Life After Bread

A journey towards a new beginning. The carbs didn't fit in my suitcase.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Remy's Ratatouille

Man, I have been MIA for a while!  Thanksgiving was absolutely nuts, and I ate more than my fair share of high-GI foods.  Weirdly enough, I had gotten so used to going without it, that all the bread and pie and cake and stuffing made me feel kinda sick and really sleepy (NO, it wasn't the turkey!).  I also had a pretty killer headache for a while, and I think it's from all of the foods I wasn't used to eating anymore.  It was definitely confirmation that this new diet is the healthiest thing for me right now.

I was watching one of my favorite Disney movies the other day, Ratatouille, and I always wind up so wowed by all the beautiful dishes that Remy creates.  I know, he's a cartoon rat, but seriously everything looks so yummy!  I'm always especially floored by his version of ratatouille that is served at the very end of the film.  I've had ratatouille before, but always as a peasant stew with chunks of veggies.  It's good, no doubt, but there's something about the delicateness of this particular dish that takes it from a comfort food to something really special.

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 pint of grape tomatoes.  Or any tomatoes, it doesn't really matter

1 shallot

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 red bell peppers (I sliced two but only used one.  A bigger chafing dish would use more of them)

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

salt and pepper

olive oil

parchment paper

You can also add in eggplant like the traditional dish requires, but eggplant's gross so I left it out.  If you do use eggplant, I'd advise just using one, and try to find the Italian eggplant in your grocer's produce section - they're smaller and will give slices similar in size to the squash and zucchini.

Preheat your oven to 375F.  Toss the tomatoes in a blender and puree them.

This was round one.  I had to add more tomatoes.  This is about a third of a pint.  I wound up using half of the pint before I was happy with the amount of puree.

Pour the pureed tomatoes into the bottom of an oval chafing dish.  I don't have one, so I just used a 9" round pan.  Just make sure it's round.  I tried this in a square dish - bad idea.  You can't layer veggies in concentric circles in a square.  You can try, but don't.  Trust me.

Next, slice your garlic into paper-thin slices.  Thin slices is the name of the game here, people.  With the exception of the onion, everything will be thinly sliced.

Mmmm, garlic.  My favorite!

Dice your shallot.  You can use a regular onion, but why would you?  Shallots are delicious!

I got bored with dicing, but I think next time I'll dice the onions a little finer.

Dump your onions and garlic into the tomato puree, drizzle on about a tablespoon of olive oil and mix it up.

Pre-mixing.  There is no post-mixing picture.  Use your imagination.

OK, for the veggies, we need them pretty thin.  If you don't have a mandolin slicer, you need a really sharp knife without a serrated edge. 

First, the peppers.  Carefully remove the stem and the seeds with it by cutting around the stem.  Remember in old cartoons where one character would cut through the ceiling right where the other character was standing?  That's pretty much what we're doing.  Pretend you're Roadrunner and the core of your pepper is Wile E. Coyote.  Or, if you never had a childhood, ignore me.

Slice off the top, but leave the bottom for some stability when slicing (especially if you're doing this with a paring knife).

Slice the pepper really thinly, discarding the bottom when you get there.

I wish I could have gotten these a lot thinner, to be honest.  Either way, they were delicious!

Next the zucchini and squash.  Same deal.  As thin as you can slice them while still leaving them whole.

Pretty colors :)

Alright, now layer all of them in concentric circles starting at the outside of your dish.  I had to cut my pepper slices in quarters, unfortunately, because they were just so much bigger than the other two veggies.

Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, add some fresh thyme (remove by running your hand along the sprig in the opposite direction of the way the leaves are growing), and drizzle on another tablespoon or so of olive oil.  Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit.  The easiest way was for me to put the dish on top of a piece of parchment paper, trace it, and then cut it out.

Let them cook for about 45-55 minutes while you catch up on last night's Glee and swoon over Darren Criss.  You can't tell me I'm alone there!  He's so pretty!

When the veggies are tender, but not yet brown on the edges, and the tomato sauce is bubbling up the sides and through the veggies, it's done.

How delicious does that look?!

I served mine in a neat little stack topped with some fresh goat cheese and a sprig of thyme.

Confession: plating this made me feel like a contestant on Top Chef.  If only...

