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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Corn Free "Cornbread"

I never had cornbread growing up (so sad). The first time I tried it was probably when I was in college. And I’ve loved it ever since!

Corn has been out of my diet for over a year now. And I miss cornbread. It’s my go-to accompaniment for chili. Corn muffins are great with just about any kind of soup. It’s easy and delicious.

So recently I decided to try a corn free version. I know it sounds crazy. But it can be done.

I used my usual cornbread recipe and made some modifications to remove the corn (including removing the baking powder…yes, that has cornstarch!). I also made it egg white free so that it’s better for me.

The result is a lightly sweetened cake that tastes almost just like cornbread. It even looks like cornbread…the egg yolks give it a nice golden color. All the picky eaters in my family loved it just as much as the original version.

It’s also very easy to make. Add the ingredients to a bowl, mix with a spoon, pour it in the pan and bake. My 18 month old helped me make it last night (he did some pouring, mixing and egg cracking…while I held him…the whole time…yes, it’s easy enough to make one handed while keeping a little one from spilling everything).

It makes a great pairing with chili. Or it’s a delicious breakfast topped with butter and honey or maple syrup. My personal favorite way to eat it is with lots of butter and a little sprinkle of sea salt. I love anything with a salty/sweet combo.

I have also added a soaked gluten free version. It is just as good as the original and easy on the tummy.

Can’t have corn? Try this corn free version of cornbread. You don’t have to go without anymore 🙂

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.

Corn Free “Cornbread”

1/2 cup organic all purpose flour (or 1/2 cup white rice or tapioca flour)
1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour (or 1/2 cup amaranth flour)
1/3 – 1/2 cup organic cane sugar (depends how sweet you like it)
4 Tbsp. melted butter (you can also used coconut oil. It will give a little different texture)
1/2 cup milk or milk substitute
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
4-5 egg yolks (more yolks will make it more moist and more yellow)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9″ round pie pan.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix. Add the butter and milk. Mix. Add the egg yolks. Mix.

Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until golden and baked through.

 

Soaked Gluten Free Corn Free Cornbread

1/2 cup tapioca or white rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup milk or coconut milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice, yogurt, whey or kefir
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter or coconut oil
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

In a medium bowl combine the flour, milk and lemon juice. Cover and let sit for 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 400*F. Grease a 9″ round pie pan.

Add the sugar and oil to the flour mixture. Beat well.
Add the eggs and sea salt. Beat well.
Add the baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix until just combined.
Immediately pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Lost and Found…And Lost Again

Over the last month I’ve had a lot of ideas floating around in my head. Just when I think I figure something out I find contradictory information or another avenue to explore. The best way for me to make sense of my thoughts is to write them out. So bear with me as I navigate some theories. This may get quite lengthy and there probably won’t be any pretty pictures 😛  I commend you if you make it to the end. And feel free to offer advice if you have any experience with any of this.

Theory One:

My initial theory about what’s going on was something like this: I eat well (i.e. healing foods, GAPS, etc.) for a few days. I feel good and have no problems sticking with what I should eat. Then, my body tries to start healing/getting rid of the junk. I suffer bad die off. I feel rotten. My body craves the junk again and I give in to calm my body/feed the bad stuff that is causing the commotion/reduce stress (I’m an emotional eater…if I don’t feel good I might as well just eat whatever I want mentality)/feel “better.” I suffer through this for a week or two and end up back where I started.

So my body is in a constant state of distress. I can be “good” about what I eat for a few days. But then the reactions are so strong that I just can’t stick with it. It’s like my brain is telling me I MUST have sugar, bread, etc. And I just can’t control it. It’s kind of like trying to stop a drug addiction. It doesn’t help that I love to bake…and have temptations all around me. And my family does not have restrictions…nor do I want to impose my restrictions on them. But I do all of the cooking. So inevitably I take little tastes of things here and there that I make for them. I take bites when I feed my kids. And it adds up.

I’m not sure how to stop this process. I don’t think just trying to eat good foods and avoid “bad” foods is enough for me. I’ve had so many years of restrictions. It’s hard to keep up. Maybe I need some kind of cleanse or detox? Maybe I need higher doses of vitamins/minerals/probiotics? Maybe I need amino acids or other supplements? I’m not really sure.

Whatever the case the road to recovery involves a healing diet like GAPS…and figuring out how to do it in a way that works for my body and stick with it.

