Flourless SCD Pizza Bites Vegetarian & Gluten-Free

When my eyes first glanced upon this recipe I thought it was genius. After trying it out for myself, I still think so. Here is a recipe for Bagel-Bites-esque pizza that will have you thinking you turned Italian and opened a pizzeria. No nut flours necessary:


Take the stems and insides out of a package of medium to large sized mushrooms



Preheat the oven to 400 degrees



Arrange gutted mushrooms on cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes



Fill the edible plates with tomato sauce, cheese, and olives, or whatever toppings you desire





Turn heat up to broil and leave in until cheese is melted and bubbly, 3-5 minutes



Mamma-mia!

A Trip to the Naturopath Changes Everything

Let me start out by saying that I have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 7 months now. I have done so with great willpower and desire to remain on it for my life's entirety. Now I must say that this may very well be my last blog as strictly SCD-compliant.  What happened, you say? A visit to the naturopath doctor, that is what happened.

If you haven't noticed,  I have had my struggles and doubts about being on this diet- I am still loosing a lot of blood, little white marks in my fingernails have come back, I've never had so many cavities ever ever before in my life (and we all know your teeth reflect the health of the rest of your body), I'm still quite tired frequently for no lack of sleep (could be tied to the blood loss), and overall after 7 months I still can't tolerate any foods with skins or seeds or that are raw. I know that SCD takes time- a lot of time. When you really think about the design of the diet it mainly addresses the cause of further damage to the gut, stopping the cycle of bacteria overgrowth and further inflammation. So if you starve those bad bacteria eventually the inflammation that is already present will go away, but as severe as some cases, like mine, are that will take, literally, years. I would be all too willing to wait that length of time in order not to have to take prescriptions forever, but as I listed above, I can tell that for me there is something incomplete about this diet. Hence, I went to a doctor that could actually help me. I got his name from a friend of mine whose mother had severe ulcerative colitis, so bad that she was down to eating only baby food. This same doctor put her on The Maker's Diet, and within a year she was healed. At this point in my journey of having Crohn's Disease I am willing to try just about anything within a realm of safety and legality that will get me better. So I went to this naturopath and right away he tells me that I need to get a hair analysis to figure out the imbalances of elements in my body- he could tell from looking at my eyes there was something wrong. If my grandparents had not done a hair analysis and swear by it's helpfulness I would be more hesitant to do such a thing, but I was leaning toward something of the like anyways. So I will proceed with that in a few weeks, I was using shampoo with zinc in it and that throws off the results- hence I have to wait. This doctor also gave me a few whole food supplements to take, explaining how each one would be helpful to clean out my intestinal tract and eventually get my body to heal itself. I was nervous about these supplements because they include ingredients like maltodextrin which are definitely a no-no on SCD! But, the doctor is very wise and I could tell he knows what he is talking about, so I am going to listen to him. I was also given a food list to eat by, he said what I am doing now is good on the SCD, but there were a few things that differ between what Elaine Gottschall says are ok and what this doctor is recommending. The paper with my food list on it is an excerpt from Dr. Melvin Page's diet (The Page Diet, I am doing Phase II) which I had not heard of before. Here are some differences I noticed right away:

• PD allows for potatoes and sweet potatoes, boiled (SCD potatoes are strictly forbidden)
• PD allows for some corn and popcorn (SCD illegal)
• PD focuses more on combinations of foods, you cannot eat fruit within an hour of eating any vegetable or protein, you cannot combine starchy vegetables with meat, etc. (SCD does not matter when or in what combinations foods are eaten as long as they are legal)
• PD only allows butter in small amounts and only white cheeses, including mozzarella (SCD has specific cheeses which are allowed unlimited in amounts including orange cheeses, and excludes mozzarella as being illegal)
• PD has more vegetables that are o.k. to eat, including some starchy ones that SCD does not allow for
• PD limits the amounts of fruits to eat to only two servings a day, and very few fruits are recommended (SCD unlimited fruits of any kind)
• PD cottage cheese is allowed (that is a no-no on SCD)
• PD allows for NO juices! (SCD allows for diluted juices, not from concentrate)

Today will be my first day following the guidelines of the Page Diet. Knowing as much as I do about why certain foods are SCD-illegal I will probably stay away from those things at least in the beginning to promote healing as much as possible. This is harder than I thought it was going to be because for the last almost-year I have trained my brain to think of so many foods as forbidden and have gotten in a routine of cooking and eating with fruits as much as I want. Now this has to change, I have to have 6 meals a day and a certain amount of protien from meats, fish, and eggs (take body weight divided by 15 = # of ounces of protein) and I have to relearn the system. Once I get my hair analysis done I will know a lot more and I may be able to change things, I will wait on the doctor to say. For the moment though, everything is still cooked, and I am still waiting to see how long it will take for my Crohn's to disappear.

