Whole Fruit Margaritas (scd, Vitamix)

What's that? You say it's hot outside? You say you had a terrible day at work? You want to have a group of non-scd friends over for drinks? Well, do I have the solution for you! This whole fruit margarita recipe is from Vitamix.com where there tons of other whole food recipes. Nothing can quite compare the the icy goodness of a fresh blended margarita with perfectly shaved ice. If you are trying to cut back on sweeteners, you can even omit the honey for a more sour drink. In any case, this will be sure to please you and whoever you choose to share it with.

1/4 cup (60 ml) water
6 ounces (180 ml) tequila
2 ounces (60 ml) Grand Marnier or Triple Sec (omit for SCD)
1 orange, peeled, halved
1 lime, peeled, halved
1 lemon, peeled, halved, seeded
1/4 cup honey
6 cups (1.4 l) ice cubes

1. Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
2. Select Variable 1.
3. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
4. Blend for 45 seconds, using the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades.
5. Pour into salt-rimmed margarita glasses and enjoy.

As a variation you can add 1/2 a grapefruit, or even another kind of fruit- peaches, strawberries, etc. 

You can try to make this in a regular blender, but the results will not be the same. I love Vitamix! :)

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Crohn's Disease and Eye Problems

I've tried to research this topic many times before on the Internet and really have not been able to find anything. Just as a warning, what I am about to talk about is not necessarily backed by any medical studies or evidence, it is simply my inferences. We all know that Crohn's often goes undetected for years before diagnosis, and that it can manifest itself in pretty much any part of your body. I had never before thought of this including your eyes, but I now really do not think this is far off. Before my diagnosis (I was totally "healthy" back then to my knowledge) I had never had any eye problems before other than just needing glasses/contacts. One day I wake up and there is a dark and cloudy spot on the corner of my left iris. I brushed it off, but as the days passed my vision in that eye started suffering. I would be fine one second, blink, and then my whole eye would be a cloudy film, blocking my vision, blink again, and it would be gone. It was scary. I thought I was going blind. I went to specialists and a doctor who tried very hard to figure out what it even was. To no avail. I took some eye drops, like 3 different prescriptions, and this went on for over six months. I had to stop wearing contacts and all eye makeup. Eventually, the cloudy vision diminished but a little black spot still remains on my eye as scar tissue. Reflecting back on this now, I can't decide if this was caused by my Crohn's Disease, or if this very stressful period in my life caused my Crohn's to flare up even worse. I think both. But this brings me to the present. I haven't worn contacts in over two years, even though I had been wearing them for almost 10 years prior with no problems. So now that I live near the coast, I wanted to give them another try~ it's a pain to wear glasses on the beach. I go to my optometrist and explain my situation. He is very understanding and even says he has a relative that almost died from Crohn's but that "some diet" saved his life and now he is normal again. I smiled, "I bet we are on the same diet." It's good when your doctors don't think you are crazy. Anyways, so I try wearing contacts again and they are bugging the crap out of my eyes, they feel dry and stiff and one of my eyes is so dry my vision gets blurry in it. My optometrist gently pushed on the bottom of my lid and said that my eyes are not producing enough oil. Oil? In your eyes? Yep, apparently it is an essential fluid, and when you don't produce enough oil in your eyes you get dry eyes. Humph. Well that explains that. He said usually eyes don't produce enough oil when there is too much inflammation blocking some {technical term that I don't remember}. What could be causing this inflammation? Oh, probably your Crohn's. Great, I am so sick of having this disease, it is interfering with literally every part of my life. I can't even wear contacts for crying out loud. It is times like this that I really get frustrated. I have the restricted diet and social awkwardness used to already, but seriously, I can't even have the choice to not wear glasses. My doctor said we could find a solution to my being able to wear contacts again even if I have to have the (very expensive) daily disposables. He also wants me to start on Restasis. You know the commercial- twice a day, everyday. I did my research and there are few side effects and most people say it actually helps, the problem is though, it is classified as an immunomodulator and that is exactly not what I want to take while on SCD. Since it is topical though, and meant for the eyes I wonder if it would really have that much effect on my gut? I would really appreciate your thoughts on this. Is anyone else on SCD and Restasis? Or SCD and an eye medication at all? Thank you in advance.

Easy Crock-Pot Fajitas (scd, paleo)

I like to consider the weekends my "days off" from cooking. Basically that means I try to get as much cooking done on Friday as possible, so that come Saturday and hopefully Sunday, I don't have to spend my weekend being a slave to the stove. Thus, when I come across scd-friendly slow cooker recipes I tend to try them out. Enter Crock-Pot fajitas. I found this recipe on Pinterest. I had everything to make it, or so I thought. I proceeded to slice and dice away and then as I opened the package of free-range chicken I smelled the most terrible smell. Not even the sell-by date yet and my chicken was spoiled. Gross. So what then? Thankfully I stock my freezer well. I threw in a frozen turkey breast and called it a day. Turned out really good, I'd say. And my non-scd husband didn't mind it either. I consider that a win.

4 chicken breasts ~ or 1 large turkey breast/ a few turkey tenderloins
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 lime, squeezed.
2 Tbsp. cumin
2 Tbsp. chili powder (read the label/call the company)
1 cup water

Throw everything into a crock-pot, veggies first. Turn on low heat for at least 8 hrs. Shred meat and dunk in juices. Serve.

*I suggest using taco toppings like hot sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. You could easily turn this into a burrito, even using lettuce wraps. (I'm gonna try that next time).

