This weekend was my brothers wedding. It was a really nice wedding in Grass Valley and you can see pictures here. Although it had rained earlier in the week, the weather cleared up for the day of the wedding and the spring flowers were blooming around the house. It was very pretty. As was fitting for the bride and groom the ceremony was short and well written, the reception was over in just a few hours, and they were happily on their way to enjoy their honeymoon.
Recently I've had a few people ask for a list of foods I can and can not eat. So here it is, after two months on the SCD, this is what I am eating.
Meats:
All meats and proteins can be eaten freely.
- eggs
- beef
- chicken
- turkey
- pork
- tuna
- salmon
Fruits and other Sweets:
1 serving of cooked (for 30 minutes) fruit or fruit juice every other day as long as it's a low sugar fruit. Fruits I have tried (anything else should be used with caution):
- apples (I have apples the most)
- raspberry
- lemon
- blackberries
- NO dried fruits
- NO honey - I'm emphasizing this because it actually causes a reaction within 4 hours of ingesting.
Veggies:
As many low and medium carb veggies as I want. Veggies I have tried (anything else should be used with caution):
- asparagus
- broccoli
- cucumber
- lettuce
- tomato
- avocado
- onions
- garlic
- NO cauliflower
Other stuff:
- Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and butter can be used freely.
- No nuts except for nut butters (easier to digest than nut flours) in non-sweet recipes.
- No cheese (except Dry Curd Cottage Cheese)
- No vinegar (use lemon juice instead)
Spices:
Most spices are okay as long as they don't have any illegals in them to make them "free flowing", usually silicon dioxide is the culprit and it's almost never listed on the ingredients list. Here is what I have tried (anything else should be used with caution):
- Homemade garlic powder (not store bought)
- fresh garlic
- basil
- parsley
- nutmeg
- all-spice
- cayenne
- paprika
- cinnamon
- sage
- cloves
- oregano
- homemade chili powder (not store bought)
- cumin
- tumeric
- salt
- pepper
- pure vanilla extract (no additives, just vanilla and alcohol)
This weekend is the second time since I've started SCD that I'll be traveling out of town. The first time didn't go so well, my yeast problem was starting to become unbearable and I didn't have the option to change my diet when I should have, I had to wait until I got home.
This time I'm more stable (hopefully) and feeling better than I was before, but I'm still really nervous about leaving town. In preparation for the trip I've been making lots of food to be frozen and brought with me. As you can see by the picture of my refrigerator, it's quite full.
I think I've finally perfected my almond butter. To suit my tastes at least. I know, it's weird that I have tastes about almonds, I've never really liked nuts. But lucky for me, the reason I never really liked nuts was definitely texture (except for walnuts, which have a taste I don't particularly like) and by making nut butters or using finely ground nut flours that pretty much takes care of lindsay-un-friendly texture issues. So, here is my recipe for creamy almond butter that tastes a lot like peanut butter. It does have a somewhat dry after taste, which can be fixed by adding a little olive oil, but I prefer to leave it plain since I mostly cook with it and some times the oil can separate when mixing with other things.
- Buy 1 lb whole shelled, un-skinned almonds (I get them for $4.50-$5.50 lb at Whole Foods).
- Start boiling a large pot of water. Enough liquid to cover all the almonds.
- In a large bowl, place about 1.5 cups of ice in cool water. Enough liquid to cover all the almonds.
- Put a colander in the sink and get ready to be quick about things.
- When the water in the pot starts boiling, pour your 1 lb un-skinned almonds in the pot. Let boil for 45 seconds.
- Drain hot water from almonds in the colander and immediately put almonds in cold water bowl.
- Stir briefly. And drain in colander again.
- Pat almonds dry with a towel. You should notice the skins will be quite lose now.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slip skins off the almonds. Careful, sometimes they really fly! Pat dry with towel again.
- Bake skinned almonds at 350 for 15 minutes. This roasting process is what really makes them taste like peanuts after griding. Towards the end, they start to make popping noises like pop corn.
- Pull almonds from the oven and immediately place into blender or food processor.
- Blend until creamy!! Should take 10 to 15 minutes. In most cases you will need to push down the side build up a lot to make sure it's blending well. And feel free to give your machine a break if it threatens to overheat. Mine does fine (7-cup Cuisinart) with no breaks.
If you want to make almond flour, bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes (instead of 15 min). This warms them up and helps dry them out but doesn't give them that roasted flavor. And don't blend until creamy, just blend until you get a very fine almond powder. This is almond flour.
