Day 8 Avocado Pesto Pasta

Oh My oh my! This dish is one that makes me not miss my macaroni and cheese. It satisfies that craving for creamy pasta. It is rich and decadent. It is also gluten, dairy and soy free. It is avocado pesto pasta. The avocado make the pesto rich and creamy.

Avocado Pesto Pasta (adapted from http://chefchloe.com/entrees/avocado-pesto-pasta.html)

 

 

 You will need-

• 2 Medium to Large Avocados
• 1 bunch fresh basil (we used dried today and it is not as good go for fresh)
• 1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds
• 1/2 Cup good tasting Olive Oil (this matters if you put in yucky cheap oil it will taste yucky don't buy the bargain oil blends, it does not need to be expensive but it must taste good)
• 3-4 Cloves Garlic
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• 1 Bag of Rice Pasta (We bought this from Amazon.)

You will also need-

• a blender or food processer (if you omit the nuts you can use a fork and just chop the basil real find it will not be the same consistency but you will get the flavors. You could also go old school and make your pesto in a mortar and pestle then add in the avocado in the bowl)
• pot large enough to make your pasta in
• colander
• large bowl

1. Prepare your pasta according to package instructions.
2. While your pasta is cooking place your avocado, sunflower seeds, olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil in your food processor. Blend till creamy.
3. Combine drained pasta and avocado pesto in your large bowl. Stir well.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

 

Enjoy with your favorite people to make it all the better!

 

MMMM so good Mama! Our little man lost it when we tried to move him to the table to feed him dinner. He thought he was not going to get any more. He devoured two bowls.

Day 7 TOM KHA SOUP!

My oh my its cold outside! Soup sounded good today, Tom Kha soup in fact. Here is how we make ours. It is a cream soup with lots of fresh veggies in it. It has a vegetable stock base at our house but you could also make it with chicken stock or other flavorful broth.

TOM KHA SOUP

You will need

• 8 cups of vegetable broth
• 2 6 inch pieces of Lemon grass
• 6 Kaffir Lime Leaves
• 1 inch piece Galangal
• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups thin sliced carrots
• 1 cup onions
• 1 can full fat Coconut Milk (BPA free can lining is always a plus!)
• You can throw in other veggies too green beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus, cabbage leaves, spinach,
• 1 Package GF rice noodles (optional)
• Lime Juice, bean sprouts, basil leaves, and/or peppers (if you are on phase 3 or tolerate them well), to garnish  (optional)



Those green leaves are Kaffir Lime Leaves, the shrimp looking things is the galangal and the green onion looking pieces is lemon grass.

 

You will also need for preparation

• a soup pot (6-8 quart size would be good you might be able to fudge it in a small pan and make your stock in one pot and steam your veggies in another and mix them in your bowl instead)
• a ladle
• cutting board
• sharp knife
• colander

1. You will start by preparing your lemongrass cut off any dark brown yucky look pieces and cut it into manageable 3 inch pieces. Taking the BLUNT back edge of your knife hold the handle and whack the lemon grass to bruise it. then add the bruised pieces to the bottom of your soup pot.
2. Bruise the lime leaves by squeezing it in your hand or pressing it to the bottom of the pot with your ladle. Place in soup pot.
3. Peel and chop the galangal into chunks small but big enough to be caught in the holes of your colander. Place in soup pot.
4. Now pour your vegetable stock into the pot and bring it to a boil.
   
5. Once it comes to a boil bring it down to a simmer and simmer for 20 mins.
6. Turn off the pot and let it sit for two hours to intensify the flavors. This step is optional but really bring out the flavors. If you want to steep it longer like we sometimes do place it in the fridge and let it sit there until you are ready for it.

   

   After it has simmered for a while the leaves darken, the lemon grass browns and your house smells amazing!

7. Strain out the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal and store those in your freezer to use again if they are still fragrant.
8. Bring you stock back up to a boil and toss in the veggies you would like to use. You can add as many or as little veggies as you would like. It is typically a more brothy soup but we add quite a few veggies to ours.
9. Add in the can of coconut milk and stir.
10. While the veggies are heating if you are using the rice noodles prepare them now according to the package instructions. Add these to the individual bowls. This will allow you to store any leftover broth and veggies without the noodles swelling and getting mushy.
    
11. Serve hot and garnish if you want. It is good with and without the garnish. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Yummy Noodles!

We have made versions of this soup for about two years. We like to make some and keep it in the fridge for quick lunches and dinners. For my son we pureed it in a blender when he was younger and still do sometimes.

