Tag Archives: SCD

Lavender Ice Cream with Candied Pecans

The Lavender is at it’s peak in Northern Michigan, and I took a trip to Lavender Hill Farms to stroll through the lavender fields and purchase some culinary lavender called Violet Intrigue. Culinary lavender is different than others. Lavender identified as “angustifolia’ is used in cooking and will not taste bitter. You can purchase it at some health food stores or directly from a grower.

Lavender Ice Cream with Honeyed Pecans

In this ice cream I infused full fat coconut milk with lavender buds for a delicate flavor paired with toasted, honeyed pecans.

Look at the beautiful lavender fields! There was a delicate scent of lavender in the air and the bees were working the flowers. The little gift shop sells lavender honey from their hives as well as homemade soaps and beauty products made from their other varieties of lavender.

Lavender Buds

Lavender Fields

Lavender Ice Cream with Candied Pecans

Preheat your oven 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

2 Cans (28 oz.) Full Fat Coconut Milk (Aroy-D is the best!)

1/4 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Clear Honey

1/2 Cup Raw Pecans

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

1 Tablespoon Dried Lavender Buds

1 Tablespoon SCD Legal Pure Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

Toast the pecans in a 350 degree oven for five minutes, then remove, place in a small bowl with 1 Tablespoon of Honey and 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon and toss to coat. Place back on a parchment lined cookie sheet and continue to toast tossing every five minutes until dried and candied. Set aside to cool. Then coarsely chop them.

Meanwhile, place 1/2 cup coconut milk in a small sauce pan with 1 Tablespoon Lavender Buds and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat just before it boils and let the buds infuse for 30 minutes, then strain and discard the buds. Stir in the remaining Coconut Milk, Vanilla, 1/4 Cup Honey, 2 Tablespoons melted Coconut Oil and a pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt. Chill for 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. Churn in an ice cream maker, stirring in the chopped, candied pecans the last five minutes. Serve this delicate, fancy, refreshing treat!

Lavender Ice Cream with Honeyed Pecans

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Crock Pot Cream of Tomato Basil Soup

Cream of Tomato Basil Soup

Fall isn’t the only time to make good use of your crock pot! It allows you to get outside in the Summer and come home after a day of fun to a great meal. When we have a full house of company and are all heading out for a day of boating or beach fun, I can’t tell you how much stress it takes off the cook to have a few great recipes that can be done in advance “up your sleeve” – Where did that saying come from?

Here is a tomato soup recipe where I used fresh basil from the garden. You can add a salad and some almond crackers, or throw burgers on the grill to go with it for a quickly prepped meal after a day outside.

Ingredients:

2 – 28 oz. Jars Crushed Tomatoes (I Like Eden Organics They are SCD Legal)

1 Cup Full Fat Coconut Milk

2 Tablespoons Garlic Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Fresh Minced Basil, plus more for garnish

1 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Place all the ingredients in the crock pot on low for 6 to 8 hours. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or high speed blender. Serve with a garnish of fresh basil.

See how easy it is?

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Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Bites

These little energy bites are perfect pop in size, or if you are a more delicate eater, two bites! They are perfect for a quick snack when your running low on fuel, but don’t have a lot of time. I like to use Brazil Nut Butter because it is high in selenium.

Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Bites

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Toasted Pecans

Toast Pecans in a 350 degree oven for 5-7 minutes until just starting to brown. Set aside to cool then finely chop.

1/4 Cup Brazil Nut Butter (or Sunflower, Almond, Peanut, Walnut butter)

1/4 Cup Dried Currants

1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 1/4 Cup Superfine Blanched Almond Flour

2 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

2 Tablespoons Clear Honey

1/4 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon SCD Legal Pure Vanilla Extract

Place Currants and first tablespoon of Vanilla Extract in a small bowl and macerate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the other ingredients except the toasted pecans to a medium mixing bowl. Blend all the ingredients, then add the soaked currants. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in the finely chopped, toasted pecans. Freeze on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes, then store in an airtight container in the freezer or refrigerator depending on the firmness you desire.

Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Bites

Strawberry Sangria Sorbet

Strawberry Sangria Sorbet

I feel sorry for myself plenty on this new diet. Honestly, I have my moments. But, dry red wine is allowed. Yipee! I love wine! I enjoy sitting with my husband and sipping red wine. I love wine tastings, they are a fun and social event! I like browsing the wine shops. I like making wreaths out of the corks. I have had to give up a lot, but not wine. Red is my favorite anyway, so I am okay with not having white wine.

