Luck of the Pot

Potlucks. What can you do? A potluck is about much more than food. It's a social event. A time for friends to gather and enjoy each other's company. But it is also about the food.

I am a devout Christian. A steady church-goer. As such, potlucks are a staple of my existence. We hold a potluck almost every month. Strangely enough, we did not have one in February, and January's got swallowed up in New Year's Day. So this is my first potluck since beginning the diet. What to do?

I must acknowledge the fact that most people do not want to eat the way I am eating. Even my own husband is not thrilled with my food restrictions and bursts out in ice cream and hot chocolate on a recurring basis. And although I am finding sweetness in the weight loss, most people want to find sweetness in the food, instead. Desserts with lots of creamy sugary richness. Main dish? Well, casseroles require starches, usually in the form of potatoes or pasta, both on my forbidden list. I could make a stew, but stew never quite made my top ten “what other people will eat at the potluck” list. Besides, my crockpot is soaking, trying to become clean enough for use, so stew was out of the question. Fried chicken? Chicken and breading are both out. I don't think anyone wants turkey in March.

At last I hit upon it! Eggs! I can have eggs and cheese and who does not like a good devilled egg at a potluck? Whoo-hoo! Of course, I have to tweak the recipe just a little. But it works well. And these aren't really what you would call devilled. There's no heat. But there is lots of cheese.  I would show pictures, but the eggs got eaten up. Sorry.  They wouldn't have lasted long at home, either.

Creamy Cheesy Eggs

1 dozen hard boiled eggs

½ recipe creamy cheesy spread

Cut eggs in half. Place yolks in a bowl. Combine yolks with creamy cheesy spread and blend until smooth. Refill eggs. Serve. Eat remaining yolk mixture with your choice of carrier (I liked it with celery!)

The creamy cheesy spread is a recipe I learned from my mother. I do not remember where she got it, so I cannot credit the original creator of this recipe. And I don't know how tweaked it was before she gave it to me, or what the original name was. This is what we call it. It makes a great party food. It goes really well with those little baguette slices, equally well with crackers, and I just discovered it makes a great filling for celery stalks. The recipe is made with green onions, but you can substitute chopped olives (green or black) for the green onions, or just add them to taste. Wonderfully good.

This is not a dairy free food, but it is gluten free and sugar free and really, really, good. Like I said, you can serve it as stuffed celery for your gluten free friends (or for you) and it is totally yum.

Creamy Cheesy Spread

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

16 ounces sour cream, softened

8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

4 green onions, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients. Blend well. Serve. (or use to make creamy cheesy eggs)

Not Corny At All

This voyage of discovery is two-pronged. I am attempting to discover foods to which I have a sensitivity or adverse reaction of an allergic kind. I don't want foods that set off my immune system or damage my body in one way or another.

At the same time, being as near diabetic as you can be without being diagnosed, I want to know what will and what won't cause problems with my blood sugar.

This makes for an interesting trip sometimes. I had milk and it gave me something that nearly resembled a cold. Stuffed up nose, “thick” throat, and so forth. I realized this is common for me with milk. So I have to choose – milk and a “head cold” or no milk, no congestion. I am opting for no milk, no congestion. I will test again, another time, after months of freedom from milk, but for now, and possibly for always, no milk. I will also test butter separately because it is highly possible butter will not create the same reaction. Same with other milk-based products. I know that I do not react that way to cheese.

And two days ago it was corn. I ate corn. I enjoyed the corn. I made corn tortillas from scratch. I did buy the corn flour pre-ground. Hey, I do not have a non-bulk source for dent corn yet. I'll work on it, but I live at the edge of the earth. Some things we have to do without.

Anyway, I ate corn. I had homemade corn chips for lunch with a whole avocado. It was two servings of corn chips. And I had two servings of corn tortillas for dinner as part of fajitas. Beef and onions with a little cheese. One tortilla I ate just filled with cheese. Really delicious. In the morning my blood sugar had spiked. It wasn't a huge spike. I wasn't hospital ready. But my blood sugar was 138 yesterday morning. That's too high.

Last night I did not have the avocado for lunch, but for dinner I had exactly the same meal. Beef and onions (leftovers from the night before) and cheese. This time I wrapped it in lettuce. This morning my blood sugar was 98. That's a big difference. Much healthier, much better.

I will test again, later, but for now corn is going on my list of foods to avoid. Fare-thee-well.

Not exactly corny today

This morning my body definitely told me how it felt about corn. On the plus side, I am having zero gut reaction. So my body digests it well. On the other hand . . . .

I am ravenously hungry this morning. And my blood sugar was up about 20 points. That's not healthy. I don't think corn is going to be a regular addition to my diet.

I ate 4 servings of corn total yesterday, never without another food. I had two servings with one avocado and 2 servings with beef, cheese, and onions. I would have thought that would ease any blood sugar reaction. Guess I was wrong. Hmmmmmmm.

CRUNCH!

Today was monumental. I re-introduced my first grain. Corn!!!!!

I will see how this affects me over the next few days. But whether it stays or not, it is great to have something crisp.

I made my own tortilla chips. From scratch. Really from scratch. Well, okay, I did not buy dent corn and grind it to make my own corn flour, but give me a break, will you? I only have one grain mill and my husband has been using it for his wheat flour. Cross contamination is not a good thing.

So I bought “masa mix” which is really a very finely ground corn flour. Mixed with water it makes really good corn tortillas. No additives, no preservatives, just pure corn goodness.

Of course, I couldn't stop there. I cut up the tortillas into chips and fried them in corn oil. And there I found it. The crispy crunchy texture than only comes from grain. Hooray! I enjoyed my tortilla chips with my Guaca-no-le. Yum. It's fiesta time!

Corn Tortillas

½ cup masa mix

1/3 cup water

Mix ingredients until they form a dough. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each quarter into a ball. The ball will be slightly larger than a walnut but smaller than a golf ball.

