Saturday, February 20, 2016

Candied Spiced Nuts

When Hubby and I lived in Germany, we fell in love with their traditional candied spiced nuts.  They are really amazing, but seemed impossible to make at home because of the specialized equipment they used: a special cooker shaped like a bowl with a spinning paddle that got hot enough to fully melt and cook the sugar.  In Germany these treats were relatively easy to find, inexpensive and super tasty.  I'd buy several bags of them every time the vendor made the rounds.  They are much harder to find in the States, usually only at special fairs or something similar, and when I can find them, they are pretty expensive.  But then I ran across a recipe to make them at home!  I was super excited and made some right away.  We enjoyed the results, but I've tweaked the recipe to fit our tastes better.  I increased the spices, because we love the flavors and they weren't quite coming out enough in the original recipe.  I also added a bit of maple syrup, to help the sugar melt and coat the nuts better.  Lastly, I used bowls instead of the plastic bags the original author used, because it is much easier to work with bowls, and it doesn't waste 2 bags for every batch!

Candied Spiced Nuts

4 cups of nuts, whatever you like.  We like cashews, so I use those.  A great place to get inexpensive nuts are indian food markets.

1 egg white.  You can grease a small container with a few drops of oil and put the yolk in it to use for something else later.
1 T water
1 T maple syrup, or if using white sugar substitute molasses instead

1 C sugar, preferably brown sugar or sucanat.
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 250.
Put nuts in a bowl large enough to stir everything together.  Measure the sugar and spices into a medium sized bowl and whisk until combined. 
Whisk egg white and water together until a little foamy, then add maple syrup or molasses.
Drizzle over the nuts and stir until coated.
Pour sugar mix over the nuts and stir until all the sugar is moistened and coats the nuts.
Pour the nuts onto a lined baking tray and spread them out.  Don't forget to scrape all that tasty sugar out of the bowl too!
Bake for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  When stirring, make sure you scrape all the melted sugar off the bottom of the tray and mix it back into the nuts.  I've found it helpful to just kind of pile everything in the center of the tray, use the spatula to scrape up the sugar and dump it on top of the pile, then spread everything out again for further baking.


The nuts are done when the sugar is dry and they break apart easily.
Set on the counter to cool, then store in an airtight container.  These don't last all that long around here, but I imagine they would stay good for several months.

Yield: 4 cups

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

No ED Today

Well, I'd intended to start again today, but I didn't sleep well at all and have no energy or motivation, so hopefully tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Elimination Diet Day...?

Well, I was sick with a pretty bad cold.  The bad symptoms didn't last too long, maybe 4 days.  The congestion held on for another week and a half.  But I have such problems with having enough energy to do things, and being sick just wipes me out.  I've been too tired to really focus on doing the ED, because it is very labor intensive.   So I decided not to stress about it and just do what I could.  I've been having my green smoothies almost every day.  I've made several meals that lasted me several days, but I don't really remember what they were anymore. One of the reasons I do a Daily Diet Update every day is just to help me keep track of what I've done!  I've also been eating plenty off the diet, but still researching and thinking about what I want to do when I get back on it.

Biggest thing I've finally decided:  I really don't like kale.  I've really tried to learn to like it, but I just don't.  I don't like it as chips, I don't really prefer it in soup, it's fine as baby kale in smoothies because I don't really taste it.  I find mature kale to be too much though, even in a smoothie.  But I think that except for smoothies and the occasional hash where it can be nicely blended in, I'm just not going to be having a lot of it.  I will still get plenty of the cruciferous compounds in my smoothies.  Broccoli sprouts and baby kale are about 2/3 of the greens I put in there and, when I can find them, dandelion greens fill out the rest.

Health Update:
I have some improvements to my health, even after being mostly off the diet for the last 2 weeks.  My stomach seems to be slowly healing.  It doesn't react to things quite as strongly anymore, and I notice that my back isn't getting yanked out of place by the diaphragm cramps quite as much.  Another thing I've noticed is that my hips are hurting less, and I have fewer cramps in my legs when I'm laying down.  I've definitely lost 5 lbs since I started, and I fluctuate another 5 lbs depending on the day.  I was sleeping better, and my digestion was very much smoother, but that improvement has reduced during the last few weeks.

I'm planning on starting back on the diet tomorrow.  I'm not going to do the fast, that really made me feel very bad the last time.  Just gonna get started on porridge and tacos again!

