The Anti-Inflammatory Diet: What I Ate, Part 2

Remember that time I wrote a whole post about all the anti-inflammatory-diet-friendly food I ate in one day?

Well, here we go again!

I apologize in advance that I write a lot about food... in Little Happies posts, in travel posts, and especially in these "What I Ate" posts. Seriously, I should rename my blog Blessed to Be Eating or something.

If you want to know more about the Anti-Inflammatory Diet and how long it took me to finally get the hang of it (hint: it took a good long while), check out this post.

And now for some LIVE ACTION news. Here's what I ate TODAY!

Drinks
Water, water, water
Grapefruit sage kombucha

I don't always like kombucha. It usually tastes like salty armpit to me. But someone recommended this exact make and model (errr, brand and flavor) online a few days ago. And it was on sale. And I was thirsty. So I went for it. It was actually quite delicious! Now, perhaps one of you could explain to me why kombucha's good for me?


Breakfast
Smoothie
(almond milk + coconut milk (from the can!) + blueberries + fresh lime juice + honey + ice)

Lunch
Black bean and sweet potato enchilada + avocado slices
(I would have showed you the whole thing, but forgot to take a picture until this point. It was that good.)

Watermelon
Cherries

Snacks
Nachos
Salpica cilantro green olive salsa

Alright, so these nachos were probably my biggest fail of the day. I can't seem to quit you, dairy. Especially cheese. This hunk of leftover monterey jack was just chilling all lonely in the fridge, so I did the nice thing and made nachos out of it. Plus, I had to try out the new salsa I bought. (It was amazing.) At least I didn't go too crazy on the cheese, right? Sorta win?


Dinner
Quinoa tabbouleh salad

No, I didn't eat that whole bowl. That's about 4 servings.


That's all she ate, folks!

Questions about the Anti-Inflammatory Diet? Think I'm still doing alright? Think I failed miserably today? Wanna share some Anti-Inflamm recipes with me? Hit me up in the comments.

Little Happies -- A Little Bit of NYC + Other Stuff and Things

Last week was filled with lots of travel, adventuring, eating, and New York City stuffs. Per usual, I'll write a full recap post with all the deets from our great trip a little later this week. As for today's Little Happies post, I give you a list of random happy stuff that came out of my brain this morning.

And as for whether or not we keep doing this Little Happies thing weekly... I say "let's"! Let's do it. We'll keep up with it weekly for now, but possibly switch it up in the future if necessary. Sounds good to me!

--one--

The show Nashville is one of my guilty pleasures. It's way too dramatic, over the top, crazy pants at times, but I still love it. And I especially love the music. This tune was from one of the last episodes in the first season. I love the harmonies and think it's heartbreakingly beautiful. Hayden Panettiere performed it on the show (her voice is just "meh"), but here we have the two ladies who wrote the song giving it their all. Listening to it gives me goosies every time.

--two--

We bought a Wii (U)!

Our 3rd anniversary is coming up and we thought the Wii U was the perfect shared anniversary gift. It'll encourage more play time together and will make us feel like kids again. It's nice to let go of your worries for a while while working together to beat the computer in a race around Rainbow Road, no?

The four games we've gotten so far are: Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Bros U, Super Luigi U, and Zelda.  What games would you recommend?

--three--

I cantored a wedding!

Yikes, I still feel the nerves just thinking about it. I was a bundle of stress leading up to it, especially knowing that I had to perform Schubert's "Ave Maria," a piece I've never tackled before. Bah! It was scary. But I did it. And I was kindly complimented by a handful of nice people after. AND I got some extra money in the bank. I may be able to find the courage to do it again sometime. :)

--four--

Ok, so these are kinda opposite Happies, but I'm going for it.

First, going off my (anti-inflammatory) diet to eat yummy things I haven't had in a while. When in NYC, I just had to eat bread and bagels and fresh mozzarella cheese. So I did. And it was glorious. That moment when you bite into the forbidden good stuff is just pure bliss.

And then, when I get back to normal life after taking a trip and get back on the wagon, eating only the stuff I'm suppose to, I feel strong, like a dieting wonder woman. Fresh fruit smoothies, here I come!

