SCD Birthday Party!

If you’ve ever tried to decorate an SCD birthday cake, then you know how hard it can be.

After years of subpar birthday cakes, I finally figured out how to decorate an SCD cake for my daughter’s 8th birthday. Kinda.

Originally, I had plans for an American-Girl-themed birthday party, but because I couldn’t find American Girl cake toppers or embellishments — and making them out of honey-based frosting wasn’t an option — the theme morphed into a tea party with dolls — and people — as guests. Then we decorated with balloons, hearts, and a few American Girl decorations. Before digging into the cake and frozen yogurt, we did lots of American Girl crafts, and drank tea like proper ladies.

The menu originally started out grander as well, but in the end here’s what we ended up with:

• SCD Lemon Cake with SCD Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)
• Homemade SCD Frozen Strawberry Yogurt
• Fresh fruit: star fruit, strawberries, and blueberries
• SCD Punch (recipe below)
• Hot Tea

For the SCD Barbie birthday cake, I used the Wilton Classic Wonder Mold pan, and a La Dee Da doll. Because a double recipe of the cake was not enough to fill the pan completely, I needed a doll shorter than the traditional Barbie. (You could also use only the torso of a doll, or one of the doll picks designed specifically for decorating, but none of those seemed quite the right size or were attractive enough.)



Please excuse the quality of the cake. Without traditional decorator’s icing, or fondant, decorating with SCD frosting was almost like starting over. And please excuse the pictures too. I need better lighting, probably some photography lessons, and definitely a new kitchen ☺.


Here’s the SCD Lemon Birthday Cake recipe. Please note that its texture is heavy, like pound cake.

SCD Lemon Birthday Cake
4 eggs, separated
½ cup canola oil (or coconut oil)
1 cup honey
1 Tbs. vanilla
1 Tbs. lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
1 Tbs. lemon flavor (organic, SCD)
5 cups almond flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Whisk the egg yolks until pale.
3. Add into the egg yolks, the canola oil, the honey, the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon flavor.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.
5. Fold egg whites into batter mixture.
6. In an additional bowl, add almond flour, salt and baking soda. Stir with a fork or dry whisk until well combined.
7. Fold the almond flour mixture into the batter gently.
8. Pour into a well-greased and floured (coconut oil and fine almond flour) cake pan.



9. The baking time is dependent upon the cake pan. The Wonder Mold pan took about an hour. However, the cake’s outside was much darker than a traditional flour cake would be. My suggestion is to underestimate the time you think your cake will need, then check it every 10-15 minutes with a toothpick — or skewer for the tall 3-D pans — until done.



10. Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely before frosting it.



After I decorated the cake, I gave it more height and volume by placing it on a cake stand and surrounding the bottom of the stand with tulle, onto which I placed some heart decorations. You could also use a tulle cake skirt, which would be extra cute.



Here’s the SCD Buttercream Frosting recipe (adapted from this great recipe/tutorial at modernalternativemama.com) I highly suggest reading or watching a good tutorial before trying this for the first time. It came out great, but was a bit tricky. If I hadn’t known the mixture would turn into a soupy mess before it was done, I would have tossed it out as a failure.

SCD Buttercream Frosting
¾ cup honey
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 lb. unsalted SCD butter
2-3 tsp. SCD vanilla extract
2-3 tsp. SCD lemon oil/flavoring (optional)


Important: All ingredients should be room temperature.

And please note: SCD butter should be without “natural flavorings.” Sometimes I can only find salted butter without flavorings. Use less salt in your “pinch” if using salted butter.

1. Add honey to saucepan and attach candy thermometer without allowing it to rest on the bottom of the pan. Set the heat to medium.



2. While the honey heats up to the softball stage — 240 degrees Fahrenheit — add the eggs and egg yolks to a large bowl (not to the honey), along with the pinch of salt.
3. Using a stand mixer if possible, whip the eggs until almost gelatinous. (This takes longer than you might think.)
4. When the honey reaches 240 degrees, remove the thermometer and very slowly pour the hot honey down the side of the mixer bowl as the eggs are beaten. (Obviously, a stand mixer is ideal.) Do not pour the honey directly onto the eggs, but down the side.
5. Continue to beat the egg and honey mixture until it is the consistency of marshmallow, and it has cooled down.
6. Add the very softened butter slowly, a chunk at a time, about 2-3 tablespoons. Initially the frosting will look runny. Keep going. It will attain proper shape when the last half-cup is added.
7. Add the vanilla, and lemon flavor if using. Mix gently.
8. Taste it to see if it needs more salt or vanilla. If so, add it. If not, you’re done.