Plans for the week: Make sweet potato chips (with guacamole!) and fries.  Make turkey jerky.  Plan out what I wanna do with a leg of lamb next week.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Elimination Diet Days 13-16

Being sick sucks.  So tired, can't sleep because I can't breathe, etc, etc.  So yeah, having problems being motivated to do anything, much less stay on the diet.  So I've been halfway ignoring it for the last few days.  I've been eating a lot of the food I had prepped, but I've also eaten out several days too, just because I was out anyways and it was easier than trying to figure out what to take with me.

But I'm feeling better already!  Part of it I think is because I really concentrate on not doing more damage than the cold already does, and part of it because my body was already settled into detox mode because of the diet and so I was able to detox the sick out faster.  I also focused on eating my fermented foods like kim-chi, water kefir and some fermented okra I put up this fall.  I've read that if you gargle and swish the contents of a probiotic pill before bed, it helps out compete the bad bugs in your sinuses.  Figured it would work with probiotic fermented foods too. 

I made chicken and rice soup today that was easy and tasty.  Looking forward to getting back in the groove in a few days, but not going to stress about it until I have a bit more energy.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 12

Hubby has been sick for the last week or so with some kind of nasty congestion and cough, and now I'm starting it, of course.  It's impossible not to give stuff to each other when we live as closely as we do, even when we'd rather not share!  I knew I was going to get it, so I've been cooking all week so I have food to eat if I get so bad I can't cook.

Breakfast- green smoothie, the smoothie this morning was so delicious and refreshing.  Maybe because my throat hurts and my nose is starting to drip.
Lunch- chicken tacos, still delicious.  I'm working out the best way to make the brown rice tortillas, and I'll be doing an in depth tutorial once I do.
Dinner- squash soup and experimental biscuits.  The squash soup made my stomach hurt again, so no more of that for me.  The biscuit was actually reasonably edible heated up in the microwave for 20 seconds and spread with some of my chicken fat in place of butter.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 11

Breakfast- I went all out and made turkey breakfast sausage and another batch of experimental biscuits.  They were all right, but the recipe still needs work.
Lunch-I got up late enough and breakfast took long enough to make that it was practically lunch, so I didn't have 3 meals today
Dinner- roasted leg of lamb with sauted asparagus

Elimination Diet Day 10

I definitely seem to be sleeping better. Deeper, and waking more rested.  My digestion also seems to be normalizing in a pleasant way.

Breakfast- porridge with sauted onions and garlic and tart cherry juice
Lunch- green smoothie and a muffin
Dinner- chicken wings with sauted asparagus

Friday, January 29, 2016

Refried Adzuki Beans

Adzuki beans are small, easy to digest and you don't have to soak them before using them.  They are the only dry bean allowed on the diet because of how easy to digest they are.  They also have an odd flavor compared to my personal favorite, black beans.  Black beans are deep, rich and have a very full flavor all by themselves.  Adzuki beans have a higher flavor, not as rich or rounded, so they need some help when they are the main part of the dish, like in these refried beans.  So I've added onions, garlic and a bit of spice make the flavor richer and more well rounded.

Refried Adzuki Beans

2 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped, or around 1 cup chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt
2 pints home canned adzuki beans, or 3 cups cooked beans, drained

Add oil, onion and garlic to a 2 quart sauce pan.  Cook the onions on medium-low heat until browning and translucent.  Add the spices and cook for 30 seconds or so.  If you like chunky refried beans, add beans to the pot 1 spoonful at a time, mashing them with the back of the spoon and stirring them in before adding the next spoonful.  Or if you like smooth beans, just dump them all in, stir them good to blend the spices and onions, and then use an immersion blender or food processor to blend them smooth.  Continue cooking over low heat stirring often until the beans are as thick as you'd like, then refrigerate. 

These beans are best the day after they have been made, to allow time for the flavors to blend.  And they sure are tasty on tacos!

Yield: about 3-4 cups


Elimination Diet Day 9

Breakfast- Savory Black Rice Porridge with some tart cherry juice
Lunch- spiralized sweet potato steamed with olive oil, bone broth, italian seasonings and experimental pan sauce.  It was pretty tasty!  It reduced more than I thought it would though, I wish I'd done the whole potato.
 
 

Dinner- roasted chicken wings, savory sweet potato dish and failed experimental biscuits

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 8

Breakfast- green smoothie with cranberries and a date (yum!) and a honey spice muffin
Lunch-chicken tacos, kiwi and a muffin
Dinner- green soup and hot tea

Kim-chi for the Elimination Diet

I made some of this a few weeks ago to prep for the ED when I was reading Wild Fermentation.  Here is my modified version that I will definitely be keeping in stock as a condiment!  This is an incredibly flexible recipe: the onion, garlic, ginger paste (I left out the chilis that are usually a part of the paste) is the basis for all kimchi, and then you can add whatever you have on hand or sounds good!  Here's what I put in mine.

