Christmas is over and another year is coming to an end. What did I expect of the year 2023? What did it actually bring? So many things happened that I could not foresee. Many things I had wished to be different happened nonetheless. Other things happened that surprised me positively and brought me much joy. Many of us work hard on improving our lives, our finances, our happiness. But often, we forget that we cannot control every little detail and that there are many variables that influence where we were going.

Healing my body and mind had a lot to do with sorting out what is real and important and where to let go and trust in the process. When you heal with nutrition, the body starts leading the way. It uses the nutrients to clean up and detoxify, it uses the nutrients to strengthen the immune system. This is what I wanted, but what I did not expect was the unpleasant symptoms that come with healing. Headaches, stomach pains, blurred vision, dizziness, heart racing, feeling extremely cold, hair loss, just to name a few that were all part of my healing process. I knew that my path was right and would eventually free me of my chronic fatigue, SIBO, IBS, Migraines, and severe allergies, but in the beginning, I really had no idea how this would take place.

It is the same with anything in life. You cannot control every detail. All you can do is work hard on your goals, taking the obstacles one at a time and trust in the process. If you keep doing this consistently, eventually everything will turn out maybe not the way you expected it but always the way it was supposed to be.

Taking the right path will lead you there, but there will be some turns and obstacles you did not expect. Trying to let go and relax was the hardest thing for me to learn. I still struggle occasionally, catching myself trying to control the outcome instead of sitting back, waiting, and letting it all fall into place. Healing itself will lead the way. If you are going in the right direction, the outcome can only be right.

I think 2023 was the year of learning to fully embody the trust that healing has his own ways and that there will always be something I did not expect. Most of my healing had been linear for 11 years, but when menopause hit me last February, I was very surprised that I was thrown back into my most severe detox days. The symptoms were different but it was not easy to go through a physical and mental throwback like this one. I needed to learn to let go of my expectations, stop controlling the outcome, and once more embrace the healing process.

Trusting in the process and stop controlling the outcome is my take form 2023. That said, I am ready for 2024, whatever it will bring.

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

INGREDIENTS
for the salad:
6 salt herring filets, rinsed with cold water (I ordered from SCANDINAVIAN Specialties)
1 small beet
1 large Honeycrisp apple
1 small white onion or shallot, minced

for the dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp plain yogurt (if you are sensitive to lactose I recommend homemade 24 hour yoghurt)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1pinch white pepper
1 tbsp dill, minced

INSTRUCTIONS
for the salad:
Wrap the beet in aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 350° F/180° C for 40 to 50 minutes until soft. Remove from the oven and let cool. Remove the aluminum foil and using a paper towel rub off the peel. Cut the beet into small pieces and add to a bowl.

Peel and core the apple and cut into small pieces. Add to the bowl.

Cut the herring filets into small pieces and add to the bowl.

for the dressing:
Add the mayonnaise, yoghurt, honey, mustard, dill, and white pepper to a small bowl and mix until well combined.

Add the dressing to the salad bowl and carefully mix until well combined.

Refrigerate the salad for at least one hour.

MY LATEST RECIPES

I have been in England only once in my life as an exchange student at the age of 14. My host family was going out of their way to make this stay as pleasant as possible. I had heard that British food was not the best in the world, but I actually enjoyed it very much. I was especially fond of the cozy afternoon tea time. I’ve always loved black tea and, for the first time, I combined it with milk, which, to my surprise, tasted delicious. Along with it, my host mom also served little sausages wrapped in puff pastry, sconces, and of course mint chocolates. I loved all of it. The only thing I did not like was the triple layer jellow dessert that my brother had gobbled up the year before while staying with that same family. They had made an extra large portion for me because he had enjoyed it so much, not knowing that I have a hard time swallowing anything glibbery. To be polite, I bravely swallowed a small serving size while wishing to move on to the other treats. One of those treats were peppermint patties. I found the combination of peppermint with dark chocolate extraordinary and could not get enough of them. Ever since I have wished to return to England and I know that one day I will explore more of this beautiful country.

Once my intestinal symptoms had subsided, I added dark chocolate in small amounts back into my diet. I started experimenting with 100% chocolate, honey or date syrup to make my own refined-sugar-free treats. One of them are these refined-sugar-free peppermint patties. These are just right for anyone in an advanced stage of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet who is able to tolerate chocolate well and is looking for a sweet treat that does not ruin the healing effort.

INGREDIENTS
for the peppermint patties:
1/2 cup plain yoghurt (If you are sensitive to lactose, I recommend homemade 24 hour yoghurt)
1/2 cup coconut butter
1/3 cup honey
1tsp organic peppermint extract
2 1/2 cups shredded coconut

for the chocolate coating:
1 recipe of honey sweetened chocolate coating

tools:
cookie cooling rack, cookie cutters, baking sheet

INSTRUCTIONS
for the peppermint patties:
Melt the coconut butter by placing the jar in hot water and set aside. Add yoghurt, honey, and peppermint extract to a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the shredded coconut and mix until lumps form. Add the coconut butter and stir until combined.

Line a 9” square baking dish with parchment paper.

Add the coconut mixture to the baking dish and using a tablespoon push into a thin layer (about 3/8 inches). Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the firm coconut mass from the baking dish and place on a cutting board. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shapes (I used a 1”round shape but you might as well go for stars, hearts, or whatever shape you like).