I just love all of the bright colors in this version of ratatouille.  It was a little involved, but definitely worth the effort.  I have so much left over, too!  I think I'll bring it to my friends and share the love :)

Happy cooking!

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Dry-Rubbed London Broil

Before we get to the yummies, I have to share what my awesome weekend has been like thus far:

This morning, I did a load of laundry.  Unbeknownst to me, every pair of pants that I own was in that load, and I couldn't wear a long-sleeved dress because I hadn't shaved my legs and I was in a rush.  Dammit.  I didn't even have yoga pants that I could throw on.  Literally half of my closet was either in the washer or drier.  In my closet I have this contraption that's a bunch of cube-shaped shelves.  You know, the ones that you can put the fabric drawers in?  In one of the bottom cubes is the shelf.  You know what I'm talking about.  Everyone has one.  It's the drawer at the bottom of your dresser, the hangers at the back of your closet, or the bottom cube shelf.  It's the pants that no longer fit you, haven't fit you in years, but that you're saving "just in case." 

There are about 5 pairs of pants in my cube.  One pair is ripped, and has been for a while.  Don't ask why I'm saving them.  I don't know.  The others wouldn't have fit without some fishing wire, crisco, and saran wrap.  I grabbed the most promising ones.  The last time I tried to squeeze myself into these, it ended in tears and a pitcher of margaritas.  I wasn't alone, so stop looking at me like that.  Not only did I get these jeans past my thighs and ass, but they buttoned!  And then they zipped!  They were a bit snug, but I don't even care.  I wore those jeans (with a baggy t-shirt, obviously) with pride today.  It's an awesome feeling, and I just hope that I continue to have more of those experiences.

Also, yesterday, I won my very first contest ever!  My puppy, Webster, and I went to a dog festival last weekend, entered a raffle, and won a free tooth cleaning for him and a basket full of puppy goodies!  I was too excited! 

And then, to top it all off, I made this dish.  And it was fabulous.  I hope all of my weekends are this amazing!

OK, to the food.  London broil was another staple in our house.  My mom marinates hers in something delicious (mom, can I get that recipe?), but I'm suspecting that the sauces she uses are chock full of sugar and ingredients that I don't have in my pantry.  So I used a dry rub instead.  It was on the zingy side, but it was really delicious and would be the perfect meat in steak fajitas, in salads, in pasta on your cheat days, whatever floats your boat!  If you don't like things to be so spicy, I'd recommend lessening the amount of cayenne pepper.

Here's what you'll need:

1-2 pounds of flank steak

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper or chili powder.  Less if you don't like a lot of heat

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sweet paprika (not pictured because I forgot about it at first)

Turn your oven to broil, and place your steak in a roasting pan or broiling pan.  I used my glass Pyrex.  I cook everything in Pyrex.  I don't know how I survived without it for so long!  Add all of your spices to a bowl and mix them together.

Rub it on both sides of your steak.  I didn't use nearly all of this.  Maybe 2 teaspoon per side for a 1-lb. steak?  The rest I saved, though!  This will be amazing on everything!

Pop this in your oven about 4" from the heat (which is coming from the top of the oven if it's on broil) or as close as you can get it, and leave the door ajar to circulate the air.  A note if you're using glass: make sure that your steak and glass dish are at room temperature before sticking them in the oven.  Otherwise, there is a possibility that the glass could shatter when exposed to such high heat.  You've been warned.  I tend to keep my glass dishes on top of the stove while the oven is heating to bring it to a little warmer than room temperature just to be on the safe side.

If you like your meat on the rare side of medium-rare, cook a 1-lb. steak for 10 minutes, turning halfway through.  For medium-rare to medium, 15 minutes should do it.  Try not to cut into the steak while it's still cooking.

Pull the steak out of the oven, and let it sit for about 10 minutes on a cutting board.

Using a sharp knife, cut the meat against the grain into thin slices.

This is about 12 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!  This was really delicious.  I re-heated it a couple of days later and topped it with some queso fresco and served it with a side of grilled pineapple (no recipe needed: skillet + butter + pineapple; lightly brown on both sides, about 5 minutes).  I usually hate leftovers, but this was really, really good!

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken

The first time I ever had this dish was when Nate made it for me.  How much cooking he actually did varies depending on who you ask.  I say that once the other person has to get off the couch to define things like "butterfly" and "deglaze", and then finally step in before you burn the apartment down, you didn't cook all by yourself. 

