Welcome to another 'What I Eat!'  I'm calling this one....'The Day I Ate Orange.'  

Breakfast - Veggies and Fish

Ingredients:
-radishes, sliced
-carrots, sliced
-rollmops
-dried tarragon

The veggies were fried in a ceramic frying pan with a very small amount of oil, and sprinkled with the tarragon in the pan.   I only recently discovered the rollmop, which is rolled up pickled herring.  They're really good, especially because they have a pickle rolled into the middle!   A breakfast like this will keep you energized all morning long. 

Lunch -  Turkey Dinner Leftovers

This photo isn't especially appealing, but my lunch was leftover turkey from Christmas dinner (frozen and thawed) and orange kabocha squash, including the skin (baked, frozen, and thawed because I bought more than I could eat while they were in season).  My favourite seasoning for a dish like this is balsamic vinegar and freshly-ground black pepper. 

Dinner - Baked Tofu and Rutabaga

This is one of the easiest dinners I make!  I take a package of firm tofu, drain the water, and cut it into cubes.  Then, I put it into an oiled glass/pyrex baking dish and sprinkle with it a seasoning.  I used Club House Roasted Garlic & Peppers seasoning mix.   Cut the skin off the rutabaga (which came from a North Bay farmer, sold at Dollar's Independent) and cube.   Put into a separate glass/pyrex baking dish with a bit of oil and approximately a teaspoon of smoked paprika, and mix it thoroughly with your hands so that the veggies get a light coat of oil.    Put both dishes in the oven at 350 degrees and bake until no more liquid comes out of the tofu, and the rutabaga is slightly browned, approximately 45 minutes. 

Welcome to another week of 'What I Eat!'   

Check out my fabulous Christmas present, the stacking tiffin container pictured above.  I've wanted one of these for years!   It is made entirely from stainless steel, which means that nothing leaches into my food.   These containers are especially great for schoolkids, because they have to work a lot harder to lose the entire container, as opposed to a separate storage container that just doesn't come home in a lunch bag.  

If you decide to buy a tiffin container, please note that they aren't completely watertight (no silicone seals) and you might want to buy one that comes with a plate at the top of each compartment (less mess).  

I used my tiffin for breakfast and lunch, and we're going to start with dinner!

Dinner - Pizza!

I picked up the Flax Pizza Kit from O'dough's, and I absolutely love it!  I've listed the ingredients below the picture of the box (below) - no eggs, no corn, no nuts! The box comes with little frozen packets of pizza sauce, which I didn't leave time to thaw, so I just used a can of pizza sauce. 
 
Ingredients:
-Unico Hot & Spicy Pizza Sauce (I cannot guarantee this is gluten-free)
- organic cremini mushrooms
-sliced garlic
-chopped red onion
-chopped olives
-avocado oil
-ground black pepper

Instructions:
I followed the instructions on the box, the only change I made was to drizzle a little bit of avocado oil over the pizza toppings before I put them in the oven.  

(Pizza Crust) Ingredients: Potato starch, tapioca starch, soy flour, sunflower oil, whole grain rice flour, chickpea flour, flax meal, cellulose, yeast, salt, sugar, xanthan gum, glycerine, sodium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate. 

Breakfast - Beets and Oranges

-steamed beets, peeled (after steaming and cooling) and sliced
-navel orange, peeled and sliced
-organic, raw pumpkin seeds
-dried dill

Lunch - Chili Quinoa

-3/4 cup red lentils
-3/4 cup quinoa
-3 cups of water
-about a tbsp. of ancho chili pepper powder
I brought all these ingredients to a boil, then left them to simmer until soft, then topped the dish with:
-steamed carrots
-hot sauce

Second Lunch - Leftover Pizza :)

Dessert - Brownies

I decided to make a different version of the brownies featured in last week's post.  I wanted to see if I could make them, but with a little bit less of a caffeine and sugar jolt.   It worked out pretty well!   I made the following alterations to the recipe:
-3/4 cup cocoa powder replaced with 1/2 cup carob powder and 1/4 cup cocoa powder
-reduced sugar to a 1/4 cup 
-used a full 19 oz can of beans

Carob powder is nice to include in your diet because:
1) it has a different nutrient profile than cocoa powder, especially being very high in calcium
2) it is less bitter than cocoa powder, so recipes require less sugar
3) it actually soothes the stomach
4) I haven't researched this in any detail, but I think it raises less issues in regards to environmental impact, fair trade, etc.  

I'm back from my holiday in Victoria, British Columbia!   I had a very good time and enjoyed some wonderful food.  Below you'll find a breakfast from North Bay, lunch and dinner from Victoria, dessert from Christmas Eve dinner, and a product review. 

Breakfast - Pancakes and Radishes

These pancakes were made following the instructions on the package of the Bob's Red Mill pancake mix, except that we used 1/8 of a cup of flax seed meal as a substitute for eggs, rice milk as the liquid, and added dried cranberries.  

Lunch - Fried Rice with Chicken

This lovely noodle dish was from The Noodle Box (Southeast Asian Noodle Bar) in Victoria.  They advertise on their website 'we also have gluten-free noodles, also known as wheat-cruelty-free noodles,' which made me laugh.  They also use locally sourced ingredients and free-range chicken.  I ordered the Malay Style Fried Rice with chicken, which was absolutely delicious! 

Dinner - Bison Burger with Salad

This amazing burger came from The Pink Bicycle (Gourmet Burger Joint).  The bun, in particular, was spectacular!  Sometimes, I get a little freaked out when I eat at restaurants in big(ger) cities because their gluten-free food tastes so good I constantly wonder if they've made a mistake and forgotten that my order should be gluten-free. 

Dessert - Black Bean Brownies

These brownies were part of my family's Christmas Eve dinner.  They were, literally, the most delicious brownies I've ever eaten!  The recipe is here.  Here are more detailed instructions regarding flax eggs.  These brownies were topped with pine nuts.   Thanks Mom!

Product Review - Breton Gluten Free Crackers

I was pretty excited when I saw these crackers at Freshco for a mere $2.89!  I used to LOVE Breton crackers, though I haven't been able to eat them in over a decade.     The crackers included plenty of corn and 'modified milk ingredients,' which I don't care for, but they also included interesting ingredients like 'green lentil flour.'   At any rate, they tasted basically the same as I remember Breton crackers tasting (verified by someone who had eaten them recently) with a very different texture.   They didn't sit in my stomach terribly well long-term and their nutrient profile isn't top-notch, so I'm saving them for very special occasions (they also come in a regular flavour).