Anti-Candida Christmas dessert recipe

What's Christmas dinner without dessert, even for us candida folks? My dessert uses some of the trail mix I talked about in my first post about by Christmas dinner menu at http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-candida-christmas-dinner.html. It also makes use of my favorite vanilla tea smoothie recipe at http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/sleepytime-vanilla-tea-smoothie-acd.html.

I simply whipped up some of this smoothie in the morning and poured it into a freezer-safe container. I stored it in the freezer all day and took it out in the evening. After thawing it out slightly, I spooned it into my food processor and blended it on high into an soft-serve ice cream consistency. It really does resemble soft-serve ice cream.

Spoon this frozen dessert into a ice-cream dish and top off with a tablespoon of trail mix and voila: dessert for anti-candida me!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Family Recipe Friday - Holiday (or Anytime) Prune Bread

Family Recipe Friday – is an opportunity to share your family recipes with fellow bloggers and foodies alike. Whether it’s an old-fashioned recipe passed down through generations, a recipe uncovered through your family history research, or a discovered recipe that embraces your ancestral heritage share them on Family Recipe Friday. This series was suggested by Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist.

 I am not sure when this tradition got started or where the recipe came from, but my family has been making and giving prune bread as gifts at Christmas for some time. Maybe this does not sound appetizing to some, but this is a really tasty quick bread. I am making three loaves this morning. Here is the recipe

1 cup uncooked prunes
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg beaten
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Cut prunes into small pieces. Add shortening, water, sugar and spices to prunes and boil for 15 minutes. Cool. Stir in egg, flour sifted with baking powder. Pour batter into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

© 2010, copyright William C. Haskell

Advent Calendar Day 24 - Christmas Eve

Prompt for December 24 – Christmas Eve

How did you, your family or your ancestors spend Christmas Eve?

Christmas shopping! And wrapping presents. Well, sometimes. We did not do much different on Christmas Eve while I was growing up. Mostly we spent time preparing for Christmas day - cooking, last minute shopping, wrapping, making, etc. Once I got married, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my wife's family with a mid-afternoon meal and then opening presents around the Christmas tree.

I don't have any information on how any of my ancestors spent Christmas Eve.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

image source: http://www.openclipart.org/browse

© 2010, copyright William C. Haskell

Anti-candida Christmas dinner continued

The mock mashed potatoes came out oh so yummy. I'd say better than real mashed potatoes. The combination of rutabagas and cauliflower had a almost sweet taste which made the lack of butter unnoticeable.

I will serve this side dish as part of my candida Christmas dinner. Get the full menu in my previous post at
http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-candida-christmas-dinner.html.


Here's the recipe I created for Mock Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
• 1 head of cauliflower, washed, trimmed and chopped into pieces.

• 3-4 medium rutabagas, washed, peeled and cut into one-inch pieces.

• Chicken broth

• Hemp milk or other alternative dairy beverage

• Salt and pepper

Directions:

• Bring water to a boil in two large saucepans. You will need to cook the two veggies separately since the rutabagas will take longer to cook.

• Add a sprinkle of salt to each pot.

• Put the rutabagas in one pot and the cauliflower in the other.

• Cook until each is fork tender.

• Drain both cauliflower and rutabagas.

• Combine the two veggies in a large pot.

• Add a bit of chicken broth, milk of your choice, salt and pepper.

• Start the mashing process with a potato masher.

• Add more liquids if needed.

• Finish whipping with a hand mixer.

• Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

There's one more recipe to practice: the mock vanilla ice cream topped with trail mix. That will be tomorrow.

How to Style and Photograph Food

Please welcome our guest couple, Carrie and Andrew Purcell, from Pictures & Pancakes.

When styling food we really try to keep things natural and not too fussy. There are definitely some tricks used in food styling but we hardly ever use those for the blog – we want it to feel real and like what you’d be served for a meal in our home! The only things that I use for the blog that I use when styling for editorial or advertising clients are my q-tips, tweezers and paint brush – all used for tiny details like picking off a stray piece of parsley or moistening dry meat with a little water or oil. And we definitely eat everything we shoot!

We have a cupboard full of props and are always adding to the collection. Whenever we’re in home or kitchen stores and see a bowl, napkin or spoon that we love, we pick one up knowing it’ll be put to good use helping the food look pretty for our readers. Some of our favorite places in NYC to shop for props are Global Table, Fishs Eddy, ABC Home, Ochre and all the different flea markets around town. We love collecting things when we travel as well.

