Eating foods that vibrate in harmony with themselves, our bodies and nature will help us to heal and to thrive.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Almond Flour Popcorn Shrimp

Today I found a great way to get my son to eat super-healthful coconut oil!  This fried shrimp recipe is absolutely delicious!  It does not taste coconutty, but rather quite sweet.  He loved it and filled up on protein, while getting the benefits of coconut oil.  I hope you and your kids will enjoy as well!

Ingredients:

  • small shrimp
  • 1 egg
  • almond flour
  • sea salt
  • coconut oil


Directions:

  • Warm a skillet on medium heat with enough coconut oil to coat the entire bottom with a layer a few centimeters thick.
  • Scramble the egg in a bowl.
  • Place about a cup of almond flour into another bowl with some sea salt added.  You can add more flour to the bowl if you need it depending upon how much shrimp you are making.
  • After peeling, deveining and rinsing shrimp, dip them into the bowl of egg and then into the bowl of almond flour.  Coat with almond flour.
  • Place shrimp in a single layer into the skillet.
  • Cook until bottom side is browned and then flip over and cook on the other side.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Dairy Free Creamy Strawberry Popsicle

These turned out so amazing!  And it only needs 4 ingredients!  You can vary the sweetness and amount that you make.  I made three popsicles out of the following:

7 frozen organic strawberries
1 very ripe organic banana
1/2 can organic coconut milk
2 organic medjool dates

Place all into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.  Then pour into popsicle molds.  These taste like creamy strawberry popsicles!  YUM!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Raw, Vegan Caramel Vanilla Pudding/Sauce

Wow, this is absolutely fantastic!  I had the urge for some vanilla pudding, so I made this!  I was pleased to discover that it has a wonderful caramel flavor, too!  It's so easy to make:

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 Tblspn vanilla extract
1 Tblspn melted coconut oil
2 medjool dates
1 cup water (or more if you want more of a caramel sauce consistency)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender.  Set to high speed and blend until smooth.  I used the "soups, syrups, fondue" setting on my Blentec and it was perfect.
You can add a little more water if it isn't blending well.

I liked the flavor of this pudding better right out of the blender when it was warm.  But, you could make it cold in the fridge and eat it that way, too.  This would taste incredible poured over any kind of vanilla ice cream!  You could even use it as a frosting.  Enjoy!!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Grain Free Zucchini Bread Muffins

I think that these are the most delicious grain free baked treats I have ever made or eaten!!  The recipe is not something that I created, but rather borrowed and then modified from the amazing Danielle Walker of www.againstallgrain.com  I just bought her cookbook a few weeks ago and have been making all kinds of delicious recipes!  These just take the cake, along with her grain free sandwich bread made from cashew butter.  YUM!!  So, here is her recipe, which she so graciously shares on her brilliant blog:  Against All Grain Almond Flour Zucchini Bread

I only made a few tweaks to suit our dietary needs.  If you follow her recipe, it is SCD legal,  but we do not use honey, so I used coconut sugar.  I also can't have too much fruit, so I left out the banana that her recipe calls for.  I also peeled the zucchini so the green color in the muffins wouldn't dissuade my son from trying them.  So, here is my version, and I'm sticking to it for us because I love them and my son actually and finally ate zucchini!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I added a smidge more than this)
3 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup coconut sugar (I added 1/2 and then poured some more in)
2 peeled, shredded zucchini

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  Put paper muffin cups, preferably bleach free, in a muffin pan.
3.  Combine spices, salt, almond flour, and baking soda in a small bowl.
4.  Peel and then shred the zucchini in a food processor.  Use a paper towel to soak up some of the water from the zucchini.  Don't go crazy with this because you want some of the moisture in there.
5.  Mix eggs and coconut sugar with a stand mixer.  Once frothy, add the zucchini and beat for a few seconds until combined.
6.  Add dry ingredients from bowl while mixer is on, and mix until blended.
7.  Spoon the batter into muffin cups.
8.  Bake for 25 - 30 mins until middle comes clean when toothpick or fork is inserted into the middle.


Thursday, August 1, 2013

Paleo Family Dinner - Grain Free


Just take a look at this gorgeous dinner that my mother-in-law and I prepared for our family during her visit last weekend!  High quality proteins, organic greens and veggies, and pure green smoothies and juices!  I felt so good serving this to my family!  She generously bought me this new cookbook while she was here and I have already been making creations from it like crazy!  I love it.  The food is pure and whole, the recipes are simple and they are adaptable to whatever your diet may be.

