Health Update - July 2013

(being a dork out the front of the Sumo Wrestling world championships in Tokyo)

Hey friends! Guess what? My mac died. Errrrrrrgh. The Battery is toast and as I've had my beloved book for going on 5 years now, I think it's time to upgrade. And I haven't had any time to do that yet, so I haven't been able to do any photo editing which means no recipe posts! Sorry about that. But today I'm blogging from my iPhone and I thought I should probably give ya'll an update on my health status.

Last update involved all sorts of scary moments including controversial drugs and a return to my former depressed self. That was super awesome. Thankfully, I'm doing better now. As soon as I got myself off oratane, my HS (Hidrabenitis Suppurativa, for those of you just joining us) flared. Not bad, but definitely a huge difference from the relief I did experience on the drugs. I also noticed a few new areas where it seems the disease has managed to spread (I will save you the gory details!). Given the last 7 months of surgery, medication and being bounced from specialist to specialist, I kinda got fed up and decided I was going to have a break for a little while. While all my doctors have been nothing short of magnificent, extremely caring and sympathetic, at the end of the day there is so little known about HS and it seemed they were all running out of ideas. 

A few months ago my mother, a natural therapies enthusiast, gave me a big bottle of Olive Leaf Extract to try. One of the benefits of olive leaf is its anti inflammatory properties which she thought could possibly help quell my flair ups. I started taking it but i was never really consistent with it and eventually stopped all together. But shortly after my oratane ordeal my bestie noticed the discarded bottle in my kitchen and told me how much her mother and aunty rave about olive leaf. So I thought I'd give it another crack. I've been taking 10mls a day for the last 2 months and have had ZERO flair ups. I hardly even notice my lesions anymore!! 

I can't say with all certainty that the olive leaf is slowling my HS. After all, it is winter which means I'm less active which is probably helping with my arm. BUT, Michael and I recently got back from 2 weeks of summertime fun in Japan (including all the non-paleo meals!!) and I decided to leave my olive leaf at home to see if I noticed a difference, and I just so happened to have TWO flair ups during our trip. Coinsidence? I'm beginning to think not. Providing this all keeps going well, I'm also considering acupuncture as an alternative therapy approach. Again, my darling mother is a huge fan, and it's worked wonders for her recently. Plus I've read so many good things about acupuncture, I figure it can't hurt? 

In other news, if you follow me on twitter or instagram you may have noticed that I've also decided to quit sugar (insert groans of pain here). I'm loosely following the Sarah Wilson 'I Quit Sugar' plan but as I predominantly eat paleo, all I've really had to do is cut out the natural sugars like fruit, honey etc. I'm hoping this detox will help me curb my processed sugar cravings (even cavemen go weak at the sight of a Zumbo Cronut!), but shall keep you all updated as I go. 

Stay healthy, Kids.

KayB xx

(The Cronut. Or Zonut. Heaven in a pastry.)

Paleo Mousse

Remember when you were little and you ate yogo like it was real yoghurt? That gloppy, runny, chocolaty stuff? Sometimes you would get the big serve with the choc chips or M&Ms to stir in?Or sometimes you would just drink it out of the little container, push it right up against your face so you can lick every last remnant from the bottom, resulting in a chocolaty ring around your mouth and nose? Remember that? And do you remember last week when your boyfriend was super sick with a weird strain of man flu/food poisoning and the only thing that made him feel better was a fridge full of yogo? Ok, so that was just me then?

I promise you, this yogo ranting is leading somewhere. I call this a paleo mousse because that's what the original recipe was published as over on PaleOMG. I nearly crapped myself when I saw this post, mostly because I had just made a fresh batch of almond butter AND I had all the other ingredients in the house to make the damn mousse. Which pretty much never happens. There is always one damn thing missing. I've tweaked the recipe slightly, and depending on how you like the consistency, you can either whack it in the freezer for a mousse or just chill it in the fridge for a yogo. See, I told you the yogo rant was leading somewhere.