It is best to use a tortilla press to flatten the ball. A tortilla press can be made or it can be purchased (they aren't very expensive). If you do not have a tortilla press, commandeer the strongest person in the house. Place ball of dough between two sheets of sturdy plastic. Place plastic sheets between two sturdy plates. Press hard!

Remember, you want the resulting tortilla to be as thin as you can without breaking apart. When you separate the plates, the tortilla should peel off the plastic easily. Cook the tortilla in a frying pan over medium high heat. NO OIL OR OTHER GREASE IS NEEDED. Corn has natural oils. Cook for a few minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and cover with a towel to keep the tortilla moist and warm.

If you are making tortilla chips, over-cooking just a little is allowed. You want your tortillas to be dry in that case. If not, stick with the recommended time.

Tortillas can be re-cooked depending on the use. For instance, my in-laws always fry their tortillas before making tacos. Or they can be eaten as is.

Enjoy!

How dry I am

Today I worked with dry stuff. Lots and lots of dry stuff.

Once a month I print bills for my company. Then I and my coworkers stuff them and mail them. Working with that much paper is very very drying. My skin has already been too dry, and now it's much worse. So the question is – are my arms itching because they are very dry or because I am eating beef? That is a very good question. Well, I ate beef for dinner last night and for lunch today. I think it's time for me to put beef back away for a few days and see what happens next.

Thoughts on Milk

I want to apologize for my lack of reports last week. In my defense I can only say I was sick. I'd go into more detail, but there is such a thing as TMI.

Last week I tested eggs. I had eggs fried in olive oil for breakfast, boiled eggs for lunch, and scrambled eggs with a little onion and cheese for dinner. I would have made eggs for dessert, but I have never yet made a souffle, and to make a dessert souffle requires a number of ingredients that are on my not yet list.

I confess I was flagging a little when I had the setback over milk. It was a greater blow than I had thought any one food could be, the more so because it was completely unexpected. However, I have a glimmer of hope to which I will cling. I will retest milk at the very end of the experiment and hope that the reaction was either the illness coming on or a corollary reaction. What's that? What do I mean by corollary? Well, let me tell you.

When I am sick I tend to lie around with the television on. I don't like total silence very often. It sets my brain wandering down too familiar roads, ones which are not healthy and not inclined to produce anything positive. So the TV is on for background noise and every so often, usually when something I actively dislike is on, I switch the channel. The channel I lighted upon was showing Dr. Oz. I told you, didn't I, about Dr. Oz's role is my decision to try this experiment in the first place? Again when I was sick and lying around with the TV on. Well, this time he happened to have something about gluten intolerance. Hidden signs. I learned something new.

If you are gluten sensitive you might react to milk! And corn as well. Funny thing, I'm testing corn next week. We'll see what happens.

A sonnet to bread

I could write an ode to bread. Okay, maybe not an ode. Odes are long and I'm not that good, but a sonnet. I could definitely write a sonnet to bread. In fact, I think I shall.

To Bread

O bread, you crusty loaf divine,

With outside brown and inside white,

I wish that I could make you mine,

Devouring all within my sight.

A little heat and you are toast

With butter and a touch of jam

Or honey golden you may boast.

How fond of toasted bread I am.

A stew has need of rolls for sop,

Again with butter on it spread.

Those scrumptious juices you can mop.

The joy of you goes to my head.

So many ways I can employ

A little bread. I must enjoy.

I write this because I more and more am convinced that my gluten test will fail. It isn't for another two weeks. But soon. Soon I will know.

I have been reading a lot about gluten intolerance. And it doesn't look like the wasteland it once was. For one thing, once I find other grains I can enjoy, there are a lot of bready treats that will still be available to me. For instance, I have heard the best scones are made with rice flour. And who said banana bread has to be made with wheat? I'm sure I will be able to find a way to make foods I will love. But right now, as I am going through this testing stage, life is a little difficult. My husband does not want to find himself on the diet. And he eats a lot of toast. Of course, he does. It's an easy food to prepare. So he naturally prepares it. Where I can smell it.

I'm not really complaining. Not much. I'm glad my husband is not getting all sore and resentful that I, who am acknowledged as the cook of the family, am not cooking much in the way of foods he is interested in. He has been thrown onto his own resources and he has stepped up to the plate. But right now, as I am suffering deprivations, it is a little bit hard. Thus my sonnet to bread. I think I need to go concentrate on what I can have.

Happy eating all!

Mourning

I had this plan.  Give up my favorite foods for a few weeks.  Then start to test them.  Surely my favorite foods would be okay.  Milk, eggs, cheese.  I’ve never had a reaction to them before.  I won’t have any problems.  Yes, I was worried about bread.  I may be gluten intolerant.  But I can find alternatives, so it will be okay. 

That’s what I told myself. 

And I started with high hopes and great courage, eating healthy foods, feeling better, working my way to the glorious day when I could eat the foods I love again.

I began with cheese.  Cheese, glorious cheese.  And all was well.  Then I added milk.  Oops.  Not so good. 

It’s amazing how distressing it is to have a food you love be taken away.  Especially when you weren’t expecting it.  I am definitely having unpleasant reactions to milk. And I am having unpleasant reactions to the idea of not drinking milk.

Just to be sure I will test again at the end.  But now it is time to move on.  To pretend milk was not one of my top three foods.  One of my favorites.  And hope that later I will not react badly, that milk will not be forever gone to me.  Or that I will at least find a way to bring it back.

Heavy sigh.

Reactionary

True love is going out to a dinner with your sweetheart, for a romantic evening, knowing you cannot eat anything they are serving.  It was a little bit of a sacrifice.  I liked everything on the plate.  But I reminded myself that if I cheat I start over.  That’s my mantra.  If I cheat on the diet I have to start over.  And I am NOT wasting the last four weeks. 