Blackberry Honey Butter Cake

I have finally gotten to the point of baking with almond and coconut flours that I don't really need a base recipe to go by, I can pretty well tell by how the batter looks if the consistency is going to turn out right. This is one of my very first entirely original creations. I really wanted to make it in a bunt pan since I think it would have looked *prettier* but since I do not have one, I made a pie dish work. I hope you like:

1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
6 eggs
1 cup honey
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 stick butter

1 (12 oz.) container fresh blackberries
1/2 cup honey

Melt butter in bowl, add flour, baking soda, eggs, and honey. Stir well. pour 1/2 of batter into baking round. In separate bowl mash blackberries with a whisk and add honey, stir. Pour blackberry filling into round, covering the bottom layer. Pour remaining batter over top of blackberry layer. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until set.

Either reserve some blackberry filling to start, or make additional. Top cake slice with a thin layer of yogurt and then a layer of blackberry honey.

Yumm...

(p.s. be careful not to over bake with coconut flour. It cooks much faster than wheat flour and when too done it turns gummy and dark)

Famous People With Crohn's Disease

A while ago I had heard that JFK had ulcerative colitis while in office and I thought that was interesting. Not too often do you think of famous people having ordinary health problems. On Pinterest today I came across this little article that shows eleven celebrities that have Crohn's. Surprisingly I actually recognize some of the names/faces. Thought you may like to know too...

Mango Berry Summer Smoothie (scd, paleo, Vitamix)

I planted three fruit trees today- two apple and a peach. I am excited. I know they won't bear any fruit this year but they are already pretty big so I am hoping that next year they will get some buds. In any case, it's also 90 degrees outside with relatively high humidity, so when I came back into the house after digging holes in the ground I needed something to cool me off and boost my energy. This mango berry smoothie really hit the spot. Here's what you need:

1 ripe mango, skin on
1 medium apple, skin on
1/4 cup frozen dark cherries
1/4 cup frozen wild blueberries
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/2 cucumber
1/4 cup water or coconut milk
2 or 3 cups ice

Throw all of the above into the Vitamix- with the exception of the pit of the mango and the core of the apple. Start on variable speed 1 then increase to 10, then turn on high for about 30 seconds. You will need the tamper to push everything into the blades at first.

Then just pour & enjoy...

Bread-less Sandwich

Who ever said that a sandwich has to consist of bread? Okay, so maybe by very definition that is indeed what a sandwich is, but over here in scd-world I consider a truly bread-less sandwich to be no less of a 'wich.... or sand? I know this recipe may seem overly simple, or just another way to make a salad, but when I think of salad I think of a large bed of leafy greens and some kind of dressing, which requires a lot of work. Salad dressing to me is another step that I have to take in preparation, which I don't always have a lot of time for. Also, salads don't have pickles. Cucumbers- yes, pickles- no. In any case, whatever you want to call this. It's good. The idea just came to me, you don't need bread for sandwich toppings, condiments, and meat- you just need, well, all of the above.

1/2 chicken breast (use your left overs!) sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
1 pickle, sliced
About 1/2 cup baby spinach leaves
Some cheese (I prefer Monterey Jack)
Some mustard

Throw all of the above ingredients together in a bowl or on a plate. Eat.

Seriously, it's like eating a sandwich but without the pain; I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before.

Brown Butter Caramel Candies

So lately I have been having crazy cravings for, of all things, candy. I know there are plenty of sweet things I enjoy already, like fruit, but nothing really fills the craving for candy except for, well, candy. Since I do not currently have a large variety of ingredients nor the energy to experiment with recipes, I decided to make a tried & true favorite of mine- caramel. Literally cannot tell the difference between this one and the one made with traditional refined sugar cane. So for those days your sweet tooth is really itching or you just need a comfort candy try this:

6 Tbsp grass-fed butter
2 Cups honey
3 Tbsp yogurt
Sea Salt

In a saucepan melt butter on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring very frequently. When the bottom of the pan starts to show brown butter (it's very distinctive, in little bits) immediately take the pan off the heat. Then add the honey and place back on heat for about 5 more minutes. Then add the yogurt. Stir well and constantly for 10 minutes. If it starts to get very dark brown or starts to smell burnt immediately take off heat and pour into glass dish. Let cool. Sprinkle lots of sea salt all over. Cut into desired shapes & eat.

SCD- Legal Organic Hot Dogs (Applegate Farms)

I have known about these hot dogs for a while now, and let me tell you, few things have come to the rescue as many times as these yummy staples. In my opinion an SCD-er's worst nightmare is to have no meat thawed out for dinner, no beans pre-soaked, no trustworthy restaurants in town, and feel too sick to run to the store to buy thawed out meat and then take another hour to cook it- AND your starving all at the same time! Sadly, I think we all can say we've been there. Cheating just isn't an option, but it may not seem like there are many others. That is exactly why I always have at least one package of Applegate Farms Organic grass-fed beef hot dogs in my freezer. I wouldn't recommend them for beginners of SCD right away, since the less "processed" (a.k.a. handled by other people before you eat it) the better. But, I have never had any problems with these hot dogs and I would say I'm pretty sensitive. It's nice to be able to enjoy a good-ol' fashioned hot dog with mustard and a pickle every once in a while. And with summer around the corner, maybe smoke them over a bonfire? Ummm, warm and toasty!

The ingredients are as follows:

Organic Grass-fed Beef, Water. Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Sea Salt, Organic Paprika, Organic Dehydrated Onion, Organic Spices, Organic Nutmeg Oil, Celery Powder.

There are few companies, especially in the food industry, that are trustworthy. However, something about this company makes me believe what they say. Visit the website and let me know what you think.

I wish I could find a store near me that carries their deli meats and other products, there are some of those that seem to be SCD-legal as well. Life would be so much easier. But for now, I'll be grateful for these hot dogs.