The dinner we made were the sliders (grass-fed beef) from the cookbook.  Instead of bread for the buns, we used grilled portabella mushrooms with lettuce wrapped around the outside.  I had never tasted portabellas with bison (my body doesn't do as well with beef as it does with bison) before and it was amazing, I have to say.  We grilled some peppers and onions to add to the burgers, also.  Everyone enjoyed a salad, plus a green smoothie (which is how my son always enjoys his salads!), and I had my green veggie juice.  

I so appreciate my mother-in-laws unconditional love and support of my attempts to feed my family the most health-promoting foods that I can.  She even trusted me and used coconut oil for the cooking!

Paleo Frittata - Grain and Dairy Free


Yum!  This was so delicious and so simple to make!  I got the recipe from my new cookbook, Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield.  It is amazing when you just put some simple whole foods together and they form such delicious harmony!  The all organic ingredients in this dish were: 
ground organic turkey, onion, broccoli florets, spinach, eggs (pastured), zucchini, sea salt, black pepper, basil and a little bit of coconut oil for sauteing.  That is it!  And it was great and nicely filling.  
Paleo recipes leave out cheese and milk, which is great for me because I do not do well with dairy.  I highly recommend this delicious and versatile cookbook!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Grain Free Cupcakes/Muffins

I cannot decide what to call these delicious treats!  They are sweet, so they are like cupcakes, but they aren't so sweet that you can't also call them muffins.  With the simple icing I made they are even sweeter.  And truly because they are packed with protein (almonds and eggs) they are more like muffins.  In any case, my mother-in-law deemed them "the best she's ever eaten," so I thought that made them worthy to share here!

I have also recently decided that if I am going to use sweeteners in foods, there had better be some nutritional value within them.  This is mainly why I have moved away from using agave nectar.  In this recipe, I used my absolute favorite - coconut sugar - both within and for the icing.  I also used a little bit of organic blackstrap molasses to coat the cacao nibs, since molasses is a source of minerals including calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium.


These are a variation of almond flour vanilla cupcakes that I have made from recipes I have found on blogs like Elana's Pantry and some paleo blogs.  I just thought they needed some unique originality!  
So, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 organic pastured eggs
1/4 cup of coconut oil melted - unrefined
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
little dash of sea salt
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
cacao nibs
organic blackstrap molasses

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Mix the dry ingredients together - except for the cacao nibs
Mix the wet ingredients together except for the molasses
Choose how much nibs you want to add, place them into a bowl and coat with some molasses.  Set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until lumps are gone.
Add the sweetened cacao nibs and mix in
Place into paper-lined muffin tins
Bake in the oven 20 mins or until golden brown on top

While muffins are baking, take some more coconut sugar, about 1/4 cup and place into a small pan on the stove.  Add some water, about 1/2 cup or a little more and heat over medium heat.  Stir with a spatula to reduce the water down until you have a syrupy mixture that you can spread onto the muffins. It will be a bit sticky, but so yummy and so good.  Coat the tops of the muffins while they are still warm and you are finished.  

As with any recipe you can tweak the sweeteners to your liking.  I found that they weren't sweet enough for my taste until I added the icing and then they instantly became delicious!  But, you could always use stevia or no icing at all if you don't love sweet flavors, and then they would be more like muffins after all.  

I used cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips again for the nutritional value and to avoid added refined sweeteners and other ingredients.  Cacao nibs are pure forms of chocolate providing all of those great antioxidants.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Green Smoothie Popsicles


These are awesome!!!  It is so hot during the summer and I don't want to give my son anything sugary or even more juice for a popsicle since he already drinks a green juice or smoothie everyday.  So, I froze his regular smoothie and he loved it!!!

Ingredients I used (all organic):
Spinach
Banana
Apple juice
Frozen mango
Little bit of orange juice

You only need enough liquid for it to blend smoothly. This mix of fruits is also good without the apple juice.  Just add some water instead.

Really, you can use whatever fruits you want. You cannot taste the spinach with the fruits!  I may sneak a little wheatgrass powder in next time, too.

Directions:
Blend all together until smooth

Pour into popsicle holders and freeze

If you have some favorite mixes of ingredients, please share in the comments.  I have already heard someone mention pineapple, peach and spinach - YUM!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Healthy Strawberry Milk

This is not the strawberry milk I grew up drinking!  This is actually made from real milk and strawberries!  My son absolutely loves this and it is so simple to make.