Refrigerate for one hour.

for the chocolate coating:
Add the honey sweetened chocolate coating to a large jar (I use a glass smoothie jar). Using two forks, dip the coconut shapes into the chocolate one at a time. Place the patties on a cookie rack or parchment paper to dry.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

MY LATEST RECIPES

For many years, we’ve had a vegetable share at the Charlestown farm CSA. Every Tuesday or Thursday during the growing season, you got to pick up a share of the week’s harvest of super fresh vegetables that were harvested that same day. Once you had your harvest at home, you had to come up with recipes to enjoy whatever was ripe that week. The good thing was that the farm always gave a shout out what to expect for the week and I went ahead to find recipes, especially if there were unusual vegetables that weren’t part of our common dishes. I loved trying out new vegetables, some we loved and some we didn’t care much about. The farm also offered cooking and baking classes throughout the summer as well a squaredance with a huge bonfire for the end of the season. You could get involved as much or as little as you liked, and for us, it was always a great experience for the entire family.
With the share came a Upick option for berries, vegetables, herbs and flowers and one could harvest a certain amount of different items themselves. When the kids were little, they loved the Upick and eagerly helped to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or cut fresh herbs with small scissors. The girls especially liked putting together little flour bouquets. As a matter fact, they enjoyed it so much that I had to make sure we left enough for our fellow members.

To this day, all of my children, (two are adult now) enjoy the farm experience as well as cooking and baking, using the freshest ingredients possible. I truly believe that offering healthy fresh fruit and vegetables from a young age as well as involving them in the food making process shapes the childrens’ palates and eventually makes them crave healthy and fresh food options.

So what do you do when you come home with a large harvest of red and juicy strawberries? First, you eat as many as possible, then you make popsicles and ice cream with whatever is left. When the kids were little, they especially enjoyed making their own popsicles, using an instant popsicle maker that takes only 8 minutes to freeze. While my husband and I still enjoyed our dinner outside on a summer evening, the kids would get busy making dessert for everybody. Those are still some of the fondest summer memories we all share, nothing fancy but delicious food on a summer evening in our backyard. CREATING HEALTHY TIMES!

In this recipe, strawberries add seasonal vitamins, bananas give a creamy texture and sweetness, lime adds some extra vitamin C, yoghurt delivers the benefits of probiotics, and last but not least, honey adds healthy sugar for the perfect sweetness. Enjoy!

Note: after freezing the popsicles, they will taste LESS sweet than the mixture before freezing, so make sure they taste really sweet before you freeze them!

MAKES 8 POPSICLES
INGREDIENTS
16 oz ripe strawberries
1 small banana
1/8 cup honey or more as desired
1/3 cup plain yoghurt (if you are sensitive to lactose, I recommend homemade 24 hour yoghurt)
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or almond milk (if you are sensitive to lactose, I recommend fermented heavy whipping cream)
juice of one lime

tools: popsicle maker or instant popsicle maker; high speed blender or stick blender

INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the strawberries and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Remove the stems using a paring knife.

Add the strawberries, banana, lime juice and honey to a high speed blender. Blend until smooth, for about 60 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and heavy whipping cream. Blend on low speed until just combined.

Pour the strawberry mixture into popsicle molds and freeze for 4 to 5 hours or best overnight. Keep frozen until served.

note: if you have over-ripe bananas, you can peel them, cut them in slices, and freeze them. This way, you can use them later to make these or my peanut butter caramel popsicles.

MY LATEST RECIPES

The Mediterranean diet is known as one of the healthiest ways to eat. I totally agree: what’s better than sun-ripened fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables combined with high-quality fish, meat, and eggs? Unfortunately, a lot of today’s produce and meats come from large farms that deprive the soil, push growth with fertilizers and then need to protect weak plants with pesticides. And even if it’s labeled as organic, long-distance transportation diminishes the nutritional value.
Whenever I can, I try to buy meat, dairy, and eggs that come from smaller, local farms as well as fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables from the area. This produce is naturally packed with nutrients and tastes so much better than anything you can buy at your standard supermarket. High-quality nutrients are crucial for nourishing the body and deliver the tools for cell renewal, growth, and repair. An abundance of minerals, amino acids, vitamins, and other essential nutrients naturally aid the detoxification process and restore the immune system.
Absolutely anything that goes into the body needs to be processed - nutrients need to be extracted and waste has to be expelled. This process takes energy. Consuming large amounts of low-quality food takes up more energy for the clean-up process, and eventually liver and kidneys get overwhelmed. This results in low energy and fatigue, as well as other symptoms and diseases caused by toxic waste accumulation such as migraines, low immune system function, allergies, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, and many more.

The good news is that the opposite is true as well; keeping the intake of toxins and waste low, not feeding chronic inflammation and aiding the detoxification process will eventually result in more energy, less fatigue, a stronger immune system, and an over-all healthier, functional body. This is why it is important to keep up the positive balance of expelling more toxins from the body than can enter it. The following steps can help shifting this process into the right direction:

1. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to stop feeding chronic gut inflammation. Chronic inflammation in the gut produces significant amounts of toxic substances that are absorbed into the bloodstream, causing a great number of symptoms. Once we stop feeding gut inflammation by cutting out grains, gluten, lactose, starch, and refined sugar, the inflammation starts subsiding and with it, the amounts of toxic waste they produce.

