Vegetarian Recipes

There's a book called "Feast without Yeast" by Bruce Semon, MD and Lori Kornblum, PhD, that is mostly vegetarian recipes that overlap quite well with the Heal Your Headache (HYH) diet. It has information that links some of the foods together from Dr Buchholz's migraine trigger list (such as nuts and fermented foods).  Whether it's the same reason for triggering migraines or not, it's interesting.  I bought the book because it uses honey as a sweetener, as one Amazon reviewer complained, well, because this is in contrast to other yeast-free diets.  Incidentally, migraines also run in Dr Semon's family, and they have long been making the food-migraine connection and avoiding select foods.   

Semon calls for no vinegar in the diet, and recipes use fresh lemon juice instead.   That's the only modification I've made to the Heal Your Headache diet to use these recipes.  I still eat the other allowed foods for HYH (except white vinegar and yeast), and still avoid the other non-allowed foods in HYH (other than fresh squeezed lemon juice).  If you find you don't tolerate some of the vegetables allowed in the HYH diet, you could try only using them cooked.  I find i'm fine with cooked tomatoes, shallots, and green onions, but probably not raw ones.  Semon uses lots of tomatoes in his recipes.

The book is well organized and has over 200 recipes.   They were developed for kids with other medical problems, but I'm finding I get lots of recipes and fresh ideas from it.  Thankfully, he includes useful tips for gradually changing the diet.  With his book, I am looking forward to adding beans and more soups to my diet. I already subscribe to the frequent use of brown rice and potatoes that he suggests, but now have more recipes for these as well.

Buchholz's "Heal your Headache" drastically changed my health, and thus every day life for me and my family.  Semon's book is another great tool (in addition to Heidi Gunderson's cookbook) for applying the diet in HYH and learning more about what's in food and about food intolerances/sensitivities.  Semon is an MD that has helped many patients and one of his own children by using the diet, a very touching story he includes for the readers' benefit.  He seems to have begun with observations and theories and then learned from his experience with many patients, through trial and error and much listening and observation.  Sound like anyone else?  "Thanks!" to both Buchholz and Semon!

Cole Slaw

This is a good side dish for a picnic, pitch-in, or pot luck.  Brought it to a party the other day and enjoyed it.  It's based on a friend and excellent cook's, Barb's, recipe.

Vegetables:
Small head green cabbage, core removed, sliced thin

1 red or orange bell pepper, sliced thin

Dressing:
1/2 c distilled white vinegar
1/2 c apple juice
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c maple syrup
1t salt
1 t powdered mustard (such as Coleman's)
1 t celery seeds
1 t cayenne pepper flakes

1.  Slice cabbage and bell pepper and set aside in a glass or ceramic bowl.
2.  Combine dressing ingredients in a pot and stir over low heat until salt dissolves.
3.  Pour dressing over cabbage and bell pepper.   Refrigerate.

Curry Sauce

Here's an easy sauce to add punch to chicken or pork that you've browned.  It's my husband's favorite.  It goes well over potatoes or rice and vegetables, such as cooked carrots and celery.

2-3 shallots, chopped
bell pepper, sliced

1 15-oz can coconut milk or 1 pint cream or half and half
1 T sweet curry
1 T spicy curry

1. Caramelize shallots in saucepan for 10 min at a low sizzle in olive oil and/or butter.
2.  Add bell pepper and sizzle for 5 more min to complete carmelization of shallots and to cook pepper.
3. Add coconut milk or cream and curries. Simmer at least 3 min.

Fresh Sausage

Here's a way quick way to make delicious sausage, something I'd craved and didn't want to buy factory made.  It tastes best with ground pork or beef, but it can be made with turkey or chicken, too.  I've been frying it in the pan as a crumble, breaking it apart with a spatula.   Sausage patties would work well, too.  This recipe is by Sally Knitter on ehow.com, http://www.ehow.com/how_4574619_breakfast-sausage-seasoning-mix.html .

Batch of seasoning mix (for several batches):

¼ c each of sea salt, sage, thyme, and nutmeg
1 T cayenne pepper
Fresh ground pepper

1 batch of sausage:

1 lb ground pork, beef, chicken, or turkey
2 t of seasoning mix shown above
Butter and/or olive oil for chicken or turkey

1. Stir seasoning mix together in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix 2 t of seasoning mix with meat (and maple syrup).
3. Fry in a pan until browned. Add oil and/or butter as needed to keep from sticking to pan for turkey and chicken.

Freeze any you won't be using today or tomorrow.  Other spices to experiment with if you like: paprika, ginger, coriander, and celery seed

Finola’s Vegetable Soup

This is my wonderful mother-in-law's wonderful vegetable soup, without any migraine trigger foods.  It transports me back to her kitchen across the ocean.  The parsnip gives it a sweet and tart flavor.  Parsnips look like white carrots.  They seem common in Ireland, but I had never eaten them in the U.S. until after visiting Ireland.  Since the parsnip is the dominant flavor in this recipe, if you find you would prefer a milder taste, you can use 1/2 a parsnip and 1 1/2 or 2 carrots instead. 

