Plan Your Garden

Planting time is just around the corner! Plan now to buy some seeds or plants and enjoy yummy home-grown produce through the summer and fall.

My husband and I have a large garden every year, and always enjoy the delicious, fresh produce we get for almost free!

If you have some land you can plant a garden on, (or even a place on your patio that could house some pots) these are the fruits and vegetables we have gotten the most use out of:

Tomatoes - we like cherry tomatoes the best because they are the easiest for snacking, packed lunches, boiled down into sauce, or made into salsa and guacamole. Plus, they seem to always be tasty, as opposed to the larger tomatoes which can hit-or-miss flavor. You can freeze tomatoes for use throughout the year. They're great to add to a crockpot meal! Also, at the end of the season you can pick them green and let them sit indoors and ripen over a week or two.

Squash - any variety that can be boiled, scraped out, and frozen to use for pumpkin pie or pumpkin ice cream all year round is great! Winter, Acorn, Butternut, and pumpkin are all good varieties.

Melon -There are so many ways that you can enjoy melons in the summer. Popcicles, salads, and just alone as a snack are a few ideas. And what could be more summery??

Sweet Peppers - Sweet peppers are great for boiling down and making sauce with. The sauce is excellent over chicken! Just add a little water, salt and pepper to taste and you have a real winner! You can freeze the sauce in ice cube trays and then pop out into a gallon sized Ziplock bag for easy use. Remove a few cubes when you're making dinner and defrost in the microwave. Pour over chicken or any other meat and you have a delicous main course.

Bell Peppers - They can be de-seeded, cut into small pieces and frozen to use throughout the year. It cuts down on work as you make dinner, and saves a lot of money, too!

Onions - Because onions are so heavy, they can be expensive at the store. But plant them at the beginning of spring, and you will have enough onions for months to come! You can dice them up and freeze them for the coming year, saving both time and money.

New things are brewing...

For some time, we have been seeing the need for a special section on "How To Start the SCD." It is definitely not easy to gather all of the information needed, buy the right appliances and food, and know where to go for help if you have questions - especially when you're sick! So we are in the process of putting together a new page of the website which will address these issues (and more). It should be up on the website soon!

This past week we had a record number of visitors to the website: 1,024! More than 600 of them were new people. That is great news! I'm so excited that so many people are hearing about the SCD and that I'm able to help them on their journey to better health.

This week I have also been making and photographing some new recipes for some of the upcoming issues of the web magazine

I Want to Thrive! One is an absolutely to-die-for apple pie that has a flaky, totally "normal" crust! It's just what you might have eaten at your grandma's house growing up...old-fashioned, delicious, decadent goodness....Yum.

Another recipe that we're really excited to "unveil" in the May/June issue, is my husband's extremely authentic recipe for Enchiladas. When we were dating, he came up with them as a surprise after I'd mentioned that the one type of food I miss the most is Mexican food, and it was so delicious that I was a bit incredulous about whether it was really legal! :)

. . . So lots of new things are brewing at NoMoreCrohns.com!

Some new products

Over the Christmas holiday I was happy to find a couple more prepared products!

Tropicana is now making a 100% juice blend of orange and tangerine juices. It is so delicious! I love the more complicated flavor when the two juices are combined. We found it at Albertson's but couldn't find it at another grocery store, so you may need to look around a little to get ahold of it.

The second product was pure vanilla extract from Smart & Final (which has stores in some western states). It contains water, alcohol, and vanilla bean extractives. It is a great price, too; around $6 for a 16 fl. oz. bottle, and around $13 for a 32 fl. oz. bottle. We stocked up!

Looking forward to Christmas

I'm really looking forward to being at my parents' house for Christmas. One of the fun things I look forward to when I go home is all of the yummy food my Mom has made - that I can eat! It's a rare treat not to have to cook my own food!

One of the delicious Christmas foods she's making this year are Sugar Plums. She found the recipe in a magazine last year and the only thing she had to adapt from the classic recipe is that they are rolled in almond flour or unsweetened coconut instead of sugar.

If I wasn't on this diet I probably would never know what exactly Sugar Plums are. We've all heard the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas" which has the line "and visions of Sugar Plums danced in their heads." Whenever I heard that part of the poem I never stopped to think of what Sugar Plums really are...

...And I really should have earlier, because they are so good! They have a sweet and spicy flavor, coupled with a hint of orange that is so Christmas-y. One great thing about them is that they can be made up to a month ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. That makes them even more attractive in the busy Holiday rush. And the longer they're stored, the more the flavor of the spices blend together and the better they get!

