'What I Eat' - Day Two

Breakfast - Wrap made with sunflower seed butter, an apple, cinnamon, and a gluten-free wrap.   'Smart & Delicious' wraps (available at Metro) are amazing!   They're made of teff and millet, and if you warm them in a dry frying pan first they 'almost' hold together like regular wraps.  

Lunch:  This was a 'my fridge is almost empty' salad.  It's a can of salmon, cucumber, apple, red onion, pine nuts, and a package of salad dressing I had from an event I attended.   I usually make my own dressing (details on how to do that in a future post).  

Yes, I ate the entire container in one sitting ;)

Snack - Beets, carrots, pumpkin seeds, and a honey-mustard dressing.   I made the dressing with grainy mustard, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper.   To be specific, I just dumped those things on top of the veggies and mixed them up (why create an extra dish you'll have to wash?).   I steam the beats without cutting the tops and bottoms off and, once they're cool, I peel and slice them.  

Dinner - Black bean cakes made with black beans, bread crumbs, diced red onion, and 'flax eggs.'   I soaked the black beans in a glass container, cooked them in a cast iron pot, let them cool, threw in the rest of the ingredients, mashed it with a potato masher, formed the mixture into patties, and then fried them.  Let's be honest, these 'cakes' are not going to hold together as well as ones made with eggs, so don't expect it.   The point, really, is to get that yummy, crispy exterior.  

Bread Crumbs -  I like these crumbs (pictured below, available at Metro) because they are inexpensive, and made with rice and potato (no corn!).   I keep the bag in the freezer.  

Flax Eggs - http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/2011/10/how-to-make-a-flax-egg-for-vegan-baking-the-right-way/

Sides -  I made a salsa with tomatoes, olives, dried basil, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper.   The red stuff is roasted red peppers from a jar.  

A note about the way I eat.   I don't use my measuring utensils much.   I try a recipe once, with the proper measurements, and then I might never measure that dish again.   The beauty of eating the way I do is that everything tastes good, so I can usually just dump a bunch of things into a bowl and end up with something yummy!   The bulk of the work, for me, is just in preparing the veggies.   

It's extremely important to have a well-stocked spice cabinet because it gives you a lot of choices to season your veggies well.  I've pictured some of my favourite spice lines below.   The Club House 'One-Step Seasonings' don't have the healthiest ingredients, but I still use them fairly regularly to get the job done.   I picked up the New Kolbermoor Farm spices at the Powassan Farmers' Market.  

FYI - McCormick's has the following on their website.  The company is respected in the gluten-free community for their dedication to keeping their spices pure.  

"Since the late 1990's, McCormick has used "Plain English" allergen labeling to communicate our product ingredients to our consumers. Gluten is listed as "wheat" or "barley" in our ingredient statements. This labeling policy adheres to the FDA regulations that were implemented as of January 1, 2006.

If a product does not have an ingredient statement, it is a pure spice or herb with nothing added and contains no added glutens. In addition, the alcohol in all of our retail extracts is not from grain and is gluten free. All Food Colors are gluten free.  Because we are constantly improving our products, we do not offer a list of our products that do not currently contain glutens. We encourage you to read the ingredient statement on your package at the time of purchase to ensure accurate, up to date information.

In addition, we follow good manufacturing practices at our plants. Our employees are trained in the importance of correct labeling and the necessity of performing thorough equipment wash-downs to eliminate cross-contact of ingredients.

Although we cannot guarantee our products to be 100% free of allergens not listed on the label, we want you to know that we take this situation seriously and have taken extra precautions to eliminate the possibility of mislabeling or cross-contact."