Jalapeno Cilantro Chicken with Spicy Sweet Potato Rounds

I might be crazy. Actually, anyone who knows me, the Trainer included, would say might skeptically and with a raised eyebrow. This evening I was working out, pumping my heart out on the elliptical trainer and reading a cookbook and thinking about the dishes I had to prepare.

But just a few days after cutting grains and sugar (and cheese) I have so much energy and I'm not pulling myself wearily along, muddy headed and exhausted to the next meal in hopes that food will revive me.

I could have gone on if I hadn't had responsibilities (read: gerbil who needs to be hand fed) and cooking. Last night I was awake until almost 2am and woke before my alarm.

Tonight I made a stab at a version of my father's favorite dish at my parents Asian haunt.

Jalapeno Cilantro Chicken for two

2 boneless skinless chicken breast, in bite size pieces
1/3 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
4 limes, juiced
2 small jalapeno peppers, seeded and sliced
1 small vidalia onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Canola oil

•The night before set chicken to marinate with cilantro and juice of 3 limes.

•Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet and cook the onions and garlic until transparent.

•Turn heat to low and add chicken and marinade. Sauté until chicken is cooked.

•Add jalapenos and a little water if necessary. Simmer for a few more minutes.

Spicy Sweet Potato Rounds

I have to give credit The Good Eatah for planting the seeds of this side dish

1 sweet potato or yam, sliced as thinly as possible
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
Light oil for frying

•Arrange sweet potato on a plate or tray and season both sides of slices with salt and pepper.

•Let stand for10-15 minutes

•Oil and heat a skillet until very hot

•Fry sweet potato slices until they are cooked through

•Remove to a paper towel to stand.

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A New Munch Box and Menu Plan

New York is not a place to go if you're seeking calm and inner peace. It's a pretty hectic place, and my life here is too. One would think, in a city this size, inter-library loans would be fairly timely, but alas, Queens still seems behind the times. I finally got the SCD books I requested and am looking forward to reading them. My future menus will follow the SCD strictly, but in the mean time, I will attempt to use up the last of my forbidden foods. (Even if they are forbidden, the wasting of foods is anathema so, waste not . . .) Saturday is no different, it's really my busy day, the day I try to get everything done, fix any type of complicated food I want to make and stock up the freezer for the Trainer and myself.

But this Saturday, somewhere between taking the gerbil to the Vet, preparing my Burger Mix, retrieving Toni from the vet and finishing all the cooking I had a precious moment of calm with the Trainer. When I got home with Toni, he said put him to bed and come here and patter the bed. I went and laid my head on his stomach. A feeling of peace engulfed me and all the little hamsters running in my head stopped one by one. I remember thinking to myself this moment is precious, don't let it go. The next thing I new I was waking up as the Trainer tried to slip away to eat one of his numerous mini-meals.

Along the way this weekend I also found a new Munch Box. I've been enamoured of the concept of the Japanese Bento Box, but unable to find one that suited me, I found this combination at a local dollar store that seems most suitable. I am inordinately pleased with this new Munch Box. As the Trainer points out, I'm taking lunch and dinner, so I can't really call it a lunch box and it's not really a bento box either.

Here it is all packed for Monday (the little cups do have lids too): Today, Sunday, I caught up with Alyssa and went to the matinee of the new Stars Wars animated movie, The Clone Wars and had a nice early dinner before hitting the gym. She, a Star Wars aficionado, found many faults with the movie. I went to watch a movie and I enjoyed it. The new Jedi student Ahsoka is really cute, and in a way, inspiring.

And now, without further ado, my menu for this week. Notice how I'm getting better at this?

Monday:
Breakfast- egg whites with flax and blueberries
Lunch- Beef Burger lettuce wrap and Carrot Ginger Soup
Dinner- Lemon Dill Salmon Salad with peas and Nonna's Antipasti


Tuesday:
Breakfast- egg whites and Carrot Ginger Soup
Lunch- turkey burger lettuce wrap with Simple Pea & Basil Soup
Dinner- Jalapeno Cilantro Chicken with Spicy Sweat Potato Rounds

Wednesday:
Breakfast- Breakfast Tortilla Roll-Up
Lunch- Sea Bass Papitolle with wilted spinach and Carrot Ginger Soup
Dinner- Beef Burger with Adzuki Bean Egg Salad

Thursday:
Breakfast- egg whites with Carrot Ginger Soup
Lunch- Jalapeno Cilantro Chicken with Simple Pea & Basil Soup
Dinner- Tuna Salad Lettuce Cups and Spicy Sweet Potato Rounds

Friday:
Breakfast- egg whites, blueberries and flax
Lunch- beef burger lettuce wrap with Simple Pea & Basil Soup
Dinner- Whole Foods Surprise

Saturday & Sunday:
Fly by the seat of my pants!