Theory Two:

The first theory makes sense. And it could be true. However the basis of GAPS is healing using broth/stock/gelatin, probiotics, cultured foods and ferments while eliminating stressors like grains and sugars. I did that. For about 10 months. And I can’t say it made a huge impact overall. Sure, there were times I was feeling ok. And I now know I was eating a little too low carb. But it still should have helped more. On the whole I’m still where I started. And actually tolerate less now than I did before doing GAPS (more on that in theory four).

I’ve recently been reading a lot about histamine intolerance. I learned about it as I researched reactions to ferments. I’ve always been intolerant of alcohol. And I’m figuring out lately how strongly I react to anything fermented – sauerkraut, vinegar, even cheese. This is a large component of histamine intolerance.

The funny/frustrating thing about it is that a diet to help with histamine intolerance is almost the complete opposite of GAPS/opposite of how I eat right now. Nothing slow cooked, no long simmered broth, no ferments, no eating leftovers from a big pot of soup. Everything must be fresh. A lot of my go-to foods that I eat almost daily are on the list of high histamine foods.

That leads me to the question…is a healing diet like GAPS doing me more harm than good? Do I feel rotten when I try to eat “right” simply because my body is going through a healing phase/die off or am I really causing my body stress and eating everything I shouldn’t? Do I eat the ferments and push through the reaction and hope my body adjusts? Or should I completely avoid them?

The treatment for histamine intolerance is to eat a low histamine diet. I think that it can be overcome at some point and you can start adding the foods back in eventually.

Theory Three:

Another  theory is that I’m dealing with a bad case of candida. Meaning the good/bad bacteria balance in my gut/body is so out of whack. The bad has taken over. And every time I give in to foods that feed the bad stuff I’m just making things worse.

There are a lot of differing opinions about candida. A lot of western doctors don’t believe it even exists. Some people think you have to be on a very strict diet to get rid of it (no sugar of any kind, no yeast, nothing starchy, etc.). Some say to just avoid high fructose foods and add glandular supplements to your diet.

This also involves taking lots of probiotics to increase the amount of good bacteria in the gut.

Theory Four:

The final diet “revelation” I just recently heard about is a rotational diet. This one actually makes a lot of sense to me/for my situation. I LOVE leftovers. Seriously. If it’s a food I like I don’t care of it’s hot, warm, cold, one day old, three days old. I’ll eat it. And I do. Got four containers of leftovers in the fridge? Even better. I’ll mix them all together (even cold). And eat them for meal after meal until they are gone.

I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember. If I find something I like I can eat it day after day after day after day. I never get sick of it. In high school I ate almost the exact same lunch every single day. My senior year of college I ate an apple and a yogurt for lunch almost every day. My husband can attest to that 😛  Sometimes I would swap carrots for the yogurt.

Now that I have so many intolerances I tend to stick with a few foods and eat them over and over. I just don’t have many options. I find what “works” and keep eating it. If I make a big batch of split pea soup for dinner one night I’ll eat it for one to three meals a day until it’s gone. If we have leftover salmon cakes I’ll add them to my breakfast and lunch the next day or two and snack on them between meals until they are gone. I don’t think I’m alone being the mommy that ends up using the leftovers so they don’t get wasted 😛  But I actually enjoy them. Not to mention it makes my life easier to have leftovers available for my meals when I don’t have time to cook while taking care of the kids.

So, what’s wrong with that? I didn’t think there was anything wrong before. I actually thought it was great since I could make a big batch of nourishing, healing foods and always have something on hand for myself. Then I wouldn’t reach for junk.

Turns out there could be a lot wrong. First, eating the same foods over and over often creates a food intolerance. And I’m quickly finding this to be true. The foods I ate all the time in college (apples, carrots, oats, peanut butter)…they are the foods I am most intolerant of now. I created such a sensitivity that even one or two small bites of them can make me feel awful/cause a strong reaction in my body.

Then on GAPS I stuck to the same foods. It’s hard not to when you are so limited as you go through the intro diet. And since I considered them “safe” foods I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Well, I was wrong. While on GAPS I ate a lot of nuts. And I did fine with them for a while. Now just one nut (any variety) can be enough to cause inflammation and pain. I’ve also been living on avocados for quite some time. But lately I’m starting to wonder if they are what’s causing a lot of my pain and inflammation.

My list of safe foods is slowly dwindling down to nothing. I currently eat a lot of peas and squash. But I’m afraid that if I keep eating them daily like I do pretty soon they’ll cause a reaction. Maybe even consuming so much broth has made that cause a reaction too. I’m afraid that soon I won’t have anything I can tolerate. Then what?