Now you have SCD frosting. You can use it right away. However, if you want to pipe it, you may need to chill it. This is a tricky area that you’ll need to figure out based on the temperature inside your kitchen. If the frosting is too cold, you can’t pipe it at all. If it’s too soft, it won’t hold shape. Even smoothing it was a bit of a challenge, as you can see from the imperfect skirt on the doll cake.



The second issue is that the frosting was rich and not only tasted very strongly of butter, but it was also the color of butter. And only the color of butter. There seemed to be nothing I could do about that. I tried to change the color by adding some homemade blackberry juice concentrate, but that didn’t work, and I didn’t have time to come up with any other natural colorings to try. Hence the yellow dress. And hence the odd heart picks added to the dress as decoration to liven it up.



The good news is that the frosting freezes well, so you can keep some in stock for last-minute birthday party invitations. On top of an SCD cupcake — and with a decorative “pick” — they make great transportable mini SCD birthday cakes.

SCD Punch
1 large can (46 oz) not-from-concentrate pineapple juice
1 quart. not-from-concentrate orange juice
1 liter carbonated water
6-12 oz frozen fruit instead of ice (I used pineapples chunks and strawberries.)

Chill all liquids until 15 minutes before the party. Pour into punch bowl and add frozen fruit.

This punch got rave reviews from the adults and kids.

After years of not having proper birthday parties for my daughter, I wanted this one to be one she would remember. So, I served the punch in champagne flutes with decorative straws, and the selection of teas in china my grandparents brought from Sweden when they immigrated in 1950. Definitely over the top. But after years of attending birthday parties where she couldn’t eat the food, I wanted this one to be special.

I’d love to hear about your SCD birthday cake successes!

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!

25 SCD Snacks

With kids home from school for the summer, finding SCD snacks can be hard. And if your SCD kid is prone to losing weight, as mine is, it’s especially important to have snacks on hand.

I’ve compiled a list of ones we like, including some calorie-dense snacks as well as some lighter fare. Assume that the items are homemade unless specifically stated otherwise.



1. Dried fruit and nut butter
2. Fresh fruit and nut butter
3. Vegetables and guacamole
4. SCD chips and guacamole
5. Cheese sticks
6. SCD cookies (like Ginger Bear Biscuits, Healing Foods, page 207; or Brownies, Healing Foods, page 196; or Monster Cookies, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, page 132)
7. Coconut date balls (Healing Foods, page 53)
8. Gelatin made with SCD juice
9. Popsicles made with SCD juice, yogurt, and/or fruit
10. Almond butter packs
11. Boiled eggs and SCD mayonnaise
12. SCD waffle sticks (or shapes cut out with cookie cutters) and honey and/or nut butter
13. SCD muffins
14. SCD cupcakes
15. SCD Caramel Toffees (although these must be kept refrigerated) (Healing Foods, page 54)
16. Skewers (or cute Bento toothpicks) of ham or turkey, and cheese, and SCD pickles or olives
17. SCD fruit leather
18. SCD ice cream
19. SCD slushies (blended frozen fruit, juice, and ice if needed)
20. SCD smoothies (blended fruit, yogurt, juice or coconut milk, and nuts)
21. Sardines served with SCD cheese crackers
22. Farmer’s cheese (described in Breaking the Vicious Cycle) and honey
23. SCD Pretzels
24. SCD Carrot cake (Healing Foods, page 204; or Breaking the Vicious Cycle, page 127)
25. Crispy eggplant chips with marinara dipping sauce

Hope you’re having a great summer and that this is helpful. If you have favorite SCD snacks I’d love to hear about them below.

SCD Meal Plan

Here’s another meal plan to get your month started. Hope it helps. And I’d love to hear about your meal plan successes in the comments below.

Breakfasts

Monday: SCD pancakes, homemade strawberry syrup, homemade SCD sausage
Tuesday: SCD yogurt, toasted nuts and fruit
Wednesday: SCD carrot pancakes with honey, homemade SCD sausage
Thursday: Eggs, bacon, cooked apples
Friday: SCD pumpkin pie

Lunches (Packed for School)

Monday: Applegate “octopus” hotdog, SCD carrot cake, fruit, peas
Tuesday: SCD salmon patties, fruit, SCD banana muffins
Wednesday: SCD Waffle Sticks, homemade SCD sausage, homemade strawberry syrup
Thursday: Applegate hotdog, homemade butternut squash fries, fruit, SCD cupcake
Friday: SCD pizza (w/provolone and meat), fruit, SCD carrot cake

