Thursday, February 23, 2012

Recipes with pictures!!


Thai Beef with Chili and Basil
I have had this recipe as a staple for a long time now. Good ol Martha. Super flavorful. Really easy. I use jalapeno instead of the hot red chilis. I only use two and cook them together. Recipe calls for three and to add some in the end. I like to cook them all as to make sure it's not too hot for the kids. Doesn't turn out spicy at all. As will all of the recipes I will be posting now, gluten free. I use a Kikomon gluten free soy sauce. If you didn't know already, wheat is a main ingredient in soy sauce which is ironic to me because it is called SOY sauce. Why not call it wheat sauce for crying out loud.


Today for lunch I had a surge of energy and got all these things cooking. I had a pot on the stove going for pasta. I had the oven going roasting some zucchini. A pot on the stove boiling carrots. A pan cooking some Italian sausage. And some asparagus and broccoli steaming in the microwave. I was super leery about trying this brown rice pasta I had bought at Trader Joes. I must say, super super good. Tasted just like the real thing. The kids chowed it. It turned out to be a super tasty lunch with lots and lots of beautiful leftovers. I simply put a little butter on the carrots and broccoli but everything else had so much flavor it didn't need anything. I buy an Italian chicken sausage at Super Target that I love and have buying for a year or two now. Happens to be gluten free, so lucky me. It comes in a tube over by the breakfast sausages.
Me and my good friend Laura started cooking lunch for each other on our play dates. It gives us a great chance to make things our kids and husbands wouldn't typically eat. I love food. Really love food. I have never liked Indian food. It's one food I have never had a desire to eat. The spices smell far to strong. I don't like coconut milk at all, which is typically found in Indian dishes. She really surprised me with this dish and ever since I crave it on almost a daily basis. I had to make it for myself and wound up eating it for six straight meals. That does not upset me. For the tomatoes I used two 14 oz cans of plum tomatoes and smashed them up in the pan. As for the cauliflower; I used almost a small head. You can gauge it as to your liking. We served it over white rice. Wow!!! I love this dish. Super super healthy and super super flavorful. Plus, no coconut milk!

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry with peppers and water chestnuts
This was a super delicious stir fry from the Food Network Magazine. Again, really healthy. A little more prep and steps but totally worth the work. Really flavorful. Anytime I see sesame oil in a recipe I instantly put up the flavor flag. I would definitely give this one a try. Your family will love it.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Wheat Belly

I started reading a new book today called Wheat Belly. At first I was a little skeptical because I thought it was going to be another fad diet type book. It's everything but that. This is a doctor who found that on the days he didn't eat wheat he didn't feel tired, miserable, ill. He decided to have his patients, many diabetic suffering obesity, to cut wheat out of their diet. After weeks of following his wishes they had significant health improvements. Not only did many of them become non-diabetics, but they had improved health. Rashes clearing up. Irritable bowel symptoms subside. Arthritis improve if not disappear. Weight loss.
It does get a little boring as he goes into the history of wheat but it does prove his point all the further. The wheat we consume today has been modified so much that our body doesn't know what to do with it. So we become sick, obese individuals who turn to intense workout regimens, diets, and drugs to cure our ailments and weight issues.
I have read three chapters of this book so far. I find it all very interesting. I feel frustrated and confused by the way our FDA handles the foods we eat. The foods that are being produced in these factories. I have concluded that all I can do is change the things that I can change and do the best that I can. If I know that wheat is bad for me, I am going to stop eating it. What isn't bad for us anymore these days? True. This is one thing I can change. A big thing. I have already seen a significant improvement in my health, my mood, my body. I love the food I eat. I do miss wheat at times but it's really easy to get over it. For now, I will continue on this path.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Gluten Free!!!

Wow, it's been forever since my last entry. It's been so hard for me to remember to take pictures of these delicious meals I am making. I always need to see pictures of the food I am making so I hate to not provide that to my readers. I promise I will try and get better about that.
Recently a friend of mine had posted an article about wheat on her facebook page. For a long time I had considered trying to eliminate wheat from my diet. It's so bad for the body. Well, at least now days it is because of all of the things our government is letting happen to our food.
Here is a link to the article. If it doesn't work it's calle The Dark Side of Wheat by the Washington Post Social Reader. Either way you could google it and real hundreds of articles about this very thing.
It basically talks about all of the chemicals they are using on the wheat we are eating every day. The more the wheat is processed into these food we eat, the worse it is for our bodies. Look at how many people today have Celiac. Look back in time and no one even knew what that was. Was it because it hadn't been diagnosed yet, or is it because over time our food has become more and more processed.
On this journey to becoming gluten free, (it's been a month now), I have come to realize it is also a clean diet. I don't eat food from packages anymore with a few exceptions. I make our meals every night. When I want a snack I eat some fruit, nuts, yogurt, vegetables. I feel amazing. I never feel that gross full feeling after eating too much. I haven't had gas anymore. I feel good. I feel healthy and light.
So am I going to be posting boring, gross recipes. No. I am going to be posting the same foods I was eating before without the pasta recipes. I have always ate this way, with a few slight changes. I use soy sauce in a lot of my cooking as I do love asian. Have a great gluten free soy sauce I use from the grocery store and it isn't anymore expensive than the others and you can't taste a difference at all.
Last night I made an amazing Chile Chicken Posole from The Food Network. It was so flavorful and easy. I have been using chicken thighs in all of my cooking these days instead of breast meat. Yeah, it's a little more fattening but it's a lot more flavorful and it's never dry. I got so sick of making these awesome meals that fell short because chicken breast meat is so dry. You aren't going to get fat from eating a little dark meat. I used one less can of green chilis in fear of it being too spicy for the kids. Better safe than sorry and it was the perfect amount of heat. The one thing I will change next time is to use half the amount of time if not any. I thought it was way to strong. It dominated my palate. We did garnish it with avocado and it's a must. So delicious. I highly recommend this dish. I will be making it again for sure.
The next dish I have made is awesome and I am making it again tonight. Chipotle Turkey Chili from Rachael Ray. Always love her recipes. This dish is super healthy, flavorful, filling. I love it. It has green apples and lots of meat. No beans for those dudes out there. Seems like most women like beans, but not the men. This is a really great recipe and I'm excited to make it again.
It's not hard to find recipes that are gluten free if you are cooking clean, real food. My favorite sources are: Everyday Food Magazine/Books, Rachael Ray, and Food Network Magazine. I have never been disappointed with a recipe from any of these. I haven't missed wheat at all. I can't say how long I will be on this journey but for now, it feels really good.