PKU/Low protein Mediterranean Style Rice Bake

Okay, now I freely admit that I haven’t actually tried this but it sounds awesome! If you try this before I get to have a crack at it please post a reply and let me know how it was.

3 cups cooked low pro rice OR brown rice if your phe intake allows
1 cup small artichoke hearts, quartered
1 cup asparagus pieces about 1″ long, blanched
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, with oil
¼ cup diced roasted red pepper
170g low pro cheese (preferably a kind that melts)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 190º C. In a large mixing bowl, combine rice, artichokes, asparagus pieces, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red pepper. Stir to combine. Cut off 117g of the low pro cheese (if block – you can also use grated) and break into ½”-sized pieces and add to the bowl. Add red wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper and toss to combine.

Spread rice mixture into a casserole dish. Dot the top with remaining low protein cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese begins to brown lightly.

Remove from oven. Serve warm.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Low pro crustless spinach quiche recipe

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick post to share this delicious sounding recipe with you. Mara Alexander, whose husband Kevin has PKU, shared a recipe for low phe crustless spinach quiche on her website. In addition to being low protein, the recipe is also gluten free, egg free and casein free.

It looks and sounds absolutely delicious, I plan on giving it a try this week! Go to the recipe by clicking here.

Healthy recipe: Sweet potato and parsnip curry

I’ve been doing my best to eat healthier, more filling and more nourishing food lately and as part of that I’ve got a stack of recipes I have either come up with or tried. This recipe was inspired by a meal one of my PKU friends from Ireland told me about and I have

Sweet Potato and Parsnip Curry

added my own tweaks to it to suit my tastes. You aren’t limited to the vegetables I have used – you could use anything you like and even add chilli for a spicy kick! I hope you enjoy it – I will post a picture of this recipe soon – I was more interested in eating this than taking pictures of it and blogging it was an afterthought. This recipe makes enough to freeze 2 additional large portions.

Ingredients
2 small or 1 large sweet potatoes, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 x tinned chopped tomatoes or you could use fresh tomatoes
1 Knorr Beef stockpot (or a crushed beef stock cube)
Half an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced or crushed
1 heaped teaspoon of mild curry powder
Water (use your judgement on this one)
Measured dollop of coconut yoghurt if available/allowed (to serve)

Method

1. Sautee the onions and garlic in low calorie cooking spray (eg Fry Light) until translucent.
2. Add the stockpot, sweet potato, parsnip and carrot. Stir the stockpot in until it melts and let cook just for a minute or two.
3. Add the tomatoes and curry powder, stir then simmer until the vegetables are tender.
4. To serve, add a measured dollop of coconut yoghurt if allowed. I use 2 exchanges worth of Rachel’s Organic Greek Style Coconut Yoghurt.
5. Serve with low pro rice or an allowed amount of boiled brown rice.

With all the best intentions…

Back in December I had all the best intentions of firing the blog up again and then, as usual, life got in the way. A couple of days after my last post, Miss E ended up in hospital for the better part of a week with a form of cellulitis that she somehow got around her eye and was only discharged on Christmas eve. Add to that the fact that my parents were over from Australia visiting, Christmas, additional work hours for Christmas/Boxing Day/New Year sales and planning Miss E’s Christening and… well, I’m sure you get the picture.

Life has calmed down a little (but quite frankly, not a whole lot) now so hopefully I can come good on my promise of doing more with this site. Just before Christmas I approached a few people asking them to do guest blogs, however the response wasn’t all that positive so I will be going to try again soon.

In the meantime, here is an update on what is happening with my life and my PKU. The new year has brought with it further intentions of weight loss and dietary compliance and I have been working hard to stick to my New Year’s resolutions. Just before Christmas I joined Weight Watchers thinking it would help me, but truth be told I have still struggled to balance the WW diet with a low protein one. I tried not counting my Lophlex in my WW as I have heard of other PKUers who have had success with weight loss through WW this way, but it didn’t work for me. I have been getting back to the gym though despite my best intentions my efforts have been a little sporadic (and a huge apology on that note to my gym buddy, Mrs Z). For the last five weeks I’ve been battling with terrible shoulder pain and I found out today that, previously having being effectively dismissed by two different doctors, I have a fractured collarbone. Now that I know what’s going on and what not to do I will be becoming more of a regular at the gym again though I can’t do any resistance training, pilates, yoga, body pump or swimming – all the stuff that will help me increase my muscle mass, basically!

In terms of diet, well… I admit, I’ve been a little up and down. Over Christmas and New Year with everything that went on I had a pretty big blow out on phe and I struggled to get back on track. I had a clinic visit last week and my exchanges have been dropped down a bit and I am now getting into a good rhythm of eating as I should. Thankfully, formula has not been a problem for me to get down ever since I was pregnant and had to take six doses a day, so I didn’t have to contend with that side of things. Since coming up with a great meal plan over the last week with the help of a couple of fabulous PKU friends (you know who you are – thank you!) I have lost 2lbs and I am feeling more awake and generally better. I have been eating hot oats for breakfast with a few prunes and maybe some fresh fruit after if I’m still hungry, soup for lunches with salad or crackers and dinner has been stirfry, steamed veg, a small amount of brown rice and something sweet potato related. It seems to be doing the job. It’s the first week since I’ve been doing WW that I have lost more than 0.2kg. I also lost a total of 6.5cm from various parts of my body and during the week I did a spin class and walked 10km one day while pushing Miss E in her buggy. So yeah – nothing amazing on the exercise. I will be interested to see if I have lost again when I weigh myself in another week or if I gain it back like I have been doing. I’m still waiting on a level from my clinic visit last Friday and I’ll be doing another one on Monday to see how the drop in exchanges has changed things.

Other than all that, doing mummy-daughter things with Miss E (who is generally a cheeky little delight!), working at the shop and being busy with work for the Metabolic Disease Foundation (but that’s another post!), nothing much else is going on. I feel like I’ve got plenty to keep busy with though

So that’s pretty much everything here for now. If you have any suggestions for a guest blogger I would love to hear from you!

Take care until next time
Kate x