To be, or not to be....

So, after much thought, research, and psyching up (I mean, REALLY psyching up), I decided to put my money where my mouth is and spent the past two weeks avoiding any foods with wheat - gluten, specifically. Why?  I won't go into the gory details...but suffice it to say, there are two symptoms that I can't overlook any more:  headaches and, putting it mildly, stomachaches.  Two very prevalent symptoms associated with a wheat sensitivity.  My dad says he suffers from it - my mom has thrown it around...I know it's a familial thing, so it just made sense.

So, the verdict?

I believe there is no "gluten-free" (specialty cereal billed as such in the natural foods section) cereal that is palatable.  I've not found any bread that tastes of anything other than plain ol' paper, AND I'm pretty sure the gluten-free pretzels I tried will last 100 years and never go bad.  HOWEVER, there were plenty of things I could have in lieu of all the bread, pretzels & crackers that have been staples in my diet.  Fruit!  Strawberries, grapes, oranges, clementines, kiwis, grapefruit, apples... Veggies!  Baby carrots, celery, grape tomatoes, red & green peppers... I found granola bars that were pretty good (Cliff Crunch), fresh popped popcorn (not microwave!), peanuts, almonds...the list could go on.  Instead of focusing on "giving up", I found I looked forward all the other great things I could have.  It's also been much easier than I thought - which has been the case with most of the food-experimentation I've done (but I did cheat a little and had some pizza twice...).

Long story short, while I don't believe I need to be very strict, I'll be avoiding wheat for the most part.  There have been no headaches OR stomachaches during my trial except after the second night I had pizza (argh!).  I suppose great tasting gluten-free pizza will be my next quest...but until then, here's a great wheat-free soup that I adapted from Canyon Ranch's cookbook "Nourish":

Tortilla Soup
Makes 8

8 cups chicken broth
Juice of 2 limes
4 skinless chicken thighs, cooked and chopped
3 med-small tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup chopped red onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup minced jalapeno peppers - no seeds or white parts unless you want to add heat!
Salt, to taste
Shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
Tortilla chips
1/2 avocado, chopped**


Bring the chicken broth and lime juice to a boil, then lower to medium heat.
Add the chicken, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapenos & salt to the broth and stir to combine.  Once the ingredients have heated through, ladle into a serving bowl and top with 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 4-5 tortilla chips, and 1/4 chopped avocados.

Hope you enjoy!
 
**Did you know that when you prep avocado, whether it's chopping or mashing for guacamole, if you keep the pit and leave it with the avocado you'll prevent the avocado from turning brown?  It really works!

It's All in Your Head, Stupid!

Sounds harsh?  But it's true!  It's also a way to remind myself that my imagined roadblocks are just that - between my ears.  Of course I know that I'll never win the Boston Marathon (or any marathon, for that matter!), or the title of "Iron Chef"...but I can certainly train for and run 26.2 miles, or make a mean turkey chili and have my own kids compliment my culinary skills...what better accomplishment than that?

The reason for this post is to highlight our own, self-imposed limitations.  As I mentioned before, having a food-allergic kid is a HUGE eye-opener in terms of re-learning food.  It seemed as if I had to go into a long, drawn out explanation as to why my kid wasn't allowed to eat the treats brought in for the Halloween party.  Or why she wasn't allowed to eat the pizza unless I scraped all the cheese off.  I got plenty of weird stares and disgusted looks when I asked to see ingredient lists or brought in a home made cupcake to a classmate's birthday party.  I'd explain that no dairy meant no milk, cheese, butter, goldfish crackers, cheese crackers, ice cream.....all those childhood right of passage foods were off limits to her.  It didn't matter that we found some pretty darn good-tasting dairy-free "ice cream" treats, milk alternatives, margarine, crackers...etc. My mother-in-law even found chocolate bars that were really tasty!  But....how can your kid not have any....*GASP!* milk?!  Isn't it that very ingredient that makes it all matter?

Well, to look at her, you'd never know she's been so deprived her whole life.  In fact, she's usually very good about it - we've only had a few incidents where she got truly upset over it, or the time she decided to test it and snuck a rather large piece of ice cream cake at a birthday party.  She subsequently spent the better part of the evening curled up in the fetal position in pain....(and I'm pretty sure she won't try that again).

