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!

Veggie soccas (garbanzo bean flatbread)

I've made it through Phase 1 and part of Phase 2 of the Anti-Candida Diet (ADA)

but I still crave dessert, not necessarily sugary desserts. I've eaten so much carob tofu or carob chia pudding, sweetened with stevia, (see previous post for recipe) that I'm surprised I haven't turned into carob pudding. Another of my favorite treats is carob-coconut-tahini balls. You just mix in a food processor about 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut with 1 T. of carob powder, 2-3 T. of tahini, 1 T. of chia seeds and 1 T. of toasted sunflower seeds. Roll the mixture into balls and freeze before eating (if you have enough willpower) because they are better cold.

Something else I crave is garbanzo bean flatbread, known as soccas in southeastern France and farinata in Italy. It's hard not to consume it all when it comes out of the oven, all crispy around the edges from olive oil. I recently discovered a variation that allows me to use veggies in it which makes it healthier. This version also gives me a chance to use a lot of fresh produce from my garden. You can use zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions or even broccoli in it. I like to eat soccas with a veggie burger on top or as a cheeseless pizza or even in place of a piece of toast at breakfast. An added bonus is they are super easy to make. You can whip some up in less than 30 minutes.

Veggie Soccas (enough for a large cookie sheet)

Ingredients:

1 cup garbanzo bean flour

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp. each ground turmeric and ground cumin

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 T. soy milk

1 onion, chopped

1 green or red or yellow peppers, chopped

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 cup of fresh herbs, basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, etc.

2 T. olive oil

pan spray

1 1/4 + cup water

Directions:

Combine in a large bowl, garbanzo bean flour, soda, salt and pepper, spices, 2 T. olive oil, soy milk and water to make a pancake-like batter. You may need additional water. You want the batter to be flowing. Stir in the chopped onions.

Heat the oven to 480 degrees. Preheat a cookie sheet, sprayed with pan spray and drizzled with 1-2 T. additional olive oil in the oven. Remove the heated pan from the oven. Pour the batter on the pan. Tilt the pan from side to side to spread the batter around. Evenly sprinkle the diced veggies and chopped herbs over the top of the batter. Place the pan in the oven and set your timer for about 12-15 minutes. Remove the soccas from the oven when the batter is set.

Soccas are best eaten warm in fact, I can hardly wait to get them out of the oven to have a taste. Cut the soccas into whatever size rectangles or other shapes you want. While best eaten immediately, the soccas can be stored in the fridge and reheated in a skillet, sprayed with pan spray. They are still absolutely delicious!

Chia seed parfait

Ch-ch-chia! I recently discovered that chia seeds are edible and incredible, and not just for Chia Pets, those clay pot designs that sprout "hair." Chia seeds have become one of my favorite foods. Packed inside them is all kinds of healthy stuff (protein, omega-3 oil, fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and calcium) but the thing I like best about them is they are good for your digestive tract.

Anyone with digestive issues might want to give them a try. They contain 90 percent soluble fiber which aids in digestion. I've had a slow digestive system for many years but since I started eating chia seeds, my stomach actually empties instead of food hanging around for hours and hours.

Some other benefits: the seeds provide energy, improve hydration, lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease, stabilize blood sugar, and provide the daily requirement for fiber and vitamins.

Another advantage is the seeds form a gel when added to water and are allowed to sit for 30 minutes. This property of the seeds provides all kinds of culinary opportunities because you can use them to thicken liquids or batters, and they really have no taste of their own. You can sprinkle them on cereal, oatmeal, salads, smoothies or yogurt, or mix them in muffin or other baked recipes.

My favorite recipe for chia seeds is chia seed pudding, which is basically like tapioca pudding with chia seeds doing the thickening. You can make the basic chia seed pudding or get fancy and try a parfait, pictured below, or add shredded coconut, whipped topping or fresh fruit. It's all good, even for someone on the anti-candida diet, like myself. I just use liquid, alcohol-free stevia as a sweetener.

Basic Chia Seed Pudding

Ingredients:

2 T. chia seeds

1/3 to 1/2 cup liquid of your choice: plain or flavored soy, rice, hemp or other milk

1-2 tsp. agave nectar or 5-7 drops of stevia liquid

Options: add 2 tsp. carob powder or cocoa powder, pumpkin puree.

Directions:

Place the chia seeds in a container and add the liquid. Stir well to submerge most of the seeds. Allow to sit 20-30 minutes but continue stirring every 5-10 minutes. Stir again before eating.