Paleo Mousse

1/4 Cup almond butter
400ml ice cold coconut milk (full fat)
1/4 Cup Raw cacao powder
2 Tbs raw organic honey
Pinch of cinnamon

Pop your coconut milk in the freezer for an hour or two until it's ice cold. Place all ingredients in your food processor and blend until well combined. Pour into four small dishes (I used tea cups) and refrigerate for 4-5 hours, or until it firms up to your desired consistency. If you want firm mousse, transfer from the fridge to the freezer for 1 hour before serving.

Serves 4,  276 cal per serve.

Paleo Jaffa Cake

When I was young(er) I had a sleepover with a bunch of friends. The sleep part of 'sleepover' is only implied, as we didn't sleep a wink. We sat up all night and laughed, talked shit and ate crap. Oh, and we also rolled jaffas across the wooden floorboards to each other, creating a horrid noise in the echoy silence of early morning. This noise then filtered upwards to my parents bedroom, resulting in my mother, to directly quote one of my friends, going ape shit crazy.

Ahh to be young again. And jaffas - not just good for eating at the movies. Also an impressive torture device. Who would have thunk it.

Jaffa Cake

2 over ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup almond butter
2 tbs coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup raw cacaco
1 mandarin zest, plus juice (you can use an orange instead. I only had mandarins)
pinch of baking soda
pinch of baking powder
vanilla

Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius. Line a small loaf tin with baking paper. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until combined. Alternately, combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a second bowl. Combine wet to dry.  Bake for aprox 45 minutes, or until  brown on top and baked through the middle.

 

Almond choc chip cookies and the beginning of the quest for the perfect paleo cookie.

I have read so many damn blogs claiming to have the ultimate paleo cookie recipe recently. I'm not saying their recipes are wrong. I'm actually thankful for their posts. Cause it means I have a multitude of 'excuses' to try all of them. Once I accrue them all, I'm going to embark of some sort of spiritual-cookie pilgrimage to my umm,.. kitchen? It's gonna be messy. In the meantime, here is my contribution to the cookie pilgrimage.

Almond choc chip cookies

1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup + 1Tbs coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 Tbs melted coconut oil
1 Tbs raw organic honey
1 Tbs coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 200 degres celsius and line tray with baking paper. Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Grate your coconut sugar and mix into the wet ingredients so the sugar starts to dissolve.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl (excluding choc chips). Add the wet ingredients and mix to combine, then stir in choc chips. Take heaped tablespoons of mixture and roll into a ball. Place of tray and flatten. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

Makes 10 cookies, approx 106 cal per cookie

Paleo Sweet Potato Brownies

I have chicken neck. Let me rephrase that. I have big ass swollen glands that make me look like I have a chicken neck. I don't feel sick, but it hurts my face. Woe is me right now. Thankfully, I had 1 more sweet potato brownie waiting for me in the fridge when I got home tonight and now I feel heeeeeeeaps better. If you can, resist the urge to eat these straight out of the oven (fat chance). Instead, pop them in the fridge over night. These bad boys mature real well with age. I discovered this fact by accident. Accidents rule!

Paleo sweet potato brownies (adapted from PaleOMG)

1 1/2 sweet potato (about 1.5 cups mashed)
3 eggs
1 Tbs melted coconut oil
4 Tbs raw organic honey
3 Tbs coconut flour
2 Tbs tapioca flour
2 1/2 Tbs raw cacao powder
Pinch of gluten free baking powder
Pinch of cinnamon
Dash of vanilla extract
Optional extra - tsp of melted nutella or melted dark chocolate.

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease one large loaf tin (or I use two small loaf tins) with olive oil. Personally, I prefer not to grease as it adds extra, unwanted fat. Instead, invest in some silicon bakeware. Seriously, you'll never look back!

Depending on how lazy you are, peel and dice your sweet potato then boil until tender, then mash. For the lazy among us, put your taters in a microwave proof bowl, cover with water and zap for 6 minutes. Drain and whack in your food processor. BLLLLLIIIIIIITZZZ! 

