Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Breakfast was a turkey (ground turkey) stir-fry. Simple and really easy to make for an inexperienced chef like me. Alexis and I took a trip to Rose's Wheat Free Bakery. It is still one of my favorite places to eat. It is a completely gluten free bakery/cafe in Evanston, IL. It also offers other options, such as dairy free.The food is wonderful and when I was just limiting gluten it always felt so good to walk in there and know I could order anything off the menu. Now that I am eating Paleo, I will use Rose's on special occasions and enjoy it thoroughly when I do. I bought pita bread there for our dinner date later that evening. It is wonderful that so many more restaurants are having gluten free options, I just wish more had gluten free bread too (Wildfire does by the way). Alexis and I indulged in a sweet treat at Rose's. Alexis got a cookie and I got a gluten free, dairy free, lemon cupcake. I ate half of it. It was pretty tasty. Then Lex and I went home and had leftover chicken soup for lunch. We shared an avocado for a snack and then right before dinner I had a tiny box of raisins for a pick me up.
Scott and I went to Francesca's North. It was our 3rd year in a row going there for Valentine's Day. Randomly, this year my brother and his wife made reservations for the same restaurant at the same time. Quite the coincidence (no, we didn't end up sitting together). Francesca's has a nice gluten free menu. They even have some tasty gluten free desserts. As I wrote in my provisions of the challenge on Day 1, I did not follow Paleo for dinner. I did however, order off of the gluten free menu. I brought my pita and had some while waiting for food in place of the bread they offered. I also had a couple glasses of red wine. The dinner was fabulous. We had carpaccio for an appetizer. Yes, I actually ate raw meat. I had a shrimp and scallop meal with spinach, mushrooms and tomato for the entree. We also shared a gluten free creme brulee (my favorite) and a flour less chocolate cake. We really indulged! The desserts were so yummy I tried to savor every bite. I highly recommend the restaurant; the food and service were great. The dinner flew by so quickly, I wanted time to slow down. It was so nice having some time alone with Scott. I think we also both enjoyed eating out for a change.
Unfortunately, the food choices of the night were not without their consequences. I felt the alcohol more than normal (due to both the challenge and nursing). I did not sleep well and when I woke up I had a bit of an upset stomach. My body felt really off today. My anxiety level was sky high (possibly from the wine and the sugar spike and drop from the desserts). I just felt really off. I am not saying it wasn't worth it; it was at the time. I just think I learned that next time I will go a little easier on the sweets and the wine. Two desserts may have been a bit much, even if we shared them.
Day 11: Today, I just wanted to get back on track. I had scrambled eggs and a few slices of bacon for breakfast. For lunch, I had a very nice veggie stir fry that my dad made and a few slices of gluten free Boorshead turkey. For a quick stir fry we use frozen veggies from Costco or Trader Joe's. I had some nuts, a Lara Bar, a banana, and apple slices as snacks throughout the day. For dinner, Scott made Hasta La Vista Pasta Lasagna (Everyday Paleo, 86) and a salad. We are very lucky that our kids love salads. AJ usually has seconds and even thirds. Today was no different. We used ground beef and ground pork for the meat. The recipe called for Italian Sausage instead of the pork, but I was hoping to lower the salt content by going with the pork. Instead of lasagna noodles, zucchini slices divided the layers. A mandolin would have come in handy to slice the zucchinis thinly lengthwise. We will have to plan a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond soon. The lasagna was very good (Scott thinks the Italian Sausage would have given it more of a kick). AJ said he liked this lasagna more than regular lasagna. I don't know if I would go that far, but it could definitely grow on me. For dessert we each had two unsweetened dried apricots. On to Day 12!
