Biscuits!
19 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Recipes Tags: almond flour, biscuits, candida, candida cookbook, candida diet, candidiasis, coconut, dessert, flax, gravy, health coach, lemon curd, organic, pastry, pot pie topping, snack
Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Coconut Flour Biscuits
Hot from the oven!
Makes about 8-10 biscuits depending on size.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
- 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 shy cup almond milk
- 6 Tbsp organic coconut oil or butter
- 2 Tbsp finely ground flax seeds
- 1/2 tsp baking powder (non-alumininum)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp almond flour/finely ground almonds
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Biscuits with lemon curd, mmmm, breakfast!
Serving suggestion, for dessert, breakfast or a snack, these biscuits go so perfectly with lemon curd and maybe a few wild blueberries. Next week I’m making dinner for some friends and I think I will make a curry chicken pot pie with these biscuits as the topping. What do you want to make with these versatile biscuits?
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Hard-Cooked Egg and Basil-Butter Sandwich
05 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: bacon, candida, candida cookbook, candida diet, flax, flax bread, hard boiled eggs, health coach, herb butter, pesto, tomato
Here is another yummy serving suggestion for my flax bread recipe which I have just updated. I have been making flax bread about twice a month and have worked some of the kinks out of the process. Happy sandwiching! This recipe takes about 20 minutes and makes 4 sandwiches. I think they would store, well wrapped, over night, but I haven’t tried it so let me know!
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
Fine sea salt, to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil (or chives or parsley or pesto!)
1 small garlic clove, minced/pressed
8 slices flax bread
Pepper, to taste
Lettuce leaves, for serving.
If you are feeling like making more of a meal out of this sandwich, now is the time for a couple of slices of thick cut bacon and a ripe tomato from the garden!
1. Place the eggs in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Have a bowl of ice water ready. After 9 minutes, transfer the eggs to the ice water to cool completely. Peel and slice.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the butter, lemon juice and a pinch salt. Stir in the basil and the garlic.
3. Spread the bread thickly with seasoned butter and/or pesto, all the way to the edges. Lay the egg slices on four of the bread slices and season with salt and pepper. Top with lettuce leaves and the remaining bread.
Variations: Top the eggs with several anchovy fillets. Substitute arugula or radicchio for lettuce. Add bacon and tomato slices….!
Original recipe can be found HERE
It’s Chocolate, For Breakfast
09 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in Recipes Tags: almond butter, almond milk, antioxidants, breakfast shake, cinnamon, cocoa powder, coconut, fiber shake, flax, ginger, hemp, protein shake, stevia
This is something that I recommend to a lot of my clients who are on the Candida diet and want something other than eggs or leftover veggies for breakfast. There are plenty of variations but this basic breakfast shake recipe packs in a lot of protein, fiber and antioxidants. It’s easy to digest and, duh, it’s chocolate, for breakfast!
Healthy chocolate breakfast, or snack or dessert...
Basic Breakfast Shake: Ingredients
1 Cup or more Unsweetened Almond Milk or soy/dairy milk
2-3 Tablespoons Hemp Protein/Fiber Powder (basically just ground hemp seeds, they sell ‘Living Harvest’ Hemp Protein at Whole Foods and I get Nutiva brand through my co-op)
Nutiva brand ground hemp seeds, lots of fiber and protein and it's vegan too.
2 Tablespoons unsweetened Dutch cocoa or raw cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons ground raw flax seeds (the omega 3 fatty acids help with inflammation and overall health)
1-2 Tablespoons almond butter and/or coconut milk. Don’t bother with ‘light’ coconut milk it’s just regular coconut milk with a lot of water added. A little of the full strength variety goes a long way for flavor and satiety.
Stevia to taste for sweetness
Dash of Cinnamon and/or ground ginger (both of these combat Candida and add unexpected flavor)
Optional: ¼ Cup organic whole milk yogurt. Hawthorne Valley Farms makes great yogurt or you can use soy yogurt by Wildwood, the plain flavor tastes like plain, tart yogurt!
Add some ice if you like and blend it up! You can use stand blender or immersion blender, my favorite kitchen tool. Drink right away.
Close up of ground hemp
Sprouts and Sandwiches
19 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: carrot, flax, flax bread, goat cheese, onion, sprouts
Flax bread with avocado, home-grown sprouts and hot sauce, of course.
This post is a serving suggestion for my flax bread recipe. We just made our fist batch of sprouts and I was super excited to try them on a sandwich, which is something I have not eaten in years!
Two pieces of flax bread + slices of ripe avocado + lots of sprouts + mayo + hot sauce = one awesome sandwich!
Another sandwich idea? Ok! How about…
Grated carrot + soft goat cheese + sprouts + thin sliced onion? Yup, that is also delicious.
Carrots add a little sweetness and crunch to balance out the tangy goat cheese.
You can take your favorite salad combination and pile it up on flax bread and, hey, look at you, eating a sandwich like regular folks. Also, sprouts are super easy to make at home and they are packed with vital nutrients, here’s a great how to for growing your own!
