How aware are you?

Today is Rare Disease Awareness Day.  I'm feeling pretty dang aware.  You're probably pretty aware too, if you're reading my blog!

So tip your glass (of diary free beverage) to EGID!  Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder is a rare disease that finally answers several of my chronic health issues.  There are some treatments that work in many adult cases.  Unfortunately I tried two and a half months of those treatments twice daily and it didn't make any difference.  I am now on an exclusion diet.  The more involved I become in the eos community (comprised of those affected by any eosinophillic disorders) the more I realize how much more difficult this could be.  I do still get to eat food, though I have to be careful what I eat :)  I am so great blessed by being connected to those who are willing and able to help me make this transition that can make me a better mother and more involved person.  I look forward to eventually having things well enough under control to even be able to swallow easily!

So now that you're all good and aware, lol, here's the sunshine from my day today:

SPRING is finally coming!!!!!  I'm so excited!  I saw these crocuses peeking up in my mom's yard this morning.  The iris bulbs have poked up too.  Enjoy the warmth and color.  I know I will :)

A shockingly non-dietary post, though a toothsome bit nonetheless.

My family genetic tends towards big teeth, small jaws.  Michael's family doesn't have little teeth either.  Kate's baby teeth have been so perfectly tiny that the permanent teeth coming in have been quite something!  No wonder it takes so long for them to grow in -- there's just no room.

In this picture you can see that the front right tooth and the one behind it are big new permanent teeth.  That tiny thing on the left side isn't a fragment -- it's her whole baby tooth.  Yes, the permanent one is about 4x the size of those tiny baby chicklets!  Yes, we fully expect to spend the rest of our lives paying for orthodontia.

Pure Heaven. That's all I can say.

I love ice cream as much as the next ice cream loving girl, and I've missed it lately.  I'm sure I've missed it more because I know I can't have it on this dairy free diet.  And here is my answer to the ice cream crisis.  I just made Chocolate Coconut Frozen Custard.  The flavor is fantastic, the texture is absolutely to die for!  (Though I'd recommend against taking that literally.)

Back at my family's New Year's party my brother-in-law was putting their new Christmas present of a commercial ice cream freezer through its paces.  He made some incredible chocolate frozen custard.  I begged for the recipe against my better judgement (not that it took much begging ;)) but was wise enough to not make it willy-nilly.  In my lack of willy-nillitude I actually hadn't tried out the recipe yet.  Here is the recipe the way I made it today.  Hang on... just found a smudge I missed licking up......


Chocolate Coconut Frozen Custard

1 can coconut milk with rice milk added to make 2 cups total  (I think next time I might try a little less coconut and more rice milk for experiment's sake)
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 c. cocoa (I probably used closer to 3/4 c. to  balance out the coconut, but I also like rich and dark chocolate flavor)
2/3 c. sugar (the coconut milk is quite sweet so I only used about 1/2 c.)
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla  (shoot!  I think I forgot to add this!  I'm always forgetting vanilla since it is generally added at the end.)

*Mix cornstarch, cocoa, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.

*In a medium saucepan whisk the egg yolks into the milk (both still cold).  Whisk in dry ingredients.  Gently heat mixture (I have a gas range and didn't go above medium heat) until it starts to thicken (coats the back of a spoon so you can draw a line in it.  165 degrees.  I recommend going by the temperature if you have a thermometer available.  The coconut milk is already thick enough to coat spoons and such!  I probably got mine a little too hot -- it was near a boil. I waited until it felt the way gravy does when the cornstarch has kicked in.)

*Cool over ice until the mixture reaches room temperature. (Long story short, we buy ice and I didn't want to use it.  So I let the pan sit and cool a bit, stirring occasionally, then moved it to my refrigerator stirring when I thought of it until it was room temperature.)

*Add vanilla (yeah, I forgot this part.  Oopsie!)

*Freeze in your handy ice cream freezer.

