Time For Rice

I had another phone appointment with the doc today and today he told me he wants me to start eating brown rice. Which means I now have another carb source in the diet. I have never really been a big fan of brown rice, so this will be an adventure. But I am sure I will like it if I prepare it myself.

Yesterday was good day overall for me diet. I did very well all day other than I nuked my turkey for too long at lunch and didn't get a chance to eat it cause it turned into rubber, but that was my bad. Tonight I have plans of making chicken strips. I found a good recipe online on Food Network's website. I am going to be modifying it a bit, but I think it will work for what I want to do. I will be combining it with another recipe so I have a good chicken strip recipe. I am hoping it turns out. I also plan to make some sweet potato fries as well. And then maybe I will come up with something for dessert.

Sorry today's post is short. I don't really have much to say, but I will let everyone know how the chicken turns out tomorrow!

Yesterday Was Not A Good Day For Eating

Do you ever have a day where something in that day seems to just not go right? Well, that was me yesterday. I woke up late and therefore barely got out of the door to make it to work on time. As a result of running late, I did not have breakfast or my vitamins or anything. So, I was pretty hungry when I was finally able to go to lunch. I ate a hamburger and fries for lunch and then for dinner I went to Hot Dog On A Stick! I knew it was a bad thing! I felt these meals come back to haunt me too this morning! I am thinking I am intolerant to gluten - not allergic, but intolerant, because I woke up with my 3:00AM itches that I used to get in the past. I don't have hives or anything - I just itch all over the place. Or it could have been the starch or peanut oil - needless to say, the foods I ate yesterday made their presence known in a bad way.

Today I decided to start over. Because of my itches I really only managed another hour of sleep or so, so I decided to get up. I had seen a recipe on Pinterest (my new internet love) that I was eager to try. It was a recipe for gluten free, dairy free, and even egg free drop biscuits. The recipe encouraged the person making the biscuits to use a combination of gluten free flours, but most of the gluten free flours are made from things I can't have right now, so I had to use all buckwheat flour even though the recipe discouraged it, but I did anyway. I mixed the ingredients and made the dough and then put the dough on my Pampered Chef stoneware and baked them. Buckwheat flour is kind of dark all by itself so it is really hard to know when things made from it are done. But they did bake up and they looked fine to me. I then cooked up some turkey sausage, sweet potatoes, and an egg for breakfast. I then paired a couple of the biscuits with everything else and also got some almond butter for dipping the biscuits in.

It was like eating a real big breakfast this morning. I typically don't make big breakfasts for myself only but since I had loads of time this morning I decided to get creative. I have quite a few biscuits left, but I have bread now! And the recipe stated that buckwheat flour can have an aftertaste, I didn't really taste one. If you aren't used to the flavor of buckwheat, these may taste different, but they tasted like any other drop biscuit I have had before. And if you dip them in almond butter or any nut or seed butter for that matter, they are even more tasty! I packed some of the leftover ones in my lunch today. I plan to see if my boyfriend and best friend like them. I am planning on using these biscuits as part of my breading for my chicken strips I plan to make tomorrow. So glad I tried this recipe! See pictures below for the biscuits (they look like cookies, but they really are biscuits) and my delicious breakfast!

           

Buckwheat Flour Drop Biscuits

Turkey Sausage, Egg, Drop Biscuits, and Sweet Potatoes

And here is the link to the recipe: http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/easy-drop-biscuit-recipe-w-gf-df-options/

Now The Fun Begins

I have been freed somewhat from my strict diet! I can now enjoy tomatoes, beef, and eggs. I know there are some people who think that is still very restrictive, but having those three items back in my diet open a world of new possibilities! You just have to take time to think about it.

For example, there are eggs. Eggs are versatile little things and can be used to make lots of things. You can just cook them up and eat them or you can use them in a lot of recipes and other things as well. I have made my own chicken strips in the past and one of the crucial things was the egg\milk wash, so now that I can have eggs I can combine them with my almond milk and make the egg\milk wash. And I can make my breading from buckwheat flour, nuts, and herbs. I then pan fry the chicken in olive oil or bake it.

