Sunbutter biscuits

It's been nearly a year since I started the candida diet, and I confess I still have the same struggle every day. I want something sweet. But what do you eat when you can't have sugar and should avoid chocolate? You turn to healthy fat, right? You know nuts, seeds and coconut.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me. You see I have no gallbladder which makes eating more than a little fat an unpleasant experience. This dilemma has lead me to endless searching for something to eat that will satisfy my sweet tooth but won't violate my two rules of no sugar and little fat. The result is sometimes I violate the fat rule which causes me days of stomach distress. You would think I would learn but I guess my drive for something sweet trumps my good judgment. PLEASE send me any recipe ideas you have to help me stave off my sweet/fat cravings.

Occasionally, I make something like Sunbutter Biscuits that satisfies my sweet/fat craving but doesn't upset my stomach. It's a versatile recipe too. You can eat them as biscuits or turn them into a berry shortcake as pictured above.

Sunbutter Biscuits
(makes 8-10)

Ingredients:
1 T. lemon juice mixed with 1 cup hemp milk or other unsweetened dairy beverage
3 T. ground flax
10 drop vanilla-flavored stevia
3 T. sunbutter (unsweetened)
2 T. olive oil
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with pan spray.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and stir to blend. The dough will be soft. Scoop out portions of the dough with a large spoon or use your hands. To prevent sticking, wet the spoon or hands with cold water. Place the biscuits about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Extra biscuits may be frozen.

Brown Basmati Rice Pudding

I was getting myself into trouble in Hawaii by eating sticky brown rice wrapped in banana leaves. It was absolutely yummy and just slightly sweet but obviously carb overload for someone trying to keep candida under control. If I ever get this candida under control, I want to learn how to make sticky brown rice. Of course, I would never eat it with wreckless abandon as I did on my trip.

I did try something pretty close to that yummy treat---Brown Basmati Rice Pudding. But this time I ate one serving and froze the rest since I couldn't find anyone else to eat the extra.

Brown Basmati Rice Pudding
(makes 4 generous servings)

Ingredients:

1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water
1 cup unsweetened hemp milk (or soy or rice milk)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 inch gingerroot, peeled and minced
6 cardamon pods, crushed or 1 tsp. ground cardamon
one cinnamon stick or 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 T. SweetLeaf Powdered Stevia
1 can light coconut milk or other alternative beverage if coconut is an issue

Directions:

Rinse and place the rice in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the water, milk, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cardamon. Bring the rice to a boil; reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.

Stir in the sweetener and coconut milk and continue to simmer the rice without a lid over low heat. Cook until the liquid evaporates and the rice pudding thickens. This takes about 30 minutes or more. Remove the whole spices if used. I left in the ginger. Serve hot or warm with blueberries on top. The blueberries add some extra natural sweetness.

Avocado-lime "ice cream"

The Big Island of Hawaii was my destination for a winter escape vacation. I had never been to any of the islands but chose Hawaii because I wanted more solitude and lots of island to explore. Hawaii delivered on both but it didn't have inexpensive veggies. I ended up eating far too many papayas (which were 50 cents each at the farmers' markets) and not enough veggies. I also indulged in some sticky brown rice sticks, wrapped in banana leaves, (also 50 cents each) which I should have passed on. Couple that with a long flight and exposure to germs, it's no surprise that I ended up with a full-blown cold, bordering on a sinus infection, when I returned home.

Now, I'm forced to be good again and return to my low-carb, low-glycemic diet. But I still want a treat now and then. I got inspired by the giant avocadoes I saw in Hawaii to create avocado-lime "ice cream."

Avocado-Lime Ice Cream
(makes 4 small servings)

Ingredients:

1 medium ripe avocado

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2-1 cup unsweetened hemp milk

10 drops liquid stevia

1 tsp. chia seeds (optional)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill the avocado mixture in the fridge. Freeze according to directions for your ice cream maker. Serve immediately. Ice cream can be stored in the freezer but will need softening before serving. If you don't have an ice cream maker, simply place the mixture in the freezer until somewhat frozen.

Chocolate sunflower seeds

The Big Island of Hawaii lured me away for the past few weeks. It was my escape from the winter cold where I could be free of heavy coats and gloves, and sit by the ocean eating a papaya. The temperatures in the 80s made me sweat but I loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, the trip ended all too soon.

I brought back an idea for a recipe I wanted to try and share. There was a little snack shop in Hilo called Wilson's by the Bay. They made chocolate-covered sunflower seeds which I hoped I could eat. I had to pass because the chocolate coating contained sugar. I promised I would try making the treat without sugar when I returned.

They were a snap to make. But beware. They are quite addictive. I made just a small batch to lessen the temptation. I also diluted the chocolate with sunbutter to reduce the amount of saturated fat which can be a problem for me. You can make it with straight chocolate if you prefer.

Here's my recipe for Chocolate-covered Sunflower Seeds (and a few pumpkin seeds too).

Ingredients:
1 small square 100 percent cacoa

1 T. sunbutter without sugar

3 T. raw sunflower seeds

1 T. raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:

Melt the cacoa and sunbutter in a microwave-safe container. Stir in the seeds to coat with the cacoa-sunbutter mixture. Spread the chocolate-covered seeds out on a pan and place in the freezer to harden the coating. When ready, munch on a few and store the rest in a covered container in the freezer.

Gluten-free Chocolate-Carob Scones

I know I promised not to eat as much chocolate but I succumbed to the invisible force field of chocolate that grows stronger around Valentine's Day. At least, I used baking cocoa rather than hard chocolate, and I substituted carob for half the chocolate.

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Gluten-free Chocolate-Carob Scones

(makes 10 medium-sized scones)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups garbanzo bean flour

1 T. SweetLeaf powdered stevia

1/4 cup baking cocoa, 1/4 cup carob powder

2 1/2 tsps. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 T. olive oil

2 T. tahini

2/3 cup hemp milk

Optional: add almonds, mini-chocolate chips or dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to mix. Then add olive oil, tahini and hemp milk. Continue pulsing to mix.

Drop batter by generous spoonfuls onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on your oven.

Gluten-free Sweet Potato Biscuits

It's been almost a year since I ate biscuits because of the anti-candida diet. I couldn't resist trying these fairly ACD-friendly Gluten-free Sweet Potato Biscuits made with garbanzo bean flour. They would make a special breakfast treat for Valentine's Day for someone who must avoid gluten. Or you can eat them anytime. They also make a tasty topping for a veggie potpie, shown below.
Gluten-free Sweet Potato Biscuits

(makes 8 biscuits)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup mashed sweet potato

1 3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 T. olive oil

1/3 cup hemp milk (or other dairy beverage)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake a sweet potato until tender, about 45 minutes. Peel and mash the sweet potato. Set aside 3/4 cup of mashed potato for the biscuits and let cool completely. Reserve the rest for another use. Raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

In a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and olive oil. Add the hemp milk and sweet potato and continue blending.

