Hmmm .... how time flies! The last year has been filled with a lot of changes - all good and all adding to my full days. We bought some land in Northwest Oregon a couple of years ago that we are working at turning into a farm and this last year I've been spending more and more of my time living there and working. Our first grandson was born in October! He's a darling, calm baby - who happens to live on the East Coast, so I've been traveling, which I love to do.
Some of you found this blog while searching for help when newly diagnosed with large numbers of food allergies, histamine intolerance, or IBS. The good news for me is that my gut seems to be completely healed and I am having very few problems with histamines. I'm almost five years into my massive allergy diagnosis and cooking/eating is a lot, lot easier! Also, I had my DNA run through 23 and Me and with the help of Genetic Genie found I have several methylation defects that predispose me to histamine problems, gut problems, and more but are easily treatable with non-synthetic vitamins. I highly recommend Dr. Ben Lynch's website here if you're wondering if this might also help you.
What does all this mean for this blog? I'm ready to post more regularly - spending so much time in the Northwest with all the wonderful, healthy choices for food, I find I have more to share and say. As has been happening for awhile, not all recipes will be low histamine - they'll be marked if they're not. However, we do still tend to eat fairly low histamine. One of the benefits of my cooking low histamine was discovering histamines were causing my husband several problems. The recipes will continue to be as free of my allergens as I know how to be. Some allergies, such as corn, seem to be tricky - derivatives or levels of contamination that work for some, won't for others. I tend to cook completely from scratch without derivatives, but occasionally they do sneak in, so use your best judgment on what will work for you!
This week in my corner of Oregon, the raspberries are ripening! We have a small area of the canes - we're planning on adding more, but I wonder if there will ever be enough? They're one of my favorite fruits and one that is so hard to find corn free in stores, between the soaker pads, packaging, and possible sprays for fresh and packaging, cross contamination, and citric acid with frozen. So I gorge on them in July and ration out my jam and syrup the rest of the year! I picked our first larger amount yesterday and made this delicious, easy pie - the only hard part is not eating the whole thing!
Crust:
2 1/4 cups coarsely ground toasted almonds
2/3 cup palm shortening, melted
6T organic cane sugar
Mix all together and spread into a pie pan. You can use as is or bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes for a harder crust.
Pie:
6 oz. goat chevre
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1T lemon juice
1T homemade vanilla
2t gelatin
About 1 pint of raspberries
Add sugar and gelatin to food processor and give a couple of whirls to mix. Heat coconut milk to warm and add, along with the cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla. Process until well mixed and pour into the crust. Refrigerate for a few hours. Before serving, spread the berries over the top.