Just sayin'.

Regardless of who actually cooked it the first time (or every time thereafter), this dish became a special treat in our home.  Nate really loves the salty of the prosciutto, and I'm more than obsessed with the wine-butter sauce.  So obsessed, in fact, that I actually grabbed a spoon, and ate the rest of the sauce tonight.  Don't judge me.

Here's what you'll need:

Chicken breast (boneless and skinless)

Cheese of your choosing.  I used applewood-smoked white cheddar because it's what I bought today in Costco, but you can really use anything that slices well.  Crumbly cheeses don't work well for this.

2 slices of prosciutto per chicken breast

Corn meal

Olive oil

White wine.  Your choice.  I used Pinot Grigio.

Butter (not pictured because I almost forgot)

First you need to butterfly your chicken.  Basically line a sharp, serrated knife up along the long side of your chicken, like this:

Slice through the chicken almost all the way, stopping right before you cut through the chicken entirely.  Open 'er up.

Now it's time to work with the prosciutto.  If you get this at a deli where it's not pre-packaged, the workers should know that this is to be cut paper-thin.  Prosciutto should be cut so thin that you can see through it.  Also make sure they put wax paper between each slice.  Otherwise, congratulations! you have a slab of prosciutto.

See how thin it is?  Perfetto.

Lay the slice down, and place a small slice of the cheese in the middle of it:

Take the second piece and lay it on top of the cheese, making a cross.  Put more cheese on either side of the prosciutto.

Fold the sides of the first slice inwards on top of the second.

If you want, you can add another small slice of cheese on top of the fold.  I did.  It was delicious.

Fold the top pieces down, making a nice little packet.

Place it on one side of the butterflied chicken.

Fold the other side over, and sprinkle both sides with corn meal.  Turning is easiest with tongs.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium-low.  Once the oil is hot, add your chicken.

It takes a while for the chicken to cook through.  About 10-15 minutes per side.

When it's cooked through, plate the chicken, but leave the heat on.  Deglaze the pan by pouring about 1/2 cup of the wine into the pan, scraping up all of the browned bits.

Once it begins to take on a caramel color and reduce/thicken, add in a small slice of butter.

Before.

After.  YUM!

Let the butter melt, stir the sauce to incorporate it, and then pour it on top of your chicken.

How amazing does that look?!

I haven't made this dish in a while, but I was in Costco today.  I was walking past all of the little old ladies with their free samples, and no I would not like one because I don't eat that stuff anymore thankyouverymuch and please get me out of here before I break down and buy an irresponsible amount of muffins.  As I'm walking past the pandering elderly, I see a mound of fruit.  You know what I'm talking about if you've ever been in a Costco or other wholesale store.  It's these giant cubes of fruit stacked on itself, and I was like "they have pineapple here?!" and as I was walking towards the pineapple, I saw a wholesale-sized pack of prosciutto just sitting there.  Like, how could I NOT buy it?  So I bought about 45 pounds of chicken, 18 steaks, more prosciutto than is healthy for anyone's blood pressure, a lot of fruit, and left (note: most of this is an exaggeration).  Well, when I got home, my first thought was "what am I going to do with all of this?!"  There might be a lot more prosciutto recipes in the coming week, just FYI.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Hey girl! I was wondering if you've gotten to the point where you no longer have mad-cravings. After about 11 weeks of Low Gi, I still have some cravings, but they're not nearly as excruciating as they were before. Keep up the good work! I loved your blog about Red Robin. Eating at restaurants is definitely hard for me because I eat way too much and it's all food that's terrible for me. Congrats on your decision to go bunless and fry-less! :)

UGH, NO.  I was in Costco today (I'll recant in my new post tonight), and was walking by all of the samples and giant bags of cookies and crackers.  It sucked, but then I saw the piles and piles of fruits and cheeses, and I was like "dude, they have pineapple here!"  And then I forgot about the muffins.  My one cheat meal a week has really been helping.  It's also kind of fun to really, really look forward to a slice of pie or mac n cheese.  I am starting to slowly incorporate really tiny amounts (like 1/4 of a serving) of whole grains back into my diet, and that's also helpful.

