Happy Belated...

So this post is obviously a backed-up one from my birthday which was all the way back in April.

Usually for baking things on occasions like this I don't worry. I've got non-dairy cake recipes and I know how to use them! Unfortunately this year, my TOS was getting in the way. This caused a little concern. Sure I could have just made cookies, but there had to be birthday cake. Not just cookies! With my mother in a sling from shoulder surgery, both household chefs were down for the count.

Here comes Flying Apron bakery to the rescue! They were in Freemont which was a little bit of a drive, but definitely worth it. Good news is they've opened up a new location in Redmond!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture. This little cake was adorable. It was a simple lemon poppyseed with vanilla frosting. I thought it was neat that it not only was vegan, but gluten-free as well.

I'm sure people are wondering 'How did it taste?'. Right off the bat could tell that the cake batter was different. It was still quite tasty - I was craving more slices of it. Something about the cake told me something was different from the usual variety which was a teensy bit of a bummer, but didn't stop me from devouring it. The frosting was all the same though. Sweet, fluffy goodness. When you break it down it's really just sugar and shortening.

Would I order another cake? I think so. I'd be curious to try some of their other flavors and see how they were. Overall if I could I'd try to make my own cake, but if my TOS flared and I had to find a bakery I'd be giving these folks a call!

The Best!

Often times I hear food that's described as "the BEST". I'm always skeptical. What tastes great is always subject to people's opinions. What one person finds amazing another might not like. However I've been surprised before in a good way. That mac and cheese recipe I found was described as the "best on the planet" and honesty, it was really good. But that's only my opinion!

This beauty is a backlog from the fall. I am going to blame that big a backlog both on the cold weather wreaking havoc on my TOS and some laziness thrown into the mix.

Thanksgiving is always tough for me. Milk products in stuffing, in potatoes, in the gravy, everywhere. Thankfully my mother said I could make something that's safe for me to eat even with all the other dishes being made. So I searched the internet and found this wonderful, Thanksgiving-saving dish!

Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Beans
- 2 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon table salt (Alanna says it’s essential)
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

Sauce
- 10 ounces mushrooms (I used a combination of regular button mushrooms and shiitake)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- generous pinch cayenne pepper (had to add it for the New Orleanians)
- Salt to taste
- Fresh pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3/4 cup vegetable broth (I used Imagine’s No-Chicken)
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry (Alanna’s brilliant addition)
- 3/4 cup soy creamer (or try full-fat unsweetened soymilk)

Topping
- 1 1/2 slices whole grain bread
-1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine (the best tasting margarine in the world and no trans-fat)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 3-ounce can of French fried onions

Beans
Bring the water to boil in a large pot. While its heating, cut up the beans. Add the salt and beans to the boiling water. Cover and cook for 6 minutes. Drain beans in a colander, and then spray for a minute with cold water to stop the cooking. Let them drain in the colander, shaking every now and then to get off all the water.

Sauce
Trim and discard the mushroom stems and chop the mushrooms into pieces. Spray a non-stick pan with canola oil and heat it. Add the mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are very soft and exude their juices. Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth and add to the mushrooms along with the sherry. Simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens. Add the soy creamer and simmer until thick, about 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the beans.

Topping
Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Pour into a bowl and add the onions. Stir to combine.

To assemble:
Put the green beans into an oiled casserole dish and top with the onion mixture. Bake at 425 F for about 15 minutes. If you are not serving this right away, refrigerate the topping separately; bring to room temperature before sprinkling the topping on the casserole and baking for about 20 minutes or until hot throughout.

And then the most important part: how did it taste? Well. Pretty much amazing. I didn't expect it to, but it did. It was worth putting it all together, and I was going back for seconds when it was served. It wasn't terribly hard on my TOS from what I remember, but there was a lot of chopping and some stirring that would make it hard if I was having a bad pain day. However, I could definitely manage it for special occasions. I would absolutely make it again. I think this and the garlic pumpkin mashed potatoes would go pretty well together for a Thanksgiving meal.

