Ok, so first off sorry I have been absent for a while, just not much has been going on! I went on a couple more runs and managed to hurt myself already, so that sucks. I have been having knee problems for a while, they just usually don't come back this fast. By a while I mean like years. They just usually only come up when I work out a lot or run a lot, but this time it only took like 2 or 3 runs to start up again. So I asked my naturopath about it and she recommended another naturopath that is really good with knee issues. I was assuming that since it was just the one knee it's probably more likely to be from an injury than from food things, but she said that if I hurt myself a long time ago I could be setting myself up for problems later. Like I think I hurt my knee in 8th grade, so she said by favoring it for a little and then not getting it healed completely, now it's a place that is already slightly aggravated, so if I eat things that would be causing inflammation it could be showing up in that spot. So even though it's just the one knee it could still be related to food intolerances and stuff. But she said this other guy is really good with knee adjustments and stuff, like she has seen him save people from knee surgery and stuff. Which would be awesome, because I don't want to have to have knee surgery!! I've been thinking about that the last couple days because I don't know how on earth I would fit a knee surgery into my life right now. So I'm going to call on Monday and see if I can get an appointment with this other naturopath so maybe he can fix me!
Anyways, so that's about all that's been going on with me lately. Nothing too exciting in the food or cooking world either. I've been playing with my juicer a lot though so that's fun! :)
So, my appointment this morning was awesome! I am already in love with my naturopath and I just met her. She seems awesome and like she really knows what she's doing. So I was talking to her and telling her my whole kind of history with the HS and how I knew there were some kind of food intolerances going on just not sure what they were. And she said that she has worked with some other people before that had this same disease and as they worked on getting food intolerances under control and hormone imbalances and stuff all fixed that they got way better! So I'm super excited about that!! Cuz it would be amazing for my life to not have to revolve around a dermatologist anymore! Plus we also talked about how I have a lot of constipation problems and everything else that's going on, so I'm excited! So she has me starting to take magnesium because that's supposed to help with constipation issues and then she has me taking vitamin D because most people in this area are low in vitamin D. Lack of sun and all that fun stuff. Plus she was thinking I could have some yeast problems just because of the fact that most of my HS is in my armpits, which is a warm sweaty area that yeast loves. Plus I have had a couple yeast infections so she just figured it wouldn't be bad to do a yeast cleanse. So she is getting me some yeast pills or whatever made at a botanical store, so I can take those. And she's really hoping between doing the yeast cleanse for a few weeks and then dealing with my food intolerances when I get those test results back I should be able to make some improvements on my HS :)
Also, my naturopath is pregnant and going on maternity leave come May 1, so I have another appointment at the end of April before she leaves, to talk about food intolerance issues and stuff. And then she's gone for about 3 months, so then I will have the summer on my own do not eat anything bad and then she will get back in the fall I think so then we can chat again! But I feel like with the food intolerance test and one more appointment I will have a good start! So yeah I'm pretty stoked!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Juicer!
I officially have a working juicer!! YAAAAYYYY!!!!!
I got my replacement juicer in the mail yesterday, and it works! So I'm pretty darn excited.
I made some apple juice last night and quite frankly it wasn't all that great, but not because of anything that was wrong with the juicer just because all I happened to have on hand were some Fuji apples, and that was a little too sweet of a juice for me. Also I don't really like plain apple juice anyways. BUT I'm excited to play with it and make some orange juice and some carrot juice and beet juice and everything in between!
I got my replacement juicer in the mail yesterday, and it works! So I'm pretty darn excited.
I made some apple juice last night and quite frankly it wasn't all that great, but not because of anything that was wrong with the juicer just because all I happened to have on hand were some Fuji apples, and that was a little too sweet of a juice for me. Also I don't really like plain apple juice anyways. BUT I'm excited to play with it and make some orange juice and some carrot juice and beet juice and everything in between!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Life and Mexican Food :)
Woot! This has been an amazing couple of days :) Nothing too crazy as far as figuring out what foods I should and shouldn't be eating, but as far as cooking and life in general it's been awesome!
First off, I am in love with those chocolate chip scones. They are amazing. I've been having them for breakfast the last couple mornings. YUM. The only thing is they do give me a little gas, I'm thinking it's because of all the sugar in them... Sugar is starting to give me gas issues. At least that's what I think it is. Idk we shall see. Less than 2 weeks til my doctor appointment! yay!!
