Gluten Free Fried Rice with Mango Spring Rolls!

Tags

brown rice, carrots, chinese, cucumber, dairy free, eggs, ginger, gluten free, Maker's Diet, mango, peanut butter, peas, radishes, spring rolls, tofu

I’m back in Cincinnati after a great trip to the mountains. There’s nothing quite like being with family in the beautiful outdoors. It was a wonderful escape, but now, back to reality! And back to healing! I have to be honest: I deviated from The Maker’s Diet a tiny bit while I was there: eating different types of cheese and dessert. But now back to the straight and narrow!

Here’s a fabulous recipe that my whole family LOVED. Its Chinese Fried Rice with Mango Tofu Spring Rolls!

yummm!

This was so delicious. Hands down tasty. The creamy savoriness of the scrambled egg, with the salty sweet flavor of the tofu, along with the nutty chewiness of the brown rice was divine. Accompanied by the sweet peanutty crunch of the spring rolls; this meal was a flavor explosion in your mouth!

To make the tofu, I marinated the pressed and drained teeny tiny cubes of tofu in my tasty marinade found here.

To make the rice, it was pretty simple. Either use day old rice, or cooked rice. I started out by sautéing diced onions, carrots and minced garlic in 2 tsp of EVOO. In a separate skillet, I scrambled 1 farm fresh egg just until the whites were runny. (They will finish cooking when they get added back in with the rice). Set eggs aside in a small bowl. Once the onions and carrots have been sautéed for about 5ish minutes, add in the cooked tofu cubes and the rice. Also stir in 2 T tamari (gluten free soy sauce) mixed with 2 T water and a touch of grated ginger. Finally, stir in the scrambled egg and frozen peas. Yum!

For the spring rolls: you will need:

1 mango, diced

Several radishes, grated

1 cucumber, seeded and grated

1 carrot, grated

Cooked tofu cubes

Chinese rice paper spring roll wrappers

Bowl of warm water

Assembly: the rice paper is like brittle plastic when you buy it. To use: you have to soak one for about 5-10 seconds in warm water till it becomes pliable. Then spread it out on a plate and fill it with the radishes, cucumber, carrots, tofu and mango. Then roll it up like a burrito, and repeat! These yummy treats we’re served alongside this addicting peanut dipping sauce. Let me tell you, I could have eaten the whole bowl! It is that good!

1 T peanut butter

1 t agave

1 1/2 t apple cider vinegar

water to consistency

grated ginger

Mix all together and adjust to taste…add more cider if its too sweet.

This meal was a definite 10! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Bread Take 2!

Tags

dairy free, eggs, GF Bread, gluten free, Maker's Diet, olives

So here we are at the end of another day. Its easy sometimes to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we lose sight of what’s important, and forget what we have to be thankful for. Today, surrounded by my family in the beautiful outdoors, I was reminded how truly blessed I am to have a family that loves and supports one another. I am thankful for friends who care and love and accept you. Little blessings add up to big grace from above.

Now onto a recipe. Like I said, my mother and I have been trying to find a delicious gluten-free bread recipe. We found one that we thought would be amazing: an olive focaccia.

Let me preface this by saying that this bread was just okay.  It had a wonderful garlicky flavor, but the texture was lacking.  It was a BEAUTIFUL loaf of bread. But, it wasn’t the crusty, airy, chewiness that we were hoping for. That being said, we ate all the way around the outside where it was crusty, but left the center.

beautiful, yes...but...

I think if we would have rolled it out to be thinner, it would have achieved the crunchy crustiness we so desired.

...a little too dense

So here’s the recipe: from The Gluten Free Goddess. Make at your own risk!

Gluten Free Bread for Mankind

Tags

eggs, GF Bread, gluten free, Maker's Diet, Ulcerative Colitis, Utah

Still in Utah and I feel the healing is upon me! Today we went to the spa at the Stein Eriksen Lodge and got a massage and ate at the gourmet lunch buffet. The day was, in a word, outrageous. The spa was amazing and the massage worked out all the inflammation knots in my back. They had beautiful saunas and steam rooms, hot tubs, and my favorite, the relaxation room.

