Staples - Part 2

Another snacking portable food (see coconut muffins as the first staple) we eat a lot of are egg muffins. These are like little mini quiches without crust. They are a great place to toss in a lot of veggies, they're really tasty, and if you call them "omelet bites" like my friend A does, you can serve them at a bridal shower or other fancy event.

This recipe is one I discovered on MarksDailyApple.com and also have in The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. The online recipe is here, but I do mine a little differently as I thought mayonnaise in the batter sounded way too gross. I probably make these once every two weeks or so. I often make a double batch and freeze some, but these go pretty fast since they are a great portable breakfast for honey.

So here's the recipe:
6 eggs
meat of some kind - about 1/4 lb
veggies of some kind - about 1 cup
2 big spoonfuls of chunky fresh salsa (I like Trader Joe's or Tommy V's)
coconut oil for greasing the muffin pan

If the meat is not cooked, then cook it up. You can use leftover hamburger, bacon, pancetta (my current favorite) or anything else.

Once the meat is cooked, if you are using any greens for your veggies, toss them in with the meat in the pan to wilt them.

Other veggies are fine to go in the egg batter raw, but greens have so much moisture that it is better to cook them a little first.

Whisk together your eggs, add the meat and veggies, and pour the batter into greased muffin cups.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes depending on the muffin size. I like using mini muffins most of the time, but find that for a breakfast muffin, regular muffin pans are better. This recipe makes 24 mini muffins.

Let them cool and store them in the fridge. I use a sauce jar...as with everything else!

Staples - Part 1

There are several staples that I make regularly for snacking and meals in our home. I've continued to make the things that are hits for most or all of us, as long as they are pretty easy and healthy. Since I know there are many on a food journey, I thought I'd share a bit about our food prep with you. We strive to eat a grain free diet and we do limit dairy to some extent, and mainly eat only fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir. We avoid processed soy, artificial dyes and flavors, and generally ingredients that are hard to pronounce. We are not perfect and since we are not allergic to any foods (although Honey's consistent reactions to breads are debatable and we all have intolerances, so each of us has to decide if it is "worth it") we have the luxury of letting go a bit.

I make Coconut Muffins almost every week. My recipe comes from Many Paths, One Journey to Health, an HMN Cookbook. The recipe is one adapted from Bruce Fife's Cooking With Coconut Flour by fellow HMNer Jessica at CrunchyChewyMama. I like coconut, and I like this recipe because it is pretty versatile; I've added carrots, almond extract, raspberry extract, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips and I bet you could do any fruit or vegetable and it would be good. Depending on the additions, this can be breakfast, snacks, part of lunch.... anything you want. It's gluten and dairy free, and you can completely eliminate the sugar as well if you want. I found that the carrots added a lot of sweetness and I could cut the sugar and add a little cinnamon and they were great.

Here's the basic recipe:

WET INGREDIENTS:
3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
3 eggs (warmed in water so they don't re-solidify the coconut oil)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar, rapadura, Sucanat, maple sugar or date sugar
2 Tablespoons of full fat coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup coconut flour - sifted
1/4 teaspoon baking powder sifted into the flour

Blend the wet ingredients together, then add the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth. Add in whatever fruits, veggies or other flavoring you'd like. Spoon the batter into well greased muffin cups. I like using coconut oil in the cups whether they are metal or stone. The batter will stick to paper cups, so leave those out unless you like the taste of paper. Bake them at 400 degrees for 8-15 minutes.

I usually double this recipe and make mini muffins. A double batch makes 24 very full mini muffins. You may want to stretch the batter to 48 level mini muffins if you add a fair bit of veggies or fruit. My kids really like these and coconut flour is a great protein source, as is the egg, so I feel good about them having seconds and thirds.

These muffins get stored in glass jars (we reuse the ones from spaghetti sauce or use canning jars) in the fridge or freezer. I'd put them in the freezer for sure if they are not eaten within 3 days or so.

Tastebuds reset!

Our family has been eating either GAPS or Primal most (75%? maybe) of the time now. We still have some no no's in our pantry (pasta, rice, etc), but I for one don't really want them so we haven't cooked them just yet. We have had lots of veggies, but it feels like I'm the only one who really enjoys them.