It seems to me that this froze a little faster than usual.  The parts that were touching the side were hardened fully like regular hardened ice cream instead of the usual soft-serve that comes out of the ice cream maker.  The coconut milk hardens a lot sooner than the typical cream mix.
After snitching liberally, and running a couple of spoonfuls next door as a "victory lap" I have two containers in my freezer that I'm saving for later.  I think they're probably 8 oz. containers. (Actually I checked and they're 10 oz. containers, so it makes a bit more than 2 cups.  Though I suppose I could have looked at the recipe and figured that out through not-too-strenuous deduction.)
I plan to get some bananas and make some hot fudge sauce (with no dairy, of course) and make a banana split.  I'll come back and add pictures when I get around to that part.  Right now I really ought to pay attention to non-dessert dinner :)

Edit: I ended up not making the hot fudge sauce.  I was horrified to discover that I only have a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder left.  As that is my only road to chocolate I must conserve.  The bananas were super tasty with the frozen custard of course.  Also note that this is rich enough that it doesn't take a whole lot to feel very decadent and satisfied.  Most of a small banana and maybe as much as 1/2 c. of frozen custard made for an idea chocolate buzz :)

Yummy Salad, Successful Milk!!!

This time I don't have pictures to share with you, but I *do* have recipes!  Okay, they're my style of recipes with no proper amounts :")  but they're worth sharing!

Cauliflower and Pea Salad
1 head of cauliflower cut into bite sized flourettes and rinsed
1/2 bag of frozen peas
chopped green onion (I didn't have any on hand, so I settled for onion powder)
chopped garlic cloves (again, I just used powder)
salt and pepper to taste
mayonnaise

Super simple.  Toss cauliflower, peas, and onion in a bowl.  In a small bowl stir together remaining ingredients, then mix it all together.  You may be surprised how tasty this is.  I was!  I'm now a believer :)


Rice Milk that actually resembles Milk!!!!!!!
1 c. rice (dry)
water to cook rice
plenty of other hot water (I used just hot from the tap)
bit of salt
bigger bit of sugar or other sweetener
dribble of vanilla

Cook the rice (I just tossed it into the rice cooker while I was making lunch for the kids)
When it's done but still hot,  put scoop of rice in your blender and add hot water.  It was probably about 2/3 c. of rice then filled to the 4 c. level with hot water from the tap.  Blend it till the cows come home.  Or at least until it's smooth (really doesn't take that long).  I then poured it through a strainer into a bowl (one with a pouring spout would have been nice, in retrospect)  Continue blending hot rice and hot water and straining into the bowl.  Add flavorings to the mixture to your liking.  Strain from the bowl into a pitcher or jug and refrigerate.

I got a bit of rice milk from the store (Rice Dream, I think it is) and it's okay.  My biggest problem with it is that it seems TOO sweet to me.  If you like the flavor of rice custard then this is something I bet you'll enjoy!

(Thanks for the recipes, Rachel!!!  You're a life saver!)

Rice Milk, take 1.

After the soybean catastrophe I thought I'd try my hand at rice milk.  After all, I have rice on hand so what's the risk?  Again I did my research, read comments on recipes, etc.  And once again it was a disaster LOL!  On the plus side, it was not nearly as nasty smelling as the soymilk.  On the negative side, there was no milk to it!  I ended up adding at least double the water the recipe called for and still got nothing better than a pot of glop.  I tried letting it sit in the cloth in the colander and still got nothing.  I tried squeezing it through the cloth and got a little gummy "sweat" beading through the cloth.  Ick!  The recipe didn't specify variety of rice for the milk so I suspect trying a different variety of rice may render a more positive result.

I'm not going to try the same recipe again though.  Thankfully I have received some great advice on how to make these things properly!  So stay tuned.  I may yet figure them out :)  That could mean that you won't get such entertaining photos as these of my culinary mishaps though.

Soy Milk Experiment

I did try making my own soy milk.  I searched numerous recipes, gleaned tips and tricks, researched my health food store, and finally took the plunge.

