Time Spent in the Kitchen!

[Guest guest]

First Our Story:

My Husband was diagnosed with Crohns last October. We spent the 5 following

months in and out of the hospital. He went from 195lbs of muscle down to 116lbs.

He was on 24hr TBN (feeding through IV) and on more drugs than I want to list.

All the while getting worse, not better. The Drs said Diet did not play a part,

yet they put him on complete bowl rest for 3 weeks. (Not Fun'Sad ) While he was

on Bowl rest we discovered Elaine's Book, and have not looked back... He is now

completely off all but one medication, and back up to 155lbs, after only a 2

months on SCD. All his symptoms are gone and we are living our lives again.

Smile

I have decided to take this journey with him (I have had very mild IBS for

years) and love him dearly, not to mention after reading BTVC there was no way I

was going to let my 2yr old son eat processed food again. And let me tell you- I

feel awesome too.

So now that I am relatively new to cooking SCD, I am finding that most of my

spare time is in the kitchen planing, preparing and cooking (Along with my

family). And to tell you the truth I love it. But I do wonder about how much

time the rest of you spend preparing food.

I did quickly realized that making a 1/2 gallon of SCD Yogurt did not even get

us through the week, so I think I am going to have to get another yogurt maker,

to assist with the Back to Back yogurt making. And the Almond Flour. I went

through almost 5 lbs of it just this weekend, making Crust Onion Rolls

(Awesome!!), Crackers, Ginger Biscuits Yonana Bread. And I know I am going to

have to make more this next weekend.

So I guess my question is, besides the wonderful Monthly & Weekly cooking

suggesting in the book Healthy Living, can anyone give me a guesstimate of how

much flour and Yogurt they go through in a month? And does anyone have any time

saving tricks when it comes to food preparation, and planing?

I have to admit, even with all these wonderful recipes to choose from, I have

the hardest time planing a weeks worth of meals (lunch included).. But when I do

take the time, I realize just how easy eating SCD is.

[Guest guest]

HiThank you for telling us your amazing story.  It makes my day to start out reading such good news.  I love to cook to, and have always made my own bread and soups.  SCD does take more time in the kitchen than I was spending before, but I love it too (most of the time).  I figure on about 8 hours per week of cooking time.  Since I work, I always spend quite a bit of time cooking on one day per weekend so that I can freeze foods and have them ready to pull out and heat up for dinner and lunches during the week.I also cook in quantity.  Since my husband does not eat SCD that is different from cooking for three, but I can give you and idea of some of the things I find handy.  I use the meatloaf recipe from grainfree gourmet and use ground turkey in it.  I always make 3 at a time.  When cook, I cut into servings and freeze with pieces of parchment paper between pieces.  Then I can heat up for dinner or thaw a piece to put in my lunch jar.  I make a big pot of beef stew or chicken soup (a big big pot) and freeze in individual or two serving containers.  Each pot has about 15-16 servings in it, so I've got something to work with later.  I also make the shredded pork from Lucy's Kitchen cook book and freeze servings between pieces of parchment paper.  Another new favorite are the stuffed burgers from the everyday grainfree gourmet cookbook.  Made those with buffalo and poured a little homemade tomato sauce on them before freezing.  They heated up well in the toasted oven and were really yummy.  I have now progressed so that I can tolerate roasted cauliflower and broccoli.  I make 2 heads of cauiflower and a four heads of broccoli and then freeeze them together in 2 serving containers.  These are great to pull out midweek and heat up.  I also pull some out to put in my lunch some of the time.Because there's only me using the flour and yogurt, I can't really give much of an idea of how much you will use.  I find I order 10 pounds from Lucy's kitchen once every 2 months.  I hope this is a bit helpful.  At the beginning of the diet I really did feel that the cooking was never ending some of the time, even though I loved doing it.  Now most of the time I just find it relaxing and so exciting when I find a new recipe that works.Also, for lunch.  I cook extra veggies and meat at night if I'm cooking them fresh and then just put leftovers in a glass jar to take for my lunch.  If I'm using frozen stuff for dinner then I usually pull out some frozen stuff for lunch.  One of my favorite lunches is roasted carrots and some cooked chicken or a piece of meatloafTake careJeanineceliacSCD Jan07 First Our Story: My Husband was diagnosed with Crohns last October. We spent the 5 following months in and out of the hospital. He went from 195lbs of muscle down to 116lbs. He was on 24hr TBN (feeding through IV) and on more drugs than I want to list. All the while getting worse, not better. The Drs said Diet did not play a part, yet they put him on complete bowl rest for 3 weeks. (Not Fun'Sad ) While he was on Bowl rest we discovered Elaine's Book, and have not looked back... He is now completely off all but one medication, and back up to 155lbs, after only a 2 months on SCD. All his symptoms are gone and we are living our lives again. Smile I have decided to take this journey with him (I have had very mild IBS for years) and love him dearly, not to mention after reading BTVC there was no way I was going to let my 2yr old son eat processed food again. And let me tell you- I feel awesome too. So now that I am relatively new to cooking SCD, I am finding that most of my spare time is in the kitchen planing, preparing and cooking (Along with my family). And to tell you the truth I love it. But I do wonder about how much time the rest of you spend preparing food. I did quickly realized that making a 1/2 gallon of SCD Yogurt did not even get us through the week, so I think I am going to have to get another yogurt maker, to assist with the Back to Back yogurt making. And the Almond Flour. I went through almost 5 lbs of it just this weekend, making Crust Onion Rolls (Awesome!!), Crackers, Ginger Biscuits Yonana Bread. And I know I am going to have to make more this next weekend. So I guess my question is, besides the wonderful Monthly & Weekly cooking suggesting in the book Healthy Living, can anyone give me a guesstimate of how much flour and Yogurt they go through in a month? And does anyone have any time saving tricks when it comes to food preparation, and planing? I have to admit, even with all these wonderful recipes to choose from, I have the hardest time planing a weeks worth of meals (lunch included).. But when I do take the time, I realize just how easy eating SCD is.