Why go in the first place?  Well, it was a couples retreat.  Friday evening dinner with activities, and Saturday classes to encourage you to keep your marriage healthy and happy, followed by lunch.  My husband and I don’t have a lot of worries on that score – we love each other dearly and we communicate – about the good and the bad.  But it never hurts to fan the flames, you know?  It was sponsored by our church and it was free.  Plus, my poor husband has been mostly feeding himself since I started this diet.  It was good to take him somewhere he could have a real meal.  He enjoyed it thoroughly.  I brought food with me and ate that.

I had two things happen that were a little discouraging.  First – I had a reaction.  The problem is, I’m not sure what the reaction was to.  Here is the situation:  when I went to the doctor last week, she told me vinegar should not be on the restricted list.  Well, I didn’t have an opportunity to make a vinaigrette until Friday, and I ate that on the salad I brought with me Friday evening.  I was concerned about having enough protein in my meal, and I was supposed to be testing milk by then, so I bought some cottage cheese and had that for dinner, also.  After dinner, when we were involved in our activities, I was leaning forward and my hair was brushing my arms.  Understand it was remarkably cold and dry weather, and cold and dry brings out the static in my life.  I get shocks from almost everything I touch.  Even wood.  I know.  Shocking.

Well, it was while my air was brushing my arms that they started to itch and I broke out in hives.  This was at least 30 minutes after I started eating the vinegar and 20 minutes after the cottage cheese.  I had the same reaction the next morning, and I did not eat any vinegar or cottage cheese in the morning.  So I THINK the reaction was from my hair and the static electricity charge.  However, I also had a thick throat on Sunday morning after eating cottage cheese for lunch and drinking milk with dinner on Saturday.  So I shall have to retest milk.  And I’ll stop eating vinegar until later, too.  I think I need to confirm the reaction before I give anything up. 

By the way, my arms are itching this morning, too.  Maybe they are just dry?  I’ll put lotion on them tonight.

Cheese, Glorious Cheese

There was a commercial, once upon a time.  Cheese, glorious cheese, with a big song and all kinds of cheese dishes.  Do you remember that?  They had it right.  Cheese is wonderful, glorious, and thoroughly enjoyable. 

Guess what I ate yesterday? 

I had cheese at all three meals.  Breakfast was, quite simply, and ounce of cheese.  No frills, no hoopla.  Of course, it was not just any cheese.  It was Oregon Coast cheddar cheese.

Those of you not raised west of the Cascade mountains may not understand the fascination with Tillamook cheese.  Unless you have tasted it.  If you like cheddar cheese, in fact, if you like any cheese, take an opportunity to find and taste Tillamook cheddar cheese.  You will not regret it.  Well, maybe you will, because no other cheddar will satisfy afterward.

Tillamook is a town on the northern part of the Oregon Coast.  Not a very large town.  They have a aircraft museum worthy of a visit.  They have the same access to the wild beauty of the rocky Oregon Coast that their neighbors do.  Mostly, they have cheese.  The cheese is made specifically from the milk that comes from cows eating that wonderful coastal grass.  I don’t know if it’s that, or if they have a particularly wonderful culture, or what.  There is no cheddar in the world that can compare with Tillamook cheddar.  Except Bandon cheddar, which comes from the southern end of the Oregon Coast.  They are pretty close.  Not exact, but close.

After breakfast, I realized that eating only cheese all day is not good for my digestive health.  My body does prefer to have a little bit of roughage and a few other things I can only get from my vegetables.  So for lunch I had an uninspiring bit of fried cod (good meals do begin with good ingredients – this cod was not at its best).  But I had steamed broccoli with cheese.  That made up for the less than stellar main course.  The cheese was just gooey enough and the broccoli just tender enough and it was wonderful!

Dinner was turkey cheeseburgers.  I planned to have a little avocado mashed and spread on the burger as a sauce, but the cheese was just gooey enough and just delicious enough, who needed anything else?  Lettuce leaves for the ‘bun’, of course, and the turkey burger itself was made with shredded sweet potatoes and a little garlic powder, as well as ground dark turkey.  Made a very satisfying burger. 

In fact, the burger was so good, I decided to have something else I’ve been missing.  A plain cheese sandwich.  I cannot tell you how much I have wanted a plain cheese sandwich.  Two thin slices of cheese between two lettuce leaves. 

Today I’m back to the basic diet.  I have leftover turkey burgers, which will probably be my staple for the day, as I’ll be travelling again.  This time with the avocado.  So far my physical reactions look good.  My blood sugar was not up or down, my weight did not fluctuate (in fact – I weigh the same today as yesterday, no loss but no gain), and my resting pulse rate is within my base range.  So all looks well.  It’s too early to be certain, but I hazard a prediction – cheese, baby, you’re back!

Steamed Broccoli with Cheese

1 small head broccoli, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces, about 1 cup

1 ounce cheddar cheese, shredded

Steam broccoli until tender – about three minutes in the microwave.  Remove broccoli to a bowl.  Sprinkle cheese over broccoli and toss to blend.  Serve.  Makes 1 serving.

Wilted hopes

Yes, you get two posts today.  I wanted to report on my doctor’s visit, but I also promised to share the results of my fish dish with you.  I did make the fish.  I used dover sole and learned that dover sole does not pan fry very neatly.  It looks like crab meat when it’s done, all shredded into little pieces.  It tasted good, but was not exactly photogenic.  Also, the sauce – turns up they had left an ingredient out of the list when I looked at it – butter.  It showed up in the instructions, but I had missed it.  They had corrected it by the time I went back, but I ignored that, since butter is still forbidden.  Alone, the stock did not reduce right and I didn’t end up with what it was supposed to be.  So, it was not a success.  However, I am testing milk next week, and butter can be a part of that.  And I will remember next time – use cod!

I did make a very scrumptious wilted spinach salad.  I wanted to share that recipe with you.

Wilted Spinach Salad

½ half large onion, preferably red

1 bunch spinach

2-3 tbls olive oil

Slice onion.  Slices should be thin, no wider than ¼ inch.  Wash spinach thoroughly.  Remove stems and drain leaves, removing as much water as possible.