Day 6

A quick post tonight!

To make this deliciousness you will need-

• 1 bag of fresh green beans
• 1 onion
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• Sea Salt
• grape seed oil
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

you will also need-

• a sauté pan with lid
• and an oven
• a spatula

Dice your onions and garlic to the same size and sauté in a pan with grape seed oil, till soft. Chop your green beans to about 1 1/2 inch longs pieces. Add the green beans and the sunflower seeds to the pan and sauté with the soft onions and garlic until the green beans are warmed through and a bit softer. Then serve hot.

-Maddie Grace

Day 6 Maple Veggies with no Maple

Today I had a wonderfully pleasant surprise! I put a twist on a recipe I found in a book as I had no beets or fennel. It came out very sweet and maple flavored but I added no maple syrup or any sweetner at all. It must have been that wonderful new veggie Daikon I added.


You will need;

• 1 Large sweet potato (peel if not organic)
• 1 Turnip (peeled)
• 1/2 a Rutabaga
• 4 Medium Carrots
• 1 Onion
• 1 Head of Garlic (sounds like a lot but it is just soooo good!)
• 1/2 cup Daikon Root
• 3 tbsp. Coconut Oil, Grape Seed or other healthy oil.
• Sea Salt about 1 tsp
• 2 tbsp. fresh parsley

you will also need to prepare

• a cutting board
• peeler
• knife
• casserole pan with lid or aluminum foil to cover
• large bowl
• parchment paper (helps with clean up not strictly necessary)
• and of course an oven ;)

1. Clear a station and grab a compost/ broth bowl. We toss our scraps into the freezer to turn into veggie broth things like onion skins, garlic skins, carrot tops and bottoms etc. NO WAXED SKINS. Grab your veggies out of the fridge and start peeling any veggies that need peeling.
2. Preheat your oven to 420
3. Chop your carrots, turnips, rutabaga, daikon root and sweet potato into about 1- 1 1/2 inch cube-ish shapes (no need to get to particular just close in size and shape to one another).
4. Chop your onion into about the same size also and separate the pieces so they are not in chunks.
5.  Slice your garlic in half and half again leaving nice long but 1/4 inch thick pieces. 
6. Place the carrot, turnips, rutabaga, daikon root, sweet potato, onion and garlic into a large bowl add the coconut oil and salt and stir to coat.
7. Line your casserole pan with parchment paper (My husband is so thankful he does not have to scrub the pans anymore :) it make him happy)  to keep clean up simple and then pour your veggies in the pan if there is too much to fit just line another pan or put them in the fridge to roast another night. Sometimes due to the varying size of veggies this happens.
8. Either put on a lid or cover with foil and cook until soft about 1 hour. Then finely chop your parsley and set aside.
9. After your veggies are soft add the parsley and cook another 5-10 mins uncovered.
10. Serve with a smile

Here are photos of my prep. All at once to keep the post easier to read if you want to follow my recipe.

Carrots all chopped up.

Peeling turnips always makes me think of this song.

This is the daikon root. It smells like a sweet radish.

This is a rutabaga so good tastes sort of like the cross between a turnip and cabbage with the texture of sweet potato.

It can be awkward to peel the part by top but peel carefully! My Mom showed me how to peel carefully towards my thumb, and that works well here.

You really want to separate the onion to make sure all of its oniony goodness gets on every bite.

Stir them up good!

Here is the beauty that greeted me when I opened my oven door!

So good I forgot to take pictures until after we ate it! As my husband is shoveling it into his mouth with happy glee all over his face he says "it taste like it has maple syrup in it!".

 

I also whipped up this little side that we ate as a starter it was amazing!

 

If you want to make this check back tomorrow! :)

 

And good luck on all your future endeavors.... - Maddie Grace

Day 5 Breakfast and Tea

I am one of those people who wakes up hungry. Before my gut began to heal I woke up STARVED every morning. The best way to wake me has always been with food. Pancakes, eggs, hash brows, eggs benedict, country potatoes, and Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal. I was a happy girl if you said any of these things were available AND I did not have to make it. Well I still wake up hungry and if I know I have something I can easily prepare I am a far happier girl! This is my breakfast of choice.

