A Veggi-ful Christmas Dish

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy few weeks since my last post. Sadly, Christmas is over, but the new recipes that I tried out this holiday will be gracing our dinner table year round.

A new favorite included a fun and healthier take on the traditional gratin. Instead of potatoes, I used zucchini and yellow squash to make the side dish. Another Martha Stewart adaptation, I was able to make it entirely gluten-free and almost all dairy-free. I love a challenge, and this was certainly a good one!

The original recipe served four, but since it was just SensiHusband and myself, we halved the ingredients. Feel free to multiply as needed.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash Gratin (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Earthbalance or margarine
• 1 medium zucchini (about 7 ounces), sliced diagonally an inch wide
• 1 medium yellow squash (about 7 ounces), sliced diagonally an inch wide
• 1/2 shallot, minced
• 1/2 garlic clove, minced
• Kosher salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup rice milk (plain)
• 1/2 cup (1 slice) of gluten-free bread (food processed) or pre-made gluten-free bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese (or cheese alternative)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium skillet, melt the margarine over medium heat; add zucchini, yellow squash, shallot, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Saute, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and squash are slightly tender, about 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Add milk and cook until creaminess occurs, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in half of the bread crumbs and parmesan ingredients.
3. Transfer mixture into a casserole dish. Cover rest of bread crumb and parmesan mixture on the mixture. Bake until top is lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Incorporating veggie dishes that are both tasty and exciting can be a challenge. I highly recommend trying this recipe for something Non-Sensi and SensiPeople will love!

Until next time,

SensiGirl

The Alese Coco - Fight 2 Win Foundation

My husband recently sent me a link to an organization he thought I would be interested in. The Alese Coco – Fight 2 Win Foundation was created two years ago after twenty-three-year-old, Alese Coco, died from her long battle with Hodgkin's Disease. The site has a lot of information on Hodgkin's Disease and ways to help while we continue to search for a cure. I invite all of you to check it out.

On a personal note, reading Alese's story on her Web site really touched my heart. I've been in remission myself from Hodgkin's for twelve years, but reading her experiences brought me back to my own fight like it was yesterday. The types of chemotheraphy she used, the gallium scans, her thoughts on losing her hair—her story was a mirror image of mine. The only difference is I won my fight. That's a blessing that I continue to be thankful for everday, and something that I don't take lightly. With that blessing is a responsibility to pass along awareness until there is a cure. This type of cancer has one of the higher success rates, but it's also one of the fastest spreading. We all need to do our part through activism and education to make sure no more lives are lost. I hope you'll join me.

Thanks for reading,

SensiGirl

Lessons from a Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the gluten-free recipes I tried will definitely be staying with me for years to come. As promised, I had my mom and husband snapping away when they weren't sous chefs in the kitchen.

First up, the gluten-free spicy dressing--not stuffing like I originally suggested. I quickly learned that dressing is the side dish, versus stuffing that is, like its name, stuffed in the turkey. Below is a photo breakdown of the steps that coincide with last week's post.

Ingredients included(clockwise from left): Trader Joe's chicken sausage with sundried tomato and basil, Kitchen Basics unsalted chicken stock, Whole Foods gluten free cornbread, and Trader Joe's toasted pine nuts (pignolias).

Other ingredients can be found here. Adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe, I encountered grocery challenges after I blogged about the recipe. I'm not sure if Pamela's cornbread recipe was super popular on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but my local Whole Foods didn't have it in stock. The cornbread mixes they had were glutenous, but, fortunately, I found Whole Foods brand gluten-free corn bread in their freezer section. This was a first time buy for me, but after nibbling a slice at home, I knew I made the right choice. SensiHusband didn't notice a difference in taste so we were cleared to move forward!

To begin, I cubed and toasted the cornbread for 20 minutes in the oven, making sure to toss occasionally so it was evenly browned.

While the cornbread was being toasted, SensiHusband helped chop the celery and saute the onions until they turned transparent.

While he did that, I prepped the sausage in the food processor. It only took a few pulses to processs, as they would shrink down during cooking.

After prepping the sausage, we combined with the remaining mixture's ingredients, then mixed with the cornbread.

The final step included binding with the Earth Balance.

After folding together, I placed the dressing in a casserole dish and baked for another 10 minutes.

