Low Amylose, round two.

Quick update!

So I "started" Low amylose again tonight... I originally wanted to wait 6 weeks after the baby was born but then decided to wait until after chanukah, which ended tonight (also his 10 week "birthday"). Within about 30 minutes I had already cheated, but we've been back on track for a whopping 4.5 hours now. Let's see how this goes....  

Anyone else out there doing LA? I'm trying to remember what recipes I used to make regularly. I'm concerned about the time factor- namely, being short on it. I used to have plenty of freedom to take as long as necessary to make food but (thankfully!!!) things are so hectic with the baby that I'm worried this won't be sustainable... Any quick solutions? I ordered some larabars from Amazon for quick snacks and I'm about to make a shopping list. I'll let you know what i come up with. 

Right now I'm still up about 25lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight but could really stand to lose a bit more than that, ideally.

Happy holidays to all who are celebrating!!  

ICLW :)

Hey IComLeavWe'ers! This is actually my first time participating. And I picked the most hectic time ever since we're going out of town tomorrow. Well, hopefully. There's currently a foot of snow being deposited outside and Polar Vortex temperatures, round 2. Wish us (and our house sitter!) luck.

I thought I would introduce myself a little for anyone visiting for the first time. I'm T, married to E and trying to conceive since 2009, with a 13 month break from doctors thrown in there. We live in Brooklyn and I spend my time working with women with special needs and turning our 800 sq ft apartment into a Pinterest Palace. So I post some of those creative endeavors.

I have PCOS. Always have. My cycles are non existant. I've literally had two periods since last March. Last April (during our break from RE appts), I started the low amylose "diet", and have pretty much stuck to it ever since (I wrote allllll about it here). Not to sound like an infomercial, but after we got married I gained a bunch of weight and I tried eve.ry.thing to lose it, but I actually kept gaining. I was counting calories and literally sticking to 1200 calories a day (and starrrrving) and would actually GAIN weight. Even while taking Metformin. It was insane. When I heard about low amylose, I was at my wits end and jumped at the opportunity to stop counting calories. Basically, the idea is that people with PCOS have a very hard time with amylose (a sugar) so... we should avoid it. Amylose is found in root vegetables, grains, bananas, sugar, etc. You can google it. It's a real thing. The point is, I started avoiding those foods, but eating as much of the allowed foods as I wanted, and not only was I no longer starving but I actually lost 30lbs! Hurray. :) I post a lot of LA recipes that I've tried out and enjoyed.

I also obviously write about our journey to conceive. It's been a tough road. We're currently in the 2ww of IUI #2. Our RE wants us to jump to IVF since we've done about a million clomid + timed intercourse cycles but we've decided to hold off until after, Gd forbid, 3 failed IUIs. E is in the middle of a doctorate program, so money's tight, yo.

Ok I need to run and pack for our trip tomorrow (wishful thinking?) but if you have any questions, shoot them my way! Thanks for stopping by :)

Splendiferous Sugar-Free Pudding Ideas

Today we're going to be talking about things to make using sugar-free pudding. Ok, look, try not to make fun of my first attempt at a Pic Monkey graphic too much. It's a little sad, I know. Whatevs. This little experiment came up when I was aimlessly checking out the contents of our pantry and realized we had a box of, you guessed it, sugar-free pudding. I actually haaaate the taste of anything sugar-free, so when I decided I wanted to do something with it, I figured I needed to pick something that would camouflage the taste. These aren't the healthiest recipes, but they are actually low amylose (EXCEPT that my sugar-free pudding had Splenda in it, which has maltodextrin, which is a big ol' no-no. So try to find one without that). I used Lieber's brand, so Idk if Jello brand has Splenda in there too, but either way it probably tastes better than my kosher one. And anyway, it's Bill Cosby approved:

K so first up is the imitation Wendy's Frosty. Now, I've kept kosher for about the past decade (!!!) so I admittedly haven't had one of the real guys in a while. A long while. But this was close enough (even with all of my stupid tweaks) that I got where they were going with it. In high school my friend and I would go through the Wendy's drive-thru for a Frosty and then drive next door for Burger King fries, because they were infinitely better there. My parents never let me pull that crap though. It was all or nothing. :) So here you go:

Imitation Wendy's Frosty (original recipe found here)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBS sugar-free chocolate pudding mix (I used vanilla and was wondering why it wasn't so chocolatey until right now)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp unsweetened cocoa*
• 1/2 TBS Splenda (2-3 small packets)*
• 7 ice cubes
• (optional) 2 TBS cool whip (I skipped this- cool whip isn't kosher ;))

* I actually used a little bit of maple syrup and a little bit of sugar-free chocolate syrup but I do not recommend using my substitutions on the Frosty. The lady that posted it said it was amazing and she'd love it even if she wasn't on a diet. Mine was okay, but still had a lot of that Splenda taste. Shocker.
This one is super easy. All you do is throw it all into the blender until it hits your desired consistency.

Next up:
No-Bake Greek Yogurt Cheesecake
Crust Ingredients (recipe from here- I want to try that full recipe w/ almond or cashew butter instead of peanut butter- I'd already made the pudding when I found this crust recipe, so I was kind of locked into cheesecake!)

• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup dried, unsweetened coconut (I used 1/4c shredded coconut, 3/4c coconut flour)
• 1/2 cup chopped (pitted) dates
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ~1 tbsp water (depends on the moisture from the dates- add this last) 

Throw all of this into a food processor, adding a little water at a time until you can pinch it with your fingers and it sticks together.  Then pat it into the bottom of your pan.

 

(Close inspection shows that I've got real chunks of date in there. Oh well.)

Filling Ingredients (recipe from here)

• 12 oz Plain Greek yogurt 
• 1 package Sugar Free Fat Free Cheese Cake Pudding Mix (I used sugar free vanilla)
• 1 Cup milk (any kind; I used dairy)  

I threw these ingredients into the blender for maybe 1.5 minutes. Just until it seemed incorporated. Then I poured it on top of the crust, made a little design with some of that sugar-free chocolate syrup, and popped it into the refrigerator for a few hours. That's what's up.

 Lemme know if you try this, and what additional tweaks you make that are amazeballs. Any other sugar-free pudding recipes out there? :)

New Year, New Hope?

Pardon my language, but 2013 can Suck It. My favorite uncle passed away in February and that's been crazy tough on my family. My Nana had recurring health issues all year long. And 2013 ended with us being told that we should move on to IVF. Yep. That happened.

I can't say I'm particularly floored by the news, but I also wasn't ready for it. Before I get ahead of myself though, lemme add that we're doing iui again this cycle anyway. And if it doesn't work this time, we might even try iui one more time. E and I have to figure out our financial and insurance situations. But also, when we had our meeting with our RE last Friday, I had actually gotten my period on my own- all by myself!- so the options were sort of to get a move on with getting approved by the insurance company for another iui cycle or get on birth control (what! it'd be to keep me from ovulating) in preparation for IVF. We had, like, a day to figure out what we wanted to do. And since our finances were not yet in order, we went for it with another iui. I went in for blood work and an ultrasound today (the RE was training a new sonographer- is that a word?- so that was just lovely) and started Clomid tonight.

The RE wants to move on to IVF for a couple of reasons. He said that we've now done 5 rounds of clomid with him (not to mention the ~5 rounds with my OB-GYN). Here's the thing, though- 4 of them were just with timed intercourse and I weighed 10-20 lbs more than I do now. We had an entire year break in-between Clomid rounds 4 and 5. And #5 involved our first-ever iui. So while he says that I should've gotten pregnant by now after 5 rounds of Clomid, and I get it, I just don't think or feel like it's urgent enough for IVF yet. Maybe I'm just scared of IVF and dragging my feet. The financial aspect of it is definitely freaking me out. But I feel like I need to give iui one or two more tries before actually taking the leap to IVF.

Another thing: my diagnosis has now switched from anovulation (I think? Whatever. "Not ovulating".) to "Unexplained Infertility". WTF!?! This has to be one of the most frustrating things ever. As hard as this whole process has been, there was almost always something to treat. But it being unexplained? That just sucks. And it's apparently hereditary, because that's what my mother, aunt, and grandmother were all told as well. You'd think that they'd have made enough medical advancements since the 50's and 60's to be able to pinpoint something, but, hey, apparently not. On one had, it's a little reassuring because all of those relatives had 2-3 kids. On the other hand, none of them tried for this long. So, great.

The good news is, the RE is "happy" with E's sperm. And since we'd flubbed that whole "length of abstinence" question on the paperwork that morning (we were flustered and wrote 2 or 3 days when it was actually 45 minutes because the first medical condom had broken), he was even happier when we told him the real story, because E's sperm is probably even more mighty. Mightier. Whatever. 

Tonight I was walking home from a little get-together with a friend when, all of a sudden, there were fireworks all over the place. I quickly realized that it was clearly midnight, and HAPPY NEW YEAR. E had been planning on FaceTime-ing me at midnight from his night shift at the hospital like we did last year, but my phone died at the get-together (I texted him from my friend's phone to let him know I'd text him as soon as I got home). Look: What I'm getting at is that I've been in a lousy place since our BFN. Emotionally, spiritually, mentally. But in that moment, walking home, watching the Prospect Park fireworks in the "Feels Like" 14* weather and laughing with my friend, I felt hopeful. It could've just been the fireworks- I love love love fireworks... but I think that I just might be able to grab onto the excitement of 2014/a new beginning, and try to use that for a while... right?

Ramblings Part III

I guess this "Ramblings" thing is becoming a... thing.

First of all, exciting news, the RE office called and my progesterone levels are "perfectly normal". YAY ME! This is our first-ever iui cycle, but I don't think they've ever been normal on other non-iui cycles. I had my cell phone next to me all day, waiting for them to call but missed it because I'm a genius and had the volume turned off. So I heard the progesterone news via voicemail, and she added that "Normally we'd do the pregnancy test blood work on Wednesday, but Wednesday is a holiday, so you should come in Thursday for that." Cue the record screeching to a halt sound. SAY WHAT?!

