Poached Basa in bone broth

Ingredient 

• 1 basa fillet 
• 2 cups bone broth or water
• mushroom of your choice
• 1/4 cup grated zucchini
• couple basil leaves
• Sea Salt to taste

sauce

• Fish sauce to taste
• 1 tbsp Coconut aminos ( this is a great soya sauce replacement ) 
• 1 tsp vinegar of your choice, I used Apple Cider Vinegar
• sesame oil to taste, can omit if you want nothing to do with seeds 

Instructions

1. Defrost 1 frozen basa fillet and pad dry with kitchen towel
2. Bring 2 cups of homemade bone broth to boil 
3. Add thinly sliced mushrooms, grated zucchini, cook for 2 mins
4. Carefully add basa and poach on low to med heat for 5 mins, watch over it as it can boil over easily like milk if you cover pot. 
5. Once cooked, laddle into bowl with some  broth and veggies, garnish with basil slivers and sauce 

For the sauce

Mix sauce ingredients together

PS. I added the veggies first into broth to make sure it's well cooked. It is easier for my digestions. 

Super moist banana zucchini bread

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/8 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cups pure ( soy free ) chocolate chips 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F 
2. Sift all dry ingredients together, leaving chocolate chips out
3. Melt coconut oil, use immersion blender and mix all wet ingredients well. Leave grated zucchini out
4. Slowly add dry ingredient to wet and blend until smooth. 
5. Fold grated zucchini and chocolate chips into batter.
6. Pour batter into greased ( with coconut oil)   8" x 8" pan and bake for 30 mins or until toothpick taste comes out clean.
7. Let cool at least 30 mins before cutting. 

This makes a really really moist cake. 

Happy Heart day!

Let's celebrate Valentine's day with my continuous search of a tender offal recipe. I picked up a couple of pigs hearts and attempted a slow cook methods on this super lean muscle. Here you see my old dog trying his Jedi power as usual, hoping I would accidentally drop something on the floor. I didn't.

I rinsed the hearts and cubed them. I also added some carrots, celery and onions. 

I browned the hearts in my cast iron Dutch oven in bacon fat

And put everything into the slow cooker. I Cooked it on low for a good 6 hours. The meat was tender but I probably needed to season is with something more exciting, but here is the final presentation.  Maybe I'll use it to make soup broth next time.

Finding a natural and integrated pharmacy

About a month ago, I started the wild oil of oregano protocol in hopes of getting to the source of my disease - ulcerative colitis. I was 3 weeks into it and felt mild improvements. I would feel tingly in my body after a dose and sometimes a surge of energy boost, but not enough to say I was addressing the root.

One day, I went into the Pharmasave Steveston Village pharmacy to get a supplement I forgot to order online. Little did I know that this pharmacy is different from others, it is a natural and integrated pharmacy that offers pharmaceutical medicines and a holistic approach. I struck up a conversation with the pharmacist/ owner, Peter Tong about my Colitis without any expectations. I was really just making conversation.

To my surprise, he immediately pulled up my prescriptions history and asked if I had time to sit down to discuss my treatment. I gladly accepted. He asked me questions about how each prescriptions worked or not for me. I was on Asacol which did not help me and short term prednisone which did stop the bleeding. Then he asked about all the holistic supplements I am taking. His knowledge and commitment to healing impressed me. He has been the only person who took both my traditional western medicine and holistic treatment history into consideration. My GP just brushes off the holistic supplements but be did say for me to carry on with what I was doing and would rather that I can control it without drugs. My naturopath has offered some relief with very expensive treatments and trial an error supplements and remedies.  Sometime I wonder why I'm paying her to tell me to listen to my body as it has it's own wisdom. I know I know, this healing business is very individual especially when it comes to IBD. I was just expecting more.

Back to Peter,  he adjusted my B12 dosage to mimic B12 shots that I would get from the naturopath. Addressed my adrenal support as my flares are stress triggered and introduced me to the SIBO protocol. This protocol is along the same idea as the wild oil of Oregano protocol I have been doing, but he said that I would have seen major difference by 3 weeks if the oil of Oregano was ridding the bacteria successfully.  He added garlic and Berber and changed my probiotics. He also told me to triple my current dose of L-Glutamine. He did mention about die offs which arrived at day 2. These die offs were pretty intense, I was fatigued, dizzy and sometimes had nausea. At least I know the protocol is working. I could feel things shifting in my body. The bleeding has lessen. My bowel movements improved and I would get hungry and want to eat. In the meantime I continued on my anti-inflammatory diet.

What I have learned with this is everything happens for a reason. If I didn't forget to order one of my supplements online, I would not have gone into the pharmacy that day. I am learning to have faith and let the healing happen.  Have you tried to get to root of your IBD? How effective was it?  What was your experience and have you found lasting healing effects?

I do highly recommend if you are interested in holistic healing to find a integrated pharmacy in your area where they can support you if you do need medication for your condition while keeping a holistic approach.