Normal

Well. My lactose intolerance test came back normal. Normal? What? I have to admit that I was less than thrilled to be a short distance from square one but on the other hand I suppose it's nice to be "normal." 


I still have two more tests and others pending, before more can be concluded on the subject. I suspect it's time to revisit the jotting down my food intake and how I feel thing.  There is no denying that I am sensitive to dairy products, so is it all dairy? Just because I'm not lactose intolerant does not mean that I'm not allergic to milk - or other proteins in milk like casein, which is also found in sandwich meat.  Anyway! I got tired quickly having to write every last food item down, how much, what time, blah blah...so I went on the search for an online database. *cha-ching* www.myfooddiary.com I think I'll go ahead and try the 7 day trial and see how it fits. So far it looks good: over 60,000 foods to choose from, exercise log, reports, etc. I'll decide this weekend if I want to spend $9/month on diet tracking...considering it's the same amount I spend on netflix and that turned out famously all should be a go.


Recently (for obvious reasons) I've been learning to cook without dairy products and find that it usually requires more tomato.  While I'm no stranger to the fruit...it also has a less than desirable effect on my stomach. Acid reflux, sour stomach, common irritations from acidic foods - orange juice, pineapple and sometimes strawberries and applesauce cause the same issues. Also, I've been cooking with more spices and stronger peppers - I love all of this - but it's causing more stomach issues. So am I supposed to drop it all and live on plain chicken, lettuce and crackers? I hope not.


Still, my favorite recipe of late is a Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup I found on www.allrecipes.com. Instantly a favorite: Super easy, delicious soup. I doubled the recipe (expect kept it to one beer) and it fit perfectly in my 7 qt. slow cooker. I hope you try it! 


For dessert I made (Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies - by far the best cookies I have ever made. I used the Earth Balance butter and brown sugar (confectioners) which made for a super moist cookie. They aren't Vegan because I used actual eggs instead of an energy (egg) replacer. However, semi-sweet chocolates are not milk-chocolate, don't confuse the two; one has milk and the other doesn't. I am sensitive to chocolate as well but I didn't have a reaction to the morsels. Here is the link to that recipe: Enjoy the recipe, ignore the chefs...


Be back soon. 


But this is life on earth, you just can't have everything.