Seriously - bunless burger = best. thing. ever.  It was so good!  Like all that bread didn't get in my way of really enjoying every single flavor in the burger.  It was awesome.

You can do it!  Steal some of my recipes - they're so filling, and SO healthy :)

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Eating Out

So my bestie, Hope, and I went out to eat last night.  She picked Red Robin, a place famous for its burgers and bottomless steak fries.  Great.  As we were walking into the restaurant, I was so worried that I was going to be stuck with a salad for dinner.  Then I started to think "Well, what if I'm always stuck with salads from now on?  What if I can't enjoy any other food ever again because its got too high of a GI?"  I have a tendency towards slippery slope logic, so this didn't come as much of a shock to me.

I looked at the front of the menu.  Le sigh.  There, staring back at me was a strawberry lemonade, my absolute favorite drink.  "I'll just have water."  I think this is the first time ever that I've enjoyed having a lemon with my water.  I was looking over the menu, and back over it again.  I knew that I could just take the bun off a burger if I ordered it, but I would be way too tempted to eat it.  And then, at the bottom of the burgers page was a list of their breads.  At the bottom of that list it said "Go bunless!  Wrap your burger in lettuce."  Well, how about that.  You got it, Red Robin.  I'll do just that.  I still have those pesky fries to deal with, though.  Red Robin solved that problem, too.  Right next to the list of bun options, was a list of free substitutions.  Free salad?  Oh hell yes.

When I got my lettuce-wrapped burger, I was intrigued.  I'm not going to lie.  For a second there I had convinced myself that there was no way in the world that this burger was going to be half as good as a "normal" burger due to lack of bun. 

OK, back story here.  I hate being wrong.  I hate it so much.  I will continue to argue with someone even after I know that I'm wrong about something.  I don't know why.  I just do.  Let me tell you something.  After my first bite of my bunless burger, I couldn't have been happier to be wrong.

It was delicious!  It was like there was no bread in my way of enjoying every single flavor of my juicy burger, ripe tomato, onion, sharp cheddar, and grilled pineapple (that's right: pineapple.  It may just be my new favorite burger topping). 

I never used to be a big fan of Red Robin.  I always used to leave unsatisfied even after 2 or 3 strawberry lemonades, a burger (with the bun), and a plate full of fries.  I ate less food and consumed less than half of the calories as I usually do there, and I left more satisfied than I ever have.  I think my amazing experience last night just really solidified that what I'm doing is the absolute best thing for my body and my health, and that, not only is it 100% possible to follow this diet, it's 100% delicious and not nearly as restrictive as I first thought.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Parmesan Broccoli

I've never really been a fan of broccoli.  I mean, I liked (okay, LOVED) the broccoli that came with Chinese food, but let's be real.  When you take a vegetable and smother it in liquid sugar-sauce, is it really that healthy for you?

I always prefer my veggies raw to cooked, and I hate steamed vegetables.  I can never get them to retain some of their crunch, and mushy veggies are gross.  However, I love to roast them, saute them, and cook them in soups and broths.  This sauteed broccoli with parmesan recipe is no exception.

Here's what you'll need:

Broccoli florets

Crushed red pepper (as much as you want)

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese, grated (the amount is up to you)

1 clove of garlic, pressed.  Don't use the jarred stuff.  I'm begging you.

Heat a wok or heavy saute pan on medium.  Once hot, add your olive oil.

When the olive oil gets hot, toss in your broccoli.  Obviously, how many people you're serving is going to determine how much broccoli you cook.  I just grabbed a handful and tossed it in there.

When the broccoli starts to turn a bright green color and then get some brown fry spots on it, add in your pressed garlic, salt, and red pepper.

Saute for another minute or two until the garlic starts to brown.   Then sprinkle the Parmesan on top and toss it with the broccoli.

As the cheese melts, continue to toss the broccoli.  My favorite kitchen utensil are my silicone tongs.  They're great, and exactly what I use for something like this.  Once the cheese has melted, plate it and enjoy!

The thing I love about this broccoli is that it sits at the bottom of the glycemic index, which is awesome.  It's super fast to make, and incredibly easy.  It reminds me of the traditional broccoli and cheese sauce we always have at Thanksgiving, but a little more sophisticated, and a lot healthier.  I'll definitely be making this again!

[lifeafterbread-blog]

The Plan.

