Biased Bison?

Who doesn’t love a night filled with friends, birthdays, good food and a good game of spades? I know I love it! Our friends came over the other night and since we cooked last time, they brought food fit for a king, they were making bison spaghetti (of the quinoa variety) YUM!

Bison Spaghetti - Image from http://thechiclife.typepad.com

Now you might flinch if you haven’t had this tasty meat. I’m a big squeamish about different meats much of the time but this one was fantastic. It’s a nice lean red meat that blended into the sauce with such great flavor! Then to top it off some dairy free cheese. It was super yummers! Give it a try, I think you’ll love it!

My friend that brought this over did it to fit into my dietary restrictions and told me it was lower in fat. If you have any to share please share it! I want to learn more. I have started researching and found great info but it’s mostly from a pro-Bison site.

Image from http://www.bisoncentral.com

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Donut Make a Bad Decision!

Have you ever had that tough morning where nothing goes your way? It’s a slew of little things so you feel like you have no real right to be upset but you are super ticked off? Yeah this morning was that morning for me. The dog wouldn’t come in, in fact she ran all over the yard to avoid me, which made me leave for work late. Then the dry cleaners couldn’t find the slacks my boyfriend needs for a wedding we’re going to tonight, The ATM had issues with the check I was trying to deposit, Traffic was worse than usual, etc… You know that day. Not a good start.

Image From http://northcarolinapeople.blogspot.com/

Then I got to work about a half hour late and what happens? Of course, it’s Friday, the day filled with those horribly tempting boxes of donuts and other baked goods. They’re like a Trojan horse for me… they look all sweet and innocent than BANG they wreak havoc on my belly!

I saw them sitting there, my jelly filled love right in the center of the box and I thought “Well heck, why not? It’s not like my day can get much more annoying.” I reached for it and stopped.  I realized that it would make my already rough start for a day even rougher.  So guess what I did… I walked away and grabbed a bag of sweet dried apple chips. Sweet, tasty and friendly to the belly. I’d say this was a win of a donut battle, at least for me! I’ll bet someone else here eats those belly achin’, 8 Weight Watcher points right up!

DISCLAIMER: No Jelly Donuts died by my hand to create this post.

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Saved by the Coconut!

Last night was a chilly evening. All I wanted to do once I got home from work was curl up with some comfort food while I watched the last episode of Game of Thrones. Sadly with my diet, most of my comfort foods like lasagne and mac and cheese are gone by the wayside so I settle for salad or meat and veggies… but I realized I could have Thai Food… some spicy creamy coconut milk simmered with chicken veggies and spices over brown rice. Perfect!!

I ordered myself a nice 4 star Chicken Green Curry ordered Brandon some Phad Thai and off we went to Siam Pura, a little Thai place by our house. My favorite Thai places in West Seattle are Bang Bar and Buddha Ruksa, but they were both too far away from home..Plus Siam Pura is under new management so it was worth a try. Glad we did, it was pretty good. I still love my Bangbar, but this is a nice quick trip from our home.

From blogs.babble.com

Curling up on the couch with my cozy yummy treat was exactly what Monday called for…and the episode of Game of Thrones was intense. Overall a good Monday night after a crazy busy day! Take that gluten/dairy free meal Mister Milkbread Monster. Booh Yah!

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Big Cheese!

Cheese, yes I miss my cheese. The ooey, gooey, melty cheese stringing off a sandwich or quesadilla and I take a bite. Yum! To be honest I find myself cheating here and there, but really the payment in belly ache time usually isn’t worth it.
I know they make all kinds of lactose free cheeses, but they melt like plastic on a heater, and taste about as good as that smells. So I just chalked up the cheese issue as a give it up food and, well,  gave it up.

But in the last few years, there seems to have been a lot more emphasis placed on those that must “go without”  and companies found a new market to gain. Vegan/Lactose intolerant folks…and now they have come up with a melty, ooey gooey cheesy goodness that works and tastes good. Thanks to the suggestions of one of my favorite bloggers, Chakabox, I found this little slice of heaven, Daiya Cheese!

YAY Cheese! http://jezebel.com/5862546/worth-it-melty-gooey-cheese-for-the-lactose-intolerant

So if you find yourself wanting to shy away from the melted plastic on your dairy free items, check this product out. You won’t be disappointed!

