The Cheese Experiment

It has been three very long weeks of this anti-migraine diet.  I am now at the point where I get to start adding foods back in.  Because cheese was the hardest for me to give up I started there.  For dinner I made some homemade pizza… loaded with cheese! First was a classic pepperoni.Because I’m pretty sure pepperoni is one of those things I’m supposed to stay away from I decided to make a veggie pizza as well. Sundried tomatoes, spinach, artichokes, and kalamata olives = yum!  We finished the meal with some leftovers from camping. We broiled the marshmallows in the oven.  Tasty, but messy! Just like the real thing.So how did the cheese experiment pan out? Horribly! I was so sick for two days and got a migraine to round it all off. I apparently have an intolerance to my beloved cheese.  Bummer! My doc said that if I stay away from it (and milk and yogurt!) for SIX MONTHS I will be able to reset my system.  So around September I will be able to retry the cheese experiment and hopefully have success.  That means that we have taken a new direction with this blog.  I will now be posting recipes for all of us poor souls that cannot eat dairy.  Starting with this one.

Israeli Couscous

• 1 T butter
• 1 1/2 cup of Israeli couscous
• 1 sweet potato
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp bay leaf
• 1 T parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Roast sweet potato in oven until softened. (or stick it in the microwave for 5 min). Set aside to cool. Melt butter in sauce pan. Add couscous and cinnamon. Stir until couscous is slightly browned.  Add chicken broth and the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down to a simmer, add chopped sweet potato, and cook until couscous is softened and the broth has been cooked down. Serve topped with grilled chicken.

I got the idea for the recipe from the back of the couscous box that I got a Trader Joes. It sounded good but as usual I didn’t have half the ingredients so I improvised.  It was so good that Chad had seconds, and thirds 🙂

This weekend we are trying some new experiments so stay tuned!