Breakfast

I realized that lately I have been posting all the not so healthy things we eat. It's easy to eat Gluten Free with fruits, veggies, meats, rice and so forth; it's the treats that you have to be creative with. I guess that's why I've been posting them. So this morning I decided to post my breakfast as a GF breakfast example. 4 yummy strawberries. Two slices of Udis Gluten free Whole Grain Bread toasted, and two scrambled egg whites with sauteed morel mushrooms. The mushrooms we gathered this past weekend (you can read about that "Here"). With the toast and the sauteing I probably used half a table spoon of butter. That is the only cholesterol in this meal (the cholesterol is in the yolk of an egg not the whites). This breakfast had 29 carbs. Sigh* hitting 45 carbs per meal is hard.
To make this meal first wash off your Morels and then cut them in half lengthwise. If they are hallow they are safe to eat. I always cut them even if I am sure they are safe. Then saute' them in butter with a little basil and garlic. I do not use Pam. It is bad for you and the environment. Next separate two egg whites and scramble in with sauteed morels. If you are not sure about a mushroom DON'T EAT IT! Enjoy!

Chocolate Mug Cake

This decadent chocolate cake can be made in five minutes. Yes just five! But remember, just because it can be made every five minutes doesn't mean it should be ;) There are several recipes out on the web for this cake and they are all almost the same. I found it to be slightly bland so I took it and made it my own (small surprise there). I also made a simple frosting for it. Use a large mug (or bowl). It will rise quite a bit and the larger the mug the more likely it is to stay intact.
You will need:
4 tablespoons of flour (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour)
4 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 egg ( I have yet to try this with a flax seed substitute)
3 tablespoons Milk ( I used Blue Diamond Natural Unsweetened Almond Milk)
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon light sour cream
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
Almond extract (use a tiny amount)
1 large coffee mug

Mix the first three ingredients in the mug. Mix the egg in. Then mix the rest of the ingredients together. It's that simple. Pop it into the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Time will vary with different microwaves. Wait for it to cool if you want to frost it. My frosting is extremely rich and sweet. It pares nicely with the cake but I would not suggest going overboard with it. For my simple frosting (and none to original frosting) you will need:
6 tablespoons of Confectioner sugar
3 tablespoons of softened butter (Country Crock works wonderfully for this)
2 tablespoons of cocoa (you can use just one tablespoon for a more milk chocolate taste).
Whip the ingredients with a fork (or mixer) till light and fluffy. Frost your cooled cake. Eat. Enjoy!

Zebra Pizza

We found another Pizza we like. I know I know, What IS up with gluten free people and Pizza? Well we like it, 'nuff said. I'm just glad that I don't have the dairy problems that usually go with it.. Knock on wood. Anyway about Zebra Pizza, the staff there was wonderful. They also offer gluten free deserts. I think the woman in the back nearly split her sides laughing when I found out about the deserts. If you put the words cherry and chocolate cake in the same sentence I can't help but smile. Ok, smile and beg to have some. The pizza crust was the closest I've had yet to a 'real' crust. They make their own dough so it's fresh and you can taste it. The crust is the perfect mixture of a crunchy outside and bread-like inside. It does not cut your mouth, or fall apart while you are trying to eat it. It felt and tasted like any wheat based flour crust, only better. The sauce was slightly spicy (I've had better, but this was pretty darn good). They also load the toppings on the pizza. Other than homemade pizza I've yet to see anyone else put this many toppings on a gluten free pizza. Yum Yum and yum! The Cherry chocolate cake we did not get around to till the next day but it was also delicious. It is about 6" in diameter but a little goes a long way. We had it with tea in the morning. It was the perfect combination. The cake is extremely moist and chocolaty. It does have the grainy gluten free texture but the moistness covers it up nicely. This would have been perfect with some cool whip, but I don't often buy that type of thing. All in all, this was a WONDERFUL pizza place! We will defiantly be trying them again soon and with all the work we are doing around the house having a quick pizza place nearby is going to come in handy. Enjoy!

Udi's Lemon Streusel Muffins

It was raining hard when I woke up. I decided that this was a perfect morning for a naughty breakfast. I picked up some Udi's lemon streusel muffins the last time I was at the store. They are gluten free, soy free dairy free, and nut free. I love Udi's bread so I figured I would try some of their other products; and this was just the morning to do it. The muffin was light and moist. I warmed it up in the microwave for a few seconds and sat in my bay window to watch the storm rage. The muffin had 43 carbs I drank one cup of almond milk with it, which had 2 carbs. This brought it to the perfect 45 carbs per meal that my nutritionist wanted me to work on. I feel stuffed. Next time I might try cutting the muffin in half and having some fruit with it. I was so excited when she told me my carbs were low and I needed more. Now, I'm not so sure. I feel like the Stay Puft marshmallow man. I feel bloated. I'm not sure how eating like this is going to help me Loose weight. I think that my dietitians main concern was getting my Hypoglycemia under control instead of loosing the weight; but shouldn't the two go hand in hand? Just my rambling thoughts. I'm sure this is not the type of breakfast she had in mind for me. Usually I avoid this type of sweet, but it was so yummy. We will see what happens in the days to come. In the mean time I'm going to pour myself a cup of tea, lean back, and watch the lightning shatter jagged cracks in the sky. I love a good storm, don't you? Enjoy!

