Recipe: Sesame Beef with Carrot Kinpara

Carrot Love by Chris Campbell

I've just eaten a delicious dinner based upon two recipes recently uploaded by Maki to her excellent Just Bento blog:

Easy Sugarfree Carrot Kinpara (try not to inhale the chilli fumes, like I did!)

Sesame Flavoured Beef (I omitted the mirin and substituted the brown sugar for xylitol)

I served the beef and carrots with boiled broccoli and King Soba (would provide a link, but their website appears to have mysteriously disappeared) brown rice noodles.

Highly recommended!

Diabetic Hampers

Look what I've found! Of course, there's no guarantee that all the contents would be anti-Candida friendly, but it's a start.

Sugar free sweets

I spent last weekend at home in sunny Suffolk. My favourite chocolate shop in Woodbridge - Les Chocolats Belges (OMG! They do mail order!!!) - stocks a really good range of diabetic confectionery, most of which is sweetened with maltitol. Since I was last at home in July they've started to sell even more Candida diet-friendly treats. This weekend I picked up Cavalier White Chocolate (contains milk powder), as well as my usual Extra Dark 72% favourite, and a packet of wine gums, sweetened with maltitol, and manufactured by a Dutch company, de Bron, who make a broad range of sweets. Really 'authentic' taste and texture. I noted that the shop also had chocolate spread and individual Belgian chocolates. Now all I need is for someone to make fudge with maltitol/xylitol - what absolute bliss would that be?!

Great recipe resources (and update)

If you're looking for some delicious and easily adaptable recipes, look no further than River Nene and Abel & Cole. Both companies deliver organic veg boxes in the UK (I get mine from River Nene), and both host a multitude of brilliant vegetable-based (but not necessarily vegetarian) recipes on their websites. I've been inspired by and made some really lovely dishes based on their recipes. A couple of my recent favourites are:

Swiss Chard and Walnut Lasagne and Green Soup (I've had a lot of chard to use up!)

With reference to my own Candida battles, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have been experiencing a (fairly mild) flare-up. Keeping to the straight and narrow AND eating plenty of yoghurt seems to be helping. I'm back on the supplements too. Oh lordy!

Sourdough at Somerfield!

Yes, it is true! Somerfield have started to sell their own 'best ever' sourdough boule. I'll be trying it out later. Yum. :)

Back to Basics

FLARE-UP ALERT! I've been just too naughty and lax about my diet recently. So, it's back to basics for me. I guess that means I'll be posting here more frequently. And eating lots of yogurt. Yuck!

Sourdough Bagels

Since starting the Candida diet I've really missed bagels with smoked turkey, gherkins and mustard. Mmmmmmm...mustard *drool*. So imagine how delighted I was to discover they can be made and are, in fact, more authentic, with sourdough starter.

I used the recipe I found at Sourdough Home. This is, IMHO, the best site for naturally leavened bread recipes and tips; lots of sensible, down-to-earth advice. I followed the recipe to the letter* (although I did omit the overnight proving). How did they look?

Brilliant! And how did they taste? YUM! The method is fairly time-consuming, but well worth the effort.

*I could only get malt extract - used approx. half the quantity (weight) of malt powder recommended in the recipe. Which reminds me: a quick trawl of the Internet could not confirm whether, or not, malt extract is permitted on the candida diet, so this recipe might be something to save for special occasions, or choose to avoid if you're just starting out on the diet.

An announcement!

Djinn is eating wedding cake. Djinn doesn't care. ;)

New potatoes in a Japanese stylee

Photo by poluz

Just a quick post (mired in a case study at the moment - ugh) to let you all know how yum this recipe -courtesy of Maki - is.

N.B. Instead of butter I used Olivio, or Bertolli Spread, or whatever it's called now.

Tip: Kikkoman's soy sauce doesn't contain any added sugar. I buy it in big litre bottles from the Chinese supermarket and decant it into one of their pretty glass containers as and when needed. Works out much cheaper.

Recipe: Lemon Polenta Cake

By alasam

Anna has asked me to post the recipe for Lemon Polenta Cake. I don't normally reproduce recipes published elsewhere, but as this is an adaptation, I'll make an exception (suggested substitutes in brackets).