Also, when it comes to life awesomeness, I ran a mile today!! You might not realize how exciting that is, but I have never ran a mile without stopping before. Like I always make it like half a mile or so and than take a walking break or something. But I did the whole mile without stopping! And only in like 10 minutes which I'm pretty dang excited about! Also it was my first jog in forever, I usually swim more, and in all honestly usually just don't work out at all. I'm kind of a lazy person. BUT I am trying to work on that, and it was so nice today when I got off work, it was like 40 degrees and sunny. It was beautiful! So I was like what the heck, I'm gonna go for a jog. And I knew what loop was about a mile because it's the one my roommate does, so I did the loop and just told myself not to stop unless I absolutely couldn't breathe. I just kept going. And I did the whole thing!!! I'm rather proud of myself right now :)
Anyways, moving on to cooking... Mexican food adventure!! Umm, it was awesome. So I will just go with the recipes and then I will make comments after :)
Homemade Rice Tortillas
1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1 tsp salt
2 TBS Crisco
1/2-3/4 water
Ok so this recipe was supposed to have xantham gum in it, I would say about a teaspoon. BUT, brilliant me over here ran out and didn't remember that at the grocery store... so they didn't have any. But I would recommend definitely putting in a little bit. It would help them stick together better.
Anyways, so mix all the dry ingredients together, and then stir in the Crisco. This is easier to do with your hands, just make sure it gets all mixed in really well. There shouldn't be ay large chunks, so run it all through your fingers. Then starting with 1/2 cup and then adding in no more than 1 TBS at a time, mix it in with either a spoon or your hands until it's damp, but not wet. It should be able to stick together, but not be sticky and stick to your hands. For me it took about 3 tbs. Then, when you are ready to make tortillas, just grab a handful at a time, roll into a ball, and then roll out on a floured surface until they are pretty thin and whatever size you want them. If you want pretty big ones then grab a pretty big handful. My mix made about 10 5-6 inch tortillas. Then once it is rolled out, put it in a hot DRY pan on the stove, for about 20 seconds one one side and about 10 on the other, until there is some brown spots like you see on normal tortillas. The end! Keep them under a dry towel or something to keep them warm until you use them, but I recommend using them right away!
Black Bean Filling
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3-4 slices red onion
1 TBS minced garlic (I'm lazy so I use the stuff from the jar)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
Ok so I have this cool little handy chopper thing, so I used that for the onions and the cilantro, if you don't then you will have to just chop them up by hand as small as you can. So put the black beans in a bowl, slice the red onions into quarters and put them in the chopper with the cilantro and pulse until finely chopped. Mix with the garlic and the black beans in the bowl. That's it! Personally I added a little cheddar Daiya too just because hey who doesn't love cheesy tacos? But that is totally optional!
Avocado Dipping Sauce
1 large avocado
1 TBS minced garlic
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used coconut milk, but if you can have dairy I would recommend greek)
Chunk up the avocado and put it in the chopper with the garlic. (This would actually probably be easier in a food processor, but quite frankly I was too lazy to pull out another appliance. So that is all up to you.) Wait until it's pureed and mixed in with the garlic well. Put in a bowl, stir in the lemon juice, yogurt and spices. That's it!
Ok now notes. Definitely add the xantham gum to the tortillas, because mine did crack and fall apart a little bit. Which kinda sucked because then I had to eat them with a fork. But they were delicious! Also a little cilantro in the dipping sauce would probably be really good, but I didn't want to overpower on any one spice. And, I tried to make fried tacos, but the tortillas didn't really fry up well, they just kept falling apart and soaking up oil but not getting very crispy... So I would actually recommend making the filling (probably without the cheese) on the stove so it can get warmed up! Then you can have hot tacos. Maybe even mash them a little bit with a potato masher if you have one.
Then to assemble the tortillas, spread a thin layer of the avocado sauce on the inside, fill it with the filling and dig in! You can always put more dipping sauce on top, or on the inside if you want it to be more on the tacos than dipped in. So yeah, yummy!! Enjoy!!