Dietitian Appointment

Wahooooo!!! Yesterday I finally got to speak with a dietitian regarding my Hypoglycemia and seemingly inability to loose weight! I kept an incredibly detailed food journal for the last month because I knew it would be the first thing she would ask for. I was so happy that she took me seriously and not once did she pull out the plastic food proportion examples. She saw that I know what a real serving is and thought that my meals were properly sized and eaten at properly spaced apart time intervals. Now the bad stuff (though it’s not really bad). The first thing she said was that I was not eating enough carbs. What?! Wait, aren’t carbs the devil of all foods? I thought they should be avoided at all cost. Apparently I am eating less than half of what she would recommend as an ultimate low carb diet. Who knew? So I guess I get to eat more bread. Geeeeee what a pity (please note the sarcasm). She also said I could eat more potatoes. Hmmm I was not aware that you could eat more potatoes then I do already. I was cutting back a little because I was a little worried about the starch, but she says that the starch is ‘A Good Thing’ (imagine my surprise). She wants me to keep my carb intake even throughout the day; not eating a little all day and then cramming it in at dinner time to make up for it. This is probably the reason I get so sleepy after dinner .Next, I have been choking down a hard-boiled egg every day for a month trying to raise my protein. Well not any more. She is worried about my cholesterol. She said that I can eat the whites to get the protein and be ok; it’s the yoke that are full of fat and cholesterol. Blink*Blink* soooo your telling me that I can eat the yummy white part and throw the nasty, choking, gagging, disgusting, yellow goo away? Yep I am! AWESOME; So there IS a silver lining! I will be speaking with my doctor again soon. She is wondering if there is a correlation between my being overweight and my Ehlers-Danlos. Recently I read a blog about a woman who asked that same question and found out that the Ehlers was keeping her body from correctly absorbing nutrients.. Very interesting. We will see. She gave me some sample meal plans to get me started and while they are not gluten free I should be able to make most of their gluten free counter parts. The best part is that I can eat fruit again! She just doesn’t want me drinking fruit juice and that’s OK. I had already cut fruit juice out a while ago because it was too high in sugar. This is going to be an ongoing struggle but at least I am no longer going it alone.

Original Pancake house

Easter Sunday/ our one year Anniversary we went to the Original Pancake house I would not recommend them to anyone ever. When we were seated the ice in our glasses had already melted; which tells me that it had been sitting there a while. Not once during the entire meal were any of our glasses refilled. Bear had called ahead to ask specifically about the menu and mentioned my pork allergy and gluten intolerance's. We were reassured that they had a wonderful menu and that they would and could accommodate us. The gluten free menu is small. I mean small as in a 4" by 3" laminated piece of paper. Over half of the menu had sausage, bacon, or ham. We sat for a good 45 minutes before our waiter turned up to take our order. We tried telling him that I am a allergic to Pig and needed the grill cleaned off and free of pork products. The food defiantly was tainted when it arrived. After we left my lips and tongue got all tingly, a massive head ache set in and I was unable to stay awake for more than a few seconds before crashing again and again, but not before an emergency trip too the bathroom. They are darn lucky it was only a small exposure or I would be slapping a hospital bill on them. From the time we ordered till the food came it took at least another hour. Lucky for us I had an emergency health bar in my purse to keep my starving four year old niece from eating the table. Seriously people, if you know it's going to be that long of a wait and you see that the party has a small child with them, for the love of God bring out some crackers! When the food came, my sister in law's order was wrong. She had ordered Strawberry crepes and they brought out strawberry pancakes. I ordered three gluten free pancakes, hash browns, and sunny side up eggs. The hash browns were surprisingly good and that is all the credit I will give them. The eggs were so runny that they were practically raw. The pancakes I am sure were contaminated with gluten and I am paying for it today. I spent the rest of the day quite miserable and constantly crashing from pork, and hurting from gluten. Happy Anniversary indeed.

Biaggi's Revisited

Biaggi's you've done it again. Bear and I absolutely LOVE your restaurant. This still remains one of the few places that's safe for me to eat that has a real menu and not a scrap of paper listing three salads that they remove the croutons from. Easter Sunday is our One year anniversary and we have been wanting a special occasion to go back to Biaggi's (instead of just getting their take out pizza which remains one of my favorite GF pizzas). Since we did not want to fight the Easter crowd we went a little early. Our waitress was Charis and all we can say is Hat's off to you. Biaggi's was quite full this time and while we saw her here there and everywhere she did not seem rushed at all when she spoke to us. She even gave us the heads up that Biaggi's will be getting a GF cakes soon. Yummy. All of the staff there are splendid and will do everything within their power to make sure you have a wonderful time. I posted a picture of Bear's dinner this time because honestly, if they are going to go through that much effort to make every meal into a work of art it should be noted. He had the Filet Mignon. While I hate the taste of cow, the sautéed mushrooms I snatched from his plate were absolutely amazing. Bear who does not like tomatoes loved the sun-dried tomato cream sauce he even liked the fresh cherry tomatoes. I snatched one of those as well. Mmmm delicious. It was also served with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes which Bear happily devoured.
I was torn from wanting to order Linguini and Clams (which I had last time) or the Alfredo. For the sake of something different I ordered the Farfalle Alfredo with Grilled chicken, bowtie pasta, roasted peppers, sautéed red onion and peas. I had them leave out the crispy Italian cured ham since I am allergic to pig. I will admit that I was slightly disappointed that the bowtie pasta turned out to be the same Linguini I had with the Clams last time. Aside from that it was delicious. The Alfredo sauce with Asiago cheese was light and creamy not the heavy thick stuff that you get out of a can at most other restaurants. I happily ate every last bit of it, but probably should not have. We were pleasantly full but not stuffed when we finished. By the time we got to our car we both realized we ate to much and were stuffed. Sigh, and I was looking forward to the GF chocolate cake Bear had gotten us from Trader Joe's for dessert, Oh well, there is always tomorrow. Heck our Anniversary is not till Sunday. Sunday we will be going to the Original Pancake house. We hear they have a fabulous GF menu and the staff was more than helpful when we talked to them on the phone. I will defiantly be posting about them then. Till then THANK YOU BIAGGI'S.