My son also loves drinking any kinds of smoothies with a straw.  Using plastic straws was really bothering me because of the waste and the chemicals in the plastics.  But, then I found a glass straw (pictured) at our local health food store!  My son says that it tastes better, too.

Ingredients:
About 1 cup of any kind of milk.  We used goat milk here.  This is also amazing with almond milk.
1 ripe banana
5 or 6 frozen strawberries

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!


Friday, April 5, 2013

Easy Healthy Chocolate

Who knew that making a chocolate bar could be so easy and so healthy?  Well, I do now!  Three simple ingredients is all that it takes:
1.  cacao powder
2.  coconut oil
3.  coconut crystals (coconut sugar)**

You have to make this according to your taste preferences.  If you want more bitter chocolate, add less sweetener, if you want it sweeter, then add more.

Directions:
Depending on how much you want to make, melt coconut oil over low heat in a pan.  I used about 3 big scoops to make this.  Then, add coconut crystals to your taste and stir.  You do not need to have them melted or dissolved.  When you freeze it, it will still taste good.  Add some cacao powder, again to your taste.  When you have it the way that you like it, simply place into a glass or plastic container, cover and place into the freezer.  When it is frozen, take it out and give it a few minutes to get softer and then cut or break and enjoy.  

**You can add other sweeteners to this.  You could use agave nectar or even stevia.  The stevia gives a more bitter flavor, but some people really like it.  Experiment and find what you like.  It's worth the effort to have a chocolate that you can feel good about giving to your kids and yourself!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Grain Free Almond Flour Muffins

Wow, these were great!  I saw "were" because they didn't last very long - all three of us gobbled them up!  If my son and husband like them, then everyone will probably like them.  I was looking for a recipe for some kind of muffin that my son would like because he needs soft things to eat as he has so many loose teeth right now.  It's hard to please him with baked goods, and he doesn't really like sweet stuff.  So, these were perfect.  Here's the link to where I found them online:

http://www.janssushibar.com/savory-almond-flour-muffins-revisited/

They are savory, kind of tasting like cornbread.  I was pleased that they even taste good cold after being in the refrigerator.  The addition of a little bit of tapioca flour helps with the density of the almond flour, making it more palatable.  I didn't have any potato starch, by the way, but they were still great!  Hope your family enjoys them as well!  And a special thank you to Jan, who created the recipe!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Eat Right For You - What I Have Learned From Using 10 Special Diets

Today I made this homemade, organic almond milk not because I follow a raw diet, but because it is healthful, delicious, and good for me!  I'm going to do something different on this blog today, as I feel very inspired to share the following information.  Over the last ten years, I have learned so much about health and nutrition, partially through the special diets I have used for myself and my family.  Each one does not create a picture of balance and health within itself, but each one has taught me very valuable information that I needed to know in order to create the balance and thriving that I strive for in my life and for my family.  So, I'm going to go through them here and succinctly share what I have learned that benefits me in my life now.  Perhaps it could help you, too!

1.  Allergy and Sensitivity Elimination and Rotation Diets
This is really important because as long as we are consuming foods, which are resulting in an inflammatory response from our immune systems, we are hurting our bodies.  Be sure to find out if you or your child is allergic or sensitive to certain foods and remove them completely (do not cheat and sneak it sometimes) from your and their diets.  There are ways to heal these allergies and sensitivities, which my son and I have done, which allow for you to bring them back into your regular diets.  Even though they do not cause anaphylaxis, sensitivities are just as important as allergies.  Continuing to consume foods, which cause a sensitive reaction within, damages the body over time and causes discomfort, illness, and other significant problems.  Medicating for these symptoms while continuing to eat the foods causing harm is only damaging your body and your ability to live to your highest potential.

2.  Gluten Free
Another very important one.  Here is what everyone needs to know, especially those who live in the United States.  Wheat has been so hybridized over time here in order to produce that fluffy, sweet flavor and texture we all love in bread, that it literally contains 50% more gluten than it used to.  This extreme increase in gluten leads to a major inflammatory response within the body.  The results have been connected to autism, ADHD/ADD, depression, obesity, diabetes, eczema, anxiety, autoimmune disorders and chronic pain conditions to name a few.  This high gluten also contributes to nutritional deficiencies, also seen in the above conditions.  Whether you have a gluten allergy or sensitivity, whether you have celiac disease or autism, if you live in the United States, do not eat gluten containing grains.  It is just the wise thing to do knowing the truth about it and the negative, inflammatory effects it has upon the body.  Although the worst thing to eat is bleached white flour (yes, they do use bleach and numerous other chemicals to make it look and taste like this), even whole grain or sprouted gluten containing grains have been hybridized and still contain all of that high percentage of harmful gluten.

