Paleo Asian Inspired Raw Salad - with an awesome Candida Diet friendly dressing

I connected with an old friend today. No it wasn't sugar. We are still not speaking.

Someone who tries to follow a very alkaline diet. So lots of veggies and no processed foods. 

So I challenged myself to make us a "raw" lunch that was both Candida diet friendly, alkaline and tasty.

I have been struggling a bit on this Candida diet with making a salad dressing that tasted really good. Well I happened to find two ingredients at my local health food store that are Candida diet friendly - i.e. no sugar, vinegar or yeast - that made this happen.

Coconut vinegar and coconut amino's to the rescue. Yay. I had originally thought apple cider vinegar and Bragg's liquid amino's were the answer but upon further research they are not the best alternative for my Candida issue. 

So if you can get your hands on coconut vinegar and amino's - do it. A bit expensive at about $6 for a smallish bottle but when you mix it with EVOO you can stretch it a long way.

So here is a delicious recipe that was shared with a delightful friend. Make it for someone you care about - because we can all benefit from getting a little alkaline this weekend. We also sprinkled some hemp hearts on top to give it a protein boost - that's up to you.

Paleo Asian Salad (Serves 2)

4 cups Broccoli Slaw (precut/packaged and found near the coleslaw at all major grocery stores)

1 cup snow peas (ready to eat)

1/4 red pepper, thinly sliced

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup blanched sliced almonds

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Just toss all this together.

Candida Diet Friendly Asian Dressing

3 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp Coconut vinegar

2 Tbsp Coconut amino's

2 drops liquid Stevia (without alcohol)

2 drops sesame oil

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp ground ginger

pepper to taste

Combine all dressing ingredients together. Shake well and pour over Asian salad. Serve & Enjoy.

Paleo Turkey Chipolte Soup - Candida Diet Friendly

If you follow me on Pinterest (upper left hand corner) you might have noticed I'm trying to improve my white blood count. Apparently turkey, salmon, oranges and garlic are good for that. 

Since hubby roasted a gigantic turkey for Mother's Day and we have tons of leftovers it has worked out perfectly. So I have been busy experimenting making leftover turkey recipes......that are of course   Candida diet friendly (no sugar, dairy, chemicals, etc). 

I've pretty much completed 2 weeks of my diet and have to say that I felt better yesterday than I have in some time. My energy levels aren't what they were a couple months ago but my moods are getting much better and my sugar cravings are WAY down. I still want a piece of cake but its not making me crazy.

And I really enjoyed this taco"less" chipolte soup. Its very clean and comforting. You can find chipolte spice at Bulk Barn - a little goes a long way so you don't need to buy much. If you want it a little thicker you can always add some guar gum to thicken it up a bit near the end. I also threw in some pumpkin puree just because I needed to use it up. I didn't include it in the recipe since it was only a 1/2 cup afterthought. 

The point is this can be a kitchen sink soup - just throw whatever you've got in there and enjoy. Just make sure its clean. And try the avocado garnish. I wouldn't think it would be good on soup - but it really is. 

Paleo Turkey Chipolte Soup with Spinach and Tomato

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp chipolte seasoning

Dash of paprika, salt and pepper (to taste)

2 cups cooked roast turkey (or chicken) - leftover roasted works great

2 cups fresh spinach

4 cups turkey or chicken broth - I used home-made

1 large can diced tomatos - no sugar added

1 fresh avocado, chopped - for garnish

Fry onion and garlic in coconut in oil on stove-top over medium heat until softened - about 2 minutes. Add celery, turkey and spices. Fry, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes to let the spices wake up. Add spinach. Fry for an additional minute until spinach is wilted. Add broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer on a gentle boil for about 45 minutes.  

Serve topped with fresh avocado. 

Paleo Swiss Steak - Dusted with Coconut Flour

This is a gluten free spin on Baba M's famous Swiss Steak recipe. I used coconut flour instead of wheat in my batch and will have to switch out the mushrooms for peppers next time.

