Simple Rice Cakes with middle-eastern toppings

Hello! Here's a quick thing I made for lunch that tasted a lot better than I expected:


Brown rice cakes with tahini and hummus, topped with goat cheese crumbles, basil, and paprika.

Yum!! :)

Chocolate Almond Cookies

My mom got this recipe from a  friend of hers in Jerusalem, and decided to make a chocolate, sugar-free version. This was my first time making them on my own, and they're so good!! The best part is that there are only 4 ingredients!







Recipe:

 (Creates about a dozen cookies)

1.5 Cups Sliced Almonds
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar or Xylitol
2 Egg Whites
1/4 cup Cacao Powder
Optional: Unsweetened Shredded Coconut may be sprinkled on top
Optional: Coconut Oil to grease the baking sheet


Directions: 

Preset the oven to 180˚C, or 350˚F.

Whisk egg whites in a large bowl. Add in the sweetener of your choice, the cacao powder, and the almonds. Stir it all up until everything is evenly wet. 

Grease a baking sheet with coconut oil, or you can line the baking sheet with baking-safe wax paper. 

Scoop tablespoon-sized plops of the mixture onto the baking sheet, and pat them so they are somewhat squished circles, but not flat. You may sprinkle coconut flakes on top at this time, if you wish. 

Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the coconut flakes start to turn brown. 

Then simply peel them off the wax paper, or get a spatula to get them off the greased sheet. 

They are amazing!! :D

Brown Rice & Veggies Mix

I had a ton of vegetables in the fridge that needed to be eaten, and a bag of brown rice in my pantry that I forgot I had, so I put them all together! I added almonds and cashews towards the end for a nice occasional crunch in the mix. :) It was a bit bitter because of the rutabaga and turmeric, but I liked it anyway. See what you think!


Recipe:

 (Creates 2 servings)

1 Cup Brown Rice
2 Cups water
2 Kale Leaves, diced (even the stems, if you'd like)
1 Tomato, diced
1 small Rutabaga, diced
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1/4 Cup diced Yellow Onions
1/2 Bell Pepper, diced
1 Green Onion, diced
1 Handful of Almonds
1 Handful of Cashews
Tumeric
Garlic Powder
Ground Ginger
Rosemary
Basil
Oregano
Pepper
Salt


Directions:

Let the water boil in a medium pot. Once it starts boiling, stir in the brown rice with some salt. Turn the heat down to medium-high and put a lid on the pot, but leave it partially uncovered.

Leave the chopped tomatoes and bell peppers on the side, but throw in the other veggies as you cut them.



Let the rice cook for a total of about 40 minutes, or as the package suggests. Once the rice is done cooking, stir in the tomatoes, bell peppers, nuts and spices.

Let it sit for like 2 minutes to get heated by the rice, and then serve. I
personally like to add the salt and pepper last, once it is served.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Pasta with veggies, ginger, & creamy tomato sauce

Hello! It's been a while. I recently discovered that quinoa pasta is a thing, so I tried it out and had great results! I used the sugar free tomato sauce & plain yogurt combo again, which has become my new favorite pasta sauce :)

Recipe:

(Creates 1 Serving)

About 1-2 Cups Quinoa Pasta

1/2 Broccoli head, diced

1/4 Large Tomato, diced

2 Strips of Red Bell Pepper, diced

1/4 Cup yellow onions, diced

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 Chunk of Fresh Ginger (the size of a clove of garlic), peeled & minced

1/2 Handful of Fresh Parsley

1 1/2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 - 3/4 Cup Tomato Sauce (make sure there's no sugar in it!)

1/2 Cup Plain Goat Yogurt

Garlic Salt (optional, if you want it less spicy than mine)

Rosemary

Oregano

Basil

Salt

Directions

Fill a medium-sized pot with water half way and set it to boil. 

As the water heats up, chop up the ingredients and throw them in as you go. I start with the ginger and onions first, and then noodles, and more veggies in no particular order. I save the fresh parsley, tomato, and garlic for last. (I add those in when I add in the sauce.)

Boil the ingredients for as long as the pasta package recommends the pasta should be cooked. Drain the pasta, and then put the pasta back into the same pot. Turn the burner off. 

Add the parsley, garlic, tomato pieces, and spices to the pasta. Then stir in your tomato sauce and plain goat yogurt. Let that heat up on the same burner, it should still be hot. Stir for about a minute or until it's at a satisfactory temperature.

Serve it in a bowl or on a plate and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top. 

Enjoy! 

