Yeast Free, Wheat Free Sugar Free Corn Tortillas and Corn Chips

This is a yummy recipe - easy and with great flavour. It tastes wonderful wrapped around your favourite bean and vegetable or meat and vegetable dishes. Don't just limit yourself to serving it with mexican food, use it to make souvlakis, sandwich wraps and anything else you can think of.

Serving Size: 12 tortillas

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of corn meal/Masa Harina (any wholemeal corn flour)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening or butter
1 1/4 cups of water.

In a medium sized bowl stir together the masa harina and salt.
In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the lard/shortening/butter and water to a boil and stir until melted. Pour this liquid into the four and blend well with a fork or a pastry blender. You may need more flour to make a soft dough.
On a well floured surface need for about five minutes, adding more corn flour as needed.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll or pat out the dough until as thin as you can get it.

Heat a large cast iron or other heavy pan over high heat until very hot. Do not add oil. Cook the tortillas one at a time until brown on one side, then turn and cook until brown on the second side.

Keep them warm in a tea towel until all are cooked.

Now that is the low fat healthy option, but for something a bit different, shall we say an anti candida diet approved treat, try making these tortillas into your own corn chips.
Cut the tortillas into 8 wedges.
Heat oil in your saucepan or skillet, say about 1 inch deep. Heat the oil to medium high heat, it should be able to brown a chip in 60 seconds.

Cook the tortilla wedges in batches for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden. Drain on paper towels.

When cool they can be stored in air tight containers.

More Anti-Candida Diet Chocolate Recipes

I haven't tried this recipe yet, although I really want to - I have to organise some Almond Butter . . .

Rich Chocolate Icecream/Fudge
2 cups almond butter (or any other nut butter that you like, peanut butter, hazelnut butter etc) Butter should be made fresh for best results, either in your own machine or
at a health food store.
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt (optional)

Sift the cocoa into a bowl and add all the other ingredients and mix well to combine. Pour into a tray and press down well with a metal spoon. Freeze for about one hour. Once firm take it out, cut it into pieces and put it in a container and back in the freezer. It has a chewy texture when frozen and a runny gooey one when at room temperature, so it is best to keep it in the freezer.

For some other ideas, add a handful of chopped nuts or dried fruit when making it.
Instead of freezing it in a square container freeze it in the base of a spring form cake container,and then top it with our chocolate banana ice cream, or if not on the diet, another icecream of your choice, and freeze. It will make an unforgettably decadent icecream cake!

The nut butter in this recipe provides excellent protein and other nutrients and makes an excellent addition to your anti candida diet. However, the fairly high level of honey in the recipe can make some people's blood sugar spike, so beware!

Anti Candida Chocolate Treats

What on earth can I eat when I’m on the Anti Candida Diet and I feel like . . . CHOCOLATE?!

It’s been a hard day at work or at home, and you have had it. You’ve decided that this time you are just going to break free and do it. You don’t care what the consequences are.

You are heading, right now, to the nearest source of chocolate that you can find. You don’t care if it breaks your anti candida diet. You are sick of it any way.

Before you kick the vending machine it on or hold up the chocolate shop sales person, we have some good recipes for you, whether or not you are the sudden craving type, or you just would like to know if there is a candida friendly way to eat some chocolate (that doesn’t involve paying huge amounts for boutique all natural chocolate, or buying chocolate that although free from sugar is still full of preservatives, not to mention artificial sweeteners).

These recipes are rich and fairly sweet and they make a great treat that is candida friendly.

Chocolate Ice-cream
Ingredients (per person)
1 ripe banana
Cocoa (to taste)
Honey (to taste)

Mash the banana with a teaspoon of honey to start. Add a tea spoon of cocoa and mix well. Test for taste. Add more cocoa if a stronger flavour is desired, or more honey if not sweet enough. Or more of both to make it more chocolatey and sweeter. Then freeze until semi frozen, take out and stir (to break up the ice crystals) and return to the freezer until wanted.

Hot or Cold Chocolate.
Ingredients (per serve)
1 ripe banana
1 heaped teaspoon of cocoa (or more to taste)
1 heaped tablespoon of honey (or more or less to taste)
Enough hot or cold water to make up a cup (or milk if you are not on a particularly strict level of the candida diet)
Cinnamon and nutmeg – ½ to ¼ teaspoon of each if desired – makes it spicy.

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until combined.

About the ingredients in these recipes.
Neither of these recipes contain sugar – the big enemy of the anti candida diet.
Cocoa powder is low in fat and an excellent anti oxidant. It is good for you, in other words, it is the company that it is normally found in that is the problem, so cocoa is a great ingredient to include in the anti candida diet.
Honey – honey is an allowed sweetener on the anti candida diet. It has antibiotic properties, and it is a whole food (as opposed to sugar which is so highly refined that it does not have any essential vitamins orminerals to help your body process it).
Bananas – great source of potassium and generally good for you.
Cinnamon and nutmeg – have anti microbial properties, also good for your digestion.

