Pizza Crust- Grain free, nut free

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
1/2 tsp yeast
pinch salt

2 TBL olive oil
2 eggs
warm water as needed


Add first four ingredients, stirring well. Add remaining, only adding enough water to hold dough together. Cover and let rise one hour.

Preheat oven to 450F. Coat a cast iron skillet with olive oil and oil your hands. Press dough in. Parbake for 10 minutes, top, then bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Nut free, Paleo,Whole 30 flax crackers

Ingredients:
1 cup ground flax meal
4 TBL chia seeds
2 TBL apple cider vinegar
2 TBL +/- warm water

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

sesame seeds, kosher salt, sunflowers seeds for topping

Mix first 4 ingredients in a small bowl until a ball forms. Let sit 2 hours to overnight.

In a food processor, combine next three ingredients and pulse until seeds are ground. Add remaining ingredients and pulse, adding water slowly if needed to make cohesive.

Preheat oven to 350 and oil a baking sheet with olive oil.

Roll out dough on baking sheet, being sure to oil top as the dough is sticky. Top , then roll over toppings. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn off heat and crack oven door. Allow to cool, then cut into desired shapes.

If you're not doing a Whole 30, you can add about a TBL of honey and they will taste like granola bars!

Green Goddess dressing (dairy free)

Start with a basic blender aoli . Measure out one cup, and save the rest. Return the one cup to the blender.

Add 1 cup fresh parsley, 1/2 cup fresh basil,4 chopped spring onions, and blend. Add 3 TBL fruity vinegar (I used the blackberry vinegar I accidentally made when I left a water bottle with fruity water in a hot car for three days). Blend, and then slowly blend in a 1/2 cup olive oil.

Salt to taste if needed.

One pan chicken with "stuffing rice"

I call it "stuffing rice" because it has the same flavour profile of my gram's stuffing.

Ingredients:
1 whole fryer
1 cup white rice
2 cups water
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/2 an onion, finally chopped'
2 carrots, finely chopped

Seasonings: I used paprika, thyme, garlic and olive oil for the pictured dish.

Oven:350

Layer chopped veg, rice, and water in the bottom of a glass baking dish. If you like, skin your chicken, place it on top and then smear on your spices.
Bake 2 hours, stirring rice occasionally.


This dish is a 2 meal deal. The leftovers can be easily turned into soup by making the bones into 3-4 cups of stock, chopping the chicken, and tossing it all into a pan to warm through.

Miso ginger pork noodles (GF, DF, nut and corn free)

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds boneless pork ribs
1 TBL sesame oil
1/4 cup tamari
1 TBL miso paste
2 TBL freshly grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1 bunch green onion, sliced
about 2 cups thinly sliced bok choy

1 package rice noodles


Slice the pork into thin disks. In a large pot, brown pork with the sesame oil. When browned, turn down to low and add tamari, garlic, miso, and ginger. Let simmer for about two hours.

When pork is meltingly tender, soak noodles in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Add bok choy to pork, followed by the soaked noodles. Garnish with the green onions, and sriracha and sesame seeds if desired.

What do I want from my Whole 30?

I'm starting my first Whole 30 tomorrow. I've had periods of more or less strict paleo or careful eating over the years, but this will be my most stringent yet. If you asked me, I'd have said I eat a pretty healthy diet...until I started cleaning out my kitchen in prep for my Whole 30. 

What do I hope to happen over the next month?

-Lose at least 10 pounds

- at least some level of relief from headaches, joint pain, abdominal pain, and candida

- reduced craving for sugar

-better mobility

What habits do I want to make sure to NOT return to after the 30 days?

-packaged gluten free products

-legumes

-oats

In addition, to meet my goals I'll need to start measuring my portions and the cooking fats I use, because it's all too easy when eating mostly whole foods to feel like you can eat all you want.

That obviously no longer works for me, as I weighed in at 162 today...only three pounds less than my highest adult, non pregnant weight. Since I can't weigh myself until the Whole 30 is over, I'' entirely rely on how my pants fir: and yes, it's hard not to quantify myself like that for 30 days.

Not everyone eats everything: get over it

It's happened again: I've seen enough of the "never ever go gluten free unless you have a definitive celiac diagnosis!" to want to speak up.
This is the one I saw today:

with this caption:

Unless you have been diagnosed with celiac disease, going gluten free will do *nothing* for your health.

Image via Skepchick.

In my experience, people who get upset over other people not eating things fall into three categories"

People like the woman I responded to in this post , who seem to feel they're special snowflakes and only they get to give up certain foods;

People who can't stand food trends;

And people who think anyone who does something so hippy dippy as an elimination diet is some anti science nut who rejects all research and doesn't vaccinate and take their kids to acupuncture for cancer, because people can never be balanced thinkers who take advantage of modern medicine while eating whole foods.

Given what I've seen of Skepchick , I'd say this falls into the last category.

I won't go too much into the fact that yes, people without a diagnosis of celiac disease can experience benefits of removing gluten from their diet. I'll just share this article from Scientific American . The reason I won't go into it that much is...it really shouldn't matter.

Unless you live in the same home as a person who gives up gluten...or dairy...or pork products, it's not that likely to affect you. , People eliminate particular foods for any number of reasons, including health, religion politics, and plain old aversion. So what? It shouldn't matter why a person doesn't eat a particular type of food. Even if you have no allergies and no religious proscriptions, there's probably something you don't eat. My husband won't eat peas because of the casseroles his mom used to make. A friend's life mate is so repulsed by pickles he won't eat things that have been on the same plate as them. Should they "get over it"?

As far as trendy goes: are we going to start hating on people who eat chia seeds and Greek yogurt? Tapas? Sweet potato fries?

A note about dining out:

If you're the wait staff, it's not your job to discern if someone "really needs" the food accommodation they ask for. It's your job let them know if you can provide it, so they can decide. Nobody needs a note from their rabbi to ask for no bacon. No one needs a doctor's note to get a gluten free meal. Just because you saw someone order a burger last week, does not make this week's request for a vegetarian meal less valid. Be aware that if the person has a real cross contamination issue, or keeps really kosher or halal, they have probably done some research to see if they can eat there in the first place.

And if you're the guest: You did do that research, right? Pretty much every restaurant has a website, and most managers are happy to answer your questions ahead of time. They want your business, but even more than that, they don't want you to get sick and then complain. The most important thing is to make yourself their favourite customer, because you are asking for special consideration. We all know that even if you eat everything in the world happily, you shouldn't go out unless you're willing to be nice to your servers and leave at least an 18% tip. If you have ANY special considerations, you need to take that up a notch. You need to tip at least 20% , and you need to be not just pleasant, but SUPER SWEET! Make your charming personality, not your special food requests, what people remember.

Eat what you want, and let others do the same.