 THURSDAY?! As in SIXTEEN DAYS after my iui?! Hellzzzz no. Like an idiot, I freaked out and ran into the bedroom and woke E up. Somehow, in his deep-sleep stupor, he was able to remind me that the nurse who'd called probably didn't know that I was supposed to have gone in for my progesterone blood work yesterday, not today, and therefore my pregnancy test should be Tuesday, not Wednesday.

And then he fell back asleep. Of course, I was satisfied with that answer for about two full seconds before panic attack #2 came on. But what if they don't know!? He suggested that we call them tomorrow but quickly realized that I would have worried myself into oblivion by then so he had me dial the number and called them back. He explained the situation to the nurse and she said oh yeah, hands down come in Tuesday. Then he confirmed about 5x (for my sake) that Tuesday was the day to come in, and no, it wouldn't be too early, and no, Thursday wouldn't be a more accurate test. Homeboy covered all his bases. #lifesaver

While I was on the phone with my mom later (she's been getting updated after all the appointments because apparently blogging about it isn't enough for me, haha), I asked her if she'd had morning sickness when she was pregnant with my brother and me. She said she did not have morning sickness with either of us! Lucky lady. She just craved Chinese food and Dairy Queen with me, and said the smell of pizza made her super nauseous when she was pregnant with my brother. I wish I could take that as a good sign, but she's a freaking tough cookie. Her birth story from when she had me is this: "I didn't get an epidural, because back then they were supposedly super risky, and I could hear all of these women in the nearby rooms screaming their heads off and I thought, 'uh oh'. But then I pushed all 9lbs of you out, and yeah it hurt, but Idk what they were all screaming about." Yeah. That's my mom. I clearly did not inherit her pain tolerance. I'm the biggest wuss in the world. Although the truth is that while I scream bloody murder every time E accidentally steps on my foot or something, if I'm in actual pain and other people are around, I'm a pretty silent sufferer. The nurses at the RE are always asking "Does that not hurt??" while they're jabbing me with the internal ultrasound and I'm like "Uh, no it definitely does" and they're like "Wow, you're so quiet." So Idk.

I also started my special folic acid pills today called Folgard RX 2.2. That ups my daily pill count to 6, but at least I don't have to take progesterone! 

My boss texted me to find out what shifts I'm able to work in January. Ruh roh. I asked E what he thought I should do (the schedule with be finished by next week when I know my situation). He was like "Well in January, you won't have to go in nearly as often." ...huh? "You'll only be going into the office occasionally, it won't be like this month" Oh, honey. That's only if I'm actually pregnant. "Oh... right. Huh." He's usually super rational/level-headed about the what-if aspect of this, I'm nervous that he's going to be heartbroken if it doesn't happen. As for work: If I am pregnant, I have to decide whether to quit or not. And if I'm not... I'm in the same boat as December, not being able to work morning shifts sometime 4x/week. I'm not really sure what to do.

Ok, last bit: I know its crazy early to report on symptoms, and I always feel like a moron when they call with my BFN after my 999 "FOR SURE" signs that I was pregnant, but apparently I don't learn and I'm gonna do it anyway. This is my first cycle in over a year, so gimme a break.
Here we go:
-TMI alert: I have a ton of CM. Like I keep freaking out because I keep thinking my period came. But it's creamy and white. I know, gross. I don't think that's ever happened before. Could be wrong.

-Still ex-freaking-hausted. I have a women's group that I go to on Tuesday evenings where a few of us get together and learn something Jewish. It's at 8:30pm. By 5:30pm I was falling on my face tired. So I decided to (big mistake) lay in bed and update my iphone/delete some photos. I think I fell asleep at 8pm (the class is an under-10 minute walk away) and didn't wake up until 11:30.

-At 11:30, the reason I woke up was because I had this HORRIFIC nightmare. This gets a little graphic: I was babysitting E's cousin's daughter with my mom and E's mom, and these guys were trying to kidnap her and chased us through an inner city for a crazy long time and then they caught us and they shot me twice- once in the face and once in the stomach. Turns out I was pregnant. First of all, WHAT? Second of all, I THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T DIE IN YOUR OWN DREAMS!? Also, let me just say that I never have vivid dreams at home. We have friends that live in Massachusetts and in their old apartment, I would have a crazy vivid dream every single time we'd stay with them. Like every single night. It was something about that house. But at home? Nothing. And now I've had memorable dreams the past 2 nights. Crazy pants.

-My boobs are sore. Not like when I was ovulating- they were crazy sore all over at that point. Now they just hurt when they get bumped or touched, but when they hurt they hurttt.

-I'm having food cravings and aversions, but I do that every day of my life, so that's nothing new.

-I'm feeling nauseous 24/7, but again, that's the norm for me. I really need to see a GI doctor at some point. I thought the Low Amylose diet would solve my problems, but it hasn't totally done so. Things are better than they were but they're far from perfect.