Kim-chi for the Elimination Diet

1 lb bok choy, rinsed well and chopped into thin, short strips
5-6 radishes, coarsely grated
2 carrots, coarsely grated
any other veggies you have around that sounds good

1-2 onions (or onion type things like leeks, shallots, scallions, etc)
3-4 garlic cloves (or more!)
3 T fresh grated ginger (or more!)

2-4 T salt

When preparing the kim-chi, I keep in mind that I'm going to be using it as a condiment, not as a dish by itself.  So I focus on keeping the pieces small enough to eat in bites with other things.  I coarsely grate the carrots and radishes instead of chopping them so they can add their flavor to bites without being large pieces that fill up the bite by themselves.
I cut the leaves of several stalks of the bok choy into about 1 inch strips, and then cut those into about 1/4 inch strips.
I cut the stems in half (or even thirds if they are wide enough) lengthwise and then chop them fairly finely.  

 

Mix a brine of about 4 cups of water and 2-4 T salt, depending on how salty you like things.  I don't like them terribly salty, so I only used 2 T.  Stir well to completely dissolve the salt and pour over the veggies in the bowl.  Put a plate or a plastic bag filled with water on top of the veggies to weigh them down and hold them below the brine.
 Let it sit for a few hours or overnight, until the veggies are tender and flexible.

Drain the veggies, reserving the brine.  Taste them for saltiness.  You want them to be salty, but not unpleasantly so.  If they are too salty, rinse them off, if not salty enough sprinkle a teaspoon or 2 over them.
Chop the onion, mince the garlic and grate the ginger, then put them all in a food processor and process them into a paste.  Mix the veggies and the paste together and pack it into a clean quart jar, pressing down until the brine rises.
 
After packing it all in, if the brine is having trouble staying over the veggies, add a little of the reserved brine from soaking the veggies.  You want it all to be completely submerged so it can safely ferment.

Once it is all in, I like to use a 4 oz jam jar in the mouth of my wide mouth jar to weight down the veggies and keep them under the brine.
Then I write the date on a coffee filter turned upside down over the top of the jar and and screw a metal band on top of it.  This allows the kim-chi to breathe and prevents random things from getting inside.  If you have a fermenting lid with an airlock, that works great too.
Put the jar in a bowl (to catch overflow during fermentation) and set it in a room temperature environment, some place out of the way, but where you won't forget about it.  If you aren't using an airlock lid, the smell of the garlic, onion and ginger can get pretty strong, so take that into account.  I get small food safe buckets from my local bakery, and I've delegated one for smelly ferments.  I just put the jar in the bucket, put the lid on loosely and then it doesn't smell up the whole house!  It has the added benefit of catching any overflow from the bubbling ferment too.
Let it ferment about a week, and then taste it to see if you like the tang.  Keep tasting it every few days until you like the flavor, then remove the weight, put a lid on it and place it in the fridge.  It will keep for months, and I'm finding it a very delicious condiment for my tacos!

Yield: 1 quart

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Cranberry Green Smoothie

I ran out of blueberries for my blueberry smoothie.  I was very sad.  But I found some cranberries in the freezer and decided to try those.  If you've ever had a cranberry, you know they are super tart, so I also added a date, hoping that just one would be enough to make it drinkable instead of puckerable, lol.  It was really good!  So I thought I'd share :)

Cranberry Green Smoothie

1 1/2 oz greens (I used 3/4 oz baby kale and 3/4 oz spring salad mix)
3/4 C coconut water
3 oz cucumber, sliced
3 oz frozen whole cranberries
1/2 oz fresh ginger, sliced
1 large medjool date, pitted

Blend the greens and the coconut water together for a while, then scrape the sides of the blender and add the rest of the ingredients.  Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Yield: about 2 cups

Week 1 Health Update

Yay, I made it a week!  And it wasn't even too hard.  I was really hungry the first few days, but I'm not having much in the way of cravings at all.  The food I've been making is so tasty and satisfying that I'm really not missing anything.  I think that getting into the right mindset has helped a lot also, and knowing what to expect.

225 lbs
42 inch waist

I lost 5 lbs the first day, just from the colon clearing effects of the liquid fast, but I haven't lost any more this week.  Probably because my girl time is starting today.  Cramps, booo!

I've been sleeping deeper when I sleep, but I still wake up a lot at night.  My stomach feels like it might be healing a bit and I think I have more energy, though it's hard to tell when I'm using it all up every day!

