Intro: Ta-Da! I finally created a food blog!

I've been meaning to start this for quite a while now, and I finally made time to do it! I'm on a pretty strict Candida Cleanse diet right now, so there's a lot of things that I'm not allowed to eat for at least the next few months. It's primarily a sugar and gluten free diet, and since more people can relate to that, I decided that would be a good name for the blog. For now, anyway. Here's the full list of things I'm allowed to eat on this diet: http://www.thecandidadiet.com/foodstoeat.htm And here's the list of all the things I can't eat right now, which is pretty extensive:  http://www.thecandidadiet.com/foodstoavoid.htm

Whenever I tell people that I'm on this diet/cleanse, and name the main things I can't eat, they say, "wow, well what can you eat?" I wondered the same thing when I first started. All I could think of at the time was eggs, plain yogurt, and rice cakes, so those were the first things I bought. Gluten free options in stores tend to have sugar, canola oil, potatoes, and other things I'm not supposed to eat, so that wasn't helpful. Likewise, most sugar-free options include ingredients I should not be eating. It was difficult to think of "fun" things I could eat to have some variety in my limited diet. But little by little, through trial and error, I've discovered that when you throw random things in the "can eat" list together, it actually comes out tasting really good. I hope this blog can reach other people venturing on this cleanse so they can find out that they have more meal options than they think. Even if you are not on the diet, these recipes are still healthy and tasty, so I'd recommend trying them out regardless.

I made up all of the recipes shown in this blog; I didn't get them from any websites or cook books or anything. And if I do start doing that, I will make a note of it in the recipe descriptions. I started eating according to this new diet by buying everything that was safe for me to eat, and then combining things and seeing what worked. Through that experimentation process, I discovered some very healthy, tasty recipes. Hope you enjoy them too :)

I've never heard anyone say, "gee, I just love washing dishes!" Therefore, I think it's safe to assume that most people do not purposely like to use as many pots as possible when they cook just so that they have more to wash. I don't like washing dishes, so I tend to try to cook as many meal components as I can in the same pot or pan so that there's less to wash. So if you feel like cooking the vegetables, meat, and/or noodles in these recipes separately from each other rather than in the same pot, go for it. I won't be insulted, I promise. :)

On a similar note, it should be noted that I prefer to cook meals that are simple to make; whenever several bowls, baking sheets, pots, pans, and just steps in general are needed to make something, I just don't even try to make it. Therefore, you'll find that all of the recipes I created are simple; they contain as few steps as possible. However, if I do decide to include a few "step-heavy" recipes in this blog, I will include a warning towards the beginning so that people like me can easily skip it and find something easier to make.

Most (if not all) of the ingredients I use in these recipes are organically grown. I'll just tell you that now so I don't have to write "organic" all over the place.

Warning: I absolutely love onions and coconut (whether it be flakes or oil), so they will be found in nearly all of these recipes, whenever I can sneak them in. I will also warn you that I like to put a ridiculous amount of spices on my food, so that will be optional for all of these; I'm pretty sure most people would prefer not to drown their food in potent spices the way I do.

Alrighty, that's about it! Now onwards to this Gluten & Sugar Free adventure!