I have almost used all of my quart of purchased soy milk by now.  I've used it over cereal, added it to Pero, and had a small glass or two plain.  I tried the original flavor so I could better compare the prepared stuff to my homemade stuff.  It is so expensive that I really want an alternative.

Saturday afternoon I set the beans to soaking.  Sunday afternoon I set to work.  I carefully made sure the bean hulls all came off and were discarded to make the flavor milder, which took nearly an hour.  I ground batch after batch of soaked soy-beans with water in my blender which leaked all over.  I put them in my big pan and painstakingly stirred and monitored it to prevent scorching while it came to a boil.  By that point I was pretty sure it stank. 

I added a bit of orange rind (carefully excluding the bitter pithy part) in order to further neutralize any lingering beany taste.  I added sugar and a touch of salt as per the recipes and recommendations.  And I let it cool a bit, cracking the door open a bit to wash the bean stink out of the house.

Finally I got a square of unbleached muslin from my fabric stash (clean with no fabric softener) and lined a colander with it.  I poured batch after batch of pulpy juicy into the colander, gathered the edges of the cloth and "milked" the juice through the fabric, leaving only bean fragments behind.  I burned my hands trying to just finish it and dripped "milk" on the counter and dropped bean fragments on the floor.

After the milk had cooled further I carefully transferred it to a sealed glass pitcher in the refrigerator.  I decided to wait until it was thoroughly chilled to really taste it so I could try to keep a proper perspective.  It had a beautiful creamy color and texture and I tried to keep an open mind.

When I opened the pitcher for a taste it stank like beans.  It tastes more like fresh green bean soup than anything like milk.  Gag!  I tried warming it up and adding it to sugar and cocoa powder like the hot chocolate I once drank.  No amount of sugar and cocoa  could mask the flavor.

So here's my personal experience: Homemade soy milk is sick and disgusting. I can handle the store bought stuff, but this half-gallon of headache is going down the drain.  And now I need to go scrub the pots, bowls, colander, counter top, floor, and wash a load of laundry with the offended cloth.  What a mess!

Next stop: rice milk.  It can't be any worse, right?

And it begins...

This last week my gastroenterologist started me on an elimination diet because medications alone are not fixing the symptoms of my eosinophilic disorder.  It appears that I have EGID (Eosinophilic GastroIntestinal Disorder)  Basically it's an inflammatory response to allergens which causes various pains, inflammation, and other issues through my digestive system.  The doctor also agreed that some, many or perhaps all of my other chronic issues should be corrected by identifying and removing the triggers for me.  Interstitial cystitis, ear infections, migraines, kidney stones...  I could live without all of those.  Happily this sounds and feels like it makes a lot of sense.  It coincides with questions and concerns I've had for some times now.  Unfortunately, it's going to mean some big changes; and I don't like big changes.

As of a few days ago I am now eating entirely dairy free.  Lactose-free eating is similar, but not entirely the same.  I also have to avoid casein which is still present in many lactose-free foods and is also highly prevalent in manufactured foods.  Most store-bought bread contains dairy, as well as margarine (butter is obvious).  The church cannery potato pearls are a no-no now too.  I'm getting really good at reading labels!

Being a highly emotional eater (and I mean any emotion -- anxiety, joy, boredom...) any major dietary change is difficult for me.  Being on an extremely limited budget makes any major dietary change difficult for me.  Thanks to so many wonderful friends nearby and online I have been blessed with a wonderful support group to get me started.  Thursday night I could be found standing in the kitchen with my stomach rumbling and a "deer-in-the-headlights" stare towards the pantry and fridge.  Right now I'm happily fed and even just had some brownies and soy milk!  The key for me is knowing what I can eat.  Being the research fiend that I am, I've found lots of information on dietary substitution.  I was totally overwhelmed though.  With my wonderful friends I've found what's a reasonable way to begin, and how to do a lot of it with things I even have on my shelf!