Looking back on this week, there are a few things I wish I'd done to prepare better.  I had to unexpectedly be out of the house most of the day on Friday, and I hadn't made any snacks to take yet.  I barely had time to make a green smoothie and grab a bag of dried fruit, but all that sugar left me feeling pretty bad.  I wish I'd made some of the seed granola (ED book) beforehand, and had some tortillas and guacamole prepared so I could have taken a light meal with me when I had to leave quickly.  So I worked hard on Saturday to make the granola and other stuff that's easy to grab if I have to leave quickly again.  I also put one of my 4oz jam jars full of granola in my purse, so I can have a snack if I get stuck somewhere.  I'll be thinking of other small things that aren't too sweet that I can keep in there also.


Elimination Diet Day 7

Breakfast- Honey Spice Muffins and hot tea
Lunch- roasted chicken wings and Savory Sweet Potatoes
Dinner-chicken tacos

Chicken Bone Broth

This is another workflow mindset post.  I realize it's not possible for everyone, but perhaps it will help get you thinking of how you can streamline things to get more benefit for less work.

The last time I did the diet, I had real trouble trying to keep us in cooked chicken and stock for making soups and such.  Granted, I had fewer tools then, specifically no pressure canner, but the workload for making just 2 whole chickens and juggling space in the fridge was just ridiculous.  I've been thinking for quite a while how to make it easier this time around.

The key to this whole thing is that my sister found a local chicken farm that raises their chickens organic practice (though not certified) and they do their own butchering and packaging at the farm.  They don't officially sell to the public at the farm, but if I call ahead, they are happy to work it out, and I can get better prices than going to a local store that carries their products.  I can also get things that aren't sold at the stores, like stripped chicken carcasses and bags of chicken feet...  All for reasonable prices.  It's $4 for a bag of 3 carcasses, and when I opened up the first bag, I couldn't believe how much meat was left on the bones, and how much fat!  I guess it makes sense, because they are only interested in taking off the official cuts, like boneless breast, thighs, legs, wings.  But it leaves the fatty tail and all the meat on the back, the neck and all those bits in and around the breast that aren't part of the cut of meat!  They didn't have feet when I was there this time, but I'm looking forward to trying to get some next time I go, they are supposed to be wonderful for making broth, rich in the collagen that is so good for us.

I used to pay around $30 for 2 whole organic chickens at Costco, which I then had to bring home, rub with salt to dry brine, clear space in the fridge for them to sit while they brined for a day, then I would usually rotisserie them, have to take them apart, and finally be able to make broth with 2 full carcasses, with half the fat already cooked off.  I'd only get around 5 quarts of stock from this, and it was pretty watery to make it stretch that far, and it was a real struggle to accomplish this every week....  This way, I can buy 2 bags of carcasses, or 1 of carcasses and 1 of feet, bring it home and immediately throw them in the pressure canner to make broth.  And while I'll still be spending around $30 at Costco for chicken, it will be boneless, skinless thighs that are super easy to store, prep, and cook, and are the dark meat that I prefer instead of the dry tasteless white meat!  I'm soooo excited to be saving so much time, and not spending all that much more money!  I've also purchased quite a few wings, which are their cheapest cut, and my very favorite part, so I'll also be saving those bones and freezing them to add to the pot when I make broth.  This is what my sister does exclusively, but she doesn't use as much broth as I do.

Chicken Bone Broth for the Pressure Cooker

6 chicken carcasses from my chicken farm
6 quarts of water
1 whole dry turmeric root (found at an Indian grocery store, I love these for the flavor, color and amazing health benefits of turmeric.)
splash of vinegar

NO salt, I never salt my stocks or broths.  It allows me to salt each individual dish to taste and not worry about the salt content of the broth or the fat that I save.


I use my 16 quart Presto pressure canner to make this broth.  It's pretty darn easy.  Throw everything into the canner, nudging the carcasses so everything is mostly submerged.  Put the lid on and let it come up to pressure, this typically takes mine around 30-40 minutes.  Once it is at pressure (I default to 15 lbs just because I'm lazy) set a timer for 3 hours and go sit down and chill out, or putter around and do some chores.

After 3 hours, turn the burner off and set a timer for 30 minutes, and set up for processing the broth.  I set up a small stock pot with a wire mesh colander over it to scoop the meat, bones and broth into, a large bowl to hold the meat and bones, and a large stock pot to measure the broth into.  I also set out my jars, lids, 4 cup measure, 2 cup measure and a large ladle.  Set out a few extra jars also, to skim fat into and to have a place to put extra broth.
 After 30 minutes, my canner usually isn't depressurized all the way, but since I'm not canning or cooking meat I want tender, I take the weight off and let it finish depressurizing quickly.
Once it is depressurized, remove the lid and set it aside.  Use the ladle to scoop out broth, bones and meat into the wire colander over the small stock pot.  Press down on the solids to get much of the trapped fat and broth out.  I love it when the bones crumble when I do this, it means all their goodness is in the broth!
Dump the colander into the large bowl as it gets full.  When the small stock pot starts getting full, I set the colander over the large bowl and then use the 4 cup to measure out the broth into the large stock pot, keeping count of the quarts as I pour them in.  Continue until the pressure canner is empty.