[Guest guest]

Wow, --what an amazing story!!!!! So inspirational. I just read it out

loud to my husband and then my dd who is on SCD. Thank you for posting.

Re. time: For us, the yogurt goes really quickly. Only three of us eat it (so

it's similar to your family, although we are a family of six), but I made one

gallon each week (two Yogourmet makers) and, by the end, am rationing it until

" yogurt making day " comes.....I also have a small one that we travel with, if

we'll be away longer than two days or so.

I could also stand to make menus. SO hard to plan ahead, yet so hard to get

caught without a plan without pasta to fall back on!

Keep up the good work,

Ellen

11 y/o dd scd since 5/06 for Crohn's

med-free for 6 months

[Guest guest]

Healthydreamer,

Your husband is lucky to have you on the diet with him... just like I'm

lucky to have my husband 95% on it with me. (He eats all SCD at home, and

doesn't worry about cross-contamination if we're eating out, unlike

me.)

I am so glad you found BTVC -- whenever I read a story about someone

responding to SCD like your husband has, or like Kim H's husband has, I

smile, because I have a feeling Elaine is smiling, too. And I know she

smiles, too, for the people who have a tough time finding out what foods

work for them, and in making a more gradual transition, because she knows

that SCD works!

As to how much time I spend in the kitchen, sometimes it's more than I

like. Mostly making bread, crackers, and yogurt!

I highly recommend to you getting an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator, I can

make 8 liters (four half gallons) of yogurt at once, and that usually

lasts a couple weeks. (I'm fortunate that my husband only eats the ranch

salad dressing I make with half and half or the 8 liters wouldn't last

that long!

You can also use the dehydrator to make meat snacking sticks, bread

sticks, crisp up crackers, and so forth.

Because the almond flour is pretty expensive, I save it for special

treats and use pecan flour which I can buy for some things, or make with

a grinder. It's a bit coarser than the almond flour, but it's pretty

digestible.

I also make a bread with eggs and egg whites and a small amount of nut

flour which is versatile.

And there are cheese crisps which I love.

When your husband is able to use legumes, you can use white beans or

lentils or lima beans to make bean paste and make crackers with those to

cut down on the amount of nut flour. (Also gives you a different

taste.)

What I try to do is spend one day making bread, crackers, and yogurt.

Then I plan meals for the week based on what I have. The thing which

drove me craziest in the beginning was, " Oh, I think I want beef and

broccoli casserole tonight... oh <expletives deleted>, I don't have

any yogurt cheese, and the cheese isn't shredded.... " Or, " Mmm,

some lasagna would be great... blast, I don't have any tomato

sauce! "

I sort of developed a one day of making staples, like the bread, crackers

and yogurt, and then one more day making big quantities of tomato sauce,

which I froze.

The next week, I would make staples, plus extra yogurt, which I dripped

real well, and froze, so I always had some to use in cooking. (I didn't

find a source for dry curd cottage cheese until I had been on the diet

four years.)