Nuts and Seeds Cookies
25 Apr 2011 4 Comments
in Recipes Tags: almond meal, almond milk, coconut, coconut flour, coconut oil, cookies, dessert, flax, pepitas, Sesame seeds, snack
Candida diet friendly cookies full of nuts and seeds and dark chocolate chunks!
Yup, they look like cookies and they taste like cookies but they are also a great source of energy, unlike traditional cookies. No sugar means no sugar crash or empty calories. I’ve been playing with the coconut flour I found a few weeks ago and after several successful batches (you are welcome!) and several happy non candida diet taste testers, thanks guys, I think we have a successful, healthful cookie, if that’s the right noun. The original recipe is from the Coconut Secret website (is coconut really a secret?) and their recipe didn’t take into account the very helpful information on how to cook with coconut flour that can be found on the package. Maybe this is the ‘secret’: 1/4 cup of coconut flour is equivalent to 1 cup of wheat flour and for each cup of coconut flour you should use 4 eggs. Easy enough for doing recipe conversions on your own. Here’s my altered, sugar-free recipe for cookies full of all the good stuff and free of all refined white stuff. These are a really tasty, good for you alternative to what we normally consider cookies.
Preheat oven to 350° F
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Coconut Flour
- 1 cup Almond Meal
- 1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds
- 1/2 cup Sesame Seeds
- 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds or unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3 ounces dark chocolate chips (or cacao nibs)
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
Wet Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup Coconut Oil, heated to liquid
- Stevia to taste
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 large organic eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 Tablespoons ground flax whipped into 1/4 cup water until it becomes a sticky, thick mixture.
Mix together wet ingredients and blend into dry ingredients. Batter should be stiff, yet moist. Using a spoon, about the size of a Tablespoon, form cookies and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten cookies slightly. Bake 15 minutes or until golden around the edges. This will make about 42 cookies and here’s the nutrition information I figured out per cookie:
Calories: 92 Carbohydrates: 2 Fiber: 2 Fat: 8 Protein: 2.3
The black sesame seeds really stand out and they taste good too.
Flat Bread and Crackers, or, Why I Love Flax
08 Apr 2011 5 Comments
in Recipes, Supplements Tags: crackers, fiber, flat bread, flax, parchment paper, romano cheese, Sesame seeds, water
Flax crackers with golden sesame seeds.
My friends Mike and Becca sent me this recipe for flax crackers and I’ve made several batches, experimenting with thickness, cooking time and how to get the sticky flaxy ‘dough’ rolled out with out it sticking to everything. My first batch came out all uneven and not crispy. But they weren’t bad and gave me the inspiration for intentionally making a big, thick ‘flat bread’ which is pretty awesome for someone who hasn’t eaten anything remotely like a sandwich in years!
You can use the basic recipe to make wafer thin (‘but it is only wafer thin!’) crisps, crackers or flat bread. There’s a lot of possibility here as far as adding in herbs, cheese and spices so get creative! I’ll post some recipes that compliment this one in the following weeks so you’ll have something to eat all this flaxy goodness with. Remember to drink plenty of water/liquids with flax, it’s super bonus fiber and will soak up liquid like a sponge so make sure there’s plenty for you and the flax.
The recipe is very straight forward and simple:
1 and 1/2 cups flax meal (I ground my own in a coffee grinder but you can purchase it already ground)
1/3 cup sesame seeds or flax if you don’t have sesame seeds
1 cup of water
salt to taste
Optional additions include but are certainly not limited to: 1/2- 1 teaspoon garlic powder, dried herbs, pepper, curry powder, 1/2 cup finely grated cheese like romano. I made a very thin batch with 1/2 cup grated romano, black pepper and ground rosemary, wickedly good.
Set your oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients together until it’s sticky and starting to thicken, see, I told you the flax would soak up all that water. It’ll do that in your stomach too so have some tea with your crackers.
What's brown and sticky? A stick! And this dough.
If you want to make middle of the road not too thin, individual round crackers and you don’t have parchment paper here’s what you do:
Grease a baking sheet, the single ply kind, not the fancy lined ones.
Roll bits of dough, about 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon and place on the sheet.
Flatten with the bottom of a well greased glass, twisting as you go makes it easier to unstick the glass from the dough.
Poke the crackers all over with a fork, this helps them get crispy and cook all the way through. You can sprinkle them with salt, pepper, maybe cinnamon and stevia, ect before putting them in the oven to bake.
Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes. When they are darker on the edges and feel sturdy in the middle they’re done.
Let them cool on a rack. Store in an air tight container or paper bag at room temp. Putting them in the fridge is fine too but they will lose their crispness.
Flax crackers of varying thickness, ready to bake.
The thinnest ones, pierced with a fork, came out the best as far as crackerness goes.
For the flat bread, grease an 11×17 rectangle pan or something about that size. Scoop out all of the dough and pace it in the prepared pan.
