Ever since doing that detox earlier this year I’ve been really trying to only eat healthy foods, and avoid the foods that bloat me. For everyone this is different, but for me potatoes, soy, dairy, and processed foods are culprits that I still eat, but try to do so only when they are the best option available. On that detox I learned what it feels like to not be bloated, and it feels good! For all you people out there who can eat whatever you want without consequence, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. For the digestively challenged, bloating is a way of life. So, a few days ago I noticed not only was I bloating a lot, my stomach was uncomfortable in a new way, but a way I remembered from years before. It definitely couldn’t be gluten this time around, so I got even more serious about (mostly) just eating whole foods, and yet the tummy problems just continued, and even got worse. I finally made a doctor appointment, fully expecting them to tell me yet another food allergy had surfaced, but before I even got to the doctor’s office I realized in my whole foods diet I had suddenly been eating a lot more dried fruit, specifically mangoes and tomatoes. There is this awesome dish that PCC’s deli makes which I’ve been making at home for a couple of weeks now and have been overly enthusiastic about the sun dried tomatoes. The recipe is here: PCC Texas Quinoa Tabouli and as long as you eat it in moderation it is quite healthy. The doctor agreed that my symptoms were most likely from the uptake in dried fruits I’d recently added to my diet, and further explained that those were highly acidic foods and that although I’d never experienced heartburn, some people have the acid issue lower down. That makes sense, especially since I once went a little overboard with dried apricots and had similar gastric issues. So much for trying to be healthy. I suppose the lesson here is moderation, which is hard when sun dried tomatoes are so darn good. Oh well, at least she didn’t tell me to give up coffee, although she did say to cut down a bit. Is tea acidic?

We may have done the whole “spring forward” thing, but around here the first part of that message was not received. It is cold, windy, rainy, and most definitely not spring-ish, besides a few flowers that couldn’t wait in the cold ground anymore. I don’t blame them. There are some buds around town, such as in the entire parking lot at the Redmond Library which is filled with trees donning pink blossoms, unfortunately the grey sky does not show off their radiance as well as a blue sky would. Explaining ‘spring forward’ is an especially hard task to do for a child who is perpetually here and now as my older son is. He had a very hard time learning that there were days of the week, that meals had specific names, and that he lived in a city that resides in a state in a specific part of a certain country, etc, so the idea that we have moved forward an hour naturally throws him. “So, it’s spring now?” “Where did the hour go?” “Do we have an hour less of school?” These questions do not seem so extraordinary except they were asked two days in a row (so far) and always before I had a chance to take in my morning coffee. We then had another conversation about time that went equally as well, “What is 200 years ago? Is it like, the dinosaurs, or Romans, or what?” I tried to think of something he’d understand, which in our particular house means answering, “It’s like Sherlock Holmes.” “WHAT! No way. 200 years is way too long ago for that.” “OK, it is a bit long ago~ Sherlock would be later 1800s but 200 years ago was 1812.” “No way.” “Really it was. 100 years ago was 1912, and 200 years ago was 1812.” In disbelief he shook his head and walked away. Can I just have my coffee now, please?

The detox was good, but definitely had different results than the more extreme ones I’ve done before. My previous experiences have been infused with feelings of euphoria and clear-headedness that I just never achieved with this Whole Living version. But, with that said, they make a point of saying that the detox is meant to be a life change, a way to live, not an experience to be done and then completely forgotten until the next time, and in that respect, it worked. There are now several meals that I incorporate into our weekly meals, such as the roasted root veggies with beans and roasted cauliflower with almonds. I’ve never really eaten sweet potatoes, but now eat them almost daily following their recipe. Also, just the idea we can have a filling, starchy meal that does not involve a grain or a potato was enlightening, as I feel much less bloated eating veggies than anything else. I’ve also realized I thought I used a lot of olive oil before the cleanse, but now I use a lot more, and a quite a bit more nuts too. When I was doing the detox I was inspired to plan out my weekly menus, but that has not stuck. It should. Maybe I’ll give that a try today since it is Sunday after all and a good day to menu plan. It certainly makes shopping easier when you know what you are going to be making. So, all in all it was definitely worth it, but could be cut shorter for the same benefits.

So, the new recipe is a hit. So much so, that next time the only thing I’m changing is doubling the recipe because these went fast! As I said in my first post on these, instead of brown sugar I used organic cane sugar. I only used 2 tsp of cinnamon this time, though I might use half a tsp more next time, and I added about half a cup more of pumpkin.These scones were not too dry, just sweet enough to tempt my sons, and full of vitamin A (from the pumpkin) plus cinnamon which is said to balance blood sugar. My sons do not need to eat gluten free, but I do love having them eat alternative grains when I can. We could all use a bit more variety.

