In the Name of Fitness

It’s time I get serious, people. And by serious, I mean getting real. For years I’ve been struggling, and those struggles have revolved around three things: health, food, and fitness. This blog has really helped with the former two, but the latter… the latter has been the stitch in my side for far too long.

Now, I know I’m healthier than I have ever been, disordered eating besides. I like running, rock climbing, yoga, weight lifting, and so much more. I’m enjoying the grain-free, one fruit a day, and sweetener free life for the moment. Eating was the easiest thing to measure, basing what to eat by how I felt afterward. I learned that just by increasing each meal by 50 – 100 calories and drinking the daily two liters of water, I didn’t have the headaches anymore and the desire to snack subsided. I’ve noticed a positive change in my sleep pattern, in that I’m actually sleeping a full eight hours and not waking up ridiculously early. I’m learning what feeling true hunger (and not discomfort) is like, and accepting that my feeling full all this time must have not been full enough for my body. 

Along with this change I started reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Body. I thought of trying out the slow-carb diet, turning myself into a science experiment of epic proportions. A lot of what he said really resonated with me, like how weight wasn’t as important as other variables you could consistently measure as progress, like adding up the total inches of your forearms, waist, hips, and thighs. Reading his book was the turning point, because it was then I knew what I had to do.

I had to track my progress.

For the years I’ve been active, it never occurred to me to track on a regular basis. Or, maybe I didn't have the right motivation. I was afraid of the weight scale in the bathroom and terrified of the body tape measure. There were times I distinctly remember having a panic attack and feeling awful about myself when I did weigh myself and measure my waist, and even earlier this year I turned away from the scale at the various doctors’ offices and requested they not tell me my weight. Although there were some parts of Ferriss’ book I found extreme (albeit effective based on the results he published after ten years of research), I decided it was time to try something new: a Meals With Morri “Fitness” page.

A while back I bookmarked Running for Beginners, a six-week long run-walk program that I started as of today. I was working out for two hours at a time, three to five days a week, and I wasn’t seeing the progress I was hoping for. I then learned (yes, from Ferriss) about the Minimum Effective Dose, or the MED, that I was in turn doing more harm than good by working out so obsessively by not giving my body the time to heal itself. So why bend over backwards so long for such an ineffective method, working out for hours and not seeing noticeable progress? My first mistake? Not tracking what progress that could be measured. And my second? Killing myself in the name of fitness.

I’m not guaranteeing I won’t make blunders, but I do have a plan. And I am intending on making sure Meals With Morri keeps me honest. Each Monday I will be doing a weigh in, taking measurements, and taking (eep!) body photos.

My starting photos were… okay. The angle stinks, but at least my neck line looked awesome. After all, the photos aren’t supposed to be supermodel quality. They’re there as a reminder for where you started… and where you’re going to end up.

Wish me luck.

Pumpkin Pie (with a Dairy Free Filling)

I love the days following Thanksgiving, because no food goes to waste in this house (at least, we try). We have two bags for the turkey, one for the carcass and one for the leftover meat pieces. Everything tastes amazing, hot and cold, especially the sweet potatoes and the greens. We learned that garbanzo bean flour is a great thickener for gravy and savory sauces, perfect for grain-fee Morri’s like myself. We also came to the conclusion that I am to make pie crusts for every Thanksgiving get-together, because Mama Dazz was not impressed with the store-bought gluten kind. 

Awesome. Score one for the gluten free pie crust.

Pie was my indulgence, one tiny sliver for both Turkey Day and Leftovers Day. As I talked about in the Turkey Day Round Up, I felt intoxicated after eating it, sleepy and loopy for hours afterward. I’m not worried about the grain-free concept, because I’m sure I can make a grain-free crust with a little tweaking. It’s the sweetener for baked goods that concern me. I’ve tried palm sugar, and that is just as bad as cane sugar in how it affects me. Stevia in baked goods also worries me, because I don’t know how it tastes after being in the oven. So if there is someone who has experience baking with stevia (both in liquid and powdered form), I’d love to hear your input.

Despite it not being grain-free (the crust) or sweetener free (the filling), this is an amazing pie, with a dairy free filling that has a silky mousse texture. However, I think this recipe would go well with sweet potato, yam, kabocha squash, and (dare I say it?) carrot puree. I’ve also noticed that if you have leftover coconut milk, all you need to do is refrigerate it overnight for a loose whipped “cream” effect.