Tips: You can mix up the chia and liquid and allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator. I also found that heating your liquid before adding the chia speeds up the thickening process.

To make a parfait: prepare vanilla chia seed pudding, and carob or chocolate chia seed pudding and layer. Sprinkle shredded unsweetened coconut between layers. Ch-ch-chialicious!

Roasted vegetables with fresh herbs

For those of you who haven't visited my blog in awhile, I thought I should explain that my recipes have taken a new direction. I have embarked on an anti-candida diet for the past three months. This means my recipes have to follow the guidelines of that eating plan, rather than be strictly gluten-free or on a rotation schedule. The anti-candida diet (ACD) is basically a nutritional means to reduce candida albicans yeast that's present in our bodies, food and environment. In some people (those who have taken excessive amounts of antibiotics or who have comprised immune systems), the yeast can multiply out of control.

The ACD program recommends starving the yeast by cutting out any foods that feed it or encourage it to grow to reduce the candida to a "normal" level. The strictest version of the diet would eliminate:

• Anything containing sugar;
• Simple carbohydrates, such as flour, cakes, cookies, breads, etc.;
• Foods that contain mold or fungus, such as yeast, mushrooms, peanuts, cashews, cheese;
• The most common food allergens, such as dairy, eggs, wheat, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts;
• Foods that are fermented (alcohol, vinegars, all condiments including ketchup, mustard, soy sauce);
• Anything artificial, processed, containing chemicals or additives, imitation or artificial seasonings flavorings and colorings;
• Soda pop, fruit juice, pre-sweetened drinks, coffee, tea (except herbal teas).

What's left to eat, you are probably wondering? Actually, there are quite a few healthy, tasty choices including:

• All vegetables except starchy ones (winter squash, and heaven forbid, no corn. It's not really a vegetable anyhow);
• Whole, gluten-free grains (brown rice, quinoa, amaranth);
• Beans and legumes;
• Some nuts and most seeds;
• Water;
• Natural, cold-pressed oils, such as olive oil;
• Lemon and lime juice;
• Stevia (a natural herbal sweetener that does not affect blood sugar levels as long as it's alcohol-free);
• Unsweetened alternative dairy beverages, such as soy milk;
• Some fruit that has a low-glycemic index such as berries and cantaloupe.

There are quite a few slightly different versions of the ACD eating plan. One suggests you follow a rotation diet, where you never eat a particular food more than once every four days. It's a bit impractical, especially where you've already cut out a number of foods. However, I continue to try to rotate grains, proteins and some veggies but I'll admit not very faithfully, especially during the gardening season where certain ones are in profusion.

I do love fresh vegetables (zucchini and green beans) and fresh herbs (basil), and all are permitted on the ACD plan. Both also happen to be in abundance in my garden right now. And fresh herb nut that I am, I also have basil growing in my indoor aero-grow garden, pictured above.

Roasting veggies with basil or other herbs is something simple and delicious I enjoy making. The roasting process imparts a completely different flavor to veggies for a change of pace from steaming.

Sheree's Recipe for Roasted Veggies

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of fresh veggies, such as zucchini, peppers, green beans, yellow squash, asparagus
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil or other herbs
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 T. olive oil
• pan spray

Directions:

• Preheat the broiler or outdoor grill;
• Spray several cookie sheets with pan spray;
• Peel and chop veggies and herbs as desired;
• Place veggies in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil;
• Spread veggies on pans and sprinkle with chopped herbs and garlic;
• Place in the oven or grill for 5+ minutes until veggies are tender crisp.
  
  

Fast veggie burgers with food processor

I recently invested in a new food processor, and I decided to go for the kingsize model. I learned the hard way that a small food processor really doesn't save you much time when you constantly need to be re-loading it.

A small one also is much noisier because it's working harder to get the job done. In the past, I always had to warn household members that I was about to launch the noise machine because otherwise, it could be quite startling. Even my feline pal, Pumpkin, would run for cover when I turned it on. Now, as you can see by the photo, above, Pumpkin could care less about my activities in the kitchen.


Fresh salsa was a snap with my new purchase, pictured left. Then, I decided to venture into making veggie burgers which has always been a time-consuming chore with my petite food processor. I picked a ton of fresh produce from my garden and decided to put the new machine to the test. Not counting the time taken to pick and wash the produce, it took me about 15 minutes to have the veggie burgers ready for the oven. In the past, I could plan on at least 45 minutes prep time.