The solution – a rotational diet. This is a far cry from anything I’ve ever done…which is why it may be just what I need. The idea is that you only eat a particular food/food family once every four days. That way you can really tell if you react to it, and your body does not become intolerant. I’m so used to doing diets that restrict foods or limit your choices…but you can eat those foods as much as you want. And that is my weakness. I’m not even sure how I would go about starting a rotational diet. I love using leftovers. And one of my main strategies for feeding my family healthy food is preparing large quantities and preparing them in advance.

This is definitely something I want to look into more. For now I can try to take simple steps like freezing leftovers in individual servings to take out every so often instead of trying to use them up over the course of three days. And I can try to add a few questionable foods into my diet once every four days just to see what happens. If I don’t expand my diet and just stick to the few things I currently tolerate, soon I’ll be left with no options. So I have to take some chances and change things up a bit.

And when I eat something new and feel ok…I need to NOT go overboard and eat it non-stop for three days 😛  I need to give it a break and wait a few days before trying it again. I’m an all or nothing kind of person. But I need a slow and steady approach.

Miscellaneous Factors and Thoughts:

There are a few other things in my life that factor in. First is lack of sleep. I know how critical sleep is. But I don’t get it. Because of small children and my OCD I actually get very little quality sleep. So my body never has a chance to fully repair and recover over night.

Breastfeeding is another factor. I’ve been doing it for 18 months now. And it really depletes my body. It’s to the point where just one extra feeding in the night can change my weight, my mood, my hunger, my fatigue. I never realized before how much work it is for my already struggling body. Thankfully this one will not last forever…or for much longer 😛  I’m anxious to see how my body reacts when I am done breastfeeding and do not have to provide for two people. Some days I wonder if it’s even worth trying to heal until I’m done breastfeeding.

From a mental stand point I know I don’t get enough down time. Being a full time stay at home mom is stressful. Plus some unique challenges with my kids/the phases they are in/their ages. I also don’t spend much time with other adults/developing relationships. I can’t say I’ve had a really good friend/someone I can call anytime/someone I hang out with since high school (that’s about 15 years…). Being someone with severe OCD, anxiety and chronic health problems I just don’t bother/feel comfortable letting people into my life…letting people really get to know me. I have so many restrictions (food, schedules, etc.) in my daily life that it’s just “easier” to not let people in. I also am not the kind of person that asks for help. I don’t like to bother anyone. So I take everything on myself.

I have had a pretty skewed body image for a long time. So I often just don’t feel good about myself. My weight goes up and down daily. When it’s up I feel down. When it’s down I feel up. And my health issues make it hard to keep it steady. One day I feel good in my clothes. The next day my jeans feel tight and uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that I am in serious need of an entire new wardrobe. Most of my clothes are 5-10 years old. They are out of style and don’t fit my body anymore. So I never feel good about how I look.

I have always had a very strong cold intolerance. I don’t think it’s just part of who I am. I think it’s a big indicator of the severity of my health problems. Once in a while I will eat a meal and then get really warm/my ears are burning. Then I know I finally got at least one meal “right.” But some days I am freezing from morning until evening and can’t seem to do anything about it. I’m finding that’s usually on the third day of eating the same foods over and over. A good sign I need to change it up.

A lot of these theories/diets/ideas overlap. It seems that up until now I’ve always pursued the first theory. I need to heal. Here is exactly what I can and can’t eat. End of story. And it just isn’t working.

So I need to find some kind of new path related to the other theories. All three of them would cut out my current use of leftovers. With histamine intolerance everything has to be fresh. The histamine levels in some foods increases with age. Which is why ferments are so bad. With candida it’s related to mold, yeast, etc. And I am not good about heating leftovers. I’ll eat leftovers cold that are four days old. I know it’s probably bad. But I do. I’m probably consuming lots of bad bacteria without knowing it. And with a rotational diet obviously you can’t eat one night’s dinner for the next day’s breakfast. So I have a lot of thinking and planning to consider.

Taking all of this into consideration I’d say I’m holding up quite well. But that’s not how I want to live. I don’t want to just get by. I want to feel good! I feel like the slightest thing could send me in a downward spiral. I had the flu a couple weeks ago and I could barely manage. My immune system is so run down. I’m planning to see a new doctor soon and try to have some testing done to get more definitive answers. Am I histamine intolerant? Do I have candida? Do I have food allergies? Do I have severe deficiencies?

