A Yummy, No-Grain Supper

When you're on a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free (and lately grain-free) diet, people always ask:  "What's left to eat?"  Well, here is one meal idea for supper.

• Grass-fed Ribeye steak (I use my friend Dot's recipe on her blog.  It's so delicious, I only cook steak this way these days!)
• sauteed mushrooms
• green salad with homemade dressing (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, fresh herbs, and salt)
• Mockarita  (scroll down to bottom of page)

Leave off the mushrooms, and you've got a yeast-connection-diet-friendly meal too.
Happy eating!

Breakfast fit for a queen

I love a good weekend breakfast!  Unfortunately, I can't have things like pancakes, waffles, bacon, etc.  so I have to improvise.  Here is something I put together yesterday morning (Saturday) and it was truly delicious and seemed decadent. 

Bacon Alternative:  I cannot eat bacon and other processed meats because the nitrates they use to preserve them give me serious migraines.  (My uncle was the one who told me about this because he gets these too.  Does anyone else have this problem?)  I have found nitrate-free bacon, but there is always sugar in it!  I guess the sugar takes the place of the nitrates to preserve it?  Anyway, it's a rock and a hard place situation.  Until now!

Did you know you can fry up prosciutto and it gets crisp just like bacon?  Okay, so it's not quite as tasty, but it's a close second!  They don't put the preservatives in prosciutto like they do with bacon.  (Not sure why.  Anyone?)  The ingredients listed were just "pork, salt, and spices".

Fried eggs:  I use real eggs from grass-fed, truly free-range, organic, chickens.  This makes all the difference!  Yum.

Butternut squash hash:  I took some leftover roasted butternut squash, cut it up, topped in with chopped pecans and a bit more cinnamon and butter, and baked it for about 10 minutes or so.  This made a perfect, sweet companion to my eggs and "bacon".

Chai with coconut milk:  Need I say more?

There you have it.  A great breakfast that royalty would envy! 

Who knew butternut squash was so delicious?

Oh, butternut squash, where have you been all my life?  I happened upon this recipe in the Candida Control Cookbook and it happens to fit into the Specific Carbohydrate Diet too.  It is sweet enough to be dessert!  The taste reminds me of a cross between pumpkin and sweet potatoes.  I suppose you could substitute butternut squash for the sweet potatoes when making casserole for a low-carb version.  Also, I've made "pumpkin pie" with butternut squash instead of pumpkin and it tastes almost identical!

Treat yourself to this yummy, healthy dessert!

Roasted Butternut Squash
Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash
cinnamon to taste
butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Wash, dry, and cut squash length-wise.  Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes.

SO easy and you won't believe how delicious it is!  (...and I usually don't even like squash!)
    

Thai Yum Yum Soup!

Thai lemon grass soup is one of my favorite things!  It's called "Tom Yum" soup, but I call it "Yum Yum" soup.  Here is the recipe I use:

Tom Yum Soup

Ingredients:
2 pounds raw shrimp
1 Tablespoon oil (sesame works well)
8 cups hot water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 stalks lemon grass (or 4 strips lemon rind, thinly peeled)
4 lemon or other citrus leaves (if you can find them)
2 or 3 fresh whole chilies
1 Tablespoon fish sauce (You buy it bottled.  Sometimes, I leave this ingredient out and it still tastes delicious.)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
1 fresh chili, seeded and sliced
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
4 green onions, chopped
sliced mushrooms (1 package)

Directions:
Shell and de-vein shrimp.  Wash shrimp heads well, drain thoroughly.  Heat oil in a saucepan and fry heads and shells of shrimp until they turn pink.  Add hot water, salt, lemon grass, citrus leaves, and whole chilies.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain stock, return to a boil, add mushrooms and shrimp and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until shrimp are cooked.  Add fish sauce and lemon juice to taste.  This soup should have a pronounced acid flavor, so add sufficient lemon juice to achieve this.  Serve in a large tureen or in soup bowls, sprinkled with sliced chili, cilantro, and spring onions.

I'm in love with these blueberry muffins!

I have recently switched from the Yeast Connection Diet to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  Basically, this means that I used to not be able to eat anything sweet.  Not even fruit!  However, I could eat grains as long as they were gluten-free and had no sugar or yeast.  Now, I can eat fruit and even honey, but I cannot eat any grains.  It'll be a challenge, but I'm ready for a change.  Plus, I am SO excited about eating fruit again! 

I found this recipe in the "Eat Well Feel Well" cookbook by Kendall Conrad.  These muffins turned out really well and were super tasty and moist.  The recipe calls for almond flour, but I used hazelnut flour with delicious results.  (Nut flours are just nuts ground up really finely.  There is no actual flour in this recipe.  I  buy it at Whole Foods but you can make your own nut flour by grinding your nuts of choice in a food processor.)
Try 'em!  They are high-protein, low-glyemic index, and relatively low-carb.

SCD Blueberry Almond (or hazelnut) Muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups almond flour (or any other nut flour)
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter or ghee (Butter has very little lactose and ghee has none.  Alternatively, you can substitute olive oil if you like.)
1/4  cup honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.  In a food processor, puree the almond flour, eggs, butter, honey, baking soda, vanilla, and salt until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl and gently fold in the blueberries.  With a big spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan.  Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve warm with butter and honey if desired.
Makes 1 dozen.

