Sunset Fresh Food Challenge: Day 2

It’s day two of the Sunset Fresh Food Challenge! Follow along with Amy here: 

Breakfast: Herbal tea (yay!); brown rice cereal with dried fruits, pistachios, and soy milk

Lunch: Hummus on gluten-free bread with green onions and mixed greens with lemon vinaigrette and a side of Fuji apple; 2 cups of herbal tea

Dinner: Indian spinach without the naan

Snack: Spiced fried chickpeas

Exercise: Long walk

Can we talk gluten-free breads for a minute? I went to the store this morning to pick some up and also see if there was anything else I should sample. I had tried gluten-free bread a few years ago and it was disgusting–cardboard has more flavor than what I tried. However, I’ve heard that there have been some recent improvements in the recipes that gluten-free bread makers are using, so I thought this might be the best time to try again.

Whoa, there weren’t nearly this many options before. This is at Rainbow Grocery and Co-op in San Francisco, but any Whole Foods or natural food store will have a similar selection.

And they have this dandy little key on the side that tells you which tag is within your criteria.

Sadly, I was so overwhelmed with all my choices, that I picked a hearty looking one that was gluten-free, but not vegan, because it contains egg. Luckily for me, I’m allowing the occasional egg this week so it’s not a huge deal.

I got home and put two pieces into the toaster. Awesome–I wouldn’t have guessed something this good could be gluten-free. Yes, it would have been better with butter (or a giant scoop of burrata!), but that’s not an option this week. Instead, I used it as the vehicle for my hummus (homemade, of course) at lunch.

This got me thinking that while I’m focusing on the bounty of fruits and vegetables available to me here in California as the basis of my diet this week, there are more options out there.

It seems everyone is on some sort of elimination diet these days and food producers are getting the hint and making better products. (Check out my use of gluten-free pasta later this week!) If the bread is this good, I wonder how the soy yogurt is? I do allow plain Greek yogurt as I feel like the pros from cultures are better for my gut than the cons of a tiny bit of dairy in the overall scope of my mission this week. But if I could find a quality soy yogurt for next year, with the beneficial cultures, that might be something worth looking into. Does anyone have a brand they love?

How is your week going? Any questions or comments so far? Let us know in the comments below.

Just tuning in? Learn about the challenge here and get the menu plan and grocery list here.