Vegan & gluten free Chocolate Cake & Espresso Cheesecake

Whaaaaaat?! I found both at Sobey's in Amherstburg. Yay! I can't wait to have one or both with coffee tonight! I'm so, super excited about this!

Cream of Asparagus Soup - lazy lunch

Today is a BEAUTIFUL October Friday, and I'm feeling lazy.  The sun is shining, and in my old house, all the windows capable of being open are.  The kids are at school, I'm refusing to change out of my pajamas, and even the dog is lazy.

The last time I went to the grocery store was last weekend, so I'm running out of clever things to make.

I went to my fridge and had quite a bit of wilting asparagus left from my trip to CostCo, and my bag of baby potatoes was growing eyes.

Pumpkin Chips and Jalapeño Lime Aioli - new favourite snack!

This snack is a crazy combination, but is amazingly good.  I just don't quite understand how or why these taste combinations work, but they DO!  A real foodie would understand the science behind it, but I'm not a real foodie.  I just cook and eat what tastes good. :P

This snack is season appropriate because it has pumpkin.  It's a little sweet, a little salty, a little spicy, a little bit of everything.  It has egg yolks in the aioli, but they don't seem to bother me.  The aioli is dairy free and gluten free.  The chips are gluten free.

Broccoli Cheese soup - vegan & gf

You should know right off the top here that I am just posting my efforts and tweaks on someone else's recipe.  Kelly M at www.foodiefiasco.com posted this recipe and I just printed it off and followed it.  She looks like a real peach and I'm kind of fascinated by her.  She is a complete geek in the best and truest sense of the word.  Kelly is 15 and all kinds of passionate about food.  For her it started with being heavier than she wanted to be at a very young age, developed an eating disorder, and learned how to love food again and keep a healthy weight.  Our paths that lead us to a healthier diet are different, but here we are, in a similar place. 

I've just discovered Kelly's site, so this is my first adventure in cooking her recipes.

Kelly's pictures are much prettier, but I'm putting mine up anyway. :)

Several pictures and narration after the jump:

Update

It's been about 10 months since my last post.

I would like to say life has been so fantastically busy in the last 10 months that I've hardly had time to breathe, much less take off my party dress.

I would like to say that I've been cut off from modern technology while spelunking in the Son Doong Cave in Vietnam.

I would like to say I've been hanging out with these ladies.

To be honest, I HAVE had some fun adventures in the past 10 months, and some sad adventures, and a lot of living happened.  Husband and I were able to take a special, kids-free vacation to Mexico during the cold months, and we brought my mom and her beau along.  My smart, funny, silly, youngest brother came to stay with us for about 3 months.  We did a lot of knitting.  We played a lot of games, like LOTRO.  He helped me with my work.  He helped take care of my kids while husband and I jetted off to Mexico, and again while I spent a few days in Vancouver to visit husband while he was working.

Brother and I:

Mexico (from the infinity pool - Can you tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins?):

Husband and I in BC:

Our three sons took a school year's worth of field trips all in the last 2 months of school, because the teachers had been doing some sort of work-to-rule thing until then.  I always volunteer to chaperone every field trip, afraid that I will be an old woman who regrets not going on every. single. field trip. if I don't go on all of them.  That was chaotic. 

Summer was a whirlwind.  Eldest went away to school in Chicago for 3 weeks.  We all spent a couple weeks in Chicago on top of that.  We had the opportunity to meet new friends, spend time with old friends, see some of my family in the Chicago area, celebrate July 4th in Chicago, experience Medieval Times, etc.  It was a great time.  All the boys spent 3 weeks in Texas with my mom, during which time husband and I took a last-minute trip to St. Thomas, USVI.  The boys then came home to spend the last 3 weeks of summer at home.  The 3 weeks at home were completely lazy.  The boys spent about 14 hours/day playing games on the computers (mostly Minecraft), and about 1 hour/day eating.  The rest was spent sleeping.  Yeah, I totally let them gorge on technology time.  No, I don't feel guilty, but I'm expecting some people will wish I did. LOL

Now the boys are back to school and I'm back to being a homebody with some excess time to research recipes and play with food.

