Questions like:

“Why am I getting these cravings?”

“What causes these crazy out of control cravings I’m getting?”

“How do I get rid of cravings?”

“Why do I feel like these cravings are controlling so much of my life?”

“Where did my will power go?  I used to have some – now I wouldn’t know it if I tripped over it!”

Post-ops are mad, sad, confused, and feeling that they’ve failed somehow because of the power that these “stupid cravings!!!” have in their lives.  And honestly, cravings in and of themselves aren’t evil.  Sometimes we crave stuff our bodies really need:  fish, for example.  Nearly every early post-op suddenly has this overwhelming craving for seafood of some sort.  Nine times out of ten – they have sliding Vitamin D levels.  Craving ice and/or sour stuff?  Good chance you could be anemic.  The cravings that so many are battling and are so concerning, though, are the things that are very simple carb driven and nutritionally bankrupt.  Those not only are a waste of space for someone with limited stomach real estate, but wreck intestinal havoc, and cause weight gain.

And let’s be honest, post-ops don’t own this one.  I think if you stop and listen to people when they talk about what drives what they eat, you’re going to eventually end up talking about cravings.  It’s a universal concern.

The thing that makes it seemingly magnified for DS post-ops, however, is the fact that our GI system is altered.  We have shortened motility (length of time it takes ingested food to enter and ultimately exit the body), and need to eat more frequently, and if you’re not prepared, it’s just way more convenient oftentimes to grab junk.  Convenience is sometimes stupid.  Just saying.

Let’s say this all together:  eating clean, healthful, nutritionally dense food takes effort.

If anyone needs clean, healthful, nutritionally dense food – its someone with intestinal malabsorption!

So why does dietary indiscretion cause cravings?

It’s all about the gut ecology, yeah – we’re talking probiotics again kids.

Probiotics:  microorganisms that are introduced into the body for their beneficial quantities.  They are live bacteria that are good for your digestive system, and overall, your health.

Your body *hopefully* has a probiotic colony in it.  There are some things that can affect that – been on antibiotics recently?  Yeah, your probiotic colony is probably mostly dead.  Ingesting a lot of sugars or sweetened stuff?  The bad bacteria are pretty much happier about that than you can imagine.  Don’t get enough dietary fiber (from food) in daily and/or chronically dehydrated?    Under a lot of stress?  Is a lot of your ingested “fuel” (aka food) chemically loaded, or processed?  Nothing to make that probiotic colony want to stick around for any length of time.

Those cravings you’re feeling so defeated about?  That’s the “bad” bacteria in your gut DEMANDING to be fed.

It’s a sure sign that your gut is in need of a reboot.

So how do you do that?

Let’s be honest right here and now before I go on….  most post-ops just aren’t willing to make the change.  And if we’re being honest, let’s also include normies here, as well.  Who wants to change their lifestyle?  It takes getting pretty miserable to get there, right?

Let’s go back and remember what it felt like to be a pre-op and the misery that brought you to the decision to pursue surgery.  When you were researching and trying to decide whether or not you were willing to commit to this crazy idea and change your life – was it worth the trade offs?  If you’re a post-op, then I’m guessing you said yes.  Question is – what does it take for you to say yes again to another major lifestyle change?  I’ll warn you – it’s not convenient.  It IS addictive, and empowering, and completely amazing how much it positively impacts your life.  Kinda like being a DS post-op to start with.

The first thing you need to do is to starve out those bad bacteria.  That means cutting them off.  Stuff that needs to go:

1. Sugars.  Regular sugar and artificial sweeteners, both.
2. Simple carbs.
3. Chemical laden and processed foods.

Stuff that you gotta start doing?

1. Getting adequately hydrated.  Water, tea, coffee, whatever – as long as it has NO sweetener of any kind in it, drink it.  Lots of it.  You need 120 oz a day, my friend.
2. Getting in enough dietary fiber each day.  That means getting the differential between simple carbs and complex carbs clear.  Complex carbs are GREAT for your gut health!  That means lots of veggies, legumes, whole grains, and some fruit.
3. Planning ahead.  That means strategizing and being prepared for those moments when you would normally reach for an “easy” answer to what can feel like overwhelming hunger.
4. Re-think the quality of your food.  Food is the fuel that your body needs to work correctly.  Are you willing to put the good stuff in your body?  If not, why?
5. Start incorporating probiotic rich foods and drinks daily.  Seriously.  Every day.

