I haven’t posted any recipes in a while, partly because I’ve been the eating the same thing every day for the past several weeks, despite my desire to branch out in several gastronomic directions. The other reason is because I’m reading several different cookbooks in order to break out of my rut and just haven’t found anything that I really want to share.
The real reason why my daily menu is so repetitive? Summer bodies are made in tehw inter, right? Ugh. Yes, so I know what I have to eat in order to stay the course, and that’s pretty much what I’ve been eating. It’s so boring that if it were a book, it would 50 shades of Snooze.
Breakfast
- Half an apple
- Scrambled egg beaters
- 2 slices of Turkey Bacon
- 1 Cup of Tea
- 1 slice of toast (occasionally)
Mid Morning Snack
Half an apple
Lunch
Option A:
- Salad with 2-3oz. grilled chicken, 5 cherry tomatos, 1 slice of red onion, 1 tbs. salad dressing
- 3 cups of popcorn
- 2oz dark chocolate
Option B:
- Chipotle Chicken bowl with white rice, fajita veggies, black beans, mild salsa and lettuce (my name is Hilary with One L and I am a Chipotle-a-holic).
- 2oz. dark chocolate
Mid Afternoon Snack
- A cup of tea
- Some kind of nosh that doesn’t exceed 150 calories
Dinner
- A couple of options usually involving chicken, vegetables and rice.
- Gelato bar (gotta have my dessert).
And that’s the menu for me. Day in and day out. If I do have a craving, it’s usually for a big ol’ piece of steak, not moo-ing, but pretty pink in the middle, along with some fries. Mmmm, fries. But, I’m trying to be a good role model for the kiddos and do everything in moderation. Is there junk food in the house? Sure. Recently, however, we’ve decided to see how we’d feel by cutting back (and eventually cutting out) gluten from our diet. C was having some tummy troubles that just wouldn’t quit and after research, q&a with the doctor, and so forth, we modified the diet. Let me tell you, there is SO much information out there about what causes tummy troubles. Is it gluten? Is it wheat? Is it soy? Is it lactose? Is it some combination of those? You don’t know unless you start weeding things out and slowly re-introducing them back into the system. I can’t even begin to list the articles I’ve read, the books I’ve paged through, the conversations I’ve had with people about what to eat, how much to eat, where to get it from. I’ve been told to watch Food Inc., and Forks Over Knives — you know, in all my free time — and I’ll really get an idea of where my food is coming from and why I shouldn’t eat anything I don’t pull out of the ground myself or shoot down like Katniss Everdeen.
Dude. I thought I was doing okay. Sure, I bought some Twinkies during the last snowstorm, but that was like a one time thing. I limit the amount of sugar and dessert the kids have. Fast food is limited to Chipotle (duh) and maybe Panera if that even qualifies as fast food. I cook dinner just about every night. I buy organic when I can. I’m pushing fruits and veggies and water and lean meats. If we ate any more chicken, we’d all sprout feathers (and you know how I feel about feather covered chicken parts).
Last week-end, I did a clean sweep of the pantry, fridge and freezer, pulling out all things that were wheat heavy and potential tummy trouble-makers. It was way more than I anticipated and I had no idea what I was going to do with these things. Add to that, I had just gone to Trader Joe’s and had gotten my cookie butter! But, we’re doing this for the greater good. So, it went into storage — after I tried to pawn it off on my brother who reminded me, “Well, if you aren’t going to eat it because it’s bad for you, what makes you think I want it?!” Touché, my good man, touché.
We made it through the week-end, but come the week, M had something to say. Namely, to her if C was the one having the issue, then C was the one who needed to make the dietary change. There was all manner of huffing, puffing, deep sighing, eye rolling and nostril flaring. There was whining and “But, Mooooooom-ing”, too. I suffered through these machinations for a few minutes before gently advising M to change her ‘tude before we got home. M firmly dug in her heels, crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I’ll change my attitude when I can eat gluten again.”
Oh boy.
I’ve been working on my responses to behaviors that I deem chokeworthy undesirable, so I reached into my reserves and offered up a solution. It had three options:
1. Eat the gluten-free food for this two week trial period and stop complaining.
2. Eat the gluten-free food for this two week trial period and calmly point out what you like and don’t like so that we can find some things that everyone enjoys.
3. Don’t eat anything and stop complaining.
She never really said what she was going to do because C piped up that she was all too happy to go gluten free, that everything tasted wonderful, that her tummy was happy and zippity-doo-dah, my, oh, my what a wonderful day! That did not do anything to quell M’s mood, quelle suprise.
Suffice it to say, when we got home, I emptied the pantry again and let them try all of the gluten free things that I had purchased. If it got a thumbs up, it went into their lunches. If it got a thumbs down, I made a mental note not to purchase it again. When I recounted this story to the Hubs, he said he thought M might be going through gluten withdrawal and that’s why she was acting out. Gluten withdrawal. Is that really a thing? I don’t think my brain can handle any more gluten related information right now. I’m more focused on these cataloged benefits that are supposed to come my way. One friends said that since she cut gluten, she’s sleeping better, she lost five pounds the first week, her lost dog came home, and she found the winning lottery ticket in the back pocket of her jeans. It’s been a week and I should be five inches taller, my vision should be 20/20, my hair should be more lustrous, and I should be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still waiting. . . .
In all seriousness though, I will say that by the end of the week, I didn’t feel as puffy as I normally do. Ultimately, the only thing I replaced in my boring diet was the slice of toast I would sometimes have at breakfast with some gluten free bread. Oh, and pancake Saturday (I’m heartbroken) had to be re-imagined. I bought, upon the recommendation of a GF friend, some gluten free pancake mix. Yeah. . .it wasn’t quite doing it for me. I did hear that Bisquick makes some GF mix, so I’m going to have get up on that.
Basically, we’ve cut back on bread, pasta, and baked goods. We’re upping the fruits and veggies, and including rice (which might not be that smart, but I’m still working out the logistics). It’s a work in progress, but if C’s tummy is happy, M’s actively participating in this experiment, and the rest of us are getting some health benefits, too, well then, let’s keep at it.
While I haven’t found any GF recipes yet, I do have a recipe for some salsa that I have been making week after week. There’s no gluten in it. No wheat, no soy, no animal by-products. It’s actually a raw recipe, so I was able to share it with my friend Jessika at Oh My Goji (definitely visit her site to learn more about going raw). This salsa is great and you can put it on everything from scrambled eggs to fajitas and all of your Gluten Free favorites! I’ll keep you posted on how this trial period continues.
Salsa Fresca
I learned how to make it watching someone else, and they didn’t measure anything, so it may be trial and error until you get it where you want it to be with respect to taste. Usually, there are more tomatoes than onions and I eyeball the amount of cilantro I use. Better to start with less and add more if you need it.
Ingredients
1. Kosher Salt
2. 6-8 roma tomatoes, diced
3. ½ red onion, diced
4. 1 bunch cilantro, chopped (or you can run it through an herb mill)
5. ½ lime
In a medium bowl, sprinkle salt to cover the bottom of the bowl. Add diced tomatoes. Add diced onion. Add chopped cilantro. Squeeze half of lime over mixture. Combine using a spatula until all ingredients are mixed well. Add salt if needed. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Don’t forget the tortilla chips! Enjoy!