Pretty Delishus

Okay, so plans went awry when my mom didn't pick up basmati rice for me.  So I tossed out my original plan (I'm still dying to make some delicious saffron rice, though) and I ended up thinking it was time to use up the french green lentils I'd gotten on a whim about two weeks ago.

I chose this recipe and set out.

The whole adventure is documented here at mah Flickr account should you want to see more than just the meal before I chowed down (I did sneak in for some pepper as I was waiting for everyone else to sit down for dinner, though). 

Tonight!

It shall be an extravaganza!

I have been dying to make this Kesar Chaval recipe.  This dish is one of my favorite things about the Indian restaurant I used to go to all the time (note: currently, I'm waiting until I've added back in citrus to resume more of the dining...lime/lemon is in everything). 

So, to get my fix, I've decided to finally try making it at home.

I also need to monitor my spending better.  Partially I've been inspired by the $30/week challenge (blogged by these fine folks here) and also that I have many hobbies that are all expensive--knitting, marine nano-reef, kayaking--so I'd like to spend less on food.

So, if this recipe goes well, I'll have some rice in the fridge waiting for some lentils.  How to cook the lentils though...

I do have to say though, I'm tired of all the vegan blogs being GLUTEN GLUTEN WE MUST HAVE MORE GLUTEN.  Very disappointing.

Feeling like a Gluten Zombie

Tonight I nearly cried watching my mother cook a huge pot of spinach linguini and then dump a bunch of mozzarella and parmesan on top...

Meanwhile, I stood at the stove cooking quinoa and corn pasta curls, ready to mix in a package of prepared Kashmir-style lentil dish.

The dish ended up tasting pretty good, but it was still mightily depressing.

Trying to figure out if I am, in fact, sensitive to sugar.  In the meantime, I'm thinking about all the foods I can still add back in.  Cocoa is planned to be next for now, but if I can't have sugar, I'm skipping this one (cooking chocolate, anyone?) and going straight to citrus.

Welcome, I Think

Now I'm posting about food. Oh geez.

I'll start with the introduction, I guess. Over the past several years, I have consistently complained about my fatigue and various other symptoms to my physician. Over the last year I've had major blood tests run three times--all inconclusive (thyroid levels all normal, no anemia, etc.) and finally it was my therapist who suggested that I might have a food allergy.

Now, I eat some foods but I LE PICKY. I am currently an un-committed vegetarian (Oh bacon, our love affair might never end) but there are a lot of foods I refuse to eat. Salad and tofu being among them. I can do it (at least for salad, most tofu-y soy products have me gagging...hard) but they are really unenjoyable. I do however, love most other vegetables and fruits, so in that way it could be worse.

As part of this 'Determine Your Allergies' diet, I went to a nutritionist who helped me set up a plan and figure out what order I would be adding foods back in...

That's right, "back in" as "take them all out."

Pretty much, I'm impossible to feed right now.

I cannot have:

- wheat gluten
- corn
- milk proteins (oddly enough I can still have butter because it has very low levels of milk protein/lactose--it's all fat)
- soy
- eggs
- food colorings
- food preservatives
- citrus

It's really, really hard.

I've just started adding in foods again (yay!) and the first one up was cheese (milk proteins, really, but I ate cheese because I love cheese) and it's already likely that this is one of the foods I am sensitive to. I'm not sure if there will be any else, but I thought that over the course of this experiment, as I added back foods, it would help to blog and share my "airitarian" experiences.

I hope to post recipes I make with my allowed foods and pictures of finished meals.

On the plus side, since I am essentially persona non grata at any restaurant, I have saved a ton of money.