Sweet Potato Vanilla Patty Cakes (Vegan, GF)

These were such a great way to start the day! We mostly made these because we have sooo much coconut flour! And are looking for ways to use it. Coconut flour is actually very high in protein making these "patty cakes" super strong and buff, although they look innocent on the outside ;) We called them patty cakes because they aren't really pancakes because you have to mold them into patties before you fry them, but they taste and have the texture of pancakes. I didn't add any extra sweetness to the dough because I knew I was drizzling them with maple syrup. Feel free to add a bit of coconut nectar or whatever you want to make it sweeter! And feel free to sub in any flour of your choice whether it be brown rice or buckwheat or almond. You could also do a savory version of these especially if you are on a candida diet like Jac is. It was pretty sad looking at her while I got to eat all the patty cakes myself...So you could substitute the sweet potatoes with a red potato and add in other veggies like spinach or red pepper and serve with a pesto like this Parsley-Walnut Sauce or with a poached egg on top! (unless you're vegan of course :P)

Golden Coins

1 large sweet potato, peeled, cooked and mashed
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp of water)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of sea salt


Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Let chill in the fridge or freezer until malleable. Form into flat "cakes". Make sure they are relatively thin, like a 1/4 inch thick. Fry in coconut oil until golden brown. Drizzle with maple syrup and dust with coconut flour.

Sweet Cinnamon Panna Cotta w/ Stevia (Vegan, GF)

This is me being fed up with carob. Lol. I've had it pretty much everyday since starting the candida diet. And I'm not even sure if you're allowed carob on the diet but let's just pretend that you are :P. This was actually so delicious, it's really good as a drink too, just don't add agar and you're set with a warming gingery beverage.

1 can full fat coconut milk
2 tsp agar flakes
20-25 drops vanilla stevia
1/2-3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 ginger tea bag


Heat coconut milk, agar flakes, stevia, cinnamon and ginger tea on medium heat until agar is dissolved and the tea is steeped through. Fill two small dessert cups with mixture, chill until set.

Samosa Quinoa Bowl (Vegan, GF)

We try to eat as much quinoa as we can, I purchased some pre-rinsed quinoa which convinces me to make it even if I don't feel like it. Gotta use it up! We love samosas and indian food has a special place in our hearts. And we haven't even considered making gluten-free vegan samosas but after making this dish we are adding it to our list :) This is a rather easy meal that can be made in advance and stored in the fridge, the flavours will only get better with time. Love how turmeric makes everything so yellow and bright!

Sunshine Samosa City!

1 cup dry quinoa, cooked
1/4 an onion
2 cloves garlic
1 medium potato
1/3 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
2 1/2 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional, for colour)
1 tsp ground mustard seed
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sea salt, to taste

Cut potato into small chunks and coat with coconut oil, spread on a parchment lined baking sheet or in roasting pan. Roast until tender. You could also boil them if you'd prefer. Heat a frying pan to medium-low, cooks onions and garlic until onions are translucent. While you're doing this you could be cooking the quinoa. Add more oil into onion pan, add the cooked potatoes. Add in all of the spices except for turmeric. Cook spices for a minute or so. Add into the pot of cooked quinoa. Season with salt and turmeric, add in peas and put a lid over quinoa in order for the flavours to infuse. Drizzle olive oil and stir in. Serves 2 main dishes or 4 side dishes.

Sunbutter Chocolate Bars w/ Stevia (Vegan, GF)

Still alive and not eating sugar, can you believe it? It's been one week since starting this Candida diet, I didn't crave sugar the first few days but now am ravaging for it. Apparently it's part of the yeast die-off symptoms...dunno. So instead of spending time making delicious candida friendly meals, I stress about how to have a "sweet." I'm also realizing how much dessert has meant to me, I mean looking at it from a family/nostalgic perspective. I loved dessert and looked forward to it after every dinner, and would eat fruits and cookies throughout the day too. Here is a more than perfect solution. These bars are sooo amazingly good, you won't believe they are sugar free. When you bite into it, you get that chocolate bar "snap", it's amazing. We mentioned in an earlier post how well carob goes with stevia, well here's another taste! If you have an interesting stevia recipe of your own, check out this month's SOS Kitchen Challenge and submit your recipe for a "sweet" giveaway.

