Soooo, I know this is not the point of the blog, BUT I FOUND SOME CLEANISH ICE CREAM! There is one by the So Delicious brand and one by a Coconut Bliss brand. Both of them have very similar ingredients, and this is just for the vanilla flavor. It's coconut milk, agave, guar gum, and vanilla. It really is surprisingly similar to ice cream!

Also, I have a couple bars that I really love. Of course they are not necessarily low in sugar or carbs, but they are nice for an on the go quick snack. I'm thinking that they could easily be replicated too. Anyway it is the Larabar and the Rise bar. They each only have 4 or so ingredients which I really like. And they come in a variety of delicious flavors. Here are pictures for your enjoyment!

Report

Jen, these are the veggie burgers from Costco.  Mom and Dad got them for us.  They were really tasty!  I read through the ingredients once and then threw the packaging away.  I didn't notice the soybean oil.  The brown rice flour didn't scare me because Dr. Lafferty said he could have brown rice in small amounts with plenty of fat.   Next time we make 'burgers' we'll use Mom's mushroom black bean burger recipe and swap out the bread crumbs for almond flour.  But we won't be making them for awhile though.  Quinoa still makes his numbers go higher. 

Costco is coming along though isn't it?  Maybe soon they will have stuff without soybean oil in it.  I did appreciate the organic stuff labeled in green.  We didn't find the coconut flour Lindy!!  I think it's because we went to the Spanish Fork one.  We ran out of time to hit the Orem one.  We were excited that they now have almond butter.  That's a new one for the Spanish Fork Costco.

I have to share our appointment news.  Stephen's intestine function jumped from 27% - 45% !!!!  And his liver is doing 16% better and gets to take one less liver support pill.  I was ecstatic!  I was worried that if the news wasn't terrific, he'd get discouraged.  But Dr. Lafferty seemed really pleased by his improvement.

The farther away we get from the lemon lime fast however, the higher his morning fasting blood sugar reading is.  The last week it's been 101 - 110-ish.  It actually comes down after he eats.  We were concerned and asked him about it and he said "those are perfect numbers for where you are.  I'm very happy about that"

Okay.  I'll take that!

We also haven't lost any weight since the lemon lime fast and I asked him what we could be doing better.  Here's his big tip:  Keep your eating to 8 hours a day.  So that the other 16 hours of the day your body is free to heal and burn fat.

So there you have it.

It's amazing what you'll do to put off doing homework. So here I find myself posting for the first time because I have a boatload of things to do. But anyway I just made a trip to Costco and was pleasantly surprised to see that they have now labeled all of their organic things with green signs. Maybe this is old news, but I appreciated the effort. And they have some new things!

-Coconut flour: $6.99 for a 4 lb bag!

-Chicken sausages: they are very similar to the ones that Jen introduced us to, but they are certified organic and only have chicken and 2% or less of a few seasonings. I just tried them and they are really good!

-Gluten free crackers: there are two new ones that I could see. Both of them have brown rice flour and tamari in them, but other than that it's just seeds. I didn't get any because i'm just trying to stay away from grains right now and soy usually doesn't sit well with me. But I think they might be worth trying!

That's all for now.

PS there is a "cheesecake" from the Shumway kitchen that is TO DIE FOR.

Long Ramblings

I just wrote emails to Jen and Lucy and they both came back to me!  So I'll write to them here.

Jen, Happy Birthday!!!  I hope the weather is beautiful and you don't have to work in the yard :o)  And don't forget to paint your toes!

Lucy, the girls were so tickled with the box.  We waited until Calleigh got home from school to open it and she screamed!!

So, I cheated.  There I said it.  I had a chocolate turtle and pink popcorn.  And then I got really sick and nauseated and it all came up.  Hopefully I learned my lesson.  I'm going to be starting Mel's sugar tapping so I can navigate stores filled with Easter candy without a major catastrophe.

