Grilled Grapefruit

Don't get me wrong, I believe every piece of natural fruit was created perfectly. That being said, sometimes the flavors can become less exciting from the first time we ate them. Therefore, when I find a new way to prepare a whole food, I like to give it a try. I kept hearing about broiled grapefruits recently, and I have yet to give that a try, but since charcoal grills burn for hours I had some spare grillin' time to try to fill the other day and decided to throw a grapefruit on the grates. The result was pretty good. If you have never tried a grapefruit warm I definitely recommend it, and I think the intense heat brought out the sugars in the fruit. Just leave on the grill for about 5 minutes.

Baked Butternut Squash Fries

What is more Americana than a French fry? I'm pretty sure most of us grew up eating fries. So since the time of toddler-hood, or before, we have all grown an affinity to these crunchy, squishy prisms. They are hard to duplicate without potatoes, but I think these butternut squash fries come pretty close.

There is really only two steps to this recipe:

1. Cut the skin off of a butternut squash and slice into fry size pieces. Thicker pieces if you prefer wedge style, or skinnier pieces for shoestring fries.

2. Bake with some room in between each fry at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until the fries start to develop a skin, you will need to flip them about half way through the baking.

Enjoy. Wasn't that easy?

Celtic Sea Salt

Salt: NaCl

Salt is an essential nutrient to all of our bodies. Salt functions are too many to list but include: stabilizing heartbeats, extracting acidity from cells, balancing blood sugar levels, absorption of food in the intestines, and many many more things, virtually involving all parts of the body. I have always been a lover of salt, rarely, if ever, using the term "too salty." It was not until recently, though, that I realized all salts are not created equal. In fact commonplace "table salt" is basically worthless. Read the ingredients label on almost any box, bottle, or can of iodized fine ground salt and you will probably notice things like sugar and other oddities that have no business being in salt. The simple fact is that corn syrup and sugar is cheaper to salt, so for manufactures it only makes sense to add these things in with their product, it will not only taste better, but it's cheaper. It's obvious they could not care less about the health of their consumers. But there is a better alternative. Sea salt is widely gaining popularity and appearing on shelves all across the country at a rapid pace.


According to LiveStrong.com there is a wide variance in table salt and sea salt: 

"The researchers found that some types of sea salt contain more sodium by weight than table salt, and some commercial sea salts contain less sodium by weight than table salt. They discuss that the sodium content of sea salt and table salt varies by region and by method of harvesting and drying. The sodium content of sea salt and table salt falls in the range of 300,000 to 400,000 parts per million.

Researchers at North Carolina found that Morton's table contained virtually no calcium, potassium or magnesium; they discuss that this lack of minerals may be related to the rapid drying method of collection. The trace mineral composition of sea salt varies widely for these three minerals. Sea salts had a varying amount of calcium ranging from a high of 1.5 percent by weight to nondetectable levels. Potassium also ranged from 3.2 percent to nondetectable levels. Magnesium had a wide range, from 1.36 to more than 3,800 parts per million. Other trace minerals found in sea salt included iron and zinc."

Sadly, though, even some sea salts are too processed. Manufactures, in an attempt to have a more appealing product, often wash the salt before packaging. This is taking away the whole point of salt, as all of the essential minerals end up anywhere but on your plate. Alas, there is a solution. My doctor recommended Celtic Sea Salt to me, and now this is all that I use. The flavor is strong and although the granules are not as small as perhaps you may be used to, just put in anything hot and they dissolve, or get used to it and you will reap the benefits of the source nutrients our bodies need so badly. 

Cinnamon Cookies w/ Coconut Sprinkles (scd, paleo)

I did two versions of this cookie. I understand that some people on the specific carbohydrate diet cannot eat eggs. I cannot imagine how devastating that would be to be so restricted and then taken down to an even more basic list of foods. Eggs are part of my everyday routine, I eat them for breakfast and in almost all of my baked goods, but for those of you who cannot eat them- I give you a pat on the back. Keep up the hard work. If you are on the intro diet and still having multiple symptoms, it may be a good idea for you to eliminate eggs and see if that helps. But anyways, The egg-free version of these cookies do not stick together as well as the ones with eggs, but that is to be expected. They are not so crumbly, thought, that you can't hold them, they just tend to break easily, especially when hot. But when you make these the whole kitchen will smell like cinnamon, so I consider that an added bonus. I think both versions are equally as tasty.

Photo Credit: FortheMomentPhoto.com

Cookies:
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup honey
4 Tablespoons butter (or oil)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
2 eggs (omit for egg-free)

Coconut Sprinkles:
1/4 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1 Tablespoon honey
Sprinkle of salt

Directions:
Combine all of the above ingredients for the cookies. In a separate small bowl combine the coconut flakes, honey, and salt, stir until all the coconut flakes are lightly coated with honey, it will stick together but that is okay. Baking times vary:

For Egg-Free:

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and then flip the cookies and bake for another 5. Let cool somewhat before using a spatula to take them off the cooking sheet or stone.

For Egg-plus:

Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.

Photo Credit: FortheMomentPhoto.com

Strawberry Poppyseed Coconut Cake (scd, paleo)

Nothing says summer is coming like fresh produce appearing in grocery stores across the country. Of course, there is always Chilean fruits, and I'm not discounting those products, but it really is best to eat what is in season for the climate you live in. When I saw strawberries on sale the other day I was so excited. Recently, I went back to my naturo-doctor. He told me that I could start eating raw fruits and vegetables! Yay! This may seem like a small thing, but to me this is huge. I have literally been waiting for this since I started SCD. I have explained that I previously tried to incorporate raw food into my diet but with no success, i would always end up sick and five steps back from where I was. Now that I can eat raw, my diet is vastly expanded. It took me a whole year, but it just goes to show how this diet is literally saving me from this disease. It's wonderful. Anyways, back to the strawberries- so then I had to come up with a creative new way to eat them. Now normally I don't mix fruits with other foods, I always eat them separately, but this new raw diet called for a mini celebration, so I decided upon making a cake. Here is the recipe:


3/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup coconut oil
6 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 cup pureed strawberries*

*I used about 1/2 carton of fresh strawberries and threw them in my Vitamix on speed 5 for about 15 seconds, leaving them slightly chunky.

