Fun with Fruit

How many ways can you use apple and pears?

Puree apples and pears in a blender (with just enough water to make it go). Pour onto a flat try and place into a dehydrator. Place in the refrigerator for a few hours/days to make them easier to handle, otherwise they can be difficult to peel off the tray. Instant fruit roll snacks (actually they are more like fruit crackers)!

Eat apple and pears as is.

Applesauce. Pearsauce. Apple & pear sauce. (Cook chopped fruit and then mash and then cool)

Cook apples and/or pears with chicken or other protein.

Frozen fruit Popsicles. Cook down fruit into a puree and add sugar and lemon/lime (like you are making pie filling). Water down. Pour into icecube trays. Freeze.

Freeze pear slices for a quick snack.

Sorbet. Blend rice milk with frozen fruit and some sugar (opt.) until sorbet consistency.

How to be creative with rice

Split peas have become a serious staple in my kitchen.

My favorite is cooking the peas with some apple and lime juice or just with celery and then pureeing them with rice. Makes for a great simple and hearty meal.

If you can tolerate chicken broth, Risotto is another great meal option. Arborio rice (it is a white rice) slow cooked with broth, plus a little lemon/lime juice and some cooked peas, pumpkin/squash, or asparagus (or any other veggie you tolerate) added in at the end. Pieces of chicken or ground chicken makes for a complete meal if you add that in too.

Also, a simple Spanish Paella would be another option. My electric stove top makes the use of my paella pan non-functional, otherwise this would be another staple. It's worth looking into.

Homemade rice milk....... rinse your rice before you cook it and save the first rinse water that now has rice starch in it. Use slightly less water than normal for rinsing and rinse longer on the first rinse. Add a slight bit of oil and sweetener (both opt) and shake well. Use within 24 hours.

Oxalates

I'm having major health issues again. I was doing really well. I had a breakthrough and found that vitamin D and lime juice helped my symptoms. Then, after a few days, they started to make them worse. I'm back to square one. Except now I can barely choke down my rice, peas and fish because I've eaten only that for months and chicken gives me a stomach ache. Up until a few months ago, I had a stable diet of food that was gluten free, dairy free and soy free. I had a lot of choices. But of what is left, all of it has either oxalates, salicylates, amines, or sulphites. Usually, it is just one or another, not combinations. Those are my four main "new" problems. The next big breakthrough can't come soon enough. I'm hungry, miserably sick, and loosing my grip on reality and on my body. It feels like life is slipping away from me. Right now, I'm battling oxalates. I've discovered my sals limit is a bit higher than I expected (a moderate to low range, instead of the low-negligible range I originally thought). The reactions from sulphites is so strong that I don't dare eat small amounts. So, unfortunately, I've been eating more oxalates in an attempt to get food in me.

In the end.... i feel miserable if I don't eat food or if I do eat food. It doesn't freaking matter.

Alternative Bread version

YAY! The rice flour tortilla recipe I developed can be made with millet flour as well! 1 cup flour in 1 cup water. They are easy to roll out if you put a dough ball in a gallon ziplock bag.

I bet other flours, like Buckwheat could be used as well. If anyone tries it, let me know!

Peas!

Split Pea Soup

Green split peas (sorted and rinsed)

water/stock

salt

onions, garlic, celery (if you tolerate)

1) If you tolerate onions, celery and garlic, cook a small amount in a sauce pan with oil.

2) Add peas and water. Add twice as much water as peas.

3) Cook on med-low for 30-60 minutes.

4) Puree in a food processor or blender.

5) Serve with rice flour tortillas.

More rice flour tortilla uses

I made fish tacos and apple-pear pie this evening for dinner. Yum!

Fish Tacos

2 rice flour tortillas (see previous post)

2 fresh fish fillets

sweet rice flour

salt

iceberg lettuce

1) Mix a little bit of flour with salt. Dust the fish in the flour. Bake according to the type of fish until done. If you can tolerate it, mix in some cream of rice grits into flour mix and fry fish on stove top in a little oil/butter.

2) Make rice flour tortillas. Save third tortilla and set aside for pie. Keep tortillas for tacos warm on the stove top on low, flipping often.

3) Optional: chop up lettuce. Fry up briefly in a pan with salt (use cabbage instead and onions and oil/butter if you can tolerate).