In frying pan over medium – medium high temperature, heat olive oil.  Add onions and fry until translucent.  Add spinach.  Turn spinach with tongs until spinach is wilted and mixed well with onions. 

Serve and enjoy.

NOTE: Proportion of onion to spinach can be changed according to personal preference.  

One out of one doctors recommends

Good morning, all!

Yesterday I went to the doctor.  It was my well-woman checkup.  Also, I had asked for blood tests to be done when I started the diet and this was my first opportunity to find out the results. 

HDL is on the low side but within range.  LDL is high, which makes my LDL/HDL ratio too high.  Cholesterol is within range but on the high side, which makes my cholesterol HDL ratio too high, also.  My fasting glucose was also too high, but only a little and my Hgb A1c was a little high.  It indicates an ‘increased risk for diabetes mellitus’.  I dodged the bullet yet again!  I am not actually diabetic.  Yet.  And hopefully this whole diet thing will keep me from ever being diabetic.

So you know, my doctor approved of what I’m doing.  She did make a few suggestions.  As you know, I have been debating – what shall be my first food to introduce?  I waffled for a while – mostly between milk and cheese (with the occasional thought to whatever food I am craving at the moment).  Yes, I am testing cheese separately from milk, because many people who react to milk don’t react to cheese.  Now I know why.  And my doctor approved of putting milk and cheese at the top of the list – but she suggested I reverse them.  Cheese first, then milk.  Milk has three things that can cause reactions – casein, lactose, and whey.  Cheese has casein and whey, but the lactose has been changed as it became cheese.  So testing cheese will test for casein and whey, then milk will test for the lactose.  So I get cheese!

The doctor did give me some other good suggestions.  We have my first six test foods planned.  Also, she tells me there is no reason to give up vinegar.  So I can bring out my apple cider vinegar and start making a nice vinaigrette.  A little cold pressed olive oil, some apple cider vinegar, and a few seasonings.  I will experiment and let you know. 

 I will tell you tomorrow how my day with cheese went.  I have no reason to believe anything will go wrong.  My love affair with cheese is about to begin again!

Snick Snack

I had two food adventures yesterday.  Adventure one – dinner with the in-laws.  I will tell you, it is a true sign of love to go to dinner at someone’s house when you have to bring your own food.  Especially when they are eating food you truly enjoy.  But we survived.  The comical mishap of the night?  They use pre-planned menus and the vegetable on the menu was carrots.  They substituted green beans thinking carrots were on my forbidden list, green beans were okay.  Oops.  We had fun anyway.  I brought stew, which I enjoyed, and the conversation was worth the inconveniences.

My second food adventure was the Super Bowl!  I confess, I am not much of a sports fan.  I normally do not enjoy watching games of any kind on television.  But I live in Washington State.  How could I not watch?  The problem is – an event like that deserves some kind of snack, preferably munchies.  And there is no bagged snack I know that is on my okay list.  (If there was, I think I would have found it by now.)  So I had to get creative.  I made another batch of my sweet potato chips – only cut a little thicker to allow them to stand up to a dip.  A dip?  Oh, yes, I had one.  Guacanole.  No, I didn’t mis-spell it.  Guacamole is avocados with a lot of additions, like peppers and diced tomatoes, and other really yummy things I cannot have.  So I made Guacanole.  A wannabe version with none of the bad stuff, but plenty of flavor.  It’s a good creamy dip, and it’s made with healthy stuff – so although I feel a little bad about eating three avocados at once, I don’t feel TOO bad about it. 

Today I’m going to have another food adventure – eating while travelling.  I am on my way to Portland, Oregon to see my parents.  While there I will NOT be able to eat what they have on hand.  They have already warned me of that.  So I will have to bring my own food.  Two days’ worth.  It will be another adventure.

Happy snacking!

Guacanole

3-4 small or 1-2 large avocados

Garlic powder to taste

Onion powder to taste

Mash avocados coarsely.  You want them mostly creamy, but chunks are not a bad thing.  Add garlic powder and onion powder and blend well.  Taste then probably add more garlic and onion powder.  Blend well and taste again.  Two things to remember – one, the longer this sits the more the flavors will come out but the more it will brown as well.  Two, if you haven’t scraped the bowl, you haven’t blended it as well as you need to.

NOTE:   If you are testing citrus – a little lime juice works well for keeping the guacamole from browning.

A Stock Answer

I bought fish on my way home from work yesterday (yes, I occasionally work Saturdays).  I nice little filet of dover sole.  I am almost out of turkey from my last bird and thought a little fish would be a nice change of pace.  I had some mushrooms and wanted a good fish and mushroom dish.  I found one that looked really good.  It was almost within my diet rules, although I would have to omit the chili flakes (remember, Meme, no peppers!), but I discovered I was missing a key ingredient.  I had no vegetable stock!  I had two turkey legs leftover from the bird I’ve been eating for the last week and some, so I could make turkey stock, but I thought that might throw the flavor off.  I wanted to eat fish, not turkey-flavored fish.  What to do?

So, last night I made vegetable stock.  It is a remarkably simple thing to make.  I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.  We have a lovely fresh produce market about halfway between us and town (which means about 10 miles away), Voss Acres.  I ran down there and picked up everything I needed that I didn’t already have. 

Basically, vegetable stock is made from a bunch of aromatic vegetables, a few herbs, and a little bit of effort.  A very little bit of effort. 

First, pick your vegetables.  Use any form of onion you want, except maybe sweet onions.  I used two regular yellow onions and a bunch of green onions.  A few stalks of celery adds a little seasoning.  (Keep the leaves 0n, that’s part of the secret.)  I had one carrot and two parsnips, so they went in the pot as well.  I had some leftover fresh parsley.  I don’t much care for parsley as an edible item, at least I never have in the past, so I was glad of an excuse to use it.  I bought a little fresh thyme.  And of course I have bay leaves on hand.  I say of course because I’ve been making a lot of turkey stock and every stock recipe I’ve ever seen calls for bay leaf.  I could have added some dried rosemary, but I saved that for my turkey stock this first time.  Everything needs to be scrubbed then chopped.  Don’t peel anything.  You want the pieces small enough to release their goodness, but large enough to strain out.  Between half an inch and an inch should do.

