Productivity

Yesterday was a very productive day, starting, really with Monday.  I happened to go to Fred Meyer with the kids.  They had chickens on sale for 79 cents a pound!  I bought 5.  I know, I really should be buying pastured chickens and other meats.  I'm working on it.  I figure I'm working in stages.
Anyway.  I also bought  some ribs.  As soon as we got home, I put the chikens in my biggest stockpot and the ribs in the crockpot.  With each, I added some sea salt and pepper, and carrots, onions, garlic and celery.  I dumped the rest of my tomato sauce and a splash of cider vinegar on top of the ribs.
Yesterday, I deboned the chicken and strained the broth and had ribs for lunch.  Then I canned 7 quarts of broth in my canner I  hadn't had a chance to use yet.  I am LOVING my new stove I got at Thanksgiving.  That high btu power burner had that canner and stockpot humming in no time.  *swoon*  I then pulled out the rest of the ribs and put the bones back in the crockpot with water to fill and turned it on low overnight.  I'll probably freeze that broth as there isn't really enough to can I don't think.
So last night we had chicken salad (chicken, homemade mayo and Bubbies relish) and cucumber slices with mushroom soup on the side.  Tonight, its Cockaleeky soup.
Over dinner, M mentioned he was feeling better.  He couldn't quite verbalize how, but it made me happy.  During lunch, I thought I'd have another go at plain kefir.  I've become such a sugar addict, I could NOT make myself drink it without some sort of sweetener.  But I filled a small teacup and took a drink. Not too bad!  I finished it off no problem.   Hopefully that means I am making progress on the sugar front. I have Helios brand, which I've heard is good, but I still need to find some grains for myself.   It's almost always better and cheaper to make things myself.
So, with all this work, I am feeling like my balancing act is a little, unbalanced.  With 4 kids, one of them homeschooled and one of them missing preschool that is cancelled for the month, a 2 year old who thinks he's ready to potty learn and a baby, plus the food stuff, I'm wondering if housecleaning will ever be considered again.  It's never been high on the priority list, but that means I just haven't had any time for it lately.  I hear that after a while on the diet, many people experience an increase in energy.  Perhaps this will happen to me and I can use that energy to make my floors and bathrooms sparkle.  LOL
I have so much more to say in the blog too, but since I'm getting pulled on by a 2 year old and screamed at by the baby, I'll have to compose posts in my head again and hope they eventually make it here.

Point of Clarification

Just to make it clear, we are not doing the full intro on GAPS.  In fact, we're even cheating on the full GAPS a smidge, if you will.  I think the intro diet is a great idea.  I'd love to do it.  I just was too chicken to deal with the fallout of 3 people de-toxing all at once on this crazy diet while still needing to function through the rest of life. Scared stiff.  Yeah, that's a better description.
Still, I think it is having good results overall. So, we've been eating all home-made food.  Roasts, chicken, oodles of veggies.  Yogurt (which is really more SCD--semantics), sauerkraut, kombucha and some kefir are the source of most of our probiotics.  I need to go hit up the butchers in the area for bones so I can start my broth making operation.  And what do I see?  M did not fall apart as much this weekend as I thought he would.
See, last week I had to clear out his room of extraneous distractions. Such as his toys and MP3 player.  Oy, that was dramatic.  Today, when he wanted to know if he could have his MP3 player back and I said no, he didn't complain hardly at all.  Coulda fainted!
Hubby is  feeling pretty icky today, and I'm hoping its just the toxins moving through.  Hopefully he start feeling better tomorrow.  I think I'm doing a bit better, but it's hard for me to judge my own behavior accurately.
We went ahead and tasted the kombucha today.  The kids loved it.  It is still pretty sweet, which probably means the SCOBY didn't eat all the sugar.  Ooops,.  But that did make them want more.  G is already my kombucha kid, it's just M I need to get on board.  And he and I have been talking about how if he would decrease the pickiness a bit, the diet would be easier.  The biggest challenge I have with him, is getting him to eat more fats.  I'm sure it will get better.
Tomorrow, I need to make new menus and grocery lists.  Oooh boy.
I almost forgot to tell you about dinner.  Yummy.  I realized that one of the kids favorite ways to eat fish is GAPS legal.  And easy!  We put a couple of salmon or steelhead fillets in the pan, sprinkle them with salt and a curry blend and pour coconut milk over it.  Cover and simmer until done.  It is just the right amount of creamy.  For the veggies, we had carrot slaw.  Homemade mayo with shredded carrots, some cinnamon and a few raisins.  And I whipped up some guacamole real quick as it was a very yellow meal otherwise.  ;-)

