Senin, 28 Desember 2009

Top Ten Gluten-Free Recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess

Best Gluten-Free Recipes from the Gluten Free Goddess blog
Reader's faves: the top gluten-free recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess blog.


As the first decade of the new millennium chugs to a long slow finish like the spunky little engine that could, top ten lists are sprouting up everywhere. Top ten movies, top ten playlists. Which begs the burning question for celiac survivors. Hello! Where is our own gluten-free top ten list? Where is our shining and sparkly Top Ten Gluten-Free Goodness? It's a new year. A spanking new decade. Let's party.

So without further ado, here is my own humble contribution to the Best of the Best in the expanding gluten-free recipe universe.


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Minggu, 27 Desember 2009

Boxing Day Delight



For some people, the holidays are a time to relax and unwind, gorge themselves on cakes, cookies, and chocolate, and take long naps on the couch watching re-runs of the 90210 Christmas special. Whatever works for you. Personally, I see it as a time to get down to business and cook some really special food for my family and friends, and sneak in that extra workout (sorry, it’s true).
So that’s just what a I did on boxing day – cooked up some super delicious tempeh and kale with sweet potato rice, after my aerobics DVD was over. Tee hee. I have never used tempeh in any of the recipes on My New Roots yet, mostly because I am pretty much off the soy wagon. But, I was in the mood and thought I would seize the opportunity to use up what’s left in the pantry (and to slather yet another dish with my Green Giant Cilantro Pesto. HELLO!)

What’s the deal with tempeh?
A while back I mentioned that I was trying to cut back on soy products, specifically soymilk and tofu, since they are a very processed bunch of edibles – not what a I would call “whole foods”. Tempeh (pronounced TEM-pay) on the other hand, is quite the ingenious little treat, made from whole soybeans and rice (or another type of grain). It is much higher in fiber than other soy products because it is includes the whole bean. It is also higher in protein than tofu, contains more vitamins and is easier to digest due to its fermentation process, which preserves the nutritional value. Did I say fermentation? I sure did friends and we all know that that means probiotics. Holy cow, could it get any better?!

Why the heck does it look so weird?
Yeah, yeah, it looks like a cake made of brains, but appearances do fool. To make tempeh, whole cooked soybeans are blended with rice or grains, injected with a culture and fermented for 18-24 hours to form a dense, chewy cake. It should have veins, a gray-ish white, thread-like substance resulting from the fermentation that binds the tempeh together. Black patches on the surface of the tempeh do not indicate spoilage, just that the good bacteria are still at work (trim this part off before cooking).
You can find tempeh in the refrigerated section of natural food stores (and often in the freezer). Use it in the recipe below, or as a meat substitute in chili, stews, fillings for potpies, stir-fries – be creative! The only real suggestion I make is that you cook the tempeh a little bit first before adding it to the rest of the dish you’re making. The flavour is not as strong if it is steamed, simmered, or browned before making its grand entrance. And much like tofu, it takes on the flavours that you use in the cooking process. Anyone who says that tempeh is gross is cooking it wrong – it only tastes as bad as the way it is prepared!

Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh with Kale and Sweet Potato Rice
Ingredients:
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3-4 large juicy oranges)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin or brown rice vinegar)
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
roughly 10 ounces of tempeh (or extra-firm tofu)
1/2 bunch of kale, sliced into very thin strips (dinosaur kale pictured. mmmm...)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lime
a few spoonfuls of Green Giant Cilantro Pesto or a handful of cilantro (coriander) leaves.

Directions:
1. Put the orange juice in a small bowl. Add the grated ginger, tamari, mirin, and maple syrup, ground coriander, and garlic. Mix together and set aside.
2. Cut the tempeh (or tofu) into thin-ish, bite-sized pieces, and if working with tofu, pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Put the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the tempeh and fry for 5 minutes, or until golden underneath. Turn and cook the other side for another 5 minutes, or until golden. Pour the orange juice mixture into the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced to a lovely thick glaze. Turn the tempeh once more during this time and spoon the sauce over the tofu from time to time. Add sliced kale and cook until just wilted.
4. Serve the tempeh drizzled with any remaining sauce and a squeeze of lime, with the coriander scattered on top. Set on top a bed of sweet potato rice (of course, this is optional) or use any other cooked grain you have on hand.

Sweet Potato Rice
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 small sweet potato
2 cloves garlic
Pinch of sea salt

Directions:
1. Rinse rice very well until water runs clear. Put in pot with 2 cups pure water and salt.
2. Scrub sweet potatoes well (leave skin on for maximum nutrition!) and chop into small cubes. Slice garlic roughly. Add sweet potatoes and garlic to rice pot.
3. Bring pot to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook until tender 45-50 minutes, typically.