The week after that, I would make staples, plus chicken broth, usually

grinding the chicken from the broth making up to make chicken

salad. I could make big bags of chicken salad mix, with chicken,

chives or green onions, etc., and freeze it, then pull, defrost, and add

either SCD mayo or avocado mayo, and have lunches for a week. I would

usually put up a box of chicken stew with some broth and meat and extra

veggies for a fast dinner on a night I didn't feel like cooking.

The week after that, it would be staples, plus beef broth, again grinding

the beef up to make sandwich spreads. I would usually put up a box of

beef stew with some broth and meat and extra veggies for a fast dinner on

a night I didn't feel like cooking.

The next week, staples, plus shredding and bagging cheese to freeze, so I

could just grab a bag of SCD-legal pre-shredded cheese from the freezer

if I was making a casserole.

Then back to tomato sauce making... I tried to buy, during tomato season,

around 25 pounds of tomatoes and peel and cook them down each week so I

had enough sauce to last through the year. While the tomatoes were

cooking, I could usually put up other seasonal vegetables or fruits for

the freezer. For instance, we like a mix of broccoli florets,

cauliflower, and carrot coins, so I may buy those in season, cut them up,

and freeze in dinner-sized bags so that later, I just grab a bag out of

the freezer, drop the contents in the steamer, and cook, just before

whatever the meal is ready.

I had it down to a good system -- until Hurricane Katrina hit New

Orleans, and I lost absolutely everything in my freezers, though luckily,

not the house.

I've been trying to get back to my system, though I've had hassles with

my mother's heart attacks, my own cancer surgery, and now the sleep

apnea.

But after Katrina, I learned to do a new, less complex style of SCD

cooking, with quickly steamed vegetables and meats broiled in the toaster

oven or grilled on a Foreman-type grill. I had to do this because while

they were repairing the city's electrical system, I could never count on

having power for a full hour at a time to cook a couple loaves of bread

-- but I could make fast souffle breads. I learned to keep some heavy

towels near the yogurt maker so if the power went off, I could wrap it up

so it would stay at the proper temperature until the power came back on.

I discovered it was possible to do SCD out of a 4 cubic foot dorm fridge,

which was all we had, both fridge and freezer having died due to power

surges after the storm.

One thing which can be helpful is to sit down and think about what you

want to have.

For instance, I can roast two chickens in the same oven... and have one

for later in the week, or for making sandwich spreads. If I make a

largish casserole of veggies and cheese sauce, later in the week, all I

have to do for dinner is reheat the chicken and veggies for a " night

out. "

Or I can make up a big batch of veggies and meat for Philly Cheese Steak

sandwiches, and freeze some for another night.

When I make lasagna, the recipe I use calls for half of this pepper and

half of that. SO for me, it's eaiser to make a double batch of sauce.

Then I make two lasagnas and bake them. One lasagna for dinner tonight,

and the other, when cool, goes in the freezer for later.

I used almost no nut flour in the beginning because I didn't tolerate it.

Now, I tend to use less because I'm still trying to normalize my weight.

OTOH, my sister has fruit and nut muffins (plural) every morning, with a

big bowl of yogurt for breakfast.

I doubt this answered your question... but it gives you an idea of how my

kitchen functions. Well, that's when I'm functioning... <g> I spend

WAY more time on the computer than I should!

My husband darn near fell over Thanksgiving morning when he came out and

found me answering cooking questions here on the list....

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

Jeanine,

Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine

having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son.

It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were

just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of

meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but

sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some

ready to nuke meals I agree is key.

If only I had two stoves/ovens... I think I am going to have to spend on day

baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is buying bulk meat,

and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to

defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero

room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a

second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.

I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks

as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the

25lb next month and see if I can get it to last.

And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really

need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too.

Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and

money and time saving tricks.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Jeanine,

Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine

having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son.

It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were

just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of

meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but

sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some

ready to nuke meals I agree is key.

If only I had two stoves/ovens... I think I am going to have to spend on day

baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is buying bulk meat,

and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to

defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero

room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a

second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.

I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks

as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the

25lb next month and see if I can get it to last.

And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really

need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too.

Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and

money and time saving tricks.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Ellen,

Thank you for your response. I too have realized that I need to get a second

Yogourmet. Making the batches back to back is a mess. and having one day a

week when I know Im going to make it would be helpful too.

I guess my one fail safe is I know my Husband will always eat meat, and as

long as I have some frozen vegies, I know dinner will happen. But I am going to

start planing dinners as well. If I remember I will post them here.