It’s hard to know which way to turn. Some days I want to just keep plugging along. Some days I want to take a break from everything…sleep as much as I can, eat as much as I want, no exercise, reduce stress as much as possible (the basis of RARRF). I need balance. I need direction.

Simply writing this post has been a big help. It does give me some direction for the moment. But I need external help as well. There are other factors that I have not included in this post that add to the stress of my daily life. I have my own worries and worries about my children.

To conclude…I have no conclusions. I don’t know what’s next. I’m not really sure how to proceed. I just wanted to get my thoughts out. For anyone that doesn’t know me very well…now you probably know more than you want to 😛  For anyone that has experience with any of this please chime in. Or if you simply want to offer a quick prayer that would be appreciated too.

I’m sure there was more I was going to add, but I think I’ve rambled long enough. My brain is in need of a break. It’s Abram’s nap time. So it’s time for me to have a few minutes of quiet.

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

This post is linked to Fight Back Friday and Fresh Bites Friday and Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.

Meal Plans Week of 11-11-12

Another new week. Another adventure 🙂  That’s my life. Last week our (mostly unplanned) adventures included a trip to the ped (checking for infection for Abram…negative), a day off of school (sad loss at Rebecca’s school), roofers coming unexpectedly (at our house when I came home from grocery shopping…made nap time very interesting and stressful…two days of loud roof work), another trip to the dentist (no need to pull teeth!!), time with my mom on Friday (play time, dinner and Justin’s and my first “date” in 18 months!!…going to Bible study for a couple hours) and more time with my mom on Saturday (shopping for Christmas ornaments, Build-A-Bear and dinner out). What a crazy unplanned week.

In my “spare” time I managed to make yogurt, pesto, smoothies, soaked grahams, cornbread, tapioca pudding, bread pudding, baked/pureed pumpkin and banana bread.
This week…well, it’s pretty packed. This morning we’ll be picking up my mom and my grandma and heading to the hospital to visit my grandpa (recovering from surgery). Monday we have milk pick up, school and a check up for Abram at the ped (no infection last week but still not sure if anything is going on or not…at least we’ve figured out part of his problem is major teething – 2 year molars). Tuesday we have Kindermusik and an evaluation for Rebecca at Family Tree Therapy. Wednesday is school. Thursday we are going to take a trip to the Children’s Museum to play and have a picnic dinner (Rebecca’s request :). Friday we have Mom Break and school. Saturday I might try to make a trip to Heffron Farms (finally). I think that should keep us plenty busy. I’m not sure when my mom is heading home or if we’ll be seeing her more this week.

For meals Rebecca and I decided to do a fun food week/week at Rebecca’s restaurant. She helped pick out almost all of our meals. We’re even having ice cream cones for one meal!…we made homemade cones yesterday and have plenty of homemade ice cream in the freezer 🙂  It should be fun.

Some weeks I have so many things I want to do in the kitchen. This week I don’t have too many plans. Maybe that means I can keep working on my sewing projects. I managed to do one morning of sewing last week. I do think we’ll make a batch of ice cream this week and maybe use it to make ice cream sandwiches. I just baked a bunch of pumpkin yesterday so now I want to make a pumpkin pie. I might do it this week or wait until next week (for Thanksgiving). We could also make vanilla wafers, graham crackers and pretzels. It just depends what Rebecca is in the mood for. Maybe Abram will want to help bake too. Rebecca told me her “recipe” for an ice cream pie yesterday. We might have to give it a try if I can make sense of it.

Not much update on me. Same old, same old. Trying to figure things out. I had so many phone calls and doctor appts. to make for the kids last week that I didn’t have time to call the new doctor for myself. Hopefully this week I can do that to set up an appt.

On to the menu. I think for breakfasts this week I’m just going to have a list of potentials and pick as the week goes on. For take it out Tuesday I’m going for sugar. I think I’ll allow fruit and honey, but nothing else.

Breakfast options – flavored yogurt, milkshakes, smoothies, custard, banana bread, granola bars, fruit, dinner leftovers, cornbread w/ butter and honey or syrup.
————–
S (prep smoothies, make kefir, visit Grandparents, make pretzels) (sick kid)
  L – ice cream cones, misc. veggies
  D – pumpkin soup (me), buttered noodles, broth, broccoli pretzels

M (strain kefir, prep dinner, clean, milk, PS, shopping, ped)
  D – (easy prep) – mac ‘n’ cheese, carrots

TioT – sugar (prep squash, skim cream, make sc, clean, KM, FT, soak beans)
  D – (easy prep) – ham and olive mini pizza toast (w/ squash crust), beans

W (cook beans, make caramel, make ice cream, PS)
  D – split pea soup w/ ham, corn free corn bread (experiment #2)

Th (GRCM, make cookies, pack lunch, baking – holiday oreos,
  L – (picnic lunch) – ham and cheese sandwich, olives, dried fruit, yogurt
  D – “tuna cakes with salmon sticks”, broccoli

F (chop veggies, MB, PS)
  D – chicken nuggets w/ homemade honey mustard, roasted cauliflower

S (HF, make pumpkin pie?)
  D – TBD

Simple Chicken Nuggets

I’ve made chicken nuggets countless times. I’ve made them in a variety of ways. But I have always used chicken breast or roasted chicken.