Pumpkin Pie

11 oz Pie crust dough, rolled out flat on a floured (I use tapioca starch) surface
Butter (or solid coconut oil), for greasing the pan and brushing on the pie crust
15 oz Pumpkin puree
8 oz Canned coconut milk
2 Eggs
126 g (<4.45 oz) Honey
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Coriander
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Allspice
Dash of Sage

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan with chilled butter (save any left over for later), and then carefully press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pan.
Put the pumpkin, coconut milk, eggs, honey, and spices in a large bowl and mix them together with an electric beater until combined.
Pour the filling into the pie dough (at this point you can decorate the edges of the pie crust as shown here).
Bake for ten minutes while melting the remaining butter on the stovetop over low heat in a small saucepan.
Remove the pie from the oven and reduce the heat to 350ºF.
Use a basting brush (silicone is preferable) to paint the piecrust edges with the remaining melted butter.
Put the pie back into the oven and bake for one hour.
Once the pie filling has set, let it sit on the counter until room temperature.
Refrigerate or serve as is.

Makes 1 pie. Serves 8 – 16 people. 

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving. A holiday focused on food, family, food, getting together, food, telling stories, food, and more food. I mentioned the food, right? 

My Leftovers Day Plate

Good.

I only had class on Monday this week, so much of my time was spent cleaning, cooking, and nervously awaiting the arrival of our other guests. We were eight around the table: Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, Uncle Rich, myself, and the boyfriend’s father and brother. He came later in the evening, back from his five-day excursion in Mexico.  The energy at the table was enormous, and food was plentiful and beyond delicious. It wasn’t completely Morri friendly, and being grain-free and sweetener free made it slightly more difficult (I indulged with a sliver of pie), but the food that I could and did eat did not leave me wanting. Plus, it was my first Thanksgiving back from Sweden, so I was just tickled pink to be there.

First and foremost, the Turkey, a bird named after the country the English believed it originated (The Turks called it the Hindu, I think, though the bird comes from Northern America). We typically buy the all-natural Trader Joe’s turkey each year, which came with its own brine. Only, upon further inspection, I realized that the brine wasn’t Morri friendly because of the sugar, so we ended up getting the smaller and yes, more expensive Kosher bird. 

Regardless, it was totally worth the extra few bucks, because not only did it taste amazing but it occurred to us that maybe the bird was raised and fed differently due to its, uh, Kosher-ness. It wasn’t some hulking, too-big-for-its-own-legs, obese thing. It was smaller, with some of the feathers in the skin, and juicier than I remember turkey ever being. Next year, I’m going to look in buying a Morri friendly bird online and see where that goes.

As I was going grain-free, I decided not to make a gluten free stuffing which, until I got sick earlier this month, I was making it with a spoon bread base. Instead of putting it in the bird it was baked like a huge bread pudding and a whole onion was put in its place. The onion was my “stuffing”.

There were two kinds of greens, my Uncle Rich’s infamous collard greens, cooked with salted fatback, water, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, and I made green beans with a delish twist, and whose recipe will be posted shortly.

Like many Thanksgiving dinners around the United States, our menu was rather heavy on the carbohydrates, but I think we did rather well in bringing color and balance to the table. Instead of mashed potatoes, we went with “small” sweet potatoes, baked at 400 ºF for 1.5 to 2 hours. The result is a caramelized and sticky exterior with a gooey middle that melts in your mouth. 

We had two sauces, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade, grain-free, and definitely not out of a can. I'm doing my best not to brag too inanely, but our cranberry sauce was beyond amazing, and I wish I had written down the recipe (we used this one for inspiration). Mama Dazz started off with two bags of fresh cranberries, used two cups of orange juice instead of water to cook them, and finished it off with fresh orange pieces and walnuts. Before adding sugar to the whole thing she poured a bit into two ramekins, one for me and one for Grandma D, who has diabetes. I personally liked it unsweetened, but she used a sweetener for hers.

Except for the turkey and Uncle Rich’s collards, I was surprised that most of the things I put on my plate (and made) were vegan. Then again, since everything was mixed into a tasty jamboree of flavors, I guess it wasn’t so vegan after all. Oh well…

As for drinks, I made two kinds of ice tea, Irish Breakfast (caffeinated) and Green Rooibos (non-caffeinated), and poured them into wine bottles for a change of pace. We also had chilled white wines, a 2010 Da Vinci Chianti Big Sergey brought (along with pink roses), and sparkling apple cider. 