Don't be a wuss. Go get some tempeh and try it. Right after your aerobics DVD is over.

Recipe source: 101cookbooks.com

A Bevy of Gluten-Free: Fruit and Vegetables

Photograph of fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers market in Santa Monica
Jewels at the farmers' market -- naturally gluten-free.


Walking the Santa Monica Farmers' Market beneath dove gray December skies I fell in love with the quiet beauty of seasonal fruits and vegetables protected under netting. There is something so poetic, so archetypal about it. So shy and evocative. Seductive and beckoning. So downright bridal. So understated gorgeous. So rather than waxing all Emily Dickinson on ya and conjuring words for the experience I thought I might use my camera instead.

And let my pictures do the talking.

Karina

Rabu, 23 Desember 2009

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Scanner 7.0.1.325 & 8.0.0.523 Multilingual




Anti-Virus Scanner without installation.

Download Portable KAV 7.0 En-Fr (no base) on RapidShare (7.4 MB)

(md5: 06adbf6735830e6a1a4ed5fc18e90935)

Download Portable KAV 7.0 Multilingual Online on MediaFire (0.5 MB)

Download Portable KAV 2009 En-Fr on RapidShare (61 MB)

(md5: 0e0ae1bae74e88295781ee7f33441c03)

Bases updated on 2009/12/20.

Download Portable KAV 2009 Multilingual Online on MediaFire (0.5 MB)


Extract and run KAV*Portable (both versions in same folder).

Integrated in shell explorer while running: scan with a right-click on a file, folder or drive.

Only scanner: no monitor.

Clean infected files when no reboot needed.

Not activated but you can update bases after each launch.



KAV 7.0 can update bases from a folder, so it is faster to download cumul, weekly or daily bases, extract to a folder and choose this folder as Update source in Update settings (Add) before Updating :.



Multilingual Online will download setup and extract files.

7.0: Czech, German, English, Spanish, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Dutch, PortugueseBR, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, SerbianLatin, Swedish, Turkish.

2009: Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, French, Italian, SpanishInternational, Dutch, PortugueseBR, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Serbian, SerbianLatin, Swedish, Turkish, TradChinese, SimpChinese.

Language set by launcher according UserDefaultLang. If interface is not in expected language, search the name of the folder in App\KAV8\Skin\loc (or App\KAV7\Skin) and write Localization= this name in KAV*Portable.ini.

Selasa, 22 Desember 2009

Chocolate Quinoa Brownies- Gluten-Free and Vegan

These gluten free chocolate brownies are vegan and egg free
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.

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Total Uninstall Professional 5.4.2 & 4.10 Multilingual




Installation monitor and advanced uninstaller without installation.

Download Portable TotalUninstall 5.4.2 from RapidShare (5.0 MB)

Download Portable TotalUninstall 4.10 from RapidShare (1.4 MB)


Extract and run TotalUninstallPortable or TotalUninstall4Portable.

Language set by launcher (2nd start) according Windows localization: English, French, PortugueseBR, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Turkish. If you don't want, edit TotalUninstall.ini (you should have to register again).

Settings of installed TotalUninstall should be preserved.

Senin, 21 Desember 2009

Happy Winter Solstice!

Tree Stars

Wishing you and your family 
the warmest of winter greetings 
for a safe, healthy and beautiful holiday season.

xox

Karina



Kamis, 17 Desember 2009

Jewels at the Santa Monica Farmers Market

Gorgeous fresh picked carrots in a rainbow of colors.


This week at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market the jewels of the season glow. Among my favorites? The rainbow carrots in orange, ruby, purple and gold. Some roots were so young they were the tiniest of crooked fingers, delicate and naturally sweet. These carrots make wonderful crudities for hummus.

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Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Recipe

Red pepper hummus - a fab gluten-free vegan snack.


Get your hummus on. It's party time! The holiday season is upon us and that means it's time to whip up your favorite hummus and dip recipes. After all, the days are still getting shorter (my personal excuse for partying). And Winter Solstice- also known as the shortest, darkest day of the year- is only days away.

Then it's here comes the sun, Baby. So. Huzzah! Let's celebrate. To help in such a worthy cause, here's one of our favorite hummus recipes.

Let the sun shine in.


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Rabu, 16 Desember 2009

Green Giant Cilantro Pesto



Needing an infusion of brightness as we head into the darkness of winter? Here’s your fix: Green Giant Cilantro Pesto. I call it giant because the flavour of this luscious sauce is so enormous it will knock your wintery woolen socks off. Promise.
And the bonus is that it’s totally versatile: I fold it into quinoa salad, add it to soups (it is especially good on my four corners lentil soup), spread it on top of hummus for an extra zing, pour it over hot whole grain pasta, slather it on beans and rice, use as a dip, or take it by the spoonful if my taste buds are bored. Ha. I might be joking.