 

Rice Pudding

It is so easy to make too! If you want to try it out all you need is-

• Rice about 2 cups precooked (I cook mine the night before in a big batch and put it in the fridge for as long as it last normally about 5 days if I make three cups dry)
• Milk alternative about 2 cups more or less depending on how thick you like it (we use Almond, Hemp, Coconut or Sunflower)
• Sea Salt
• Fresh or Dried fruit for topping
• Maple Syrup (OPTIONAL)

To Prepare you Need;

• Immersion Blender (you can also place cold ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth)
• 3qt Sauce Pan (or something of similar size :) )  

1. Place Rice and Milk alternative in a pot and use your immersion blender to blend the rice and milk until smooth.
2. Heat over medium stirring often, it takes about 5 mins to heat through.
3. Serve in a bowl with salt and fruit on top! If your feeling fancy add a dash of Maple Syrup. Its like dessert for breakfast!  

 

We buy our rice in bulk on Amazon and store it in glass jars to keep it fresh!

 

 

Also here is a song that gives me courage when things get tough. When the rice scorches cause the baby pooped on the floor, when I get glutened at a restaurant, when I am feeling overwhelmed by this life. It gives me peace.

 

Enjoy your Pudding

-Maddie Grace 

Day 4 Going Strong!

Well, having done this once before makes this quite a bit easier. I have found that knowing there are  meals I can eat that taste good makes this much easier. I do not feel deprived this time around. I mean yes I want chocolate sometimes but that's really about it. I have found ways to have pasta, chips, soup, larabars just about anything I crave. There are so many blogs out there with new ways to make old favorites. Sometimes I even eat CHEESE!!! Thank you DAIYA!!  So its just not as bad as it seemed the first time. Today I have been busy getting the house back in shape after the holiday vacation and weekend. I always get behind on something during the weekend. Because really when your husband looks this good how can you not stop and drink some tea with him?

 

Anyways back to the diet. Tonight we are having a variation on the sweet potato burritos with instead of just sweet potatoes some leftover Scarlet Roasted veggies tossed inside. Its amazing. The beets add this flavor I just can not place but is soo good. I also found out that I like fennel its one of the new veggies we are trying. That and Daikon. We try to pick out every few weeks a new veggie to try or a new way to prepare in old veggie fav. It keeps things interesting and exciting PLUS opens up new horizons of deliciousness!

 

Popping the tortilla in the oven for a few mins gets it nice and crispy!

MMMMMmmmm Roasted veggies.

I also really love the lettuce on the burrito, its just not the same when I leave it out.

 

This is Hollis's, he thought it was so good he ate it before I could take pictures.

 

So what I am learning from all this is God is faithful just as He says. His grace is sufficient for each day. I always have something I can eat and often its amazing. God is good and provides so I do not need to worry or stress about the food just do the best I can.

 

Mathew 6:34

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

 

-Maddie Grace

P.S. Check out this woman. Such a good and needed post in the whole food blogging arena. Her post is titled "Food is not your God".

 

 

Day 3 of Elimination Diet

Before I dive in to day 3 of our diet I just want to say our Pastor was on fire this morning! Woo good sermon!

He is with us and will bring us THROUGH it. Whatever it may be. Take courage God is with you (beautiful you!) and will bring you through your trial His word is true. He is with us! Links are in red so click away my dears click away.

1 Corinthians 10:13
13 For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

This journey has been hard over the years. I have cried a lot. Over the injustice it seemed that on top of what I had been going through I had to do this too. God is faithful though and it got tough and painful but my oh my life is so much better now. God never left me, Never left me to deal with this on my own, it was never undoable HARD but never undoable.

Today we are cooking Tom Kha soup, Scarlet Roasted Veggies (from Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet", and Sweet Potato Burritos. I am going to give you our Recipes for Sweet Potato Burritos.

First off you will need.

• 4 medium to large Sweet Potato's
• Food For Life Brand Brown Rice Tortillas (or other gluten free dairy free soy free egg free brown rice wrap read your labels!)
• Salad Greens you enjoy about a handful a person (I love Spinach or Kale or mixed salad greens. Beet greens are also delicious.)
• 1 1/2 cups Broccoli
• Sea Salt
• Organic Garlic Powder (if you can not find organic garlic powder you can use fresh garlic minced but wait and sprinkle it on top near the end of cooking)
• 1 tbsp. Coconut oil or Grapeseed oil (DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL it goes rancid at high heat. Keep your olive oil for dressings and dips)
•  1 Recipe Nourishing Meals Green Apple Dressing (we put this on so much! its ridiculously good!)

You will also need two Cookie Sheets and Parchment Paper (trust me on this just use it! it will save you so much hassle) Prepare the two sheets with parchment paper linings.