Since I get really excited about my discoveries and love learning new things, I'm sure I'll post a lot of my experiences here.  In one month I will also be going wheat free.   There's a difference between wheat free and gluten free -- explained here.  So much for my brownies, right?  Well, I'm learning ways around that too.  I've been pretty sneaky in some of my adventuring and I just might accidentally get my family healthier at the same time ;)  The key to wheat free seems to be my wheat grinder!  I got a wheat grinder quite a while ago, because what good are buckets of wheat without a grinder?!  I love the grinder I got.  It takes up very little space, connects easily to my kitchenaid, and also came with a hand crank so it can be used without power.  I have compared the grind from the popular "Nutrimill" and my mill, the KitchenAid Grain Mill.  With each on the finest setting I could not tell a difference at all.  I now have a small selection of white bean flour and rice flour made with the stuff sitting in my pantry!  In two months I will see the doctor again and we'll re-evaluate my symptoms.  If they are not resolved then we'll remove the next three major allergens from my diet: soy, peanuts, and shellfish.  I also have allergy testing scheduled for next week which may help identify other allergens.

My sweet neighbor invited me over the other day, knowing that I was completely overwhelmed (and starving).  She has had experience preparing and eating dairy free, wheat free, and even vegan (at different times) so she is a huge help.  One of her recipe books I looked at, Country Beans, had recipes for "Cream" of Chicken Soup, among other things.  It's made with white bean flour and it's really good.  Who would have guessed???  I also saw a recipe there for Instant Pea Soup that I based a recipe off.  Okay, so here are my discoveries:

****I already mentioned the Cream of Chicken Soup.  It's made of boiling water, ground white bean flour, seasonings, and chicken.  It took minutes to prepare and is wonderful by itself or used in recipes.

****I made spaghetti for dinner last night.  I make my sauce from scratch and usually add a can of tomato paste to thicken the sauce.  I had tried my hand (well, my grinder) at making white bean flour since I had a bag of white beans in the pantry.  I had about 1/4 cup of the flour sitting in a bowl by the stove because it didn't fit in the container with the rest.  So I gave it a shot!  The bean flour thickened the sauce beautifully and nobody knew!  (I never did tell the girls and I only let Michael in on the secret tonight, lol).  Instead of Parmesan cheese on my spaghetti I tried out Nutritional Yeast.  Sounds nasty, right?  Well, it's not what you expect!  It's not like the yeast you use in bread at all.  It has a wonderful naturally cheesy flavor and was a great spaghetti topper!

**** In playing in my pantry I also found a couple of bags of dried split peas.  I really don't like split pea soup, but I know my mom does and I was having fun playing with my grinder.  I ground the split peas into fine flour and mixed in seasonings (I'd seen a proper recipe for it in the Country Beans book).  I took it to my mom tonight and she tried it out.  Two Tbsp. of the powder was mixed into hot water.  It ended up really needing a blender or food processor (she has a cute baby food processor which worked great).  After a few seconds of good pulverization there were no lumps and it was a thick, creamy pea soup.  It wasn't the classic pea soup, though.  I took a taste and actually liked it!  It tastes like fresh peas from the garden!!!  We discussed such ideas as serving it garnished with fresh diced tomatoes... and maybe some crumbled bacon.  I may have to grind my other bag up and make some for me!

****I love popcorn.  I really do.  I really love home popped theater-style popcorn.  I have some theater type buttery flavored oil (artificially butter flavored) and buttery popcorn salt that I got for a Christmas gift.  The oil is fine, but the salt has dairy in it.  Last night I popped up a pan of popcorn and added a touch of salt and then sprinkled it with the Nutritional Yeast.  It was delicious!  I would eat that if I'm going dairy-free or not! 

****This morning (okay, afternoon.  I finally slept well last night!  and all morning, lol) I wanted to make some hashbrowns for "breakfast".  I usually use freshly grated potatoes in hot oil, then add butter halfway through for more flavor.  I had a fresh onion on hand so I was using that too.  Since I can't use the butter or margarine I used the buttery flavored popcorn oil in place of the oil/butter combo!  It looked funny, thanks to the artificial coloring, LOL, but it was very tasty.