In January I eliminated gluten and dairy from the boys' diets, but allowed them to continue eating meat.  To be honest, I haven't seen a huge difference, other than they seem to be cured of the occasional bout with constipation and/or diarrhea.  I was hoping for a more obvious improvement in their general well-being, because it would make it much easier to motivate them to stick to the diet.  While they were gone in the summer they didn't attempt to stay away from dairy or gluten, and they didn't have any issues.  Ultimately, it's a good thing they don't seem to suffer from consuming dairy and gluten.

This summer I did some experimenting with my own diet and found that my reactions were MUCH less severe than they were last year.  Gluten still makes me look bloated, but doesn't make me feel as uncomfortable.  Goat's milk products seem to have little/no effect on me in any way.  Cow's milk products still cause me to break out and sometimes cause a slight headache, but no migraines anymore.  Eggs are still iffy; sometimes I don't have a reaction and sometimes I do.  I've been eating egg white omelets with no negative consequences.  My weight has held steady for the last year, give or take about 3 pounds, depending on how much junk I've been eating.


In the future most of the recipes will still be vegan and gluten free, but I'm going to showcase some of the other things I cook for either myself or the kids.  Just keep an eye on the ingredients to look for allergens you may be avoiding.

If you have a recipe you are interested in, but haven't had the time or energy to try it, let me know in the comments below.  I have average cooking skills, so would be happy to try out recipes for you and blog about how easy/difficult they are, including sourcing the ingredients.

Zucchini Corn Soup

The past week I've been lacking posts because I hit a cooking slump.  Last week I cooking daily and every meal was a failure.  Maybe I will still share those at some point, with notes on why I think the meals failed.  Today I had a yummy soup that I will give more details on below.

OXI Day and Greek lunch

Today we went to church.  We don't eat before taking Communion, so didn't eat or drink until after church.  We go to a Greek Orthodox church, and today is a holiday in Greece.

OXI DAY!

Oxi Day Parade Painting - Oxi Day Parade Fine Art Print - Yvonne Ayoub

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/oxi-day-parade-yvonne-ayoub.html

The Wikipedia entry detailing the origins of OXI Day is HERE.

It is a day of celebrating a defiance against insurmountable odds, which allowed a rich and ancient culture to still be alive and thriving today.

Cinnamon Rolls Coffee Cake

I've been craving something sugary and cinnamon-y and bread-y lately.  It isn't exactly healthy, but I refuse to live my life with no treats.  Living and eating healthier is great, but I do believe there is room for treats within the determined rules.  The rules for me are no dairy, no eggs, no meat (except seafood), and no gluten.  There are some other minor rules that I'm willing to be flexible on, such as no black beans, avocados, apples, bananas, etc.  Those all give me temporary ill effects, lasting about 24 hours, so I can make the choice to eat those and not be completely derailed.

Today I found a vegan, gluten-free recipe for cinnamon rolls, and I actually had all the ingredients.  As a warning, these were both a failure and a success.  I made some mistakes along the way, and the recipe didn't turn out the way it was supposed to, but it did make something very yummy that I would gladly modify slightly and serve up if I was hosting a brunch or tea.

Busy Day and a little Shrimp and a little leftovers

Today I faxed off my registration for an absentee ballot.  The deadline hasn't passed, yet, so I'm hoping I'll be able to vote in the election in 10 days.  This morning I didn't have a lot to do, but was tired from work and increased exercise (Zumba!).  I took a long hot bath with epsom salts, then took the time to do my hair and makeup.  While soaking in the tub I had a coffee, a honeycrisp apple, and I finished one section of Cloud Atlas.

I put on an outfit that had been in my "skinny box" and is now a little too big for me.  (Yippee!)

While running errands I grabbed an order of french fries from a fast-food place and could only eat a handful before feeling guilty and icky.

After that my day got really busy and I had to work and play chauffeur to a couple of my kids and my niece.

