1. | Jun 19, 2014

cheer2012 / David, i actually have Crohn’s Disease. i’m 17 and have had it for 2 years. i have a rediacme infusion every other month and it sucks cuz i gotta sit there for 2 hours while it goes into my system plus i HATE needles so its like adding insult to injury for me. i don’t know if your sis has to have an infusion but i found that midol actually helps the inflamation go down a lot, and it might help her. also if i eat spicy food it irritates my stomach so i dont eat anything spicy, i dont like spicy food anyways but i do like somewhat mildly spicy but i find that even the smallest of spicyness hurts and can cause an attack. the pain gets pretty bad that i have to miss school sometimes. a lotta people think i fake it when i get these attacks. there are different types of ways Crohn’s can affect. there are the “can’t go often type” and there is the normal of “going often type”. So on a nicer image i think its so cool that ur being a concerened bro to ur sis, i can tell u love ur fam. u and ur fam will be in my prayers more often than u have. u r an inspiration to me, i’m hard-of-hearing and i love ur music and hope there is another album on the way cuz i would like some more music to memorize how to sign!! i hope that there r more tours soon:D

2. | Sep 28, 2013

Great question, Deb! There are a few triimmngs I would avoid in stock, and they're all for different reasons (you're correct that bitterness is one). Here goes! Avoid anything in the cabbage family (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts) these fellows tend to get bitter when boiled. Cabbage triimmngs are better used raw or roasted (roasting gives them a very pleasant sweet-roasty flavor). Root vegetables: I avoid beets because of their overwhelming color and radishes because of their overwhelming flavor, anything else that is a root is pretty much fair game. Strongly flavored herbs can be overwhelming (think rosemary, oregano, sage and their relatives). Trimmings from these herbs can be used to add a distinct herbal flavor(if that's what you want), but wait until your boiling is done and add the herb scraps to infuse for a few minutes. Also avoid peels from any above-ground veggies like squash, cucumbers and eggplant. The skin of these vegetables (well, fruit but that's a whole different discussion) can be bitter, but more importantly they don't have much positive flavor to contribute. If you scrape the seeds and pulp out of your squash or cucumbers, though, those tasty scraps can definitely be added to your broth mix.

3. | Sep 27, 2013

shared a few of my frugal cilnhotg finds in the past and since my friend, Jen is have a Frugal Fashionista party this Friday, I thought I'd pull a couple of pics out of my archives and join in the fun.a0