I recently finished up a series of healthy eating workshops at Whole Foods (South Weymouth) with our Healthy Eating Specialist, Sarah Howes. I'm not going to reiterate everything that I learned, but I will show you how I am applying it. One of our sessions focused on elimination diets--simply put,  removing a certain food from our diet to see how our body responds. We also briefly covered ways that sugar and flour are heavily integrated into our everyday diet and how our body uses and stores these foods. Combining these two elements, I have decided to do a no sugar elimination diet for 23 days.

I can tell already that this is going to be quite the task for me, as I have accidentally slipped up already. I meant to start on September 1st, but in the midst of having guests over I quickly scarfed down my Thai basil and edamame veggie burger without a thought. Where was the sugar? In the roll! Ugh, why didn't I think of that? With attempt #2 on the following day, I specifically picked out the yummiest sugar free lunch but what ruins my meal? A ketchup packet! :( By September 3rd, I realized that sugar is pretty tricky and I must be more careful.

So far I have made it three whole days sugar free! It doesn't sound like much, but I honestly never realized how much sugar I consume. This challenge is already so eye opening for me and I can't wait to see what else I learn.

Berry Sprouted Cereal

Review

Buffalo Cauliflower Bites (without breading)

Serves 2
 
1 head cauliflower, separated into small florets (or 1 bag of frozen cauliflower)
1/3 cup buffalo sauce
1 tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
dash of black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Spread the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden (bake longer for frozen florets).
3. Combine sauce, buttery spread and spices.
4. Place cauliflower in a medium bowl and add the buffalo mixture. Toss to evenly coat florets.
5. Transfer the cauliflower back to the baking sheet and bake for an additional 15 minutes to absorb the sauce.
6. Place with your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy!

Buffalo Cauliflower Bites (with breading)

Serves 2
 
1 head cauliflower, separated into small florets (or 1 bag of frozen cauliflower)
1/3 cup buffalo sauce
1 tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
dash of black pepper
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs or panko crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Spread the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden (bake longer for frozen florets).
3. Combine sauce, buttery spread and spices.
4. Place cauliflower in a medium bowl and add the buffalo mixture. Toss to evenly coat florets.
5. One at a time, place a sauce covered floret into the bread crumbs and roll around to cover thoroughly.
5. Transfer the cauliflower back to the baking sheet and bake for an additional 15 minutes to absorb the sauce and let the bread crumbs provide a crispy coating.
6. Place with your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy!

Review

I am absolutely in LOVE with this recipe. I'm a huge fan of spice and buffalo tenders used to be a favorite of mine before I became vegan. Buffalo cauliflower bites are a nice alternative and a good way to work another vegetable onto your plate without that "ugh, I have to eat a vegetable" feeling. With the breading they are crispy on the outside, but still tender on the inside. I literally crave these now!

Alterations

Don't be afraid to come up with your own substitutions! I've changed it up several times, using vegan mayo instead of the buttery spread to give it a creamier taste when I'm not using a dipping sauce, or changing up the spices that I had to give it more or less of a "kick".


Leave a comment if you want to try this recipe or share some alterations that you have tried!

As you may know, and for those of you who don't, I work at Whole Foods Market. This means that I am constantly exposed to healthy foods, recipes, and nutrition advice. Health Starts Here is a program that is publicized by the Healthy Eating Specialists at each Whole Foods Market location. I've recently decided that I am going to try my hardest to eat healthier and get in better shape. It has been easy to say I want to do this, but actually doing this is a completely different story when I'm working 10 hours a day or taking care of a 3-month-old on my "days off". So in tribute to the Health Starts Here program, I am going to start a FoodieFriday series where I try and re-create at least one of their recipes each week and share them on here with pictures and my review! I hope you enjoy them!

Summer Strawberry French Toast

Serves 4
 
2 cups sliced strawberries
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 banana, mashed
4 pitted dates, soaked in hot water, mashed to a paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
8 slices Health Starts Here 6 sprout rye bread with carawa

1. Pour the balsamic vinegar over the strawberries and cover. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Combine the banana, dates, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond milk in a bowl. Whisk until incorporated.
3. Dip the slices of bread in the batter mixture and let it soak through.
4. Cook in a skillet or frying pan for about 2 minutes on each side.
5. Top with strawberries and enjoy!


I'm a fan of maple syrup and would have added this too if I had some on hand, but instead I went for my mom's homemade jams. Yum! Also, the original recipe called for cinnamon raisin bread, but the store was out when I went so I grabbed a different Health Starts Here bread. I'm sure most breads will work wonderfully. I would also like to try this replacing the strawberry syrup with blended raspberries! Mmm.

My review:

This recipe was very straight forward and easy to make and it smelled delicious. Substitutions are easy to make, as I did with the bread and could be done with the berry topping. I didn't taste much of the banana batter on the finished product and think it would have been better if I let the bread soak longer in the batter. If the banana was more present, these would be perfect!


Comment if you want to or have tried this recipe before and let me know what you think!


Click here for more recipes and to learn more about the Whole Foods Market Health Starts Here program.

How far along? 29 weeks.
Total weight gain? 19 lbs.
Stretch marks? Well. The thing is.... I have yet to figure out what these dark shapes and lines are that are under my boobs. They are getting too big so that I can't see them for myself but I noticed these lines for the first time in the mirror this afternoon before my shower. So devastating! I still have to show Ashton later. But anyway, they could be stretch marks?! :( As soon as I got out of the shower I ferociously slathered myself in my body butter because I felt guilty about skipping out on it recently.
Best moment this week? I had another appointment with my midwife (our appointments have switched from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks now!). Everything checked out great as always and she was super surprised that I am still wearing regular jeans and can button them up normally! She finally mentioned the Tdap vaccine, which I have to get back to her about at our appointment next week but I haven't gotten around to really researching that yet, oops!

My most recent to-do list:

1. Signing up for a labor and delivery class and a breastfeeding class
2. Finally having that conversation with my doctor about delivering at Brigham and Women's
3. Calling my Maternity Support nurse for my 2nd appointment
4. Finishing up Roo's block set since I've been putting it off for a bit now
5. Continuing my failed attempts to get a hold of my landlord so I can get out of my stinking lease!

What I ate this week:

I completely missed taking pictures of our Indian inspired dish with multi-grain rice and grilled asparagus! But as you can see, my little squash actually got to have some butternut squash this week! :) I hope she loves veggies!!!