I would highly recommend making some of these treats now and storing them for the Holidays so you'll have some easy, decadent treats for yourself to thoroughly enjoy at Holiday get-togethers.

Together with the other delicious Christmas recipes on the Holidays page, you will be enjoying an enviable feast when the Holidays roll around!

Cooking Squash

Squash of all types has been on sale at Walmart and Sprout's in the past few weeks. It is about half the price of what it normally is, so for the first time I decided to buy a whole bunch at once and cook and freeze it. I bought Acorn, Butternut, and Spaghetti squash.

For the Acorn and Butternut squash, I boiled it for 30-60 minutes in a large pot, then let it cool and scraped out the flesh and put it in a strainer over a large bowl for several hours. I then froze it in quart-sized Ziplock bags.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, I know I will use a lot of it in Pecan Butternut Pie. Yum!

For the Spaghetti squash, I cut them in half length-wise, and baked them on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees for about 1/2 hour. When they were starting to brown a little I took them out, and let them cool. Then I forked out the flesh and put it into serving-sizes in Ziplock bags. Sometime soon I'll make some Marinara Sauce and freeze that as well, for some easy spaghetti dinners.

(Note: Spaghetti squash should be tried cautiously after symptoms have subsided because it can be hard to digest.)

Storing Almond Flour

This week I received a new supply of almond flour. I always order my almond flour 25 lbs. at a time, to save money per pound and on shipping.

In between taking care of my 14 month old, I took several days to ladel all of the almond flour into gallon-sized Ziplock bags. When this was accomplished, I packed it into the box it came in and put it all in the freezer. Now I know exactly where it is in the freezer, and can take out a bag to use on recipes and then return the bag to the freezer without a lot of to-do.

When I was first starting the diet, I hadn't thought of this yet and spent a lot of time scraping away at the frozen almond flour to get a few cups worth for each recipe! It's so much easier now - I can simply take a bag out a little while before I use it and let it thaw so it's easy to measure out.

Hopefully this is a tip you can befefit from!

Delicious Apple Pie

Do you ever have a craving for apple pie? One of our readers recently made a delicious addition to the Apple Pie Treat on our website, which makes the recipe into a legitimate Apple Pie without fiddling with a complicated crust! She sent it in to me last week, and I made it right away and loved it! I have to admit I made it three times in one week because it was just so delicious. It's quick, easy, and perfect for the fall season when you want to curl up and relax under a cozy blanket.

Here's what you do. Make the Apple Pie Treat from the website. Spoon it out of the pan onto a plate. Add about a Tablespoon of butter to the pan. On medium-low heat, melt the butter and then a handful or two of almond flour and stir together. Cook until golden brown and flip over. Drizzle some honey on top and cook for another minute or two. Pour the crumbled mixture over the Apple Pie Treat and enjoy. It is amazing.

Thank you for sending it in!

Review of Jim's Fluffy Pancakes

My husband Jim is an excellent and inventive cook. He's always thinking of new ways to do things - whether it's at work, projects at home, or cooking - and this has extended into the SCD. Thanks to him, we are all able to enjoy pancakes that taste just about the same as "regular" pancakes - only some have said they're better! And I agree! We regularly get emails raving about Jim's Fluffy Pancakes, found in the Breakfast section of the website. I'm happy that more people than me can enjoy them!

Today I received an email from a fellow SCDer who wrote a review of Jim's Fluffy Pancakes on his website. Click here for the link to his review.

And then whip up some for yourself! They're delicious with the jam which is included on the recipe. Another very rich topping is the Hazelnut Honey spread from the website. Or if you want a syrup-y feel, serve with warm honey. I love to eat them with a glass of Tropicana OJ. Yum!

Cookbook Covers

My mom and I were talking this week and thought it would be a fun idea to provide three different cookbook covers that you could use to put on the cover of a 3-ring binder and make your own NoMoreCrohns.com cookbook. You could make dividers that match each section of recipes on the website and print and file the recipes in its specific category. This will make it easier to organize and keep all of the recipes from our website in one easy location. Actually, I need to do that too! ;-)

So my mom put three covers together right away - no grass grows under her feet! They are all fun designs with beautiful pictures from the website. Click here for the link...Enjoy!

Fruit Leather

Last week we were so glad to find that some Walmart's have started to carry Stretch Island Fruit Leather!