--five--

A happy little secret for you:

We learned while flying last week that you can, in fact, bring little bottles of liquor through security and onto the plane with you and no one will stop you or make you throw away your alcohol. So we brought some Maker's Mark and Amaretto Vodka along with us and added it to our complimentary beverages. It was way cheaper than the airline bottles of alchy and it put us at ease while we should have been stressing out about whether we'd make our connection (... we didn't, but that's a story for another time).

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The Anti-Inflammatory Diet: What I Ate, Part 1

I'm just a girl trying to master the Anti-Inflammatory diet. I am not an expert. I don't always know what I'm doing (examples ahead), but I'm really trying! And have been trying since last December. 

It's been a slow learning process, folks.

What I know about the Anti-Inflammatory Diet is all based on this special food pyramid from Dr. Weil:

So I try to eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits, nuts, healthy fats, fish, and beans; limit chicken, dairy, flour, sugar, and soy to only a few servings a week; avoid processed crap, peanut butter, and fatty meats. I could be a little off in my interpretation, but that's what I've been aiming for. 

I'm finally feeling like I have the hang of things, sorta, so I thought it'd be fun to start a Things I Ate Today on the Anti-Inflamm Diet series. Don't worry, I'm not going to do this often. I don't want to spam you with diet food porn. No, no. But I think it'll be fun to chat about how I think I'm doing and how you think I'm doing every once in a while. 

Plus, maybe I'll inspire someone who's on the fence about the Anti-Inflamm Diet to give it a try. I sure needed inspiration when I started. I bet something like this would have helped. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be, especially now that I have the hang of it. And it has me feeling much healthier these days, plus it's supposed to help with some of the infertility stuff. Win!

Here's what I ate last Wednesday. And yes, I ended up making healthier choices because I knew you'd all see it later. Thanks for that. :)

Drinks

Water, water, water all day long.

Breakfast

Whole wheat waffle with almond butter and a drizzle of honey

Strawberries

Lunch

Deviled eggs (leftover from a work birthday party the previous day)

The biggest, colorfulest serving of fruit salad you ever did see: blueberries, strawberries, oranges, grapes, kiwis

Snacks

I ate waaaaay too light a lunch to make it to dinner without snacking. So the list of snacks was long this day. I often enjoy a lunch that's comprised of a bunch of (healthy) snacks that I spread out through the afternoon. But that wasn't my plan this day. I was going to try to make it through with that giant fruit salad. Doy. That didn't work. So instead, I hyper-snacked...

2 pickles

Handfuls of smokehouse almonds (They taste like bacon! But I later found out they have lots of icky preservatives in them. Should have read the label first. Boo.)

More deviled eggs

A big slice of watermelon

Strawberries

Dinner

Lemon garlic baked cod

Green beans tossed in olive oil and salt, baked in the oven

Spinach salad with strawberries, scallions, and walnuts + sweet vinegar and olive oil dressing

Well, there you have it! I'm feeling all sorts of vulnerable right now sharing this stuff with you! Eee! Daily food intake feels kinda personal and private, ya know? But I think it'll be worth to share. Especially if you can help me make positive changes for the future. :)

How do you think I did?

Stephanie's Recipes: Gluten Free Mac & Cheese

Be still my beating (now probably more clogged up) heart!

Just when I thought my gluten free-ish, anti-inflammatory diet was going to be super limiting, I found THIS recipe for gluten free mac and cheese and now my life is complete again.

IT IS AMAZING.

Pure cheesy goodness. Nomnomnomnomnom.

Sure, it's a little more diary than my anti-inflammatory dieting mouth should take in, but it's one of those "I'm kinda cheating while still staying within the guidelines" meals. We all need to have our comfort foods every once in a while, right? And honestly, you don't have to feel too bad, since it's still gluten free AND I'm sneaking some vegetables in there.

Them noodles are swimming in the good stuff. This is what it looks like before it goes for a bake in the oven.

Here's my take on this classic comfort food...

Gluten Free Mac and Cheese with Broccoli 

Ingredients
8 oz gluten-free pasta (shape of your choice)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp rice flour
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
4 oz cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz colby cheese, grated
1-2 cups optional mix-ins, such as broccoli, peas, pre-cooked ham or chicken, jalapenos, etc.