The lunch buffet was UNREAL. They had all this scrumptious fresh seafood, and different salads, probably 20 different artisanal cheeses. Fantastic fruit and stews, and then several different prepared meats and fish. They made “my” grilled mahi mahi with mango salsa!! They also had a artisanal caesar salad buffet where the chef prepared it in front of you, made-to-order.

And then the desserts…..Let me preface this by saying that I have not had even a sweetener in my tea for the past 18 weeks while I have been trying to heal. Today, I got off that band wagon.  After not getting sick after dinner last night and sleeping through the night for the first time in 18 weeks, I decided to push my luck and have dessert. Well, they had probably 30 different gourmet desserts ranging from bread pudding, to pecan pie, to raspberry mousse layer cake. They also had gluten-free options! I had a gluten-free cupcake, flan, creme brulee, and chocolate decadence which is a flourless chocolate mousse cake. (Don’t worry, I just had bites of each ;) )

So our day today was phenomenal to say the least.

Now for a recipe! Back in Cincy, my mom and I have been trying to find a good gluten-free bread recipe. We’ve tried out several, and this one is on the top of our list (at least right now).  It is a bread mix from Pamela’s, and it is made in the breadmaker.

Pamela's Products

It had a really nice, light consistancy. It was airy and moist, not dense and chewy like most GF breads. We toasted it up in the morning for breakfast, and made french toast out of it for dinner! It does have 2 eggs in it though, so it is not vegan; but still delicious!

Check out the light, airy goodness!

This bread does contain yeast. After I ate it, I had a bit of a stomach reaction to it, due to the sensitivity of my stomach right now.  During a flare, certain things “light you on fire,” and for me, its sugar, and we think yeast.  However, after I am through this flare, we will be making this bread again.

Happy baking!

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa!

Tags

cilantro, cucumber, gluten free, Maker's Diet, mango, quinoa, red pepper, salsa, Ulcerative Colitis, Utah, vegan

As I write this, I’m sitting in Utah by a roaring fire with it snowing outside. Believe it or not, in my condition, we managed to take a family ski vacation. Yep, pretty incredible.  After being on bed rest for the past 17 weeks, I went skiing today….go figure. Granted I went out in the morning for only 2 hours and after lunch for an hour and a half. So, definitely not the 7 hour ski days I am used to! But we figured the fresh air would help me heal.

As you can imagine, food is a bit tricky: feeding so many, with one who is gluten free and one who is, well, me. But last night we had a lovely dinner in the condo of fish tacos! We grilled up cod and had it on brown rice tortillas with AMAZING guacamole and fresh homemade salsa from my sister-in-law!

But I still wanted to share a recipe with you. So here is my Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa!

mango salsa is a gift from above!

This beautiful ocean caught fish from Lobsta Bakes was never frozen; fresh from the ocean that morning and flown in. We grilled it on our grill pan with a teaspoon of EVOO, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and juice. On top of it, I made homemade mango salsa.

1 mango diced

1/2 cucumber diced

1 red pepper diced

1/2 red onion diced

1 t EVOO

juice of 1 lime

cilantro, chopped to minced

salt and pepper

mix and chill for 30 minutes to an hour

I served it with quinoa, which is a SUPERFOOD! It is GF, and PACKED with protein! I added the zest of a lime to it and boy, did that pack a flavor punch!

 

 

Breakfast for Dinner!

Tags

avocado, breakfast, brown rice, dairy free, eggs, gluten free, green pepper, Maker's Diet, mushrooms, red pepper, spinach, tomatoes, Ulcerative Colitis

Things are looking up around here! The healing process is slowly inching forward with the higher intake of protein! And with the new addition of farm fresh pastured eggs to my repertoire, what better dish to serve then Breakfast for Dinner!

More specifically, this dish should be called Scrambled Egg and Avocado Burritos! This dish was YUMMO.

Check out that glorious brown rice tortilla!

I first sautéed onion, red and green pepper, mushrooms and spinach, and then poured in 5 whole eggs and 2 egg whites *beaten*. (this was feeding 3). I added salt and pepper and scrambled them up! I served it in a brown rice tortilla with some avocado slices and diced tomato on top.