Surprise! Cilantro is also very good for you!

Cilantro (sometimes called coriander or Chinese parsley) is the leaf of the herbaceous plant belonging to the carrot family. Corriander is actually the seed of the plant, which is also a popular seasoning in many international dishes.
But as commonly used as it is, cilantro is also a powerful and natural cleanser, shown to effectively help remove heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body.

The chemical compounds in cilantro actually bind to the heavy metals, loosening them from the tissues, blood and organs. Cilantro's chemical compounds then aid to transport these harmful substances out of the body through elimination.

There is also a large amount of literature suggesting that cilantro could be one of nature's best chelation agents, particularly for individuals who have been exposed to heightened levels of mercury. Mercury excess is a common problem that may be the result of metallic teeth fillings or over-consumption of predatory fish. Many people suffering from excess mercury report that the feeling of disorientation resulting from the poisoning can be greatly reduced through consuming large and regular amounts of cilantro over an extended period.
So, got some silver fillings in your chompers? Run and make this sauce to combat the
mercury!

Green Giant Cilantro Pesto
Ingredients:
4 bunches fresh cilantro
1 peeled medium sweet onion
Juice of 3 lemons
¼ cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
¼ tsp. ground chipotle pepper (or cayenne)
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. agave nectar or honey
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Trim ends off cilantro bunches and place them in a large bowl of fresh water, dunking them several times. Drain water and repeat once more to be sure that all of the dirt has been removed.
2. In a blender, puree onion in lemon juice.
3. Add cilantro (both leaves and stems), and remaining ingredients to blender and blend until mix is uniformly green.
Salt to taste.

If a thinner sauce is desired, add olive oil. If a thicker sauce is what you're after, add pine nuts (or macadamia or walnuts). Blend until sauce is desired consistency.


This stuff is good with everything! If there was a ever a condiment that really gets my fired up, it's this one. It wakes up just about anything you can throw at it, and breathes new life into those dishes you've made a million times. Invite the green giant over for a bite!

info source: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/cilantro.html

Senin, 14 Desember 2009

Thumbprint Cookies with Buckwheat Flour + Brown Sugar

Gluten-free thumbprint cookies made with buckwheat flour + brown sugar.

'Tis the season for baking cookies. So I feel no guilt at all tempting you with my latest gluten-free baking success. What kind of gluten-free goddess would I be if I didn't keep conjuring up cookie recipes? I ask you. Not a goddess worth her salt- er- sugar. So I am not going to apologize for the calories, or the fat or the organic golden brown sugar in this recipe. Goddesses do not apologize for their cookies. Not during cookie season, anyway. And besides, Sweetcakes, a treat should be a treat. Life is short. Daylight is dwindling.

Live a little.

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Senin, 07 Desember 2009

Guitar Pro 5.2 MultiLingual




Tablature Editor Software for Guitar, Bass, and Banjo without installation.

Download Portable Guitar Pro on RapidShare (9.4 MB)

(md5: 8a1f851f80f18a6f0246f4e5ae5d0545)

Realistic Sound Engine (RSE)

Download Guitars Pack RSE on RapidShare (143 MB)

(md5: 2e8d57493cde45c6b91f21aea7e298c8)

Download Bass Pack RSE on RapidShare (41 MB)

(md5: c21805fd0a4303fa1668b7198061b22f)

Download Drums Pack RSE on RapidShare (80 MB)

(md5: 137f6cece0e904ddcb46652312a5448c)


Extract and run GuitarPro5Portable.

Drive letter updated in path.

Language set by launcher according UserDefaultLang (if you don't want: write UserDefaultLang=false in GuitarPro5Portable.ini) Catalan, Czech, SimpChinese, Croatian, Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Hungarian, Dutch, NorwegianNynorsk, Polish, PortugueseBR, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Slovak, Finnish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish.

Settings of installed GuitarPro5 should be preserved.

TablEdit 2.69 a3 Multilingual




Tablature Editor for up to 16 instruments of from 3 to 12 strings each without installation.

Download Portable TablEdit on MediaFire (3.3 MB)


Extract and run TablEditPortable.

Language set by launcher according UserDefaultLang for English, French, German and Spanish (if you don't want: write UserDefaultLang=false in TablEditPortable.ini).

For other languages, edit TablEditPortable.ini with UserDefaultLang=false and CustomMenu=... Bulgaria, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperant, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Occitan, Polish, Portugue, Russian, Slovak, Swedish.

Drive letter of path updated in ini file and registry.

