My AIP Table - The Journal

Earlier I posted a quickie blog just stating what my word for last year was.  I can't believe I didn't write about it last year ... and for the life of me,  I cannot remember why I didn't.  But, here we are.  My word for  2024  was  STRONG. I'm not exactly sure why I chose that, besides the obvious ...  At 51 years old, I am  more aware of my need for building and maintaining strength.  Strong was  a  good word that I feel went beyond just physical strength this past year.   Sure, I started back to Pilates and can see gains in my abilities  which is exciting.  But, I think 2024 was also about building  mental and emotional strength.  This wasn't anything  I set out to do ... but as usually happens with  my word of the year, it was something  that occurred naturally through  life circumstances. In the weeks  leading up to the  end of each year, my  mind starts to ...

Well, tomorrow is the last day of 2024 and I came in here to write my word of the year for 2025 post and see that I never wrote a post for 2024.  I'm kinda bummed about that because I love coming back at the end of the year and reading what I wrote at the beginning of the year - then reflecting on how the year played out. I'm not going to try to write something of what I was thinking at the beginning of this year because I'm about to write a post reflecting on the year and looking forward to the next but I felt I needed to have this 2024 post to at least mark the word I had chosen. That word was STRONG. K.  Bye. See you in the next post ...

  What a year 2022 was, am I right?  It was an interesting one for me as far as my word went. That word was build.  I won't go into all   the details but if you want them,  they are in lasts years post. As usual, the year and my  word looked very different to what I  had envisioned.  I had wanted to build a new habit  each month but I found that feeling tedious  and without a natural flow so I abandoned it in June.   I was totally ok with that.  These words are meant to be  life giving and enriching, not restrictive. As for the rest of it, I feel I did build on  things I had previously learned.  But I feel like  I am always doing that. That's what  life is, right? Learning. As I reflect on the year gone, I feel  a sense of having had to tear some things down as a  foundation for future building that will happen.  One example of that process  is making the decision and resig...

A brand new year ... it's one of my favourite things! This year has gone by so fast, hasn't it? If you follow along on my Instagram or Facebook pages, you'll know that last years word NEW was a great word and brought with it lots of adventures! We completed our goal of walking one new beach, climbing one new mountain and discovering one new waterfall each month. Thanks to this word, 2021 was one of my favourite years ... and I definitely have finished the year feeling very different to how I felt at the start.  I had hoped this word would help me feel a little less stuck in circumstances out of my control.  And it has!  While there are still things  in my life that are out of my control, they no longer  occupy the greatest space in my mind.  ** Moving into 2022, I have chosen the word build. I played around with a few different words, train and habit among them.  But then  last week I was listening to an  audio book or a podcast, I  c...

  I doubt I need to say that 2020 didn't go as planned. For anyone. It's interesting though, as it always is, that the word I chose for the year ended up being exactly the right one.  It took on a completely different meaning than I had imagined it would.  I chose the word DANCE for 2020. I didn't really know how the word would  play out but early into  the whole COVID shut down,  it became  clear that  2020 was going to be about rhythms ... everything  changed, basically overnight, and we were left to figure out what our new rhythms would be. Here in Australia, or at least where we live, life has basically gone back to normal ... just with COVID protocols and increased cleaning, etc.  For us as a family, life went back to  'normal'-ish but then our puppy was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  We  walked a bittersweet couple of months with him, enjoying every minute that we had left.   Life had already...

I LOVE CLAMS.   Always have, ever since I was a little girl! This soup is is the result of just wanting to eat clams and needing to use up some veggies at the end of the week. I've made a it a couple of times and each time was different. There's not really measurements for this.   I just kind of throw everything in depending on what I have and how many servings I want to make. Ingredients:  Clams - I buy these ones locally.   The are frozen.  I use half a bag for this recipe. Onions, sliced. Mushrooms, quartered. Any veggies ... I 've used brussels sprouts,  zucchini,  broccoli, kale stems, spinach leaves. Spring onions, sliced to scatter on top. Bone Broth, I used a homemade chicken stock.   Thai Chicken Soup Crispy Garlic,  to serve ... optional but very desirable (recipe here ) Method: I start by sautéing the onion and the veggies. I add them in stages, seasoning with salt as I go, based on which ones I think will take...

