What I eat #10

Happy December people! The last ‘what I eat’ post took place almost 3 months ago and I have to say: not much has changed in my eating habits. I’ve been trying some new things, as per usual, but I am still going strong on my wheat/ gluten free, low carb way of living. I have been on a bit of a sugar detox lately and slowly but surely I’m managing my sugar intake much better and in a much healthier way. I also started to loosely apply the concept of food combining to my meals. This post will tell you a bit on how as well as show you some of the dishes I cooked up these past few weeks, as well as which smoothies I made. I will include recipes where possible.

1.) Caramelized cauliflower, mushroom and pumpkin casserole

Adapted from this recipe. Well, adapted… All I did was add half a roasted butternut squash. I wanted to make the dish more fall appropriate and the flavor of cauliflower and mushrooms just wasn’t too appealing to me. So I decided to add some sweet butternut squash. It went really well together.

2.) Tapas style dinner

I’ve been enjoying these tapas style dinners lately: some olives, a bit of cheese. This is the one that got it all started. It features: falafel balls (store bought but without wheat!), sauteed mushrooms, garlic olives, cassave chips and oven roasted bacon wrapped dates. So yummy and not half as bad as it could be.

3.) Coconut water

My latest obsession is coconut water. It has quickly become my new favorite drink. I love the plain version as a thirst quenching alternative to water after a long night of dance class or some intensive cardio. But I love another version (you will see it in a picture below) that includes pineapple juice as a more every day drink.

4.) Wheat & gluten free bread

I only get groceries once a week, but there is no way you can keep salads and fresh leafy greens for that long. For the first three days in the week I’m having salads which I’ve lately been making with some chopped up fresh spinach instead of lettuce. The last work day of the week, I opt for a much more practical lunch: 2 slices of wheat & gluten free bread with a choice of spreads. Some type of meat is currently my favorite as this bread is only good with the more savory types of bread condiments. (And there is a trusty cup of tea in the background as well)

5.) Grain free pumpkin bars with raisins

I had pumpkin left after making that casserole, so I decided to find a recipe for pumpkin bars as I could easily process the rest of the pumpkin into a puree. These were amazing. I even fed some to my colleagues during a meeting and they loved them too. I still have enough pumpkin in the freezer to make these again. Anyone in for a taste?

6.) Red cabbage with apples

Not the best looking dish, but nonetheless tasty. I got the traditional recipe from my mother, but that features Dutch ginger bread which a) includes wheat and b) contains sugar. So I changed things up. I used half a red cabbage, one sour/ sweet apple, 2 table spoon of almond flour, a mixture of all spice, ground up cloves, nutmeg, ginger root powder and cinnamon to my liking and 2 table spoons of Stevia. It tasted delish. Though one tip: do not lick the spoon after using Stevia. That stuff is foul straight up.

7.) Breakfast

Meet my new favorite breakfast! You could have seen it in my November favorites too, but I decided to feature the not yet put together version here. This is my version of overnight oats and my application of some food combining theory. I used to have fruit with my yoghurt for years and ever since I read about food combining, where they say it’s best to eat fruit on an empty stomach, I’ve decided to give it a try. Now fruit here, can be either a piece of fruit or some juice. I’ve been going with juice (here’s my coconut/ pineapple juice for you!) as it’s easy: I can drink it while I’m preparing lunch. I then take my overnight ‘oats’ (which does not contain oats but 2 tbls of chia seeds, quinoa flakes, flax seeds and cocoa nibs) with me on the train and eat that 30 – 40 minutes after I’ve had my juice. I use Greek yoghurt diluted with water for the oats and top it off with some superfood mixed with raw cashew nuts and hazelnuts, but I’ve also been enjoying pistachios lately.

8.) Snack time

For snacks I’ve now been doing things a bit differently as well. With this new breakfast of mine I do not require anything between that and lunch. But it’s at around 3 – 3.30 PM that I get hungry, but I still have some time to until dinner. I have my banana at that time, as well the veggies in the container above. I leave the dried figs as a late afternoon, sweet treat, for when I’m on the train. I find this nicely soothes my sweet tooth and keeps me from buying Snickers bars.

9.) Apple/ cranberry/ coconut crumble (wheat free)

I was sick last week and I had just bought fresh cranberries and I didn’t want them to go to waste. I also had some apples lying about so I decided to combine them into a quick wheat free crumble. I chopped up the apples, added the cranberries to a greased oven dish. I dusted it with some dessicated coconut. I then melted some coconut oil and stirred in about 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of almond flour. I mixed it together, added some 1 table spoon of coconut sugar and spread it over the apple/ cranberry/ coconut mixture. I sprinkled the top with some cinnamon and an additional table spoon of coconut sugar and baked it off for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius. Yum!

10.) Smoothies

Hooray for smoothies! I drink one at least a few times a week, so when my blender broke after less than a year of service when I was sick, I was a bit bummed. But say hello to online shopping: I ordered a new one the day after and the day after that I had it up and running again. I now have one which is more powerful and with a glass jug so it’s definitely a step up. It even deals with carrots without too many problems, which my last one only managed to beat into a grainy textured pulp.

What are your favorite meals in this post?