With the tomatoes I can now add more to my turkey burgers and I can have salsa! One of my favorite things to eat is salsa chicken. I take a chicken breast and cook it part of the way on the stove and then I put some salsa on top of it and then finish cooking it in a 350 degree oven for about twenty minutes and it is delish! So I get to have that again! YAY!

I have never been a huge red meat eater so having beef back in my diet isn't really going to impact me much other than I can now have a beef burger if I go out to order one. I can also use ground beef in my tacos at home when I make tacos. I also make these fabulous meatballs so I can use ground beef in those too even though I usually prefer ground turkey!

Well, I will update on how my attempt at my chicken strips went as I plan to make those tonight! Have a great day everyone!

Day 19 - Day 21: The End!

Today is my last day of being on the very restricted diet. This weekend proved to be a challenge, though. Friday evening I had a bit of a breakdown and ended up eating some Chinese food. While I ordered grilled chicken with veggies and cashews, the whole dish was dripping with a sauce made from soy sauce. Saturday I had a flour tortilla and fries. I was a very bad girl, but somehow I still managed to avoid everything else and still not have my Pepsi. I have been impressed with myself that I have avoided caffeine for so long. In the past I have told myself I am not going to drink caffeine and that last oh about a day and then I am right back to nursing my habit. In the last 21 days I have had a Pepsi twice. That's incredible! I have never gone that long before - 19 days with no caffeine! I am awesome!

People have been asking me if I have noticed a difference since I started this diet and I have noticed a few things. As far as my energy goes, it seems to be a progressive thing. Before I started this diet, getting out of bed was an absolute challenge. I would literally cry because it was so hard to get out of bed and face the day because I was exhausted even after sleeping 11 hours the night before. Since I have started, getting out of bed hasn't been nearly as difficult and I am not so ornery about it anymore. Also, my best friend and my boyfriend have both caught colds within the last week and I haven't gotten sick because of all of the Vitamin C and Zinc I have running around in my body as a result of the supplements the doctor has me on. I have a swollen spot in my left leg that just seems to be always swollen and since I have started this it has gone down in size. It isn't gone but it is a lot smaller than it used to be. And a lot of my digestive issues have seem to have resolved as well.

As far as my diet goes, yesterday (Sunday) was the best day I had all weekend. I ate very well and avoided everything I can't have and didn't cheat at all. YAY! I did actually drink a glass of almond milk all by itself with nothing added to it and I do like it, but the taste on it seems to be backwards to me. When I drink cows milk the flavor of the milk kind of comes to me as I am swallowing and has that satisfied taste. With the almond milk, the flavor came first and then it didn't taste like anything as it went down. I just wanted more to the flavor. I am also drinking Unsweetened Almond Milk so that may be part of the problem. While I plan to incorporate Almond Milk into my diet going forward, I still love my cows milk.

Tomorrow I get to start eating the other foods I mentioned in a previous post. I am thinking tomorrow I will be adding tomatoes back into my diet and see what happens. If I am good there, then I will be doing eggs and so on. Maybe one day I will be able to have cows milk again.

Day 18: Almost There!

Three days, people! Three days! While I know next week I won't be able to go back to eating whatever I want, I do know it will be a little easier just for the fact I will be able to have a little bit more variety in my diet. One of my favorite breakfasts of all time is hashbrowns, sausage, and fried eggs. Well, I have been able to eat chicken and turkey sausage and the potatoes, but no eggs. Starting next week I can have eggs! I crave protein in the morning more than any other time of the day. I don't want carbs - I just want protein. In fact if I go out to breakfast to like IHOP or Denny's, I will always be the one at the table that orders the all meat and egg breakfast - bacon, sausage, chicken fried steak - all the meat and eggs! It's really the only time I am a huge meat and protein lover!