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Wine not Whine :)

Wine tasting, one of my very favorite things to do! I was lucky enough to host a wine tasting at my home for Silver Bell Winery, a new winery in the great Northwest!

Diane and Alan from Silver Bell came to our home, set up a nice display and gave us history on the grapes and good sized pours of each of their six wines! My only job, to make sure that there was food for all the wine tasters. Now as you probably know the traditional foods for wine tasting are completely unapproved by my gut, so I had to make some alterations.  I had the cheese and crackers of course, plus my guests brought some other yummy salads (Thanks for my friend Heather the Salad Queen, it was tasty and safe for me!) and cheese puffs. But to fit into my diet I also had the below items:

Rice Crackers
Tofu cream cheese with a Pepper Jam over the top
Chicken Taquitos wrapped in corn tortillas
Veggie Platter with a home made vinaigrette
Grapes
Popcorn

All in all it was good. I did have a few slices of cheese because it was just too overwhelming to have all those cheesy options…but I only had a few sinces I had other treats I could eat! Great wine and Great food…. Success! Plus I did some of my Christmas Shopping from my own home!

Silver Bell Winery!

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Paradise Eating at Avalon!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the pre-screening of Breaking Dawn last night with one of my good girlfriends. But so we would get to catch up before the movie based on a book we both devoured, we decided to go out and grab a bite! Easy, we both live in West Seattle so we picked Avalon!

We were greeted warmly and informed, there would be a band. We chose a seat further away, so we could chat and listen. The band was fantastic! (they do this on Thursday nights, I highly recommend it!)  When it came to the menu I wasn’t sure what to do, but I had met one of the owners during my previous visit about a month ago and she told me to ask next time I was in. I ate things I shouldn’t that night! WOOPS…(but boy was that Duck Flatbread good. if you can have gluten and cheese. GO EAT THIS!)

Our waiter arrived and I told him about my dietary restrictions AND that I don’t really eat much seafood because I dont’ care for the stuff. He smiled told me what I could have and I picked the vegetable Risotto. He confirmed with the kitchen that it wouldn’t even have a hint of butter. “No Problem” I was told!

Delicious vegetable Risotto!

Now one may suspect that taking all the yummy fats and cream out of Risotto lessens the experience. Well, I’m not sure what the team at Avalon did but my meal was truly excellent. My Gluten/Dairy eating friend loved the bread and her Seafood Risotto!

After my meal I met the owner Deborah and she reiterated that they are always happy to work with someones dietary restrictions. So Go there…no matter what your food issues are I have 100% faith that they can work with you!

Other than Breaking Dawn being one of the very worst movies ever made (Although it did make us laugh out loud a few times due to it’s cheesiness and absurdity!), it was a great success, very tasty and easy peasy for me. (I’m guessing my dinner was about 10 points for the Risotto and 4 for the amazing vino!)

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All Hail the Kale!

This weekend I was on a trip with Brandon and another couple. We were talking about making a shared dinner when Kale came up.  I remembered hearing about Kale chips and thought that sounded like a healthy, low calorie snaky trick.  I asked my friends to pick up the kale on their trip to the store. Sadly, they were back too late and I had started dinner and was well past kale making time.

But don’t fret! I’m back at home today and after munching popcorn with Brandon last night, I thought I’d try making these chips before subjecting Brandon to that green veggie. I baked them up and Good lord I LOVE THEM! In my mind, the crunch satisfies the desire for chips but it’s all healthy!

Here is how you go about this easy snack for Kale Chips!

You need:
Olive oil or butter
Seasoning Salt or Garlic Salt
Kale

1. Preheat your oven to 350

2. Put parchment paper down and grease it up (butter, olive oil or I use a olive oil mister to keep them from sticking but to control the amount of oil.)

3. Cut the spines out of your Kale and arrange them in bite size pieces onto the parchment paper like below:

Kale Ready to be made Chips

4. Mist the top of them and sprinkle seasoning salt or garlic salt

5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Watch for the tips to get slighly brown. There is about a 30 second window between perfect and burned flavor. Watch them carefully. If you take them out early they will still be a bit soggy…or

Here is the end product. SO SO Good!