Take a large stock pot, add a little olive oil and sauté the vegetables before you add water.  You want to cook them for about 5 to 10 minutes, enough to make them limp, start releasing the goodness.  Add about 2 quarts of water, and bring it to a boil.  Then reduce the heat to allow it to simmer and forget it for 30 minutes.  I made a double batch, so I increased my cooking times a little bit.  But I came out with something nice and darkish and smelling wonderfully.

I will be tasting it later today, as I prepare my fish with mushrooms tonight.  No, I didn’t taste it yesterday.  By the time I had the stock made, fast day had begun.

I can hear you now.  Fast day?  Is there a mandatory fast in this diet that she didn’t tell us about?  No, there isn’t.  I fast for religious reasons.  Once per month.  Today is fast day.  Twenty four hours without food, spending the time we would be eating and preparing our meals in spiritual pursuits.  And we donate the money we would have spent to the church’s fast offering fund – which is used to provide for those in need.  It’s a win-win situation.  We gain spiritually, both through the self-discipline to avoid food and through the extra time spent in prayer, scripture study, and other time devoted to God.  And someone who may be without food or other essentials receives the assistance they need.  Everyone is better for it.

I speak of it lightly, because I am afraid to share my faith sometimes.  Afraid people will be offended for some reason.  But fasting, coupled with prayer, is a powerful thing.  God listens to us.  He truly does.  And he gives to us when we pray.  He gives answers and blessings to meet our needs and to help us to grow, both as people in this world and as children of God.  And I think the more we put into our prayers the more he is able to benefit us through them.  Fasting shows we are willing to sacrifice for our love of God.  And opens us to more blessings than we can comprehend.

Well, this is a longer post than I’d expected.  I’ll report on how well the vegetable stock worked.  And I’ll share the fish recipe I am trying tomorrow.

If you want to follow a regular recipe for the vegetable stock – I based my version on one found on allrecipes.com.  It’s listed as Basic Vegetable Stock.  Enjoy!

What I can't have

For the past week I have been having an endless discussion with myself.  Okay, it isn’t endless.  It will end next Tuesday.  But the discussion is all about what to “test” first.  What food shall I eat next Tuesday, when I can eat something different?  Milk?  Eggs?  Cheese?  Tomatoes?  Wheat?  What will it be?  I have been leaning towards milk first.  I will be visiting my parents that day, so I need something easy to prepare.  Milk does that.  So does cheese.  I could easily drink a glass of milk with each meal, without straining anything.  Cheese also is easy.  Add a little grated cheese to my turkey for dinner, a little melted cheese to my broccoli at lunch, and just a nice slice of cheese at breakfast.  Not a problem.  However, I will be cooking in my mother’s kitchen.  Maybe I’d better stick with milk.

At least, that was the discussion until Monday night.  My husband is a volunteer firefighter.  And the department has training on most Mondays.  Except one Monday a month.  One of the other volunteers turned it into social night.  Spouses are welcome, although I think I’m the only one who comes who hasn’t also volunteered with the department. (There’s something about the department that practically compels wives to volunteer with their husbands.  I don’t know why.  But they all do it.  And they all love it.  If I weren’t working out of district all week, I’d be seriously tempted.  But I am working out of our fire district, and have much too little time at home as it is!  Oh well.)

Anyway, it was social night last Monday.  And I came, as I do, for the games.  I love board games and have a husband who does not love board games.  So I came.  I was good.  I brought foods that were on my diet.  I brought my turkey stew, which was pretty bland, because I forgot to add seasonings.  And I brought a can of olives, which I devoured (and I am still feeling the effects).  But I was not warned.  They were having spaghetti.

Let me say first, I was good.  I reminded myself that two weeks work should not be thrown away on a whim, an impulse, a momentary need for tomato-pasta-goodness.  But I felt it.  That voice that calls to me.  Okay, okay, I’ll confess!

I love spaghetti.

It’s true.  I have had a love affair with spaghetti since I was a kid.  My brother is probably the one most of my family would associate with the food, since the days when he could only say pascetti.  But I love it every bit as much as he does.  Maybe more.

There is something about pasta when combined with tomatoes that makes a meal better.  Any meal.  Add a little meat to the tomatoes and just a hint of cheese and you are almost there.  Add a little garlic bread and you have found the food of the gods. 

That is what they ate.  I ate stew.  Pretty bland stew, too.  At that point I had forgotten to add seasonings.  In my defense, I had barely arrived home when I had to grab my food and go.  Once I added seasoning the stew was pretty tasty.

Once I am eating tomatoes again, I will share my secret spaghetti sauce recipe.  It is my husband’s favorite.  Until then – I can dream!

Two down

Today is the start of week three.  For this week I need to be extra vigilant in measuring my blood sugar, my pulse rate, and my moods.  This will establish the baseline for the future.

It has not been an easy journey.  I am craving foods more than ever.  And food is everywhere!  Before I started this, even when I was on a diet, I could still eat what I wanted, when I wanted, I’d just have to “adjust” my diet to allow for the calories.  And often I forgot the adjustment.  Which may explain why I’m still well over 200 pounds.  But this diet is different.  Partly because I know that this phase is temporary.  I will someday be able to test those foods again.  Maybe in a slightly different format, but I will test them and find out how I react to them and also find out how to do them better.  I have eaten a lot of “okay” foods in my life because I was too much in a hurry or too gluttonous to find a better alternative.  At this moment, I have to find an alternative.  And that has made me more aware that there are good alternatives out there.  All I need is a little creativity.

I am also being forced to plan ahead.  I cannot eat something less healthy because I forgot my lunch.  Old excuse.  Forgot my lunch at home, have to eat fast food again! Oops!  Sorry!  Now, if I forget my lunch, I go hungry.  There aren’t a lot of alternatives available for me now.

