Breakfast

Udi’s mighty bagel with organic peanut butter and a fried egg.  I had the second half of the bagel a couple hours later.  Also with PB PB.

I’m seriously obsessed with these bagels.  They are so hearty and full of seeds and whole grains, you’d never know they are wheat and gluten free.  Definitely the best GF baked good I’ve tried so far.  What sets it apart though, is the fact that it actually tastes like a bagel.  Not eggy bread.  Not nutrient devoid buns.  Not cardboard crap.  Real ingredients!  I can SEE the stuff I recognize on the label.  Love this product.

Lunch

Basically this salad is all about the dressing.

If you haven’t made my vegan, gluten free, FODMAPs friendly Caesar dressing you are missing out.

The rest of the bowl was packed with spring greens, carrots, and roasted kabocha squash.

Dinner

Rice noodles with creamy tofu marinara and spinach.

There’s really not much to this recipe.  I usually protein-up tomato sauce with TVP but I decided to switch things up and blend in a box of silken tofu instead.  Kinda like a vegan vodka sauce of sorts.

Creamy Tofu Marinara [vegan, gluten free]

Ingredients:

• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 aseptic box silken tofu
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions:

In a food processor or blender, pulse tofu and marinara until well mixed and tofu is pureed.  [For a creamier sauce, puree the tofu separately first.]

Add in nutritional yeast and pulse some more.  Salt as needed.

I used rice noodles because they’re GF.  They cook in seconds so it’s really easy to make mine first and then make Kyle’s wheat noodles after without the addition of much cooking time.

I then add hot noodles to fresh spinach and let the spinach wilt into the cooked noodles.

Then top with tofu marinara sauce and serve.  [I added even more nooch on top.]

Snacks [no pics]

• banana with sunflower butter
• Mary’s Gone crackers

Dessert [no pics]

• decaf tea with almond milk
• dark chocolate covered acai berries

So there you have it.  Low FODMAPs doesn’t have to be boring or low carb or grain free.  It certainly can be.  But it doesn’t have to be.  It can also be veg-centric.

Sometimes I push the boundaries a touch and sometimes I’m really strict (there are different styles that I tweak to fit my schedule).  I’m not on the elimination phase, so I just have to keep my overall FODMAPs load low.

The marinara sauce (with garlic) is something I rarely do.  For a more FODMAPs friendly version I just use canned tomatoes instead.

Squash is also a eat in moderation ingredient that some handle better than others.  Different squashes are tolerated better than others, so for a more FODMAPs friendly salad, exchange the squash for something else.

My garden is officially started.  Meaning it’s in soil and I’m waiting (notsopatiently) for the yield.

I planted basil and parsley plants.  More basil from seeds.  And (the above) spinach, chard, and kale seeds.  I also have a (sweet 100) tomato plant.  And our lime tree (which made the move from Santa Monica with us).  Yup, I moved with a tree.

I’m so excited to get some free produce this summer!

Kyle and I finally made it to the Davis Farmer’s Market!  Geez.  Took us long enough! 

There are SO many things I can’t wait to try.  Our fridge was already pretty well stocked, so I didn’t get anything, but now that I know what they have I’m excited to menu and grocery plan around it.  There are some cool gluten free tortillas (made with chia and quinoa) and East West Gourmet (you know I couldn’t resist getting a pumpkin Bolani).

But even more exciting is the vibe around the market.  There are lots of food stands and since it’s next to a park, everyone picnics with their eats on the nice days (which is basically every day). 

Kyle and I loved it so much we went back when his parents were in town a few days later.

Lots of food vendors I plan on trying: The Hotdogger (has vegetarian dogs and chili), Naanwich (I’m a big fan already), El Mariachi (Mexican food, need I say more), and definitely the ethnic cuisines (Raja’s Tandoor, Kathmandu Kitchen, Thai Recipes).

Left: The Hotdogger’s vegetarian corndog; right: Face Face’s egg and goat cheese sandwich.

Our cherry tree’s yield peaked and has now been completely demolished by the birds.  At least I got a decent stash during the height of production.  Enough to make a couple of crisps and snack on plain.  I still have a tupperware full in the fridge that I’m trying to make last.  They are high in FODMAPs though, so by default I kinda have to I’m savor them slowly.  It seems wrong to use them in a smoothie, but it sounds really good. 

Local brew.  Kyle and I have the restaurant on our short list of places to try.  If anyone has been to Sudwerk and has recs, send em my way.

The rest of our cloth diapers finally arrived a few weeks ago so we’ve been exclusively cloth diapering for a while now and I’m happy to say it’s going really well.

We do so much freakin’ laundry already it’s not an issue, but eventually I’d like to increase our stash even more.  We have 16 bumgenius 4.0 (snap) diapers right now.  I only bought 4 in the beginning just to see how it went and if we liked them (they’re pricey so I wanted to make sure they fit and everything too).  They worked out perfectly, so I waited til there was a sale and then got 12 more (buy 5 get 1 free).  I got a super good price for them and so we are pretty much set for now.  I did a ton of research when it came to all-in-one diapers and the love for bumgenius was overwhelming and I have to say I’m a fan too.

He’s on the small end of the snaps so there’s lots of room to grow.  The covers dry super fast.  And they’re so cute!  Love a big ‘ol diaper butt. 

Next up is transitioning to cloth wipes.  We are only waiting because we just bought a case of Costco’s wipes, but once those are done it’ll be cloth all the way. 