3.  Casein Free and Goat Milk
Some people have a really hard time digesting and processing casein, or the protein found in dairy products.  Many children who experience autism, ADD/ADHD, asthma and allergies are allergic or sensitive to casein.  However, some people can more easily digest goat milk than cow milk, which is the case with my son.  I learned about goat milk while we were doing the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet).  The protein that many people who are allergic to in cow's milk is not present in human or goat milk.  Also, the fat is more easily digestible in goat's milk because of it's composition.  (You can read about it more, just search for "goat milk easier to digest" on google)  There are even more essential fatty acids in goats milk than cow's milk.  Goats are usually not treated with the extreme amount of hormones and medications that cow's are subjected to, as well.  If you do consume dairy sourced from cows, make sure that it is organic (see the section on chemicals below) and grass fed/pastured.

4.  Sugar Free
Sugar is a toxic substance to the body.  It is connected to many adverse health conditions.  Children who experience ADHD/ADD, autism, allergies, obesity, diabetes, or asthma must be kept away from sugar, especially refined, white sugar.  In the United States, a large proportion of the sugar in processed foods and on the shelves in grocery stores is made from sugar beets, which are genetically engineered.  This provides a double whammy of sorts - the toxic reaction in the body from the sugar itself, plus the added toxicity of the GMO component.  Eating sugar (even fructose in fruits) also promotes the overgrowth of candida in the body, which can lead to a whole host of undesirable health conditions.  Of course, high fructose corn syrup is just about the worst thing you could consume considering that it is most likely from GMO sourced corn and it contains such a high level of damaging fructose in a concentrated form.  HFCS is in most processed drinks and foods today.  Choosing artificial sweeteners instead is not a viable option in creating thriving health.

Overall, stay away from processed sugar and even evaporated cane juice.  There are alternatives such as coconut crystals, stevia, xylitol (processed and watch out for GMOs in it from corn), maple syrup, and agave nectar.

5.  Grain Free - SCD, GAPS, Paleo Diets
When we did the SCD/GAPS diet, I learned about eating grain free.  At first, it was so confusing and difficult for me to even grasp the concept of it because I was a vegan who ate a LOT of grains.  But, once I got the hang of it, I could see the benefits.  When you cut out all grains (i.e. corn, rice, wheat, rye, amaranth, barley, millet, etc) you are left with using flours like coconut and almond.  These make delicious and super protein-packed baked goods.  For anyone who is experiencing any conditions linked to leaky gut, getting the grains (and the sugars) out is essential for healing and wellbeing.  In her book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Natasha Campbell McBride, M.D. talks a lot about this concept.  As there are little tears in the gut caused by toxins and medications, the larger molecules of the grains can sleep right through the walls of the intestines and into the blood stream.  Here they cause an inflammatory reaction within the body, whose immune system is trying to get rid of these invaders.  The food is supposed to move directly through the digestive system, not go back into the body.  When gluten molecules reach the brain, we see the numerous problems our children are suffering from today.  Also, be aware that new studies have shown high levels of toxic arsenic in rice, especially that grown in the U.S.  Going grain free challenges us to look for alternative possibilities and solutions, something I always find exciting!

6. Chemical Elimination
I learned about this through using the SCD Diet and when I was researching the Feingold Association information to help my son.  Once we made the switch to eating only organic foods - eliminating all pesticides, artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners, GMOs, MSG, and artificial colors and flavors we never went back.  This is just good, common practice for all of us.  These chemicals are toxic to the body no matter your age or health condition, and it is important for us to get them out of our diets.  In addition, processed foods and fast foods contain numerous chemicals not listed on labels, so it is best to completely avoid consuming these foods.  Meats and dairy in the United States contain hormones, antibiotics, and numerous other chemical medications and this is not listed on labels, so only eat organic of these foods.  Corn, soy, zucchini, Hawaiian papaya, sugar, cotton, wheat, canola (rapeseed) and potatoes are sources of GMO crops.  If you live in the United States or somewhere else that does not limit the planting of these, or allow for them to be labelled on packages, ONLY eat organic of these foods to avoid these toxins.