Mama Dazz's Apple-Quince Pie (Not GF)

Mama Dazz's Sorghum Pecan Pie (Not GF)

Dessert was a Thanksgiving feast in its own right, with four (count 'em, four) different pies, vanilla ice cream, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and lots of coffee. Mama Dazz made Grandma D her own special single-serving berry pie as one, but she also made pecan pie and an apple-quince pie for the gluten eating crowd. I made a gluten-free pumpkin pie with a dairy free filling, using the second half of the pie crust recipe I made for last month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Grandma D's Three Berry Pie

My GF Pumpkin Pie!

It was weird having pie, with its not-so-much grain-free crust and honey sweetened filling, not to mention eating more than one fruit serving a day (the cranberry sauce was my second serving). After we picked him up from the airport, I ate a tiny sliver of my pie while he ate a reheated plate of amazing deliciousness. I felt loopy and slightly intoxicated after that, and my stomach didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though I did feel off. I think having a grain-free/sweetener free/limited fruit servings diet for a while may help, but it may end up becoming a long-term thing. FiveLac has been helpful; I just don’t want to take 3 – 6 packets every day for the rest of my life. And as long as I have garbanzo bean flour, I'm golden.

All in all, this Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for; you know, besides being thankful for the family I have. For my birthday I have this idea that, for every year after my birthday that’s the number of hours I give to doing community service (i.e., I’m twenty-two, so this year I do at minimum twenty-two hours). I am thankful that my lifestyle enables me to do that. I am thankful for the world I live in, for the people in it, and for the life I lead. I am thankful for every experience, every lesson, every mistake, and every success. I am thankful for my education, for my job, and for my bright today and the tomorrows that follow.

I am thankful for this year’s harvest, whatever that may be.

I end this post with a Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you all. May you have food in your cupboards and pantries all year long, a roof over your heads and a fireplace to keep you warm and dry, and finally, an open heart that grows with each passing day.

Dijon Green Beans with Almonds and Mushrooms (adapted from this recipe)

1 lb 8 oz French-cut green beans, preferably frozen
10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 oz Almond slivers
1 oz Coconut oil
5 Garlic cloves, left whole
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper
Dash nutmeg
2 oz Dijon mustard

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil.
Sautee the mushrooms, almond slivers, and the garlic cloves until thoroughly cooked and browned (careful, though, the almonds can burn if you are not watching).
Add in the green beans and stir until the ingredients are completely integrated.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to medium or medium-low for up to three minutes.
Pour in the spices and Dijon mustard in the final minutes of cooking (i.e. the green beans are still a vibrant green and lukewarm).
After it has cooked, let it sit for five minutes before serving.

Serves 8 – 10 people as a side dish, with a very likely chance of leftovers.

My (Almost... Not Really) Wordless Birthday Post

Sweetgreen lunch date with the Daddy-O. A great healthy & gluten free option in D.C.

My Mix-Your-Own salad: mesclun, grape tomatoes, raw peppers, goat chevre, hard-boiled egg crumbles, and balsamic vinegar.

And finally, ostkaka, modified from this recipe, only the sugar was replaced with honey, the bitter almonds was replaced for almond slivers as garnish and, for a grain-free version, I used amaranth flour in place of AP flour. Warning, though, I do not recommend cooking it as high as she recommends (amaranth flour browns very easily). This recipe says to cook it at 400ºF for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350ºF and bake for 1 hour.

November Reflections: Grain-Free and almost Stress-Free

I had so many blog posts I wanted to do, explicitly focused on my birthday, my talk with Cheryl, my grain-free week, and a few recipes as well. But life had different plans for me, and for the first time I am totally okay with it.

Ostkaka: my birthday "cake"

My birthday week was quiet. So quiet, in fact, that it went by in a blur of rain, school, and work. Both my Anthropology teachers canceled their classes on my birthday (divine intervention, perhaps) to attend conferences in Montreal and New Orleans, so I spent my day doing absolutely nothing. And as I mentioned before, I’ve been trying out the grain-free, one fruit a day (not including the lemon water I use for drinking down FiveLac), and no additional sweeteners, I didn’t have a cake specially made for the occasion. I did, however, have a piece of ostkaka I made on the 14th to celebrate Sweden’s “Day of Ostkaka,” a food holiday established in 2004. Oddly enough, it was the same “cake” I had in Sweden for my birthday last year.