-I'm hyper emotional. I don't have the greatest temper in general, but lately I haven't been getting angry. Just emotional. Everything makes me cry. I made E watch that video of the kids and staff in the Richmond Children's Hospital singing Katy Perry's song "Roar" and I couldn't even be in the same room because I was welling up from the first note. And a friend on FB posted this article and that caused tears, too. Interestingly, after E watched the video, he said "WHY am I going into geriatrics instead of pediatrics?? Kids are so much better. Crap"... thankfully his program is new and doesn't have a pediatrics or Family Practice tract yet, but he said that if they create one before he's done he'll strongly consider switching. I've been saying he should do that all along, but whatever. ;)

Here's that lip synching video:

Tweaked Shepherd's Pie, Low Amylose Style

I make this recipe a lot, and I made it during the snowstorm yesterday for E before his grad school final. It was his last one of the semester! Hurray! I get my husband back!  "Just" doing his 40 hour work week until the end of January will feel like nothing compared to that plus taking 12 credits.

I also happen to call my dad for help with this recipe every. single. time. He's sort of my go-to cooking expert. The man loves the Food Network. Seriously, every time we visit my parents either the Food Network or ESPN/NESN is on 24/7. He must legit think I'm an idiot, because I've called to ask him about how he makes Shepherd's Pie at least 3x in the past 2 months.

I like this recipe, which I'd tweaked to make Low Amylose friendly, because it's easy and packs a lot of punch. It's filling, it's got protein and two types of vegetables. I know, right? I use frozen veggies but if you're less inept than I am, you can spend the time and use fresh ones.

Ingredients:
1 pack frozen Bird's Eye Winter Squash
Enough frozen peas to cover the meat in your pan
Ground Beef
Onions (Ideally.)
Garlic salt
Onion powder (If you're onion-less)
Pepper

If you have onions on hand, go you. I always, always, always forget about the onions until I call my dad and ask "Should I use oil in the frying pan for the meat?" And he's like "Only if you're sauteing the onions first... then use a little bit" and I'm like "D'OH!!!! ONIONS!" The truth is, we have a bunch of caramelized onions in the freezer that I made after last Passover. We had so many onions leftover that I spend a whole day cutting them up and caramelizing them in our crock pot. But They're frozen in a solid block because I didn't think far enough in advance to split them up into meal-sized portions, so only E knows/is able to break chunks off. #winning

So, yeah, if you have onions, go ahead and saute them in your skillet. 

When they're delicious looking/smelling, add in your ground beef, or "Hamburger meat" as my dad calls it. Also add some garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

While you're stirring that around, throw your unwrapped, frozen winter squash into a small pot and follow the directions on the box (this method involves 1/2 c of water). We don't have a microwave but if you do, I think there are also directions for how to cook it in there. I throw in some of the same spices I added to the meat while I'm at it. 

When the meat is cooked, spread it out on the bottom of your pan (I used a round one w/ parchment paper on the bottom for easier cleanup).

Cover it with frozen peas.

Cover that with the cooked Winter Squash.

Stick it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. You just want the top to get browned a little (and the peas to not be frozen anymore. Duh.

And serve!

E was super excited about this when he woke up for class (yep you read that right. Welcome to life with a night-shifter) and had two helpings. If you make it, let me know how it turns out and what further tweaks you thought up!

Ramblings Part II

I tried to update the last post but couldn't figure out how to add more after the photo at the end (it wouldn't let me!) But I have more to say.
Speaking of food, Idk if I've mentioned this but a few of my coworkers and I started a weight loss "contest". That word makes it sound crazy but it's really not at all extreme. We each put $50 into the jackpot, and whoever loses the most weight in a month wins it all. I think we're all mature enough to not do anything drastic. I'm being especially careful, but wanted motivation to stay on track with my Low Amylose diet (especially if there's, G-d forbid, a BFN next Tuesday. One. More. Week.) Clearly it did a lot last night during my pizza/milkshake binge. But y'know. I'm actually doing pretty well, weight-wise. I've been SO GOOD about taking my Metformin, which contributed to my horrific upset stomach last night and me re-swearing off carbs fo' lyfe. We started December 9 and are ending January 9, and so far I've lost 4.2lbs. It could obviously be better (Shabbos is my sabotage-r) but we're "scoring" by percentages lost and I'm currently at just over 2%. Yeah, I'm sure you can do that math if you actually care. I'm still 3.8lbs over my lowest while doing Low Amylose, so if I can just freaking break past that this month, I'll be a happy camper. Here's my My Fitness Pal chart from the past month:

It's actually a little inaccurate- I gained from 12/5-12/10. A lot.

Does anyone else read Young House Love? If you don't, you SHOULD. And if you do, did you see their redecorating of the Richmond Children's Hospital waiting room? And the video of all the kid patients and staff lip synching Katy Perry's "Roar"? I balled my eyes out. Like with actual tears. #HotMessAlert

As for "symptoms" since our iui... here goes. E and I were absolutely exhausted last week. I literally couldn't get enough sleep. I'd wake up for a few hours and be dying to go back to bed. Thankfully I've sort of taken some time off from work. I told my boss I was going to be dealing with a "medical situation" and needed to be in the doctor's office in the early mornings for blood work, which really fouled up my work schedule because I normally work 6:30am-9:30am in a special needs residence. So she took me off the schedule for December and said to come in whatever mornings I could. Well, last week I didn't make it in at all. Which is okay job-safety-wise, but that paycheck is gonna hurrrrrt. Honestly, if there's a BFP next week, I might quit. There's a lot of heavy-lifting involved at work, and while I could probably finagle my way out of it a lot, it'd be really complicated and it wouldn't be so fair to my coworkers. Occasionally, there's legit just no way around it... and I'm just not okay with that risk. If there's a BFP, I will absolutely be that paranoid pregnant lady for the next 9 months (8?). I've worked too hard for this to, G-d forbid, lose it because of my job. E and I have actually discussed my quitting once we get that BFP. It's kind of the type of situation where I could probably go back whenever I want... I've been there for over 6 years and there are only 2 people who have worked there longer than me at this point. We'll see. I am going to try and do the morning shift this Thursday though!

