Culinary Dropout

My company decided to do an annual birthday celebration so they could do something bigger and better without costing the firm more. The receptionist wanted to get everyone's orders ahead of time but I was still messaging with someone from the restaurant on FB by the time we went. She also had asked for cupcake orders so I went to Gluten Free Creations Bakery yesterday to get cupcakes.

Pumpkin Spice cupcakes

We went to Culinary Dropout, which is a Fox Concepts Restaurant. I generally have good luck at their restaurants so the chef talked with me and we decided I could have a burger and sauteed veggies (in olive oil.) They don't use any soybean oil. I used the mushrooms and onions on top of the burger so I didn't even need anything else like ketchup.

Looks simple, tastes good.

Culinary Dropout is one of the restaurants around The Yard so we went out there to play some games. There was cornhole, ping pong, and Foosball. I played a couple rounds of Foosball. I'm not good but it was fun! I didn't play any more after that because I was already sweating and was concerned I would be stinky. My over-sweatiness is a problem without end.

J drove back to the office so we stopped by her place to let her dogs out and I got to check out her digs. Cute place. She's making progress on her renovations.

*****

I've been going to a free weekly yoga class (it's only 8 weeks so I'm really trying to take advantage of it while it lasts.) Last week, the instructor told us it's not "zombie yoga" when she was reminding us to breathe.

Free yoga tonight included Halloween themed music. Very weird. I had a lot of trouble with my left hip popping and spasticity in my lower left leg so I wasn't able to really do some things on both sides. So annoying.

Saddle Mountain Brewery

Last night, we went to our neighbor's grand opening. As I understand it, this is the first brewery to open in Goodyear. The service was terrible but it looks promising and hopefully they will work it all out. Mick invited our friend M, which surprised me since he doesn't drink (and some other reasons outside the scope of this blog), but it is a restaurant too. My SIL called and said Dr. Q told her to go out with me this weekend so I invited her too since Mick had already invited M. YES, my doctor told my SIL, who I sent to him, to go out with me.

I had sweet tea and a bunless burger with a "bare" side salad. My dinner came much later than everyone else's (pretty sure they messed it up and had to remake it) so I forgot to take a photo. The salad actually came first but since it had no dressing, I thought I'd wait. It was spring mix and spinach with cranberries and tomatoes. I finally decided I couldn't wait and ate most of by the time my burger arrived. The salad and burger were good. I think Mick and M really liked their pizzas and my SIL liked her sandwich. M and my SIL got a flight of beers and found one they both liked.

Even with the service hiccups, we had fun. They came back to our house to hang out a little before heading home.

Yep!

Today, I got my hair color done--wash those grays away! I mentioned to a couple people, including Mick, that I was thinking of going a little redder. Since I have some red undertones anyway, my hairdresser said she wanted to mix my old brown color in with the redder color this time, see how it takes, and then go all with the new color next time. It turned out fantastic.

When I came home, he told me he doesn't like the color. WTH. Can a wife get a muther-effin compliment in here? (The answer to that is NO, in case you don't know.)

Update: I have a photo on tomorrow's post if you want to see the color. No compliments necessary. I got them from M (who knew I was having it done) and my coworker/friend J (who did not know I was getting it done.)

Update 2: I sent Mick the free head shot I got at my recent conference and he replied with a comment about "hottie" so apparently I CAN get a muther-effin compliment! A little more often would be nice but I guess that's what I have friends for.

Weddings, the Wigwam, and the weekend

We were invited to the wedding of Mick's coworker. We thought it was at the Wigwam and then realized they just had group rates there because they were staying there. We checked rates and decided to go check it out since everyone keeps telling us how great and modern it is for a historic location.

Obligatory feet in front of pool photo

We went early to relax, unpack, and go swimming before getting ready for the wedding.

Somehow, I managed to have no photos of me and Mick at the wedding. Bummer cause he looked great.

