An Extraordinary Find!

My college buddies and I cook a lot.  We do.  And it's fun.

Well, last night we made this treat from a recipe one of my friends got off of Pinterest.

It was really really good.

It was really really easy to make.

and the best part???

It was PKU FRIENDLY!!!

I LOVE finding new PKU friendly recipes!  It really makes my day.  :)

So without much further ado... I pass it on to you: 

  Strawberry Ice Cream

1 banana, sliced and frozen
1 handful of strawberries, frozen
1-2 TBSP Coconut milk
1 TSP Vanilla extract

Place the frozen bananas and strawberries into a food processor.  Start blending then add in the vanilla and coconut milk.  Just enough for it to blend together but not too much, it's supposed to be really thick.  Once it is smooth but still thick scoop it out and you have ice cream!  It doesn't store well in the freezer, and it makes 2-3 servings.

To be honest, we followed the instructions loosely and were fine.  You could make it any flavor, by tossing in that fruit.  We made Peach and strawberry.  :)  You know how much I love ice cream.  I even dedicated a post to my love of it back sometime last year. (it's called Favorite Dessert... or something like that.)  Here's our batch.

How did we do the layers?  Well let me tell you, it was SOOO difficult.  We made one, divided it (we only have 1 blender), then made the other and divided it.  It just naturally layered like that.  Theoretically you could make a whole rainbow, as long as you had a fruit for each color of the rainbow.

Now I can see it in your eye, you want some.  You have the recipe now go and make it for yourself!  Have fun with it!  

P.S.  When you change the flavor by adding different fruits keep the banana.  It works as the base for the ice cream.  :)

A Recipe Worth Making

I have an incredible younger sister who loves to cook.  She is really good at it and when ever I am at home, she likes to cook me food.  And I love to eat it.  It's a good compromise I think. :)

Recently my sister and my mom decided to take a regular recipe and change it so it's PKU.  They chose Peach Cobbler. (Which is one of my favorite desserts ever! And has many good memories attached to it!)  It turned out really nicely apparently- because it was gone by the time I came home.

Luckily they had the recipe written down.  So I took it back to college with me and tried it myself.  (See picture on right- yeah that's mine.)  Here's the recipe:

You need:

• 1 stick butter
• 4-5 cups Sliced and Peeled Peaches (if you use fresh peaches that equals 3-4 peaches)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup Water
• 1 cup Some kind of Low Pro Milk (rice milk/ coconut milk...)- I used Rice Milk for mine
• 1 cup Rice Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup Sugar (not a mistake you'll see why I put sugar 2x in a moment)

Instructions:

• Melt butter in 9x11 @ 350 degrees
• In a large bowl mix peaches, 1/2 cup sugar, and water then leave the mixture until the end
• In a different large bowl mix rest of ingredients (creamer, rice flour, baking powder, salt, and 3/4 cup sugar) Until all ingredients are blended well!!!
• Pour batter over butter (don't stir here!)
• Spoon peach mixture on top
• Bake @ 350 for 40-50 minutes

(I don't have the equivalents for this recipe right now but if you want I can try to get them for you)

It's really tasty!  :-D    

It All Started With An Email...

Have you ever heard of PEG-PAL?  Probably not.  I vaguely knew about it myself... until today.

You see, occasionally I get emails from this PKU Group in my state.  Today I received one of theses emails from them and discovered some very interesting news about PEG-PAL.  I didn't really know anything about it so I did some research.   

PEG-PAL is 2 different things really.

There's PAL which is Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL).  It's a protein (enzyme) found in plants, it converts L-phenylalanine to trans-cinnamic acid and ammonia.  

Then there's PEG (aka polyethylene glycol) which is a water soluble compound that is non-toxic and can be safely cleared from the body. 

They use the PEG to help get the PAL into the body, because PAL is this unknown substance that your immune system wants to get rid of.  The PEG hides the PAL from your immune system.

The PAL is a stable enzyme.  They put the PAL into the body and it metabolizes Phe.  The PAL basically takes over for the PAH (which is the enzyme PKU'ers have troubles with and converts the extra Phenylalanine into trans-cinnamic acid and ammonia.  The body then can easily get rid of the trans-cinnamic acid and there isn't enough ammonia to do much damage.    

How do you get the PEG-PAL into your body?  Injections.  Yuck.  But how often you would take need to take it depends on the person.  From everyday to once a week.

So now you know what I know about PEG-PAL, here's the news: PEG-PAL is going into Phase 3 testing in 2013.  Phase 3 testing is basically the big-group testing.  It's already been proven to work on a wide range of individuals (including lots of Classical PKU'ers).  Some people have been taking it for 2 years now as part of the long term effects testing.

Now here are the reported side effects (I'm going to list them clearly with normal print unlike medication commercials): rashes, and sore joints.

Seriously.  That's it.  Everyone had sore joints for the first few weeks of taking the drug.  But as the body became used to it, the sore joints wasn't there anymore.  People who got rashes reacted to the PEG.  And apparently if your taking any medicine with PEG in it already, you can't use PEG-PAL.

The benefits?  You basically can go off diet.  You have enzymes breaking down the excess Phe.  There is no build up, so a controlled diet is no longer needed.
    
I've tried to be non biased in my research so far... but now it's time for me to share my opinion.  We're getting closer.  The PEG-PAL is not a perfect solution.  Who wants to have injections everyday?  But it's better than KUVAN by a long shot.  I like the theory behind it.  I really do.  It makes sense to me.  There's still some things that need to be fixed during this next phase, but modern medical science has been making leaps forward to a solution.  I might even try it... Not now.  I'm a poor college student with no car, and lives far from the clinic.  But if I can get over the injections idea... I might think about it.  :)

And to think that this super long post started with an email I got today... :)        

The Powermilk Problem

There is a problem that has been on my mind for a while now.  Don't worry its not life-threatening.
It's just... I need a new name for my Powermilk.

Don't laugh at me, it's a real-life problem.

I call it Powermilk, in the blog, because that's what I introduced it as.  I kept calling it that to remain consistent.  Powermilk is kinda... I don't know... Do you remember that childhood nickname your parents called you growing up but whenever they would call you it in public years later you'd get the weirdest looks?  That's what "Powermilk" is the nickname that earns you weird looks.  

So my sister and I compiled a list of names we have used on occasion or names that people have suggested.  

-My medicine
-Steriods
-Shake
-Phenylade 
- Incomplete Protein Powder
-Milk
-Magic milk
-Formula
-Drink

None of them "stick".  I grew up with Powermilk, but I was teased (not badly, my childhood was a happy one) back in elementary school.  So I started calling it my formula, but people kept mentioning   how it made them think of baby formula.  :-/.  

My roommate calls my Powermilk, my "magic milk".  And my sister calls her Powermilk... Steriods.

What would you/ do you call it?  I want to know.  Who knows, Maybe one of your ideas will stick.