There should be around 6-8 quarts in the large stock pot now.  If there wasn't a full 7 quarts, you can fill up the remainder with water.  Put that pot on a burner and start heating it up again.  Skim the fat off into the 4 quart measure, and then if you are like me and get half fat and half broth when you do this, carefully pour the fat off the top of the measure into a spare jar, skimming with a spoon or the ladle when the broth starts pouring out under the fat as well.
 
Return the broth to the pot and repeat until the fat is mostly gone.  If it starts getting hot enough to simmer, turn the burner off until you are done skimming fat.  Save the fat in a jar in the fridge, it is wonderful for cooking with and adding to stuff like soup and porridge to make it richer.  I got just over 2 cups of pure chicken fat off this broth!  There didn't used to be enough to bother skimming any off when I did whole chickens before.


Let the broth simmer a bit, occasionally using a small wire mesh strainer to skim off the crud that floats to the top while you clean the pressure canner.  Make sure to clean the seals and pressure gaskets very well even if you don't see anything there, because even a little food can clog them and make it so they don't seal.  Once it is very clean, set up the pressure canner to can and get it heating up.  While it is heating, use the 2 cup measure to scoop broth into the 4 cup measure.  Pour 3 1/2 cups into each of the prepared quart jars.  My canner can hold 7, so I continue until 7 jars are filled.  Wipe tops, place lids and set into the canner.  If there is any leftover broth, pour that into a jar to go into the fridge and use soon (like in porridge, yum!).  The Ball Blue Book says to process broth at 10 lbs for 25 minutes, but because I'm lazy, I do it at 15 lbs for 30, just to round up.

All in all, it's still labor intensive during the process of taking the broth from the canner to a stock pot, skimming fat, cleaning the canner, putting into jars, etc.  But it is certainly a lot less work than having to deal with whole chickens, and then still having to do all that.  And this broth is far superior to what I used to be able to make, and I get all that lovely fat to use elsewhere.

Yield: 7-8 quarts unsalted bone broth and around 2 cups rich chicken fat

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Honey Spice Muffins

Hubby and I were eating at Jason's Deli one day, and someone walked by with a small plate of the lovely gingerbread muffins they have out on the salad bar for everyone to enjoy.  We hadn't eaten there since he went gluten free, and he turned pleading eyes to me and said, "I forgot this was the place with those muffins!  They are gluten free, right???"  "No," I had to tell him, "they aren't.  But I'll make you some."

So I went to Ali's blog Nourishing Meals, certain that she would have a wonderful gingerbread muffin recipe, and sure enough, she did!  I made it and it was pretty good, but not spicy enough, so I traded the maple syrup for more molasses and increased the spices and we both decided that they were just as good as the ones at Jason's Deli!

I was glancing over the recipe again the other day, and noticed that except for the teff flour and the molasses, they are completely ED friendly!  I did the substitutions and made them today and they are fantastic!  So much better than the muffins in the ED book....  I will post an update on how they age, the only problem with the gingerbread is that they were dryer than I'd prefer.  I traded 1/4 cup applesauce for 1/4 cup coconut oil when I made these to try and keep them moister than the gingerbread was.

Honey Spice Muffins, adapted from Gingerbread Muffins by Ali at Nourishing Meals

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (215g) superfine sprouted brown rice flour
1/4 cup (30g) tapioca flour or arrowroot
2 teaspoon baking powder (Bakewell Cream link)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup (170g) prunes
1 cup very hot water
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Place the prunes, hot water, and ground chia into a blender and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large bow,l whisk together the dry ingredients.  Measure remaining wet ingredients into a bowl to make adding them to the blender easier.  After the soaking time is done, puree the stuff in the blender, then add the rest of the wet ingredients. Puree again until very smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and stir together until combined. Spoon batter into muffin pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. They will still be heavy and feel dense after baking, so don't over bake them because you think they aren't done.

Yield: 12 regular muffins or around 30 mini muffins

Update 1/27: They still had an odd, dryish texture the next day and I'm not sure what is causing it.  It was easily solved when I put on in the microwave on high for about 20 seconds though! 