Start with your wet ingredients - eggs, oil, honey, vanilla. Whisk to combine with your mash, or BLLLLLLLITTTTZZ in your food processor for 1 minute. 

Then the dry ingredients - flours, cacao, baking powder, cinnamon. Stir to combine or BLLLLLLITTTZZZ! 

Poor mixture into prepared tins, and if you have opted for the additional extras drizzle over the top of your brownie mix. Bake for around 30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the mix comes out clear. 

Makes 12 brownies. Or 4. Depending on how many you eat before your significant other comes home. 

Paleo English Muffins

I miss bread. Not the wonder white, tip top, full of bleach variety you buy at woollies. I mean good bread. Organic sourdough. Irish soda bread. Vegemite and avocado on toast. Bread was such a staple in my diet, every morning for breakfast I had toast purely because it was quick and easy (I’m not a morning person whatsoever). One of my work buddies looooooooves bread. I’m talkin all kinds of bread. Slathered with peanut butter. She’s all up in breads grill, yo (in my head she is also a mad gangsta). I try to make her feel bad by telling her that every time she eats bread, Ryan Gosling cries. His tears taste like bread. Sweet, sweet, tasty bread. It doesn’t work. Cause then I’m thinking of Ryan while she’s eating bread and it makes me twice as sad cause I don’t have either of those things in my life. Meh.

Here’s what I have instead of bread. Let’s face it – it’ll never be bread. Nothing will. But until the day that Ryan Gosling walks through my door, I will eat these paleo English muffins instead.

(Disclaimer: these are actually quite tasty. Don’t let my crazy bread ranting put you off them. Ryan will thank you for it).

Paleo English Muffins (adapted from Carrots N Cake)

Ingredients

1/4 Cup almond meal

1/2 Tbsp melted coconut oil

1 egg

pinch of baking powder

Place all ingredients in a small, microwave proof bowl and whisk well with a fork until all combined. Microwave on high for 90 seconds (note: microwave strength may vary, play around with it until you get it right). Remove from bowl and allow to cool to the touch before cutting in half.

These toast up under the really well, but are also great fresh from the microwave!

A Guide to Meal Plans

I hate wasting food. It's my biggest pet hate. It's such a waste. I'd much rather make lots of little visits to the supermarket to make sure I use everything in the fridge, than do one big shop and have to throw out spoiled food. 

Let's talk about meal plans. Sounds boring right? I know. And it is boring to some. But it's actually one of my fav things to do. I get excited when I discover new recipes to try out and include in my plan. Meal plans help me stay on track with my eating, plus I can make an ingredients/shopping list which means I only buy what I need and nothing goes to waste. AND you save money. It's a win win. Duh. Hurray!! 

I do my fruit and veggie shopping on Wednesday at the local produce markets near my work, so my meal plan starts mid week. I'm obvs also reeeeeeeally boring when it comes to 
breakfast. I'm not a morning person. I'd rather sleep than eat.

I don't always stick to my plan, sometimes I feel like chicken when my plan tells me I'm supposed to have lamb, but I will always have a bunch of ingredients for meals in the fridge ready to go. So I can chop and change depending on what I want. I also do my best to include any meals where I will be eating out so I don't over shop. 

Here's a snap shot into a week in my belly. Enjoy! 

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Wednesday	Egg and Bacon muffin	Leftover chicken	Pesto Burgers
Thursday	Egg and Bacon muffin	Leftover pesto burgers	Eating out
Friday	Granola, almond milk and fruit	Frozen soup	Pizza
Saturday	Bacon, Eggs and avocado	Wing it	Eating out
Sunday	Eating out	Wing it	Frittata
Monday	Granola, almond milk and fruit	Left over frittata	Baked chicken & sweet potato
Tuesday	Egg and Bacon muffin	Leftover chicken salad	Lamb & stuffed zucchini
Wednesday	Egg and Bacon muffin	Pumpkin & carrot soup	Pesto Burgers?

