Cooking for Crohn's

It is seriously insane how my mood goes up and down. Today's been great! Busy but smooth day at work (which means it went by pretty quick!), then I went to the gym for the cardio dance class which I love, and made some yummy gnocchi with spinach and pesto for lunch tomorrow. I ate a bit...you know, to make sure it was good enough to take for lunch...haha

I've been making a lot of homemade food recently. Actually, up until this summer I barely cooked. And by barely I mean I didn't know how, except for a few basics. My mom isn't really into cooking, so I was never taught. Since I was diagnosed 8 months ago, I have become much more aware of what foods I'm putting in my body. I neverrrr eat fast food anymore. I go to restaurants very rarely. And I cook pretty much all my foods fresh. 

My diet had to change when I was diagnosed. Gone were the days of snacking on fresh fruits and veggies, salads, nuts, popcorn, etc. I like finding recipes online that allow me to have yummy meals that won't cause me problems. (There's the tricky part- does food cause symptoms and flares?! Again...confusing! I'll always be confused!)

I'll admit I've gone a little overboard. My friend thinks I've gone nuts, and I'll give her that. I've even made my own yogurt and bread, which is a little over the top but pretty decent skill to have if you ask me! The yogurt doesn't turn out as smooth as store bought (which I only eat plain these days, checking the label to make sure there hardly any ingredients), but the bread turned our really well! Even my dad said it was better than the store loaves. Lately I've been making a lot of mac & cheese, experimenting with add-ins. So far I've tried kielbasa, ham, and cauliflower. I enjoyed the last 2 the most. My mom's side of the family is half polish, and I've gone there 3 times. I've made pierogies, pork, chicken, potato and cheese...honestly, store bought pierogies are an abomination. Look up a recipe and make some fresh, or find a Polish store and get some there. You can thank me later.

I've made applesauce the past 2 weekends. Since the apples are cooked, it has been ok for me to eat. It's been nice, my mom and I sit down at the table and peel apples for a while and talk. And then the house smells delicious while the cinnamon covered apples cook for an hour. This past weekend I added some maple syrup in...yum! I've made apple butter in the past (just let the applesauce cook longer until the water absorbs) and pumpkin butter as well.

Soups are my favourite thing to make because they're really tasty and so easy on the tummy, which is important for those days when your not feeling great.They're all pureed, but mostly have a thicker consistency so you feel pretty full when your done eating. Some that I've tried are:

• Cream of asparagus
• Asparagus and leek
• Potato and leek
• Potato and onion
• Butternut squash
• Sweet potato

I wasn't a huge fan of the sweet potato, but it was pretty thick and I might have used too much potato or not enough liquid. 

One yummy easy dinner I made a couple months ago was baked eggs. I saw a picture in instagram and winged it. I took a muffin pan, put whatever sandwich meat I had in the fridge (it was ham) into the cups, layered a few pieces of spinach down, then carefully cracked an egg into each cup. I sprinkled a little salt and pepper, and topped it with some cheese. Popped that in the oven for about 18 minutes...at 350? not 100% on the temperature. As long as the egg is cooked, it's done. Really tasty!

As I find new ideas, I'll write it in my posts.

Time for bed!