Eliminatron 5000: Day 2

Allow me to pick up where I left off yesterday which was, I believe, putting my meat and veggies into the crock pot.

After completing that task I had about a million random errands to run including finding some gluten- and soy-free miso and tamari. I figured if anybody had it Central Market would but, unfortunately, they did not. In consolation I got a bunch of veggies and this:

Brown Rice Tuna Rolls, with avocado and cucumber

However, after eating it, my tongue sort of swelled up and got really tingly, so, I’m not sure what was going on with that…Did the rest of my errands, got Sadie from daycare (Surprise! everybody is obsessed with her. Is it weird that I’m proud of my dog?) and went home to try to figure out how to bake muffins. Can I describe how confusing and overwhelming it was? I thought I had everything I needed, but then every single recipe I find has things in it that I either don’t have or can’t eat: xantham gum, potato starch, eggs, corn, soy. And then I found this app:

“Cook IT Allergy Free” Recipe App for iPhone and iPad

And this post:

“how to make a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix”

by Shauna of Gluten Free Girl

And I regained hope.

Miso Master Organic Chickpea Miso

I also did some research and discovered that there is a company on the east coast that makes miso and tamari from rice and adzuki beans! It looks amazing but after calling PCC and having them 1) tell me that soy-free tamari didn’t exist and 2) that they did not and would not ever carry it, I got sad and frustrated again. However, I did not give up. I called Whole Foods and not only did they HAVE soy- and wheat- free miso,they very helpfully suggested raw coconut aminos as a substitute. AND, when I showed up to get my miso, which the grocery guy hid for me, he gave me the coconut aminos for free! Whole Foods, you’ve done right by me and earned my business.

Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Aminos

Now that I’ve got my miso, I can’t wait to make a couple bottles of salad dressing. My favorite, which I just invented the other day, is a mixture of white wine vinegar, miso and olive oil. It kind of tastes like Caesar dressing and is just really light and tangy with a little sweetness and earthiness.

The second recipe I’m excited to try is this one:

Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette, from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Anyway, back to the food. The pot roast turned out… ok. I think I might have put to many veggies in, or not enough liquid (none) because both the meat and the veggies were on the dry side and the broth they created, though extremely delicious, was minimal. So next time I think that I will:

Use fewer veggies (I’ll probably just eliminate the rutabaga and parsnip: they were really bitter and the texture was weird)
Maybe buy a fattier cut of meat, and
Add some broth or stock

One of the many things I bought at WF yesterday was a refined sugar FREE bag of Udi’s granola. For breakfast today I had this, with hazelnut milk, coffee (also with hazelnut milk) and a smoothie (spinach, strawberries, chopped mango, 2 bananas and, yup, hazelnut milk). Lunch: I cut up a sweet potato and put it in plastic container with a couple cubes of frozen, crushed ginger. I added some water and microwaved this for about 5 minutes. The results were passable. Not incredible, but definitely edible. In addition: I packed a little container of almond butter and honey to eat with 3 rice cakes, an apple, and some walnuts, dried mango, and dried apricots. Why no veggies? I didn’t feel like/know how to prepare them lunch style and I was in no mood for a salad. (It became winter in Seattle over the course of about 2 minutes last night.)

For dinner tonight I’m planning to make some Dover Sole fillets (I love that this fish is SO CHEAP: fillets are tiny and get even smaller when cooked, but they’re never more than $1.00 each), broiled asparagus, spinach salad with that delightful-sounding fig balsamic vinaigrette, and some experimental baked goods.

Oh, and what I hope to be the most useful information I’ve ever found:

The ratio of whole-grain flour (i.e. buckwheat, millet, rice, etc.) to starch (tapioca, corn, potato) is 2.5 parts flour to 1 part starch. Here’s what I plan on making some biscuits out of: