I had a patient recently tell me that she liked my blog, but that she could never eat the way I do because she couldn't survive on just three meals a day.    I realized I've been misrepresenting myself in the years I've been writing this blog!  Why?  Because I eat four or five meals a day, every day! This blog shows a breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each post because it's enough work to photograph and describe three meals, never mind five.   I carry around a fairly large picnic bag filled with smaller containers of food each day. 

An update on my experimental diet.   It's still going extremely well.   I can't believe that I've been eating this way for almost three months now!    The only reason I've been able to sustain it is because I've continued to feel absolutely amazing.   I've now noticed reactions to sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, soy, corn, and tomatoes.   The only food on this list I expected to react to was quinoa.  I introduced rice by starting with soaked and sprouted rice, then moving to white rice, and finally regular brown rice.   I can tell that rice isn't the best thing for me, but it definitely doesn't cause any major reactions.   I've been pleased to discover that peanut butter, white potatoes, sesame, (sprouted) lentils, and garbanzo beans haven't caused any adverse reactions.   

My regular readers can watch me struggle as I attempt to incorporate all these new food sensitivities into my diet.  Elimination diets aren't a precise science, so it will be a process to figure out what works for me.  

Breakfast - Brown Rice Porridge

I cooked up soaked and sprouted rice in a slow cooker (on low for six hours overnight) with sliced apple and cinnamon.   It was really good!  

Lunch - Baked Veggies and Salad

Now that my cast iron baking sheet is cured, I can't use it enough!   I put sliced beets, sweet potatoes, and red onions on the baking sheet with a bit of avocado oil and baked it until the veggies were nicely browned (at around 375 degrees).  

The salad (below) is sliced cucumber and apple mixed with chopped parsley, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar.   I've brought this salad to a few social functions, and people really like it!  

Dinner - 'Breaded' Tilapia and Green Beans

I buy my tilapia frozen.  I let them thaw, dredge them in arrowroot powder, and fry them in avocado oil.    I put the fish on a bed of steamed green beans.   When you are eating A LOT of vegetables, it's always easier to purchase any out of season veggies frozen and steam them, they're cheaper and easier.   I topped the beans with some coconut aminos (a soy-free alternative to tamari/soy sauce that tastes 'ok'). 

My 'new diet' isn't so new anymore, it's been over two months now!  It's going extremely well.   I've reintroduced a number of foods, and the only significant reactions have been to sunflower and pumpkin seed butters.   It looks like I'll be able to handle them if someone serves them to me at a dinner or a party, but I'll need to keep them out of my fridge.  It's a bit disappointing, I was really hoping to do well with lots of vegan protein sources, but information is power!  

Breakfast - Baked Rainbow Trout and Veggies

I'm telling you, once you get used to eating a breakfast like this, you'll never be able to go back to cold cereal!

I baked the rainbow trout with a bit of lemon juice and dried tarragon on top (for a previous day's dinner).  

The sauerkraut is home-made (see below).

Things are a bit backwards today, as I used the grease in the bottom of the cast iron frying pan I'd used to cook the burger (from today's dinner) to cook the rapini.   I rinsed it, chopped it, and placed it in the pan with enough water that by the time the rapini was soft the water had evaporated (maybe about six tablespoons).   I love this cooking method (which probably has a name I should know, anyone want to comment?) because I don't end up losing any nutrients in the cooking water or adding any extra oils.  

The avocado is, well, fairly self explanatory. 

Sauerkraut

I decided I wanted to start making my own sauerkraut for three reasons:

1) The stuff from the grocery store is pasteurized, which means a lot of the beneficial bacteria is killed off
2) The unpasteurized stuff from the health food store is expensive!
3) I just don't love kimchi.   As you've seen from previous posts, I've successfully made it, but then it just sat in the back of my fridge.   Sauerkraut goes with everything, and I just find I'm more inclined to eat it!

I used this 'no-fail, no-pound sauerkraut' recipe that was very popular in one of the fermentation groups I belong to.  The batch (pictured above) worked out well, the kraut tastes good, and it's definitely fermented.  However, I found that the cabbage was still very crispy.  I'm going to leave the batch I just started for six weeks and see if that helps!  

Lunch - Ginger Cauliflower

Normally, I would have made this dish with cumin, but I'm avoiding it with my current restrictions.  This still tasted great!

Ingredients 
-two heads of cauliflower, rinsed and roughly chopped
-one red onion, diced
-one thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
-1/2 cup golden raisins
-one bunch of cilantro, rinsed and roughly chopped
-avocado oil
-sea salt, to taste

Instructions
(I made this in my cast iron dutch oven)
Fry the onion and ginger with the avocado oil in the bottom of the pan at a medium-high heat until fragrant and starting to brown.   Add cauliflower, stir, and cook until soft, adding a TINY bit of water if needed.   Add raisins, cilantro and salt...and enjoy!  

Dinner - Burgers and Coleslaw

Ingredients (Burgers)
-one pound of ground beef (from Dalew Farms)
-one half red onion, finely chopped
-two tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Here's a secret - you don't need to add anything to your burgers to make them stick together (like eggs or flour).  All you need to do is knead the ground beef before you form it into patties, and the burgers will hold together extremely well!  

Ingredients (Coleslaw)
-one head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
-one bunch of cilantro, rinsed and roughly chopped
-apple cider vinegar, a lot
-sea salt, to taste