This sounds like a strange combination but it is really good! This is also 100% SCD and a healthy lunch.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Almond Flour
1 egg
1/3 cup beets
Peanut butter
Boil a beet so that it is soft (I buy some that are packaged in water, so I can skip this step). Then thinly slice and place on a baking sheet with no oil. Cook at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, before they are crispy but you dont want them too soft. I used almond flour pancakes as bread. To make these scramble one egg then add almond flour (you can use almond butter too). Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste. Then cook them on a frying pan just like you would a pancake. One egg should make about 4 pieces of bread. Once your beets are ready let them cool a bit, so they get a little tough around the edges. Put peanut butter on warm almond bread and add beets. DELICIOUS!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Garlic, Veggie Quiche
This is simple but good. Cut and peel half of a carrot and half a zucchini. Place in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. This helps them get soft, otherwise they will be crunchy in your quiche. chop one garlic clove and 1/8 of a cup of onion. Mix all of the ingredients together and add two eggs. Pour into a well greased oven safe dish. Top with your favorite cheese (I used Brie) and bake at 400 for 15 minutes and you have a delightful dinner!
Eggplant compote with butternut squash curls
Ok this looks like dog food-- BUT its not and it tasted really good.
Ingredients:
1/2 med. Eggplant
Whole Butternut squash
1 tablespoon Garlic
1 tablespoon almond meal
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Start with half an egg plant, cover with olive oil, salt and pepper, then bake until the center is soft. Scoop out center of egg plant leaving purple shell. Combine eggplant (the soft part) with one clove of garlic, table spoon of almond flour and cook like a pancake. This wont hold it's form but will help cook the garlic into the eggplant and make it thicker.
For the butternut squash: cut very thin slices and bake at 350 with very little olive oil. After about 20 minutes they will become crispy. Lay flat on plate and place the eggplant compote on top!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Beet, Celery root and Squash chips!
When i get back to the US the 2 things I am buying are a juicer, and a deep fryer. Yesterday I made some chips using beets, celary root and butternut squash. I sliced them very thinly and put them in a pan with about half an inch of sun flower oil. Make sure you over the peices with the oil and that the oil is hot enough. Cook each peice for about 3 minutes, the beets may take longer. If you dont cook them enough they will be mushy and not crunchy-- so use your judgement. Once you take them off the pan, place on paper towel, to remove some grease and add sesonings. The best thing is that you can make these go with any meal by choosing your falvoring. I used sage, salt and pepper so it would go with my chicken soup. You could use rosemary, or spicy peppers for somthing different. Now all i need is some gaucamole and then I can make nachos :-) I'll save that for next week!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Coconut Latte
As part of the Specific Carbohydrate diet I am not allowed to eat lactose or soy. This has been one of the harder parts of the diet for me, because it is hard to find a substitute. The diet works in steps, so until now I have not been able to introduce coconut or coconut milk. Last night I tried coconut milk for the first time. It must be pure 100% coconut milk with no additives. I got wonderful idea...
I have worked hard to get used to drinking coffee black and now do it on a daily basis. Being in Paris is does make me a little sad to see all of the yummy lattes being drank. SO I decided to try to make a Coconut milk latte. It was DE-Licous! I used a french press with more coffee grinds and only poured 3/4 of the way full with water. Then I heated up my coconut milk in the microwave. There was a 3:1 ratio of Espresso to Coconut milk. I added a little honey and some cinnamon and it was really great!
Coconut milk is really good for you despite the bad name it has gotten for having high fat content. The fat is "good" fat, meaning it is easily converted into energy and therefore is not converted to fat or contribute to high cholesterol. Additionally it has a high level of anti-biotic properties and is often used in treating chronically ill patients with diseases like AIDS and Cancer. SO drink up!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Get Educated
When you know better, you do better. These are some of the sources that are the base of my nutrition ideologies. I strongly recommend doing some reading-- it changed my life, and can change yours.
Michael Pollan: In defense of food
This book really opened my eyes. It opens your eyes to how lost American food has become. He states that most of what we eat is "food like substances"-- and not actually food. His advice is simple and can easily be applied to anyone's life. Pollan is one of my heroes and teaches at my Alma Mater: Berkeley. He guest lectured one of my classes before I knew who he was and now I wish i had a time machine so I could adequately swoon :-) Check him out on Amazon.