Clearly I have high hopes for this cycle. I mean that sarcastically. I'm so afraid of getting that BFP and losing it. I don't think I'll chillax until the kid(s) are born. And even then I'll be afraid for their safety for the rest of my life. Haha. Someone get this gal a chill pill.

K I'm gonna try to be a productive human being now.

Happy National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Yep. It's a real thing. Thank the heavens. And here's my contribution:

Chocolate Covered Clementines w/ Sea Salt

I've actually been wanting to do this for some time now, after seeing it floating around Pinterest a while back. I bought the "ingredients" last week but just wasn't finding the motivation. And, honestly, I would've never even gotten around to it today except that as I was about to get into pj's (who am I kidding? I've been in pj's all day!) I caught a Hello Giggles Facebook post that announced that today is National Dip Anything in Chocolate Day (Sorry for the late notice- I was clearly very busy). Aaaaand the fire was officially lit!

These are crazy simple, and E has been making trip after trip back to the kitchen for more ever since he discovered them. 

All you need is: 

• 1 bar of Chocolate (I used sugar free dark chocolate but anything'll work. Also... We were 1 row short of a full bar because chocolate doesn't last long around here)
• 3 clementines 
• A couple of pinches of sea salt
• Wax paper

No, not this kind of Clementine! :)

 Now, you're supposed to use a double broiler or whatever they're called, for this, but we don't have one and I'm too lazy to improvise, so I just broke up the chocolate into it's predetermined squares and threw them into a saucepan. Like so: 

I put the flame on low and got to peeling my clementines, stirring the chocolate in the pan between peeling each one. 

Then I spread the individual slices of clementines out along the wax paper.

To "dip" them I scooped a bit of chocolate up from the pan with a spoon and rolled about half of each slice in the chocolate. I could cover 2-3 slices each time, and found that if I tried to take more chocolate/"dip" more than 3 at a time, the chocolate became too solidified.

Each time I'd finished dipping about 1/3 of the slices, I paused and sprinkled a little bit of sea salt on the dipped chocolate part before it could fully harden on the clementine. 

And that's it!

I'm actually feeling suuuuper lousy right now because I, like an idiot, declared today a Low Amylose cheat day. I had a piece of my favorite Alfredo pizza from my favorite pizza shop. And part of a milkshake (coffee cookies and cream). I know. I should've seen this coming. It happens every time. But I didn't, so now I'm going to peace out and try and sleep it off! Hey, at least these guys were Low Amylose friendly...

Pumpkin Quinoa Oatmeal

If you're like me, this Low Amylose (or gluten-free, etc) diet probably has you craving a good breakfast option. A girl can only eat so many eggs- omelettes, sunny side up, scrambled, hard boiled... Even with all of these variations, it gets old. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love me some good eggs. But even the best things can get overplayed.

Sorry.

Anyway... as your resident Pinterest addict I'd seen this Breakfast Quinoa idea over and over again, so the idea had been floating around in my head for a while. I finally broke down when I found  this recipe one morning, because... hello, it involves pumpkin. So here's my version (with a couple of LA-friendly tweaks).

 

• 1/2 cup rinsed, uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 TBS honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Toppings of your choice (I obviously used a couple of chocolate chips... because I'm me.)

- Pour the milk, cinnamon and quinoa into a medium pot, bring to a boil.

- Lower the flame and cover 12-15mins, stirring occasionally, until milk is almost entirely absorbed

- Add in the pumpkin, salt and honey and stir until combined

- Throw on any toppings, and you're good to go!

Except that, again, if you're like me, you'll probably have burnt quinoa to scrub off the bottom of your pan. But that can wait unto after breakfast. It "needs" to soak! ;) (While we're on that topic, let's just ignore all of the food splatters on my stovetop, mmmkay? Thanks)

Like Buttah, Baby

Almond butter, that is. As in, Almond Butter Cookies.

I'm obsessed with these cookies. Like, they actually might be my favorite cookies ever. I say that because I haven't had real cookies in a very, very, very long time. But either way, these gluten-free babies (one-track mind, much?) make me not miss real ones even, like, half as much.