****I have been researching the best way to replace an occasional glass of milk (like with my brownies) and milk in recipes.  Soy milk is the obvious replacement.  Rice milk is also pretty widely available.  Neither fits well into the $0 budget.  So I learned how to make my own!  I did buy a quart of prepared soy milk at the health food store today so I have something to compare to, then a bit of instant dry soy milk (lots cheaper, but I'm wary of dried milks), and also some plain soybeans.  Right now I have soybeans soaking in water in my fridge.  Tomorrow I'll see how the homemade variety turns out.  I'm going to add a touch of sweet brown rice for extra flavor and texture.  The quart of milk, powdered milk to make a quart prepared, and beans to try making my own (at least a quart when I'm done) all together cost $5.  If this dairy-free thing is going to happen for years instead of weeks, hopefully someday I can get a soymilk machine.  Purchased in bulk the beans can be very inexpensive.  Even if I end up not being able to eat soy, the machine works for all sorts of other alternative milks (rice, beans, etc.which are all quite cheap)  Considering the cost of the prepared milks at the store, the machine would pay for itself in no time. 

****Tonight I needed a good reason to want to drink milk.  I love milk and could happily drink it alone, but I mean a good reason to make me want milk enough that I could be happy with the soy milk.  So I made brownies.  I made them from scratch partly because I didn't have a mix on had, partly because they're not very hard anyway, and partly because I bet the mix ones have dairy in them.  I had to replace the melted butter/marg. for oil.  Then when it came to adding the 1 1/2 cups of flour, I pulled out my smallish bin of flour from the pantry and it only had 1 c. in it.  I had my big thing of flour right there in the pantry, but unfortunately I'm lazy.  My canister of bean flour was just right there, and it and it had worked so well in the spaghetti...  Well, I finished mixing it up, added some walnuts, and spread it in the pan.  While they were in the oven I set to "cleaning" the bowl.  Nasty.  The original flavor was fine, but the aftertaste was supremely beany.  Nasty indeed.  Oh well, the brownies were already in the oven.  I was very brave and tasted a bit of brownie when they were done.  It actually tasted fine.  So I took a whole piece with a glass of soy milk.  The flavor was a bit different, but not noticeably beany!!!  Michael took a brownie later (I didn't warn him, of course).  He mentioned that they tasted a little different also, but ate the whole thing.  When I admitted about the bean flour he could see that that was the difference, but even according to him it wasn't bad, just different.  Phew!!!  The milk was okay.  I didn't like drinking it by itself, but between bites of brownie it was fine.  I'm a little suspicious of the soy because this is the most soy I've had at at time before and my tongue felt a little funky.  I may end up losing it after all, but I'm game to give it a shot first.

If any of you happen to know great dairy free or wheat free recipes, I'm always happy to collect them :)  I have to say, though, that if I go through all this and don't lose some weight I'm going to be very upset, LOL.  Along with everything else I'll have to be very careful about my chocolate.  And you probably know how I feel about chocolate -- pretty much the same way I feel about my right hand: I expect it to be there and perform its duties! I suppose I could live without it, but it would be a very sad thing.  Fortunately I do like dark chocolate.  Any chocolate 70% cocoa or darker is very unlikely to have dairy in it.  I will have to be a good ingredient reader.  Mostly things will be made from scratch so I can monitor the diary (and eventually wheat) content.  There are dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips available, but even in bulk they're about $4/lb.  Pre-packaged they were closer to $6/lb!  I'll have to find an alternative to my comforting mug of hot cocoa.

All I can say is that if it makes everything else better, it will be worth it.

 Picture of my soybeans soaking over night in preparation for milking them tomorrow.  Moo.

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger.