Things to keep in mind if you decide to make a change.  It will take your tastebuds a good 3 or 4 weeks to adjust/heal from the damage that sugar does.  Once you get past that milestone, you’ll start to realize that food actually tastes better than it used to.  If you are consistently getting probiotic rich foods and drinks in your diet daily, you will also notice that your sweet tooth – those crazy out of control cravings – will be less and less of an issue.

So what do you do – after you start this change – and you all of a sudden GOTTA have something sweet – or else!  Here are my go to’s:

• A cup of hot tea with a tablespoon of local raw honey (a prebiotic) in it will do amazing things for bringing that craving under control.  This makes it all better 99.97% of the time for me.
• A small serving of fruit.  Opt for fresh fruit – not canned, processed, packaged.  Just real fruit.
• Have a small glass of a water kefir or kombucha or milk kefir.
• Have a small serving of homemade granola (it has no sugar in it, only local raw honey) with some frozen blueberries on top.

So that’s a start.  If you want to do some more research, there are some great resources.  I’ve found the book “Good Food, Great Medicine” by Miles Hassell, MD to be particularly helpful.  You do have to adjust it for DS sensibilities, but the basis is basically a whole foods, Mediterranean Diet approach to life.  Check out the OldWays web site – some great whole food resources there.

If you’re interested in learning more about fermentation – check out the Wild Fermentation group on Facebook!  The book “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Katz is a good resource, as is “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon.  Sally Fallon also has a blog worth checking out, as well.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include the Cultured Food Life blog, as well.

So – now it’s up to you.  What to do with this information?

Healthy fats.

Prebiotics.

Probiotics.

Calcium.

Protein.

What’s not to love?!

This is one of my favorites.  Officially, its called Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Dip.  This time around, it’s actually more like Bacon, Co-Jack, Ranch Dip.  Whatever – it’s still delicious no matter what!

Here’s the recipe for Dina’s Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Dip   Below you can see pictures and a pretty quick blow-by-blow.

1. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and ranch dressing mix with a wire whisk. Mix until smooth.
2. Add the sliced green onions and diced bacon, mixing until incorporated.
3. Now add the cheese. It helps tremendously if you make sure that there are no big clumps before mixing.
4. The hardest part of this recipe? Put this in a covered container and put it in the fridge overnight. It makes all the difference in the world and allows the flavors to do their thing to their fullest.

Notes:

The key is 1:1 ratio sour cream to mayonnaise. For this particular batch I used a 1.5 lb container of sour cream, dumped it into the mixing bowl, then added the same measure of mayonnaise.  Easy peasy.

This is particularly delectable with pea pods, Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, etc.

Here’s the nutrition info, as close as I could get. An incredible, very DS Friendly food – high fat, high protein – crazy yummy.

Here’s a peek at the ingredients:

Important note: Just use real sour cream.  This is what the ingredient panel should look like:

Ingredients: Cultured Cream.

That’s all. Just the good stuff.

Not low fat. Why ruin a good thing?

As I mentioned above – I just used this container as my measure for both the sour cream and mayo – super easy.

Dump both in your mixing bowl, and then add the dry ranch mix. This is my own concoction for ranch dressing mix.  Its super easy, and ridiculously way more affordable than the store bought stuff.  Here’s a link to make your own, if you’d like – Dina’s Pepper Ranch Salad Dressing.

Mix this all together, and voila!

Next, add in the green onions (prebiotics!) and bacon:

And then the cheese – and honestly, it can be any cheese you like. Just be sure that its clump free before you mix it in.

And, the final product….

It’s so good. Definitely work taking the time to throw together.  And a great way to get in all of those great nutrients that DS’ers need to fuel their bodies!

Enjoy!

I’d heard of kombucha, had tried it even, tolerated it, didn’t love it, and well – it seemed….  fussy.  Like a big commitment – financially if I were to purchase it commercially, and time wise if I were to make it myself.  I have friends that swear by it, love it, have been making it for years – and couldn’t imagine it not being a part of their lives.  Yeah.  I wasn’t feeling it.

There were a number of reasons WHY I was contemplating adding a probiotic rich DRINK to my diet specifically, I’ll get into those in another post.  But suffice it to say, I was at a point in my life where I needed something that FELT approachable.

I started digging around on the web, found some blogs, some videos, some clinical data, and decided, okay – I can sink $30 and 5 days into a trial of making water kefir.  It felt approachable.

So I ordered a Water Kefir Starter Kit from Cultures for Health and waited for it to arrive.  I’ll confess, I was afraid I’d mess it up.  The tutorial videos helped tremendously – and yes, I watched them several times.  But once the kit arrived, it literally took me no more than 15 minutes to get started.  I wondered if I’d missed something.

