Key Lime Pie - Sugar-Free, Raw!

Do you ever look at key lime pie and think "Oh, if only it didn't have gluten/dairy/eggs/sugar/etc., I would totally eat this?" Yeah, I know how you feel. I think I'd had key lime pie maybe twice in my life, and loved its tangy goodness, but I honestly can't remember the last time I ate it. It was always this mysterious green (or yellow) temptation that I avoided because I just couldn't be sure of what the ingredients were.

Well, no more!

I am SO proud of this pie. I took it to Thanksgiving at a omnivorous friend's house, and everyone gobbled it up!

I think of that all the raw "baking" I've done, this takes the cake. Or rather, pie! It was rich, thick, and delicate all at the same time. Once it was chilled, it stood up to being cut just like a traditional pie! I'm super pleased with the crust, too, because the coconut flour mimics crushed graham crackers so well in terms of texture and consistency. I could seriously eat this whole pie in a sitting - with a tall glass of hemp or almond milk, of course! ;) All in all, I'd say my best raw vegan recipe yet!

Raw Key Lime Pie

Filling:
5 small avocadoes
7 Tbsp. coconut oil, room temperature (scant 1/2 cup)
Two limes, juice and zest
1/3 cup xylitol
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (I used alcohol-free)
Pinch of Himalayan salt

Crust:
1 1/2 cups coconut flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
5 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 Tbsp. almond butter
2 Tbsp. xylitol
1/4 tsp. Himalayan salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In your food processor, add all crust ingredients and pulse until it's of uniform consistency. It should be crumbly. Transfer your crust to a pie pan, and press it firmly and evenly to line the pan. Set aside.

Wipe out the food processor. Next, add and blend all filling ingredients until smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides if there are lumps. Then, with a spatula, pour the filling mixture onto the crust and spread it evenly throughout the pan.

Garnish with about 1/4 tsp. of lime zest, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cut, and serve! :)

Low-Carb Mushroom Stuffing (No Bread!)

The holiday season is a time of joy, abundance and community. Memories of crackling fires, fresh evergreens, and rich, spicy aromas that emanate from what seems like every corner of the house! It's a time when we show gratitude, love, and acceptance the most of all the seasons.

What is your favorite part about the holiday season? Please comment to let me know!

For people with allergies or intolerances, it can also mean working harder to maintain physical wellbeing. Since becoming gluten (and lactose) intolerant, this is the hardest (but also most rewarding) cooking time of year for me. I strive to research more, get more creative, and find foods that are nutritionally appealing to me yet still entice the tastebuds of my friends and family.

This recipe, I am proud to say that my husband Jeremy cooked while I was making pie. We'd been toying with the idea of a stuffing with almond meal instead of breads, and bouncing ingredients back and forth while doing other things earlier in the day. So I was SO happy when he created this! I was so preoccupied with making a raw key lime pie that he finished it completely behind me without me even poking my head over to try to help. :)

What makes it so amazing is that when we took it to a friend's house for dinner, and asked after the meal what people thought of it, they said they didn't even realize it was a bread-free stuffing! The consistency of the stuffing was so spot on that it wasn't noticeably low-carb, which makes me very happy.

This recipe is also candida-friendly, is sugar free, yeast-free, and has super healthy coconut oil to hold the crumble together. YUM!

Low-Carb Mushroom Stuffing

3 cups mushrooms, chopped (we used crimini and shiitake)
1 small zucchini, cubed (about 1 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 sweet red pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 ribs celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup sage, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Sage sprigs

Topping:
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 coconut oil
zest of 1/2 lemon
4 sage leaves
pinch of salt

Brown the onion and celery in pan; set aside. Brown mushrooms; when liquid becomes substantial push the mushrooms to the side of the pan and add the sundried tomatoes to the center of the pan, allow them to cook in the liquid and soak it up. Set aside. Brown the zucchini, then add the red pepper and allow to cook until just tender. In a large bowl, mix up the cooked ingredients along with the sage, almond meal, salt and pepper. Pour into baking dish.

Topping:
Mix topping ingredients in food processor. Crumble across the top. Garnish with sprigs of sage.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Low-Carb Cauliflower Mashed un-Potatoes

So, I've been getting some requests to hear about how my candida cleanse is going. I've been on the diet aspect for about a month and a half now, and have tried two candida cleanse kits from the health food store so far.