The other reason this diet is different is because I’m detoxing.  If I cheat, even once, I have to start all over.  I don’t want to start over.  I have two weeks invested in this process.  I don’t want to waste two whole weeks. 

I feel like I’m entering a new phase.  This is the truly scientific phase.  I have learned a lot about what I can and cannot do.  I’ve learned to make dishes with turkey that I would never have thought worked with turkey.  And they worked.  I’ve learned that I can plan ahead and make food that is tasty and good.  (I still haven’t cracked the breakfast issue – what do you eat that is breakfast when you cannot have grains or eggs?  But I am enjoying the foods I eat.)

So now I will monitor my body.  I will pay attention to what I eat, how much, and how my body reacts.  And in the end I will be healthier.  That is my goal.  That is my expectation. 

Onward, ever onward!

Lettuce enjoy

I discovered a wonderful secret! Lettuce leaves make excellent “tortillas” for fajitas.  I’m trying to think what other Mexican dishes might work.  Unfortunately, the lack of beans and cheese makes it very difficult to think of a dish I can try.  But turkey fajitas is definitely a new favorite for me!

I made regular fajitas for the rest of the family.  I served them tortillas and a beef, pepper, onion mixture that never fails to please me.  My only problem was when they began adding my lettuce leaves to their fajitas and I ran short.  Oh, well.  I don’t have to eat the turkey and onions as a fajita, it makes a great dish on its own.  I still was able to eat a few small fajitas before I was left with just the filling.  I have added the recipe below.  I hope you enjoy!

Turkey fajitas

1 lb turkey breast
2 lg onions
olive oil for frying
8 lg lettuce leaves

Slice onions into narrow strips.  Set frying pan to medium-high heat and add olive oil.  Add onions.  Cook onions past the translucent stage until they have some additional color.  Remove from pan and set aside.

While onions cook, slice turkey into narrow strips.  When onions have been removed from the pan, add additional olive oil  and cook turkey until no longer pink.  Add onions back to the pan and stir together until hot.

Use lettuce leaves as you would a tortilla.  You do not need to “wrap” the lettuce leaves, fajitas are to be left open along one side.  Eat with your hands or a fork, your choice.

NOTE: if you are testing nightshade vegetables, you may add bell peppers by cooking them with the onions.  If not, it’s good without them.

On the charts!

Today I have a success worth mentioning.  As I have been practicing my new diet, as well as exercising more, I have been losing weight.  I weigh in each morning using Wii Fit (I also weigh in on the more accurate bathroom scale, but Wii Fit is more fun).  As part of the weigh in procedure the screen displays your BMI on a visual scale.  I have been off the top of the scale since I began.  Yes, I confess, my BMI was over 36.  But today I weighed in and discovered – I’m not off the top of the scale any more!  There is a small line of color above the marker.  A very small line, true, but I am not off the top!  Woohoo!

I do not know if I should attribute this success to the diet, to the fact that I am now drinking plenty of water (averaging about 80 ounces or more per day), to my increased exercise, or to the fact that I seldom eat anything in the evenings now.  It has been more difficult than I anticipated to create food I can eat when I get home. 

Whatever the reason – I am on the chart!  Woohoo!

Chips and Fish

Ever since I began this diet, I have been losing weight.  Far too fast, really, to be sustainable.  As of yesterday I was down 9.8 pounds.  Then this morning I was up 2 pounds again.  I blame two things.  First – I ate really late last night.  Second, I didn’t drink nearly enough water yesterday.  We will see how I do in the morning.  Again I ate really late but I drank plenty of water today.  We shall see tomorrow.

Tonight’s dinner was fish and chips.  I made them separately.  I confess at the end of the day, unless I am pre-prepped and planned ahead, I don’t exactly think straight for cooking.  And when I buy something to cook on the way home, I am definitely not pre-planned.

I bought some cod.  I just pan fried it with a little salt and pepper in some olive oil.  Yummy!  Then I made more of the sweet potato chips I described a few days ago.  Happy stomach.. 

I confess, I tried sweet potato fries, but I didn’t have much success with them.  I think I either need to experiment more, or find a recipe.

Ground to dust

I failed.  I admit it.  I tried to make turkey sausage.

I have never fully appreciated before how very dry turkey is.  I must remember in the future - lean meat means dry meat.  All that juicy goodness in a hamburger or a sausage patty comes from the fat.  I didn't really think about it until now.  Well, until I made turkey sausages.

I had about a pound and a half of turkey breast left, as yet uncooked, so I ground it in my food processor.  I mixed spices and ground them, mixed them into the meat, let the whole thing blend overnight in the fridge.  I gave it every opportunity to taste right.  And it did.  It tasted like sausage.  Unfortunately they are so dry I have to drink a glass of water per bite.  I've been eating them, partly because if I don't eat them then I have to cook something else.  And I was a little out of ideas.  And out of turkey meat yesterday, if truth be told.  Fortunately I also went shopping yesterday.

This failure is not my only report, however.  Behold a small success.

Today I was expecting guests for dinner.  Not wanting them to have to suffer from my peculiar diet, and not yet certain of my recipes for common foods, I bought hamburger.  I decided to make hamburger patties for everyone else and turkey burgers for me.  But after the sausage fiasco I was a little nervous.  I thought of everything I'd ever learned about making moister foods.  I don't know if I heard it somewhere, or I thought it up, maybe it's common knowledge - but shredding vegetables and mixing them into the meat makes a much moister patty.  I did a taste test - I made two patties, added shredded zucchini to one and shredded sweet potatoes to the other.  The sweet potatoes win!  The recipe isn't ready to share yet, as I really think I need to shred the sweet potatoes much finer, but it made a fairly decent burger.  I used lettuce leaves for the bun and put a little guacanole on top.  Guacanole?  That's Guacamole without the peppers or tomatoes.  I'm still working on that one, also.  I should have a recipe in a few days.  I have to have some kind of dip for my chips!

Crunch Time

I found it.  It still exists. The crunch. 