The first batch smelled – yeast-y – not yummy, and per the instructions I’d found online, discarded it.  The second batch didn’t, and that, we flavored with organic fruit juice and did a second ferment, and – wow.  YUM.

So why water kefir?

For me – my immunities needed a bolster.  I wanted something that would help my body heal.  I wanted something that would help the vitamins that are so vital to my DS post-op life to uptake into my system better.  And I wanted my gut to settle down and be at peace.

I’ve always been the DS post-op with “iron gut” i.e., I could pretty much eat anything and get away without a lot of intestinal fall-out.  After my last bowel obstruction in 2015 – not so much.  It felt like my gut was under duress.  And it was miserable.

A week into drinking just a couple of ounces of water kefir before bed and there was a HUGE, appreciable, positive outcome.  My gut had settled.  My infection had healed.  And I was sleeping better than I had in ages.

Wild.

Suffice it to say that a couple of years have passed now and I’ve been drinking my glass of water kefir each night before bed – every night.  I would NEVER consider NOT doing this.  My health has improved.  My labs have improved.  My body’s ability to heal has improved.  My immunities are strengthened.

Maybe the one thing that I didn’t anticipate with this and was unexpected was the death of something:  my sweet tooth.  I think anyone who has known me over the years can attest to my long-standing love affair with chocolate.  Its pretty much dead now.  I honestly do NOT miss it.

I don’t know if that’s why I lost weight after starting, but lost weight I did.  I don’t NOT eat – in the least – anyone who follows me on MFP knows that I definitely eat – and eat well.  It is sort of like my metabolism revived, though.  Interesting.

Needless to say, I’m a fan.

It still feels approachable, affordable, sustainable.

It takes 10 minutes of my time every 2 days to maintain.

So worth the investment.

I’ve got a little video over on YouTube – I shouldn’t be allowed to one-hand record videos – LOL!  One of these days I’ll have to remake it with someone else videoing!  But – it does give you an idea of just how EASY it is to do this.

How to Make Water Kefir

I will warn you – if you decide to start making your own, its addictive.  You’ll want to start fermenting all the things.  And well – rightly so – they’re delicious – and they make your gut HAPPY.

Probiotic Rich Drinks:

How to Make Kombucha

How to Make Jun Tea

How to Make Milk Kefir

…and they wonder why we go to Spain for surgery….

…on the local forecast, my thoughts turn instantly to SOUP!

Lately, one soup in particular has won my affection.

It’s beefy, tomato-y, cabbag-y, has a robust spice blend that just makes your tummy happy.

What’s not to love?

Cabbage Roll Soup (ß-click hyperlink to go to PDF of the recipe.)

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground beef
1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 head cabbage, rough chopped
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
4 cups beef stock
4 HerbOx beef bouillon cubes
2 to 3 cups tomato juice

Just like with any soup, I like to start off with a bit of olive oil (or butter, your preference) in the bottom of the pan, and then the onion, cooking over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes before I add the minced garlic.

When the onion is somewhat translucent, I add in the ground beef and spices. Make sure to cook until there is no more pink left in the ground beef.

Once the ground beef is cooked through, add in the chopped cabbage.

You want to mix the cabbage thoroughly with the other ingredients in the pan. The heat and steam will begin to braise the cabbage pretty quickly. Note the timestamp on the photo above and the photo below. Only 4 minutes between the two!

Next, add the diced tomatoes. Make sure to let the acid from the tomatoes to do their part to deglaze the pan. Using your spatula or spoon, make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so that all of the yummy little stuck on bits get loosened up.

Now it’s time to add the beef broth, rice, and bouillon cubes. I make a point to use a no-MSG bouillon cube. And – I don’t want to give any DS’ers a stroke or anything – but yes, I put rice in! Here’s the great thing about cooking – if it doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. If you feel better about brown rice, use that. Or maybe consider barley or quinoa. Or a bean of some sort – Cannellini or navy beans maybe? The options are dizzying.

Then lastly, add in the tomato juice. I love tomato juice. Not to drink it – but to cook with it. AMAZING stuff.

Now – mix up your soup, turn the heat down to low, put a lid on it, and go start the laundry or something. Just make sure to check back every 20 minutes or so to stir. You’ll want to be certain to make sure that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot, so make a point to stir all the way to the bottom of the pot.

