That bread looks
amazing. Wow.
3FC is, oddly enough, my favorite place to go for healthful/interesting recipes. You all have the best taste in foods that are delicious
without loads of sugar/butter
One of my favorite things when stressed is high-fiber raw salads -- not the kind of salad you have to make yourself that tastes like vinegar and includes leaves that make a mess, but salads you could eat with a spoon. Two favorites:
Fresh corn & avocado salad.
3 ears of fresh sweet corn, husked and cut from the cob
1/2 cup red onion, diced (about one small red onion)
1 avocado, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (can subs basil)
1/2 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Remove silks from corn and corn from cob; combine ingredients in large bowl; mix well; allow to marinade 6-24 hours and serve (it's better if left in the fridge overnight). So easy, so fresh & delicious. According to my calculator, this yields about four servings of 130 g, 160 cal each -- but I think that's a high estimate based on a large avocado. Use a small one.
Cucumber onion salad: This is an 'Asian' variant of the classic cucumber-onion-tomato salad. I make these two salads together because I like the palate consistency of the red onion.
3 English cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (slice each cucumber into quarters length-wise, then cut each long pickle-shaped wedge into small 1/2-inch long pieces) -- about 5 cups of diced cucumber
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (I use Kikoman)
2 Tbsp rice vinegar (dark or white)
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Cover all the cucumber with salt as if a marinade; let sit for 30 minutes. The cucumber should 'dehydrate'; strain in a colander, removing as much salt water as possible. Combine with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar in that order in a large bowl. (Add more soy sauce or sugar to taste.) Add chopped red onion. Marinade for 20 minutes. Drain about 1/2 the marinade; drip sesame oil onto salad and mix in; serve. Yields 8 servings of 100g each; ~53 calories.
This is a strong sweet-sour-salty cucumber salad; the longer you marinade it, obviously, the stronger its flavor. Although salt is used liberally at first, most of it is drained. If you choose to use sliced cucumber instead of chunks, cut down on salt at the beginning and reduce marinade time.
ETA: Wow, totally skipped over the whole grain / protein note. Sorry if these aren't helpful -- they're more of the 'refreshment' category of food.