I have been making legit dinners lately.  It’s good to be back in the kitchen – planning weekly menus and grocery shopping.  Much more wallet friendly too.

Oddly enough, I now despise going to the grocery store.  Which is SO weird because it used to be one of my favorite things ever.  I used to love browsing the aisles.  I took my time and relished in the fun of perusing products.  Now I’m all about efficiency, get in, get out.  And even then, it’s after a few days of creating food out of thin air because I have managed to put off the errand altogether.  Blah.  I don’t wanna blame it on mommyhood, but yeah, it’s not quite as easy as it used to be (cart plus stroller notsomuch).  And when Kyle is around to help, it seems like a waste of together time.  When it’s the three of us I’d rather be not grocery shopping.

Okay, random rant over.  The point is that I’ve been sucking it up and hitting up the store enough so that we can have home cooked meals again.  And our bank accounts, bellies, and everything else is very happy too.  Completely worth it.

The asparagus was actually the most expensive thing in this meal.  But I try to get a “treat” ingredient with every trip to the store because otherwise I’ll get too anal about our grocery budget and I’ll miss out on the fun of cooking.  Usually I choose strawberries or Kombucha or a fun bulk bin item.  But the asparagus was looking so pretty.

Potatoes cost like nothing.  So it balances out.

Last but not least, the fish.  Contains: sole.  I love an ingredient list with one thing on it.

We got 6 filets of wild Dover sole for under $10 at the Co-op.  Seems like a good deal to me, but what do I know about buying seafood.  It was on sale and fresh and looked good.

I figured I may as well go all out and make dessert too.  I was feeling very Betty Draper-esque.

So here’s how the meal came to be.

This is the cooking-ware line-up…all set out so I could prep once P took a nap.

Since the potatoes take the longest to cook (~35 minutes), followed by the asparagus (~20 minutes) and then the fish (~15 minutes), I put them in the oven in that order.  The dessert I left til the end, so it baked while we ate dinner (~25 minutes).

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 russet potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp truffle oil (optional but delicious)
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Scrub and dice potatoes, then toss in oil.  Add to greased pan and sprinkle with seasonings.

Bake for ~35 minutes at 375 degrees F.  [Time variations depend on the size you cut the potatoes]

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

• 10 –15 asparagus spears
• 1 tsp truffle oil (or olive oil)
• 1/2 tsp flaked sea salt

Directions:

Wash and trim woody base off the spears.  Place on greased baking sheet.  Drizzle oil on top and then sprinkle on salt.

Bake in oven at 375 degrees F for ~20 minutes.  [I like mine on the crispy side, so I removed them once they were slightly bronzed on the tips]

I don’t know much about cooking fish, but we have this book so I skimmed through the beginning intro stuff and then skipped ahead to the part where they talk about sole.

Dover sole is a delicate buttery fish with lots of flavor.  To me that means, don’t mask it with a bunch of stuff, just let it do it’s thing.  So I kept it simple.

[FYI, I recommend the book.  I plan on reading more and trying some of the recipes out too.  There’s a Caribbean crab cake recipe bookmarked already.]

Back to the sole.  The recipe in the book was for sole meuniere so I just did my own thing instead.

Even though they’re small, 6 filets seemed like a lot, so I only baked 3 of them.  I saved the other 3 using that press & seal sticky paper stuff.  It didn’t actually stick that well, but I just took care to fold the paper nicely in thirds and put them in a ziplock before I froze them.

Basic Baked Dover Sole

Ingredients:

• 3 Dover sole filets
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp dried parsley
• pinch of salt and pepper (+/- to taste)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Combine olive oil and lemon juice in baking pan.  Add filets and flip so that both sides get covered.  Sprinkle parsley, salt and pepper on top.  Cover with tin foil (prevents fish from drying out).  Cook for 15-18 minutes.

Voila!  Juicy, soft, buttery.  Just plain awesome.

I was shocked at how quickly these cooked, but they are really thin, so I guess that’s why it took no time at all.  When I pulled them out, they all slid on top of one another, so that’s why the photo isn’t great.

Dinner!

I now know why they call Dover sole a buttery fish.  It was so soft and buttery, there’s no other way to describe it.  It literally melted in your mouth.  And yet it was so light.  I’m definitely a fan.

Kyle’s iffy on asparagus, so I got to eat the heads off of his.  It’s kinda funny because growing up, I was iffy on asparagus too, and my parents would eat the heads off of my spears.  Over time, my taste buds matured and I realized the tips are the most flavorful part!  Yum.  I gladly accepted his reject portion.  I’m just happy he’s open minded about the specific veggies that aren’t typically his thing.  Zucchini is still (and will forever be) a lost cause.

[FYI, asparagus does contain FODMAPs and the recommended “safe” serving is 2 spears.  I had more than that, but they were my only source of FODMAPs for the day.]

And now for dessert!

Guess where the cherries came from?  Our tree!

Kyle and I have been getting pretty clever resourceful in getting these babies down, but there are still SO MANY way up high and out of reach.  We’d need a professional machine of some sort to get them, which is a bummer.  Such a tease.  Anyway, I used the ones on the left, which I think was ~35 (the ones in the tupperware are the extras).