Also, tonight for dinner I just wanted a salad, so I threw some of that filling on top of the lettuce and some of the avocado sauce and a little ranch. And it was delicious! So also makes good salads, and tomorrow morning I think I'm going to try making it into a breakfast burrito :) mix in a couple spoonfuls of the filling with some eggs and scramble. I'm excited. It's gonna be delicious! So this filling is also super versatile! Which is great, cuz then you don't have to just make the same meal every day.
Ok so this was super long but hopefully worth it. ENJOY!
First off, I am in love with those chocolate chip scones. They are amazing. I've been having them for breakfast the last couple mornings. YUM. The only thing is they do give me a little gas, I'm thinking it's because of all the sugar in them... Sugar is starting to give me gas issues. At least that's what I think it is. Idk we shall see. Less than 2 weeks til my doctor appointment! yay!!
Also, when it comes to life awesomeness, I ran a mile today!! You might not realize how exciting that is, but I have never ran a mile without stopping before. Like I always make it like half a mile or so and than take a walking break or something. But I did the whole mile without stopping! And only in like 10 minutes which I'm pretty dang excited about! Also it was my first jog in forever, I usually swim more, and in all honestly usually just don't work out at all. I'm kind of a lazy person. BUT I am trying to work on that, and it was so nice today when I got off work, it was like 40 degrees and sunny. It was beautiful! So I was like what the heck, I'm gonna go for a jog. And I knew what loop was about a mile because it's the one my roommate does, so I did the loop and just told myself not to stop unless I absolutely couldn't breathe. I just kept going. And I did the whole thing!!! I'm rather proud of myself right now :)
Anyways, moving on to cooking... Mexican food adventure!! Umm, it was awesome. So I will just go with the recipes and then I will make comments after :)
Homemade Rice Tortillas
1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1 tsp salt
2 TBS Crisco
1/2-3/4 water
Ok so this recipe was supposed to have xantham gum in it, I would say about a teaspoon. BUT, brilliant me over here ran out and didn't remember that at the grocery store... so they didn't have any. But I would recommend definitely putting in a little bit. It would help them stick together better.
Anyways, so mix all the dry ingredients together, and then stir in the Crisco. This is easier to do with your hands, just make sure it gets all mixed in really well. There shouldn't be ay large chunks, so run it all through your fingers. Then starting with 1/2 cup and then adding in no more than 1 TBS at a time, mix it in with either a spoon or your hands until it's damp, but not wet. It should be able to stick together, but not be sticky and stick to your hands. For me it took about 3 tbs. Then, when you are ready to make tortillas, just grab a handful at a time, roll into a ball, and then roll out on a floured surface until they are pretty thin and whatever size you want them. If you want pretty big ones then grab a pretty big handful. My mix made about 10 5-6 inch tortillas. Then once it is rolled out, put it in a hot DRY pan on the stove, for about 20 seconds one one side and about 10 on the other, until there is some brown spots like you see on normal tortillas. The end! Keep them under a dry towel or something to keep them warm until you use them, but I recommend using them right away!
Black Bean Filling
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3-4 slices red onion
1 TBS minced garlic (I'm lazy so I use the stuff from the jar)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
Ok so I have this cool little handy chopper thing, so I used that for the onions and the cilantro, if you don't then you will have to just chop them up by hand as small as you can. So put the black beans in a bowl, slice the red onions into quarters and put them in the chopper with the cilantro and pulse until finely chopped. Mix with the garlic and the black beans in the bowl. That's it! Personally I added a little cheddar Daiya too just because hey who doesn't love cheesy tacos? But that is totally optional!
Avocado Dipping Sauce
1 large avocado
1 TBS minced garlic
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used coconut milk, but if you can have dairy I would recommend greek)
Chunk up the avocado and put it in the chopper with the garlic. (This would actually probably be easier in a food processor, but quite frankly I was too lazy to pull out another appliance. So that is all up to you.) Wait until it's pureed and mixed in with the garlic well. Put in a bowl, stir in the lemon juice, yogurt and spices. That's it!
