SCD Blog Sabatical

WOW. I cannot believe it has been over a month since I last posted. Let's just call it an unintended SCD Blog sabbatical. That said, I was certainly loyal to the diet throughout that time. Lots has happened since June. Here are some SCD highlights:

July 4th Party-

Several family and friends arrived for the 4th of July weekend to enjoy a parade and firework celebration. Here is the menu of SCD adapted recipes. If you are interested in any particular one please email me at jilluck@hotmail.com and I will let you know which SCD cookbook contains that recipe.

Appetizers:

• Artichoke Dip
• SCD Crackers, Brie, Cheddar cheese and Grapes
• Garlicky Humus
• Gazpacho
• Mexican Black Bean Soup (with melted cheese and "sour cream" aka SCD yogurt)

Meals:

• Cheese Burgers
• Spinach, Apple, Raisin Salad with Gorganzola
• Basil Pesto with Zucchini Spaghetti
• Pork Ribs with BBQ sauce
• Wings
• Mexican Meatballs

Cocktails & Dessert:

• Sangria
• Lemoncello
• Lemon Freeze Dessert

Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park-

The week after 4th of July my hubby and I headed to Bar Harbor, Maine where we spent a week strolling around the town and exploring Acadia National Park.

Lots of biking (14.5 miles), hiking (4 hours up and around a mountain), and kayaking (4 hours up the sound) called for refueling SCD style. Here are some meals that we enjoyed:

Breakfasts:

• Lots of SCD yogurt with fruit and honey
• Caramelized onion, mushroom and cheese omelet
• Poached eggs with sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes
• Cod wrapped in prosciutto with eggs over easy and spinach

Lunches:

• Cheese Burgers with avocado
• Salads
• Snacks packed for hiking/kayaking adventures e.g. nuts, cheese, dried fruit, SCD crackers

Dinners:

• Salad with grilled chicken (marinated in olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper) and dry white wine
• Filet Mignon and grilled shrimp with a garden salad
• Garlicky shrimp and NY Sirloin topped with caramelized onions
• Black Bean Soup with all the fixings e.g., salsa, melted cheese, SCD sour cream
• Maine Lobster with drawn butter
• Mussels
• Baked Brie with SCD crackers and apples

Thanks to the SCD I am having a happy and healthy summer and I hope you are too!

PS. I have lots of pictures but am having difficulty downloading them. Will work on that.

Menu for June 13, 14, 15 2008

• Friday night- Dinner on the porch with the family. Chicken salad with SCD mayo, grapes, and apples over Bibb lettuce. Summer squash, zucchini, and green beans simmered with tomatoes and garlic.
• Saturday - Cheese burger lunch and Cape Cod Lobster with butter and a side of green beans for dinner.
• Sunday - Bowling with the parents and then out with friends for a dinner of wild salmon with a lemon, thyme, butter sauce and a cucumber, olive, tomato salad.

Lemon Freezerific!

Holy Cow! You have to go out and buy the new Grainfree Gourmet Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner cookbook and make the Lemon Freeze. If you like dessert, Key Lime Pie, ice cream cake, and delicious food in general you will NOT be disappointed.

Your challenge will be keeping all of your non-SCD friends and family away from it! I would have taken a picture but we ate it too fast.

One of the best parts about it is that you can make it anytime, put it in your freezer and have it for whenever you want a little slice of deliciousness!

Strawberry Salad & A Dear Friend

Tonight I went to dinner with my oldest and dearest friend Amy. We met in elementary school and I have been fascinated by her ever since. She lives far away so we don't see each other very often but when we do it always seems like we are right back in Mrs. Ferrari's 4th grade class again. Amy is one of the smartest, friendliest, fashionable, creative, forgiving, independent, funniest people I have ever known. And best of all she has been anti bread and sugar forever! It is so great to go out with someone who is not SCD who says to the waiter "We don't do bread or potatoes at this table."

Dinner - Lovely strawberry salad with pine nuts, mescaline greens, blue cheese, red onion, and grilled shrimp.

We also enjoyed a nice after dinner glass of wine at a beautiful outside bar situated next to the Atlantic Ocean.

Love You Amy!

Dreaming of Paninis

Tonight's dinner was a summery chicken salad with chopped grapes and SCD mayo served over a bed of baby spinach with Gorgonzola cheese and pecans. Though the best part was the Olive Sandwich Bread from Raman's Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (page 41).

I made it on Sunday night and then put it in the fridge to cool off and firm up. I then sliced the loaf in the same shape as slices in a loaf of bread, toasted up a few pieces and then dipped them in an olive oil, garlic paste, rosemary concoction.

Scrumptious!

This bread may inspire me to break out my old Panini maker. Here are some Panini combinations that have me dreaming of making more Olive Bread:

- Prosciutto, Arugula, Havarti
- Tuscan Tuna and Navy Bean (SCD prepped of course)
- Artichoke and Tuna
- Chicken Salad
- Rosemary Roasted Chicken and Fontina
- Turkey and Brea
- Gruyere, Prosciutto and Dijon
- Tomato, Provolone and Prosciutto
- Turkey, Muenster and Cranberry Puree
- Roast Beef, Blue Cheese and Onion
- Baked Butternut Squash, Gruyere, Caramelized Onions, Sage
- Prosciutto, Vegetable Tapenade and Provolone
- Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions and SCD Herbed Goat Cheese

* Many of these foods are for more advanced SCDers. Always do your research to ensure you are introducing foods at the correct stages. Also, it is important to find LEGAL Prosciutto (no sugar added). Finally, there are lots of recipes on the Internet for caramelizing onions without the use of sugar. Onions contain their own natural sugars.

