Cravings Call

I took a field trip to a healthfood store not too far away. They had a lovely gluten free isle, however with all the insight of making healthier food, some still contain certain allergens that I cannot eat. To be expected.

I hunted, read labels, and compared items for over an hour. I felt like I was finding lots of food that I could enjoy. I spent just under $100. Preposterous! All I actually purchased at the end of the day was different kinds of flour and butter. (both "fake")    

This did not make a meal. It made treats. Treats that  I don't actually desire currently.  I want meals. I did make brownies with one of the boxed items though. They tasted a bit like dirt :(  but they smelled magical.

Recently I know I haven't been eating enough of something.  I haven't been able to put my finger on the nutrient I'm missing. I cant seem to tame this insatiable desire for hot dogs. That is NOT normal considering I rarely enjoy a hot dog. I ate 4 of them in one day. ICK.

To help aid this feeling i've put myself on a new multi-vitamin, and I've cracked open some cookbooks. What a lovely starting point. Tons of recipes in one place that I can adjust and play with. I'd forgot about how useful those could be.  Remake number one was a chicken bake. I changed it up a little. I just used herbed oil over chicken and dumped a cup of water in the bottom of some rice and veggies. 40 mins in the over at 350F and done. No work to be done at all. My roommate even ate it and liked it a lot!  That in itself says something.

Remake number two happened to be a soup I saw at our local coop that I wanted to make. Italian Veggie soup. It contains all sorts of very healthy-hearty vegetables. Yummy too!

In health news.  I've been feeling great. No bloating. No headaches No fatigue for quite some time now. I'm at a healthy weight.
An occasional craving occurs when I am missing key parts of my diet -but- that has been dying down with my influx of fresh veggies, vitamins, and lean meats.

It's crazy how much food can change you- or just the way you feel. Either way- huge plus.

Boiling Brownines

Brownies were an epic fail. I'm not really shocked by any means. I did replace butter with the fake butter... and eggs... well there were too many eggs to replace nicely. I decided to try the flax/water/oil mixture that works so well for other things. Unfortunatly I still need a rising agent of some sort. The brownies boiled and made a huge mess of my pan.   :(

I feel the urge to bake and I need to make cupcakes. A co-worker's birthday celebration is tomorrow and she also can't have gluten or milk. Cupcakes will be perfect.  If I can just get them to come out right

Due to the fact that my favorite gluten free cake mix is made with potato starch I decided to try a new brand. It's called 123..gluten free.  Free of the top most common allergens and also it allows you to add the kind of sugar you'd like. One major problem. 4 eggs.   One of my common viewers had sent me a link to a website that helps you replace eggs. Time to try it

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/eggsubstitute.htm

This has a few new options to try.  I went for the applesause/banana mix. The consistancy allows the batter to stay moist. Only problem is that it's a little heavy. I put in a little baking soda & baking powder. 

BAM!  It worked.  They look a little strange but it's nothing that frosting cant fix.   I have to admit they didn't taste revolting.  I am pretty impressed.

Beautiful!!! These will go great with the baby back rib dinner.  I'm hungry now.

Pyramid Observations

Traditional Food Pyramid (that isn't all that healthy)

 Now I have a hard time believing that with all the kinds of food allergies that are becoming more common, that this pyramid promotes a healthy lifestyle.

I find the milk section alone is a bit alarming.

Cow milk is most common and it's full on nutrients to support a baby cow, not a human. Milk feeding is not intended to exceed more that the first year of life. This first year when you need lipids, healthy bacteria, white bloodcells, ext- from the mothers milk. How can it be healthy to continue this? So very strange how society has let this become acceptable. (Note: I'm not anti-milk- just questioning the norms)

My Pyramid

I've made some adjustments based of my particular situation. The cow is just representing meat. Not what you call traditional by any means. Getting the proper nutrients can still be achieved with different foods. This is another reason why I believe the original is so flawed.

You can still have a balanced diet when you exclude allergens.

Now I've also included an example of what my pervious roommates food pyramid looks like. Just for comic relief.

Fried and breaded food. Candy. Cake. Beer. Meat.

Ohh ohh oh   Sooo Manlike.  That will catch up with him.

He's trying to eat some of my foods but he mostly doesnt' based on the pure fact that its still "Diet Food." Rubbish. I don't like diets either... but its different because if I cheat (as for-mentioned in the previous post) I pay with extreme stomach upset, not just a guilty conscious.

Dinner tonight (which he didn't try) was porkchop in a brown sugar pineapple sause, green beans, and squashfries.

Ps- Squashfries- need improvement. It was so very stringy and strange.

All and all- 2 veggies- 1 meat - a fruit slice- and a little from the sweets.  Covers my bases.