Almond Bread

This candida friendly, paleo friendly, gluten free bread is to-fucking-die-for! It's nothing crazy exciting for those of you who can eat bread and pastries, but I am over the moon! One of my students made it for me last night and I have eaten the whole loaf...enjoying the slices with everything from almond butter, smashed strawberries, and ghee! It's amazing. And apparently quite easy to make!! I can't wait to bake my own...and perhaps enjoy a bit more slowly next time!

Zoodles!!

This recipe is from a paleo cookbook called Well Fed. It's also candida friendly (yay!) and not to mention TOTALLY FREAKING AMAZING.

Zucchini
Almond meal
Shrimp (optional)
Ghee (make your own! See acorn squash post...)
Salt

Run lots of zucchinis over a julienne-ing tool (be careful not to cut your finger like I did!). After prepping the zucchini you want to suck the moisture out of it, so put it on a towel and sprinkle with salt. Let sit 20minute. Pat, rinse, pat, let dry. In a skillet cook shrimp in some ghee or maybe some coconut oil. Season with garlic, salt and pep. Toss in your "Zoodles" and season to taste (make sure you don't get too salt heavy!!).

As a "Parmesan" toast almond meal in a skillet and hit with a touch of salt. Sprinkle on top your "shrimp scampi".

Celery Root Purée

Boom.
So good.
Kelly and I made this last week when I was visiting.

2 celery roots, peeled and diced
Tossed into a pot and covered with vegtable broth
Boil until soft
Strain and reserve liquid
Purée in a food processor or vitamix with salt, pepper and 1/2 cup organic sour cream (so this is candida friendly). Add in reserved broth as needed for desired consistency.

So. Good. So. Easy.

The Best Pumpkin Pie Ever.

Okay, maybe not the best in the world, but it's pretty freaking amazing...and WAY healthier than any pumpkin pie you all are eating. This is candida friendly, paleo friendly, and gluten free. I made up the recipe and am happy to stamp my name on it :) I was going for a crunchy, creamy - salty, sweet pie...and I got it.

Here is a recipe that'll make two pies...

Preheat oven to 350.

Crust:
-One cup almond meal
-Two cups raw walnuts
(Soak them and wash them a half dozen times...nuts are filthy. Then rub them with a towel. If you skip these steps you'll have bitter tasting walnuts, instead of sweet and delicious. Don't skip! Put the walnuts in a pan and toast for a few minutes on a medium low heat, seasoning with a touch of cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Let cool)
-Pulse walnuts in food processor until they are a bit chunkier than the almond meal
-In a bowl mix almond meal and pulverized walnuts, add a tablespoon of good chunky sea salt or kosher salt, drizzle with a tablespoon of coconut oil and mix together.
-Press this mixture down into a pie dish...there's no crust up the sides of this pie, just the bottom, so just keep packing it down.
-Bake in the oven on 350 for ten minutes

Filling:
-Two cans pumpkin purée
-One can (unsweetened) coconut cream
-1/2 can (unsweetened) coconut milk
-1 cup Xylitol
-4 eggs
-Lots of cinnamon and "pumpkin" spice, some nutmeg and a pinch of ground ginger
Mix, mix, mix and then pour overtop of your crusts, filling to the brim.
Bake in oven on 350 for 50minutes

Remove from oven and ALLOW THE PIE TO SIT FOR 3 HOURS before you slice it. It needs to set.

This pie is freaking delicious.
Boom.

Autumn Stuffed Squash

A friend posted a picture of a squash stuffed with wild rice on Facebook, and it sparked my interest. I headed to Santoris, picked up some Acorn squash and meditated on it for a bit. I ended up with the following creation....a first attempt that was actually a super success!

Autumn Stuffed Squash (for 4)

-2 acorn squash
-1 cup quinoa (soaked and rinsed)
-2 cups chicken broth or veg broth
-5 spring onions
-1 small zucchini, diced small
-fresh sage
-large handful kale (sliced fine)
-sundried tomatoes
-cashews
-salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes
-tahini
-lemon juice

1. Slice the acorn squash in half. Scoop out any seeds. Place in a roasting dish, face up. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, and a touch of nutmeg. Drizzle with oil (coconut or olive) and pour 1/2 cup of chicken broth into the bottom of the roasting dish. Cover with tin foil and roast at 250 for about 2 hours. You want the squash to be tender, but not mushy.

2. After soaking (best if soaked overnight, but a few hours will do) and rinsing the quinoa, pour 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into pot with quinoa and bring to a boil. Hit it with salt and garlic. Boil for a few minutes then put it on simmer for 15 minutes with a lid covering it. Take it off the heat, cover the top of the pot with a papertowel, put the lid back on and let it sit for five minutes. Fluff with a fork. Season with some red pepper flakes.

3. In a skillet, sautée diced green onions, zucchini, kale, sundried tomatoes, sage and chopped cashews. Salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes.

4. Toss quinoa and diced veggies together and then use this to stuff the squash.

5. Place this under the broiler or in the oven to warm and bring it all together.

6. The dressing: tahini, lemon juice, hot water (to thin it to right consistency), garlic, and salt.

Hit it with a dash of salt and serve a little salad alongside. Boom.

So damn delicious. Enjoy.

Quinoa Porridge

In the past I had posted a recipe for a lip-smacking quinoa porridge. This recipe I'm posting today is a bit different, made with quinoa *flakes*, and therefore has more of an oatmeal consistency. I was forced to create this because it turns out that I have a stomach ulcer (my nutritionist said that its probably from the emotional stress of this intense 2-year cleanse that I'm on, combined with the stress that the strict change made to my body...also,
Pepper in some stress of every day living...). He recommended that I add oatmeal and okra to my diet...two foods that will help coat and protect my stomach, helping the healing process. Oatmeal is out because I am (mostly) grain free and totally gluten free on this cleanse. So: quinoa (flake) porridge. You can buy these flakes at any health food store or online, and they even carry them at the Shoprite here in Marmora.

One cup hot water
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
Generous sprinkling of cinnamon
Pinch of Celtic sea salt
Drop of vanilla extract (alcohol free...Frontier makes a great one!)
Small scoop of Ghee (the healing properties are endless)
Sweeten with Xylitol

All you have to do is boil the hot water and pour it over top and the mix mix mix. Voila. You like thin porridge? Use more water. Thick? Use less. If you're not on the candida cleanse feel free to jazz it up with dried fruit or fresh fruit and some honey!