Perfected Cashew Butter Muffins

 What is perfection? Well I'm not really sure, but in this muffin story it means fluffy, fabulous tasting muffins to take with you for snacks or to gobble one up in the morning on your way out the door. They even freeze well! Of course any story of perfection comes with lessons that were learned along the way. Trials, tribulations, pangs of angst. Of course, I've also found a lazy way to make them, because it's me here. So you can pick your method to mmmmmmmmmmmm......

Lessons:
1) Nuts are hard to digest in general. The traditional method of preparing nuts is to soak them in water and salt for a period of hours (depending on the type of nut). Then if one is fortunate to have a dehydrator then you dehydrate your soaked nuts for about 24 hours on a low setting. (or in the oven as low as it will go). I have been drawn to the cashew nut ever since I started the GAPS diet. My body just likes this nut. Well in other versions of this recipe I would try to use almonds, walnuts, pecans. On the pecanbread site for Specific Carbohydrate Diet, they say that pecans and almonds are the easiest to digest. Well I found it rather odd, that any nut with the exception of the cashew nut just gave my stomach hell. Lucky for me I looked up the cashew to see why this might be. Why, you ask? Why it's not a nut at all, it's a seed. Check out all about cashews here on WIKIPEDIA. So for those of you that can't do nuts yet, try the fabulous world of seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and cashews!

2) Eating a lot of nuts or in this case seeds can be quite constipating. So in working with these muffins, I tried to reduce the amount of cashew butter I used to include a veggie, I came up with butternut squash. Also, sometimes I'm over the whole plain cashew butter muffin. So what do I do? I peel and sautee granny smith apples with butter and cinnamon and pop those into my ready to go batter and voila!

3) Butter and baking soda. The timing of your ingredients is super important in baking. I was late for something (generally everything) and I asked my husband if he could pour the batter into the cups and bake them for me. Well when I returned from said function, he hadn't gotten to that yet. So the batter/butter had hardened up and when I baked them they turned out as unappreciative, dense muffins that were full of psychological bitterness for being abandoned mid-creation.

Baking soda will make or break your muffins. Forget this important ingredient and you can just forget about the fluff.

Okay now onto that recipe of mmmmmmm....
CASHEW (Seed) BUTTER MUFFINS:

Ingredients:
2 Cups of Cashew Butter (you can get the cashew and soak/dehydrate/grind with olive oil or you can purchase from this company: Artisana)
1 Cup of mashed butternut squash (you can buy, cook, and mash or you can purchase from this company: Farmer's Market ) (some of their products have sugar, so still read that label)
3 Eggs
1/2 cup of honey 
1/2 stick of melted butter
1 teaspoon of baking soda
(any additional nut, fruit, vegetable you want to chuck in there)


Directions:

I use a food processor, but use what you can:
1) Start that butter melting (no microwaves!!)
2) Mix eggs, cashew butter, honey, and butternut squash
3) Pour in the melted butter and blend again
4) Put in the baking soda and blend again
5) Optional, add something you want in your muffins!
6) Pour in muffin cups (I use the ones from whole foods that are recycled)
7) Put in oven which should be heated a little below 350 (for my oven)
8) take anywhere from between 15-20 minutes.

VOILA, HAPPINESS!

This recipe is based off the general bread recipe given in "Breaking the Vicious Cycle"

Happy lunch! Stir fry with a side of cashew bread toast

Onion soup

Sometimes a dish works out at the last moment just as you feel like
you're going to have to suck it up and eat it. For instance, I thought
it was a great idea to have onion soup. I was too lazy to cut the
onion very much, so it ended up being this ugly soup with big chunks
of onion and squash. Well, my friend the blender rescued my dish and
won my heart, because now the soup I couldn't eat two hours ago...
gourmet!!
Ingredients:
Chicken stock/broth
Chicken, chicken livers and hearts
Acorn squash
A BIG white onion
Garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking route: crockpot

Yeah my raw milk kefir worked!!!

Quick Update

Just a quick update, I will be more active on here once I recover.

