Spicy carob toasted garbanzo beans

A friend's e-mail telling me she was sick with the stomach flu filled me with dread recently because I had been sitting next to her at a two-hour-long meeting just a few days earlier. The stomach flu was something I didn't need or want as I have spent the past several months getting my stomach functioning more like a normal one.

True to form, I came down with whatever was going around about a week later. The experience gave me flashbacks to the symptoms I had experienced on a day-to-day basis prior to my discovery that I had candida, a fungal overgrowth that can affect many systems in your body, including your stomach. When my stomach was still misbehaving after a week, I began to worry that it wasn't just the flu. Maybe my improvement had all been a fluke. I even experienced depression briefly until I got my head on straight and reached for some extra probiotics to get my gut back on track. A bigger dose of probiotics (50 billion) worked like a charm.

I also discovered something important about taking probiotics. Take them on a empty stomach and you'll see better results. My health care providers had always told me it didn't make any difference if you took them with food. Make sure you have the ones coated with enteric if you are taking them on a empty stomach. Enteric prevents the capsule from being dissolved before passing into the intestines.

I did find myself craving foods with a combination of salty and sweet while my stomach was screwed up. The problem is how to get that combination when you're on a low-carb diet. I came up with a bit of solution by toasting some garbanzo beans that had been tossed in spicy mix of salt, carob, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Here's the recipe.

Spicy Carob-Toasted Garbanzo Beans

Ingredients:

1 can of garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (I get the kind with no added sugar. Yes, believe it or not, they even add sugar to beans.)

1 T. toasted carob powder

1/2 T. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

dash of cayene powder

pan spray

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss the drained garbanzo beans in the spice mix to coat. Spread the garbanzo beans on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with pan spray. Toast the beans in the oven for about 20 minutes or longer. Turn the beans about halfway through. Remove them from the oven when they are dry and crunchy and have a nut-like texture. Allow the beans to cool and then transfer them from the pan to a storage container. For some added crunch, toss in 2 T. of toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds. This snack stores well in the refrigerator for up to a week as you nibble away at it.

Beet greens and tofu

My poor little beets were too crowded in my garden. It was time to do some thinning this week, and the end result was a giant bag of beet greens with teeny tiny beets. I tried to give away some but there were no takers. Everyone already had their own plethora of beet greens. So what does one do with them? I decided to try a beet green and tofu scramble. It was actually quite delicious and nutritious. The recipe follows.

But first, I want to talk about soy milk versus hemp milk. I love both of them because they are great substitutes for cow's milk which I cannot use. Both are similar in taste, texture and nutrition but soy milk wins in the category of mixing with hot liquids. If you like milk in your tea or coffee, definitely stick with soy. Hemp milk separates every time you add it to a hot beverage which tends to make your drink less appetizing. Fortunately, since I did the candida elimination protocol, I can tolerate soy again. Hemp milk works well in everything else but give me soy milk in my tea any time.

Those who are getting rid of candida, as I am, need to stick to the unsweetened versions of both which makes for a huge savings in calories. Admittedly, the unsweetened versions aren't very tasty by themselves but that's easily fixed with a drop or two of stevia.

Beet Greens and Tofu

Ingredients for one serving:

8-10 beet tops washed and chopped

Two-fifths of a block of firm tofu cut into cubes

2-3 minced cloves of garlic

1 T. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat 1-2 tsp. of olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook until softened. Toss in the tofu and stir fry until crispy. Add in the beet greens and cook just until wilted. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle on a little more olive oil.

Gluten-free panini sandwich

Candida is one tough hombre to beat but I'm hanging in there. Why? I've seen so many positive improvements in my health, both physical and emotional, since I set out to defeat candida. I have to eat low carb but I can eat so many things that I never would have thought of eating before and with no consequences. I have more energy and look and feel better than I have in years. I feel more positive about my health and the fact that I will continue to get even better.





With that in mind, I thought why not build a meal around two foods, alfalfa sprouts and cucumbers, that had been on my "no way" list prior to going on the warpath against candida. I came up with the Mediterranean sandwich with two versions, low carb and lower carb. The first, pictured above, is a gluten-free panini made with garbanzo bean flatbread and a whitefish salad. The second, below, is the same thing minus the flatbread with lettuce leaves in its place. The recipes for the fish filling and mock garlic aioli needed for the filling are below.



Mediterranean Panini Sandwich with or without gluten-free bread

Ingredients:

2 cooked whitefish filets or 1 can of water-packed tuna

1/3 cup chopped artichoke hearts (canned, water-packed)

1 T. chopped fresh chives or basil

2-3 T. mock garlic aioli (recipe below)

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

garbanzo bean flatbread (recipe at: http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/04/garbanzo-bean-flour-flatbread.html ) or large lettuce leaves

alfalfa sprouts

cucumber slices

red or green pepper slices (optional)

For garlic aioli:

Blend in food processor: 1 package silken tofu with 4-6 cloves of fresh garlic, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil, 2 T. lemon juice, 1 tsp. mustard powder

Directions:

Mix fish (either cooked and cooled whitefish or drained tuna), artichoke hearts, chives or basil, garlic aioli, salt and pepper. Spread fish mixture on one piece of either garbanzo bean flatbread or lettuce leaves. Top with cucumbers, sprouts, pepper slices. Top with another piece of flatbread and heat. Or roll over your lettuce leaf and chow down.