Drop the dough by large spoonfuls onto a sprayed baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Eat them all right away or freeze the extras.

Strawberry garbanzo bean flour cupcakes

Just mention Valentine's Day to me and I become ravenous for chocolate. I'm not sure why because some of my experiences with chocolate have been anything but positive. The saturated fat content in hard chocolate is too hard on my innards but yet it keeps calling my name.

This February I've been trying to treat myself with low glycemic desserts without chocolate. I made the two desserts, pictured here, from a batch of strawberry cupcakes I baked with mixture of garbanzo bean flour, brown rice flour and flax. The top one I call a berry trifle and the other is a strawberry shortcake. And I still have 10 cupcakes left to experiment with.Strawberry Garbanzo Bean Cupcakes

(makes 12 small cupcakes)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup ground flax

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 T. SweetLeaf powdered stevia

1 T. olive oil

2 T. tahini

1/2 cup unsweetened hempmilk or other dairy beverage

2 cups thawed frozen or fresh strawberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake papers. Put strawberries in a food processor and puree slightly. Reserve strawberries.

Put all the other ingredients in a food processor and blend. Fill each cupcake paper with batter. Spoon one tablespoon of pureed strawberries on top of the cupcakes before placing in the oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool.

To assemble the trifle, layer berries, cupcake pieces (slightly frozen) and strawberry sorbet into dessert dishes. Make your own sorbet by whirling frozen strawberries in a food processor.

For strawberry shortcakes, top a cupcake with pureed berries and sorbet.

Note: Both desserts are better if placed in the freezer for a half hour or so prior to serving.

Mediterranean Curry Soup

Yoga is something I practice every day. I also "suggest," not nag, on a regular basis that my husband to do more stretching. My suggestions usually fall on deaf ears except on rare occasions as captured in the photo above. My husband has found a stretching partner, Kona, who likes to reward effort with lots of slups.

I enjoy getting "slups" from Kona too but I especially like getting her to warm me up as an extra big lap dog on a cold winter day. Another winter warm-up for me is a hot bowl of soup.

A recipe for a spicy, curry veggie soup caught my eye recently in a magazine while I was waiting for an appointment. If I could remember the recipe, I knew what I wanted to fix for dinner as soon as I got home. The soup ended up being delicious although it was more my creation since I added chicken and couldn't recall all the ingredients.

Mediterranean Curry Soup

(serves 4)

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

2 T. olive oil

1/2 medium chopped onion

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. fresh grated gingerroot

1 zucchini, diced

1/4 head cauliflower, chopped into small bite-size pieces

1 carrot, diced

1/2 cup garbanzo beans

Optional: chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

1/2 tsp. cumin seeds and coriander seeds, toasted

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cardamon

1 tsp. Indian curry

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. coriander

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups vegetable broth (Imagine makes a good one without added sugar.)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the garlic, ginger and onions until soft. Add the zucchini, carrot and cauliflower and continue sauteeing until tender. Toss in the spices, salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Add the chicken, garbanzo beans and the broth, and heat to a simmer. Garnish the soup with toasted seeds and chopped cilantro and serve.

Note: I really like the spiciness of this soup but feel free to adjust the amount of each spice.

Quinoa muesli

My orange pals, Pumpkin and Kona, are always providing me with a show while I'm in the kitchen. Pumpkin, the cat, races around the house with Kona, the golden retriever, hot on his heels. The chase is followed by more play in the form of a boxing match. Pumpkin's paws are no match for Kona's but they still play box for a few seconds. The two are the best of friends but this winter they seemed to have gotten even closer.

Pumpkin is really a housecat but sometimes I take him outside on a leash. When winter arrives, he becomes a complete sissy pants. Snowy, rainy or windy conditions are completely unacceptable to him. He'd rather sleep or play with Kona and me.

Eleven-year-old Kona, on the other hand, loves to go for a romp in the snow. Put her out in the snow and she instantly becomes a puppy again. I wish snow would do that for me!

Snowy, wintry days do have one affect on me. They make me hungry for carbs, which I'm sure I've mentioned before. The problem is I need to keep my carb intake low while I continue to battle candida. One of my recent cravings was for muesli. I'm not sure where that craving came from because I've never been a big fan of granola or muesli, largely because of the calories and the ingredients.

Most granola or muesli contains oil, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal and tons of sugar/honey, which ups the calories. I decided to try to make allergen-free muesli using quinoa flakes and seeds. It turned out to be tasty and easy to make. I started sprinkling just a tablespoon's worth on top of tofu mixed with fruit for a quick treat, breakfast or dessert as pictured above. Now, I pretty much avoid tofu/soy at least for now while my thyroid is on the mend. As an alternative, I sprinkle it on berries or pudding, thickened with chia seeds. Here's a link to my recipe for chia-seed pudding http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/chia-seed-parfait.html

Here's how to make this super, simple muesli.

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa flakes

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1-2 T. SweetLeaf stevia powder

pan spray

Optional: 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with pan spray. Spread the quinoa flakes mixed with seeds, stevia powder and cinnamon, if desired, on the pan. Spray the top of the muesli with some additonal pan spray or mist with olive oil if you prefer. Place in the oven and toast the mixture for about 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven. Toss the muesli often to insure even toasting and respray if needed. When the muesli is golden brown, remove it from the oven to cool. Store the muesli in a container in the freezer.

Chocolate-sunbutter hemp milk ice cream

It's not easy making ice cream that tastes delicious when you have to leave out all the good stuff, like sugar, eggs, milk and cream. But it has been my challenge in recent weeks to come up with a creamy "ice cream" where the main ingredients are hemp milk and stevia sweetener.

I have an ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer that makes my experimenting fairly easy to do. I keep the ice cream maker bowl always ready to use in the freezer. I've tried making all kinds of flavors, including pumpkin, chocolate, carob, green tea, vanilla, strawberry and sunbutter.

The closest I've come to decadent is chocolate-sunbutter hemp milk ice cream, pictured above.

This ice cream was actually creamy in texture thanks to the addition of the sunbutter. It was easy to make too with my ice cream maker attachment.

Chocolate-Sunbutter Hemp Milk Ice Cream

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

2 cups unsweetened hemp milk (Or other dairy beverage of choice)

2 T. unsweetened sunbutter

1/4 cup dark baking cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla powder

1-2 T. pure stevia powder

Directions:

Soften the sunbutter in the microwave in a medium-sized bowl. Add the cocoa powder and the hemp milk. Continue heating in the microwave, occasionally stirring to blend in the cocoa powder. Remove and stir in the vanilla powder and stevia.

Place the ice cream mixture in the refrigerator to chill. Follow your ice cream-maker instructions to freeze the mixture. This ice cream is ready to eat right out of the ice cream freezer. You don't have to worry about continuing to firm it up in your refrigerator freezer. Resist the impulse to eat it all yourself.

Vegan pumpkin ice cream

I'm really missing being able to eat soy foods as part of my diet. But my thyroid comes first. Soy was interferring with the absorption of my thyroid medication. My thyroid hormone levels came back normal this week after staying away from soy for a month.