Monday, January 25, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 6

Breakfast- porridge with sauted onions and garlic with some cherry juice mixed with sunflower milk
Lunch- Honey Spice Muffins (recipe coming) with coconut butter
Dinner- Savory Sweet Potato dish with marinated quick sauted and then baked chicken wings

The Hunt for Starch Free Double Acting Baking Powder

The last time I did the diet, one of the things that was hardest to compensate for was the lack of a true double acting baking powder.  Most baking powder has corn starch as a filler, and corn is not on Phase 2 of the Elimination Diet.  The only other baking powder I could find had potato starch instead, which is a nightshade and off Phase 2.  There are recipes all over the web for using baking soda and adding cream of tartar to it to make baking powder, but this is only single acting.

What's the big deal, you might ask, and that was my question too when I started this process.  The problem comes down to this: single acting chemical leveners (baking soda) are activated by acid present in the batter.  They activate rapidly and have a very short life span.  So rapidly, in fact, that it is very difficult to finish mixing the batter and spooning it into muffin cups or pouring it into a loaf pan before it is finished.  It is impossible to finish cooking waffles or pancakes before it is finished, leaving the last ones flat and dry.

Most people solve this problem by adding the levener after the rest of the batter is thoroughly mixed, but this still has the problem of the time taken to spoon into muffin tins (especially if making mini muffins) and the additional problem of getting it all mixed in evenly.  Adding a powder that often has small lumps in it to a wet batter is just asking for it to be unevenly mixed.

The solution to this problem is double acting baking powder.  This has 2 leveners as components: the acid activated one and another heat activated one.  The acid one activates when mixed with the liquid ingredients, exactly as it does with the single acting levener.  This adds air and lightness to the batter, giving it a head start on creating a nice crumb during baking.  The second levener activates once the batter reaches the proper temperature, building on the work already done by the acid activated levener.  This creates a lighter, fluffier final product than could be reached by either levener individually.

I really wanted to make waffles.  Really, really!!! wanted to make waffles (for hubby, you know?).  So I searched, did research, read a whole bunch, learned more about baking powder than I ever thought I wanted to know, read some more, learned new search terms, and....
I found some!!  A company in New England called Bakewell Cream makes a starch free, true double acting baking powder.  It ends up being a bit expensive what with shipping and all, but there isn't much about this diet that isn't expensive, and it was totally worth it to be able to make waffles again!  There are a ton of other uses it has as well, I'm sure you will love it as much as I do.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 5

Breakfast- today I sauted some onions and a small garlic clove to go in my porridge and it was delicious!  I cooked it with some of the bone broth and chicken fat left over from making and canning stock yesterday.  Lightly salted, it was very rich with a wonderful flavor.

Lunch- tacos again, these are just so tasty and filling, I don't think I'll get tired of them any time soon

Dinner- Creamy Green soup (ED book) with some guacamole and kale chips and some Spiced Seed Granola (ED book) for a lightly sweet and crunchy dessert

Guacamole

I have a new favorite way of making guacamole!  Have you ever seen one of these?

http://www.amazon.com/Winco-Blade-Pastry-Blender-Stainless/dp/B003HEWB08
It's a hard edged pastry cutter which you can pick up in any restaurant supply store for less than $5, or on Amazon for slightly more.  I don't know if I'm wierd, but I like my guac with chunks of avacado in it as well as a nice smooth base.  So I don't just blend it up with my immersion blender, I've always used a spoon to stir and cut and stir and cut....and stir....and cut.  Takes a while, but I've thought the end result is great.  Well, I'm not sure what clicked in my brain today, but while I was scooping out avacados, I remembered my pastry cutter and thought it might make cutting and stirring easier.  And it sure did!  With 5 blades instead of 1, and a wide flat plane instead of a round slippery one, making chunky guacamole was super easy and fast. It took about 2 minutes instead of 15, totally worth getting something else dirty (I just throw it in the dishwasher anyway...).

I like my guac simple.  I used to just take a spoonful or 2 of a nice chunky salsa, mix it in and call it good.  But I needed something different for the ED.  So I got to thinking, something crunchy is great, and a little spice is nice, but not too much to overpower that delicious avacado flavor.