**By the way, my mother never call them left overs, she always insists that they are Planned Overs**

A Friday Hero

A few months ago I reconnected with a girl I went to middle school with. She found me on Facebook and decided to say "hi". We weren't close in school, but us uncool kids had to stick together. So we caught up on each others lives, and of course I mentioned the blog and being gluten free.

Last weekend I got an email from her to tell me that her young son has just been diagnosed celiac and asking for any and all advice I could give.

Of course, I wrote her a very long email with as much crucial information as I could. Wooden spoons, non-stick pans, toaster contamination along with advice and a few recipes. When I got to work Monday I packed up a bunch of the extra sample products I had in my office and sent her a sizable package. (you really won't believe how many samples some of these companies send. I had chebe bread coming out my ears)

Since I'm going grain free, for an undermined length of time, I was planning some sort of give-away, but my friends need prompted me to send everything to her. I hope you all understand.

She got her package yesterday, and her email of gratitude made me feel like a hero for the day.

This is a great end to such a hectic week.


Sent from my iPhone

A Busy Week and Sea Bass Papillote

Sea Bass Papillote

It's been a bit of a busy week so far. The Trainer's brothers forget that just because their schedule has changed, mine has not, and my morning routine's been all thrown off. Beside the fact that I'm having to get up earlier to begin with.

I've been so tired lately. Yesterday there was an emergency visit to the Vet, sans Toni, since he's still losing weight and not eating much. I had to stop by after work and get special food to feed him. Today he's coming to work with me so I can monitor him.

The Trainer is taking an online movement assessment course so that he can move up to the next level of trainer at his gym. He wanted my help and support while taking his test last night, but I conked out somewhere around question 8. I vaguely remember something about him passing, but that could have been a dream. (I hope not)

It's a good thing I prepared my Sea Bass Papillote on Monday, as I've been too tired to cook since.

Yesterday also marked my 1 year anniversary at my job. Outside of college this is the longest I've held a "real" job. Here's hoping this weeks check is larger than last weeks. (I believe I'm going to get reimbursed for the sick days I haven't used)


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Home-Roasted Beef

At Whole Foods this week beef sirloin steaks were on sale at a $2 a pound savings. Last time I got a steak I cooked the bajesus out of it because the Trainer doesn't like rare meat. In fact, he claims it turns his stomach. Oh well. More for me!

This week I was not going to ruin such nice cut of meat. I got the thickest piece they had, and the wheels in my head started turning. This is what spun out:

Rosemary Home-Roasted Beef (I promise I'll post a picture on the recipe page!)

1 onion
4 cloves garlic
6-8 full sprigs rosemary
Juice of 1 lime
Fresh ground black pepper
Sea salt

I started by laying out a large piece of aluminum foil on the kitchen table and then generous amounts of cling wrap

I thinly sliced 1/2 the onion and garlic and arranged the slices on the cling wrap, followed by half the rosemary, roughly chopped/bruised

I scored 1side of the meat and squeezed lime juice onto it. Then liberally covered it with salt and pepper. I laid the meat seasoned side down on the garlic and onions, pushing everything under the steak

I scored, juiced and seasoned the other side and then layered on the rosemary, garlic and the rest of the onion, sliced.

I wrapped the whole thing up snugly in the cling wrap, wrapped the whole package in the foil and put in the fridge to 'cure'.

The next night I fired up the George Foreman grill, and heated up as hot as it would go, 425. When it was ready I in carefully unwrapped the meat and tipped it quickly onto the element, keeping all the seasoning in place.

I cooked it for 10 minutes and then let it stand until it was cool enough to slice.

I sliced it as thinly as possible, trimming the fat, and stored it onions and all in the fridge.