Pasta and Crispy Fried Tofu

Today I had to play host to a co-worker from out of town in the morning, so I made a very easy and universally acceptable lunch.  I made spiral rice pasta (this seems to be the closest to gluten-filled pasta), then added the soup/sauce from yesterday. 

For the co-worker and my husband I added shredded Parmesan cheese, and for my own pasta I added vegan, gluten free Parmesan cheese substitute.

Last night I was looking through pictures of other meals I've made this year, and came across a picture of crispy fried tofu.  I started craving it immediately, so made that after I was done playing hostess this afternoon.  Here is the recipe I used:   Crispy Fried Tofu with Sweet Chili Sauce

Tomato Basil soup

Today was BEE YOU TEE FULL!  I'm sure God had a plan when He plunked me down in a climate with winters, but I haven't figured it out, yet.  When I see Him in heaven I'll be sure to ask him about it, because this girl thrives in warm weather and withers in cold weather.

This morning I was completely zonked, and the only reason I can come up with is being tuckered out from Zumba last night.  It was so difficult to get out of bed today and my brain was foggy.  I had an appointment for a routine cleaning at the dentist's this morning, so didn't eat or drink coffee.

I was sitting in the waiting room for awhile, wondering why the hygienist was taking so long to come get me.  Of course I was so tired I was curled up in the chair with my eyes closed.  She called my name and I followed her to the back.  She said, "Oh my gosh, Amber!  You've lost weight!  And your hair...!  I kept coming to look for you in the waiting room and wondered why you weren't here, yet.  I finally realized you were you!"  So sweet!  Even if I didn't have to open my mouth wide to get my teeth cleaned, I would have still been beaming from the compliment.

After that I was starving!  I suckered a friend into meeting me for lunch, and she let me choose the place.  Thai sounded good, but I've never had Thai food in this city, so I did some quick searching on my phone and found Simply Thai.  I was a little nervous, because not all Thai restaurants are created equally, and this was my friend's first experience with Thai food.  I wanted her to be left with a 'good taste in her mouth'. *bud dum ching*

I started with Tom Yum Goong (Hot & Sour), and mostly disliked it.  I bit into a big chunk of ginger and that ruined it for me.

Post Zumba Shrimp Stir-Fry

Zumba kicked my butt tonight, but I didn't have to take a break.  That's success in my book!  Our Zumba leader is just wonderful and I think I want to hang out with her.  She seems like she would be a lot of fun and a great friend.  I really held up well until the cool-down song, and then I felt like I might puke.

Quick Salad

One day I will care enough to take better pictures.  Maybe.  In the meantime, I'll just keep using my phone camera.

I'm heading out the door for my second Zumba class in 20 minutes.  Although my body is happily coasting along with a healthier diet, I am not in athletic shape.  Zumba kicked my butt last week, but I did learn a few things during that awful class.

1.  I was hungry when I got there, so I think that contributed to my light-headed feeling, and the stars I kept seeing.

2.  I was hungry, and I think that might have been part of the reason I drank so much water during class.  This made me get that water-bloated feeling during class, which is not conducive to a productive exercise session.

3.  When class was over I was still hungry, but didn't feel like eating.  Who feels like eating right after a hard work-out??  My eating routine was screwed up for the next day.


In an attempt to set myself up for better success before tonight's Zumba class, I'm eating something with some good fats, a lot of natural water, and a lot of fiber.  It isn't heavy, though, so I shouldn't feel full and sluggish.

1 ripe tomato
1/2 English cucumber
salt and dried oregano to taste
balsamic vinegar
olive oil

A traditional Greek salad would have some feta in there, too, but I don't eat dairy, so this is as close as it gets for me.

Lemon Mushroom Rice Soup

Today was wonderfully warm.  The kids went off to school with calm and ease.  Husband and I slept in a little, then he went on a conference call and I slept in more.  He came to wake me up to go do errands together and I was shocked to see it was after noon!  We went into town, did a couple errands, then went to Iguana's for a sushi lunch.