Elimination Diet Guacamole

4 Avocados (because you can never have enough guacamole, right?)
1/4 C finely chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves, VERY finely chopped.  I didn't use my mincer for this, I did it by hand and used the flat of the blade to reduce the garlic almost to a paste
salt to taste

Yield: 8 servings, or 1, if we are being really honest... :- )

Elimination Diet Day 4

Yesterday was a crazy day, but I managed to get a ton done!  Except a blog update, but that's ok. I went to a ladies bible study first thing, then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I managed to clean off one of my counters (this is a big deal, cause I'm perpetually out of pantry room and it overflows onto my counters...), re-organize my freezer to hold 15lbs of chicken wings I brought home from the local chicken farm and make stuff I'll be needing for the ED more accessible.  I also ground flour to make tortillas, made some Spiced Seed Granola (ED book), and made and canned a batch of 8 quarts of chicken bone broth from the carcasses I also bought from the chicken farm.  And I made the squash soup, but that was easy, just heating everything up really since I had squash prepared already and chicken I canned last month to use.

Breakfast-Rice Porridge with coconut oil and blueberries and just a bit of salt, very tasty
Lunch-tacos with beans, chicken and guacamole
Dinner- Harvest Squash Soup (ED book).  This ended up being a bit of a mistake, the squash was quite sweet and my stomach was upset and hurting a bit because of it.  Not sure how I'll eat the rest, I'll have to think about it.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 3

I was a bad girl today...I had so much to do and didn't eat much at all, which has left me feeling pretty tired and bad.

2 bananas for breakfast
A green smoothie and some dried figs for lunch: bad idea, waaaay too much sweet on a mostly empty stomach, but we had an appointment to go to and I don't have anything portable made yet.
Chicken tacos with kimchi again for dinner: it was again very delicious and needed, I think this is going to become a favorite of mine.

Elimination Diet Day 2

I knew I wouldn't do well with the liquid fast, but by the end of the day yesterday I was feeling pretty terrible.  So I've decided to skip the second day's fast and just start eating normally.

Black rice porridge with coconut oil and honey: because I desperately needed some fats and something to raise my blood sugar when I woke up....
Refried Adzuki beans, guacamole and brown rice tortilla tacos: totally yum.  I felt a ton better after eating these, even after having to work for several hours in the kitchen beforehand.
Refried Adzuki beans, home canned chicken and my homemade diet friendly kim-chi on tortillas: also very delicious

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Elimination Diet Day 1

I don't do well fasting, so this is a modified menu plan.  Still focusing on a strong detox, but not primarily with liquids and pureed soups.

Green Smoothie
Savory Black Rice Porridge
Creamy Green Soup (from Phase 1 in the Elimination Diet book)

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Savory Black Rice Porridge

I love porridge.  It's so creamy and soothing and satisfying.  I grew up on Malt O Meal and Cream of Wheat, and as I've gotten older porridge of any kind has become a comfort food, especially during the cold months of winter.  Ali has a recipe for rice porridge in the Elimination Diet book, which calls for grinding the rice in her Vitamix, but the last time I did the diet was in summer, and I was craving the cooling smoothies more than porridge. 

Since then, hubby and I have discovered black rice, also called forbidden rice, and have fallen in love with its rich, nutty flavor and the way it makes us feel.  Doesn't hurt that it has as many or more antioxidants as blue berries either!  It makes a lovely rice pudding that hubby enjoys for breakfast, but I can't eat sweets like I used to, so I've been working on a recipe for a savory version of porridge.  I haven't tried grinding it in my blender, but I imagine it would work ok.  Instead I use the mill that was my birthday present last year, so I've included instructions for using that.

Set stones til they are just barely brushing, then grind rice.  Should also be possible to coarsely grind it in a blender or a coffee grinder that is specifically used for spices.  Don't use one that grinds coffee though, or it will be cross contaminated if you are doing the ED, or just taste like coffee.  Here's my attempt at showing the texture it should be in a 1/4 cup measure.

 Savory Black Rice Porridge

1 C cool chicken stock
1/4 C coarsely ground black rice
2 tsp dried chives
1 tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp (dash) turmeric
1/8 tsp (dash) coriander
1/16 tsp (pinch) cumin
salt

Add all ingredients except salt to a pot and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Start with a medium temperature burner, stirring constantly.  When it starts simmering, turn the temperature

down so it doesn't burn but is still lightly simmering and let it finish cooking until thick.  Salt to taste, depends a lot on whether your stock has salt in it or not.

ED add ons: caramelized onions, chopped sunflower or pumpkin seeds, cook with some finely chopped veggies like green beans and carrots...use your imagination!

Yield: 1 serving


Tip: Using cool ingredients and stirring constantly while it all heats up avoids lumps in your porridge.  They are almost impossible to avoid if adding ingredients to hot liquid.  Once it is simmering you can relax a little bit, but there's the risk of it burning, so don't ignore it.  Also, you might want to invest in these little measuring spoons so you can measure less than 1/4 tsp reliably.  I found some years ago and use them all the time!