About 30 minutes after I put the lid on this pot I came back for a taste test. I decided it was a little bland for my mood today, so I added an additional teaspoon of black pepper and paprika, as well as an additional teaspoon of Kosher salt. Then I stirred it up once again, and put the lid back on.

A while later, it was lunch time! Yay!

It turned out PERFECTLY. You better believe I’ll be nibbling on this for the majority of the afternoon!

That was pretty easy, huh? See? You could be a pro at making all sorts of scratch-made soups in no time at all!

And now for the nutrition.

One serving of this fabulous soup will get you:

About 160 calories

21 grams of protein

3 grams of dietary fiber (which you could totally boost with a brown rice or some other grain option)

And 60% of your Vitamin C recommendation for the day!

Perfect for a cold, windy, rainy day!

Or – for that matter – why you would even want them in your gut!

Here’s why:

Probiotics – the “good” or “beneficial” bacteria in your gut do all sorts of things, like:

• Boost your immunities.
• Inhibit or destroy toxins released by certain “bad” bacteria that can make you sick.
• Prevent harmful bacteria from attaching to the gut wall and growing there.
• Produce B vitamins necessary for metabolizing the food you eat, warding off anemia caused by deficiencies in B-6 and B-12, and maintaining healthy skin and a healthy nervous system.
• Produce substances that help prevent infection.
• Promote digestive health overall.
• Regulate the movement of food through your system.
• Send signals to your cells to strengthen the mucus in your intestine and help it act as a barrier against infection.
• Even prevent allergies.

Amazing, right?!

In your intestine there are actually LOTS of bacteria that have set up house. The goal is to have a balance between the good bacteria (probiotics) and the “bad” bacteria/yeast. And just so you know – it is entirely possible for the bad bacteria and yeast to basically overtake the world and bring things crashing down all around you. It can go from being an inconvenience on one end of the severity scale to actually becoming life threatening on the other end of the severity scale. It’s nothing to be trifled with.

So how do you get probiotics in your body? How do you get them to do all of that good stuff for you?

The best way to establish a probiotic rich environment in your gut and to get that probiotic colony to thrive is to incorporate probiotic-rich foods into your diet DAILY. They include things like:

• Fermented foods – you want the stuff that’s in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.
  • i.e., the stuff like sauerkraut (I like OlyKraut here in the PNW – OR – make your own! So easy – and SO yummy! We’ll cover how to do that later in the spring when the cabbage in my garden comes in, okay?);
  • Kim chi;
  • Pickles – again, the kind that you find in the refrigerator section of the store.

Remember – you do not want the shelf stable stuff that’s been heat processed (pasteurized) – because, of course, heat processed = sterile – no more probiotics alive!

• Quite a few dairy products have live cultures of probiotics in them:
  • Bulgarian buttermilk (which has the probiotics Streptocococcus Lactis and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus added to it) – I seriously love this stuff – I use it to make ranch dressing, dips, etc.
  • Organic Yogurt and Greek yogurt – have you tried making Dill Weed Dip with a plain Greek Yogurt in place of the Sour Cream if you’re trying to boost your protein intake?
    • Look for trusted brands like Nancy’s, Organic Valley, Stonyfield, Mountain High, etc.
    • Look for yogurt with live, active cultures. In the U.S., yogurt is required to be produced by fermentation with Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, two starter cultures. As long as the yogurt is not heat treated after fermentation, the yogurt should contain high numbers of both of these bacteria.
  • Cultured Sour Cream, Cultured Butter, and Cultured Cottage Cheese – the possibilities are fabulous with cultured dairy – and these are just a few of the options! Believe me – if you love butter, you NEED to get your hands on some cultured butter! Plus – it’s not that hard to learn how to culture these things yourself.
• Miso (soup, paste, etc.) is also a nice probiotic rich food;
• Soft fermented cheeses – like cream cheese, Gouda, chevre, etc.
• When you make Home Made Mayo – guess what?  Probiotics can be introduced there, too!  (What good DS’er doesn’t love mayo?!)
• Kefir and kombucha both are very probiotic rich drinks that you can find to purchase, but are also very easily made – and tailored to your particular tastes – at home;
• REAL sourdough bread – i.e., the stuff made with a starter;
• And tempeh – although if you have thyroid issues, beware the soy based items.

Also good to know – prebiotics help feed probiotics – the good bacteria – they include things like honey, asparagus, legumes, bananas, etc. Look for products that contain both pre and probiotics. When prebiotics are added to foods, you’ll see the following terms on the ingredient label: fructooligosacchariedes (FOS), inulin (a type of FOS) or galactooligosaccharides.

