I love Thanksgiving and Christmas food.  In the last couple of weeks I have thrown caution to the wind and eaten foods I should steer clear.  The consequence were daily headaches, several migraines, stomach troubles, congestion, fatigue.  I am sure there are more but I will stop with the major one's.

I am using the book "The Fast Metabolism DIET" by Haylie Pomroy, to get my body back on track feeling better.  I think that this book has a lot of good ideas and provides the different foods and combinations for each day.

There are three phases.  Phase one for me will be Monday and Tuesday.  Phase two Wednesday and Thursday. Phase three Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  You are supposed to eat every two to three hours.  Phase One:  Breakfast - 1 grain, 1 fruit; Snack - fruit; Lunch - Grain, protein, fruit, and veggie; Snack - fruit; Dinner - grain, protein, and veggie.  The book lists the approved foods for this phase.  In a nutshell no fat, no added sugar, no wheat, no soy, no corn during this phase.  You can use stevia or xylitol in small amounts as a sweetener.

When reading the lists or suggested menu's I had to read it with an open mind and not shut it down because I can not eat this or that.  So when I saw that the author used oats as one of her main breakfast grains  I decided to see if there where other grains that I could use.  We recently had a Natural Grocer's open up and I started there to see if they had anything that I could replace the oats with.  To my surprise they had rolled spelt, barley, taut, millet, and rye(not used in this diet because of  his close relationship with wheat).  They do take about 15 to 20 minutes to cook.  They have a chewy texture similar to Old fashioned oats and nutty flavor.

I am sure that I will have withdrawal symptoms in a few days.

Day One Phase One

Breakfast
1/2 cup Rolled Spelt
1/2 cup frozen peaches
1 pkg stevia
1 tsp cinnamon

Combined, bring to a boil, simmer for 15 - 20 min.


Snack
Apple

Lunch
1 slice Ezekial 4:9 grain bread
2 oz nitrate free sliced deli turkey
1 dill pickle
pomegranate

Snack
apple

Dinner
Teriyaki Chicken
Sweet potato
Quinoa
grapes

For the Teriyaki Chicken I am using tan adaptation of he "Turkey Jerky" recipe on page 210 of the above mentioned book.  The recipe is below.

1- 1 1/2 pounds of chicken
1/4 cup Tamari
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon  leek powder
3 crushed garlic head
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp minced ginger root

Mix everything but the chicken.  Add the chicken breasts.  Let sit at least two hours but no more than 24 hours.  Grill or bake at 400 degree's until internal temperature 165 degree's.  Check meat at about 25 minutes in the oven.  On the grill flip after ten minutes then cook an additional 10 minutes.  Frequently base with juice.  If you want to use the remaining liquid it will need to be boiled for a few minutes to kill the bacteria from the fresh meat.


Added bonus:  You will loose weight on this diet.  If you want to increase weight lose  also do the phase specific exercise.  Phase One is vigorous cardio.  I am going to measure my self to see if I loose any inches.

I am hoping that planning will help me stay away from all the food I am allergic to.  Let me know if you have any questions.

 Popcorn or Kamut/ Millet Balls without Corn Syrup

Popcorn and Kamut/ Millet balls

We are having a family swimming trip tomorrow and thought that popcorn balls would be a yummy treat to take and share. My name is Anna and I am a guest on my mom's blog. I am a beginning cook and LOVE anything carmel.

Since my mom can't have corn syrup she was looking around the internet and other places for a recipe for popcorn balls without any corn syrup.  She found one at The Skinny Gourmet blog.  The link to the site is  http://skinnygourmet.blogspot.com/2008/01/caramel-popcorn-balls.html   .  We can eat popcorn and mom can't so we also used part of the sauce to make kamut/millet balls for her and made the rest into popcorn balls.

The trick was to not eat the popcorn as we were waiting for the sauce to get to a hard boil stage (248 degrees Fahrenheit), which was really the hardest part.  Then as we were mixing the carmel into the popcorn, Kamut/millet balls some of it would come out of the bowl and it was hard to resist the temptation to eat it so everything that came out of the bowl while mixing was in my mouth in seconds.  Good thing it was hot!

Ingredients

Popcorn. approx 1/4 cup kernels. Roughly 8 cups popped.  
(We used 6 cups of popcorn in one bowl and in another bowl we used 1/2 c. puffed millet and 1/2 c. puffed kamut)1 slight cup honey
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup water
20 grams salted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Makes 8-10 medium popcorn balls.  (We ended up making a dozen balls.)