7.  Ketogenic Diet
We used this for my son when he was experiencing petit mal seizures.  We saw immediate improvement in him, however, we also immediate weight gain.  It just was not a healthy way to eat.  However, what I took away from it was learning the importance of balancing a meal or snack.  So, if you are going to eat something that is sweet, a fruit, or a grain, make sure to eat something with good fats and protein along with it.  As I have observed, kids in schools would benefit from eating more balanced snacks overall.

8.  Low Oxalate
This is a diet that can be helpful for certain symptoms and conditions, but in my experience it does not really seem to heal.  For some, removing oxalates found in certain plant foods from the diet can eliminate pain and emotional imbalances.  However, doing only this without further healing and balancing the body can lead to nutritional deficiencies (dark leafy green veggies contain very high amounts of oxalates and are not allowed on the diet) and recurrence of symptoms.  In fact, for my own pain of vulvodynia, the low oxalate diet is often recommended, having proven to provide relief to many women.  However, it does not heal the problem, and you are stuck eating a less than balanced diet for the rest of your life.  Also, in my personal experience, it did not seem to heal what was at the bottom of the emotional disturbances I was experiencing as well.

9.  Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw Diet
This is really a point of contention for me.  Up until two weeks ago, I had been a vegetarian for 23 years, beginning in my freshman year of college.  I loved being a vegetarian.  I did it for several reasons:  first, because I love animals, second because it's good for the earth, and third because I believed it was the best thing I could do for my health.  I had to learn the hard way that the third reason is not cut and dry for everyone.  In my early years of being vegan, I ate a lot of processed soy and wheat because that's what I saw everyone doing.  It gives the illusion of eating meat and it has protein, so there you go!  However, I had no idea about GMOs, which account for 91% of the soy planted in the United States today.  I ate soy in every form it was available to me - milk, fake meats, edamame, tofu, tempeh, miso, I just kept eating it.  Once I learned about how dangerous this was to my body, I stopped eating soy, but this was years later.  A lot of damage had been done by then.  I worked for years to detoxify my body, but I remained a vegetarian.  In fact, the only times I was not a vegan during these 23 years was when I was pregnant and shortly after I had my son (I added some dairy and eggs and some fish), and while I was doing the low oxalate diet, which required I eat eggs to get enough protein.  Otherwise, I was vegan.

As I learned more about the raw diet in recent years, I got more and more interested in adapting my cooked veggies to raw.  I loved all that I was learning about the nutritional benefits of eating raw foods, which foods contained the most nutrition, and how to dehydrate foods to preserve nutrients.  I learned the benefits of soaking and dehydrating nuts, making my own pure nut milks, and eating raw veggies.  However, things went from bad to worse for me in following this diet for too long.  As a healer and foodie, I take really good care of myself in my daily life.  I consume only organic foods, use no chemicals in my household and body products, take no medications, consume no alcohol or drugs, and still a few months ago, I started getting really sick.  No only was I sick and in pain, but the horrible vulvodynia had returned in full force.  I knew that there was something terribly wrong and I decided to see if I could help myself through diet.  The only thing I hadn't really tried yet was eating meat.  After I did it, my pain stopped within 24 hours.  It's 2 1/2 weeks later and I am feeling stronger than ever, lifting things and doing things that I just could not do before.  I did not realize how weak I had become.

From all that I have learned about the raw diet, I have surmised that it is a wonderful, detoxifying thing for certain people to use for healing purposes, but not for the long term for most people.  Although apparently some can tolerate it and thrive with it, and I thought that I was one of them, not everyone can.  I will take with me all of that great information I learned about the nutritional value of certain foods and eating them prepared under 115 degrees, but I have had to let this diet go from my life.

10.  Acid/Alkaline Balancing Diet
This is the newest one for me and I'm loving the effects!  Did you know that a certain percentage of people cannot metabolize weak acids like fruits, honey and vinegar?  Apparently, I seem to be one of these people!  Since I have cut out the fruits and vinegar and all sweeteners, I am feeling myself truly healing.  I am working to raise my pH level from overall acid (I was shocked to see that my vegan diet had led me to a dangerously low acid state!!) to a neutral pH.  Now, I juice my veggies without adding fruit.  Doesn't taste as good, but it's what my body needs.  Whenever I eat, I make sure that I have alkalizing veggies as the majority of my meal, but I balance it with good proteins.  I recommend this book:  The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health: Restore Your Health by Creating pH Balance in Your Diet by Christopher Vasey, N.D.  He lives in Switzerland, so he recommends eating bread, by the way.  But, if you are in the United States, do not do this!