So the bad symptoms got me to the place where I said, GAPS here I come. I started on the intro on Saturday. There are some awesome places to get food here in Tulsa. If I wanted I could just buy fish stock from Bodeans Seafood Market for super cheap.  I was feeling pretty good and then I was insanely emotional, crying over everything. "Die-off" is certainly a new sensation that I'd prefer to be without. Sunday morning, I was fine, but I looked at my tongue in the morning and had a raging cause of Oral Thrush, aka Candida Albicans. So I went to the store to get probiotics, because I don't yet have the BioKult, the recommended probiotic for GAPS (they are coming through amazon). Once taking many of those I felt better....until there was night time. UPDATE 6/13: Biokult has hidden sugars if you are sensitive. For me it was a no go.  Right before bed I started feeling nauseated, my abdomen was gurgling, and I straight up had a fever. This morning the bathroom and I had a reunion of which details should not be discussed openly, and I again felt feverish. Today has not been the best in my record of "fabulous vitality days", but it has shown me how much I really needed to do this.

The GAPS diet is all about killing the bad guys, but also really emphasizes restoring the good guys through broths and fermented foods. I've made my first beet kvass, which is rather tasty for something that contains beets, garlic, and whey protein.

All in all, I'm feeling good about going down this road, despite its difficulty. I know now that it is very true that it must get worse before it gets better. I'm grateful for all the information on the interweb where people have discussed their "die-off" symptoms so I know that this is normal.


What I have learned to do to fight the yeast is:
Probiotics
Hold yogurt in my mouth for a minute (it's crazy, it sticks to the yeast- it was like Braveheart in my mouth!)
Oil of Oregano
Olive Leaf Extract
S. Boulardii (another type of yeast that fights the might C.A.)

I've been updating my links as I do research so that there is more linkage goodness in one place. I found two places to get supplements. I'm very intrigued with Dr. Ron's supplements that are additive free. I was concerned about their multi-vitamin because it contained Boron (Aspartate) which is the same thing as Aspartame. They called me back within 2 hours and explained that it was a very low dosage and was put in the multi to prevent osteoporosis. They also told me that it was from a natural source that doesn't cause the problems that the synthesized molecules do. Quality company. I'm definitely buying my Fermented Cod Liver Oil from them (also recommended supplement for GAPS diet to heal the GI lining). I'll post if the Multi is legal. I've written them an email requesting the information if it is or not.

Tasty Way of Taking Oils

One of the important things I learned this week was that we must take supplements during the time that we are on this diet to properly heal the gut. In the GAPS diet, one of these supplements is Cod Liver Oil, because of it is plentiful in Vitamin A (it is also very high in Vitamin D). The first time I took it, which was straight from the spoon, was a slightly icky moment.

When I was speaking with the woman with 140 different food allergies, I mentioned that perhaps one of the reasons things weren't getting better for her (along with the fact that she was not on the correct diet) was that she wasn't supplementing with gut healing remedies. When I brought up Cod Liver Oil, her eyes got quite wide and she said, "Oh yes, I just can't take that, it's really gross."

Well if you know me, you know I'm generally a no excuses type girl. Where there's a will there's a way; Fight fire with fire, and etc. So I masterminded a remedy for the faint of palate.

I thought first, perhaps I could mix it with something delicious or just have a strong chaser. But then, I went back in the noggin' where the chemistry info is stored and picked out this simple and yet effective truth: Oil will float on water.

So I took out my handy dandy shot glass, my freshly squeezed OJ, and my rather untasty supplements. I also take Vitamin E by way of Sunflower Oil, so I put a dose of that in as well.

First pour a bit of OJ, then follow it by the doses of oils. Swig it back and it naturally has just the taste of orange juice (or whatever juice you choose). So simple!

 

  Update: Since I have been on the GAPS diet, I am unable to drink orange juice (at the present time). Any one on the intro will not be able to drink any type of fruit juice or vegetable juice. Using water as a base works just as well with oil supplements like cod liver oil. The only time you have to have some type of chaser is when what you're slinging back is water soluble (like grapeseed extract)/ JUST DO IT! motto is all I can help with there. Also, I have found fermented cod liver oil from Dr. RON's that helps take out the sting. My favorite is the Arctic Mint. Be careful, not all the flavors are legal!