Freshly bottled kombucha

This morning I got my kombucha all bottled up.  This is my first real batch, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I went to bed the night before a little hungry, proceeded to nurse the baby a bunch, and woke up naseous.  I have a bit of trouble with my blood sugar anyway.  I've learned the hard way never to fast!  And here I did it unknowingly.  I spent the morning very ill.  I recovered, and then  played catch up the rest of the day.  Cuz I'm a mom and all that.

So, lesson learned.  Eat more.  Eat more fat with more food. Check.  I've done much better today.

This morning's breakfast was fried eggs with avocado and a sort of tzatziki sauce.  Basically yogurt, cucumbers, salt, lemon juice, dill and salt.  I drizzled my food with olive oil.  I  snacked lots during the day.  Dinner was steak and butternut squash "fries" with sauerkraut on the side.

I still didn't do too hot on the drinking water thing.  I was very impressed with C though.  Today was his birthday (hence the steak dinner) and he did great.  I was worried he'd be super disappointed about the menu restrictions, but he's been just awesome.  What a guy.  :-)

And now, I must go back to my knitting.  I have a new sock pattern.  Can't beat something new to hold my attention!

My mad scientists lab

I feel like a Mad Scientist!  10 or so years ago, when I started cooking foods for M, I had to come up with all new recipes.  This food allergy thing was still really on the fringes, and the internet was not was it is now.  I did find some very helpful groups, but I was mostly on my own.

Fortunately, now I have a couple of SCD books and there are lots of good webpages.  I even found the Yahoo group for GAPS diet help.  Phew!  It is a really busy group too.  The upshot of that is there is no shortage of information.  The downside of course is that there is so much information it is hard to sort through all of it.

One thing I have learned and really resonates with me, is about fermented foods.  For most of human history, fresh food was scarce.  Sure, you could butcher that animal, or gather those roots, but it would only be fresh for a very short period of time.  Then what?  You weren't going to throw it all out! Not after all the trouble to procure it in the first place.  So you preserved it somehow.  We think of drying or salting, but by and large, people counted on the friendly local bacteria to do that job.  After all those millenia of consuming local bacteria, our bodies have become dependent on them.  We are symbiotic beings!  Isn't that cool?

Fast forward to modern Western society where we have germophobia big time.  Without our bacteria friends, we are unable to synthesis key nutrients or fight off the bad guys that enter our system.  Essentially, our digestive system is a wimp and needs "big brother" microbes to defend it.  In kids like M, who've had a host of issues, it is pretty obvious that the microbes got beat out a long time ago.  That leaves the door open for not-so-friendly bacteria to move in.  They release toxins and cause all kinds of trouble needless to say.

Now, I could give M a pill.  And that would help some.  But there are 2 main problems with that.  First, no pill has everything, and is mass produced, so it's lacking in the "local" part.  But the best defenders against local bad guys are the local good guys.  They know their opposition!  Secondly, the price!  Oy!  They price!  I could easily spend over $100 a month on just probiotics.  I think not.