Lets have a tortilla heart to heart.  For GF-ers, flour tortillas are obviously a “no no.” And corn tortillas, although they are a nice substitute, are chuck full of preservatives and usually made with GMO corn. Well, do not fret my wheat avoiding lovies. Food for Life makes AMAZING, I repeat, AMAZING brown rice tortillas. My parents even love them. Their texture is chewy and stretchy and rivals the flour tortilla! Since we discovered these at our health food store 2 weeks ago, I have literally eaten at least one every day!

Breakfast for Dinner was a very satisfying treat that I hope you try out! Happy tummies!

The Truth about Protein

Tags

brown rice, eggs, frittatas, gluten free, green pepper, Maker's Diet, mushrooms, olives, pasta, red pepper, spinach, tomatoes, Ulcerative Colitis, vegan

When you are trying to heal from an Ulcerative Colitis flare, you must rebuild the lining of your intestines. In order to do that, you need amino acids. Where does one find amino acids? In protein!

For vegans, including protein in their diet must be of utmost importance. It definitely has been for me. This is a difficult task though, because I have been avoiding beans due to their high amount of fiber, which would hinder my healing process. Thus, no matter how many cashew-based pasta sauces and tofu scrambles I have, my protein needs for healing are nowhere near being met.

One of the reasons I had decided to eliminate animal products was due to all the antibiotics, growth hormones, genetically modified corn diet, and disease-causing living conditions imposed upon livestock and chicken today.  Food just isn’t the same as when we got eggs and chicken from local farms, and cows grazed on an open field of grass, instead of GMO corn. You can learn more about his through these amazing documentaries: Food Inc.; Forks Over Knives; Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; and Food Matters. You can view these all on Netflix, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

But back to healing: Enter Patient Heal Thyself. This book was written by Jordan Rubin, a guy just like me who had UC and healed himself totally naturally by following the Maker’s Diet: the diet basically designed by God: free range eggs, wild ocean caught fish with scales and fins (NO SHELLFISH), grass-fed livestock with split hooves and that “chews the cud” (NO SWINE (pork)). And instead of cow milk….grass fed GOAT milk!

So I decided to ditch my tofu for a while a try this out. I started incorporating Ohio farm fresh organic eggs and ocean caught fish from Maine flown in every morning from Lobsta Bakes about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and I can honestly say I can feel my body healing.  It is really exciting. I think the Maker’s Diet is really onto something. So for my vegans out there, my next slew of recipes all contain eggs, or fish.

So for my first recipe, I made Roma Pasta with a “Fried” Egg and Mini Veggie Frittatas!

For the pasta, I stir-fried onions and garlic in 2 t EVOO, added in some mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh basil. I also added a touch of pasta water to stretch the sauce.  I added the cooked pasta to the pan and stirred it all together. “Fried” 2 eggs in nothing but a non-stick pan and some olive oil spray. The beauty of this dish is that the egg becomes the sauce. You break the yolk and then stir it in to the rest of the pasta. I cannot tell you how yummy this was.

On the side…mini frittatas!

I cracked 2 eggs in a bowl and beat ’em up. I added sautéed onions, mushrooms, spinach, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, olives, salt and pepper. I poured this mixture into 6 *olive oil sprayed* muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs are set…probably 10 minutes give or take.

This meal was so unbelievably delicious and high in healing protein!

Chinese Stir Fry & a Tofu Tutorial

Tags

brown rice, carrots, chinese, cucumber, ginger, gluten free, Maker's Diet, mango, pasta, peanut butter, peas, spring rolls, tofu, vegan

Lets talk tofu. Tofu is another highly misunderstood food. It is seen as gross, “fake meat,” a soy block…it sadly gets a bad wrap. In reality, tofu is a great source of protein, and its yummy! It is a blank canvas that soaks up and takes on the flavor of whatever its cooked with. Not to mention, you can do SO many things with it! You can bake it, fry it, stir fry it, grill it, blend it into a sauce, make a smoothie out of it, whip it into whipped cream, even mash it into a breakfast porridge! The possibilities are endless.