Update: subtlety and there is a reason for everything

Subtlety seems to be a repeating lesson for me, but always a good lesson to remember. I had been having the return of many symptoms: fatigue, moodiness, and constipation from eating the illegal beet chips.I didn't realize it was affecting me. So many on the server have these tremendous reactions to the wrong food, but I either have a GI issue or it's lost in the details. It's partially why I'm grateful that I was introduced to the diet, because before, I didn't have gross reactions to sugar or potatoes, but now I'm able to see their true effect on my system. I'm also really grateful to have this blog and to have people that read it. Without that text message, letting me know I'd made a mistake, I would have trudged through a few more weeks not understanding the return of my symptoms.

I let my guard down on making sure to check the ingredients. Mainly because my husband thought of the beet chips that we had eaten previously to the diet and thought it would be a good snack for me. He asked the whole foods lady and she had told him that it was just beets and salt. So when he told me that, I just believed without asking if he had looked at the label. All good lessons, all very good.

Lastly, I'm quite grateful for this incident because it made me look a little more into things and I think I will be better off for the knowledge I gained from it.

I was at a party this Saturday night and met a woman who was allergic to 140 foods and still feeling really bad. When I told her about this diet she was very happy. When I relayed that I wished more medical practitioners knew about it, she said that she was happier to know it the way she was learning about it. She said that things happen for a reason and before she wouldn't have been ready to hear it.

This lesson will also end with me finding a dehydrator. Because I can no longer live without beet chips!!!! If you know of a good brand, please let me know.

As my momma says, "In every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better."

BEET CHIPS are NOT LEGAL

So I just found out that the beet chips at whole foods are not legal at all. They contain Dextrin. My sincere apologies.

Update, GAPS, etc.

So this might have been coming all along, but I'm glad that it came now when I was more prepared for it. Wow, I realize that might sound like dark foreshadowing, but honestly this is a happy post. I've been feeling a lot better these days with my only remaining symptoms being a foggy brain, occasionally fatigued (but not at all the fatigue I used to have), and maybe a smidgeon of moodiness. I'm on stage 2ish on the diet. I found that several things I had been eating that are legal are off the list for me for a little while: broccoli, green beans, speghetti squash, and artichokes.

I inquired on the server if anyone recognized a pattern to these foods, as I have learned that many foods have different proteins that give people troubles. I will quickly mention the glorious pieces of information came back to me through being a part of the server. One lady, told me to really experiment with brands/types of the food that I'm having trouble with, up to the time of day, etc. She gave me great hope that most legal foods could be incorporated later and encouraged me to systematically identify when the food is okay versus not. Another suggested I may have trouble with fructans (not the same as fructose apparently) which I will have to look up. The last advice I was given is that every three months or so you get a flare, I think because of die off. In this time things that were fine may not be okay for awhile, etc. So this experience is very dynamic and to be aware of that part. It goes along perfectly with one of the hardest Buddhist tenets for me, the tenet of non-permanence. However, since there seemed to be no true answer to my question, I decided to expand my horizons and look further into things.

Another event was the book Nourishing Traditions that a friend let me borrow. It's like crack to me. I love reading it and finding out even more about the nutrition of foods and particulars about types of fats, carbs, and vitamin and minerals. The food sensitivities section is especially interesting. In this section, the author talks about different types of sensitivities outside of just gluten and diary, but those with adrenal issues, thyroid issues, trouble with nightshade plants, so on and so forth. It only is about two paragraphs in length, just a huge tease, but it inspired me to want even more information. I want to understand why the legal foods I'm eating are giving me problems outside of the fact that the diet must be "personalized".

Lastly,  I spoke with my father who is an M.D. about one of my clients that started on this diet. I was trying to figure out why she was having some issues at the beginning of the diet. What he did offer was that yogurt may not be enough probiotics when in this situation.

So I looked on the Weston A. Price Foundation site and found a large article on food sensitivities. It went into the GAPS diet. It looks like it incorporates just a bit more into SCD. I think it's time for something a bit more. More cultured and fermented foods, more specific supplements for my condition, and more scientific knowledge at my finger tips.

Let's face it, a scientific mind needs to understand the science behind things and figure out patterns that arise. But most importantly this scientific mind needs to claim victory over this self-experimentation through intelligent choices. Follow me, if you dare ;)

GAPS diet book

My first lactose free cheese cake (with meringue crust) BTVC pg128

So I'm unsure of how "healthy" this is for you, but it sure was delicious!