Last week I put chicken nuggets on my menu…then went to the freezer to get chicken…and found I had no chicken breast. Hmmm.

I did have some ground chicken, so I figured I’d go with that. I had no recipe and not a lot of time to prepare dinner. And I had my usual little “helper” in the kitchen (Abram thinks he must be held whenever I’m cooking so he can watch and try to get his hands on whatever I’ll let him).

I came up with an easy, delicious chicken nugget recipe that we all loved.

This is a great recipe if you’re trying to get your kids to eat homemade chicken nuggets instead of a fast food version. By using ground chicken you can make them round…or whatever shape you want really 🙂  They look like the typical nugget, but they only have good stuff in them.

I used a combination of bread crumbs and freshly grated parmesan cheese for the breading. You can skip the cheese if you want. And you can sub wheat flour, coconut flour or almond flour for the bread crumbs.

I also used egg yolks for a binder. If you can’t eat eggs you can leave them out. They will still hold together.

One other bonus about this recipe – they are baked. Don’t get me wrong, I love to fry things in healthy fat like coconut oil, butter and lard. But it can be messy and you have to monitor the stove. I like it when I can prepare dinner, stick it in the oven and forget about it until it’s time to eat.

You can prepare a large batch and freeze them for quick lunches any time. They didn’t last long enough here to freeze any 🙂  Serve them with homemade ketchup, honey mustard or barbecue sauce.

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday and Fat Tuesday.

Simple Chicken Nuggets
dairy free, nut free, grain free, gluten free, egg free options

1 lb. ground chicken (or turkey or pork)
2 egg yolks (optional)
seasoning (I used sea salt, garlic powder and seasoning salt)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

3/4 cup bread crumbs, wheat flour, coconut flour or almond flour
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.

Mix the chicken, eggs, seasoning and cheese. In a separate bowl mix the breadcrumbs or flour and cheese.

Take a small scoop of the chicken mixture. Drop it into the breadcrumb mixture. Roll it around until it is coated. Place it on the baking sheet and press down until desired thickness. Repeat until all of the chicken mixture is used.

Bake the chicken nuggets for 30-35 minutes, flipping them over after 20 minutes.

Crockpot Pumpkin Custard (GAPS-legal, nut free, egg white free)

Over the weekend I tried a new fall recipe for pumpkin custard. Another delicious recipe from Cara at Health, Home and Happiness. We all enjoyed it. Plus it’s grain and nut free.

I did modify it a bit. I only used egg yolks so I could eat it. I also used raw cream instead of coconut milk. And I mixed it by hand instead of in a blender. I also added more honey…and it still wasn’t very sweet. I had to drizzle extra honey over top for Rebecca to eat it. Else it almost tasted more savory (the pumpkin flavor was very strong). I didn’t make a full batch either.

Overall it was a great recipe. And I love that it cooks in the crockpot. I prepped it when I got up. Then it was ready for the family when they got up.

I’ll post the recipe the way I made it. Check out Cara’s site for the original.

Crockpot Pumpkin Custard
makes 4 1/2pt. jars

2 cups cooked pumpkin or butternut squash
5 egg yolks (or 3 whole eggs)
1/4 cup raw cream or coconut milk
1/3 – 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

Fill the crock pot with 1 inch of water and turn on high. Allow it to preheat for 30-45 minutes.

In a blender, puree all ingredients or simply mix by hand if your pumpkin is already pureed. Taste and adjust sweetness if needed.

Pour the mixture into oven/heat proof ramekins or mason jars, filling 2/3 full. Gently set the jars into the water. Cover. Allow to steam for 4-6 hours.

Turn the crock pot off, and it will continue to stay warm for another hour or so. Serve warm or cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge to serve chilled.