I just became aware of an Italian restaurant in Kirkland that is very aware of gluten ingredients and has brown rice pasta that can be substituted in any pasta dish! The name of the place is Lucia and I haven’t been there yet, but as soon as possible I’ll be trying it out. As much as love Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern food, among other genres, Italian is the one food nationality that I could eat every day, which might seem like a sad fact for a gluten intolerant person, but actually, as Lucia obviously knows, gluten free pasta is pretty good. And so is gluten free pizza crust. And the rest of the ingredients are usually fresh veggies or sauces from straightforward once in the ground real foods, like garlic, basil, and tomatoes. There’s risotto and cannellini beans and pine nuts~ oh my! and so much more. Even in Italy (I’ve not been…yet) they are widely aware of gluten intolerance and there are websites that list restaurants that cater to the gluten impaired with plenty of choices (according to Rick Steves’ office that knows everything about these things.) Anyway, that’s my happy news for the week~ despite snowmaggeden as the clever media has been calling this snow/ice craziness that has kept us inside for days~ once the great Northwest thaws, there will be Italian food waiting.

The detox is going pretty well although I craved beans all last week and really wondered why we could eat nuts and seeds but not beans. Yesterday, which should have been our last day following week one’s guidelines my husband and I made a joint decision to ‘cheat’ and have an Indian meal of rice and dal. It was, as you might expect, the best rice and dal either of us have ever had. But, to be honest I did feel kind of off’ last night and wondered if there was gluten in the restaurant food…? I was fatigued, head-achey and cold, all my classic wheat symptoms. I don’t remember that ever occurring before with that food, so maybe it is a reaction to restaurant food vs. the very clean, known food I’d eaten all week. Whatever the reason, I feel better today and more motivated to stick with the detox plan after having a little cheat meal. For lunch this week I made the red lentil soup recipe which looks excellent. Since I already ate some beans yesterday, and today in the form of roasted chick peas, I ate the last of the butternut squash soup for lunch and it, like any soup, tasted much better every day from its creation. As for the results of week one, the most visible bodily result has been our skin. We both can tell a difference in the quality of our skin (for the better) and I’m sure it has a lot to do with all the olive oil, nuts and seeds we’ve been eating. We both seem to have lost a little weight, though we don’t have a scale so I can’t be sure. Nothing dramatic, probably more water weight than anything b/c we aren’t taking in allergens or processed food. For me, I have definitely been more mindful about what I crave and when, and also how what I eat makes me feel. (For the record, butternut squash soup makes me feel warm and wonderful.) This detox has also made me realize how often I snack all day instead of making real, healthy meals. In the future I am going to try to plan out the week’s meals, think about ingredients, and try to make things ahead of time as I’ve been doing on this cleansing plan. That should also help with my constant need to go to the grocery for just a handful of items practically every day. So, only two more weeks to go…

January~ the time for renewal, resolutions, and reinvigorating the body. I was actually fairly lame about the whole New Year’s resolutions thing this year, more just thrilled that 2012 was going to be a dragon year than really thinking about changing anything. Then I happened to look at Whole Living’s website and got sucked into their detox. The recipes looked so good, and it seemed like such a beneficial idea, that I talked my husband into doing it too. We are on day 2, and so far the recipes have been delicious. The butternut squash soup was quite a good lunch, and snack of toasted nuts/seeds/ and dried fruit is better than any trail mix I’ve bought from a store. But dinner was absolutely awesome~ it was roasted cauliflower and red peppers with toasted almonds and parsley on top. Both my husband and I were more than pleasantly surprised by how good it was and agreed it should just become a regular meal in our lives. The one thing we cannot do for the detox is give up coffee. We both tried on day 1, but after I caved in the early afternoon my husband felt he could too. If I am ever going to give up caffeine it will have to be someplace where I have no responsibilities b/c functioning without it is just not possible. I figure as long as we are eating healthy foods all week that is better for our bodies than not doing anything at all.

This is actually a work in progress although they turned out pretty good, it was my first attempt at it and next time I will try to tweak the recipe a bit. I used the dry/wet proportions from Flying Apron’s blueberry cinnamon scones, just to give credit where it is due. Here’s the recipe:
2.75 C + 1 T of oat flour 
1.5 C brown rice flour
1 t baking pwdr
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 sea salt
1 T cinnamon
1 C canned pumpkin
1/2 C canola oil
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C almond milk (or rice, soy, hemp, whatever milk you like)
pinch of nutmeg
2 flat baking sheets lined with parchment paper

 Combine the dry ingredients (except the sugar) in a bowl. In another bowl start mixing the sugar and pumpkin with an electric mixer. Add the oil. When thoroughly mixed, start adding the dry ingredients alternately with the almond milk. Once everything is smooth, chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, then either roll the dough out on brown rice flour and cut into 8 wedges of the circle (cook half an hour at 375) or, spoon smaller amounts onto the baking sheets (lined with parchment paper) and bake at 360 for half an hour. The latter is what I did b/c the former way just makes too big of a scone, especially for my sons. They like these~ but here is what I learned from this first attempt. These taste very much of cinnamon, not at all pumpkin-y so next time I might use less cinnamon and more pumpkin. These also are not very sweet at all, which I like, but next time I think I will use organic cane sugar instead of brown sugar. These are also on the dry side, but I think adding more pumpkin will help that enough that I won’t change the other liquid amounts. As long as the kids like them they are fulfilling their purpose as I wanted something for them to eat with alternate flours and the vitamin A from the pumpkin, and also as my sister reminded me the other day, cinnamon helps balance sugar which is a good way to start the day~ balanced.