I used the recipe from the book Breaking the Viscious Cycle on pg 128.

I also used the meringue crust recipe from SCD Recipes Blog. Next time I plan to double the crust. I used a 9 inch square pan.

I'm thinking I might try to make the cream cheese in the book from my yogurt next time and use that instead of the Farmers Dry Curd Cheese. The Curd is just hard to come by and is undependable. But honestly, I don't feel that this recipe is necessary for this diet; it just allows a really nice treat. 

Next time I make this cheese cake I plan to incorporate my Cashew Caramel Recipe into the cheesecake to really reduce any notion that is healthy and simply for me to "treat" myself.  

" Gourmet Tacos" Butternut crepes filled w/ buffalo taco and topped with mango salsa

If you've been reading my blog you know that I'm pretty lazy most of the time. But last night was a totally different situation.

Premise: I made the "spinach roll ups" from the Pecanbread site a few weeks ago. They were tasty, but lacking to me somehow, even after I added the butternut squash to the crepe. I definitely felt a little mango salsa was needed.

Revelation: When I was making my list to upgrade my "too few meals" ordeal,  I remembered my old taco recipe. Now the taco recipe is highly illegal, with gluten free tacos and sweet potatoes, and store bought mango salsa w/ all kinds of sugars in it. But this was a list of change and substitution!

Determination: Changing the taco recipe to a gourmet legal meal. I'm learning that it's really all about the seasoning and how you cook the food these days. So this was my experiment. I'm happy to announce it was a success!

Filling Ingredients: 

Buffalo Meat (or any meat you want), Red Bell Peppers, Onion, Cumin, Parsley, Garlic

1) First I took a package of buffalo meat (quickly thawed in warm water---still lazy) and sauteed it in my big iron pan, with just a little coconut oil to reduce sticking.

2) While the meat started cooking I cut up 2 red bell peppers and a quarter of a yellow onion

3) I threw the veggies into the pan

4) I then took out my olive oil and put a light layer on the top of the food (the olive oil will help dissolve the spices and evenly coat the dish)

5) I then took out cumin and put A LOT on top of the oil

6) I lightly sprinkled dried parsley on the top of the oil

6) I crushed up a few cloves of garlic and stirred the whole thing

7) I covered the dish and lowered the heat so that I could prepare the mango salsa and the crepes (it also allows the juices from the veggies to come out adding another carrier for spices)
8) About 7 minutes to eating time I threw in spinach on the top and covered it again

Mango Salsa Ingredients:

Frozen Mangos, Onions, Jalepeno Pepper, Lime

1) I took frozen mangos and a little olive oil in the pot and started it around medium (b/c this burner takes forever to heat up so you may want to modify that part)

2) cut up half a jalepeno into tiny bits and threw it in

3) cut up 1/4 yellow onion and threw it in

4) As it heated I juiced half a lime and threw it in (it helps it to not stick)

5) at this point I had to lower the heat

6) When everything was soft I mashed it with a potato masher

7) voila!

Crepe Ingredients:

2 Eggs, Coconut Oil, Butternut Squash

1) In a food processor I combined two eggs, a little coconut oil, and maybe two spoonfuls of butternut squash

2) I found the griddle (which my husband had taken over and therefore it had a large layer of wood dust on it) cleaned it and set it for 405 like it said to do on the internet. This temperature was a little too high so next time I'd do it around 300-350 degrees

Now put it all TOGETHER!

Dates w/Almond Butter Snack

Girls night is a regular occurrence. Usually it's at my house, so there is plenty for me to snack on if I get hungry. But this week we had girl's night at my friend Jessica's house. Jessica is all vegetarian, and consists on mainly kale these days or at least that's what we tease her about because everytime we ask what she wants she just wants kale. I brought some snacks over, just in case I got hungry, but Jessica had so many snacks I could eat! It was wonderful because not only did I feel extremely loved and cared for by my dear friend, but she also gave me some great snack ideas! This one is definitely the winner. It's the closest thing to dessert I've come to on this diet (minus the caramels)

1) Purchase dates at your local whole foods store. I had never seen or had a date before. If you are like me the friends all told me unanimously, "it's by the strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries."