OK, so I've gotten a lot of questions from a lot of different people on how I plan to move forward with a low-GI diet.  My favorite question is: "So you're never going to eat bread EVER AGAIN?!  You're crazy!"

No, I'm not cutting all bread out of my life forever.  Just for now.  Here's how my diet is going to progress.

In my first stage of the diet, I'm cutting out all starches and high-GI carbohydrates.  This means bread, biscuits, pancakes, cupcakes, cake, English muffins, sugar, rice, flour, potatoes, etc.  It's gone.  I'm replacing my sugar with stevia/truvia, molasses, and agave nectar.  I'm still eating carbohydrates: those found in fruits and veggies.  Carbs are good for brain function.  Why would I want to cut that out of my diet?  Also, in this stage, I'm allowing myself small, single servings of chocolate (the darker the better) so long as it's not in conjunction with starch.  So, dark chocolate-covered peanuts are great.  Dark chocolate-covered cake is not.

It is said that it takes about 4-6 weeks to stop craving something.  So, once I stop craving starches, I'm going to incorporate the low- to moderate-GI starches back into my diet as stage 2.  This includes muesli, brown rice, whole wheat, whole grains, steel-cut oats, brown sugar, etc.  Anything that's not highly processed and refined.  More than likely, if it's white (white sugar and white flour, for example), it's been processed so much to the point where all nutrients have been stripped out of it.  I don't want that in my body.  In this stage is where I'll be experimenting with different recipes for cakes, breads, muffins, and the like using whole wheat flour and sugar substitutes.  I'll also be adding back in things like whole wheat bread (as unrefined as possible), and whole wheat pastas.

Stage 3 is just maintenance.  At this point, it's all about maintaining a low-GI diet and the health I'll have gained back. 

Will I mess up?  Of course!  I'm only human.  There is a reason that I've built in one cheat meal a week.  This is going to be a hard, uphill battle, but I know that with the right support and motivation, it's possible.  This is not a diet that is ever "over."  This is a permanent lifestyle change.  And it's going to be awesome.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Strawberry and Chicken Salad

I love salads.  I really love salads.  I especially love those places where you can pick and choose ingredients to make your own salads - those salads just seem to taste better than normal salads you make at home, right?  Is it just me?  I doubt it.  This salad is particularly delicious, and the dressing is a perfect combination of tart, tangy, and sweet.  There is nothing I didn't absolutely love about this.

Here's what you'll need:

A handful of sundried tomatoes.  I use the ones not packed in oil.  Those are great for cooking, but not so much for salads when you're already adding in an oil-based salad dressing.

Lettuce.  You pick!  My favorite?  Butter lettuce.  So delicious.

Blue Cheese.  Put on as much as you like!  I LOVE blue cheese.  It's my favorite salad topper.

Strawberries.  I prefer fresh, but if there are slim-pickings at your local grocer, just thaw out about a dozen frozen ones and you'll be good to go.  I think I used about 6 strawberries for my salad and about 8 for the dressing (which is enough for about 1 full-size salad)

2 tablespoons of sugar substitute.  I prefer stevia (or truvia).  You could use Splenda, and probably even agave nectar.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.  You could double it to 2, but I'm not the biggest fan of vinegar, so I wanted to cut down on the tart a bit.

1/2 teaspoon black pepper (it's not in the picture - it was an afterthought as I was mixing).

1/2 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

I like to mix all of my salads in my Pyrex containers.  I can pop the lid on and shake everything to mix it up evenly.  Works like a charm!  First, cut the tops off half of your strawberries (these will go in your blender), and quarter the rest.

Put the diced strawberries along with the lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes in your salad bowl (or, in my case, Pyrex dish).  Then, put the rest of the strawberries, oil, vinegar, stevia, pepper, and mustard in your blender.  Blend until the strawberries are pureed.  It should take no longer than 30 seconds or so.  Pour it on top of your salad.

So tasty!

Mix your salad up.  I just popped the top onto the dish and shook 'er up.

Pre-mixing.

Remember those cashew-crusted chicken cutlets?  I had plenty left over, so I cut one in half, heated it up in the oven, and layered that on top of my salad.

ENJOY!

The cashews and the chicken add a healthy oil and a protein to the salad where there wasn't one before.  One bite of this, and you wouldn't even realize that you're missing real sugar in the dressing or croutons!