I've switched from soy milk to hemp milk. It's a little pricey and difficult to find, at least where I live. I've considered making my own but I wonder how many hemp seeds it takes to make a batch. I guess I'll have to check into that.

I know there are other alternative dairy beverages but hemp milk seems to be the best choice for me given my food sensitivities. It does have some negative aspects. It doesn't heat up well and tends to separate when heated above a certain temperature. That's a problem since I like to add milk to my tea. Tempt hemp milk is the one brand I've found that doesn't separate as easily.

My ice cream freezer has come in handy since I've given up soy. I used to make quick soy puddings with silken tofu. Lately, I've been experimenting with different vegan ice cream mixtures that are made with unsweetened hemp milk and sweetened with stevia. One of my favorites is Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups hemp milk (Other alternative milks can be substituted.)

1 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned pumpkin.)

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 T. stevia powder (Sugar or agave nectar can be substituted if not following the ACD diet.)

2 T. chia flour or arrowroot for thickener

1 T. vanilla powder (I found this in a health food store. It's ground up vanilla bean. It's ACD friendly because it has no added alcohol.)

Directions:

Mix 1/4 cup of hemp milk with 2 T. of chia flour or arrowroot. Set aside.

Mix the remaining milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice together in a saucepan and bring to almost a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, remove it from the heat and stir in the chia or arrowroot slurry. This should cause the liquid to thicken some.

Stir in the stevia powder and vanilla. Chill the ice cream mixture. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. When done, the mixture will still be soft. You can put it in the freezer for awhile to help it firm up before serving. Makes about 4 generous servings or 6 small servings.

Korean veggie pancakes

I discovered over the holidays that I had been eating too much soy. I knew because I started to develop symptoms of low thyroid, including extreme tiredness and sensitivity to cold, dry and breaking hair, wounds that wouldn't heal and sudden weight gain. Here is a link to other common symptoms of thyroid disease: http://mayoclinic.com/health/hypthyroidism/DS00353/DSECTION=symptoms

I recognized the symptoms because I had experienced them before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism and getting on thyroid replacement medication. There is some disagreement about the effects of soy on the thyroid. However, it seems to be widely believed that those on thyroid medication should restrict soy to no more than a serving every other day. The reason is soy interferes with the absorption of the thyroid replacement medicaiton.

My consumption of soy foods got out of hand in conjunction with being on the anti-candida diet. I think I thought it was okay since there were so many other foods I could not eat. Obviously, I was being guided by emotions rather than logic.

I've come to my senses, and I'm now on the "soy wagon." In fact, it's been more than three weeks since I've eaten anything containing soy. I'm starting to feel better, and I won't be cooking up any recipes with soy for awhile.

Here's one of the latest no-soy recipes I recently cooked up although Korean Veggie Pancakes could be topped with tamari sauce.

Ingredients:

1 cup garbanzo bean flour
salt and black pepper to taste
2 scallions, chopped
1/3 cup shredded cabbage
1/3 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup broccoli slaw (I used the pre-packaged version.)
3-4 T. olive or canola oils
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4-1 1/4 cups water

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Gradually add the water and 2 T. oil to make a thick pancake batter. Set aside.

Saute the veggies until slightly tender. Mix the veggies into the pancake batter.

Spray and oil a baking sheet with the remaining oil. Heat in the oven for a few minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Ladle scoops of pancake batter onto the pan leaving adequate space between pancakes. Bake the pancakes in the oven. Check after about 10 minutes. Turn them over if they are ready to be flipped. Bake another 5-10 minutes.

These pancakes are versatile. They can be eaten for any meal or even as a snack. They also store well in the fridge or even in the freezer for later eating.

Holiday pumpkin-garbanzo bean flour pancakes

It seems like a cruel joke to have to be on the anti-candida diet over the holidays. Every time I turned around someone was bringing over a gift bag containing candy, cookies or other sugary treats. I appreciated the gesture while my husband appreciated the treats.

I survived Christmas without succumbing to temptation and going off my low-carb diet. Now, it's on to phase 2--New Year's. The holidays truly are a difficult time for anyone who is watching what they eat. Avoiding carbs, as well as certain food allergens, just adds new layers to the difficulty level. My approach is to always take food with me. That way I won't be tempted to stray from my eating plan. It's not as much fun but at least, it keeps me well as I continue to battle my problem with candida.

I don't expect to start a new holiday trend but healthy foods, low in carbs, can actually be delicious. For Christmas breakfast, I enjoyed some yummy Pumpkin-garbanzo bean flour pancakes. These gluten-free, egg-free pancakes can be eaten any morning but make an extra special breakfast for Christmas or New Year's. They also are super easy because you can bake them in the oven all at once and use less oil.

Pumpkin-Garbanzo Bean Flour Pancakes
(makes 8 medium-sized pancakes)

Ingredients:
1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 cup pumpkin puree (You can use canned.)
2 T. canola or other healthy oil
In place of 1 egg: 1 T. flax mixed with 3 T. water to form a slurry
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1-1 1/2 cups water
Extra pumpkin puree
Pure stevia powder
Toasted pumpkin seeds

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to mix. Add the pumpkin puree, oil and egg or egg replacer of your choice. At this point, the mixture will be thick. Begin adding water to thin the mixture to a consistency somewhere between pancake and muffin batter. I used about 1 1/2 cups. The batter will still be thicker than regular pancake batter because the garbanzo bean flour absorbs water. Set aside.

Spray a large cookie sheet with pan spray. A little oil may be placed on the pan if desired. Place the pan in the oven for a few minutes to heat the oil. Once heated, spoon the batter with a ladle or large spoon onto the pan. Leave a little room between pancakes because they will spread out slightly.

Bake the pancakes for about 10 minutes per side. Serve hot with a topping of pumpkin puree mixed with stevia powder to desired sweetness. Sprinkle a few toasted pumpkin seeds on top.

Quinoa cookies

I was doing some holiday baking this week when suddenly it occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to eat or even taste test any of the cookies I had baked. That's because of my lovely problem with candida, a fungus that lives in our bodies and feeds on carbohydrates. The higher the glycemic index, the more the candida thrive.

It suddenly became a challenge for me to come up with a cookie that I could eat and not go off the anti-candida diet. I decided to adapt a recipe for quinoa sunflower seed clusters that I posted in February, 2008. My ACD-friendly version turned out tasty and satisfied my desire for a cookie. The clusters are a healthy alternative to cookies, contain lots of protein, fiber, whole grains and good fats but they still have carbs. Which means I need to eat just one.