Beautiful Bars!

1/4 cup sunflower seed butter
1/4 cup carob powder
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (we used Tropical Traditions)
25 drops stevia
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Sea salt
Sunflower seeds

Melt coconut oil, combine with sunflower seed butter, carob powder, stevia, vanilla extract and salt. Stir until combined. Pour into mold of choice (we made our in a loaf pan lined with parchment.) Sprinkle with sunflower seeds/coconut/other nut of choice. Freeze. Makes 6 yummy bars!

Raw Green Soup (Vegan, GF)

Jenn and I were whizzing through our posts the other day and realize that we post alot of purees! haha We laughed about that fact for a good 4 minutes, it's true pretty much every second thing we do is a puree of some sort. Lol. Oh well might as well continue the trend. I'm (Jac) kinda on an anti-sugar kick, and you know what, I feel much better not having sugar cravings. Seriously if you can make it past one day without sugar you will GREATLY reduce your cravings. So while I love my fruity green smoothies I must sub all my meals now with something savoury. Cue the green soup! These types of soups are easily digestible, highly alkaline and delicious! This soup is for those who love greens, if you don't, you probably will not enjoy this as much.

1 small avocado
2 handfuls of greens of your choice (I used half arugula, half spinach)
Squeeze of lemon or lime
1 scallion, chopped
1 small clove of garlic
Water, to thin
1 tsp dill, or other herb of choice (cumin would be good as well)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 tsp psyllium husk (optional, will make extra thick)

Add all ingredients into a blender, blend until combined and smooth. Adjust or add flavourings/seasonings as needed. Makes 1 large serving.

Creamy Carob Ice Cream w/ Stevia (Vegan, GF)

So as I stumble along through this candida diet, I simply must have some ice cream. Stevia and carob are magical together, if you haven't tried it, well this is your chance. I usually make hot chocolate with carob and stevia and it always tastes so amazing so I made it frozen this time. It's actually sooo good, tastes kind of like chocolate soft serve (you know, the fake stuff...yum!). If you don't have vanilla stevia, just add in some vanilla extract. The agar agar makes it so smooth and creamy, I would never make a vegan ice cream without it. We're also excited to finally enter the Sweet or Savory Kitchen Challenge hosted by Kim from Affairs of Living, and Ricki from Diet, Dessert, and Dogs. Aaaand Woila!

1 can full fat coconut milk

1/3 cup carob powder (mine is roasted, so if you have low-heated carob add more in)
1 tbsp agar agar flakes
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp vanilla stevia (or more to desired sweetness)
Pinch of salt

Combine the agar agar and water in a small sauce pan, heat on medium until it dissolves and becomes gellified. Combine other ingredients in a blender, add in agar mixture and blend again. Pour into ice cream maker and make ice cream according to instructions. Put in a container and freeze until firmer.

Raw Avocado Primavera (Vegan, GF)

It seems that there aren't enough zuchini pasta recipes out there that don't require a goopy sauce. I made a dressing of simple olive oil, lemon and garlic leaving room for the salad booster! I was excited to try the Vegan Cheesy Salad Booster I received from Living Intentions. If you're on your last salad nerve and are tired of a mundane salad routine, these boosters will definitely bring some new life and excitement to your lunch. Living Intentions is one of the cleanest and environmentally conscious vegan food companies I've ever come across. I really like the Vegan Cheesy one because it's like parmesan cheese with a nice wholesome greens taste. Please check them out if you've never heard of them. This was like eating a fine italian meal, sans starch or gluten!

Living Intention's Salad Boosters

1 zuchini's worth of pasta
1 avocado
4-5 large sundried tomatoes
Handful of soaked almonds

Dressing:
1 large clove of garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp lemon juice
Water
Salt and Pepper to taste (if not using a salad booster)

Top with: Vegan Cheesy Salad Booster, or Nutritional Yeast Flakes

Cinnamon-Banana Smoothie (Vegan, GF)

When I'm not in the mood for carob, sometimes I opt for cinnamon. It enhances the vanilla protein powder and banana flavour in the best ways possible. This is a cheap, filling, yummy breakfast that can be made in a snap. Top with your favourite granola. I made mine really thick so it was like ice cream!

