Why I am walking in the CCFA Take Steps Walk…

As some of you know I have had some issues and have been working with my doctor to resolve them (this may be a little TMI for some people so if you don’t want to know this part of me I suggest you stop reading now.) I while ago I posted a blog about My Struggle with Food, where I touched on some of my issues. But first let me say a little about the walk itself.


The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) raise awareness and funds to help with the fight against Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) which include Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. Now there are over 500,000 people that suffer with IBD, roughly half with Crohn’s and half with a form of Colitis. What I have read it is rare for these diseases to cause colon cancer, but the more severe forms may make you more susceptible. These diseases affect people’s everyday life making it difficult to do everyday things. I suggest checking out their website for more information. I am new to this and am still learning.

On to my personal reason…I have been diagnosed with colitis, I was just tested for Crohn’s the other day and have not heard the results from that yet. (My next appointment is in November.) I have had internal issues for as long as I can remember but it didn’t get really bad until my third trimester with my son. My first doctor made me feel like he didn’t care and that everything was normal. Well I didn’t get better after I had my son, I would go a month or two with no symptoms then I would have really bad flare ups. So I decided to get another option. I ended up going to Johns Hopkins Gastroenterology (GI) Division, and have been super pleased. I really like my doctor, he really takes the time to listen and explain things. Since I have been going there I have had a lot of blood work done to test all sorts of things (some numbers came back low but now low enough to be too concerned) and have had a colonoscopy. The original prognosis was that I had proctitis which is a form of colitis that only affects the lower part of your colon (rectum) but the colonoscopy showed inflammation much higher. I was actually showing inflammation around my appendix, which is why, just to be safe and hopefully rule out, they are testing for Crohn’s. I am currently taking four types of medication, to hopefully make me go into remission, once I am symptom free we will work on maintaining that. But it will come and go forever, and the worse thing is that it is hereditary which means there is a pretty large chance my son is going to end up going through everything I am and possibly worse.

I have walked in many charity walks but I usually have only known or known of people that were affected by which ever charity. Be it for cancer, autism, MS or even premature babies. This time I am the one affected, so this is really different for me. So if you read this and can help with the cause, even if it is just one dollar ($1.00), I would personally really appreciate it.

You can go to my personal page by clicking the link http://online.ccfa.org/goto/Choy

 



Blueberries!

This is all about blueberries, and you can tell how behind I am since they really aren't in season anymore...but they were!

In my area of Southern Pennsylvania blueberries were just going out of season but were in full swing in Northern Pennsylvania when we took a long weekend trip to visit my father-in-law. After a morning of feeding the animals at Animal land, my father-in-law, husband and I took our son blueberry picking. The view from the orchard was just beautiful. I wasn't sure how well a toddler (or my husband) would do with picking blueberries for a couple hours but for the most part they did really well. (Until shortly before we left when there was a little too tired melt down.)

Blueberry Orchard

My son probably ate or threw more than what he actually put in the bucket but I sort of expected that. My husband seemed to be enjoying himself, or at least he acted like he was. He even disappeared for a little while, probably to sneak a smoke, but came back with handfuls. I think at the end of the day we ended up with more than 5 pints of blueberries, so we split them with my father-in-law and started thinking of what to make.

Once I got back home, I rinsed and froze all the berries (which are great to munch on frozen). I then decided on making Streusel Topped Blueberry Muffins. As I was making these I was thinking of how good they will be and how I wanted to share the recipe with my father-in-law, well the only problem was he isn’t able to eat processed sugars. So below the original recipe, which is adapted from A Farm Girls Dabbles  recipe for Grandma Renelt's Blueberry Muffins with Crumble Topping, I have posted a couple links for sugar-free blueberry muffins.  It was my intention to make a batch of sugar-free (and still plan on it) I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

**These muffins are best eaten warm and within a day or two.

for the muffins:

1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen do not thaw)

for the crumble topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 T. butter, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400°. Line muffin tin.
Mix egg, milk, and oil in small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir. Do not over mix. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into muffin tin and let rest a few minutes while you prepare the crumble topping.

In a small bowl, blend all topping ingredients until crumbly. You want some pea-size pieces of crumble. Sprinkle over muffin batter.

Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Yield: 12 muffins

Sugar-Free Muffins:

- Sugar Free Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins
- Sugar-Free Blueberry Muffins
- Primal Coconut Blueberry Muffins

Enjoy!