2. Natural, high-quality food from the best sources possible or affordable, meaning as little processed foods as possible. Seasonal, fresh, and possibly organic produce, pastured (not free-range) chicken for meat and eggs, grass-fed beef for meat and dairy, wild-caught fish, and game meat provide more nutrients and minerals that aid in detoxification of the body, restoration of the immune system, and proper functioning on the cellular level.

3. Extra minerals to aid detoxification of already accumulated toxins on a cellular level. Juicing and soups to give the body plenty of easily absorbable minerals that do not require digestion, but enter the bloodstream right away. Natural minerals from fruit and vegetables are very small and can pass through cell walls easily and aid in cleaning out toxins on a cellular level. Over time, bodily functions will be restored and the body gets more and more efficient, resulting in higher energy.

4. Eliminating toxic cleaning products, skin products, detergent, dryer sheets, plastic food containers, dishes, bottles, etc. to keep the amount of toxins that enter the body through skin, digestion, or inhalation as low as possible.

Changing your lifestyle and starting a cleaning process like this can be tricky depending on your health status and at times cause die-off reactions (also called Herxheimer reactions) with unpleasant symptoms. But these are only temporary and part of the journey towards health. I am following this lifestyle for over ten years now, following these rules I have gotten rid of my severe gut inflammation, chronic fatigue, SIBO, IBS, dyspepsia, anxiety as well as severe allergies.

I spend more time buying healthy groceries and cooking, but after two years of this way of life, I spent less and less time being sick and sitting in hospitals and doctors waiting rooms hoping for a cure that never came.

SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
2 fresh tuna steaks, grilled (you can also use 1 can tuna drained and flaked instead)
2 eggs, hard boiled and cut into wedges
1 head Boston lettuce, rinsed and patted dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel
1/2 lbs green beans, steamed
6 cocktail tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 bell pepper
1/2 English cucumber
1 scallion, sliced
1/4 cup kalamata olives, drained

for garnish:
1/8 cup parsley, minced
1 scallion, chopped

for the dressing:
basic vinaigrette

INSTRUCTIONS
On a large plate, arrange the Boston lettuce as a base. Top with the green beans, tomatoes, onions, kalamata olives, bell pepper, eggs, and tuna.

Drizzle with vinaigrette. Sprinkle with minced parsley and scallions.

MY LATEST RECIPES

Occasions like Easter are usually celebrated with special foods and treats. Following a diet without refined sugar made finding sweet treats in stores nearly impossible. So if I wanted to have sweet treats, I had to make them myself. In the beginning of my healing path, I focused mostly on the main meals because cooking from scratch was already very time consuming. Once the initial cravings subsided, I didn’t really miss sweets and treats except for special occasions - that’s when I did feel kind of left out. Making treats just for myself seemed like too much effort and for a few years. I’d simply refrain while my family and friends indulged in sweet treats. Once my chronic fatigue healed and I gained more energy, I started focusing on my family’s health and trying to improve their diet as well. This was the point when I started looking into dessert and candy making. Offering occasional treats made it much easier to keep the kids sticking to the diet and also rewarded them for the effort they were making. When I started the food blog during the COVID-19 pandemic, I further expanded my dessert recipes and experimented with a wide range of delicacies. Of course, when I prepare food for my blog posts, somebody has to eat it. My two younger children happily indulged in anything sweet that was left after the pictures were taken. This made my two older children, who are studying in Germany, jealous because they only got to see all the recipes from my new blog posts. So whenever Anna or Linus plan to visit, they order from my website whatever they wish me to make for them while at home. Anna usually picks the chocolate caramel bars and Linus picks some kind of ice cream!

Back to Easter: I am in the process of making Easter treats right now so I can take them along on our trip to Florida. This year, we will have marzipan eggs, chocolate eggs, and a Chocolate Easter bunny. Lilly and Anna are also making their favorite chocolate peanut butter eggs. I hope I have the time to take some pictures of those before they’re all gone so I can add them to the blog as well.

I wish everybody healthy treats and a happy Easter holiday!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup plain yogurt (if you are sensitive to lactose I recommend homemade 24 hour yogurt)
1/2 cup coconut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups shredded coconut

optional: (not SCD legal!) 1 recipe of honey sweetened chocolate coating

tools: Easter egg silicone mold

INSTRUCTIONS
Melt the coconut butter and set aside. Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. Add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine well.

Press the coconut mixture firmly into the Easter egg silicone mold. Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the firm coconut mass from the silicone mold. Take the egg-shaped halves, press them together gently and seal the seams with your fingers. Place the coconut eggs into an airtight container and keep refrigerated.

optional: dip in honey sweetened chocolate coating for a chocolate coating. (not SCD legal!)