Garden meatballs with basil

The community garden is going strong. Since the above picture was taken, the zucchini plants have produced baby zucchinis. I'm really excited to sample a little of this and that from the garden. Veggies are my long-lost friends since my stomach got a makeover thanks to a candida cleanse. I'm eating all kinds of veggies, cooked and uncooked. I even came up with a recipe to use veggies in ground turkey meatballs. I call them "Garden Meatballs" because you can use what you have from the garden.

Garden Meatballs with Basil

Ingredients:

1 pounds ground turkey

1 cup chopped fresh basil

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 large red bell pepper chopped

1/2 red onion chopped

salt, black pepper to taste

2 T. olive oil.

Directions:

Prepare the veggies and chop finely in a food processor. Add the ground meat, salt, pepper and olive oil and mix. Shape into meatballs. Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet and cook the meatballs. Turn them carefully at first.

Serve with pasta and sauce if not eating low-carb as I am because of candida. I served them with roasted veggies which provides another opportunity to use veggies from the garden. Try other veggies from your garden in the meatballs for variety.

Starting a Community Garden and Gluten-free Thai Chicken Roll-Up

A vacant lot and a community with many people in need prompted my husband and I to start a community garden this spring. With the help of neighbors and friends, we've transformed a half-acre piece of ground that had been a weedy eyesore for years into a potential bounty of produce for the community.



It all began with a telephone call to the owners of the property who were more than happy to donate the use of their land for our project. Seeds and plants were donated by many, and irrigation water was readily available. Volunteers got most of the garden planted during a planting night. I got the job of planting pumpkin seeds as shown in the photo above. Most of our seeds are up now, and we're eager to see how much our garden produces.

I have continued my cooking experiments making garbanzo bean flour pancakes or tortillas. Practice makes sort of perfect as I was able to make several tortilla-sized pancakes to make a wrap or roll-up. I filled it with a Thai chicken broccoli slaw filling with sunbutter (in place of peanut butter) sauce. Here's the recipe.

Gluten-free Thai Chicken Roll-ups

Ingredients for four roll-ups:

1 bag of broccoli slaw

1 pound chicken or turkey stir-fry strips

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. ginger powder

salt and pepper

1 T. canola oil

2 T. sunbutter

garbanzo bean flour tortillas (see recipe at: http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/05/garbanzo-bean-flour-pancakes.html

Directions:

Prepare garbanzo bean flour tortillas and keep warm. For the filling, stir-fry chicken strips in oil in a large skillet. Season with 1 tsp. each of ginger and garlic powders, salt and pepper. Remove chicken strips to a bowl and keep warm. Add a little more oil to the skillet and then the broccoli slaw. Season with the remaining ginger and garlic powders, and stir-fry until slightly soft. For the sauce, heat 2 T. of sunbutter or peanut butter in the microwave. Add 1-2 tsp. soy sauce and 1 T. of water. Stir to mix to a sauce-like consistency. I omitted the soy sauce and added some garlic instead and it was still quite tasty.

Spread some sunbutter sauce on the tortilla and then spoon on chicken and broccoli slaw. Drizzle with a little more sauce and then carefully roll it up. The garbanzo bean flour tortillas are pretty easy to work with as long they are warm.

You can use the same filling on other types of gluten-free or regular tortillas but I was experimenting with garbanzo bean flour as I am continuing to have to keep my carbs low to prevent a rebound of the candida (yeast infection) that thrives on sugar. I am probably looking at least 6 months to one year with restricted carbs.

But it's continuing to be worth it as my stomach is the best it's been in years. My husband and I took our son out to dinner recently for his birthday to a restaurant we hadn't gone to much for a long time because of my eating limitations. They serve an unlimited bowl of salad. I admit I devoured a good share of the salad. I just had to take my own dressing, an olive-oil, lemon juice, herb blend. My son kept staring at me in disbelief and finally asked, "So you can eat that much salad now?" Yes, I replied, and I'm loving it.

Gluten-free, chocolate-tofu brownie sundae

I wish I could bottle this kind of happiness---a cat in a barrel of catnip. It was a dream come true for my cat, Pumpkin, when I discovered that catnip had inadvertently come up in whiskey barrel planter outside my front door. I'm not quite sure how the catnip got there but I have grown catnip in other places in my yard in past years.

I've never seen him so eager to go outside on his leash now that he knows the catnip is right outside the door. He reaches up for the door knob on the front door to give me a not-so-subtle hint that he wants his catnip fix for the day.