I miss those times. I really, really do. My last semester of school had left me a stressed, anti-social mess, with a sore throat and a dry cough that finally went away after two (plus) weeks. I would have loved to go out on my birthday with the people I’ve been neglecting, but I was just so tired that all I wanted to do is sleep. I thought it was the whole grain-free thing, but really I was underestimating just how compromised my immune system was with the getting glutened-flu double whammy hullabaloo.

For a while I was still getting headaches, though the FiveLac keeps me from being hungry an hour after eating a full meal. I can wait until after six to eat dinner instead of having to eat right at five. My digestion is doing awesomely, and I think my hormone imbalance is leveling itself. I thought I had to increase my Armour Thyroid to 90-30-90 due to the emergence of previous symptoms (i.e., lower body temperature, cold hands and feet, yellowish palms and fingertips), but after acknowledging the headaches being stress related (and also for thinking too much) they’ve miraculously gone away.

Grain-Free "Granola" Bowl

As far as drastically changing my diet for the long term, Cheryl recommends I get tested for Candida until I officially go down the ACD or SCD route. For now I like being grain-free, white carb-free, and eating one fruit serving a day (most days). I’m noticing that I’m not as hungry, I’m fuller longer, and for the first time this Sunday I was actually hungry.

Interesting, isn’t it? Instead of eating when I was hungry I was eating because I was programmed to eat at a specific time. There is a difference to a hungry stomach and a stomach experiencing discomfort. For as long as I’ve been blogging, I ate to feed the headaches and I ate after eating to feed the “hunger” pains. After this weekend, filled with a family meditation seminar, the headaches went away and I slept. I mean, I actually slept in a way I thought was lost to me. Before the meditation I thought I had been too grounded to let go of all the stress. I am feeling more in my body than I have for two years. My hands are finally warm, and school (and graduation) isn’t so scary anymore.

With two weeks of school left after Thanksgiving weekend, I am definitely looking into doing Kundalini yoga again. Being grounded is at the heart of being healthy. And if I’m going to change the world and nourish the people in it, I have to live by example and nourish myself. Since I've returned to running and working with the munchkins at the community center, I need to be eating more than I have been if I don't want any more zombie nightmares. It's day four of warm hands, so I must be doing something right.

Health Update: What Getting Glutened, Candida, and a Grain-Free Bento Box Snapshot Have in Common

I can happily announce that I am once again among the living! Last week was the week of being voiceless, glutened*, in pain, hungry, and sleeping throughout the day. Maybe it was getting glutened that completely destroyed what was left of my stomach flora, all of that wonderful natural bacteria and enzymes that broke down nutrients and gave my body what it wanted, but I felt something was amiss.

Grain-Free Red Quinoa & Carrot "Pancake"

I’m used to getting sick around and on my birthday, but it had never been this bad. (Except the year around my seventh birthday when I had lice and I couldn’t play with any of my toys because they were in plastic trash bags for over a month). Just getting out of bed to feed myself was a chore, and don’t get me started going up and down the stairs or using the bathroom. What was even more interesting was the craving for fruits, lots of rice, and additional honey in my tea. I didn’t want to take medicine and it hurt to be touched, and after a week and a half of this my family started to get worried. Would I have to go to the doctor’s? Was it serious? Was my sore throat somehow affecting my lungs? 

On Sunday I was doubled over in pain and in tears, right around the top of the small intestines. I was immediately given two packets of FiveLac Probiotic and after twenty minutes it was as if I hadn’t been sick at all. I’m not a big fan of the taste, but if it works and makes me feel better I can’t complain (It tastes a lot better going down with lemon water).

I had many of the symptoms of flora imbalance, but especially:

•     Abdominal gas and bloating
•     Headaches
•     Migraines
•     Excessive fatigue
•     Anxiety
•     Cravings for sweets
•     Inability to think clearly or concentrate
•     Mood swings
•     Constipation
•     Itching
•     Eczema (particularly on my hands and elbows)
•     Depression
•     Sinus inflammation
•     Pre-menstrual symptoms
•     Dizziness
•     Poor memory
•     Persistent cough
•     Muscle weakness
•     Irritability
•     Learning difficulties
•     Sensitivity to fragrances and/or other chemicals
•     Cognitive impairment
•     Thrush
•     Sore throat
•     Indigestion
•     Acid reflux
•     Chronic pain

Sadly, I’ve been experiencing many of these symptoms for a while and it had never occurred to me that I may have Candida overgrowth.