And yes, I'm eating out of my Pyrex dish.  Don't judge me.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Cashew-Crusted Chicken

Breaded chicken cutlets were another staple in our household growing up, and I ate a ton of them.  They're just so good!

Well, as you probably guessed, the breading used to coat the cutlets is very starchy, and has a very high GI rating.  I really wanted to find an alternative to the breaded chicken cutlets I grew up with and loved oh-so-much.  Then I found this recipe in my new cookbook.  Let me tell you - these may just be my new chicken cutlet staple.  The cashews have such an incredible texture and are full of flavor (not to mention good for you, too!), and the combination of spices give it such a unique and complex flavor.  It's delicious.

Here's what you'll need:

2 pounds of chicken breasts (I only used 1 pound here since it's just for me)

1 cup of cashews.  I chose roasted, unsalted, whole cashews.  Your grocer may carry the cashew pieces for cheaper, so go with those.  Doesn't matter, you're crushing them anyway.  I wouldn't go with the salted ones, though.  I think it would be too overpowering.

2 tablespoons butter (I always use salted butter unless otherwise noted)

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

A pinch of cayenne pepper (let's be honest, I used much more than "a pinch" ... if you like the extra heat, add more if you want it)

My package of chicken came with three whole breasts, but they were pretty thick.  I hate thick chicken cutlets.  Don't know why, but I've never liked it (thankfully, my mom always pounded our cutlets paper-thin... OH SO GOOD!).  So, I took my chicken breasts, put it between a folded-over sheet of parchment paper (you can use wax paper), and went to town with my meat mallet:

Gross thick chicken breast.

Perfect!

Rinse and repeat with the rest of the chicken.  If you don't want to pound the breasts out and want more cutlets, you can slice them in half, but that takes all the fun out of it, don'tcha think? 

...

That's what I thought.

Don't put away your meat mallet yet!!  Once the chicken is pounded down to thin cutlet deliciousness, put your cashews and all of the spices into a Ziploc bag.

I didn't really measure out my spices.  I just went with what looked good.  The measurements listed above are the ones from the cookbook I used.

Using your meat mallet, take out all of your frustration on your cashews. 

Take that, grad school applications!

...Sorry.

OK, so once the nuts are pulverized (leave a few pieces!), spread them out onto a large dish.

Heat the butter in a frying pan/skillet.

Are there many things that smell better than butter browning on the stove?

Didn't think so.

Press both sides of your cutlets into the cashews, coating them.  Also, another great thing about cashews?  They stick to the chicken without an egg wash!  One less step for you.

If your frying pan is big enough (mine wasn't), put all of the cutlets into it at the same time.

Flip the chicken over once it's a nice golden brown on the one side.

This one got a little too brown, but the great thing is that it didn't affect it much at all!

Once cooked through, plate your chicken.  2 pounds of chicken will give 6 servings.  The 1 pound I used made 3.

DELICIOUS.  I had raw carrots and a Persian cucumber with mine.  I always prefer carrots raw to cooked.  If your local supermarket has Persian cukes (also called "pickling cucumbers"), I highly recommend trying them.  They're sweet, tiny, and seedless.  Oh, and amazing.  They're also amazing.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Ale-Braised Sausage

Coming from an Italian family, sausage, peppers, and onions is a pretty standard dish.  Whether it's over pasta, on sandwiches, or on its own, we love this simple dish.  However, its simplicity can sometimes get a little.... well.... simple and boring.  But when I found a recipe over at Annie's Eats that took this tried-and-true Italian classic and braised it in dark ale, I knew I had to try it.  The best part?  It was SO easily adapted to be gluten- and starch-free.

Firstly, a little lesson about xanthan gum for those of you who are unfamiliar.  Xanthan gum and guar gum are both thickening agents for soups and sauces.  They are basically identical to corn starch - odorless, flavorless, and good forever (or until they get wet).  Corn starch, however, is a starch, and not great for those with insulin resistance.  It also takes a lot more corn starch to thicken a sauce or soup than it does xanthan or guar.  Around here, xanthan is less expensive than guar (10 ounces of xanthan are about $14 at the local Harris Teeter, whereas I can only find guar at Whole Foods, and it's much more expensive).  I keep my xanthan in a small salt shaker next to my stove.  I learned pretty fast that sprinkling xanthan on top of soups is much better than dumping in a teaspoon of it at once - as appealing as balls of white goop floating in your soup sound, take my word for it when I say it's not.  Long story short: if you truly want a low glycemic load diet, go for xanthan or guar instead of corn starch.

