Attn: Joe - gabes cooking corner

[Gabes-Apg]

Gabes cooking corner

mindful that i am following GF/YF/LF/ and minimal Soy diet
as i am still recovering from the flares (and not taking steroids or anti-inflammatories) i am only having very limited ingredients (ie the vegetables i know are safe)

the gabes cook up: -
as i can not tolerate yeast there are no commercial stocks on the market i can use, so I make my own

Hormone free/free range Chicken
i get wings and drumsticks and simmer these for 1 - 2 hours with a bit of salt. The main reason i do this is for the stock, I do keep the meat and this is great for nights you want a 'easy meal' of chicken and rice.

Stewed Meat
i get cuts of lamb and veal (about 70% lamb 30% veal) that are on the bone (and especially on special!!)
as I am not a gristle or fat gal i trim these a bit (not totally) and then sear them. After they are seared i move the pot to a simmer plate, i put in salt, pepper, GF tamari (soy sauce) GF worshitisere sauce, bit of my home made chicken stock, and other kept liquids (see note below)
I put a few pieces of sweet potato and pumpkin. i simmer this for about 2 hours. keep some of the excess liquid
I extract the meat, remove the bones, thicken the liquid with a potato and cornflour mix. Put all the meat back in

Feel free to add any vegetables you know you can tolerate
If i could tolerate more veges and especially onions then i would make soups (same concept) just put all the veges through the food processor and simmer the meat and the veges for a few hours

the reason for this is that the bones of the meat has gelatine, proven to help heal leaky gut. they have been using it since medieval times for people with gut issues.

Other kept liquids
when cooking rice or vegetables, i use 1/3 stocks from the meats, 2/3 water. When i strain the vegetables, i keep this liquid and use it for the muffins, stewing the meat etc.

Rice
when i cook the rice, i have got the measurements figured out that i end up with well cooked gooey rice. Dont strain or rinse. The liquid from the rice is very healing and fantastic for inflammed gut.

Muffins
I have found a GF/YF/DF/SF sav muffin mix in the supermarket. they are more like a scone than a muffin. I make these using the stock liquids, kept liquids and a bit of lactose free vintage chedder. I generally make 2 batches on a sunday and freeze them in portion size, and have these for morning tea at work (warm them sligtly and have a bit of DF marg). They are handy for nights that i want quick and easy dinner, i just warm them up and have a boiled egg with them.

I cook up the rice and vegetables for at least 3 days of supply so i only need to do one cook up during the week.
at work i have rice cakes, clear juice and lots of water! and a bit of jello mid arvo treat. Plus i pre-brew my favourite coffee at home and have this with a bit of lactose free milk.

I take the stewed meat, rice and pre cooked pumpking/sweet potato and have it for lunch at work. My body is happier when i have the main meal at lunch and small meal for dinner.
dinners i will have the chicken with a bit of rice, or some salmon with rice, or boiled egg with the muffins.

I have also found a GF/YF/DF/SF pancake mix - i have figured out the portions how to make a 1/3 batch (as i live alone i dont want to make up the whole lot) which is more than enough as a basis to then have a bit of vege, chicken and a egg with it. This has become my saturday morning breaky.
aside from that i have GF/DF/SF breakfast cereal that i have a bit of lactose free milk and that is my diet

This was a big adjustment for me - given i live in a sub tropical humid environment, pre MC I use to eat 3 pieces of fruit a day, raw veges for snacks and have salads for lunch.
It was hard work in the summer months to do the cook up for the week, (to the extent i had to run two fans in the kitchen!) now it is cooling down for our winter and it is much easier

Prior to you joining the site, we had discussions about emergency rations (based on tex not being fed during one of his hospital visits). I always ensure i have two meals in the freezer at all times, if i get sick or have to go to hospital i can ensure i can have 'my food'. Each month i rotate these. i always ensure i have plenty of home made stock in the freezer and rice in the pantry. This is mostly because i live alone.

as previously mentioned in other posts, hunting and gathering ingredients and items that are GF/YF/DF/SY is hard work. I go to at least 6 different outlets in different suburbs to get my supplies. (and get really mad when the one item i want, the shelf is empty!) i have now figured out their delivery cycles and what day i should go to that outlet. At first as i found new items i couldnt remember where i got it! as i would only buy one until i could try it so I started keeping receipts in my diary so i could remember. Typing this up for you has prompted me to type up this list as a back up should i get sick and have to ask someone to do my shopping for me

hope this helps, this is what works for me.

[Joefnh]

Thanks Gabe that's a great list. I know what I am doing Sunday afternoon I guess its time to go shopping. Fortunately we have a few good organic food stores in the area.

I appreciate the list I am hoping getting GF will help the healing process. It looks like you have being doing this for a while.

