If you're feeling hungry...

So instead of writing a research paper - I decided to bake. :)

Definitely a good decision.

Banana Bread

(gluten-free, nut-free)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs equivalent flaxseed sub. (or just 2 eggs, if you can have them)
• 1/2 c. melted refined coconut oil
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. agave syrup**
• 5 mashed bananas
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (I didn't have baking powder - I used a substitute: 3/4 tsp. baking soda mixed with some coconut milk and 3/4 c. agave syrup)
• 1 c. potato starch flour
• 1 1/2 c. amaranth flour (you could easily use rice flour, which is what the recipe actually called for)

** You can use honey or sugar.

Mix all of the ingredients together. Place in a greased pan and bake for about 50 min. at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy!

Difficulties/Lessons learned:

• This is a really hard recipe for dorm life. What I figured out is that it is possible to cook it in a rice cooker, but you have to leave the rice cooker on for hours and it makes it very dense and leaves the bread kind of goopy.
• The trick is to bake in thin layers, either in a toaster oven or in an electric skillet that has measures heat in degrees as opposed to settings. The skillet would make the batter more like eating a muffin-like pancake, but I think that it would work okay.

Overall: a success! Namely because I found a flour combination that works for my diet, and the taste was just like banana bread even if the actual baking process was difficult. The taste was the important part in my opinion, because you can always experiment with ways to make the baking process work better.

enjoy!

To Whom It May Concern:

I was able to have kefir this week! No, it is not some mystical hallucinogenic illegal substance that I recently discovered and experienced. Kefir is a probiotic beverage cultured from dairy. In laymen's terms: it's a more liquid version of plain yogurt that is full of good digestive bacteria. It is filling, delicious and easy to mix with other ingredients to create a variety of yummy dairy-creations. Why is this a big deal? It will be the first dairy product I will have successfully reintroduced (outside of butter) into my diet. I haven't been able to consistently consume dairy in several years, and it has been two years since I officially completely removed it from my diet.

I have also been craving sweet and baked goods lately, and wanted to pass on a recipe I found in an allergy-friendly cookbook last summer. The cookbook is titled "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet" and contains recipes that are Grain-free, lactose-free, and sugar-free. The recipes are easily adapted to accommodate allergens (particularly soy) that may be included in the recipes. If you struggle with gluten-intolerance or multiple food-allergies: I highly recommend this cookbook. I also found a blog that has a lot of similar recipes on it: Specific Carbohydrate Diet

I love this particular recipe and ate it often in a past life, but be warned that it does make a mess. Just trust me. It is worth the clean-up if you are craving sweet foods.

I'm going to type in the recipe as it was written, and insert my modifications in parentheses next to each step.

Hazelnut-Vanilla Pancakes

You'll Need:

• 1 cup of almond flour
• 1/4 cup of hazelnuts (I left this ingredient out)
• 4 eggs (substitute: 4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed boiled in 3/4 c. water until gelatinous)**
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Butter

**Boiled ground flaxseed acts as the binding agent needed for the recipe. This is usable in any recipe in place of eggs.

Blend all of these ingredients (except for the butter) together (recommended for a blender, but easily done by hand). The butter is used to fry the pancakes in; so butter up the pan! You then simply fry the batter. A tricky part that I found when frying the pancakes is that the pancakes tend to enjoy falling apart and giving you a minor heart attack as they do so - it's best to make them as thin and small as you feasibly can. The good news, is that even if they do fall apart while frying, it is easy to mold them into a small mound that you can continue to flip and fry until they are cooked. The almond flour makes them crumbly, but even though they may look...interesting, they are delicious.

Syrup:

• 1/16 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• cinnamon

The syrup is simple: heat the ingredients together (add as much or little cinnamon as your heart desires) for one minute. It is recommended that you do it in a pan, but you can just as easily do it in the microwave.