Directions

Combine honey, white sugar, brown sugar, water, and salt in saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring until mixture begins to boil. Add butter. Stir and add vanilla just as the mixture begins to thicken. Cook to firm ball stage (248 degrees). Pour the carmel sauce over the popcorn and the kamut/ millet mixture.  Fold the mixture in until completely coated.  Coat you hands with cooking spray or butter.  Grab about one cup of mixture and then firmly press in to balls then place on wax paper. This step will be a little hot.  There is a point between to hot and not working because they have cooled out and dried.  So do not wait to long.  I was skeptical of the kamut and millet but thought that they tasted just as good as the popcorn balls and would be okay if we made a whole batch of them instead of trying to accommodate everyone.

The Cooks

Bountiful Basket

My kids are now out of school for the summer.  With that comes having to fix lunches.  I should say they are not so keen on almond butter and jam sandwiches, like there little brother, everyday or leftovers.  My oldest is going to be a camp counselor and doing early morning weight training/ running.  So, she will not only need a sack lunch but healthy breakfasts and snacks to get on the way.  A few years ago I did Bountiful Baskets.  It is kind of like a co op.  One basket costs $15.  Extra cases of things cost more, but are usually reasonable.  I am hoping this will increase our healthy eating.  In that vein I ordered a basket and several cases of fruit.

Today I picked up my first Bountiful Basket in two years.  I may have gone over board.  I ordered one case of blueberries, 1 case of doughnut nectarines, 1 case of strawberries, and the regular baskets.  The regular basket had 6 vine ripe tomatoes, 5 white onions, 2 yellow peppers, asparagus, 2 head of broccoli, 2 stalks of celery, three summer squash, one head of romaine lettuce, 3 apples, blackberries, green grapes, bananas.  Then I went and purchase an additional cucumber, cilantro, parsley, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  My Fridge is FULL!

So, that I do not forget some food that I have and let it go bad  I am going to attempt a menu for the week.  Menu's are good for me  because then I am not trying to figure things out last minute, the kids know in advance what they are going to eat, and I can make a plan for the day.

The first thing that I did was make a list of the items in my fridge that were perishable and need to be eaten sooner than later.   All of the fruit wit the exception of the limes and apples need to be eaten or frozen in the next three or four days.  The tomato's, lettuce, cucumber, and pepper tend to go bad the quickest of the veggies.  Most of the meat should be okay it was frozen when I put it in the fridge.  The Grain's will last a long time in the fridge.  The cilantro and parsley and get nasty pretty quick as well.

Veggies	Fruit	Dairy	Meat/ Protein	Grain	Other
Butternut Squash	3 limes	Milk	CK Drum Sticks	Barley (little)	Almond milk
4 white onions	4 bananas	Colby Jack	2 Ck breast	Quinoa	Cilantro
2 green peppers	3 clams Blue Berries	Ricotta	Italian Ground Turkey	Bulgur	Parsley
2 yellow Peppers	2 clams Strawberries	Cheddar	24 oz ground turkey	Rice	Strawberry Jam
2 head broccoli	1 clam Black Berries	Mozzarella about 1 c ground and one small block	½ lb Bacon
6 tomatoes	3 small gala apples	Cream Cheese	Sliced ham
4 summer squash	Green grapes	Sour Cream	Sliced Turkey
Asparagus	Watermelon		Salmon (freezer)
2 head celery	Nectarines		Eggs
Romaine lettuce	4 grapefruit		Almond Butter
Cucumber
3 sweet potatoes
2 russet potatoes

After taking inventory of what was in my fridge and looking at what is still in the cabinets that would go with what I have is the next step.  The trick with Bountiful Baskets is to not plan your meals until you see what you have to make it work with that weeks offerings.  The next post will have my plan for the week.

Positive Spin On Not Eating Eggs

Egg free Chocolate Chip Cookies

One benefit to being allergic to eggs is that we never have to worry about the possibility of  salmonella.  A few years ago when my oldest went to middle school and took her first FACS class she was shocked she could not taste the cookie dough they were making because it might cause salmonella poisoning from the eggs.  She came home and wanted to know what we used instead of eggs so we could eat the dough or was I really killing her by letting her eat raw dough.  In her life every time we made cookie dough she could taste it and I was not worried because we used Ener G egg replacer in all my baked goods.

So, today my daughter wanted to make some cookie dough for a treat.  She made sure I understood that she was only making dough just to  eat not cook.   After eating about a cup, or about 4 1 tablespoon cookies, of the dough she wanted to know how she could store it for another day.

Kroger mini semi sweet chocolate baking chips package recipe

2 1/4 cup all purpose ( She added 1/2 cup more in              
                                          1/4 cup increments)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup of butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs  (We used 3 tsp Ener G egg replacer and 4 TBSP water)
1 pkg chocolate chips ( My daughter does not like chocolate very much so she only added 1/2 cup.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together the butter, sugars, and vanilla. Then add egg replacer until blended.  Add the flour salt baking soda and mix til blended.  Add the chocolate chips.  Make 1 TBSP balls or roll into a roll and slice as shown.  If you are going to cook them bake for 8 to 10 min.