I expected I wouldn't be able to eat at the reception but after talking with the waitress, found I could have the grilled veggies, smoked salmon, ceviche with avocado puree, and prime rib with pepper relish.

tiny dinner--first trip

My friend K totally embarrassed me out of her love for me. She knew the bride was having a gluten-free, dairy-free cake so she insisted on asking the bride if it had eggs and soy. They decided I could have a piece. I. Had. Cake. In public. It was pretty good. Okay, if you don't have to eat that, you'd probably think it was a little off, but it wasn't dry or anything...expected.

wedding cake

It wasn't a very late party but we slept in anyway. We walked around and saw the main pool that we were no where near. Then we headed to breakfast at Red's. The waitress had me a little nervous but then she took my card to the chef and confirmed my order.

potatoes, no seasoning, bacon, guacamole and salsa

Mick had the most gluten-y thing on the menu. It looked fantastic.

pancakes and sausage

Our impression of the Wigwam? Well, we must have been in the part that hasn't been remodeled yet or something. I wouldn't call it contemporary or modern. And our friends who were also staying in this section pointed out the extremely sparse artwork that just looked odd. And the parking was kind of terrible. But it was a clean, large room and we had a good time.

Sunday, we went to the movies with a friend and saw Guardians of the Galaxy. Cute. Too much unnecessary  cursing. I want a Groot in a pot. I hope that's a thing. We didn't go out for lunch or anything, just called it a day. But I got some good hugs from the friend. And hugs are good for our health so I got my medicine this weekend.

I love getting hugs from him because they are the BEST hugs. I think I've figured it out. He doesn't give me the wimpy hug that people give me when they know I'm "broken" or "fragile" because, I'm guessing, he doesn't know. And since he doesn't know, he doesn't overcompensate and squeeze me to death either. He also isn't afraid to hold on until we're done with our hug. I'm used to the "quickie" hug, so it's so different to have someone hold on for a minute. I don't know how he doesn't have a girlfriend and/or stalker.

via thebloggess on Pinterest

For dinner, Mick and I decided to try my new fryer. He actually fell asleep as soon as I started. Unfortunately, we had not stopped at Costco for more oil on our way home from the movies, so I had to go get some more. I wanted to cry--how sucky is it to have to take an hour delay because there isn't enough oil for dinner. Sigh. Well, I got back and he was up.

I made a basic batter for the cod. He thought it didn't have enough seasoning, which I can easily fix, but that the batter wasn't quite right anyway, maybe gummy or hard or something I didn't get. I, on the other hand, haven't had fried fish in several years so I was just amazed at how well my first EVER attempt at fried fish came out.

I also spiralized some sweet potatoes to make fries. They aren't thick enough so I think we'll have to stick to normal fry shaped fries. We did the first batch without batter and the last batch with batter. I like the battered ones better but, again, Mick doesn't like the batter itself.

fish fry

I also made tartar sauce from Well Fed 2 but using Earth Balance soy-free mayo which is not really Paleo but I can have it so there. I thought it was good, though not quite perfect--I'll keep working on it. It's definitely not as thick as "normal" tartar sauce. Mick wants the stuff his parents use from the jar. (I used to buy it, so I think it's actually a squeeze bottle but what does he know...)

It was a LOT of work for a mediocre meal. I think he may have given up on the fish fry idea for his friends now that he realizes how much work it will be while everyone is visiting. We'll see.

Weekend update: Ahwatukee spots

What a weekend. No plans to all the plans happened so fast. I was asked to host our neighborhood bunco group so I did. I didn't really make anything, just served hummus and veggies and let everyone else bring stuff to share. We had 8 players and someone else came by to visit. Now I won't have to host for a long time. I was surprised no one asked to look around more. Some of them knew the previous home owners and others didn't. Anyway...