2) Cut them in half length wise (the pit is really easy to take out)

 3) Fill them with the goodness of legal almond butter

3) Tada! A two minute snack!

Easy Stir Fry

This is recipe that was inspired by a book I found on the shelf, 5 Spices, 50 Dishes: A Simple Cabbage Stir-fry pg 21. This is how I decided on my seasonings, the rest was just using what I had around.

1) I started with my big Iron pan (which is good to cook with because it adds natural traces of iron to your food)

2) I put a big hunk of coconut oil in the pan and let it melt

3) then I put in about a bag of my frozen chicken tenders

4) In another iron pan I put another hunk of coconut oil in as well as my peeled and chopped carrots

5) I added a dusting of seasoning in both pans: 

Mustard Seeds

Tumeric

Red Cayenne Pepper

6) I peeled and crushed about 5-6 cloves of garlic and separated them into the two pans

7) I then added more veggies to my veggie pan:

Chopped Cabbage

Red Bell Pepper

8) While cooking I make sure to stir the veggies around so they get coated with the spiced coconut oil

9) Combine the two into the larger iron pan when the chicken is almost all the way cooked

10) I put a lid on it and turned the heat down for about twenty minutes and it was ready to eat

Note: I took this to my dad at work. I added some butternut squash that I had already made and it tasted delicious together

Tid Bits

NUT FLOUR KEEPS
Almond blanched nut flour keeps 2-3 weeks unrefrigerated, 1 year
refrigerated, and 2 years frozen.
"GOING NUTS!"
by Stephen Byrnes, PhD. http://www.becomehealthynow.com/ebookprint.php?id=481

some info from Elaine on nuts: http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/kb/nuts.htm

Cocoa Butter "Brownies" (Stage Two)

Oh my... these are ridiculously good! I found this recipe on the Digestive Wellness Blog. Click on it for the link to the original recipe that's under Cocoa Butter Brownies as well as two more Cocoa Butter recipes. 

"Cocoa Butter Brownies
4 Tbls. melted butter or coconut oil (or 2 Tbls. each)
¼ cup melted cocoa butter (caveat: I don’t measure this, I just cut a hunk and throw in the bowl to melt! It looks to be about ¼ cup when it is liquid)
4 eggs
1 cup honey
16 oz. nut butter (I like cashew butter)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbls. vanilla extract
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 340*F

Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners (about 18-20) or grease 2) 8”x8” pans
In a large bowl, melt together the butter, coconut oil & cocoa butter. Add the remaining ingredients and, using an electric mixer, or food processor, mix well until batter is smooth & shiny. If using chopped nuts, mix in by hand. Fill muffin pans 2/3 full, or pour batter into the 2 8x8” pans.
Bake 18 – 20 minutes for muffins or 20 – 25 minutes for the 8x8” pans. Do not over bake or they will be dry.
The muffins rise nicely when baking, but fall once cooled. And remember, the chocolately taste is subtle, but there." (Quoted from Digestive Wellness)

I used 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, and a hunk of cocoa butter that I bought from the Digestive Wellness Store. I used one cup of cashew butter and 1 cup of almond butter. The 365 brand appeared legal. I am trying to cut back on my cashew butter because I read Nourishing Traditions that it has an unbalanced amount of lysine as do many legumes. The consequences of this I have not looked up yet, but will look it up in the future.

Saving Ripe Bananas

Sometimes buying bananas that are close to legal, with brown spots, is just impossible. So what we've started doing is buying big bunches of bananas while we still have some ripe ones left. This allows us to have bananas while we ripen some from the store for consumption. The ones that are on the edge of going bad I peel and half and put in a freezer bag. These are great for "ice cream" like substitutes. My favorite drink is a cup of prune juice, glutamine powder (helps w/ muscle recovery) and half a frozen banana. It's a great drink after you workout or if you feel a bit constipated. I also put them in the fridge to defrost them for banana pancakes in the morning or if I'm going to make muffins/breads with them. I usually am anti-microwave usage, but if I forget to put one out to defrost I'll throw the banana in the microwave for 30-50 seconds to defrost it right before use.

