It's the Little Things in Life. Like Pancakes.

A few weeks into this dairy-free, egg-free life (for me) ~ dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free life for The Mister friends have been asking how it's going.  So I took some time to reflect.

First I forget that I'm not totally gluten intolerant; but gluten is an inflammatory (and kind of useless calories) so it's a good idea to cut back anyway. And in support of The Mister's gluten intolerance I pretty much stay away from gluten. It's just easier when you're making a meal together. I'm a huge butter lover, though, so giving up butter was a tough one. Finding a butter substitute that tastes half way decent is hard enough, but with The Mister's soy intolerance - we were on a mission! Amazingly we discovered Earth Balance "natural buttery spread" with no soy. I was reluctant at first, but tried it on toast and holy moly - it was good! Granted nothing will ever replace real butter; but if you have to substitute, this stuff is good!

Eliminating chocolate from my life (at least for now - maybe forever) was actually easier than I had expected. Thank god I can still have sugar. :) Not eating chocolate has made me realize, however, how much chocolate I used to consume! Most of it was just mindless eating while I was working. 

I tried Jelly Bellies but they pulled off my crown. No bueno.

Dried fruit is ok but more often than not I just resort to these

or fruit or nothing at all.

Once we found a gluten-free, egg-free pizza crust 

we were able to indulge in one of our favorite meals again 

- homemade pizza. 

This one is pepperoni, baby portabellos, red onion, fresh basil, 

goat cheese for me - mozzarella for him.

The Mister makes a mean turkey burger 

(stuffed with goat cheese for me; mozzarella for hiim) 

and hand-cut homemade roasted fries.

And a delicious chicken burger with tomato-mango-onion-cucumber salsa

Our fabulous home meal delivery service The Spicy Radish offers gluten free and dairy free options on almost all their meals and that's a real plus for us!

Like this peanut chicken lettuce wrap 

with cabbage, carrot and snap pea salad.

and this chicken, gluten free pasta and arugula salad with lemon dressing.  

I was so tired when I heated this up last night 

that I put the homemade tomato sauce on the chicken 

rather than the pasta.  Oh well...

and braised pork chop with quinoa, scallion and carrot salad (The Mister's)

and a turkey meatball with gluten free pasta and 

pesto and roasted red pepper.

My go to meal when I'm in Denver is usually sushi

My go to meal when traveling is a Caesar Salad with chicken or shrimp, no croutons, dressing on the side. Because Parmesan is typically sparse on Caesars, I treat myself to a sliver or two. And I realized on my last trip that Caesar dressing is full of dairy; so from now on I'm going to make the unusual request of balsamic vinegar dressing on the side. Caesars are usually consistent; it's hard to screw up a Caesar salad. Trust me, though, I have had couple that were hot messes - or I guess I should say, cold messes.  (Seriously, though, how can you screw up a Caesar salad??)

Chicken Caesar in the Mill District Minneapolis

Chicken Caesar at the St. Paul Grill in St. Paul

Shrimp Caesar at Red Lobster in Ames, Iowa

I mix it up sometimes - a kale, roasted butternut, pine nut and

 goat cheese salad at Napa Grill in Minneapolis.

Fries? What fries? I don't know what you're talking about.

I can eat most meats, but eliminated beef from my diet by choice several years ago. I can eat most seafood, but have had to [temporarily I hope] forego salmon, cod and sole. 

I'm very much a seafood person.

Halibut with roasted tomato and avocado salsa and gluten free pasta

at Crave in Minneapolis

All veggies are good.  

So, ok, you caught me ~ 

sometimes a favorite side dish to accompany a healthy salad 

is a little platter of fries.  

My guilty pleasure. *wink*

All fruits but bananas are ok. (I miss my peanut butter and banana toast.) I miss ice cream and gelato but am testing the water with some coconut milk and almond milk "ice cream." And I really, really miss my peppermint hot chocolate on cold mornings. That's a tough one - it's my true comfort drink on a snowy day.

One thing I have been really craving is pancakes. I was finding it a real challenge to find a pancake recipe that didn't call for an egg. Its easy to substitute gluten and dairy, but eggs?  That's a different story; and I can't eat bananas - sometimes an egg substitute. I owe my sweet and very food savvy friend, Jen, big time for sending me this delicious egg-free, gluten-free, dairy-free pancake recipe!  I substituted coconut milk and brown rice flour.  De-lish! (And yes, I get the irony that Jen's blog is called "Use Real Butter.")

I was in such a hurry to taste them!

They were scrumptious. And they may become a real Sunday morning habit!

This new way of looking at food has its learning curve. I'm grateful for the good things - and yummy things - I can still eat. And I'm learning to look at food as fuel to help my body and mind work at maximum capacity ~ rather than entertainment or reward.

I'm not crazy. I haven't given up everything! I still indulge in certain treats now and then. 

Thank goodness I'm not grape-intolerant. *wink*

And there are other kinds of rewards. Like I have more energy and I'm not getting that mid-afternoon slump as often as I used to. (Unless A-choo has me up and at 'em at 4 am) 

The real bonus? I've lost 16 lbs. in about 6 weeks. 

Can't you tell?  *wink*

And that's just by eating what my body craves to be healthy.

Maybe this will be ok after all.