SCD Cupcakes

I recently made SCD cupcakes and since they can be tricky, thought I’d share them with you.

I used the same SCD cake recipe I used here, but omitted the lemon flavoring since I was out of it.

And I used not only the same SCD buttercream frosting recipe that I had used for the SCD birthday cake, but the actual batch of SCD buttercream that I had made for that cake.

Having the extra stored in small containers in the freezer made creating the cupcakes a breeze. The trick is to thaw the frosting, then re-whip it before adding it to the piping bag.

Instead of creating frosting-based flowers, which would not have held up well without continual refrigeration, I piped a basic twirl, then decorated the cupcakes with fresh flowers.

How have you decorated your SCD confections? Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear.

SCD Halloween Finger Cookies

It’s that scary time of year again when SCD parents search desperately for alternatives to mainstream Halloween treats.

Here’s one option that’s safe for lunch boxes, Halloween parties, and if made in tiny versions and well packed, even for trick-or-treat bags.

SCD Gingerbread Witches’ Fingers

6 cups almond flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup honey
¼ cup SCD yogurt
1 egg
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1 Tbs. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Add baking soda to almond flour. (It’s best if you sift them together, but I’m usually too lazy for that, and just combine with a whisk until all of the lumps are out.)

Whisk honey, yogurt, egg, and spices together, adjusting spices to your taste.

Add almond flour mixture to liquid/spice mixture, either by hand or in a stand mixer. (I prefer the Kitchen Aid.)

If the dough is too sticky, add more almond flour a little at a time. This dough will never be equivalent to a gluten-based dough, but it does need to be dry enough to handle — but sticky enough to stay together.

You can refrigerate the dough at this point to make it easier to handle if you’d like. (This dough also freezes well.)

When ready to make the finger cookies, roll the dough into finger-like shapes, adding knuckles, warts, etc. Press an almond into the “finger’s” tip for the fingernail, and use a toothpick or knife to score wrinkles into the skin.

Place on a parchment lined cookie tray and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Be careful. Because the dough is dark, it burns easily. The baking time will also depend on how thick the cookies are, so err on the side of caution.

Serve to little ghosts and goblins.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix — SCD Chili Powder

This super simple — and frugal — recipe is easy to adapt to you (or your kid’s) tastes.

You need only one ingredient: Dried chili peppers. And a heavy-duty blender or food processor.

That’s it. Of course you can make more complicated versions, like Alton Brown’s Chili Powder. But for those on the SCD, simpler is usually better.

The instructions are easy too:

Remove the stems (and seeds if you prefer less heat or can’t tolerate them) from the dried peppers of your choosing. (Make sure to use gloves for this part.) I used New Mexico chilis in these pictures.

Then place them into the Vita-Mix. Turn it on low, then quickly to high. Use the tamper to grind the peppers to the consistency you like. When finished, let the powder settle before you open the container.



I found that the peppers we grow and dry our selves are dryer than those I purchase. So, if you’re using the store-bought ones, be aware that the little bit of moisture they contain affects the texture of the chili powder. When I use purchased peppers, I store the powder in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Price per Meal Calculators

Hmmm. Another dilemma, another solution.

My husband’s chemistry lab is wrapping up for the semester and he wanted to bring a meal they could all share. Since like many of you, we’re on a budget, we finally came up with a nutritious solution that fit the dietary requirements of all of the students as well as the ease-of-preparation stipulation that this meal will be cooked on-site in a crockpot.

After we found a recipe that would work, I thought “Hmm, wouldn’t it be nice to find a website that calculated cost per meal or cost per serving of recipes for you.”

This is what I found: A USDA recipe finder database originally designed for nutrition educators serving families who receive food assistance. Although it has its limitations, it’s searchability appeals to me. For instance, you can search by ingredients, recipe name, nutrition education goal, menu category, intended audience, available cooking equipment and price per meal or per serving. Not too shabby!

On the recipe pages themselves, I noted a few more perks: You can read the recipe in Spanish, print it in multiple sizes, view the nutrition facts, and even add the ingredients to a shopping list. Yes, I know; these functions are also available on mainstream menu sites, such as my favorite, allrecipes, which admittedly has thousands more recipes available. But they don’t have price per serving options or easily searchable health options.