I used to give classes on herbs and more accurately, doing things with them. Recently I went searching for my PowerPoint presentations with the classes on them but they seem to go the way of socks, Lego pieces, and the last bite of chocolate~ disappearing without a trace. Before I totally lose my memory which has become completely unreliable ever since having children (my memory has been replaced by a  ‘momery’ which prioritizes where hats and rhomework are and completely lets the long-term go) I thought I better write down, again, some of the information in a follow the steps kind of pattern. So, below is one way to give yourself a facial in the privacy of your own home, with ingredients that you handpick. One word of caution, if you have never had a facial before it does get rid of the top layers of skin and pulls out impurities, therefore if you have any blemishes about to bloom, a facial will generally take them to volcano phase fast. But then they are gone and the rest of your skin looks so silkily gorgeous that no one will notice anyway. OK, so,
Step 1: Use a facial scrub. If you don’t have a scrub (you should use one at least once a week, but twice is better) then you can use sugar. Aestheticians will surely disagree, b/c it is best to use smaller particles for scrubbing~ sugar is too big for constant use, but if you have nothing else then it will do.

Lani took this of the papaya

Step 2: Scoop out the meat of a papaya and stir it up. Apply to your skin for about 3 minutes, then take off with a washcloth. This is a chemical peel. Seriously. Look it up.

Long arm-Lani (right) took this zombie-ish pic.

Step 3:Use a green clay mask. You can buy dry french green clay from any health food store or massage store. I get mine in the bulk section of Zenith Supplies in Seattle, but I have also found it in the herbal bulk section of Whole Foods. There are ready-made masks too, but I am just going to write out the barest, most simple ingredients. Into the green mask I blend in some oat powder and rose petals that have been through a food processor or coffee grinder (depending on how much I am making.) This makes the clay a bit softening and not quite so drying, but you certainly don’t have to do that. You can add yogurt (plain kind) or an egg or a drop of essential oil to the mask if you like. Wait for the mask to dry (it will be obvious, but about 10-15 minutes) then go to
Step 4: Boil water and put it into a big, wide bowl. Add a drop of essential oil or a tea bag (such as chamomile or green tea) if you wish, then steam your face by leaning over the bowl with a towel to trap the air. This can be intense so do not stay longer than is comfortable. Only do it for a minute or two even if it is comfortable.
Step 5: Add cool water to the steamed water and use it and a washcloth to take off the mask. Use upward, outward, circular motions starting under the chin.
By now your face is glowing and in top form. If you wish, you can add moisturizer, or a bit of olive oil if it feels too dry. But honestly, it will probably just feel perfect.

The days may technically be getting longer, but we are knee deep in darkness here, and it’ll be a while before that changes. I took my youngest out to the mall to do a return tonight around 4:30, of course the rest of Western Washington was also there so it was not the best idea I’ve had today, but we were able to get in and out fairly quickly although we probably bumped into more people that a ball does in a pin machine. When we were headed home, just shortly after 5:, the sky was pitch black, the rain was coming down hard, and the traffic was way too close and definitely not filled with Christmas cheer. Over the sound of the beating rain and honking horns my son wanted me to explain how rain falls. Twice. Again. It was so nice to get home and eat hot refried beans and rice and draw a warm bath for my inquisitive little one who asked for candles and bubbles~ he must have been feeling happy to be home and warm too. All this winter-y-ness has made me want to bake a casserole lately. I’ve looked at recipes and it seems there is good news and bad news. The good is that most recipes can easily be made wheat free. The bad news is they are generally ripe with meat. I suppose I can substitute tofu, or just look for vegetarian recipes, but the truth is my husband and oldest son would probably eat more of a meat filled casserole than one more suited to my more beany tastes. Maybe I’ll just pick a recipe and split it into two, one with meat and the other without. And my youngest can eat crackers and bananas, as per usual. Actually, I could probably make a casserole out of that~ grahams with bananas, almond butter and granola anyone? That reminds me, I got Kinnikinnick’s gluten free graham crackers and they taste absolutely like the real thing! My youngest actually liked them~ and they have a recipe on the back of the box for a yummy butter, brown sugar and almond concoction to top them off which I just might try in an effort to get him to eat some kind of nut. (What kid doesn’t like peanut butter…?! Mine.) Although he does love nut thins but those don’t have a ton of protein in them. They are my favorite snack too though, especially with a bit of cheese.