Enough Planning Already. Tomorrow I Start the Intro to GAPS Diet.

I've gone to Costco.  I've gone to the grocery store.  I've cooked four chickens.  I'm just about ready to take the plunge & start Intro to GAPS. 

I was going to start today, but I simply wasn't ready.  I didn't want to do all the finish-up prep work on Sunday, so today's my gett'er done day. 

Things I still need to do: 

Make my chicken broth.  I'm boiling the chicken carcasses (read POST here) for 8 hours, straining the liquid, and then I should have lots of great broth, which you should have with every meal for the next 30-days.  I have no idea how much broth I'll end up with, but hopefully it's enough for a few weeks.  I'll freeze some of it so that it will last.

Buy at least 2 lbs of fish, including scales & bones.  We'll see what my local grocery has. 

Buy at least 2 lbs of meat bones.  I have NO idea if they have what I need.  I might have to purchase my meats online in the future.  My plan B until that happens?  Beef broth from the store if I can find some with out MSG, and one that has lower salt.

Make onion broth.

Buy a large strainer.  I'll probably use my colander until I can buy one.

I should be ready by tomorrow.   I went and bought some liquid magnesium, by the way.  We'll see if I notice any difference by tomorrow.

*****

A great blog, The Healthy Home Economist, is having "Monday Mania" where people from various blogs list a link for interesting blog posts.  I've found some neat things there, and put a link of my own this week (#58).  Check it out!

Uh Oh- What's Going on With My Teeth?

Something's been bothering me off & on for a few weeks now.  My teeth are hurting. 

It's not one tooth.  It's more on the top left side, but it's affecting both sides.  The pain is hard to describe.  It's kind of along the gum line, but also radiates into the teeth.  It feels like when you have something stuck between your teeth & you need to floss it out.. that kind of pressure, but kind of painful, too.  It's most noticeable when I eat a lot of raw foods, like my salad.  I also felt it a lot today after eating roast beef.  It feels like my gums are receding, like my teeth are a bit wiggly (FREAKY!).  I looked at them in the mirror, and they're a bit red, although they're not bleeding when I brush.

Tonight I decided to Google it, and I came across a raw food blog where they were discussing this.  Turns out this is common when going raw, and that it might be a MAGNESIUM deficiency!  Really?  In solving one problem I'm creating another?  They suggested drinking wheat grass juice, and another person suggested liquid magnesium drops.  Guess I know where I'm headed tomorrow!  I'll keep you posted.

These Burgers are Alive!

Tonight I made the strangest meal that I have ever made- Sprouted Lentil Burgers.

MMMMMMmmmmm.  Sounds delish.... (at least I kept trying to convince my family!)

First of all, the lentils had sprouted A LOT.  I had no idea what to expect, but I'm not sure if I sprouted the lentils right.  I think so.  The first night I covered the lentils with water.  A few hours later before bed I checked on them and added another inch of water, because the lentils had already expanded more than I expected & I thought that overnight they might not all be covered.

Then it said to drain the lentils "up-side-down", which I'm assuming meant to put in the colander & sit throughout the day as they drained?  And I rinsed the lentils both morning & night for about 3 days.  The musty smell of the sprouts kind of made me nervous as I was preparing the burgers, because it was pretty funky.  I couldn't imagine how these would taste good at all.

The first step was to put a couple cups of the lentils into the blender along with 1/2 cup coconut oil, two inches of peeled ginger, 2 tsp of salt, and I was supposed to put in some horseradish, but all I had was Woeber's Horseradish Sauce, which COMPLETELY goes against everything pure I'm trying to eat right now.  Here are the ingredients:  Soybean Oil (!), Water, Corn Syrup (!), Vinegar, Egg Yolks, Modified Corn Starch (!), Horseradish, Salt, Artificial Flavoring (!), Potassium Sorbate (!), Xanthan Gum (!), Calcium Disodium EDTA (!).  I did put about a tsp, because I thought I better balance out all that ginger.  I'm still waiting to see if I have some sort of reaction to something in it.

