The Burgers Priest.

I've been seeing the naturopath and am supposed to be following a "clean" diet.  But I have been really really really wanting to try the Burgers Priest, and so, tonight was the night.

And the photo was taken with the iPhone.  Sorry.

I got the doublemeat based on the recs from Chowhound but it was wayyyy to much for me.  So off came the second patty and down went the burger and fries.  Really good!  Kind of a cross between the Shake Shack and In-n-Out, so not a bad thing to be a combo of!  Enjoyed it but it was wicked heavy.

Tomorrow - back on track!!!

Barley Risotto.

One of my favourite blogs, Girl Interrupted Eating, has such a way with food and words.  And she just seems so totally British.  She seems to make the things that I see the contestants on MasterChef make, just because she's creative and in love with local ingredients.  I just love her blog and for the first time ever have made one of her recipes.

Should have known it would be delicious... how could it not be?  Barley, stock, chicken, carrots, all cooked together in the over?  Bring it...

I made a few tweaks on her recipe... but here's the overall picture of the meal...

Pearl Barley Oven Risotto with Chicken 


You need:


2 carrots chopped
3 shallots diced
1 clove of garlic (I used the press bc while it's wasteful, my hands don't stink)
2.5 cups of chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cut into cubes
200g of barley
14 ounces of tinned chopped tomatoes
Goat Cheese, soft, to taste


Cook the chicken cubes to just starting to brown.  Remove from pan and soften the shallot, carrot and garlic in the pan adding salt and pepper and a little bit of oil.  Add water as necessary to keep from burning or over browning.  Once softened, mix in the broth, barley, and tomatoes.  Add the chicken back to the pan and give it a stir.  Bring to a simmer, cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  When ready, put a little bit of the soft goat cheese on each plate to mix in and make unctuous.  


So it was delicious and just a happy tasty bowl of goodness.  I highly recommend it.  I am not sure if barley is given the a-okay on my clean plan, but it's an ancient grain so I am saying oh yeah.

Hope you like it.

Clean Eating Once Again!

Phew!  It's been a whirlwind, hasn't it?

In an effort to keep myself on the right track, and to figure out why all of the energy in my body has been completely drained, I have been seeing a naturopath.  She is convinced that I have some food intolerances (and I agree) and she thinks that my whole system is out of balance with too much inflammation (which I also know is true)... but instead of me just knowing it, she's got me on a whole whack of supplements and a "clean" diet to sort myself out.  It's just day two and other than an overwhelming feeling of tiredness and crazy high fibre bloating, it's going okay.

But I did labour a bit with what to make food-wise.  No wheat, no sugar, no dairy, no eggs, no red meat, no pork... ancient grains, brown rice, chicken and turkey, veggies but no corn or mushrooms, no fresh berries, no caffeine... on and on.  I had a moment of thinking I was just going to end up spending this two weeks doing nothing but eating chicken and brown rice, and then I thought, 'isn't one of us supposed to be a foodie here?' and I got off my arse and made some menus.

First up was a delicious turkey meatball with kamut penne.  Sadly, the penne was toooo fibre-y for G's colitis (our two needs with regards to dietary fibre do not meet anywhere near the middle), but otherwise... it was great!

So here I am in the new kitchen getting the fixin's ready.  Turkey, onion, red pepper, spelt breadcrumbs, garlic....

It was pretty easy.  I took two roasted red peppers, onion and garlic and whazzed them up in the little cuisinart.  I mixed that with the turkey, some no salt or sugar added tomato paste, spelt breadcrumbs, and a bunch of chopped parsley.  Oh yeah, and tons of herbs including copious amounts of crushed red pepper!

I baked them in the oven (400 degrees) for about 25 minutes with the last two or three minutes under the broiler...

Ooh arty ball shot.

Once cooked, I mixed them into the marinara sauce (store bought with some sauteed onion and extra spices mixed in)...

Yummmy!

And then I served it up with the kamut pasta, sprinkled with parsley, and tried to pretend I didn't miss the cheese...

Now doesn't that look delicious?

It was really very good and hit the pasta spot for me.  Like I said, it was not so excellent for G, but I guess easily digestible is in the eye of the beholder (or the colon, or something).  Anyway, whatever the reason, it made me forget that I was all clean eating.  Instead, I just enjoyed dinner.  And a spoonful of some essential fatty acid liquid and a digestive enzyme.  All in preparation for my Calm Magnesium supplement that I take at night.  With a castor oil pack.  Really?  It's all a bit crazy.

But we'll see.  Day two and I am still super tired with a tinge of a headache.  Maybe day three will be the charm!  :)