Back on the road to wellness

I haven't posted much of anything in while and it's been far too long. My hiatus also reflects my temporary abandonment of my gluten-free, vegetarian (almost vegan) diet in favor of being more of a "flexitarian" as my neighbor has called me. Well apparently "flexitarianism" hasn't been good for my health. Last week I had a little flare up of endometriosis resulting in a ruptured ovarian cyst. While I've had them before, before going on an anti-inflammatory, endometriosis diet four years ago, this was the first one I'd noticeably had in about 4 years. I feel fairly confident that this has to do with venturing off the healthy path in favor of being more pragmatic. Well now it's caught up and it was enough of a wake up call to go back to eating the way I know I should. So today I got started and back on my road to wellness and stocked up on all kinds of good things at Trader Joe's: kale, coconut oil, gluten-free pasta, coconut milk, dairy-free cheese, avocados, tomatoes, decaf green tea, organic fair trade Bolivian coffee (for the bulletproof coffee I've heard so much about with grass-fed butter and coconut oil), dry roasted, unsalted pistachios, and several other things.

I've just finished making my mid-day meal, which is a vegetarian pasta sauce over gluten-free pasta. For the sauce: heat up some coconut oil and sauté chopped garlic and onion. Add baby orange bell peppers, spinach, chopped fresh mushrooms, 1 large can of organic diced tomatoes, one peeled and chopped blood orange, a handful of walnuts, a handful of sun dried tomatoes (not the ones in oil, just dried in a bag) and sea salt. Simmer until ready to serve over GF pasta.

The finished dish - the cheese is a soy-free, dairy free
mozzarella alternative. 

Almond milk latte

I'm admittedly not much of a coffee drinker, particularly because I try to avoid caffeine. However, from time to time I really enjoy a good latté, as long as it's made with almond milk. The problem is that most coffee shops - including the major chains like Starbucks - have failed to accommodate the needs of non-dairy, non-soy consuming customers - i.e. people like me. I would love to order a latté in a café, but until such places "wake up and smell the coffee" and realize that there is untapped potential to sell to this target group, my coffee beverages of choice will be consumed in the comfort of my home café.
I make my decaf almond milk lattés usually using a flavored decaf coffee and unsweetened Almond Breeze almond milk. Powdered stevia is my sweetener of choice (also yet to be offered in most coffee shops). I use the eco-pods in my Senseo machine, which is a nice alternative to an actual espresso machine.

Almond milk froths up thick and foamy - you can't even
tell it's not real milk!

Butternut Squash Soup (vegan, gluten-free, soy-free)

This recipe is my version of a recipe I found here. My version isn't much different, except that I didn't use fresh ginger because I didn't have any (powdered worked just fine) and I also didn't have fresh cilantro to garnish so I used ground coriander. I also used Crema di Balsamico to drizzle on at the end and served with corn chips.

Here's my picture by picture instructions. Enjoy!

The ingredients: 2 medium butternut squash*, garlic*,
1 extra large onion*, vegetable broth, coconut milk,
ginger, curry powder, turmeric, salt and pepper
*Denotes fresh, local ingredients from either the Produce Box
or the farmers' market

Dice onion

Add a couple tablespoons of vegetable broth to the pot
and heat.

Add chopped onion to the pot with the vegetable broth
and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes
until translucent.

Add garlic - I used about 6 cloves since I doubled the recipe.

Add 2-3 tsp. of powdered ginger or 1 TBS of
fresh chopped ginger. Saute for another minute.

Add curry powder (I used ginger curry from 1001 Gewürze),
turmeric and mix well.

Add peeled and cut butternut squash.

Add the rest of the broth (for the doubled recipe the whole container).

Mix.

Bring to a boil over high heat.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium.
Simmer uncovered until squash is tender
for about 10-15 minutes.

Add coconut milk (for doubled recipe the whole can)

Blend with a puree stick or in a blender in small batches.
If you don't like coconut milk and still want to keep
the recipe vegan and soy-free, you can use MimicCreme

After blending the soup should be smooth like this.

Add freshly ground salt and pepper to taste.

Stir.

Serve in bowls.

Decorate with freshly ground coriander
and Crema di Balsamico if desired.

Garnish with corn chips. You can also serve with
fresh cilantro. Enjoy!