Yeast Free Living

Archive for October, 2009

Ketchup is such a staple condiment and kids probably eat more ketchup than they do actual food at some meals.  Ketchup however is problematic for the candida dieter because it contains vinegar and sugar.  I was not sure if it was possible to make a yeast free version of ketchup that actually tasted good but I wanted to try.   I Googled homemade ketchup recipes and I got 3,210,000 results.  That is a lot of ketchup recipes and I was unsure of how to pick one to adapt.  In the end I went with one that I thought was the easiest.  I did not want to boil tomatoes so I started to narrow things down by finding a recipe that used tomato paste instead of whole tomatoes.  In the end I went “How to make Ketchup from Tomato Paste“ which is an article on eHow.   It’s not exactly Heinz but I don’t know if anything can be an adequate substitute for the high fructose corn syrup found in store bought Ketchup.  I hope that you will enjoy this alternative.  I especially like it with Meatloaf.  

Yeast Free Ketchup Ingredients
2 – 6 oz cans tomato paste
1/2 cup water
3 packets sweet leaf stevia
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 /2 cup lemon juice 
pinch cinnamon (optional)
pinch ground cloves (optional)
pinch cumin (optional)

Yeast Free Ketchup Directions
Thoroughly mix all ingredients together.  You can adjust spices according to your taste.

I got this recipe from a can of Cento Crushed Tomatoes.  They call it ”Quick and Easy Marinara Sauce.”   Cento brand tomatoes were the only tomatoes that I have found that do not have citric acid.  Finding these has made cooking yeast free so much easier.  I routinely find these at my anyone of my local supermarkets.  Use this sauce over Soba Buckwheat Noodles, Spaghetti Squash or Brown Rice Pasta. 

Bon Appetite! 

Yeast Free Marinara Sauce Ingredients
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 small onion sliced
1 teaspoon garlic minced
1 28oz can Cento Crushed Tomatoes (they have no citric acid)
Sea Salt to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

Yeast Free Marinara Sauce Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion; saute until translucent.  Add garlic; gently brown.  Add tomatoes and season with sea salt and basil to taste.  Bring to boil; immediately reduce to slow simmer.  Add water to achieve desired consistency.  Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.  Prepare pasta as per package directions.

Who knew that mashed up chickpeas could taste so good.  Hummus is one of my favorite dips and I am so happy that hummus is candida diet friendly.  It took me quite a while to attempt making hummus at home.  My local Greek Restaurant makes the best hummus that I have ever tasted, so I was use to just picking up my hummus and going about my business.  However, in a continued effort to get to know what I am actually eating I decided to attempt my own hummus.    The following is the recipe that I used for my first attempt at hummus.  I had never even heard of tahini before I came across this recipe and had to Google it in order to see what I would be looking for in the store.  Pretty sad right,  I had been eating tahini for at least a year or two and didn’t even know what it was.  Well now I know and executing this recipe was truly a learning experience.  My hummus came out pretty good but it was chunkier than what I was use to but maybe I just need a better blender.  I used canned chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans for this recipe.  Be sure to read labels carefully when choosing your chickpeas so that you don’t accidentally buy something with ingredients prohibited on the candida diet.  I am looking forward to pairing this dip with some yeast free brown rice crackers, tortilla chips and/or vegetables.  I hope that you enjoy this yeast free hummus. 

Yeast Free Hummus I – Ingredients (Makes 4 Servings – 7.5 grams per serving )
1 can garbanzo beans (15.5 ounce can) (20 grams carbohydrates)
1/4 cup garbanzo (chickpeas) beans juice (0 grams carbohydrates)
2 tablespoons lemon juice (2.2 grams carbohydrates)
2 tablespoons tahini (6.4 grams carbohydrates)
1 clove garlic, minced (1 gram carbohydrate)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (0 grams carbohydrates)

Yeast Free Hummus I – Directions
Drain chickpeas reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid
Place all ingredients in the blender and mix until smooth and creamy

 I started making stir fry several years ago and it is one of the few meals that I did not need to give up when embarking on the candida diet .  Stir fry is a meal that I never really minded cooking even when I was deep in my processed food rut.  Stir fry is quick and easy to cook and it requires very little effort and cooking skill to make a good stir fry.  It is also a very good choice for the candida diet because it is a medley of meat and vegetables which are the best choices for a yeast free lifestyle.  

This is a very basic stir fry recipe.  I like the taste and flavor that garlic so I use a lot of it but you may want to use less according to your taste.  Coincidentally garlic is also really good for the candida diet because it is a natural anti-fungal which helps to kill yeast.  To make preparing this meal even easier I use a frozen bell pepper and onion mix.  These mixes are usually easily found in the frozen food section of the supermarket.  You can of course use fresh bell peppers and onions instead but most of the time I rather not chop if I do not absolutely have to.   This dish goes great with plain brown rice but other side dishes to think about are baked or mashed potatoes.  I have also enjoyed this stir fry without any starch and have just steamed some broccoli as a side dish which is a great choice for candida dieters as we must watch are carbohydrate intake.  I hope that you enjoy my very simple yeast free beef stir fry recipe. 

