Dinner Plate Photo: Spinach Turkey Burgers, Salad, Veggies, Fruit

Katy and I had dinner last night before heading off to hike Stewart Falls. Katy is another foodie friend who happens to have celiac disease and some other food sensitivities so our diets are very similar and we talk about food often. Katy has been doing this a lot longer than I have though so it inspires me to hear what she is making and we share favorite recipes with each other.

I love to cook for her because we have such fun talking and experimenting together. And it is thanks to Katy that we have a photo of dinner. She styled the plates and took photos. I likely would have forgotten until the meal was over and then I would have wished I had remembered to pull out the camera.

Menu:

Spinach turkey burgers with almond mozzarella cheese

Spring salad with chopped almonds and apples and Elana's awesome ranch dressing

Zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in olive oil

Strawberry and pineapple salad

Any of this look yummy to you?

Thoughts on Salad

I've been eating salads from Kneaders all summer. It finally occurred to me today that if I'm trying to stay away from gluten and wheat that it might be a good idea to stop buying salads from a shop that primarily sells BREAD.

Today I had the Chicken Ala Mondo salad. It had grilled chicken breast (very tender), sliced almonds, bacon, spring mix greens, red onions and instead of mozzarella cheese I asked for tomatoes. Also, instead of the bread slices they give I asked for cucumbers. It was a yummy salad. I'm trying to form a standard for building a great salad and I'm beginning to think that you need at least 3 kinds of protein and 3 veggies in addition to the greens.

I've never been a great lover of salads. Mostly because the salads I've been the most exposed to look something like this: iceberg lettuce, fake cheddar cheese, heavy croutons, pale tomatoes, shredded carrots, and Ranch dressing. This type of salad is not inspired. It is disgusting. Unfortunately, these types of salads are still often what come to my mind when I think of salad.

What I need to think about are my Kneaders salads: fresh greens, tender, succulent chicken, crunchy nuts, sizzling proteins and luscious veggies. Hmmmmm. Good. That makes me want to eat salad. Every day. 

And that's saying a lot coming from this girl. 

Can I Eat This For Dinner EVERY Night?

My friend Katy hosted her first dinner party at her home since she was married last month. Katy has celiac disease which means she has to stay away from gluten. I'm supposed to be staying away from gluten as well.

• Tamales with/ turkey, green chiles and some with black bean/refried bean mixture


• toppings: sour cream, guacamole, great salsa


• cucumber, tomato (garden fresh) salad--with vinegar, canola oil/olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, dab of mayo


• garden yellow squash stir-fried with sweet onions and then steamed and garnished with olive oil and salt


• fresh pineapple


• fresh blueberries


• fresh strawberries

Can I eat this way EVERY day????

Foods I Want to Eat Weekly

I love listening to Dr. Mehmet Oz. He and Christian Northrup, Jonny Bowden and others are my favorite nutritional/health gurus.

Dr. Mehmet Oz has a great list of foods that have made his Hall of Shame and his Hall of Fame. I have looked for this list so many times that I'm going to make a permanent note of each of them.

Hall of Shame Foods
Sugar
High fructose corn syrup
Enriched wheat flour (white flour)
Saturated fat (like lard that is solid at room temperature)
Hydrogenated oil

Hall of Fame Foods
Olive oil
Garlic
Tomatoes (eat with a little olive oil or raw nuts to digest the lycopene better)
Spinach
Raw nuts
Pomegranates

These Hall of Fame Foods sound great to me. I want my own list of foods that I want to eat each and every week. They include what Dr. Oz has listed above along with a few others.

• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Tomatoes
• Spinach
• Raw nuts
• Pomegranates
• Blueberries
• Ginger
• Onions
• Cinnamon
• Lemons/limes
• Grapefruit
• Apples
• Broccoli
• Salmon

I think those foods would be a great start towards eating better and healthier foods each week. Now if I can just build a menu that surrounds them.

Thoughts on the State of My Diet

A few nights ago I ate that amazing meal at Thanksgiving Point. It was so, so good and I knew it was going to do something good to my body too. All the yummy veggies and the fish, shrimp and scallops just spoke to me. And I was right. About 24 hours later, I felt AMAZING.

That food--salmon, incredible veggies, good fats--does something to me that I don't acknowledge well enough sometimes. That food works with my body and its biochemistry. It works for me. That kind of food often leaves me feeling clean and good inside. Just like that night. The food is fresh and appealing and it is well-prepared with thought and care. (I need more thought and care when it comes to preparing my daily meals).

So, even though I felt amazing, I didn't keep eating that way the next few days. I had burgers and fries and a chocolate shake one day. I had a strawberry shake and a chicken taco the next day, I binged on Saturday morning at the McDonald's drive-thru and purchased their Deluxe Breakfast with pancakes, sausage, egg and biscuit, plus I got an Egg McMuffin, plus I got a cinnamon melt.

All those foods? Left me feeling tired, down, overwhelmed, and bloated. None of them made me MISERABLE, but I certainly didn't feel amazing like I did the day after the lovely, lovely meal I posted about two days ago.

You think in the future I might remember which food is which and choose accordingly.

I can hope.

I Swooned at Dinner

I got to go to a corporate event with my dad the other night and the food was so scrumptious that I had to post the menu. Even the words that describe the menu are yummy! So, drool a bit with me.

Spinach salad with carmelized walnuts, dried pears, gorgonzola cheese and strawberry-balsamic vinagrette
The walnuts and pear really made this salad.

Tomato salad with torn basil leaves and a balsamic reduction with extra virgin olive oil
This doesn't even begin to describe how delicious these tomatoes looked!

Carved marinated shoulder roast with aegean vinaigrette, portabella mushrooms and veal reduction
This was good too, just a little too much on the red side for me.

Seared salmon with scallops and shrimp served with pickled ginger beurre blanc with chive straws
Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy--I love salmon and shrimp and scallops and to have all THREE, well couldn't get any better for me.

Yukon gold gratin potatoes
This dish had some serious pungent cheese on it that made this old standby into a real star.

Fresh spring vegetable sautee
Okay, this dish to me was the star of the evening. I've very rarely had so many delicious vegetables at once--baby carrots, dark green broccoli, yellow squash, spring onions--I wanted to go back for seconds and thirds and fourths. I've got to learn how to put together a vegetable dish this yummy.

Raspberry lemonade
I almost never drink raspberry lemonade--it gives me a headache because it is so sweet. This drink though almost tasted peach to me. The flavoring was very light and the juice thicker--like they had pureed the raspberries and added them to the drink. It was the best raspberry lemonade I've ever had.

Dark chocolate banana creme brulee
Really the only disappointment of the night. My pudding was mostly banana while my dad's had a lovely layer of dark chocolate on top of the banana pudding. But I still ate all of mine!

The food wasn't the only highlight of the evening, but it sure was a star. Now, if I could only replicate all these dishes in my own kitchen. Wouldn't you want to come for dinner?