So what’s trick to getting them to work?

What makes it all “work” or “not work” really has to do with whether or not you’re giving those probiotics a place to live where they can settle in and make themselves to feel at home – like they want to stay. If you’re not, it’ll be sort of like inviting guests over for a month, but then kicking them out after 24 hours.

And of course, the part that post-ops don’t want to (a) hear, (b) held responsible for, or (c) deal with – is the fact that the bad bacteria can take over the world (of your gut/life) if there is chronic dehydration going on, heavy reliance on sugars – yes, even artificial sweeteners, too much yeast, some preservatives, alcohol, excessive stress, etc.

Building a probiotic friendly gut means getting adequately hydrated (120 oz non-sweetened fluids daily) and getting your gut a chance to – really, this is what it boils down to – heal up from the damage that the bad bacteria do.

It means getting honest about your dependence on sweeteners – and the fact that they do you NO benefit nutritionally – and in fact, are fighting against you on so many levels – but primarily by promoting the bad bacteria in your gut.

And little side note here…. Having out of control simple carb cravings? Chances are that robust colonies of bad bacteria in your gut are demanding to be fed! Want to kick that simple carb – seeming primal need – to the curb? Get serious about rebuilding your gut ecology!

There are, of course, pill based probiotics that you can purchase. It’s certainly appropriate to go that route if you’ve been on a round of antibiotics – wrap those up and THEN introduce the pill-form antibiotic, as well as continuing to keep those probiotic-rich foods in your daily routine. (See: https://livingthedslife.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/probiotics/ )

Some important things to know…

There are different types of probiotics.

There are different strains of probiotics.

And it’s not a given that any particular strain will work for YOU. AND – different strains have better benefit for different types of needs. For instance Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus GG seem to be the most effective for treating antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Montezuma’s revenge? Then reach for S. boulardii, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacteria bifidum – probiotics that are most effective against traveler’s diarrhea.
And there are other mitigating factors –i.e., there’s even a theorem out there about how if you were C-section born and bottle fed it’ll be much harder to get things balanced than if you were vaginally born and breast fed as an infant. Crazy, right? See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813130714.htm

Primal Defense Ultra (PDU) is a soil based probiotic – those of us in the US definitely will benefit from that since industrialized farming has pretty much obliterated the soil probiotics here. BUT – If you eat a pretty clean (i.e., not processed/chemical) organic diet, then maybe not!

The dairy based probiotics are much more readily available – and consequently have a wider variety – going from total crap to worth their weight in gold. I personally love Reuteri – here’s a link: http://www.naturesway.com/Products/Probiotics/14240-Primadophilus-Reuteri.aspx

Ultimately, this is one of those topics that you can’t just ignore. Evidence is building that probiotics can help with:

• Preventing and treat a broad range of human diseases, conditions, and syndromes, including, eczema and respiratory infections in children, urinary tract infections, vaginal yeast infections, relapsing c-diff induced colitis, etc. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18181732)
• Preventing or reduce the severity of colds and flu (http://nccam.nih.gov/node/4321)
• Reducing bladder cancer recurrence (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12583961)
• Speeding treatment of some intestinal infections (http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/110508.htm)
• Treating irritable bowel syndrome (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/digestive/IrritableBowelSyndrome.htm)
• Treating oral infections, dental caries, periodontal disease and halitosis. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19840501)
• Treating diarrhea (especially after a course of antibiotics) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21069673)

You have to decide. Are you willing to get honest with yourself and make the adjustments necessary?

The thing that keeps people from taking these easy steps to bring healing to their gut is typically the fact that they’re just really not miserable enough yet to be willing to get out of the rut that has gotten them to where they are. Convenience is a horrible task master – demanding oftentimes a huge toll on our overall health. The arguments I hear most from post-ops who talk about WANTING to make the shift to a healthier, more holistic approach to eating – but can’t quite bring themselves to do the things that will break that crazy cycle:

Giving up sugars. (Sugar is the FAVORITE food of those bad bacteria and yeast in your gut.) It scary to give up an addiction. I know. I totally get that. I’ve been there, boy have I done that!

Committing to getting adequately hydrated – and I’ll give you this – as a post-op it’s harder to be adequately hydrated – more than half of our GI system is excluded from ingested fluids now.

Choosing to embrace a philosophy/culture of S-L-O-W (sustainable, local, organic, whole) food/eating. (If we’re going to be honest – we have to admit that it’s not as easy as picking up a pre-packaged, chemically laden, prepared food). I’m not going to lie to you – it takes more thought, effort, and time to eat healthfully.

