adventures of a tired coder

While it seems like most other people in the world are currently scrambling frantically to start their restrictive diets and health resolutions, I am on day seven of my elimination diet. When I mention this to people, they assume I’m either doing a cleanse diet, a weight loss diet, or permanently eliminating lots of foods from my regular diet. Not the case at all. An elimination diet lasts for a few weeks. During the first two weeks, you remove any foods with the potential of causing allergies or intolerances so that you are symptom free for at least a few days before beginning the next part, which is the reintroduction of foods, one at a time, to try to identify which ones cause discomfort.

Why am I doing this? Mainly because I want the knowledge. I don’t have one of those stomachs of steel, and I’m certain I do have food intolerances. They aren’t nearly as life-disturbing as the ones that some of my friends have experienced, but they can be uncomfortable and inconvenient. It’s also possible that they could be the cause of the gastritis symptoms I experience every once in awhile. So I might as well figure it out, if I can.

What can’t I eat during my elimination diet? A lot. All grains except rice. Dairy. Soy. Eggs. Pork. Potatoes. Tomatoes. Onions. Most tropical fruit. There are some more limitations, but those are the most annoying ones. The restrictions leave plenty of things that I can eat, but it makes eating out a problem. One thing might be vegan. One thing might be gluten-free. One thing might be soy-free. But how many things are all of the above? And if they are, they might still contain potato or onion. I mean, who deliberately makes things onion-free?

As a result, I have been cooking a lot.

40 Cloves and a Chicken (and Brussels Sprouts)

This is a great one because I didn’t have to modify the recipe at all! There are many variants of this garlicky chicken. I used Alton Brown’s recipe and used chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken, which is something I would definitely recommend. Thighs are better for this sort of long cooking because they don’t dry out. I also added Brussels sprouts when there was about 30 minutes left in the cooking to get some veggies in the dish, and it goes perfectly with the garlic and the cooking method.

Pesto Rice Noodles with Italian Chicken Sausage

Originally, I was going to cook the rice noodles (the type you eat in pad thai) in a sad pseudo-Asian way with garlic (and without soy sauce), but Trader Joe’s had attractive looking packages of basil, so I decided to see how it would work in an Italian preparation. Verdict is good! I was really careful to make sure the rice noodles didn’t overcook, so they have a nice tooth to them that doesn’t make me feel like it’s a substitute pasta at all.

Basic recipe:
Put dry rice noodles in a big enough pan or dish and pour enough boiling water over to cover the noodles. Mix the noodles occasionally and test to make sure they don’t overcook. Depending on the noodles, they should be done in 5-10 minutes. Drain the water and stir a little olive oil in the noodles so they don’t stick together.

Make pesto in the normal way, except no cheese. I eyeball correct measurements for basil leaves, walnuts (I use these instead of pine nuts), garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Here is a real recipe if you need measurements.

Brown the sausage in a pan, cut it into pieces if you want, then add the noodles and pesto.