Delicious. You should try it at least once, even if you despise me for the mess that you will make :)

Tip(s):

• Wear comfortable shoes to lab, and understand that you will often require a heating pad after being on your feet in said lab all day.
• Study and write ahead of time. Procrastinating on a research paper will only end in trouble and madness.

Victory, Thy Name is Chuck!

The cook was down against EE, 5 to 498. Bedraggled, tired, bored and ill, she was at her wits end to come up with a plan that would assist her in the ultimate challenge: feeding herself a delicious meal. What was the poor young cook to do? All of her other attempts were washed out and overused, but something had to be done. In a desperate cry for help, she called out to her adoring mother, begging for inspiration. But alas! Poor Mum was out of ideas when such limited means were available. Heartbroken, the young cook had all but given up when Mum mentioned her plans for the rest of the clan: pot roast. In a flash of tactical genius, the cook dashed to the store to find the ingredients for adapting the recipe she had loved as a child. Surmounting her personal doubts, the young cook emerged seven hours later: victorious! The recipe had been perfected, and points were scored against the dragon that is EoE. Though still behind, the cook continues on, re-energized in her battle against the evil E.E.

I do enjoy a good story.

I really did find a wonderful adaption to one of my favorite recipes that my Grandparents always made when I was little: pot roast. Yes, it sounds somewhat boring and unappetizing, but I promise that it is flavorful and filling.

My latest and greatest: "Grandma Lynn's Pot Roast: E.E. style"

Ingredients:

• 1 Chuck Roast
• 5-8 Medium Carrots
• 4-7 Red Potatoes
• 1/2 White Onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder (optional)

Put some small amount of Grapeseed oil in the bottom of your crock-pot (just enough to wet the bottom - not too much) and place your chuck roast in the pot. Chop up all of your vegetables and dump them on and around the roast. Generously cover in salt, pepper and garlic salt. Pour in 1 glass of water (I adore precise measurements, don't you?) and make sure that everything is wet. Cover, turn on high for 6-8 hours or low for 8-10. Voila! The food is finished! I added extra salt and onion powder at the end to add an extra burst of flavor, but with or without these small additions: it is delicious.

Tips/Preferences:

• I like using a chuck roast, because it has good flavor and is a fattier cut. For sick children, you need as many good fats (like those found in good meats) as you can cram into a meal. It can be very difficult for E.E. patients (because of dietary restrictions) to keep enough fat in their diet. Ignore the social norm of buying leaner meats - you need the fat to keep healthy! Many people tend to view fat as bad - and in the way that most Americans consume it, this is entirely accurate. However, animal fat is good for you (in moderation; please don't be a glutton) and helps to put enough meat on your bones to keep yourself from appearing (and actually being) underweight. This will also help to ensure that metabolism and neural functions are working smoothly.
• Spend the few extra dollars to buy a good, big roast. It will give you more bang for your buck because of the extra meat, and you really need to use the antibiotic/hormone free/free range meats whenever possible. These are the meats/poultry that will really help to heal your digestive track.
• Remember, roast cooks differently - so the meat will still have a pinkish color when cooked. You'll know that the food is ready when the vegetables (particularly the carrots) are soft and the meat is easily pulled apart with a fork.
• If you accidentally add too much water, prop the lid open at the end of the cooking time and let it cook for approximately 30 extra minutes. The extra cooking time won't hurt the meal, and it will evaporate some of the water out so that the food is less like a stew and more like a roast.

The beautiful part about this recipe, is that it is the epitome of simple crock-pot cooking. It truly is as easy as chopping everything up and dumping it into the pot for several hours, with delicious results!

