Yeast Free Living

Archive for the ‘Dips’ Category

I can never get my hummus smooth and creamy and it is irritating.  The am just never able to puree the beans without un-appetizing chunks being leftover.  My absolute favorite hummus comes from George’s Cafe and Grill in Ridgefield Park NJ.  This is the best hummus I have ever tasted and it makes it hard to choke down my mediocre attempts at this wonderful dip.  Generally speaking most hummus recipes are made with candida diet friendly ingredients.  The varieties of hummus in the store are not candida diet friendly because they contain citric acid to preserve freshness. 

I recently bought Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour (Chickpea Flour) to make a Gluten/Yeast Free Pizza crust and noticed a recipe for hummus on the back of the bag.  This recipe inspired me to take another stab at making my own hummus again.  I was hoping that since I was using flour instead of trying to puree the actual chickpeas that this may help my consistency problem.  I did omit the tabasco sauce one because I didn’t have any and two because I don’t think that tabasco sauce is a candida diet friendly ingredient.  The result was really tasty.  This hummus is still not George’s but it is candida diet friendly hummus that even my kids like.  It also came out smooth and creamy just the way I like it.   

Hummus Ingredients – Candida Diet Recipe
3/4 cup Garbanzo Bean Flour (Chickpea Flour)
2 1/2 cups water
2 – 3 cloves Garlic Cloves, finely minced about 1 Tbsp (The amount depends on your taste.  I love garlic so always opt for more)
1/4 cup unsweetened chicken broth
1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Hummus Directions – Candida Diet Recipe

In medium saucepan bring 2 1/2 cups water to boil.  Add garbanzo bean flour to boiling water using whisk.  Continue to stir mixture constantly.  Reduce heat and cook for additional 1 – 2 minutes while mixture becomes thick.  Let the mixture cool! 
 

Add the garbanzo flour mixture (Once it has cooled!), garlic, chicken broth, sesame paste and lemon juice to the blender jar or food processor bowl and puree until smooth.  Now add cumin, sea salt, pepper and continue to puree.  Using the feed tube or the little hole in the cover or the blender top SLOWLY drip the olive oil into the mixture while it is continue to puree.  This will help think the mixture to give it a good consistency.

Recipe from Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour (Back of Package)

Salsa is one of my favorite condiments probably because I am a huge fan of Mexican food.  I used to reserve using salsa only when I was making tacos or fajitas but I can honestly say that I now eat it weekly despite whether or not anything Mexican is on the menu.  I often use it to add moisture to a quick turkey and rice cake sandwich. It adds such good flavor and then there is no need for tomatoes.  My Brown Rice Tortilla Chips and Sage Valley Corn Tortilla Chips would not be nearly as satisfying without salsa. 

When I first went on the candida diet it was very frustrating to discover that most commercially available brands of salsa contained vinegar, citric acid and/or sugar.  I was certain I would just have to learn how to make salsa on my own.  I would always by the ingredients for salsa with the intention on making it right away but this never happened.  I would always put it off and let all the produce designated for this task go to waste.   Although I never found an appropriate brand in regular supermarkets I did however discover 365 Organic Salsa in Whole Foods and it almost candida diet friendly.  I say almost because it does contain regular salt which is not allowed on the candida diet.  Regular salt contains trace amounts of dextrose which can cause problems for candida sufferers.  Fortunately, I have used 365 Organic Salsa with no adverse effects and felt that this little cheat was okay for me.  This may not work for everyone though.  If you are going to purchase this brand choose the smaller size because the larger one does contain citric acid.  As always read labels to make sure as things do change from time to time. 

Although I do buy the 365 Organic Salsa often I wanted to learn how to make my own salsa.  Fortunately I found a very easy recipe that had been right under my nose for over a year now.  On the back of the Sage Valley Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips bag is a recipe for Garden Fresh Salsa.  If my family hadn’t been devouring these so quickly maybe I would have noticed sooner.  These are good chips and they are candida diet friendly. I tried the recipe and I have to say that homemade salsa is really good.  It felt like I was in a authentic Mexican restaurant enjoying.  I am really going to try to make the effort to make this weekly.  For all those candida dieters out there that love salsa I hope this recipe helps. 

Garden Fresh Salsa Ingredients
3 medium tomatoes, quartered
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and cored
1 handful cilantro, stems trimmed
1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 pack stevia
dash cumin, paprika and chili powder to taste

Garden Fresh Salsa Directions
Process garlic, chili, onion, cilantro, and lemon or lime juice in food processor for 10 – 20 seconds.  Add tomatoes and process until chunky consistency, stopping occasionally to scrape sides and rearrange any large tomato chunks.  Add salt, cumin, stevia, paprika, and chili powder to taste.  Refrigerate at least one hour to allow flavors to blend. 

Recipe from Sage Valley (Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips Back of the Bag) St. Augustine, FL 1800-223-2910

I had given up on finding a commercially prepared salsa that may be okay on the candida diet.  To my delight I stumbled across Whole Foods 365 Organic Salsa and was pleasantly surprised to find the ingredients were candida diet friendly.  Most salsa offered in the supermarket have vinegar and/or citric acid in them.    The ingredients in 365 Organic Salsa (Mild) are Organic Tomato Puree, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Onions, Organic Red Bell Peppers, Salt, Organic Jalapeno Chilies, Organic Garlic, Organic Cilantro and Organic Lime Concentrate.   Enjoy it in with your Mexican recipes or just as a quick snack with a few tortilla chips.

Avocados are a bit of a new obsession for me as I have just started eating them in the past year or so.  The reason I stayed away from avocados for so long is that I could never figure out how to choose a ripe avocado.  I usually would pick ones that were entirely too hard.  I would wait for them to ripen but usually would forget about them until they were rotten.  This was extremely frustrating for me and I felt like I was just wasting money by buying them. 

Everything changed when my friend Dominique and I started shopping together.  Dominique loves avocados and we started to frequent the farmer’s market together.  He taught me how to pick out the perfect avocado and I am happy to report that I am now a pro.  I am delighted that avocados are okay to eat on the candida diet.   I usually just slice an avocado to have in my salad or with my turkey and rice cake sandwich.  On occasion I do like to make guacamole with my avocados.  It was actually very easy to find a yeast free guacamole recipe.  This particular guacamole includes raw garlic and onions which are great for the candida diet due to their anti-fungal properties.  This is a simple, yet tasty guacamole that should appeal to a variety of guacamole fans.  The guacamole will start to turn brown when exposed to the air.  Place an avocado pit in the guacamole and cover the bowl until ready to serve to delay this reaction.

Yeast Free Guacamole Ingredients
3 avocados mashed
1 lime juiced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 Roma plum tomatoes chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

Yeast Free Guacamole Directions
In a bowl with cover mix together avocados, lime juice and sea salt
Mix in cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, onion and cayenne pepper
Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow flavors to mix

Guacamole recipe by Bob Cody from All Recipes

Try this mix instead instead of sour cream. 

Mock Sour Cream Ingredients
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 tsp 100% pure vegetable glycerin

Mock Sour Cream Directions
Mix yogurt and glycering in a small bowl.  Refridegerate atleast 1 hour before serving

Recipe by Gail Burton – Candida Control Cookbook

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