Food – Page 2 – Bucket List Journey

April 29, 2013April 28, 2013

Happy Tummy, Happy Brain

It’s been over a year now that I’ve been wheat free and sugar free. During that year I cheated several times and lived to regret it. I now know that I just don’t operate well if I’m cheating on these foods. My stomach is a disaster and my head spins and I get headaches. I just can’t cheat.

The other factor that I’ve realized heavily influences how good I feel is how many greens I’m eating. This is a problem. I’ve never been good at eating my vegetables. Even fruit. I like a lot of fruit, but I will rarely reach for fruit if chips or cookies are an option. If fruit is served, I’ll for sure it eat and love it. I still haven’t figured out the mental barrier about fruit.

Smoothies, however, I don’t seem to have much problem with. Plop a few berries and a banana in a blender and that thing is down my hatch without a second thought.

For the last few months I’ve been tracking “Eat Veggies” and “Eat Fruit” on LiftApp. I started tracking it because some days I actually at no fruit or vegetables. Since I was a little girl I would get headaches if I didn’t have protein and so that has always been the focus of my meal planning and it’s not abnormal for me to forget to make veggies to accompany it. Since tracking my intake on Lift, I have noticed that I’m noticing more whether or not I’m eating my F&Vs, but it’s still not enough. I’m really tired of how sluggish I’m feeling.

Enter the 30 Day Smoothie Challenge.

I heard about it through GiddyYoYo on facebook and decided I needed to do it. It starts May 1 and continues for the rest of the month. When I first read about it my first thought was, “Jess, do you really need to add something else to your list of things to do?” My initial answer was ‘No’ but as I read on about how the purpose was to develop the habit, well, you know me these days. I’m all about the habit. I’m pretty desperate to eat better.

I already have convinced a few friends to join me but I wanted to let you guys know about it too. The way we eat totally affects our daily performance including mental clarity and energy. I believe this now! So go ahead and sign up to get your smoothie recipes and join the FB group, or check out my Pinboard of smoothies for ideas.

Leave a comment to let us know if you’re in or not!

April 12, 2013April 12, 2013

Winners + where to buy?

So I noticed shortly after all of the curiosity surrounding the Pink Salt flavour that…. I don’t think they make it anymore. But judging by everyone’s interest in it, sounds like they should start making it again. The website here lists it as an option, but the packaging says otherwise (pictured right).

The Winners Are:
Margie B
Jennifer P

Ladies, please send me your addresses so I can ship the yum to you!

Now that you’re all curious, you’re probably wondering where you can pick up a bar to test it if you don’t end up being one of the lucky winners.

In Montreal you can find them at:

A Votre Sante (Westmount/NDG)
Bio-Terre (Mile End)
Briimstone Chocolates & Fudge (NDG)
Club Organic (Plateau-ish)

You can find the store closest to you here.

You can buy online here.

January 6, 2013

No Bake Sugar-free Chocolate Cheesecake

My husband and I are away from home so frequently that I have learned to become pretty adaptable wherever I am. I’m rarely home-sick for our apartment or even Montreal, anymore. When we were in the US this summer for four weeks, I did get home sick for Canada. As soon as we were across the border, I was fine. Four weeks seems to be the max I can endure away from my country.

The one thing that happens every time I’m away from home, is that I get home-sick for the food we love. The wheat-free and sugar-free food we love. Both our sets of parents are always very accommodating when they cook for us, but finding sugar-free things is not easy, which is why I always end up making things from scratch.

While we were visiting my in-laws for Christmas my mother-in-law made a No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake that looked so yummy. I’ve been looking for a good no-bake cheesecake recipe, so I gave this one a shot. It calls for bitter-sweet Bakers chocolate squares, so I knew it would be easy to sub in unsweetened chocolate and then add more natural sweeteners.

bakers

Last night I gave it a try. I’m very glad I did! It was glorious. I haven’t had a cheesecake in 10 months?

So if one of your goals for the new year was to eat healthier or you’ve finally resolved to go sugar-free, then here’s a recipe to try. I use NuNaturals powdered stevia, xylitol and agave (you can use honey instead, but if you’re concerned about glycemic index impact, then use more xylitol or stevia).