Here's the recipe:
- First, preheat your oven to 350.
- Then, thoroughly combine:

• 1 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup honey (you could use maple syrup if you want to go vegan, here)
• 1 egg (again, if you're pulling the V-card- and by that I mean vegan card, you can use an egg alternative. I tend to use this when I start baking something and realize we're out of eggs: 1 egg = 2 TBS water + 1 TBS oil + 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt (unless your almond butter is already salted)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

- Fold in:
2/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chocolate chips 
If you can find sugar free chocolate chips, use them to keep this vaguely Low Amylose (the honey is also questionable). Or you could use raisins. But oatmeal raisin cookies are a big contributor to my ongoing trust issues. Seriously, those little buggers fool me into thinking they're chocolate chip EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Whatever. I don't "count" chocolate chips, okay? Which might be why I stopped losing weight. Orrrr it could be because of the fact that I'm now on week 3(?) without Metformin because my insurance company FORGOT TO SEND IT. It's cool. I'm not bitter. (UPDATE: It came today!!!)

Anyway....
- Roll the dough into normal cookie-sized balls, throw them on a baking sheet or two 
- Bake 'em for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned. I find that the bottoms burn a bit if I have them on the lower rack of my oven.

Lemme know how they turn out!

Thanksgivvukah

Low Amylose Thanksgiving can be done. Ours was a little bit of a hot mess, but there was a lot of potential there. It could've all be avoided by a little thought and planning, but that's not how I was rolling this year. Oh well. :)

Side note: Happy 20th blog post! It only took 9 months to get here, but here we are. I've been getting a little bit better at blogging more regularly, and just emailed Stirrup-queens.com to get myself added to their blogroll, so if we get any attention from that, it might light a fire under my tush even more. I've also started reading some other PCOS/infertility blogs and hope to get to know some of those ladies. If anyone has any suggestions to good ones, lemme know. 

Back to the real point of this post: Thanksgivukah. Here's our Chanukah House. Manischewitz makes a kit (we actually paid 1/2 that at Duane Reade)- we're not this talented. And it's just for show (in our house) due to it's extremely HIGH amylose content. I do suggest doing this with someone who will monitor you while building... E had to go to work in the middle of the creative process, and while it was nice to have an activity to keep me busy while all by my lonesome on Thanksgiving night, it resulted in me eating a crap-ton of icing. Whoops.

We got our kit like a month ago and thought we were going be be super original and hilarious, and couldn't wait to build it over Chanukah and surprise everyone with our big reveal. Then they started selling them in Crown Heights and everyone and their mother got one, built it, and posted it on Facebook before we'd even opened our box. Womp womp womp.

After about the 5th fb Chanukah house reveal, this is kind of what it felt like, haha:

The rest of our meal was way more diet-friendly. First, we had zucchini latkes since potatoes are a no-go for me. They were awesome. But not without a hitch. Y'see, E offered, ever-so-kindly, to make the latkes. I found the recipe and gave it to him, but he neglected to finish reading it... and as a result he tried to deep-fry them instead of using 2-3 TBS as was spelled out in the recipe (here). Cute. Luckily I caught him struggling before he tossed the entire batch into the garbage out of frustration. 

I tried to make gingersnap cookies, which you can find the recipe to here, but mine came out kind of dry. GREAT flavor, just too dry for my taste. Oh and even with freezing the dough for a bit, it thawed too quickly post-rolling to make the cookie cutter shapes work.

Here's the final spread. We never made it to mashing (or, um, buying) squash. And those deviled eggs were all E's, because they're just not my thing. Those brussels sprouts were amazing (recipe here). I seriously loved them and plan on making them again.

Other things we made:

Paleo Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins- Also a bit dry. Maybe it's just us.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Roasted Nuts- We tried a bit of this right out of the oven, and again a day later and it was infinitely better the next day. My mother-in-law was visiting and asked for the recipe. Twice. I should get around to sending it to her... haha. Either way, the nuts were great. 

The point is, we're not shining examples of a success story, but Low Amylose Thankgiving CAN be done!

It's Getting Hot in Hurrr....

Oh, friends. These Clomid hot flashes are insane. They're not constant, but they're a few times an hour, sometimes a few times every half an hour. They come out of nowhere, and they're intense enough that they actually wake me up. So. I haven't been sleeping, which I'm sure is really adding to my already awesome mood swings. Honestly, those aren't as bad as I remember from past cycles, but I'll have to check in with E and see if that's an accurate assessment.

I'm also super over-the-top nauseous. The thought of eating is nauseating. It's not healthy, I know, but that, combined with only eating Low Amylose foods, combined with being on track with the Metformin has resulted in some weight loss. I'm down at least a couple of pounds just from last week, and in the past month I've lost 6.5 lbs. I'll take it- now I'm only 4.5 lbs away from my pre-Rosh Hashana weight. HOLLER.

How I felt on the scale today.

That's pretty much all for now.... I need to upload and edit the Thanksgiving photos still, but I'm going to save that for tomorrow. I mostly wanted to get this update recorded here before I forgot about these wicked awesome side effects. Wish us luck.

UPDATE:
I decided to add on to this post because I never intended for this blog to be a bunch of quick progress updates and I want to save my 20th post for something worthwhile. :)

Today is Tuesday and I'm still crazy nauseous. I tried making two or three different quick things for dinner tonight and I couldn't stomach more than a couple of bites of each. I'm not really sure what's going on, or why that would be. Additionally, I have a crazy bad headache- right by my forehead and temples.