For being my first attempt, I was really happy with the way this came out. Family members who tried said they liked the flavors, and SensiHusband devoured the leftover dressing the next day. This was definitely recipe I would try again!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the gluten-free gravy that I made, as I quickly became involved in a turkey gravy throw down!  It was completely unplanned, but so much fun to include a bit of healthy competition. Helped work up an appetite just before dinner :)

The gluten-free and gluten gravy were closely mirrored to each other, except that I  used corn starch instead of flour, as well as water to break down some of the thickness instead of chicken stock. The turkey drippings had enough sodium, so I wanted to dilute that a bit. The consistency was thick enough, without being lumpy, and the color was a bit darker than my gluten gravy counterpart.

Both gravies sat side-by-side, and we let our family members decide. I actually heard my brother-in-law say, "Oh this is darker, so it must be the unhealthy one." He went for mine, and loved it! Afterwards, we filled him in that he'd had the g-free one. What a fun surprise!

Once dinner was over, I finished the night with my special cupcake treat from Sweet Avenue Bake Shop. I've had their vanilla gluten-free cupcakes, but this time they had my favorite flavor, red velvet! I shared one with SensiHusband, but the other three were eaten by the end of the weekend. I highly recommend stopping in if you're ever in Rutherford, NJ. I had already dug in before remembering to take a picture, but here's a shot of the two that I saved for later!

I'm so thankful that all of my additions turned out so yummy. If I felt overly full, it wasn't from the contents of the food, but out of pure overindulgence :) Now onto the Christmas menu!

Until next week,

SensiGirl

Thanksgiving's Happy Again

This Thanksgiving is a nerve-wracking one, it being my first attempt at gluten-free foods. I've been sifting through a flood of recipes from my fellow Twitter community (Thanks everyone, keep those posts coming!) and have literally sat for hours seeing which will appeal to my palette more. Thankfully, my husband and I are only in charge of a few side items, which gives me more time to experiment and hopefully find some winners.

I know I'll have some safeties that are already being made. Coming from a Puerto Rican household, we'll have a spanish style rice--arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas). For those who haven't tried, I highly recommend! Every family does it a little differently, but click here for an example. And for my vegetarian/vegan friends, feel free to omit the ham and sausage. We'll also have sweet potatoes, which will be gluten-free friendly.

This leaves me the task of finding a gravy and stuffing that I can bring. For the gravy, I've decided to follow a basic pan-gravy recipe and use arrowroot flour instead of all-purpose. Here's a how-to instructional video. I don't have a vegan-friendly alternative here, but here is a wonderful assortment of recipes that could please the entire family!

For the stuffing, I've decided to adapt/modify Martha Stewart's Spicy Cornbread Stuffing. First, I'm halving it since the original recipe yields about 10 cups. I'll probably still have some leftover with the five cups, but that'll be great for Friday night left reheating! 

I'm also not making it spicy, so instead of the chorizo sausage the original recipe calls for, I'm using a mild Italian sausage. For a vegetarian/vegan option, omit the meat, and use vegetable broth rather than chicken or turkey broth.

To cut out dairy, I'll be using Earth Balance margarine instead of unsalted butter. And last, while I don't mind cilantro, I'll be using flat-leaf parsley as a substitute for this dish.  So, with all that in mind, here's the recipe:

Yields 5 cups:

• 3/8 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 loaf of cornbread (Using Pamela's Products Cornbread and muffin mix)
• 1/2 pound mild italian sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup homemade chicken or turkey stock, or low sodium canned chicken or turkey stock
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance, melted
• 1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, washed well, dried, and roughly chopped
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions as follows (from Martha Stewart's site)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pine nuts in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a shallow bowl, and set aside. Cut cornbread into 3/4-inch cubes, and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake, shaking pan periodically, until golden brown on edges, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside.
2. In a food processor, pulse sausage until coarsely chopped; do not overprocess. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add celery and garlic, and cook until celery is soft, about 5 minutes more. Add sausage and pine nuts, and cook for 1 minute more. Add stock, and cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes.
4. Pour sausage mixture over cornbread, and mix well. Add margarine and parsley, and mix to combine.

Since I'm not stuffing my mixture into the turkey as instructed, I will place my stuffing into a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for another 5-10 minutes. This will allow the mixture to mold together a bit more.