Ok now notes. Definitely add the xantham gum to the tortillas, because mine did crack and fall apart a little bit. Which kinda sucked because then I had to eat them with a fork. But they were delicious! Also a little cilantro in the dipping sauce would probably be really good, but I didn't want to overpower on any one spice. And, I tried to make fried tacos, but the tortillas didn't really fry up well, they just kept falling apart and soaking up oil but not getting very crispy... So I would actually recommend making the filling (probably without the cheese) on the stove so it can get warmed up! Then you can have hot tacos. Maybe even mash them a little bit with a potato masher if you have one.
Then to assemble the tortillas, spread a thin layer of the avocado sauce on the inside, fill it with the filling and dig in! You can always put more dipping sauce on top, or on the inside if you want it to be more on the tacos than dipped in. So yeah, yummy!! Enjoy!!
Also, tonight for dinner I just wanted a salad, so I threw some of that filling on top of the lettuce and some of the avocado sauce and a little ranch. And it was delicious! So also makes good salads, and tomorrow morning I think I'm going to try making it into a breakfast burrito :) mix in a couple spoonfuls of the filling with some eggs and scramble. I'm excited. It's gonna be delicious! So this filling is also super versatile! Which is great, cuz then you don't have to just make the same meal every day.
Ok so this was super long but hopefully worth it. ENJOY!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
PS
Right, I forgot. I also made some gluten free brownies, just that was just from a Betty Crocker box. And I just made them to take to dinner tonight at my friends because I felt the need to contribute. I don't know how they are yet but I'm sure they will be yummy. Wow I seriously have been baking up a storm today. But it's been fun :)
So excited for tonight, corned beef and cabbage. Seriously one of my favorite meals of all time. I don't know why I just love it. And now it's corned beef and cabbage and brownies! Haha even better :)
So excited for tonight, corned beef and cabbage. Seriously one of my favorite meals of all time. I don't know why I just love it. And now it's corned beef and cabbage and brownies! Haha even better :)
Baking Adentures!
So today has been fun, I've been alternating between baking and tv watching all day. It's great. Gotta love my days off! Haha. But anyways, I tried a few new experiments today which may or may not have worked out. Also there was supposed to be a Mexican adventure for dinner but then I got invited over to a friends for corned beef and cabbage for St Patty's day so Mexican food adventure will be happening tomorrow! (sorry for the delay Cathy). Haha I like how I call all of my cooking these days adventures. Though they really kind of are. You never really know what you're going to end up with sometimes.
So anyways, first off I made these gluten free muffins just from a mix my mom had sent me, it was from Namaste Foods. And I'm sorry, I usually like that brand, they have good pasta, but these muffins were nasty. I felt really bad but they went straight in the trash. They just had such a weird after taste. Kinda like when you put too much baking powder in things, and you get that weird metallic and sour taste? It was like that. Yuck, didn't like it.
So then baking adventure 2 was the almond flour muffins from the almond flour cookbook, the apple cinnamon ones. Which I had made one other time but with frozen berries, and they didn't come out great because I didn't let the berries thaw first so the extra water in the dough made them a little soggy. But they still tasted good. Anyways, but this time the adventure was protein muffins, so I subbed 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of protein powder. Cuz I figured hey now they are an even better breakfast muffin, 6 more grams of protein per muffin. Though don't quote me on that, that is a very rough estimate. So they came out ok, the dough came out really thick so then they burned a little bit, and they taste a little funny but not necessarily bad. I only had vanilla protein powder, so it might taste different if you weren't using flavored powder... Idk that one still needs a little experimentation. So I will keep trying those. Just like the waffles, I will keep experimenting with them too :)
And thirdly, I finally made the chocolate chip scones! And umm YUM. Didn't mess with anything on that recipe, and they came out awesome. And delicious. So finally a successful baking adventure!
Ha what can I say, I'm really not much of a baker. I don't mind it, it's nice that while it's in the oven I can sit on the couch and watch Dr Who, but really cooking is my true love. I just don' t like how precise you have to be in baking, I like to just throw things together and see what happens. But that's ok, I will keep working at it. And to look forward to later in the week, what we also have coming up is.... Mexican food adventure with Black Bean Tacos, with homemade tortillas and a garlic-avocado dipping sauce. Also, we got homemade buffalo chicken pizza, with homemade vegan cashew cream cheese. So get pumped about that :)
So anyways, first off I made these gluten free muffins just from a mix my mom had sent me, it was from Namaste Foods. And I'm sorry, I usually like that brand, they have good pasta, but these muffins were nasty. I felt really bad but they went straight in the trash. They just had such a weird after taste. Kinda like when you put too much baking powder in things, and you get that weird metallic and sour taste? It was like that. Yuck, didn't like it.