Milk is just the example here - and an extreme one, to be sure.  I also gave it up (for quite a while as a matter of fact) and at first what I thought was going to be an absolutely miserable experience turned out to be pretty awesome.  It was certainly scary, inconvenient and challenging.  But it was my choice, and the rewards of learning how to eat healthier and a more open mind (just to name a few) made it worth every second.

My whole point is that so often the thought of "Oh, I just couldn't do that" pops into our minds that we miss out on what could be some truly wonderful experiences.  "Well, WHY NOT?" is my new favorite answer.
Unless my kid asks me to borrow the car.

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life for Me and I'm FUEEEELIN' GOOD!

I'll just come out and say it:  I HATE writing.  I love the end result, I love reading, but I absolutely 100% hate the actual process of putting my thoughts on paper.  I've always struggled with getting everything out, the way I want to say it...how I want to present it...and for most of the time will sit in front of the computer, staring at a blank screen.  Then I'll "find" something else to do - like straighten/organize the pencils & pens holder on my desk.  Or maybe stack papers & receipts on top of each other so that they are perfectly straight.  I might even be willing to bundle up all the recycling, because clearly it has to be done at some point (even if recycling isn't until next week)...until I absolutely, unequivocally MUST put my fingers to the keyboard and just GO.

So, with all that I just said, you may ask, "Why on Earth are you starting a BLOG?  Don't you know you have to write in order to have a blog?  Are you nuts?"

I have a feeling I may have a very neat desk and working space going forward.

Any-hoo...back to the task at hand.  I'm starting this blog because I love food.  I love food that is good for  my family and me...and dairy free due to my firstborn's allergy to dairy protein. That just might be what kick-started this whole good-for-us revolution in the first place.  I'm not saying I don't eat dairy (I love cheese & yogurt), but rather than torture my kid with sorry-you-can't-have-this-but-we-can, I've learned to make mostly anything without milk/cheese/sour cream, etc.  It's actually been fun and I've felt absolutely triumphant when I've finally figured out how to make something such as pudding without milk!

Long story short, when my daughter was 5 months old, she was diagnosed with a dairy and soy allergy.  Since I was nursing her, that meant all those allergens were coming from MY diet...so, I decided that rather than put her on formula (finding the right one can be difficult) I'd cut out all dairy and soy from my diet.  It was a huge wake up call to find that nothing I had in the house was dairy OR soy free, thus began my obsession with reading food labels.  Do you know they even put dairy in hot dogs?!  It took roughly 30 days to figure out the diet, another week or two to get it out of our systems, and viola!  A happy kid - no up-all-night crying fits, no crying-until-passing-out fits, no red bumpy rashes!  It also meant no more frozen dinner from a bag....no more soup from a can...which in retrospect was probably the best thing that ever happened to us.

So...it's been 9 years since that first foray into the world of whole, healthy food and I'd like to share my journey with anyone who might like to know.  Who knows what path this blog will take, or whether I might develop some sort of obsessive/compulsive disorder with cleaning during the ride...but I'm sure my family won't complain.

Garlic the Microbe Destroyer

It's almost mid-January, which means that cold/flu/I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed for days season is upon us, and based on horror stories I've heard, it's gonna be a looooong one.  In addition to the standard antibiotics (which are only effective for bacterial infections), there are a lot of over the counter remedies to help what ails you, but why wait until you've been socked with a nasty cold?  Here are a few ways to help prevent or at the very least "shore up" your body before you get sick:

1.  Use lots of GARLIC!  My mom swears by it.  You can take it in the form of caplets (sold at grocery stores or health food stores), or use extra when cooking.  There's a lot of literature showing that garlic has natural antibiotic properties - just make sure you keep some strong mints or gum nearby!

2.  Eat lots of citrus fruits for VITAMIN C.  Studies have shown that regular consumption can lessen severity of symptoms and shorten the duration of illness up to 25%.  Bonus benefit:  Ascorbic Acid is a potent antioxidant that helps protect blood vessels, muscles and bones and aids iron absorption.  

3.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  Flush the toxins and poisons out of your system by staying hydrated - try to stick with water or even hot tea...you could wind up drinking a whole lot of calories without realizing it.

4.  Eat foods with BETA CAROTENE.  Carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, winter squash and kale all contain this immune booster.  Extra bonus:  cancer protection by way of stimulating immune cells to secrete tumor necrosis factor.

Stock up so you can make some great soup during this next winter storm-a-comin'.  If you have a great recipe, please feel free to share!

Here's my suggestion:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Autumn-Minestrone-102609