Lemon Polenta Cake

Serves 8

175 g butter (olivio)
175 g caster sugar (xylitol)
2 large eggs, beaten
150 g ground almonds
85 g polenta
1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
zest of 2 large lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice

For the lemon syrup:
85 g caster sugar (xylitol)
zest and juice of 1 large lemon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. Line the base of a 17 cm spring-release cake tin with non-stick parchment paper and lightly grease the sides.

Cream butter (olivio) and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in eggs. Fold in almonds, polenta, baking powder, lemon zest and juice, and mix thoroughly.

Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 45-50 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

To make syrup, place sugar, lemon zest and juice, and 2 tbsps water in a small pan and heat until sugar (xylitol) dissolves. Simmer for 5 mins, then remove from the heat.

Remove cake from tin and transfer to serving plate. Using a cocktail stick, prick the cake in several places. Drizzle over with syrup.

Summer Refreshment

'Cool Drink On a Hot Summer's Day' by garyfgarcia

Just a quick heads-up about my new favourite summer time tipple. Tropicana Spirit is nothing but sparkling mineral water and fruit juice and is absolutely delicious. My favourite variety is Lemon & Grapefruit; refreshingly tart. In fact I like it SO much I'm a Tropicana Spirit fan on Facebook. :)

Oh, and that old non-alcoholic stalwart, Appletizer, is Candida diet friendly too - woo!

Recipe: Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup

It's sweltering hot here at the moment (about time too!) and I really didn't feel like cooking (or writing) this evening. I fancied something light and fresh, and came up with this recipe, which made use of the lovely tomatoes and onions I received in my weekly veg box.

Photo by Zed.Cat

Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup

Serves 1

4 medium vine tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 large clove garlic
half a handful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 pint stock (yeast-free)
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Wash and quarter the tomatoes. Place in a dish, skin side up. Peel and quarter the onion, add to dish with clove of garlic (leave whole). Drizzle over a good slug of olive oil and season with pepper. Place in the oven for around thirty minutes until the tomato skins are wrinkly. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

When cool enough to handle, slip the skins from the tomatoes. Place tomato, onion and garlic, along with the juice collected in the bottom of the dish, into a blender. Whizz the mixture with half the stock until smooth. Add the basil and whizz until chopped.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir in the remainder of the stock. Reheat gently over a low heat. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with sourdough toast. Very tasty. :)

Blueberry Muffins - yum!

I'm making candida diet friendly muffins for a party tomorrow. I found this great recipe for the blueberry variety on the BBC Food website. Just substitute sugar for xylitol. The muffins don't rise very high (perhaps I should have left the batter over night as the recipe recommends), but taste LUSCIOUS! And I love the way the blueberries pop as the muffins cook and leech purple juice everywhere. Not something for everyday consumption, but perfect as an occasional treat.

Oh, and I can definitely recommend the silicon muffin tray I rescued from TK Maxx on Monday.

In other news, this blog has been, and is likely to remain, fairly quiet for a bit, cos my thesis has to take top priority at the moment...

Veg box!

I've taken the plunge. After months of weighing up the pros and cons (mostly pros - smaller carbon footprint, seasonal veg, supporting local farmers), earlier this week I ordered an organic mini veg box from River Nene. And it arrived this morning...

I was so excited!! In my box this week I got new potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, onions, carrots and wet garlic, all covered with dirt and clearly fresh out of the ground - hurrah!

Eh?

Wet garlic?

What's that?

It's fresh garlic, as opposed to the dry stuff we're more used too.

I had a lovely day turning the contents of my box into delicious meals. First of all the carrots went into a yummy Carrot & Coriander Soup for lunch and, this evening, a tried out one of the recipes supplied with the box, Wet and Wild Garlic Risotto (I omitted the white wine and wild garlic, and replaced the parmesan with grated ewe's milk manchego). It was seriously garlicky, but absolutely delicious. The wet garlic is lighter in flavour and sweeter than dry garlic - more like a cross between a leek and spring onion. And with all that garlic and onion this recipe must be a super-Candida fighter. Woo!

Can't wait to see what I get in my box next week!

Recipe: Pea and Bacon Chowder

I've just made this delicious Lesley Water's recipe for Pea and Bacon Chowder, aka Witches' Brew. Quick and easy to make with just a few ingredients and very comforting. I will definitely make this one again!