Tip(s) of the Day:

• Eat well. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it really can be difficult to force yourself to make the effort of cooking everything from scratch and cleaning the mess up afterwards. My roommates will be the first to tell you that oftentimes, I have to split the process up into two separate sessions to be able to handle the time and energy it can take. You will always feel better if you take the time (no matter how annoying) to make truly wholesome meals. Food is your medicine for your body; if you prepare wholesome things to put into your system, your body will thank and repay you tenfold. It's kind of like sleep...only I'm still working on, err....'perfecting' that part. :)
• Make a rainbow when you cook. You know that you are covering most of the basic nutritional needs your body has if your food is colorful. For example, a stir fry is most complete when it contains ingredients like: onions (white), red peppers (red), green beans (green), carrots (orange), garlic (because it is good for digestion), etc. Any sort of vegetable you can add to the color combination - do so!
• Use a buddy system for disciplinary/accountability purposes. It's hard to follow all the rules by yourself in most aspects of life, so make a pact with a friend or family member to hold each other accountable in your lifestyle.

I've got the 'caffeine patch'!

One of my favorite children's movies for the last few years has been "Meet the Robinsons", a cute but poorly rated Disney movie about an orphan's adventures with time travel. I think I like it because of the characters created in the film; there is something to love in all of them! My favorite is (without a doubt) Lucille Krunklehorn. Lucille is a scientist who is zany and fun-loving, eventually proving to be *PLOT SPOILER* the future adoptive parent of little orphan Lewis, an aspiring inventor. My mother has always teased me, claiming that my preference for this character was particularly enlightening and should teach me about myself, etc. At my initial viewing of this movie: I was a designated biology hater. If I had been in possession of a time machine and taken a spin to the present (about 2-3 years later), my mind would have been blown by my current situation. What was that?! A Biology major??!! I would have begun to question the contents of my coffee, suspecting close friends of slipping narcotics of some kind into my cream-and-sugar laced caffeine fix.

What is my point? My character preference is entirely appropriate for myself, the extent of which remained unrealized until much later. This week, however - I have redefined it in light of 'caffeine' and science. For the last few days...they have owned me.

Watch this clip, reevaluate your interpretation of my actions of the past week, and become an enlightened individual like my mother. Lucille Krunklehorn.

Caffeine has temporarily consumed my being, so that I may be capable of completing the sale of my soul with science (and theater...but mostly science). My doctor cruelly took my coffee and caffeine fix from me approximately 9 months ago, informing me that I was allergic (tears were shed) and caffeine was terrible for a sick individual like myself. Insert guilty admission here: I've been drinking caffeinated coffee all week. To relieve my offense, I will note that I was in the correct time frame for reintroducing coffee - but (though unspoken) I'm fairly confident he meant decaf. I finally slept last night and woke up this morning already contemplating the evils of the oh-so-delicious and addicting beverage, because I have discovered this week the truth of Dr. W's words: I am highly sensitive to caffeine in any form. To my surprise and delight I had an

email from a friend who sent me a link for a caffeine necklace! It is available for purchase at Think Geek (when in stock) for about $85. New favorite website? I think so.

I took this email as a message from God to ignore my lab notebook (due yesterday) to write an entry depicting the joys and sorrows of the most highly unacknowledged drug in American society: caffeine.

I did a wee bit of research, and discovered the following information that is associated with caffeine consumption:

Caffeine is a white crystalline xanthene alkaloid that acts as a psychoactive stimulant in the human body. Discovered in Friedrich Ferdinand Runge in 1819, it acts as a central nervous system stimulant that is currently found in most popular drinks and a lot of popular foods (like chocolate). You can't sleep because you're stressed? I'm sure it is completely unrelated to the ungodly amounts of chocolate (and sugar - though a different story altogether) you consumed right before heading to bed tonight. According to a couple of different websites (with different figures) 75 - 90% of American adults consume caffeine in some form every day.

It is an antagonist for adenosine (it binds without activating), and adenosine receptors are found heavily in the part of the nervous system that is involved in behavioral control.