(source)

As of now, it’s Day 2 of taking FiveLac three times daily before meals, and I’m feeling better than I have been for a while. To make it easier, I’ve gone “grain-free” and “white carbohydrate-free" (amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, beans, and sweet potatoes are okay) and have limited my fruit intake to one per day. Sweeteners such as honey, agave, and maple syrup will be removed from daily consumption (you know, the huge amount of half to one tablespoon) until I can eat brown rice without my stomach growling at me. The other immediate change I’ve noticed is that I’m not ravenously hungry as I once was and I can do cognitive tasks such as studying on an empty stomach.

Going “grain” and “white carb” –free for the time being (and just in time for my birthday) has been a little difficult, especially for breakfast and dinner. I have had success with egg “crepes”, and I’ve been thinking about using soaked buckwheat for parfaits, but I’m finding that replacing grains means the loss of calorie intake, and I do want to nourish my body correctly. That, and I don't want orthorexia nervosa rearing its obsessive head.

I did have success with making a grain-free Bento Box Snapshot, however, made with chicken, peas, Iris’ recipe of perfectly cooked onions, and plain ol’ buckwheat groats. But I do need some inspiration for other meals, and any advice or recipes would be greatly appreciated.

As for going full throttle into the Anti-Candida Diet, I’m not sure. If that is that case, particularly when I talk to Cheryl about it, I’ll be looking to Ricki from Diet, Dessert and Dogs for inspiration.

* I found out what did me in: Ultra Greens.

Ginger Lemon Tea

It has come to my attention that I have to rethink my life a little bit. My last semester as an undergraduate is less than 1.5 months away from ending, and my schoolwork just sits there, mocking me with its incompleteness. I have been going to class, and it’s not like I don’t have time to do it all, but when I actually get around to reading the books and doing the assignments... let’s just say trying to stay awake is hard enough.

Does this mean I’m lazy? Does this mean I don’t care about my academic career? I don’t think so. I love George Mason University, and I love my major. Without it I don’t think I would have realized my love for food and the magic of bringing people together. In fact, my final project in my Integration class is all about the crime of hunger, and why food from restaurants and supermarkets in the United States are thrown away and not donated to people in need. But even then, as I try to bring it to focus, it remains slightly blurred around the edges.

As you may know, I’ve been sick since last Thursday. With a sore throat, losing my voice every other day, an achy body that especially hurts when touched, and a strange fatigue even after taking naps in the mornings and afternoons, getting glutened didn’t help very much. My immune system was totally compromised. As a result, my stomach was unable to digest the last of the congee without cramping and bloating. Even rice crackers have become a no-no. All that good gut bacteria had been killed off because of the whole flu-gluten thing. As of this morning (i.e. Saturday), the congestion is finally breaking apart and I’m not coughing up what feels to be my good lung. Hopefully by Monday I can resume my running.

I mentioned my undergraduate career is almost up, but I have yet to mention my birthday. The big 2-2 on Wednesday the 16th. Did anyone else have a mid-mid-mid life crisis in their early twenties or before graduation? Despite all of the things I do, I just feel I’m not doing enough or not doing it well enough. I’ve been considering my restaurant idea that has evolved into a café that has evolved into healing resort type thing. I’ve also fretted where I’ll be working to make this dream a reality. But I have to consider the people I love (namely the boyfriend) into my life plans. Life isn’t all about Morri’s, you know.

Life doesn’t start after graduation, and I have to continue to believe in the process and believe this is the path I’m, err, we are meant to take. Everything happens for a reason. And yes, that does include getting sick and getting glutened. Luckily, because of feeling meh, I came up with a delicious tea recipe. When you lose you voice and your tummy is queasy, ginger, lemon, and mint have great healing properties. 

Ginger Lemon Tea

1.5 oz (or more) Fresh ginger, peeled and chopped into big piece
1 Lemon, juiced
32 oz Filtered water
1 pinch Sea salt
1 Mint sprig (with at least 10 leaves), left whole
Honey (or maple syrup), to taste

Bring the water to a boil and steep all the ingredients (sans the honey) on medium-low heat up to an hour.
Turn off the heat and let sit for another hour.
After the water has taking on a light golden color, bring to medium heat until hot.
Pour into up to four teacups and add the amount of sweetener to your preference.

Serves 2 – 4.