My Not so Top Secet Anymore Chicken Curry: note the dog does not come with the curry :)

I like Thai food soooooo much so I made this recipe up after another disappointing restaurant visit.

1) For this I get my favorite frozen chicken tenders out (yes there's a total lazy trend that I'm very proud of)
2) I put the chicken in a big iron pan
3) I take out my awesome, homemade almond milk and pour it in the pan. I usually fill it until the top of the tenders are poking out at me.
4) Then comes my favorite anti-inflammatory spice, tumeric, along with diced onions, crushed garlic, sage, and a jalepeno pepper cut up really small (I use gloves for the jalepeno cutting, otherwise I'm miserable for the rest of the day, because that capsaicin gets everywhere no matter how many times you wash your hands)
5) I then add my veggies of choice: generally for my curries I go with red bell peppers and carrots.
6) I cover most of it and let it cook slowly
7) I toss in spinach or kale for about five minutes before I dish it out (I only do this for individual settings, I don't put enough greens on there for left overs)
8) your done, but if you want it to be extra ridiculous in the good department add a spoonful of cashew butter.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This basis of this recipe is found in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Falon, pg 262. I changed a couple of things because I didn't have them.

1) I put a hunk of coconut oil in the pot on medium (electric) and let it melt

2) I then put in one and a half bags of frozen chicken tenders

3) I mixed the marinade in another bowl: 

1 cup Orange Juice

1 cup Lemon Juice

1 cup Vinegar (I used plain distilled)

Crushed Garlic (I used about 5-6 cloves)

Fresh ginger (I used a grate to shred it)

Red Cayenne pepper

4) I threw the marinade in the pot

5) I proceeded to throw in my veggies of choice:

Peeled and chopped carrots

Cabbage

Red Bell Peppers

6) I let it sit and simmer, covered, for a long time until all the chicken was cooked and the carrots were soft

Ta-da! Bonus: the husband loved it!

Too few meals

So I realized the other day that I was sustaining myself on two or three meals all the time. This may be okay for many, but this girl needs variety. So I went through one of Justin's cook books to get some ideas of meals I'm going to make along with my staples. The ones with the asterisks are ones I'm going to wait on for awhile until more healing occurs. I'll slowly get the recipes on this blog, but be patient with me.

* Lasagna
Chicken Pot Pie (with a chard topping is what I'm thinking)
 Chicken Curry
Buffalo Stroganoff
Butter Garlic Salmon w/ squash and a side veggie
Stirfry
Cashew Chicken Nutsauce
Shepard's Pie
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Crepes: w/ spinach roll up and my taco seasoning from old times.

Almond Milk

Here is where I got the basis of my almond milk recipe from: Oh Nuts
I don't add anything except almonds and filtered water, which is oh so delicious that I wouldn't dream of adding anything more.

I get these slivered almonds from amazon.com on subscription: LINK to Almonds.
It looks like right now they are not doing subscribe and save on them, hopefully that will return.

 There are 1 and 1/3 cups of almonds in each package. So I used to open two to get 1.5 cups of almonds, but now I am lazier and just use the one package. It works fine.

So tear open the package and put in some type of pyrex/lidded glass container. Fill the container with filtered water and set in the refridgerator for a minimum of 4 hours. You get more almond milk if you soak over night. Any more than 24 hours and you may get sick.

Drain the almonds and rinse before you use them. Then put them in the blender with four cups of filtered water. Blend for awhile to it is all homogenous.

Prepare a strainer over a large bowl (or pot). Place a cheesecloth (I use thin kitchen towels) over and into the strainer.

Pour the liquid into the cloth/strainer and put a lid on it. The majority of the almond milk will make its way out of the strainer on its own, but you can rush it if you need it quickly. Then when it's had its time to drain without force, pick up the linen and squeeze the remaining bulb to extract the last of the milk within the solid portion.

Some have said that you can use the solid in the cloth as flour if you spread it out in the oven and let it dry for awhile. I'm not in that stage yet, so I usually compost it.


Tada! Fresh, delicious almond milk. I use it in shepard's pie and chicken curry a LOT, but mainly as the milk for my teas. Enjoy!

I use this as my yogurt starter. Bought at wholefoods.