What you'll need:

Olive oil

A package of sausage.  I'm partial to Hot Italian Sausage.  Sweet Italian is also delicious if you don't like spicy.  You could also use keilbasa, but that's almost sacrilegious in our house.

1-2 red bell peppers.  I used 2.  You can never have too many peppers.

1 large vidalia onion.  You can use any onion, but vidalias are sweet and not nearly as pungent as yellow or red onions

12 ounces of your favorite dark ale/beer.  I used Newcastle.  I always use Newcastle in ale-based braises/sauces.

1 1/2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth.  You could use the full-sodium version, but why would you want to?  There are so many incredible flavors in this dish that it doesn't need the salt from the broth.

Xanthan gum powder (that's what's in the salt shaker)

Salt and pepper to taste

Oregano to taste

Put your Dutch oven on the stovetop on medium-high heat.  Drizzle olive oil over the bottom.  Not too much, though - the sausage will release a lot of oil. (Little cooking tip: Oil should always be added to pans/pots/etc after the pot has been heated empty)

While the oil is heating up, slice your sausage into 1-inch (ish) long chunks.  If you want, you can take the skins off, but I prefer to leave them on.  When the oil is hot, dump the sausage into the Dutch oven.

Cook the sausage all the way through.  While the sausage is sizzling, remove the seeds from your peppers (chop the tops and bottoms off), and julienne them.

No more seeds!

Perfect.

Chop the onion in the same fashion as the pepper.  Once the sausage is done cooking:

MMMMMMMM.

... remove it from the Dutch oven.  Add the peppers and onions.  While the peppers and onions are sauteing, I'm an advocate for taste-testing the sausage.  You know, just to be sure it's as delicious as it looks.

Saute 5-7 minutes or until they start to soften and the onions start to turn golden.  Then, add a couple of sprinkles of xanthan gum on the mixture, toss, and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

Once the peppers have softened and the onions yellowed a bit more, pour in the bottle of beer.  When it looks like this, add in the sausage, chicken broth and oregano:

Cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, take off the cover, and let it continue to simmer for another 5-7 minutes.

Remove everything from the Dutch oven, leaving behind the sauce.  I put the sausage and pepper mixture in a Pyrex storage dish. (I'm obsessed with Pyrex)

So delicious.

Turn the heat up to medium-high.  Once the sauce starts to boil, add in a few more sprinkles of xanthan gum.

The white is the flash, not the xanthan.  Sorry for the poor-quality picture.

Using a whisk (or, in my case, a fork - can't find my whisk), whisk the xanthan into the sauce until dissolved.  Don't add too much xanthan.  It doesn't take much to thicken a sauce, and it will continue to thicken after it cools.  So sprinkle sparingly.  When the sauce reaches the thickness of gravy (or a little thinner), pour it on top of the sausage mixture.

Using a ladle (or slotted spoon depending on how much sauce you actually want in each serving - I like a lot of sauce), pour it into bowls and serve.

So good!  And I have tons left over for lunch tomorrow.

[lifeafterbread-blog]

Sunflower Cheese Crackers

When I made the decision to go carb-free, I quickly realized that there are NO snack foods at our grocery store that fit into my diet and wouldn't cost me my first-born or taste like cardboard.  But then I saw this recipe in my new cookbook on Kindle.  I was skeptical.  I thought if the major companies couldn't create a cracker with flavor, this was going to fall short too.  Oh how wrong I was.  How very wrong.

These little crackers are low-cal, carb-free, and so tasty!  I have a feeling I'm going to need to keep these stocked in my kitchen at all times (and start making them in bigger batches).  So, so, so yummy!

First, here's what you'll need:

1 cup of hulled sunflower seeds (I chose the roasted and salted ones from Trader Joe's)

1/3 cup cornmeal.  The recipe calls for whole-grain, but my local Harris Teeter doesn't carry it, so I chose white cornmeal instead.

