Veggie Love

If you didn't already know, I love food. The past several weeks have involved coming up with ways to still love food even if it doesn't include gluten! It gets better each day, but it definitely has taken some work.

I found it particularly difficult to come up with office-friendly snacks. Of course, raw veggies are always a great option, but I like being a bit more creative. Also, I'll get to the veggies in a second! 

Enter: homemade popcorn. With some nutritional yeast for bonus taste/nutrition!

Trailmix was my favorite snack last week. I will definitely be going to TJs for lots more of this:

About those veggies! Apparently my body has no problem with those, so my meals have been full of a variety of vegetables. One can never have too many veggies, right?

This was a green lettuce salad along with an egg, red peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, and cauliflower cooked with coconut oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika:

My new favorite weekend breakfast food: green smoothies. The below included almond milk, mango, frozen banana, frozen spinach, and mint leaves. Delish!

And lastly, I found a new way to enjoy noodles. Tofu noodles! They take two minutes to cook, and I enjoyed them with marinara sauce with added vegetables (of course). 

This picture is the worst. It was late and post-kickboxing. But it was a great post-kickboxing meal.

No fitness videos for you today, but there will likely be one on the next post! 

The GF TFG

Don't mind the cryptic acronyms...I will explain shortly!

Hi friends! It has been a while, and a lot has happened since we last met, which is actually the reason I am providing you with this update today. So, let's get to it!

As I'm sure most of you know - I am not much of a fan of "fad diets," one of which happens to be the gluten-free diet. Obviously, for those people who are diagnosed with Celiac disease, that is a different story altogether. What I mean is going gluten-free for the sake of weight loss, etc.

And then, the craziest thing happened. Due to stomach issues and blood tests and doctor advice (which I could not bear to believe!), I am now on a gluten-free diet.

What?!?! No. It can't be.

At first, it was a tough adjustment, but when I began doing more research, I realized that I just had to bring out my inner creative cook! And I will admit, it has been fun coming up with new GF recipes.

My favorite weekend breakfast usually involves pancakes. This weekend, I experimented with cornmeal and came up with this recipe which is a little reminiscent of cornbread.

Cornmeal Pancakes
(Makes four medium-sized pancakes)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2-3 tsp coconut oil for cooking

Directions:
In a bowl, combine all ingredients except for coconut oil. Add the oil to a non-stick pan, and place on the stove over medium heat. Spoon batter onto pan and cook evenly on both sides until slightly browned.

Serve with honey, maple syrup, or nut butter.

And to conclude, I have a new Zumba choreography video to share with you - one of my originals. Hope you enjoy!