Tea Ramblings

Ah, a late-night post courtesy of insomnia! I will take this time to talk about... tea! Specifically the teas I have been drinking as of late and a little rundown of why I chose them.

Rooibos Tea - Also known as red tea. I am a tea fiend, and I love this one because it's caffeine-free, thus good to drink in the evening. That's far from the whole reason I drink it though. It's got antioxidants, magnesium, and zinc loaded in there. The antioxidants make me happy as they're also kind of an anti-inflammatory, which is good news for my TOS. I've also really been battling with adult acne, and it's been suggested rooibos will help with that, especially when used topically. I haven't tried it topically, but at least my face has been clearing up since I've been drinking this daily.

Black/Jasmine Tea - I had this blend at Teavana, and have since replicated it with loose leaf teas from Whole Foods. It's a great wake-up tea if I'm groggy in the morning, and the jasmine is fantastic for antioxidants. I only wish the jasmine tea wasn't so expensive! I'd love to blend half and half, but I've got to do 1 part black tea to 1/2 part jasmine because of the cost, eep.

Peppermint - I have the weakest stomach in the world, so when a food or medicine gets me nauseated I usually go for this to settle my tummy as it's great for any digestive upset. Plus I really love it in the evening with a little agave nectar. There's just something that's soothing all around with it.

Everyday Detox - I began to with this tea when I had a recent breakout with acne, and acne can result from when your liver's stressed out. I figured that it couldn't hurt if I tried this, so I started drinking this nightly. It's got a bit of an odd taste that even agave nectar can't cover up. The licorice flavor in it really stands out. I'm not sure if it was the rooibos or this tea, or maybe a combination of both, but my acne did clear up. I'll drink to that!

Throat Coat - This was another tea I wanted to try out to see if it helped things. My medications for TOS dry out my mouth and throat a lot, so I was curious to see if this would help. It's got a sweet, cinnamon flavor that almost reminds me of Life cereal, heh. I don't think there's much out there that can help my dry throat, but at least this is another caffeine-free tea option for late night.

Going Pumpkin Crazy

Oh dear. I've been falling behind on cooking again. With this chilly weather also comes more complications from TOS, which leads to me just not cooking big things. That and I tend to get lazy when that happens as well, eep.

I'll just cut to the chase and get to the goodies that have caught my eye this month!

This is pumpkin butter on toast. Yes, pumpkin butter! I knew once I saw the recipe that I had to make a batch of my own to try.

Pumpkin Butter
- 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree, or about 3 1/2 cups fresh puree
- 3/4 cup apple juice, fresh or pre-made
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup or brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Juice of half a lemon or lemon juice equal to the same amount

Combine the pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan or pot and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Cover with lid and stir frequently (Get some help with the constant stirring if you've got TOS, I found this a bit painful). Remove from heat. Adjust spices to taste. Stir in lemon juice, and you may add more to taste. Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes enough to fill one large mason jar or about 3.5 cups.

This turned out sooo good. So good. I may have reduced the amount of nutmeg and/or cloves by just a little bit, but once it's on something like the bread as illustrated it just melts in your mouth. Wonderful on pancakes, too! The apple juice in there makes this remind me of a warm spiced cider. It's just the perfect food accessory to your fall holiday munchies.

And now, I would like to introduce you to garlic pumpkin mashed potatoes. I'd never thought to add pumpkin to mashed potatoes, but as I find the usual mashed potatoes awfully bland, I thought this might be right up my alley! Oh boy, was it.

Garlic Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes with Spinach
- 7 red potatoes, scrubbed & chopped (I peeled mine as well)
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a little more since I love garlic)
- 1-1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, to taste
- Two handfuls spinach, stems removed & chopped
- 1/2 cup Almond milk
- 2 tbsp Earth Balance
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Paprika, for garnish

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and boil potatoes for 18 to 22 minutes or until fork tender. Drain and place in a very large bowl. Meanwhile, heat olive oil over low heat in a skillet and sauté garlic for about 1 minute. Drain and mash potato chunks in the large bowl with a fork. Mix in pumpkin puree, spinach, almond milk, Earth Balance/butter, black pepper, and salt. Makes 5-7 servings.