Their main drawback is that they are a bit crumbly but I thought, what the heck, I can use the crumbs for a topping on carob tofu pudding. The crumbly aspect could probably be solved by using eggs, which I am allergic to, or by replacing canola oil with coconut oil or using more tahini in the recipe. I will try using more tahini next time. Here's the recipe:

ACD-friendly Quinoa Sunflower Seed Clusters

Ingredients:
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 T. chia seeds
1/8 cup stevia powder (I used SweetLeaf)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 T. canola oil
2 T. tahini butter
Egg replacer for 3 eggs made by mixing 3 T. ground flax with 9 T. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the quinoa. Then, transfer the quinoa to a large, rimmed cookie sheet. Bake, fluffing with a fork occasionally, until the quinoa is toasted and golden, about 30-35 minutes. Place in a bowl to cool.

Spread the quinoa flakes on a baking sheet. Toast for about 5 minutes in the oven. Watch carefully because the quinoa flakes toast quickly. Add the flakes to the bowl with the cooked quinoa.

Toast the sunflower and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet for about 5-7 minutes. Add the seeds to the bowl with the quinoa mixture.

Mix in the other ingredients, including the flax and water. Spray several large cookie sheets with pan spray. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter onto the sheet for each cluster. Flatten slightly. Bake, rotating, sheets halfway through, until crisp, about 25 minutes.

Allow the clusters to cool completely before transferring to a storage container. Remember they are a bit fragile compared to regular cookies. You might try using more tahini or coconut oil as mentioned earlier to solve the crumbly problem. They are yummy especially for those of us who need ACD-friendly treats. If you don't have a candida problem, refer to the original recipe at http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/quinoa-sunflower-seed-clusters.html

Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Basil

There's nothing like a snowy day to make me start craving hot chocolate, brownies and other assorted carbs but instead I'm munching on spaghetti squash. It's been snowing all day here, and carbs have been calling my name.

But I must ignore them because I am still battling candida. I've come a long way in six months but every time I start thinking I can have a few extra carbs, my symptoms start returning.

I also thought I could indulge in a little caffeine but then, I don't know how to indulge just a little. Once I opened the caffeine door, I just wanted some every day. Candida definitely thrives on caffeine. At least, so it seems based on what happens to me every time I get started drinking hot drinks with caffeine.

Anyhow, a plate of spahetti squash seemed like a sort of compromise today: some carbs, but not too much. I have a plentiful supply of spaghetti squash that I grew in my garden this summer. I have been holding off eating them because they fall into the winter squash category which should be added sparingly to your anti-candida diet. I also have basil growing indoors in my AeroGrow, a spacesaver hydroponic garden. Here's the recipe.

Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Basil
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 small spaghetti squash
1 tsp. olive oil
2-3 T. fresh basil, finely chopped. Or use other fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, oregano.
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Place cut side down in a baking dish. Add some water to the bottom of the pan and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until the squash is tender.

Remove the squash from the oven, uncover and allow to cool slightly. Use a spoon to remove the seeds. Use a fork to pull out the squash strands and place in a bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the squash, herbs, salt and pepper. Toss and heat. Serve as a side dish.

Shrimp roll-ups in collard leaves

Six months have passed since I first began the anti-candida diet (ACD). My blog has morphed from lots of gluten-free deserts and breads to recipes featuring mostly veggies and low-fat protein. I wonder if I will ever get back to being able to eat chocolate (without cheating).

I think I have to admit that all my years of antibiotics, sugar-free sweeteners, diet pop and coffee addiction have made me an extreme candida case. I believe I am stuck with the ACD way of eating for the long haul.

Many of my symptoms have completely disappeared or at least abated since I began the candida diet. I am able to eat soy and many more vegetables than I could before. However, some things remain the same. My stomach continues to be a mystery with flare-ups for no apparent reasons. (Okay, I confess; mostly because of eating too many fats.) I still avoid gluten, eggs, nuts and dairy. I still have animals in my kitchen; my orange Dennis the Menace, Pumpkin, and Kona, my canine floor rug. Yes, she is always in the way, sprawled out on the floor, in the doorways, wherever I am.

Winter is the most challenging time for me as I crave carbs more than ever. That's right. I still crave carbs/sugar, even after all this time. I doubt if that will ever change. I'm just hardwired for sugar. I've tried to satisfy my cravings with fats, like pumpkin butter, sunbutter, soybutter, tahini, coconut butter and black tahini, but it's just not the same. Some people are fat-aholics and I'm a self-confessed carb-aholic. The only thing I've gotten from the fats is digestive troubles.

This coming week I'm going to once again reintroduce some whole grains into my diet. I'm really looking forward to a hot steaming bowl of gluten-free oatmeal. I've also discovered that collard leaves make great replacements for tortillas or pita breads for wraps. Until I made this discovery, I used to buy collard and the poor collard would end up pining away in the fridge. I'd look at the stuff and say, "What am I supposed to do with it?" Now, I know: make collard leaf shrimp roll-ups.

Shrimp Roll-ups in Collard Leaves
(Makes 3-4)

Ingredients:
Large collard leaves with stems removed
1 tsp. grapeola or canola oil
Medium peeled shrimp, halved (about 10-12) Note: I get the precooked kind.
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 small green cabbage, shredded
2 garlic cloves
1 inch ginger root, peeled and minced
2 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. Bragg's amino acids

Directions:

Chop and shred the veggies and set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until soft. Add the veggies and saute until tender crisp. Add the shrimp and cook until heated. Toss in the chopped green onions. Drizzle with Bragg's amino acids.

To make the roll-ups, trim the collard leaves off their stems. Scoot the shrimp-veggie mixture off to one side in the skillet. Drop in a few collard leaves and heat slightly. Place the appropriate amount of shrimp-veggie mixture on each one and roll them up. Serve with a salad for lunch or dinner.

Note: Collard leaves also can be used to make great hummus roll-ups. Do you have some other ideas? Please post a comment and share.

Tofu Omelet

My foot is all healed from the exploding Pyrex pan; the antibiotics are all finished; and the dreaded candida did not make a triumphant return. I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

I believe the key to keeping the candida at bay was strictly following the anti-candida diet (ACD). It was difficult but I even made it through the Thanksgiving feast without cracking. My family gnoshed on the traditional foods while I ate mainly turkey and vegetables. I love turkey so it was all good. I also whipped up a pumpkin-tofu custard for dessert.

Something else I'm thankful for is I discovered you can use tofu to make omelets that taste almost like the real thing. I love omelets but I had to give them up long ago when I discovered I am allergic to eggs. Thirty minutes after seeing a picture of a tofu omelet on the internet, I was in the kitchen trying to whip one of my own up. This proved to be quite a learning experience.

My first omelet turned out being more like scrambled tofu. I was too eager and tried to flip the omelet too soon. I decided to try the oven instead as that always worked out better for me even when I used to make omelets from eggs. I used one of my oven-proof skillets; sprayed and oiled it lightly; poured in the some of the tofu omelet mixture; and popped it in the oven. It worked like magic. The tofu omelet stayed together instead of getting scrambled. It was almost perfect. Well, except that I left it in the oven a little too long, and it got a little too dark on top. Next time, I will have discovered all the secrets of cooking tofu omelets, and it will come out perfectly.