Ingredients

1/3c chopped almonds, toasted, or use a graham cracker/butter crust like I did.
2 packages (250g each) cream cheese softened,
1t powdered stevia
1/4c and 2T agave nectar
1/4c and 1T xylitol
6 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
1 envelop unflavoured gelatin, or 1/4t tapioca starch
1c whipping cream, whipped

Directions

Grease an 8 1/2″ springform pan.
Sprinkle with almonds or press your graham base in the bottom
Beat the cream cheese in your mixer until smooth. Add 1/2t of the stevia, 1/4c of agave and 1/4 xylitol.
Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave starting with 1 minute, then reduce to 30 seconds. Once there are smaller chunks, just stir until it is smooth. Add the 2T agave, 1T xylitol, and 1/2t stevia. If the chocolate isn’t sweet enough for you, keep adding sweetener until it is in small amounts.
Sprinkle the tapioca starch in 1/4c cold water in a microwave safe dish. Let sit 5 minutes, stir a few times to incorporate.
Put tapioca water into the microwave. Cook for 10 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds again, stir, then 5 seconds. Mixture should turn clear and glue-like. Let sit to cool.
Mix chocolate with cream cheese until fully incorporated.
When tapioca is warm, mix thoroughly into the cream cheese mixture.
Whip the whip cream, then fold into the cream cheese until fully incorporated. Pour into the pan and put in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Tip: if you use the gelatin instead of the tapioca, it will be less firm.

November 11, 2012

I LOVE THAT MASTER MIX: Sugar Free/Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

As soon as those biscuits were a hit, I knew I needed to try the recipe for the cookies using the master mix. They looked good going into the oven, they looked good coming out of them, but boy, can I just say: HOLY SMOKES. They were so good. So sweet, so non-wheaty. I haven’t had a good cookie in 10 months! I’ve tried to make a few but they’ve all just been busts.

These are wins! Major wins. My husband loved them, too, which is a really big win. Now I’m scheming for Christmas aka How Many Baked Goods Can You Eat In One Week And Not Die?

It’s basically all I can do to not eat the entire batch in one sitting, which is especially hard when you know you’ll get no sugar rush because there’s zero glycemic index impact!

Thanks to Ginger Lemon Girl for these recipes.

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups MASTER MIX
½ cup palm shortening, Crisco, or butter (I used Crisco)
1/2 c more fiber stevia
1/3 c Erythritol
2 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons water
dark chocolate chips to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Cream sugar with shortening/butter.
Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in master mix.
If needed, add 2-4 tablespoons of water until you get a stiff (not crumbly) batter.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, as they will not spread.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen 1″ cookies.

November 9, 2012

Gluten free biscuit/master-mix recipe.

I haven’t had any pastry-like item for 10 months. Nothing but gluten-free or wheat-free bread or cookies. No flaky chocolatines, no biscuits, no buns, and definitely no baguettes. Every time we’ve been to a restaurant and they bring that warm bread before the meal I die a little inside. And salivate a lot.

Today, I decided to try a biscuit recipe using a gluten-free version of fake bisquick that I found online. I was pleased because I happened to have all (or almost all) the ingredients already, and just adapted the others. This master mix apparently can be used for cookies, and a bunch of other things too.

I’m thrilled. I had a biscuit with my soup tonight. It was smothered in butter and it was all kinds of awesome. So yummy I didn’t take a picture. This one is from the original recipe website.

I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand. It turned out great, except had a slight coconut taste from the coconut oil, which would be yummy if it were in a cookie. I halved the recipe for the master mix.

Anyways.

Recipe

Source: Ginger Lemon Girl

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour (I used white)
1 cup sorghum flour -or- millet flour (I used millet)
3/4 cups arrowroot starch -or- tapioca starch (I used 1 c of cornstarch replacing both starches)
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tablespoons brown rice protein powder -or- almond flour (I used almond meal)
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (optional – great for a whole grain texture & extra fiber! — I did this)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup coconut oil or spectrum palm shortening (I used coconut oil)

Whisk all dry ingredients together thoroughly. Cut in shortening, until it is thoroughly mixed into the dry ingredients and looks like tiny peas. Store in a tightly-sealed container in fridge or pantry.

Can’t wait to make my Red Lobster Biscuits again. GLORY BE!

October 20, 2012

Morning run & a Very Pink Smoothie

This week I have been working on the Couch to 5K program week one. It’s getting easier every time and I’m already starting to enjoy it. Maybe my running location has something to do with it. Here are some pics from my run (note: week 1 of C25K still involves a good chunk of walking).

Then I made a smoothie that was super duper good! I call it the Very Pink Smoothie because it just tastes pink! I like that. I concocted this one. It’s a strawberry banana cranberry flax dealio. Cranberries are great for Vitamin C but taste nasty so I’m glad I found a use for the extra cranberries we had left over from Thanksgiving. Yum yum.