MY LATEST RECIPES

One of the biggest problems when following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, especially in the beginning, is that you have to make and bring your own food whenever you go on longer outings. No matter where I went, I found it impossible to trust that I would find something proper to eat. I even ran into problems when people assured me that they would prepare something to accommodate me and ended up with foods that did not entirely fit my diet. The problem is that throughout the healing process, there are phases when even the tiniest amounts of carbohydrates feed the inflammation that is still present in the gut. As a result, such mistakes can cause symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating, headaches, or brain fog, just to name a few. It would seem like a good idea to simply skip a meal to avoid this issue, but for people with gut inflammation, hunger and cravings become very strong. Then you’re either tempted to eat foods that are not suited for the diet or, if you really end up not eating at all, essentially meaning you are ‘fasting’, strong die-off reactions will follow soon. Either way, it’s a situation you want to avoid. The only solution is to bring safe and filling foods that you can eat at your regular meal times.

Besides fruit, raw vegetables, and cheese, I usually make or bake something involving nuts, which help ease the cravings. The recipes for crunchy honey peanut bars, carrot cake muffins, savory and soft cheese crackers have always been among our favorites. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a cookie recipe that I wanted to be similar to simple sugar cookies. I used almond flour and cocoa butter as a base, adding honey and date paste as sweeteners. The result is a cookie that takes less than 30 minutes to make, tastes great, isn’t too sweet, and no one in my family of six didn’t like! You can play around with the amounts of sweetener to make it more or less sweet or substitute the honey entirely with date paste and vice versa. I think they absolutely resemble the good old soft and chewy sugar cookies that I used to love so much.

In fact, if you always enjoyed to dip your cookies in milk, these are the ones! Pair them with almond milk or raw milk and a good story before bedtime!

P.S. Don’t forget to brush your teeth! :)

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt (optional)
2 tbsp date paste

optional: 1/2 recipe of honey sweetened chocolate coating

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven at 310° F/150° C.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the cacao butter in a small saucepan or double boiler on low heat. Set aside.

Add the almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the honey, date paste, and cacao butter and stir until well combined.

Form the dough into 1” balls and place them on the baking sheet. Flatten the balls into 2”cookies.

Bake the cookies at 310° F/150° C for 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool completely.

Optional: dip the cookies half way into honey sweetened chocolate coating (1/2 recipe is more than enough). Place the cookies onto baking-paper-lined baking sheets and place in a cool spot or refrigerate until the chocolate coating is firm.

Store the cookies in cookie tins in a cool and dry place.

MY LATEST RECIPES

We are entering not only the festive time of the year, but also the time of the year when colds, sore throat, and flu are most active in the Northern Hemisphere. I was never a big fan of modern medicine when it came to treating a runny nose, sore throat or nasty cough among other unpleasant symptoms. I avoided antibiotics, pain medicine, and over the counter medications as much as I could. However, what can you do if you are definitely not feeling well? A few years into SCD, I had improved my immune system sufficiently enough for symptoms to become more manageable and easier to treat with natural remedies. Today, I have a wide variety of remedies and treatments that enable my family and I to combat seasonal infections without any mainstream medications. I agree that Western medicine does have a place in some life-threatening situations, but in general, I believe that strengthening the immune system with proper diet and detoxification to fight chronic and acute infections is the better path and also leads to long-term health improvement. Once the immune system is stronger, you experience that not only chronic inflammation is diminishing, but that acute infections are less frequent and also run a shorter and milder course.

My favorite natural remedies are near infrared heat light, food-grade 3% hydrogen peroxide, salt baths, ginger tea, and oil of oregano. These work great for colds, sinus infections, ear infections, and cough as well as sore throat.

Recently, my middle daughter developed a nasty cough which, although she had recovered from a cold, seemed to linger longer than usual and was rather uncomfortable for her. This lead to my first attempt in making my own cough drops, and they turned out be not only delicious, but also effective.

For the candy, I used honey and apple cider vinegar and boiled it to reach 300° F/150° C. Then I added fresh ginger juice and eucalyptus essential oil. Ingesting essential oils gets a lot of controversy on the internet and is not recommended by the FDA. Looking through the different articles, I came to the conclusion that the danger lies in undiluted oils as well as some oil types that are not recommended for ingestion. A few essential oils are fine to ingest, among them diluted eucalyptus oil. It is also commonly used in commercial cough drops as well as toothpaste that are approved by the FDA. I myself feel comfortable adding a few drops to my natural remedies but this decision is up to you and if you are unsure about using them, you can simply omit the eucalyptus oil and stick to the fresh ginger juice, which will also help soothe the throat. To keep the drops from sticking together, I rolled them in Vitamin C crystals and stored them in the refrigerator. If you want an even more natural source of Vitamin C, I would highly recommend Acerola cherry powder, which works just the same for the recipe. I also like to use it as fall/winter supplement for the kids.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups honey

1/8 cup raw apple cider vinegar

1 tsp ginger juice or 1” piece of ginger, peeled and sliced ( add the juice at the end of the boiling time, slices need to be added to the boiling the honey immediately)

4 drops eucalyptus essential oil (optional, read above about ingesting essential oils)

Vitamin C crystals or Acerola cherry powder for dusting

tools: candy thermometer, silicone molds

INSTRUCTIONS

Pour the honey and vinegar into a medium saucepan. Add the ginger slices here if you’re using these. Attach the candy thermometer to the rim of the pot. Bring the honey to a boil. Reduce the temperature a little, but keep the honey boiling until the temperature on the thermometer reaches the hard crack stage of the candy at 300° F/150° C. You can carefully test it by dropping a little bit of hot honey into a jar with ice cold water. The honey should harden to a solid candy. At this point, immediately remove the pot from the heat. If you’re using ginger juice, stir it in. Stir in the eucalyptus oil. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Carefully pour the honey mixture into the silicone molds. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for an hour, then remove the candy from the molds and roll in vitamin C crystals. Add the candy to a container in a single layer and make sure to place parchment paper in between layers. Refrigerate for storage.

