Simple Healthy Dinner Tonight

What up UC’ers,

I’m way overdue with sharing a meal with all of you, but tonight was a big winner for us.  And I’m hoping it will be for you too!

This is easy to prepare.

Easy to cook.

And It Tastes Great!

For any new folks here to the site… here’s some of my background info:

• diagnosed with severe pancolitis Oct. 2008 (inflammation in the whole colon)
• crapload of drugs for the next year (nothing worked well (Humira and Remicade didn’t even work for me)
• started SCD diet…and it’s worked great
• (BTW, a Humira commercial is on the tuber this very moment as I’m typing this…Yikes)
• I’ve been off medications for the overwhelming majority of the past 5 years and my colon’s doing pretty good
• Here’s a link to my most recent colonscopy – you can meet my doctor there too
• Just finished a 24,000 mile road trip and a 2,000 mile sail (no flares and no meds)
• Met up with Alice Tracey (a fellow UC’er in Ottawa, Canada on the trip, way way cool UC’er, her original video here)
• Married 6 years now, no kids (yet)
• Nightly news bugs bigtime: always about shootings, stabbings, and too often awful news
• Moving to the CZ again in 2 months, one way tickets (kinda nervious…again…supposedly they don’t knock you out for colonoscopies over there…)  Hit me up if you’re in/going to Prague.  Seriously, always good to bust some English conversation over there.
• I’m an optomistic person, half full type, everything is possible kind of thinker
• I’m blown away day in and day out with how incredibly awesome the UC’ers of the world are.  Seriously, there’s a growing list of hundreds of UC’ers from all over the world who are truly amazing.  And for the thousand plus people who have shared your story on this site (way way cool), amazing.

Simple Healthy Dinner Tonight

 

No need to be some executive chef to make this one.  You’re going to need a bbq grill (I use a propane grill cause its simple), you’ll also need a salad bowl, and a few good chopping knives.  But an electric grill works fine, heck a frying pan will do the job too if that’s all you got.

Serves – 2 adults

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken (we used the organic Non-GMO fed variety from Whole Foods Market cause it was on sale for $4.99/pound tonight)
• 2 sausages (no nitrates or preservatives and with no sugars added is best)
• 1 bunch Red Kale (sometimes Russian Kale, and it actually has a purplish color)
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 bunch of green onions
• 1 avocado
• 1-2 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar (read my post about Apple Cider Vinegar if you haven’t yet)
• 1/2 lemon (used for its juice in the salad dressing)
• Pinch of Salt and Pepper
• 1 carrot
• handful of grape tomatoes
• 1-2 cups of sauerkraut
• 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustar
• 2 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (read Graham’s legendary Extra Virgin Olive Oil Post here)
• 1 teaspoon of Tumeric (enough to season the chicken breast meat)
  

  us right before chowing down

Instructions:

1. Turn the grill on, burn off any leftover scraps you might have and let it settle on medium heat
2. Take your chicken breast and slice in half
3. Take out a bowl and mix in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the teaspoon of tumeric
4. once mixed together nicely, add in the chicken breasts and mix the mixture all around the chicken until it is coated.  After mixed well, sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on the chicken
5. Place chicken and sausages on grill and keep an eye on them every few minutes turning occasionally
6. With the grill going, time to get the salad cranked out.
7. Take out your salad bowl, a chopping knife, a cutting board and your kale.
8. Peal the kale leaves off the stem leaving the tuff step part for the trash can or compost pile
9. Once all the kale leaves are off the stems, chop them up a few times with your knife and place in salad bowl
10. Check the BBQ grill to make sure things are moving along nicely out there.
11. Peel your carrot and slice up carrot into this-long slices.  I think they call it Julienne style…  And of course add to the salad bowl.
12. Chop up your green onions and put them in your salad bowl.
13. Red pepper…chop it up and add it to the salad.
14. The avocado can be diced up, but best to add that to the salad later, it will get all mashed up during the tossing and I like leaving it for later.
15. Next, it is time to start breaking down the salad.  Add your apple cider vinegar, and squeeze the half lemon into the salad bowl.
16. Spend a few moments tossing your salad a bit.  It is important to get the liquid dressing all over the place and mixed in with the kale leaves.  They will help break down the tuff leaves and make them taste better (although I for sure like chowing them on their own too)
17. Add your tablespoon of olive oil to the dressing and mix in also.
18. Add a pinch of salt to the salad and mix, then finally you can throw in the avocado before serving.
19. You’ve probably checked the grill by now a few times, but if not, get out there before everything burns up.  Things should be smelling really good by now.  (If not, make sure your grill is turned on:)
20. Get two plates ready, and get the lid off your sauerkraut.
21. Get your Dijon mustard out too.
22. Once the meats look good to go, its serving time.
23. That’s it!

 

 

We like putting a decent amount of sauerkraut on the plate, and we eat it straight from the jar without cooking it.  There’s beneficial probiotics in sauerkraut that are killed when you cook the stuff.

That’s the meal.  It’s a healthy one, and variations of this have given me plenty a hard poops.  Hopefully will do the same for you too.  If you’re not a sausage eater, that’s fine, stick with the chicken bird.  And if you’re a vegetarian, enjoy the salad on its own.

I wish you all the best.  Especially those of you who are struggling with your UC symptoms the past few days or months.  Things do get better.  And things for sure can calm down.  Don’t lose faith in your body, its way smarter than any of us know.  And it definitely remembers how to work properly.

On a little bit of a sidenote, it’s the time of year to send out some big CONGRATS to all the UC’ers who are graduating from school right now or in the near future.  Congrats to all of you, and good luck with your future plans.  Keep your eyes on the prize and don’t let UC stop you from being who you want to be.  Colitis is just an immune response.  It’s not the end of the world.

Happy Summers and Winters coming up,

Adam Scheuer

PS:

If I was in the middle of active colitis symptoms, I’d stay away from the salad and sausages, and just stick to the chicken from this recipe.  If in a flare up, I’d go back to basics like I detailed in this video.