Directions
Adjust oven rack to middle and preheat oven to 375.

Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Once water reaches a boil, add salt and pasta. Stir frequentl with a wooden spoon during the first few minutes of cooking. Follow boil time directions on the pasta box and drain when almost tender.

If you'd like to include brocc, add it to the boiling pasta 2 min before the pasta's done to cook that brocc up a little.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and mustard. Cook, stiring constantly, until garlic is translucent, about one minute.

Whisk in rice flour with a wire whisk. Cook, whisking constantly, until thick and light bown, about three minutes.

In a slow and steady stream, add chicken broth and milk. Whisk until mixture thickens. Cook until mixture is thick and begins to bubble. Turn heat to low.

Add cheese, one handful at a time, until incorporated. Stir gently using a wooden spoon until cheese melts. Sauce should be smooth.

Add pasta and any mix-ins to sauce. Stir to combine. Pour into an 8x8-inch baking pan.

Bake until sauce is bubbling and edges are starting to turn golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Adapted from Elizabeth Barbone's recipe at Serious Eats.

Little Happies -- Our First Link-Up!

After posting my first Little Happies post, lots of encouragement poured in. It was so sweet, ladies! Thank you! 

Two bloggers posted their own Little Happies -- ecce fiat & Grace of Adoption -- which I loved reading! Then, several of you suggested turning it into a link up. I researched the process a bit and it seemed pretty doable. The final push came from Amanda over at True, Good, and Beautiful. She emailed me and really encouraged me to make it happen. 

Amanda's husband, Jonathan, created the beeeeautiful graphic you see above (seriously, round of applause for that one!) and through lots of emails, Amanda helped me sort through the nitty gritty details. 

We've decided Little Happies will be a weekly link up on Mondays! Weeeee!!

Now, I must say, I'm a little nervous to commit myself to this. However, my life is so full of little joys, especially now that I'm really trying to notice and appreciate them. So I have a feeling I'll have enough to post about each week. Plus, I figured, if I have to skip a week here and there, you can always still link up to an older Little Happies post. 

As for the number of Little Happies in each post -- I was thinking of five, just like I had in my original post, but then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized, you can't limit happy! So if you have only one Little Happy to share this week, that's awesome. Have a hundred? Well, that's awesome too! No matter the number, we'll all be happy to share in your little joys with you. 

And as for who's invited to join in -- everyone!! Infertility bloggers, adoption bloggers, mommy bloggers, food bloggers, life bloggers, whatever bloggers! 

The only thing I ask is that you keep your Little Happies truly little. What I mean by that is: while vacations and babies and engagements and new cars and new jobs and new houses are all great and well worth celebrating, they're a little too big for what we're trying to do here. Little Happies were started because I felt I was too focused on those Big Happies in life, just waiting my life away, hoping for the big things to happen. I felt it was time for a change, so I decided to turn to the little things to find my joy. And I hope that's what you'll do too. Plus, it's not like your Big Happies can't be posted about in their own special, separate posts. :) 

Overall, I'd really like to approach these posts as little prayers of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father. I hardly do this enough, and when it comes to the little things, well, let's just say God is definitely not getting the praise He's due. So for each Little Happy I post or just notice in my every day, God will be getting a big ol' thank you from me from now on, as He should have been getting all along. 

So, here we go! You asked and now you shall receive. One Little Happy link up, coming right up... 

-- one --

How'd you spend your St. Valentine's day? This is the second year in a row my husband was working late for the holiday. So, for the second year in a row, I hosted a Parents' Night Out fundraiser at our church for the youth group (the teens are great babysitters!). Instead of hanging out at home by my lonesome, I got to play with tons of little cuties the whole night long. These two girlies were my favorite. They would randomly just come up to me and hug me over and over and over. I hardly ever spend time with little kids, so I was more than happy to do it that evening and put my mothering skills to good use! Plus, we raised a bunch of money for the youth group, so win win!

--two--

My youth group kids crack me up. We had a game night two weeks ago and this group decided to play Heads Up. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while! My cheeks hurt from smiling! If you have an iPhone, Heads Up is also an app. I highly recommend downloading and playing with a crowd of friends. You'll definitely giggle lots. 