But there is nothing like it. There is an incredible thing that happens once you choose to make your health enough of a priority to go there – it’s called balance. And it’s not just about not falling over – it’s about realizing all of a sudden that your body is not just okay – but is robustly healthy, and your vitamins are being absorbed at a higher rate, and that your immunities are stronger than they’ve ever been, and your brain is clearer than it’s been in ages. It’s difficult to explain adequately – but ultimately – it’s bringing a healing to your body that it has so desperately needed for maybe even decades.

So the question has to be this: are you willing to go there?

I can’t make the decision for you. You have to decide if you’re worth the effort. You have to decide if you’re committed enough to your health to do the – admittedly – harder work.

I honestly do not know a single person who regrets going there.

Now you’ve got to ask yourself – are you gonna do it?

Here are some helpful resources that I particularly appreciate:

Summer Bock, Fermentationist: Gut Rebuilding

Cultures for Health: http://www.culturesforhealth.com/

Nourished Kitchen: http://nourishedkitchen.com/recipe-index/ferments-cultured-food/

Cheeseslave: http://www.cheeseslave.com/got-bacteria-10-reasons-to-eat-fermented-foods/

Food Renegade: http://www.foodrenegade.com/

I’m not going to say anything but this:  GO READ THIS.  NOW.

They are, after all, the perfect protein delivery when fully cooked.

The fact that I have hens in the backyard mean that I have the most nutritious eggs at my disposal, as well!

I happen to adore quiche. I noticed something a few years ago when eating a quiche that was served to me. I ate it all – except the crust. Cause the crust was kinda grody. And – well – why waste the space? So, I decided why not just embrace the crustless quiche?

It’s SO easy to make. Seriously – it takes about 10 minutes to mix it up. The baking, though, that’s where the time investment is. You want to give it the time it needs in the oven – without burning it – because, as we all know – burnt eggs are NOT okay.

The other beautiful thing about this? It’s so versatile. You can add so many amazing ingredients to mix it up. Plus, it reheats in the microwave in a scant minute. Talk about convenient!

Okay – so easy – you won’t believe it. Let’s get started!

Spinach Artichoke Crustless Quiche (ß-click hyperlink to go to PDF of the recipe.)

Here’s what you’ll need:

8 farm fresh eggs
8 ounces heavy whipping cream
2 cups Jarlsberg, shredded
2 cups Spinach Artichoke dip

That’s it.

Wild, right?

(Okay – I fudged a bit – I threw in an extra egg. The pullets are coming into lay and some of them are laying mongo huge eggs. There were a few that were too big to git in the egg carton, so I used those.)

If you have a hard time finding Jarlsberg, any old Swiss cheese will work, but the Jarlsberg – it’s so yummy. By the way, I’m able to get it so much less expensively at Costco – i.e., $4.98 a pound, versus $6.99 a pound at the grocery store. I buy a big wedge, then shred it up in the Cuisinart, and then freeze the balance until I need it.

Do you have a stick blender? They are the BEST. I may not use it every day – but I use it regularly. (Seriously – if you want to do your own refried beans, you want a stick blender!) If you don’t have one, pull out the hand mixer, it’ll work. As it so happens, my stick blender came with this super fab beaker that works perfectly for making quiche!

First – the eggs:

Next – add the heavy cream:

Just for reference. It’s about 16 oz of eggs and 8 ounces of heavy cream.

Now, I put the Jarlsberg in the bottom of the pie plate:

There’s nothing magical about this order of events, by the way. It’s just how I always do it. I find that letting the eggs sit for a few minutes makes the blending go a little better.

Now – use the fabulous stick blender and blend the eggs and cream until smooth. Voila! You have custard!

Okay – so now I put a couple of cups of the fabulous Spinach Artichoke dip in a bowl and then add the custard:

Using a fork, gently break up the big clumps of dip. Mix until it’s evenly combined:

Now – add the spinach/custard mixture to the pie plate with the Jarlsberg in it:

Once again, gently distribute the custard/spinach dip mixture through the cheese. Here’s what it looks like when it’s all mixed in:

Now – set it in your preheated oven. I put mine on the pizza stone that lives in my oven most of the time, and the super nice part about that is that the bottom of the quiche does not brown. Yay!

I set the timer for 30 minutes. Here’s what it looks like at 30 minutes in:

I now tent it with aluminum foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

It doesn’t have to be super tight or beautiful – just covered. I HATE burnt eggs – so I protect it from browning too much. This is very important to my enjoyment factor of the quiche!