Stephen has been 100%.  He is amazing!  He checks his blood sugar faithfully after each meal and he is really driven to get good readings.  He thanks me every other day for doing this with him.  And he has completely taken over the dishes.  He knows I'm spending more time in the kitchen and he just stepped right up.

LAST WEEK
I did find a really good bun substitute.  The second recipe in the book for Quinoa Pizza crust.  The one with Olive oil in it.  I added 1 Tbs of pizza spice to the batter and just poured 3 small bun sized circles in the pan and cooked them less time on each side so they didn't get crunchy.  We had them with Veggie burgers from Costco and smothered them in Guacamole.  Dang.  That was good.  So good that we did it twice!!  Stephen's numbers didn't go above 120, but we definitely got higher readings than with other food. 

We really do want to heal and get better, so that will be an occasional thing I promise.

THIS WEEK
We are having a low starch week for sure.  Stephen and I are getting really used to our giant salads with olive oil and vinegar and salt.  Didn't think I could do that.  And making a big pot of soup to last several days is really working for me.  Less time in the kitchen makes me happy.  Thanks Lucy for that tip.  I've made cabbage soup before and haven't loved it, but I played around with some leftover tomato sauce (made how Annie taught me) and found a winner.  We've made this twice in the last 2 weeks:

Cabbage Soup

1 giant can of whole tomatoes from Costco
1 onion, quartered or just cut in big chunks
6-10 whole garlic cloves

Simmer that for an hour.  Puree.  (Pretend you are cooking with Annie in Sorrento)
Pour half into a bag or container to freeze for next time! 
To the remaining sauce, add:

1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1 Tbs Mrs Dash Southwest Chipotle (gives a little kick)
1 tsp liquid smoke
Chicken or turkey sausage of your choice.  First time I used Sweet Italian Chicken sausage from Costco.  The second time I used ground turkey Italian sausage from Walmart
2-3 cups dice Carrots
Zucchini, several small ones, sauted first
1/4 - 1/2 head Cabbage

Simmer until carrots and cabbage are tender, add zucchini last.  I really love the consistency.  It's kinda like tomato-soup thick.


 We made Lucy's No-stir Stir-fry that very night!!  Very good.  We were in such an Asian mood, the next night I finally made the Fried Rice that I said I was making last week.  I was worried it would be too califlower-y.  But it wasn't!  The next day it was just as good, maybe even better.  Don't leave out the fish sauce.


Tonight we're having one of our old favorites that I revamped.  It's the Coconut Chicken Strips from Our Best Bites and I've made them for a few years.  I've changed them to be 'Clean' and they are just as good.
  Who knew?

Coconut Chicken Strips

4 large chicken breast or 12 or more chicken tenders
2-3 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour or a handful of almonds thrown in the food processor
1 1/2 - 2 cups unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder, don't leave it out!!
1/4 tsp onion powder

A food processor is really nice for this recipe.  I start with the almonds and then put in the coconut and spices.  Process until it's pretty fine.

I don't typically buy chicken tenders.  So I just thaw my chicken breasts until they are sort of at that tender/frosty stage and they cut really easily. 

Dip chicken in beaten egg and then in the coconut mixture.  Place on baking sheet lined with parchment, or silpat, or grease it.  Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.