Understand – I like them.  Carrots, rutabagas, parsnips, sweet potatoes.  Roasted they are delicious.  Raw they are frequently sweet.  I like to shave them – slice them wafer thin with a potato peeler – and add them to salad. 

But once you cook them, they don't crunch.  Slice them thin, they don't crunch.  And uncut and uncooked they are hard to eat.  Besides, no matter how munchy they are, they never really crunch.  Not with that crackly crisp crunch that comes from chips and crackers and all those junk food goodies we love so much.  And I miss the crunch.

A stalk of celery will give a suggestion of a crunch.  But then it is followed by munch and fiber and it just isn’t the same.

When you can’t have all those additives, and you can’t have almost anything that even hints at starch – no potatoes, no grains, not even rice – then how do you find the crunch?

I found a way.

Thanks to olive oil, sweet potatoes, and my trusty potato peeler. 

Sweet Potato Chips

Equipment needed

My eensy weensy spider

Pan with a lid or spatter guard

Potato peeler

Baking sheet

Baking rack (like you use to cool cookies)

Spider

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 large sweet potato

Directions

Pour about 1 to 1 ½ inches of olive oil into the pan.  Heat to a medium high heat (I had it set to 8 on my stove).  I used a large saucepan.  However, a frying pan will give more surface space and allow for larger batches.

While oil heats peel the sweet potato.  Once the outer skin has been removed pat the potato dry.  Then use the potato peeler to shave thin slices.  It doesn’t really matter what shape the pieces end up.  These are for crunching, not dipping, so skinny pieces work as well as fatter ones.

Once the oil is hot, add sweet potato slices to the pan.  Don’t add too many at one time.  They need room to move in the oil as you stir them.  Stir them with the spider to keep them from sticking together.  I usually stir three or four times during frying.  Make certain the chips turn at least once for even cooking.

From left to right
blech, acceptable, yummy, chewy

When chips start to brown at the edges, use the spider to remove them from the pan.  Place the chips on the drying rack and allow them to drain and to cool.  So be careful.  Leave them in too long and they will be inedible.  Too short a time and they will be chewy.  It will take some trial and error to get them just right.

I don’t know how many servings this makes.  I can tell you that this pile of chips was half a sweet potato minus the ones I ate before I took the picture.  Enjoy!

 

Something Fishy

Today I had a little variety.  I bought a filet of sole last night.  So I looked up some instruction for cooking sole this morning.

Someone remind me to look up the recipes before I start buying the ingredients.

Most of the recipes I saw had a lot of ingredients that were not allowed but were essential to the recipe.  As in "dredge in flour" or something similar.  I did find one interesting looking recipe for a coconut avocado relish over Barbecued Dover Sole.  But I do not have a barbecue grill ready for use in January, and fish doesn't sit.  Not well and not for long.

Eventually I found Bob.  He had a recipe for Dover Sole in Parchment.  I made a few adjustments.  I forgot the celery and added parsnip instead, because I had extra parsnips from the other day.  And I definitely had to cut a few ingredients.  But it worked really well.

To adjust the recipe to make it ED (Elimination Diet) worthy change step three.  Arrange the vegetables on top of the fish.  Do everything else the same.  You might want to cook the fish for one or two minutes longer.  My fish was just a little bit underdone.  But that does depend on the thickness of the fish.

I didn't have as much moisture with the fish.  But that's okay.  The fish itself was moist and delicious.  AND IT WASN'T TURKEY!

See you all tomorrow!

Dining and Whining

Sometimes I think if I have to eat another green leafy vegetable my ears will grow.  Another bite of turkey and you can add a black hat with a buckle to my outfit.  I am tired of turkey and vegetables!!!

I'll be the first to confess - I'm a carboholic.  And by carb I mean grains.  Light fluffy breads.  Sweet luscious cakes.  Day old doughnuts dipped in hot chocolate.  Sodapop, complete with carbonation.  Toast, oozing butter.  

There are doughnuts here, in the office, leftover from this morning's safety meeting.  Doughnuts, just a few steps away.  And there's half a case of rootbeer leftover from a holiday party.  And I'm drinking my 4th bottle of water for the day and eating 4 ounces of turkey with vegetables.

How long must this torture continue!  It is endless in nature, it began before the dawn of time and will continue until the rivers run dry!  Curses, I say!  Vegetables are beginning to grow from my skin.  My heart has been replaced with a rutabaga and my lungs with lettuces.  I no longer gobble my food but gobble my speech!  When will it end!

And thus ends day two of my experiment. 

Go!

I have started.  Yesterday I ate turkey and vegetables.  That was pretty much it.  Oh - and an apple for dessert.

It was in some ways a good day and in some ways a bad day.  Breakfast and lunch were salad with baked (overly dry) turkey.  I did not do a good job roasting this turkey.  And I remembered how very much I hate dry food.  I managed to avoid the hiccups, but barely.  yes, dry food gives me the hiccups.  And for some reason, water doesn't seem to fix the problem.  I usually eat my food with something thicker than water.  Like creamy salad dressing. So when I ate my salad for breakfast, I was concerned.  I knew I needed a way to fight the dry.  Then it came to me -

AVOCADO!

I think that may become my new war cry.  Can't you see me rushing into battle screaming "AVOCADO!" at the top of my lungs?  Well, you don't know what I look like, so you can't see me, but you get the idea.

Avocados are creamy bundles of incredible texture.  I personally do not care if it tastes wonderful or not (but ti does taste pretty good) I care about the texture.  Creamy and smooth and easily blended into all kinds of things.  I might even be able to create an elimination version of guacamole.  With sweet potato chips.




Okay, time to wake up from the daydream.  So I added half a guacamole to my lunch time salad and it made a big difference.  If I had a mini blender here at work, I might make myself an avocado salad dressing.  Avocado, maybe a little onion powder, blended until smooth. I think the boss might frown on adding kitchen equipment to the office, though. I'll try it at home one day and let you know how it works.