4) Assemble by putting lettuce and fish inside tortilla.

Apple-pear pie

1 uncooked rice flour tortilla

1 golden delicious apple, peeled and chopped

1 pear, peeled and chopped

sugar (1/2 cup to 1 cup, according to desire)

1) Place tortilla in a mini-springform pan or a small pie pan. Cut any extra pieces off if it doesn't fit inside nicely. Set aside.

2) Bake for a few minutes on 400F. Try to keep as much of the sides standing up as possible. It may be necessary to pull them up if the collapse. Bake until it has formed a shape, but not crispy!!!

3) Meanwhile, cook down apple and pear in a sauce pan with sugar. When soft, mash down with a potato masher. Cook until it looks like chunky applesauce.

4) Spoon fruit mixture into pie shell. Place extra shell pieces on top and put in oven.

5) After a few minutes when pie shell pieces on top start to become solid, pull pie out, wet a finger and gently wet top of pieces (you may need to do this a few times). Sprinkle sugar liberally over the entire thing.

6) Bake until sugar caramelizes and entire pie look solid. Remove and let cool before eating.

Chicken Recipes

Apple Chicken Stuffing

Rice Flour crackers, crumbled

Golden delicious apple, diced

salt

chicken w/bone in

Celery, chopped (if you can tolerate)

1) Mix crackers, apples, and celery together. Place inside chicken cavity (or under chicken breast).

2) Bake as usual. Cover with a lid or foil.

3) Serve with rice.

Chicken Patty Sandwich

Ground chicken (ask butcher to grind fresh)

Cream of Rice grits, rice cracker crumbs, or puffed rice (from a rice cake), etc

Salt

optional: other flavorings such as onions, celery, etc if tolerated

1) Kneed salt, rice, and any flavorings into chicken. Form a patty.

2) Place on grill.

3) Serve with iceberg lettuce, pear ketchup, and a rice tortilla or pita

Chicken Nuggets

Ground chicken

rice flour

Cream of Rice grits

salt

1) Mix salt, cream of rice, and rice flour together.

2) Make a well formed ball with a heaping Tablespoon of ground chicken. Dredge in flour mix and flatten slightly.

3) Bake (or pan fry in oil).

Rice Flour tortillas/crackers/pita bread!

I have BREAD! It took becoming allergic to literally EVERYTHING in the world for me to figure it out. This is a great versatile recipe. :-)

1 cup water

1 cup rice flour

salt

oil

Boil water, then dump flour into the water and put on low. DO NOT MIX the flour in. Just let it sit in the boiling water for a minute. Then mix.

Let sit until just cool enough to handle.

Flour a flat surface or board. Sprinkle flour on top of dough and kneed. The more you kneed, the better the bread is. (there will be a point when it gets too sticky to kneed).

At this point, decide if you want tortillas, pita bread, or crackers. If you want tortillas or pita bread, divide into 3 parts. Roll out into a large circle (adding flour to the board and on top liberally to prevent sticking). If you want crackers, roll the whole thing out into a rough square.

Tortillas: Add to a hot skillet individually and cook on medium until just before it browns, but not totally browning. Flip over and heat the opposite side. Remove from skillet/griddle and add butter if desired, to keep it extra flexible (not necessary though), OR, cut into pieces and fry for tortilla chips.

Pita Bread: Place on a pizza stone or baking sheet. Cook at 350 to 400 degrees, watching to make sure they don't get too tough on one side. They should puff up. Flip over periodically, but be careful you do not pop the puff and burn yourself on the steam.

Crackers: Put rolled out dough on baking sheet. Sprinkle oil and salt on top and brush out (the thinner, the better. You can add other spices and cheese and stuff at this point too). Cut with a pizza cutter (that rolls) or a knife (this can be difficult because it is somewhat sticky). Bake at 400 until throughly crispy. This may take a while, so periodic taste tests are required. Cool before breaking apart.

***Adding spices and other flavorings to the water right before the rice would provide a lot of variety and additional flavors, if desired. You can add a bit of baking soda or baking powder to the flour as well for a little extra rising and flavor.

Even smaller list!