Pros:

• Increases capacity for work and physical labor
• Increases alertness
• Decreases drowsiness/fatigue

Cons:

• Diuretic
• Can become addicting
• Can build up a tolerance - you'll begin to need more of it to feel the desired effects
• nervousness
• irritability
• anxiety
• trembling
• muscle spasms
• inability to control behavior - speech and actions
• disorientation
• mania
• depression
• insomnia
• headaches
• breathing problems
• heart palpitations
• peptic ulcers
• erosive esophagitis
• acid reflux
• it can even kill you

Now I grant you, some of these effects only occur after periods of over-dosing and long term usage...but they can be experienced even after two average sized cups of mild-strong coffee depending on your tolerance level.

Random Facts:

• Smaller people are (typically) more highly affected by caffeine intake.
• It has a healthy half-life of approximately 5 - 10 hours (depending on the individual and their specific circumstances). In laymen's terms, this means that if there are approximately 115mg of caffeine in your cup of coffee at 9am, you will still have about 60-70mg of caffeine circulating in your system at 2pm that afternoon. The caffeine will be present until at least 11 - 20 hours later. This spectrum is obviously taking into account the more sensitive individuals (like myself), but it still is something to consider before administering your self-prescribed 3pm 'pick-me-up', no matter what your size or situation may be.
• Children are much more sensitive to caffeine consumption.

I also found a list at Kids Health.org which provides information about caffeine content (on average) for a variety of foods and drinks...one or two were mildly surprising to me, I'll admit.

Once upon a time, I woke up at 6:30 am to finish my lab notebook. Approximately an hour and a half after sitting down to begin work, I have only finished researching caffeine and writing a blog entry. So much for finishing before Organic Chemistry today...oh well :)

Tip(s) of the day:

• Monitor your caffeine level intake, particularly if you have a disease or disorder that requires you to take a stimulant - the doubling up makes caffeine much more difficult to handle.
• Monitor your intake if you have a disease that increases your sensitivity to everything - oh, I don't know, kind of like E.E. does for me! I guess there was a real reason Dr. W warned me against it...

There's no place like it.

Home. Seemingly out of nowhere, I have been swept off my feet this afternoon by an enveloping blanket of the phenomena referred to as: homesickness.

So this post is merely a friendly wave, hug and kiss to my wee little munchkins and my pretty cool Mummy and Daddy :)

This last picture is from Christmas this past year (2009). To feel the full effect of the photo and the moment, please include a mental sound recording. If played out loud, this recording involves Mummy and Daddy yelling to try and enforce a SSaSC (Stand Still and Say Cheese) while simultaneously battling the ever fickle piece of electronic equipment we fondly call: a digital camera (or 'a piece of crap' if the moment is right). "I just want ONE good picture for your grandmother's Christmas card!"

As made visible by the struggling small child in my arms: the attempts were a struggle if not entirely futile, at best.

I love my family :)

Tip(s) of the Day:

• Hug your Mum and Daddy now, as well as any small children climbing all over your lap and the keyboard. These are the hugs and love that will carry you through a bad week. (No offense to Jesus or anything...of course He is involved in this too.)
• Coffee is delicious. Drink a decaf cup with stevia and unsweetened coconut milk...oh sweet delicious-ness. How I have missed and longed for thee.

It may seem too obvious, but...

You can't underestimate the value of water. I was sick over the weekend, and I learned very quickly not to undervalue some old-fashioned H2O ~ it quickly became my best friend in my attempt to heal my body. I often forget just how important it is to stay well hydrated:

• it can keep you feeling full (to fight the munchies - oftentimes, you aren't actually hungry but your body is thirsty instead!)
• wards off unwanted headaches
• reduces muscular cramping and side-stitches (when working out)
• in the event of an illness (or allergic reaction, if able to swallow properly) it helps to flush toxins and bad bacteria through your system so that you are able to heal, faster!

Another nifty little tip is to use baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) in water for an upset stomach! I'm not sure why it never occurred to me before, but it's the same as using tums without any flavoring or preservatives. For an individual who is sensitive to all manner of artificial flavorings, sweeteners, dyes and preservatives: this is a new lifesaver. It truly is as simple as adding 1/2 tsp. to 1/2 a glass of water. Et Voila! relief is yours for the taking.