Meal Plans Week of 11-4-12

As of 7:00 last night I had no meals planned 😛  But I think I managed to fill in every day now. I was busy last week working on my writing assignments whenever I had a few minutes at the computer (which wasn’t often since Abram had a lot of early mornings) so meal plans got put on hold.

This will be a fairly busy week, but nothing out of the ordinary…aside from voting. If I feel up for it I could make a trip to Heffron Farms and/or to the mall. I’m considering a family shopping trip and dinner at the mall on Saturday. We’ll see.

I ended up being pretty busy in the kitchen last week. I found out part way through the week I had to bring food for Mom Break. So that added a couple extras. I worked my way through the rest of the squash from my FIL…and then Rebecca and I went to the orchard yesterday and bought 12 more! Plus 3 pumpkins. I also made two batches of mayo, ice cream, kefir, toothpaste, deodorant, pudding, hot fudge, breakfast cookies and roasted beets. I tried a new pumpkin custard recipe (recipe/review to come). I went through about 6 dozen eggs last week! Yes, I did a lot of cooking/baking 😛

I have a long list of things I might do this week. But then again I might scrap most of it and finally spend some time sewing. We’ll see how I feel. My list of maybes: yogurt, smoothies, kefir, pesto, bake/freeze pumpkin/squash, roast beets, bake blueberry pie (a homemade pie that’s been in my freezer forever), graham crackers (soaked and regular), ice cream cones, pretzels, popcorn, vanilla wafers.

I’ve been up and down. Just when I think I’m finally figuring something out…then I read something else that contradicts it. I had a whole post forming in my head for an update…but now I’m not sure. I might still do the post, but I have a lot of questions. I think it’s time to make an appointment with a new doctor and have some real testing done. I’m so sick of the guessing game. The time change is definitely not doing me any favors either. Nor is having Halloween candy in the house 😛

I started my probiotic again last week. I haven’t taken one in a while. We’ll see what that does. I was pretty good about eating lots of broth last week. You’d think that I’d be feeling great from it…but any time I do something good for my body I go through more die off and feel worse. It’s tough (more on that in the future update post).

I did more research on histamine intolerance. I also read about using a rotational diet to avoid deficiencies and avoid creating sensitivities. One more thing to think about.

After our trip to the orchard yesterday I gave in and had a fresh apple for lunch…just to see how it would go/if my body has changed. I can say that I definitely still can’t tolerate apples 🙁  I had almost an instant reaction. I don’t care to bring back those old feelings of years ago when I ate apples (and some of my other major intolerances) almost daily.

I had a good appointment with my psychologist…which is leading to yet another new doctor. I know it’s helpful, but I’m sick of all of these doctor appointments. Hopefully soon we’ll have more clear direction about both myself and Rebecca and we can get on with treatment/healing instead of doctors and guessing. I do my best to research and experiment on my own. But sometimes you just need help from people that have more expertise.

On to the menu. For our Take It Out Tuesday I’m doing packaged foods/soy. This may sound strange from someone that is all about homemade foods. But it is pretty common to at least once in a while grab something out of a box or bag. Maybe a few organic crackers when we’re in a rush and need a snack. Or a few chocolate chips (with soy) added to a breakfast cookie. We don’t consume a lot for sure. But I want to have a day that is absolutely free of any of it. Only homemade whole foods.

———————————
S (prep lunch, make pesto, make smoothies, church, orchestra concert, pm church, bake blueberry pie, soak beans, soak flour, make kefir)
  B – breakfast cookies, pumpkin custard
  L – cp beef tenderloin, carrots and peppers, pesto rice
  D (separate) – leftover burgers, leftover chicken nuggets, leftover sweet potato fries, peas, milkshakes

M (cook beans, make graham crackers, strain kefir, milk, pediatrician, PS)
  B – smoothie, breakfast cookies
  D – white chicken chili, corn free cornbread (experiment)

Take It Out Tuesday – packaged food/soy (cook sweet potatoes, make yogurt, prep breakfast, vote, KM, make popcorn)
  B – strawberry lemonade yogurt, granola, grapes
  D – honey glazed pork chops, sweet potato casserole, beans

W (prep squash, bake/freeze squash, roast beets, Meijer, PS)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – hot dogs, squash fries, custard

Th (sewing, HF?, dentist, bake w/ Rebecca – ice cream cones, vanilla wafers or graham crackers)
  B – granola bar, banana, yogurt
  D – beef and broccoli stir fry over rice

F (sewing?, make breakfast, PS, Bible study?/mom over)
  B – tapioca pudding, fruit
  D (easy clean up) – squash egg puffs, bread pudding, peas

S (bake/freeze pumpkin, shopping?, make pretzels?)
  B – bread pudding, fruit
  D – pumpkin soup, pretzels or shopping/out to eat

Monthly Goals – November 2012

November is here. Time for some new goals. I’ll keep working on some from last month that I didn’t get to. And add a few new ones.