While my cat's fix is catnip, mine is chocolate or carob. But getting my fix, while being on a low-carb diet for eliminating a yeast overgrowth, can be a bit tricky. Ingenuity and cravings prompted me to come up with my chocolate-tofu brownie sundae. It's all low-carb and has no gluten, eggs, sugar or milk. You also can substitute carob for the chocolate if chocolate creates issues for you.

Sounds like it's missing all the good stuff but no, it actually tastes delicious. Admittedly, I haven't taste tested it on anyone but myself. But it has all the texture and chocolate or carob taste of a brownie to me.

Chocolate-Tofu Brownie Sundae
Ingredients for the Brownies:

1 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour

1/2 cup each soy flour and coconut flour

Option 2: Just use 2 cups of garbanzo bean flour and skip the soy and coconut flours. It still works.

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. baking cocoa or carob powder

Optional: 1 T. ground cinnamon

Optional: 2-3 T. chocolate vegan rice powder to up the protein content

1 1/4 cups water (possibly more)

2 T. olive oil

Pan spray

Ingredients for Tofu Pudding Sauce:

1 package Silken tofu

Optional: 3-4 T. chocolate vegan rice powder (This will give the pudding sauce a firmer texture.)

Optional: 1 tsp. cinnamon

2 drops chocolate or plain liquid Stevia

2 T. baking cocoa or carob powder

1/4 cup soy or hemp milk (I use the unsweetened versions.)

Directions for brownies:

Mix all the dry ingredients in large bowl. Add the olive oil and water. Stir to blend. Add more water if needed as the flours will absorb a lot of moisture. The batter should have the consistency of cake batter. Allow the batter to rest for up to an hour while the mixture thickens.

In the meantime, preheat the oven at 480 degrees. Heat a large glass baking pan (9 X 13 inches)

for 10 minutes prior to baking. The pan should be sprayed and drizzled with 1-2 T. of additional olive oil.

Once the pan and olive oil are heated, add the batter and place in the oven to bake for about 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into serving size pieces.

Directions for the pudding sauce:

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to blend. Chill before serving.

To assemble the sundaes:

Spoon some chocolate or carob sauce in a serving dish. Then add a piece of "brownie." Spoon in some additional sauce and top with another "brownie." Finish with another dab of sauce. Garnish with tasted seeds or nuts if tolerated.

Garbanzo bean flour pancakes

Allergy season has arrived full throttle in my area, and my poor dog, Kona, started suffering as much as the humans. In the photo above, she was wearing a "halo" to keep her from biting at her itchy places. Good news though. She only had to wear it for a week and then her itching subsided.

Intense itching was how she was reacting to the pollens that were bothering her. The only way to stop her from biting herself constantly until she drew blood was to put her in this halo. She also continues to take six allergy pills a day which was doing little to deter her when she was wearing her special bonnet. She was looking pretty sad in the photo and was doing a good job of making us feel sorry for her.

Garbanzo bean flour continues to be a favorite of mine while I'm on my restricted carb diet to rid my body of too much yeast or candida. It's really no longer bothering me that I cannot eat sugar and must restrict my carbs. The bad news is I probably will have to follow this diet pretty closely for a year. I try not to dwell on that but rather on how good I am feeling.

Yesterday, we had friends over for a Memorial Day barbecue and they could not believe all the fresh veggies I could eat. These friends had watched me in the past eat only well-cooked veggies and deny myself things like salad and other hard-t0-digest foods. I could sense their disbelief but also their pleasure in seeing me so much better.

Candida is definitely a missing diagnosis for many individuals. But it is no cakewalk to get rid of and requires a high level of commitment to follow the eating protocol. A friend mentioned to me that she had an acquaintance who thought she would be rid of her candida problem after just six weeks of following a low carb diet. Unfortunately, after improving, she quit after six weeks. Within a short time, her symptoms returned.

Not me, I'm in this for the long haul. And garbanzo bean flour will continue to be part of my arsenal of foods. I found out that garbanzo bean flour breads, crepes and pancakes are a staple in certain parts of Italy. This week, I tried garbanzo bean flour pancakes. Actually, I was trying to make crepes or tortillas but I'm still perfecting those.

Garbanzo Bean Flour Pancakes
Ingredients:

2 cups garbanzo bean flour

2 T. vegan rice protein powder

salt and pepper to taste

fresh or dried herbs to taste

2 T. olive oil

1 1/2 cups water (possibly more to get a pancake batter consistency)

Pan spray and more olive oil

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add olive oil and water. Add more water if needed to get a batter with the consistency of crepe or pancake batter. Allow the batter to set for a few minutes. The batter tends to thicken so you may need to add some more water.

Heat a large skillet or better yet a crepe pan until very hot. Add olive oil and heat until it smokes slightly. You want it very hot. Test with a bit of batter. Make one pancake at a time. Allow the dough to bubble up just like regular pancakes. Flip and cook on the other side. Add more oil before you start a new pancake.

These pancakes are best eaten while hot. They roll pretty easily so you could make some sort of breakfast wrap with them. I'm going to continue to experiment with them and will post more later.