2 Ingredient Buffalo Sauce

So far the only two condiments that I have found to be SCD legal are mustard and hot sauce (specific brands of both). Of course the mix and match possibilities are endless with spices, yogurt, and other things but they take creativity and time to prepare. But then I remembered back to my first job being a hostess at a small restaurant. For some reason one morning as I went to work, walking through the back of the house I noticed a large pot of boiling red sauce with a large block of yellow floating in it. I must have had a strange expression on my face because one of the cooks explained it was buffalo sauce-
hot sauce and butter. Ever since then I have been able to make my own buffalo sauce. I don't quite know what I used to think buffalo sauce was made out of but I doubt I thought it was that simple. So recently I realized that both butter and hot sauce are SCD legal! Yay- the buffalo possibilities are endless: chicken, steak, pork, dare I say...fish? You decide.

2/3 parts melted butter
1/3 part hot sauce

adjust according to your spicy liking.

Crispy, Salty Kale Chips

Why didn't I try these before? I had always briefly read over recipes involving kale and turning them into chips, but they either required a dehydrator (which I do not have nor have room for) or I assumed that I would not be able to find large leafed kale at my local grocer. Well this recipe requires neither. I found that just like pre-packaged salads come washed and cut up ready to eat in a bag, likewise there are pre-chopped kale bags! And, if you prefer to buy the whole kale bunches, it's easy to just take the leaves off of the thick center stem and pull them apart or cut them into bite size pieces. The only other ingredients needed are coconut oil and salt. Here is what to do:

Take a handful or two of kale greens
toss/ lightly coat in coconut oil (you don't need much, maybe a tablespoon)
sprinkle sea salt of top

Put the greens on a flat baking sheet and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the edges start to turn brown. Once they turn brown they quickly burn so take them out right away. Also you may want to flip the greens about half way through to make sure both sides get crispy.

Then just take out and snack! Sooo good (and sooo healthy)

Question: Stomach Noises?

This is less of a post and more of a Q & A with no A yet...Lately my stomach/lower gut area has been making extremely loud noises- gurgling, whining, and sometimes just crying. I know this is "normal" for a person with Crohn's but I have never had this problem before until recently. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know what this means? I'm hoping it is the sound of healing but I fear it is the sound of my condition getting worse :/ eek...
I have tried to do some research on this but it has been to no avail. Any help/ thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thank you,

ADDENDUM: I now have the answer!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Frosting

There's nothing more elemental to baking than a vanilla cake. It is the base to so many other recipes, and in itself can be considered a luxury food. While this coconut flour recipe is technically for donuts, it works well as a general vanilla [cup]cake recipe too. I do not own a donut pan, and I like the portion sizes cupcakes offer versus making a cake with coconut flour that does not rise like a traditional cake. I actually made these vanilla cupcakes just as the recipe at Comfy Belly specified. I created my own topping, however. Here is my personal recipe for vanilla frosting:

1/8 stick of butter (partially melted)
1/3 cup of strained yogurt
1/8 cup of honey
couple drops of vanilla extract

Stir the partially melted butter into the yogurt with a fork until it looks well mixed then add honey and vanilla and completely mix. There you have it- SCD safe frosting.

I will be the first to admit that these cupcakes and frosting are a far cry from "regular" cupcakes and frosting. But when you are on SCD and the closest thing to candy is a raisin, then yeah, these cupcakes are pretty good.

Watch Your Honey!

Honey is to SCD as the sun is to swimming. It's possible to do without, but it would be so unpleasant. That's why when I was sent the link to this story showing 76% of all store bought honey is fake I was highly alarmed. We all depend on grocery stores, and when you read a label you expect it to be true. Sadly, one of the brands of honey I have recently been purchasing was on the below list of fake honey producers.
This is highly upsetting, as all SCD-ers spend so much time on buying quality foods as medications for their bodies. This story really should be a public service announcement- this is important to know, especially if you are on the specific carbohydrate diet. How do they know it's fake? The samples bought do not contain pollen- the very definition of honey:

from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honey:

Definition of HONEY:
1a : a sweet viscid material elaborated out of the nectar of flowers in the honey sac of various bees 

