What to eat when you can't eat anything - Week 2

I still haven't noticed any much change with my health really, I don't have any more energy than I had, but at least my stomach hasn't been giving me any trouble. But It's early days yet, and I'm still enjoying finding new recipes to try out. And as I suspected, I've only been able to meet people for coffee or tea. It can be difficult as well when you can't just grab something to eat for dinner on the way home from work when you're in a hurry and don't have any leftovers. I can see a lot of omelettes in my future! 

I was pretty boring with breakfasts this week and just had the same as last week: homemade granola, oat smoothies and eggs at the weekend. 

Lunch: 

1. Gigantes Plaki (butterbeans baked in a tomato sauce with oregano, cinnamon and parsley) with bread.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12229/gigantes-plaki This is unusual, tasty, and simple to prepare, especially if you use tinned beans. The only flaw is that it takes ages to cook in the oven, so I only make it when I'm ovening something else for dinner.

2. Hummus with a variety of vegetables, bread and salad.

Snacks: 

Curry quinoa crunch (just make sure the curry powder you use is gluten-free, many contain wheat)

http://tasty-yummies.com/2013/03/13/spring-cleanse-curry-quinoa-crunch-gluten-free-vegan/

Dinners: 

1. Creamy cauliflower alfredo sauce

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/05/06/creamy-cauliflower-alfredo-sauce/

This is a really quick and handy recipe when you see a special offer on cauliflower, can't resist buying it, and then don't know what to do with it! 

2. Buckwheat noodles and vegetables with peanut sauce 

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/06/pasta-and-vegetables-with-_115029395634594142.html 

This was like a simple satay sauce. I had to make a few substitutions, and I think that ginger would have tasted better than the galangal but it was really enjoyable anyway. (i also used Braggs aminos and left out the carrots) and I served with buckwheat noodles noodles instead of pasta.

3. Black bean enchiladas

http://ohmyveggies.com/black-bean-enchiladas-with-roasted-red-pepper-cashew-cream/

I had to make this with a white sauce with added nutritional yeast as I can't eat cashews. It was nice, but I bet 

the cashew cream was even better! The recipe says to drain the liquid from the beans when you cook them, but the first time I made this I forgot to and it made it much tastier. I also made my own simple salsa, as I find bought salsa is very salty and expensive. My recipe is just chopped tomatoes, garlic, red onion, red chilli, fresh coriander and black pepper.

4. Butternut squash lasagne with goat's cheese, sage and breadcrumbs.

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/butternut-squash-lasagne-goat-cheese-sage-breadcrumbs.aspx

I made this at the weekend as there was a little bit of work involved. I roasted the butternut squash the day before when I was cooking the enchiladas, to save time and electricity and added an extra clove of garlic :) I didn't try to substitute the Pecorino Romano (similar to Parmesan), I just left it out and it was still delicious. 

Dessert: 

I was getting tired of dark chocolate (which is probably a good thing, as I used to eat too much chocolate in general) so to make it more of a treat I decided to add my own flavourings. I used a silicon egg poacher to melt a few squares of dairy-free chocolate and stirred in a few drops of peppermint food extract. When the chocolate had solidified again, I simply peeled the chocolate out of the egg poacher. No waste, no fuss, and I had some tasty mint chocolate. It just doesn't look very pretty unfortunately. This also worked well with a little bit of spiced rum and some raisins. Cayenne chilli chocolate is next on my list to try :D