So then baking adventure 2 was the almond flour muffins from the almond flour cookbook, the apple cinnamon ones. Which I had made one other time but with frozen berries, and they didn't come out great because I didn't let the berries thaw first so the extra water in the dough made them a little soggy. But they still tasted good. Anyways, but this time the adventure was protein muffins, so I subbed 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of protein powder. Cuz I figured hey now they are an even better breakfast muffin, 6 more grams of protein per muffin. Though don't quote me on that, that is a very rough estimate. So they came out ok, the dough came out really thick so then they burned a little bit, and they taste a little funny but not necessarily bad. I only had vanilla protein powder, so it might taste different if you weren't using flavored powder... Idk that one still needs a little experimentation. So I will keep trying those. Just like the waffles, I will keep experimenting with them too :)
And thirdly, I finally made the chocolate chip scones! And umm YUM. Didn't mess with anything on that recipe, and they came out awesome. And delicious. So finally a successful baking adventure!
Ha what can I say, I'm really not much of a baker. I don't mind it, it's nice that while it's in the oven I can sit on the couch and watch Dr Who, but really cooking is my true love. I just don' t like how precise you have to be in baking, I like to just throw things together and see what happens. But that's ok, I will keep working at it. And to look forward to later in the week, what we also have coming up is.... Mexican food adventure with Black Bean Tacos, with homemade tortillas and a garlic-avocado dipping sauce. Also, we got homemade buffalo chicken pizza, with homemade vegan cashew cream cheese. So get pumped about that :)
Friday, March 15, 2013
Cough drops..... ?!?!?!?!?
Ok so I have decided that there is something in cough drops that my body just does not enjoy. Yesterday I stayed home sick from work (though it hardly counts as ditching since it's spring break and it was going to be ridiculously slow) and then today I'm still feeling a little sick and I also had (very minor) surgery this morning on my skin. So pretty much that all is to say that I have been sitting at home doing nothing all day. And, this is really weird, but when I'm sick all that I want to eat is orange juice and cheese. And I'm not necessarily talking like cheese flavored chips or crackers, though that would work, or even cheese and crackers, though that would also work, I'm talking literally just chunks of cheese. Like hand me a block of cheddar and I will just gnaw pieces off of it. Like I said, weird. However, since I am trying my darndest to not eat dairy and not give in to all the cravings my body gives me, which is really hard after years of doing just that, I said no to the cheese. But that means I really gave in to the orange juice. So anyways, pretty much all of this is to say that I haven't had much to eat today except a bowl of cereal for breakfast, bowl of soup (which actually did have dairy in it but that was a while ago), tons of orange juice (like we are talking 2 cartons in as many days.... yeah) and then cough drops. And I had soup for lunch and felt fine afterwards, and then started with the cough drops this afternoon and now holy moly. I can not stop farting. And they are stinky! Like not just plain ol oh oops I farted whatever, but more like omg I farted and it was loud and now no one is going to want to be within 20 feet of me! And the only thing that I've had to eat in the last few hours that could have caused this is cough drops. Also this is not the first time I've made this observation. I remember last time I was sick thinking something weird was going on, but that time I had the sugar free ones, so I figured it was that since sometimes sugar alcohols can give you gas. But this time it was the regular ones. Same brand tho, it was the Luden's cherry ones. Though I've also been having some Halls fruit breezers. Hmm. IDK what it is! Could be the sugar in them maybe, or the medicine or something? I have no idea. All I know is it's getting pretty rancid and I think that no matter how sick I am I will never be touching cough drops again for the rest of my life.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Decisions, decisions
Does anyone else feel like there's just so many decisions, so little time? Or so many great ideas and no time to act on them? Or like you have so many ideas swirling around in your head you just really don't know where to start. Ok take me, I'm trying to decide if I want to make this blog a full time gig or not. Which if I did it would probably be this summer when I have more time to dedicate to cooking. And photographing. And all that fun stuff that having a food blog entails! Or then, if I do have a blog, what kind of stuff do I want to make? Will it be vegan? Will it not? What if I have these great ideas and then in 2 weeks when I have my dr appointment they tell me not to eat that anyways? What then? Ha I just really need this appointment to come so that I can get started on my own food journey :)
Ok lets go back to food ideas. I have so many swirling around in my head, that I don't even know where to start. Also I don't have that much time to be dedicating to just cooking, when I'm working 55 hours a week and then there's laundry and cleaning and of course you have to watch your favorite TV shows and then there's recreational reading that I just love to do, etc etc. Anyways. But I'll give you a few examples of things that are going through my head right now that I eventually want to try.
