Baking Muffins at 9 o'clock

I am just returning from a board meeting.  Upon leaving for the meeting, I realized I did not have a carbohydrate for my night snack.  Now this is difficult for me to deal with.  I always need a protein and a carbohydrate.  So I stopped at the store on my way home and upon finding nothing that would be a suitable carbohydrate, I bought "Bob's Red Mill Biscuit and Baking Mix" and I am now making muffins. 

Muffin Recipe (I am making this up as I go along based on a recipe below)
1 and 1/2 cups Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix
1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon - only about 1/2 tsp cinnamon left, so that is what is going in
dash of salt
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbsp molasses
1/4 maple syrup
3/4 cup canned pumpkin

Well, they are in the oven baking at 350 and I realize that I forgot to add the eggs.  That's what I get for baking when I am tired.  Well, they look OK, but I won't be able to report on how they taste because I won't be eating them until I get into bed.  So, Good Night!

The recipe I devised is based on the following recipe from
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=814
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

3/4 cup Canned Pumpkin  1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup or Honey  2 Tb Molasses  1/3 cup Vegetable Oil  2 Large Eggs*  1 tsp Cider Vinegar  3/4 cup Garbanzo Bean Flour  1/2 cup Potato Starch  1/3 cup Tapioca Flour  1 tsp Xanthan Gum  1/2 tsp Sea Salt  1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder  1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda  2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice  1/2 tsp Allspice (ground)  1/2 cup chopped Pecan Halves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray standard 12-muffin pan with cooking spray or use paper liners. Combine pumpkin, maple syrup, molasses, oil, egg (or tofu), and vinegar in large mixing bowl. Beat on low until very, very smooth, about 1 minute. Combine remaining ingredients (except nuts) and add to pumpkin mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan (use spring-action ice cream scoop for uniformly-sized muffins) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Makes 12 muffins *Egg Alternative: Use 1/2 cup silken tofu, blended until smooth. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Servings Size: 1 Muffin Calories 220, Calories from Fat 100, Total Fat 11g, Saturated Fat 1.5g, Cholesterol 35mg, Sodium 290mg, Total Carbohydrate 29g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 15g and Protein 3g.

Talking to kids about eating healthy

I have really struggled with how to talk to my 12 year old about eating.  She wakes up this morning and has a bagel with cream cheese, then 1/2 a grapefruit.  Which isn't too bad, but we were headed to a brunch, where I figured there would be sweets, and she was making this pink cake for Valentine's Day.  Oh, and last night she and her friend ate a whole pint of ice cream.  I wanted to encourage her to eat something with protein before we left for the brunch.  We ended up in a discussion about refined flour and sugar and the relationship with obesity and diabetes and other chronic disease. 

I want my children to have a healthy relationship with food, but society does not support that, and neither do her friends or school environment.  And my daughter, like many 12 year old girls want to eat what her friends are eating.  I do not know how to talk to her without it sounding like, "if you eat that, you will get fat".  Which is not true.  She can eat anything and not get fat, but if she eats too much of certain things, than it is more likely that she will gain weight.   

Brunch at a friend's house

It is inevitable that my family gets invited to a party, usually a pot luck or some other party that has food.  Tomorrow we are invited to a brunch and I am really looking forward to seeing my friends.  I am not however looking forward to the actual brunch part, the food.  They will be serving pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs.  It sounds great, right?  Well it does if you can eat all that stuff.  But since I can't it just sounds like an awkward situation.  I will need to bring my own food for me to eat.  Although when I thought about what I would bring to share, I thought about all the peaches I froze last summer from our peach tree.  I haven't been able to eat peaches, so they have been sitting in the freezer.  I think I will use some of them to make a peach cobbler.  Even if I can't enjoy the peaches, hopefully someone else will.

Cookies - Yum!

I have been eating a dessert every night for a while.  I feel like I deserve something sweet considering all that I don't eat.  So I am making cookies, since there are no cookies I can find that I can eat right now.  I found this recipe at http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsandsweets/r/glutenfreepumpkincookierecipe.htm.  I did change a couple of things.  I used only 1 stick of butter and 1/2 cup sugar.  The texture is great!  The glaze is really easy to make. 