Two Cherry Crisps [vegan, gluten free, makes two 6” ramekin servings]

Fillings Ingredients:

• 30-40 cherries, halved & pitted
• 2 tbsp brown rice syrup (or maple syrup, agave, honey, etc.)
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Crisp Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole rolled oats
• 3 tbsp Earth Balance (or coconut oil)
• 2 tbsp brown rice syrup (or maple syrup, agave, honey, etc.)
• (large) pinch salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and spray 2 ramekins with nonstick (or grease with butter/oil).

Wash, halve, and pit the cherries.  Combine with brown rice syrup and lemon juice and then divide evenly between the ramekins.

In a separate bowl, make the crisp topping.  Cut the butter into the oats and salt, then mix in the syrup.  Don’t over-stir, it doesn’t have to be completely mixed, chunks of butter are fine.  We’ll call it rustic.

Distribute the topping over each portion of cherries evenly.

Bake for ~25 minutes at 375 degrees F.  The top will get slightly bronzed depending on where it is in the oven, but you can broil for a minute at the end to get a really nice crust.

Bon appétit!

I had mine for breakfast the next day instead of dessert because cherries have FODMAPs and I’d already maxed mine out on the asparagus, but it’s awesome whenever you decide to eat it.

I recommend topping with coconut whipped crème or coconut ice cream.

We had such awesome weather this weekend (status quo for Nor Cal, but still worth noting) so we really made the most of it.  Lots of outdoor time!

Friday morning started with Earth Butter-ed toast and a fried egg. <— yup, that’s a bite mark out of the toast

For lunch I had a big salad with greens, quinoa, carrots, tomatoes, and peanuts with peanut soy dressing.  Since I finished off the rest of the PB I just made the dressing in the jar.

I broke up P and his girlfriend Sophie for an afternoon walk and by the time I got home I was ravenous.

I had planned on doing Mexican for dinner (burrito night) so I got things started a little early with chips and guac. 

These chips are so so, but since we shop at the Co-op now, our pantry hasn’t had 365 tortilla chips in a while.  Sad.

Kyle was still at work and before I knew it my little appetizer hour turned into a full on meal… 

I finished off the Sabra guacamole.  By myself.  Oops!

Fortunately I had another one in the freezer, so I quickly pulled it out and submerged it in tepid water to thaw in time for Kyle to get some on his dinner.  I swear I did not mean to hog it all to myself but Sabra’s guac is SO GOOD!  Kyle even made the same comment out of the blue during dinner.

Speaking of dinner.

I ruined my appetite with the chip and guac fest, so I waited until I got hungry later on. 

But when Kyle got home, he had a burrito with cheddar cheese, guacamole, and a rice/lentil/salsa mix I made.

For the FODMAPs people, lentils are actually considered safe (although canned is preferable because they’ve had longer to soak).  I made these from dried lentils in the rice cooker.  Same with the mixed rice.  Then I combined both with lots of salsa.

Easy peasy burrito filling (leftovers make a great savory breakfast burrito or you can serve with a fried egg on top).

I had some of the filling plain and then decided to just honor my true craving (more guacamole with chips). 

Aaaand so I finished off the rest of the (second) Sabra guacamole.  Game, set, match.  FTW.

The rest of the night we played with our little one.

I wish I could sleep in on the weekends, but I can’t seem to snooze past 7.  I wake up at 6:30 on the dot, which probably has to do with the fact that I go to bed between 9 and 10 pm.  Oh well.

Eggs for the leftover burrito goods.

After breakfast, Kyle’s parents arrived.  They were in Sac for a few days before they headed over to visit us.

We gave them a tour of our casa and then headed over to the farmer’s market downtown.

Monkey face fell asleep while we picked out some goodies for later that night (green onions and goat gouda). 

For lunch Kyle got a veggie corndog from The Hotdogger. 

I was going to get the same until I checked out the menu at Fat Face.

Please devote your full attention to the Goat Classic.

Perrrfection.

I added sriracha too.  I’m obsessed with the stuff lately.

We hung out for a while before going to the Co-op to pick up the rest of the groceries for dinner.

Between lunch and dinner we didn’t do anything but chat and take a mellow stroll to the park.  Kyle showed his parents his work shop while I nursed, and then we dipped into some appetizers.

Lots of local goodies, including Fiddyment Farms pistachios, Central Coast Creamery’s goat gouda, Milton’s & Mary’s Gone crackers.

Enjoyed in the backyard. 

I just HAD to try the goat gouda, and holy #$%^ was it tasty.  It was salty and flavorful and basically the best stuff ever.  Way back when (like years ago) I planned on seeing how I tolerated goat products because they are noted to be easy for lactose intolerant people, but then I never really did it because I didn’t think I even liked goat cheese.  My sisters are both lactose intolerant and eat (and enjoy) goat cheese.  Now I’m second guessing my taste buds.  This stuff is legit!  And the best news of all is that I had no reaction to it at all (although the amount I had was very small).  I’m super excited to see where these leads me in terms of FODMAPs experiments.  Anyone tried goat’s milk kefir?  Or goat’s milk yogurt?  What a bummer that I’ve been missing out on such yummy-ness all these years…

Anyway.  In between playing hostess with the apps and vino and nursing my baby, I started to get dinner ready as well.

On the menu…

Miso Tamari Glazed Salmon
Cold Quinoa Summer Salad
Steamed Green Beans

The quinoa took the longest, considering I had to cook it and then let it cool.  But aside from that, the rest of the assembly is super simple (like everything I make).  Same with the salmon.  The marinade comes together in minutes and it only takes 10 minutes on the BBQ.  I started grilling the salmon at the same time as I started steaming the green beans and they were both done at basically the same time. 