Here's the recipe for my Tofu Omelet with Veggie Filling (makes 2 large omelets).

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 medium zucchini, diced

1/2 pkg. soft Silken tofu

1/4 pkg. extra-firm tofu

1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 T. dried parsley

1 T. ground flax

2 T. tahini butter

2 T. garbanzo bean flour

To make the filling: saute the onions, peppers and zucchini in a sprayed or lightly oiled skillet.

To make the omelets: combine all the other ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Spray an omelet-sized pan with pan spray. Make sure the pan is oven safe. Pour in 1/2 of the omelet mixture and spread to cover evenly. Place in the oven, preheated to 450 degrees, for 6-8 minutes. I left mine in the oven for 10 minutes and that was too long. So keep an eye on it.

If you're feeling adventurous, you also can cook the omelet in the skillet on the stove top but again I didn't have much success with this. So, if you do, let me know the secret.

To complete the omelets, spoon in some of the veggie filling and fold over. I hope you enjoy your tofu omelet as much as I enjoyed mine.

Thai Curry Tofu

Warning: glass pans can be hazardous to your health. I hope this doesn't take your appetite away but yes, that's a picture of my foot about a week after developing blood poisoning from a wound inflicted by an exploding Pyrex glass pan. This picture shows my foot on the recovering end of the injury. You can use your imagination to picture how it looked seven days earlier. I was unable to walk, instead I just hobbled from chair to chair, which couldn't be far apart or I was writhing in pain.

All of this "fun" and I didn't even get to eat the chicken I had baked in the oven when the pan exploded and shot glass shards as far as 15 feet in my kitchen. But the hard part is over. Now, I just don't want to see others go through this same situation. Pyrex, now manufactured by World Kitchens, denies any wrong doing for any of the many complaints they have received. Instead, they attribute it to user error.

Oh sure, I'm a college graduate but I don't know how to properly use a glass pan. This reminds me of when I had a kickstand problem with my first mountain bike. It was a fairly inexpensive one and the kickstand was too short. I took it to the bike shop where I purchased it and explained that the kickstand wouldn't work. I was told I just didn't know how to operate a kickstand. You can imagine how well that went over. The bike shop received a very heated letter and shortly after that, they apologized and fixed the kickstand.

I've never had any problems with their pans until five years ago when I decided to replace some of my antique Pyrex pans (20-30 years old) with new ones. Three of these new ones have exploded either in the oven or upon being removed from the oven. Until the latest mishap, I had never been injured. If you are interested in reading more about exploding glass pans, go to http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/pyrex.html In the meantime, I am beginning to file complaints with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and State Attorney General's office as my first steps.

I'm happy to have my injury healing but I am not happy about having to take 14 days of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Every time I pop one in my mouth, I know I am risking having my candida problem reoccur. Candida flourish when good bacteria are killed off which basically is what antibiotics do: they don't discriminate between good and bad bacteria. They just gun them all down. My stomach definitely does not like the antibiotics. It has been all haywire since the first few days of using them.

You can't keep me from cooking though. Just don't ask me to use glass pans. This week everything curry seemed to go down well. Probably all those spices helped settle my stomach. My favorite was Thai Curry Tofu with Vegetables.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

1/2 pound firm or extra firm tofu(cubed)

Spice blend of 2 T. coriander seed, 1 T. cumin seed, 1 tsp. caraway seed (all crushed in a spice mill) plus 1 tsp. garlic powder, salt and pepper, 2 T. dried cilantro

2 cloves garlic minced

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 zucchini, diced

6 asparagus stalks, trimmed and cut in half

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into small squares

1 T. Thai red curry paste

1/4 cup vegetable broth (Imagine makes a good broth that is unsweetened.)

1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

Directions:

In a large skillet, sprayed with pan spray, brown the tofu cubes, which were tossed in the some of the spice blend beforehand. Remove and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic, ginger and carrot. Saute for a five minutes with some of the vegetable broth added to the pan. Add the zucchini, asparagus and red pepper, and cook for a few more minutes. Remove and set aside.

Add the Thai red curry paste to the pan with the rest of the vegetable broth and stir until smooth. When it begins to bubble, add the soy milk (or use unsweetened coconut milk for more of a Thai flare) and blend. Add the vegetables and tofu back to the skillet and cooked for a few minutes.

Serve over brown rice if not on the anti-candida diet.

Pumpkin-Tofu Stoup

My latest challenge is having to go back on antibiotics again. For someone with candida, that would be the equivalent of being exposed to an especially virulent virus if you had a weakened immune system.



I guess I should be more positive because the antibiotics have knocked out the blood poisoning I had. But can you believe, this all happened because of cooking accident? I posted awhile back (10/24/09 ) about my run in with an exploding Pyrex baking pan. Glass shards shot everywhere including into my foot which produced a deep laceration.

Four weeks after the accident, my foot appeared to be pretty much healed when suddenly it swelled up and turned a deep purplish red around the area of the injury. Ice did nothing to stop the swelling, redness and of course, the pain. I was barely hobbling when I went to see the doctor the next day. The doctor seemed perplexed but the diagnosis was blood poisoning and the treatment was antibiotics. I didn't want to hear those words but once the red started going up my leg, I was glad I was taking antibiotics.

I decided to return to my anti-candida diet basics and give the candida absolutely nothing to thrive on while the antibiotics were busy killing off all my good bacteria. That might give me half a chance of not getting another candida overgrowth.

I have been grumbling all week about my foot but also about being reduced to just vegetables, lean protein and healthy fats once again. My complaining is mainly because I had finally gotten to the point on the anti-candida diet where I could loosen up a bit. In fact, last week, I wrote that my doctor had freed me from some the constraints of the ACD eating plan and told me to follow a low-glycemic diet.

Okay, I'm not going to complain anymore because six days after this all started I can finally walk on my foot again with minimal pain. There is no more swelling and redness, I can even wear a loose shoe for awhile.

I haven't really cooked anything yummy or delicious this week because I've mainly been eating salads with chicken or tofu sprinkled on top. I'm wishing I could cook up some Pumpkin-Tofu Stoup which I had the week before this all happened. Pumpkin, while shocked with beta-carotene and other great nutrients, is too high in carbs for me right now. I guess I will just drool as I post the recipe.

Pumpkin-Tofu Stoup (makes 2-3 generous servings)

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

1/4 cup chopped red onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp. minced fresh ginger

2 tsp. curry powder

1 1/2 cups peeled, cubed seeded pumpkin (I have several small pumpkins that I harvested from my garden that are just the right size.)

Optional: 1 zucchini and 1 red pepper diced

2 cups unsweetened, light coconut milk

1 pkg. extra firm tofu, cubed

1 T. Thai red curry paste (Use less if you can't take the heat.)

1 T. lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:

In a large skillet or pot, saute in the oil the onion, garlic and ginger. Add the curry powder, Thai red curry paste, and pumpkin. Saute for several minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add some vegetable broth or water if needed.