Mark Sisson: Primal Blue Print
His primal diet eliminates grains, sugars, and is very low carb--high protein and fat. His diet is really outlines my daily eating. His philosophy aims to get back to what we ate as cavemen, siting that this is our body's natural way of surviving and can return us to optimal health. His book Primal Blue Print is available at Amazon. He has a great website too: http://www.marksdailyapple.com
Elaine Gottschall: Breaking the Vicious Cycle
A true trail blazer. After her daughter became seriously ill with U.C. she came to be in touch with Dr. Haas. Dr. Haas to this day is the only Dr to dedicate his work to studying diet's effect on those with G.I. diseases. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), is renowned for healing the worst cases of Chrons, U.C., Celiac and many other G.I. disturbances (myself included). If you are an incurable I strongly recommend it. Google "SCDiet" and you'll find great online sources-- but reading the actual book is a must!
Michael Pollan: In defense of food
This book really opened my eyes. It opens your eyes to how lost American food has become. He states that most of what we eat is "food like substances"-- and not actually food. His advice is simple and can easily be applied to anyone's life. Pollan is one of my heroes and teaches at my Alma Mater: Berkeley. He guest lectured one of my classes before I knew who he was and now I wish i had a time machine so I could adequately swoon :-) Check him out on Amazon.
Mark Sisson: Primal Blue Print
His primal diet eliminates grains, sugars, and is very low carb--high protein and fat. His diet is really outlines my daily eating. His philosophy aims to get back to what we ate as cavemen, siting that this is our body's natural way of surviving and can return us to optimal health. His book Primal Blue Print is available at Amazon. He has a great website too: http://www.marksdailyapple.com
Elaine Gottschall: Breaking the Vicious Cycle
A true trail blazer. After her daughter became seriously ill with U.C. she came to be in touch with Dr. Haas. Dr. Haas to this day is the only Dr to dedicate his work to studying diet's effect on those with G.I. diseases. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), is renowned for healing the worst cases of Chrons, U.C., Celiac and many other G.I. disturbances (myself included). If you are an incurable I strongly recommend it. Google "SCDiet" and you'll find great online sources-- but reading the actual book is a must!
How come all the wierd ingredients?
So how come you use these ingredients?
Sugar may possibly be American's greatest health danger-- and I'm not exaggerating.
Refined white sugar makes it more difficult for our bodies to absorb the minerals and vitamins it needs. The body requires excess B vitamins to metabolize and detoxify sugar. Sugar is a major cause inflammation, it spikes blood sugar, is addictive causes obesity, diabetes and other disorders. Sugar depresses the immune system. Refined white sugar may be converted to saturated fat. Sugar may contribute to candidiasis and aggravate some types of asthma, allergies, and arthritis.Other than the sweet taste, sugar does nothing but ruin your body...so what do we use!? Wellll keep reading!
Why Stevia rules:
Stevia is calorie and carbohydrate free, 100% natural, has no effect on blood sugar, which making it perfect for both weightloss and diabetics. Stevia is also the approved sweetener for those with Candida problems because it does not ferment in the intestines and does not feed yeast. Stevia can have a mild after taste which is why I often combine it with a small amount of honey.
Why I prefer Honey:
Being a natural sweetner, it is an ideal replacement for table sugar and even syrup.Honey has 64 calories per tablespoon and table sugar has 46. True, it has more calories than the sugar. However, honey is naturally more sweet than sugar- so you end up needing less. When sugar cane is processed to become the white table sugar we all know and love, all of the inherent nutrition is stripped away. The sugar loses all of those vitamins, proteins and good-for-you enzymes. Since there is no processing for honey, it retains all of that. Honey is a great source of antioxidants, potassium, calcium, minerals and 22 amino acids. Honey also has a much lower Glycemic Index than sugar and is more easily digested, letting your body absorb the nutrients.
Beans instead of flour?
Yes! Navy beans, once pureed, have a similar consistency to that of flour with added moisture. Beans also have less calories, more fiber, more vitamins, and more minerals. Overall I really cannot imagine anyone choosing flour over beans-- nutritionally there are no benefits of flour. I recommend soaking beans for 24 hours before using them. This breaks down some of the starch that may cause GI troubles for some.
Almond butter too?