Sent from my iPhone

iPhone! iPhone! iPhone

I am not a person that idles well. I can't really sit still. Stare off into space? Not me!

I need fairly constant mental stimulation. I like to take action. To do SOMETHING. I will read just about anything you put in front of me. And probably knit at the same time. I keep crossword puzzles ferreted away all kinds of places. Unless, and not always then, I'm completely exhausted can I sit still and just 'chill out'

This can drive the Trainer crazy, he's a work hard and then chill out kind of guy. But then again, when he works he works a lot harder than I do.

And that is why this iPhone, this new "toy" is so worth it! I can write posts while I'm on the subway or bus and email them to myself to post ((you'll notice that they may be tagged "sent from my iPhone" at the bottom). I can do research on the bus or the elevated train. And I can read my blogs or chat with friends while the Trainer is doing research or studing on the laptop.

So: hooray for my iPhone! We will all benefit from this new gadget.


Sent from my iPhone

A New Toy, A New Snack and a New Menu

Well, I've been playing with my newest you for the last week (this ones not a kitchen gadget, surprisingly) and it looks like the only thing I can't do with the iPhone, besides julianne potatoes, is post to this blog. If you're reading this, I figured out a way to write on the iPhone and email it to myself to post.

On Friday the Trainer and I went to Whole Foods for groceries and dinner. This is as close as we get to going out to eat these days. We figure it's cheaper and healthier. And at least Whole Foods lists all the ingredients in thief salad bet offerings.

I had a coupon for Mary's Gone Crackers and after checking the nutrition and ingredients we decided that they were acceptable to try. I'm trying to move away from overly processed items, who wants crackers made from chemicals, even if they do taste like their gluten counterparts? And the Trainer is very anti carb, especially for me.

The verdict? The Trainer didn't try them, but I thought they were great. They're more like a conglomeration of grain rolled thin and baked, rather than the more traditional cracker I was expecting. Nice and whole food-y with lots of whole seeds and crunch.

After a baking debacle this weekend, I think it's time I went completely grain free. Does anyone want most of the box of Mary's Gone Crackers? Let me know.

And now, without further ado, my tentative menu plan for this week.

Breakfast: ricotta cheese and homemade granola or eggs and teff-quinoa pancakes

Lunch: Beef, chicken or turkey burger lettuce wraps with boiled egg whites

Dinner: Home-roast beef with grilled onions
Pan roasted Sea Bass with wilted spinach and adzuki beans
Horseradish Dill Salmon salad with peas and Mary's Gone Crackers Caroway crackers.

Between-Meals: Dedicated Woman shake with Green Vibrance and homemade granola bars.

Have a great week!

Sent from my iPhone

Menu Plan Monday...er, Tuesday

Things have been a bit busy around here since Toni broke his arm. Shortly after that I started to feel poorly, on closer examination of his new food, I discovered, and it shouldn't have surprised me, that gerbil food is not gluten free. I thought perhaps that's what was making me so blue.

Then the itching started. Turns out the good word is: I have scabies. So that's what all the horrible itching was all about. Now I just have to take care of that. Anyone have any herbal remedies for scabies? I'm not such a big fan of over-medicating myself.

On a happier note, I keep seeing everyone else's menu plans (and I can't quite get the banner for myself) and I thought I'd follow my fellow bloggers lead and try my hand at it. Since it's supposed to be a way to share with our fellow gluten free folk I decided that someone might benefit from my rather unconventional meal style.

As some may know, my boyfriend is a personal trainer and I am trying to lose some weight and tone up, so that I can look like a gym-rat too. Following his advice we eat about every three hours. Between that and being gluten free we have to plan to take food with us too eat at specific times and meet our nutritional requirements. In doing this I eat pretty much the same thing everyday, but it does require some planning. My daily diet goes something like this:

Breakfast 8am: 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 teff quinoa pancake

Snack 11am: 1 Dedicated Woman protein shake with Green Vibrance

Lunch 2pm: 1 4oz turkey, beef or chicken burger and 1 boiled egg white

Pre-Gym Snack 5pm: 3 hard boiled egg whites and 1 piece of granola bar (a recipe I'm still perfecting to post later)

Post-Gym 7:45ish: Dedicated Woman shake

Dinner 9pm: Dinner varies depending on what's in the house, but is always some type of
protein and brown rice.
example: tuna with egg whites and brown rice
shrimp scampi (watch for this recipes) with brown rice
poached salmon with onion, tomato and brown rice
grilled chicken breast lettuce wrap
scrambled eggs, 3 whites and 1 whole egg

Weekend meals don't really vary much from this, but I often fix something fresh.