We dip these in Maple Mustard:
1 part Maple syrup
2 parts dijon mustard

Testing, testing....
I've been afraid all week to try this, because I didn't think I could navigate the technology. It was kinda stressful, but I figured it out - I think.
On the bread thing, I would echo Jen, that it's really better to let go of the idea than to spend too much time trying to find acceptable substitutes.  If you make them so they are good, they are still full of starch, which is not good for gut healing or weight loss. I do buy the GF bread from costco and make the 2 loaves last a month, but it has plenty of starch and sweetener, so it is like a treat for when you really want a burger or the like.
Did you know if you go to In 'n Out, you can order your burger 'protein style' and its just a burger with tomato and onion in lettuce?  Jen told me about it, and it has been helpful for trips to town.
Remember the cabbage soup from the Dolly Parton diet? I made a big pot of that this week, with hamburger in it, and it was really good. It also lasted a few days, which I love. It's just any combination of non starchy veggies in a tomato base broth. Season it well with beef stock and some salt and pepper, and there you go.
Jen, I have really wanted to know what Dr. Lafferty's meals would look like, thanks for sharing that.
Our standard FHE treat is smoothies made with frozen fruit and almond milk. (both from Costco) Depending on the fruit, I add a little maple syrup.
Last night for dinner I cut up a bunch of broccoli, 4 carrots into sticks, and coarsely chopped a large onion and put them all in a bowl. Then I mixed 3 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 1/4 c. soy sauce, (or coconut aminos) 1/2 tsp. garlic granules, and about 2 tsp. fresh grated ginger. I tossed the veggies with that, then put them on a 10x15 baking sheet and baked them until the broccoli started getting little black ends (it's SO good like that). The thought was to have stir-fry without the stirring. Well, I forgot all about the meat, and Eli and I ended up just eating a big pile of veggies before I could get plastic noodles cooked. Delicious. Eric had his veggies on rice with a leftover lamb chop. That's about how I roll for dinner!

Almond Flour Crepes

 

So we went into Provo on Friday to do some shopping.  Stephen is shrinking (I'm not) and needed some new clothes, also we needed to stock up on some things that we can't buy down here.

Guess who we ran into at Sprouts!!  I was hoping we would :o)  Lindy was so cute and she helped us find Almond flour, Almond butter, Coconut, etc.  She's the cutest and most personal help I've ever had at Sprouts. I think she deserves a raise!

We came home with several cartons of strawberries (and asparagus!) and this morning I decided that crepes sounded really good.  This is the first recipe I found and it's really good.  We spread almond butter on them with sliced strawberries. 

Almond Flour Crepes

 5 pastured eggs

1/2 cup blanched almond flour 

2 tablespoons arrowroot flour** (optional)

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons honey*

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of unrefined sea salt

Coconut oil  

Beat the eggs and salt in a bowl. Add honey and vanilla.  

Break up the lumps in the almond flour with a fork and stir in arrowroot.  Slowly add to egg mixture while beating to prevent lumps. Whisk in water enough to make heavy cream consistency. Refrigerate batter for about 15 minutes to allow the batter to thicken somewhat. Reincorporate the almond flour.  

Heat a 10" cast iron pan on medium heat and brush with coconut oil. If your pan is well-seasoned, you should only have to do this the one time, otherwise brush with coconut oil as often as necessary. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and quickly swirl around and tilt the pan to spread it. You may not make it all the way to the edge. That's okay. When they are rolled up you can't see the crooked edges. 

Allow to cook until set, but the top will still appear wet. It only takes about 45 seconds. Work your spatula underneath and quickly flip the crepe. Cook on the other side another 10-15 seconds. Remove to a plate. Stir the batter between each crepe. Repeat with remaining batter. Stack finished crepes on top of one another to keep warm and flexible.  

Serve stuffed with cultured Mascarpone cheese and top with stewed fruit. Or come up with your own stuffing and topping!  

*Omit honey for a more savory crepe and stuff with eggs, mushrooms and spinach!  

**Arrowroot flour is NOT necessary in this recipe and the crepes are still delicious without it. I just happen to think it makes them even better texture-wise.

Wednesday

Wow Soozi, you are amazing.  I'm going to give this a whirl even though this is WAY out of my comfort zone.  So, I have lots of thoughts and ramblings.  Hope they make sense. 

I am so impressed with how organized you are to have a weeks menus planned.  I usually spend half of every day wondering what I'm going to make for dinner.  Part of my problem with planning, is that I don't know on Monday what might sound good on Thursday.  Lately, I just write down 5-7 ideas and then just fix whatever works best that day.  I did find a website that has forms you can fill out for the week that have inspired me to do better.  The website is: theprojectgirl.com.

