Look who is back with a blog post! Hint: it’s me, Hannah (in case you had forgotten my name).
Life has been crazy busy lately and, to be honest, blogging just has not been where my heart and mind have been over the past couple of weeks. But that does not mean I don’t still love cooking, eating, and talking about delicious food!
This past Saturday, I met up with five of my six bridesmaids in Des Moines to go dress shopping for my wedding. We had an awesome time and found the dresses! I also ate delicious food, and I am linking up with What I Ate Wednesday to share my day of eats.
What I Ate Wednesday: September 2, 2015
My morning started off bright and early. In fact, I actually woke up earlier on Saturday than I do on a normal work-week day. That was a bit brutal for my body, but the adrenaline and excitement got me going!
I ate my Chocolate Banana Coconut Chia Pudding topped with almond butter and banana slices on the drive to pick up Jordan and Erin. Word to the wise: don’t eat chia pudding in the car. It is way more difficult to eat than cereal <– which I happen to be an expert at.
Once we found the bridesmaid dresses, we celebrated with lunch at Red Robin. This was the first time I had eaten out at a restaurant since almost two months ago when I went Paleo and nightshade-free. Eating out while following a diet like this is honestly so difficult, if almost impossible in some cases. I figured that I would give nightshades a try again (since my chronic joint/muscle pain had not improved), and found that Red Robin was probably the easiest place for me to stick with a Paleo diet.
I ordered the Guacamole Bacon Burger on a lettuce bun with no cheese, no tomatoes, and no mayo. I chose steamed broccoli on the side <– even though I wanted french fries (not gluten-free) so badly!
The meal was delicious, but looking back on it, I am starting to think that maybe the nightshade reintroduction was not such a good idea. I stopped taking my PPI for my acid reflux right around the same time that I went nightshade-free. Coincidentally (or maybe not), my GERD was surprisingly good during the month of August. It is possible that it is because it can take a little while for PPI’s to wear off, but I have never had such luck in the past when trying to go off of the medication. So I am starting to think that maybe nightshades are the key? Understandably, I am going back to nightshade-free in hopes that the GERD will be back under control!
After the drive back to Omaha, I was starving. I snacked on a handful of tigernuts before a little grocery shopping. Have you tried tigernuts yet? This was my first bag ever, but it definitely will not be my last. I love them! Also, did you know that they are actually not nuts? They are tubers, which is a type of root vegetable.
I was still hungry after my quick trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, so I snacked on an organic Gala apple.
Dinner was so delicious, you guys! I whipped up some nightshade-free Paleo baked chicken strips (more on these as soon as I get some energy to type up the post) with a side of a Thai slaw that I found on Instagram. Do yourself a favor and make the slaw. It was delicious!
I ended off my night with a small bowl of plantain chips. Yes, I am still obsessed with these babies.
All in all it was a great day with amazing people, delicious food, and wedding happiness. I’ll catch y’all later… whenever that is!
[bctt tweet=”Check out what a whole foodie day of eats looks like! #wiaw #glutenfree #paleo”]
What have you eaten lately and loved?
Any other nightshade-free friends out there?
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You’re still here! 😉 Glad you found something that helps with your GERD, but sad that it’s by eliminating basically all of my favorite things 🙁 Have you noticed a difference since you started including meat or are you going to phase that back out?
I know, right? I’m hoping that when I back off the nightshades this week it will go back to being awesome.. fingers crossed! And no.. I have not really noticed a difference with the meat addition. For right now it is here to stay until I figure out what works best for my body.
I love chia pudding! My favorite is coconut chia pudding with raspberries on top!
This all looks very yummy! 🙂
xx Lauren
Isn’t it so good?! I’m hooked. I need to try it with raspberries next!
Yay dress shopping! Always for no matter the occasion 😉
And yay tigernuts! The flour is amazing!
AND haha, I’ll being doing one of my food allergy posts on nightshades soon!!! 😉
Oh yay!! Gotta love some nightshade-free posts!!
I really enjoyed Red Robin when I went. I like that they will replace meat with Boca burgers!
Food experimentation can be really stressful, because sometimes a particular food will affect us some of the time, but not all the time. Beans are like that for me. I hope the mental energy required for your diet isn’t taking too much of a toll on you! It is awesome you know how to experiment with food and cook, I’m sure that makes it a little easier. All your eats look great!
It can definitely be mentally exhausting at times for sure… but I hope it all pays off!
Woo welcome back! Yayyy congrats on finding the dress! How fun you found a time when so many of your bridesmaids could join in 🙂
Thank you! We had an amazing time!!
Welcome back! Looks like a good trip even if the food didn’t exactly go your way. I’ve spent many years trying to figure out what to eliminate/reintroduce and it can be a pain.
A pain for sure! Hopefully we both figure out what works best for our bodies VERY soon!
Sounds like it was a wonderful day!! So glad you all enjoyed yourselves! And how have I never even heard of tigernuts?? I need to find myself some!
I JUST found them a few weeks back at Whole Foods and HAD to try them. If you find them near you, you must as well!
All of this looks delicious, but I really love the pudding!
Chia pudding is my current addiction. I think I could eat it for every single meal 😉
Those chicken strips look yummy! I LOVE the bridesmaids dress you picked!! I can’t wait to wear it!
I’m so glad!! I’m excited for April!
Yay! Glad to have you back in town in the blogosphere! That mason jar of chia seed pudding looks awesome. I love that you make it with coconut milk – I’ll have to give that a try.
Coconut milk is honestly a MUST when it comes to chia pudding. I refuse to make it any other way right now!
I’m in LOVE with chia seed pudding because of you haha! I’m considering giving the Whole30 a chance hoping it will help control my Type 1 Diabetes. Your recipes make it seem possible!
Yay for chia seed pudding and for the Whole 30! You should totally give it a go. I promise it is much easier than it sounds!
Congrats on finding the bridesmaid dress! That is such a big day in the planning process. Isn’t it interesting to see how our body responds to elimination and reintroduction of certain trigger foods. I have dairy allergy and there are times when I can have the smallest bite of dairy without a reaction and others when I drop will set me off for days on end. I hope your return to nightshade-free gets you feeling good again!
Diet eliminations can be SO frustrating at times, especially when things like that happen! I just hope I get it all figured out soon!
Your dinner looks absolutely scrumptious and I will defo try that recipe! What have a eaten lately and loved? Hmmmm, so many things! I had my first ever Wholefoods trip at the weekend (They are only in London and as I don’t live in London it was a treat) and I’m loving raw bar’s, coconut almond butter and roasted Aubergine! Well, for this week at least 🙂 x
Yay for Whole Foods! What a fun treat that is for you!
I’m glad to hear you’re doing so well but I know how frustrating it can be figuring out all these health issues. And tigernuts – YUM. We’ve never had them but maybe Arthur could eat them since they aren’t nuts!
Check out Whole Foods and get yourself some tigernuts… though, last time I was there they were out of stock. Obviously everyone else is crazy about them besides just me! 😉
Your breakfast looks so good! 🙂
It was super delicious. I am so hooked on it right now!
Chia pudding in the car?! You’re ambitious, haha! I had the best time shopping on Saturday – how was it already over a week ago?!
Yeah, time is flyyyying!! It will be Christmas before you know it 😉