Homemade granola bars (even just in this category the options are endless! do we want chocolate or carob, stevia or real sugar, how many oils, do we want protein powder, do you want oats or just quinoa, maybe some mixed nuts, you could do chocolatey ones you could do nutty ones you could do apple cinnamon or blueberry and yogurt.... so many ideas!)
Protein breakfast muffins
Buffalo cream cheese pizza, with gluten free crust (maybe cauliflower crust?) and homemade cream cheese
Cauliflower alfredo sauce
Homemade marinara
Mango Jalapeno shrimp skewers
Lasagna with homemade "ricotta"
Smoky butternut squash and "bacon" soup
Homemade chicken pot pie muffins
Meatloaf or Meatballs that don't use bread as a binder
Homemade bread or rolls? Because sometimes you just need to feel like you are really getting a good whole sandwich and not just making every sandwich idea into a salad
Homemade tortillas with a garlic-avocado-yogurt dipping sauce
Homemade sweet chili sauce with stevia because who doesn't love sweet chili sauce with their spring rolls?
Or just general ideas that aren't for something specific, like I've heard avocado works as a good binder for gluten free baking, maybe I should give that a try, and then do I want to try eggless as well and go vegan with it, or what?
And then there's all the overall food ideas for me personally, like do I want to go vegan myself, which would be a lot of work also being soy and gluten free, or maybe more like a flexitarian that eats meat sometimes but not every day. And what kind of things are really making me fart? Because tonight at work all I had to eat was some cantaloupe, and some broccoli and zucchini with hummus and oh my goodness the farting would not stop. But on the other hand, still not pooping! HAHA. And then my cousin told me about the blood type diet the other day, which says I shouldn't be eating chicken. If I eat meat I should be eating lamb, mutton, venison, or rabbit. RABBIT! Where do you even find rabbit. Do they use that as a meat source anymore?
Haha as you can see I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this! Which is understandable, there's so much dietary information out there that it does take a little trial and error. Though hopefully I can figure out something by about Sunday so that I know how to grocery shop. I think I'm just going to pick a direction and stick with it for a couple weeks, and if it doesn't seem to be working for me well then I can try something new! It's just all a little daunting right now. But I will figure it out.
Ok lets go back to food ideas. I have so many swirling around in my head, that I don't even know where to start. Also I don't have that much time to be dedicating to just cooking, when I'm working 55 hours a week and then there's laundry and cleaning and of course you have to watch your favorite TV shows and then there's recreational reading that I just love to do, etc etc. Anyways. But I'll give you a few examples of things that are going through my head right now that I eventually want to try.
Homemade granola bars (even just in this category the options are endless! do we want chocolate or carob, stevia or real sugar, how many oils, do we want protein powder, do you want oats or just quinoa, maybe some mixed nuts, you could do chocolatey ones you could do nutty ones you could do apple cinnamon or blueberry and yogurt.... so many ideas!)
Protein breakfast muffins
Buffalo cream cheese pizza, with gluten free crust (maybe cauliflower crust?) and homemade cream cheese
Cauliflower alfredo sauce
Homemade marinara
Mango Jalapeno shrimp skewers
Lasagna with homemade "ricotta"
Smoky butternut squash and "bacon" soup
Homemade chicken pot pie muffins
Meatloaf or Meatballs that don't use bread as a binder
Homemade bread or rolls? Because sometimes you just need to feel like you are really getting a good whole sandwich and not just making every sandwich idea into a salad
Homemade tortillas with a garlic-avocado-yogurt dipping sauce
Homemade sweet chili sauce with stevia because who doesn't love sweet chili sauce with their spring rolls?
