Spicy Ice Cream and Finally Reaching Goals

Mmm...ice cream. On the anti-Candida diet, I've had a hard time dealing with the loss of so many dessert items. But I finally managed to get one back.

I've been familiar with coconut ice cream for a while, thanks to my sister, but all the store bought ones I've seen are packed with sugar. So I set to find a more ACD-friendly version. Inspired by the recipe over at Caveman Food, I sought to make something creamy and delicious, while still being sugar-free.


It certainly looks like ice cream (it's soft because it just came out of the machine). Mmm...the flavor is creamy and refreshing, not too sweet but sweet enough. Ahh, yes. But wait...why is my face burning? I have a solution for that! More ice cream. Lather, rise and repeat your way into deliciousness.

This is not your average scoop of vanilla. I wanted something with plenty of flavor, but without the additional carbs offered by filling it with fruit (not that there's a problem with fruit). What started with cinnamon quickly spiraled into an unusual, tasty concoction. Baker beware, but it is an enjoyable, if unexpected flavor combination.

A bowl of ice cream was a great way for me to celebrate the long-anticipated success at meeting my weight loss goal. It took me three years, but I'm finally down to my 'ideal BMI' and am 30 pounds lighter. I have been down and back up over the long stretch, but the most recent loss (due to my new lifestyle) has put me 20 pounds lighter since Thanksgiving 2010. It was the perfect pace for me, fast enough to see progress and slow enough that I stayed healthy. I know my revised eating plan may seem extreme to some, but it is pretty balanced and I make sure to get enough healthy calories and nutrients.

The long and short of it is I am super happy to have reached a goal I've had for a good while, but I don't see any reason to let up now. Instead of a focus on weight loss, I can now look to muscle toning and shaping, as well as continuing to nurture a healthy digestive track and overall wellbeing. I look forward to seeing how things progress in the future. I would like to thank my loving husband, family and friends that have supported me and been patient as I've continued to stumble through this process. You all are amazing!

Coconut Curry Chicken

First off, I apologize for this picture. It's just a tricky dish to photograph in a bowl. A deliciously tricky one, I might add.


I really try to be adventurous (within the limits of my diet, of course) but there are some dishes that make me nervous. Curry was one of those dishes. I've never found my palate for Indian food, but I figured I should give it another go, as my experience was still limited. Turns out that not all curries are created equal and that some are actually quite tasty.

This experiment also gave me a chance to try out more cooking with coconut oil, which I'm really enjoying. Even the nice virgin variety has a higher smoke point than olive oil, which is most helpful. Plus it's a quite unique saturated fat, one that's benefits seem to be numerous. And I can use it on my skin to boot! Awesome stuff and something that I'll write more about at length some other time. Now it's curry time!

Carob Protein Snacks

Hi again!

I've been wandering the realms of the internet since I started this new way of eating and as of late, I've actually hit a spot of luck. Normally one can find blogs dedicated to cooking gluten-free, but that uses sugar; or a sugar-free blog that depends on the stretchy gluten. And forget trying to make any sort of bread without that yeast. ~sigh~

But hope is not lost. I have come across the awesome blog Diet, Dessert and Dogs. What's not to love, right? I haven't managed all the way through it, but I did get to try a recipe based on their ACD-Friendly, High-Protein, No-Bake Snackin’ Orbs which turned out delightfully. They apparently host a monthly Sweet or Savory Challenge as well, so I might have to give that a try in the future. But for now, I'm happy to have a quick pick-me-up snack living in the fridge.


As a quick note on carob, if you are not diet-restricted and prefer using cocoa, give it a go. I know that carob isn't 'chocolate-y' enough for a lot of people. But man, when you haven't had chocolate since Thanksgiving, carob comes in pretty close. And no caffeine, for those that are looking for that sort of thing. Apparently the roasted variety tastes more like cocoa, but I haven't tried the raw.

You can also substitute other sweeteners if you like, I'm just doing my best to be good about no sugar. It's tough, but I feel so much better!

Coconut Smackies

Cookies? On a sugar- and gluten-free diet? Hell yeah.

Many thanks to Kelly E. Keough and her book Sugar-free Gluten-free Baking and Desserts; a book that I am super-excited to try more recipes from, by the way. Technically, I shouldn't have started with them just yet, as her recipes call for agave which I shouldn't have in my diet until the end of February. But they called for 4 egg whites and I just happened to have them from the hollandaise from the night before. And besides, there's only 2 tbsp of agave for the whole batch, so as far as being bad goes, it's still way ahead. And it's so very awesome to be back in the cookie-making/eating world. (I do limit myself to two a day.)


These little cookies are awesome! With the addition of protein powder, they actually are quite satisfying as a quick sweet snack, which is definitely something I could use more of in my life. They are sweetened with Stevia, made from the extract of the Sweetleaf plant. It does have a distinct flavor that some people don't care for/requires some getting used to. But considering it's natural (read labels, as some companies use chemical fillers) and zero calories, it's super rad. It's up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, so it does take some getting used to with ratios and such. But it's such a Godsend for people looking to cut sugar out of their diet. Like me. And when used with the agave, I found the flavor to be much less noticeable.

I have included a link to a clip of Kelly Keough making them on veria.com. I'm sad I don't get this station on tv, but they have a lot of clips from many of their shows. The recipe in her book and that in the clip do vary, so I've included the ratios I used.