Paging JoAnn

[Polly]

Hi JoAnn,

I see congratulations are in order! Three months now off of the Entocort and still doing well! Your hard work and patience are paying off. Isn't it fun to start thinking about the "R" word (remission)? Refresh my memory, please - what is your typical diet like (we have so many of the same intolerances). Are you mostly paleo or can you do some grains?

Best wishes for continued health.......

Love,

Polly

[starfire]

Many Congrats from me too!!!

Love, Shirley

[wonderwoman]

Great news. Hope your success continues. I look forward to the day I can be off Entocort.

[Ginny]

Joann I am so happy for you! It just takes a long time as we have discussed and patience is everything! Thanks for that great rice "cook in the crockpot" idea. I am down to rice and meat and a few veggies/fruits and that's about it, but I am beginning to see progress. Polly is right about wanting to use the word remission.................look forward to it some day. Love , Ginny

[JoAnn]

Thanks all of you, you are such a great support to me. Polly, I'm not sure how you would classify me as far as eating. The foods that I use consistently are rice, corn, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, rice protein powder, coconut oil, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, beef, and fish. Lately my breakfast has been sweet rice (I make a large batch in the crockpot over night and it usually lasts a week) with banana warmed in the microwave sprinkled with cinnamon. My lunch is almost always a shake that I blend in the morning and take to school. It consists of chocolate rice protein powder, banana, strawberries, blueberries, rice milk, coconut milk, and cinnamon. Sometimes I make a "vegie" shake with vanilla rice protein powder rice and coconut milk and blend in canned carrots and canned spinach. It doesn't taste as well as the fruit shake, but it's OK when I feel like I need more vegies. (My family is kind of grossed out on that one.) I love Talapia fish and sometimes have that for breakfast. I fry it in coconut oil. I use coconut oil as a replacement for butter on most things. I have come to really enjoy the taste. I often make roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crockpot and this makes several meals for the week. I just recently found I was able to add refried beans back into my diet (yay!) Absolutely no problems with it. I love it on a corn tortilla with fresh salsa and guacamole. I forgot to mention that I am able to eat tomatoes and chiles now without a problem. Love those avocados. I can also eat bacon (bacon, tomato, avocado sandwich. I usually eat well cooked vegetables, but have been adventuring into salads now and then and I seem to be tolerating them. The past couple of weeks I've added nuts back into my diet and that seems to be OK. They gave me problems awhile back. I haven't tried chicken for a few months because it seems to give me problems. I might try again in a month or so. I would love to have eggs back in my diet, but I'm not sure if that can happen. They don't seem to bother me in baked goods, but I would love to just have a poached egg again. We have our own chickens and maybe I'll try this spring. I think Gloria mentioned one time that fresh eggs may be more tolerable than those in the stores. I use corn pasta and Bertolli spaghetti sauce when I feel like something Italian. For treats I buy the KinniToos vanilla and chocolate sandwich creme cookies and keep Enjoy chocolate chips around to use creatively. I love melting them and mixing them with coconut and now I can throw some nuts in. Well, this may be more than you asked for and I'm not sure what category I fall in. It seems to work for me and hopefully I'll add more things in in the future. One thing that I make every Christmas are homemade tamales. I was so happy last year when I realized that they are free of all my intolerances. They are mainly masa(cornmeal flour) lard and seasoned pork meat. I put the masa on cornhusks, add the filling and roll them up. They are then steamed for about an hour. This is a family tradition from Arizona. I hope I haven't rambled on too much and that this is helpful to someone. Thanks again for your encouragement, support, and love. I couldn't have reached this point without all of you, Love JoAnn

[tex]

I just recently found I was able to add refried beans back into my diet (yay!) Absolutely no problems with it.

I recall reading somewhere that refried beans contain the least amount of lectins of any beans, (IOW, compared with beans cooked in any other way). Because of that, I wonder of they might be safe for more/most of us.

Good for you. You seem to have worked out a pretty extensive, (and healthy),diet.

Love,
Tex

[Joefnh]

Joann congratulations on both the Entocort and the increases in your diet. It really is encouraging to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

--Joe

[mbeezie]

JoAnn,

Sounds like you have done a great job determining your intolerances and allowing your body to heal by staying away from them.

Mary Beth

[Polly]

JoAnn,

Thanks so much for taking the time to update us on your diet. It is quite eclectic and a great example of how creative an MCer can be when designing a limited diet. I love the fact that you have figured out how to incorporate some of your traditional southwestern cooking. It is SO importatnt, IMHO, to be able to continue with at least some family/cultural ways of eating.

YUM, bacon, tomato, avocado sandwiches! Do you eat them on corn tortillas?(For those with a corn problem, they make rice tortillas too). I found the same thing as you - as I began to heal, I could again tolerate nightshades like tomatoes, peppers. With southwestern cooking, isn't the question "red or green"? I'm referring to chiles, of course, so it's good that you can tolerate them again. I'll be interested to see what happens if you try one of your own eggs. I recall Tex mentioning some time ago that commercial eggs are coated with soy oil, and we wondered if that might be the cause of reaction for some of us?

Interesting about the refried beans. I may try some, since I have found that I can tolerate some legumes better than others - especially peas and lima or navy beans in soup. But chickpeas are still a problem. RATZ, because I love hummus. Do you have a recipe for "safe" taco seasoning/sauce? Also, I missed your crockpot rice recipe - is it in the Kitchen? If not, please direct me to it.