Or just general ideas that aren't for something specific, like I've heard avocado works as a good binder for gluten free baking, maybe I should give that a try, and then do I want to try eggless as well and go vegan with it, or what?
And then there's all the overall food ideas for me personally, like do I want to go vegan myself, which would be a lot of work also being soy and gluten free, or maybe more like a flexitarian that eats meat sometimes but not every day. And what kind of things are really making me fart? Because tonight at work all I had to eat was some cantaloupe, and some broccoli and zucchini with hummus and oh my goodness the farting would not stop. But on the other hand, still not pooping! HAHA. And then my cousin told me about the blood type diet the other day, which says I shouldn't be eating chicken. If I eat meat I should be eating lamb, mutton, venison, or rabbit. RABBIT! Where do you even find rabbit. Do they use that as a meat source anymore?
Haha as you can see I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this! Which is understandable, there's so much dietary information out there that it does take a little trial and error. Though hopefully I can figure out something by about Sunday so that I know how to grocery shop. I think I'm just going to pick a direction and stick with it for a couple weeks, and if it doesn't seem to be working for me well then I can try something new! It's just all a little daunting right now. But I will figure it out.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Vegetables!!
OK so I am one of those weird people that really like vegetables. Pretty much no matter what way you cook them, or just eating them raw, I just love most vegetables. I even love Brussels sprouts. Yup, that much of a veggie lover. But at the same time, it gets boring eating them every day the same way. So I made up these the other day.....
Creamy Roasted Vegetables!
Started from a recipe on Pinterest (of course) hehe but here goes
2-3 cups of whatever veggies you like (I used Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower)
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp each: parsley, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, dried chili flakes (optional depending on spiciness)
1/2 cup hummus, flavor of your choice (I used roasted garlic, if you are going to use something else I would add garlic powder to the list of spices)
Preheat oven to 425, toss the veggies with olive oil and spices, and then roast for 20 minutes.
While still hot, stir in the hummus, and it will melt a little and get all rich and creamy and delicious :)
The end. It's that simple.
To switch it up every while you could try adding some nutritional yeast, make it kinda cheesy, or switch up the flavor of hummus you use. I'll bet it would be real good with roasted red pepper or pesto hummus. YUM.
Creamy Roasted Vegetables!
Started from a recipe on Pinterest (of course) hehe but here goes
2-3 cups of whatever veggies you like (I used Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower)
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp each: parsley, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, dried chili flakes (optional depending on spiciness)
1/2 cup hummus, flavor of your choice (I used roasted garlic, if you are going to use something else I would add garlic powder to the list of spices)
Preheat oven to 425, toss the veggies with olive oil and spices, and then roast for 20 minutes.
While still hot, stir in the hummus, and it will melt a little and get all rich and creamy and delicious :)
The end. It's that simple.
To switch it up every while you could try adding some nutritional yeast, make it kinda cheesy, or switch up the flavor of hummus you use. I'll bet it would be real good with roasted red pepper or pesto hummus. YUM.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Waffle Adventure
So I finally got around to making those pumpkin waffles I have been talking about for forever. And holy cow... who knew a waffle recipe would be so difficult. It really wasn't a hard recipe, I was just trying to make it a little different and it didn't like it! Which is why I'm calling this morning my waffle adventure.
So the recipe calls for egg white beaten until stiff peaks form. This is my being really lazy but I didn't want to get out a hand mixer just for that, so I just beat them with a fork until there was some bubbles and called it good. Yeah, it really didn't like that. The dough was a little too thin that way, so the waffles wouldn't stay together. So for the last one I stirred in some more flour, and then it worked! But it was a little burnt :( but that's probably because of the 2 before this that I had had to scrape off the waffle maker... maybe some pieces were left.
Alright, so the egg thing is totally my own fault, but if I want to make these vegan they can't have egg whites in them. And, there's nothing really that quite is the same in the vegan world as beaten egg whites. Not when you need it to get all fluffy and stuff. So I was thinking, I will try them with more liquidy eggs, so then if you needed to do egg replacers you would know what was going on. But to do it that way it will take a little more flour. Also I'm thinking a little more pumpkin would be nice, just because I love pumpkin so much. :)
So all in all, eventually I got one whole waffle to eat, topped it with some vanilla coconut milk yogurt and some fresh sliced strawberries. (I'm trying to cut out sugar, so even though the yogurt had sugar in it I figured it had to be better than me drowning it in maple syrup. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself) And it was delicious! But, this recipe will take some work before I feel like I can post it online. Especially when it comes to vegan-izing and gluten-free-izing it all. But I'm sure in a few weeks, once I have had a few weekends to practice it will be great.