Here’s the meditative part, don’t rush, it’s fun! Use your fingers, well-greased (olive oil, or better, butter) to gently smooth the dough to fill out the pan from edge to edge. If the flax sticks to your hands, remove the dough from your fingers and re-grease them. You may be able to do this with a rubber spatula but I find it’s much easier to use my fingers. I can get the batter pretty smooth and even and if I start off with enough butter the batter never sticks to me!
Sprinkle with sesame seeds, salt and pepper, ect. And then bake for 20 minutes at 400. It will pull away from the edges when it’s done and will remain soft in the middle.
From top left to right: the flattened dough ready to bake (for this I used a 9in round pan and half the recipe) butter and the glass I made small round crackers with!
A little thick, a little flexible, topped with sesame seeds, this is as close to bread as it gets!
For thin crispy crackers you’ll definitely need parchment paper and a rolling pin.
Get out a big baking sheet (the ones that are insulated or double thickness will make for not so crispy crackers, go with the low tech, single ply baking sheets for this recipe) and cut two pieces of parchment about the same size as your baking sheet.
Rub oil all over the one sheet and then place the other sheet on top and smush together, making an even coating of oil on both pieces.
Peel the top parchment off most of the way, place a shy cup of flax dough in the center and cover with the top parchment paper.
Using your rolling-pin, roll out the dough as evenly as you can, making sure not to get too close to the edge of the parchment. You can make the dough as thick or as thin as you like.
Flax dough rolled out between two sheets of oiled parchment.
Pull the top layer of parchment off, if it sticks, you need to use more oil next time! Airate the dough by poking it all over with a fork.
Rolled out super thin, removing the top layer of parchment, don't forget to sprinkle with salt!
Slide the dough/parchment onto your baking sheet and once again, bake at 400 for 10 minutes to start, check it and see, when it’s firm in the middle and darker around the edges, it’s done!
Super thin, crispy and made with romano cheese, black pepper, rosemary and salt, yum!
So there you have it, flax three ways, all of them delicious! Here’s how I had my Sunday breakfast last weekend, with toasted flax bread, finally something I can eat eggs over easy with!
Looks like toast and eggs to me!
I ate that and it was awesome.
My next post will be for an open-faced toasted cheese and onion sandwich. Oh yeah!
Peanut Butter Jelly Granola Bars
06 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: brown rice syrup, flax, granola, honey, nuts, oats, seeds
These are traditional granola bars in the sense that they are made from oats and held together with brown rice syrup and flax. Check out these if you want a Candida diet friendly version of sweet snack bars. I started making these for my husband when I smugly came to the conclusion that I could make something healthier, better tasting and cheaper than Cliff Bars, no offence Cliff. This recipe is very easily customizable, so far I have made ginger almond, cranberry pecan and of course, peanut butter and jelly. I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown’s basic granola bar recipe.
Crunchy, chewy granola bars, thanks Alton Brown!
Ingredients for Granola Bars
- 2 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
- 1/2 cup raw or toasted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup sliced peanuts, raw or toasted (you can use any kind of nuts, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, Brazil nuts, ect)
- 1/2 cup ground flax
- ½ cup of honey or brown rice syrup
- 1/2 cup of nut butter, I used peanut butter this time but you can use almond, sunflower seed, ect.
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, raisins or ginger, for these I used raisins.
The Procedure:
Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds and peanuts onto a half sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes. If you are using toasted sunflower seeds and nuts, just toast the oats!
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, nut butter and salt in a medium saucepan (large enough to accommodate all the ingredients from the recipe) and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Add the dried fruit last and then….
Gooey deliciousness
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture and stir to combine.
peanuts, sunny seeds, flax and oats, next time I need to use a bigger sauce pan
Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
It's sticky work so use a spatula to press the granola into the baking dish.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ½ an hour or until they are cool but not cold. They will be too hard to cut if they are completely cold! Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week. Or, wrap the individual bars so you always have a healthy snack handy.
Another suggestion is to make a double batch, cut one into bars after it cools and spread the other one back out onto your half sheet pan, let it cool completely on the sheet pan and break up into bite sized granola for snacking or for breakfast with yogurt or your choice of milk.
Almond Bars: Gluten Free, Low Carb & Delicious
16 Sep 2010 9 Comments
in Recipes Tags: almonds, breakfast, coconut oil, dessert, flax, quick meal, snack
These no bake, high-protein, high-fiber bars are based upon Melissa Diane Smith’s recipe for Amaretto Protein Bars in her book ‘Going Against the Grain’ and are easy to make. Roasted cocao nibs add extra chocolately flavor without the sugar. These make a great snack, a healthy dessert or a breakfast on the go!
Ingredients:
2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup flax meal (flax seeds ground in coffee/spice grinder)
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup unsalted almond butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
stevia to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup cocao nibs
Procedure:
Place almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. No need to pulverize everything, some big almond pieces add texture and crunch!
In a small sauce pan, melt the coconut oil over very low heat.
Remove the liquid coconut oil from stove and stir stevia, and vanilla into the oil.
Add the coconut oil mixture to the food processor and pulse until the ingredients form a coarse paste.
Press the mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish
Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.
Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve or store. These keep well in the freezer or refrigerator.
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