Well, when I mentioned that we were having tofu, my dad winced and said…disguise it so I don’t know! Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.

Chinese Stir Fry with Mango Spring Rolls

First, the brand of tofu matters!! I like the consistency and taste of Mori-Nu silken Extra Firm tofu. And I prepare it in a very specific way: I cut it into teeny tiny little cubes (about the size of dice!) But let me take you step by step.

1) Tofu needs to be drained. So I take it out of the package and slice it into 8 slabs. I the place those on a paper towel lined baking sheet and put 2 more towels on top and then put a big frying pan on top of them and press all the extra water out of the tofu.

2) While its pressing, I make the MARINADE! Tofu soaks up flavor, so make a yummy marinade!!

2 T Tamari (gluten free soy sauce)

2 T water

1 t agave

1 t apple cider vinegar

1 T grated fresh ginger

1 t minced garlic

1/2 t toasted sesame oil OR EVOO

3) Then I cut each slab into tiny little cubes and put all the little cubes into a bowl with the marinade and let sit for about 15 – 20 minutes.

4) Put all the cubes onto a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil in a single layer and pour rest of marinade over. Pop in a 375 degree oven for 35 minutes, turning each over half way through.

This is a definitely a labor of love for your tofu, but let me tell you, it is delicious and sooo worth it. They caramelize and almost become like candy. My dad actually loved it!

Now for the rest of the recipe.

I sautéed onions, carrots, garlic and ginger in 1 T EVOO while I cooked my rice pasta in a  separate pot. Right before the noodles were finished, I stirred in about a cup of frozen peas and my tofu just to warm through. I then added another recipe of my tofu marinade to give it a sauce. I drained the pasta and added it to the pan with my veggies and mixed it all together. I added a few tablespoons of pasta water to stretch the sauce.

With my stir fry, I made mango spring rolls!!!!

I combined shredded cucumber and shredded carrots with 4 cubes of tofu and some cubed mango. I wrapped it in rice paper. For the peanut dipping sauce:

1 T peanut butter

1 t agave

1 1/2 t apple cider vinegar

water to consistency

grated ginger

Mix all together and adjust to taste…add more cider if its too sweet.

This dinner was a big hit. I hope you try it out and enjoy! Happy Friday!

Gluten Free Vegan Pizza from Scratch!

Tags

brown rice, cheeze, gluten free, Maker's Diet, mushrooms, olives, pizza, tomatoes, vegan

Pizza gets such a bad wrap nowadays. Seen as a “diet killer” and junk food.  Well I’d like to debunk this pizza myth.

Pizza is actually a nutrition powerhouse IF you eat a sensible pizza in proper portions! *read: no meatlovers’ deluxe* The pizzas I like to make and eat are low fat, bursting with veggies and flavor, and super yummy!

Enter the Veggie Love Pizza Pie!

Veggie Love

Lets start with the crust: you can buy fantastic GF pizza crusts at the store, and I would definitely recommend that if you’d like a delish meal in a snap. But tonight…I felt daring :) Bring on the Gluten Free flours!!!!

Crust:

Start out:

2 1/4 t of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm almond milk

1/2 t sugar

Combine those three into a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, combine:

3/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 c cornstarch

2 t xanthan gum

1/2 t sea salt

1 t dried Italian seasoning

Put those in a food processor and with the processor turned on, pour the next 2 ingredients through the chute.

1 T EVOO

2 t apple cider vinegar

Process for 30 seconds and then add about 1/4 cup (+/-) of brown rice flour until the mixture becomes “doughy.”

Then place the dough on a parchment paper lined pizza pan and with oiled hands, spread the dough out to the edges. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until the crust is almost golden. (Our was thick and so we baked it for about 20). When it comes out, brush the edges with EVOO.

**My notes: this was a great crust, but when we were making it, we thought it was going to be horrible…but don’t let the consistency scare you! When it comes out of the food processor, it will be HOT and it is super hard to get it to spread out…oiled hands are clutch in this situation.

Toppings:

While our crust was baking, I sautéed some onions and mushrooms in 1 t EVOO until tender.