You asked for a bun substitute.  The closest thing we have found to a bread-like texture are the Buckwheat English Muffins in the book.  We've also used some biscuit recipes with bean flour.  However, we do feel better when we don't eat those kinds of  things.  Mostly we just have to get over the idea of so much bread and starch.  Last time we went to see Dr. Lafferty, he gave us his sample menu for a day.  Basically it is vegetables and eggs for breakfast, soup made with vegetables and a little meat for lunch, and a big salad for dinner with a little protein on it.

I have found a couple of websites that have inspired me this year.  One is a website Annie told me about.  It is cosmohippiechef.  Her salads are beautiful and make me want to eat salad.  Another one is Empowered Sustenance 
She has this recipe for cauliflower tortillas that I want to try.

Cauliflower Tortillas 

Recipe inspired by: Lauren from Empowered Sustenance 

Ingredients:

-1 head of cauliflower 

-4 eggs

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-3/4 teaspoon garlic granules 

-1/2 teaspoon Mexican seasoning/spices (optional)

How To:

1.  Cut the cauliflower into florets

2.  Add 1/2 of the florets to a food processor and pulse until they are a crumb like texture, then pulse a little further until a fine texture is achieved.  Remove the cauliflower and add it to a steamer basket.  Add the remaining florets to the food processor and repeat, adding this batch now to the steamer.  Add in 3/4 cup water to the pot and steam for 8 minutes.  

3.  After steaming, the cauliflower will be HOT, so I like to spread it out on a plate to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees 

4.  After it has cooled, I use my nut milk bag to squeeze out ALL the water from the cauliflower.  THIS STEP WILL MAKE OR BREAK THE TORTILLAS!  You must squeeze all the water out as much as your can.  I've found the less moisture, the better results.

5.  Add the cauliflower to a bowl.  To the bowl also add in the eggs and spices.  Mix well.  It will look like a batter.  Somewhat thick.

6.  Fit some parchment paper on top of two baking pans.  

7.  Spoon the batter onto the parchment paper.  I get about 6 out of this recipe, so three on each pan. 

8.  The trick is to evenly spread the batter in a circle.  And as Lauren states, keep the batter compact - there should be no parchment showing through any area of the tortilla.

9.  Bake for 17 minutes.  After they bake, I flip mine over and give them another 2 minutes.  

10.  Remove from parchment and transfer to a cooling rack.  

Notes:

*I prefer to make these earlier in the day.  I store them in the fridge and simply heat on a pan before I serve.

*I cannot offer any subs for the eggs, and I've only made these with eggs.  

*The cauliflower is not overwhelming and they don't taste to "eggy" either. 

I just made the same soup today Soozi.  Thanks for sharing Karen.

Jen 

 

Mid-week recipe review

 

All I did Monday was cook.  I've got to get the time in the kitchen thing figured out.  Any suggestions??

I know we're only half way through the week, but I'm going to do a recipe review of what we've eaten so far.

Meatball Subs - big fat zero.  It's not the meatballs or the sauce.  It's the buns.  Somehow they manage to make cauliflower taste nasty, which is hard to do.  They are crumbly, wet and smell like rotten cabbage.  So now I have a giant pot of marinara sauce, that I'll probably just freeze.

So I'm still on the hunt for a decent bun.  We'd like to have veggie burgers and mushroom burgers and real burgers.  Any bun suggestions ladies??

Slow Chicken Curry (from the book) - Amazing!!!!  I'm eating leftovers right now and I hope I have at least one more day of them.  So so so good.  Best curry I've ever had.  The spice blend is perfect!  Wow.

We had 3 extra girls at our house yesterday so I thought they'd have fun making their own ice cream in two ziplock bags.  Yeah.  Not so much.  It really is cold to do it that way.  Anyway, I made two batches, one for them and the Strawberry Ice Cream from the book for us.  I had a bite of theirs for comparison.  The coconut one tasted better to me anyway.  But now I want this so we can make ice cream more often.