This dish is best served immediately as the potatoes get a bit watery from the pumpkin when in the fridge.

I do have to say due to the mashing and stirring, this is not a TOS-friendly recipe at all. I'm actually flaring a little from all of it. Next time, I will see if I could have some help with those parts.

But was it worth the physical irritation? I would say so. Yum. Just yum. I think for the first time in my life I'm excited about potatoes this was so flavorful. This is perfect for a Thanksgiving dish. My folks still want to keep their plain mashed potatoes this year, but if I ever host for the holiday? Oh yes, this is going on the table.

Here comes the rain

Oh fall is upon us! The mornings are starting to bring fog, the weather is turning grey and rainy once more, and summer is definitely gone on its own vacation until next year.

Food-wise, cold weather makes me excited. All those warm comfort dishes for cold weather! But TOS-wise I'm a bit apprehensive. Cold weather has never liked the TOS because of how it makes me tense when I get chilly or shiver, and of course tensing up leads to more pain.

Another round of Botox would have been absolutely great for the winter, but unfortunately since it is so expensive ($575 a pop, not including the cost of the doctor visit) I most likely had my first and last round for a while. It's been almost three months since my last injection, and I can tell it's run its course. I had a wonderful summer with it though, and Botox plus physical therapy has improved me some. Even though it is wearing off, I don't feel quite as bad as I did before.

What will I do to combat the pain this winter? I was left with physical therapy exercises to do, plus my knitting skills may come in handy in making things to keep my neck and hands warm.

Yes, I said knitting! That is one thing I learned after my auto accident after I was not able to do the artwork I did. It still brings me pain and I can't knit for long periods of time, but I am able to finish small projects. Larger projects like long scarves are still doable, but I've got to take my time with them. Part of me wonders if I should bring knitting into this blog as well since I've got a unique spin on it knitting as someone with TOS.

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Onto food! I've fallen into a bit of a rut, eating a lot of the same old things, but there have been a couple new things I've tried that are blog-worthy.

This would be a little something I picked up from Oh She Glows. Unfortunately I can't find the exact blog entry this came from, but that's what inspired this!

Choco-Pumpkin Vegan Overnight Oats
-1/3 cups oats
-1 1/4 cups Almond Milk
-1/2 cup pumpkin
-1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
-1 pinch pumpkin pie spice
-1/2 serving Chocolate Amazing Meal Power (or a couple tsp cocoa powder)

Toppings:
- Dried cranberries
- Granola
- Shredded coconut
- Maple syrup

I changed this slightly, using more oats as I like my oats thick. I didn't have pumpkin pie spices, but using cinnamon, ginger, and cloves did the trick for me. I used minimal cocoa powder this time, but I can always add more later. I've also tried this with hot oats and ooooh it's yummy. It's like having pumpkin pie for breakfast.

The next recipe came from a request from the beau. I was asking him what foods he really loves that I could try to find a non-dairy replacement to, and broccoli and cheddar soup was the biggest request! I really wanted to find a recipe that worked, because I remember how good this was. Fortunately the internet came to my rescue. I wish I could find the site that I got this from though!

Vegan Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

-1 large potato, peeled and diced
-1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
-1 large onion, coarsely chopped
-1 cup vegetable broth (or water, or beer)
-12 oz firm silken tofu
-1 cup unsweetened plain nondairy milk (I used almond milk)
-1/2 to 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes (I used 3/4 cup)
-2 Tbs lemon juice
-2 Tbs nonhydrogenated vegan margarine such as Earth Balance (optional)
-1 1/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp onion powder
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-2 cups steamed chopped broccoli

Combine potato, onion, carrot, and vegetable broth (or water or beer) in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until vegetables are tender.