It's good news that you have been able to add back some food favorites! And the best news of all is that you are healing. HOORAY!!!!!!!

Love,

Polly

[JoAnn]

Thanks Tex, Joe, Mary Beth and Polly. You must be right about the beans, Tex. The weekend I decided to try them again, I just waited around for the big explosion, and nothing happened. In fact, my stomach and gut seemed extra calm. Joe, my doctor has a sign in her office that says "The light at the end of the tunnel has been temporarily turned off." I think it's supposed to be funny, but when you have MC it sure feels that way! It is wonderful when you start to see that glimmer again. I'm hoping and praying that your light will soon be glowing again.
Polly, I haven't posted any recipes because I just kind of ad lib on things. I have a cupboard full of spices and for Mexican seasonings I have used cayenne, chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper according to taste. We usually put these in our salsa along with tomatoes, onion, green onion, green chilies, clilantro, and jalapeno. When I make tamales, I season the meat with Rosarita red enchilada sauce and add seasonings. My family also likes this meat on bread for sandwiches. I have found the Rosarita sauce to be safe with no reactions. My family loves enchiladas and I use this sauce for those also. I use hamburger, corn torillas, onion, and the Rosarita sauce. I put cheese in theirs, and make me a batch without. Rosarita started in Mesa, Arizona where I grew up and I remember where their building was near my aunt's house. Beatrice foods bought them out at some point, so they are now based in California I think. As far as the rice recipes, I don't know if it is actually a recipe. The rice I use for breakfast is completely different from my "dinner" rice. For breakfast, I use sweet rice or glutinous rice (it doesn't have gluten-it's gooey). I get it at a Chinese market. Just before I go to bed, I put 1 cup in the crockpot and add about 6 cups of water. In the morning, it is the perfect consistency. It's like a porridge. You can sweeten it, add fruit, etc. It's a lot like eating oatmeal or cream of wheat. The Chinese have a name for it, but I can't think of it right now. My son likes to add coconut milk to his when he cooks it. When I do my dinner rice, I just use regular white rice and the usual equivalents (2 cups rice-2 cups water), but I add a little more liquid, maybe 1/2 to 1 cup more. I put it all in the crockpot overnight and it comes out perfect the next morning. I'll pay closer attention next time I do it so I can be more accurate on the amounts. If you think it's worth posting in the recipe section, I'll figure out the exact amounts and post it.
For those who aren't sensitive to corn, Masa makes a wonderful breading for fried foods. I've breaded fish in it and I think I actually prefer it to the wheat flour. In fact, my husband was watching a cooking show on the Food Channel recently and whoever the chef was said he had discovered how wonderful Masa is to use for breading. I told him that I was taking credit for that discovery If I ever get to eat chicken again, it would make great fried chicken. As far as bread, I use a bread machine with a flour mix recipe that I got from the book Gluten-Free Baking Classics for the Bread Machine by Annalise G. Roberts. I mixed up a huge batch and keep it in my 2nd refrigerator in the garage. Like Gloria, I have a grain mill and can grind my own grains and rice. This bread tastes as good as "real" bread to me. My newest adventure is yogurt. I've bought a yogurt maker and sent away for dairy-free yogurt start (expensive, but should go far). I'm going to use coconut milk and see what I come up with. If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate any advice. I haven't checked the recipe section yet, I need to do that. I love hummus, too, Polly. That's on my list to experment with in the near future. All this trial and error takes so much time and when it backfires, there's the recovery time to deal with. I have to wait until the weekends or when I "track-off" a few weeks from my year round school to really experiment so I can keep up at school. Well, I've rambled on again, but hope this will be helpful to others. JoAnn

[mbeezie]

Jo Ann,

I'm impressed. . . grinding your own grains and making your own yogurt!! I just got a tortilla press and plan to make my own corn tortillas. I want to use nonGMO masa and I understand Bob's Red Mill makes one.

Can you tolerate tomatillos? I just made some yummy Chili Verde. I want to try beans but am a little afraid to. We used to eat all kinds of beans and I really want to eat some more meatless meals.

Keep us posted on the coconut yogurt - I'm curious to find out how it turns out. Commerical coconut yogurt uses tapioca

Mary Beth

[JoAnn]

Hi Mary Beth, I haven't tried the tomatillos yet, but would like your chili verde recipe. I'm hoping to work on the yogurt this weekend. Thanks, JoAnn

[mbeezie]

Hi JoAnn,

Here's my recipe:

Chile Verde

If you can’t find Hatch chiles, use poblanos or Anaheim. Serve with chopped avocado and sliced jalapepeno.




2 teaspoons oil
3 – 4 pound pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 cups chopped onion
2 Hatch peppers, seeded and chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1½ pounds tomatillos, outer layer removed and chopped
2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
6 cups beef broth
1 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat oil and add meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes. Add peppers and garlic and sauté 5 minutes. Return meat to pan. Add tomatillos, oregano, cumin and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 ½ - 2 hours or until meat is tender. Stir in cilantro.

Serves 6

Mary Beth

[JoAnn]

This looks great! I'm going to try it this weekend. Thanks Mary Beth

[tex]

Mary Beth,

I saved that recipe, too. I'm a big fan of pork, and that looks like a good recipe to whip up on a cold winter day.

Thanks,
Tex