dinner with Kris and Meghan

I wish.

Kris Carr of www.crazysexylife.com and Meghan Telpner of www.meghantelpner.com  are two very inspirational ladies I look up to when it comes to living healthy, happy, vibrantly and practicing plant based food choices (for everyone, really!) but especially as a healing tool in the face of dis-ease. I get advice and ideas from  both of  these rainbow sparkly health warriors often, and when I felt like cooking something special and different on a mellow Saturday night date with myself, they had my back.

Cheesy pasta and tomato sauce is total nostalgic comfort food for me, but a rare treat and a far cry from the white wheat-prego-orange cheddar of my childhood. Im onto the gluten free noodles, organic tomato and goat cheese options.  My dinner with Kris and Meghan (can you imagine though?!) started when I had all the stuff to make a version of these  balls - I used a blob of pesto for the herbs, oats instead of flour and egg instead of flax, and used the base of this dirty penne to create a hearty, comforting creamy pasta.  My sauce was simply some leftover marinara I crafted after having a sister date at the italian market blended with a simple cashew cream. I layered fresh spinach between my penne and sauce so it wilted perfectly, topped it with 3 balls and generous fresh parsley. YUM.

freshly layered penne, spinach, sauce, balls

after mixing, so yummy I already have a mouthful 

the gluten free sandwich

When I was in the hospital I watched alot of tv. Because thats the way they set you up- they tie down to a bed with IVs and stick a tv in front of your face. The remote is actually a part of the bed, like right next to the nurse button. As if watching TV were equally critical as post-op nurse care. I digress. I watched alot of food network, as I went about 5/6 days with no food and the visual experience of food was the best I was gunna get. I happily watched programs showcasing and glorifying greasy fried diner   food and was too numbed out from my regular self to care. They did however leave me with an intense desire to eat sandwiches, what with all the super delux burgers and deep fried BLTs. Being of the gluten-free persuasion, sandwiches are not typically in my meal rotation. This week I was not numb and I was not in the hospital and I was not on a liquid diet. This week I was home, I was aware, I was hungry and I wanted a sandwich. Now, there is bread in my life, but it is expensive. Ive tried many a gf bread and settled on a basic brown rice loaf as my go-to. I typically use only one slice at a time for eggs or almond butter/jam ect but the sandwich occasion called out for the extravagant and rare use of TWO slices of the holy grail brown rice bread. This little beauty of a food unit was so satisfying. 

yellow heirloom tomato, mustard, pickle, goat cheddar, avocado, pea shoots

Then there is the breadless sandwich. This is where shit gets fun. Butterleaf or romaine are super fun to use as non-bread food vehicles. This one came together pretty randomly as I was insipired to make sweet potato latkes but then didnt really know what to eat them with so I called them veggie burgers and raided the fridge for burger fixings. That there is a sweet potato latke piled with pea shoots, goat cheddar, pickle and avocado held in a butterleaf bun. yum yum. 

I will leave you with a little tip. If you have gluten free friends in your life, and for whatever culinary circumstance they happen to use gluten free bread in your presence, dont laugh or make fun! we know our bread looks funny and is different than your bread,  but everyone deserves a sandwich once in awhile :)

what color did you have for breakfast?

I love to start my day with a fresh veggie juice. Preferably green (I save the beets/carrots for an afternoon juice). In fact, I swear by it and feel totally off if I dont have it. My green juices are usually a base of cucumber and/or celery, an apple for sweetness, half a lemon for that morning cleansing effect, maybe a knob of ginger and a leafy green like kale, chard, parsley or romaine. So delicious. And Ruby red grapefruit, if it is juicy and succulent, also tops my list of fresh morning starters. Seriously, when I wake up I just lay in bed dreaming about my juice or what fruit I have to make a little fruit salad, my stomach is asking for the fresh live enzyme kick of raw fruits&veg. And then after my juice and/or fruit Ill follow with a little stretching and something more substantial- eggs, oats, yogurt ect.  Green juice is my lifeblood!

treats

Today I was inspired to make chocolate! They turned out so good. Silky, fudgy raw chocolate stuffed with a slightly sweet and sea-salty almond butter filling. These are way better and bunny-friendly than anything I could buy.  I had fancy ideas of cooking dinner later but I might just eat these.

Long Live Pancake Sunday

blueberry spice buckwheat pancakes

I'm a pancake girl. They are one of my favorite foods. I always start my day with a green juice and/or fruit to wake up my guts but a little later on Ill eat something more substantial.  My favorite base for pancakes is a soaked-buckwheat batter made in the blender. Gluten free, whole grain, and very flexible to play with. I never make the same pancake twice.  These were applesauce,flax, milk, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. hearty, warming, fruity, comforting yum. I usually make a stack on lazy mornings and toast them up  for easy satisfying breakfasts the rest of the week.  Usually Ill throw an egg in the batter but I was out this morning so I used applesauce and flax as they were what I had on hand, thus making them vegan by default. That is until I plated them next to my favorite bison maple sausage. Long live pancake Sunday!

Meet my blog.

 Hi. This is my blog, shortguts. This is my new belly button, about a week or so after my small bowel resection. After 11 years living with a relatively aggressive case of crohns disease, I had enough of the  small bowel obstruction emergency room trips and superhero doses of steroids.  Despite my dedication to healthy living this dis-ease had done some serious damage and I just knew it was time to go. The plan was to remove about 12cm but upon entering my guts, the surgeons found no less than 3 feet of substantially diseased and badly damaged small intestine to remove. Thus was born shortguts.

Juice. I am a juicehead. This is a freshly released from the hosptial skinny bunny  testing her newly renovated shortguts on a carrot juice. Fresh veggie juice has been my lifeblood for a few years now. One of the great frustrations of crohns disease is the inability to comfortably eat raw veg. With a few feet of badly scarred and strictured (a stricture is an extreme narrowing of the intestine due to inflammation and scarring) guts, raw veg and other high-fibre foods become small-bowel-obstruction causing enemies. I learned this the hard way in my adventures pursuing the healthiest health and shoving my face full of raw veg and nuts and eventually winding up in the ER and having strictures explained to me for the first time. Anyways. I found a loophole. I may not be able to eat raw veg, but I can drink them. And I do, every day.  Despite the initial difficult phases of healing post-op, I am pretty excited about my new shortguts and vow to treasure every last inch of healthy villi in my little gut. This blog will focus on my food adventures, my experiences and insights with crowns disease, and you may see some puppy and yoga filter in. Oh, and for now, my photos will be primarily photobooth. Sorry if this insults you photographers :) I just finished a delicious chocolate avacado pudding and am feeling pretty good about this new beginning. 

<3 bunny