Just to try it out, I selected two criteria: Main Dish recipes, and chose $1.00 for the Cost Less Than $X per Serving category. The database returned 137 recipes. A quick glance told me that their idea of ‘main dish’ was a little broad, but it’s a good starting point to brainstorm ideas for inexpensive meals.

Now, I can’t vouch for how tasty the recipes are, but since I always tweak recipes anyway, I don’t see that as a major hindrance. Check it out and let me know what recipes worked for you.

By the way, I did find a cost calculator for servings of meat, but no other general calculators. Of course, you could just do it the old fashioned way—math.

If you know of any meal cost calculators, I would love to hear about them.

Back to Basics: SCD Apple Butter

I love my 1986 copy of the book Stocking Up III: The All-New Edition of America’s Classic Preserving Guide. I appreciate the simplicity of the recipes, many of which are SCD legal, for their fundamental ingredients and back-to-basic techniques.

I adapted the Stocking Up apple cider and apple butter recipes for the final product below, which I have to say, we all thought was pretty tasty. And any recipe that we can all eat—and like—is a winner in my book.

Here is the list of ingredients for apple butter, from page 269 of the book:

3 cups of apple cider
5 pounds of apples, unpeeled and uncored, sliced thin
honey to taste
ground cinnamon, to taste
ground allspice, to taste
ground cloves, to taste

I know the list of ingredients is vague, but it does allow you to modify the recipe, which is helpful especially since personal preference for spices can vary greatly.

Although I used the list of ingredients listed above, for SCD reasons I peeled and cored the apples. Then, instead of using a large enamel pot, I cooked the apples in the crock pot.


I did not have any apple cider so I used the recipe from pages 292 through 294 of the book. I was thrilled to find that using the Vita Mix was a suitable way to make apple juice as evidenced by the picture of an older model on page 292. Since no volumes or masses are listed for how many apples to use, I just winged it until I got 3 cups of juice.


Following the instructions on page 293 and illustration on 294 I made the juice by first pureeing the peeled apples in the Vita Mix.

Then I strained the puree through a muslin bag,

reserving the juice for the apple butter recipe.

By the way, I saved the puree, which we later ate with potato latkes. However, the taste was quite concentrated and the puree probably would have been better in cake or muffins.

At this point, the five pounds of cored, peeled, and sliced apples were already cooking in the crock pot. I added the three cups of juice, a half-cup of honey, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a half-teaspoon of allspice, and a half-teaspoon of cloves. Later, after many hours of cooking, I tasted the mixture and added more spices.

Initially, I cooked the apples on high until they softened, remembering to leave the lid ajar to allow the liquid to evaporate. Before I went to bed, I set the crock pot to low (8-10 hours). This was a little risky. First thing in the morning, I thought I had ruined the whole batch because the edges were very dark. However, it tasted delicious and we enjoyed it on regular and SCD pancakes right away.
I stored the rest of it in half-pint jars in the freezer since there was not really enough to can. The Stocking Up recipe lists the yield as four half-pints, which is probably accurate if you don’t add any honey. After eating some with breakfast, we had four jars left to store.

What apple recipes are you cooking up this fall?

Apples—Take Advantage of the Season

In our neck of the woods, apples have just started coming into season. Since our family is working more toward eating in-season foods, and away from buying foods when they’re not in season, we stock up on produce whenever we can.

Whether you grow them, pick them yourself, or buy them from the orchard, local farmers market, produce stand, or store, it’s more economical and healthier to buy apples in the fall and store them.

The storage options are almost endless, but here are some ideas to get you going:

1. Buy “keeper” apples for long-term storage. We did this last year with Arkansas blacks
2. Can them
3. Freeze them; dry packing allows you to freeze them without sugar or syrup
4. Dry them
5. Make apple juice or apple cider, then freeze
6. Make applesauce, then can or freeze
7. Make apple chutney, apple jelly or apple butter
8. Make pie or pie filling (in the shape of the pie) and freeze or can
9. Make muffins, cakes, etc. to freeze.

If you have healthy, and especially SCD-friendly ideas for apple recipes, I’d love to hear them!

