell to the crusty, ragged winter of 2012, I've been contemplating the gentle art of detox, and browsing my Mediterranean Diet friendly recipes (longtime readers may recall I lost the twenty pounds I gained after breaking my hip with a Mediterranean Diet approach to cooking). It was then I decided to gather and share all my Mediterranean inspired recipes in a single reference post. Not only for my own convenience. I hoped you, too, might discover some delicious new recipes -- and perhaps, a few tempting favorites you may have forgotten.

Time to sober up and face the fall-out of all those cookies. The pumpkin bread. That pie! (Have you looked in the mirror lately -- naked? Have you zipped up your favorite pair of skinny jeans since Christmas? Did you have to lay down on the bed to do it?)

If you are over a certain age, you might find what I found.

A little extra around the middle to grab onto.

This doesn't make me happy. I know, I know. I'm supposed to love myself no matter what. I'm supposed to be happy with my shape -- no matter what. I should embrace my extra roll of tummy fat and make peace with it, right? But the dirty little truth is, I don't like the extra weight. Even if it's only five pounds. It makes me feel sluggish and dull. And no amount of post-feminist self esteem rationalizing is going to fire up my enthusiasm for feeling like a stuffed sausage when I yank on my jeans. I like feeling light. Trim. Fit.

So it's time to pinch Doris and tell her to skedaddle. It's time for detoxing from all the sugar. It's time to get real and shape up. Get moving.

Maybe these Mediterranean Diet recipes will inspire. Who's with me?

Here's 10 quick healthy diet tips I use.

1. Include soups. Lots of soups- with nourishing veggies and spices. Try my Detox Mulligatawny Soup for starters.

2. Go vegetarian and vegan as much as possible to avoid saturated fat which is pro-inflammatory. Say buh-bye to fried foods.

3. Take a probiotic. Living gluten-free can often mess up your gut flora balance.

4. Avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague. I mean it. It's bad for your liver, Babycakes.

5. You don't drink soda do you? Well quit it. Even diet soda packs on the pounds. Giving up a single soda a day will net you a six pound weight loss in a year. Just from one less soda. Sodas are packed with sodium, you know. Which makes you more thirsty. Wonder why? Yep. So you'll drink more soda. Not to mention, more sodium makes you retain water. How lovely.

6. Snack when you're hungry. Not on cookies. Pick crisp fresh veggies and hummus, an apple. Carrot sticks. No one ever got fat munching on carrot sticks. Have a few organic almonds. Starving yourself will only make you cranky and more likely to eat sugar.

7. Two simple words. Portion control. Imagine a deck of cards. That's a portion.

8. Play a DVD you like to dance to. Walk whenever you can (even for ten minutes, if that's all you've got). Climb stairs instead of the escalator. Shake your booty. Like you mean it.

9. I also like astringent herbal teas, on occasion. Tea with cranberry and uva ursi can help you shed water weight and keep your detoxing sugar-craving tummy feeling full.

10. Get enough rest. As in sleep. Don't take work to bed with you (I'm talking to myself here). Feeling tired and stressed will make you crave sugar.

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Hot Artichoke Dip Recipe - Gluten-Free + Vegan

This hot artichoke dip is worthy of a party. Gluten-free and vegan yum.

I wasn't sure I had another recipe post in me -- before the year of 2010 turns into a pumpkin and rolls backward into the past. I thought I was going out with a year-end Top Ten Gluten-Free Recipes post, catching up with all you gluten-free lovelies again in 2011. I thought I was done. Spent. Empty as a pocket, to quote a certain singer-songwriter. So much for assumptions.

Turns out my fevered brain wasn't done with 2010. It spun off in party mode as soon as I heard that my oldest son was officially engaged. He popped the question with true romantic flare. On a wine train. In the rain. In Napa Valley. And she said yes. The ring fit. People on the train applauded. It doesn't get much better than this. To witness your son's heart. Blooming.

Your misty-eyed gluten-free goddess is going to be a mother-in-law.

And so. The year closes. I make a mug of chamomile tea and reflect upon the deepest joys of motherhood, turning their myriad facets toward the window light above the kitchen sink stacked with breakfast plates, cups, and spoons. Learning to love with open arms and a tender opinion, unconditional. This floats to the top of all other joys. The thick cream of it. A layered, rich reward. To love a son expands your heart beyond measure. To see him love, and inspire love, is the most beautiful working of magic.

Don't you think?