Makes 4 bowls of soup

3 shallots, chopped
3 mushrooms the size of button mushrooms, washed (use water and paper towel), sliced (hard stems discarded)
butter and/or olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 carrot, chop all remaining veg same size
1 parsip (no larger than the carrot), chopped
a little cabbage, shredded
optional: 1 small zucchini, cubed
1 large potato with peal, cubed
1 quart chicken stock
1 t rosemary
1 T fresh parsley
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1 T cream per serving

1. Wash all vegetables and chop the shallots and mushrooms. Then proceed to the next step.
2. Caramelize mushrooms and shallots (15 min at low sizzle in olive oil and/or butter; can be translucent or browned on edges when done) on opposite sides of large fry pan.
3. Meanwhile, if chicken stock is frozen, put it in a pot where soup will be cooked over low heat to thaw. Chop the garlic, carrot, parsnip, zucchini, cabbage (shredded), potato, and parsley. Chop all vegetables the same size.
4. Transfer onions and mushrooms into the soup pot. Turn up the heat slightly and sauté the garlic and remaining vegetables for about 2 min.
5. Pour contents of fry pan into the soup, turn up heat to simmer, and add rosemary and parsley and a little salt and pepper. When vegetables are fork tender, remove from heat. Check after the first 5 min., if vegetables were chopped small, it may be done already.
6. If you have time, let soup cool a little before pureeing, so steam isn't putting pressure on the lid of the blender.  Pour soup into blender and puree until the consistency of a thick smoothie. Add salt and pepper to taste. To taste test: use 2 spoons: keep one clean and pour into a 2nd you can keep reusing to taste.
7. Add 1 T cream to each bowl when serving. Mix. The cream not only tastes good, it’s supposed to make more of the nutrients in the vegetables bioavailable since some nutrients require others to be absorbed.

Soy Sauce

Once you have beef broth, you can make "soy" sauce!   This one is a stroke of genious.  Thanks, Heidi Gunderson!

http://migrainefreecooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/soy-sauce.html

Chicken, Beef, and Vegetable Stock

Stock is called for in various recipes for cooking chicken or gravy, as a base for soups and Heidi Gunderson's "soy sauce" coming soon (check website, too:  migrainefreecooking.com), and can be substituted for water when cooking rice or quinoa.  We started buying whole cut-up chickens for grilling, and the backbone and neck come included for cooking stock.  When we roast a whole chicken, we save the carcass for stock.  For for making beef stock, cut-up bone can often be bought in the butcher section at the grocery store.  For vegetable stock, the base is chopped tomatoes.  I made some vegetable stock, but never use it.  Of course it would be great for vegetarians.  I use a couple of 8-cup glass measuring cups for cooling the meat stocks.  The method shown here is based on Delia Smith's Cookery Course (see references).

Chicken Stock
1 broken-up bird carcass
5 c cold water or enough to cover carcass
1 carrot, cut in chunks (more if not using parsnip)
1 bunch (~5) green onions or 3 shallots, cut in chunks
1 celery stalk, cut into large chunks
1 leek, cleaned & cut into chunks (or more onions instead)
1 parsnip, cut into chunks, optional
8 whole black peppercorns 
a few parsley stalks
a pinch of thyme
1/2 heaping t salt

1.  Put everything in a large pot (tall and skinny is better than short and wide); bring to a boil; skim scum off top.
2.  Reduce heat, simmer with lid slightly off for 2 hr.
3.  Strain through a sieve into glass bowl or measuring cup.  Discard everything in the sieve.  Cool in fridge over night, uncovered.
4.  Skim fat off top and discard.  Don't worry about whether the chicken stock came out gelatinous or not.  It's great if it does. 
5.  Freeze leftovers.   I like to use 1 and 2-c size containers.

Beef Stock
3 lb beef marrowbones, in pieces
Same vegetables, herbs, and seasoning as chicken stock above, plus
2 additional stalks of celery (3 total)
1 bay leaf
5 c cold water

1.  Optional, for dark stock:  Roast bones with vegetables in a roasting pan on top shelf of oven for 45 min at 450 deg; baste occasionally.  Bone and vegetables will be brown on edges when done.
2.  Place everything from roasting pan into stock pot.  Add water, herbs, and seasoning.
3.  Simmer with lid slightly off for 2 hr.
4.  Follow chicken directions 3-5 for cooling, skimming fat, and storing.  Beef fat will not be gelatinous.  Beef stock is the base for Heidi's Gunderson's "soy sauce".
 
Vegetable Stock
5 c cold water
Same vegetables, herbs, and seasoning as chicken or beef stock above
 
1. Put everything in a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat, simmer with lid slightly off for 2 hr.
3. Strain into glass bowl or measuring cup. Cool to room temperature.
5. Freeze leftovers.