Dinner time was pretty good.  I made a turkey stir fry.  Nice, moist food.  It tasted pretty bland.  I wonder - after I've had three weeks of no sugar and very limited salt - how will it taste then?

At the end of the day I had a baked apple.  Apple and cinnamon and no sugar.  I don't think I baked it right.  I'll have to work on that.

Get Set!

Yesterday I was getting ready and now I am set.

It was kind of funny yesterday.  One, I succumbed to the "last time" temptation.  The last time I get to eat bread for who knows how long.  The last hamburger.  The last cinnamon roll (very gooey, warm, and delicious).  The last of a lot of things.  At the same time, I was thinking about possible meals.  Let's see, salad with turkey strips.  As a change, maybe baked turkey with salad.  And just for some variety, I think I'll have turkey on a bed of lettuce with a variety of vegetables.

Hm.

Then I started thinking.  Seriously thinking.  I can have stir fry.  There are a lot of stir fry vegetables that are not on the okay list (like snow peas and peppers), but I can have broccoli, carrots, onions, and cauliflower.  Add a little zucchini and I've got a decent stir fry.  I can't season it with soy sauce.  In fact, anything you buy in a liquid form is pretty much off limits.  But I can make a sauce.  Maybe a little reduction of ginger or something similar?  That might make a good addition to the stir fry.  Maybe some ginger-infused olive oil.  Or I can cook it in coconut oil for a change of pace.  Anyone know where I can buy coconut oil?

I can make a turkey salad.  You know, like chicken salad.  A little chopped turkey, a little celery, a tiny bit of onion, preferably green onion. I know mayo is on the no list, but avocado is approved.  Take a few avocado slices, mash them up, and I have a nice creamy substance, guaranteed to hold my turkey salad together.  Now that sounds good on a bed of lettuce, or maybe rolled in a lettuce leaf, like a wrap.

So I am feeling much more hopeful.  I'm going to write up some recipes and see how well they work.

Yesterday was also shopping day.  I have learned a lot about "basic" ingredients.  Did you know ground turkey has flavoring added?  Yep.  They say all natural, but they don't say what.  Which means I can't have it because I don't know what I'm getting.  Milk substitutes have a lot of additional ingredients.  I am pretty much learning that if I want something plain and simple, it isn't going to come from the supermarket.  I'll be doing a lot more shopping at the local butcher's shop and the fruit and vegetable stand.

By the way, anyone have a suggestion for breakfast?  I have found a recipe for sausage seasoning, and as soon as I find my meat grinder I can start making turkey sausage.  Maybe I can try sweet potato hash browns.  Surely somewhere there's a recipe for that.  I'll keep you posted.

You know, if I can find enough tasty options on this diet, maybe I can get my husband to try it.  Now that's an idea.

Get Ready!

What can I say?  I thought it was important to start with some records.  I took my blood sugar level.  New monitor, new strips, new sticker.   (That's stick-er, really.  Not little paper things that get glued to me and say I was a good girl who didn't cry, but a nasty little sharp device whose only purpose is to make holes in human flesh.  Not pleasant, but all part of the process.)

Who knew it would take so long to learn a new device?  Of course, the fact that it has no instructions . . . . Three failed test strips later I was very frustrated.

Can I just say - I love the internet.  Looked up the instructions, realized what we were doing wrong.  One more test strip and I was done!  No more poking holes in my fingers!  Good thing I poke the sides of my fingers, or I would probably not be writing now.

Today I cook and clean out the kitchen and shop for my new me.  I'd ask you to wish me luck, but I already did that.  Twice.

See you soon!

The Beginning

Welcome to the beginning.

This blog is partly my own personal crusade against sugar and salt and their overabundance in my life. It is also partly my personal journey to self-discovery, food-wise, that is.

I don’t want to preach, but I am convinced there is too much salt and sugar added to the processed foods we have come to rely on. Not just pre-packaged meal kits (frozen or dry). Even the ordinary canned foods. Did you know they add sugar to canned beans? Seriously, beans? Since when do we need our beans to be sweet? And I don’t even want to think about the amount of salt in a can of mushroom soup. Still, I have both in my pantry. Cans of beans and cans of soup. And I use them, too. And maybe that’s why so many foods have so little taste. I believe our tastebuds start to ratchet themselves down when we expose them to too much salt and sugar.

Additives aside, I am starting to experience food-related problems. Bloating and issues sleeping, not to mention extreme thirst, sugar-crashes, and other problems. Including depression. Some of them I can probably blame on diabetes. Am I diabetic? I think so. I haven’t had a test to say so yet, but I have my suspicions. Some of the problems, though, are most likely from food ‘allergies’. I guess that officially they are actually called food sensitivities. Whatever we call them, I mean reactions to food that are unpleasant. I don’t like it, my body doesn’t like it, and I want it to stop.

I’ve decided to kill three birds with one stone. Of course, it’s a pretty big stone, but hey, if it works, it works! I’m going on an elimination diet. And I’m going to try to use it to reset my taste buds, stabilize my blood sugar, and find out what foods I can and cannot eat with abandon! (I love the idea of eating with abandon. It sounds so decadent. Even when what I’m eating is lettuce.)

What is an elimination diet? Well, a very good explanation exists here. Or here. Or here. The short version - if you suspect you have a food "allergy" or food sensitivity, you can find out without the benefit of a doctor or expensive tests. You start by eating a very restricted diet. No potential trigger foods. Then, after you have a chance to adjust to the new diet and flush the toxins out of your body, you start testing various foods. Adding them back into the diet, one isolated food at a time. Find out if you react to it. That's it in a nutshell.

I begin this week. Not tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to prepare for it. Mainly cooking up all the out of bounds foods I have in the house and getting them ready for my husband to reheat. I’m going to hide them in the downstairs freezer. He can bring them out when he wants them. We have an agreement. When I’m home, he eats my way. When I’m gone, he can cook what he wants. Just don’t expect me to clean up after them. This cooking binge I’m going on tomorrow is my last great gift to him before I begin the health thing.

Wish me luck.