HOLIDAY '13 RECAP - INSTAGRAM

FRAMED GIFT FROM HUBBY / 2013 ORNAMENT

     The framed gift was from a super cool new gift boutique in Newberg, Pulp & Circumstance. In full disclosure, Dan went there and picked out something entirely different and this is 1 item that we exchanged for. The actual gift he gave me was a necklace with a carved wooden bird. (Big points for putting a bird on it, and even bigger points for trying to buy me a present in a fancy stationary/gift shop with a toddler in tow, but it just wasn't something I would have actually worn. I will not suffer fashion to avoid hurting my husband's feelings. And really, he had no hurt feelings. He honestly said "I had to be quick! I had Raine!")

     The ornament was from a gift shop here in Carlton. I picked it because not only was it pretty...It lights up! That seemed fitting because Raine was so into THE LIGHTS! (MOMMY! THE LIGHTS!) this holiday season. ;)

RAINE & THE GINGERBREAD HOUSES / DONATION CARDS

     There is one business in particular in Carlton that is always fun for Raine to pass the shop windows on our way to the coffee shop every morning (GIANT HORSES! POODLE FIGURINES! FROGS ON THE SIDEWALK!) During the holidays Raine was extra enchanted by their festive items. GINGERBREAD HOUSES! GIANT SILVER PLASTIC SHEEP! NATIVITY SCENES! Not to mention a life-size retro SANTA outside the front door. Unfortunately, it is not a shop 'for minors.' There is wine tasting, just as there is wine tasting in practically every business in our town, so no toddlers. ;)

     I raised some funds and collected gift cards to send to five families in Washington that were affected by the tornado. These were the beautiful cards by Rifle Paper Co. that I bought and had the total pleasure of mailing the donations in.

CHRISTMAS MORNING / HOLIDAY BREWS

     It was absolutely hilarious to watch Raine open presents this year. He thought it was the most exciting thing, and yet was still a little bit unsure of it all, and what was happening exactly. He STILL doesn't know how to grab a present and just rip into it, despite three Christmases and two birthdays. But once you get the unwrapping started, he will certainly help finish! After his first few presents from Santa (including this clearly AWESOME Hungry Caterpillar puzzle --way to go, Santa!--) he started grabbing the presents from under the tree and proclaiming, "For me! For me!" After several more presents from family in Illinois, he started running around the room in utter excitement and stopping at the tree and screeching, "I am here! I am here!" And he would repeat grabbing presents and shouting "For me! For me!" Dude was jacked UP on Christmas! Ha!

     A favorite holiday brew of mine was Fireside Chat spiced ale by First Amendment. I also enjoyed one of Dan's gifts to me, the Experiment Ale (with Oregon marionberries) by Harvester, which was a welcome treat as I had changed by Christmas to a gluten-free diet. Additional seasonal brews we enjoyed this season were: Deschutes Jubelale winter ale

10 Barrel Pray For Snow winter ale

Fish Fish Tale Organic Ice Breaker winter ale

H.U.B. Abominale winter ale

Ninkasi Sleigh'r winter ale

Portland BlackWatch cream porter

 Widmer Brrr ale

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean*

*Dan's favorite ;)

DINNER BY LORRI / RAINE'S FIRST SNOW

     The weekend after Christmas, we enjoyed celebrating with Lorri and Carmen in their new home. She pulled out all the stops to give me a beautiful, satisfying gluten-free dinner. :) We had slow-cooked pulled pork with barbecue glaze, smoky black eyed peas, and gluten-free ham biscuits with a homemade honey orange butter. Raine was a huge fan of those biscuits and butter and I have to say, after two weeks of no baked goods (going gluten free) it was the BEST Christmas present for me. :) They were delicious!

     Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Yamhill County saw a half inch of beautiful snow for one day. :) Roads were frozen and it was hard to drive anywhere (we don't salt in the Northwest) but the scenery was worth it. Raine woke up that morning and was excited by the sight of snow. It was certainly new to him. He is very good at telling me what we are dealing with each morning, weather wise... I enter his room, turn on the light, and open his curtains. He proclaims: "Fog!" (Sounds like "F*#!*") "Raine!" "Sun!" And that day, I taught him, "Snow!" We are looking forward to our trip this weekend to Illinois when he can actually play in real snow. ;)    

The Elimination Diet

Morning smoothie

Fish, wild rice, shallots

Parsnip fries with thyme, rosemary, salt, & pepper

Effective Monday morning, 8:00 pst, I began an elimination diet. My typical breakfast (a soy chai latte and a bowl of plain instant oatmeal) was replaced with a hearty green smoothie (made with avocado, kale, chard, cherries, blueberries, and ginger).

