So don't hate me, but I flew by the seat of my pants again and didn't measure this experimental- I must-have-chocolate-now-or-someone's-going-down-recipe. I'll guess-ti-mate and hopefully repeat in the future for more exactness.
Chocolate may have to be kicked out soon, but since I don't know and it hasn't caused me any negative symptoms for the last six months, I went for it in my moment of weakness.
INGREDIENTS:
4-5 generous scoops of Coconut Butter (guesstimate)
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Ghirardelli)
Stevia to taste (maybe 10 drops for me)
Almond Butter (I buy Artsana) (I'm going to say I used 1/4 cup)
(without the almond butter it was sweeter, so maybe you want to stop before adding the almond butter, or maybe not. We still don't know what's responsible for the hardening)
-Heat the cocoa and the coconut butter in a pan while stirring until the coconut butter melts and mixes with the chocolate
-Add stevia drops to taste
-Add the almond butter and stir
I put it over my SCD/GAPS lactose free yogurt. It made a hardened shell that made me reminisce about that chocolate I used to pour on ice cream that would make that crispy shell:) Well I can do it without sugar, boo-yah!
I'm pretty sure if put in an greased glass jar and put in the fridge this would make a rockin' fudge, but I was WAY to impatient for that.
Enjoy!
G
UPDATE: this did not make me feel good, I think coconut butter for me is like a pure jump into sugar land. Now I'm making fudge/chocolate with carob powder, ghee, coconut oil, stevia, walnuts, and vanilla extract. I'll post that recipe soon.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
How to Make Homemade Almond Milk
Oh Almond Milk! It's so so good. But recently I've learned to make it so much better. No worries, I'm on a blogging roll, so I'll share ;)
First take your almonds (I just use a bag of blanched almonds, but I'm sure it doesn't matter that much)
1) Soak those puppies:
What to add to the mixture:
a) Almonds (1.3 cups-- in the package I use)
b) Filtered water 'till container is full
c) Grapeseed Extract (I use 10 drops) this reduces the chance for the almonds to grow mold
d) Salt (inhibits bacterial growth)
2) I use my Food Saver and seal the jar and put it in the fridge overnight or 24 hours preferably.
3) When ready to use: Wash the Almonds with new water.
4) Put those almonds in your blender.
5) Add 4 cups of filtered water and a splash of vanilla extract.
6) Blend, blend, blend, blend, blend, blend, blend 'till your ears can't take the blender no more. About 10 minutes or so for perfection.
7) Strain with a cheescloth or nut milk bag (I prefer the latter!); squeeze extra milk out.
You can dehydrate or put the almond bulk in the oven to dry it for use in baked goods. Another option is to keep it in its wet state and use it to thicken gravies. Note that if you are using it for gravies, you need to get on that project, it quickly goes bad.
Simple Green Soup
I've been GAPS and SCD for years, and I still loathe figuring out how to incorporate broth into my food. This is technically not the Candida diet, because of the red meat (buffalo) and broth is not required on this diet, but it's very soothing to ones stomach.
I already had this buffalo meat ready to go. I've decided that I'm going to stroll towards this new diet. Stress is my middle name, so in my attempts to become a Type B personality, I shall take my time and do it right.
My husband buys grass fed beef shanks (cheapest) from Whole Foods every week and makes his dish with it. Well while I was lamenting about my lame ass attempts to incorporate broth into my diet and instead let it rot in the fridge, he offered to not only give me his broth this week but make some onion soup with it.
He made the broth with the shanks in the pressure cooker, then threw onions in and cooked those down. I am using the onion soup as my base. Since I'm to work more and more RAW foods into my diet, my idea is to heat the broth up, just so that it mixes, let it cool to room temp, and then throw in the veggies. I think it worked quite well! Just pretend this is turkey or some other white meat and everybody will be happy :)
Also, I find soups the only tolerable way to eat raw garlic. I use my handy dandy garlic press and it's much more tolerable than popping a raw piece of garlic in your mouth.
Ingredients:
Broth (from your bone and meat of choice)
1 White Onions
Add whatever!
Here's what I added:
Ground Buffalo
Red Bell Peppers
Power greens cut with my herb scissors
Cilantro
Parsley
Garlic
Broccoli ( I actually put this in right away because it was frozen and helped cool down the broth)
Sometimes I add a raw egg yolk to my soups, because it makes them uber delicious, but this was already so delicious I thought I would do without.
I already had this buffalo meat ready to go. I've decided that I'm going to stroll towards this new diet. Stress is my middle name, so in my attempts to become a Type B personality, I shall take my time and do it right.
My husband buys grass fed beef shanks (cheapest) from Whole Foods every week and makes his dish with it. Well while I was lamenting about my lame ass attempts to incorporate broth into my diet and instead let it rot in the fridge, he offered to not only give me his broth this week but make some onion soup with it.
He made the broth with the shanks in the pressure cooker, then threw onions in and cooked those down. I am using the onion soup as my base. Since I'm to work more and more RAW foods into my diet, my idea is to heat the broth up, just so that it mixes, let it cool to room temp, and then throw in the veggies. I think it worked quite well! Just pretend this is turkey or some other white meat and everybody will be happy :)
Also, I find soups the only tolerable way to eat raw garlic. I use my handy dandy garlic press and it's much more tolerable than popping a raw piece of garlic in your mouth.