On Saturday, we went to Costco for all the usual things. However, I got a few things, let's say for my birthday. I got a red bamboo salad bowl, and ASU sweatshirt, and a new cookbook. They have a lot, at least a half dozen, of Paleo cookbooks at Costco (Sam's is slacking on that one.) I made Mick check out the cookbooks I thought I might be interested in and we agreed this one had the most recipes he (and I) would try.

Pre-birthday birthday gifts?

We met friends and friends of friends for dinner at a wine bar in Ahwatukee. They thought I'd be able to eat there but after he got my allergy card from the waitress, the chef came out and explained that it's a very small kitchen and the oven rotates so cross-contamination is likely to happen. He said he could make me a board with some substitutions but that was all. It's a couple kinds of meat with apricots, cranberries, radishes, cucumbers, carrots, oil and vinegar. Thank God for wine.

appetizer

Since I couldn't eat an actual meal, we went to ZTejas next. H and I started with spicy skinny margaritas. They were too spicy for her but I liked it.

drink up

After receiving my allergy card from the waitress, the chef came out to clarify what he could custom make for me so I had fish with a crab topping and veggies. Pretty good actually but some rice or starch would be a good addition.

Paleo!

We went out to Sandbar after that for some fandancing. Fandancing, in case you don't know, is when a place has a giantnormous fan on the patio and you stand in front of it and dance. Or if you are crazy really fun, you act like you're in a rock video and do things like put your leg on the side while waving your mane of hair. Yeah, R's friends were really fun. It wasn't a super late night but a good time was had.

too bad that bottle is empty

Tom Kha Gai Thai Coconut Soup

I had some leftover crockpot chicken and a hungry husband, so I tried this fairly quick recipe for Tom Kha Gai. It has a lot of ingredients and I didn't have all of them but some of the swaps listed in the comments were helpful.

I added some yellow squash from the garden since I had it. I didn't have fresh lemongrass so I used some freeze dried I picked up. I don't know that I would do that again unless I put it in something so I could remove it between cooking and eating. I thought the soup had a little too much fish sauce (as you can see from the color) but otherwise, it was really good and we would have it again (although he was careful to tell me "not ALL the time, just every once in a while.")

Tastes like pistachio ice cream kale smoothie

As always, I'm trying to get more veggies in my diet. When I ran across this kale smoothie recipe on Pinterest that claimed to taste like pistachio ice cream, I thought...what--really?

Then I ran across the recipe, almost exactly the same, in the magazine Delight. I have a one year subscription I purchased at the Gluten-Free Expo; it's about to run out and I'm not planning to renew since I've found very little I could actually use because of my myriad of allergies. Sigh.

Anyhoo. I bought a bag of kale mix (includes collards, spinach and grated carrot) and modified the recipe a little. I used pears instead of bananas and ground ginger instead of fresh.

I don't know if I'd say it was just like pistachio ice cream but it was pretty damn good. I'll be making this one again.

Update: I used another Pinterest idea: make your own smoothie bags. So I made enough bags for 4 days, put them in the freezer, and had smoothies for breakfast on my way to work. Brilliant!

Sage

Sage, the vegan restaurant that is mostly soy-free, is about to change the menu for the season and I was in the area, so I stopped in for lunch. It's not cheap but it's pretty good. Today, I had sweet potato gnocchi with their homemade alfredo sauce and some mushrooms and kale. Yes, it was yummy.

Then I had a dessert. I decided on the vegan Paleo "Mounds" instead of "Almond Joy." Because sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. It was really good. I'd hit that again.

Bees and tacos

Doesn't my garden look tranquil? So beautiful.

The bees have arrived. We think (as happened at our previous house and recently at a neighbor's house) they are just passing through but it's hella freaky to see a swarm arrive and settle in.

Let's move away from there. Mick and the helpers are building a tiered flower garden.

In the farm, I got my first spaghetti squash of the season. I'll cook them this weekend.

