Black Bean Sauce

Its been a pretty hectic week as I'm getting ready for my trip to Japan. We leave tomorrow for 2 weeks. I'm so excited and also kind of anxious. I've never been anywhere outside the northern/western hemisphere so its going to be totally strange.
We are going because my cousin lives there and is getting married next weekend. We are going to Tokyo, Kyoto and Gifu. I am very interested to try the food over there. I will hopefully come back with some cool recipes and different things to try. Although, apparantly its not the place to be a vegetarian. Not quite sure what David will end up eating. They believe ham is a vegetable, so I'm told!

In anticipation of this Asian extravaganza I fancied some chinese food last night. I am always trying to find ways to recreate the taste of it without using the processed jars of sauce.

Last night I decided to try a black bean sauce. The result wasn't spectacular as I realised half way into it that I didn't have all the ingredients. Anyway, it was a good effort and will need some tweaking.

I made it with eggplant and red peppers.

Asian Black Bean Sauce

2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp fermented black beans -- rinsed and drained
1 tbsp garlic - minced
1/2 c chicken broth
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Heat a wok or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, the black
beans and garlic. Stir-fry about 12 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients
and stir-fry about 1 minute or until sauce thickens.
Makes about 3/4 cup sauce.

Source: RecipeSource.com

Sweet Cravings - Guilt free cookies

There's nothing better than sitting down with a nice bar of chocolate and a glass of red wine during my period. A girly movie normally helps too. However, I have been trying to find some healthier alternatives to that sweet craving which don't leave me feeling guilty for polishing off a bar of fruit and nut. I think I have found an answer on the back of a packet of Quinoa flakes.

This recipe is for Crispy Quinoa cookies.
The quinoa flakes themselves are also used for hot cereal - don't do this - they are not pleasant. Oatmeal is a million times better.

The recipe for the cookies is:

1/2 cup Honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup rice flour
3/4 cup quinoa flakes
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

I usually leave out the brown sugar and replace honey with maple syrup. I find that this is sweet enough. I also sometimes leave out the peanut butter. I would sugget experimenting to see what works best for you.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat honey, sugar, margarine, peanut butter and vanilla in medium bowl until creamy. Combine rice flour, quinoa flakes, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to mixture and beat until well blended. If desired add nuts. Drop rounded teaspoonfulls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until light and golden brown. Cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet. Yields about 3 dozen cookies.

It says here to put on an ungreased baking sheet but I find a greased one or some greaseproof paper works best.

Enjoy!

Breakfast

My usual breakfast consists of oatmeal. Same thing every day. It gets a bit wearing. I just haven't found many good wheat free alternatives to shredded wheat, toast, muffins...Funny, that!

Today however I had run out of oatmeal so was forced to make a change, and luckily had lots of fruit on hand. Apples, pears and also some bananas. I just chopped up one of each, added a dash of pineapple juice, a drizzling of maple syrup, a sprinkling of cinnamon and my usual mixture of: ground flax seed, raisins, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. It was delicious and quite filling.

I would have preferred some greek yoghurt over them but that would have meant going to the supermarket this weekend instead of spending the whole time at shopping malls!

I have received a new recipe book too. Its from the Moosewood collection. I already had a moosewood book but it was an older one and everything had lots of cheese and cream in it. This is their low-fat book and I highly recommend it.

I have only cooked one thing so far and it was really nice - it was curried asian noodles. But all of the recipes look so lovely and inviting. Its mostly vegetarian and they use lots of grains and pulses so perfect for the endo diet.

Anyway, I think I must have been doing something right this month. I have had very little issues with my endo. My last period was pain and clot free. And normally around this time (week 3) I get a fair bit of pain with BM's (sorry if this is too much information). But this month - nothing! Its amazing. I know I have tried really hard to stick to the diet so who knows. I still get twinges in my right ovary where they did the surgery last year, which happens mainly just before ovulation and just before my period. I really recommend keeping a pain diary, though. It really helps to tune into your body and notice when symptoms are at their worst or best and helps you tune into which foods work best for you or don't work for you. It is also a good tool to take to you on your doctors visits.

Next IVF

We have finally taken the plunge to do another IVF in November. It is all booked. We have to get some blood tests done first then I will start the protocol on day 2 of my November cycle. We apparantly have $5,000 of insurance coverage which is great. I think this wasn't used before as my previous RE was not in network. So, in many ways it kind of feels like the cosmos is coming together in the right way. I feel both very apprehensive, as having done it once I know whats coming, but also very positive. Much more so than the last time. The last one was in January so we've had a good few months not having to think about it.

So, I need to start getting my body ready for the ordeal. I have pretty much had a week off as we have had some visitors here so lots of meals out.
I will start again with acupuncture soon and will stick to the diet, do lots of excercise, drink lots of water and generally be a model of health. The quinoa is on the stove and I'm ready to go.....

Accidents and Emergencies

It has been an eventful week. David has been away in California and on Friday he got stung by a Stingray in Laguna beach and spent a couple of hours in the hospital.

The day before that I managed to crash the car whilst making an illegal turn (not on purpose). The damage could have been a lot worse and no-one was hurt. Its complicated however by the fact that the car we use is David's company car and he was out of town so technically I shouldn't have been driving it although I am insured. Not only did someone crash into me but that someone happened to work for the Dept. of Defence and was driving a Government vehicle. At one point the Secret Service turned up at the scene which was a little disconcerting.

Anyway, this little incident happend on the way to book club so after I had taken the car back home and walked there, I had no qualms about consuming the wine, pizza and brownies that were on offer as my nerves were pretty shaken.
It did call to mind, however, the question of what I would normally do in such situations as turning up at someones house where they are serving pizza - or pasta and nothing else, especially if they don't know you and your foibles very well. We are often in situations where we don't want the whole party to know we have endo and are on a special diet. I am trying to come up with a solution to these problems. There are a few options:
1) If its a potluck thing, you could offer to be the one to take the entree dish as you then have control over what it is.
2) Eat something before you go and make excuses like you had a big lunch or something and are not hungry.
3) If its a small dinner party - you can tell the host before hand that you have some dietary requirements.
4) If you are out at a restaurant and there is nothing on the menu to suit, ask if they can substitute things. I will sometimes have a veggy burger without the bun or fruit or salad can be substituted for fries. People just think you are on Atkins or something.

The worst places are Italian restaurants & pizza parlours. If you have a choice in where to eat, the best bet is to say Indian, Thai, Chinese.... If you find yourself surrounded by Chianti bottles and checkered tablecloths, then you can either say 'f*** it' and scoff down an 8 inch meat lovers or alternatively go for a substantial salad, or a couple of appetizers instead.