Thanks again

[Guest guest]

Wow Marilyn,

What a thoughtful response, thank you so very much for the insight into your

life and kitchen. I am going to print out your Pre-Katrina plan for when we

have a deep-freezer- I just do not have the room now. But I do agree that

keeping ahead of the game is key to this. I a am really going to try to start

planing meals weekly.

I know I have been blessed with how well my husband has responded to SCD. I

read about people only being able to eat a couple things at a time. We have a

pretty diverse diet already, and he is doing amazing, we are still taking it

slow, cook veggies and so forth- however we are eating far better than we were

prior to him getting sick.

One thing I now I am going to have to get is another yogurt maker, everyone

has made that very clear. I have been making it back to back, and it still

doesn't seem to be enough. I do have a food dehydrator, which I have been using

with apples and bananas (my son just loves them but they are still just a little

too advanced for my husband).

I also think the fact that my husband has to consume over 3000 calories a day,

to gain his weight, keeps me in the kitchen more now then it will in the future.

Where to you find your pecan flour-Whole Foods? I tried cooking with Coconut

flour, and that was a mess.

Again, thank you so much for your sweet post- it was very helpfull

[Guest guest]

Wow!  Thank you Marilyn.  That is really helpful.  I think I'm going to print it out and study it a bit to see if I could make up a system that would work for me.  I kind of just cook a lot and freeze a lot and hope it all works out ( I always like a little chaos).  But something  a bit more structured could really be a help!   Take careJeanineceliacSCD Jan 07Healthydreamer,Your husband is lucky to have you on the diet with him... just like I'm lucky to have my husband 95% on it with me. (He eats all SCD at home, and doesn't worry about cross-contamination if we're eating out, unlike me.)I am so glad you found BTVC -- whenever I read a story about someone responding to SCD like your husband has, or like Kim H's husband has, I smile, because I have a feeling Elaine is smiling, too. And I know she smiles, too, for the people who have a tough time finding out what foods work for them, and in making a more gradual transition, because she knows that SCD works!As to how much time I spend in the kitchen, sometimes it's more than I like. Mostly making bread, crackers, and yogurt!I highly recommend to you getting an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator, I can make 8 liters (four half gallons) of yogurt at once, and that usually lasts a couple weeks. (I'm fortunate that my husband only eats the ranch salad dressing I make with half and half or the 8 liters wouldn't last that long!You can also use the dehydrator to make meat snacking sticks, bread sticks, crisp up crackers, and so forth.Because the almond flour is pretty expensive, I save it for special treats and use pecan flour which I can buy for some things, or make with a grinder. It's a bit coarser than the almond flour, but it's pretty digestible.I also make a bread with eggs and egg whites and a small amount of nut flour which is versatile.And there are cheese crisps which I love.When your husband is able to use legumes, you can use white beans or lentils or lima beans to make bean paste and make crackers with those to cut down on the amount of nut flour. (Also gives you a different taste.)What I try to do is spend one day making bread, crackers, and yogurt. Then I plan meals for the week based on what I have. The thing which drove me craziest in the beginning was, "Oh, I think I want beef and broccoli casserole tonight... oh <expletives deleted>, I don't have any yogurt cheese, and the cheese isn't shredded...." Or, "Mmm, some lasagna would be great... blast, I don't have any tomato sauce!"I sort of developed a one day of making staples, like the bread, crackers and yogurt, and then one more day making big quantities of tomato sauce, which I froze. The next week, I would make staples, plus extra yogurt, which I dripped real well, and froze, so I always had some to use in cooking. (I didn't find a source for dry curd cottage cheese until I had been on the diet four years.) The week after that, I would make staples, plus chicken broth, usually grinding the chicken from the broth making up to make chicken salad.  I could make big bags of chicken salad mix, with chicken, chives or green onions, etc., and freeze it, then pull, defrost, and add either SCD mayo or avocado mayo, and have lunches for a week. I would usually put up a box of chicken stew with some broth and meat and extra veggies for a fast dinner on a night I didn't feel like cooking.The week after that, it would be staples, plus beef broth, again grinding the beef up to make sandwich spreads. I would usually put up a box of beef stew with some broth and meat and extra veggies for a fast dinner on a night I didn't feel like cooking.The next week, staples, plus shredding and bagging cheese to freeze, so I could just grab a bag of SCD-legal pre-shredded cheese from the freezer if I was making a casserole.Then back to tomato sauce making... I tried to buy, during tomato season, around 25 pounds of tomatoes and peel and cook them down each week so I had enough sauce to last through the year. While the tomatoes were cooking, I could usually put up other seasonal vegetables or fruits for the freezer. For instance, we like a mix of broccoli florets, cauliflower, and carrot coins, so I may buy those in season, cut them up, and freeze in dinner-sized bags so that later, I just grab a bag out of the freezer, drop the contents in the steamer, and cook, just before whatever the meal is ready.I had it down to a good system -- until Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and I lost absolutely everything in my freezers, though luckily, not the house.  I've been trying to get back to my system, though I've had hassles with my mother's heart attacks, my own cancer surgery, and now the sleep apnea.But after Katrina, I learned to do a new, less complex style of SCD cooking, with quickly steamed vegetables and meats broiled in the toaster oven or grilled on a Foreman-type grill. I had to do this because while they were repairing the city's electrical system, I could never count on having power for a full hour at a time to cook a couple loaves of bread -- but I could make fast souffle breads. I learned to keep some heavy towels near the yogurt maker so if the power went off, I could wrap it up so it would stay at the proper temperature until the power came back on. I discovered it was possible to do SCD out of a 4 cubic foot dorm fridge, which was all we had, both fridge and freezer having died due to power surges after the storm.One thing which can be helpful is to sit down and think about what you want to have.For instance, I can roast two chickens in the same oven... and have one for later in the week, or for making sandwich spreads. If I  make a largish casserole of veggies and cheese sauce, later in the week, all I have to do for dinner is reheat the chicken and veggies for a "night out."Or I can make up a big batch of veggies and meat for Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, and freeze some for another night.When I make lasagna, the recipe I use calls for half of this pepper and half of that. SO for me, it's eaiser to make a double batch of sauce. Then I make two lasagnas and bake them. One lasagna for dinner tonight, and the other, when cool, goes in the freezer for later.I used almost no nut flour in the beginning because I didn't tolerate it. Now, I tend to use less because I'm still trying to normalize my weight. OTOH, my sister has fruit and nut muffins (plural) every morning, with a big bowl of yogurt for breakfast.I doubt this answered your question... but it gives you an idea of how my kitchen functions. Well, that's when I'm functioning... <g> I spend WAY more time on the computer than I should!My husband darn near fell over Thanksgiving morning when he came out and found me answering cooking questions here on the list....— Marilyn    New Orleans, Louisiana, USA    Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001    Darn Good SCD Cook    No Human Children    Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund        