To throw a little geek in your face, Sodium Bicarbonate is a compound present in the primary buffer system in the human body. If there is an excess of acid (upset stomach, heartburn, etc.), Baking Soda can serve to make the mixture in your stomach more basic. It does this by restoring the body's natural equilibrium and counterbalancing the excessive acid in the stomach. Pretty cool, huh? Okay...at least, I thought so. A word of caution! Like anything you take for an illness, be careful with how much you use! Too much can make you even more sick, so just be mindful to not overdo it.

Another amazing healing strategy for a sick body is: **trumpets blare** homemade chicken soup. This is one of my favorites, and is legitimately a beautiful soothing agent for an inflamed digestive system. The hot broth also contains excellent healing properties for colds and allergy-like symptoms. The hot liquid soothes your system, and if a good bird is used the broth contains all sorts of nutrients that are beneficial to a sick system.

This is my recipe that I currently use:

• 1 whole, raw Organic Free Range Chicken (this is ideal, and what I use; as long as the bird is antibiotic and hormone free though, it will still produce a decent broth)
• approximately 6-8 medium carrots
• 1/2 of a medium onion
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp oregano

1. Just combine everything (bones in raw chicken in tact) in a crockpot and cover with water.
2. If you turn the pot on high, cook the soup for approximately 4-6 hours. If you turn it on low, cook it for 6 - 8 hours.
3. Once the meat is cooked, turn the crockpot off and remove the chicken and ALL the bones, and place them on a plate. **see below for extra tip**
4. Let the chicken and bones sit on the plate for approximately thirty minutes (This is just to make sure it isn't too hot to touch, so if you want to challenge yourself, brave the burned fingers and continue onward!)
5. Remove the chicken meat from the bones - adding the meat directly into the crockpot, and throwing the bones away.
6. (Optional) I like to turn the crockpot back on high for about 30 minutes to make sure that the chicken and broth have really blended the flavors. I'm not entirely sure why, but the flavor seems to be better when I do this.

**The chicken will be falling apart, so be careful to triple check for bones that were left behind in the pot! I recommend (particularly if any wee munchkins will be eating the soup) that you sift all of the soup with a strainer or large spoon. The bones make for nasty eating, to say the least.

And that, my friends - is chicken soup! It's very hearty, and this particular recipe is (while flavorful) very gentle on even sick stomachs. I ate this soup all weekend, despite my upset stomach. For some reason, the chicken grease did not have a negative effect despite all of the acid eating away at my stomach and esophagus.

Some additions that I've used over the years (for more flavor/variety):

• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. basil (in place of oregano)
• a couple dashes of thyme
• 1 package of organic frozen peas
• 3 tablespoons of dried parsley
• noodles (added after the chicken has been de-boned; cook for 1 additional hour on high instead of thirty minutes)
• slightly cooked spaghetti squash (cooked well enough in an oven at 350 degrees so that you can get the squash out of the rind, but not so that it will be soft) added within the thirty minutes after de-boning (in place of noodles)

That, friends - is my favorite chicken soup recipe. I know that the blog entry makes it seem like a lot of work, but it truly is as simple as throwing the ingredients in the crockpot for about six hours! Pretty minor prep and post-cooking time. It will keep in your refrigerator for about 3-4 days, and freezes very well too. Other chicken and vegetable broths can be made using this same principle and frozen for later.

Tip(s) of the day:

• When all else fails, call your Mom. She has a magic voice and touch. Mummy makes everything better.
• Talk to your professors about things unrelated to school and the classroom. In addition to developing healthy relationships with them (and remember, they will be the ones writing recommendation letters at some point), they will become more understanding about hiccups you hit in your life.
• Clean your room as soon as you have overcome a sickness, if possible: it provides extra motivation for work and adds to the exhilaration of being able to leave your bed.