Health Update: Starting the Elimination Diet

Well, today is the day.  I'm starting the Elimination Diet again.  The primary reason is to lose weight and flush the toxins that have built up from being sick and eating poorly for so long, and I'm hoping some other things will clear up also.  I thought I'd share progress once a week on how I'm feeling and how much weight I've lost, along with (semi) daily meal plans.

230 lbs
42 inch waist
Other concerns: I have trouble sleeping deeply, I have an ulcer that's reoccurring from years ago that I'm trying to get healed, still have energy problems.

My plans for this week are to have a smoothie every day, drink lots of green soup, focus on basic hearty fare like the harvest squash soup from the book, along with taco type things made with brown rice tortillas, refried adzuki beans (recipe coming), rice, a little chicken and some guacamole.  I don't do well with fasting, it greatly compounds my energy problems, so I won't be doing the 2 day pure liquid and pureed soup fast that begins the diet.  I will be doing as much of it as I can with the smoothies and green soup, but I will also be eating the tacos too, so I can keep my energy up.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Review for OXO 11 lb Stainless Steel Scale

I've had several people ask me recently what kind of scale I have, because I mention baking by weight quite a bit.  I have the OXO 11 lb (5 kg) Stainless Steel Scale, because it met all of my requirements when I was looking for a scale.
http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Stainless-Pull-Out-Display/dp/B000WJMTNA

At first I started looking for an analog scale, because I hate the thought of the batteries running out in the middle of a cooking project.  But after looking at quite a few of them, none of them were really what I wanted, so I started looking at digital scales and made a requirements list as I did.

These are in no particular order, they were all very important to me and I rejected several very nice scales because they didn't have one of these:

Very slim profile- my kitchen is small and if I was going to get a digital scale, it would take as little space as reasonable
Big enough to actually use- I've seen tons of microscopic scales and have wondered how you could possibly put a bowl on them and be able to measure anything
Had to take normal batteries- because those little flat round ones are expensive, and I wanted it to take common batteries so I could scrounge some when they die in the middle of a cooking project
Dual weight systems- so I don't have to do complicated weight conversions in the middle of a cooking project
1 gram increments- because I like to be precise
Easy to clean- I was really surprised at how many of them have open gaps where the buttons come up through the face plate.  I'm not a super messy cook, but flour will get everywhere when you are working with it....
Have enough of a weight limit that it would be useful for bigger projects- because 2 or 3 lbs isn't enough to make a big pot of soup

The OXO scale had all of these features, as well as a bonus one: it has a pull out display for if you have a really big bowl on the scale, so you can still see it!

The only sort of con for this scale, is that it is quite expensive compared to how cheap they can get.  But the more I use it, the happier I am with it.  And after around 8 months, it is still on the batteries it came with, so I can't complain about that either!

Sunday, January 3, 2016

What I'm Reading: The Elimination Diet by Tom Malterre and Alissa Segersten


http://www.amazon.com/Elimination-Diet-Discover-Making-Tired--/dp/1455581887

Since I'll be starting the Elimination Diet again around mid month, I thought it would be a good idea to read the book again.  And I'm reminded why I was willing to do it the first time.  This book is really amazing.  It is completely readable by someone who is just starting to try to learn about food reactions, and that impressed me when I was that person.  Now I'm 6 months further down that road, and there is still a ton of extremely useful information that I now have more foundation to understand.  Tom does an amazing job of taking what could be a very technical, complicated discussion and making it clear and simple to understand.

The emphasis on simplicity and clarity made it encouraging to read the first time.  It let me feel like I could take my and hubby's health into my own hands and not have to pay thousands of dollars to a professional (if I could even find one) that may or may not know what they were doing.  There are simple experiments you can do to test things in your body, if you match the symptoms.  And clearly defined expectations of results.  I am experiencing the same encouragement now that I am reading it again.  The reasoning is sound.  The results are plain.

The hardest part is getting into the right mindset.  I am not going to be deprived of foods that I want.  I am going to be claiming the health that God wants all of us to have, and has designed into the world that He built for us.  Even though the world has fallen and is greatly corrupted, even though our bodies are part of that corruption, He designed the world and our bodies with such grace and elegance that we can still choose to claim the health that He designed us to have.  I choose to love the food that I will be eating.  I actually find that I am eagerly looking forward to it, and regret that I can't start right away because of events happening in our lives.  Am I eating the things I know I won't have while I'm on it?  Certainly, and relishing them more because of it.  But I also choose not to mourn their coming absence.  Instead I rejoice in the provision that God has made for me, and all the others who are finding health via His perfect design!