Snacks

Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free is doing a round up today of snacks. So I thought I would get this posted really quick, and link you over there.

I've decided I have two categories of snacks. Snacks that are for when I am away or traveling, and snacks for when I am at home or at work. Some things transfer of course, but some travel less well.

Away Snacks

Fruit - Apples travel really well

Dried fruit - raisins, dates, prunes, apricots, figs

Nuts - almonds and cashews are my favorites

Fruit Leather - I always get the Archer Farms/Target brand

LaraBars

NutThins - I only like the Almond and Pecan kind, although they keep coming out with more varieties

Home/Work Snacks

Hummus with crudite (secretly I have always wanted to use that word) or NutThins

Peanut or Almond butter on apples or celery or a spoon

Fruit or Veggies

Muffins - I am a huge fan of muffins, as you can see here, here, here, and here

Yogurt (this is a dessert for me)

Applesauce

Black Bean "Hummus" Dip

I'm on a new diet regime and I shouldn't be eating garbanzo beans. But I was feeling deprived, so I decided to invent a hummus with black beans. I couldn't decide if it would taste good with tahini, so I used an avocado instead (creaminess factor).

1 can rinsed black beans

1/2 ripe avocado

1 bunch cilantro

1 tbs lime juice

1 1/2 tbs olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

Dump everything in the food processor and pulse. If your hummus is too thick add a tablespoon of water.

Menu Plan

I just sat down and put my head in my hands. Ugh, I need a menu plan.

I keep opening the fridge to find the same head of broccoli, single zucchini, and sad sad remnants of a bunch of celery staring back at me. Yeah, often when people complain there is nothing to eat, they simply mean there is nothing that they want to eat. Not me. When there is nothing to eat, there is literally no food in the fridge.

Plus, I feel like I've been eating nothing but prunes, dried figs and almonds for the past 3 days. Not doing wonders for me. Although, on a side note, dried figs taste just like Fig Newtons. So if you've been missing those, miss no more, just go buy some dried figs.

Menu Plan

Fried Rice -- Tonight's plan for those slightly sad veggies

Millet Pilaf

Salmon just tin-foil ovened with lemon juice

Quinoa with cinnamon and fruit for breakfast

This new "diet" has got me down in the dumps. Hence the figs and prunes. I know you can't tell this, but I've actually just spent over 45 minutes creating this menu plan and there's only 4 things on it. I'm trying to reassure myself that this will be ok.

I'm headed out of town for two days on Thursday, so it will be ok. But I was poking around the internet, trying to think of something snackable that I can take with me on this road trip. (Again trying to stay away from the dried fruit and nuts). I came across Elana's Pantry. I've heard of her before, and that all her recipes are based on almond flour. I've just never perused in depth.

Well, come to find out, she doesn't eat corn either. Corn is one of the new doctor's restrictions, and that actually cuts out crazy things like baking powder, xantham gum, and citric acid. Who knew?

Of course when you cut out those things, you cut out muffins.

But not according to Elana. So I'm off now to Nature's Pantry, where I hope to find some almond flour and coconut flour so that I can test out a muffin recipe from her site.

Fried Egg with Cilantro Pesto and Avocado

I modified the menu plan and came up with this lovely concoction. I was told to eat more avocados (yeah, twist my arm, I love avocados) and fortunately for me avocados were on sale for 88 cents at Walmart last week.

Fried Egg with Cilantro Pesto and Avocado

2 eggs

1 bunch cilantro

1 tbs lime juice

1 tbs olive oil

dash of salt

sliced avocado

Fry the two eggs (I prefer mine hard but cook them to your taste).

In a food processor, chop the cilantro and add the lime juice, olive oil and salt, combining into a pesto consistency.

Plate the eggs, spread the pesto on top, and then layer a few slices of avocado on top.

A modification could be to put this on a slice of gluten-free bread.

Menu Plan and Bean Salad

I sat down on Sunday night and made a menu plan for the week. I actually visited a new doctor and she gave me a new diet plan. Little did I know that this would be such an exercise in frustration. When she gave me the new plan, I thought, oh, that's not such a big deal. But as I was planning, I decided that I needed to rely on my tried and true favs rather than searching the whole wide internet for new recipes that met the requirements.

I began going through my blog archive. (Which is exactly the point of keeping a blog, no?)

Yeah, my new dietary plan eliminates almost 3/4 of the recipes on this site.

However, I did find plenty of good food to eat and (as usual) wound up totally overplanning for the week.

Menu Plan

Rice and Peas Risotto -- modifications: no cheese, no stock

Bean Salad

Mashed Cauliflower

Green Goddess Rice

Cilantro Pesto to serve over rice or quinoa

Muesili grains

And of course I have tons of greens and veggies to make salads

I made the bean salad last night, so I will go ahead and put that recipe here. I started with a good recipe and made some major modifications. It is still good.

Bean Salad

Adapted from Meghan Telpner

2 1/2 cups frozen green beans

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can adzuki beans, rinsed and drained

3-4 tbs olive oil

Juice from 1 whole lemon

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a large bowl and let it chill overnight.

Pictures of food

Just some food photos.

Cornbread -- using Shirley from Gluten-free Easily's recipe

Stir-fry -- using Karina of Karina's Kitchen's recipe

Quinoa Salad -- I modified it with salsa, and it was a little spicy.

My pre-blended hummus -- with cumin, garlic, sunflower seeds, cayenne pepper

My mom grew broccoli