I loved tapoica pudding as a child.  Turns out, I still love tapioca pudding as an adult. Ingredients: For Bottom Layer frozen peaches, two cups frozen cherries, one cup 1/4 cup water a drizzle of honey 1 tsp vanilla extract For Top Layer 1 can (400ml) coconut milk 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract   3 Tablespoons tapioca pearls Method: Combine all of bottom layer ingredients in small saucepan.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let simmer til thickened. This took about 10/15 minutes. In a separate saucepan, combine coconut milk, maple syrup and vanilla and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, add tapioca pearls and simmer. You will want to stir frequently so this doesn't burn.  It will take about 10/15 minutes for the  tapioca to plump up and become translucent.   Serve warm or put in  fridge and serve cooled. I prefer it warm ...  xx

I made apple sauce in my instant pot the other day. I just sort of winged it but it turned out great. I basically just filled the pot with apples and spices and let it do it's thing ... Ingredients: 3 kgs (6.6 lbs) apples (I use 2 or 3 types of apples) 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp nutmeg pinch star anise juice of half a lemon 1/4 cup water Method: Core and cut apples into 8 pieces. (I don't worry about peeling the apples.) Add all ingredients to instant pot Secure lid. Set on manual, high pressure for five minutes. Let pressure release on it's own. Once done, open lid and use a stick blender (or regular blender) to make blend the apple sauce to desired consistency. Freezes well. xx

This was such an exciting meal for me to make and eat!  I hadn't had a spaghetti sauce in over two years ... and this tasted like the real deal! It started with the discovery of  this post over on Unbound Wellness . It's a recipe for AIP Nightshade Free Marinara Sauce. It's an Instant Pot recipe don't worry if you don't  have one, she has notes for how to  cook it on the stovetop. I followed her  recipe exactly except for one thing. I used homemade chicken bone broth in  place of the water.  I use that stuff is as much as I can because  it is so good for us! So ... you'll need to make that first. I did this on a different day and froze it. Then when I was ready to make this dish,  I already had that sauce on hand.  To make the rest of the dish ... Ingredients: 600g beef mince 200g chicken livers 1 onion, chopped small garlic, to your taste preference (I used 3 or 4 cloves, f...

I was at the fish store the other day buying our fish for the week. I always buy salmon and then I try to buy something different. This week I bought Red Emperor.  The man in the fish shop  gave me the suggestion to steam it ... he said he wife has done it that way, with Asian flavours.  So, I found a  recipe online that I could modify.  This is what I came up with.  I didn't have a bamboo steamer but I do now!  What fun! You could use any method  to steam that you want. The fish: Ingredients: 2 pieces of Red Emperor 4 spring onions biggish chunk of ginger small handful of cilantro (fresh coriander) 3 tablespoons coconut amionos 1 tsp honey 3 tablespoons water avocado oil Method: Mix coconut aminos, water and honey.  Set aside. Chop the cilantro. Set aside. Julienne the spring onions and ginger. Set aside. Get the steamer ready. I used a bamboo steamer set on top of a frying pan...

I haven't had a chance to sit and write about my mustard seed reintroduction before now. I actually had forgotten that mustard is supposed to be eliminated and had been  making the  Mustard Pretzel Brussels Sprouts over at AIPooja . Whooops! ** I had no reaction to that mustard nor to the mustard seeds I ate last week. I had no previous reaction to mustard the first time I reintroduced it either so I think it's ok. The thing to be careful with when reintroducing mustard is that there isn't anything else in the mustard that is non-compliant.  Like sugar. ** 11 February Roasted Sweet Potato with Yellow and Black Mustard Seeds The first night I reintroduced mustard seeds, I just added them to some sweet potatoes that I was roasting. So easy ... I just did thick slices of sweet potato.  Tossed them through some avocado oil with a mixture of mustard seeds, garlic powder, dried onion flakes and sea salt. Into a hot oven ...

Today I did my first reintroduction ... well, my first one this time around. I have done reintroductions before.  But I got a little ahead of myself and didn't do them properly. So, from January 1st of this year, I've been back on strict AIP elimination phase. I did have one weekend where I went a little less strict because I was away for a girls weekend with a friend.  I did stick to only things  I had previously reintroduced and still made wise choices.   I didn't suffer any obvious setbacks and none of  my HS symptoms returned which was  both encouraging and exciting! My body is healing! There is a great guide for doing reintroductions on the Autoimmune Wellness website. I followed that guide last time. But because I already have some idea of my triggers, I'm adding things back in a different  order this time.  I'm doing it more out of what is most useful to have in my diet.  Chia seeds a...