Adventures in Eating: Strange Grillin' on Cinco de Mayo!

I've become something of a creative, er, day-of menu planner of late, which has resulted in some interesting meals. Today was no exception!

For dinner on cinco-de-mayo, we feasted on:

• Grilled open-face bison burgers on grilled portobello buns. Hurray for charcoal! I dressed mine with mayo (I read the labels CAREFULLY) and organic salad/herb mix. The fresh dill in it was *perfect*.
• Yucca in a Cuban juice-based sauce from the only yucca recipe in Joy of Cooking. Juiced the grapefruit and orange juices for it myself in the juicer!
• Blueberry-Pear-Spinach smoothies. I wanted a quick and easy way to get the green leafies in. I told Mom and The E.P. to pretend they were fruity drinks as, in fact, they were made of fruit. ;)

An odd odd mix of dishes but ultimately, SO GOOD. So fresh, fun and tasty!

I learned about the frozen blueberry/fresh pear/handful of fresh spinach combo from the Stop SUGAR SHOCK! forums. A contributor there puts these ingredients in a blender every night with a cup of water, and puts the blender in the fridge. In the morning s/he adds protein powder, blends it up and goes! In the future I'm going to try this with an organic egg yolk as my protein. The powders are, to me, yet more overly processed food requiring lots of machinery/chemicals/water/electricity to create. It's as likely these days that I'll get e coli/salmonella from just about ANYTHING as it is raw egg yolks! (I add them to smoothies regularly! =)

Quick and Easy "Ice Cream"
Speaking of egg yolks and blueberries, I made "ice cream" last night. The E.P. and I enjoyed a lovely evening together and it's our habit to share chocolate, so I had to replace the candy with something.

I modified my usual smoothie recipe (frozen fruit, banana, yogurt, egg yolk) to create a thick creamy sorbet. I stuck in the blender: frzen blueberries, frozen cherries, 1/3 of a banana, an egg yolk, and *goat's milk yogurt*. It was the first time I've used goat's milk yogurt, in an effort to further reduce the lactose in my diet. It tasted just like chevre!

The result was a thick, creamy, sweet, awesome "ice cream" which worked perfectly with the chevre yogurt. Yes, I am a goat's milk yogurt convert! And... without cow's milk dairy or sugar, I had zero "side effects" from eating it. No gas, no blood sugar crash, no nothing! It was lovely!

Yes... going sugar free and organic has turned me into an amateur gourmet. Most days I feel we're eating better-than-restaurant quality meals! And that definitely keeps me motivated. The food is just too good to go back. =)