[Guest guest]

,Another thing I have started to use the crock pot more often.  It is really easy to put a beef stew at bedtime and wake up to the great smell of stew.   works well with chicken soup and baked beans too.  I then cool it as much as I can and freeze in glass containers.  I use the pyrex or anchor hocking glass ones and they work great because then you can pop them in the toaster oven to heat them up when you get home from work.I don't actually cook a separate dinner for my husband.  He eats the meat and veggies I do, just not the baked goods and yogurt.  And I cook all my fruits so he is on his own with his raw fruit.I would like a bigger freezer too.  I also want to learn how to can so I am not dependent on having power to keep my food fresh.  I have lost all the food in the freezer and fridge a few times with power outages, so too big a freezer scares me---especially after hearing Marilyn's experience after hurricane Katrina.  We work so hard on all of this beautiful food, so I want to keep it safe.Maybe tomorrow I can write down some of the lunches that I take.  I make up big batches of cooked meats and freeze in single serving portions so I can pull them out and put in my jar with the veggie of the day.   I'll give it some thought and continue the discussion.  I also cart along my cooked fruits and have developed quite a fondness for eating them partially frozen.  It's like my own personal sorbet selection----I really feel lucky when those are in my lunch!Take careJeanineJeanine,Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son. It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some ready to nuke meals I agree is key.If only I had two stoves/ovens... I think I am going to have to spend on day baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is buying bulk meat, and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the 25lb next month and see if I can get it to last. And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too. Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and money and time saving tricks.Thanks

[Guest guest]