Combine remaining ingredients except milk in a large bowl. Mix well and stir into cooked vegetables. Puree in batches in a blender. Process until completely smooth. Pour blended mixture into a clean large bowl or soup pot and add each blended batch until it is finished. Add broccoli and warm over low heat until hot. If too thick, add additional milk or water. Serve hot.

Now I thought the only thing this needed tweaking with was the onion. I would almost just skip the onion powder all together. This was delicious, but I could definitely tell there was a lot of onion flavor here! This definitely passed my taste test, so now I'll get to see if the boyfriend will like this as well.

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And lastly, thoughts on nutrition. A recent doctor checkup revealed that I had a huge vitamin D deficiency, along with cholesterol issues. Now I'm a tiny 25-year-old with a healthy diet, and yet my HDL was too low while my triglycerides were high. My LDL was in the norm thankfully.

There's conflicting opinions on foods that raise HDL, but I will be trying them out anyway along with trying to get myself to walk more. Unfortunately I can't do much if anything about the high triglycerides since that part's genetic, but I'll hope that walking will help that as well.

As for vitamin D? That's a little more tricky with foods that don't involve meat, eggs, or dairy. White mushrooms seem to be the only food that'll help. I think my only course of action will be getting outside more which I'll be doing with walking along with taking my huge prescription doses of the stuff!

One of these days I will definitely have to post up a chart containing my anti-inflammitory foods and foods for HDL to help lay out what all is good for me and what to avoid.

Finally blogging once more

It's good to be back again! My poor desktop where I do my photo work caught a nasty virus which prevented Google and all its partner sites like this one to be blocked or non-functional, eep. But finally I was able to get to the bottom of it!


Now I have made cake, but I have never made a breakfast cake. This is like a better version of oatmeal almost. Decided to try this one morning when I woke up a bit earlier than my boyfriend. He got to awake to a tasty breakfast - he loved this! I just wish I could remember the blog I found the original recipe from! It originally had no agave nectar or cinnamon - I just added those for a little extra sweet and flavor.

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cake
2 cups non-instant oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beat (or egg replacer for 1 egg)
1 mashed banana
1 sliced banana
1 1/2 cups milk of your choice (I used almond)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp agave nectar
Brown sugar

Optional:
1 tsbp or so ground flax seed
Cinnamon

Peheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mash 1 banana then combine with the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix wet ingredients in with the dry.

Coat a pie pan with vegetable shortening (your cake will stick to it otherwise!). Put 1/2 of the sliced banana on the bottom of the pan, pour in your mixture, then decorate the top with the other 1/2 of the banana.

Cook the cake for 26 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle brown sugar all over the top. Broil the cake for 3-4 minutes or until the sugar starts to bubble and brown.

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This disappears pretty fast whenever I make it now! It's a keeper recipe for sure.

Botox and progress

So it's been since June 10th since I received my botox injection to help me out with TOS. What's happened since then?

Good stuff! I'm happy to say that the injection is helping, really happy. It took until about the end of June, but that's when I started to notice my pain wasn't nearly as bad and I wasn't as prone to flare-ups like I was. In fact, I was able to try Bikram yoga without a major flare! Some discomfort, but no flare! It was amazing!

I can't credit just the injection though. I've been working with physical therapists who know TOS, and know neurogenic TOS, and they've been able to work with me to try and correct my body and how it's warped from being in chronic pain for so long. They're picking out things even I haven't noticed which is great - means I can work to correct those things I wouldn't have picked up on otherwise!

So the symptoms that are staying are the nervy/pain feeling in my hand and the tightness in my jaw, but the TMJ/jaw symptoms are reduced, and so is the pain in my hand. I'm just glad I can lift bigger pots of water for cooking again, and be able to do other light chores with just a little bit of pain instead of a huge disaster like before.

Now I'm not sure what will happen once the botox wears off, but I remain hopeful that when it does, things won't be as bad as they were before. I would like to continue to do some of these things I'm doing now. I'll just enjoy the little freedoms I have now and savor them just in case!