I did have her cook a batch or a dozen for the rest of us.  They turned out pretty good.  I have another chocolate chip cookie recipe that I like a little better but this one was not half bad.  Not something I would eat everyday because of the high sugar and butter content but pretty good and I did not have to make them.

Where Did They All Go?

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin muffins disappear fast at our house.  Last night for dinner there were 36 mini muffins.  There are only five of us so they should last a day or two you would think.  After dinner there was 26 muffins or so I thought.  I went to lay down to get off my foot for an hour and asked someone to grab a muffin for me to eat with my medicine.  To my surprise they were all gone!  My ten year old later confessed to eating them all.  So this morning he was trooper and made another batch.  Which I am sure will be gone before I am done typing this.  

I love finding recipes that I can eat and my kids will eat.  As I have done in the past I will put the recipe that I used as a guideline first and then what I changed following it.

One ingredient that I always find in pumpkin recipes,  that I can not eat, are egg's.  Egg's can be hard to replace in a recipe depending on what they are used for.  Egg's basically bind (so a sticky agent), leaven (make it light and airy), adds liquid, flavor, and add richness.  When trying to eliminate it you need to look at what purpose does it serve in the recipe.  

Using this pumpkin muffin recipe I am going to give you an idea of how I decide if egg's can be replaced or left out of a recipe.  The first thing I ask is, "would there anything else in the recipe that would help hold it together".  In this recipe the pumpkin puree, water and honey provide liquid or wet ingredients that will help it stick together. When using Ener G egg replacer I find that some recipes need a little more liquid because they are too dry, like in cookies.  This recipe did not need more liquid.

The next thing I look at is what helps it rise or give it lift.  Baking powder, baking soda, and yeast are three ingredients that create rise.  If your recipe contains any these you are fine and can successfully adapt the recipe.  If you are allergic to corn, baking powder is generally made with cornstarch as an anti caking agent.  You can replace 1 tsp baking powder with 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and 1/4 tsp baking soda.  Hain also makes a corn free baking powder.  You can buy this online or at Natural Grocer's in Logan, Utah. 

The last character I look at is flavor and richness.  It is next to impossible to replicate that.  So,  If  the recipe has a binder, an additional leavening, and enough liquid you should be able to replace the egg. As a side note your baked goods will be denser.  So I find that Whole Wheat flour and egg replacer are not a good combination.  So in the pumpkin muffin recipe I used Spelt flour and All purpose flour.  Spelt flour is not as dense as whole wheat flour.  I also wonder about whole wheat pastry flour.

Whole- Wheat Pumpkin Bread

I found this at http://www.100daysofrealfood.com a couple of years ago

Yield serves 10 -12

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil 

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup chopped tree nuts (optional)

Mix dry ingredients.  Make a hole in the center and add the remaining ingredients.  Mix until all incorporated.  Do not over mix.  Bake loaf for 30-40 min or muffins 18-22 min.  Check with a toothpick.  Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

3/4 cup spelt flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp egg replacer

Mix the above dry ingredient's together.  Make a hole in the center and add the remaining ingredients.

4 TBSP Water

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Fold until blended together.  Do not over blend.  Grease muffin tin!!!  I use a canola oil spray.  We like making mini muffins.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

I was right they are all gone!  I hope you enjoy this recipe like we have!

Perception

Porcupine Turkey Meatballs

I recently listened to a TEDx talk about perception.  When we feel that our choices are all gone or limited our vision narrows to the possibilities around us.  Our perception of the possibilities not the reality of the possibilities suffocates us. We have limited our scope of what we find conceivable. It is so easy with allergies to hem our thinking into the thought that there is nothing out there that I can eat thinking "I am doomed" or "I will never eat the food I love again".

My perception had to change because my health depended on it.  Every time I slip, and you will slip, I think that "I will be fine this one time" and of course have a reaction.  Instead of being devastated I am trying come home with alternatives that may taste similar to what I was eating.  I think that biggest help in changing your perception to eating is possible is finding out what ingredients in food do and why.  Then you can start manipulating recipes that you are used to creating and dishes that you can eat.  

One recipe that I thought that I would never eat again was meatballs with a barbecue sauce.  The porcupine meatball recipe that is here I wanted to try because it would get my kids and myself to eat more grains.  My biggest problem was I am allergic to beef, rice, oats, eggs, onions and tomatoes.  My initial perception was this recipe would NEVER work for me.  Pretty much the whole recipe was not going to work.  