Ok... so I'm having problems with MSG and oils. My list of safe foods:

Pears (Peeled)

Apples (Golden Delicious)

Chicken (fresh)

White fish

Sushi rice

White sugar

Peas

Iceburg lettuce

Salt

"Cabbage" Rolls

ground meat (chicken, beef, lamb, etc)

rice (prepared as desired)

lentils, split peas or mung beans (prepared as desired)

onions, garlic, celery, other spices (as tolerated)

Iceberg lettuce or cabbage leaves

1) Fry ground meat. Fry with onions, garlic, spices, etc if those are tolerated.

2) Mix meat, rice, and lentils/peas/beans together.

3) Add mixture to lettuce or cabbage leaves. Tuck over sides and roll up into a log (you can use the same method as rolling a burrito). If desired, tie together with a string.

4) Steam rolls until lettuce/cabbage is just soft.

Update list of what I can eat

Well... my list of safe foods is rapidly shrinking

Pears (Peeled)

Apples (Golden Delicious)

Chicken (fresh)

White fish

Sushi rice

White sugar

Peas

Kelp & Seaweed

Iceburg lettuce

Salt

Safflower Oil

Sunflower Oil

Ghee

Diabetes insipidus

This HHP that I have been seeing says that I have a chloride toxicity. I don't know what to make of it. My blood tests from the past year say my chloride serum levels are normal. He "treated" me (with AAT) for chloride. But when I ate a bunch of salt last night, I burst into a reaction. Then, my shower this morning made me miserable. I've been horribly thirsty since then. A member of a forum I visit a lot is always talking about Fluorine, which is a related chemical, so I thought I would look into this more. My research into chlorine levels links it directly into balancing sodium and lithium and potassium levels, balancing body acidity, diarrhea (despite dietary change and medications), muscle twitching, irritability, excessive urination, excessive sleepiness and confusion. If you have read much of my blog I complain about these (most of them) here constantly! I dropped out of college because of this! But no one could tell me what was wrong. One of the causes of high chloride levels may be diabetes insipidus.

I didn't know what diabetes insipidus was. And when I looked it up, I burst into tears because its me. It is diabetes like symptoms that are not caused by sugar. It causes high urine output and concentration irregularities. It also causes dehydration and a host of other problems. One of the drugs used for treatment is carbmazepine: the drug that I was on for bipolar that virtually solved all of my diabetes problems.

Now I want to cry even more. My credit cards are maxed out. I'm $500 short each month to cover rent. My whole family except me has health insurance. I can't eat or shower or even freaking leave my house because I get sick. Someone or something please have mercy on me!

"Sushi" Varieties & Seaweed Salads

Sushi Rice

Sushi Rice

Kelp/Dulse/Nori flakes (crumble to small flakes if bought in larger pieces)

Salt

Sugar

1) Cook sushi rice according to desire. If you tolerate rice vinegar, add a splash to the water.

2) When done, top with seaweed, salt and sugar.

3) Serve with sashimi if desired.

Nori Snacks

1 nori sheet

oil

sugar

salt

1) Lay out nori sheet on a baking sheet. Gently brush with a LIGHT film of oil.

2) Sprinkle sugar and salt liberally.

3) Place under broiler until just starting to brown. Remove quickly. Let cool.

4) Serve broken into pieces, or cut into strips and put sashimi and/or rice on top and roll.

Seaweed Salads

1 package kelp noodles

1 package wet sea veggies

rice vinegar

lime/lemon juice

oil

1) Prepare noodles and veggies according to directions.

2) Toss with vinegar, lemon/lime juice, and oil.

What I CAN eat

I think I have finally worked out a diet.

As much as I want:

Pears (Peeled)

Apples (Golden Delicious)

Black-eyed Peas

Lentils

Eggs

All meat (fresh)

White fish

White rice

White sugar

maple syrup

Cabbage

Onions

Peas

Cauliflower

Kelp & Seaweed

Iceburg lettuce

Brussel sprouts (Boiled)

Salt

Chives

Saffron

Canola Oil

Safflower Oil

Sunflower Oil

Ghee

Also In Moderate Amounts:

Chickpeas

Split peas

Asparagus

Green Beans

Garlic

Limes (only 1/2, NO PEEL!)

Cabbage and Brussell Sprouts

Irish Cabbage

Green cabbage, chopped

onions

salt, chopped or sliced

oil

1) Heat oil in a pan and warm onions.

