Two successful desserts!

I've tried out two new recipes in the past week. One that is from Swedish well-known foodie René Voltaire's book and the other one is my own invention (pretty proud actually). So here you go, have a try:

Pinaple Ricotta rip-off!

5 slices of fresh pineable without the peel
1 dl cashew nuts (soak before if you want a softer taste)
juice from 2 limes
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp raw honey (if you wish)
Half vanilla stick


Place all in blender, blend until completely smooth (I had to change from one blender to the juicer to do the trick). Place in small glasses and top off with fresh or frozen strawberries. Cool in fridge for an hour to get maximum taste out of the vanilla.

This was just sooo good! And our Argentinean guests thought it was Ricotta cheese! :-))

Rhubarb pie

For the crust:

• 2 dl walnuts (you can soak in water first if you want to avoid the walnut bittery taste)
• 0,5 dl pecan  nuts
• 0,5 dl almonds
• 3 tblsp ghee (or melted butter if you can handle milk)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• vanilla powder
• 50 g dates
• 1 egg

Add all ingredients except the egg in a blender. Blend until smooth dough. Add egg and blend a bit more. Place in the bottom of a mold and bake in oven on 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the rhubarb (I used two big ones) : peel and slice into a pot add water just to barely cover, if even. Add 100-150 g of dates. Cook until soft and mixed (the rhubarb should dissolve itself). Filter out the extra water. Add some sliced almonds (optional) and vanilla powder. Add this mix to the crust and bake in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Enjoy with cold whipped coconut cream!

Kombucha

I went to the better grocery store today and got myself a bottle of Kombucha (fermented green tea). It tastes like "sima" to me. Actually a bit too sweet for my taste these days, but I am sure "sima" would completely set me off.

The bottle said, "one small glass per day for seven days and then as much as you like. Not for children under five." Darn, I had hoped I had found a way to get the propiotics in to the place were they belong. But now - will have to keep on trying with the other stuff.

Again exhausted. Feels like a failure when  the children's friend is over for dinner and she eats two plates while my own kids eat nothing. Really, I need to get a grip...

Am I in the wrong field?

... when I become excited about this conferences...(should have studied medicine after all...)

Summer Meeting in Memory of the Late Dr David Freed Dr DLJ Freed Novelties and Controversies in Allergy and Hypersensitivity
Date: Friday 29th June 2012
Venue: Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU
Organisers: Professor Jonathan Brostoff and Dr Shideh Pouria

08.30-09.15	Registration and tea
Chairman:	Professor Jonathon Brostoff
09.15-09.30	In memory of David Freed - Prof Jonathon Brostoff
09.30-10.15	Gut mucosal response to food antigens - Prof Stephen Challacombe
10.15-11.00	Role of Lectins in Allergy - Dr Amir Ghaemmaghami
11.00-11.30	Tea
11.30-12.15	Relationship between raw milk and atopy - Prof C Braun-Fahrlander
12.15-13.00	Role of Adjuvants in Autoimmunity - Prof Yehuda Shoenfeld
13.00-14.00	Lunch
Chairman:	Dr Shideh Pouria
14.00-14.45	Metals and hypersensitivity reactions - Dr Vera Stejskal
14.45-15.30	Role of environmental factors in gene blocking and hypersensitivity - Dr John McLaren-Howard
15.30-16.00	Tea
16.00-17.00	Intradermal Provocation and Neutralization - Dr Doris Rapp TBC
17.00	Closing remarks and feedback forms

The future of the next generation - depends on YOU, woman!

This is so important. All you women about to start preparing to become a parent. Please, please, please, take this advice seriously. Start eating the right food. Cut the crap. Cut your sugar addiction, NOW. Do a detox. Start eating healthy foods!

 

 

And please WOMEN, please understand (sorry, I'll yell now) : IT'S NOT ONLY ABOUT OBESITY!

 Everything starts from your gut! Get you gut bacteria in balance. If your gut is healthy, chances are that your child will also be healthy... not stuck on sweets, not picky eater, no milk allergy, no ear infections, no ADHD, no autism...and on and on and on! So please, for the health of you future children, cut the crap out of your diet, evict whatever bugs might be residing in your belly and give the little one a higher chance of starting off healthy!

I know there's probably not that many scientific articles on this subject (and if there are, they are probably being hid away) but I just think it is better to be safe than sorry.