Since Michael was born in the year of the Tiger he's supposed to wear something red every day this year to keep bad luck away.  I'm considering sewing red tags into the back of all his shirts just to be on the safe side ;) ;)
My family (aka the Jarbh family -- my mom, my siblings, and their families) celebrated the Chinese New Year yesterday (with a dash of Valentine's day mixed in) at our monthly family gathering.  My oldest brother and his family have made some wonderful Chinese friends, spent quite a bit of time in China, and the parentals even take Chinese lessons (the language, that is) in anticipation of more visits there.  We have had a chance to include some of their friends in various family gatherings and have really come to appreciate the culture, the food, and the language.

Yesterday their house was all decked out in proper Chinese fashion.  We had some vegetables with a peanut dip of some sort which was really quite good.  Then there were dumplings (yum!) and a basket of assorted Chinese treats.  We also got to taste the exotic dragon fruit.  Surprisingly, the dragon fruit originally came from Mexico, but has acclimated well to Asian countries.  While beautiful, it actually doesn't have a lot of flavor.  Botanically speaking, it is the fruit of a cactus and also can grow as nearby as southern Utah!  I'm afraid I could never become too into Chinese food -- they're horribly devoid of chocolate in their desserts!  Actually desserts as a whole are pretty scant. For the purpose of this celebration, however, we did have hot chocolate with heart shaped marshmallows as well as a delicious chocolate / cream / raspberry dessert.  Delicious!!!

Since it was also Valentine's day yesterday there were a couple of activities to take that into account.  Since it's a household of teenage boys, they don't typically go gung-ho on the holiday ;)  The Chinese began wood block printing, which we had a chance to try.  Instead of carving actual wood blocks (time consuming and not the safest activity for the young'uns) there were styrofoam blocks to make impressions on with pencils.  Then they got a generous coating of paint and were printed onto paper.  Many of these ended up being valentine's themed :) 

Two other families got together earlier in the day and made cute woven heart shaped pouches for everyone with ribbon to make them into necklaces which were lots of fun.







My sister-in-law, Carol, read us a story about the Kitchen god and the beginning of candied melon which is a traditional treat shared at the New Year. 

During the evening, we learned how to sing the song "Love at Home" in Chinese.  The Chinese characters, with the Chinese words beneath each, were posted on the wall and we learned how to attempt each word.  Coming from a family who has mostly studied European languages, this was a bit tricky!  Since I'm still unable to sing, I took the opportunity to video the activity.

As a parting gift each child got a valentine from Grandma -- a traditional Red Envelope that contained a bit of money.  It's a Chinese New Year thing, but worked beautifully as a valentine also!  Each envelope also had a little note in it that said something great about the receiver.

When all is said and done... what's a Jarbh gathering without a little air-hockey :D

Baby Names (It's not what you're thinking)

No, we're not expecting a baby.
Kate just decided that when she grows up she wants to name all her children starting with the letter "G".  Here are her ideas:

Girls:
Granaea
Granette
Girlie
Gabby
Gannae

Boys:
Gary
Gadsmen
Gladder
Gaigo
George

I had to write these down so I can pull them out when she's expecting her firstborn.  ;)

Adios.

Goodbye, January.  I won't miss you one little bit.

You're welcome, WalMart.  Your next pharmacy renovation's on me.  Apparently.

 

I was up early this morning since I couldn't sleep.  When I opened the back curtains the sun was just coming up over the mountains on the other side of the house from this pic.  The moon was still up and mostly full.  The reflection of the sun was brilliant!

I am done with all my antibiotics and steroids.  Now I'm being treated for a pretty large scale fungal infection in my ear.  Best case scenario I will use these drops 3x/day for 10 days and be all better.  Let's just keep hoping and praying that this time the drops will be enough. 
Doc did a CT scan today and ruled out any super nasty worst case scenarios (like infectious tumors).  My CT was not normal, but he said everything he saw could be due to the fungus or if it isn't (I'll know if I don't feel much better in a couple of days) it's all stuff that can be dealt with.  May require more meds or surgery, but it can be dealt with.

So goodbye January.  Don't let the couch hit ya on the way out.