I have been thinking about doing this diet for a while but couldn't seem to muster up the motivation, and probably, the belief in myself that I could do it. It is NOT for amateurs! LOL. In a recent post, I mentioned that I had removed dairy, soy, and peanuts from my diet to see if these foods have anything to do with my Fibromyalgia pain. I kind of got the idea from Sarah. It turns out little Anna has food sensitivities/allergies that created chronic pain in her body, just like the pain I had at her age--and still do. I also saw a new doctor and he suggested eliminating gluten because of stomach pain that I have been having for the past two months. My blood work came back mostly OK and the Celiac test was negative, so he diagnosed with me IBS (he literally told me it was just because he didn't know what was wrong and that is a nice umbrella diagnosis for these types of things--much like Fibro. Ugh.) Often testing negative for Celiac happens even if there is an intolerance or sensitivity, so he said a gluten-free diet was worth a shot.

I figured if I was going to stay off peanuts, dairy, and soy, and also eliminate gluten, I might as well buckle down and do a complete elimination diet. I had read about them online and when I researched them further, I kind of felt overwhelmed. I called up Sarah for advice and Ally for a pep talk. Sunday I chose a particular diet, outlined by The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, tweaked it a little because I am breastfeeding,* and made my grocery list and meal plans. I promised Dan that I would make my snacks and smoothies and avoid depending on him too much AND try my best not to be a crazy moody crabby lady.

I am allowed ONLY the following foods:

-brown rice/wild rice
-quinoa
-amaranth
-teff
-pears
-peaches, nectarines
-plums, apricots
-berries (except strawberries)
-cherries
-grapes
-figs (dried and fresh)
-mango
-kale, collard greens
-lettuce, spinach
-dandelion greens
-bok choy, cabbage
-parsley, cilantro
-sprouts (all types)
-brussels sprouts
-broccoli, cauliflower
-beets, carrots, parsnips
-winter squash (all types)
-yams and sweet potatoes
-avocados
-onions, garlic, and ginger
-sunflower and pumpkin seeds
-sunflower and pumpkin seed butters
-pine nuts
-mung beans, adzuki beans, lentils
-wakame seaweed, kombu seaweed
-nori seaweed, dulse flakes
-fresh herbs
-coconut milk
-coconut oil and olive oil
-kudzu, arrowroot (be sure its GF)
-guar gum (in small amounts)
-agave nectar and maple syrup
*-non-processed meats

I am NOT allowed:


-gluten grains and their flours
-gluten-free grains and flours
-potatoes, tomatoes, peppers
-oats
-yeast
-dairy
-eggs
-chocolate
-soy products
-corn
-mushrooms
-pineapple, papaya
-citrus fruits
-kiwi fruit, bananas, apples
-strawberries
-all tree nuts and peanuts
-all beans (except for mung, lentil, adzuki)
-sesame seeds
-refined sugar
-alcohol
-caffeine

After 14 days I will access how practical it would be to keep going an additional 7-14 days (WLNK recommends 28 days). After that, I will do phases of reintroducing foods such as soy, night shade vegetables, grains, and dairy. Dan is placing his bets on wheat. I have to admit that I kind of don't expect any foods to affect my chronic pain (even with Anna's success!) but I will be able to know definitively and not always wonder....

Anyway, it is the end of day three and I am really curious how this is going to turn out. I hope to have updates maybe every other day to keep track of what I eat, how I feel, and what this experience is like. I can tell you one thing: My savior so far has been Food Should Taste Good's sweet potato chips! ;)

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros

Classic Mexican (breakfast) dish. Fried eggs served upon lightly fried corn tortillas topped with a tomato-chili sauce, with refried beans and guacamole.

This sort of thing is right up Dan's alley, and his plate probably had a ton of hot sauce on it, too. However it was all a little too mushy for me...And for some reason I was spooked by the egg. It just seemed weird to have an egg where beans or meat should be! LOL.

Super yummy though! Do you like it?

My Name is Leah and I'm a Sugaraholic

Raine slept tonight from six to ten o clock. He is usually awake in the evening and ready for bed by 9:00. We didn't want to wake him tonight though because he has been sick with thrush and croup. I think his little body needed the rest. We might pay a heavy price for this. A price called Up til 2 am. We shall see. I have Raine until 11:30 tomorrow morning so I don't have to worry about getting us up and out the door early. So right now he is fed and happy, sitting in daddy's lap playing. I was able to eat dinner, talk to my mom and sister, and take a shower without acting like I was trying to break a world record. I have also been trying to write a bit all evening.