A Very Napa Night

Last night we celebrated Uncle Bob's birthday (I won't say which one for fear of stiff penalties). Keith and Bruce hosted the event at their lovely home. Appetizers included chilled jumbo shrimp cocktail, fresh vegetables, my favorite roasted garlic with SCD crackers, and a very expensive goose pate that I was not sure I could eat (but Uncle Bob tells me it was superb). The main course was just as impressive with perfectly grilled vegetables marinated in red wine vinegar and olive oil, tender cuts of filet mignon, pork, and caramelized asparagus.

We also enjoyed several bottles of great wine which Bruce brought back from his trips to California. The Wisteria and grape leaves were in full bloom and I felt like I was sitting in a back yard in Napa Valley.

Thank you Keith and Bruce and Happy Birthday Uncle Bob.

It's Hot as Heaven in Here!

Why is it that I have fallen head over heals in love with roasting vegetables when the weather is finally starting to get warm? Caramelized garlic and asparagus are heaven but it is hot as ... (well, you know).... in here when I crank the oven up to 450 or 500 degrees.

Just Another Day in the Kitchen

I woke up the other morning and emptied the dishwasher, washed my kitchen floor, and whipped up some homemade yogurt, almond milk, and Green Juice all before leaving for work at 7:15am. The almond milk was divine and flavored with organic vanilla extract and Medjool dates. I enjoyed the milk all week over Nuts & Raisins granola from JK Gourmet. I saved the almond pulp, dried it in the oven, blended it in the food processor and voila! I had almond meal which I made into SCD Cheddar Crackers (from the Healing Foods Cookbook).

The Green Juice was... interesting but I think I will invest in a juicer so that I don't get so much pulp. I am juicing these days to try and alkalize my body a bit more. The Green Juice recipe is courtesy of Dr. Oz and is on Oprah's website.

When my husband came home that evening he was amazed at how much I had accomplished so early in the morning. In truth it seemed like little effort to me. These days I think nothing of throwing together a quick SCD hummus made with tahini, lemon juice, navy beans and roasted garlic (the recipe is in Eat Well Feel Well).

As a matter of fact I am meeting up with some girlfriends tonight and plan to bring along some SCD versions of my favorite classic snacks like Cheddar Crackers with Thyme, Parmesan Artichoke dip, Roasted Garlic hummus and a nice dry white wine to accompany these delicious morsels.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Grillicious!

One of the signs of spring is that we spend a lot of quality time with our grill. We visited my sister-in-law a few weeks ago at her home in Florida where we BBQed as well. Our favorite grilled foods are shish kabobs of all varieties. In Florida we had chicken with peppers and sweet onions. We also experiment with zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, pork, beef, and shrimp. Shish kabobs become one of our everyday work night meals similar to stir-fries in the winter.

Other fun dishes and drinks that are nice accompaniments include a fruity wine Sangria, tomato, avocado, cucumber salad, and lots of fresh fruit for dessert.

Grilling is wonderful because it is a sign of warmer weather and more visits from friends and family. It also means less dishes and pans to wash!

Happy Grilling

Uncle Bob

Everyone should have an Uncle Bob. I visited my in-laws this weekend and my uncle Bob made an SCD binder for each house in the family so that when I visit people will know what I can and cannot eat. He inserted tabs and included the Legal/Illegal list from the Breaking the Vicious Cycle website as well as our favorite SCD recipes. What a guy!

For dinner we celebrated the spring weather with shish kabobs made of chicken and beef (marinated in oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, and spices), red and orange peppers, sweet Vadalia onions, and cremini mushrooms.

Appetizers were thick tomatoes layered with fresh basil, avocado, and drizzled with oil and vinegar (the non-scders had mozzarella instead of avocado).

Dessert was a fresh fruit platter with organic red grapes, fat strawberries, and juicy pineapple. We topped that off with a game of Trivial Pursuit and called it a night.

Traveling and Technical Difficulties

I spent the last few weeks traveling around for business visiting both Kentucky and California. In California I was lucky enough to meet up with another SCDer and have some tea. We both agreed that it is amazing that when I work in California I am in the building across the street from her. We speculated on how many other people are right outside our doors who are also on the SCD and/or living with Crohn's.

While traveling I stuck to my usual routine of bringing my own staples (yogurt, stew, cookies, crackers) and then buying salads with grilled chicken/shrimp, hamburgers, grilled fish, steamed veggies, etc. I feel like I have this "domestic traveling with the SCD" thing down. Now my next challenges will be to travel internationally (I would love to go to Italy) or even to take another cruise. I have heard that other SCDers have enjoyed cruises with no problem so maybe that will be my next adventure.

Upon my return home I found that our computer was on the fritz. We had to completely re-image it and upload everything again. This, of course, was not fun but the good news is it seems to be back in business.

As of late we have been very busy at work so dinner has been a quick stir fry or something on the grill. As the weather continues to improve the grill becomes our best friend on weeknights. We are mindful of grilling on low to medium heat however, as I have read about some concerns with high heat and carcinogens. I suppose to be 100% healthy we should just be eating organic raw vegetables for the most part. Hmmm- I will leave that to the rabbits for now.

Today's Breakfast- Cinnamon Raisin Scone from the SCD Bakery
Lunch- Yogurt with fruit and honey
Dinner- Not sure - something with ground turkey probably