2) Just as the onions start to cook, add cabbage. Cook until cabbage just starts to loose it's crisp.

3) Add salt and cook just a bit more.

Coleslaw

Red & Green cabbage, chopped

Mayonnaise

Poppy seeds

Rice vinegar

sugar

1) Combine cabbage with mayonnaise.

2) Add splash of vinegar, liberal amount of sugar and LOTS of poppy seeds, to taste.

3) Refrigerate several hours before eating.

Plain Brussell Sprouts

Brussel sprouts

chicken stock

1) Soak sprouts in stock for several hours.

2) Boil like normal and serve with salt and butter/oil.

Broiled Brussell Sprouts

Brussel Sprouts

oil

rice vinegear

1) Cut sprouts in halves or quarters. Sprinkle oil and vinegar on top.

2) Broil until just starting to char.

3) Remove and cool slightly before serving.

Brussell Sprout salad

Brussell Sprouts

1) Put sprouts in food processor. Chop until fine.

2) Pan fry with butter/oil, vinegar, onion & garlic and spices OR use to make coleslaw

WTF is in Millet?

Given how limited my diet has been lately, I have been experimenting with different gluten free grains over the past week or so. It has been disastrous. A quick porridge of millet or rice, or buckwheat pancakes makes for easy, quick, and cheap. But, the higher carb load has made my candida come back with a vengeance. Granted, being on a sal-free diet has contributed to a more stable mood and higher spirits than I have ever had in my entire life (who knew happiness came from the chemicals in food?). So, I've been munching along on my pancakes and mixing up porridge and what not. Last night I dug out some flatbread recipes and tried out millet bread. It didn't turn out that well, but it has high potential! I tried to make it again for lunch too, and here is where the disastrous comes in. I got really sick from the millet bread! I know it was the millet because I ate it last and was fine up until I ate it. It was like instantaneous.
So, back to the drawing board. WTF could possibly be wrong with millet? I've been eating it all week. I stumbled upon oxalates. People who are sensitive to salicylates often have problems with other chemicals, including amines and oxalates (and many, many other things). I seem to have been eliminating oxalates pretty well from my diet this whole time already. Which is good, but if I am having problems with so many chemicals in plants, I'm kind of curious as to why. Its not like they just showed up. They have probably always been there but my gluten, dairy, and soy issues have masked the problem. One thing I read about oxalates is that celiac disease is a primary cause of leaky gut, which is one of the primary causes of sensitivities to chemicals such as oxalates, which in turn causes blood sugar issues... which all sounds very familiar to me! However, I'm becoming seriously concerned that I am not getting enough nutrients in me. The last thing I need is a relapse into malnutrition. My appointment with the AAT therapist in an hour can not come soon enough.....
My goal here is to address my food issues, then address the lyme and coinfections. In turn, addressing both of those should make me even less sensitive to foods and most of everything should then resolve on their own. I'm not asking for perfect. I honestly wouldn't mind being gluten free for life, and maybe lactose intolerant or something. Just, please, I need some slack here!

Pear ketchup and jam and a sweet and sour sauce

Pear jam

Several ripe pears

sugar

thickener (starch or Agar flakes)

lemon or lime juice

1) Cook down a 2:1 ratio of fruit and sugar (ie: 2 cups of fruit would require 1 cup of sugar), for 45 minutes until 220F.

2) Thicken with starch or agar flakes in a little water.

3) Add a tad bit of lemon or lime juice to keep it from going bad.

4) Pour into jars with tight lids. Set out to cool. When cool, store in fridge or freezer.

Pear Ketchup

pear jam

onions

butter or oil

lime juice

salt

1) Cook onions in a small amount of butter or oil.

2) Add and warm up pear jam (or cook down fresh pears... this will make a slightly chunkier ketchup).

3) Add lime juice and salt to taste. Cook down to a paste.

Sweet and Sour sauce

oil

garlic, chopped fine or a paste

onions, chopped very fine

stock (or water)

sugar

lime juice

salt

parsley (if tolerated)

1) Heat oil and add garlic and onions until golden brown and starting to crisp.

2) Add a small amount of stock/water to deglaze pan. Then add a bit more until you have about twice as much as you want of the final amount of sauce.

3) Add sugar, lime juice, salt and parsley. Cook down on low, stirring often.