Cold Quinoa Summer Salad [vegan, gluten free, FODMAPs friendly, nut free]

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 cup corn
• 6 green onions (or scallions), thinly sliced (green parts only for FODMAPs people)
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Cook quinoa and then let it cool.  Add green onions and corn to quinoa and mix.  Add avocado, lime juice and tamari and gently toss until evenly distributed.  Salt & pepper as desired.

Such a light crisp salad, packed with yummy flavors.

I washed and chopped the ends off the green beans beforehand and then waited to cover them and start boiling the water until the salmon was on the grill.  I like them on the more done side, but most people like them just barely fork tender, so I left them that way.  With a little crunch. 

Miso Tamari Glazed Salmon [FODMAPs friendly, gluten free]

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon filets
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 2 tbsp tamari
• 2 tbsp miso paste

Directions:

Combine coconut sugar, water, tamari and miso paste in a small mixing bowl.  Place fish in a pan.  Brush sauce over filets (there will probably be extra so feel free to reserve in the bowl).  Let fish marinate (mine sat for ~30-45 minutes).

Grill fish for ~10 minutes, periodically brushing extra marinade on fish (from either the pan or the mixing bowl).

Before (above) & after (below).

It all came together really nicely.

Yummmmm.

After everyone finished we just stayed outside drinking, talking, and soaking up the perfect weather. 

I went to bed before dessert.  No bueno on my part.  But I did steal a few squares the next night. 

Kyle and I were the first ones up the next morning, even before his parents and the little man. 

Coffee for three, decaf for one. Wah wah.

I made a cranberry coconut quick bread for breakfast.

Good with nothing, but great with Earth Balance. 

Gluten free and fab-u-lous.  And look at the sun pouring through the kitchen window! 

We started to go on a walk after breakfast, but it was really windy and P seems to be coming down with a cold so I decided it wasn’t a good idea.  Kyle and his parents forged on, but I turned back with the stroller babe.

We said goodbye to our weekend guests a bit later.  And then I randomly decided to go for a run.  I was slow as balls and it was pathetic and I don’t really even care.  My fitness has taken a total backseat and it is what it is.  What can I say, my priority list has athlete way way way below mom.  Poor atrophied muscles.  Ha.

It did work up my appetite though (as if I need it, I’m an eating machine). 

For lunch I made a big salad with the quinoa salad leftovers (on a bed of greens and carrots).

With Mary’s Gone crackers too.  And almonds.  And then more crackers. 

Kyle headed to work for a couple of hours after I ate, but once he got back home we drove to the fun downtown part of Sac.  Just because.  We didn’t have anything to do, but the weather was so nice and it was the weekend, so why stay in the house all day?

Kyle got fro-yo at yogurt a go go and we met up with a friend.  Good times.

On the way home we got dinner at Pluto’s.  I wasn’t that impressed.  Their employees are apathetic and it shows.  Not that it’s normal to be passionate about salad making.  Oh wait.

The ingredients available are hardly impressive.  No avocado.  No tofu.  No egg.  No peanuts. 

They did have candied walnuts on the list, but when I asked for them, she couldn’t find them.  Then she realized it was because the bowl was basically empty.  So she poured 3 nuts and a bunch of sugar dust into my salad and counted that as one of my 7 ingredients.  No fair dude!  I also got potatoes, carrots, strawberries x2, bean sprouts, and corn.  With a carrot miso dressing.  The dressing saved the salad, honestly, otherwise I would have given the whole meal a C at best.  In the end it was fine, but I don’t think I’ll go back.

I had two bowls of Udi’s GF blueberry cashew granola clusters for dessert.

Laundry fun to end the fun weekend. 

I love salads.  Old news right?

I’m in a major salad phase.  I crave big bowls of greens.  I crave cookies too, so don’t think I’m a total freak.  But yeah, I can’t get enough veggies lately.

This Caesar was one of my more creative ones.  For the most part, though, I just wing it.

I get lots of questions about my salad combos, but the truth of the matter is I just throw everything from the crisper drawer into a bowl and top it with whatever proteins are leftover (tempeh, tofu, hard boiled eggs, fish, etc.) and whatever fats match the theme (nuts, seeds, avocado, oil, etc.).

If I’m really hungry I add quinoa or brown rice in too.  And then there are the fun toppings – like daiya cheese, tortilla chips, sesame crackers, roasted seaweed, Sabra hummus, guacamole, etc.

I wrote a whole post about making a salad a meal here.

But as you’ll soon see, I’m quite content eating the same salad on repeat over the course of the week.  It makes grocery shopping super simple, that’s for sure.  If it aint broke…

Spring greens, tomato, carrots, avocado, kabocha squash, fried egg & Bragg’s aminos.

Spring greens, tomato, carrots, kabocha squash, almonds & sesame seed clusters & Bragg’s aminos.

And again.

Those almond sesame clusters, by the way, are insanely good.  I got them from the co-op bulk bins and plan to make them on my own soon.  They are like a savory granola with nuts.  Sounds weird, but they make for an awesome salad topping.

If I’m low on fresh produce, frozen works too – peas and corn being the usual go-to items.  I made this peanut soy dressing for the above salad.

As you my be able to deduce, roasting veggies and hard boiling eggs before the start of the week allows for quick salad assembly.  That kabocha squash really made it’s mark on my meals this past week!