Thanks again

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

it is sunday morning here, I fell asleep early last night, actually had a good nights sleep, and woke up early (5am)

I had done my shopping yesterday afternoon so the cook up has started, all the meats are simmering on the stove and i am about cook up the muffins, and have fresh ones for breaky



the cooking bit is fine - it is the washing up bit that sux!

[Joefnh]

OK Gabes I'm back form the market.... Lets see how I do tomorrow. I am going to try most of the items on your list. I may play with the lamb recipe some. I hate to say it to you I have a recipe form the Kiwis across the way from you...

I am looking forward to this GF diet as a health benefit. I will admit the ingredients are a bit different than normal, but I am game for an adventure. (Joe puts on his Aussie hat..)

Thanks again Gabes

-Joe

[Joefnh]

Ok Gabes, its 3 in the afternoon and after 4 hours of cooking (and cleaning ) I have finished my first batch of Gabes Goodies . Your are right after a cooking session such as this the clean up "sux" LOL

Fortunately our weather here is about ideal this time of year with that daily highs in the 18 to 22C range; the breezes were welcome with all the cooking going on. I will definitely have to do this on the weekends as there is no way I would have the energy at night after work to do this correctly - good plan.

I made four base meats: Overall I cooked chicken, lamb, haddock and salmon (grilled) with enough quantities for 7 lunches and dinners. I did this following your recipe for stock with the stewed meats and tolerated veggies & rice and now have a good quantity for this week. I generally have not cooked with pumpkin and this time of year is a bit hard to find here, so I substituted with a similar veggie -butternut squash. I have saved the stock and will use that for adding flavor as needed.

Overall my ingredients were quite similar but your right, you do have to go to the specialty shops to find them. I was still running out this morning looking for a couple of the sauces which I eventually sourced.

I will have to say after my initial reading of your recipes I was a bit dubious, only as I have not tried this before, but after preparing and sampling the meals I was quite surprised and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy a sampler plate for dinner today.

Of course Nestle was always nearby and ready to offer her tasting services...

Gabes thanks again and good luck in your new position at work.

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

Joe
i cant guarentee it will taste gourmet ... the important factor for me was having totally safe meals for the week.

Nurse Nestle was probably saying hang on the bones are normally for me!!!

[Joefnh]

Overall the taste was pretty good. I did play around with a few 'safe' spices that I normally cook with and I can say that this should work for quite a while.

Overall I am aiming for the same goal of safe food at work. Our cafeteria is quite good if you can eat gluten etc... Beyond that my choices are quite minimal there. There may be one possibility, on Mondays they are going to be having a Sushi chef come in. Do you know if something like Sushi would be tolerated (substituting the soy sauce)?

Again thanks for all the help this weekend I am looking forward to a better week with the GF/LF/DF foods.

Don't worry, Nurse Nestle made out quite well...

Have a great week

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

the only risk with the sushi is how they prepare the rice etc. Some places use stock (liquid and cube) to flavour rice and it has yeast in it.
so be careful if you have issues with Yeast,

and yes - take your own tamari to avoid their soy sauce

We are are in the swamps at the back of brisbane airport. The closest food outlet, which is like a truckie stop is 2km away and then a supermarket is about 4km away....

[Joefnh]

I know pretty much the area you are talking about. 3M (Safety & Security Division) had an office back in that area. I had visited there at least 8 times in the late 90's. If I remember right it was off of Kingsford Smith Drive on Theodore Street - I cheated and checked the business card I had from those days, my memory isn't that good.

Down the road you could see the fuel tanks for the airport. I do remember the wetlands and heat in the summer.


It truly is a small world.

How soon do you start your new job?

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

The wetlands, the brown snakes etc.
We are on reclaimed swamp land on the eastern side of the runways.

You know you are in pinkenba when....
- A candle lit lunch in down town pinkenba is the gas flame of the refinerary.....
- all the food joints all have 'truckie breakfast' until 2pm
- the local pub has topless waitresses
- during summer we get 'brown snake sighting' emails the most poisionous snake in australia is found near entries to buildings, near cars in the car park
- there was a pig running down the street one day
- there are supplies of mosquito repellant in each building due to the swarms of mosquitos around

[Joefnh]

Gabes that's about what I remember. When I got back from my first trip there I told my boss I wanted hazardous duty pay..LOL

Those 'browns' are called Eastern Brown Snakes if memory serves me at all, and we were warned about those almost daily being the truly naive Yanks that we were. I remember looking those up after being warned of them, and I was truly frightened. Something like the second most lethal snake in the world...

We did have to travel about 12km for a decent restaurant (that was fully clothed ) Although I did get a chance to go to several of the employees houses around Brisbane and did enjoy the city. Like anywhere else there are good parts and not so good parts, overall it was a very 'colorful' city with lots to offer.

Overall I have very fond memories of all of the many trips there (and other Oz cities) and someday would love to take a vacation back in the land of Oz.

--Joe