,Another thing I have started to use the crock pot more often.  It is really easy to put a beef stew at bedtime and wake up to the great smell of stew.   works well with chicken soup and baked beans too.  I then cool it as much as I can and freeze in glass containers.  I use the pyrex or anchor hocking glass ones and they work great because then you can pop them in the toaster oven to heat them up when you get home from work.I don't actually cook a separate dinner for my husband.  He eats the meat and veggies I do, just not the baked goods and yogurt.  And I cook all my fruits so he is on his own with his raw fruit.I would like a bigger freezer too.  I also want to learn how to can so I am not dependent on having power to keep my food fresh.  I have lost all the food in the freezer and fridge a few times with power outages, so too big a freezer scares me---especially after hearing Marilyn's experience after hurricane Katrina.  We work so hard on all of this beautiful food, so I want to keep it safe.Maybe tomorrow I can write down some of the lunches that I take.  I make up big batches of cooked meats and freeze in single serving portions so I can pull them out and put in my jar with the veggie of the day.   I'll give it some thought and continue the discussion.  I also cart along my cooked fruits and have developed quite a fondness for eating them partially frozen.  It's like my own personal sorbet selection----I really feel lucky when those are in my lunch!Take careJeanineJeanine,Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son. It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some ready to nuke meals I agree is key.If only I had two stoves/ovens... I think I am going to have to spend on day baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is buying bulk meat, and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the 25lb next month and see if I can get it to last. And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too. Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and money and time saving tricks.Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hey Jeanine, I love crock pot cooking too. To me it represents comfort, and when its cold I absolutely love a hot soup or stew, although lately its been in the 70s here, so the thought of soup or stew hasn't even crossed my mind. It seems our new staple in the house has been Butter Nut Squash, it goes well with all meat, and my Husband loves it. We also have the Cauliflower cheese mash (potatoes,) lots of green beans and Zucchini. Tonight we are going to have some Halibut, I am going to have a salad, and I will make some cooked veggies for my husband, probably yellow squash. About once a month we have been going to the Whole Foods (its about an hour drive one way) and I pick up fresh fish and some other things. It funny, I have been dreaming

about cooking SCD lately, because I am always doing something in the kitchen, or planning to do something. I am attempting some tomato sause this morning, so we can have some pizza this weekend. I have a feeling it is going to have to reduce alot longer than 1 hour- Tomato juice after an hour I feel will be way to runny. Have any suggestions.Have a great day at work To: BTVC-SCD Sent: Thursday,

March 5, 2009 9:24:51 PMSubject: Re: Re: Time Spent in the Kitchen!

,Another thing I have started to use the crock pot more often. It is really easy to put a beef stew at bedtime and wake up to the great smell of stew. works well with chicken soup and baked beans too. I then cool it as much as I can and freeze in glass containers. I use the pyrex or anchor hocking glass ones and they work great because then you can pop them in the toaster oven to heat them up when you get home from work.I don't actually cook a separate dinner for my husband. He eats the meat and veggies I do, just not the baked goods and yogurt. And I cook all my fruits so he is on his own with his raw fruit.I would like a bigger freezer too. I also want to learn how to can so I am not dependent on having power to keep my food fresh. I have lost all the food in the freezer and fridge a few times with power outages, so too big a freezer scares

me---especially after hearing Marilyn's experience after hurricane Katrina. We work so hard on all of this beautiful food, so I want to keep it safe.Maybe tomorrow I can write down some of the lunches that I take. I make up big batches of cooked meats and freeze in single serving portions so I can pull them out and put in my jar with the veggie of the day. I'll give it some thought and continue the discussion. I also cart along my cooked fruits and have developed quite a fondness for eating them partially frozen. It's like my own personal sorbet selection--- -I really feel lucky when those are in my lunch!Take careJeanineJeanine,Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son. It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some ready to nuke meals I agree is key.If only I had two stoves/ovens. .. I think I am going to have to spend on day baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is

buying bulk meat, and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the 25lb next month and see if I can get it to last. And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too. Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and money and time saving tricks.Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hey Jeanine, It funny, I have been dreaming about cooking SCD lately, because I am always doing something in the kitchen, or planning to do something. I am attempting some tomato sause this morning, so we can have some pizza this weekend. I have a feeling it is going to have to reduce alot longer than 1 hour- Tomato juice after an hour I feel will be way to runny. Have any suggestions.It has to reduce much longer. The pizza crust recipe in Raman Prasad's Recipes for the specific carbohydrate diet is the best - but for the toppings, I always did my own thing.Mara

[Guest guest]

Would someone be so kind as to send us the recipe? I don't have access to this

cookbook.

Thank you in advance,

GERDS and chronic C.

SCD 11 months

>

> The pizza crust recipe in Raman Prasad's Recipes for the specific

> carbohydrate

> diet is the best - but for the toppings, I always did my own thing.