So- I thought with Halloween upon us, Thanksgiving on the way, and then Christmas you might enjoy these allowable treats. The ice cream can be made ahead and kept on hand for when you suddenly want a treat, and the drinks can be made on demand.

Herbs to soothe your digestive tract - Comfrey

Comfrey has a long history in western herbology. It is native to Europe, and still grows wild in many parts of England. It is also known as blackwort, boneset, bruisewort, gum plant, healing herb, salsify, and slippery root.

It is perennial, it has a large root like a turnip, which is black in colour on the outside. It has large hairy broad leaves with small bell shaped flowers, white, cream, purple or pink. Its stem is angular and hairy and grows to about three feet in height. The branches from the stem are located near the top of the plant.
There are about 25 species of comfrey.

Benefits
Comfrey is rich in nutrients containing allantoin, rosmarinic acid, symphytine, echimidine, isobauerenol, sitosterol, tannins, lasiocarpine, phytosterols, triterpenoid, inulin, phenolic compounds, pyrrolisidine alkaloids, and vitamin B12 as well as potassium, phosphorus, calcium and nitrogen as well as linoleic acid.

All these things give it a variety of benefits:
It is good for wound healing and tissue regeneration. It is good for varicose ulcers. Linoleic acid helps alter cholesterol levels and maintain cell function. Tannins are astringent. It has been used to treat gastric ulcers, acne other skin conditions, coughs and asthma. It helps promote secretion of pepsin and is a general aid to digestion. It is possible that the use of comfrey externally helps prevent the improper formation of scar tissue. Comfrey root’s mucilage is partly why it is a digestive aid, as the mucilage coats the digestive tract and destroys amoebic parasites. Comfrey taken as a tea or an expressed juice has been used for stomach upset, stomach ulcers, haemorrhoids and diarrhoea.

How it’s taken
Creams containing extract from the root can be used topically for cuts, acne, sprains, bruises, athletes foot and staph infections. If you are going to use a comfrey root cream, it is important to ensure that the other ingredients in the cream support the aim that you have in using the preparation. For example an overly greasy cream containing comfrey may not help acne.

For topical irritations you can also use the leaves of the plant peeled open and applied as a poultice.
Comfrey is taken internally by using a tea or a tincture made from the root.

Side affects
Comfrey has quite a few potential side effects, to the extent that it has FDA restrictions and warnings attached to it. The ingredients that cause the most worry with comfrey are the pyrrolisidine alkaloids.

These chemicals can cause liver damage, and at worst, death. The comfreys that contain high levels of these substances are Russian comfrey and prickly comfrey. Comfrey can also cause problems for people on potassium restricted diets, as it is high in potassium. It can also be a problem in wound healing situations, as it can cause such rapid healing that if a wound is deep or dirty pus or dirt can be trapped behind the healed skin, and cause abcesses. Comfrey is not recommended for those on anti tuberculosis medications (as it can cause side affects) and comfrey creams and preparations are not recommended for pregnant women.

In summary, comfrey is said by some to be useful taken internally to help with digestive complaints, but it has so many potential side effects that it may be wise to avoid it, except as an external cream.

Marshmallow - soothes your digestive tract

Herbs that soothe and calm your digestive tract, promoting better heatlh part 2 – marshmallow.

Herbs covered in this post:
Marshmallow

Herbs covered in future posts:
Comfrey Root
Slippery Elm

Marshmallow – the herb that gives the name to the confectionary is a member of the mallow family and it does like to grow in damp places (like marshes). It grows a long stem and has a velvety texture on its leaves – from the small hairs that cover it.

Benefits – It is used traditionally to treat a range of illnesses, a lot of them respiratory, such as asthma, bronchitis, the cold, sore throats and as a cough suppressant. It is also used for digestive inflammation, such as crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, and it is this ability to soothe and promote healing in the digestive system that makes it of particular interest to those who suffer from digestive complaints such as systemic candida. It has also been found that the inside of the leaves is a useful wound healer.

How it is taken – often it is the root that is used in medicinal preparations, although the leaves and the flowers can be as well. Making a tea either from dried root or leaves/flowers is one of the most effective ways to take marshmallow. If you can find a ready prepared marshmallow tea, that is great, remember to check the ingredients list and see if anything else has been added, most other herbs will be fine, but some may have side affects and contraindications with other medication you may be on. Also, obviously, you don’t want a tea with caffeine in it. If you decide to grow your own marshmallow that is great – remember it likes a damp spot, by the side of a lake, for example. You can then harvest the root off plants that are two years old or more and the flowers and leaves as they appear fresh each season. Once you have dug up the root, chop it into small pieces and leave it to dry. The leaves and flowers can be used fresh to make tea or put in salads. To make tea you need 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of dried chopped root, or 1 tbsp of fresh crushed leaves/flowers per cup of cold water.