Sangria’s are so refreshing on a hot summer day, I thought, why not Sangria Sorbet? Here is my version of a spiked summer treat! Adults Only! 🙂

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh organic strawberries

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice or regular lemon juice

1/4 cup clear honey

1/2 cup dry red wine (I used Spanish Grenache)

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until pureed. Refrigerate until well chilled. Freeze in an ice cream maker, and then hopefully sit outside with someone you really like and enjoy!

4 Servings, or 16 Scoops

Strawberry Sangria Sorbet

Grilled Venison 50/50 Burgers

Grilled Venison 50/50 Burgers

I found some fantastic ground venison at the local market here in Northern Michigan to make burgers with. I did a fifty/fifty burger using pastured ground pork because venison is very lean and the pork makes them juicy! We grilled these last night for dinner, and they were really, really good!

Grilled Venison 50/50 Burgers

Ingredients:

1 Pound Ground Venison

1 Pound Ground Pastured Pork

1 tsp. Allspice

1 tsp. Himalayan Pink Salt

1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

1 Tablespoon Garlic Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. Ground Sage

1/4 tsp. Thyme

1 Tablespoon Djon Mustard

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Divide into 8 – one inch thick patties. Grill until just cooked through 165 degrees. Eat ’em up!

Luscious Lime Curd

Tis’ the season for berries! You can eat your berries plain….just pop them in. They are great that way, natures natural sugar in their own little packets with fiber and nutrients! Or, you can eat them with Lime Curd! They are delicious both ways. Here is my recipe for Luscious Lime Curd. You can use it any way you like. It has yolks in it….nutritious! It sets up into a nice creamy thickness, it is good by the spoonful!

Luscious Lime Curd

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

1/2 Cup Clear Honey

2 Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

1/2 tsp. SCD Legal Pure Vanilla Extract

1/8 tsp. Himalayan Pink Salt or Real Salt

In a medium saucepan, place all the ingredients except the yolks and vanilla. Bring to a simmer. Meanwhile place the yolks in a medium, heatproof bowl. When the liquid in the saucepan comes to a simmer, slowly with a whisk, whisk half of the hot liquid into the yolks in the bowl, whisking constantly. Then whisk the egg mixture back into the liquid still left in the saucepan. Continue to cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, being careful not to boil the lime curd. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. Then pass the hot mixture through a fine meshed sieve to get it really silky. Refrigerate until set up.

Luscious Lime Curd

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Toasted Hazelnut Spread

I used to be addicted to hazelnut lattes at coffee shops. The toasty roasted flavor was so good But it was sugar free, fat free, and all the crap I was putting in my body in the name of fitness and health was actually hurting me. My body was starving for nutrients, but at the same time I was fighting belly fat. I didn’t know I could eat real food, good fat, lots of meat and vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, and never be hungry or have “diet” faux food pass my lips again, and get rid of the belly fat. But the most important part to me of all, I am restoring my health and digestion.

Here is a very satisfying Toasted Hazelnut Spread recipe I use to fill my hazelnut cravings!

Toasted Hazelnut Spread

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons Clear Honey

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

1 Teaspoon SCD Legal Pure Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Place Hazelnuts on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake ten to fifteen minutes until skins are blistered. Remove from the oven and place the hazelnuts in a lint free kitchen towel, wrap them and let sit for a minute to steam them. Now, roll them around with the palms of your hands while in the kitchen towel on the counter top to loosen the skins. Pick out the nuts, leaving behind the skins (it is okay if they are not completely skin free, a good bit should have come off). Cool. Place Hazelnuts and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

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Matcha Green Tea Cookies

After travelling to China my first time, I fell in love with Matcha. When I went into the little corner markets there, in the snack isle, they had a variety of little Matcha Green Tea cookies to choose from. They were delicious with a delicate sweet green tea flavor! I get excited about new food ideas and combinations. 🙂 They were so good and mildly sweet, as Chinese desserts tend to be. Here I have recreated the little green tea matcha cookie using my favorite unsweetened matcha powder.

Matcha Powder

Matcha has amazing health benefits as well. It is cancer fighting, high in antioxidants, boosts memory and concentration, increases metabolism, combats inflammation, oxidation and aging and contains potassium, vitamins A and C, Iron, Protein and Calcium. I use 1/4 cup in this recipe, which comes out to 1/4 teaspoon of matcha per cookie. I hope you enjoy them as much as my girls and I do. They are made with almond flour and good fat.