Tip for candy-making: always keep an eye on the boiling honey and if necessary, adjust the temperature!

MY LATEST RECIPES

Welcome to CREATING HEALTHY TIMES!

My name is Ulrike. I created this website to share my dietary approach to natural healing and delicious sugar, grain, and lactose-free recipes. I found that, provided with the right nutrition, the body itself is one of the greatest healers.

Find out what I learned on my nine-year journey with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and get valuable information about natural healing
ABOUT ME

Try my delicious sugar, grain, and lactose-free recipes
RECIPES

Thanksgiving is over and, suddenly, Christmas time is here. I know everybody seems to start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving but I don’t know why. I like to enjoy Thanksgiving as a fall festival and then move on to the Christmas time with the first of Advent. Therefore, Christmas decorations show up at my house no sooner than Black Friday. As for the music, well, I do make a few exceptions here because it is so hard to wait! So, here we are again, decking up the halls and getting ready for all of the goodies that come with this festive time of the year.
Christmas time in Germany spans from the first of Advent to December 26th. These weeks are filled with Christmas partys, Christmas market, Glühwein, Stollen, Fruitcake, and numerous varieties of Christmas cookies. I especially loved when we got together with the neighborhood moms and children to make holiday crafts for decorating the house. I never got bored spending countless hours on dark afternoons making the most beautiful stars, ornaments, candle holders, painting nutshells golden or stringing gold wire around wreaths, making stars from gold foil or transparent paper. As I grew older, I kept that tradition and, during my time as a dental student, me and my female friends would get together to make wreaths, bake cookies, play instruments, and sing German Christmas songs. With my own children, we continued crafting, baking, and singing year after year.

These gatherings always included drinking hot chocolate and sampling home-made Christmas cookies that were already stored in numerous tin cans to sweetened this special time of the year. From when I was a little girl, I had enjoyed baking these delicious and pretty goodies and, over the years, had collected a huge amount of special recipes.

This all changed abruptly when I went on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) over ten years ago. I could no longer eat any of my favorite Christmas treats. For the first few years, I kept baking them for my family and friends but although I loved how they enjoyed them, I came to the conclusion that sugar and flour had lead to my numerous health issues (you can read about this in my ABOUT ME section) and were not a healthy and nutritious choice for their bodies either. Over the years, I experimented with the ingredients allowed on SCD and former recipes to find ways to recreate some of our old favorites in a healthier way. I must admit that it was a little tricky at first and some great recipes definitely were lost to us but we now do have a good variety of delicious new “old favorites” that the kids keep asking for year after year and my husband indulges in when he writes articles in the silence of the night.

INGREDIENTS
for the Italian meringue:
3 egg whites
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp lemon juice

for the dough:
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups natural almond flour
coconut flour

tools:
stand mixer or hand mixer, star cookie cutters, parchment paper, rolling pin

INSTRUCTIONS
for the Italian meringue:
Place the egg whites in the bowl off a stand mixer or large mixing bowl. With the whisk attachment of the stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the lemon juice and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

At the same time, add the honey to a small saucepan and heat over high heat until it starts boiling. Do not stir. Lower the temperature, insert the candy thermometer, and keep an eye on the boiling honey until it reaches 240° F / 115° C. As soon as the honey reaches the correct temperature, immediately remove the pot from the stove.

Slowly add the honey to the egg whites by pouring it down the inner side of the mixing bowl while continuously whisking the egg whites at high speed. Continue to whisk the mixture until it doubles in volume and turns very shiny and stiff.

Set aside 3/4 cup for the frosting.

for the dough:
Add the natural almond flour, cinnamon, and vanilla extract to the meringue and stir carefully to combine. Add additional natural almond flour if the dough is very sticky. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4” thick. Cut out the shapes with cookie cutters and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can dip the cookie cutters in some coconut flour to prevent the dough from sticking to them.

Cover the cookie surfaces with meringue frosting using a knife or pastry brush.

Bake at 200° F / 100° C for 35 to 40 minutes.

MY LATEST RECIPES

Monday and Wednesday afternoons, my mom worked as a dentist in a small private practice that belonged to a boarding school for hearing impaired children. On those days, a baby sitter took care of me and my siblings while mom was away. She was a tiny sweet women that originally came from the Meran area of Northern Italy. Being Italian, she was a fabulous cook and I still fondly remember all the delicious foods she cooked and baked for us, especially the lasagna, pizza, and the most delicious Christmas cookies.
From her, I learned making homemade pizza dough with onions, cardamom, and olive oil that was topped with tomato sauce, plenty of cooked vegetables, freshly grated cheese, and fresh herbs.
Unfortunately, this pizza was a painful loss when I first started on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet over ten years ago. Without any regular flour and yeast, I felt there was no use in trying to make something similar. For the first few years, I did not know that this kind of eating would become more of a lifestyle than a short healing period. So I simply stuck to the SCD legal list and kept it as simple as possible for me since the rest of the family still followed the mainstream Western diet. Once I realized that the healing on the diet was real, it occurred to me that this was not just a diet but a healthy way of eating that anyone could benefit from. One after another, my children and husband joined me on the healing journey for various health reasons. Of course this requires some sacrifices as you are left out of the social eating part of our society. To make the transition easier for them, I started recreating all kinds of old favorite recipes with SDC-legal ingredients only. Until then, I had not eaten any pizza in years, but for teenage children, I felt I had to make the diet more exciting to keep them from falling off the wagon. I started experimenting with different ingredients and toppings and finally came up with a presentable, delicious pizza my kids love!

