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!