The wild card in all of this is how long it will take for it to be finished from this point in time. Normally, another 30 minutes will do it. Today? It actually took another 50 minutes – and I’m blaming that on the pizza stone underneath it. I’m happy to give it the extra time, though – in exchange for no browning on the bottom!.

The key is to make sure the center is set. How do you tell? Simply nudge the pie plate a bit. If it jiggles in the middle – it’s not set. It’s amazing how quickly it can go from not set to perfect – honestly – in just a minute or two. I typically set a timer in 5 minute increments once it looks MOSTLY set.

And here it is fresh out of the oven:

Pretty, huh?

I usually let it sit for 20 minutes or so to let it settle before cutting it. As you can see from the time stamp on the photos, more like 30 minutes passed before I served myself this piece. It was still piping hot, by the way.

And it was delectable.

The great thing about the spinach artichoke dip that I used is that it’s got some garlic in it, too – but it’s subtle. Nothing too overpowering.

Okay – important things you need to know.

1. This will keep nicely in the fridge for a week. I wait for it to cool to room temperature, cover it in plastic wrap, and then pop it in the fridge.
2. You can reheat a slice of this in the microwave in just one minute. Shorter and it won’t be heated through. Longer, you’ll burn the eggs – and as we all know, burnt eggs are NOT okay.
3. I love to sprinkle a little bit of Mediterranean sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on top. Add a little shredded cheddar on top, and serve it with some diced ham, crumbled sausage, or a couple of slices of bacon.
4. The fresher the eggs, the more fabulous this will taste. I’m totally telling you the truth. It’s like night and day. If you don’t have hens in the backyard – find someone who does, or a farm nearby who sells their fresh eggs. If you haven’t found them yet – check out Local Harvest.

One serving of this delectable-ness has:

Protein: 43 grams
Fat: 67 grams (yay! We love our DS!)
Carbs: 4 grams

Now – go make one – it’s super yummy!

I know as a community – a group of people who have lived a portion of their lives as morbidly obese – that we’re supposed to DREAD salads. I mean, they’re supposed to stand for all that’s wrong with the whole “dieting” state, right? EVIL salads. (Imagine a really stern frowny face there.) The bane of our pre-DS existence!

I’m sorry.

I know – it seems disloyal – but if I’m gonna be honest with you – I gotta confess.

I adore salad.

Now – let me clarify.

Not that leaf lettuce dressed with a bit of flaked albacore and a cherry tomato, maybe two, and if you’re lucky, a slice of cucumber – fork tines dipped into the salad dressing as you go, choking the horribly dry thing down kind of salad.

:shudder:

YUCK.

Here’s my idea of a GREAT salad – the kind I can (and will) eat daily:

A head of lettuce
A diced tomato
A sliced or chunked cucumber
½ a cup of pickled beets
¼ cup of olives
2 or 3 egg yolks, crumbled up
2 or 3 oz of turkey breast, diced up
2 or 3 oz of Jarlsberg and/or cheddar and/or CoJack
1 sliced up green onion or two
A chunked up avocado
Some sunflower seeds
Maybe some bacon bits, if I have leftovers
And LOTS of salad dressing.

None of the dipping the tines of your folk in your salad dressing crap with DS territory! Bring it on!

And the longer I’m a DS’er, the more I love a salad dressing with PRESENCE. I LOVE robust flavors!

Hence, my love affair with this stuff… It’s a little something that I did some experimenting with this fall, and well – I’m hooked. It’s easy as can be to put together – give it a whirl, you’ll be glad you did!

Dina’s Favorite French Salad Dressing (ß-click hyperlink to go to PDF of the recipe.)

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 1/4 cups Extra Light, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Raw Local Honey
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
2 to 3 cloves Garlic
1/2 Large Onion, roughly chopped

Again – this will require no culinary degree. It’s basically a dump it in the blender and blend kinda thing. SO MUCH better than anything you can buy in the store. Plus – look! Prebiotics galore! Yay!

Here’s a picture of what you’ll need:

I pull out my favorite Pyrex 2 cup glass measuring cup and get right started. First the olive oil… I use the Extra Light, Extra Virgin – for basically everything. I put it in a Misto for cooking spray, I use it for baking. I use it for cooking. I use it for making mayo. I use it for basically everything. It’s awesome!

Next, you need some vinegar. I use a mix of Apple Cider Vinegar and White Wine Vinegar – you could go all one or all the other – but I LOVE the tang that the ACV gives and have been known to use it for all of the vinegar.