So what is the fake stuff made out of? " It is difficult to say for sure, as pollen is the key to verifying that honey is real. According to FSN, much of this imposter honey is more likely being secretly imported from China, and may even be contaminated with antibiotic drugs and other foreign materials." is what the article says from FoodSafetyNews.com

Read these articles- they are alarming and informative and pass this along!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Lately, the item that really has been "hitting the spot" for my tummy is an old fashioned muffin. I think the combination of perfect portion size and adaptability for any time of day add to its appeal. Needless to say, isn't everyone always looking for a good SCD safe snack?
Here is another recipe from Comfy Belly. It is these cranberry orange muffins. As fall has fallen the produce now in season include cranberries and citrus fruits from the Southern hemisphere of the world. So this recipe is fitting for the time of year. It's pretty good too, no one would ever guess these are "diet" muffins. Here are my changes:


3/4 cup almond flour & 1/4 cup coconut flour instead of all almond flour
used 1/2 cup orange juice instead of fresh oranges

yumm...

Cinnamon Cookies Recipe Review

Something about the approaching winter season makes cinnamon and spices like it more enticing. Thus, when I went on a search for a sweet treat to make for the upcoming week when I read "cinnamon cookies" (from Comfy Belly) I had to try them. Such a simple idea, sounded like it would be pleasing to my taste buds. I was pleasantly right. It seems like I can never just make a recipe without adding my own modifications so here is what I changed:

Subbed 3/4 cup almond flour + 1/4 cup coconut flour (instead of 2 cups almond flour)Added 1/3 cup almond butter for texture

Sprinkled with cinnamon and sea salt

These cookies are equivalent to a perfect brownie- edges are slightly crunchy, inside is slightly chewy. Wow, I will be making these again.

Fried Fish

Here's a fun fact: I was raised in the South. Anyone who knows what GRITS mean, well that's me. I resented that fact for the longest time, but now I have come to terms with it. What that means for my food palate, though, is that my tongue craves carbs- more specifically fried carbs. Unfortunately, the specific carbohydrate diet does not allow for a lot of that. I have found a way to incorporate at least one southern staple back into my gut-friendly diet. Fried fish was a weekend ritual back down south and here is my way of replicating that in an SCD-friendly way:

2 pieces of fish of your choice (I prefer Flounder)

Mix:
1/3 cup almond flour
Salt
Pepper

Heat 1/3 cup olive oil on medium-high heat and saute 2 cloves of garlic

Make sure your fish pieces are completely thawed out then dab the almond flour mixture onto the tops and flip and press onto bottoms of pieces of fish. I have found that "dredging" into almond flour doesn't really work well, and ends up with a lot of almond flour (expensive) waste.

Fry over medium-hot heat until breading turns golden brown.

Personal Doubts About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Don't get me wrong. I am forever in debt to Elaine Gottschall and the founders of the Elemental Diet and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I know that being on this diet is keeping me from being on dangerous drugs and another victim to greedy pharmaceutical companies. I love that Breaking the Vicious Cycle explains how on a molecular level food has the ability to heal and our bodies have the ability to repair themselves. However, I can't help but notice that the SCD has it's drawbacks. For me personally I have noticed a few alarming things that I can only contribute to being on the SCD.

Cinnamon Bun Muffins Recipe Review

Perhaps my favorite free part of being at the mall is strolling past freshly baked Annie Anne's pretzels or Cinnabon's anything. When first starting SCD I hated smelling other people's food that I couldn't have, it only made me crave it more. But after about a month I found that the opposite occurred. Now I enjoy smelling foods I once indulged in, it brings back memories and what I always tell other people who feel bad eating in front of me is that I can smell it- and remember what it tastes like. Which is true, I don't have to spend the calories and I can remember exactly what that jumbo piece of cake tastes like. It's a gift at times really. Anyways, the point of this post is to say that us on SCD do not have to go without delicacies like cinnamon buns while on this diet.

Here is the Cinnamon Bun Muffins Recipe from Comfy Belly. These are amazing little treats, They make just enough to ration out over a weeks time. A word for the wiser though, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon for the topping is way too much, the spice overpowers itself and it tastes bitter, I would go for around 2 teaspoons perhaps. As usual, I subbed the 2 1/2 cups of almond flour for 3/4 cup almond flour and 1/4 cup coconut flour. Also I used applesauce instead of yogurt. These are pretty tasty!

Too much cinnamon in the Mix