FOOD

1. Rebecca’s Recipes – Let Rebecca help plan meals and baking projects and come up with new recipes. Just this week she asked to make strawberry shortcake ice cream…so we did of course 🙂

2. Food preservation – I would like to freeze squash and pumpkin and can spaghetti sauce.

3. Once-A-Week Challenge – I am going to continue Take It Out Tuesday. I would also like to have a full week of take outs to see how it impacts all of us. I’m already noticing some trends, but I want to experiment further before I give any updates.

4. Baking – I can’t head into the holidays without some baking 😛  Hopefully we’ll do some experimenting. Any suggestions/requests for homemade versions of favorite goodies?
HEALTH

1. Supplements – I’m currently taking magnesium, cal-mag and a multi-vitamin daily. I am going to start taking cod liver oil and probiotics again…see what happens. I think I need probiotics, but I’ve got to take them much more long term than I have in the past. See if that helps. I’m just dreading the die off :\

2. Psychologist – I have two appointments this month…one today!

3. Candida – I have a sample diet to look through and am still researching.

4. New doctor – I’ve kind of run into a dead end with traditional doctors. I might finally go see someone a little more natural minded to have an evaluation and hopefully get more help.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

Rebecca

1. Mommy-daughter date – TBD – Build-A-Bear?
2. Visualization and reasoning techniques to help with focus and self control.

Abram

1. Work on development/milestones – talking, numbers, letters, colors.
2. Organize closet.
3. Start potty training.

Me
1. Writing – Continue to write for GRNL and RFAH.

2. Purpose – I’ve been praying about this a lot in the last 6 months. I’m planning to do a separate update post soon.

3. Sewing/hobbies – I hope to finish the matching aprons.

4. Clean/organize – I hope to get rid of more of my clothes (I’ve already cleaned out a lot) and buy a few new things. I’m realizing that I’m a 32 year old mother of two. I’ve had 3 major abdominal surgeries. My weight has changed. My body just is not shaped the same as it was 10 years ago. It’s time to get rid of all of the old stuff and buy new stuff that works for the body I have now. Not to mention my clothing needs are different as a stay-at-home mom than they were when I was working. I still have a large assortments of button downs in my closet that I’ve hardly touched in years. It’s time to really gut my closet and drawers.

5. Christmas prep – start shopping for gifts and working on Christmas cards.

Real Food For The Holidays – An Online Cooking Class

Tomorrow is November…really! I can’t believe it either. And it means that the holidays will be here very soon.

At this time of year we all get busy with planning parties, buying gifts, baking treats, etc. It can be very hectic and very stressful. This is not the time to reach for whatever is simple and quick. This is the time to really take care of yourself and feed your family nourishing foods.

Ok, it sounds good, but what if all of your favorite holiday recipes use white flour and refined sugar? They don’t have to. You can make all of the food you love with real, whole ingredients. What if you don’t even know where to start with cooking Real Food?

It may seem like a daunting task, but Jenny at Nourished Kitchen can help!! Once again she is offering her Real Food For The Holidays online cooking class for only $89.

This is a 10 workshop course with 30 instructional videos. It includes separate workshops for

  • Thanksgiving
  • Hanukkah
  • Sweet Treats, Cookies and Savory Holiday Treats
  • Harvest Dinner for Yule
  • Christmas
  • New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

You can access the workshops at any time, and your access never goes away. You’ll get

  • 10 Online workshops to help you cook better
  • 175 Real Food recipes for the holidays
  • 30+ Pre-designed menus
  • Mix-and-match menu planners
  • 30+ Instructional videos
  • Lifetime access to all materials

Real food for the holidays was $149. Save over 40% and get access to all workshops, recipes, menus and videos for just $89. This sale ends on November 21st. So you have to hurry.

Do you have special dietary restrictions? No worries. Each workshop includes menus and recipes that are suitable for restricted diets like GAPS, SCD, Paleo/Primal, Grain-free and Dairy-free.

Don’t miss out! Sign up for Real Food For The Holidays today. Click here to learn more and sign up today.

End of Month Recap – October 2012

Here we are at the end of October…and looking through my goals I realize I did not accomplish many of them 😛  In my defense I lost an entire week to the flu. Plus we were busy. Oh well. Here’s the recap.