My blog has taken a bit of a shift since I went from IBS/gluten-free/rotation diet to low carb/candida cleanse diet. I haven't been sharing many "carbilicious" recipes, although I continue to follow a gluten, dairy-free plan. But these veggie burgers are great because they will fit with any of these diets. Check out the recipe and directions below.



Fast Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, drained beans ( I used pinto beans made from scratch but canned ones such as garbanzo, black or white beans will work.)

2 cups chopped veggies ( I used carrots, celery, red and green bell peppers, 2 medium zuchinis.)

1 small red onion, cut into chunks

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 T. raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (no need to chop)

1/2 cup fresh basil

1/2 tsp. each dried tarragon and dill

1/2 tsp. salt and black pepper

1 tsp. ground flax seeds

1 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour (You also can use any other mild-flavored gluten-free flour.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a pan with nonstick spray.

Throw everything except the flour in the food processor. (Previously, I had to chop the ingredients in batches.) Blend the ingredients until almost smooth. (This part was so cool especially working with such a large amount of ingredients.) Begin adding the flour and pulsing to combine. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more flour. (I was seriously impressed by how easily everything was mixed.)

Shape the mixture into about 12 large burgers and place on the sprayed cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes, flip them and continue baking another 10 minutes until lightly browned on the other side. Extra burgers can be freezed.

Serve on gluten-free buns or flatbread or roll into a tortilla f you are not eating low carb. Or roll into a large lettuce leaf for low carbers. Try putting a little Thai red or green curry paste on top for a really zingy veggie burger.

Cacao nibs/chocolate stevia: my new chocolate fix

Cacao nibs and chocolate SweetLeaf liquid stevia are my two new favorite ingredients for getting my chocolate fix while on an eating plan with certain restrictions. With these ingredients, I can still enjoy a chocolate treat while still staying dairy, gluten and sugar-free.

Cacao nibs are absolutely amazing. They have a nutty taste, almost like coffee beans, and are packed with lots of nutritional benefits and antioxidants, and are low in carbs, and high in fiber and protein. Nibs are actually bits of cacao beans before processing. It doesn't take many to satisfy your taste which is a good thing since they have approximately 160 calories per one ounce and cost about $8 per pound when bought in bulk.

Another way to get your chocolate fix is with chocolate liquid stevia. You can add it to soy milk to create chocolate drinks or to silken tofu to make the delicious pudding pictured below.

Chocolate tofu pudding with cacao nibs

Ingredients:

1 pkg. silken tofu

3-4 T. cocoa powder

4-5 drops chocolate liquid stevia

1 tsp. espresso powder

cacao nibs

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse until blended. Version 1: blend in some cacao nibs before chilling. Version 2: chill and garnish with cacao nibs when serving.

Stir-fry brown rice with seeds

I'm only allowing myself one serving of whole grains per day on the candida cleanse diet. I recently tried a recipe that was so good I'm having a hard time limiting myself to just one serving. It's called Stir-fry Brown Rice with Seeds.

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked brown rice, cooled
1/2 T. olive oil
4-5 green onion stalks, chopped
1 cup mixed seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin)

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions and seeds and cook until seeds are lightly browned.
Then stir in cooked, cooled rice. Stir fry all until toasty and warm. Makes a delicious side dish or even the centerpiece of breakfast.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Green Beans and Rotation Diet Past

It seems like very long ago that I was following a rotation diet but it really has only been three months. The rotation diet worked for me for awhile but as I later found out candida ( a fungus overgrowth) was sabotaging my efforts and making me increasingly sensitive to everything, including foods, chemicals, etc.

A rotation diet can be a useful tool for someone who keeps developing new food sensitivities. The idea is to keep your body guessing by never eating the same foods more than once every four days. However, it might be a good idea to thoroughly examine why you are developing new food sensitivities before plunging into a rotation diet because yes, it's a real pain. In my case, candida was causing my body to "misfire" so to speak but there are other causes such as "leaky" gut syndrome.

I thought it would be helpful to look back at my rotation diet for anyone who is considering trying one. Let's see how well I can remember. Day 1 was amaranth or soy flour for grains/flour; chicken or tofu for meat/protein; black or pinto beans for legumes; green beans, carrots, cucumber, peppers, spinach, onions, artichokes, winter squash, sweet potatoes for veggies; tomatoes, cranberries, mango, grapes for fruit; pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Day 2 was oatmeal or buckwheat for grains; some sort of white fish or shrimp; no legumes; bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, kale for veggies; apples, cherries, nectarines, pears for fruit.