Shopping List

Basil, raw cashews, iceberg lettuce, mixed lettuce, baby spinach, tomatoes, avocado, sweet potato, lemons/limes, cauliflower, capsicum, zucchini, Olive oil, bacon, steak, salami, cheese, pizza bases, mince x 2, chicken, lamb, eggs, almonds. 

Paleo banana and coconut cookies

Bye Summer! I'm sick of this crappy weather already and it's only been 18 hours! Here's hoping we might have a few more balmy Autumn days ahead of us. If not, just make a batch of these and eat them all. Guilt free. They'll totally take you mind off the crappy Sydney weather. Eat with a big glass o' ice cold chocolate almond milk. Errrrmahgawd. 

Ingredients

2 brown medium sized bananas

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 coconut flour

2 eggs

Tsp cinnamon

Tsp nutmeg

Tsp ground ginger

Tsp baking powder

Unsweetened shredded coconut

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees fan forced. Place all your ingredients, excluding the shredded coconut in a food processor and blend. Or if you're not lazy like me, place in a bowl and mix the old fashioned way until well combined.

Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls, roll in the shredded coconut, then place on trays lined with baking paper and flatten.

Baking for 20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Makes approx 18-20 cookies.

Paleo Chicken Nuggets

You know those days where you just want to come home, sit in front of the TV and eat comfort food? Nuggets are my comfort food. They remind me of being a kid, having play dates with my primary school friends during the school holidays and mum letting us eat nuggets and oven-bake chips.

I've never been the type of person who can just give up particular foods because they're 'bad', so when I made the switch to a paleo lifestyle I was determined not to give up the comfort foods that I love, but make paleo variations instead. When I made these nuggets for the first time I was sure they were better than regular nuggets. Perhaps my many months as a caveman had brainwashed me, or I had just forgotten what processed food tastes like?! But last night, after a particularly full on week at work resulting in a desperate need for comfort food, I made them again and my boyfriend declared 'These are seriously good. Like, the best nuggets ever'. I'm pretty sure I could serve these to people and they wouldn't even realise they were paleo!

Paleo Chicken Nuggets (serves 4)

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs (or breast meat)
1 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons mixed Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, etc etc..)
Salt & pepper
1 egg, lightly whisked
Olive oil

1. Remove fat from chicken and dice into nugget size pieces
2. On a large, flat plate combine your dry ingredients (almond meal, herbs, salt & pepper)
3. Dip your chicken pieces into egg, then coat with the almond mix until well covered. Lay out chicken nuggets on a plate covered with baking paper and pop in the fridge for 1/2 hour before baking.
4. While chicken is in the fridge, cover your baking tray with enough oil to grease the entire tray. Pop the tray in the oven and pre heat to 200 degrees fan forced.
5. Pop your nuggets on the pre heated tray (this helps the almond coating from sticking) and baking for 30 minutes (turing once) or until golden brown on both sides.

  

Paleo Banana Ice Cream

I'm a sucker for ice cream. When I was in New York last year I pretty much ate the entire city clean of Ben and Jerry's. It wasn't pretty. I'm not sure where I stumbled upon this fake ice cream trick, but I know it's not only the paleo community who enjoy it, mothers are also suckers for this sugar free, kid friendly treat. It is super quick and super easy! I'm planning to experiment with adding some more flavours to the mix, but for the meantime my boyfriend and I enjoy a bowl with strawberries and a little bit of nutella.

Ingredients.

1 ripe banana

Chop your banana up into bit size pieces and lay on a plate covered with baking paper. Whack in the freezer for an hour.

Grab your food processor and throw your frozen banana chunks in. Whiz on low until all the banana is whipped up and creamy. You'll probably need to scrap down the sides as your go, but shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can pre mash the bananas before you freeze them, the texture will be a little less creamy, though.