Settings of installed TablEdit should be preserved.

Jumat, 04 Desember 2009

Twice-baked Cantuccini Heaven


As if one needs another excuse to curl up with a steamy, cup-of-anything-hot this season, I’m giving you another: home made cantuccini. And yes, by that I mean ‘biscotti’, sure. But in Italian, biscotti simply means cookie, whereas cantuccini are the twice-baked biscuits we all know and love from coffee houses and stuffy tea parties. (Hey, if I can’t be a master Italian baker, at least I can be gastronomically accurate.)

This inspiration for these actually began months ago on a trip to Italy (weird, eh?). My husband, the insatiable coffee drinker, mentioned how nice it would be to have these cookies kicking around the pantry from time to time, as he would get one on the side of every espresso order and loved the combination of smooth, rich coffee and sweet, crunchy nibbles. I thought I would indulge him when we returned but I was disappointed to discover a severe lack of vegan recipes, as eggs play a major role in the traditional version. I put the idea on the back burner until recently, when I baked something at work using applesauce instead of eggs. It worked perfectly. The cantuccini spark was reignited and now we do have these kicking around in the pantry, much to our delight.

Applesauce instead of Eggs
Let’s be up front: I got nothin’ against eggs. However, I am forever curious about finding substitutes for certain ingredients as I have to cater to vegan diets, or food allergies, or the weight-conscious, at the restaurants I work.
Substituting eggs is a slightly tricky matter in baking, as eggs take on different roles depending on what you’re making. In a cake, for example, the eggs serve as a leavening agent, helping to make the cake light and fluffy. In baked goods such as cookies and muffins, the eggs add moisture and act as a binder, gluing all the other ingredients together.
In this case of cantuccini, applesauce is a great choice because it’s naturally sweet and it will act as the necessary “glue”. The baking soda is in included to help leaven the dough, as the cookies would be rather flat otherwise.
To replace the eggs in this cookie recipes, simply use ¼ cup applesauce per egg. This type of cantuccini recipe typically calls for 3 eggs, so I have substituted them ¾ cup of applesauce.

Orange Cranberry Hazelnut Cantuccini
Ingredients:
• 3 cups flour (I use spelt)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups Sucanat or unbleached cane sugar (depending on how sweet you like your cookies)
• 3/4 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
• 1-3 tablespoon sunflower or olive oil
• Zest of one organic, un-waxed orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
• ½ cup dried cranberries


Directions:
1. Preheat oven the 325°F.
2. Line two cookie sheets with baking paper.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, oil (1 TBS for a hard biscotti, 2-3 TBS for a softer biscuit), and orange zest.
5. Stir the sugar mixture into the flour mixture, add the nuts; finish mixing with your hands.
6. With floured hands, shape the dough into three, 3-inch wide "logs" about 3/4 inch thick, with the ends squared off.
7. Place these on the cookie sheets.
8. Bake the logs for about 25 minutes.
9. Remove the pans and reduce the oven heat to 300°F.
10. Cool the logs on a rack for 15 minutes.
11. Cut the logs carefully with a sharp knife straight across into 1/2 inch wide slices.
12. Place the slices cut side down on the cookie sheets.
13. Bake 5-10 minutes, or until golden on the bottom.
14. Turn the slices over and cook 5-10 minutes more, or until golden on bottom.
15. Cool on racks, then store airtight for up to two weeks.


I made my cantuccini with cranberries, orange, and hazelnuts because these flavours compliment one another well, and also have a “holiday” feeling to them. If you don’t like these ingredients, try the following, or any combination that suits you:
- almond lemon
- ginger apricot
- pistachio honey
- chocolate orange
- cashew orange
- cinnamon raisin
- double chocolate walnut

If you’re really feeling naughty, dip one side of the cookie in high-quality dark chocolate.
These cantuccini make a really nice gift for the holidays – take a batch to a party and watch them disappear into coffee cups and smiling faces. Or keep them kicking around your pantry – for a very short time.

Selasa, 01 Desember 2009

Gluten-Free Chicken Soup for Body and Soul

Gluten free Chicken Soup: The Cure
A gluten-free chicken soup to cure all ills...

We've been living on soup since Sunday. No, not turkey leftovers soup. Jewish penicillin soup. You see, Steve- that ordinarily upbeat and tenacious husband of mine- has been feeling a tad under the weather these past few days. In truth, more than a tad. He's caught a nasty cold. The kind of cold where you ache all over and do nothing but lay in bed watching a marathon of Lost on your laptop because to even zombie-walk to the sofa loveseat too-small-to-lay-on requires functional navigation skills and balance beyond your sinus-throbbing capacity.

Poor guy.

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