>

> Mara

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,I have come to see soups and stews as year-round foods---even when it's 90 degrees in my kitchen.  I get frustrated when I want to buy soup bones in the summer and the meat counter tells me it's not the season for them.  I find it hard to understand that bones have a season!The tomato sauce is for sure not as thick as the sauce we used to make with canned tomatoes.  I have let it reduce for a little more than an hour, but you have to be there to stir it all the time if you do this.  I guess I've just kind of gotten used to thinner sauce.  In the summer I add some peeled, seeded tomatoes and that is pretty exciting----that's another reason I want to learn how to can.I love butternut squash too.  My new favorite squashes are delicata and kabocha.  Delicata is more of an early fall one, but here in New England you can find kabocha now because it's a winter one.  Whole Foods has both of them when they are in season.You seem to be able to move along pretty quickly in the diet if you are already handling salads.  When you are able to tolerate beans, the baked bean recipe in the BTVC book is yummy cooked in the crock pot.  I just boil the soaked drained beans for 1 hour, then drain them again and put them in the crock pot with the tomato juice, some sauteed onions and 4 tablespoons of honey.  I leave out all of the other ingredients because they're too much for me right now.  I leave it in the crock pot for about 9 hours---might actually be done in 8, but I haven't tried that yet.  I put these in small glass containers and freeze them.  Today I thawed one serving of these and one of kale and onions cooked in orange juice and put them in my lunch jar in a cooler.  It was a really yummy lunch!I get to have an infected tooth extracted tomorrow, so at some point I will sit down and write out some lunch ideas because I think it's kind of fun to look over what works so far.  My ideas are probably more useful for adult lunches than kid lunches, since they often prefer more sandwich things and I pretty much never do sandwiches.  I've never cooked halibut before either, so I think I need to expand my fish repertoire.Take care,JeanineceliacSCD jan07Hey Jeanine,  I love crock pot cooking too.  To me it represents comfort, and when its cold I absolutely love a hot soup or stew, although lately its been in the 70s here, so the thought of soup or stew hasn't even crossed my mind.  It seems our new staple in the house has been Butter Nut Squash, it goes well with all meat, and my Husband loves it.  We also have the Cauliflower cheese mash (potatoes,) lots of green beans and Zucchini.  Tonight we are going to have some Halibut, I am going to have a salad, and I will make some cooked veggies for my husband, probably yellow squash. About once a month we have been going to the Whole Foods (its about an hour drive one way) and I pick up fresh fish and some other things.  It funny, I have been dreaming about cooking SCD lately, because I am always doing something in the kitchen, or planning to do something.  I am attempting some tomato sause this morning, so we can have some pizza this weekend.  I have a feeling it is going to have to reduce alot longer than 1 hour- Tomato juice after an hour I feel will be way to runny.  Have any suggestions.Have a great day at work    From: Jeanine Mindrum <mind73verizon (DOT) net>To: BTVC-SCD Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 9:24:51 PMSubject: Re: Re: Time Spent in the Kitchen!,Another thing I have started to use the crock pot more often.  It is really easy to put a beef stew at bedtime and wake up to the great smell of stew.   works well with chicken soup and baked beans too.  I then cool it as much as I can and freeze in glass containers.  I use the pyrex or anchor hocking glass ones and they work great because then you can pop them in the toaster oven to heat them up when you get home from work.I don't actually cook a separate dinner for my husband.  He eats the meat and veggies I do, just not the baked goods and yogurt.  And I cook all my fruits so he is on his own with his raw fruit.I would like a bigger freezer too.  I also want to learn how to can so I am not dependent on having power to keep my food fresh.  I have lost all the food in the freezer and fridge a few times with power outages, so too big a freezer scares me---especially after hearing Marilyn's experience after hurricane Katrina.  We work so hard on all of this beautiful food, so I want to keep it safe.Maybe tomorrow I can write down some of the lunches that I take.  I make up big batches of cooked meats and freeze in single serving portions so I can pull them out and put in my jar with the veggie of the day.   I'll give it some thought and continue the discussion.  I also cart along my cooked fruits and have developed quite a fondness for eating them partially frozen.  It's like my own personal sorbet selection--- -I really feel lucky when those are in my lunch!Take careJeanineJeanine,Thank you so much for your response and for the tips. I could not imagine having to cook one meal for my husband than another for myself and son. It is such a good idea to prepare meals in advance. My husband and I were just talking about that last night. It would be great to have a a variety of meals to choose from for lunch. I do not mind cooking every night, but sometimes, like the old days its just nice to have a night off. So keeping some ready to nuke meals I agree is key.If only I had two stoves/ovens. .. I think I am going to have to spend on day baking and another making meals. One thing I have tried is buying bulk meat, and freezing it, but then I realize that I sometimes forget to pull it out to defrost, so now we are shopping weekly for meats. not to mention I have zero room in the freezer and fridge. One day we will get a deep freezer, and a second fridge for prepared meals- put until then this will have to do.I had to smile when you said you order a 10 lb bag every two months. It looks as of right now I need to order one every 2 weeks. I think I am going to do the 25lb next month and see if I can get it to last. And thus far I am going through about 2 gallons of yogurt a week. I really need a second Yogurt maker. ) so I can get some cheese in there too. Again thank you for your time today. I am always looking for new recipes, and money and time saving tricks.Thanks