I added cheese, olive oil, and minced scallions to the almond flour dough to give it a heartier, less cake-like taste. I spread the dough in a very thin layer to make it less dense, then brushed it with olive oil, and pre-baked it to prevent the sauce from entering the dough and making it mushy. I topped the crust with tomato paste, spices, and plenty of cheese. My kids were thrilled with the result. It is a little more dense and filling than regular yeast dough but it does taste like the real thing.

I for myself was still was not quite happy with the result. Finally, I remembered all the precooked vegetables that our former baby sitter generously spread over the pizza and, for me, that did the trick. I sautéd mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, and egg plant and distributed them over the tomato paste, then add a thick layer of cheese and Italian fresh herbs. This gave the pizza a whole new taste dimension and, finally, I am more than pleased to indulge into this new-found old classic. Yes, and like in the old days, I do eat the leftovers cold from the fridge the next day!
Enjoy!

SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
for the dough:
1/3 cup plain yoghurt (For SCD or people with lactose intolerance use homemade 24 hour yoghurt and strain it through a cheese cloth for about one hour)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup Emmental cheese or other aged cheese, finely grated
1 tbsp scallions, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp beef gelatin (optional this makes a crispier crust)

tomato sauce:
7 oz tomato paste
1/4 cup filtered water
1 tsp Italian herbs
1 tsp sea salt
freshly grated pepper

pizza toppings (optional):
mushrooms, sliced
bell peppers, cut into strips
onions, cut into half rings
fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and basil, minced
pepperoni
olives, pitted and sliced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cups grated cheese, I like a mix of Parmesan and Emmental cheese

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven at 375°F / 190°C.

for the dough:
Add the eggs, olive oil, and dripped yogurt to a mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add the almond flour, baking soda, salt, scallions, beef gelatin, and cheese and mix well until you have a soft dough.
Spread the dough into a very thin layer (1/4” thick) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the dough at 375° F / 190° C for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly baked on the surface. Remove from the oven.

Add the tomato paste, Italian herbs, sea salt, pepper, and water to a small saucepan. Mix well while heating until it starts bubbling. Carefully spread the tomato mix in a thin layer evenly over the dough.

for the toppings:
Add the olive oil, mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions to the saucepan and sauté until the vegetables turn soft. Distribute the vegetables evenly over the dough.

Cover everything generously with cheese, sparing 1/2” around the edges.

Bake in the upper part of the oven at 375° F / 190° C for 15 to 20 more minutes until the cheese is melted, slightly brown, and bubbly. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh herbs and/or arugula.

MY LATEST RECIPES

There is really no need to buy premade salad dressings when it’s so easy to make your own. Most of the ingredients for the dressing are most likely already available in your fridge and kitchen pantry and all it takes is to measure and mix. This is a great way to avoid unwanted ingredients like preservatives, refined sugar, gluten, grain, lactose, and more. A simple dressing consists of a few basic ingredients:

• two to three parts (e.g. 5 tbsp) are oil based (olive oil, or avocado oil, or yoghurt, or cream)

• one part (e.g. 2 tbsp) acid based (vinegar, and/or lemon juice)

• Then you simply season with salt, pepper, and a sweetener (such as honey)

• For a more fancy dressing, you can add ingredients such as fresh herbs, dried herbs, mustard, spices, minced onion, or garlic.

This kind of dressing will always be delicious and sufficient for a perfect salad. You might as well stay at this level of dressing for the rest of your life and be satisfied or venture further to find gazillion of delicious salad dressing possibilities that a creative mind can come up with. This dressing also works great as a marinade for meat or fish.
Guten Appetit!

INGREDIENTS
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp sea salt
freshly grated pepper
1/2 tsp honey

optional:
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp of fresh herbs like parsley, dill, or chives, minced

INSTRUCTIONS
Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl or sealable bottle. Stir or shake until well combined. Add to your favorite salad and toss to combine. Or sprinkle over a mixed salad plate. You can also use it as a marinade for meat and fish.