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (more if you can tolerate spicy - I used 1/2 teaspoon)

1/4 teaspoon salt.  If you're using salted sunflower seeds, I wouldn't go overboard with the salt

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a food processor or blender (I only have a blender), grind the sunflower seeds to a fine meal.

Note: don't go overboard with the grinding and blending, otherwise you'll end up with sunflower butter instead of sunflower meal.  Take it easy.

Add in the cornmeal, cumin, cayenne, and salt.  Pulse to mix.  Again, go easy with pulsing, and stop once mixed.

Pre-mixing.  You can tell I added more than just 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.  I love spicy food!

OK, here is where I wanted to throw my blender out of my window.  The cheese.  I would assume that this part is WAY easier with a food processor, but you just work with what you have.  Seriously, though, if you have a food processor, use that instead of a blender.  This step's a pain in the ass.

Add the cheese in bit by bit, and when it's all incorporated, dribble in the water.  Once the water's in the dough, stop the processor/blender.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment.  Don't skip this.  You've been warned.  Dump the dough onto the parchment.  It will be crumbly, but that's OK.

See? Crumbly.

Take another piece of parchment paper, cover the dough, and roll it out (with a rolling pin or your hands).  It should cover almost the entirety of the cookie sheet.

Using a paring knife (or other sharp, non-serrated knife), score the dough (but don't cut all the way to the bottom!).

Pop them in the oven for 18-20 minutes while you watch a re-run of The Big Bang Theory (or other sitcom of your choosing; this step is not optional).

Once the crackers are done, re-score them immediately after pulling them out of the oven while they're still a little soft.  Once they start to cool, you should be able to just break them off at the marks and toss them into an airtight container (if you haven't eaten all of them by now).

Some of the ones in the center of the cookie sheet were still a little soft and weren't getting crisp like the others were.  Without breaking them apart, I tossed them back in the oven for 5-10 more minutes until they started getting crispy.

Not the best picture, but you can see how the melted cheese left amazing air pockets in the center of the crackers.  The cayenne and cumin are an unexpected surprise, and the sunflower seeds give them an incredible flaky texture.

So, so, so yummy.  Why would you ever buy cheez-its again?

[lifeafterbread-blog]

$10 to Amazon later...

And I'm finally deciding to follow the specific diet regimen my doctors have advised since I was diagnosed with PCOS in the 8th grade. 

What was stopping me?  I. LOVE. BREAD.  All carbs, really.  I don't discriminate.  Bread, rolls, buns, muffins, cake, breadsticks, cupcakes, ice cream.  All of them are delicious.  My ass thinks differently.

I can't really pinpoint what exactly happened that made me finally want to take charge of my diet, my health, and my future, but I have a hunch that my new obsession with pinterest (and all of the recipes my friends are pinning ... also, follow me!) had a heavy hand in the decision.  On a forum I frequent, there's a PCOS thread.  The women there who have taken charge of their diet have subsequently taken charge of their weight and fertility.  It's inspiring, and I want what they now have.  I want to know that I can overcome this.  The same way I've overcome my eating disorder and the same way I've overcome thousands of miles between my fiance and me.

I think the reason none of my insane dieting has worked in the past is two-fold.  For one, crazy diets never work.  Secondly, and most importantly, I was trying to lose weight for all the wrong reasons.  I wanted to be noticed by other people.  I wanted to be complimented on being thin.  I wanted to impress everyone around me.  I wanted to look like a supermodel (only a foot shorter).  I had no regard for my health.  I just wanted thinness.

I would still like to be thin, and the poisonous thoughts that fueled my obsession with body and food still exist, but every single day I work at curbing those thoughts.  (and I have an incredible support system helping me fight the uphill battle)  My new primary goal is just my health.  I would love to manage my PCOS without medication.  I want more energy, and I want to avoid diabetes.

This is my journey through my new beginning and my new relationship with food.  It's going to be hard, and I know I'm going to cheat (that's why there's one cheat meal a week), but I know that this is going to be worth it.  Not just for bikini season.  Not for my wedding dress.  For the rest of my life.  I'm ready, and I CAN do this.

I bought a cookbook from Amazon on low glycemic load eating, and my first carb-free grocery shop is tomorrow - wish me luck!

Disclaimer:  There is also a book out called Life After Bread, which I didn't know about until after starting this blog.  I am in no way affiliated with that book.