Tomorrow is my first ultrasound since I took the Clomid, so seriously wish us luck. I'm also going to go there without having eaten because last week the NP had said she wanted to do a fasting glucose at some point. I should remember to bring a snack, but I also hope to get coffee with a friend who just moved somewhere right near my RE's office tomorrow after the appointment. Hurray! Socializing!

E won't be attending the appointment with me, I don't think, because he's working his third overnight in a row tonight AND he's in the middle of grad school finals so he a) hasn't slept in like 2 straight days, and b) has to finish a paper that's due tomorrow evening. And then we're going to a Chanukah party with another couple we know and love, at a new couple-friends' house. So it'll be a pretty exciting and fun but long day...

I'm getting nervous about tomorrow's appointment. I know I shouldn't expect much (I only finished the Clomid on Sunday) but I've been really good about the diet and pretty good about the Metformin (except! that I ran out of my old stash today and the new prescription STILL hasn't arrived yet... our insurance or pharmacy won't let us get it through our normal pharmacy because it's usually something people are on fo' lyfe so they do it through mail-order. I have to look into that tomorrow. I was really banking on it getting here just in time today...). So that's that. I'm going to drink some tea and try to chillax, and maybe try to eat something, before I head to bed for a bit before my appointment. Ahhhh.

I'm in a Glass Case of Emotion!

AKA Happy Thanksgiving(!!!), AKA I started a Clomid cycle. And yes, this is truly how I feel:

I'm gonna go ahead and throw in a Jump Break here, because this post got over-the-top long-winded. So if you're interested in reading my return-to-the-RE drama, read on, and if you're just here for the crafts, you can skip this one. :)


Yep. It had been over a year, but we finally made it back to our Reproductive Endocrinologist this month. The whole getting-back-into-the-swing-of-things process has been a lot of hurry up and wait.

First, I needed my annual exam from our OB-Gyn, because the RE won't start anything until the results come back A-Ok there. A week later we were in the clear so we called to make an appointment with the RE (to discuss a game plan) but they didn't have any appointments until the following week. So there's another week. At that appointment, the RE was super excited that I'd lost weight (I'm currently down about 10lbs... I had lost about 18lbs but gained 8 or 9 back over Tishrei and I haven't been able to lose it since. I did run out of Metformin, and/or was taking it sporadically there, so I have a hunch that the Metformin is what's doing the trick, unfortunately), but because I'd lost weight he was hesitant to move on to the injectables like we had discussed doing before we took our break (partially because I was nervous about moving on to the injectables). In short, he was afraid that the injectables would work TOO well and we'd end up with more follicles than we could manage, and would have to scrap the cycle. Cool.

In the end, we're trying 200mg of Clomid again. It's kind of nice to be back in familiar territory. And walking into the office for that meeting was awesome because all of the secretaries and nurses, etc. were SUPER excited to see us. There were a lot of hugs, smiles and a bunch of playful accusations that we'd left them for another doctor. They also did blood work for both of us that Thursday, saying it should be back late the next week.

Welp, it didn't come back for 12. Freaking. Days. I think I was freaking out so much because I was scared I'd have another case of cold feet and we wouldn't end up back there for ANOTHER year. Or that my period would inconveniently (yet miraculously) come while we were waiting and then we'd have to wait even longer because the RE wouldn't write the prescription for Clomid until the blood work was back, and therefore we'd miss this month's cycle.

When it finally did come back Tuesday afternoon, they wanted me to come in the next morning. But I work on Wednesday mornings from 6:30am-9am, and the blood work hours are 6:30am-8am. #winning. Normally, that'd be fine- I don't work Thursday mornings, so I could go the next day. EXCEPT that the Thursday in question was Thanksgiving, so the Brooklyn office was closed, and they suggested I head there the next Monday. #winning

Basically, like a crazy person, I moved heaven and earth to find coverage for my shift and was able to make it to the Wednesday appointment. You don't even want to know how many favors I owe said coworker. It was actually only my 2nd time ever going by myself, without E. True story. While I was there the NP informed me that my thyroid levels were slightly elevated, so she wrote me a prescription for Synthroid. It was a 2.9, which is on the high end of normal, so she said if we weren't trying to get pregnant they'd never put me on meds for it, but pregnancy can elevate the levels so they want to prepare for that. Actually, they checked it twice- once in their office and once at the lab they sent the blood work out to, and at their own office it came out as 2.1. So it's really just a precaution.

Ha. So much for cutting it short. The point is, now I'm on Synthroid, a prenatal vitamin plus Vitamin D, metformin 3x/day, and Clomid. And now I'm ALREADY (on day TWO) an emotional basket case and sobbed like a baby (ironic) this Thanksgiving. Which I really felt was legitimate at the time, but now a few hours later and the suggestion of my husband, I'm pretty convinced that it was the Clomid.
I think that's enough for now, I'll post more about our attempt at a Low Amylose Thanksgiving meal ASAP.