I spread the crust with organic canned tomato sauce (no salt added). I sprinkled sea salt, pepper, a touch of oregano and fresh basil on that; topped it with the onions and mushrooms, diced tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and some non-dairy cheeze! Don’t let that scare you! Daiya cheeze it actually quite wonderful, and it melts pretty well! Pop the pizza back in the oven just until the cheeze “melts”…less than 2 minutes!

This pizza is super nutritious, low fat, and so much fun to eat! We devoured this beauty while watching our Packers get whooped by NY :(

Until next time….C

 

Love at its Purest

Tags

artichokes, brown rice, cashews, gluten free, green juice, Maker's Diet, New York City, pasta, restaurant review, roasted vegetables, Ulcerative Colitis, vegan

Today, I think I’ll reflect on the journey of my flare thus far.

Back in November in NYC, I was in a show.  I was Little Red Riding Hood in “Into The Woods.” During the show, I started an Ulcerative Colitis flare.  Literally by the grace of God I was able to make it through the show from such a debilitated state.

Little Red (sans-cape) with the Wolf

It was hard. I wasn’t eating any solid food, and was living on fresh green juice. During the final weeks of rehearsal, my mom knew how bad my health was getting, so she flew out and stayed with me through the show, as well as several weeks after the show when she moved me into a new apartment with a kitchen.  I had been living in student housing without a kitchen. My room was probably 6 1/2 ft by 12 ft and I’m not even joking. It was TINY, and my mom was on a cot in my room. You had to fold up the cot if you wanted to get into the bathroom or open the door.

New Studio in NYC

So anyways, we moved into an adorable studio apartment, accepted the furniture deliveries, and then flew home because my health was going down hill fast. Because of the new dosage of medicine, I overdosed on Asacol and was having 104 fevers every night, and back, head, neck, jaw and joint pain, as well as your “normal” UC symptoms.

Luckily, when we stopped the extra dose of Asacol, the overdose symptoms *slowly* tapered off. And I am doing a bit better since then.  However, I am going about this the natural way now: drinking chlorophyll, aloe vera, amino acids, probiotics, fish oil, other anti inflamitories as well as other “potions.”

But, while we were in New York, we ate literally every dinner (because I had no kitchen) at this amazing gluten free vegan restaurant in the East Village called Angelica’s Kitchen. We even ate Thanksgiving dinner there. It was such a cozy little place and we got to personally know the wait staff and they became like family.

Dinner at Angelica's Kitchen

But I guess I wanted to take this post to just thank my mom for being with me every step of the way through this flare. And my dad too, researching organic this, and anti-inflamitory that.  I am so blessed to have you both in my life.

Christmas with my mom

And I guess now for a quick recipe: Artichoke Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta.

Artichoke Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

I found this recipe from The Gluten Free Vegan. It was pretty darn good. It wasn’t the pesto, but it was satisfying and very tasty. I served it with roasted veggies and everyone cleaned their plates!

Bon Appetit!

Gluten Free Vegan Mac and Cheeze!

Tags

brown rice, butternut squash, cashews, cheeze, gluten free, Maker's Diet, mushrooms, mustard, pasta, spinach, Ulcerative Colitis, vegan

One of the things you crave when you eliminate dairy from your diet is…CHEESE. The comfort and richness of cheese that just warms the belly and soul.  However, for people with Ulcerative Colitis, dairy is a big “no no” as it inhibits healing of the intestinal lining. But enough about that…lets talk CHEEZE!!

This cheeze gets its creamy and satisfying texture from ground up cashews and…butternut squash!! Sounds super crazy and not very likely to be a winner, but oooh, quite the contrary.  This was a two thumbs up recipe. It had that deep belly satisfaction that shoots warmth through your entire body. The texture was much like…dare I say…Stouffers?

mac and cheeze pleaze!

This fabulous recipe I found from Oh She Glows. In her recipe, she uses Earth Balance, or margarine. I’m trying to stay clear of processed, unhealthy ingredients like margarine, so I used her cashew based cheeze sauce found here and then added in the roasted butternut squash and almond milk. This was seriously so yummy.

I toasted up some GF bread crumbs with parsley and 1t EVOO. mmmmm

Enjoy this treat for your taste buds and tummy!