Homemade Helpers: Baking Powder

Hello, my fellow frugal friends. The last time I tried to buy baking powder at the local grocery store, they were only selling a brand with sodium aluminum sulfate in it. So, when I needed some earlier this week I decided to do some research and found a few different, but similar, recipes for making it on the cheap at home! I thought you might appreciate the do-it-yourself nature.

According to the SmittenKitchen:

To make your own baking powder–some say with fewer metallic undertones than the commercial stuff–mix one part baking soda to one part cornstarch and two parts cream of tartar.

Baking powder recipe from Gourmet.com

Baking powder recipe from About.com

According to Wikipedia, to enhance leavening without baking powder in recipes like those of the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet):

Baking powder is generally just baking soda mixed with an acid, and a number of kitchen acids may be mixed with baking soda to simulate commercial blends of baking powder. Vinegar (dilute ethanoic acid), especially white vinegar, is also a common acidifier in baking; for example, many heirloom chocolate cake recipes call for a tablespoon or two of vinegar. Where a recipe already uses buttermilk or yogurt, baking soda can be used without cream of tartar (or with less). Alternatively, lemon juice can be substituted for some of the liquid in the recipe, to provide the required acidity to activate the baking soda.

On Monday, I successfully used the baking powder recipe from Gourmet.com to make these tasty muffins (not SCD), and the baking soda/yogurt combination to make the SCD “Mom’s Blueberry Muffins” recipe from Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

If you decide to try it, I'd love to know how this homemade baking powder recipe works for you.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part VII

I can make coconut milk (and puréed soups).

Today I was making what we call coconut-lentil soup. Its real title is Indian-Style Lentils, a vegan recipe from Susan O’Brien’s Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Cooking book. The recipe requires coconut milk, another product that is hard to find in SCD-legal form. So, I whipped out my trusty Vita-Mix and made some.

Recipe:

1 cup unsweetened, dry coconut
4 cups filtered water

Add ingredients to Vita-Mix, turn the machine on low, then quickly turn the dial increasing speed; flip the switch to high and blend for about two minutes. If you need the milk to be completely smooth/without particles, you may need to strain it.

This is another recipe that you can alter to fit your taste and budget by increasing or decreasing the coconut-to-water ratio.

Of course, after I cooked the soup, I puréed it in the Vita-Mix to get the texture my daughter likes.

There is some discussion online that puréeing foods in the Vita-Mix increases the bioavailability of the food, and I have looked into some of the research, but that’ll be a post for another time. What I do know is that my daughter loves this recipe, and although it contains cauliflower and mustard seeds (which can be a challenge for some people on SCD), she’s never had a problem with the puréed version of this soup.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part III

I can make almond flour—and save a lot of money!

The last time I checked my closest Whole Foods, almond flour was about $14 per pound. However, I can make it in my Vita-Mix for less than $5 per pound!

There’s a trick to it however. And that is to never use more than a cup of nuts at one time. Otherwise you’ll probably end up with nut butter.

Recipe:
¾ to 1 cup of raw, blanched almonds

Place almonds in Vita-Mix. Turn on low, then turn the dial up. Flip the switch to high until you see the very fine particles of flour spinning around in the top of the Vita-Mix reservoir. Turn off your machine.

Check to make sure the particles are the size and texture you prefer. If they’re too big, you can turn the machine on again, but be forewarned, the transformation from nut flour to nut butter is pretty quick.

If you need the flour to be especially fine, you can sift it, but honestly, I never do.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part II

I can make high-calorie, high-nutrient smoothies for my daughter who needs extra calories and iron.

Smoothies have almost as many variations as there are stars in the sky. So, pick what you and your family like, what’s on sale, and what works for you in your stage of the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet).

I particularly like this smoothie because you can’t taste the spinach, but get the health benefits of it, like iron, which my daughter needs.

Use your best judgment with regard to amounts, based on what you and your family will eat, and how much your blender will hold. My Vita-Mix holds substantially more volume than my old Oster.