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Top Ten Gluten-Free Recipes for 2010: My Faves

From cake to quinoa - my year's best gluten-free recipes

The annual ritual of creating top ten lists has commenced. Critics are choosing their top ten movies, editors have picked their Top Ten Books. Fashionistas have declared the year's best and worst trends of 2010 (jeggings- love 'em or hate 'em?). Do I dare leap into the scuffle and pluck ten gluten-free recipes as the year's best? And if so -- just how, exactly -- does one choose the golden top ten? The best of the best. Do I do as I did last year and let stats decide? (Might seem rather lazy, to repeat that process.) Or do I rely on my personal and often quirky preferences? (Could be controversial, especially if I was honest and chose peanut butter on ryeless rye bread toast as my number one.) Perhaps I should make a game of it and draw names from a hat. Randomness is appealing, in a way. (Though unsatisfying.)

I'll just do it.

I'll be bold. I'll be opinionated. I'll pick my g-free favorites from this year's recipes. Perhaps I need to define my criteria, though. How do you choose a favorite among the dozens you've created in a year? I'm proud of each recipe. After all, I enjoyed them enough to photograph them in all their gluten-free glory (unless, sadly, they were not photogenic, and that, Dear Reader, is a loss to the blog). And every recipe I shared passed the family taste test or they wouldn't stand a chance of appearing on Gluten-Free Goddess. You don't hear about the runner-ups, or the flat out failures that left your intrepid goddess weeping and gnashing her teeth. [Not really. I'm not the weeping kind. I swear like a character in Deadwood and take deadly aim at the trash bin.]

My criteria, then? Simple. A favorite recipe would be a recipe I'd make again. And share with company.

So with that in mind, away we go.

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Kha-nom Pak Kard Thod (Fried Radish Cake)

Kha-Nom Pak Kard Thod or Fried Radish Cake is a Chinese dim sum dish made of shredded radish (typically Chinese radish) and plain rice flour.  Radish cake is usually cut into square-shaped slices and sometimes pan-fried before serving. Each pan-fried cake has a thin crunchy layer on the outside from frying, and soft on the inside. The non-fried version is soft overall. In Thailand can found on street food with Stir-Fried Radish Cake style…check out @ Tan Kitchen-Thai Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3 cup Shredded White Radish
• 2 tbsp dried Shrimp
• 1 egg
• 3 Shiitake Mushroom
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tbsp ground pepper
• 1 ½ cup Corn starch
• ¼ cup boiled peanuts
• 1 tbsp Chinese Wine
• ¾ cup Chicken Stock
• 2 tbsp Sesame Oil
• 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Preparation:

1. Soak the radishes and than squeezed water out 3 times.
2. Soak the mushrooms until soft.  Bring to boiled and leave it to cool.  Than sliced and leave it.
3. Mix corn flour with egg together. Gradually add chicken stock and stir well.
4. Add shredded radish, dried shrimp and shiitake mushroom sliced and sesame oil and mix together and continue stir until sticky and remove from the stove.
5. Prepare mold and apply oil into the mold.
6. Spoon mixture into mold and use spoon press mixture firmly.
7. High heat the stove.  Take them into the steam of boiling water about 20 minuets or until well done. Leave it to cool.  Digging out of the mold.  Cut into square shaped.
8. Heat oil in a frying pan flat, medium heat.  Fry until the color turn golden brown remove and drain.
9. Serve with Kikkoman Soy Sauce

  

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Snickerdoodle Blondies

I make an awesome Snickerdoodle cookie. They are perfect. Very true. I found this recipe for Snickerdoodle Blondies and had to try them. Not bad. My cookies win, though. These are great to make for a potluck or party or for work to share. Give them a try and see what you think.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and/or line a 9×13 inch pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be somewhat cookiebatter-ish, so it’s best to spread it out with a greased spatula or your hands). Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting. Makes 20-24 bars.

Printable Version

I shared these on Melt in Your Mouth Monday

a Latte with Ott, A

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Christmas Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.



Fresh from the oven Stollen loaf... sans rum and sugar coating
Being of more French

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Merry Macarons to you!

Parmesan Pancetta Rosemary Macarons


This holiday season has been a busy one for me, but I am not complaining. It's incredibly flattering to have people hire you to do baking for them. This means, prior to leaving for vacation, most of my nights have been spent happily up to my elbows in sugar and flour and butter and eggs... and almonds. Yes, I made quite a few macarons this month, and

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