Getting Glutened & the Healing Qualities of Congee

I wish I could say I have a happy story to share with you all, but there is a very good reason as to why I’ve been so quiet this week. Not only have I been losing my voice off and on since last Thursday, I also was glutened, badly, at a health store of all places.

Despite not having the blood work that backs up my gluten intolerance or my hypothyroid condition, I do have both and being on Armour Thyroid as well as a gluten free (soy free and refined sugar free) diet has kept my body in tip-top shape. In fact, I started intermediate training for a 5K in December last Monday and couldn’t have felt better. But I didn’t realize just how gluten intolerant I was until Monday around noon, and now because of that incident I’ve been bedridden, unable to go to class or run.

I’m curious how others, gluten intolerant and those with full-blown celiac, are affected when it gets into their system. It took less than an hour before I started to feel the effects. Just above the naval I started to feel something along the lines of needles poking my stomach and intestines. It then progressed to a severe headache, something I felt from the frontal lobe that ended up going all the way down to the spine. All of this was happening right when my first class of the day started, and I was able to leave after the quiz.

Truthfully, I was surprised I was able to drive those fourteen miles home. I felt, for lack of a better word, intoxicated, but the kind no one enjoys. I was nauseous, with blurred vision and the sharp pain spreading throughout my lower torso. The bloating was beyond painful, and the image of sausage casing bursting in the skillet was the image I visualized. My intestines felt inflamed, enlarged, and tight. When I attempted to sleep, I kept waking up only to roll on my stomach to lessen the pain. And despite this, there was a pressure on my lower back as well, like someone was applying a consistent force with their fists on my kidneys and adrenals. I kept getting up at three in the morning, only because I was hungry and queasy at the same time. Tea was essential, with milk and lots of honey.

Ginger - Lemon Tea

Throughout this ordeal my voice was totally gone, so I am taking my compromised immune system into account. I kept dragging myself to bed and have been sleeping the majority of the late morning to the early afternoon, doing my best to sleep the worst of it away. In these situations, I refer to it as “the hangover without the fun.”

How did I get this way, you may ask, at a health store? Well, consider Snow White and the Apple. She was told not to accept anything from anyone who wasn’t one of the seven dwarves. And then this [supposedly] harmless old lady offers her a delicious apple. She knows she shouldn’t, but she figures the dwarves couldn’t possibly mean sweet old ladies in the middle of the forest who offers pretty girls delicious apples for no apparent reason, so to be polite and respectful she takes a bite.

(source)

And if you’ve read the Brothers Grimm or seen Disney’s movie version, we all know what happens to her.

In a way, the same thing happened to me, although I highly doubt it was malicious or done on purpose. After working for nearly six hours with over forty kids, I thought it would be a good idea to get a bottle of G.T. Kombucha and a snack before class. As I was browsing the gluten free isle, one of the employees approaches me with a small paper sample cup, slightly bigger than a thimble, halfway filled with a green drink of some sort. She compliments me on my hair (think Hermione Granger with thickness and curls), and asks me if I’d like to try it.

Me: What is it?
Her: Oh, it’s just apple juice with green powder. It’s just fabulous. I love it.
Me (throat raw, parched and hungry): Does it have added sugar in it?
Her: Nope. Just organic, freshly pressed, unrefined apple juice with the powder.
Me: Well… (Sniffs the drink and it smells like apples and spirulina) okay.
Takes the drink like a shot.

As I go to check out, a bag of raw ginger “cookies” and cranberry kombucha in hand, I look at the display and see what I was offered just a few minutes ago. I think, what the heck, I’ll read what’s in it. And as I do so, this heavy weight falls to the pit of my stomach and I do my best not to panic.

Me: Ummm… do you know if this is gluten free?
Her: Huh, I don’t know. I’ll read the ingredients.
Guy behind the counter: (Dismissively) The gluten protein is only found in the berries, and only a handful of people with celiac are affected by the grass.
Me: (Silently panicking) Oh.

Like Snow White and the Apple, so it was with Morri and the Green Apple Juice Drink. I didn’t die, but golly, there were moments where I felt like I was. For two days and an evening I’ve spent clutching my stomach and doubled over in pain, kicking myself for not thinking clearly and drinking something without all the facts. It wasn’t malicious, and I know that. I mean, I know these people! I like these people.  I spent much of my time at the store talking to them about my dietary lifestyle, so I just assumed they would remember. More than anything, I was disappointed. Disappointed in the store for not being more empathetic to what just happened, and disappointed in myself for getting glutened in the first place. I have emailed the store headquarters of the incident and what I recommend so that it never happens to someone else. I’ll post their response when I receive it, including the copy of the letter I sent.