Yeast Free Beef Stir Fry Ingredients
3/4 lb of beef strips for stir frying
1 tablespoon olive oil  
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen bell peppers and onion mix
5 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Yeast Free Beef Stir Fry Directions
In large skillet heat oil and add beef
Saute beef until meat is completely browned
Add garlic and frozen peppers and onion mix
Cook for about 2 – 3 minutes stirring frequently
Add water, sea salt and pepper and stir
Set at medium heat and cover 
Cook until vegetables are tender

Have you ever walked into your local grocery store around midday and noticed the display of fully cooked rotisserie chickens?  I never really paid attention to this display until recently.  I began to question whether those chickens would be okay for the candida diet.  A fully cooked chicken would sure be convenient enough and could be easily paired with brown rice or a baked potato and any vegetable.  I could even use leftovers for chicken salad the next day. 

The next time I was in the supermarket I mad an effort to inspect this amazing chickens a little more closely.  The first one I picked up was an Italian seasoned rotisserie chicken and the ingredients read chicken, dextrose, glutamate and some other stuff.  This chicken was a no go.  The next couple of chickens that I inspected had similar ingredients.  I was about to give up.  Then I so one lonely little chicken away from the name brand rotisserie chickens and to my delight the ingredients read “Chicken.”  Hooray, just chicken!  I was thrilled.   So the next time you that you are strapped for time and need to throw together a candida diet meal very quickly give a rotisserie chicken a try.

Bon Appetite!   

Tennille

Why is the candida diet so hard to stick to?  This question comes to my mind at about 5:45PM as I am trying to prepare a candida diet appropriate meal for dinner.  The thought vanishes pretty quickly as I am armed with the Candida Control Cookbook by Gail Burton, one of my favorite candida diet cookbooks, and am trying to find a recipe that may work for tonight’s dinner.  I find one that doesn’t seem too complicated, so I decide to go for it. 

Now the race is on to get dinner to the table as quickly as possible.  I begin washing, chopping, measuring, sauteing and turning, all while helping my second grader with her spelling sentences and my 2 year old with her ABC puzzle.  As I am tending to some minor recipe details a fight breaks out over a box of crayons, I think.  I find myself screaming at both children and wondering why I did not just grab some Hamburger Helper, Chef Boyardee or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner.  The time is now 7:30 PM and dinner is just about done.  We sit down and eat which takes about 30 minutes and then the race to bed begins. 

I dare not look at the sink full of dishes and hurry off to do baths, stories and tuck ins.  I make my way back to the kitchen and pack up the leftovers, load the dishwasher and make the kids lunches for the next day.  Finally, I am done but it is minutes to 10 and I am exhausted.  I put on the tea kettle so that I can prepare a cup of Pau D’Arco tea.  I sit on the couch with my tea in hand and as I begin to sip I think to myself again “Why is the candida diet so hard to stick to?”  Pondering this question leads me to thinking about how much easier the night would have gone if I had just prepared something quick.  You know a 30 minute Campbell’s meal, Velveeta, Stovetop Stuffing, Stouffer’s Skillet Sensations, Banquet Pot Pies,  frozen pizza and/or fish sticks.  These are just a few of my favorite quick meals that I, in the not so distant past and with the best of intentions, was preparing for my family.  Obviously I would add some frozen vegetables to make it “healthy”, but in the back of my mind I knew that I should be preparing better meals for my family.  Additionally, this behavior was only adding to my yeast problem and not setting a very good example on how to eat for my children. 

I am sure that there are many reasons that people find the candida diet hard to stick to but the most compelling reason for me is that it is just not convenient.  I am a single mother of two and I strive to make things as simple as possible in order to have the most possible quality time with my children.  This is usually how end up failing on this diet.  There may be a night that we get home late and I am just not prepared to make a candida diet meal.  Lack of ingredients, lack of time or just pure laziness may reign and I end up at the pizzeria, Subway, McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Popeye’s with the kids.  It it hard to get back on track after this.  Blatantly cheating once makes it much easier to cheat again and again.

So is there anything we can do to make the candida diet more convenient?   I do believe that there is something we can do.  We have to prepare for those moments of weakness.  I believe we still need to have convenient, candida diet friendly of course, foods around the house to be successful at this.  I realize that you may not think that convenient candida foods exist but after careful label reading I believe that at least a few do.   My new found favorite is the fully cooked, ready to eat rotisserie chicken found at many grocery stores.  You do have to read the ingredient label though.  Some of the brand name chickens have additives and flavoring that are not candida diet approved.  The only ingredient that you want is Chicken.  If the ingredient label includes anything more than this you may inadvertently be breaking the candida diet. 

My local Shoprite sells these chickens for $4.99 ($3.99 after 6 PM).  These chickens have saved me from cheating on the candida diet at least twice in the last 3 weeks.  I served the chicken with brown rice and vegetables.  As I continue on this journey to regain my health I will be posting other ideas for quick candida diet meals.  If lack of convenience is also your barrier to success on the candida diet I hope that my ideas will help you to suceed.  Please feel free to comment on other reasons that the candida diet is so hard to stick to.  I would love to hear your thoughts.   