With photography, and more specifically food photography, we really try and keep the food the hero. With the blog, it's really about the recipe, so we want the photo to obviously be beautiful, but also let the food have the best light it can. On our end, we almost use all natural light, using a few reflecting cards to bounce some light in and lessen the contrast. We also like to use a fairly shallow depth of field, something that we think adds to the mood and feel of the shots. But really, most of all shooting food is about the balance of your perspective and the foods perspective, keeping the food the main hero, but also letting your individual style come through.

From My Kitchen To Yours...

Ok just one more cookie! At the last minute I caved in and made some Cucidati, I wasn't going to make them at all this year but I was slightly coerced by my brother-in-law and husband who were giving me a guilt trip.


Cucidati are traditional Italian fig cookies very popular at Christmas time consisting of a tender dough that wraps around a thick and flavorful filling of figs, raisins, almonds, orange peel and a few other things that are laced with brandy and warm spices.


On a cold winter day my house quickly warmed up with the scent of cucidati baking in the oven. I don't know what I was thinking, it just wouldn't be the same without a few of these gracing our table!

In the end I made two people very very happy that day, and isn't that the
real reason why we cook anyway?

Here's my favorite recipe.

I want to take this time to wish each and everyone of you a most delicious holiday filled with lots of love and happiness!

From my kitchen to yours,

Marie

Anti-candida Christmas dinner

The anti-candida diet has become so much a part of me that it seldom bothers me to sit across from someone eating desserts or bread or other carb-loaded foods. That is until the holidays roll around. Then, it starts to bother me again. All the traditional Christmas foods are paraded in front of me via advertising, parties, etc.

It's hard to not feel a bit resentful but this year, I've planned a counterattack because I want to stay as mellow as my cat, Pumpkin, sleeping under the Christmas tree in the photo above. I've carefully planned and even tried the recipes for my anti-candida Christmas dinner. Here's what I have planned for dinner:

1. Appetizer: cucumber slices, red pepper triangles and other raw veggies with chickpea dip.
2. Salad: mixed greens or spinach with dried cranberries and avocado.
3. Entree: roasted free-range turkey. 
4. Sides: mashed rutabaga/cauliflower blend; roasted brussel sprouts; green beans.
5. Dessert: ACD-safe vanilla frozen dessert topped with trail mix (cacao bits, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, dried cranberries).

I started my counterattack several days ago by making the dried cranberries. The ones you buy in the store are soaked in sugar which will not work for low-glycemic folks. I'm planning to use the dried cranberries in the salad and as an ingredient in the trail mix.

If you like cranberries a lot, it's a good idea right now to grab a few extra packages while they are cheaper and available, and stow them in the freezer. Here's the procedure/recipe I followed for drying cranberries.

Drying cranberries

1. Place one bag of fresh or frozen cranberries into a pot with water. Bring the cranberries and water to boil.
2. Allow the cranberries to sit in the water long enough to burst. Drain the water from the cranberries. Add stevia (either liquid or powder) and toss to coat the cranberries.
3. Spread the cranberries on a baking sheet. Place in the freezer for at least two hours. The instructions I followed indicated that cranberries dehydrate faster when frozen first. It still took a long, long, long time.
4. Place the cranberries onto a sheet in a food dehydrator. Allow to dehyrate for 12+ hours. Begin checking after 10 hours to remove the ones that are dry. Note: You could dry the cranberries in your oven as well at 250 degrees.
5. Store the dried cranberries in a container in the freezer until ready to use.

Well, that completes round one. Next up, making the trail mix which I will use as a topping for the vanilla frozen dessert.

This is super easy. Just toast some pumpkin and sunflower seeds either in a heavy skillet on the stovetop, or in the oven on a baking sheet at 325 degrees. I prefer the stovetop because I can monitor them more carefully. I start by spraying the pan with pan spray and dumping in one cup of each type of seeds. Spread the seeds around; spray with additional pan spray to coat; and salt to taste. Toast the seeds on medium heat until they begin to pop.

Allow the seeds to cool before mixing with 2 T. dried cranberries and 2 T. cacao bits. Store in the freezer to keep yourself from nibbling.

The mashed cauliflower/rutabaga mixture is my project for tonight. Post, directions and picture coming.