Yay for salads!

Oh and I just found out May is salad month.  Apparently.  Maybe my body sensed it?  Makes sense.  Spring.  New growth.  Fresh fare just sounds so appealing don’t you think?  Humor me. 

Turns out you can win an iPad for being a salad fiend, too… [I just entered]  Rock on Green Leaf’s! 

Celebrate the start of National Salad Month by entering Green Leaf’s iLove Salad iPad® Giveaway!

Click the link, fill out the form, and you’ll be in the running to win one of 3 iPad® Mini’s

Winners will be chosen on June 6, 2013!

This sponsorship is brought to you by the Green Leaf’s & Bananas who we have partnered with for this promotion.

Here’s a dirty little secret.  I cover up one corner of toast in 99% of my photos because they have one bite taken out of them already.

I don’t know why, but I always take a bite out of the bread before I put it in the toaster.  What can I say…I’m special.  Or I lack patience.  Either way it doesn’t make for a nice photo, so I always manage to cover it up with another piece of food or crop it out of the photo entirely. 

My first breakfast is above (GF toast with Earth Balance & greens with a fried egg on top).  But lately I end up eating two breakfasts.  It’s amazing what getting up early and breast feeding will do to a girl’s appetite.  I don’t even recognize the old Elise who regularly skipped breakfast and opted for coffee over all else.  Granted, that morning trend was mostly during my college and New York days, when time was rarely on my side.  It’s amazing how styles of eating evolve. 

This is my newest obsession: Udi’s gluten free blueberry cashew granola clusters.  I love me some clusters. 

The larger clusters tend to rise to the top of the bag, so those got plucked out right away.  Straight to my face.    But the rest of the bag was spoon and bowl status. 

I never realized how much I love blueberry flavor in granola.  But ever since this home-made batch I’m obsessed.  For the FODMAPs people, you can read a more thorough post about the ingredients on my other site. 

Hmmm…what was in this thing?  Greens, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, Daiya mozzarella, and 365 tortilla chips.  Random or Mexican themed? 

I always save the bottom of the bag crushed chips pieces for this purpose.  Excellent salad topping! 

Afternoon snackage in the form of a Lundberg brown rice cake with banana mash and peanut butter.  This banana was so close to going south that I don’t think it could even be considered a solid.  That means it was super sweet though. 

I should have added sea salt on top.  I’m alllllll about the salty sweet combo.  I never used to get why people thought chips belonged in a PB&J, but now I can definitely see the allure.  Bacon French toast, however, still demands some convincing.

While I’m on the subject of bacon.  There’s this guy.  I’m usually a loyal consumer of Lightlife’s tempeh bacon, but the tofurky brand was on sale, so I gave it a go. 

The nutritional stats are pretty comparable, but the ingredients of tofurky’s smoky maple bacon are slightly more FODMAPs friendly.  Both have soy and wheat, but tofurky’s doesn’t have dried onions or “spices”.  It does have molasses though.  I dunno.  It’s basically a wash. 

They taste pretty different.  There’s a much more pronounced tempeh flavor to the tofurky kind.  For those who like the flavor of tempeh, this is a good thing.  But if you’re on the fence with the characteristic nutty taste, maybe go with the Lightlife kind instead.

Since the protein in my lunch was pretty much absent, I made a macro bowl thing with both the tempeh and hardboiled eggs.

The squash is a kabocha I roasted earlier in the week. 

I should have waited for one of the cooler days to crank the oven, but no.  I chose to roast this guy on the nearly 90 degree day. 

Before and after.  Sliced into wedges, rubbed in olive oil, and cooked for 35 minutes at 375. 

All I did was add a bit of Bragg’s aminos.  Oh and cut off the skin of the squash.  Some skins aren’t terrible to eat, but I don’t recommend it with a kabocha.  Do other people eat the exterior of the squash or is that another dirty little secret Elise-ism? 

After this bowl was finito, I had another few slices of tempeh plain.  And another kabocha wedge, which I ate like it was a slice of melon (classy). 

I had candied ginger and dark chocolate on the late night.  And by “late night” I mean after P went to sleep at 9 pm.  Pretty much right before my own bedtime.

Whenever I get a recipe out in real time it’s because it was so good I can’t not share it immediately.  I basically dropped everything (except my son of course) to write this post.

Now THIS is what I’m talking about!

I rarely put much work into lunch.  It’s my quickie meal of the day.  I throw together whatever.  Dinner is the meal I spend more time on, prepping and planning.

But this was a very worthwhile exception.

Sure it took a bit more work.  But actually, not really.

To me, the 90s were all about the Chicken Caesar Salad.  Maybe it was just a phase I was going through but I couldn’t get enough of it.  I ordered it every single time we went out to eat.  Seriously, look at the menu next time you go out, it’s always an option.

Obviously this trend ended once I realized I was intolerant of dairy.  Then I stopped eating meat.  So it’s been a while since I’ve had a real Chicken Caesar Salad.  But the love affair is still burning strong deep inside me.

Now I am happy.

Because this is a vegan version that will blow your mind.  It blew mine at least.  I don’t usually set out to veganize non-vegan meals because some things aren’t able to be adapted.  And up until yesterday, I’d have told you the same thing about Chicken Caesar salads.

The dressing is FODMAPs friendly, too, by the way.

It’s a tight battle for who’s the star of the show – Beyond Meat’s grilled flavor chicken-free strips or my home-made vegan Caesar dressing.  Both are gluten free and vegan.