Dinners

Monday: SCD eggplant parmesan, roasted Brussels sprouts
Tuesday: SCD vegetarian chili (with beef, cheese, etc. available to add in)
Wednesday: Huevos rancheros (with beef available), salad, fresh guacamole, homemade SCD salsa, etc.
Thursday: Broiled salmon, baby carrots glazed in SCD orange juice, SCD garlic toast
Friday: SCD Crockpot chicken with onions, mushrooms and carrots, homemade applesauce

Snacks

Fruit smoothies
Shrek juice (green smoothie)
Almond butter packs
SCD Trail Mix
Boiled eggs (in Bento shapes)
SCD gelatin
SCD banana, mango ice cream
SCD nut brittle
SCD carrot cake
Veggies & homemade SCD green goddess dip
Sardines & SCD crackers
Homemade SCD banana chips
SCD yogurt
SCD eggplant chips

SCD Meal Planning for a New Year

Happy New Year!

Not only is it the beginning of a new week, it’s the beginning of a new year, the time when many of us vow to get into shape, eat better, stick to a schedule, . . . . You know the drill.

For the most part, I’m one of those people the FlyLady calls “born organized.” Yet, in the midst of daily life, I struggle to make sure my family eats healthfully. Given our diverse dietary needs that can be a real challenge. Like everyone else, we still struggle, but the easiest way I’ve found to facilitate healthy eating (and maintain a budget) is to make a plan and stick to it.

For instance, in November (2011) I participated in NaNoWriMo for the second time. I knew I would be devoting most of my time to writing, so in October I wrangled some help from my husband and older daughter. First, I planned out all of the meals we would need for the month, then we did some communal cooking, and finally, I packed 43 SCD meals for my younger daughter, and a month’s worth of main dishes for the family, into the freezer. Voila! Not exactly as easy as pie, but easier than cooking — and cleaning up — everyday.

So, with the new year upon us, I am revising my menu planning (and freezer cooking), all while sticking to the grocery budget, and finding food that everyone will eat.

I know how hard menu planning — especially with strict diets — can be, so I’m posting my preliminary meal plan for this week, including a brief entry for a small SCD birthday gathering. To make things easy, I’ll modify the week’s plan to fit the month.

Please note that I’ve left out some of the details about adapting the recipes for my older, vegetarian daughter, and that Applegate products are not technically SCD legal.

I hope this gives you some ideas, especially for SCD lunches and SCD birthday treats. And I’d love to hear your meal-planning goals for the new year in the comments below.

Breakfasts
Monday: SCD pumpkin custard, smoothie
Tuesday: Egg, veggie, & meat mini-frittata
Wednesday: SCD pancakes with homemade citron syrup
Thursday: Homemade SCD yogurt & grain-free “granola”
Friday: Poached eggs, bacon, SCD toast

Lunches (Packed for School)
Monday: Applegate “octopus” hotdog, SCD gingerbread cookies, fresh fruit: grapefruit, blackberries, star fruit
Tuesday: SCD salmon salad in zucchini wraps (or SCD salmon patties), fruit, SCD carrot cake
Wednesday: SCD Waffle Sticks, homemade SCD sausage, pumpkin custard
Thursday: Applegate Hotdog, cheese stick or BabyBel, fresh veggies and dip
Friday: Mini-SCD pizzas (w/provolone and meat), salad/veggies, SCD cookie

Dinners
Monday: Split Pea Soup (w/ crumbled bacon), fresh grated Parmesan
Tuesday: Chicken, roasted carrots & onions
Wednesday: Acorn squash (w/pork or homemade SCD sausage)
Thursday: Black bean soup (w/ground beef); homemade SCD yogurt, avocado, cheese
Friday: SCD salmon patties, butternut squash fries, homemade applesauce, salad

Snacks
SCD carrot pancakes
Almond butter packs
SCD Trail Mix
Boiled eggs (in Bento shapes)
SCD cookies
SCD crackers
SCD carrot cake
Veggies & homemade SCD green goddess dip
Sardines & SCD crackers
Applegate turkey & cheese roll ups
SCD pumpkin custard
Homemade SCD apple chips

SCD Birthday Treats
SCD vanilla cupcakes (w/SCD dripped cream yogurt & honey “icing”), fresh fruit decorations: star fruit, “candied” blueberries
SCD gelatin shapes (made with juice)

Low-carb SCD Bento, or Where to Score a Phenomenal Menu Planner

Photo used under Creative Commons from gamene

Without whining about all of the details, I’ll tell you that I spent 17 hours this past weekend cooking. Am I crazy? Probably. But when my husband mistakenly said earlier this weekend that I was “enthusiastic” about my daughter’s diet, I had to correct him. “I’m not enthusiastic; I’m desperate.”