4) Serve over rice, chicken, or vegetables.

Advanced Allergy Therapeutics

I'm at the end of my rope. I can't shower without soap. I can eat about 30 things, but now I am reacting to something else. I am miserable in my apartment and my roommate is absolutely miserable to deal with. I want a studio apartment! I can't handle this roommate thing any more!!!
About 2 years ago, my boyfriend at the time convinced me to try N.A.E.T., a weird energetic/acupressure protocol that treats sensitivities and allergies. It actually worked and I felt so amazing that I took a job that required me to travel all over California during elections working 80 hours a week. It only took a month before all the $ and hard work reversed itself. So, I have been skeptical ever since about the actual effectiveness. But, today I found out that there are a few different programs that are similar to NAET and perhaps not quite as kooky. I am going to try AAT: Advanced Allergy Therapeutics. There are two practitioners here in San Diego and one is right near my school. I'm desperate. Desperate to even do NAET again and drive all the way to Los Angeles if necessary.

I got my brain back!

This salicylate free diet (sal-free) is unbelievably difficult. It has been rewarding, but challenging. I am finding lots of hidden sources of gluten in places I never expected, having trouble assimilating water (this has always been an issue, but didn't resolve like almost everything else did), and starting to react to amines. Unfortunately, since I have been eating more carbs (gluten free carbs are have a much higher carb load), my candida is coming back with a vengeance. This catch 22 leaves me unable to eat lots of meat because of the amines and unable to eat lots of carbs because of the candida. I'm pretty much allergic/intolerant to dairy (casein intolerance), soy (soy intolerance), veggies, nuts and fruit (the sals) and I certainly can't just drink oil. So whats a girl to do?
All that being said, I'm tolerating all this pretty well and am in really high spirits. My brain is functioning again at levels I haven't seen in years, AND the dyslexia is gone. My mood is much more stable as well, to the point that my therapist thinks that since I am "pseudo-bipolar" and don't have a true bipolar phsycho-anatomy, I might be able to get away with behavioral modification to manage it during my recovery from Bipolar, instead of meds AND behavioral modification. yippie!
One thing that is unique about my brain is that I have an abnormally fast processing speed. (I know this because of all the damn psych tests they put me through to see what is making me sick) Being sal-free actually has made it go even quicker. The past month or so I have been so sick and stressed, and grieving, I haven't been able to do any homework or concentrate on my school work at school. But we have been doing review in all of my classes for final exams and since going sal-free, I am literally absorbing 5 weeks of material in less than 4 hours of class time. I'm piecing together 60+ bones, plus the geography of every bone, nearly 100 muscles, their corresponding actions and attachment sites, and 60+ acu-points, their functions and locations, and how all of the above interacts with the entire human anatomy and physiology (and I have had to learn both western and Chinese systems) and how it can be used to diagnose and treat any disease, injury or imbalance known to man (of which I have had to memorize over 300 so far) and the corresponding proper treatment via massage, bodywork, energywork, herbs and nutrition. It's pretty crazy! In my spare time I have been studying how the emotional, spiritual, and psychological systems interact with all that we have learned in class, as well as researching the biochemistry and molecular biology of the human stress reaction, certain food/nutritional/absorption interactions, and how music can modify and change our emotions and vibrational frequencies. I love learning, and I LOVE BEING SAL-FREE!!!!!! I love thinking! My only problem now is balancing my life and brain so that I am not thinking all the time, cuz my insomnia and panic attacks are starting to come back. It makes sense though, because my bipolar med was a major sedative, and now I am not on them.

Mayonnaise

1 cup oil (I use canola)

1 egg

juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon) or vinegar

salt

1) Separate egg. Toss white.

2) Mix in lemon/lime juice or vinegar.

3) Slowly (!!!!) add oil to egg mix while beating with an electric mixer on high. Best to drop a small amount in at first, beat well, and drop a little more in and beat well a few more times to make sure it is setting up before pouring in slowly.

4) This should result in a thick and fluffy off-white mayonnaise. If it never thickened, then you have to start again. There was not enough acid (from the citrus or vinegar) or you added the oil too fast.

5) Add a liberal amount of salt (to taste).

Use to make tuna salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, egg salad, potato salad, a salad dressing base, chicken salad, or on sandwiches.