I went (car) camping for the weekend and everything that I prepared was completely hypoallergenic (meaning that there were no ingredients that are generally known to cause allergic or intolerant reactions).   I decided to cook everything in advance and carry it in a cooler.  So.... my photo are a little bit less attractive this week, and the dishes are very simple :)

As a side note, I offer this service in my practice through something called an 'Elimination Diet.'  This specialized diet is a method to determine what foods disagree with your system.  For a period of time a special restricted diet is consumed, and then potential problem foods are introduced systematically.   The Elimination Diet is an ideal way to bring balance and healing to your body in a thorough and cost-effective manner.  Please contact me if you're interested in learning more about it!

Breakfast - Blueberry Porridge

-one cup of amaranth
-3-4 cups of water
-frozen blueberries

Here is a link describing amaranth, and how to cook it.   I add the blueberries once the mixture has been brought to a boil.  This dish turns out naturally sweet.

Black Beans

-black beans (made from dry beans that had been soaked and then cooked)
-red onion, fried in grapseed oil
-dried basil

Veggies and Rice

-BBQ'd red onion and zucchini
-sweet potato, roasted
-brown rice

Quinoa Dish

-one head of cauliflower, roasted
-whole-grain quinoa, cooked
-raw sunflower seeds, raw garlic, and water - blended into a dressing (I forgot to measure the quantities)

Kidney Bean Dish

-kidney beans (made from dry beans that had been soaked and then cooked)
-green onion, sliced
-whole italian seasoning

Carrot Dish

-carrots, sliced and boiled
-hemp hearts
-dill 

The North Bay Farmers' Market started last weekend!   It has moved to a great new location, be sure to check it out this summer.  

Breakfast - Apple Crisp

Ingredients (sorry guys, I always forget to measure this when I make it, I'm definitely guessing on the ingredient quantities)
-6 organic apples, sliced
-one cup gluten-free oats
-1/2 cup buckwheat flour
-1/3 cup grapeseed oil
-3 tsp cinnamon
-2 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions
Put the apples in the bottom of a glass baking dish.  Mix up the rest of the ingredients, put them on top of the apples, and bake in a 350 degree oven until the apples are soft (approximately 45 minutes).

Lunch - Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
-organic romaine lettuce
-can of tuna (packed in water)
-1 1/2 avocados
-chopped pickles
-chopped green onion
-pepper
-salt

Instructions
Normally, I would avoid the mercury in tuna and make this with a can of salmon, but I decided I really wanted tuna today.  I washed and dried the lettuce leaves, and then used them as wraps, filling them with the rest of the ingredients (which had been thoroughly mixed so that the avocado became the dressing).  

Dinner - Burgers

Ingredients
-1/2 large red onion, minced
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/3 cup gluten free BBQ sauce
-approx. one kilo of ground beef
-two slices of gluten free bread, toasted
-toppings you prefer (I used lettuce, red onion, tomato, goat cheese, and mustard)

These burgers were made by kneading the meat, onion, garlic, and sauce enough that it stuck together to form patties (see 'Day Twenty-Three') and then grilling them on the BBQ.  As a reminder, here's a map of a number of places you can find sustainable meat in the North Bay area. 

I gave a talk last week, and the participants asked me what book(s) I recommend.  This is it!  I love this book because it gives you all the information you need to improve your diet in a sustainable way.  It tells you how to soak beans, choose groceries, cook amaranth, plan menus, stock your pantry, etc.   Also, it is filled with recipes that have different flavour combinations based on ingredients you can easily find at the grocery store.  My patients love this book too!   If you`re in the North Bay area, you`re welcome to stop by my office and pick up a copy, but it is also finally available for individual sale and on amazon.ca!  

Breakfast - Rice cakes, Sunflower Seed Butter, and Apple Butter. 

If you`ve been following this blog, you`ll notice it`s unusual for me to have breakfast without fruits or veggies.  I wasn`t feeling it this morning, so I didn`t :)

Lunch - Simple Tomato Pasta

Ingredients 
-one red onion, diced
-bag of frozen organic spinach
-jar of strained crushed tomatoes (finally available in a jar!)
-handful of fresh oregano leaves, ripped up by hand
-sea salt
-rice noodles (pictured below, available at Independent)

Instructions
-fry onion in a bit of grapeseed oil (I used my ceramic frying pan) until it starts to brown
-add tomato, spinach, and oregano
-leave to simmer, adding salt and pepper to taste
-boil water, remove from heat, and leave noodles in it to soak until soft

I used the rice stick noodles with this recipe because I didn`t want anything to interfere with the flavour of the fresh oregano red sauce.  Also, I knew they would make better leftovers if I mixed them with the sauce soon after they were cooked (see previous entry on rice pasta, Day Fourteen).  This dish was really simple and flavourful! 