So, yes, thrush. Thrush is annoying. To specify, it is a yeast infection of the mouth for Raine and he gives it to me on my breasts by nursing. And then I give it back to him, etc., etc. In my new parent support group at New Seasons, I met a mama who had chronic thrush with her daughter. It was the first meeting and I was a little distracted but I do remember hearing how gosh darn stubborn that bacteria seemed to be. She had tried everything her doctor and her husband (a naturopath) could think of. The only thing she had NOT done yet was change her diet. She was intimidated at trying to cut out yeast/gluten and sugar. After Raine was diagnosed and we started giving him Nystatin four times a day, I started investigating what I could do to help heal my breasts and prevent passing it back and forth with him. The most popular advice I came across was changing my diet. April had a friend who kicked thrush in four days by changing her diet in addition to treating her baby and using vinegar on her breasts after feedings. I have faithfully used vinegar but have not been able to let go of sugar. The past few months I have been so addicted to sweets it is disgusting. I justified my junkie behavior at first by eating oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with flax seeds and brewer's yeast to help support my milk production. I started with great self control and enjoyed 1 cookie a day. But before I knew it, 1 was not enough. And then there was ice cream, fruit, angel food cake, whipped cream, Starbucks drinks, twinkies, Halloween candy, donuts...You name it. This past weekend, Dan baked cookies and it was OUT OF CONTROL. I couldn't stop at 1 or 2 or 3. Or 4 or 5. Tonight, I TOOK COOKIES WITH ME IN THE SHOWER. I sound like an addict, right? So I shouldn't be surprised I can't kick thrush. I have just recently cut out dairy because I wanted to see if it helped reduce Raine's gas pain and spit up. I thought it would be hard but once I found a few substitutes, it is OK. I miss milk, yes. I enjoyed tall glasses of milk with my dinners, Starbucks drinks, and ice cream. It seemed to help me keep my blood sugar stable and gave me calcium. Now I'm taking a vitamin and drinking fortified juice and alternative milks. I think cutting out sugar on top of dairy would be shocking at first (you would be surprised how sugar is present in EVERYTHING...Even my vegetable soup I had for lunch. WTF.) ...but worth it in the end. I've just got to DO it, and I can't seem to motivate myself. Tonight when we checked Raine's mouth after his feeding and giving him his medicine, there were still several very large patches on the inside of both sides of his mouth. Ugh. He has been taking Nystatin for 11 days now! I think we will give it until the 2 week mark and then I'm going to try Primadophilus powder for him and I will absolutely change my diet. And you will have to listen to me explain how the heck I am doing it. Ha! I have also started taking two tablespoons of probiotic acidophilus, a goopy gross base of pre-digested milk solids with something like 20 billion organisms that are "good" bacteria to balance things out.

Any other suggestions???

xoxo,
Leah

Fava Bean Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Perfectly light and nutritious for spring/summer, this is one of our favorite dishes. Found in Martha Stewart Living, you can print a copy of the recipe here.

From the article: "A garlicky fava bean salad brings together the abundant protein and fiber in beans and a slew of antioxidants from corn, cucumber, garlic, and parsley."

Yum!!!! It's perfect for everyone! And if you're vegan (or like me, the cheese-hating-weirdo) just don't sprinkle with feta cheese.

Menu September 3-9th

-Baked potato, asparagus, sweet corn, & applesauce
-Cauliflower bake
-Dan's Indian dish (eggplant, tomatoes, onions, & lentils in a punjab sauce)
-Veggie burgs in lettuce wraps with tomato & avocado, garlic fries
-Dan's brussel sprout dish (with garlic, onions, walnuts)
-Spinach & broccoli rice pasta with lemon pepper tilipia brushed in olive oil

Plus!!!


(Leah's new beer of choice! Dragon's Gold by Bard's Tale Beer)

Menu for August 26th - 30th

A short list this week since we will be spending Friday and Saturday night up at April and Jason's in Orting, Washington. Leah has also begun a gluten-free diet, which makes for really interesting grocery shopping. What is a vegetarian with a gluten-free wife to do?

-Good old fashioned spaghetti (with rice noodles), garlic bread, applesauce. (1 slice of garlic bread is Leah's freebie for the week, at least until we can locate gluten-free fresh bread.)

-Curry chickpea and tomato hash over brown rice, and something with pears.

-Fried bananas and our take on the infamous Portland "Whole Bowl," a comforting pot of rice, beans, salsa, garlic sauce, avocado, cilantro, olives, and cheese.

-Stuffed peppers, baked with fake ground beef, onion, pepper, chili powder, and hearty salads.

Snacks/lunches for Leah:
-Sea salt and pepper rice crisps
-Fruity-tooty salad (bananas, peaches, pineapple, strawberries & cottage cheese)
-Spinach, walnut, grape salad
-Chinese chicken salad
-Assorted gluten-free yogurts
-Celery sticks & peanut butter
-Morning blend juice
-Chicken poppy seed salad