Can you believe this is 100% animal free?  The grill flavor is spot on.  It’s so tasty.

Seriously.  So.  Good.

Vegan “chicken” Caesar Salad [vegan, gluten free]

Salad Ingredients:

• ~4 oz. romaine heart leaves
• ~4 oz. Beyond Meat grilled chicken-free strips
• 1/2 serving vegan Caesar dressing (see below)

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup roasted (white) nuts, soaked >2 hours and drained*
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 3 pieces roasted seaweed snacks
• salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Make dressing by blending previously soaked (and drained) nuts and water.  Store in fridge to chill and thicken.  Then add the rest of the dressing ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pile lettuce and “chicken” strips onto a plate.  Top with dressing.

*Notes:

The longer you soak the better.  It will be soooo much creamier and smooth.  I soaked my nuts (a combo of brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, and marcona almonds) for 10 hours.  Then I drained them, added the water, blended them, and refrigerated it overnight.  It gets much thicker when chilled so I highly recommend you don’t skip the cooling step.  Plan in advance!  Start soaking for tomorrow’s lunch now!  You can’t over-soak the nuts.

Any combo of nuts will taste great.  I’m partial to a mostly cashew and brazil blend, but macadamias, hazelnuts, and marcona almonds all work.  I’m not racist, but the white smooth nuts are more creamy than the dark weird shaped nuts (ie walnuts, pecans).

If you don’t have roasted seaweed snacks, half a sheet of nori seaweed will work, too.  Adjust (increase) the salt accordingly.

Beyond Meat is available at Whole Foods.  It’s a fairly new product, but they are slowly getting into all the locations.  I just finally found them at my local Whole Foods.  I don’t think they are at other grocery stores, but that may be changing soon since they are already making a huge impression on the vegetarian and non-vegetarian population alike.  They are the best faux-meat product I’ve ever tasted (I swear I’m not a spokesperson, I’m just obsessed with the company’s product).

If you are FODMAPs sensitive and prefer to avoid pea protein then you could swap tempeh.  If you can’t tolerate soy, you could bulk the salad up with quinoa.  Both will give you protein, they just won’t replicate chicken as perfectly as Beyond Meat does.

Let’s see some more photos…

I used these seaweed snacks.  gimMe is a new brand – organic, vegan, gluten free, FODMAPs friendly.

As you can see, the only thing in the sea salt flavor is seaweed, sunflower oil, and salt.

Unfortunately, they always cause me to break out into that Britney Spears song… “gimme, gimme, more, gimme more, gimme, gimme”.  Kyle and I have this weird thing we do with that song.  If I sing “gimme gimme” Kyle finishes off the “more” in a weird voice.  You may think we are freaks.  You’d be right.

I used a few of the sheets in the salad dressing, but you can increase or decrease as you want.  I think it gives the Caesar that fishy flavor.

I’m already excited to make this again.  Aren’t the 90s making a comeback?

Is it weird seeing seafood on HHH?  It’s weird to me.

But for some reason it’s not weird eating it.  Probably because I’ve been dipping my toes back into the world of fish for a while now.

This dish was fan-damn-tastic.  I’m tooting my own horn (even if it was Sandra Lee-esque in preparation).  I don’t have time.  You don’t have time.  None of us have any time.  This is as close to home cooking as it gets when you have a 3 month old.

Let’s just jump right into the recipe.

Quinoa Shrimp Fiesta Bowl [gluten free, FODMAPs friendly*]

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cooked shrimp
• 10 oz frozen veggies (I used a stir fry mix with green beans, broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts & onions)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp fajita spice mix (recipe following) + 2 tbsp water
• 3 cups cooked quinoa
• toppings/garnish: pico de gallo, guacamole, lime wedges, cilantro

Directions:

Cook quinoa and set aside.

Heat a large pan with oil and add frozen veggies and shrimp.  [If your shrimp isn’t pre-cooked, add that first and don’t add the veggies until the shrimp is cooked.]

Cover with a lid so the steam helps cook everything.

Once veggies and shrimp have thawed remove the lid and add the seasonings and water.  I used a fajita mix from my father in law so it was preservative free and delicious.  There are plenty of spice rubs you can purchase from the store, but they’re easy to make, too.

Fajita Spice Mix

• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder*
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder*
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

*Omit these to make FODMAPs friendly.

Reduce heat, allow seasoning to coat veggies and shrimp, and wait for water to cook off.

And that’s it!  You could make your own pico de gallo and guacamole.  Or you can do what I did, and rely on Sabra to help you out.

*FODMAPs people, watch out for onions and garlic in your salsa.  Also pick a veggie blend that doesn’t include onions (or just avoid them when serving yourself, like I did).

Assemble bowl: quinoa, shrimp stir fry, salsa/pico de gallo, guacamole, and fresh lime juice.

Now the photos…

Honestly, I think this is the first time I’ve ever prepared shrimp in my life.  I had no clue what I was doing, which is why I chose pre-cooked frozen shrimp from the co-op.  I’m happy to report it couldn’t have been easier.  I didn’t even bother taking the tails off.  I just plopped the whole ice block of shrimp in the pan and thankfully the lid helped steam it off and all was good.  Maybe soon I’ll get adventurous and try getting fresh shrimp or uncooked shrimp.  Baby steps.

Anyway, how delicious does this look??