Regardless if I am miraculously healed by tomorrow, I still have to go to school. If I want to graduate, I need to put my big girl pants on and deal with being in the classroom for three hours. All I need to do is put one foot in front of the other, slowly and carefully.

Now, in order to speed the healing process, I figured going grain-free would be a good idea until I felt better. But oddly enough, my body wanted rice in a love-hate sort of way. Meaning, I wanted to eat it and my stomach wanted to eat it, but I was also nauseous and didn’t want to eat it. It was like that for everything actually. I had rice and potatoes and, I think though I may be mistaken, rolled oats (as always, the CGF kind). I ate apples and peanut butter, and craved fruits more than I have in a while. My body couldn’t get enough tea, milk, honey, or raw veggies either. Eggs were also in demand. I wanted to give my body what it asked for, and I also wanted to be smart about it. With an inflamed digestive tract, I wanted something simple, hot, and good for an unhappy and sour gut.

This is where congee comes in.

Congee is a kind of porridge made with rice, though it can also be made with other grains. In the future I’m thinking of making a multigrain congee with rice, quinoa (red for texture and white for creaminess), buckwheat, CGF oats (steel-cut for texture and rolled for creaminess). The beauty of congee is how adaptable it can be based on what your body wants and needs. It can be sweet or savory. It can be thick or thin. It can be traditional or contemporary. And it keeps in the fridge for days, a great thing for the flu season (or when you’re glutened).

The ratio of water to rice for congee differs on the desired thickness: for thick, 8:1; for medium, 10:1; and for thin, 12:1. One source says to use less water when using the rice cooker as opposed to a slow cooker or via stovetop. And remember, you can always add more but you can’t take away.

Four Rice* Congee

45 g Jasmine rice
45 g Sprouted brown rice
45 g Sweet brown rice
45 g Medium grain brown rice
64 oz Water (or more, for a runnier consistency)
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar

Combine the rice, salt, and vinegar to 8 oz of the water to soak for up to an hour (overnight is preferred).
Place the rice-water mixture and the remaining water in the rice cooker (or slow cooker, pressure cooker, etc) and cook at the lowest and longest setting.
When the grains of rice begin to break up, the congee is done but you can cook it for longer or slower amounts of time depending on your personal preference.

*A cup of rice equals 180 g (or 6.35 oz). You can choose whichever rice or grain you have on hand and mix and match to your favorite grains.

Serves 2 – 4.

With 1 serving, I mixed in peas, additional sea salt, cracked pepper and garlic and topped it with one fried egg, sunny-side up, as well as black sesame seeds, sesame seed oil, and chipotle powder.

A Pie Crust to Remember

A pie crust that’s easy as [eating] pie? Oh yes, I went there. Pun wholly intended.

I don’t think people realize how easy it is. It was harder to decide what the filling was going to be, and even that changed at the last minute. That’s what the Gluten Free Ratio Rally is all about: showing just how easy it is to make a recipe gluten free with the right ratio.

The last time I made gluten free pie from scratch, it had an all cornmeal pie crust for an enchilada meat pie. It turned out deliciously enough, although I think it could have used a starch or another flour along with it, and the filling could have used more liquid. Not only that, but it wouldn’t roll out into one unified dough. Too sticky and soft.

But I digress.

As the month of October came to a close, Alton Brown’s "Good Eats" pie crust episode came on. I learned what he did for a tender and flaky crust. There was a lot of refrigeration involved, and simply leaving the dough alone to do its own thing. Oh, and the use of a small spray bottle. That was a new technique for the books.

When I finally made the dough, I had the technique to make it but not the recipe for either the crust or the filling. I considered making homemade mincemeat, the sweet vegetarian kind. I considered making pastries similar to pop tarts, savory pies, empanadas, pot pies, samosas, and much more. But then I was inspired… for quiche. Ah yes, quiche, an eggy custard with cheese and veggies and meat. Then I thought about muffin tin pies and the wondrousness of making a plethora of variations for whatever flavor I’m feeling at that particular moment. So I figured, why not do both? This pie crust recipe has that ability.