We were able to find two legal flavors, which are Grape and Raspberry. Ingredients to steer clear from in other fruit leather are sugar and natural flavors. It is legal if it contains just fruit and ascorbic acid or lemon juice.

These are great to carry in a purse or backpack for a quick snack while at school or out on the town!

I will add this to my Prepared Products page soon!

My son's birthday

Last week my son turned one! The year has just flown by. It has been truly amazing to see all of the growth he has undergone in the past 12 months. As I reflected on his 9 months in my womb, and his first year in the world, I feel so blessed that the SCD worked so well during both pregnancy and nursing him. My doctor was thankfully supportive of the SCD during pregnancy, but did admit to me later that he wasn't sure I was going to do so well. But - in his words - I had the picture-perfect pregnancy! Our son was an extremely healthy 7 pounds 15 oz. when he was born, and was a 9 out of 10 on the Apgar scale. He was beautiful when he was born - rosy cheeks and all. I can't imagine a healthier pregnancy or baby!

At first, I was a little nervous that he would get enough from me while nursing. I shouldn't have worried! The whole year he wowed us by being in the 95th percentile for weight and length consistently, and at his one year check-up last week the doctor said he's almost off the charts for length! Neither my husband or I are overly tall people so we can definitely attribute his robust health in large part to the healthy diet I ate while nursing him this year. Thank you, SCD!

It feels great to know that I gave him the best start I could give him while sticking to the SCD.

Adapting an old favorite to the SCD

On Saturday we had our church small group over to our house, and the dinner was a potluck. I wanted to make a dish that others would really enjoy, but also wanted to make sure I had some food that I could eat too!

One of my favorite meals growing up was Chicken Broccoli Casserole. It is made with steamed broccoli and chicken with a sauce of Cream of Chicken soup, mayonnaise, curry powder, and lemon juice poured over the top. The topping is grated cheddar cheese with bread crumbs.

I made a 9x13 dish of the original recipe, and then made a separate dish for myself with steamed broccoli, chicken and lots of cheddar cheese on top. I put both dishes in the oven together and cooked them at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes.

It turned out great! Everyone loved theirs, and I enjoyed mine too. I loved having a lot of cheddar cheese on top so I didn't feel at all deprived! Also, some of the cheese cooks on the bottom of the dish into a yummy crackly treat.

Summer Tomato Sauce

This week my husband has been very thoughtfully helping me by making tomato sauce from our garden bounty. He loves to garden, and has been faithfully tending the large plot in our backyard all summer. He has grown oodles of peppers, cantaloupe, squash, onions, and lots of tomatoes!

With an 11-month old under foot these days, it's been hard for me to get around to cooking the tomatoes down. But I know that we will really appreciate the sauce during the rest of the year, so I've been feeling a little guilty about not doing something productive with them.

Whenever I thought of boiling them down it seemed like such a complicated process; I thought it would involve skinning the tomatoes, heating water in a huge pot, and then enduring the sweltering kitchen as they boil away for several hours.

But my husband came up with a great idea that was pretty painless! (...Especially since he did it for me!)

He washed the tomatoes in a sink full of water, then cut off the bad spots, core, and stems, and then cut the tomatoes in half. He then packed them into the crock pot and set the crockpot on high overnight. The next day he spooned off most of the extra water and mashed them with a potato masher. After letting the sauce cool, he was ready to place it in the food processor to make it smooth. The last step was to spoon the sauce into sandwich sized ziplock bags and store flattened in the freezer.

He repeated the process for several batches this week, and now we are pretty much set for the rest of the season!

Now I have high plans for that sauce... Just for starters, I can add it to soup broths, use it with a crockpot roast beef dinner, or make a quick pizza sauce out of it. If you want to try this with your garden tomatoes, a couple of recipes from my website that contain tomato sauce are Minestrone Soup and Italian Tomato Cheese Pizza. Making the pizza will definitely be easier with this sauce, because it has already been boiled down ahead of time and just needs spices added.

Welcome!

Hi there, all you NoMoreCrohns.com friends! I am excited to start blogging about daily life on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet! I hope that you will find my blog useful and encouraging, as you travel on your own road to health on the SCD.

Hopefully my blog can be a place to get new ideas, share comments with others on the SCD, and have a little fun along the way. :) Most of all, I want you to know that you aren't alone in this journey to health! There are many people walking the same road, and there is HOPE.