Well we’ve been gluten free since Monday and I must say it hasn’t been nearly as hard as I expected. Keep in mind with this list that I am Vegetarian so you don’t have to forgo the meat to be gluten free – just be careful of gluteny fillers in processed meats.
Breakfasts:
Porridge made with gluten free oats and strawberries
Puffed Rice cereal with bananas 2x
Gluten Free Muesli and Yoghurt
Gluten Free home made Banana Bread with cream cheese
Lunches:
Cucumber, Spicy Cheese & Seeded Mustard sandwich on Gluten Free Bread
Quinoa, Millet, & Roasted Veg Salad with seeds, nuts, dried fruit & feta cheese 2x
Salad with Tuna & Hard Boiled Egg from Pret
Veggie Sticks & Gluten Free Crackers with hummus
Dinners:
Tofu Teriyaki Salad
Baked Potatoes with butter, cheese, sour cream & chives with string beans and beetroot on the side
Spicy Rice Stir Fry
Grilled Portobello/Sausage with a rucola, tomato, avocado salad
Roasted Veg & Polenta Stacks with Marinara Sauce & Cheese (that’s the photo – recipe at bottom of post)
I do like to snack and have been fine with that as well… during the day I’ll head for apple slices with peanut butter or cheese, a banana, carrot sticks, crackers with cottage cheese, nuts, or some of that banana bread I made earlier in the week.
At night if we’re watching a movie and I want a savory snack I’ll head for popcorn or chips & salsa. And I love a bit of chocolate from Cookies & Scream. That didn’t actually change too much, I’ve loved those treats for a while so I just made sure I had some in the house and had that rather than ice cream or biscuits.
I haven’t missed the beer too much, just had wine instead when I was out. Though the brewery is open tonight and that’s a bit sad. We’ve been talking about it though and we’re both feeling, in general, a bit better. It hasn’t had any effect on the neuropathy but to be fair I didn’t really think it would.
We’ve still got a bit more than a week to go in our 2 week experiment (also leaving out the few cigarettes I have a week – that was the trade off with the boy)! But I do think I’ll try to stick to gluten free breakfasts and most lunches and be conscious of dinners.
But I wont leave it all completely. I’ll still head to the brewery for beers on a Friday and if I want a pasta it’s probably going to have to be a real one (though I haven’t tried to gluten free stuff yet – more on that next week). I think I’d rather forgo toast most mornings for a nice hunk of fresh baguette with soup or satay sauce when I really want it. And getting the gluteny fillers off my menu for good is definitely a healthy choice. I am more a whole food person but I do like to snack so it’ll force me to stick to better snacks.
Hope I can inspire some of you to give it a go too! If so keep me posted!
Roasted Veg & Polenta Stacks:
Put a red pepper or 2 in the middle of a shallow baking dish. Thinly slice zucchini and layer it surrounding the pepper in the dish. Sprinkle with a little olive oil (I use a chilli infused one), salt & pepper. Put in the oven on 170 celsius/320 farenheit and cook for about an hour – until soft and starting to brown. Gently pull the top out of the peppers and tear apart and lay on top of the zucchinis. Top with grated mozzarella cheese and put back in the oven.
Put 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan on medium – high. Slice polenta into 1/2 inch/1.5cm slices and fry in the oil on both sides until crispy.
Warm your favourite marinara sauce on the stove.
Stack them on the serving plates alternating a slice of polenta, some veggies & cheese, & sauce. I like to put mine a little off to the side so that it doesn’t topple over.