Mix all of the ingredients together, in order, stirring after the addition of each one. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and pour in the batter. Sprinkle a few poppy seeds and cinnamon over the top if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until firm when gently pressed in the middle, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I suggest topping with Vanilla Lemon Frosting

Warning: this turns out extremely moist. Do not be alarmed if you want to eat the whole cake in one sitting. :)

Vanilla Lemon Frosting (scd)

Sometimes you get bored with the traditional yogurt and honey frosting. That's why I invented Vanilla Lemon Frosting, SCD-approved. This will put some zip in your step and some zang in your mouth. It's super easy to make, and is way better than just biting into a lemon for fun. I recommend making it in small batches, as the acidity in the lemon I wouldn't imagine would hold up well in the yogurt.

2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons very thick dripped yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1/2 lemon

Mix all together, and eat on anything from cake to steak.

Kidding. I would recommend it only baked goods and the like. Although, hey if you have enough "zip in your step" you might want to try it on steak.

Spicy Beef Stir-Fry

Ever have those nights where your refrigerator is packed with food, but you can't figure out what on earth to make for dinner? Happens to the best of us, I feel like I am just eating the same things over and over again, which essentially I think we all are, just prepared in various ways. Sometimes, though, it is the simplest ideas that often allude us. For instance, stir fry is one of the easiest dinners to make, but for some reason I just hadn't really tried it in a while. Well here is my recipe, and its very versatile so just use whatever you have on hand:


Steak:
1 medium to large flank steak, sliced into long pieces
mustard powder
garlic powder
coriander seed

Veggies:
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 pkg mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 fresh jalepeño
1/2 onion
*if you don't like spicy omit the jalenpeño.

Slice all of your veggies into strips, and sauté in a large pan on med-high heat until soft and onions are translucent, cover pan for this to go faster.

While they are cooking down take your steak and lay out on the cutting board. Cover top of steak with your seasonings until the top is well covered with a layer of seasonings. Slice into strips.

Take the veggies out when soft and set aside.

Put the strips of steak into the hot pan and make sure they don't stick to one another. These will cook very fast and you do not want to overcook the steak and have it be hard and chewy. Only keep the steak in the pan until both sides are brown, then turn off the heat. Throw the veggies back into the pan with the steak and stir until combined, or you can serve separately.

Crunchy Butternut Squash Chips

Crispyness and crunchiness are hard to come by on SCD. Especially if you are only eating cooked foods. Therefore, the more things I can make into "chips" the happier I am. Since butternut squash is naturally a little sweet, it just makes this all the better. These would actually be great for dipping too. Plenty of dips to make but with no chips it's almost pointless. Leave the skin on the squash and voila, you'll have a chip.


Take a butternut squash, cut off the end with the seeds, and slice the long part down the middle.
Leave the skin on.
Slice the half into half-moon shapes, the thinner you get- the crispier the chips. Slice it more than 1 cm and you will only have a soft baked squash piece.
Brush with oil (I used coconut oil), and bake at 375 until they turn brown and get crispy.

...Oh and the burnt parts? Taste like burnt marshmallows. For real.

Ummm...enjoy the crunch.

Frozen Yogurt Blueberry Custard (scd)

So this was my second attempt at an SCD ice-cream like food. This time I used my base recipe and made a few changes. The consistency was much creamier and thicker, more than ice. Basically just take this recipe and add 2 cups of yogurt to the mixture. Freeze the same way,sub blueberries for nuts, and ta-daa. Easy-peasy.

Grain-Free Cereal (scd, paleo)

Forget Foldger's coffee, the best part of wakin' up used to be a nice bowl of crunchy cereal with ice cold milk poured all over it. I haven't had cereal in an entire year now. But for some reason it crossed my mind recently and I knew that I had to figure out a way to make it SCD. Now that I have coconut milk, what goes better? Like Salt and Pepper the two belong together. I have to admit, I impressed myself with this one:


Combination of nuts, amounting to about 2 cups, crushed slightly*
1/3 cup dried, unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup raisins
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp. cinnoman
1 small dash of nutmeg
1/8 tsp of vanilla extract
*1 tsp salt

I used walnuts, almonds, and cashews and used a hand chopper to break the nuts into smaller pieces. Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl with the nuts. Spread as thinly and evenly across a baking dish as possible.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, you will need to check it every 5 minutes to turn with a spatula to prevent burning, or I suppose you could bake it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time and larger turning intervals. The goal is to dry it out, not to burn it.

*Note: I am using raw nuts. I buy my nuts in bulk from Nuts.com and I get them raw and unsalted. Therefore if you have salted nuts or pre-roasted nuts then the salt can probably be omitted and the baking time may need to be reduced. Use discretion.

Cocoa-Free Black Bean Brownies

So sometimes just the color of food tells our brain it is chocolate. Thankfully, I believe that is the case with these "brownies." They are the exact color of chocolate, but with no cocoa whatsoever. I also believe they are probably more nutritious for us, since they are made with protein-packed beans and little honey. I've made this many times before, and has even been welcomed by non-SCD-er's.