Week 6

We're wrapping up our 6th week on the Clean program, but we've also started incorporating some other things. My sister told me about Udi's Bakery, which is based in Colorado. Her boyfriend has Celiac, so she's been shopping for gluten-free products for a while and has tried pretty much everything out there. Udi's has a line of gluten-free products that are freakin' awesome!

So far, we've tried their gluten-free sandwich bread and their gluten-free chocolate muffins. I don't know how they do it, but their bread is pretty close to normal bread. If you toast it, it's even better. The muffins are expensive ($7.00 for a box of four), but MAN, ARE THEY GOOD! They're better than most conventional muffins we've had. Craig and I were chatting on instant messenger the day that he tried one for the first time. He took a bite and his next message was, "I want to have sex with this muffin."

I want to have sex with this muffin

Something else he said to me a few days prior to the muffin experience was equally shocking. He told me that he thought he needed to be eating more vegetables.

WHAT?!?

After I took a minute to process the words that had just come out of his mouth, I hit the Clean web site and found their recipe section. There was a dish there that featured roasted veggies with quinoa, so I thought I would try that.

I cut up some carrots, butternut squash, and broccoli, doused them with olive oil and salt and pepper, and threw them in a 400 degree oven. I roasted them for about 15 minutes, flipped them around, and stuck them back in for another 15 minutes.

I threw all of that into a bowl of cooked quinoa and voila!

 He loved it. I'm still in shock.

I was lamenting in my last post about how we were starting to get weary of the same foods day in and day out. I'm a member of a message board for moms of preschool kids and I remembered that someone there had posted a recipe for a Thai Peanut Noodle Salad that I'd always wanted to try but didn't, because I knew I wasn't be able to eat regular pasta. I've always been carb sensitive. I love Thai and Vietnamese food, but if I eat a bowl of Pad Thai or Pho, I'm in a carb coma shortly afterward. My head's in a fog, I'm super sleepy and sluggish, and I'm hungry all over again 20-30 minutes later. I've gotten myself into some really bad carb cycles: I get hungry, eat carbs, get hungry again, eat more carbs, get hungry again, eat MORE carbs...so really, the only thing I can do is be very particular about the carbs I eat. I learned this when I read the book The Metabolism Miracle and did the author's three-month program.

So I went to my message board and located the noodle recipe, because I had a feeling I could tweak the ingredients and make it a Clean-friendly dish. So I did!

Here's the recipe:

Mix
6 Tbsp peanut butter Almond Butter
1/4 cup soy sauce Gluten-Free Tamari
3 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp brown sugar Agave Nectar
1 Tbsp hot chili oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Mix with cooked spaghetti quinoa spaghetti pasta, some shredded chicken, cucumbers, a couple chopped green onions. Great served cold.

It was delicious! Craig, however, did not like it. He's not a fan of cucumbers. Whatever. More for me. When I make it again, I'll be adding some bean sprouts, some fresh squeezed key lime juice, and maybe sprinkle some crushed almonds on the top for garnish.

We're planning to continue on to Week 7, but I have a business trip next week to Raleigh, NC. This will very challenging for me. Business travel and eating is always a challenge. But I've already located a place near the hotel for smoothies (though I doubt they'll have almond milk) and for the rest, I'll just have to do my best.

As for Craig, I'll be doing a lot of cooking this weekend to keep him fed for the week.

Wish me luck!