MY LATEST RECIPES

The first time I ate fish and chips was in England as an exchange student at the age of 14. It was my second time attending a school exchange and it was very different from my first experience in France the year before, where although the family was nice to me I felt homesick staying with complete strangers for a whole two weeks for the first time in my life. The British family had hosted my brother the year before and I had gotten to know them a little beforehand from his stories and pictures. The host mom made sure that I felt comfortable and welcome in their home. My bed even had a heated mattress warmer for me - I was used to wearing knitted Angora wool socks during German winter nights, so this comfort was as close to heaven as it got! Although England isn’t exactly known for gourmet food, I personally loved baked beans on toast, fish and chips, and tea time with black tea and milk combined with sconces. One problem, though, was that my brother loved the Jello they had offered him the year before so much that the mother had made me a huge bowl of it and I had a hard time gulping down a polite serving size. I am not sure if she suspected that it wasn’t my favorite, but thank goodness she did not offer it again - I can’t stand anything glibbery! Besides the food, we got to experience British school life (our school went from 8am to 1 or 2pm, but here kids stayed until 4 pm, which we found that very exhausting!), see the English countryside and Nottingham forest, were invited to our first Halloween party, and went to the city of London. I still have plenty of fond memories from this trip. I’d really love to go back and explore some more of this beautiful country.
The fish sticks ended up in my recipe collection and many years later, my kids enjoy them as much as I.
My daughter Amelie came up with a recipe to bread the fish or chicken with a mix of almond and coconut flour in order to make it free of grains, gluten, or food additives. She is very particular about breading the fish not missing ANY spots. The breading can be made ahead of time and once that is done the actual cooking time is rather short. I like to combine the fish sticks with fresh salad but maybe if you have a good recipe for butternut squash fries, let me know - it has been on my mind for some time to combine those two. Thanks!

SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
1.5 lbs cod filet (you may also use sole, halibut, or haddock)
2 eggs
1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp sea salt
freshly grated pepper
1/2 tsp organic garlic powder
1tsp organic ground paprika

optional: avocado oil cooking spray

enjoy with: ketchup or homemade tartar sauce

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven at 375°F / 190°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the fish into fish stick shapes, about 2.5” in length.

Add the almond flour, coconut flour, salt, and spices to a shallow bowl and mix together.

Add the eggs to a second shallow bowl and beat thoroughly.

Dip the fish into the egg mixture and then transfer them to the almond-coconut flour mixture. Coat evenly and place them onto the baking sheet. Repeat until all of the fish pieces are coated. Spray with avocado oil.

Place the sheets into the oven and bake for 20 minutes flipping the fish sticks carefully over after 10 minutes.

Serve with salad, ketchup, or remoulade sauce.

MY LATEST RECIPES

The original Twix bar has three layers: a cookie base, caramel, and then covered in chocolate. They taste very delicious but unfortunately are loaded with refined sugar, grains, and plenty of food additives. But you know me - I’m always tempted to recreate my former favorite treats in a healthier version. These Twix copycats are made from scratch using only whole ingredients. I used honey as a sweetener and they taste so much better than any Twix bar I’ve ever eaten.

For the cookie base, I figured out that mixing coconut oil and coconut butter together with almond and coconut flour made a very firm cracker-like base that I couldn’t achieve using butter. My first attempt with the caramel layer failed because I didn’t boil the caramel for long enough. After layering the cookie base and caramel, I tried to cut it, but the caramel immediately started leaving my cookie base and even after trying to freeze it, it still wasn’t firm enough to dip in chocolate. Fortunately, my husband and two younger girls gladly took care of the failure. For my second attempt, I made sure to boil the caramel for 15 minutes after adding the heavy whipping cream. I then removed a spoonful to see if it would get firm as it cools. It did! So I let the caramel cool down until lukewarm and then spread it evenly over the cookie base. I placed it in the fridge for two hours before cutting it into bar-shaped pieces with a large sharp knife. After cutting, I froze the bars for an additional hour while I prepared the chocolate coating in a double boiler. Using two forks, I dipped the bars into the melted chocolate, carefully turned them around until they were completely covered with chocolate, then placed them caramel side up on a drying rack to harden the chocolate. They turned out beautiful, the cracker firm, the caramel soft and all of it wrapped in dark chocolate and soooo tempting!

The problem was that after trying a small piece, I kept thinking about grabbing another piece for two days. As an former sugar addict that is a warning sign! I know I have to be very careful when it comes to treats that are high in sugar content like this one. It is great for challenging your willpower but I always keep temptations to a minimum because it can easily can throw me into overindulging. Sure, they are sweetened with honey, which doesn't feed the gut inflammation like regular sugar does, but it still is sugar and should not be consumed in large quantities.

I moved this new recipe to my occasional treat recipes that are reserved for special occasions and homemade gifts. And that is what a treat should be - occasional and special!

INGREDIENTS
for the cookie base:
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup coconut butter or coconut oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

for the caramel layer:
1 batch caramel made with 3/4 cup honey and 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (instead of 1 cup). Boil the caramel for about 15 minutes to make sure it ends up firm enough to be cut after refrigerating.
If you are very sensitive to lactose, I recommend fermenting the heavy whipping cream to make it easier to digest.

chocolate coating:
1recipe for Honey-Sweetened Chocolate Coating

INSTRUCTIONS
for the cookie base:
Melt the coconut oil and coconut butter in a small saucepan. Add the almond flour, coconut flour, vanilla extract, and honey to a mixing bowl. Stir in the coconut oil and knead until well combined.

Line a 9” square baking dish with parchment paper. Distribute the dough evenly across the bottom of the pan and press firm.

Bake at 350°F / 180°C for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Add the cooled caramel over the cookie layer and let set in the refrigerator for about two hours until firm enough to cut with a knife.

Cut the cookie base in half and then cut into 1/2” wide bars. Freeze the bars for at least two hours while you prepare the homemade honey sweetened chocolate coating in a double boiler.