Matcha Cookie Dough Scoops

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Matcha Green Tea Powder

1/4 Cup sliced Almonds

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1/4 Cup Clear Honey

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

1 Egg White

1/4 teaspoon ground Cardamom

1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (no additives beside vanilla & alcohol)

Add coconut oil, honey, egg white, cardamom & vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and whip on medium high for 3 minutes until light and creamy. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine almond flour, matcha powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients just until blended. Alternatively you can use a hand mixer, it will just take longer to get the coconut oil mixture light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scoop with a tablespoon cookie scoop onto two parchment lined cookie sheets. Take a pinch of the sliced almonds and press into the top of each cookie. Bake at 325 degrees for 11 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies

Matcha Green Tea Cookies - Grain Free

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Delicate Butter Lettuce Raspberry Orange Salad w/ Marcona Almonds & White Vinaigrette

Delicate Butter Lettuce Raspberry Orange Salad with Marcona Almonds and White Vinaigrette

We use all of our senses when we eat, each sense adds something to the experience of eating, but our eyes are huge! This salad is a feast for the eyes, and it has crunch and delicacy. Living butter lettuce is the lettuce in the clam shell you see everywhere at grocery stores with the root still attached. It is delicate, tender, a bit buttery, mild, nutritious (Vitamin A and Phosphorus) and very easy to digest. If you can find marcona almonds they are a Spanish almond similar in texture to macadamia nuts and a fun shape, regular almonds can be substituted as well.

Delicate Butter Lettuce Salad with White Vinaigrette

Delicate Butter Lettuce Raspberry Orange Salad w/ Marcona Almonds & White Vinaigrette

Remove the root from the butter lettuce, wash and spin in a salad spinner or pat dry. Tear into bite sized pieces and add coarsely chopped marcona almonds, raspberries and a peeled halved and sectioned fresh orange.

Whisk together the salad dressing ingredients until emulsified. You can serve the salad in a big bowl family style, or plate individual servings and drizzle with the White Vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1 Head of Living Butter Lettuce

1 pint of Raspberries

1 Good Quality Orange

1/2 Cup Marcona Almonds, coarsely chopped

Dressing:

3/4 Cup Olive Oil

1/4 Cup White Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Clear Honey

1 Tablespoon Djon Mustard (no garlic such as Annie’s)

1/2 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Raspberries and Oranges are rich in Vitamin C, flavonoids, and minerals. The almonds add protein and the dressing healthy fat! Fat helps you digest the vegetables so you absorb more nutrients. So, no fat free salad dressing. You need fat. It doesn’t taste near as good anyway!

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Butternut Chips

This simple, savory chip recipe will hit the spot! These chips have a lot of flavor! I served them with fish. They are also great with any meat, as a side, or as a snack or appetizer.

Butternut squash contains FodMaps, but allowed on a Low FodMap diet – 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup is the serving size depending on your tolerance level. (It is a low FodMap diet not a no FodMap diet). It is a good source of carbs and has more Vitamin A than pumpkin. It is rich in carotenoids, B-complex and minerals like iron, zinc, copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus. I love the flavor of cardamom paired with smoked paprika, and cardamom is helpful for digestion. Wow! I am eating food I really love, and it is benefiting my body! Love it!

Here is a link to a comprehensive SCD/Low FodMap food guide I use, given to me by my practitioner. It is a free guide for Low FodMap/SCD eating.

Ingredients:

1 Small Butternut Squash (If using a large squash double the spices)

2 Tablespoon Coconut Oil, melted

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

Pre-heat oven 400 degrees. Peel and seed the whole butternut squash. Slice into thick pieces using a food processor fitted with a slicing blade or a mandolin slicer. Toss the squash in the melted coconut oil until well coated. Mix the spices, salt and pepper in a small bowl until incorporated with each other, and then sprinkle over squash and toss again. Spread in a single layer on two parchment lined baking sheets.

Butternut Chips

Bake 20 minutes until browned. You decide how crispy you want them. If you want them really crunchy go longer in the oven, but keep a close eye on them so they don’t over brown. It is hard not to eat them all! So, hopefully someone will eat them with you. 🙂

I love to hear your thoughts!

Eat Your Nutrients!