Those of you who have kids with behavioral and/or digestive issues know that the reward of the hard work of a successful dietary endeavor is no comparison to having a child who’s out of control, unable to attend class, or sit in a car seat, or worse yet losing weight due to malabsorption.

My daughter has been on the SCD for three years and for the first time, getting her to stay on the diet is becoming problematic now that she is in kindergarten. My heart goes out to her. I know that she wants be like other kids, but within the past few weeks she’s started getting snacks from her table mates at school, sneaking her sister’s food at home, and most embarrassingly, stealing a forbidden candy from a store while my husband was distracted paying the bill. Ouch! So much for my perfect parenting award.

I’m hoping to redeem myself, and make her life a little easier, by upping my game when it comes to the lunches and snacks she takes to school. She can be picky when it comes to food, especially in her lunch—while her friends are watching—and that in combination with the restrictions of easily transportable, ready-to-eat SCD food, led me to contemplate Bento.

Never heard of Bento? Me neither until recently. But what kid wouldn’t love supremely cute lunch boxes filled with scenes of forest animals, or comic characters—not just lunch, but art? Granted, traditional Bento foods are not SCD, gluten-free, or even low-carb, but I’m on a mission and I won’t let that stop me.

I’ve found a phenomenal Bento site, chock full of resources, including recipes, pictures (definitely the most helpful), and equally as important for thinking ahead—and for getting one’s family to stick to the plan—is a meal planner. I have been using meal planners of one sort or another for years, but this is the Holy Grail of (on paper) meal planners.

It’s a full week, with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for each day, along with extra space for notes and a shopping list, but the best part is the Bento lunch section. It is organized graphically, which means that the lunch section looks somewhat like a mini Bento box and each section is proportional to how much of that type of food: protein, carbs, vegetables, fruit/snacks, you should include in your lunch. Obviously, for the SCD Bento, one has to alter it a bit.

If you would prefer more Americanized Bento lunches for kids, check out bentolunch. The Bento photos in the masthead alone are worth the visit, but you’ll want to make sure to check out the What’s For Lunch weekly post where commenters leave pics of their cute Bento lunches.

If you have a cute SCD, gluten-free, or low-carb lunch site or picture to share, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

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.

SCD Easter Basket

I feel a little guilty that I didn’t even try to make SCD Easter candy this year, but we did at least do Easter baskets.

1. Real Easter eggs the girls dyed: Many were dropped by Eliana during the artistic process, but they still count, right ;)
2. Egg-shaped sidewalk chalk
3. Handmade (by my crafty neighbor) pom-pom bunnies
4. Seeds and bulbs/corms to plant in their own gardens: carrots, beets, dill, parsley, annuals, gladiolas and freesias.
5. Plant markers/stakes
6. Bubble blowers
7. Lara Bar (one of the few purchased foods she tolerates)

She also had an Easter egg hunt at school. I was disappointed that the parents were asked to bring plastic eggs filled with candy, but her teachers were happy to accommodate her. I sent 5 large plastic eggs (it’s really hard to find small non-candy items to put in those tiny eggs) with the following: lip balm from Whole Foods (not as safe as homemade, but one of her favorite things), 1 small box of organic raisins (a rare treat), clear stickers that showed through the egg and looked like an underwater world (my husband’s project), and two egg-shaped chalks. The teachers requested that I put her name on them and when they collected all of the eggs from the kids to redistribute them in equal numbers, they simply gave Eliana hers, along with a few others that had no candy.

Honestly, it’s the activity that she loves. Since the preschool Easter egg hunt over a week ago, she and her sister having been playing egg hunt with the empty eggs everyday. And I’ve already explained that when she hunts for eggs at church she won’t get to keep most of the contents. Thankfully, she’s pretty used to this kind of thing, and we try to make up for it in other ways.

Oh, and I should mention that the baskets of both girls are almost identical, except that Sofia received a chocolate bunny. That’s the whole reason she loves Easter ;)

I’d love to hear how you approached Easter non-traditionally this year, whether SCD or otherwise.

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 VI

I can make applesauce and fruit leather.

You can choose to make raw or cooked applesauce, and raw or cooked fruit leather. Since my daughter doesn’t tolerate uncooked fruits and vegetables as well as cooked, I cook hers.