It feels good to write about some of the important things that I have learned about special diets and food.  I read about nutrition and the latest scientific research everyday.  I love to learn!  I hope that some of what I have learned along my journey can be helpful to others.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Balancing Foods

I am learning a lot right now about bringing balance to the body through food.  I have used so many different healing diets, but not a single one of them has the nutritional balance that I know is necessary for maintaining health.  So, I'm undergoing a new approach for myself right now.  This is a great book as it addresses the issue of weak acids.  I was eating so many of these - fruits, vinegar.  I think this is what really threw me off kilter.  Now that I know about how this works in the body, I feel much more empowered to heal myself more effectively.
Here is an example of a balanced meal I had today.  All organic:  Sweet potato, cooked in the crock pot, topped with coconut oil and a little sea salt.  Raw spinach salad and hard boiled egg, topped with olive oil, oregano, basil, garlic and a little sea salt.  
Lots of alkalizing foods, good and beneficial fats, and a little animal protein.  I felt really good after I ate this food.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Avocado Egg Salad

YUM!  This was so delicious!  This is a balanced acid-alkaline recipe!

Ingredients:
2 hard boiled eggs (organic, free range)
1 avocado
2 stalks celery
olive oil
basil
sea salt

Cut up the eggs, avocado and celery and place into a bowl.
Pour olive oil over it as much as you want.  I was pretty generous.
Sprinkle on some dried basil, and sea salt
Mix together and enjoy!

Grain Free Coconut Flour Bread

Yum and hooray!  This delicious grain free bread was shared with me by Laura Lehrhaupt of http://www.bewelllaural.com/  

Here is the super simple recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups coconut flour
1 cup ghee (I used 3/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup goat butter)
12 eggs (Look for organic, free range)
2 tbsp agave nectar (I used coconut crystals.  If you are avoiding sweeteners, use stevia)
1 tsp unrefined sea salt

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine coconut flour, ghee, eggs, agave and sea salt together.  Mix all the ingredients together until they form a smooth paste with no clumps.  Grease a loaf pan.  Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for 40 mins.  Note: I actually baked mine a little bit longer than this.

And, as Laura reminds us:  Enjoy with something GREEN!!
This keeps your body's ph in balance.
Thank you, Laura!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Spinach Popcorn

Look at the brilliant creation my son came up with so that he could get his greens in and still have something yummy that he likes to eat.  This is air-popped organic popcorn with some olive oil and sea salt and pieces of organic spinach thrown in.  He actually really enjoyed tearing up the spinach and adding to his bowl.  He went through and ate all of the little green pieces before digging into the popcorn!  This is a kid who does not like to eat any veggies!  And to think that I almost told him no when he came up with the idea!  Who eats spinach with popcorn, I thought?  But, hey, maybe more people would benefit from doing it.  :)

Monday, February 18, 2013

Low Oxalate Egg Salad

Yummy and so easy and quick!

Ingredients:
2 hard boiled eggs
half a package of frozen peas, cooked and water drained
mayonaise or Earth Balance Mindful Mayo
sea salt

Directions:
Chop the eggs
Mix with a spoonful of mayo
Dash of sea salt
Mix in the peas

Enjoy!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Grain Free Coconut Flour Pancakes

I have had some pain flare ups, so I'm back to the Low Oxalate Diet.  This time I'm doing things differently than I did when I used it a few years ago.  This time I know a lot more about nutrition!  Here is my treat for this morning.  To my delight, my son loved these, too!  I found the recipe here at Wellness Mama.  Of course, mine did not turn out perfectly round or even that beautiful, but they tasted great and served their purpose!

Ingredients:
5 eggs
1 cup of applesauce
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
cinnamon to taste
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and let sit while skillet heats up.
The batter was really thick, but they still cooked fine.  You may have to spread them out after you put them onto the skillet.  Mine did not ever bubble, but I just kept checking them and turning them when they looked ready.

Acai Superfood Bowl

This is so easy and so full of nutrients!

