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.

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.

Update: Canada! (With Mandarin-Date Sweet Potatoes)

Wow. It has been a long while since I've posted here. But I have good reason! Jeremy and I moved to the Sunshine Coast, in British Columbia. Powell River, to be precise. Jeremy got a job at The Peak, which is the local newspaper, as a reporter. We've been looking to move to Canada for awhile now, to start a sustainable farm, but didn't think we'd get here so fast! The Sunshine Coast lives up to its name, but it was as if Winter rose up to greet us. The Day after we arrived, we got 4 inches of snow! It was definitely a white wonderland.

Here's Jeremy and I at our new home:

More photos coming soon!

I'm VERY excited because of this particular town. There are many good things going for it:
- First city in the world to ban GMO crops
- High population of people who follow the 100 Mile Diet, shortened to 50 Miles to accommodate the isolation - Only accessible by ferry (a must if strange, apocalyptic things happen[like zombies]) with a population of about 14K proper, 20K with surrounding towns
- Right-wing parties make up about 10% of the population, last to the Green, Liberal, and Socialist parties
- 600 musicians in the local musicians' directory (slightly irrelevant, but awesome!!)

and because of all (okay, well.. most) these things, there is a very high demand for more farms! I'm very pleased, because I can start with making food for the Farmer's Market and it looks like there aren't really any businesses around here that do lacto-fermented and cultured foods. So, I'm going to try my hand at cultured veggies! I've always wanted to do that, but never really had the fire lit under my ass to really do it. So, I've started my sourdough starter, and in a couple days will be able to make some breads and things to begin with. :) Yay!

AND, how could I post without a recipe? I mean seriously. I made this for US Thanksgiving, and is was a huge hit! Much better than your typical, gelatin-filled marshmallow stuff.

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Mandarin-Date Sweet Poatoes

3 sweet potatoes
juice of four mandarin oranges
half-package of dates (about two dozen)
two thin sliced mandarin oranges
two tablespoons earth balance
a light dusting of cloves and cinnamon

Chop the sweet potatoes and dates, and throw them into a rectangular baking dish. There's no need for peeling the potatoes; the skin is good for you!
Squeeze the oranges all over the potato mixture, then mix it all up really well with your hands*.
Top the mix with little dollops of Earth Balance (or smear, your hands are dirty after all), arrange the slices, and dust the spices across the top.

Bake in a 400 degree oven, covered, for about 30-45 minutes, 'til desired firmness.

Serve warm and enjoy! We loved this. :)

(*I tried mixing this with a big spoon, but quickly failed miserably, since the pan was so full. I prefer using my hands anyway. :P)


I hope everyone is having a wonderful winter season! <3