Food of the Day: Pumpkin Cheesecake

"To live in a creative way requires extreme and sensitive perception of the orders and structures of relationship to individuals, society and nature.  In this case, creativity can flower.  It is only when creativity is made subservient to external goals, which are implied by the seeking of rewards, that the whole activity begins to whither and degenerate" -- David Bohm & F. David Peat; Science, Order and Creativity

Yesterday's adventure to the South Park Blocks Farmers Market with my parents resulted in the acquisition of some very tasty treats.  Among them; chanterelles, orange anise sugared buns and a particularly eminent Sun Spot pumpkin.  A little inspiration from Mom lead to the conclusion that since everything I eat, no matter how mild, seems to feed this flare, there is no reason to so conservatively restrict myself.   Why not use the tools at hand to do some more creatively aggressive tracing of causal relationships?

The quote above from David Bohm and F. David Peat's book is an homage to our conversation in the bustling Market: I have decided that my GI's current adherence to "external goals", aka palliative diagnosis, is impeding on my recovery.  Deferring the goal of quelled symptoms to a more subordinate one, I can explore (carefully) the next steps in terms of testing my tummeh.  This quote -- and this book -- mean many other things to me, but as does most incite from these great physicists, it applies to the manifestation of every infinitely small constituent of existence... especially food.

In other words, my remaining October adventure will be directed at distilling a more comprehensive food-pain pattern.  The more closely I watch the 30hr digestion mark, the more easily I can isolate which episodes are Crohn's, which are IBS, which are from what food and which are/are not clinically improving from the Prednisone-Purinethol-Remicade (PPR).  We'll get into which medication is solving what problem later down the line... right now they are just superfluous variables, and that is bad science.

Therefore (!), avocado, beans, broth and bread; you're lovely, you're truly spectacular foods, but I need to feed my poor immune system some substantial nutrients... 

Tonight I made chicken and chanterelles in a white wine reduction and coconut milk sauce.  Rotini bed not shown.

This Sunday afternoon, however, was devoted to the Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Experiment.  Using my Eminent Market pumpkin, I augmented this awesome recipe from Elana's Pantry.  Instead of using whole milk yogurt (which would unequivocally be my undoing), I used a 4oz tub of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (which was proportionally perfect).  I also reduced the amount of Agave nectar, went light on the vanilla extract and added some nutmeg.

 

 

 

Sidenote: Yes, I do have a squash, pumpkin and general October obsession.  You are so lucky that I have refrained from posting about Candycorn and my glow-in-the-dark skeleton oven mit...