We had company for lunch today. I tried to stick to the no dairy, no flour plan. 

Appetizers: White Bean Dip (Donna Hay) and Roasted Beet and Walnut Dip (Veggie Belly)

I love veggies and dip. Finding tasty and healthy dips is the key; I like a lot of dip on my veggies. I left the cilantro out of the bean dip and had fallen in love with the beet dip just recently.

(100 calories/4 tablespoon serving, and 155 calories/4 tablespoon serving)

Lunch: Skinny Chicken Waldorf Salad (Gina’s Skinny Recipes)

I have a feeling I will be making a lot of salads in the next while. I do always feel good, healthy and satisfied, after a salad though, and it’s nice to have a reason to find new salads and experiment with salad dressings (which really do make or break the salad, I think). I used honey in place of sour cream in the dressing, and added some sunflower oil and lemon. I also drizzled the arugula with a separate honey and sunflower oil dressing before topping it with the chicken, fruit and nut mixture. Really great salad and salad dressing.

(320 calories/serving)

Dessert: Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Banana Bites (Bon Appetit)

No dairy and no flour is the most challenging in the dessert category. I have a hard time not wanting dessert, so I’ve sought out some options. This one is a happy discovery. 

These satisfy your dessert craving the way ice cream would. I pretty much like anything with chocolate though. And chocolate and nuts makes me think of a dipped cone, mmmm. A bit messy to assemble, but at the same time, it doesn’t really matter if these turn out a little messy. (I might consider not adding or adding less oil to the chocolate, I found it made it less cohesive, or maybe I didn’t wait long enough for the chocolate to cool). This is also a good way to use ripe bananas, and a welcome treat when everyone was eating the banana cake. Everyone else seemed to really like them too. I coated mine with pecans, walnuts, and chopped up bits of Reese peanut butter chips.

(75 calories/bite)

I did make Roasted Banana Cake with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting for our guests, no need to subject them entirely to my experiment (the cake was impossible to resist… I did have a small bite).

Lunch: Carrot Parsnip Soup with Parsnip Chips (Cooking Light) 

I love finding soups that taste creamy without having cream in them. This is one of them.

(150 calories/serving with parsnip chips, 120 calories/serving without)

Dinner: Root Mash with Wine Braised Shallots (Yotam Ottolenghi)

I think this recipe is filling enough to serve six, not four. And this is delicious. Although it takes a little while to peel and chop all the veggies, and about an hour on the stove top, it’s worth waiting for. The mash alone (I omitted the lentils and celeriac) is like baby food for adults, sweet vegetables with butter and maple syrup goodness. And the wine braised shallots are a perfect contrast.

(400 calories/serving for six servings, 600 calories/serving for four servings)

Weekend Cheat: Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites (dipped in chocolate) (17 & Baking)

I reason this out by thinking that there can’t be that much flour in the pretzels, right? Plus, I am addicted to peanut butter (I eat it by the spoonful), and couldn’t help but make these. Peanut butter with chocolate and a salty crunch, and look how cute they are… I made half the recipe, which made about 25 pretzel bites.

(100 calories/pretzel bite)

Brunch: Eggs Benedict Salad (Bon Appetit) 

The edamame and radishes add nice textures to this salad. I used half the frisee, and a simple hollandaise - which I love - recipe method from Donna Hay. (I’ll try to avoid it, but will use butter when it’s called for.)

(410 calories/serving)

Dinner: Steak Salad with Horseradish Dressing (Cooking Light)

The dressing the original recipe called for asked for sour cream, so I made this Martha Stewart honey, horseradish, dijon and oil based dressing instead, which was amazing. I will use it every time for this salad. This salad has jumped to one of my favourites, plus, it is soooo easy to make. And pretty filling.

(original creamy dressing - 280 calories/serving, honey dressing - 340 calories/serving)

As of three days ago, I decided to challenge myself to try a no dairy, no flour diet. Naturopaths have told me that most dairy, yeast and flour are bad for me. I wanted to see how my body would feel if I cut them out of my diet.

I looked through all the recipes I had that didn’t have dairy and flour, and planned out my meals for the week in order to make grocery shopping easier and to eliminate the potential waste of vegetables by planning out meals that utilize some of the same ingredients.

I have cheated a tiny bit when it comes to snacks. I already ate a whole big bag of plain Lay’s chips (just potatoes, oil, and salt, so I reason it to be okay), and a lot of mini eggs (I can’t help myself). And I have had a hard time not putting cream in my coffee. Otherwise, so far, so good. And it’s been tasty.

Brunch: Chicken Chorizo Breakfast (Gourmet) - minus the burrito part

Mmmm to anything with avocados. I modified this breakfast burrito recipe by using chicken chorizo purchased from Granville Island Market - chicken chorizo is much healthier for you, and mine cooked up to have a bit of a delicious caramelized flavour (yum) - and did not use cheese or tortilla shells. 

(370 calories/serving)

Dinner: Chicken, Carrot, and Cucumber Salad (Cooking Light)

I poached my chicken in water, which is my favourite (and the healthiest) way to make chicken for salads; so moist. I also used butter lettuce and half the cilantro the dressing calls for (would be tasty without as well).

(230 calories/serving)

Donna Hay, it’s been a while.

When I first started cooking and baking, it was all Donna Hay, all the time. I forgot how simple her recipes are, how quick they are to make, and how surprisingly tasty they are (from such basic ingredients!)

In the past week, I made the following three recipes, all perfect as they are. I am back in love with Donna Hay.

Lemon and Broccoli Soup (235 calories/serving - the lemon flavour is slight)

Poached Eggs with Sweet Potato Hash Browns (265 calories/serving)

Warm Beetroot and Chickpea Salad (255 calories/serving - and a continuation of my love of canned beets)