[Guest guest]

Jeanine,

that bean recipe looks great. My husband is about a month away from adding

beans to his diet. As for the salads.. I only have mild IBS- so I can still

pretty much eat any thing- except I know tomatoes bug me.. I just love them so

much ) So I treat them more like a treat.

For the Halibut tonight (we did left overs last night)- I am going to mix

Lemon, fresh garlic(about 2 cloves), & Salt, rub it into the fish, place it on

some tin foil (enough to wrap around it and seal it in)- drop about 3-4 Tbs of

Butter on it- seal it up and through it on the Grill (or in oven at 350) for

about 30 mins. I love it this way- the fish is moist- and the flavors are

awesome- served with some steamed broccoli- nice and light- but also filling.

We just had an amazing breakfast- Lucy's Breakfast Sausage (way easy), Jim's

Fluffy Pancakes from No More Crohns, and some grapes- my husband added a couple

eggs because he needs the calories. I tell you- I feel like I am eating like a

King on this diet, and Its easy.

Have a great weekend

[Guest guest]

Hi ,I am definitely going to try the halibut!  Thank you!  I like Lucy's sausage recipe too.  I usually make it with ground turkey and use just the herbs, then bake it on the broiler pan for about 30 minutes at 350---that way I don't have to deal with the frying part, which I don't tolerate.  I make the patties oval shaped so they'll fit in my lunch jar.  These are one of the easy things I pull out of the freezer the night before as part of my lunch for the next day.It's beautiful and sunny here today, so we are going to have fun this afternoon I think.take careJeanineJeanine,that bean recipe looks great. My husband is about a month away from adding beans to his diet. As for the salads.. I only have mild IBS- so I can still pretty much eat any thing- except I know tomatoes bug me.. I just love them so much ) So I treat them more like a treat. For the Halibut tonight (we did left overs last night)- I am going to mix Lemon, fresh garlic(about 2 cloves), & Salt, rub it into the fish, place it on some tin foil (enough to wrap around it and seal it in)- drop about 3-4 Tbs of Butter on it- seal it up and through it on the Grill (or in oven at 350) for about 30 mins. I love it this way- the fish is moist- and the flavors are awesome- served with some steamed broccoli- nice and light- but also filling. We just had an amazing breakfast- Lucy's Breakfast Sausage (way easy), Jim's Fluffy Pancakes from No More Crohns, and some grapes- my husband added a couple eggs because he needs the calories. I tell you- I feel like I am eating like a King on this diet, and Its easy.Have a great weekend

[Guest guest]

Jeanine,

I hope you had a wonderful day in the sun, we all have red noes and shoulders,

from playing on the beach today. So I did post my families next weeks meals for

everyone. Im hopping we can all get some great planing ideas.

I forgot we are having Pizza tonight (in the oven and smelling wonderful) so

fish is tomorrow.

Looking forward to your lunch plan )

[Guest guest]

,Thank you for the dinner plan.  I will try to put together a lunch plan tomorrow.  When I see how many different recipes you tackle in a week, I fear you may find my lunches a bit dull---but  there may be something useful there as well, who knows?  Anyway, I think it will be interesting to try to lay it out and see what it looks like.  I'll also take a closer look at your plan and tell you how I would use it to make lunches too.   Leftovers are a big part of my eating strategy.  Lots of quantity cooking.  (Hence the need to check the freezer door at night and when we leave to make sure it is not pushed open because I had  a big cooking day and filled it too full!  Have come back after a week away when we neglected to make that check and it was not pretty!)The sun was really nice.  We're back to sleet and snow tomorrow.  A bit hard to believe.Take careJeanineJeanine,I hope you had a wonderful day in the sun, we all have red noes and shoulders, from playing on the beach today. So I did post my families next weeks meals for everyone. Im hopping we can all get some great planing ideas. I forgot we are having Pizza tonight (in the oven and smelling wonderful) so fish is tomorrow. Looking forward to your lunch plan )