So today is a crazy day. I will be running all day so I am leaving you with a recipe from the archives I made a few weeks ago that I never had a chance to post. It was my pre-Candida diet days. It can easy be adapted to be Candida diet friendly so I will be making it again. 

I'm also trying to eat more beef since I can't have pork on my Candida diet and beef is basically the best food to try and combat my low iron problem. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was awesome. We spent 4 hours at the local fair, the sun was shining and the kids were happy. So I was happy.

Hubby even baked a turkey for dinner. For a former chef he does very little cooking these days. He's not sure what I can and can't eat so he's kind of thrown in the towel. But he stepped up for Mother's Day and it was nice to get a break. And we have LOTS of leftovers so I won't have to cook again today. Bonus since I have no time..........

Paleo Swiss Steak - switch out the mushrooms with some red, yellow or green peppers to make it Candida diet friendly

1 1/2 lbs Beef Minute Steaks, mine were organic/hormone-free/antibiotic-free/grass fed, thin and pounded
1 -2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Coating
3 Tbsp organic coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pepper

Sauce
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium white onion, sliced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/2 celery, chopped
28 oz can diced tomatoes (no sugar added)
5.5 oz can tomato paste
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika

Heat a griddle or skilled to medium high heat. Drizzle with olive oil. Coat both side of each piece of steak with a light dusting of coating. Fry the beef until coating is browned. About 3 - 4 minutes per side.

In a separate sauce pan, fry garlic and onion in olive oil until softened over medium heat. About 2 minutes. Add celery, mushrooms and celery. Fry for about 5 minutes until vegetables are softened. Add tomato, Worcestershire and paprika. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Transfer half the tomato sauce to a casserole with a lid. Place browned beef on top and then cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Bake with lid on for appox. 1 hour and 20 minutes. Beef should be fork tender.

Happy Mother's Day - Make SWEET memories and Think Clean Thoughts!

So I have survived 1 1/2 weeks of my Candida diet. No sugar in ANYTHING. No vinegar. No fruit. No dairy. No yeast. Pretty much no cheats.

If you think you have gone sugar-free (like I did) you will probably be surprised by how many places you are still getting sugar when you actually start reading labels and thinking twice before putting things in your mouth and cooking. 

They really do sneak it in everywhere. I thought wheat was bad for being an additive in everything. Well sugar is worse. In hindsight I was still getting lots of sugar in my diet. A lot less than mine pre-clean days but still a lot more than I thought. 

Salad dressings, canned tomatoes (some), french vanilla creamer, yogurt, marinades for meat, crackers. You have to watch closely - it is everywhere. 

It kind of explains why my sugar cravings didn't go away even though I thought I had gone sugar free. I hadn't. I was still feeding my Candida.

But now I really and truly have gone sugar free. And I am excited to report that the SUGAR DEVIL has left the building. Do I still want something sweet here and there - Yes. Do I miss it - Yes. 

Do I feel possessed and frantic if I don't have something sweet after meals or when the mood strikes - NO. Hurray. Victory. Freedom. 

So if you are battling with your sugar tooth and can't understand why its not going away - maybe its because you are still feeding it from unexpected places. Read labels. Give up fruit for a while. Really give your body a break and you will notice a difference in cravings. You will have about 5 days of intense, crippling withdrawal. Sorry. But it will get better. 

I feel a sense of freedom from not being a slave to my sweet cravings. I hated them as much as I loved the fleeting moments of satisfaction I got from that sweet hit of dark chocolate. It never satisfied me. I always wanted more. Its a curse that I didn't want. And for now at least it is at bay.

So wish me luck for another week of willpower. The less you give in, the less you give in.

And there is lots of sweetness all around. Just not food. Like my kids giving me the SWEETEST mother's day gifts this morning. Life is SWEET indeed.

Happy Mother's Day to all the SWEET and INSPIRING mother's out there. Especially to my sister and friends who are constantly teaching me ways to be a better mom. Your ideas and support help me everyday. And to my Mom and Mom-in Law who don't read this blog. You are amazing. Love you gals.