Last Sunday and Monday we made an attempt to do the GAPS diet intro program. Essentially, you eat fresh broths (meat and/or bone) for a few days along with boiled meats and vegetables and probiotic foods. As you feel ready, you add in eggs, avocado, and a bench of other "healing" foods. This has been hard for Honey as he really only likes veggies raw, and those are off limits. Cooked veggies are his nemesis I think. Anyway, by Sunday at 7pm, I was so hungry I could have eaten anything, and Pumpkin was screaming because I think I wasn't giving him enough through my milk. So I bailed.

I don't mean to imply that I started eating crap, I just bailed on soup for days. We are all still doing well with out meat, veggies and fruits, and I know I feel pretty good. I've definitely lost my desperate need for carbs and sugar. Someone left ice cream in our freezer on Halloween and it has not been touched. By this time if we were not on this eating plan, that ice cream would have easily been history. I think Honey feels better too - less reflux as far as I can tell.

Peanut is still eating some grains and yogurt, but we have noticed that if she has a grain of any kind, she will eat very little of anything else. We've also noticed that she tends to get full fast on grains, even gluten free, and the rest of the day is a lot of me bugging her to eat. When she only does meat and veggies, she eats way more. I'm not completely sure, but I think she is also happier and less labile without grains. The decrease in her dairy (she could have survived on cheese alone before) has absolutely made a difference in her tummy and - not to be gross- bowel habits.

It has been fascinating to see how our tastes are changing. We had roasted squash this week which would have made me gag before, but I loved it! I'm finding carrots to be very sweet, and food to need little additional spice. Honey and I compared notes yesterday, and we had both tried a little milk chocolate after Halloween and found that it tasted a bit chemical and nasty. Dark chocolate is still wonderful as far as I am concerned!

At the end of this week, I was tired of cooking (we already do a lot of cooking, but the soup and stew and broth thing is really time consuming), so we ordered in. We decided to experiment a bit, and we had Five Guys burgers and fries one night and Chinese food last night. The burgers were good and pretty close to GAPS legal aside from the buns. Fries are of course out, but the strange thing for both of us was that our ketchup was way too sweet! We haven't had ketchup in a long time as we cut out tomatoes a while ago, so this was pretty shocking. We both felt fine though after eating whereas our Chinese food made us both a little queasy. That was surprising because I ordered steamed chicken and vegetables with brown sauce on the side and only had a tiny bit of sauce. You would think that wasn't hugely different, but I did have some soup and part of a spring roll, so who knows. There could have been soy and sugar and whatnot in there.

The most interesting thing this week though was Honey's lunch at Thai Basil. He always orders the spiciest food he can, and Thai has actually been spicy enough for him in the past. More often than not, what other people find to be really hot doesn't even phase him. Well, he couldn't really eat his Thai dish as it was far too spicy for him. So the readjusting of the taste buds is definitely happening here.

This morning we went to the farmers market to do our shopping, and for the first time we got everything we will need for the week for under $90 from the market. This may be the most exciting development. I'm thinking less about how to put meals together - it's easy because there are not a million choices - veggies and meat is really it. We are using every part of what we buy, either for a meal, stew, soups, or for compost when all is said and done, so I feel like we are living even more lightly. There is lots of cabinet space being freed up as we use up our flours and grains too - I'll soon be able to have space for jarred and canned vegetables in the pantry! Now, I'll have to learn to can...

What DO you eat?

In college and for many years after, I was a personal trainer and aerobics instructor. I ate well, exercised well, and was pretty fit overall. As my regular work took over and my fitness classes became a very slim sideline, I became less and less connected to the fitness world and all of its "stuff". I've always stayed connected to more natural health - especially when I became pregnant with Peanut. I wanted to bring her into the world in the best possible way for her and I with the nest nutrition and surroundings I could give her. Well, I had forgotten how much I love the bodybuilder/fitness enthusiasts attitude until I came across Mark's Daily Apple. I had forgotten the unapologetic either you do it (eat well, work hard, make the commitment) or don't expect any changes. It was just what I needed - we have started the GAPS diet here and while I am not really feeling deprived, I am a little sad and nostalgic about what I can't have. Honestly, I had become a little bit of a pansy about the whole diet/fitness regime. After reading through Mark's blog and a few other ones he has listed, I have decided that it's not that I can't have some things, it's that I choose to eat only what makes me feel good and be energetic. Just that thought makes a difference. I want to feed my body well, feed my family well, and look and feel great all the time. Boy I missed this part of the health world!