Here’s my most recent recipe for cooked applesauce.

Recipe:
8 medium organic apples (3 Granny Smith, 5 Fuji)
2-3 Tbs. honey
½ cup filtered water
Juice of 1 key lime (the tiny ones)
Cinnamon, SCD legal and just a dash

I peeled and cored the apples. Then I added the other ingredients and cooked the contents in a saucepan on the stovetop until the apples were very soft. While the apples were still hot, I dumped the entire contents of the pot into the Vita-Mix and pureéd it on high until very smooth, since this is how my daughter likes it best.

Then I poured 1/7 of the mix into 7 of the aluminum containers that I use for her SCD freezer meals.

You can also use this or your own recipe to make fruit leather. The less liquid you start with the better, as it will take less time to dry/dehydrate. The addition of the honey makes the leather more pliable, but also stickier.

Recipe:
After making fruit sauce, such as apple sauce, above, pour the contents onto the solid, plastic trays of your dehydrator, or alternately, onto cookie trays that have a lip (like jelly roll pans). Dehydrate approximately 12 hours in your dehydrator, depending on the quality of your dehydrator (mine is a very inexpensive one), the setting you use, and how dry you want the leather to be. I have not made fruit leather on the cookie trays in the oven before, but know that you would have to dry it at approximately 200-250 degrees Fahrenheit for many hours until it is at the texture you prefer.

One last note, if you tolerate raw fruit and fruit peels alright, the Vita-Mix makes it really easy to make fruit sauces/purées and leathers since you don’t need to peel the fruit. Just quarter the fruit, place it into the Vita-Mix, use the tamper while processing it on high, then pour it directly onto the dehydrator trays or in a bowl to eat.

Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part V

I can make almond milk.

Since kids on the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) can’t drink milk due to its lactose content, it can be handy to have nut milk available for recipes. Commercial nut milks often contain ingredients that are illegal on the SCD. However, with the Vita-Mix, making nut milk is super easy and fast. And you know exactly what’s in it.

Feel free to alter the proportions of this recipe’s ingredients to suit your taste and budget. I have used a 1-to-4 ratio of nuts to water before successfully.

Recipe:
Filtered water, 2 to 4 cups, depending on how dilute you like your milk
Raw, blanched almonds, approximately 3 cups
Honey to taste, optional

Place all ingredients into the Vita-Mix. Turn the machine on low, then quickly turn the dial up. Flip the switch to high and blend until the nuts are completely liquefied.

My daughter does not tolerate any residue in her almond milk, so I strain it in the funnel I purchased just for this reason.

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.

Intentional Change

As a SAHM with a child who sometimes has behavioral challenges, it’s easy to get into a rut, especially after a bad day. Yesterday was one of those days. It started off positively and I felt good that I was able to coerce a friend—another SAHM who needed to get some work done on her home business—to let me watch her little boy, who is about a year younger than my younger daughter. He was the perfect gentleman guest; it was my daughter who had issues with sharing that later (mostly after he left) turned into an hour-long scream fest. If you have kids on the SCD who experience behavioral challenges you know how anxiety provoking the flip from Dr. Jekyl, to Ms. Hyde can be. This tantrum, which included aggression and belligerence, did not last nearly as long as they used to before the implementation of the SCD. And I do think that my daughter’s behavior has regressed since she had the stomach flu last week. However, my inability to successfully navigate the tantrum, and my exceptionally slow recovery from it, has led me to make some changes in our schedule today.

First, I should say that my girls are home for Spring Break, and that it has gotten unseasonably cold and rainy, so going outside is not really an option. I should also say that we homeschooled a few years ago and will be coming back to that next year, so I often approach our days in an educational way—even during Spring Break :).

The first challenge we’ve had in the last few days is that my younger daughter is eating about eight or nine times a day, including three breakfasts. Of course, kids with malabsorption disorders often eat more frequently, and larger amounts than their peers. However, I think that she’s making up for all of the weight she lost last week during the stomach flu. Keeping up with her non-stop demands for food, and her pickiness about what I offer, has been a little stressful.

So, this morning I made her a much larger breakfast than usual, all protein, which isn’t unusual for her on this diet. Regardless of what I offer her, she most often chooses the protein and ignores the carbs, no matter how hard we try to get her to eat.

Then, at breakfast, the girls and I discussed today’s schedule and activities. We decided that after breakfast and morning chores, first I would do some activities with my younger daughter, while my older daughter had some time to herself. Then, we would switch. This is a real blessing for me, because I’ve been trying—quite unsuccessfully—to find time to work on this blog for weeks.