And that's it! I hope to have a fabulous g-free stuffing that Martha would be proud of. I'll be taking pictures, and will report back on my experiences by the end of the week, but I wanted to share just in case anyone attempt. Tweet me on your successes.

Good luck to all my **-free eaters out there, and remember to give thanks for the leak-free tummy you'll be feeding!

Happy Thanksgiving,

SensiGirl

Flu Fighters

This post comes later than I would have liked, but I've been nursing a back injury that landed me in bed most of last week. (Ouch!) It's been slow-going, but finally getting better.

For this week, I decided to focus on something that's been on everyone's mind: Tips for fighting the flu. With everyone sneezing into their elbows or tissues at work, I've been desperately trying to find natural remedies to prevent and beat the flu this season. Here are some ways to stay healthy.

1. Vitamin C: A common one, but doctors are seeing the added benefits of Vitamin C in boosting immunity to all sorts of illnesses. While it cannot prevent you from getting a cold, Vitamin C can prevent complications that result from it such as pneumonia and infections. Still, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of nine servings of fruits and vegetables can be hard to consume if you're not accustomed to eating so many servings. In those instances, a 500 mg supplement + five servings of Vitamin C-rich foods is just as good. Click here for a list of foods that are great to incorporate into your diet.
2. Elderberry: My new go-to herbal supplement since having the seasonal flu a month back ago. I'm always open to natural alternatives, and after feeling like I wanted to crawl under a rock until this all subsided, I was willing to take anything my doctor recommended. He sent me over to the Vitamin Shoppe, and I never looked back. Two days into taking it, I was already a hundred times better. As Dr. Pedre explained, recent studies have shown that black elderberry extract actually contains anti-viral properties that lessens the life span of the seasonal flu. For those that are not crazy taking liquid, it also comes in capsules. And if you take once a day when you're not sick, you lessen your chances of getting sick in the future. For more information on the benefits, click here.
3. N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC): I actually can't try this one since it has sulfur-compounds, but for those not allergic to it, this might be worth a shot! It's an amino-acid that helps break down mucus and prevent chronic bronchitis symptoms. It's also said to protect the tissue in your lungs due to its antioxidant activity. If someone has tried it, I'd love to hear about your experiences with it.

Besides these supplements, everyday preventatives like drinking 2 liters of water a day, washing your hands frequently, and getting enough sleep will definitely keep you going when the barometer starts to drop.

Here's to fighting a good fight :)

SensiGirl

BabyCakes, NYC

Happy belated Halloween! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I enjoyed mine, making yummy, g-free finger foods (coming soon to a blog near you!), seeing all the trick or treaters, possibly getting spooked at a local haunted house (possibly), and spending time with my family. With all of the candy around, I can't deny it was hard not to think about satisfying my insatiable sweet tooth. However, just days before I had my own treat from New York City bakery, BabyCakes.

BabyCakes specializes in vegan, allergy-friendly sweets that girls like me (and I'm sure all of you) can enjoy. After a fun-filled dinner with my husband and some friends, they humored me by trekking over to the Lower East Side. Coming from Hoboken, I think I had the longest commute, but I was on a mission! We got there with minutes to spare, but when I arrived the woman behind the county was still super nice and eager to help.

I explained that I wanted to buy some cupcakes, and she said, "Do you have any allergies?" I paused for a moment. No one had ever asked me that whenever I ordered food. So often, I've had to be the one to list all of my intolerances, or scrutinize the menu before I even arrive.  For a moment it felt like I had entered my favorite doctor's office. Someone actually cared to ask the right questions.

All I managed to get out was gluten. She said, "Ah, okay, we have these cupcakes here. And the chocolate chip cookies." She added, "we also have all of these muffins," as she gave her best Vanna White wave to the assortment of choices. It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I decided I would try the vanilla/vanilla and chocolate/chocolate cupcakes. My husband also took a chocolate chip cookie for the road, so I snuck one of those in there for me too.

I carried my precious cargo all the way back to NJ, and laid them out on the counter. Decisions, decisions. Both cupcakes looks so cute, tucked nicely in their pink boxes. In the end, I chose the vanilla cupcake for that evening. My husband scarfed down his cookie, saying it was "good," which in his language meant it was delicious! The following evening I would have my chance at it and agree. Those cookies are amazing!