1 frozen banana
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp maca
Water to desired consistency

Put ingredients in blender, and blend! Top with granola, the granola pictured here is Living Intentions' Chia Ginger Superfood Cereal.

What is your favourite banana-smoothie innovation? Share down below!

Curried Split Pea Soup w/ Raw Onion Croutons (Vegan, GF)

What to do with the yellow split pea? I picked up a bag of these dried peas a few days ago and was literally lost as to what to do with them. The trend seems to be soup, I actually tried to eat these un-souped mixed in with rice and I almost choked to death on one! So that was an obvious sign that I should put these in soup. This soup is rather mild so if you like spice add more in. The croutons are made from the onion bread that we made for the raw tea sandwiches just cut into smaller pieces.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cracked fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tsp turmeric

Heat olive oil in a large pot, add onions, saute until tender and soft. Add in garlic, ginger, curry powder, garam masala, cumin, coriander and fennel seeds. Saute for another minute. Add in split peas, water and turmeric. Bring to a boil, then lower and simmer for an hour or until split peas are tender. Blend until smooth.  Serve with raw onion croutons and a dash of paprika on top.

Blueberry-Grapefruit Smoothie (Vegan, GF)

I drink this smoothie pretty frequently. Together, blueberry and grapefruit create this wonderful fruity freshness, it's hard to explain, you're just going to have to try it out! I also added some Amazing Grass Berry Green Superfood, wow this stuff is intensely berry flavoured, it makes the smoothie taste like one you'd buy at a fancy smoothie shop like Booster Juice. It also contains lots of goodies like probiotics, rose hips (high vitamin C), and wheatgrass (detoxifies body). I don't know how I've survived without it really, lol. But this smoothie is still good without it as I've tried it before in the past.

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 a large pink grapefruit
2 tbsp hemp seeds or 1 tbsp coconut oil
2 scoops hemp protein powder
Water
Amazing Grass Berry Green Superfood Drink Mix

Combine ingredients in blender, blend!

My fave was the berry, pictured here is lemon-lime, chocolate, and original

Wild Black Rice Pudding w/ Figs (Vegan, GF)

I have never successfully made rice pudding before. I tried to make a rice pudding from the Betty Crocker cookbook once and literally every single time it turned out too runny or it would curdle in the pan. This pudding is made on the stove top, so I was able to keep a close eye on it. Plus it's coconut milk which doesn't curdle right?

2 cups cooked black Japonica rice
1 can coconut milk
1 tbsp creamed coconut or coconut oil
1 tbsp coconut nectar / other sweet syrup
10 dried figs, chopped
Zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes or until pudding is very thick and sticky. Chill in the fridge. Eat! Makes 3 large servings.

Creamed Coconut

It looks like mushroom risotto, but I assure you it's not

Finally I have managed to successfully make rice pudding! I've never used black rice before, at least not in something like this. It added a nice texture to the pudding so it wasn't just pure mush. The fig flavour also seeped in so I didn't have to add very much sweetness only one tablespoon of syrup is necessary. Happy weekend! :)

-Jennifer

Lemon Oat Cakes with Jam (Vegan, GF)

I was tastespotting the other day, yes it is now a verb... and was intrigued by these oat cakes from The Apocalypse Bakery. I was mostly intrigued by the fact that there was no flour, just oats! I made them according to apocalypse's recipe and didn't really like the taste so I added some lemon zest and a little bit of maple syrup, of course you should eat these topped with nut butter and jam, so delicious. You could make a big batch of these at the beginning of the week, store them in the freezer or fridge and pop one or two in the toaster for a breakfast on the go!

Crunchy golden cakes

Crofter's Superfruit Spread

2 cups gluten-free oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
2/3 cup water
Zest of one lemon


Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Add more oats if necessary, roll out onto a flat surface that has been sprinkled with oats until about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut out into circles. Bake on 350F for 25 minutes, flipping over cakes every 10 minutes.  Makes 8 cakes.