The key for my younger daughter to stay engaged is that all attention be on her. No criticism please. I know what works for her; and I know what doesn’t. I know what works for her at school; and I know what works for her at home. And if I want to have any hope of spending time on a house project, blog writing, paying the bills, cleaning, etc., she needs to have a significant amount of one-on-one time first. And sometimes in the middle of whatever it is I’m doing :).

So, we decided that we would do flower related activities. Based on the fact that she loves to pick flowers from our garden and take them apart, this is what we did: We assembled flowers by using straws for the stems, colored tissue paper for the leaves and petals, and yarn for the roots. Since she has some minor issues with fine motor skills, tearing and rolling the tissue paper was good for her. I put two-sided tape on the straws, she stuck on the leaves and petals, and we tied the yarn onto the bottom for the roots. Beautiful? No. But she had a great time and was excited to give the flower to her sister after we finished all of our activities.

After making the “flower,” I let her cut pictures of flowers and vegetables/fruits out of gardening catalogs to paste into a small book that I put together out of white construction paper and brass clips. Again, using the scissors was great for her fine motor control. Then I wrote the names of each item under its picture. Now she and her sister are upstairs using that book and paper dolls that they made to play school.

Granted, it’s early in the day, and life changes from one minute to the next. But in this moment, I am thankful for a successful morning, especially when as a SAHM, it’s hard to feel a sense of accomplishment. Thanks for letting me share this with you. And I hope you’ll share how your intentional changes create success for you and your family.

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.

SCD and the Stomach Flu

Remember, I am not a medical professional and I am not offering medical advice for you or your children; I’m just sharing with you the challenges of being an SCD mom ;)

For those of you who have kids on the SCD, especially those who can be severely behaviorally challenged, you know how an illness can put your whole family into a tailspin. This past weekend was one of those times for us. Actually, it continues to be.

My younger daughter, who although never diagnosed with ASD, has since birth exhibited some of the same sensory, behavioral, and digestive challenges.

Last Friday was her first-ever bout with the stomach flu, and we’re all still suffering. To some of you this may sound harsh, but if you have kids like this, you know exactly what I mean.

So, I’ll spare you an MP3 file of the countless hours of screaming and belligerence and simply tell you about how we dealt with the virus and still kept her on the SCD.

I should tell you that there was about 24 hours when we thought we may have to take her to the hospital for I.V. fluids. During that time I was in phone contact with the doctor’s office four times and was constantly monitoring her for dehydration.

Here’s the short story:

The violent vomiting started about 9 a.m. Friday—at which point she developed petechiae, a word I hadn’t stayed in medical school long enough to learn—and continued until almost 4 a.m. Saturday. Up until that point, she couldn’t keep down even a teaspoon of any fluid. The remainder of the night we gave her approximately 1-2 teaspoon sips of SCD electrolyte solution every few minutes. Scroll down to see the recipe.

On Saturday we continued to increase fluids slowly—again paying attention to her level of hydration. Check out this page by Dr. Sears for info about dehydration. We also slowly introduced soft foods like SCD gelatin made with legal grape juice, and homemade chicken broth, which she really wouldn’t eat.

We paid careful attention to how frequently she was urinating. By the way, if you’re not keeping a medial log for your child who’s following the SCD, I highly recommend it. At some point in the future, I hope to post one on this site for you to download. They’re invaluable when talking to the docs and for trying to determine what foods are causing what symptoms, etc.

And after discussion with the pediatrician’s office and pharmacy, we gave her one generic acetaminophen suppository (like FeverAll) for an increasing fever. Typically, I prefer to let one’s body utilize the fever to fight infection, but that’s a story for another blog. The take-home message is, “Moms, trust your instincts.”

She didn’t eat her first solid food until Sunday evening and then very little. As of Monday, she’s eating solids, but not as much as usual and is definitely not herself. Well, actually, she’s more like her pre-SCD self. And between you and me, I’m ready for my happy girl to come back!



This recipe is from the official Breaking the Vicious Cycle site.

Electrolyte Solution Recipe:

¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 Tbs. honey
1 quart boiling water

I refrigerated it, and then to each individual serving I added fresh lemon juice and called it “lemonade” to get my daughter to try it. I also froze some as popsicles. (Thanks to a friend who recommended that when my mommy brain wasn’t functioning clearly.)

Please note that you have to remake the solution every 24 hours to maintain its effectiveness!

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