So, this is why I am glad I will be able to have eggs again. Eggs are so versatile and you can do so much with them. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't think eating eggs is right because it is an animal product, but if a chicken doesn't lay her egg she will die as I have witnessed first hand. You also cannot leave the unfertilized eggs with the chickens or they may get cracked open and if a chicken tastes the egg they go crazy! They will do anything in their power to get the other eggs and eat them - they basically get Mad Chicken Disease and have to be removed from the rest of the flock or put down. So this is why I am not opposed to eating eggs and this is because I have seen firsthand why it is important for the hens to lay their eggs and secondly why they need to be removed. The eggs I eat come from free range chickens. The eggs themselves cannot be considered organic because these chickens do not eat organic feed and they also eat all of the fruit and veggie leftovers my mother has. I think since my father got chickens my mother has not had to throw away and fruit, veggies, or bread away. The chickens eat it all!

I am also looking forward to eating tomatoes as well. One of my favorite things to make is my own fresh salsa - well I like tomato based salsas better than any other kind of salsa, so I am very excited about having salsa again and marinara sauce. I will be able to make meatballs again now that I can have eggs. I make these awesome Italian inspired meatballs and I have tried other things to get them to stick together and nothing really works better than an egg.

I also found a recipe online for buckwheat flour drop biscuits which I am itching to try. That would make a delicious breakfast option. Serve some of those bad boys up with almond butter and a slab of turkey sausage - yumness!

I keep talking about how I crave protein for breakfast in the morning - well, today was an unusual day. As I getting ready for work I found myself craving a bowl of fruit. So I stopped and a local bakery and cafe here on my way to work and ordered their bowl of fruit. It had cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapple, and red grapes in it. It was delish! Once in a while I crave lighter fare, but most of the time I like meat!

Have a great weekend everyone! I know I will!

YAY For New Foods!

I spoke with the doc this afternoon and I discussed with him what foods I will be allowed to eat when I am done with this diet in four days! I will for the most part still be continuing this diet, but the goal is to slowly figure out what foods my body can handle and which ones it cannot. So, starting next week I will be allowed to have eggs, tomatoes, and beef again. I am most excited about the eggs and tomatoes part! So, starting next week I won't be nearly as miserable. I still can't have dairy or gluten, but where I can have eggs, I can make some batters with my almond milk and buckwheat flour for like pancakes and stuff. So, happy day! Maybe I can even get my grandfather to make his famous pancakes using my buckwheat flour and almond milk. . . .hmmm. . . .

Day 17: Bacon Burgers Are Better With Cheese!

I tend to like to celebrate little occasions when I can. I don't necessarily need to celebrate them in a big way, but I don't like them to pass quietly into the night. So yesterday was my two month anniversary since I started dating the boyfriend and I wanted us to have a special dinner. Well, everything that we would have normally done could not be done because of this diet, so I had to get creative.

In the booklet thingy the doc gave me there are recipes and one of the recipes was for bacon burgers. I decided to do those. I also purchased some sweet potato fries from the grocery store and made sure they were okay to eat. They were good to eat and since I baked them I didn't have to worry about any oils or anything like that as well.

So for dinner, I cooked up some turkey hamburger patties and then also cooked up some turkey bacon as I could also eat that as well. After the meat was done, I took the patties and put each one inside a big lettuce leaf and then topped it with some bacon. I then put chipotle Tabasco sauce, cucumbers, and a couple of fries on my bigger and then wrapped the rest of the lettuce around the burger. My boyfriend did the same but also added mustard and onion to his as well. We then served the burgers with the fries. All in all things tasted fairly well, but the while I was eating I kept thinking that it would taste better with a big fluffy bun, cheese, tomatoes, and ketchup as well.

It's nice to know that when we hit the three month mark in our relationship, I should be able to eat more things again. I have four full days left in addition to today, and I am very much excited to be done. Today when I speak with the doc I am hoping to find out what they would like me to add back into my diet starting next week. The end is near!

I shall continue to blog about this because I find it has helped me a lot. I suspect that if I hadn't had this blog, I probably would have failed all over the place. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my words and support me in this endeavor quietly. It has been very much appreciated!