I made a batch of MAYONNAISE!!  I was intimidated by the instructions I was following:

Coconut Mayonnaise

But it turned out really good.  My Olive oil is fairly strong and that is definitely the predominate flavor.  I think I'm going to look at Walnut oil or Avocado oil as I've heard those are lighter tasting and good for mayonnaise.  Suggestions??

So far I've just used the mayo for chicken salad that we ate on a bed of greens with Shumway's toasted pecans.  So good!

Blackened Chicken San Fran Quinoa Salad

This is the one Lucy emailed about!

Blackened Chicken San Fran Quinoa Salad

The full instructions are not there.  And I guess it's a Jamie Oliver recipe, but I couldn't find it on his site.  So here's what Lucy said about it in her email:

In a food processor, put a big handful of spinach, an anaheim pepper, several green onions, clove of garlic, and about a half cup of cilantro. (this was a BIG salad, like main dish for 4-6)  Toss this with several cups of cooked quinoa (theirs was just cooked and still warm), a drizzle of olive oil, and juice of a lime.  Pour onto a big tray or platter.

On top of that, sprinkle some seasoned cooked chicken, watercress or sprouts, a chopped mango, and a chopped avocado. They also used feta, but whatever.

I want to try this one when I have all the ingredients. Looked awesome.

 

YUM!!

Pizza Spaghetti Squash Pie

Weird name.  And it's ugly.  You put it on the plate and there is zero visual appeal.  But it's pretty tasty.  We ate too much of it actually.  Stephen kept asking if there was cheese in it.  Nope, just eggs.

The recipe is from Paleomg.com  It's true what she says about this, the leftovers are just as good the next day.  I really appreciate recipes like that.  I don't like her ramblings about pop culture.  And sometimes she's crude.  But her food looks good.

I made some minor changes to her recipe.

Pizza Spaghetti Squash Pie

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 pound Italian turkey sausage
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 1 cans tomato sauce
• 1 Tbs pizza seasoning blend
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 eggs, whisked
• (optional: add anything you like with pizza: veggies, basil, even cheese if you do primal)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Place spaghetti squash cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the skin of the squash gives when you press on it. Then reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
3. Once squash is done cooking, remove threads and place in an 9x13 baking dish.
4. Place a large pan over medium heat. Add italian sausage and onion. Cook until pink no longer remains in the sausage and it is broken up into pieces.
5. Add tomato sauce, spices, salt and pepper to the pan and mix well.
6. Add sausage mixture to the 9x13 dish and mix well with spaghetti squash threads.
7. Lastly, add whisked eggs to the baking dish and mix everything together until you can no longer see the eggs.
8. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour or until the top of the mixture forms a slight crust that doesn’t give when you press on it in the middle of the dish.
9. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

This recipe was supposed to fit into an 8x8.  I thought it would be too full, so I put it in a 9x13.  But it's kind of thin.  You could probably double it and still get it to fit in a 9x13.
Enjoy!

What we're eating this week

I like knowing what other people are eating.  I also like to look inside people's houses.  I'm nosy.  Anyway, here's what we're eating this week in case you are interested.

Slow Chicken Curry - from the book!
Creamy Chicken with Spaghetti Squash - also from the book!
Meatball Subs on a cauliflower bun
Veggie burgers (Costco) on homemade buns.  Suggestions?
Omelets with asparagus, mushrooms, Sweet Italian sausage (Costco) and pesto
Fried "Rice"
Southwest Salad

That gives us 4 vegetarian meals and 3 meat meals for the week. 

I haven't decided on a FHE treat.  I'm out of shredded coconut and Stephen can't have chocolate.

Tonight I made the Lemon Blueberry muffins from the book and we all loved them.  Calleigh would have eaten them all I think.  Adrienne just picked the blueberries out.  Oh well.