 -- three --

John wanted to go for a walk after I got off work one afternoon, so we went to our favorite little park and walked laps around this lake, chatting about life and blogging and adoption. Despite the gray skies, we had such a lovely, peaceful time. His cute hat makes me smile too. 

-- four --

I have no idea where it came from, but I've got a serious decorating bug all of a sudden. I just want to buy furniture and posters and wall art and mirrors all the time now. What is this about? I'm not even that good at interior design, so it's not like I have any reason to enjoy it. Weird. But I am digging the fruits of our interior design labor. 

This is one of our recent projects, and I love it. That little stand has turned into board game central; I love that it's so organized now. That mirror was on super sale at Target -- win! The fresh flowers are just gorgeous; I think we have a reason to buy fresh flowers more often now. (Hear that, dear husband?) And that cute framed pic was one of Johnny's St. Valentine's Day presents -- bears hugging each other. Does it get any cuter?

This fancified nook is the first thing we see when we leave our bedroom each morning. That wall used to be completely blank, so it's a lovely treat now and a huge improvement for us. 

Which room shall I tackle next? 

-- five --

I'm serious about this anti-inflammatory diet now, folks. Really. You all must hold me accountable! I really want to go all in for the next two months to see what happens. Can you help me stay on track?

One thing that will be helping me lots is this new pizza joint: Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza. It's kind of like Chipotle, but with pizzas instead of burritos. You pay one set price and then, with all the toppings laid out in front of you to choose from, the pizza dude behind the counter piles on the toppings you pick out. They pop your creation into a brick pizza oven and a few minutes later, you have this delicious beauty staring at you, ready to be devoured.

How is this going to help my diet? Well, they have a delicious gluten-free crust, you see! I put pesto, mozzarella, andouille sausage, broccoli, bacon, jalapenos, onions, feta, scallions, and bbq sauce on this one. Can't wait to go back and create my next one AND not feel bad about it. Because it's anti-inflammatory-diet friendly! Tummy is happy.

-- six --

After I had a particularly rough morning, Johnny decided to spend the afternoon at work with me. I told my coworkers it was "Bring Your Husband To Work Day." They knew I was kidding, but my work is so flexible about have him there with me, so long as I'm productive, they don't mind him being around. 

He drew me a little diddy on my Buddha Board and told me it was how his brain felt about reading about adoption. He was a little stressed by the adoption profile and some paperwork we still have to do and all the adoption books he's trying to read now. So an exploding brain surrounded by exclamation points summed up his feelings well. Ha! He makes me smile. 

-- seven --

This one's kind of a bonus Little Happy for ya. With Ash Wednesday coming up this week, I figured it was perfectly appropriate. A friend shared it with me and it made me chuckle. 

PS - I know I mentioned that this is going to be a Monday thing, but if you'd like to join in and can't write a LH post today, don't sweat it. :) The link up will be open for two weeks, so you have pleeennnnty of time to write your LH post and still participate in the link up. Today, tomorrow, Friday, whenevs. I just look forward to reading along!  

An InLinkz Link-up

Stephanie's Recipes: Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

Back in November, I mentioned I was starting the anti-inflammatory diet.

Well, let's just say I haven't been very good at it. Not so far anyway. I lasted about 2 weeks and then totally caved on a CD1, eating every yummy, gluten-y thing in sight. And then we went away for Christmas and I didn't want to burden anyone with my diet, so I just ate what was put in front of me. And it was yummy. Then, after Christmas, I decided to get back on the horse. Give it another solid try. Yeah, still not 100% successful. Probably not even 50% successful.

But at least I'm trying right? Though, Yoda probably wouldn't be happy to hear that.

"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda

Gosh, he's so harsh sometimes.

Anywho, here's one of the recipes I've tried recently that's helped me get back into the anti-inflammatory/gluten-free-ish swing of things: Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad.

Mmmmmm.

My lovely sister-in-law bought me the Weeknight Gluten Free cookbook by Kristine Kidd for Christmas. I had seen it on Amazon as one of the top-rated gluten-free cookbooks, so when she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her my tummy (and diet) would really like that book. And so she bought it for me (and my tummy and my diet). And thumbing through it the first time, I knew me and cookbook were going to be good friends. It all looked so yummy!