FOOD

1. Rebecca’s Recipes – Rebecca still helps me plan meals and baking projects. Even if they are not new recipes she still always has input.

2. Food preservation – I canned lots of applesauce and froze squash and peppers.

3. Once-A-Week Challenge – For the most part I stuck to this, except when I was sick. I hope to continue this challenge. I now call it Take It Out Tuesday.

4. Fall recipes – I’ve been enjoying using lots of squash, sweet potatoes and apples.

HEALTH

1. Supplements – I’m currently taking magnesium, cal-mag and a multi-vitamin daily. I’m on and off with other supplements. I haven’t been taking much fermented cod liver oil lately since I’m not sure about how I handle ferments. I should try it again, though since I know it is so heathy. I need to be better about giving it to the kids as well.

2. Psychologist – I had another good appointment. I’m looking forward to going back tomorrow.

3. Candida – I have a sample diet to look through and am still researching.

4. Homemade toothpaste and deodorant – I’m happy to finally have these restocked.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

Rebecca – we had great M/D dates and are still working on focus and self control. Some days are pretty good…others are a mystery to me and I feel lost. But we’re working on it.

a. Mommy-daughter date – Mommy and Me party at her school, Cinderella
b. Visualization and reasoning techniques to help with focus and self control.

Abram – Abram’s speach is really picking up. We keep working on the basics. We didn’t really get into potty training yet. But I think it’s coming soon.

a. Work on development/milestones – talking, numbers, letters, colors.
b. Organize closet.
c. Start potty training.

Me
a. Writing – I’m still enjoying writing for GRNL and RFAH magazine. The next issue of RFAH comes out tomorrow!!

b. Purpose – Pray about/seek purpose and ways to use my passions and talents – updates on this soon.

c. Sewing/hobbies – I hope to finish the matching aprons – not even close. I had no time to work on sewing.

d. Clean/organize – I hope to get rid of more of my clothes (I’ve already cleaned out a lot) and buy a few new things. I’m realizing that I’m a 32 year old mother of two. I’ve had 3 major abdominal surgeries. My weight has changed. My body just is not shaped the same as it was 10 years ago. It’s time to get rid of all of the old stuff and buy new stuff that works for the body I have now. Not to mention my clothing needs are different as a stay-at-home mom than they were when I was working. I still have a large assortments of button downs in my closet that I’ve hardly touched in years. It’s time to really gut my closet and drawers.  I didn’t have time for cleaning or shopping. But I need to…SOON.

I also want to organize the craft/game area in our living room. If I can get it cleaned there will be space for Rebecca to have a little desk to do all of her writing/coloring. That is her favorite thing to do, and she is always looking for a spot to do it that Abram can’t reach.  Thankfully I did get the craft area organized. Rebecca loves having a little desk for all of her “projects.” And I love having a place for everything.

Baked Apples

I’m always looking for new breakfast ideas. This week I came across Cara’s recipe for slow cooker baked apples.  It was just what I needed – grain and nut free and easy prep.

I was going to make them in the crockpot, but then I changed my  mind. Since I was only making a few I didn’t want to get my big crockpot dirty. So I just prepped them this morning and baked them in the oven.

So easy and so delicious! Justin said they were great. He had his topped with homemade vanilla yogurt.

I will definitely be making these again. Such a great idea for a healthy breakfast. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly since I was going from memory when I made it. It still turned out great.

The next time I make it I might modify things and just do a pan of sliced baked apples**. Then you don’t have to worry about the apples opening/the toppings falling out. And you can serve up as much or as little as you want. Plus I don’t have to worry about a picky eater complaining about apple peels 😛

Baked Apples

6 medium apples
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup honey (I also added a little organic cane sugar)
1 tsp. cinnamon
6 Tbsp. coconut oil, butter, or ghee (I forgot this…oops)
 
Core apples. To core, using an apple corer or paring knife, cut around the core (about ¼ inch from the stem all the way around) but leave about half an inch at the bottom. Use the knife to ‘drill out’ the core.
 
Divide raisins, honey, cinnamon, and coconut oil between the apples.
 
Place apples in a crock pot and add ½ inch of water. Cook on low overnight and enjoy a hot breakfast in the morning!
 
Alternatively, bake covered at 350 degrees in a glass dish for 45 minutes-1 hour in the morning.
 
**Next time I will try peeling and slicing the apples. Place them in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, honey and raisins. Cover and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Top with with cream, yogurt, coconut milk, or just eat plain.