Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In the past couple weeks, there is one fruit Joshua and I cannot get enough of, and that's pineapple! So, tonight I attempted my first pineapple upside down cake - SCD style - and it came out pretty good!

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour

3 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract (pure)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Slices of fresh pineapple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla. (Optional: You may want to add 1/2 cup pineapple chunks into mix, you want pineapple inside the cake!) Add almond flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Line the bottom of a 9 inch circle baking dish with parchment paper. Grease sides of dish with butter. Place pineapple slices in bottom of dish. Pour batter over pineapple slices and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool on rack, loosen edges and flip over. 

Enjoy! 

Butternut Squash French Fries

I made these for dinner tonight, and they turned out better than I expected! They didn't turn out as crispy as I had thought but they tasted wonderful and are a great alternative to the traditional "french fries"! The recipe calls for a high heat oil, I used coconut oil.

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash

1/2 tsp salt (or more if needed to coat fries evenly)

1/2 tsp coconut oil (just enough to lightly cover each fry)

Peel butternut squash, cut it in half length-wise and scoop out seeds. Cut into strips or "fry shape". Place fries in bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss to fully coat each fry. Spread fries out on paper towel and let sit for 30 minutes to "sweat out" the moisture. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wipe moisture off fries and place back in bowl and cover with heated coconut oil. Place parchment paper on baking sheet and spread out fries. Bake fries for 15 minutes on one side, flip them and bake for another 10 minutes or until edges are crisp. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!

*Fries can be reheated at 400 degrees for 5 minutes*

Broccoli & Cheese Bites

I found this recipe on pinterest and modified it to have SCD ingredients! 

Ingredients

16 oz. frozen broccoli 

2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

  4 eggs

1/2 cup almond flour

salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form small patties and place on parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, turn patties over and bake for another 10 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Joshua's Ketchup

When you are on the specific carbohydrate diet, there is one thing for sure. You eat a LOT of meat! So you can't be on the diet long before you figure out your favorite ketchup recipe. We have tried several recipes, found our favorite, and modified it until we were happy! I call this "Joshua's Ketchup" because he modified this to perfection and he makes it more often than I do, actually! It has the consistency of "real ketchup" and tastes great too! Also, it's quite easy. It doesn't require constant stirring for an hour and a half like one recipe that I tried(and made for several months!). We bought a plastic squeeze bottle from Sam's to store it in. It's very, very, very important to find the right tomato paste for this ketchup. I can't stress enough how important it is to read the labels! Reading labels always makes my trips to the grocery store a little bit longer, but I promise, it's worth it! I hope you'll enjoy this recipe as much as we have!

Ingredients:

12 oz. can of tomato paste

1 tsp honey

3/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

Stir all ingredients on medium heat for approximately 15-20 minutes. Refrigerate. 

Enjoy! 

Easy enough, right? :)

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

The last couple recipes I posted were baked goods, so I thought I would switch it up and post a main dish! I baked this casserole tonight, and it was very good! Joshua gave it two thumbs up so we'll definitely be making this dish again!

Tip:

Make sure your spaghetti sauce is SCD legal. I used Eden Organic Spaghetti Sauce.

Ingredients:

1 large Spaghetti Squash

1/2 pound ground beef

2 cups Spaghetti Sauce

2 teaspoons Oregano

2 teaspoons Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 cups steamed Broccoli

1 1/2 cup cheese (I used mild cheddar, parmesan, and monterray jack.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash in half. Using a spoon, scoop out seeds from squash. Brush cut sides with olive oil and place face down in a dish and microwave for 12 minutes. Once the spaghetti squash is softened, use a fork to scoop out squash in "noodle-like" strands. Brown meat and set aside. In a large saucepan, combine spaghetti sauce, oregano, thyme and ground beef. Heat it over medium/high heat and season with salt and pepper. Add spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli to the saucepan and toss to coat evenly. Transfer mixture to large casserole dish that has been coated with olive oil. Top the casserole with grated cheese and bake for 25 minutes. 

Enjoy!

 

Strawberry Ice Cream

 

 This is another one of Joshua's favorite sweet snacks! Whenever we started following the Specific Carbohydrate diet, we had pretty much thrown the idea of ever eating ice cream again out the window. However, thankfully there is a way we can still follow the diet and have our ice cream! It takes a couple steps, starting with making yogurt. In order to make the yogurt you will need a Yogourmet Yogurt maker. (Shown below is the yogurt maker, which can be easily ordered online, and the yogurt starter, which you can find at a organic/whole foods grocery store.) I absolutely love my Yogourmet and I think it's a great purchase if you're following the diet, or just want to be healthy and make your own yogurt!

  

To make the SCD yogurt you will need:

2 quarts Milk

10 grams Yogurt Starter

1 1/2 cups Water

Pour 2 quarts milk into a pot and bring to a boil. Temperature should measure greater than 180º F. Allow milk to cool to 100º (or room temperature). Stir for ten seconds before measuring with thermometer. Pour 10 grams of yogurt starter into yogourmet batch container. Add 1/4 cup cooled milk and stir until starter is dissolved. Pour remaining cooled milk into batch container and stir thoroughly. Cover batch container with lid. Pour 1 1/2 cup water into yogurt maker, and lower container into the water and place cover on top. Plug maker in (you will see the red light turn on), and allow to ferment for 24 hours minimum to 34 hours maximum. Unplug and place in fridge for 8 hours before using. Yogurt will remain fresh for two weeks.

Okay, now we will use the yogurt to make our ice cream! 

For the ice cream you will need:

1 cup SCD yogurt

7 Tbsp Honey (the more you add, the less tart the ice cream will be!)

1 1/2 cups Frozen Strawberries

3 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract (SCD legal only- no imitations!)

Mix the yogurt, honey and vanilla. Blend and slowly add the strawberries in. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and let mixture thicken, about 20-25 minutes. The ice cream will have a softer, creamy texture. If you want a firmer consistency, transfer the ice cream to a container and place in the freezer. We have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, and it works wonderfully! It is also good for making other yummy treats!

I know someone will read this and think "Wait, but I thought you couldn't have Milk on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet?" Well, I won't go into the scientific reasoning, but you are able to have milk only if it is fermented. So, that's how this ice cream can be SCD 'legal'. 

ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Brownies

The SCD Peanut Butter Brownies are very simple to make, they're not challenging at all! However, it is something that we make quite frequently in our household. They are always put in lunch boxes to eat at work, or taken on trips for a quick snack. They can be made in a 9x13 dish, but I personally like to make them in ceramic ramekins! They make a great dessert! The only specification I feel that I need to make is that when using peanut butter, it must only contain "SCD legal" ingredients. We have found a Smuckers brand (shown below) that contains only peanuts and 1% of salt. (Don't forget to always refrigerate after opening!)

1 Cup natural peanut butter
1/2 Cup honey
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Egg

Mix all ingredients well. Spoon into dish or ramekins and bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes.
(I have found the brownies bake slower when baked in ramekins, so you may need to adjust your time depending on what dish you're baking in.)
ENJOY!