The MS Recovery Diet by Ann Sawyer and Judi Bachrach

Still using up my pumpkins...try this for Thanksgiving day dessert.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees- serves 8
This is a dessert so do not consider it a daily event- if you want it to be a mildly sweet bread, use the loaf pan, a little more flour and less sweetener. Allow the bread to cool completely before serving it cut into thick slices or it will be a crumbly mess- still tasty though!

dry ingredients:
1 ¼ cups mixed non-gluten flours
(a mix of rice, buckwheat, oat, millet, quinoa, chestnut, coconut, and/or sorghum can be used)
3 teaspoons Egg Replacer or two Tablespoons ground flax seeds with 6 Tablespoons water soaked for 10 minutes until thick
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
or, 2 teaspoons ground allspice- don't use cinnamon if you are reactive to it!
optional: ½ cup broken pecans or walnuts

wet ingredients:
3 cups mashed or blended cooked pumpkin or other winter squash
¼ cup sunflower or other allowable oil
1 teaspoon orange extract (or vanilla if you don’t have it and use ¼ teaspoon orange zest)
3-5 Tablespoons of orange juice if you have it – or cider or other fruit juice
1/3 cup dark or regular agave nectar (or ½ cup xylitol, or use stevia to taste)
1 teaspoon oil for greasing pan

In large bowl stir all dry ingredients until uniform in color. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Blend wet ingredients into dry until thoroughly mixed. It should be gloppy not runny in texture. If it is too dry add a little more fruit juice, if too wet, add a little more flour at a time until it is thick enough. Not all cooked pumpkin is the same wetness! Turn into 9 inch loaf pan or a casserole dish- it won’t expand much beyond the batter volume.
Bake in oven for 35- 50 minutes (use a longer time in loaf pan) or until toothpick comes out clean and edges pull away from the sides of the pan. The finished cake/bread should be soft in the middle, but not gooey. It is almost like a pumpkin pie filling without the crust.

There are two squash/pumpkin soup recipes in the book already but here I add anther suggestion. I had many volunteer pumpkin and squash this year (I didn’t plant any from seed- they grew out of our compost pile with imported manure from a local farm) and so I am using these vegetables up as fast as I can before they begin to show signs of becoming too ripe. So far I have used them in soups, stews, breads, and pudding.

Roasted Pumpkin and Pepper Soup- serves 4

Wash 2 red and/or yellow peppers (remove labels) – and hold with tongs over a gas flame, or directly on your grill or on a broiler pan to broil inside your oven with the door slightly ajar. Turn frequently to get bubbling on skin all over. Once they are blackened all around, put in paper bag or in bowl covered with plastic wrap so that the enclosed steam will help to remove the skins. Let cool. Cut around the stem and if possible pull out the whole seed knob with it. Gently scrape away the charred skin and remove any seeds that remain. Do not rinse with water or you will lose flavor. These can be made the day before if you like.

note: If you like roasted peppers as much as I do, and use them in everything from salads to sauces to soups, you may want to do up a bunch of peppers at once. Slice the flesh of the cooked peppers when cool and store them in oil in the fridge- they will keep up to 2 weeks. Blot off the oil before using to avoid consuming any extra saturated fats. The oil itself can also be used sparingly for extra flavor when you want some of that smoky sweet essence. Roasted peppers also come bottled in water but they taste twice as delicious when home made.

Ingredients for soup:
2 whole roasted peppers
1 baked squash or pumpkin
1 yellow or white onion
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon dried sage
4 cups vegetable broth, chicken broth, nut or rice milk or combination of broth and milk
salt and pepper to taste

Split a pumpkin or squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Roast at 275-300 degrees in baking dish with a half inch of water in the bottom for at least an hour or until soft and the flesh is somewhat browned. Let cool before using.

In a heavy bottomed soup pot, add 1 peeled and sliced yellow or white onion. Saute over medium high heat in 1 teaspoon oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove 3 cups of roasted pumpkin/squash scraped from the peel, and add that and the 2 whole roasted peppers with sage and add liquid- I like ½ broth and ½ nut or rice milk, but you can use all broth if you like. All milk is a little bit more rich if you want that. Blend with stick blender or in food processor or strong blender. Reheat gently. Salt and pepper to taste. (Serve with chopped and broiled or sauteed turkey bacon and a salad for complete meal for 2.)

Leftover baked pumpkin/squash pieces can be eaten in other soups and stews, put in quick breads or mashed and served liked potatoes- or try 1/2 squash/ 1/2 half potato mashed together.

For the moment we seem to have found way to foil the spammers- hooray! and we look forward to more of your wonderful contributions without being subsumed by the unwanted messages. Thanks for your patience.

As the hours of sunlight decline in the fall season, this vitamin is in the news all over- not only as a preventative and aid for osteoporosis, but also for autism, breast, colon, esophageal and prostate cancers, slowing down age-related losses in memory and other cognitive functions, helping to support better breathing in asthma sufferers, support for diabetes, high blood pressure and MS and other immune system illnesses; it turns out to be a critical factor for the support of many healthy functions in many body systems. Most all cells in the body have receptors for Vitamin D. I just heard a Dr. Perkins on the radio say that it might be better named a pro-hormone rather than a vitamin. For those of us who cannot tolerate the sun for more than a few minutes without suffering the heat fatigue associated with MS, it may be very important to take vitamin D as a supplement. Some of us, even if we can tolerate exposure to sunlight, may not be able to metabolize this essential ingredient sufficiently through our skin.

A blood test for vitamin D is easy to request from your physician. There is such a thing as vitamin D toxicity- especially if you have sarcoidosis, a hyper thyroid problem or are on drugs for TB or lung cancer, for instance. So do run this by your health care practitioner. Even if your test shows that you have sufficient amounts- make sure that your physician is aware of the new standards now suggested as normal or the highest amounts suggested for folks with compromised immune systems. There are varying opinions as to the exact numbers, but please follow the advice of your doctor if he/she recommends you take daily supplements. Of course, eating fish and taking fish oil caps can also help to boost the amount you ingest.

Meanwhile, if you live in a place that is cooling down this season, try to get outside and move, deepening your breathing in whatever way that you can to fuel and cleanse both your body and your mind.

Nori Rolled Stuffed Fish serves 2

I bought 4 fillet of sole not realizing I already had about ¾ cup of leftover steamed salmon from a birthday celebration. So I thought….

Ingredients:
4 fillet of sole or other fairly thin mild white fish fillet approximately 7- 8 inches long (depending on thickness, the cooking time may vary)
¾ cup cooked seafood
2 toasted Nori sheets (seaweed pressed in flat sheets- see Kathi's Sushi Rolls pp 322 in MS Recovery Diet book)
2 teaspoons capers or minced olives
minced garlic clove
½ teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill and/or chopped parsley or cilantro
1 medium to large garlic dill pickle cut lengthwise in quarters
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 lemon slices
salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Stuffing:
Mash together the cooked fish (or crab, shrimp, scallops or use your imagination), capers or chopped olives, minced garlic and dill or other seasoning to your taste. Place ½ fish mixture on bottom third of a Nori sheet with 2 slices of the pickle end to end across the sheet and roll up. Slice roll in half between pickle slices. Repeat on second sheet. Lay out the fish fillet and roll around the halved Nori rolls starting at one end. Salt and pepper top lightly.

Place rolled fish in lightly oiled baking dish with a round slice of lemon and/or pinch of minced herbs on top of each if desired. Bake 30-35 minutes. or until flesh is no longer translucent

Fancy looking and tasting, but very simple to prepare. Serve with starch and salad and/or cooked veggies for an elegant meal.