FOOD- can't live with it, can't live without it

Ahhhh......food. It's my best friend and my nemesis. I love it and I hate it. It makes me happy and it makes me miserable. You get the point. We have a rocky relationship. But ohh what an adventure every day is, figuring out what to eat and what my body can handle and what I should put in my mouth. I feel like food continues to be an obsession, just because it kind of runs my life. It's constantly on my mind, not because I'm craving it or am hungry, but because I'm worried about what I'll be able to eat or what I need to be in the kitchen making next. It's kind of exhausting.

But alas, life goes on, and life cannot happen without food. So I'm trying and constantly learning new things and new foods, and it's been a good experience. I love experimenting in the kitchen. I love Pinterest! I love shopping at Sprouts every Wednesday for their double ad sale day, and buying loads of fresh produce. Gone are the days of perusing all the inner aisles of the grocery store, stocking up on boxes and cans. These days it's mostly just perishables around the outer rim of the store, and I'm ok with that.

                                      

Anywho, I like to take pictures of food. Who doesn't? Sometimes I take pictures so that I'll remember, "Oh yeah, I ate that. I should make it again." So here are some of the dishes that I've eaten in the past few months. That first pic was of my snack that I got at Altaview Hospital while I was getting an iron infusion. I went for like 5 rounds, and it wasn't until my last round that I requested fresh fruit when they asked if I wanted a snack. I'd been just saying no thanks when they asked if I wanted a snack of cookies or crackers or a sandwich lunch. Lo and behold, they brought in a lovely bowl of fresh fruit and berries, and that was the first time that I felt semi normal and happy that I had something to eat in such a situation.

Here's a picture of a dinner I made, consisting of coconut crusted chicken tenders, cauliflower rice, roasted broccoli and sauteed spinach. YUM. I love making cauliflower rice. You just take a head of cauliflower, cut it up into florets, throw half in the food processor and pulse until it looks like rice. Add to a large skillet with some coconut oil, process the other half of the florets, and add the rest to the skillet. I just let it sit on medium for about 15 minutes, adding a bit of water or chicken broth to help it cook. Season with salt and pepper, and viola! Grain free rice.

This is another meal that I love, that I make if I have some good SCD legal sausage on hand. Trader Joes has some good spicy italian sausage in casings that I buy and just take out of the casing. Or I like the Adell's chicken and apple sausage from Costco. This is a dairy free version of alfredo sauce, served over zucchini pasta. Served with a side of acorn squash fries- deeeelish.

I decided I love anything with sauce. Dry meat is hard for me to eat, but if there's a dish with lots of veggies and sauce, I'll gobble it up and look forward to leftovers the next day. This dish made me salivate the moment I saw it here on Empowered Sustenance. It inspired me to experiment and make my own recipe, and now I have it down to a science. I'm just not good at writing things down to make an actual recipe.

Zucchini Sausage Alfredo

Ingredients:
2 all natural sugar free sausage (chicken apple sausage or spicy Italian from Trader Joes or Costco)
2 zucchinis, made into noodles with a julienne slicer
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbs olive oil/coconut oil/avocado oil- whatever you have on hand
1/2 can or so of additive free coconut milk (I buy mine canned at the Asian Food store)
1 or 2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 avocado, mashed with fork to mix into sauce
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion  powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cut up the sausage into coins, and brown sausage in a skillet. Add garlic, cook a minute, and pour meat into a bowl and set aside. To skillet, add mushrooms and brown for a couple minutes. Then add the oil, coconut milk, spices, avocado, and spinach and cook until wilted and the coconut milk has slightly thickened. Add the meat back in and mix together. Serve over zucchini noodles that can either be mixed into the sauce in the skillet, or steamed in a pot over the stove, or heated in the microwave until al dente. Enjoy!

Acorn Squash Fries

1 acorn squash
2 tbs coconut oil
sea salt

Directions: With a sharp knife, slice off the very top and bottom of the squash. Next slice squash in half from top to bottom. Cut halves into sections along the grooves to make peeling easier. With a veggie peeler, peel the squash sections until all peeled. With knife, slice squash into fries. Spread out on a tin foil lined baking sheet. Dot with coconut oil, sprinkle with salt. Bake at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to brown both sides. Bake until golden brown and crispy.

Honey Candied Ginger

I tried my hand at making honey candied coconut ginger awhile back. I'd never made anything with fresh ginger root, but wanted to give it a try. I used this recipe here mixed with another recipe for candied ginger, and it was a long couple day process. But this was the result:

I keep it stored in a glass jar in the cupboard, and I still have plenty left! It's nice to have a little sweet ginger bite every now and then, and ginger is very good for settling the stomach!

This is a plantain:

Very ripe plantains. I'd never done anything with them but decided to experiment and make plantain chips.

I fried them in coconut oil, and they were pretty good but never got quite crispy. I've baked and fried more batches since then, and it's still a learning process. They need to be sliced super thin, and have minimal oil left on them in order to get crispy. They are tasty though!

Soaking nuts....do it. It makes crispy nuts. Crispy nuts are yummy. I've read a lot about how nuts and seeds are easier to digest after they've soaked properly in salt water overnight, and then dehydrated. So that's what I do....add a tablespoon or so of sea salt to a bowl of lukewarm water, add nuts or seeds, soak overnight. Drain water, spread out on a cookie sheet, and keep in the oven warmed at the lowest temperature (mine starts at 170) for about 12 hours or overnight. Or you can dehydrate in a dehydrator. I just got one for my birthday (thanks Carrianne!) and am excited to try it out. Once they're all dry, they're nice and crispy and slightly salty and have a better flavor than before.

Pomegranate seeds! Yum. Here's how I get them out of the pomegranate. I slice off the two ends, then score the skin on all sides from top to bottom. Submerge into a big bowl of water, and carefully pry apart the sections under the water. Loosely scrape the seeds out of the white sections, and the seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the white pieces will float to the top. Once all the seeds are out, scoop out the white pieces and drain the seeds. I lay them out on a paper towel on the counter to dry, and then store them in a container in the fridge. They make a delicious, sweet and juicy, healthy little snack!

And here's another look at a meal, this one involving all natural turkey Applegate hot dogs. I have them every once in awhile. The sides here are roasted brussell sprouts (super yummy because the outer leaves get brown and crispy like chips), sauteed mushrooms and spinach, and roasted beets and apples. I love eating colorful meals- they make me feel good!

And the food adventures continue...