Before heading home from work I stopped at Whole Foods. I found my Garden of Eatin taco shells and a cheaper WF version, 2 dressings I can have (no soybean oil and bonus: apple cider vinegar instead of any other), and overpriced honey mustard that I had to have because it is PaleoChef and super clean so I can have it. :)

I made tacos using the blue shells. I may have used too much guacamole. Nah, that's not possible. But you can't tell they aren't just guaco tacos! Yum. 

Weekend wrapup: Independence Day

I did a lot of nothing in between rounds of doing more strenuous somethings.

 

I'm starting to think that my sink will never be empty.

 

Our neighborhood has an annual progressive pool party so we attended, coming back to our house between to refill and let the dogs out.

 

I made strawberry simple syrup and had strawberry coconut margaritas. So yum. I can't find the recipe that said you MUST use 1800 coconut tequila but I did and you must.

Luci!

I probably should have used a smaller cup. I don't remember doing it, but I bruised my toe at the first or second house. And I got a "bar blister" on my elbow at the last one. I'm a mess!

 

I made bacon wrapped rosemary honey figs to take and they were a hit. The figs are from our tree so I think I'll be making a lot of these! Bonus: they are Paleo. :)

That's all that's left. Nope...gone.

We are also getting a lot of zucchini so I made teff pancakes and added shredded zucchini to the batter. Yum.

Day-after breakfast

PS. We bought 1800 blueberry margaritas at Total Wine. As you might guess (or you might not--these pre-mixed things are pretty popular) I thought it tasted kind of artificial. I liked my homemade margaritas much better.

 

Update: I'm not sure my body liked that blueberry margarita either. Something's not making me happy the next day...

 

Spiralizer

Check it out--I got it!

(Please ignore the mess and the fact I didn't realize I was being filmed.)

Here's the video I watched since it doesn't come with instructions:

It isn't the best quality but she talks about the different blades and is more informative than the other videos I watched.

Garden pasta

I'm getting stuff from the garden!

The harvest

The prep

The pasta dinner

Since I wasn't doing enough, I decided to thoroughly wear myself out and use the rest of the pork to make breakfast sausages from Food for Humans (nomnompaleo) and they were good.

Freeze and reheat!

Well Fed

I borrowed this book from the library and now have it on my "to buy" list. It's smaller than Well Fed 2, but the recipes I tried were good. And I didn't have it that long before it was overdue. I had it while people were at my house and they were checking out the photos of things they wanted me to make for them. Unfortunately, it was all the stuff I can't eat (so won't make) due to the whole egg allergy thing.

If for no other reason, I recommend this book for the Sunshine Sauce. Used for Pad Thai, kicking up some mayo, or a veggie dip, it is yummy and easy.

I made the cinnamon beef and my husband and I both really liked it. I've made the chocolate chili before and he didn't love it but I thought it was great. This is a cookbook that is a great resource for how to meal plan, whether Paleo or not. I will be using these Whole30 recipes even when I'm not doing the Whole30.

Whole30 Week 1

Each day I have started with hot water with lemon, then coffee. I started by trying bulletproof coffee using coconut oil only (it usually has coconut oil and ghee but I'm not too sure I can have ghee), then adding coconut milk, then adding cinnamon, then taking out the coconut oil. I just read that the coconut oil only version is better blended rather than using the little frother I have been using. I'm going to keep experimenting, I guess, but I miss using sweetener. I drink my normal amount of water and maybe some ice tea during the day.

Day 2 Breakfast
Part of sweet potato and Belly Dance Beets (from Well Fed 2)

Lunch
Leftovers: Jerk chicken

Dinner

I made meatballs--spicy buffalo ranch chicken meatballs with steamed broccoli (from my garden), tomatoes (from my garden) with avocado oil and salt and pepper. Mick didn't like the meatballs and I don't think he liked the sauce either. I might add some mashed cauliflower or sweet potato or squash next time around.

Cooking the meatballs.

Dinner is served!