Kyle and I both looooved it.  There were zero leftovers and we were both completely full and happy.

This was the spicy Sabra guacamole by the way and it had a nice kick to it.  Not too much heat, but it still let you know it’s there.  Ordinarily I’m a plain avocado kind of girl, but Sabra’s guac is my fave because it’s got fatty chunks of avo in it.  None of that faux green mash.  I’m a California girl.  That fake stuff is just sacrilege.

For the win!

What an amazing weekend.  Not just because I got showered with love.  With or without Mother’s Day, this past Saturday and Sunday were just plain awesome.

Kyle was down in LA on Friday for a conference, so I was solo parenting again.

I broke the fast with a bowl of overnight oats.  Man, it’s been a while since I made these!  I basically just added boiling water to some oats the night before, along with a few big spoons of peanut butter.  Then I stirred it all up and left it in the fridge so it was ready the next AM (totally a life saver when I woke up and didn’t have to hassle with the stove).  I topped it with Udi’s GF granola and raisins.

I spent the rest of the afternoon like this.  All the while making my way through the “family size” tub of classic Sabra hummus.

Carrots, Lundberg’s GF brown rice cakes, Van’s GF crackers, monster salad, spoon, finger…nothing was safe.

That salad had spring greens, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, hummus, and TJ’s balsamic glaze.

I don’t even know what I had for dinner because there’s no photo.  It was probably another salad like the one I had mid-day.

I do know what I had for dessert though.  I’m a hoarder of chocolate bars.  This (seasonal) Nutcracker theo bar is one of my absolute favorites.  I finished off the remaining 3/4 of the bar with some frozen grapes.  Probably way more dessert than anyone should eat, but totally delicious.

Kyle’s flight landed well after midnight so both P and I were asleep by then.  Saturday marked the beginning of mommy celebration.

For breakfast I enjoyed a warm gluten free blueberry muffin, compliments of Udi’s.  I topped it with peanut butter because I’d been dreaming of it since the middle of the night.  Seriously.  I dream about food.  Normal?

After breakfast we hung around the house enjoying family time.  At some point Kyle offered to change P and when he came back my little boy had on a new onesie.

I know it’s hard to read, but Frodo refuses to let go of the rings once he’s got them in his grasp.  It says Happy First Mommy Day.  So cute right?

Once we were all clean, dressed and ready to go, we packed up the car and headed to San Rafael.  Kyle had a fun day planned for us that started with lunch at Radiance Cafe.

I don’t quite know how to say this.  But this was some mega hippie sh!t.  He said he found it by googling vegan in Marin.

It’s kinda attached to a bookstore, but it’s also kinda in a bookstore.  The decor.  The vibe.  It was about as hippie as it gets.  We both agreed it was exactly how a vegan restaurant would be depicted (stereotyped) in a Paul Rudd movie.  The funniest part was P’s face when we entered.

I cannot stop laughing because it’s exactly how I felt as I took in the scene.

All jokes aside, the staff was super friendly and the food was awesome.  So really, there’s no reason for me to make fun of the place.

The menu is basic.  They have a grain of the day and a veggie dish of the day, and you either get them in a bowl form (macro-esque) or a plated form.  The plated form comes with a salad.

Kyle and I split the large radiance plate which had an organic salad, brown and wild rice (the daily grain), veggies with a white sauce and the soup of the day.

The soup of the day (above) was a curry lentil thing and it was super yum.  We both really liked it.

The salad was okay, nothing special.  It had a tangy dressing.  The veggies with the white sauce (seen on the far right of the plate) were the highlight for me.  I don’t know what was in that white sauce, but it was gooooood stuff.  I mixed all the rice in with it to soak up the extra.

I regret not getting a cookie for dessert because I got hungry shortly after.

There was a cute little street fair going on in San Rafael, so we walked around for a bit before we went back to the car.

Kyle changed P’s diaper in the trunk and then I fed him in the backseat…and then we were off…

To Muir Woods.

I love nature.  I love being in the beautiful outdoors.  It sounds cheesy, but it can really bring some zen into your life.  Being under 250 foot tall redwoods (that are over 1000 years old) makes you feel very small.

I ate this deliciousness before we went in.  Chocolate and protein and a little caffeine kick in the pants.  Hit. The. Spot.

We need to invest in a sun hat because all we had to shade our little guy was this stupid bonnet.  It worked, but in the future, we should probably get something that’s not quite as silly looking.

The place was super crowded and we ended up parking pretty far down the road, but the baby bjorn worked out great.  Stroller freedom!  And how cute does he look as a little koala clinging to me…those big blue eyes kill me.

So pretty!

We asked someone to take our photo and this is what we got.

Hmmmm.  Artsy?

We did a short loop in and out so that we wouldn’t be too damned if the baby carrier didn’t work out, but P passed out for much of the walk.  He did seem to enjoy it when he was awake though (he’s always mesmerized by light and the outdoors).  We left before it got too cool and unfortunately hit some traffic leaving the area, which meant we didn’t get home until later in the evening.  I changed and fed (and then changed again) PAC man before we left the woods, so he wasn’t hungry, but Kyle and I were starving.

Kyle had a huge mac n cheese casserole that I had made him the previous day, so I just made myself a salad.

It had spring greens, smoky maple bacon tempeh, fried eggs, carrots, and tomatoes with Bragg’s aminos.

Half way through I decided there wasn’t enough fat in it, though, so I added a bunch of salty nuts.  I had more nuts for dessert, too.  Nuts for nuts.

