While I do not like to abuse alchemy, I do enjoy making myself modest fortify intelligence potions. Word on the street is that the current version of NOM makes it impossible to make such potions. Is it true? Or are they just much harder to make (i.e. you have to cook food with high cooking skill to get the proper ingredient). I think the idea of NOM is cool, but I don't want to completely eliminate a possible potions effect.

If true, this is a disturbing effect of NoM.

You might try suggesting a change on the NoM thread. Good luck with that.

Another possibility is to edit yourself, or make a patch that overrides the unwanted behavior.

This question was asked and answered by Taddeus today on the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1142629-rel-necessities-of-morrowind-30/page__st__180. I would imagine it can be locked, now.