But cabbage, now that's pretty cheap stuff.  And around here, it grows pretty much all year.  If I shred it in the good old food processor, toss it with a goodly helping of sea salt and pack it in a glass jar, I get yummy saurkraut, full of powerful local good guys!  And I'm not limited to cabbage.  Pretty much any firm vegetable can be fermented.  Well, grains too, but grains are out.  LOL

Then, in the not-so-local realm, are things like dairy ferments and kombucha.  I have been making dairy yogurt for all but M.  He's been eating some store-bought goat yogurt.  I started the dairy yogurt from some Stoneyfield Farm yogurt.  I described this process last post, but one thing I neglected to mention is that GAPS/SCD calls for 24 hour yogurt.  So I let the yogurt culture for 24 hours instead of the regular 6 or whatever.  This ensures that the lactose is mostly used up.  It also makes a firmer yogurt.  It's yummy, especially with some cucumbers.  Mmmmm

The kombucha has been my big project.  It is a bit involved, but the good guys that make up kombucha are really fairly complex and really, really good.  Some people claim to have cured their cancer by drinking it!  Here is a link the Wikipedia article on kombucha and the Synergy page, which is the brand of kombucha I used as my starter.

So my process went like this:

Purchase Synergy Raw Kombucha. and empty 1/2 the jar's contents (trying to get some of the stringies especially!) into a clean glass bowl.

Cover with a light towel and set aside for about a week, or until a film develops on top.

Brew up a quart or so of Rooibos tea with plain sugar.  When cool, carefully add to the bowl. Recover and let sit another week.

At this point, the film had become a mass that was sturdy enough to lift.  Success!

I brewed up more rooibos tea and sugar, this time 3 quarts.  I used a cup of sugar for the 3 quarts.

Move the SCOBY (mass) and 1 cup of the brewed kombucha to the jar.  Cover and set aside.

The rest of the kombucha I poured back into the bottle (cleaned ;-) ) that the original came from.  Screwed on the lid nice a tight and let it sit on the counter for another 3 days.  Then I moved it to the fridge for a day to chill.  I prefer cold kombucha.  It was awesome!  Tasted quite a bit like store bought!

So, then I went and bought swing top bottles from the local homebrew supply store.  Like these.  My next step will be to bottle my big batch when it is done.  The kombucha can sit on the counter for a while, improving, until I'm ready for it.  That will save space in the fridge. The tight swing caps will help it build the carbonation.

I have a couple of experiements planned.  First, is to add dried fruit to the bottle for the second brewing.  That will give it a fruit flavor that should appeal more to C and M.  G and E love it straight, but they're not the ones on the diet. Go figure.

Next, I want to play  with alternatives to the white sugar.  Kombucha is older than refined sugar, so obviously it doesn't NEED it. I'm thinking apple juice or grape juice as part of the liquid.  We'll see.

So with all that going, plus soaking my seeds, I feel like I'm surrounded with bubbling pots.  Like a mad scientist.  It's kinda fun.

The bad news is that the diet is hard.  Especially on M.  I think he may be having some Candida die off issues.  He is having an incredibly hard time with his school work.  Concentration, normally very minimal on things he doesn't want to do, has flown out the window.  And the frustration tolerance is quite minimal.  i'm experiencing headaches as well.  I think part of M's problem really is low blood sugar.  He is fairly picky in that he's very addicted to sweets.  So he refuses to eat much of what's available.  He especially dislikes the strong fermented flavors.  He had a huge meltdown today.  But now he's making a smoothie, so hopefully that will help.

Last night we had pot roast for dinner.  Tonight is honey mustard chicken.  Chicken, honey and mustard with salt and maybe a bit of lemon.  And veggies.  Always the veggies.  Lunch has been mostly leftovers.  Breakfast, yogurt, meat patties and fruit for snacks.  Oh, I've been having fresh juice/yogurt drinks.  Can't get my guys on board with that yet for some reason.  One day at a time, right?

Diving In

Thanks Google Images

There is  no time like the present right?  Here goes!

I swear I'm gonna make those cards today.  I'll try to post a picture when I do.  So I managed to get up and make breakfast for C and myself.  I thawed some veggies and pulsed them real quick in the food processor.  Then I used them to make veggie scrambled eggs.  Really, veggies sauteed in butter and scramble eggs poured over the top.  Cover and cooked till the eggs are done.  I imagine that M will have leftover pumpkin custard.  I just followed the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can.  I accidentally left out the sweetener. I was going to use honey, but he can just drizzle a little over the top.  And he will probably want a hamburger patty.