The first one, Zand Candida Quick Cleanse, was something I grabbed on the fly. I mainly wanted to start with something non-invasive to see how my body would react to an herbal cleanse of this kind, and I sure got what I wanted! Non-invasive, for sure. I felt no different, really. It helped initially with the yeast infection (brought on by antibiotics earlier in the year), but it came back as soon as the cleanse was done. I did get a little light-headed a few times during the cleanse, but that was the only noticeable effect it had on my body. Oh, and they smelled and tasted like death. Thumbs down.

The next one I started taking about a week after the first product ended. Solaray Yeast Cleanse - it was a little more expensive, and a brand I've used before. Less Ingredients, which was fine because I was taking a couple other immune system and probiotic supplements along with it. I was a little happier with this one. I still didn't feel any different in terms of brain fog, fatigue, etc. but it helped a lot more with the yeast. I just finished this cleanse a couple days ago, and it hasn't come back yet.

I'm beginning to think that either candida isn't my issue (highly unlikely, given the symptoms) or I need something FAR more hardcore than over the counter supplements. I understand this will be a long process, but is it too much to ask to see SOME kind of abated symptoms? I feel like if I fudge and even have a little bit of carbs or sugar while not taking any herbal supplements that the candida will just RAGE in my system again. This makes me so unhappy, considering the time of year I'm doing this. I want to make pumpkin pie and have mashed potatoes with roasted carrots and pickled beets and SUSHI! But.. not all in one meal. That might be pushing it. ;) (I'd probably still eat it though, if given that dinner option!)

Speaking of potatoes, for Thanksgiving I wanted to make a mashed potato substitute that I could have with gravy, and I believe I may have found it in a cauliflower.

You heard me: Cauliflower Mash! With roasted garlic, I might add.

I've been using cauliflower a lot these days, and what better thing to use for a mash than cauliflower? It doesn't have the creamy, starchy consistency that potatoes have, but it's an awesome side dish - especially with gravy. ;)

Low-Carb Cauliflower Mashed un-Potatoes

1 1/2 heads of cauliflower
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil-based Earth Balance
2 Tbsp. roasted garlic (I had some on-hand)
1 Tbsp. brown rice miso paste
salt and pepper to taste
splash of Bragg's liquid aminos
saffron to garnish

Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Once the cauliflower has been washed thoroughly, cut it into uniform florets, and add to the boiling water. When they're tender, take them out and drain.

In a large bowl or food processor, mash the cauliflower until it's a mostly-smooth consistency. Add remaining ingredients, and mash to combine. Mash, mash, mash! (Can you tell I did this by hand?)

Garnish with saffron and serve!

Do you have any favorite mashed potato alternatives? How do you like to dress up your mashed potatoes?

Asian Salad with Cranberry Dressing

Ever wonder what to do with leftover cranberry sauce? Try this! It's tangy, refreshing, and breaks you out of the standard holiday mode.

Asian Salad

3 cups fresh green beans
2 cups savoy cabbage, chopped
7 radishes, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced into thick matchsticks
1 green onion, sliced

In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water to boil. Add in green beans and turn heat off. Let the green beans sit until the color brightens, then transfer them to either an ice bath or a colander in the sink with cold running water to stop the cooking process.

Once cooled, add green beans to a large bowl, along with the other veggies. Set aside.

Cranberry Dressing

1/2 cup Ginger-Lime Cranberry Sauce
4 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. cold pressed olive oil
2 Tbsp. cold pressed flax oil
1 tsp. desiccated coconut
1 tsp. raw apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. xylitol
Juice of one lime
pinch salt

In a medium-sized bowl, add all ingredients and whisk until emulsified. Pour into your salad bowl, and toss until coated. Serve! :)

Ginger-Lime Cranberry Sauce (Sugar-Free!)

I've been getting so many requests for holiday foods, it's overwhelming! There aren't a lot of holiday treats I can eat right now on my candida diet, but I'm going to try my best to provide you with as many fun tasties as I can!

Take cranberry sauce, for starters: they're tangy, versatile, and packed FULL of antioxidants! Plus, they're a Thanksgiving and Christmas standby.

Cranberry sauce is so inherently easy, in fact, that it's almost impossible to get wrong! Because of this, it has been changed and dressed up innumerable times.

There's also a lot of debate over which is better: whole berry or jellied/smooth? I personally like both for different reasons - whole berry as more of a sauce condiment over foods, jellied as a palate cleanser between bites of food. What's your favorite kind of cranberry sauce?