The fish tank is a little mesmerizing and relaxing to stare at while eating.  The weather was so great, we sat right by the open door, which is behind the fish tank.  It was a gift to be able to sit next to the fish and feel the sun and warm breeze today. I could almost pretend I was somewhere tropical.

I had ice water with lemon and a green tea.  If you care to know what we ate, we shared:

#26, #44, #66, #68

I also ordered a miso soup, but they forgot to bring it out to me.

I'm still not hungry, but have nibbled on a couple things this afternoon.  Since I won't be cooking a dinner for myself today, I'll share an oldie but goodie.

This soup is very basic, but it's just so good.  There are so many possible variations on it, so please change it up and let me know what you've tried and how it's worked out.

This particular day I made it like this:

1 dollop Earth Balance
1-2 yellow onions
1 head garlic, chopped
6-8 cups vegan broth
1 cup arborio rice
pepper to taste
juice from 1-2 medium-sized lemons
1-2 cups wild mushrooms (chop into bite-sized pieces if you like)
1-2 cups fresh, baby spinach

Melt Earth Balance in stock pot.  Add chopped onions and stir until onion is soft, then add garlic and stir for about 5 minutes.

Pour in broth and add all other ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve.


This recipe is so easy, and you could try many different variations, such as a handful of chopped scallions, or leeks.  Throw in some chopped kale.  Use wild rice instead of arborio rice, although I really prefer arborio rice in soups, because it makes the soups creamy without adding any milk.  You could use all portobello mushrooms.  You could use a mushroom broth or some other flavour of vegan broth.  Maybe stir in a Tbsp of vegan and gluten-free fancy mustard.

I make soups often, because I can eat them for days, unlike stir-frys, which tend to get icky as leftovers.  This is one of my favourite soups, which was inspired by Greek lemon-rice soup, which traditionally has eggs in it, and often includes chicken.

Hot Fudge Cake and a new Keurig coffee

It doesn't look very pretty, but does it look chocolately?  That's really the only purpose I had for this experiment.  I needed chocolate and I needed something warm and gooey and this looked just perfect.  Of course I found it on Pinterest, because...  well...  isn't that where ALL the good stuff is??

Generally, I keep everything vegan and gluten-free, although I will sometimes use products that say they are processed on the same equipment that processes dairy and glutenous products.  As long as it isn't listed as an ingredient, I will usually use it.  I also steer away from too much soy, unless I'm using tofu in a recipe, or soy is a smaller ingredient in a pre-packaged food.

Also, I wanted this recipe right now and made some modifications to the recipe, based on what I had on hand.  Here is the recipe I used last night:

1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose gluten-free flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp Camino cocoa
1 cup  So Delicious Original Coconut Milk
2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp olive oil
(I skipped the nuts.)
I had about a cup of chocolate chips in a bag and added them all to the batter.

I mixed the dry ingredients, then added in the wet ingredients.  I poured the batter into a greased 9 X 13 glass casserole dish.

Then I made the topping:

2 cup dark brown sugar
6 Tbsp Camino cocoa
3 1/2 cups hot water (next time I will cut this back to about 3 cups, I think)

I mixed the dry ingredients and sprinkled over the top of the batter, then slowly poured the water over the top, taking care to not mix the layers.

The dish went into a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  When I pulled it out there was a glorious crust on top, but under the crust it seemed too runny.  I scooped out a serving and was disappointed in how runny it was.  I put the dish back in the oven and ran to look up the recipe again.  I was looking for comments on how runny it was and found a different recipe that said it needed to set up on a wire rack for 25 minutes after taking it out of the oven.  So, I ran back to the oven, took the dish out and put it on a wire rack for half an hour.  It was still runny, but a little thicker then.  Next time I will try using a little less water and see how it turns out.

The taste is delicious, though, and I still have the "nutty" texture and taste because of the almond meal and coconut flour I used.  I will definitely use those again the next time I make this.


I LOVE my Keurig!

This weekend I discovered new coffee for my Keurig.  I was browsing the coffee section at Sobey's, because it seems the stores are always adding new K-Cups to their inventory.  There was this new line of single-serve cups that didn't have the K-Cup stamp on them, but said they would work with most brewers using Keurig Incorporated brewing systems.  That was all I needed to read!