These are two of my awesome Mother's day gifts. A flower pen and holder from my 5 year old and a coaster from my 4 year old.

A almond, chocolate, mint, coconut milk tart thingy. A creation to try and satisfy my sweet tooth. It was okay. I'll be working on this recipe a bit more before sharing. I used Xylitol and Stevia for sweetener but have since been advised that I should try and stay away from Xylitol so I won't be making it the same way again! Back to the drawing board.

Chicken, brown rice pasta soup I made for the girls with some chicken stock I made from a rotisserie chicken. They both enjoyed it. A win!

I thought this was an ideal Candida diet meal until I found out on Tuesday that I can't have PORK - OMG. I love PORK. Darn. I also can't have apple cider vinegar. Tear. Vinegar is off my list of things I can eat. Tough for salad dressings. But I found some coconut vinegar at Vita Health and its allowed. I will be experimenting with it this week.  I'm excited to try it. 

I had a Chocolate Vega One Chia and nut butter smoothie everyday this week. I'm a bit addicted. Its totally Candida Diet Friendly so its okay.  These are saving me as at least its one meal I can just blend, sip and go. Convenient and tasty.

A salad dressing I made out of avocado. It was okay. I will work on it a bit this week and probably document the recipe soon. It needed more spices.

I made some taco meat so we had Candida friendly Taco(less) salad a couple times this week. A nice change of pace from our regular chicken breast salad.

This was an awesome breakfast. I just layered olive oil/butter, spinach, free run egg, green onion and sun-dried tomatoes in a fry pan. I seasoned with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Then I just add a bit of water and the lid and let it baste for about 5 minutes. Delicious. Clean. Candida-diet friendly. No toast necessary.

I made a cauliflower, broccoli and chicken stir-fry. I used Bragg's liquid amino's, lemon juice, EVOO, sesame oil, garlic and Stevia for a marinade. Added some ginger, garlic and s & p. Easy and clean. I just bought some coconut amino's to use instead of Bragg's. Haven't tried it yet but excited to experiment with it as its supposed to be a better alternative for Candida than the Bragg's for soy sauce. Baby loved this recipe.

I made some coconut milk, pecan, pumpkin ice cream one night. Just a bit of Stevia for sweetener. It was okay. 

A pumpkin scone recipe I invented. I used flax, coconut flour and almond flour. Stevia as sweetener of course. Might share the recipe this week as they turned out pretty good.

I needed to use up some left-over spaghetti squash and clean marinara so I just fried it up with some leaks, sun-dried tomatoes and topped with some canned chicken, spices and sauce. My goal is to have less than 5% food wastage in our house. This is how I do it. Re-inventing left-overs so they are still clean and tasty. 

An omelet with tomato and sun-dried tomatoe and about one ounce of mozza cheese. I'm allowed 3 ounzes three times a week but I'm trying to just cut it out. This was my one dairy of the week. Not bad mama. Not bad.

I baked banana bread and banana muffins for the kid. Torture. I couldn't even lick the spoon. But  baby LOVED them so it was worth it. Hubby and the girls also adore this recipe. 

We had grilled chicken and cauliflower yesterday for lunch. We did the cauliflower in a roasting pan on the bbq. It tasted so SWEET. Amazing. Just seasoned with s & p, butter, EVOO, and basil/parsley. 

The almond flour and flax banana bread I made for the rest of the family that I can't eat. Drool. I'll NEVER eat this again. Oh well. I will just have to keep experimenting to find something as good without banana's.

Fitness Friday - Mama Gets Fit with a Tabata Plyometric Workout - Here's a sample

Well, I have been faithfully working out for the past 8 1/2 months. For the first 6/7 months I was loving getting to the YMCA for my group classes at 9:15 a few times a week. But baby's getting older and I am feeling bad about disrupting his nap so my Y visits are getting fewer and farther between. 

Now I was never good at working out at home. I hate jogging and I find the treadmill BORING as heck. Haven't turned mine on in about 2 years. So I HAD to come up with a home workout that I enjoyed and THIS IS IT. 