Crispy Crunchy Kale1

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Captain Picky Pants Eats Out

Last night was girls night out. So, I had to take on the eating out challenge on again.  We walked into Daniels in South Lake Union with my girlfriends with some hesitancy in having to deal with food outside of my home. I have been to Daniels many times and enjoy their food, but never when I was paying any attention to my allergies or weight. I always worry since I really hate being a bother and seeming like Captain Picky Pants. But because of this blog, I got some courage and I decided to give it a gluten/dairy free go again.

The waitress came to our table flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder and my stomach turned into a knot. It was my time to step up and ask my “picky pants” gluten and dairy free question.  To my surprise, not only did the waitress smile and say “Of Course!” But she also rambled off exactly what on the menu was and was not gluten and dairy free. I looked at her in awe, then I tested her knowledge because this seemed WAY too easy.  I asked “What about the Steak Tar Tar?” And she got a big smile on her heart shaped face and said “No, that won’t work for you.  It has soy sauce in it.” Again, curious I asked “But the Tuna you mentioned has ponzu. Doesn’t that have gluten.” Again, she clarified that she knew their menu inside and out, their ponzu had no gluten.

Seared Tuna! *Image from slowfoodkitchen.com

Done and done! I got the wonderful low calorie seared tuna and, as my waitress mentioned, removed the won ton wrappers to the side of the plate. It was not only a fantastic, low calorie meal and a fun evening with my friends, but it was yet another great experience.  Now I can not help but wonder, was I just overly sensitive before or has public view changed so much that I am no longer seen as picky, but as someone they wish to help? I’m not sure but I love the help and the ease of eating out!

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Weight Watch This!

To keep myself sane, I do  not have a scale in my house. This way I am forced to pay for and at least enter Weight Watchers once a week. My goal of getting rid of those nasty and sneaky extra pounds is in the works. And today was the end of week one and my first weigh in since I started. I am proud to say that my seven days filled with Steak Salads, Peanut Soup, Gluten Free pastas was successful. I weighed in and lost 3 pounds! So there you have it… Mr. Muffin, watch out you are quickly going to lose your top and not ’cause I’m eatin’ your gluteny-ness!

No Muffins For You! *Thanks http://www.nixiepixel.com/nixie-ces-plans/

Bye Bye Muffinhead!

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No Party Foul!

My pops, in honor of his 70th birthday, ordered a special production Mustang Boss 302 . Then with car in garage, had a huge party to celebrate his life and his beloved new car. For him, making 70 was extra special since my grandpa Bill passed at 69 years old. Actually, if you ask my dad he also knows how many months and days old Grandpa was when he left us. My father is thankfully a happy, healthy and very animated storyteller which just makes me smile.

My Proud Papa with his new Toy!

What was on the menu to this extravaganza? Of course with a house full of his kids and grandkids he had pizza, salad, cupcakes, ice cream cakes (yes plural) and angel food cake. Now, you might cringe thinking of how this worked out for me…and to be totally honest, I was worried when I got the invite. So I emailed my Stepmom and asked if there would be gluten free/dairy free foods or if I could bring some. She quickly responded that she had something for me, and boy did she ever.

Now lets not forget, I had to handle my side of the deal. I got to my dad’s with my willpower in high gear, still having to avoid the tasty looking pizzas, cupcakes and one of my very favorites, Angel Food Cake. But my Stepmom made this so much easier and healthy. She cooked up some brown rice pasta and tossed it in a sauce of olive oil, sun dried tomato, slivered almonds and basil. It was truly so excellent that even those pizza eaters dove into my pasta. She also made a side to her famous Asian Salad that was noodle free with added oranges. YUM!

Brown Rice Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Here is the recipe, just replace the pasta with brown rice pasta and take out the cheeses!

Dessert you ask. This is one of the very hardest things on my diet, since most desserts are made with almost exclusively diary and gluten. Such as my favorite dessert in the whole wide world is proof that my taste buds hate my stomach, bread pudding. You know what that is? Bread soaked in milk then covered with butter/whiskey sauce then topped with ice cream or whipped cream. YUM! But that right there knocks me down for the count.

So what did she do? My awesome Stepmom made me some Lemon Meringue cookies that were really good. I’ll be honest, they were no mud pie or cupcake, but as a healthy happy solution to my diet restrictions, they were perfect. I got out of that party having only spent 15 of my 29 daily Weight Watcher points. A very big success!

My week one weigh in is tomorrow…wish me luck!