I grabbed a bag of the European Deluxe and it is so yummy!  It is a bit of a darker roast that doesn't taste burnt, as most darker roasts do.  It was a perfect companion to my hot fudge cake. :)

Beginning of a journey

We are Eastern Orthodox Christians, and our Lenten season requires a vegan fast.  I'm not always very good about keeping the proper fasts, but this year I decided I was going to do it.  I was 33 and starting to realize the value of my health and youth.  My youngest child was 7 years old and I could no longer blame my size on having "just had a baby".  I was unhappy with the way I looked.  I was unhappy with the way I felt, and I knew I had to fix it now.  For years I had been saying I would get healthy before it was too late, but when is it "too late"?

My genetics leave me predisposed to weight issues and health problems associated with weight issues.  I had always promised myself I would beat the odds, and I wouldn't fall into the trap my heredity had set up for me.  That day was always down the road, and I kept putting it off, because I knew it would be really difficult to give up the foods I knew were not good for me.

Along came Lent toward the end of February this year.

I began my Lenten fast casually and without much thought.

My birthday is in the second week of March, which was about 2-3 weeks into the Lenten fast.  A couple friends got together and made it a really wonderful birthday for me.  I decided to go off fast for the day, and had cheese pizza, birthday cake, and "crack".

It was a very happy birthday for me and I felt a lot of love. :)

The next day I woke up with an awful headache and felt nauseous.  I was worried I had a virus.  As the day went on, I didn't get sicker, and I felt similarly the next day, except the headache had become a migraine.  Then I realized that this was the first headache I had had since I started Lenten fast.  *lightbulb moment*

Before this I was getting headaches about 70% of the time, and migraines about 20-40% of the time.  The migraines were typical and debilitating.  Luckily, I work from home and have co-workers who were understanding and would help fill in the gaps during my down days.  I could usually get rid of the worst part of the migraines with ibuprofen, but I would need to take 800-1200mg to take the edge off.  Of course that was way too much, and I knew if I kept that up for too many years I would do serious damage to my internal organs.

Suddenly realizing that I had not had a headache in a few weeks, and then having one for a few days was enough to make me take this food elimination thing more seriously!  Almost anything was worth not having any more headaches!  I had suffered from them as long as I could remember.  I was back on the vegan wagon!

The last week of March we went on a cruise.  It was our first cruise and I was getting things ready the week before.  Part of my usual vacation preparation routine was working hard to try to get rid of the acne on my face.  This time I didn't have any acne, and it was the first time I could remember having clear skin since before puberty.  It felt so good!!

During that cruise I decided I was going to stay vegan during the regular meals, but was open to eating meat/dairy for a few special meals, and that's what I did.  The ship's enormous buffet had plenty of vegan options for me, and I ate a lot of curries and naan.  I didn't feel deprived at all and enjoyed my meals.  We had reservations for a couple nice dinners in the nicer restaurants on the ship, and I allowed myself to eat what I wanted during those dinners, but tried to be careful with consuming dairy.  I did have crème brûlée once and had some amazing steak at Qsine.  The great thing about this restaurant is everything is served in tiny portions, so I didn't eat too much of any of the foods I am sensitive to.

It was really great and I was able to have enough of a treat to feel like I had been spoiled, but little enough to not feel icky.

And so began my journey into eliminating foods from my diet, then reintroducing them and monitoring how my body reacted.

Intro

In March of 2012 I began posting pictures on Facebook of some of my meals.  I was working hard at changing the way I ate, and Facebook was a fun and easy way for me to hold myself accountable.

I've been on a journey of sorts since February, experimenting with different foods and seeing what my body seems to like and which foods make my body feel icky. 

Some friends have asked me to track my meals on a blog so they have an easier way to access some of my recipes for themselves.

I will post some of my meals from day to day, and I will post some of my past meals to fill in some days when I'm eating leftovers or foods I eat often.