Add the tofu and optional zucchini and red pepper. Simmer uncovered for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro leaves. I'll be thinking of you while your enjoying this delicious stoup and wishing I were joining you.

Miso-veggie-tofu stew

My dog, Kona, is covering her ears in the picture above because she doesn't want to hear my excuses for why I have been eating fermented tempeh and miso paste while on an anti-candida diet (ACD). One of the first rules of the diet is: avoid fermented foods which contain mold and add to your candida overgrowth.

I guess I should explain that I only recently indulged in these foods on a limited basis (once a month) but only after I was retested for candida and found it was no longer a problem. My health care practitioner told me I need to continue to follow a low-glycemic diet but not necessarily avoid all fermented foods. I continue to avoid fermented foods, such as vinegar and wines, because I don't want the candida overgrowth to come back.

I would only recommend tempeh or miso if your health care practioner okays it which mine did. That lead me to indulge in Miso-Veggie-Tofu Stew. I also used just one tablespoon of brown rice miso for four servings of soup. It's very tasty but I only would recommend it if you don't have a candida problem or if you've been cleared by your doctor.

Miso-Veggie-Tofu Stew
(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1 T. brown rice miso paste (up to 3 T. can be added but remember it is fermented)

1 quart vegetable broth (makes sure it contains no sugar)

1/2 pkg. extra firm tofu (diced)

1 zucchini (diced)

1/2 small red cabbage (chopped)

1 T. chopped green onions for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet. Add the veggies and cook until tender crisp. Add the miso and mix well. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and add the diced tofu and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes. Serve in bowls garnished with green onions, if desired. To make this a meal, add more veggies of your choice to the stew and up the protein content by adding protein powder of your choice.

Swiss Chard with Edaname and Soy Nut-Carob Fudge

Halloween can be a little dismal if you are following an anti-candida diet (ACD) and are still getting over the flu. It was beginning to look like pumpkin seeds were going to be the closest thing I was going to get to a treat. But I've learned that denying yourself can lead to cravings, splurges, etc. It just gets ugly if you know what I mean, especially when you have Halloween treats in the house for those trick-or-treaters.

I decided to take action to head off the cravings and came up with a most delicious little treat that actually has healthy ingredients. I called it my "No Denying Yourself Halloween Treat, AKA soy nut-carob fudge." Hey, I got to pick the name since the treat was my impromptu creation. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture. NO, not because I was woofing them down so fast I couldn't stop to grab a camera. I actually have most of the treats left, tucked away in the freezer, in reserve for another "special" occasion. The reason I don't have a picture is my husband absconded with our digital camera for an entire week while he was on a business trip. Now, that he has returned I can start snapping pictures again. In the meantime, I'll fill you in on my creation's recipe as well as another more everyday recipe.

Soy Nut-Carob Fudge

Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened soy nut butter
2 T. carob powder
4 T. soy nuts

Directions:
Melt coconut oil and soy nut butter in the microwave. Stir in the carob powder. Go ahead it's okay to lick the spoon because coconut oil is healthy for you. And it tastes sweet without adding any sweetener. Add in the soy nuts and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a small pan (not glass if you read my previous post about shattering glass pans). I used a 9 X 9-inch square pan and it was too big. You want your pieces to be fairly thick to aid in cutting them. Mine were too thin because of the pan's size.

Put the pan with its contents into the refrigerator or freezer to harden the fudge. Once the fudge is well hardened you can cut it into whatever size pieces you want. All I can say is it was delish! I had to limit myself to just two small pieces because coconut oil is high in saturated fat which is a problem for me as I have no gallbladder. I plan to wait a day and then dive in for another piece. Now I have a picture of the soy nut-carob fudge. As you can see, the pieces are not exactly beautiful to behold because I used a pan that was too big and it turned out too thin. When I make this again, I will use coconut butter instead of coconut oil which will make it smoother and more creamy.

Swiss Chard with Edaname (This recipe also qualifies as a Halloween recipe because it contains toasted pumpkin seeds.)

Ingredients:
One bunch Swiss chard washed and chopped (separate the stalks and leafy pieces into two piles)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 cup frozen shelled edaname (thaw them out by rinsing them with warm water)
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 T. pumpkin seeds (toast them in a hot skillet

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add in the garlic and saute. Toss in the chopped Swiss chard stalks only. Continue sauteeing until the stalks are beginning to soften. Next in are the edaname. Continue sauteeing until the edaname is warm. Lastly, put in the leaves of the chard and continue cooking until leaves are wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds just before serving.

Kale-Tofu Salad

Vegan and vegetarian meals have become a main stay for me as I continue my anti-candida diet (ACD). I don't entirely avoid meat as I seem to feel better when I eat chicken and fish. I shop for poultry which is free of hormones and antibiotics because I definitely don't need to be eating foods with added antibiotics as these drugs were probably the source of my candida overgrowth.


Recently, I purchased a whole chicken from a local grower who raises free-range poultry. It was pretty expensive but I wanted to support a local farmer. About two weeks ago, I decided to roast the bird in the oven and serve a special meal for my husband, son and his friends who had come over to do some major car work for us for free.

The meal was about done when I removed the chicken from the oven to give it one last check. I had been roasting the chicken in a large glass Pyrex pan. To my amazement, the pan exploded when I removed it from the oven and placed it on top of the stove. Shards of glass flew everywhere including one into the side of my foot. At first, I thought my foot was burned until I looked down and saw a pool of blood on the floor. This deep laceration probably needed stitches but I didn't want to go to the emergency room on a weekend night when others with all kind of cold and flu germs were waiting to be seen. I decided to bandage it up, keep it elevated and check on getting a tetanus shot the next day when I already had a doctor's appointment.


The next day I was given a tetanus shot, although I'm not sure why as the injury did not involve metal or dirt. I got no explanation other than I needed one. I'd had many tetanus shots before so I wasn't concerned about it or about the fact that they gave me no information on possible side effects. Within hours, I started developing a hot, red rash all over my legs, along with terrible headache and aches all over my body. I would have assumed it was the flu if it hadn't been for the rash. I developed a similar rash and hives another time when I had a bad reaction to taking a medication.


The seemingly innocuous tetanus shot left me sick for about five days. That's when I decided to never cook anything in a glass Pyrex pan again. I also checked on the internet and found that exploding Pyrex pans were quite common. I was fortunate that the shard of glass had not hit me in a more vital area.


After this experience, it was "obvious" that eating meat was hazardous to one's health, and I concluded that vegan and vegetarian meals were safer to prepare. But not entirely so as I found out when I tried to bake some extra firm tofu slices in the oven. I sprayed the slices with pan spray. After they had been baking for awhile, the entire house began to fill up with smoke from the oven. Some of the smoke was from the pan spray and some from the residue left by the chicken in the exploding Pyrex pan. All the windows had to be opened on a fairly cold day to get rid of the smoke which made my eyes and chest burn. I guess this was a message it was time to clean the oven. Another clean-up job thanks to Pyrex.