Gluten-Free Cinnamon-Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

Gluten-free cinnamon-glazed pumpkin cookies are soft, cinnamon-spiced treats. Enjoy this gluten-free cookie with a mid-day cup of tea or pack them in gluten-free lunch bags. Gluten-free cinnamon-glazed pumpkin cookies were adapted from a recipe by Diana Rattray, About.com Guide to Southern Food.

Prep Time: 8 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour (use your favorite blend or commercial mix)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon guar gum OR xanthan gum (If you are using a mix that contains xanthan or guar gum OMIT adding more gum)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter OR Spectrum All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (don't use presweetened canned pumpkin pie mix)
• 1/3 cup milk OR your favorite dairy free milk substitute (I used canned lite coconut milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Glaze Ingredients:
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk OR dairy free milk substitute (I used canned lite coconut milk)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F / 190C

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone pads or lightly grease.

In a medium mixing bowl combine gluten-free flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and guar OR xanthan gum (if your mix does NOT contain gum.) Whisk until thoroughly combined.

In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and pumpkin puree and beat until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

Drop cookies by generous rounded teaspoons on prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes in preheated oven.

While cookies are baking prepare glaze by whisking confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a medium bowl until smooth and glossy.

Cool cookies for 1-2 minutes. Spoon or brush glaze on cookies.

Yield- About 3 dozen cookies

For larger cookies drop cookies on prepared baking sheet by using a rounded tablespoon and bake an addition 2-3 minutes or until the cookies are done.

Reminder: Always make sure your work surfaces, utensils, pans and tools are free of gluten. Always read product labels. Manufacturers can change product formulations without notice. When in doubt, do not buy or use a product before contacting the manufacturer for verification that the product is free of gluten.

No Eggs and No Honey!!

Since my IgG food sensitivity test came back suggesting I do not eat eggs or honey, I decided, I would not eat the eggs or honey, along with all the other things I am not eating.  I think I will do this for a week or two and then see how I am feeling.

Breakfast Pancakes (No eggs, No gluten, No dairy)
Almond Flour 1/2 cup
Flax seed meal 1/2 cup
Millet flour 1/2 cup
Brown Rice Flour 1/2 cup
Xanthum Gum 1/2tsp

Baking Powder 1tsp
Molassas 1Tbsp
Sunflour oil 1Tbsp
Almond Milk 1 and 1/2 cups
Pour into a medium heated pan (I use an iron pan).  Flip over when the pancake is stuck together. It did not have any holes in the top,so I just guessed when to flip it.

I put a bit of butter and syrup on the pancake and it is quite good.

I am now onto lunch and I have decided that I will eat anything I want under the limitations I have for myself.  There are so many foods I cannot eat right now due to sensitivities or reactions that I am going to allow myself to eat what I want of the foods I can eat.  I am sick of "food rules" controlling my life.  I have so many food rules, that even with the avoidance, if I follow all the food rules, I am constantly being controlled.  So, I am going to try to identify what other food rules I have and allow myself to break those rules so I can truly see if I have reactions to the foods identified on the food sensitivity test.

Nighttime Urination

I am looking at Interstitial cystitis again.  I have been waking to pee about every 2 hours since I got pregnant with my daughter almost 14 years ago.  I can't believe this has been going on so long.  When I first got pregnant I would wake up frequently because I had to pee urgently.  I also had to pee urgently during the day.  Then when my daughter was born, I would wake up every 2 hours or so to nurse and I would usually pee before I went back to sleep.  I don't know if I needed to pee.  Then I got pregnant again and was waking up to pee in the night, then I was nursing for the next 5 and a half years, although I did stop nursing during the night at some time before we stopped nursing completely.  The thing is that by the time I stopped nursing in January 2007, I was waking up in the night because I was not sleeping well and I did almost always go to pee.                                                    When I started my business in October, 2002 I started to have anxiety and I think the anxiety led to more issues with waking up at night.  And when I would wake up at night, either to nurse or because I was anxious, I would pee.  I would do this for one of two reasons, first, I thought that if I went to pee when I was already up, I might not wake up again as soon.  I think the second reason is it became an obsession, that if I didn't get up to pee, then I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and then I would lay in bed thinking that I need to go pee.  And this continues through this day.                                                         I have done so many other things to help my sleep and I still wake up in the morning seeing a large amount of toilet paper in the toilet, feeling frustrated and angry.  Yes, I am angry - very angry!  Very, very angry!  Actually I didn't realize how angry I am about this.              
So this is what I found at http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/anxietydepression/a/EmotionsTCM.htm:

Kidney

• Emotions - fearful, weak willpower, insecure, aloof, isolated.
• Kidney Function - Key organ for sustaining life. Responsible for reproduction, growth and development, and maturation. Involved with lungs in water metabolism and respiration. Connected with bones, teeth, ears, and head hair.
• Symptoms of Kidney Imbalance - Frequent urination, urinary incontinence, night sweats, dry mouth, poor short-term memory, low back pain, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, and other ear conditions. Premature grey hair, hair loss, and osteoporosis. 

Now what do I do with this information?  I am thinking, well, yes, I do have fear at night.  I have PTSD and OCD and they are mainly only activated at night, when I am trying to go to sleep.  I can be pretty much fine and "normal" all day long and then when everyone else in the house goes to sleep, my OCD wakes up.  And this OCD, this fear, is causing Kidney Imbalance.  So, if only I can get rid of the OCD, well I have tried and will speak more about this in another post, as I am focusing on Nighttime Urination here. 

Some more understanding can be found at:  http://www.houseofyinyang.com/eng/hoyy/product/product_equi_index.htm: Kidney yang is considered to be the "life fire" in the body. It is the foundation of yang qi for all other organs. Kidney yang provides energy, power and warmth for all the body's physiological activities and functions. In addition, it empowers the various qi transformations in the body. One of them is the qi transformation of fluids.
Urine is formed by the qi transformation from body fluids powered by the kidney yang. The normal outflow of urine requires a healthy balance of kidney yang energy. In healthy and normal situations, kidney qi, which is supported and promoted by kidney yang, regulates the optimal outflow of urine. This is referred to as "control of the opening and closing of the gate." The gate requires kidney qi to open it, allowing the optimal amount of urine to be discharged when there is an urination urge. Conversely, the gate also needs kidney qi to “consolidate” and keep the gate closed when there is no urination urge. Inadequate gate opening or closing will lead to health problems.
For example, when a slight degree of kidney yang deficiency is present, it results in a kidney qi deficiency. This means there will be inadequate kidney qi consolidation at the gate and urinary frequency will arise. At night, yang qi in the environment is weaker than during the daytime so individuals with insufficient kidney yang qi will be further weakened. This is why some individuals experience frequent nighttime urination. Most cases are due to an inadequate consolidation of kidney qi at night.

So, I will have to figure out how to get "adequate consolidation of kidney qi at night".  Well, how do I do that? I know that the OCD and fear are causing disruption in the Kidney and this disruption in the kidney is causing the nighttime urination.  Simple deduction leads me to what is causing the OCD and fear and how to deal with that.  Then I can work on balancing t he kidney qi.

"The kidney organs belong to the water element according to the Five Elements Theory. Just as the ocean water nourishes the development of early living organisms in the evolutionary history, the kidneys possess life nourishing properties and were interpreted by old TCM practitioners as the organs that "rule growth, development and reproduction"." - http://www.houseofyinyang.com/eng/hoyy/product/product_equi_index.htm


I find it interesting that the kidneys rule reproduction and I think the nighttime urination began with my first pregnancy.  I wonder how pregnancy effects the kidneys in Chinese Medicine.  

The fetus is also nourished by the essence that is supplied by the mothers Kidneys. The kidneys store the essence that we were born with as well as the essence that is made from the daily surplus of Qi and blood. A deficiency of the mothers Kidneys often leads to a weakness of the fetus original Qi, while a deficiency of the mother s kidney essence may fail to nourish the fetus. - http://www.acubalance.ca/How-Pregnancy-Affects-the-Mother-A-Chinese-Medicine-Perspective
Then what are the long term effects on the mother?  I would think that the mother would recover after the baby is born, but in my case, it is almost 13 years after my first daughter was born and I am still recovering.  I did go into the pregnancy already depleted.  This likely has something to do with taking me so long to recover.  Well, I will continue to look more into this. 

Bye for now