You can change recipes to a point.  Somethings you will never be able to eat again but expand your taste buds and you may find yourself falling in love with the dish again when it is made in a different way.  If you are allergic to Tomatoes I have not found a replacement for spaghetti sauce.  So I do avoid spaghetti and any similar dish.  But if you are needing more of a barbecue sauce then the plum sauce works well for this.  This recipe can be found in an earlier post.

Porcupine Meatballs

Original Recipe -- Adrie Roberts, USU Cache County Extension Agent, Family Cookbook, October 2013.

Recipe                                                 Replacement Ideas

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef                  any ground meat

1 cup cooked, cooled rice                    rice, quinoa, armanath or something similar

1/2 cup cooked wheat berries, opt.      bulgar, barley

1/2 cup oatmeal                                   any rolled grain - spelt, barley, wheat, kamut

1 egg lightly beaten                             This is a binder so egg replacer, or cheese

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped            You can leave this out, add chives or leeks, finely chopped celery

1 small can tomatoes sauce                      Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs                    Use any kind of bread you can eat

1/2 tsp seasoning salt                           Just sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper                            Leave out

Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar                           Real maple syrup, honey, 

1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce           Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1/2 cup ketsup                                     Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce 

1 can tomato soup                                  Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce                   

1/2 tsp seasoning salt                           Sea salt, celery salt combination

1/2 tsp chili powder

Tomato Free Porcupine Turkey Meatballs

2 lbs ground turkey

1 cup cooked, cooled quinoa

1/2 cup cooked bulgar

1/2 cup cooked rolled spelt

2 tsp egg replacer

2 1/2 TBSP water

1/4 c finely chopped leek

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 tsp minced ginger root

1/2 cup plum sauce

1 piece of Ezikal 4:9 bread toasted and cut up or torn into fine piece

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 celery salt or seed

Combined all the above ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands until well blended.  Form into 1 to 2 inch balls.  I use a cookie scoop for the ease and uniformity.  Place in a 9 X 12 casserole or cake pan.  We did end up using 2 pans because of the quantity.  

Sauce:

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 cup Plum sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp mince ginger root

1 clove of garlic

Mix and heat in a sauce pan.  Pour over the meatballs and bake at 375 degrees for 25 -35 min.

When the meatballs were done there was no sauce left.  It had all absorbed into the meatballs.  So I would recommend making double the sauce and put half on at the first and let the rest simmer while the meatballs cook.  I would then either pour over or have on the table to dip in like you might ketchup.

We served this with some quinoa or bulgar that we had made as extra, spinach, canned pears, and mini pumpkin muffins.

1

Achoo, Sniffle, Sniffle

The snow is gone, the day time temperatures are above fifty, grass is growing, flowers, blooming, trees pollinating, and weeds emerging; it's Spring!  At our house nose's are sniffling, eyes are itchy, fatigue, skin itching, and headaches are in full bloom.  Usually we can keep these reactions in check by staying in air conditioned buildings and over the counter medications.  

Last fall I forgot to give my son some allergy medicine  before he went on a cub scout hike with his den.  We had recently moved and this was one of his first activities with this den.  He was so excited because they were going to explore a cave.  

I sent him on his way and left for my daughters soccer game.  Later when I came home his eyes were almost swollen shut and his nose was a leaky faucet.  He was also having a hard time breathing.  The poor leader was having a panic attack because she couldn't find me and she thought she had killed him on there first activity together.  

It took a couple of days for his eyes to come down in size and his nose finally stopped running.  His breathing returned to normal after some help with an inhaler and a shower to get the pollen off.  So,  today I am having flashbacks as I look on the calendar and notice that today is another cub scout hike with his den and he hasn't taken is allergy medicine today.  Here are a few ideas on dealing with allergy symptoms.

Eyes

• Cool wash rag on eyes
• Eye drops -- there are many over the counter that work well.  I recently used Clear View and found much needed relief.
• Shower

Nose

• Netti Pot (Not my favorite but my husband swears by it.)
• Warm rag across the sinus
• Steam from a hot shower can also help
• Decongestant (You can find this behind the counter at the pharmacy.  You do not need a prescription to get it)  I have found taking a 24 hour Zyrtec and then a 12 decongestant in the morning works best for me and is cheaper.  Decongestants keep me awake so I do not like taking them at night.
• Prescription Nasal Spray (Like Flonase) works wonders.
• Box of tissues

Cough/ Breathing

• Go to the emergency room or call 911 if they can't breathe
• Go to the doctor and get an inhaler
• Humidifier
• Vapor rub on chest

All

• Change filter on air conditioner/ heater often
• Take a shower at the end of the day to wash off pollen
• Change pillowcases and sheet every couple of days to get any residual pollen out
• Live in an air conditioned home/ apartment (swamp coolers are not good for people with allergies)
• Hardwood, tile, linoleum floors help eliminate places for pollen to collect in your home as well.