The one thing non-vegan or new allergy-related people need to remember is that it's not going to taste like a regular cookie. It actually doesn't rise the way that other cookies do, but that flat-bread-like quality actually makes it taste better because you enjoy the chocolate chips that much more. If you like crunchy cookies, this one is for you!

The vanilla/vanilla was also yummy. I must confess that it takes some getting used to for vegan, --free cupcakes. I love that they use natural sweeteners and flours that are safe for everyone. But when you're used to refined sugar and/or flour that seems lighter but wreaks havoc on your gut, it probably takes a bit of detox to fully appreciate the distinct flavor of these cupcakes. I've had some really terrible ones that look and feel like they could break a window. The vanilla/vanilla was nowhere near that. And the frosting ranks pretty high in my book. It was melt-in-your-mouth sweet without giving you a sugar crash. It's probably a good thing that they're in the Lower East Side, or I might frequent more often just for that frosting!

A few days later I tried the chocolate/chocolate, which was deliciously sinful. Having tried a few different types of chocolate, I can honestly say they use the real deal. The slight after taste of strong cacao was what I tasted, so I savored each bite. And honestly, isn't that what you look for in anything worth eating? Something that makes you enjoy the distinct flavor of each morsel? That's what I got out of my first visit to BabyCakes.  If you're ever in the area, I invite you to give them a shot. I'm sure there's more edible fun to be had there, and while they definitely have some tricks up their sleeve, their treats are simply sweet.

Until next time,

SensiGirl

Nice to Meet You!

Hey there,

For those that don't know me, I'm a self-proclaimed health nut. Not the body-building, I've got an eight-pack kind of nut. No. I've just been exposed to so many health-related issues, they should probably put SensiGirl in Merriam-Webster's with my picture next to it. Case and point, how many people do you know that, at age 10, break out in hives from head to toe with 102 degree fever? Then to be told that it was caused by a dandruff shampoo that had sulfur in it. Something that they found I was allergic to after really exciting panel tests were taped to my back. You know what I'm talking about. Those itchy, sticky panels that make you feel gross because you can't shower. Odd right? Just from a little shampoo.

Fast forward three years later. A week before my fourteenth birthday, I was having heart burn. After a few days of discomfort, and just not feeling right, I was taken to the ER to find out I had Hodgkin's Disease. The burn turned out to be a tumor that quickly spread to my neck. I was enlisted in a protocol that had a pretty high remission rate.  Of course, it included two months of chemotherapy and a few weeks of radiation, but three months after my initial diagnosis, I was in remission.  It wasn't without side effects, the most obvious being the hair loss. I'm not going to lie, it sucked. But having met other kids my age who had it so much worse, my awkward re-growth phase was definitely tolerable. I also developed mild cardiomyopathy due to the chemo, but years later that went away too. The worst of it was over and I beat it.

Twelve years later, I'm still blessed to be cancer-free. There are so many other moments, but I'll save those for future posts. Why do I want to share so much? Because after inexplicable moments of allergies, rashes, cancer, sinusitis, IBS (the list can go on and on), I've come to a place where I want to know what's the cause of it. It can't possibly just be a coincidence that I was bestowed upon all these health issues. And after talking to others, I know I'm not the only one going through this. We could have a whole SensiCommunity!

So I'm on a quest. I've met with leading allergists, internists, and naturopathic doctors alike trying to understand, "what is healthy?" In the interim, I've also done my own research about diets, both fad and long-term. Feeling inundated with the benefits of everything from dairy-free and g-free, to veganism and plant-based diets, it's hard to determine what's in the best interest of my overall health. Hence the blog. Here's where I'll be sharing articles, recipes, and my own experiences as I try my hand at bits of what I think may work. I'll report back and hopefully inspire you to share your experiences as well.  If something works for you, please share. I want this to be as collaborative as possible.

What I won't do are the extreme plans: I won't be eating solely protein, or starving myself for 6 weeks in an attempt to lose weight. While weight loss might be achieved, that's not really what I'm going for here. Everything should be in moderation. More so, now more than ever, I'm learning that while we go to medical practitioners for assistance when needed, only we have the power to heal ourselves. Whether it be through food and exercise, or Chinese medicine and meditation. East, West, Mediterranean, South Beach. All of it has certain aspects that can be of use. So I'm out to find the answer. I hope you'll join me.

Until next week,

SensiGirl