Bon Appetite!

Tennille

This is a terrific yeast free meal.  The sauce is delicious and you can try different gluten free pasta alternatives such as Japanese soba buckwheat noodles, brown rice pasta.  This meal is carbohydrate heavy so please be aware of the amount of carbohydrates that you are consuming throughout the day and adjust accordingly.  Bon Appetite! 

Yeast Free Meat Mixture Ingredients
1 pound ground veal, turkey, or chicken
1 medium yellow onion, scrubbed, peeled, and finely grated
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh oregano
1 large egg

Yeast Free Meat Mixture Directions
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl
Set aside until sauce is prepared
(Yields 4 Servings, 4 carbohydrates per serving) 

Yeast Free Spaghetti Sauce Ingredients
1 can (15 Ounce) unsweetened tomato sauce (without citric acid, I use Cento)
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste (without citric acid, I use shoprite brand)
2 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons 100% pure, cold-pressed olive oil
1 tablespoon each coarsely chopped fresh basil and oregano

Yeast Free Spaghetti Sauce Directions
Place all ingredients in a large pot
Add Meat Mixture to sauce
Place on Medium heat and bring to boil
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour

Yeast Free Pasta 
Use Japaneese soba buckwheat noodles, Brown Rice Pasta or Corn Pasta
Cook your pasta of choice according to package directions 
Note: Spaghetti Squash is a delicious and healthy pasta alternative

Recipe by Gail Burton – The Candida Control Cookbook page 103

 Sugars are enemy number one to regaining your health via a candida diet.  Yeasts thrive on sugar.  Most of us who have been experiencing candida related health problems crave sugar and find it extremely hard to completely eliminate this ingredient from our diets.   What makes matters worse is that sugar is in so many of the things we eat during the day.  I don’t mean the obvious snacks like cookies, candy or ice cream.  I mean all those prepared foods that we pick up to eat on a daily basis.   Start reading labels at the store and you will see exactaly what I mean.  Sugar is also a bit of a chamelon as it is not always labeled “sugar” on packaging.  Here are some of sugar’s alias. 

Mayonnaise is a staple condiment.  Most of us use it on a daily or at least a weekly basis.  This can prove to be a very difficult ingredient to exclude from your diet.   This homemade mayonnaise recipe is extremely tasty and candida diet approved.  Bon Appetite! 

Tip 1: Yields about 3 cups.  Remember that homemade mayonnaise goes bad really fast.   If you don’t need a lot of mayonnaise use Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe 1. 

Yeast Free Mayonnaise 2 Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
2 cups pure, cold-pressed safflower oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Yeast Free Mayonnaise 2 Directions
Beat egg yoks for 2 munutes using a food processor of electric mixer=
Pour 1 cup of safflower oil into a measuring cup
SLOWLY drizzle a thin stream of oil in with the egg yoks WHILE beating at high speed
Continue until the entire cup of oil is mixed
Mixture should be thick
Drizzle in the last cup of safflower oil WHILE still beating at high speed
Add additional ingredients (lemon juice, water and mustard)  
Spoon Mayonnaise into jar with tight lid
Store in the refridgerator no more than 7 days

Recipe by Gail Burton –  The Candida Control Cookbook: What You Should Know and What You Should Eat to Manage Yeast Infections (New Revised & Updated Edition) page 145

So I have to admit that I am a brown rice lover.  I honestly prefer the taste of brown rice over white rice.  I do understand that some of you may think that I am completely crazy.  I have run into many people who despise brown rice and just cannot bring themselves to eat it.  I actually live with two of those people. as both my mother and oldest daughter hate brown rice.  It has become a constant fight to get my daughter to eat it so had to come up with a way to jazz it up a bit so that she would eat it.   I was able to find a simple yet flavorful recipe for Brown Rice Pilaf by Halycon Eveon on Recipezaar.  Pilaf is defined as rice seasoned and cooked in broth.  It is the seasoning and broth that bring this dish to life and the thing is that when I make this yeast free brown rice pilaf there are no complaints from neither my mother or daughter.  They truly love this dish and it has saved me from having to buy two types of rice in my house.  This recipe is extremely easy to prepare with only six ingredients and really makes a great side dish for a variety of meals.  For those of you who are having trouble transitioning from white to brown rice this recipe may be exactly what you need.  Once you try it I promise you will want to make it again and again.   

Yeast Free Brown Rice Pilaf Ingredients
1 tablespoon  olive oil
1 small yellow onion chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 cup long grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups unsweetened chicken broth
sea salt to taste

Yeast Free Brown Rice Pilaf Directions

Chop onion and mince garlic.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and add onion and garlic.  Stir until onion is golden.

Add rice and saute for 1 minute.

Add broth, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.  Check rice occasionally and add water if necessary

Recipe from Brown Rice Pilaf on Recipezaar by Halcyon Eve