Side affects – marshmallow does not seem to cause any side affects directly, although taking it with other medication can reduce the body’s absorption of medication – so it is a good idea to take it at a different time of the day or to consult your health care provider. If you do experience any side affects after taking it, then of course stop and talk to your health care provider.

Liquorice - a herb for health!

Herbs that soothe and calm your digestive tract, promoting better health.

Going with the basic premise of this site, that anyone that suffers from repeated yeast infections or from systemic candida (or any other type of gastro intestinal problem) needs to take steps to support their body’s best health, this post will discuss some herbs that soothe and help to heal the gastro intestinal tract. The healthier our digestive systems are, the healthier we will be!

Herbs covered in this post:
Liquorice
Herbs covered in future posts:
Marshmallow
Comfrey Root
Slippery Elm

Liquorice
Benefits - liquorice helps protect the innermost mucosal layer of the stomach against irritation that could lead to ulcers. Liquorice works by stimulating your stomach so that it produces more protective compounds. Liquorice also contains flavonoid compounds that can help inhibit H. pylori the bacteria associated with stomach ulcers. Liquorice itself has a sweet flavour and can be stimulating and some people have chewed the root (swallowed the resulting juice but spat out the root) to help them stop smoking. It is also meant to be good for your lungs, your adrenals as well as your gut.
How it is taken – liquorice extract as used by herbalists is made from the liquorice root. It is not the same thing as the liquorice that is sold in sweets shops or candy stores. Liquorice the sweet often contains flour, water and salt and aniseed extract. Even some liquorice syrups that are sold for medicinal purposes contain either alcohol or sugar and so are to be avoided. It can be taken in capsule form, drunk as a herbal tea – either prepared from the root yourself, or in a tea bag (but then check carefully what else has been added to the tea bag, make sure, for example, that the tea bag is free from caffeine!) And you can also chew on the root (but most herbalists recommend swallowing only the juice and not the actual root fiber).
Side affects – there are quite a few possible side affects when using liquorice, so you may want to check with your health care professional if you have any pre existing conditions such as hypertension, heart problems or you are pregnant or breast feeding. Apparently the major possible problem is hyper tension, and it is for this reason that pregnant people or those with heart conditions are cautioned to be wary of it. However, many herbalists say that when taken in a normal (ie tea bag) dose made from the whole root there is little chance of problems unless you are someone who is very sensitive to liquorice. So it can be wise to start out slowly and see if you have any problems. Other potential problems include edema (fluid retention) so if you begin to have a puffy face or hands, discontinue use.

An easy step to stimulate good digestion

Bitters anyone?

Bitters, these days added to some cocktails, started their life as medicinal preparations. For example Angostura bitters were first made by a German physician in the town of Angostura in Venezuela. He prescribed them to patients for stomach upsets.

The concept of having something bitter to stimulate the digestive function is still a valid one. If we eat (or drink) something bitter 20 -30 minutes before a meal our pancreas has been stimulated and more digestive enzymes have been released and are ready and waiting for the food.

We will digest the food better and will benefit from the attendant increase in health.

So, given that the anti candida diet is not in favour of alcohol, what can you have besides a cocktail that will act as bitters for your stomach?

Let’s go back to the herbs that are used in bitters. Bitter herbs (that stimulate digestive function) include gentian, wormwood, boldo, goldenseal, barberry, dandelion, hops, and artichoke.

Some of the easiest to access would be artichoke, gentian and dandelion. (Gentian is a primary ingredient in the Angostura bitters). They do have a bitter flavour, but I recommend trying them for overall digestive health. Dandelion is my preferred one, taken as a tea.

ARTICHOKE AND FENNEL SALAD
INGREDIENTS:

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

2 fennel bulbs (about 2 pounds)
2 14-ounce cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered or eighths
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup pitted Nicoise or other brine-cured black olives
1 ounce (about 3) flat anchovy fillets, drained, minced, and mashed to a paste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried orégano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
freshly ground pepper to taste

Trim the feathery tops from the fennel bulbs, reserving several for garnish, and trim the stalks to the point where they meet the bulb, reserving them for another use.
Quarter the bulbs, discarding the core, and slice the quarters thin crosswise. In a large bowl combine the fennel, the artichoke hearts, the tomatoes, and the olives.
In a bowl whisk together the anchovy paste, the oil, the lemon juice, the orégano, and the thyme.
Toss the fennel mixture with the dressing, season it with the pepper and salt, andgarnish the salad with the reserved fennel tops.

Serves 6.