Coconut Curry

This is quickly becoming a food focused blog... oh well. In a month or so I might be over food for awhile and move on to something else.

Last night I decided to surprise my partner with something he has wanted to try to make at home for months now. Squash Coconut Curry. I made a delicious allergy friendly version from scratch with no recipe and it turned out absolutely DELICIOUS! Here is the recipe:

Abby's Squash Coconut Curry with Chicken
you need:

• 1 butternut squash- cooked and mashed
• 3 medium carrots- cooked and mashed
• 1 can coconut milk (I use organic)
• 1 lb. chicken (I use thighs), cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil of choice (to cook chicken)
  
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced or julienne
  
• 1 zucchini, cubed or julienne
  
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
  
• 4-6 medium cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tsp. curry powder (I used organic bulk)
  
• 1/4 tsp (more or less to taste) ground red pepper or cayenne pepper (optional)
• cooked Jasmine or Basmati rice
  

Cook chicken in a pan with oil. When chicken is about half way done add onion and garlic. In a separate large pot cook squash and carrots at medium low heat. When mixed well add coconut milk and curry powder. After about 10 minutes add the chicken with the garlic and onion. Then add red pepper and zucchini. Add ground red pepper if using. Simmer for 15 more minutes or until desirable consistency.
Serve over cooked rice.

This dish would probably also be delicious with mango added to it.

Feel free to add other veggies... I just used what I happened to have available. Could be made with beans instead of chicken- I think black beans would work best.

YUMMY DELICIOUSNESS!

no go on tomato/ soups as sauces

Baby boy could not handle tomato sauce so no more spaghetti dinners for awhile.

Last weekend we went to BD's Mongolian Grill again.The first time I went to BD's I realized they had NO sauces that I could eat. They do have a lot of gluten-free sauces, but almost all the sauces have MSG which I try to avoid.The manager came up to us after the meal and asked how it was. I told him it was ok, but I couldn't use any sauces and he said that next time I should bring my own sauce so that is what I did! I took Pacific Natural Carrot Cashew Ginger soup to use as a sauce. It worked out GREAT!

I have been using soups as sauces for awhile now. It works really well for a quick dinner. Right now I am making lunch with frozen veggies, black beans, my leftover Orgran noodles, and the carrot cashew ginger soup. Its so quick and easy! Who says all food allergy cooking has to be time consuming and difficult?! It really doesn't have to be. I also always make WAY more than I need so that there are left-overs to just re-heat.

Ground Turkey Marinara

Tonight I made tomato sauce for the first time since the baby started having reaction to my milk. I ate a slice of tomato last week and I don't think there was any effect so I decided I wanted to try more tomato! I have been missing pasta and sauce. I have found that I like quinoa pasta and Orgran brand pasta best. Tonight I used Orgran Rice and Millet Spirals. The sauce was ground turkey with chopped onion, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, basil, and marjoram. It was fantastic. The whole family was happy... now to wait and see if the baby reacts.

A side note- I don't use a lot of ground turkey because of the natural flavoring. I try to stay away from additives as much as possible, but I don't live in a perfect world and ground turkey is cheap. I have found that I am sensitive to additives though and tonight may be proving it. I haven't had ground turkey in over a month and tonight I am feeling itchy. Maybe there is a little wheat in there... ugh. So maybe I will just use cut up turkey next time. Live and learn!

Yummy breakfast!

Lately I have been eating Pocono Cream of Buckwheat Cereal for breakfast. I usually make it with rice milk, crushed walnuts, and raisins. Today I decided to try it with Vanilla Hazelnut Rice Dream instead of regular. Its fantastic! This is very easy to make completely allergy free- take out the walnuts and use plain rice milk. To add a different flavor try cooking it with frozen peaches.

COCONUTTY DAY!

Since I can eat nuts, I have many more options than someone who is sensitive to EVERYTHING. One thing I have been missing in particular since I had to stop dairy is ice cream. I looked at the ingredients in Rice Dream ice cream, but there is some soy. I am still staying away from soy since I don't know if it will affect the baby and chances are that it will.

So I was shopping at the co-op the other day and I thought I would take a look to see what they might have for frozen treats for my diet... lo and behold I found Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss brand ice cream. I just tried the vanilla and it is FANTASTIC- creamy and decadent. Its loaded with fat so it is definitely a treat, but it is delicious and all natural. Here is the food allergy info.

Also today, my sister made this delicious butternut squash soup which also had coconut milk in it. I can't remember all of what was in it... I will try to make it sometime and create a recipe.

For lunch today we met up with an old neighbor, Nancy, and took her to my favorite allergy friendly restaurant- Flat Top Grill. She was most impressed and told me that if I needed a stir-fry fix to let her know. Today I made the best stir-fry yet with broccoli, potato, black beans, onion, garlic, ginger, carrots, chicken ( they are awesome about getting me a special order of non-marinated) and lime-basil sauce. My sister got a coconut beverage... Of course I had some of that too.

So the theme for the day was coconut!

Our Food Sesitivities

A little over a year ago in January 2009, I discovered that I was becoming intolerant to wheat. I had some issues from wheat many years ago so I had cut back and tried to eat more other grains (rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth), but its really not easy to eat a low wheat diet in our culture so I fell back on eating more wheat because it was just easier. Last year, however, I was having severe abdominal pain- the beginning of IBS. The doctor asked if I thought any foods might be bothering me and I mentioned that wheat had bothered me in the past. So I stopped eating wheat and within 3 days I was pain free.