I pureed the ingredients, then I was supposed to throw 6 cups of the sprouted beans in the food processor with the puree & coarsely chop them up so there was some texture for the burgers.  I don't have a food processor, so I hand chopped them.

That worked just fine.

Next step was to mix the puree and the chopped lentils together.  It was very moist, and I wasn't sure if it would even hold together while I was cooking it.

I used my hands, because I really needed to shape & mush together.  It said to use a skillet, but I just used my electric griddle at about 300 degrees.

Even at this point I wasn't so sure about these burgers.  I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to flip them with them falling apart.  Surprisingly, they were fine.

I loved that they even browned, which looked more appealing. 

So, the verdict?  They tasted about 50 times better than I thought they would.  It turns out our family dinner time was a split up, with Jimmy eating on the go.  He ate one and was really good about it.  He said "Tastes.... healthy".  Then he said it had an Asian flare to it, and on his way out he commented on the strong aftertaste.

He took Jess & Bek, and KJ and Grace are gone.  So it was Shiloh and me.  Her reaction?

I give this recipe 3 out of 5 stars, and thought it wasn't too bad.  It's definitely something that would have to grow on my family, and is a great recipe for Halloween.  My kids think it is creepy.

Busy Day! Feels good.

Today has been busy & productive.  It's fall break here, so the kids are out of school today & tomorrow, & Jimmy doesn't have to work (working for the schools has its perks!).  I was actually able to SLEEP IN until 7:30am, which is almost unheard of for me.  My body has an internal clock that is set between 5-6am, and it rarely budges, so this was a nice treat.

I did a lot in the kitchen today.  I roasted/cooked four chickens for most of the day, got all of the meat off, and will make chicken broth with the carcasses tomorrow.  I bought the chickens (organic, all natural) from Costco- two for around $22.  That is a lot compared to what I normally spend on chicken, but I decided it was worth it.  I've seen all natural chickens for $22 a piece, so I decided it was the middle ground... a good compromise.

I got a lot of meat out of them, too.  If I stretch it out a bit it is enough for seven meals, plus all of the chicken stock I'm making tomorrow.

I was able to fit one chicken in my smaller crock pot, two in my larger crock pot, and then I roasted one.  The instructions for roasting said to put it in the oven at 350 for one hour.  It didn't say whether or not to cover it, so I did, thinking that it might dry out uncovered.  I took it out at one hour, and it didn't seem quite done.  I put it back in for 30 more minutes, and even then parts of the leg/thigh didn't seem done.  So I think I should have cooked it another 15 minutes at least.  The chickens in the crock pots cooked for 8 hours, and were definitely done.  Hopefully not too done- but they seemed all right. 

I decided to try making yogurt again, with a few changes from the first time.  Everything went much better, except I let it come to a boil again, dang it!  It happened a lot quicker this time.  In the instructions it said to stir it about every 10 minutes, so I had stirred it once after 10, I set the timer, and thought I had time to run down & throw in a load of laundry and make it back in time to stir again.  I made it back in less than 10 minutes, but it was already boiling.

I googled it, and found out that everything is fine if it reaches the boiling point, but the yogurt might not be as smooth.  That's a relief.  I can handle that, as long as everything else is working fine.

I had plenty of time to let it cool down (plan on hours!).  After more research I've discovered that you can cool it down by placing the pan in cool water, too. (DUH, Jan!)  Once it was about 90 degrees I poured it into the jars, added a tablespoon of Greek yogurt to each one and stirred them up.

I decided to use the cooler again, but this time I used a hot water bottle, and then covered it with a towel.

This should work a lot better than the cooler all by itself (duh, Jan! It's like I'm in the kindergarten of natural living).  I was going to use a heating pad, but we don't have one & I was going to have to buy one.  Everyone that I found had a 2-hr automatic shut-off, which wouldn't work.  The hot water bottle should be just fine.

I couldn't get the lid to stay down tight.  Like my red-neck solution?

I started my first sprouting project a few days ago.  Here's an update:

SWEET!  Kind of creepy, but sweet!  I took this picture in the morning, and now the sprouts are 2-3 times longer!  I can't even remember what's coming up in my meal plan that I'm making with this.  Can't wait to try it, whatever it is.  (Now if I can get my family to eat it!)

