Sunshine In A Bottle

It’s day 18 of my elimination diet.

I must say that I’m getting quite the hang of it. I’ve been eating extremely healthy for the most part and haven’t been missing the desserts…too much. Though I have been drooling all over the cookie and doughnut recipes on tastespotting. And maybe also whining to my boyfriend every now and then about how much I   just   want   a   cookie.

I’ve been experimenting quite a bit in the kitchen, coming up with a few gluten free, vegan, low sugar, and surprisingly delicious recipes. I can’t say that all of them worked, such as the disgusting spongey, pasty, gluten free lemon muffins I have sitting in the freezer. But for the most part, the recipes turned out pretty great.

For the past few weeks I have been starting my morning with a mug of hot lemon water and just recently I have also started taking a shot of noni juice prior to that. Noni juice is apparently this cure all supplement made from hawaiian volcanic berries or something like that. I don’t really know, I just read some stuff about how it’s supposed to help with eczema and inflammation and the sort. All I really know is that it kind of tastes like cheese and..sour stuff. These two things in the morning are supposed to help my body detoxify and strengthen my immune system. To add upon that I have been juicing regularly, which should also help my body release any toxins that it has built up from all the sugar I’ve been inhaling over the past few years!

Today I made a nice orange coloured fruit and vegetable juice. This one is quite sweet and probably a great juice for anyone new to juicing. The ginger adds a nice kick to it and the pineapple gives it a great tropical/summer quality. Which I definitely need right now in this dreary winter cold.

Sunshine Juice
Makes about 16oz, enough for 1 large or 2 small juices

Make sure to wash all produce well and peel any non organic fruits or vegetables.

4 medium carrots
2 medium leaves of dinosaur/lacinato/black kale
1 cup of diced pineapple
half an apple (I used a pink lady)
half a lemon, peel on if organic
a small piece of ginger, about 1 cm thick and 2 cm wide

Run everything through a juicer, starting with the kale and ginger. Serve over ice immediately.

Winter Millet Porridge

It’s day 9 of my elimination diet.

So far I think I’ve been doing pretty good! I’ve been trying a lot of new recipes over the past week and some of them have been great and some not. Last week I decided to make my own coconut milk yoghurt. The thought of a creamy, coconut-y, slightly tangy bowl of yoghurt sounded amazing to go with the buckwheat granola clusters I had made earlier. The only problem was that I didn’t have a way of keeping my yoghurt at exactly 110˚F for 8 hours. So I decided to be “thrifty” and use my portable heater between two chairs with a cardboard box on top to trap the heat.

And it worked.

I mean, I managed to keep it at 110˚F for 8 hours, I didn’t say the yoghurt worked. At first it was all slightly sour and stuff but by the next day when I opened up the container it managed to smell exactly like….eggs. Oh mmm, who doesn’t want to be eating a bowl of egg flavoured coconut yoghurt?

So that one was a bit of a failure.

But, today I made a lovely, warming bowl of porridge. See, for many in the northern hemisphere spring is starting to crop up. Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, buds are peeking out of their branches and people are getting their bikes out in preparation for biking weather. But no, not here, not in Toronto. It’s still well below zero, still no signs of spring, and no signs pointing toward me biking around in shorts any time soon. It’s winter. So I made myself something warm, hearty, and slightly colourful to cheer myself up since I know spring isn’t coming any time soon for me.

What I made was a pumpkin pie millet porridge topped with buckwheat granola clusters, pecans, flax meal, and maple syrup. The nutmeg and cinnamon give this dish a warming and comforting feel while the millet gives a nice change from the usual oatmeal.

Apparently millet is what bird feed is made up of. But I don’t mind eating bird food if it tastes this good.

Pumpkin Pie Millet Porridge
Makes 3 servings
Adapted slightly from Sarah Britton’s Recipe at My New Roots

1/2 cup of millet (soaked in water for 8 – 24 hours)
1/2 cup of canned or homemade pumpkin puree
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 vanilla bean split and scraped or 1 tsp of vanilla essence
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
2 cups of almond coconut milk or almond milk
a few tablespoons of maple syrup to taste
buckwheat granola clusters, chopped pecans, flax meal, and shredded coconut for topping

Drain and rinse the soaked millet. Combine in a medium pot with pumpkin, salt, vanilla (bean and seeds), spices, and almond coconut milk. Bring to a boil on medium heat while stirring frequently. Turn heat down to low and cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Texture should be rather liquidy but if not, add a bit more milk. Remove vanilla bean. Add maple syrup according to taste (I added about 2 tbsp). Portion into bowls and top with extra milk, maple syrup, buckwheat granola, flax, coconut, and whatever else you’d like.