I can get this done in about 35 minutes. Its an all over body workout. You don't need any equipment except a laptop or phone that you can use for the Tabata Timer. Go to www.tabatatimer.com for the free timer. 

Each round will take you 4:00 minutes. Basically you do each move as hard as you can for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Each round you will do the moves twice each for a total of 8 moves. 

In between rounds I usually need a 1-2 minute recovery for water and if I'm really energetic I like to do some light weights (say biceps after round 1, shoulder press after round 2, triceps after round 3) for an "active recovery". Just to help with this chicken arm situation. 

If you push as hard as you can for 20 seconds you will be sweaty and you will get fit. If you don't know all of these moves just Google them or do a search on Pinterest. Or replace the unknowns with something you do know. Just keep moving. 

I don't talk about fitness a lot on my blog but it has been a huge factor in getting my health (and body) back. I am having "mood" issues and I always feel so much better after my work outs. 

I was losing some motivation this week - I don't need to lose any more weight and I'm getting a bit tired. Baby is still up 3 times a night 10 months in (arghhhh). But Wednesday my cardio instructor gave us a pep talk on "keeping going, never stopping" especially in the tough seasons of our life. It was timely.

I  like feeling fit. I like running up the stairs without getting winded. I like throwing my baby in the air and watching him squeal. I need to stay fit.

I found something I love. I just need to keep it up.  

You can't get bored with this - especially if you keep changing up the moves which I do everytime I work out.

This is just a sample of what I did this morning during babies nap. But he's up now so I gotta go. Have fun. 

Vega One Chocolate Chia Smoothies - Helping me with the transition to the Candida Diet

The smoothie you can drink with a straw or eat with a spoon?

So as you may or may not know, I am now on a full Candida diet. The first phase. The "you can't have  any yeast, sugar, fruit, chemicals, or vinegar phase". Its tricky I tell you.

I survived a week so far with no pretty much no cheats. Its getting easier as I go - I had to go through some dark chocolate, decaf coffee, french vanilla creamer and apple withdrawal first. But once I got through it and refocused on shopping and re-training myself on how to cook this way (again) its going alright.

These Vega One Smoothies have been keeping me going. They are sweetened with Stevia and from what I gather from my online research, Vega One All in One Nutritional Shakes are Candida-diet friendly. Thankfully!

I posted on Vega One a while back and at that time I wasn't totally sold on it. The French Vanilla flavour is so-so. But given I have to give up Whey protein indefinitely (confirmed food sensitivity from my IGG tests) I decided to revisit it.

And guess what, I have found a combination of ingredients and textures that works with the Chocolate flavor to make a kick ass Candida-Diet Friendly smoothie.  Its really, really good. Really.

Its challenging when you suddenly have to make your smoothies without banana's and yogurt. But the ground Chia seeds and nut butter gives it the creaminess it needs. And the coconut and cacao nibs give it a nice little crunch.

This is not a low-calorie smoothie. But I'm making this for breakfast and it is doing an amazing job of keeping me full until lunch. No easy feat. And I need the calories right now. But if you want to cut down the calories you can halve the shredded coconut, Chia or cacao nibs and/or omit the nut butter. Its a forgiving recipe.

So I now give a full thumbs up to Vega One. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Not sure how I would be surviving without it. And it contains the equivalent of 3 servings of greens, a healthy dose of probiotics and a decent amount of protein.

Vega One Chocolate Chia Smoothie

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Keywords: blender breakfast snack candida-diet friendly gluten-free low-carb paleo sugar-free vegan Chia Vega One

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Ingredients (1 Serving)

• 1 scoop Chocolate Vega One Nutritional Shake
• 2 Tbsp ground black Chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp organic cacao nibs
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (carton variety)
• 1 Tbsp Nut butter - I use an almond/hazelnut blend
• 10 ice cubes - be generous with the ice

Instructions

Throw it all in the blender. Pulse until nice and smooth. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving to let the Chia thicken up. Enjoy!