Anyways, I should probably go clean my kitchen now after all that craziness. :)
So the recipe calls for egg white beaten until stiff peaks form. This is my being really lazy but I didn't want to get out a hand mixer just for that, so I just beat them with a fork until there was some bubbles and called it good. Yeah, it really didn't like that. The dough was a little too thin that way, so the waffles wouldn't stay together. So for the last one I stirred in some more flour, and then it worked! But it was a little burnt :( but that's probably because of the 2 before this that I had had to scrape off the waffle maker... maybe some pieces were left.
Alright, so the egg thing is totally my own fault, but if I want to make these vegan they can't have egg whites in them. And, there's nothing really that quite is the same in the vegan world as beaten egg whites. Not when you need it to get all fluffy and stuff. So I was thinking, I will try them with more liquidy eggs, so then if you needed to do egg replacers you would know what was going on. But to do it that way it will take a little more flour. Also I'm thinking a little more pumpkin would be nice, just because I love pumpkin so much. :)
So all in all, eventually I got one whole waffle to eat, topped it with some vanilla coconut milk yogurt and some fresh sliced strawberries. (I'm trying to cut out sugar, so even though the yogurt had sugar in it I figured it had to be better than me drowning it in maple syrup. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself) And it was delicious! But, this recipe will take some work before I feel like I can post it online. Especially when it comes to vegan-izing and gluten-free-izing it all. But I'm sure in a few weeks, once I have had a few weekends to practice it will be great.
Anyways, I should probably go clean my kitchen now after all that craziness. :)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Dairy... ugh
Ok so me and dairy are really not getting along right now. It's getting real bad. I've been trying to not eat dairy but every once in a while (like today) I do so on accident. Like today for lunch I went and had a fruit smoothie cuz I wasn't super hungry and it sounded awesome. And they put boosters in them, like protein and energy and stuff. So I had them put a protein booster in mine, thinking I was being all good and getting my fruit and my protein. A no sugar added smoothie too, so no yogurt or ice cream or anything, just fruit and juice. And like half an hour later, I had the worst gas. I was farting like nobody's business. I felt so bad for everyone that had to work with me lol. And I'm sitting there going what the heck? Fruit and juice? But then I realized the protein mix in was probably whey protein, which would be dairy. And I was like oh... that makes sense. Like seriously, I can have only 2 bites of something dairy, even things like cheese and yogurt that used to not affect me too bad, and it is like Mount St Helen's up in here. It's ridiculous. But this is a good incentive to really stop eating dairy! And read labels real well, because who wants to be the awkward one farting in the corner? Um, not me.
Also, I'm debating re-vegan-izing (yes, made up word) myself. I was a vegan for a while but then when I found out I was gluten intolerant I was having trouble balancing them out. But I think now that I've realized that I really can plan ahead what I'm eating and I know really how much proteins and carbs etc I need, and it's not just based on westernized thinking of that if you aren't having steak at every meal you aren't eating enough protein, I think I could balance it out. It will take work, but I think I could do it. Debating. Then I could have great basis for an actual blog, because how many vegan, soy free, gluten free, sugar free blogs could be out there, really? I could get famous! Haha not that I really have any desire to be famous... but still. Could be cool to see some food I made up on Pinterest. :)
Also, I'm debating re-vegan-izing (yes, made up word) myself. I was a vegan for a while but then when I found out I was gluten intolerant I was having trouble balancing them out. But I think now that I've realized that I really can plan ahead what I'm eating and I know really how much proteins and carbs etc I need, and it's not just based on westernized thinking of that if you aren't having steak at every meal you aren't eating enough protein, I think I could balance it out. It will take work, but I think I could do it. Debating. Then I could have great basis for an actual blog, because how many vegan, soy free, gluten free, sugar free blogs could be out there, really? I could get famous! Haha not that I really have any desire to be famous... but still. Could be cool to see some food I made up on Pinterest. :)
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