Day 3 was quinoa grains or flour; turkey for meat; peas or garbanzo beans for legumes; beets, beet greens, swiss chard, zucchini, yellow or white potatoes, celery, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms for veggies; blueberries, kiwis, papaya, pomegranate for fruit. Day 4 was salmon for meat; brown rice for grains; no legumes; cabbage, brussel sprouts, bamboo shoots for veggies; strawberries, peaches for fruit.

It seems kind of limiting now that I can eat what I want with the exception of what I am allergic/ sensitive to. It's a much shorter list these days but still includes gluten, eggs, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts and corn. Who knows I might be able to eventually incorporate a few of these back into my diet.

For now, I have a much broader range of foods I can eat provided they are low carb. That brings me to a recipe I tried this week: Quinoa Salad with Roasted Green Beans and White Beans. It's flavorful and loaded with a ton of nutrition including protein and potassium.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, regular or red

2 cups water

2-3 cups green beans, trimmed and cut. Or you can try a bunch of asparagus.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 T. lemon juice

Salt and coarse black pepper

1 (16-ounce) can low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed

1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into strips

1/2 cup celery, chopped

2 T. minced green onions

salad greens

2 T. chopped fresh basil

Directions:

Preheat the over to 425 degrees. Cook the quinoa according to instructions. Place in a large bowl to cool. Arrange the green beans and red pepper on a sprayed baking sheet and drizzle with 1 T. olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Roast until tender, about 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Add the white beans, roasted pepper, celery, scallions, roasted green beans, chopped basil, and cooled quinoa. Toss gently to combine. Serve on a bed of salad greens.

Cole slaw, veggies and potassium

A long ride on one's bike can be difficult at best when you are on a low-carb diet. Add in hot weather that leads to copious sweating and loss of potassium, and you've got the makings of a leg spasm in the middle of the night.

This kind of painful contraction in the back of your leg that results from over exertion and loss of potassium recently awakened me from a deep sleep. It wouldn't settle down easily so I was forced to get up, walk around and massage my leg before I could return to bed and get back to sleep.

The same scenario repeated itself for several nights in a row before it dawned on me what the problem was. I wasn't consuming enough foods with potassium. But how could I up my potassium if I couldn't eat foods like bananas and other types of fruit? That's when I decided to do some research. I discovered there are tons of other foods besides bananas that are high in potassium, including lots of veggies, fish and meat. Some high potassium foods that mesh with my current low-carb diet include: Swiss chard, beet greens, spinach, tomatoes, cantaloupe, salmon, cod, turkey, soybeans, lentils and white beans.

More than half of the foods on that list are vegetables, naturally low in carbohydrates but yet high in potassium. It occurred to me that I had a potassium gold mine at my fingertips---our community garden, pictured above. Our lush veggie patch has been churning out cucumbers and zucchinis at 300 plus per week as well as beet greens and chard so far. Most of the pickings have been going to the Salvation Army to help those in need. Soon there will be cantaloupe, tomatoes and green beans, all good sources of potassium.

My potassium problems were solved. All I had to do was incorporate more of the good stuff into my cooking. I was in the mood for a fish taco with cole slaw. How could I pump up the veggies and get more potassium? I came up with my super-duper potassium cole slaw.

Super-Duper Potassium Cole Slaw
Ingredients:
1/2 head each of green and red cabbage, chopped
3 unpeeled zucchinis shredded
2 cups broccoli slaw
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup silken tofu
salt and pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice
1-2 drops liquid stevia
4 pieces of grilled cod, rubbed with spicy rub of garlic powder, chili powder,dry cilantro, salt and pepper


Directions:
Prepare the veggies for the cole slaw. Place in a large bowl. Mix up the dressing, including tofu, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stevia drops, in a measuring cup. Pour over the veggies and mix thoroughly. Place the slaw in the refrigerator to chill.

Meantime, prepare the grilled cod. Rub with your favorite spices. I like garlic powder, chili powder, dry cilantro, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and grill under the broiler or on the barbecue.

Serve the cod on a bed of slaw (with or without a taco shell or tortilla) and soak up a bounty of good taste and potassium.

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.