My gym routine usually includes 30-45 minutes of strength training and 1 hour of cardio.

(And if anyone is wondering, this routine and eating schedule is working for me quite nicely. My boyfriend and I are happy to answer any type of "diet" or workout questions too)

P.S. As so many of my fellow bloggers do, I am going to give my boyfriend a pseudonym. Rather than use his initials (MM) he will be known as The Trainer.

Toni

As I may have mentioned before, we have two gerbils. One of them just became one very expensive Pocket Pet.

This is Toni, and along with his twin brother Tavo, these two little guys rule the roost here in Queens. Everyone in our household loves these little guys. My boyfriend says that they have changed the whole atmosphere of the family.

So, it comes as no surprise that, when he fell off the kitchen table Wednesday morning and hurt his leg, I took the day off work and took him to Vet. To the tune of I-don't-even-want-to-talk-
about-how-much.


When I was finally able to bring him home in the evening he had been through anesthetic, x-ray, digital x-rays and he now has a cast and "Elizabethan' collar so that he can't chew his cast.

The brothers now have to be separated because Tavo also wants to chew on the cast too. Hopefully we'll get a screen up between them so they can at least talk to each other.

Right now this little guy is the center of my life until he gets better.

I'll get more reviews up soon, and this months Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free (the one where no one cooked) is looking pretty good when my time is devoted to Toni.

Summer Holiday

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July weekend. Our office was closed for the week, so I took the opportunity to visit my parents for a long weekend. I had a very nice time with my parents, and a rather eventful visit.

On first arriving at the Detroit airport I was met by my mom and we headed straight to the ice rink. It was nice to be back in my old stomping grounds, so to speak, and to be back on the ice after not skating for a while.

When we got home I surprised my dad. I had my mom keep the visit under wraps, a birthday surprise for my Poppa. And he was pleasantly surprised. It helps that he's a rather oblivious gent and didn't pick up on the possible clues: cleaning the house, washing the sheets on my old bed, stocking up on gluten free foods, my ice skates arriving UPS.

This is the fat lazy squirrel who kept hanging out on our deck. He made himself pretty comfy. I can't really blame him for being so worn out. It was pretty hot and humid when I arrived.

The heat didn't last long. As we were finishing the really nice dinner my mom prepared it started to storm. The picture doesn't really portray how strongly the trees were whipping around in the back yard.




There was a lot more wind than anything else. The sky didn't even get that dark. After dinner I started to make Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies and halfway through the power went out.

As we went out the next morning the we discovered that a tree in our neighbors yard had split, and the half the fell had knocked over the street light on the corner. We were ultimately without power for about 32 hours.

It wasn't too bad, it was just our area, about a half mile radius, and we were able to eat all of our left overs before they went bad, and we had enough that we didn't have to cook. The power came back on on the Fourth, just in time for our neighbors backyard party. Since they recommend bringing a dish to share. Since I knew there wouldn't be a whole lot for me to eat I took a sausage by Amylu, which my mom likes and are clearly labeled gluten free. And I made a Blueberry Tart to make sure that I would have a tasty dessert. It was nice to catch up with folks I haven't seen in years.

Saturday was my dad's birthday, so we had family breakfast and fixed my folks my Teff Quinoa Pancakes, which they loved. Instead of a birthday cake I made a new twist on my dad's favorite dessert, Apple Vitti, which we enjoyed after taking him out to dinner. Our family's birthday restaurant of choice is The Real Seafod Co., where you get a free meal and dessert on your birthday. They also have a special menu that has all the gluten free options clearly marked. Never the less, I asked the waitress lots of questions and she was very conscientious and wanted to make sure she understood my restrictions. When we had concerns about the flourless chocolate cake the manager came to assure us that it really was gluten free (it looked like it had a crust on the bottom, but I guess that's just the way it cooks).

We had a great meal and a great visit. I've been very busy since I got home. It's taken me a whole week and I finally got to finish this post. I wish I could fall asleep as soon as I turn the TV on like my folks can!