Cooking on top of the stove now seemed like the safest bet. I decided to whip up some Kale-Tofu Salad. The inspiration for this dish came from my recent trip to northern Idaho and Washington and British Columbia. A co-op that I stopped in had a deli counter with a delicious-looking kale-cabbage-tofu salad. Unfortunately, I had to pass on it because it had mayo and cashews on it. Here's my own recipe:


Kale-Tofu Salad
Ingredients:
One bunch of kale, washed, trimmed and chopped
1/2 small red or green cabbage, chopped
1 block of extra-firm tofu, cut into cubes
2 T. tahini
1-2 T. water
1 tsp. Bragg's amino acids
4 T. sunflower seeds

Directions:
Make a dressing by combining the tahini and Bragg's. Gradually, add water to thin the mixture out a bit. You want it to be creamy but pourable. Place the kale and cabbage in a large bowl.

Use half the tahini dressing mixture to toss with the tofu cubes in a separate bowl. Heat a pan and stir fry the tofu until warm. Add the tofu to the bowl with kale and cabbage, and toss with the remaining tahini dressing to coat all the ingredients. Add the finishing touch by mixing in the sunflower seeds. Now, you're ready to eat minus any exploding pans or smoky ovens.

Seaweed noodles and veggie saute

Staying on an anti-candida diet (ACD) while traveling is not easy. There are too many tempting foods out there when you are away from home. It's especially difficult when you are on a bicycle tour in British Columbia where you've left not only home but your car far away.

Biking 60-70 miles a day up and over numerous hills (some with seven to eight percent grades) creates an enormous drain on your glycogen reserves. I wanted to feast on carbohydrates of all kinds but yet was determined to stay on a low-glycemic diet. This was especially difficult when watching my husband (who pursues a diet at the extreme opposite of ACD) eat every carb in sight, including brownies, cookies, ice cream. You name it. He ate it.

I did learn a lot about how to get ACD foods even while traveling and eating out frequently. My first lesson was that a salad in a restaurant is light-years away from a salad made at home. Apparently, few people order salads in restaurants and if they do, they don't want a man-sized salad. The result is you are lucky to get one cup of greens and a sprinkling of a few token veggies on top when ordering a salad. This was true not only in the U.S.-portion of our trip but also in British Columbia.

These puny "salads" also fetched a substantial price. Most of the salads I ordered were $8-$12 for next to nothing in the way of ingredients (usually chicken, greens, a few veggies). One time we even ate in a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and my salad was still itsy-bitsy. I remember when you actually could make a meal out of a salad. My husband on the other hand got enough to feed two or three people in the form of burgers, fries, potato salad, cole slaw, Philly cheesesteak, desserts, rolls (not all at the same meal but a lot) for less than what I paid.

After going away from a few restaurants still famished, I finally got sauvy on how to order. I would ask to trade all the sides that came with a piece of chicken or salmon for a giant bucket of salad, served with olive oil and lemon. It worked. I actually got pretty filled up. Sometimes, I was fortunate enough to find an eatery with an all-you-can-eat salad bar that actually had veggies not just mayonaise-laden foods, masquerading as salads.

I shopped in markets along the way to fill in the gaps in my diet not filled by the restaurant offerings which are sadly mostly high in refined carbs and not-so-lean protein. At markets, I would stock up on fresh veggies, low-glycemic fruit (berries), raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds, hummus, garbanzo or pinto beans, and tofu to eat for snacks. I also found frozen brown rice that I could thaw out for breakfast and unsweetened soy milk. I started the trip with a supply of low-carb crackers I made, quinoa, garbanzo bean flour, raw tortillas, liquid stevia, chia seed (I added it to soy milk with liquid stevia to make a treat) and olive oil to supplement my meals here and there.

Most motels we stayed in had a microwave and mini-fridge so that I could cook my breakfast in the room. Two places where we spent the night had a kitchenette. I discovered it is possible to make quinoa and garbanzo-bean flatbread in a microwave. It wasn't half-bad.

I actually stayed pretty well nourished but did find myself hungering for certain foods by the time I returned home. My stomach behaved itself quite well on the trip despite all the fresh veggies I consumed.

Another discovery I made was that for me, it's actually easier to behave myself on a trip than at home. That discovery inspired me to follow my trip diet as much as possible at home which means I would skip sneaking carob-coconut balls and extra helpings of garbanzo bean flatbread. I would focus on eating more raw veggies and vegetarian meals. With that in mind, I cooked up some Seaweed Noodle and Veggie Saute.

Ingredients:
1 cup seaweed noodles (come pre-packaged and ready to heat)
1 tsp. olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut in half-moon slices or wedges
1 medium carrot, cut in matchsticks
1 medium zucchini, cut in matchsticks
1/2 small green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 T. Bragg's Amino Acids (like soy sauce but not fermented)
1 T. toasted sesame oil

Directions:
Use a large skillet to heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute. Add the carrots and zucchini and saute. Add the cabbage and Bragg's and saute until all the veggies are softened. Add the rinsed seaweed noodles and cook to heat. Remove from the heat and toss in the sesame oil. Serve warm with chopsticks for a bit of Asian flare. Makes 2-3 servings.

Coconut-Seed Cookies, Gluten-Free

I celebrated my birthday while pedaling 400+miles through Idaho-British Columbia-Washington on the International Selkirk Loop. I was desperately seeking a birthday treat that would fit my anti-candida diet (ACD) requirements (low-carb, no sugar). Yeah, it was definitely a bit delusional of me to even think I would find something but it was kind of like someone searching for water in the Sahara Desert. You just keep hoping that the perfect low-carb, no sugar, chocolate-mint brownie will appear out of nowhere. Finally, reality set in and I had to settle for a ripe avocado for my birthday treat. I found it at a convenience store, no less. I was actually pretty grateful since ripe avocadoes are hard to come by. But it was definitely no brownie. I vowed to celebrate with something "decadent" or at least as decadent as eating ACD allows me to be when I returned home. Here's what I came up with:

Coconut-Seed Cookies, Gluten-Free

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/8 cup each ground flax seeds and Chia flour (or skip the mixture and use 1/4 cup flax)

1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour

2 T. carob powder (or baking cocoa which I should avoid.)

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 T. olive oil

3 T. water

several drop of liquid stevia (alcohol-free)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with pan spray. Process the flax, chia and sunflower seeds to a fine meal in a food processor. Add the flour, carob powder and soda, and process again to combine. Add the olive oil, water and stevia, and process to form a moist dough.

Place the dough directly on the cookie sheet. Use moist hands to flatten it out to a 7 X 10-inch rectangle. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut the large rectangle into smaller rectangles for your cookies. Return the cookies to the oven and bake another 5 minutes until they are crisp and delicious. Cool and enjoy. Store the extras in the fridge. They keep well in the freezer.

Gluten-free Tomato Tart

I love having a colorful array of red grape tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes and orange cherry tomatoes on my plate. It's visually appealing and delicious. The best part is I have an abundant supply of them right now in my garden. The only drawback I can think of is I have to pick them but it's worth the effort.