Have I ever mentioned that Alanis Morissette forever warped the concept of irony for me? Jagged Little Pill was my 2nd CD, ever. 5th grade. I was young and impressionable. I love her, but I think my entire most of a lot of people my age have this problem. You should totally watch this if you have the same issue. It'll clear some things up. #firstworldproblems

As American as Gluten-Free, Low-Amylose Apple... "Pie"

Ok guys, its a LONG list of ingredients, but it's mostly all the same stuff repeated for the 3 parts. We had a bunch of college students and Rabbis visiting us all weekend for the Chabad on Campus Shabbaton  here in Crown Heights, so (selfishly) I decided to make a treat that I could also enjoy. Lemme know if you have trouble with it or suggestions. I tweaked and the combined three different recipes to make this one, so I'm sure there's more than ample room for improvement... but our guests gobbled this thing up in less than a day. Here ya go....

INGREDIENTS
Crust:
-1/4 cup almond flour
-1/2 cup + 2 TBS coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash of ground nutmeg
- dash of ground ginger
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla

Filling:
- 1 cup water
- 1 TBS lemon juice
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash of salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 3 large apples; cored, peeled and chopped (I used Cortland, because that's what we had in the house)
- 1/4 cup almond flour

Crumble topping:
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup almond OR coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- dash of ground cinnamon
- dash of ground ginger
- 1/3 cup Earth Balance, chilled & cut into little pieces

DIRECTIONS
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix crust's dry ingredients
- In a separate bowl, mix crust's wet ingredients
- Combine the two bowls' mixtures
- Wait a couple of minutes to make sure moisture is really absorbed
- Press evenly into the bottom & along the sides of a pie pan
- Gently stab with a fork all over the bottom (don't go TOO crazy)
- Bake for 5-7 mins; make the filling during this time

There's no olive oil in this recipe. That guy's just photo bombing.

Filling:
- Combine the ingredients. Yep, it's that simple.
- Throw it into the partially-baked crust (I added the crumble later in the baking process)
- Bake for about 20 minutes. (I checked it a couple of times to make sure the crust wasn't burning, but you could also put tin foil on the crust.)

With unbaked Crumble Topping

Crumble Topping:
- Mix everything but the Earth Balance together
- Cut in the Earth Balance until combined
- Using your fingers, crumble/break off small chunks and sprinkle on top of the pie.
- Bake an additional 10-20 minutes.

It'll look pretty liquid-y, but it solidifies as it cools.
Hope you enjoy!

Leo and Kate Approved Chickpea Flatbread

I was going to reuse the blogpost title "Chick-chick-chick It Out" for this, but decided it was too soon. We're only 14 posts in. No, this isn't about chicken. It's about chickpeas. Well, Chickpea flour. Err... garbanzo bean flour. 

You know I've tried almond flour, coconut flour, and now it was time for garbanzo bean flour. There might've been more experimentation too... but that's what comes to mind so far. Chickpea flour is pretty awesome in that it can be used to make... wait for it... Chickpea Flatbread or Pitas. Seriously. Check it out on Pinterest, there's a million (exaggerate much?) pins about "Authentic Italian/Persian/Indian etc Flatbread/Pita/Taco/etc" and there's about 100 different names for them. Trust me, I checked it out. I used this recipe (look there for more detailed instructions! and more gorgeous photos!), but I'll be buying more flour and trying out a few more. 

These are awesome. And there are only 4 ingredients:

- 2.5c Chickpea flour or Garbanzo Bean flour or Gram (all the same thing, AFAIK)

- 3.5c cold water

- 1/4c extra virgin olive oil 

- salt/pepper to taste 

Alright so maybe that's 5 ingredients, but who's counting?

The only bummer is that once you mix the ingredients together (I mixed them all together, but just realized while I was re-reading that original blog post that the oil is supposed to be used later, whoops), you have to let it sit for 3 freaking hours (yep, the length of Titanic) on the counter. I was wary so I covered it with plastic wrap but maybe you don't have to. [Update: Good news, folks! I added in the oil when I did it because I actually followed this recipe with much more concise instructions, not the one I previously linked to! We're trying the same recipe over again right now with that first link's oil trick. I'll let you know if it's any different.]

You should know that since 1997, I've used "How many times you can watch Titanic" as an estimate of how long anything 3 hours or longer will take. I'm totally serious. I don't always say it out loud, but I definitely think it. Especially at work: "Only 3 more Titanic viewings till I can go home!"

pre-salt & pepper

Pre-Titanic

So after you watch Titanic (I guess you could watch 3-4 episodes of Breaking Bad instead... or, like, actually do something productive...), you turn on the oven to 350*, skim off any foam that formed on the surface (yeah, I know), pour the oil into a large, rimmed cookie sheet (which I clearly did not do), and then pour the batter in so it's about 1/4" thick. Then you bake it for about 30 minutes or until golden brown (mine took quite a bit longer but that might be because of my oil mishap). And BAM. Just cut it and serve it up.  

I ate mine with hummus, because pita made of chickpeas just wasn't enough chickpeas. Duh.

I put the rest in Tupperware and it got kind of hard, but maybe if you heat it up it'd get softer? Who knows.... clearly not I. Winning major credibility points here.

(UPDATE #2: The second batch came out crispier along the edges, which were especially yummy. I've already eaten about half of the batch. I'm not sure if adding the olive oil vs. putting it in the pan first made any noticeable difference, but if you happen to experiment with the two methods, lemme know if you liked it better one way or the other...)