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Make Your Husband Happy (if you have the time) Low Carb, Gluten Free Baked Enchilada's

Okay - I'm ready to share another recipe.

They say there are 5 stages of grief. Well it took me 5 days to get over the loss of banana's and yogurt from my diet but I reached the last stage: acceptance.

I'm ready to accept that I have to give them up. It needs to be done.

I have actually been following my strict Candida diet for 5 days now and I must say that today is the least hungry I have been in a very long time. I wasn't hungry for lunch an hour after breakfast and I wasn't hungry at my usual lunch time. What? And my thoughts weren't consumed with chocolate all day. Double what?

Maybe its working? Maybe its a coincidence?  Maybe I got over some five day hurdle?

I hope it gets easier from here because I was going through major withdrawal the first 5 days. Sorry if I sounded a bit whiny on my last two posts - I was really stressed about how I was going to give up the sweets. My cravings were SO strong that I felt a bit panicky. But it has passed for now.

So as a parting gift to my old diet, clean but dairy and fruit friendly, I'm leaving you with a recipe I made last week before I got my food sensitivity tests back. Its clean, low-carb and delicious. But it has dairy so its not longer in the cards for me.

My hubby LOVED this recipe. He was impressed. I love when I do that. But I did spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen putting this masterpiece together so don't attempt this during the week. Unless you feel like cooking before bed and baking it the next day or have the day off. But it was worth some extra effort and would be great for when you have guests.

Cheesy Gluten Free Low Carb Baked Enchiladas

by MamaChanty

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake entree gluten-free low-carb wheat belly coconut flour beef Mexican

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Ingredients (Serves 4 - 6)

Meat Mixture

• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
• 1 lb grass fed organic ground beef
• 3/4 cup red pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup yellow pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup corn (optional - this was a make hubby happy ingredient)
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder (more if you want some heat)
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt & pepper to taste
• 10 oz can enchiladas sauce (low carb - mine had 4 grams of carbs per 1/2 cup)
• 4 oz can green chili's, divided into two

Cheese Mixture

• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened Greek Yogurt
• 2 oz green chili's (left over from above)
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened if necessary
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 Tbsp Cilantro, I used fresh frozen
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla recipe - made 4 tortilla

• 1/4 cup organic coconut flour
• 3 Tbsp ground golden flax
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 8 eggs whites or 1 cup of egg white in carton (handy to buy and you can get free run for a good price)
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch of salt
• Coconut oil for pan - add more after each tortilla.

Instructions

Meat Mixture

Fry garlic and onion in coconut oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until softened. About 2 minutes.

Add ground beef and fry until browned (about 12 minutes).

Add peppers, spices, corn, enchilada sauce and half the can of green chili's. Simmer for about 5 minutes to let the spices "wake up" and the flavors blend.

Set aside.

Cheese Mixture

Just mix everything together until fully combined. Set aside.

Tortilla

Mix together all the ingredients until thoroughly combined. Let stand for about 10 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb the water.

Heat a frying pan to med/high heat.

Melt coconut oil in pan.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup put a 1/3 cup of the batter in a frying pan - spread it out with a spatula to spread the batter around. Don't panic - just gently smooth out the top. It will start cooking but it is forgiving - you can keep spreading even as it is cooking.

Cook each side for a couple of minutes (until browned). I did a tortilla and then layered in the ingredients below as I cooked the next one. If you want to do the whole batch before layering you will need to put wax paper between each tortilla so they don't stick together.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a greased 8 inch glass casserole dish layer the ingredients as follows:

1 - Tortilla

2 - Meat layer - half of the meat mixture

3 - Tortilla

4 - Cheese layer - half of the cheese mixture

5 - Tortilla

6 - Meat layer - remaining half of the meat mixture

7 - Tortilla

8 - Cheese layer - remaining half of the cheese mixture

9 - 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese for the top

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid and an additional 15 minutes without the lid. Broil on high for a couple of minutes if cheese is not browned to your liking.

Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

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