Enough meal planning!

Normally I love the weekly ritual of planning meals and making my shopping list. I look for one-pot type recipes, or search for recipes that include the main and the side, or try to complement the main with the side. Normally I just need five to seven recipes each week because I cook a 2 portion dinner at night and then pack up the second portion for lunch the next day.

But I had a busy Saturday and I wasn't in the mood to meal plan before I went grocery shopping. I just wanted to go out and get it done!  This is a bad plan even if you're living on premade frozen food, but it turns out it's relatively easy on GAPS, probably because the choices are so limited. Here was my strategy:

1. Arrive at store unprepared, with no mental list and no paper list
2. Cruise the meat and fish section and select 5 protein sources (I picked up an organic chicken, which counts as at least three dinners for one person, ground beef, rainbow trout and salmon)
3. Walk through the veggie aisle and select 5 main veggies (for me today, this was kale, cucumbers, snow peas, cauliflower, zuchini)
4. Now that you know what your main veggies are, go back through the veggie aisle and pick up accoutrements for flavor and color (I needed onion, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, bell peppers, tomato and mint)
5. Pick up the standard stuff you buy every week - eggs, kefir, whatever.

I should mention that this works so well because I'm lucky enough to live in a city with a great local chain of markets that focus entirely on real, fresh food.  They actually defeat the standard "shop the edges of the grocery store" rule because the centre of the store is about five aisles of produce.  And the produce always looks great.  How often does kale just leap off the shelf at you?

So with this, I've come up with the following meals for the week

• zuchini mushroom lasagne with broth based tomato sauce
• mashed cauliflower with roast chicken legs
• trout with kale and orange pepper poacked in chicken broth
• chicken breasts stir fried with red and green pepper and mushrooms
• minted cucumber salad with grilled salmon and grilled yellow pepper

Not bad for an ten minute dash through the store! 

My next post will talk about my other strategy for meal planning.  And it will explain why I did NOT feel like doing it today.

Fine Herb Broth

Throw the following in the slow cooker overnight.  Strain, bottle, and freeze.

Thyme
Rosemary
Bay leaves
Roughly chopped shallots
Crushed garlic cloves
Sea salt
Pepper
Chicken bones

GAPS diet Roast Beef Sandwich Wrap

I love a roast beef sandwich.  While they doesn't make up for the lack of a nice nutty bread, these sushi-inspired wraps satiated my Sunday afternoon craving for a roast beef sandwich.

Dab some horseradish on some roast beef.  Add a slice of tomato, red onion, matchstick carrot...whatever, this just gets some color in.  Roll up with a slice of romaine and spear with a toothpick.  Throw some worster on the side for dipping.

Airplane friendly GAPS

So I've recently blogged about travelling on GAPS but I thought I'd dedicate a post to plane food - this was a quagmire for me, because I had two five hour flights over the dinner hour, and as yet have not found a good resource on GAPS food for a plane.  So here goes:

On the flight to my destination:

This is the easy part, because in theory you're food shopping in your home town and are thus perhaps more aware of where amenable food can be bought. 

Meal - Dry Chicken Salad

Grilled chicken breast, patted dry (sadly...all that fat gone) and grated parmesan  over a dry premade salad - green mix, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, carrot matchsticks...you get the idea.  I picked up the salad at my local grocery store.  I was a bit nervous going through security with this, but I had no problem.

Snack - Cranberries and pumpkin seeds

Filling, sweet and nourishing.  Also, pumpkin seeds contain tryptophan, which, for me, is great on an evening flight.  Cranberries are purported to fight infection ...can't hurt right?

On the flight home from my destination

Meal - Salmon-do salad from a local restaurant

Salmon, greens, spring onions.  Hold the dressing and the rice.  

Snack

Local organic chocolate made with date sugar, coconut almond bar made with rice syrup (bad, I know), and a few complimentary apples from my hotel. 

Grilled chicken with creamed sundried tomato goat cheese

For when you're craving pasta...

Sometimes I crave the texture of pasta, sometimes I just want that olive oil, oregano, garlic, tomato italian taste.  As I write I'm dining on a delicious creation I came up with this evening.

Grilled chicken with creamed sundried tomato goat cheese

• Marinate a chicken breast in some oil from the sundried tomatoes and garlic overnight.  Grill the chicken in the marinade with some oregano, sea salt, and red wine vinegar. 
• Cream some goat cheese with more sundried tomato oil and oregano.  Mix in chopped sundried tomatoes.  
• Top chicken with creamed goat cheese and plate over some raw baby spinach.  Season to taste.

Travelling on GAPS

I'm planning two, possibly three, trips in the next few months, and I'm still going full swing on the GAPS protocol.  In a previous eating life, I read a very funny diet book that talked about the distinction between travelling for business, vacationing, and visiting.  I will be doing all three, and in all cases, travelling solo.  I'll talk about my plans for each trip on the blog, focusing on the travel part of the trip.  I'll talk about dining out on GAPS in another post.

I'll be on a five hour flight with colleagues to the west coast.  I was initially freaking out about what to eat...planning on winging into an airport restaurant, solo if necessary, as soon as we landed to get some dinner.   I decided against this however, thinking I would bring a series of snacks on the plane, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc.  I realized then that while this may leave me full it would not be terribly nourishing.  I needed a better source of protein. 

Finally I arrived upon the solution of buying a premade salad from the grocery store and topping it with grilled chicken.  I marinated the chicken in sundried tomato oil overnight (see next post) so despite having patted off the (liquid) grease it should be pretty flavorful, if somewhat dry.  I also picked up some organic pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries for a healthy snack.  It was a little expensive, but likely less expensive than plane food and/or airport food.  I hope my colleagues aren't jealous.  :)

As for the plane ride back, I have no idea as yet what I will do.  I usually look up a local grocery store or market when travelling, so hopefully I can pick something up that will suit.  I'll keep posting on the experience.

GAPS diet Valentine's treat - Strawberries with chocolate ganache

So this blog is GAPS for one, and whether it's clear from my posts or not, I'm single.  I can still enjoy a pretty dessert in the middle of February. 

Combine one part coconut milk, one part coconut oil, and one part honey with two parts melted butter.  Stir in cocoa powder to taste.  Drizzle over strawberries or use as a dip.