We've now cooked from it a few times, and everything has been delish! So if you're looking for a gluten-free cookbook, I highly recommend it.

Our most recent favorite from the cookbook is the Quinoa Tabbouleh, which we've made twice now. It's so easy, veggie-centric, and tasty! And there's plenty to go around. Our one batch covered three meals. It's really just lovely.

We varied the original recipe just a tiny bit, adding some extra veggies here and there (like roasted red pepper!) and cutting back on the cucumbers and herbs. That's just another thing that's so great about it: you can easily adjust it to your liking. So have fun, be creative, and enjoy! :)

Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 lb cherry tomatoes, halved
1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
6 radishes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, minced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 head romaine lettuce (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions
Place the quinoa in a medium sauceplan. Rince with cold water, drain. Repeat rinsing 3 more times, and then drain the quinoa and return to the pan. Add 1 1/2 cups water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand at least 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Transfer the quinoa to a large shallow bowl and cool to room temperature. (Refrigerate to speed up the cooling.)

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combing the tomatoes, chickpeas, radishes, cucumber, green onions, avocado, parsley, mint, and feta. Add to the cooled quinoa. Add the oil and lemon juice and toss to combine evenly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over chopped romaine lettuce, if desired.

Serves 4-6.

Adapted from Kristin Kidd's recipe.

Stephanie's Recipes: Carrot Ginger Soup

Over the last few days, I've been trying out the anti-inflammatory diet. If I understand correctly, it's basically gluten in moderation, dairy in moderation, and lots of healthy fruits and vegetables. There's a whole balance to it (40% to 50% of daily calories from carbs, 30% from fat, and 20% to 30% from protein), but for right now, I'm just trying to cut out my over-abundancy of daily carbs and focus on eating more greens, beans, and fruity treats. Baby steps.

No, no. I'm not on this diet to lose weight. Though if I did, I wouldn't be too bummed. :)

I'm on this diet because I'm still really worried about my endometritis, AKA infection of the uterine lining. Dr. G isn't too worried about it, but little worry wart me is so extremely focused on it. So I'm taking matters into my own hands and trying to anti-inflame things with this new diet. I have no idea if this thought process is medically sound, but it makes sense to me. If my uterine lining is inflamed with  infection, this anti-inflammatory diet should at least help a little.

My Creighton Model instructor's story also encourages me to give it a try. She struggled for several years with infertility and after all the work up, surgeries, and medications, the fix that finally did the trick was this anti-inflammatory diet. She's since had two precious baby girls. I'm sold.

A few months ago, John and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on a little trip to Nashville and The Inn at Evins Mill. My favorite part of our romantic getaway was the Inn and the delicious meals they served. The night we arrived, we got to enjoy a 4-course meal cooked on site. The first course was a carrot ginger soup; it was so simple yet so tasty. I raved about it to our sweet waiter and he mentioned that the chef posted recipes from his meals on the Inn's blog. When I got home, I excitedly searched and searched their blogs (turns out they have about 10 blogs) until I found the recipe and then promptly forgot about it...

Until now! Because this soup is perfect for my new diet!! Tons of vegetables with a little bit of cream and a whole lotta yummy flavor. Mmmm!

So last night I gave it a go, and after peeling 5 pounds of carrots and chopping a large, pungent pile of garlic, I'm happy to say this soup is just as yummy as I remembered. I probably could have halved the recipe and still had plenty to go around, but I'm thinking this will freeze well, so the tons of soup I made will still be put to good use. Also, if you're dairy free, I imagine you could leave out the heavy whipping cream, or use a non-dairy creamer instead and it would still taste great.

While I'm not exactly sure that I won't cheat from time to time (I already miss quesadillas, cupcakes, and mac and cheese), this is certainly a great way to start!

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients
3 tsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh garlic, chopped
1/2 cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 quarts chicken broth
5 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp lemon zest, finely grated
1 13.5oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
Heat oil in large stock pot on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes. Saute until onion is tender. Add chicken broth, carrots, and lemon zest and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two hours, until carrots are very soft. Puree with immersion blender or food processor.
Stir in coconut milk and cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serving size: 1 cup. Serves 16.

Adapted from William Cochran's recipe.