Gluten-free food log, day 11

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Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Today, a proper food post again.
Last Monday I had the day off and took advantage of that. Mostly y doing bugger-all, but I also thought I’d stop by the floating Chinese supermarket. Some of the food I got there I had for lunch that very same day, but some things needed more preparing.

Like these things:

I already had the smoky tofu and I got the ginger today, but the long, thin aubergines and the gai choy I got there. I also got some rice noodles (and green tea noodles, but those’ll have to wait as they’re wheat ones). My standard idea with this kind of food is to chop it up and fry it, and that’s exactly what I did here.
First I fried the chopped up tofu, then I added some chopped onion, then I added one chopped aubergines (haven’t thought of what to do with the other two. Suggestions most welcome), and then I added the chopped gai choy in batches and let that get all nice and wilty.
When the veg was pretty much done, I fixed up some of that rice noodle (only required three minutes in warm water. Most convenient) and added that to the pan.
At random points I added bits of a gingery sauce I’d made which was basically ginger, tamari, some spices, and a lot of water since used the wrong grater an had to rinse it to get any of the ginger. D’oh! Worked out okay, though, what with basic evaporation and all.

Result:

I didn’t expect much flavour from the rice noodles, but they were actually quite nice. Not a very strong taste, and it’s possible they got a good deal of the flavour from the sauce, but that doesn’t really matter if it tastes good, now does it?
As I only used about 1/4th of the package, I still have a fair bit of the rice noodle left, and I look forward to trying more things with it and finding out just how much flavour it has.
Apart from that and the two other aubergines, I also have a good bit of the gai choy left. I’m thinking of making some kind of soup with it or something. Just your basic boil-n-blend. Or blend-n-boil. Not sure about the specifics yet apart from the general idea that perhaps aubergines should not be added to it.

Gluten-free food log, day 10

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Snacks

Remember when I went to Germany a while back? Yesterday someone from the band sent me a video of the massed bands bit from one of the evenings.
So now here for you, Highland Cathedral:

Gluten-free food log, day 9

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Dinner

Snacks

Today I had two views from people who found my blog by typing “funny licence plate words” into a search engine. Huh. Some of the twig-related search terms that lead people to me may be a tad weird, but at least I can see how those lead here. Licence plates? Not so much.
Still, it is funny.

Gluten-free food log, day 8

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Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Gluten-free food log, day 7

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Gluten-free food log, day 6

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Gluten-free food log, day 5

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

I only realised it today, but I think this kind of eating is doing something to the way I crave food. My food cravings were never particularly strange to me, pretty basic stuff. Like, I’d only just be done with dinner and still be feeling full but I’d already be thinking it’d be nice to have something else, just to nibble. Or I’d get me some biscuits and I’d be likely to eat the whole roll rather than stop after one or two. And I’d not especially enjoy it, either.
Basically, if I had some easy snacky food around, I would eat it and I would want more, regardless of whether was actually enjoying it. And if there was more available, it would usually get eaten.
These last few days, however, I felt done eating for a while after a meal. I had the occasional thought popping up about getting some snack, but that seemed to be more out of habit. It didn’t lead to me actually being interested in more food. Also, a few days ago I brought along some biscuits as a snack for on the train. It took no effort to save some for the journey back, and when I’d eaten them all I didn’t wish I had some more. It didn’t even take any thought. It wasn’t until this afternoon that I realised it.
Food just hasn’t been on my mind as much, yet I’m very comfortably eating when I want.

Today’s snacking was mostly due to dinner delay and felt like a more rational and calm (and less lazy) thing than the food cravings used to.

By the way, someone found my blog by searching “gluten-free vegan daily plan”. While I keep this food log, I don’t actually have any kind of plan. However, over at Frugal Abundance, Maggie posted one (as a PDF file) a while back. It’s not vegan, but it’s gluten-free and casein-free and could probably be made vegan without too much effort. It has a lot of detailed information like a shopping list, recipes, and a work schedule.

Gluten-free food log, day 4

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

So far I’m not noticing anything particularly different about my general well-being, though I am fairly mellow for someone who’s been a bad girl about going to bed on time lately.
I went to the organic supermarket after work to buy some fruit and veg (and buckwheat! The roasted kind) but I forgot to buy me some tamari. That kind of sucks. I guess I’ll have to go back for it later.

The leftover coriander leaves and the minty Moroccan tea I made earlier with mint still left over made me think I should maybe make me some vaguely Moroccan food. Like couscous (yeah, that’s pretty much as far as my knowledge about Moroccan food goes. I’m vaguely aware of the existence of tajines, but have no experience with them), but without the gluten.
So, quinoa. I’ve had some around for ages, but I rarely do anything with it, which is a bit of a shame. This seemed like a nice opportunity to use it.

Stuff I used:

I totally forgot the bell pepper I had laying around. I guess I’ll find some other use for it later.

Anyway, what I did. I thought I’d have a try at writing it up with a bit more detail for a change.

First I roasted some spices (yellow mustard, coriander seeds, cumin) in a dry pan before bashing them using the ever-lovely mortar and pestle. I didn’t use too much, next time I might use a bit more.

After that I fried the chopped smoky tofu and onion together in some oil for a few minutes. Until the tofu had a nice, crunchy exterior.
Then I added the chopped courgette and let it brown for a bit.
Then the mashed garlic.
Not long after I added the chopped carrot and the chickpeas. It was about here that I added the bashed spices.
Then I added the chopped tomato. I grated the lemon peel from a few days ago and sprinkled it on.
I’d put the apricots in some water to soak. No clue if this is in any way useful, but I did it anyway. After adding the tomato I took them out of the water and chopped them before adding them to the frying pan.
I rinsed the lemony grater in the soaking water and then added the soaking water to the frying pan before putting a plate on it so it could simmer covered-like for a while.
Near the end I put on some freshly-ground pepper, some salt, and some harissa
The whole time I made sure to stir regularly.

During all this I’d also put on the quinoa (which I didn’t stir), with one part of rinsed quinoa chucked into two parts of water. More-or-less, anyway. I fear I may have used a little too much water. Apparently I suck as much at quinoa as I do at couscous. I didn’t end up with particularly much of it here, either.
When the quinoa was done, I put it on my plate and mixed it up with some chopped coriander leaves. I didn’t use nearly as much as I expected I would, so I’ll have to think of another thing to do with what I have left.
When the mixing was done, I added the veg to my plate and took a picture (see below). After that I put on some more veg and stirred it all up and ate it.

Result:

I’m pretty pleased with it. Especially the addition of the apricots. They add a very nice flavour.
Next time, though, I’ll add a little more of the dry spices. I’m content with the amount of coriander leaves, but all other things could be used a little more liberally, just to make the flavours that little bit stronger.

I’m really liking this smoky tofu. When baking it, I feel as if I should be adding some keukenstroop to it, as if it’s bacon pancakes.
The smoky flavour was a little lost in this dish, though. Soaked up too many other flavours.

ETA: Adding a bag of basic green tea improved the flavour of the mint tea. It doesn’t seem to have added any noticeable flavour of its own, just enhanced the minty flavour. A bit odd, but I’m not complaining.