1. First turn you oven on to 450 degrees. Seems hot but trust me this is how you are going to get you sweet potatos CRISPY which adds wonderful texture to the burrito. Now if you sweet potatoes are Organic which I hope you are able to find you can skip peeling and go straight into chopping them into 1/4 inch strips like fries. If they are NOT organic you need to peel and wash again your sweet potatoes before you chop them into to 1/4 inch strips. Put the chopped strips into a large bowl add the oil of your choice and the garlic powder and stir to coat. Now spread out the strips on your prepared sheets do not let them overlap. They can be tight and close and touching but not overlapping. Put them in the over at 450 degrees until crispy about 30-40 mins.
2. While those are crispifing in the oven prepare you Green Apple Dressing according the recipe on her site.
3. Then about 5-10 mins before the sweet potatoes are done lightly steam your broccoli.
4. When the sweet potatoes are done prepare your avocado by cutting it in half using a butter knife to make slices without cutting the skin. Scoop out with a spoon and put on a serving plate. Next on a cookie sheet in the oven and toast your tortilla for 1-2 mins on 350 degrees. Then assemble! I like about half lettuce, a fourth sweet potatoes, a fourth broccoli and then a generous drizzle of the dressing plus about half an avocado.

Enjoy!! - Maddie Grace
(I will try and upload some pictures soon to this post soon)

Day 2 of Elimination Diet

Hello! To dive right in yesterday was harder than I thought it would be. We have been eating very clean and healthy for a year and I thought it would be easier than it was. I think the hardest part was I was hungry from about 2pm on until I caved and made this Avocado Pesto Pasta at 10pm! (I'm only feeling slightly guilty lol it was so good!) I had gluten free rice pasta instead of the linguini and had 1/3 cup sunflower seed instead of the pine nuts. No lemon juice or tomatoes so I did stay on phase 1. I did not finish the smoothie fast and do not think I am going to. I feel like for ME and MY body weight I can not afford more than a day of a fast. We are going to continue on phase one for the recommended days with the smoothies in the morning! If you (whoever beautiful you may be :) ) I suggest a HIGH quality blender the Ninja we have is great but it takes more time and does not get it smooth. I would suggest a Vitamix or Blendtec they are both amazing! We are saving up for a blendtec or Vitamix. I would look on amazon and shop around for a good price.

I want to mention that this diet is hard to do when your cravings are in front of you. Right now I have 1 chocolate covered peanut butter ball in the freezer that is like CALLING my name lol. God has been so good and faithful to me in this journey like He always is. He blessed me with an amazing husband who is so supportive and brave. I just want to say THANK YOU my love for taking this journey with me. For not eating what I can not eat or brining it in the house either in your show of support. God knew I would need you and I am forever grateful to Him for you.

First Day of Elimination Diet and the Delightful Dandelion Cafe

This Post will be a long one, today is the first day of our Elimination Diet and I have some photos for you of a lovely little Café we ate at. We decided to start the diet early as we are all feeling a little yucky after eating out a bit (you cant always find places to eat as good as the one I will talk about below!) and traveling. Avoiding contamination is harder that I thought it was. This morning my wonderful husband made us a green smoothie. I will post a page with a brief outline of the diet we are doing and what our weeks will look like. Remember if you choose to do something like this make sure you talk to a doctor or see a nutritionist. Go to a local health food store and ask around they are sure to direct you to a good one, check at your local Church too.There are many things that they will talk to you about that is personal. My blog is just for information, to get you thinking, to share recipes and inspire you. My Husband made this smoothie we did not have any parsley on hand though and plan to pick some up from Harris Teeter later today. It is a winter green smoothie. I have been sipping on one all day. I find this part a little hard I enjoy the smoothie luckily as we have been eating pretty clean for long enough now that its not too bad, but I really want to eat some food I can chew. I did not think to get any photos this morning but I will try to get some up tomorrow. I feel good today though and that is exciting. I am hoping we are able to figure out in the Challenge phase what is still causing issues in our diet! Now on to the fun Café we got to try!

We had the opportunity to eat at the Dandelion Commuintea Café while we were down in Florida visiting family. They had many things I could eat. I had the Summer of Love rolls with their peanut sauce to start and the Sweet Potato Burrito. We also got a Side Sampler to share. It was all amazing!

My Husbands family and I all loved our meals. I loved it so much I got some to go! Plus where I was going to be later did not have a place I could eat at. My Son Hoss also loved his meal. He ate almost all of his big bowl. - Maddie Grace