Camera purge

If there were any title more appropriate, I’d go with it, but this is really just a bunch of pics that have accumulated…and if they help give you ideas on healthy FODMAPS options, great.  If not, sorry for this post’s random nature.

 

Two recent recipes inspired this meal: Jenna’s veggie fried rice and Evan’s fried quinoa. 

I make quinoa in bulk at the beginning of every week.  Without fail.  Some weeks I make two batches because I go through it so quickly.  I use my rice cooker, so it’s a completely mindless activity…as second nature as setting the coffee maker the night before work.  What I’m getting at is, I always have cooked quinoa on hand. 

As much as I enjoy it simply steamed, I also found that frying it up with coconut oil, spinach, seitan, and an egg was pretty much the definition of fantastic.  I added a drizzle of Bragg’s at the end and was salivating with every bite.

 

If I were to open a Chinese restaurant, I’d serve this on the menu.  The seitan could fool an meat eater, and the flavors were somehow authentic, but still clean and light.

 

I liked it so much I had it the next night with carrots.

Work food: PB/cinnamon quesadilla, banana, corn nuts, Enjoy Life sunbutter crunch chewy bar

Not a full day of eats because I had a class from 8 to 4 on campus (as opposed to a full 12 hour work day).  It was nice because I got to sleep in, eat breakfast at home, and then meet up with Kyle on campus for lunch.

 

FYI, my breakfast at home was a banana PB soft serve smoothie.

  

Frozen banana, peanut flour, vanilla soy yogurt, almond milk, ice.  The fact that this is considered breakfast and not dessert is somewhat debatable.

 

This is what’s in the foil above (brown rice tortilla + PB + cinnamon).  I’m sorry but the Food For Life tortillas are just not doing it for me (at least not as tortillas).  I tried some of the reheating tricks you guys shared, I tried making them slightly damp first, thawing them to room temp, steaming them between paper towels, etc.  But no matter what I did, they ended up bubbling up or getting hard or breaking. 

 

Fortunately, I found a way to use them.  😉

Torn into pieces, coated (liberally) with coconut butter, and nuked in the microwave (45 – 60 seconds).  They crisped up, like chips, with a delightful coconut flavor. 

Speaking of coconut flavors…it’s that time of the year again!  If you’re a veggie roasting virgin, try using coconut oil on your butternut squash.  You’ll never eat it any other way after you try it this way.  Promise. 

 

Seitan, roasted butternut squash, quinoa.  Self explanatory.

Cookie hoarding, cont.

These are from One Lucky Duck.  I was skeptical that such a basic (and raw) ingredient list could actually taste like gingerbread.  But they did!

 

I don’t know how Sarma does it. 

 

More cookies…

Dear Pamela, please move in asap. 

And more cookies…

 

Super Charge Me cookies with dried cranberries and almonds compliments of Clare!

 

Uh, this is embarrassing.

 

I swear I eat more than desserts!

 

More smoothies. 

The one above turned out rather pretty and photogenic.  The one below, however, looked like mud after I blended it up. 

See?  Mmmmmm…mud. 

This is actually from Kyle’s lunch.  Readers always ask about what he eats, so I have been taking photos of his meals now that he’s back in school and bringing his own food with him to campus.  The above is a sammie with apples & swiss cheese (Laughing Cow light).

 

Snacks: (missing) wheat thins, Sabra hummus, PB crackers (gift from my patient), apples and grapes.  There was likely a Clif bar that didn’t get caught on film, too.  He has a Clif bar every single day (obsessed).

Who knows where the rest of this (family sized) bag of riceworks sea salt chips went…obviously I ate them, but without proper camera documentation I’m inclined to plead the fifth. 

The rest of the salad seems pretty standard – spinach, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, raw corn.  The gluten free chips on top add some salty pizzazz, like a crouton (but wheat free).

 

The ever brilliant salty & sweet combination.  Ghirardelli’s Dark Chocolate with salty roasted cashews. 

 

Fruit.  Duh.

More mille-cado.

Tangelo!

The tops of Trader Joe’s muffins are great, but the bottoms are just meh.  They lack the sticky glaze that’s on top.  I pretty much always think of Seinfeld when I eat muffin tops. 

 

I didn’t eat all the dark chocolate in this dish because it wasn’t sweet enough for me.  I had some with the ginger (because it’s pretty good when paired with a spicy flavor), but the rest went back into the package.  I offered it to Kyle but he passed (!!).  Apparently, I got cocky after I enjoyed the Ghirardelli’s, but as it turns out, I still don’t like most kinds of dark chocolate.  I need sweet!

I am not kidding or exaggerating when I tell you this bowl of oats had 1/4 cup Earth Balance vegan butter in it.  Oats, butter, & peas.  It’s “recipes” like these, which confirm the fact that I am definitely not a chef. 

It’s funny how photos tell a story.  I tend to forget things until I see them again when I load them onto my computer.  Then the memories come flooding back.  Or not. 

I consider myself to be pretty together, but sometimes I take so long to upload pics that I get surprised by certain items.  Do you forget what you ate over the course of the day?  Or do you have a pretty good memory?  I know this sounds weird (since I have a food blog and take pictures of almost everything I eat) but sometimes I don’t even remember what I ate for breakfast by lunch time!