Cupcakes!
When I made these, I decided to turn them into cupcakes by making icing for them.  (...because everyone knows that cupcakes are muffins with icing, right?)  This honey icing was delicious!  I have to say though, I don't think I boiled the honey long enough because it turned out really thin.  Make sure you boil it long enough if you want a thick, spreadable icing.

Honey Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup honey
1 egg white, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Boil the honey until a drop forms a firm ball in cold water.  Add gradually to beaten egg white.  Whip until stiff and add vanilla.  This frosting is marshmallow-like and remains spreadable for hours. 

I hope you like these as much as I did!

Recent visit to the Functional Medicine Practitioner

A while back, I mentioned that I went to see a Functional Medicine Practitioner who I called Dr. Cooper.  She has really helped me to figure out what my body needs and has helped me feel better.  My migraines have not gone away altogether, but they have decreased in intensity and in duration. 

Two days ago, I went in for a check-up.  I had not seen her since September and I wanted to see how much I had improved since then. 

What I found out:
1.  I really do have a wheat allergy.  Crazy that I've gone 35 years without realizing it until this year. 
2.  Other allergies I have:  dairy, apple (weird, huh?), oats, pecans, and walnuts.  (These aren't intense allergies where I have to have a shot or anything, but these things do cause problems for me.)
3.  Dr. Cooper re-iterated that my headaches are caused by stress on my digestive system.  (caused by Candida and bad bacteria.)
4.  The Candida yeast are almost under control.  I will finish out my current Nystatin prescription, then stop.
5.  Now that the yeast is much improved, there is a high amount of bad bacteria showing up in my gut.  This is what we are addressing now.
6.  I have low Progesterone levels.

What I don't know yet:
1.  Last time, Dr. Cooper found that I had insanely low levels of vitamin D.  A healthy level is in the 80's and no one should ever be below 32 b/c it puts you at high risk for all sorts of things (including cancer).  My level in September was 19!!  I have been taking crazy high amounts (5000 mg) of vitamin D since then to build up my reserves.  Dr. Cooper has ordered a blood test for me to see if I still need to be taking that high dose.

What I will do now:
1.  Continue to eat a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet --BUT I will ramp it up a bit and follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (see below) which prohibits all grains and sugars except fruit and honey.
2.  Dr. Cooper has changed my diet from the Yeast Connection diet combined with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to just the Specific Carbohydrate Diet ONLY!  This means I can eat fruit!  HOORAY! (I haven't had fruit in 8 months.....well...except when I cheated...rarely.)  FYI - here is a more critical look at the diet.  It's good to consider all sides.
3.  Take 50 mg of progesterone per day.
4.  Continue with all of my supplements which she originally prescribed.  (I will list them soon.)
5.  Get my vitamin D levels tested.

That's pretty much it.  I am going to exercise more.  It seems like that's the first thing that goes out the window when I get busy.  I will have time to get back on track over the summer.

What I like to have for a Friday Night Splurge

I LOVE fried shrimp!  That's  one of the things I really miss about being gluten-free.  Luckily, I've found a way to fry shrimp using rice flour.  Yum!

Fried Shrimp and Tartar Sauce

The sauce:
On my diet, I can't have pre-made tartar sauce b/c of the sugar and vinegar content.  Here is a good mock.
Step 1:  Make your own mayonnaise.  (I used to think this was hard.  It's not!  It literally takes me 10 minutes to do.  Also, I thought I didn't like mayo.  I just don't like the pre-packaged kind.  Homemade tastes completely different!)  Mayonnaise starts with an egg yolk, into which you force oil, and it will hold it in creamy suspension.
a)  Heat a bowl (this is important!  The yolk won't "take" the oil if it's not heated.  I learned this from Julia Child.  Love her!)
b)  Put one egg yolk into the bowl (Save the egg white!  You'll see why later.)
c)  Beat the yolk for about a minute (I use an electric, hand-held mixer.)
d)  Add salt (about 1/2 teaspoon) and about  2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (most recipes call for a squirt of mustard at this point but I find it doesn't  need it.)
e)  Beat for another minute or so.
f)   While the mixer is still on, SLOWLY  mix in 1 cup of olive oil.  I usually spoon it in first, then pour in a small strean when it reaches the half-way point.
g)  When all the oil  in incorporated, you have mayonnaise!

Step 2:   Make the tartar.
a)  Take 1 cup of mayonnaise and put it into a separate bowl.
b)  Add one half finely chopped onion, one half finely chopped cucumber, a handful of fresh dill, one half lemon, finely chopped (skin and all!), more salt, if needed, to taste.
c)  Store in fridge for at least a half an hour before eating.


The Shrimp:
a)  Peel and clean however many shrimp you want.  (I use about 8 BIG shrimp per person.)  Make sure you cut along the vein and remove it.  This is the shrimp's poo.  You do not want to eat it!  I can't tell you how many times I've had shrimp in restaurants where they do not remove the veins.  This is a pet peeve of mine.  Yuck!
b)  Dry the shrimp, then dip each one in the egg white (remember the one from the mayo?)
c)  Then, coat the shrimp with the following mixture:

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• finely chopped garlic
• chopped fresh oregano and basil
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

d)  Fry the coated shrimp in a frying pan with some olive oil (enough to liberally coat the bottom of the pan.)  When the shrimp turn cloudy, they're done.  It usually takes about 5 minutes or so per side.

Serve immediately with the tartar sauce.  Add a green salad and you have a great meal!