Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Me and My Camel Milk

I ran across something very interesting today: Camel Milk. Yes, I am talking milk from a camel and drinking it. What stood out to me like a red blinking neon sign were the words, “Camel´s milk cures severe food allergies and rehabilitates the immune system in children.” HELLO! Put me in line for that stuff! Let you know what I find out on this one. But in the meantime, check out this website: http://www.camelmilkassociation.org/index.php/camel-milk-did-you-know

I am also looking into the GAPS Diet. Honestly, my brain hurts from reading and thinking too much. And when I say diet folks, I mean the whole family does it. This should be fun. I don’t know much about the diet but I know it has to do with taking out all grains and dairy (no biggie), taking probiotics, and eating fermented foods.

What I do know about this is it helps people like me and my family. Frankly, I am game for anything if it makes us feel better. I never want my kids to go through the pain and agony Jason and I experience every day. If that means I have to learn how to milk a camel and drink crazy concoctions, then so be it. Just kidding on milking the camel bit… ha!

I did however make some amazing sauce today. Now, I found this delicious sauce called Raspberry and Roasted Chipotle Grilling and Dipping Sauce. Yes, I am a lover of sweet and spicy AND it is made with SUGAR! Yeah, love it when I find sauces without the crappy HFCS….you know who you are!  Anyway, I grabbed some pork chops, shook some Monterey Steak Seasoning over both sides and covered it with about a ¼ jar of this stuff, covered it with foil, and popped it in the oven at 325 for an hour and a half.

An hour later I added potatoes to the oven. Once the timer went off, I removed the foil and added another ¼ jar and about a glass of leftover white wine. I let it cook another 30 minutes. It smelled heavenly, but way too hot for my little boy. I got the idea of an orange sauce to go over it. I looked around the Internet but most recipes wanted fresh oranges…well, I have orange juice…that counts right!?!

Long story short, I ended up making up my own. I melted 2 TBLS butter into my hot cast iron pan and added amaranth flour and stirred until it turned bubbly and brown. Then I added about 5 or 6 turns of freshly ground pepper and ¾ tsp sea salt and stirred. Then I added ½ cup orange juice and 1 cup hemp milk (you could use regular milk) and allowed it to simmer for a couple of minutes. I then steamed some broccoli and chopped up two of the spicy pork chops and added them to the sauce. WOW! It was FANTASTIC!

Served with the baked potatoes, super easy and super good. You should try it sometime!

Monday, July 22, 2013

FINDING MY WAY


Where am I? I seem to have deviated off course but I am back on track. To those who have been following along, I have decided to ditch coffee and resume implementing my new raw lifestyle. My health took a turn for the worse and I realized I need to eliminate aggravating factors from my diet, i.e. good stuff. Now don’t get all worried, but I know that things are getting worse inside and downing coffee and eating the typical American diet isn’t helping.

Over the past month I have noticed a significant change. I have begun to suffer from severe bouts of hypoglycemia within a couple hours of eating. It seems I can’t eat enough to feel right. I notice if the meal is high in fat or protein, in an hour it is as if I didn’t even eat. I shake, I run into walls, and I get depressed really easy. Then I noticed my hair isn’t growing very fast, my nails are flat with deep ridges, and they break easy.

I know my gastroenterologist will tell me to go on steroids, but to me that is my last option. I am investigating some unconventional methods and today I met with a Certified Traditional Naturopath. She says the nail problem is most likely because I am not processing fats or proteins, which is most likely contributing to my hypoglycemia.

We are running some tests but she says I am on the right track with my diet changes. So, we will see how it goes. Over the past couple of days I finally got into sprouting and I have learned many new things. Today I made sprouted lentil soup and it was fantastic. Normally I have to cook lentils for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, but sprouted lentils take less than 10 minutes.

I love making soup, it is so easy, and once pureed my son will eat it most every time. My recipe goes as follows:

2 cups sprouted lentils

¾ tsp ground cumin

¾ tsp ground coriander

¾ tsp sea salt

About 5 turns of freshly ground pepper

1 orange bell pepper, chopped (tastes amazing by itself!)

½ onion, chopped

3 handfuls of baby kale

4 cups of veggie stock

Heat up a pot and put in about a Tbls of olive oil. Place all ingredients except the stock in the pot. Stir frequently for about 5 minutes and add stock. I didn’t bring to a boil. I allowed it to heat up and then pureed it. It was delicious. Not really raw, but I tried to keep the temp below the 118 degrees. I didn’t have a thermometer handy but I made sure it didn’t come close to a boil.