By request: What I eat...

[Guest guest]

No, I don't mind at all!

First of all, I drink 2 or three cups of tea daily and

a lot of water, but probably not as much as I should

(although I'm working on it).

I don't drink many herbal teas... green, oolong,

black, sometimes earl grey... some of them are

flavored, but I make sure none of them have " natural

flavors, " " citric acid " etc. on the labels. For

example, my ginger peach tea has black tea, ginger,

dried peach, and natural peach and ginger flavors...

which is different than the anonymous " natural

flavors " which can be a wheat-based flavor enhancer

(similar to MSG).

I've never been a soda drinker and I gave up coffee

about 9 years ago. I don't drink juices. I'm just not

into flavored drinks and never really have been. I

usually drink a glass of wine while I'm cooking

dinner, and if I'm feeling wild, I like 100% agave

tequila or 100% potato vodka (Chopin... expensive but

yum!).

What I ate --

Yesterday's breakfast was two slices of gluten-free

rice bread toasted (it's really good toasted!) with a

good natural brand of cream cheese (Kraft brand works

too...). I like the Ener-G brand of bread which I

think is available in health food stores all over.

I had lunch at home, late, because the computer guy

was coming to fix my modem... it was a cheese

quesadilla made with a corn tortilla, and a salad with

a dressing made by a company called Annie's Naturals

that actually labels most of their gluten-free

products as such. They're really popular out here and

get a lot of shelf space, even in the non-organic

supermarkets. Good caesar dressing and others, too.

Now, remember, I live in Northern California and

small-manufacturer organic foods aren't hard to find.

There's a company right in my county that makes

outrageous hand-made tortillas and tamales that I've

come to rely on, for example.

But it didn't happen by accident, I read labels and

sought out brands that I trust. I tend towards the

organic, crafted types of foods rather than the

" dietetic " . They always seem to taste better.

Last night I had rice and a chicken breast that I

baked in the oven with lemon slices, capers, and a

little white wine and garlic. I tossed some toasted

pine nuts on. Also, steamed broccoli. There's a great

company out here, based in Santa Cruz, called Wildwood

Foods (I'd be suprised if they ship out of state).

They make a mayonnaise-type garlic aioli that is

absolutely wonderful. It's eggless (not that it

matters to me) and is made with soy protein. I know it

sounds gross, but it's better than Best Foods

(Hellman's east of the Rockies!) and my mayonnaise

loving husband will attest to that.

I had ice cream later with my son. Many of the Breyers

flavors are gluten-free... including vanilla and

peach. I had peach with a little caramel sauce from

Whole Foods (sugar, corn syrup, butter, cream, and

vanilla).

This morning (Saturday) my husband and I had a late

breakfast -- we had chicken quesadillas, with some of

the leftover chicken and a little grated Monterey Jack

cheese.

Lunch was a salad with a dressing I made with sesame

oil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I threw in some

toasted almonds and sunflower seeds.

Because many commercial snack foods are loaded with

flavor-enhancing ingredients (like autolyzed yeast

extract, monosodium glutamate, natural flavors, mono

and di-glyerides, citric acid, and modified food

starch, or just food starch) that can be, and are,

mostly wheat-based, I don't eat a whole lot of them. I

do toast nuts for us to use in recipes, and for

snacking, and also eat raw nuts. I've found that I can

simply stir raw almonds up with some wheat-free soy

sauce or ume vinegar or other flavoring and then bake

them at 250 in the oven until they're crisp. They're

really good as a snack and in salads, pastas, over

rice, etc. Really inexpensive, too, compared to Blue

Diamond Smokehouse almonds, for example... and making

them is a no-brainer!

Tonight for dinner we're having chicken-apple sausages

with a rice-based pasta (hard to tell the good ones

from wheat... we like Tinkyada brand) tossed with a

great local olive oil and parmesean cheese (the real

thing, no fillers!), artichokes, and salad.

That's pretty much it. Obviously I'm no dietary saint.

It's all gluten-free, but nobody's miserable or

starving.

There's a Chinese restaurant near where I work, and my

life-saver lunch is either something like prawns and

vegetables with white rice. I order the entree plain

and steamed, without sauce, and put my own wheat-free

soy sauce on it.

I also love sushi and all kinds of fish.

My downfall is chocolate -- but I try to stick to

really pure brands. My all-time favorite is English

toffee. I think I may be mildly allergic to chocolate

because even the best will make me flush or breakout

sometimes... but not often enough or badly enough to

get me to quit!

Last, but not least -- because we eat rice frequently,

I bought one of the fancy European pressure cookers so

I can make rice, beans, vegetables, etc. more quickly.

Most I take a lot of time reading ingredient lists and

then try to prepare food pretty quickly. I like

prepared foods that have a short list of ingredients

that I don't have to pick through or use a dictionary

to figure out!

Does this help?

Suzi

__________________________________________________