PKU Hero

I came across this article today: http://www.pkuheroes.org/drkoch/. It's about an amazing man who has done so much for PKU'ers like me. Without him I would be mentally retarded. Thank you Dr. Koch!

School Lunches

Some schools have vegetarian choices. My school has a salad, but it's the longest line in the school. So it's not worth it. My past schools haven't even had this choice. I could fight for more choices. But after the school "agree" to do it in my experience... they don't. I once fought for microwave rights in elementary school. It was a waste of time because they didn't let me anyway. They were just avoiding a big scene. So I bring home lunches. It's healthier and cheaper anyways. Plus you don't have to wait in a long line for it. It can be fun too if you get creative. I rarely have time to be creative but it's fun when I am.

Good things to put in a PKU'ers lunch: fruit (apples, pears, grapes, fruit cups...) and vegetables (carrots, salad, celery, raw broccoli...). You can make bread for sandwiches, put vegetable soup in a thermos, pack a couple cookies. You could add a container of ranch to dip your veggies in. For a while I would pack these "fruit chillers" in my lunch with an ice pack (basically it's sorbet). Fruit leathers and fruit snacks are excellent!

Tip: Frozen grapes turn into goop when in your lunch. They taste excellent at home but not on the go.

My lunch on the go is usually an apple, fruit snacks, fruit cup/lemon pudding, and it depends what else in the house at the time. But it has filled my throughout my school life so it works for me.

It's nice to have a dependable menu. Just in case I don't have time to think about what to pack. But sometimes change is good. Get creative! Add a sauce, pack a thermos. smoothies are fun! Just because you bring home lunch doesn't mean you have to bring dull things. You can pack lunches that will make school lunch kids drool! I have (that would be the smoothies). Try something new! :) And have a good day!

Tastiest Way To Get Rid Of Zucchini!

Dear readers,

How was your summer? As you could probably tell I've been a very busy person. I still am, so right onto business we go. :)

Recently my house has been overrun by evil zucchini. It's like a curse we eat/freeze/deal with 1 of them and my dad goes and picks 4 more! He's crazy for planting as many plants as he did. But because we've been overun by zucchini we've been looking for tasty ways to get rid of it. Here by far the yummiest/ weirdest recipe yet! (Thanks to allrecipes.com)

Zucchini Cobbler

Ingredients (serves 25)

• 8 cups peeled, chopped zucchini
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter, chilled
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice until zucchini is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg and cook one minute more. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, combine flour and 2 cups sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir 1/2 cup of butter mixture into zucchini mixture. Press half of remaining butter mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Spread zucchini mixture over top of crust, and sprinkle remaining butter mixture over zucchini. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until top is golden. Serve warm or cold.
   

It's a pretty weird recipe when you think about it. Zucchini in a FRUIT dessert? Yuck! But zucchini actually picks up the taste of whatever it's cooked in. And this recipe makes the zucchini taste like apples! I promise you! When we served it to people who didn't know it's zucchini-like qualities they complimented us on our Apple Cobbler. Their jaws literally fall to the ground when we tell them the truth. It's that good. I couldn't get my mind over how it tasted like apple cobbler yet I knew it was zucchini cobbler. Trust me you've GOT to try this one! :)

PKU Pen Pals

When I was little I always wanted to know someone besides my sister who had PKU. I wanted a pen pal. I person from another part of the world, who could understand me. I never did get one, though mom tried to look into it for me. I used to dream how it would be to write back and forth becoming instant best friends. Then suddenly meeting each other for the 1st time. It was like a story for me. A big fairy tale.
I went to camp PHEver, years later and made a bunch of friends. It was around then I guess when I realized that it's nice to have friends in another state. I wished... I still wish that somehow the PKU kids would get together and bond here like they have in Texas. (where camp PHEver is.) The hospital plans little kid parties. No one my age goes to them. I try to go just in case I meet someone my age there. I want friends with PKU. Friends in exotic places all around the world, and I want friends here. Right at home, that I can see more than once every other year.
I guess this post is call out. I didn't intend for it to be one. But nevertheless it is. If you have PKU comment. I want to know how many PKU'ers I'm actually writing to. I know not many (if any) will do this. There aren't that many PKU'ers in the world and no one really comments or goes along with the writer. I want to get to know you. I want to make a lot of PKU friends. That dream of a pen pal... never really died I guess. It just got tucked away for a while. I want input. I'll take anything but swearing. It's a bit lonely having PKU and not having anyone to constantly talk to. I'm glad I have a sister for that reason. But imagine just for a moment... having a whole network of friends that you can talk to. It would be the most amazing thing in the world.

Road Trip!!!