Since this is the first cranberry sauce recipe that I'm posting (and I've been under the weather the past couple days) it will be quick, but with a twist (of lime)! A heaping dose of ginger, too, should do the trick. ;) This would be wonderful over ice cream! Mmm... I'm using xylitol as a sweetener in this recipe so it's totally free of sugar and candida-diet friendly. I hope you enjoy!

Ginger-Lime Cranberry Sauce (Sugar-Free)

1 12 oz. package fresh cranberries (4 cups)
heaping 1/2 cup xylitol
1 heaping Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
6 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
zest of 1/2 lime

In a sauce pot on medium heat, add all ingredients and stir, cover. Cook for about 20 minutes or until desired thickness is reached, stirring occasionally. Serve hot or cold.

Carob Halvah Pudding

When I walked into the kitchen to make the raw ketchup today, I realized I was out of fresh tomatoes. CRAP! It would have to wait. I did, however, have three gorgeous green gems sitting in my fruit bowl. Silky, creamy avocados! I haven't had sweets in awhile, so I pawed around in the Candida-friendly cupboard and eyed a few things for a sugar-free pudding.

I'm a huge proponent of making tahini-based sweets. I love halvah especially, so the idea of making halvah pudding sounded awesome! I had some carob, too, so I grabbed that and went to work.

This is an immensely fatty recipe. I don't mean tons of ingredients, I mean WHOA did I put a lot of good fats into this. Avocado, tahini, coconut oil, flax oil. Mmmmm... I can feel my skin, hair and nails getting healthier. :) Oh, and it's mostly raw, too!

I also added in some camu camu for an extra antioxidant and vitamin C punch. Camu Camu is a South American fruit that has the highest vitamin C content known to man. Since it is extremely low in sugar (VERY tart... and regulates blood sugar levels!) I personally deemed it worthy of my candida diet. hehe. It's a little hard to find, but worth it if you want it as a superfood supplement. It's totally okay to omit this from the recipe. You can always use agave instead of xylitol, too, if you're not watching your sugar intake.

Carob Halvah Pudding

3 small avocados (or equivalent)
1/3 cup tahini
3 Tbsp. carob powder
1 tsp. camu camu powder
1 Tbsp. raw coconut oil
2 Tbsp. raw flax oil
1 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract (glycerin based)
2 tsp. cinnamon
Xylitol to taste (I probably used a scant 1/4 cup)
pinch salt
water

In a food processor, blend all ingredients except water until smooth and emulsified. Test for consistency. At this stage, it could be used as a frosting! To go for a pudding consistency, turn the food processor back on and add water by the tablespoon until it's how you want it. I used about 12 tablespoons, because it was SOOO thick! Don't be shy with the water, just make sure you test in intervals.:)

I'm baaack!

Hello everyone!!

It's been far too long since I've posted here. I'm very happy to say that I am back and will be posting MUCH more from now on!

Jeremy and I have moved back to Eugene, OR, after getting offered work here in the spring. He's working for an alternative energy company, and thriving. I'm currently looking for work, as my job offer was temporary. Getting into modeling though, which is being really fun! I'm loving the networking aspect so far, and looking forward to getting some steady gigs from that in the future. In the meantime, I'm still writing. :)

In regards to this blog, you may see some interesting changes in the coming months. I've just started an anti-Candida diet, with an accompanying cleanse. So for the next couple months at the very least, I'm going to be excluding sugar, alcohol, most carbohydrates, most soy, processed anything (unless it's raw fermented or probiotic), fruits (except lemons, limes, tomatoes and avocado) and starchy/sweet vegetables. Most of my diet will consist of protein and lightly cooked vegetables.

I've heard many many arguments that mushrooms should be excluded as well, but that never really made sense to me, so I did some digging and found this article. In the article, Sarah and John Vaughter write:

Candida albicans in both yeast- and mycelial form is about as related to mushrooms or the fungus in blue cheese as a fish is to a lizard, and over-generalizing will harm instead of help. Discouraging the consumption of molds and mushrooms because “You are feeding the Candida its own kind” is utter nonsense on many levels, and you’ll never see a link to a scientific article to prove it – because there aren’t any.

They also link to studies on the subject. Whew! I'm going to keep mushrooms in my diet unless I notice a change.

What does this mean for you, my loyal readers? Nothing! I'll still be posting all the fun and eclectic dishes that I always have, but now with more creative, focused style. I'm looking forward to posting some awesome dishes for all of you!


Blessings and love,
Lyra