What to eat when you can't eat anything - Week 8

I can't believe that I've been keeping up with this intolerance diet for two months now! Time really has flown. I'm really starting to feel the benefits now, my dodgy stomach is a thing of the past and I've even lost a few pounds. I think it's mostly because I've cut down on my junk food (my limited options have gotten a bit boring) and replaced my wine habit with spirits diluted with sparkling water, ice and squeezed limes. It's becoming easier to find new recipes and I'm much more confident with my substitutions.

Breakfast

1. I found the perfect breakfast for the heatwave we've been having - and it's such a simple idea that I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself: It's called Overnight oats, where you soak porridge oats, fruit, and whatever you like in milk or a milk substitute and leave it overnight in the fridge to soften. I followed this recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/06/04/blueberry-banana-pie-vegan-overnight-oats/ and it was fast, filling, yet light and really fresh tasting. I highly recommend trying it. I didn't bother with the added granola as it seemed like too much work, and I also used a lot less maple syrup as I don't like overly sweet breakfasts. I'm sure you could replace the oats with rice flakes, millet, quinoa flakes or any other grain if you prefer.

Lunch

1. I found the best bean burger recipe ever when searching the internet for new lunch recipes. And the second best thing about it is that it only takes a few minutes to make, the third best thing is that they're really healthy as you can oven bake them instead of frying them. Give them a try with your favourite burger toppings:

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/black-bean-veggie-burgers.php

I left out the ginger and replaced the celery with finely chopped courgette as I didn't have any celery. I think they're really flexible anyway, you can substitute as much as you like. 

2. Sarah Brown was a guru of vegetarian cooking in the 1980's. A friend of mine donated a cookbook of hers to me a couple of years ago and this Hazelnut and Courgette Loaf is the best recipe I've tried from the book. another blogger posted the recipe here. It's light and delicious and yet filling, and not as much work as you'd think. I used to make it with an orange and tomato sauce from the same book which complimented it perfectly, but since I can't eat oranges at the moment I tried the roasted vegetable sauce from this recipe (I haven't made the nut loaf itself  though) : 

http://kokongalodge.co.nz/cuisine/vegetarian-nut-loaf-with-roast-tomato-sauce/ but only left the veg in the oven for about 20 mins while the nut loaf was baking, it still tasted great. 

I just left the ginger out of the nut loaf and used ground hazelnuts and chopped peanuts instead of ground almonds and chopped hazelnuts and it tasted just as good as ever. 

3. Here's yet another lentil dahl recipe for evenings when you're in a hurry and just want something fast, filling and tasty:

http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/soupschilistews/r/lentildahl.htm 

I just replaced the fresh ginger with some garam masala to give it more flavour, and was out the door to enjoy the weather in no time! 

4. This recipe got mixed reviews in my house. I loved it, and felt so smug for having so many vegetables in one meal. We replaced some of the spinach with courgette (yet again, I know!) as we didn't buy enough spinach. I thought it tasted lovely and fresh but my other half didn't think it had enough flavour. We  just added the goats cheese  to the white sauce to cut down on the work and used more pesto. And when she says 'noodles' she means lasagne sheets. We didn't bother par-boiling these as Biona spelt lasagne sheets cook in 35 mins anyway. Spinach Lasagne

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/garlicky-spinach-lasagna. We served with broccoli and new potatoes for extra veggie smugness ;-)

Snack

1. I had a lot of courgette to use up thanks to the Aldi Super 6 and Chocolate Covered Katie posted an intriguing sounding recipe for Courgette muffins, so I decided to give them a try. They tasted wonderful (and even got the parent seal of approval) but as they weren't really that healthy as they had a lot of oil in them I won't be making them again. I recommend adding chocolate chips to make them more of a decadent treat. And in case you're worried, you can't taste any courgette from them, you just see the occasional fleck of green that reminds you that they're in there and adding vitamins to your dessert:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/04/25/chocolate-chip-zucchini-bread-muffins/