Ingredients:
Broth (from your bone and meat of choice)
1 White Onions
Add whatever!
Here's what I added:
Ground Buffalo
Red Bell Peppers
Power greens cut with my herb scissors
Cilantro
Parsley
Garlic
Broccoli ( I actually put this in right away because it was frozen and helped cool down the broth)
Sometimes I add a raw egg yolk to my soups, because it makes them uber delicious, but this was already so delicious I thought I would do without.
The Best Greens!
So I just want to thank my friend Cat for introducing me to Baby Kale. Who knew that you could buy kale that was smaller, less of a hassle to fit in the fridge, and that was triple washed already! Yep, I'm a lazy food nerd, but look what I found, extra time! A triple threat really: Baby Kale, Chard, and Spinach. I just wanted others to know that this exists, if you too loathe soaking Kale in Apple Cider Vinegar and then drying it, and then storing it, and before you can start to cook with it. With a pair of herb scissors, this baby can change your world.
Healthy Sugar-free, Fruit-free Popsicles
Sometimes, the Internet fails you. Could I find one recipe for popsicles that did not contain a fruit or sugar of some sort? NO. So I just made up my own. This is a work in progress, but I'm pretty pleased with my first round. When you bite in at first, you're like, what the hell is this? Then after the third bite, you're feeling pretty proud of yourself for being a sneaky health food genius.
In a blender:
2 Cups Homemade Almond Milk (I'll post my recipe for this later)
Many handfuls of Spinach (sorry I just don't measure things)
A little splash of vanilla extract
Six drops of Stevia (whole foods 365 brand) (I don't like it too Stevia'd, you may prefer more)
BLEND FOREVER, Drive EVERYONE MAD with your blending. No I'm just kidding, but my husband did ask when I would be finishing up with the blender. Probably blended for 10 minutes, but that's because my blender is no Vitamix. Someday Vitamix, you will be mine.
I then strained my concoction because I'm somewhat of a texture freak.
Pour in your designated popsicle holder, I like the stainless steel ones I got from amazon, the only store I seem to frequent these days.
Freeze 'em, eat 'em.
Candida, Parasites, and More Changes
Inspirational Picture by Mary Engelbreit
But I have a post-card on my refrigerator that keeps it in perspective. It has a fork in the road. One side says "Your Life", the other says "No Longer an Option". I can't whine or say poor me, I'm a 31 year old woman that has been sick for twelve years and be irritated by the continual vitality of others that make poor lifestyle choices. I have to deal this package of cards and be grateful for the experience, despite my tendency towards bitterness.
So I haven't blogged much, but I'm working on a graduate degree, so my time is limited. I do have a desire to give back to those seeking information as I have gotten so much information from others that took the time to blog it. As well, I selfishly want a database of all my recipes and ideas, so I'm trying to make that happen.
I've been on the SCD/GAPs diet since October 2011, so almost 2 full years now. I'm still stuck in some of the beginning stages and enough is enough already. While it remedies my symptoms, it's not healing the problem. So I looked further.
I started with a parasite cleanse. I have done this for a full month now. I saw many a worm of different shape and color come out of me, and am very glad I did it. In the meantime, I had cranberries and pineapples, both which are supposed to help get rid of parasites. I'm sure they do.
However, when I started spiraling into depression on my third week and feeling like an irritated monster, I then asked the question I do each time this happens. Where's the sugar? Oh yea, that pineapple and cranberry daily juice. That did it. Open mouth, stick out tongue, yep, there's the oral thrush, brilliant!
So now I've decided to do an elimination of candida while still staying true to a lot of the SCD/GAPS principles. I guess the lesson being, just because you're attacking one species of pathogen, does not mean others aren't lurking in their wake, ready to copulate and take over.
I bought an E-book, Yeast No More. The adverstising is a little much. I wanted to poke both of my eyes out, it was so much infomercial, so little information. Also, if you try and look for someone who says something bad about it, not to be found. I was suspicious. But at the end of the day, I thought, whatever, if it's a 40 dollar mistake, so be it. Well, I don't think it was. I haven't started the protocol yet. I have just tried to piece it together and try some different food combos. There's a lot of information, so it takes a good amount of time with a notebook jotting notes and putting things together to understand the order of everything. I also received an email from Linda Allen, asking if I had any questions. If you know me, you know I always have a question ;) She wrote me back within 24 hours. I am impressed. I've been really alone during my journey of figuring things out. Of course, there is my husband, and my physician, but when it's come to making decisions and food choices, I've had to research and experiment alone. So the recipes I blog from this point until I say differently (please no!) are going to be YEAST FREE recipes. Because I not only follow copyright law, but ethically feel it's the right thing to do, I will not be giving away the books instructions. So if it interests you, take a chance on a $40 mistake or just enjoy the recipes I come up with. I just wanted to give a little intro into why many titles will now say YEAST FREE and what this new path is for me.
Wish me luck!
G
Thursday, July 4, 2013
LINKS SCD/GAPS/Candidia Diet/ETC
Instead of filling my side bar with these I thought a nice post that I update from time to time would make it so I can keep track of my own recipes better and still keep these treasures. Enjoy!
LINKS:
LINKS:
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