I think it was rude of our Costco to stop carrying the big boxes of burger patties. I got the smaller package instead.  After I use up some of my freezer stash of fish, I'll get on the list for another side of beef.  I much prefer that.  It's kind of a matter of space and $ though.  Overall the meat is cheaper if you buy it from a local butcher.  But you have to pay for it up front.

Next I'm going to start a new batch of yogurt.  I learned a neat trick from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz.  A lot of people figure that the more yogurt you use as your starter, the better.  It makes sense right? More of the good bacteria beats out any baddies that might want to gain a foot hold.  But, yogurt is the result of a succession of bacteria.  If you start out with too much yogurt as your starter, you get a watery product.  Who knew?  So, this last batch, I just use a tablespoon of yogurt per quart jar.  It worked great!  I didn't measure and use exact tablespoon, just a scoop with a regular eat-at-the-table-spoon.

Then I will hopefully be able to finish my laundry.  But apparently I first have to get the middles started on some sort of project to keep them out of mischief.

The Plan

Plans kind of scare me.  On the one hand, I  like planning.  I like reading recipes or travel brochures or patterns. I love, LOVE to shop for things.  I love to dream about how its all going to go together.  But when it comes right down to it, I just can't follow through.  Oh sure, I make the food/sew the project/teach the lesson or whatever.  I just don't do it the way I planned.  Trouble is, when it comes to the GAPS diet, there isn't really much wiggle room.  And as far as I can tell, a lot of the foods I think M will be interested in eating take quite a bit of forethought.  No more rummaging around and throwing something together.  It will be too easy to fall back on illegal foods "just this once" if I don't have something ready.
A lot of my preparations so far have been practicing.  I've been making  yogurt, I've started making kombucha, I've bought a juicer and played with it.  I am trying to figure out how to work the constant rotation of soaking seeds.  But I have yet to make up a day by day meal plan. Perhaps all this practice is my way of getting ready to 'wing it' as I know I will.  My menu planning is leaning towards making lists of possibilities.  Maybe my practice should include one heck of a lot of freezer stocking!
Ohh, I have an idea!  I could stock my freezer/pantry/fridge and then have cards for the items on hand.  M would be able to draw out the cards he wants, giving him a sense of control.  A lot of work, but I think bribery may be the alternative.

In the Beginning

If you read my "regular" blog or my food blog, you know I am mom to 4 kids.  My husband and oldest son have food allergies.  So not only do I get to do all the fun stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), plus the homeschooling things, I also get to do much more than the average cooking.  Since the food allergies also seem to be linked to behavior issues in said oldest son, I also get to deal with that.
I stumbled across the GAPS diet some time ago.  It sounded like a good idea, but the book I actually read was "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and loosely followed that.  I say loosely because at the time, M was unable to consume eggs or any milks as well as nuts.  That made it hard!  It made a huge difference though.  Then we got pregnant, I ran out of energy and we bought a new house.  With buying, selling and gestating, I had no bandwidth for extra meal prep.
Now, we are settled in the house, the baby is  8 months old and I have a sliver of bandwidth for diet modifications.  I can see that we need it too.  I bought myself a copy of Gut and Psychology Syndrome and read it cover to cover.  Wow.  Very eye-opening.  It explains so many of my guys problems.  And a few of mine.  So here we go.
Sorta.  I'm on board in theory.  But it's scary!  Really, this is a drastic diet.  And not drastic in the way that if it were just me and I could just eat meat and veggies and eggs.  I have to do this for the kind of child it was meant for.  He has sensory issues.  He has an addiction to refined carbohydrates. He is scared of any kind of change.  Sound like the ideal kid you want to guide through a major dietary overhaul?  No, I didn't think so.
Hence the blog. As long as it's just me standing in my kitchen, I can make excuses and put it off for a long time.  But you, dear reader, live in my computer, which sits on my kitchen counter.  I'm going to pretend you are looking over my shoulder.  The idea in my head is to update the blog daily with a what we did and how it went.  Here goes.  :-)