And last, but not least, I made Cowboy Cookies.  I was supposed to make these last week, but didn't get around to it. 

I know they're not much to look at, but they are GOOD.  I used a recipe from my October grainless meal plan that I ordered from http://www.homehealthhappy.com/. 

They have almond flour (I ground up my own almonds), coconut flour, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, honey, pecans (I used walnuts instead), shredded coconut (I used chipped coconut), and raisins or other dried fruit (I left this out).

My family LOVED them.  Jimmy couldn't believe that they had no processed sugar, only honey.  He still can't get over the fact that butter is okay.  Yesterday he asked if he could buy some "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" to put on his popcorn, and I said NOOOOO!  If only I could get him to read the book... :)

Recipe Review: Cinnamix Powerbar

I tried another powerbar recipe that I got from an e-book called Healthy Snacks to Go (from Kitchen Stewardship.com) .  We had it for a treat at our Monday night family night.

The Cinnamix Powerbar

I keep trying new flavors hoping to find one that Jimmy will like. 

The Cinnamix has:

2/3 c. almonds & 1/2 c. cashews, blended up.  You add 1 c. dates, and 1/2 c. raisins, then 1 tsp cinnamon, and blend all together.

This was fast & easy, and it was a nice consistency that turned into bars easily.  I'm going to start rolling them into bite size balls, though.  I don't really like how they look as bars ( a little too much like....#2).

I liked this powerbar a lot, but not as much as the first one that I made (see post HERE).  I give this bar 4 stars out of 5.  As for Jimmy?  He ate one this time and actually came back for seconds, but they were all gone.  This recipe is a keeper!

Intro to GAPS diet- here I come!

First, I need to say that my family had CHILI tonight! I was a bit nervous about it, but all went well (no, I didn't tell them what was in it.  More about that another time).

I ordered the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome:  Natural treatment for Dyspraxia, autism, A.D.D., Dyslexia, ADHD, depression, schizophrenia, by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride MD, MMedSci(neuroloty), MMedSci (nutrition), and it came last week.  I've spent every spare minute reading it! 

It's obvious to me that I need to get down to the nitty gritty and do the Intro to GAPS diet.  It is even stricter that what I've been doing so far, and Jimmy thinks I'm crazy.  But the more I study, the more convinced I am that this is what I need to do.  The Intro to GAPS diet is designed to heal and seal the gut lining quickly.  It's for those who have serious digestive symptoms:  reflux, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, severe constipation, etc.  I don't have any of those, but then the author also says that those with food allergies should do it, too.

You can move through the program as fast or slow as the symptoms will permit.  I think that I'll be able to move quickly, and if not, then that will show me that I really needed the healing!  There are six stages, and you add a little more and more at each stage.

In stage 1 you start off having homemade meat or fish stock, homemade soup with the meat stock & veggies, and probiotic foods like fermented veggies, whey, sour cream, yogurt, and kefir.

In stage 2 you have the above and add raw organic egg yolks to the broth, plus stews and casseroles made with meats and vegetables (no spices, just salt), and GHEE.  What is ghee, you might ask?  (I had never even heard of this a month ago!)  It's a type of clarified butter.  What is clarified butter, you might ask?  (nope- I hadn't heard of it!).  Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat.  Clear as mud?  Yeah, to me, too.

Stage 3- Previous foods plus add ripe avocado, nut butter/egg/winter squash pancake, scrambled eggs, sauerkraut & fermented veggies.

Stage 4- Previous foods plus roasted and grilled meats, cold-pressed olive oil, fresh pressed juices, starting with carrot juice, and  nut flour bread.

Stage 5- Previous foods plus cooked apples, honey, raw vegetables

Stage 6 Previous foods, plus raw fruit, baked sweet things (using dried fruit as a sweetener)

Now that I've eaten the way I have for two and a half months now, the thought of doing this diet doesn't overwhelm me as much.  I'm 2/3rds of the way there, anyway.  My family IS NOT going to do it with me.  I know that from just doing this week and a half trying to do some of the regular GAPS diet with them.  I'll still cross my fingers that down the road they'll have a change of heart.  I still plan on having them eat ultra healthy, though.  Just not quite as strict as GAPS is.

