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.

An Afternoon of Favorite Things.

I'm pretty easily pleased but I have to admit when The Mister and I discovered the Landmark Theater not far from our home, I quickly became one big theater snob.  

We reserve VIP seats online a few days in advance, walk into the theater, enter our confirmation number in the little magic machine and our tickets spit out.  We get a special number for the VIP restroom (no waiting in line and it's super clean and pretty) from the kid at the desk. 

We are ushered to our seats and the very friendly server takes our order (which he/she will deliver to our seats) - anything from a meal to Junior Mints to popcorn; soft drinks to beer, wine or a cocktail (soft drinks and popcorn are free btw) - and we settle into the giant leather recliner like-seats to enjoy our chosen flick of the day. 

And the best part (as if all that wasn't fantastic)?  No kids.  I have never seen anyone under 18 in the theater. And that, my friends, is by design. I don't know that it actually says anywhere that kids aren't invited to the party, but it is "understood." I have nothing against kids, but we've all had our less-than-happy movie experiences where crying babies - or God forbid teenagers and their cell phones - are present.

So, yes, my name is Cindi and I'm a Landmark Theater snob.

Yesterday afternoon it looked like rain

Although, much to our dismay, I don't think rain ever really materialized.

so I donned my new Toms kicks

Not only super cute and comfy 

but Toms partnered with Charlize Theron

and her African Outreach Project which

helps protect African youth safe from HIV/AIDS

and a portion of the sale of these shoes

goes to her charity.

and we were off to Landmark to let Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy keep us laughing thru a couple of hours of The Heat. And laugh we did. What a duo!

From there it was onto another of our favorite haunts Sur le Table.  Always dangerous... We were just going to stop by and check out a new Wűsthof knife I had been coveting. 

Of course we just had to have it to add to our collection.

(It actually is pretty cool - 

fruits and veggies don't stick to the knife when you slice.)

And - of course - we found other things we just had to have...

Prying ourselves out of the store before we broke the bank, we ventured on to another favorite haunt Hillstone in Cherry Creek for the sushi I crave every now and then and won't shut up until I get my fix. 

And refreshments were in order as well

Although The Mister's Moscow Mule was tasty

it just isn't quite the same when not prepared properly as he does at home

in his copper cup.

So that was my Saturday of favorite things.  It is delightful to have a little time to have a life. 

However short-lived that may be. *wink*