Acidity

This morning I woke up with the feeling that I need to figure out how to balance out the acidity of what I am eating. Haha, as if somebody heard my my thoughts,  I was served this fantastic article on the subject: acid-alkaline-tips-for-balancing-your-diet

To not to have to refrase, here the first extract from that link: "Almost all foods that we eat, after being digested, absorbed, and metabolised, release either an acid or an alkaline base (bicarbonate) into blood. Grains, fish, meat, poultry, shellfish, cheese, milk, and salt all produce acid. The mass consumption of these foods have caused our bodies to become overly acidic, which strips it of minerals."
 
In short, this process is harmful as you will end up with mineral deficiencies. To alkalize the body (neutralize it maybe is what most healthy persons should aim at) we need to eat more veggies and fruits. This is why raw food diets are so successful for many (particularly apparently cancer patients). It does the trick! Well, further into my day, my Facebook News feed was populated with this blogpost on the topic: raw-nice-and-easy.

I will be increasing veggies in my diet. I am already trying to make a green smoothie for hubby and me every morning (when inspired... as you've seen, there has been a dip in my inspiration lately). I will also try to add some more (green) veggies to the plate. I might even do a raw week this summer as local vegetables start populating our grocery stores again. But my concern is, yes, the children. I read so many different strategies on this one but I still have to confess, getting a 2- year old to embrace lettuce is no easy task. Or to make an almost 5 year old drink a deep green smoothie. Really bugs me, because I am sure the so much talked about D-vitamin deficiency (amongst other) could be cured if we found the way to trick the little ones into cheering with greens.

Have  a nice start of the week y'all!

Liberating Reflexivity

Made it home yesterday after a whole (work) week abroad. It felt liberating. From everything. I even allowed myself many treats. Staying with relatives and on top of that being involved in intense socializing with academia isn't exactly the place where I determine the ingredients on my plate. Coping strategy? As long as it wasn't wheat (or candy), it passed. It meant me eating rye bread (delicious!), vanilla ice cream, gluten free pizza (!) and to top it all off: a nice kebab + french fries lunch on Friday (this was my first real junk food in more than a year, I blame the previous night's dinner for that). Oh, and a lot of coffee. Didn't feel like the food affected me a whole lot. I hade much more muscle cramps than normal though (blaming the coffee) and ironically enough today my normal breakfast had me off balance for half a day.

Still, I had some strategies that DID work. Like my avocado/egg breacky on the morning plane. Or my two morning runs in a lovely park next to the place I was staying at. Or focusing on the topping of my glutenfree pizza when dining out at an Italian place with ONLY pasta and pizza on the menu. Or my snack on hazelnuts, dark chocolates and an apple (and wine and water) while my fellow colleagues enjoyed a Burger King meal at the airport yesterday evening (didn't really feel like another french fries plate on the same day...).

Except for this, this week has been liberating in more than one dimension. It has got me out of my home office bubble, given me the opportunity to debate ideas with people with similar ideas and this has led to a major leap in my work progress. Unbelievable really. But sometimes magic happens - even on abstract levels.

At home, hubby has kept the feeding business going. I've understood the kids have been behaving well and eating well (how do they do that? the fathers, I mean. How do they manage to avoid conflicts?!?!). Well, this just strengthened my conviction that I really need to liberate myself more often. It's good for all of us.

Next week, I'll be back in charge as hubby goes on another business trip for the whole week. Kind of practical from the perspective of the usage of our one and only car! And I'll be working my ass off again, day and night. So good for my adrenals...Well, one think I've learned this week is that it is all about reflexivity, being aware and reflecting upon it, it's the first step towards action (read on adrenals here: How to tell if your adrenals are fatigued)... so maybe one day I'll do something about it, hopefully before it is too late.

To hint a bit what is going on in my head after this week, I end by quoting Kennedy, yes the president:
 

“For the greatest enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” 

Post from abroad

I am away this week. The reports from home are so encouraging that I am considering staying away for a good while.

While kids are eating double plates at home, I am enjoying full summer and several glases of red every evening. And do I need to add that I bended my rules on food this week? Ok, no wheat, that is not a good thing to be experimenting with while abroad... but some rye bread - seems to be ok. Then some coffee....quit that today as I was cramping in the night in my legs and could not sleep properly.

I love fresh veggies....tell me again why we are living so far up north? Crazy, its all so green down here!