Of course I'm still in the planning phase of the GAPS Intro diet, so I won't start it immediately.  But, the sooner the better to stay away from the holidays.

Hits and Misses of the Week

Last week there were some big hits & misses with the new foods we're trying on the GAPS diet.  These recipes were taken from the October grain-free meal plan from http://www.healthhomehappy.com/.

The Hits:

Garlic-Spinach Artichoke Dip-  I LOVED this.  So good with veggies.

Banana Chips- My first experience with the food dehydrator, and they turned out so yummy! 

My kids LOVE them, and it is so great to see them snacking on such a healthy treat.  When I do bananas again I'm going to soak them in lemon juice.  I like the flavor better, and my kids like them either way.

Beef Jerky- I did this kind of last minute, not expecting much.  I took some beef sirloin, cut it into small strips, sprinkled on Montreal Steak Seasoning, and then dehydrated it over night.  When I looked at it in the morning I was shocked because it looked like I had dried it too long (sorry... no pic!).  But when I tasted it, it was EXCELLENT!  My family went nuts over it- especially my 14-yr old son.  My kids said it was the best jerky they had ever had, which says a lot, because they love jerky.

Green Smoothie with Coconut Milk- Soooooooo good!  My 12-yr old dd loves smoothies, and she was in heaven.  She said she would even pay for this one at a smoothie bar.  It had spinach, pineapple (I used canned crushed pineapple instead of fresh because I need to use it up.  Shhhhhhh- don't tell!), frozen bananas, and  coconut milk. 


The Misses:

Coconut Flour Crepes.  These sounded really good to me, but were a big flop.  Aren't they pretty?  They did start to look a little nicer (a bit rounder, more even colored), but they didn't taste good.  They were pretty much like eating sawdust.  I made some honey cinnamon butter for the kids to put in the middle, but I tried one and it didn't help much.

Butternut Squash Pizza.  I should have taken a picture.  They actually looked pretty good, but they didn't taste good!  I just took a small butternut squash, peeled it, cut thin discs from the neck, baked them for 15 min, flipped them, added the toppings (tomato sauce, cheese), and baked another 15 min.  Bleh.  Tied for the worst failure.

Baked Stuffed Eggplant.  Again, no pic.  I'll try & get in the habit.  I mentioned these on one of my other posts HERE.  This didn't turn out so well, but I made it on a night that I didn't realize would be so rushed and I didn't give it the time it deserved.  We'll try this again.  You're supposed to cut it 1/2, bake it for 15 min, make a slit down the middle, stuff it with chopped onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley, honey, and sausage.  Now looking back, I don't think I added the honey.  And I didn't have any parsley to add, and that might have made a difference.  Parsley has surprised me in the past with how good it can make food taste.

A few Interesting Recipes in the upcoming week:

Celeriac Hash Browns-  I had never even heard of celery roots, and when I found them in the store I was quite surprised.  They look gross, and Jimmy hates celery, so we'll see how this turns out.  I won't tell them what it is before hand!

Warm Lentil Salad- with sprouted lentils.  I have never sprouted anything on purpose before, so this will be new.  This recipe calls for fennel, which I HATE.  A vegetable that tastes like black licorice!!?  How cruel.  I might try it, but only one more time!

Homemade Sauerkraut- my parents made this when I was a kid.  I like the taste of sauerkraut, so this will be interesting!

Skillet Mousska!  (What?!)  This is a Greek dish made with eggplant, LAMB, and sauce.  I have NEVER cooked lamb before.  I ate some yummy lamb when I was growing up, though.  We had some sheep ranchers in our church congregation, and we would have awesome summer parties with deep fried lamb.  We'll see if this can compare to that...

Chili- This sounds normal, right?  Don't tell my family, but it's going to have chicken liver mixed in with the ground beef!  Wish me luck!