Spicy Veggie Pasta with Tomato & Yogurt Sauces, and Fresh Ginger

Hello! So typically on the candida diet, tomato products are avoided because they tend to contain sugar. However,  I searched until I found a brand of tomato sauce that didn't have sugar in it, and I'm happy to have marinara sauce back in my life!

I've recently developed a love for fresh ginger in all of my cooked meals, so this recipe is no exception! The strong garlic and ginger made this pasta pretty spicy, so if you're not a fan of spicy I'd recommend leaving those two out of this mix.


Recipe:

(Creates 1 Serving)

About 1-2 Cups Brown Rice Pasta
1-2 Stalks Celery, diced
1/4 Large Tomato, diced
1 or 2 Handfuls of Spinach
2 Strips of Red Bell Pepper, diced
1/4 Cup yellow onions, diced
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 Chunk of Fresh Ginger (the size of a clove of garlic), peeled & minced
1/2 Handful of Fresh Parsley
1 1/2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Tomato Sauce (make sure there's no sugar in it!)
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt
Garlic Salt (optional, if you want it less spicy than mine)
Cayenne Pepper (optional, if you want it less spicy than mine)

Rosemary

Oregano

Basil

Salt

Directions:

Boil water in a medium sized pot. As the water heats up, chop and throw in the celery, ginger, and onions. Once the water is boiling, add in the brown rice noodles and boil it all as long as the noodle package directs you to.

As that all cooks, chop up the tomato, red bell pepper, and garlic, and put them on a dish to the side. Wash the spinach, and add it to the boiling pasta when there's about 5 minutes left of cooking time. Wash the parsley, cut up the stalks if you'd like, and put those on the plate to the side as well.

When the pasta is done cooking, drain the water out and put all the food back in the same pot. Add in all of the chopped veggies you had put to the side.

Stir in the tomato sauce and the plain yogurt. Stir it all together over a medium heat until the mixture has been heated to your liking. Add in the spices listed above.








Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top if you'd like!

Almond Butter Cookies!

That's right! I was finally brave enough to bake some sugar-free treats again this week! :D I had almost a whole jar of almond butter sitting in my pantry that I had rarely been using, and I still had brown rice flour in the fridge left over from my last batch of delicious sugar free brownies, so I made myself some long overdo safety treats!


Recipe:

(Creates about 25 cookies)

2 1/4 Cups Brown Rice Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
1 Stick of Salted Butter, softened
1 Cup Xylitol
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup Creamy Almond Butter (make sure there's no sugar in it!)
1/2 Bar of Baking Chocolate, diced (again, make sure there's no sugar in it!)
3/4 Cup Almonds, each chopped in half
2 Tbs Milk or Almond Milk (optional, if needed)


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375˚.

Chop the almonds and baking chocolate bar, and mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Once it's all mixed thoroughly, you can add a little bit of milk if it's still kinda dry like mine was.

Place spoonfuls of the cookie dough about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. (It doesn't even need to be greased! Yeah!) You can aim for about a 1 1/2 Tbs spoonful size.

Bake 14 minutes, and then take them out to cool.


Mine kind of came out tasting like healthy muffins, which isn't a bad thing, but wasn't as delicious-cookie-ish as I was expecting. That's why the recipe above includes a bit more xylitol and chocolate pieces than the ones I made. I've been eating these every day since I made them though, they've gotten addicting!

Hope you enjoy them too!

Quinoa with Chicken and Red Chard pieces

Hello! I know it's been a while, but I've been either making things that I've already posted, or making things that cheated the diet too much to be featured on here, but here's something new I threw together that I wanted to share!

This recipe has been brought to you by my unwillingness to wash more than one pot after making dinner. ;)


Recipe:

(Creates 1 Serving)

1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Quinoa
1 Chicken Breast, diced
2-3 Large Red Chard stalks, diced
1/5 Yellow Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
Cayenne Pepper
Salted Butter
Rosemary
Oregano
Salt


Directions:

Rinse the quinoa and put in in a pot with 1 cup of water. As you wait for that to boil, chop up chicken, chard, onions, and garlic and stir them in as you finish.

Let it all simmer in the pot with a lid, on a medium heat, for about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add in your spices, and add butter if desired.

Enjoy a healthy, balanced meal with only one pot to clean!

(I made this same thing with brown rice instead of quinoa yesterday, and since it all had longer to cook, the chard and chicken broke down into smaller pieces which actually worked really well, in my opinion. Feel free to try it too, if you have an hour to spare!)