Pie Crust Recipe

4 oz Glutinous rice flour
3 oz Amaranth flour
2 oz Garbanzo bean flour
2 oz Tapioca starch
1 oz Coconut flour
8 oz Butter (Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter)
2 oz Ice water
1/2 tsp. Sea salt

I followed the directions Alton Brown gave for his "Good Eats" pie crust recipe:
 
Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times.
Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy.
Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of the mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times.
Add more water (I ended up just pouring the remaining water onto the dough) and pulse again until mixture holds together or starts forming into a ball.
Place mixture in large mixing bowl, cover with aluminum foil and use it to press into a bowl.
Refrigerate up to 30 minutes or overnight.

This makes 22 oz of dough, which can make two 9-inch pies crusts or one pie crust with a top. However, I used 11 oz with a quiche in mind, and the remainder of the dough leftover to make muffin tin pies.

Now, the quiche I am posting is not the custard I was planning on posting. I made a mixture in advance because I had work that afternoon and wouldn’t be able to bake it myself in time for dinner. However, it ended up spilling all over the floor so Mama Dazz had to improvise.

Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche

11 oz Morri’s Pie dough
4 slices Muenster cheese, quartered
2.25 oz Frozen spinach
4 Prosciutto slices
10 oz Ricotta cheese
6 Eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Allspice
Pinch of Salt

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring to about room temperature.
Dust the counter or cutting board with tapioca starch.
Use a rolling pin and flatten the dough into a flat circle.
Place the dough into a greased deep pie dish and let refrigerate for up to 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Mix together the ricotta cheese, beaten eggs, and the spices into a consistent batter and set aside.
Remove the dough from the fridge and begin the layering process for the filling, first with one quartered Muenster cheese, then the prosciutto, the eggy cheese batter, the spinach, and finally top it with the remaining Muenster slices closest to the crust. 
Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, or until the center has set, and let sit for fifteen minutes before serving.

Serves 4 – 6 people.

Now, about those muffin tin pies. I couldn’t decide on what filling to use, and I was worried that it would stick to the pan. But they came out wonderfully and the crust held as I ate it.

11 oz of the dough makes 12 muffin tin pies. For a single serving or a romantic indulgence for two, use 1 – 2 oz of pie dough and form two muffin tin pies. Use your choice of filling, from a savory custard or a sweet mince filling. The world… erm, the pie dough is your oyster.

For my single serving, I blended together one egg and a banana, sprinkled a little sea salt on top and dashed it with cinnamon and mesquite flour. Voilà! Instant deliciousness.

I got my inspiration and directions from Make and Takes and Marie’s Mini Pumpkin Pies.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Prep your 11 oz dough and roll it flat on a floured cutting board or counter.
Using a bowl or 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles from your dough (you will likely have dough left over, with you can use to cut out shapes or a 3-inch cookie cutter as a topper).
Place each circle into a greased muffin tin and press them in, letting the sides come up for a fun look.
Pour your filling into each muffin tin cup and fill them to the very top.
Bake for 15 minutes until the dough is crispy and the filling has set.

Makes 12 pies.

Now, like every month, I’m not the only one who made something. Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen was this month’s host for pie crust, and let me say, we couldn’t have a better person for pie. Her writing? Honest. Her recipes? Original and beautiful to read. She is what pie represents, warm and inviting to all.

Here are the participants for this month:

Charissa | Zest Bakery    Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins   
Claire | Gluten Freedom    Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie   
Meredith | Gluten Free Betty    Blueberry Pie 
Jean Layton | Gluten-Free Doctor   Cheese Crusted Apple Pie.    
Erin | The Sensitive Epicure    Chess Pie
Silvana Nardone | Silvana's Kitchen    Chicken Potpie   
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Chocolate Mousse Pie  
gretchen | kumquat    deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie  
*Lisa  | Gluten Free Canteen    Frangipane Apple Pie & Tart   
Shanua | Gluten Free Girl & The Chef    Fresh Pumpkin Pie   
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free    Green Tomato Pie   
Kate | katealicecookbook    Kale & zucchini tart   
Caleigh | Gluten Free[k]    Leek and Potato Pie   
Rachel | The Crispy Cook    Maple Walnut Pie   
Morri | Meals With Morri    Spinach - Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations   
Brooke | B & the boy!    Pot Pie 
Mary Fran | frannycakes    Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie   
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine    Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie   
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan    Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping  
Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks    Mock Apple Pie   
Irvin | Eat the Love    Double Butterscotch Apple Pie
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free   Gluten Free Apple Pie