Here is all you have to do:
Mash one ripe banana in a bowl
Sprinkle in some cinnamon and some acai powder
Mix together
Add some blueberries and broken pieces of walnuts
Mix together again.

Enjoy!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Grain Free Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

YUM!!  All three of us - my son, my husband, and myself loved these cookies - now, that's a rare thing!  So, I am sharing the recipe right away.  The wonderful, Wendy, of cookingquinoa.net, invented these.  Here is the link to her original recipe:  Quinoa-Flax Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made a few changes, so here's my vegan, gf, non-processed sugar version:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups GF flour blend (Bob's Red Mill garbanzo and fava bean flour) + 1/4 cup quinoa flour
1 cup organic quinoa flakes
1/4 cup ground organic golden flax see
1 tsp baking soda (aluminum free)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground organic cinnamon
1/2 cup melted organic coconut oil
1/2 cup organic applesauce
1 1/2 cups coconut palm sugar
2 "flax eggs" = 2 tsps of flax seeds ground and then mixed with water.  Let sit for a few minutes until egg-like consistency
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of cacao nibs mixed with some agave to coat  (I chose to do this instead of chocolate chips to avoid the processed sugar and other non-gf ingredients)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.  Make the flax eggs.
3.  Combine flours, quinoa flakes, ground flax seeds, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon.
4.  Using an electric mixer, mix together the coconut oil, applesauce, and coconut sugar.  Add the flax eggs and mix again.  Add the vanilla and reduce speed to low.  (I added a little bit of agave nectar in because I have such a sweet tooth).  Add in the flour mixture and beat until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips or sweetened cacao nibs.
5.  Drop in teaspoonful onto the baking sheets.  They are sticky, so use the parchment paper.  These cookies really spread out, so give them some room.  Bake for about 10 mins until they start to brown on the edges.  Allow to cool or they will be mushy when you try to eat them.  They are soft and wonderful once cooled.

I hope you enjoy these!  We agreed that they actually taste even better after they have been refrigerated for a few hours!
Thank you, Wendy, for sharing!!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Vegan Almond Milk Egg Nog

YUM!  Soooo good!  I found this recipe here: Incredible Smoothies  It's easy, healthy and delicious!  This is the recipe reprinted from the Incredible Smoothies website:

Ingredients:
  • 1-and-1/4 cup plain almond milk (Don’t add the vanilla or dates.)
  • 2 frozen bananas, peeled and sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • date, soaked for 10 minutes
  • dash of ground clove
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • dash of sea salt
Directions:
Start by adding the liquid to your blender (I use a Vitamix), blend on high for 20 seconds or until there are no chunks of frozen banana left. Garnish with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg if desired.

Grain Free, Vegan Brownies

This was a treat for my sweet husband and he loved them!  I found this recipe HERE from Kelly of The Spunky Coconut.  The only changes I made were almond flour instead of coconut flour, cacao powder instead of cocoa powder, and coconut sugar instead of honey.  Also, I used raw cacao nibs that I sweetened by mixing them with a bit of agave in a bowl before adding them to the top.  I'm not big on the taste of stevia, but my husband likes it and these were for him.

Gluten Free, Vegan, Grain Free Bagels

These are easy and delicious!  My son loves them!  Completely grain free and vegan, these bagels are the perfect snack or meal.  I got the original recipe from The Spunky Coconut Onion Poppy Seed Bagels & Cinnamon Raisin Bagels grain-free, gluten-free, egg-free casein-free, gfcf

My son likes them plain, though.  I only made a few changes to Kelly's recipe, which include using almond flour instead of coconut flour, almond milk instead of cashew milk, agave instead of honey, and   I used coconut oil instead of ghee.  They came out a little smushy inside, but he still loved them and that's what counts!

Raw Walnuts and Dates Snack

I call this creation, The Raw Bowl of Joy because it is just so delicious.  I have a super sweet tooth, so I don't like eating walnuts plain.   Some might find this too sweet and if so, just leave out the maple syrup.  The amounts are what you like according to your taste and how much you want to make.

Ingredients (organic):
Raw Cacao Nibs
Maple Syrup
Medjool Dates
Walnuts (previously soaked and dehydrated)

Chop the walnuts in a nut grinder or food processor.  If using a food processor, you can just add all of the ingredients together and chop up.  If not, chop the dates by hand and then add some cacao nibs and maple syrup to your liking.

Enjoy!  This is delicious, nutritious and only takes a few minutes to assemble.