Next – you’ll need some sweet to balance the pow. I’m using half honey and half sugar – but I like it with all of one or the other, too. Of course, use local raw honey – not the horrible pasteurized crap.

Next up – ketchup. Yep – I know, I should probably make my own. But I just didn’t grow enough tomatoes to do that this year, so I will next year. Next best, is the stuff with no HFCS in it. At this point in the game I just dump the Worcestershire sauce…

…and the remaining spices…

Now dump them into the blender.

Last up – the onion and garlic. I used three decent sized cloves of garlic and ½ of a rough chopped sweet yellow onion.

Throw those into the blender now, too:

Now you blend. Start on the lowest setting for about a minute:

You want to make sure that you don’t see any big chunks left. Next, turn the speed to high:

Blend on the highest speed for about 3 minutes. (See? Look at the time stamp on the photos – I always just go by look – but it never fails. Three minutes really does it.)

And Voila!

You now have 4 cups of completely delectable French dressing. I will admit to slurping some up right out of the blender. But wait – it’s about 500 times better once it’s had a chance to sit in the fridge and ruminate some. YUMMMMM!

Now THAT’s a salad. J

When you’re a pre-op or a normie – you worry about the fats, right?

When you’re a post-op – yeah, totally unfair to the rest of the world – but for us – they’re really part of what makes eating oh, so much the better!

We preach protein, protein, protein – and rightly so. But when we’re baby post-ops and trying to figure it all out – we sometimes get overwhelmed with the – well, blah of it all.

And if you’re like a lot of post-ops I know – you suddenly develop this NEED – nearly primal in nature – for fish.

Seriously? I could eat it three meals a day and be a happy camper.

What’s not to love about it – seriously intense, flavorful, wonderful protein!

But – if we’re honest, it can get pretty blah pretty quick.

Time to kiss the blah goodbye, sweetheart!

I will just confess right here and now – I love a good tartar sauce. I’ve had a LOT of tartar sauces that I still get a shiver over – and not a good shiver. :BLECH: Some seriously grody stuff out there masquerading as tartar sauce – the most heinous of them all – the stuff on the grocery store shelves. Yucky pooh!

Over the years I’d tried a number of tartar sauce recipes, but always with just – :eh: – underwhelming results.

Why waste the space on kinda gross, you know?

So – I played around, and FINALLY – a few years ago – this little tartar sauce recipe came about. It’s a staple at our house. I make it about once a week or so. The world does in fact, come to a screeching halt if we’re out. Just being honest here.

And this is a SUPER basic, super simple little recipe, and I feel a little embarrassed featuring it this week – but, well, I’d hate to keep the goodness to myself if all you need is a good, basic tartar sauce recipe to make YOUR DS life a happier place. J

Dina’s Favorite Tartar Sauce (-click hyperlink to go to PDF of the recipe.)

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup of mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons green onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup dill pickle relish (or diced dill pickles if you’re out – like I am, today!)
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried Tarragon
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

I will interject here – if you are able to – use homemade mayo here. Seriously – YUM.

This is pretty much a dump it all in the bowl and mix type of recipe, but I’ll show you step-by-step, just to prove to you how very easy it is to make.

Here’s my mixing bowl with the 1 cup of mayonnaise (yes, I used the store bought this time – I’m making mayo tonight – so sue me!), 3 Tablespoons of sliced green onion (fresh out of the garden – in November! Go figure!), and 1 Tablespoon of fresh parsley. Of note – I happen to love the flat leaf parsley in this – but the girls have eaten it all – so it’s the curly leaf parsley today. You can grow parsley on your kitchen window ledge so easily! It’s worth doing!

Next, I add in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice – more or less. I take half of a small fresh lemon; pull out as many of the seeds as I can see, squeeze it into my hand to catch any additional seeds – basically just eyeballing it for the measurement. Then just dump it in!

Next, the ½ teaspoon of dry Tarragon. I make sure to measure it into my hand, and then use my fingers to break it up into finer sized pieces.

And finally – 1/2 a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.

(Nice blurry picture, huh?!)

That’s it! Ridiculously easy, isn’t it?

Now you just mix it up…

And there you have it!

It makes just a little less than 2 cups of sauce.

You’ll want to refrigerate it for a couple of hours before using it to give the flavors a chance to marry.

Of course, keep it in the fridge. It will last for a good week or two… you know, if you don’t eat it all first. J

Now – go make fish for dinner!