East Meets South: food

I'm getting a little personal today. So I have a lot of allergies. Food, pollen, trees, animals, you name it. I am pretty sensitive when it comes to those things. I have always used the same skin products, laundry detergents, perfumes, etc. A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves disease, and one of the symptoms I was having was severe allergic reactions to anything and everything.

Allergies are a well-known trigger in autoimmune diseases and all of a sudden, I developed food allergies that I never had problems with before. So from then on, I avoided these new food allergies and went on with my life. Then, earlier this year, I started experiencing major breakouts on my skin and at first, I just assumed that I ate something wrong, my thyroid was acting up again, or maybe the new lotion I had hoped would work on my sensitive skin was not working out. Not to mention I was exhausted all the time and suffering from serious insomnia.

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It turns out that I was having an allergic reaction to gluten. Long story short, I started an elimination diet. A couple of weeks into going gluten free, my skin started clearing up and I was feeling great. Sure, I had those days where I was really craving something with gluten in it and I cheated. Then the next day I would start having skin problems again. I'm not going to lie to you, it's been really hard. I cook a lot at home and substituting ingredients or making gluten free recipes isn't as hard as trying to find something gluten free while dining out. I know that I have it easier than those with celiac disease but trying to quit something you've been eating your entire life is pretty tough! Especially when your favorite foods include things like bread (I miss you so much, bread), pasta, cakes, etc.

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Fortunately for me, there are tons of gluten free blogs, gluten free products, gluten free books, and more! I read this blog post when I quit gluten and it really helped in the motivation department. It'll probably take time for me to be 100% gluten free. Are any of you out there gluten free? I would love to hear your stories. Here are a few recipes that are on my list to try.

chicken enchilada casserole

gluten free crepe cake

gluten free breakfast casserole

gluten free mini meatloaf

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Spring Salads

food 6:30 AM

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Spice Korean Beef Noodle Soup

Asian food 6:00 AM

I found the original recipe for this here and it inspired me to make something of my own. If you do not want to or have the time to make the bone broth, you can always just use beef stock or buy pho soup package from an Asian grocery store. The key to making this more "Korean" flavored is using Korean red pepper flakes.

"Gochugaru" is an essential ingredient in Korean cuisine and the flavor is spicy, sweet, and smoky. If you like spicy flavors in your food, I would highly recommend buying some! You can always add in dipping sauces or marinades.

Ingredients

Noodles - you can use either rice noodles or potato starch noodles (also known as cellophane noodles). I used the whole package of rice noodles and it was enough for 4 meals.

4 cups of broth

1 lb of thinly sliced beef (You can find very thinly sliced beef at an Asian grocery store)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons of Korean red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 cups of sliced bok choy

2 cups of sliced shittake mushrooms

4 scallions, chopped

*You can really add any kind of vegetables you'd like such as sprouts, different kinds of mushrooms, cabbage, etc - you could even try it with an egg!

Directions

1) Place the noodles in a large bowl with warm water. No need to boil them! Just put them in warm water for 20-30 minutes and they will be ready.

2) In a large skillet, brown the beef with a little bit of oil. Remove from pan when cooked through.

3) In the same pan, heat sesame oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes until fragrant. Mix this with cooked beef and set aside.

4) Heat broth or soup mixture in a large pot. When it comes to a boil, add your vegetables and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.

5) Put the noodles, beef mixture, and scallions in the broth and cook for 2 minutes.

6) Divide into individual bowls and add more red pepper flakes if you'd like!

* Instead of placing the noodles back in the pot, I like to put them in the bowl and add the broth mixture, so it looks nicer :)