Dinner - Curried Vegetables on Red Rice

Thanks to Tobel, a guest chef I`ve featured before, for making this absolutely delicious curry!   He made me realize I`d gotten a little too used to making coconut curries with spices I was familiar with, and it was nice to break out of the mold. 

Ingredients
-three tbsp Patak`s curry paste
-one can of tomato paste
-one can of stewed tomatoes
-sweet potato, chopped
-cauliflower, chopped
-carrot, chopped
-celery, chopped
-red onion, chopped
-bell pepper, chopped
-chickpeas, cooked
-cilantro, chopped
-red rice, cooked

Patak's states on their website "Unfortunately there’s been a recent change in the law defining what Gluten Free means so we can no longer say that our products are Gluten Free. We haven’t changed any of our manufacturing processes or safegard procedures and if we know that an ingredient we have used does contain Gluten we will state this on the label."  The ingredients of the curry paste are: "Water, spices (contains mustard), vegetable oil, concentrated tomato purée, salt, corn flour, acetic acid, sugar, tamarind, garlic powder, citric acid, lactic acid."

Instructions:
Combine curry paste, chopped sweet potatoes, tomato paste, and stewed tomatoes in a pan and cook part way through.  Chop the rest of the vegetables (Tobel used two bowls of chopped veggies!), add them to the pan with the chickpeas, cook them through, and then leave the pan to simmer until you're ready to serve on the red rice topped with the cilantro. 

Welcome back to another week of 'What I Eat!'  Here's another video update from my farmers at Field Good Farms (where I'll be getting my CSA fruits and veggies this summer).   It's so much fun to watch these updates!  

Breakfast - Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made these muffins for a group of people, including young children.  Just like everyone else, I modify my recipes to make sure kids will find them palatable.  I was really shocked by how well these muffins held together, it was as if they had EXTRA gluten!

Mix dry ingredients together first
-2 cups of gluten free flour 
-3 tsp baking powder
-2 tbsp sugar

Then add in wet ingredients
-2 eggs
-one cup of vanilla soy milk
-1/4 cup grapeseed oil
-one tsp vanilla extract
-one over-ripe mashed banana
-3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 15 minutes (or until brown on top).  

Lunch - Roasted Cauliflower Salad
 
I put a pot of brown rice on the stove to cook (one cup of brown basmati rice with two cups of water).  Then, I chopped up a head of cauliflower, put it in a glass baking dish with a light coat of grapeseed oil, and put the pan in a 380 degree F oven.  

Then, I prepared the rest of the ingredients, and mixed everything together once the rice and cauliflower was done
-10 whole sundried tomatoes, chopped
-a large handful of parsley, chopped
-a few tablespoons of oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes
-approx. 3 tsp. of dried dill
-freshly ground black pepper
-sea salt

Dinner - Warm French Lentil and Broccoli Salad

This recipe comes straight from my friend Sarah, who has been a guest chef on the blog before.  The only thing I've done differently is use a different dressing, and skip the red onions she normally includes because there was garlic in the dressing.   Thanks Sarah!

Ingredients
-one head of broccoli, chopped 
-one organic gala apple, chopped
-1/2 cup of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
-1/2 cup of dried cranberries
-one cup of french lentils (cooked in 2 1/2 cups of water)

Dressing 
-2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/3 cup apple cider (I used the kind you get from the liquor store, but you could use many different kinds of juice in this recipe)
-3 tbsp lemon juice
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-1 cup filtered water

Directions
I blended all the dressing ingredients together, and then mixed the fresh ingredients in.  I served this salad as soon as the lentils were cooked through, so that it was warm (even though the broccoli was raw). 

Breakfast - Boiled Egg, Organic Apple, and Pickles

Not much I can say about this breakfast.  As the weather warms up, I will start to eat more and more raw foods (because my body needs less energy to stay warm and can devote more energy to digesting raw foods).

Lunch - Parsley Salad

Made with organic arugula, chopped parsley, cucumber, avocado, raw pumpkin seeds, and Renee's Poppy Seed Salad Dressing.  This container is bigger than the tiffin containers I usually feature on this blog (it's 17 cm wide and 10 cm deep).   I didn't want anyone to get the impression I was starving myself with a small quantity of salad at lunch :)  

Parsley is a top-notch herb to add to your diet due to it's antioxidant, nutritive, and purifying qualities.  Next time you get it as a garnish in a restaurant, eat it!

Dinner - Tofu Shish Kebabs, Chili-Lime Sweet Potatoes, and Cornbread

Tobel, who made this absolutely delicious dinner, is back as a guest chef!  

He made the kebabs with red onion, mushrooms, red peppers, and tofu grilled on the barbecue   It's best to coat the ingredients in a bit of oil before you grill them. 

Recipe for sweet potatoes here.  These were really, really good!

Made with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix.   Tobel used flax eggs, soy milk, and oil so that the bread was also dairy free!