Good Products Make Life Easier

Hope you've had as many great meals with good people in awesome locations as I have this summer. <3

After chatting with a friend of mine last night about all of the progress it seems my local grocery store has made in offering products for dietary-restricted individuals, I got to thinking about how easy it is to eat without dairy, soy and sugar (among many other things!) now. Really. Major progress.

My friend doesn't have any of the restrictions that I do, but would rather purchase products that are naturally sweetened if the option is there - or made without the soy protein or whey preservatives - and why wouldn't she? Of course everyone should want to expand their list of go-to products to hopefully include new items that are without what you feel may be a potential problem area for you. If chocolate is your guilty pleasure (and why wouldn't it be?!) then maybe not having sugar added to your morning granola bar snack, your salad dressing and cereal may help you feel better about indulging in your sweet tooth in a more deliberate way.

I made a list and sent it off to my friend of my new absolute favorite products, so I thought I'd give them a share with you - Internet friends. These lists have made my life easier for so many reasons from: not having to spend hours at the grocery store reading labels to not having to make absolutely everything from scratch and - most of all - to not having to "cheat" in order to have ketchup with my fries or mayo on my sandwich. I can save a "cheat" here and there for something more deliberate - like a bowl of spicy ramen noodles or chige (my Korean guilty pleasures!).

Notes: I purchase these products based on their ingredient lists. These are not suggestions based on nutritional values. Each person will have their own separate goals regarding ingredients vs calories vs nutritional values. All of these are also not sweetened with aspartame. Get away from that where you can!

These products also lead me to one of the main reasons I just cannot indulge in the paleo diet at the moment - I finally found products that make life easier and I'm just not ready - or willing - to give that up at the moment. :)

Dairy, Soy and Sugar-free Goodness
If not listed, I bought them at the Super Store

• Spectrum Canola Mayonnaise (burgundy label) 
• Barbara's cereal bars and fig newtons
• Renee's Cucumber and Dill, 1/2 Caesar Dressing and Spring Herb Italian
• Daiya Cheese - Pepperjack, Mozzarella, Cheddar
• Taste of Nature Granola Bars: Green Apple Country and Quebec Cranberry Carnival (more flavours but these come in a box)
• Amande Yogurt - all flavours but Plain and Vanilla (fave) come in big tubs for a better price
• Zevia for a soda pop craving (no caffeine!) - Ginger Ale, Cola, Orange
• Krisda for your 'fake' root beer craving
• Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Milk
• Rice Dream Unsweetened Milk
• Earth Balance Soy-free Margarine
• Dorset Cereals - Simply Delicious Muesli 
• Fave breads: Mary's Bread Basket, LaHave and StoneHearth (fave being Mary's Bread Basket, many kinds, pre-sliced): Must read ingredients as their offerings change each week. Most have wheat, olive oil, honey and water - not much more.
• Weight Watchers Whole Wheat Tortillas
• Fancy Pokket Pita bread
• Mott's new unsweetened veggie + fruit sauces. Great for on the go.
• Sahara Sugar-Free Organic Ketchup - purchased at Planet Organic
• Natur LeFruit Jam - apricot and blueberry
• PC Organics Pasta Sauce - Tomato and Basil, Primavera (pricier but good in a pinch)
• Frank's Red Hot Original and X-tra Spicy

Enjoy! I have many other staples now so I'm happy to answer questions or do a little research if you're looking for something specific. This list is simply products that we rely on - most of these are becoming preferred products for J, too!

Enough is Enough.

Alright.  Clearly I have taken a long enough break.  Looking on the bright side, I have become accustomed to throwing together a meal or two, that all meals have been thrown together once getting home each night.  After spending so many days and weeks whining that it was a lot of work to find things to cook, this is a major plus!

Having said that, it's time to get back to it.  Time to add some new types of meals to my repertoire.  After a weekend away with mussels, pork chops and potatoes (all extremely delicious, if I might add), I'm craving color.  I'm craving lots and lots of veg!  Starting the week with an empty kitchen/fridge sucks.  It's not recommended.  Somehow I did, surprisingly, throw together a good pasta salad this morning - piece of cake (which is what I need for lunches...):

Rainbow pasta (it's new, it gives you more veg. serving)
Diced vegetables (celery, tomato, yellow pepper)
Ripped/Chopped spinach

Toss the above with a wee bit of Renee's 1/2 Caesar and you're good to go!

I just spent half of my lunch hour looking at recipes on cleaneatingmag.com.  They share different recipes than they do in the magazine.  There's a special on on their website to get two free issues if you describe. I highly recommend it!  There are a lot of things that have dairy listed in the ingredients, but I find it's a good read and great to go back to when looking for recipes...it's even better once you get the hang of substitutions!  The rule for this magazine is that you don't cook with anything that has more than 3 ingredients listed - that would be considered a "man-made food item", similar to what Michael Pollan names a "food-like substance" in his book Food Rules. My mom bought me this book - you should all go out and get it.  It is an extremely short read, sometimes only a sentence a page, but it puts all of the things that you already thought of or know about food in one place.  My favorite:  "Don't eat anything that your grandmother (or great-grandmother, depending on your age) wouldn't recognize as food".  Brilliant.

Cookbook Delight!

Very happy to say that my mom has purchased three cookbooks for me.  I am still finding quite a few recipes online when searching under things like "eating paleo" and the "eight main allergens", but those exclude so much more than just dairy and soy (which, of course, isn't always a bad thing).

As I came to an end to my big fresh grocery purchases - and my planned recipes for the last couple of weeks, I was worried that I was hitting a "food wall".  Now, on my coffee table rests 3 cookbooks that should prove to give me many hours of reading, inspiration for the kitchen - and more to share on here:




1.  The Milk Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI) Guidebook/Cookbook
2.  Go Dairy Free
3.  The Everything Food Allergy Cookbook

Similar to all recipes, there will be some things I still can't have - and there will be some recipes where I can add a lot more.  The food allergy cookbook is a bit much, but will come in handy for base-meal ideas and will be helpful for times when dining with our nut-allergic or gluten-intolerant friends (I.e. tomorrow evening, we've accepted the challenge of cooking dinner for our friends.  Between the three of us girls, the meal has to be:  soy, dairy, gluten, and meat-free!).

For those who just want to eat healthier/fresher things (no intolerances), keep your eyes open for The Best of Clean Eating - due out in the fall.

Thanks, Mom. :)