Finding ways to use up my baby tomato crop is no problem for me. I enjoy them on salads (now that I can eat salads again) and in stir-fries, kabobs, and with grilled veggies. I seldom eat pizza or anything like it because I am on the anti-candida diet (ACD) to remove excess fungus from my body, and restore the balance of good and bad bacteria.

But I couldn't resist trying my little tomatoes on a gluten-free tomato tart, just once during the tomato season. It was yummy and scrumptious but the crust had a light texture from the addition of baking powder and soda which was something different for me. I have been mainly eating, on occasion, garbanzo bean breads with no soda or baking powder added. Therefore, this tart was a real treat!


Gluten-free Tomato Tart

Crust Ingredients:
3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup ground flax
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 T. olive oil
2 T. tahini butter
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

Topping Ingredients:

1/4 pkg. Silken tofu
1 T. olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
sea salt to taste
1 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1-2 cups grape, pear and cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Optional: parmessan, feta or goat cheese (Not for me on the ACD diet.)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with pan spray.

In a large bowl, combine the garbanzo bean and rice flour. (Note: you can change the ratio of rice to bean flour. More rice flour will give the crust more of a light, airy texture.) Add the flax seeds, baking powder and soda, and salt. Blend and set aside.

In a food processor, blend the tahini, olive oil and soy milk. Pour into the larger bowl with the flours and stir to blend.

Using wet hands, press the dough into a rectangle or best approximation, about 12 X 7 inches. directly onto the cookie sheet. Wet the hands again if necessary. Ridge the edges of the dough with your fingers. Bake the dough for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, blend in your food processor, the Silken tofu, olive oil, garlic clove and salt. Remove the crust from the oven and spread the tofu sauce evenly over the crust. Arrange the basil leaves and tomatoes on top of the sauce. Put the tart back in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or so. The time may be longer if you decide to play with the ratio of flours. Basically, the more rice flour you add, the longer the baking time. Remove from the oven when the tart is just getting slightly crispy.

Cut into about eight pieces. Serve alongside a nice garden veggie salad.

Curried tempeh

Tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchinis, melons, green beans, oh my! That's 475 pounds of produce from one day's picking from our community garden in the photo above. The garden is on a half-acre piece of ground and has produced so much without the aid of fertilizer or chemicals that I feel like an organic farmer. By season's end, we should have harvested 4,500 pounds of produce and 1,500 pounds of pumpkins at a value of about $4,000. However, the garden is not for profit but rather to benefit the local Salvation Army.

The fact that we have provided organic produce to families in need makes me feel especially good. I recently read an article in the Aug. 31 issue of Time magazine, "America's Food Crisis and How to Fix It." The article focused on U.S. farming practices where produce is grown with tons of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and meat animals are dosed with antibiotics and growth hormones. The goal of the article was to get us thinking about changing the way our country grows and consumes food because right now, we are on track to scarier germs (from antibiotic overuse in meat animals), eroded farmland and higher health costs.

After reading that article, I felt even better about the organic produce our garden has yielded. It also got me thinking about the meat I eat. I've always opted for conventionally grown meat because of the high cost of organic. But after reading the article, I realized that all needed to change. I don't eat that much meat, mainly fish with chicken and turkey sprinkled in here and there. So, I decided it wouldn't break the bank to eat organic poultry. Actually, it might save me money in the long run if I stay healthier because of it.

At the same time, I decided to add more vegetarian meals to my diet. One of my new favorites is curried tempeh, pictured below. It makes a great dinner or anytime meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) for someone like me on an eating plan where carbs are kept to a minimum. It's also a great way to use up some of my garden produce (herbs, tomatoes, onions, zucchini). Note: I only recently added tempeh back into my diet because I was rechecked for candida and it was at a normal level again. Even so, I only eat tempeh occasionally. Tempeh is a fermented food and should normally be avoided by those on an ACD diet unless they have been cleared by their doctor. At least as far as I know, that is the case.

Curried Tempeh (2 servings)

Ingredients:

1 package tempeh (I used organic, multi-grain soy tempeh.)

1/2 cup vegetable broth (Read the label for added sugar if you are doing ACD.)

2 T. olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. minced fresh ginger (I used about a one-inch piece of ginger root.)

1-2 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp. ground cardamon

1 tsp. garam masala spice

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk (Other alternative milks works too.)

1 zucchini, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 handful chopped fresh basil

2 tsp. chopped fresh mint

Optional: cooked brown rice

Directions:

Crumble the tempeh into a large skillet and add the vegetable broth. Heat over medium heat until broth bubbles. Then, lower the heat, cover the skillet with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Remove the tempeh and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and zucchini, and saute. Add the tomato, cumin, bay leaves, cardamon, garam masala, turmeric and coriander, and cook one more minute. Lower the heat and add the soy milk and tahini. Stir to mix; cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the fresh herbs and heat for just a bit more. Serve over hot rice. Another option is to serve over stir-fried veggies for a more ACD-friendly meal.

Chocolate-Avocado Tarts

What do you do when you are up to your eyeballs in fresh produce from your garden? You get busy making all kinds of concoctions with tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, green beans, cantaloupes, carrots, beets, etc. If you are a gardener, you know what I'm talking about.

But you also might want a chocolate-avocado tart for dessert to go along with your garden veggie meal. Well, at least, I did, and it turned out absolutely scrumptious as a post meal treat. My photo above does not do its "deliciousness" justice. I discovered that avocadoes, which I love, make a great base for a dessert where you cannot use flour, eggs, dairy/butter or sugar. This avocado tart has inspired me to explore other chocolate treat possibilities with avocado as an ingredient.

Chocolate-Avocado Tart (makes 2 five-inch tarts or 4 smaller ones)

Crust:

1 cup shredded, dried unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 tsp. sea salt

2 T. tahini

1 T. cacao nibs

Filling:

1 ripe avocado

10 drops stevia (alcohol free); use 2 T. agave nectar if you are not following the Anti-Candida Diet

2 tsp. chia seeds

2 T. dark baking cocoa

3-4 T. unsweetened soy milk

Spray the tart pans with pan spray or line with parchment paper. I used tart pans with removable bottoms so I got away with just using pan spray.

In a food processor, process the coconut, seeds, cacao nibs and sea salt into a coarse meal. Add the tahini (almond butter or sunbutter will work too) and process to combine to a dough-like consistency. Press the "dough" along the bottom and up the sides of the tart pans. It helps to wet your hands to keep the "dough" from sticking to your hands.

In the same processor (not necessary to clean before going on), blend the avocado, baking cocoa, chia seeds, stevia and soy milk until very smooth. Spoon the mixture evenly into your tart pans.

Freeze the tarts until firm. Remove them from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving. Garnish with fruit or additional cacao nibs. I didn't have individual-sized tart pans so I cut each larger tart into four pieces but don't be shy about eating more. It's hard to resist!