We had nothing really planned for Sunday.  One of Kyle’s friends was in town so he stopped by in the morning.  But aside from that it was just a nice mellow AM.

I had a messed up fried egg with a toasted Udi’s bagel.  This is the mighty bagel and lemme tell you, it was hard to believe it was gluten free.

It’s made with quinoa and millet, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and cranberries.  Packed with goodness!  Reminds me of my (former) favorite bagel from Noah’s, the cranberry orange one that’s only around during the holidays.

See all the stuff going on in there?  That’s a far cry from the nutrient devoid gluten free stuff you normally see.

I digress…

I had breakfast in parts.  The first half right when I woke up, and the second half an hour later.  Both with lots of peanut butter.

The rest of the morning was spent opening cards (yay!) and trying to figure out how to pick the cherries from our cherry tree.

Yeah, apparently we have a cherry tree.  News to us!  We only just figured it out since they started getting ripe, but they are all so high up that the birds are stealing them before we can get them!  Boo.

Kyle went into the shop to borrow a ladder foot stool thing, so we got a few branches worth.  And some oranges from our neighbor’s free too.  They have figs and persimmons that we may get later on also.  Yay for free produce!

I got hungry around noon and decided to make myself a large salad.  I’m in a huge salad phase, can you tell?  This was lots of the same, greens, carrots, tomato, tempeh, and a hummus dressing (Sabra + Bragg’s + water).  I had plain quinoa on the side.

A little bit later I heard the doorbell ring and since I was nursing, Kyle went to answer it.  Next thing I know my sister is walking into the nursery with flowers in her hand!  What!?!  Such an awesome surprise.  It is soooo cool that I live close to family for fun surprises like this.  Love love love being in Nor Cal.  :)

The three of us headed to UC Davis for the Whole Earth Festival.  As if my weekend could get any more hippie.  Oh boy was this a scene.  I loved every second of it, though.  The most tempting stand was one that sold kombucha mothers (as well as dried ones on necklaces).  The most ridiculous was one that had fairy wings.  There was food and music and had it not been 100 degrees and packed we may have hung out longer.  I did end up buying a hanging necklace rack thing.

Back home, Auntie Marie played with her nephew.  And he showed off all his latest tricks.  Like trying to roll over and army crawl scoot (mega face burn with the latter).

Okay okay.  He’s only 3 months old.  He’s really just mastering the whole neck support thing.  But he really does want to move move move.

The day got to be too much for him though and as soon as my sister left he conked out too.

While holding the ring.  And his bib.  Watch out ladies, he’s a grabber.

Dinner!

Another salad beast.  Greens, roasted kabocha squash, carrots, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and sprouted pumpkin seeds.

These pumpkin seeds to be exact.

What a salad!!  So happy with this guy.

And I still have the rest of this squash to take down this week.

I ended the weekend by enjoying too much trail mix (damn you Costco and your bulk yummy goods) but oh well.

Life is good.  PS Thanks for the super supportive comments on my last post.  Reminded me why blogging is awesome and totally made me want to keep it up.

I love blogging. I love sharing my food, my recipes, (some of) my life…all that stuff…but there are parts of it that aren’t my favorite. The judgment and unsolicited opinions aren’t so awesome. Some of the time it can be helpful (and I do try and self-reflect on such comments), but there are other times when comments are intended to be mean and nothing else.

When I started HHH, I was in a different place. The blog was only about me so I really didn’t care what others thought (I’m me – take it or leave it!). Now I have a family and a responsibility to protect them. As a parent, you get advice from family, friends, and strangers on the street. It’s not an easy job! So opening myself up to critiquing by the whole web-enabled population is a decision I’m constantly reevaluating. Discussing my diet is one thing, but discussing my choices in how I raise my son is another.

So what does that mean for HHH? I’m still trying to decide. I feel like you guys are my friends and I want to be able to share stuff, but at the same time, it’s a drag constantly feeling like I need to justify one thing or another. For now, all I ask is for your respect and understanding as I sort it out.

Whoa. I didn’t plan on this post taking that direction at all…

Let’s get back to the meal at hand. Fish. I’m eating it again. Sparingly. I mentioned it previously (I even posted a salmon recipe here), so it’s not exactly newsworthy.

I don’t feel like I need to write some elaborate manifesto on why. I gave it quite a bit of thought and that’s the decision I came to. Remember I’m more than a diet. This is a no label zone.

This salad was one of the first actual meals Kyle and I prepared in our new place. It’s a favorite for sure. No real recipe.

Spring greens
Strawberries
Maple glazed candied walnuts
Avocado
Balsamic vinaigrette (or this sesame dressing)

Instead of balsamic, I opted for this Garlic Gold red wine vinaigrette. It’s existence was revealed during the clean-out-the-pantry-stat-because-we-are-moving-in-a-week phase. It’s more olive oil than vinaigrette, so I think it’s better as a marinade or dip (for bread) than dressing, but it was still good. I love olive oil so so much. It’s also a great option for FODMAPs peeps because it has garlic flavor but it’s infused in the oil, rather than present as an actual ingredient (thereby making it FODMAPs friendly).

This is the recipe I use for making candied nuts, btw.

In addition to the salad, we had soy glazed salmon.

I had the leftovers of both for lunch (in a less attractive & more salad like form) with TJ’s balsamic glaze. That stuff is amazing.