Recipe:
Frozen blueberries
Very ripe banana, frozen if possible
1 to 2 cups of fresh spinach (omit if uncooked veggies are not yet tolerated)
1 to 3 baby carrots (omit if uncooked veggies are not yet tolerated)
½ to 1 cup of homemade SCD yogurt (base the amount on what stage you’re at with the probiotics)
¼ to ½ cup of raw, blanched almonds, cashews, or other nuts if tolerated
Coconut oil (to increase calories)
Orange juice, SCD legal or homemade; enough to cover at least half of the contents. You can also use SCD legal pineapple juice if you prefer/tolerate it.

Add all ingredients to the Vita-Mix in the order listed. Turn the Vita-Mix on low, immediately turn the dial up all the way, then switch it to high. If necessary, use the tamper to push the fruits and veggies into the blades. Turn the machine off when the fruits and veggies are completely pureéd.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part I

I can make Shrek Juice.

Shrek Juice is our version of a green smoothie/green lemonade. My SCD girl and I love it. I adapted the recipe to make it work with the Vita-Mix and SCD, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

Use as many organic fruits and veggies as you can afford.


Recipe:

½ to 1 head of romaine lettuce (the kind that come three to a package, not the large heads you purchase individually)

1 sweet apple, quartered, but not peeled or cored

1 small piece of fresh ginger, according to taste. I keep mine stored in the freezer so it stays fresh longer. You can peel this if you like, but it’s not necessary.

½ to 1 whole lemon. If you have organic lemons, it is not necessary to peel them, but you may choose to do so for flavor alteration. Quarter it before placing into the Vita-Mix.

1 cup of ice

2 cups of filtered water

Add all ingredients to the Vita-Mix in the order listed. Turn the Vita-Mix on low, immediately turn the dial up all the way, then switch it to high. Use the tamper to push the apple, lemon, and romaine into the blades. Turn the machine off when the fruits and veggies are completely pureéd.

Use a fine mesh strainer or sieve to filter the pulp out of the juice to make it SCD compliant. (I bought the one you see in the photo below in the homebrew supply section of an international food market.) I filter it for my daughter, but drink it with the fiber myself.



To make a purple, and slightly sweeter version of this, add fresh or frozen red or black seedless grapes, about 1 cup.

The Story Behind My Vita-Mix

For my recipes, please scroll down.


As someone who feels overly governed by her frugal sensibilities, it took me a few months of research, internal negotiation, and resource creation before I took the plunge.

As an illustration of my frugal nature, I’ll tell you that in our 18 years together, my husband and I have purchased only two new pieces of furniture. No, we don’t live like college students, but we’ve chosen to utilize our resources elsewhere (like graduate and medical school programs).

So, when after much deliberation I decided to purchase a Vita-Mix to help me prepare some of the specialized foods my younger daughter needed to help treat her malabsorption disorder, I needed to figure out where to get the money to buy it. Our commitment to our Dave Ramsey budget meant no credit card purchases. By the way, I did look at used Vita-Mixes but did not find one at what I considered a bargain. And honestly, I was interested in getting one with the new plastic containers that are BPA free.

When my grandparents, aunt, and dad immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden in 1950, my grandmother brought with her a slew of looms for weaving. I inherited them from her before she died, but never learned to weave. I knew weaving was not in my near future, and eventually was able to let go of the guilt associated with selling them.


It took much longer than I hoped to sell them, but I finally did. That money I earned, along with some from my aunt for Christmas, was just what I needed to buy a new Vita-Mix 5200 in February of last year.

So, my Vita-Mix is extra special to me. I traded this dusty old loom, in addition to its many accessories and a few other looms, for the shiny Vita-Mix you see here.


It feels as though my whole family, even my grandmother who is no longer with us, is invested in helping my younger daughter get better, and I think of all of them when I use it.



For Vita-Mix Recipes:
Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part I: Shrek Juice

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part II: Green Smoothie

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part III: Almond Flour

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part IV: Almond Butter

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part V: Almond Milk

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part VI: Applesauce & Fruit Leather

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part VII: Coconut Milk

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part VIII: Compost for the Garden

SCD Mayonnaise

Homemade SCD Apple Butter

Why I Love My Vita-Mix: Chili Powder

SCD Experiences

Posts of some of our SCD experiences are below. For recipes, please click on Recipe in the label cloud.

Our SCD story, how we found it, why we use it, and how it's changed our family, is coming soon.

SCD Freezer Cooking

SCD Easter Basket

SCD and the Stomach Flu