This book is dedicated to my loving family (my husband, mother, father, 4 children, grandchildren, mother-in-law and father-in-law). Cooking for my family is a great honour and has brought me great joy. Special thanks goes to my oldest son, who edited this book for me.
Cocinar para alguien le da un proposito en la vida
(Cooking for someone gives you a purpose in life)
2017
ISBN- 978-1-5439095-5-5
Introduction
When my husbands colitis took a turn for the worse, we decided diet was going to play a part in treating his symptoms. I had long believed that diet can address many health concerns and, due to mild allergies, I had already eliminated wheat and milk from mine. Since wheat is such a staple of North American food this was challenging, but I got used to the change. Having watched my father reverse his heart disease in the late 1990s by becoming a vegetarian, I wasnt the first person in my family to dedicate myself, for health reasons, to a new way of cooking and eating.
It was at nursing school in the late 1970s that I first observed the effects bad habits can have on a persons health. Most of the patients who suffered from chronic illness smoked, consumed alcohol excessively or overate. The idea that diet could help to control symptoms of colitis didnt become completely clear to me, however, until another family member became ill with colitis. I discovered Gottschalls Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet. The diet we follow is based on eggs, hard cheese (mostly cheddar, swiss, havarti, parmesan, gouda, provolone), a few types of beans (mostly adzuki beans, navy beans and kidney beans), legumes (peas and lentils), fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, chicken, fish, a few select condiments, healthy oils, spices and coconut flour. For the most part, you will not find bread, rice, potatoes, processed foods or other starches in these recipes. Portion sizes are moderate. Cooking methods include steaming, pan-frying, baking, roasting and simmering. We use the barbeque for cooking sausage or steak. We dont own a deep fryer and if we have a craving for deep-fried food, well occasionally go to a take-out restaurant and have a small portion of something friedusually french fries, onion rings or a spring roll.
Taking on the challenge of cooking differently has not been too difficult, since cooking has been a big part of my life since I was a young girl. You could say that Im a bit of a mad cook and a dreamer! These days, my recipes have to be uncomplicated and practical to fit into everyday working life. So, when faced with the challenge of helping my husband control his colitis, I got to work creating, adapting and transcribing recipes with the goal of making enjoyable, colitis-friendly meals.
In addition to diet, small changes in lifestyle habits have made a difference in treating the illness. Changes can be as small as not walking down the snack food aisle at the grocery store or not putting unhealthy food in your grocery cart. They can be as big as eliminating sugar and white flour from your diet. These changes have added up to better intestinal health for my husband and better overall health for both of us. Furthermore, in addition to a daily walking routine, the diet has helped my husband maintain a healthier weight.
First came the commitment, then the ideas, then the cooking, and nowthis recipe collection! You might consider some of the ideas in this book to be common sense, but theyre often overlooked in our fast-paced world. For example, packing a lunch for work or school. I met a young adult who was being treated for gastric problems and when I asked him what he ate, it was fast food every day during the week, as his job required long hours of travel by car. This man appeared healthy, but his body was telling him otherwise. I suggested that he take a cooler bag in his car every day and load it up with foods from home such as leftovers, fruits, vegetablesanything healthy he could find in his fridge or cupboard. The point is to roughly plan what foods you will need to eat during the day and stock your lunch bag with enough to get you through. Even if you dont eat everything you bring, you will at least have it on hand. It may be very difficult to start up new ways of eating, but it is possible. Remember that food is fuel for a healthy body.
Despite my goal of eating and preparing healthy foods, I still make my blueberry crisp two or three times per year. A rare indulgence, as special as seeing a hummingbird hover over a flower for a brief moment. I think we can all relate to a holiday food that is divine and memorable. I have not figured out how to replace white flour and brown sugar in this recipe and it has become a family tradition for holidays. I want my family to think of home and think of me when they eat my crisp! After countless failed attempts to adapt my recipe, Ive decided to leave it be. The only food I prepare with white flour is blueberry crisp. My wheat allergy is mild enough that I can tolerate the occasional small portion, and my husband is happy to enjoy it on holidays. During the rest of the year, coconut flour and honey are the key ingredients of my baking, with brown and white sugar used only as seasoning.
Many factors, such as the globalization of food, the availability of international foods in my local grocery stores and the opportunity to learn from others have helped me in this process of writing a cookbook. So much can be learned from others when it comes to healthy cooking and I would like to share an important observation with you: Some international recipes should notbe adapted in order to preserve them for future generations. In my efforts to adapt recipes formy husbands colitis, I came across my daughter-in-laws risotto recipe. I thought aboutsubstituting cauliflower for rice, but without short-grain rice, the dish lost its identity as risotto. Irespectfully chose to leave the recipe alone. You could say that my blueberry crisp is much thesame-unalterable.Even in adaptive cooking, consistency is important in the use of specific ingredients. Anexample of this is Marukan Genuine Brewed Rice Vinegar. Ive tried to substitute other ricevinegars for this superior vinegar, without success. I read about the companys heritage on theirwebsite and found out they have a centuries-long tradition of producing their vinegar products.They have done the hard work to make a product for our benefit and I rely on this vinegar in mycooking.
Theres one thing Id like to mention before we get to the recipes: failure is a concept that isn't mentioned in too many cookbooks. Failure gave me my Pumpkin Pie Filling Squares when the crust of a pumpkin pie recipe I had tried just didnt work out. You can use failure as a tool to improve your recipes and cooking skills. I just keep cooking and you can too. I cook with thoughtful precision, to the best of my ability. I listen, observe, read, ask questions, write down recipe revisions as I go, and try new foods. My satisfaction comes when someone eats something I've made and they say I like that.
There is a section in this book called Tips and Traps. Some tips are habits of mine that have helped me maintain the same healthy weight for over 35 years, such as the practice of restraint and drinking plenty of water. Traps are pitfalls to avoid, such as what to do if you find yourself at a restaurant with nothing on the menu that will agree with your digestion.
You may be asking, "Where do I start?" The answer is, at the beginning. Read. Educate yourself. Start the process of finding out what foods agree with you. Write your recipes down and keep track of your revisions. Cook. After all, meals were prepared from scratch in past generations. Above all else, do the best you can to try to improve your health.