"So what DO you eat?" I can't tell you how often that question has been asked of me. I spent close to 7 years as a vegetarian, which really freaked people out when they cooked for me. They always wondered what I ate, ostensibly because they were meat eaters and couldn't understand how vegetables and grains would fill me up. I had all kinds of questions from people I hardly knew about my reasons and my comprehension of what I was doing to my body, how I possible came up with meals, and a multitude of other big and small issues that stressed them out. I was a certified "health nut". I was again questioned when I was concerned about pesticides in food far before it was the norm to buy organic, and again when buying locally grown was big for me. I love food, love what it can do for your body and am absolutely aware of how it can be "a drug". Now that we are working on a new paradigm where meat is king, and grains are completely out, the question has surfaced again. This, I think, is really funny. The same folks who wondered what I ate when I didn't eat meat, now wonder what I eat when I eats lots of meat.

Really, I think it all boils down to the fact that I don't eat things that are not food. Things in packages that you add water to and poof - it's a meal, things that say "food" on them (ever notice "processed cheese food" on a label? If they have to tell you...), fast food, TV dinners... Even when we were eating snacks and desserts - they are always better when you make them yourself from scratch. The eerie Twinkies that never ages or store bought brownies with 17 ingredients, 10 of which are unpronounceable, are not food people! I am always surprised that our way of eating is not "normal". We cook all of our meals and having had the experience of eating out all the time when our kitchen was under construction I can for certain say that our way is better, cheaper, and healthier. By far.

Health in the season of flu

I'm not even going to touch the buzz about the swine flu. Or the vaccines. Or why we or you should or shouldn't get them. Do your research. Make your best decision.

We are a healthy bunch. I think we have brought the kids to the doctor for a sick visit maybe 4 times total and that includes two visits for diaper rash (don't laugh - I'd never dealt with rashes until Pumpkin - Peanut never had any!). So when we go down, it is serious. This morning seemed fine enough; I was tired as usual (we've had a run of 2+ hour bedtime routines which is really taking it's toll) but we all got up, ate, got dressed and went to play downstairs for a while before heading out to school at the farm. At some point, I realized that Peanut was really lethargic and I suggested we all lay down. The three of us went up to the big bed and lounged - that's when it hit me how tired I was, and how my head felt kind of funny... when I snuggled up to Peanut, she felt a bit warm and she was still kind of out of it. Well she did have a little fever, so we bagged school and turned on the TV and totally vegged all day. She ate very little, but did take some homeopathics and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. She went down for a nap and down to bed tonight without so much as a peep. Pumpkin has a little sniffle but has stayed in good spirits all day, so we will keep our fingers crossed. I'm feeling much better already, and if I can get a good sleep I'm sure it will make a world of difference. Peanut seemed a little more lively this afternoon so hopefully we have beat it.

In other health news, our family has embarked on a new eating adventure. We are making a slow transition onto the GAPS diet. Basically, this is a plan designed to kill off candida (yeast) and heal the gut which is where most of one's immune system "lives". The idea is that in some (most, actually) people there is an overabundance of yeast which interferes with the body's ability to digest certain foods, focus attention, and fight disease. So you cut out anything that yeast are likely to feed on - sugar, breads, grains - and be sure to eat meat, eggs and veggies, and lots of broth and probiotics.

Since this is a pretty intense plan, we are starting slowly, incorporating what is already in our pantry into the "approved" foods. Once the offending foods are gone from the house, we will do the real deal and add in the broth and probiotic foods that are recommended. When you read the diet, it seems restrictive but I am looking at it as a healing path with an end point. We won't stay on the full diet forever, we will at some point be able to add in things we miss in moderation. I think we will be able to benefit from doing this for several months, and like others we may determine that overall this is the best way for us to eat. But I do think it will be our choice rather than our need to continue. There are some situations that warrant this eating plan being a forever step. We have decided to do this primarily to see if it helps the boys in the family, but I suspect Peanut and I will have unexpected outcomes as well. Our doctor has taken Honey off grains, corn, sugar, and nightshade veggies (tomato, peppers, eggplant) and I'm off soy, most dairy, artificial colors, and white sugar because of Pumpkin's reflux. Pumpkin has had an ongoing yeast infection that we cannot shake, and the only thing he is eating is breastmilk, so by changing my diet, I can change his.

So we will see how this all works out. It is a lot of cooking, which I am used to, but some of the convenience foods I am accustomed to using need to disappear. So far, I am finding that we are using an awful lot of dishes and need to run the dishwasher almost every day. If that is my biggest complaint, then so be it!