Almond butter is such a great cooking ingredient. It cooks up nice and fluffy, has great healthy fats, minerals, vitamins and fiber. Some are worried about the calorie content, but per slice or muffin...etc there isn't a huge difference between calories in flour and nut butter. Besides, how I cook you'd probably still net out with lower calories since I don't use sugar. I have been moving towards nuts over beans because of lower carbohydrate values and also their toxic lectins which can cause health problems, interfere with a healing gut and some even siting that they cause auto-immune diseases. This of course is inconclusive, but I will proceed with moderation-- thus more Almonds!
Coconut Flour pretty cool!
Coconut flour is great also! It contains more fiber than any other flour and is hypoallergenic. The saturated fat in coconut is not unhealthy because it is a medium chain fat-- which means it is immediately converted to energy, unlike long chain saturated fat which can be unhealthy. Actually in coconut flour's processing the fat is removed from the coconut-- yes REMOVED FAT. It would be pretty hard to cook with it if all the fat was there, so really its just a bunch of fiber!
Sweeteners
Why Sugar is the devil:Sugar may possibly be American's greatest health danger-- and I'm not exaggerating.
Refined white sugar makes it more difficult for our bodies to absorb the minerals and vitamins it needs. The body requires excess B vitamins to metabolize and detoxify sugar. Sugar is a major cause inflammation, it spikes blood sugar, is addictive causes obesity, diabetes and other disorders. Sugar depresses the immune system. Refined white sugar may be converted to saturated fat. Sugar may contribute to candidiasis and aggravate some types of asthma, allergies, and arthritis.Other than the sweet taste, sugar does nothing but ruin your body...so what do we use!? Wellll keep reading!
Why Stevia rules:
Stevia is calorie and carbohydrate free, 100% natural, has no effect on blood sugar, which making it perfect for both weightloss and diabetics. Stevia is also the approved sweetener for those with Candida problems because it does not ferment in the intestines and does not feed yeast. Stevia can have a mild after taste which is why I often combine it with a small amount of honey.
Why I prefer Honey:
Being a natural sweetner, it is an ideal replacement for table sugar and even syrup.Honey has 64 calories per tablespoon and table sugar has 46. True, it has more calories than the sugar. However, honey is naturally more sweet than sugar- so you end up needing less. When sugar cane is processed to become the white table sugar we all know and love, all of the inherent nutrition is stripped away. The sugar loses all of those vitamins, proteins and good-for-you enzymes. Since there is no processing for honey, it retains all of that. Honey is a great source of antioxidants, potassium, calcium, minerals and 22 amino acids. Honey also has a much lower Glycemic Index than sugar and is more easily digested, letting your body absorb the nutrients.
Flour Bases
I do not eat grains...Sometimes I will go off on a tangent-- so on this site you may see a few recipes containing corn meal or corn starch. But I always end up swaying back to my grain free ways-- I really just feel better that way. Grains are an unnecessary carbohydrate that can be very destructive for those with any bowel disease and simply empty calories for those with a healthy GI. Simply put-- there's really nothing good about them. Grains are the only food group that can be 100% removed from your diet without any nutrition gaps being formed, that alone should tell us we aren't suppose to be eating them.Beans instead of flour?
Yes! Navy beans, once pureed, have a similar consistency to that of flour with added moisture. Beans also have less calories, more fiber, more vitamins, and more minerals. Overall I really cannot imagine anyone choosing flour over beans-- nutritionally there are no benefits of flour. I recommend soaking beans for 24 hours before using them. This breaks down some of the starch that may cause GI troubles for some.
Almond butter too?
Almond butter is such a great cooking ingredient. It cooks up nice and fluffy, has great healthy fats, minerals, vitamins and fiber. Some are worried about the calorie content, but per slice or muffin...etc there isn't a huge difference between calories in flour and nut butter. Besides, how I cook you'd probably still net out with lower calories since I don't use sugar. I have been moving towards nuts over beans because of lower carbohydrate values and also their toxic lectins which can cause health problems, interfere with a healing gut and some even siting that they cause auto-immune diseases. This of course is inconclusive, but I will proceed with moderation-- thus more Almonds!
Coconut Flour pretty cool!
Coconut flour is great also! It contains more fiber than any other flour and is hypoallergenic. The saturated fat in coconut is not unhealthy because it is a medium chain fat-- which means it is immediately converted to energy, unlike long chain saturated fat which can be unhealthy. Actually in coconut flour's processing the fat is removed from the coconut-- yes REMOVED FAT. It would be pretty hard to cook with it if all the fat was there, so really its just a bunch of fiber!