It is a common practice among US citizens to eat at fast food restaurants when on a road trip. It's fun, a chance to get out of the car, and pretty cheap (depending on your group size). But for PKU kids it can get pretty tiring to eat at fast food places (even if you don't repeat a single restaurant). Because in Fast Food places our typical choices are salad or fries. It's that way at McDonald's, Wendy's, Arby's, Artic Circle, Burger King, and other places like that. Some restaurants don't even HAVE good salads!!! So it's really refreshing to find something else we can have on the menu. With the Health Movement that's sweeping across the U.S. it's actually getting easier for us in some ways. Fruit is more common on the menu, which is a HUGE plus for me!!!! Usually at home I don't eat salads because I eat them so often on the road.

So fast food... it's fun right? Sure. But you want to know what's better? PICNICS!!!! I have a lot of fun on picnics! Especially when there's a playground nearby! If you want to stretch out your legs from sitting in the car, a nice playground will do the trick. Or a field with a ball if your too grown up for a playground. Exercise after eating is nice. Maybe they really do have a point in Elementary schools by having recess after lunch! Road trips are fun. Picnics are great. Too much fast food= repetition for PKU'ers. Do you get it??? :) I sure hope you do if not try reading it all over again but slower that usually does the trick for me.

Restaurant Review #2

Last night I had the opportunity to go to this Frozen Yogurt place with my family. It's called Yogurt Bliss and has this really unique atmosphere I really enjoy. Items on the menu? Frozen Yogurt, soda, water, SORBET, and waffles. Yes waffles, which in my opinion is a tad bit odd but cool at the same time. It's a self serving restaurant where you can grab a cup and find an ice cream flavor that you want. It's in a machine where you pull the lever and it comes spiraling out. They only have one sorbet at a time but what they have it extremely delicious. Then you head to the toppings cart. It's full of candy, hot fudge, fruit, Carmel, chocolate. They actually decide the price based on it's weight. (They weigh it on a scale). Which it a fantastic unique way of doing it because you can get the amount you want for a fair price. I had strawberry-kiwi sorbet with white chocolate chips, fresh strawberries, and kiwi on it. It was fantastic!!! I wished I could back and get some more to be honest. :)

Now on to the atmosphere... the walls were painted each of different color (green, purple pink, and white), the ceiling was purple, and the floor was white with squares of all the colors used. There were white tables with chairs all around so you could enjoy your treat there. AND there was a white couch. How many restaurants have you been to that has a couch. It was all very hip, and casual. The radio was playing on a good station with several songs I enjoy, but it wasn't too loud so we could talk. People came in and out constantly but it wasn't crowded.

When it comes to PKU friendliness though... I'm not going to lie. Out of all the flavors there PKU kids could have 1. Which is going to make me have to rate it 4 on the PKU Friendly Scale. The reason it gets a 4 is because the flavor changes constantly, and is very unique. But it really is a neat place that I enjoy. For anyone who isn't a PKU'er but health cautious it doesn't have ice cream it has frozen yogurt which is a healthier choice.

Have a great summer!

My favorite dessert in the world!!!!

Ice Cream. My favorite dessert in the world. (I also really like smoothies.) Sometimes I think I could live on it. I almost hear people, who have read my blog since I started, mumble in confusion. "Isn't ice cream dairy?" "Wasn't dairy one of the things she said she was allergic to?" *Checks 1st post* "So she's cheating on her diet??" "What?!" Don't worry I'm perfectly healthy and have not been cheating. It's true dairy is on the no-no list. I can't have average American cow-made ice cream but there are a lot of other types of ice cream I can have.
There's Rice Dream Ice Cream which is made with rice milk as opposed to cow milk. It's healthier for us but definitely not the healthiest. There's sherbet which has a little bit of cows milk but less than regular ice cream. Homemade ice cream is probably the creamiest while having no milk. You just make it using water and a powder (if you want the name just comment below and I'll find it and post it). Thanks to America's healthier food obsession there's Coconut ice cream too now.
Just so you know: A coconut is NOT a nut! (I get that comment a lot) It is either a legume, because it can be turned into oil, or a fruit. There seems to be a lot of debate about it, and I can't find a positive resource to confirm which one it is.
Anyway, coconut ice cream is one of the healthiest choices. But sorbet beats them all. Though it's not the creamiest sorbet is entirely fruit made.
My favorite??? I don't know I just like ice cream a lot. I would say whatever I'm eating at the current moment. But as I am not eating ice cream at this moment (merely dreaming of it) I cannot tell. But I do dare you to try one of these (PKU or not) just for fun. See what you think! Maybe you'll find a new favorite type of ice cream! If you do tell me all about it I want to hear!

*I'm not sure if these products are available outside of the USA. You can try to find them. I want to know if you found it and where!*