Then last March I found out I was pregnant with my second son. It was challenging to eat wheat-free while pregnant. It took a lot of will-power to stay away from all the foods that I wanted to eat at picnics and potlucks especially. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy in November and within 3 weeks realized that he was having some issues with my milk. I took him to the doctor and he said my son may be intolerant to my milk and that I should put him on Nutrimigen formula and maybe I could try taking dairy out of my diet and try breastfeeding again in a few weeks. So I cried all the way home wondering if there was any way to keep nursing my son... so I turned to the internet and started reading about these issues and learned that its nearly impossible for a baby to be intolerant to hes/her mother's milk and that it is something in the mother's diet that usually causes the intolerance.

I discovered that cow's milk allergy is the most common and the other common allergens are: eggs, soy, nuts, corn, wheat, and shellfish. I first called and consulted a lactation consultant who assured me that I didn't need to stop breastfeeding at all and in fact, the best thing for my baby's irritated intestines would be breast milk. I then decided with her suggestion to go on a full allergen free diet and also eliminating difficult to digest foods like beans and brown rice, and also acidic foods like tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, and pineapple. She also recommended only organic chicken because its not treated with antibiotics. I don't eat red meat at all so she didn't have recommendations for that.

For the next 6 weeks my diet consisted of: white rice (I preferred Jasmine), turkey, organic chicken, carrots, onion, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, pears, peaches, zucchini, summer squash, and a few seasonings- oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, and salt. Some babies are even sensitive to onion, garlic, and/or celery. Fortunately mine was fine with all three, but I made sure to cook them thoroughly.

I slowly started to introduce some allergens back into my diet. Right away I discovered he was sensitive to dairy and eggs. He is able to tolerate nuts and shellfish. I then reintroduced corn. It took about 2 weeks before he started to react so I wasn't sure what he was reacting to at first, but when I took corn out again he was better again, so corn is another sensitivity for him. I haven't yet tried soy, but my older son was intolerant to milk, egg, and soy so I am just going to stay away from it for now.

I am now extremely happy that I didn't switch to formula because all the hypoallergenic formulas are made with corn syrup solids or some other modified corn product. Its totally absurd to me that formula that claims to be hypoallergenic has a common allergen as its main ingredient. I also found out that there is a variation of MSG in it too. There is a lot of information out there about MSG, none of it good, and just today I read about it as a possible neurotoxin.

During this journey I have come across people talking about other allergens that seem to be fairly common as well- strawberries, chocolate, tomato, onion, celery, and vinegar. It makes sense to cut out dairy too when you figure out that you are wheat/gluten intolerant since dairy is hard on the intestines too. In fact, its probably best to eat a diet that is easy to digest for several months to let the intestines heal before trying foods that might be hard on the intestines like brown rice, beans, corn, and acidic and spicy foods.

I also recommend going yeast-free for awhile and taking an acidophilus supplement that also has bifidus bacteria to help regulate your digestion. There are other herbs and supplements as well and I suggest talking with a naturopath or doing your own research to find out what else could help.

As of right now... my son is still recovering from the corn binge that I went on. I also ate some chocolate cake that a friend made that was allergen free, but the chocolate seemed to bother him and give him gas, so no chocolate either for now. DARN! I ate some barley salad the other day and my body is reacting like I ate wheat so apparently I am becoming gluten intolerant. So far I have been fine with rye and oats, but I will moniter these more closely now.

Next on my agenda for this blog is a product list.

So much to say

I am starting this blog to journal about my journey with spirituality, with food, and as a mom. These subjects are all interwoven, yet very separate. My almost 4 month-old infant son has multiple food sensitivities and I am wheat intolerant. I have been into food and nutrition since my early 20s and it seems this is a time to blog about what I have discovered with a food revolution on the horizon.

My spiritual journey is open, free, and I stumble often... I find God almost anywhere as long as my eyes are open. My ideas about spirituality and self-discovery are not always taken well by others. My path is my own and only share my story as encourage others to find their own way to spirit. I don't see any way as right or wrong. I believe sometimes we have to make huge mistakes in order to find a truth or learn an important lesson for the heart. I work on finding balance in my emotions and finding the balance between logic and intuition because there is a constant pull between them. Rarely do my intuition and logic agree.

I am not the typical American mother. I believe that I should take care of myself and find my own happiness and not just make everyone around me happy. I think there needs to be balance also between my needs and the needs of those around me. I am a cloth diapering, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, attachment parent. I have not vaccinated my children as of yet. I have 2 boys- one will be in kindergarten in the fall and the other one is about 4 months old. My first son is from a previous marriage and I am not married to my younger son's father. I am not a fan of following a typical structure. I believe in forming a family that works for all involved. I don't think family has much to do with blood relation. I believe there are many ways to have relationships other than the nuclear family or monogamy. I like to explore all of these ideas in great detail.

I love to help others work through personal issues. I haven't had as much opportunity to do this as I would like. I would love for people to ask me questions... because I love to think up different ways to solve issues. If you have nutrition, relationship, parenting, or general spiritual or self-growth questions, I would love to try to help. I don't claim to have a huge wealth of information, but I do enjoy researching and will find out stuff for you if you aren't sure where to look. I would love to have this blog work as a interactive, question asking and answering place for people who are trying to find another way to live other than the mainstream.

And please... take everything I say with a grain of salt. Always question!