Day 3

Lunch: leftover meatballs, broccoli, turnips, tomatoes and avocado

All kinds of leftovers!

Dinner: Taco Salad. (Mick had tacos.) Note I can't use my usual Organic Kirkland Salsa since it has sugar but I was able to use Drew's Organic. There is orange bell pepper, carrot, jalapeno, and cilantro from my garden in the meat, and the lettuce and radishes (golden and chiogga) are also from my garden. Holy hell, I don't see him in my blurry photo but I almost ate one of those damn green tomato worm caterpillar things. Those things are impossible to get rid of!

Day 4

Breakfast: I made sausage! They are pretty good, a little dry reheated but the flavor is good. Mick was actually going and grabbing them off the tray I was draining them on.

Those greens are mustard greens (from my garden) with pecans and unsweetened cherries (can't find unsweetened cranberries) using the collards recipe from Well Fed 2.

Day 5

Spaghetti squash with veggies from my garden including broccoli, peppers, eggplant. The zucchini is store bought though. I used the one kind of sausage I can get at Costco that happens to also not have sugar! My spicy Sprouts version does have sugar though. I used Classico marinara and Rao puttanesca mixed for the sauce. Note that Classico Organic has sugar.

Day 6

Fiona's Green Chicken from Food For Humans (nomnonpaleo). It's fantastic. Mick doesn't eat chicken on the bone so I get it all to myself. It's really, really good.

Day 7

Dinner is Crispy Chicken and Salsa Roja from Food For Humans (nomnompaleo) and collards (from my garden) from Well Fed 2. A sweet potato and guacamole round it out. The salsa is made with tomatoes and cilantro and jalapenos from my garden. Mick liked the chicken but didn't think the salsa went with it and he thought the chicken could use something more.

Observations: Don't eat lots of beets at once. I was really freaked out when my pee was blood red. It was pink first, which should have been my warning but I'm slow.

 It is a lot of work to "eat the rainbow" but it gives some very pretty plates.

I'm still hungry in the late afternoon (workdays) so I have been eating a Clif Kit's Organic Cashew bar, most like the Larabar the discussions say can be included as "emergency" food. I have to figure out something else maybe, but I can't do just 3 meals. I get hangry.*

People are discussing how hard it is, and it is hard, but I guess I'm not having as much of the withdrawal symptoms since I was most of the way there.

I'm used to a late snack (sweet) so I'm trying not to eat but when my stomach audibly rumbles, it's hard to ignore. I'm trying to use hot tea as a placebo.

I'm keeping track of my poo (poo issues) in a private journal because I'm pretty sure I'm NOT feeling any different yet.


*see next week...

Whole30

After much (internal) debate and quite a bit of research, I have decided to do the Whole30, starting January 2nd.

That's today!

I don't feel that I prepared enough but I'm going to do it anyway. For example, I got this cute Crock Pot Lunch warmer, which is a lunch warmer, as you may have guessed. Well, I didn't! I thought I could put some stuff in it to cook by lunch time. But it needs to already be cooked. It's still awesome but not quite as useful as I'd hoped.

If you know my diet, you may wonder why I would cut out even MORE. After a while of intermittent constipation and diarrhea, I recently had a couple bouts of painful diarrhea, with stomach cramping as I have rarely had. It was not my old back/butt pain, but definitely D-cramping.

I will not tolerate this any longer. My body obviously doesn't like something I'm doing so it's time to figure out what that something is.

Since I already eat no gluten or wheat, no dairy, no soy, no artificial sweeteners, I'm already halfway there. Right? Maybe.

For the next 30+ days, I will not have sugar, grains, or legumes. I thought about trying to do the AIP version but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I already have the no eggs part but the no nightshades is rough. I grow and eat a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. This seems like enough. But I will have to try that next if I don't get relief.

Did you know there is sugar in nearly all sausage and bacon? Nix my shortcut breakfast.

Did you notice that most nuts have peanut (legume) oil or some other not great oil? Snacks are allowed but looks rough so far.

I bought orange juice and almond milk at Costco while I was sick. Let me repeat. At. Costco. I hope it is still good next month...

I am probably not going to document everything as I go but I will try to hit the highlights.

Starting weight: 173.5 (no scale usage during the Whole30!)

What I ate:
Breakfast (yep, this was it; I will do better...)
Hot water with juice of half a lemon
Bulletproof coffee (oh how I miss my Torani syrup and almond milk)

Lunch (a coworker thought it looked good!)
Leftover salmon my DH smoked
Half package organic sweet potatoes steamers from Costco
Large handful frozen Earthbound Farms organic spinach
3 small tomatoes from my garden

It's all mixed up. Like me.

Snack
Cliff Kits organic cashew bar

Dinner
Jerk chicken
Mustard greens (using collard greens recipe from Well Fed 2; I used dried unsweetened cherries instead of cranberries)
Microwave baked sweet potato

mine in front, Mick's in back

Snack: hot tea (it was nearing bedtime and I was hungry; it didn't fill me but tookmthemgrumbling away at least...)

Mustard greens from my garden!

I also roasted turnips and made happy belly beets from Well Fed 2.
I used apple cider vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar.

I have a lot of food ready for cooking this weekend. I hope I have the energy!

beets, pistachios, etc...

Whole Foods juice bar

I've been having sausages in the morning for breakfast. Usually with a sweet potato or Glutenfreeda oatmeal or Arrowhead Mills quinoa breakfast cereal. I think it is filling me up. Or I'm in a funk. I'm totally not hungry or interested in anything when lunch time rolls around.

It was already after 1 and I thought I better get something in me or I'll be starving an hour or two before I go home (then another hour or two before dinner!) So I went to the bank, thinking about where I might be able to get a cup of soup or something. And then I remembered--the new Whole Foods has a juice bar.

I generally don't like "juice" places because they are just using fruit syrups instead of real food juices and they add a lot of stuff I can't have anyway. Whole Foods juice bar is mostly green veggies, apples, herbs. No bananas or milk--smoothies are at the coffee bar. (BTW, they have alternative milks at the coffee bar. My wallet is so screwed now that I know that. At least it's a little out of my way...)

I really liked my "Doctor's orders" juice--spinach, apple, parsley, ginger, and a couple other things I can't remember now. The ginger was strong at the end though.

Update: I had the "greens" juice for dinner on my way to class and I liked it too, maybe even better. It's kale, apple, and some other stuff. Mmm.

Roast chicken and portabellini pizzas

I bought a whole chicken and needed to get it cooked. I decided on a version of a recipe from Practical Paleo but instead of her spice mix, I used TJ's 21 seasoning and instead of ghee (which I can't have) I used duck fat. (You can find it at Whole Foods--it seems expensive but I use it pretty slowly and in small amounts so it goes pretty far.)

Paleo chicken

While it was cooking, I made portabellini pizzas. I used some leftover pizza sauce, chopped pepperoni and chopped artichoke hearts.

ready to bake

I baked them in the toaster oven since the chicken was in the other oven. I don't know why I always forget that I have it. Maybe because my husband always uses it for his gluteny stuff and it rarely gets cleaned so I feel kind of yucky. But the pan is foil lined so it should be fine. It's not like I'm paranoid or something! LOL.

ready to eat

And the chicken is finally ready. And it is really good. Unfortunately, the seasoning is on the skin which I don't really eat. Next time I will try to figure out that thing where people put the seasoning under the skin.

Update: So Mick tells me he doesn't like chicken. He's not at all interested in eating this. WTH. I totally blame his parents. Ha-ha. Not really--his brother will eat anything. Mick does eat chicken but he doesn't eat chicken on the bone. It's so weird. He even does that with chicken wings. So I have lunch for a week. All for me. I'll have to remember that every time I make whole chicken, I get it all to myself.