Dip the bars into the honey-sweetened chocolate coating using two forks to submerge them completely. Place them on a wire rack for the chocolate to set.

Store in an airtight container in a cool and dry place.

MY LATEST RECIPES

Coating your goodies with chocolate, wraps them in another layer of deliciousness. It only takes three simple ingredients that I usually have readily available at home to do this. I have used this coating to glaze cookies, and bars, or brushed it on cakes as well as piped shapes and words. My girls especially love the piping part! They pipe stars, flowers, words, names and much more to decorate festive plates or personalize treats. It is such a fun project to do together.

For coating small treats I prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or newspaper and place a drying rack on top of it. Then I carefully melt the ingredients in a double boiler on the stovetop. It is important not to overheat the chocolate and to make sure that absolutely no water splashes into the chocolate mix because both incidents surly will ruin the result and you will end up with a grainy chocolate mess instead of a smooth coating.

I freeze the smaller treats before I dip them into the chocolate because that gives an even coating that hardens quickly without causing a mess. Once the treats are chilled enough I remove them from the freezer. One by one I submerge the treats completely into the warm chocolate using two forks to handle them. I remove them quickly and place them onto the drying rack to harden the chocolate.

For cakes I use a pastry brush to brush the coating over the entire surface of the cake then I place the cake in a cool and dry place or refrigerate it for half an hour.

For piping chocolate you can fill a piping bag and snip off the tip then pipe your favorite shapes, words or decorations on a flat baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let harden completely before handling. You can store these in a cookie tin making sure to place parchment paper in between layers.

INGREDIENTS
5 oz 100% dark chocolate chips (chocolate can be reintroduced after intestinal symptoms have subsided completely)
2 tbsp butter or coconut oil
3 tbsp honey

INSTRUCTIONS
Add 2 inches of water to a cooking pot and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and submerge a double boiler insert or smaller cooking pot. Add the chocolate chips, butter, and honey to the double boiler and melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. Make sure that absolutely no water splashes onto the ingredients and not to overheat the chocolate! Once everything is melted together and you have a smooth chocolate coating, you can remove the double boiler insert form the water and put it to use:

• Small treats: Submerge small treats into the chocolate using two forks for handling. Place them on a drying rack to let the chocolate harden.

• Cakes: For cakes, I use a pastry brush to distribute the chocolate coating evenly over the surface.

• Piping: For piping, fill a pastry bag with the chocolate coating and snip off the tip to make a small hole. Pipe your favorite shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let the coating harden in a cool dry place or the refrigerator. Store in a cool and dry place.

You can use the chocolate coating to decorate your popsicles, candies, truffles, piping chocolate decor, cookies, and cakes.

Recipes that I use the chocolate coating for:
Honey Sweetened Coconut Candy
Gingerbread Dominos
Mini Florentines
Coconut Chocolate Bars

MY LATEST RECIPES

One of the things all of the areas in the world with the greatest number of centurions (people who have reached age 100 and up) have in common is that they consume a diet high in beans. Beans are high in plant-based protein, fiber, as well as vitamins and minerals and of exceptional nutritional value - unless you are unable to digest them…

While suffering from chronic gut inflammation, beans used to give me a hard time. They caused me all kinds of unpleasant and painful symptoms, so I avoided them as much as I could. Years ago, I changed my diet to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in order to address my chronic inflammation. As I stopped feeding the gut inflammation and added high-value nutrients to strengthen my immune system, the gut slowly healed and symptoms subsided. Since I knew of the nutritional value of beans, I was eager to introduce them into my diet. Eventually, my health had improved sufficiently to reintroduce former troublesome foods such as beans. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet allows several kinds of dried beans and legumes which you can find on the legal/illegal list. I learned to properly soak the beans overnight in order to diminish the amount of anti-nutrients, meaning compounds that can inhibit digestion and thus cause unpleasant and harmful symptoms in the gut. I would eat a meal with the beans and if they caused symptoms, I would refrain from eating them for about 6 months and then try once again until I reached the point where they didn’t bother me anymore. It took a couple of attempts over the course of my healing time, but eventually I succeeded and was able to digest beans and lentils properly without them causing any symptoms.

This soup is made with baby lima beans that I presoaked overnight. I really love the buttery taste of lima beans, but you can substitute them with any of your favorite beans - just check on the recommended cooking time! I don’t think this soup needs extra protein from meat, but the hardcore meat-lovers in my family love adding smoked chorizo sausage or beef hot dogs. You can also add pieces of fish (make sure all fishbones are properly removed) to the soup and let boil for 15 minutes so the fish is cooked thoroughly to make it a fish soup. You can garnish it with minced parsley, that’s my preference, or add some grated parmesan, that’s my husband’s - I find you don’t have to agree on everything as long as everybody’s satisfied, right?
Bon Appetit!

INGREDIENTS
15 oz organic dried baby Lima beans (or other SCD recommended beans) soaked overnight
1/8 cup olive oil or ghee
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into bite size pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
1 green bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
1 jalapeño, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 jars organic crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp honey
1 tsp ground cumin

for garnish:
chopped parsley, cilantro, or freshly grated parmesan cheese

meat options:
smoked chorizo sausages cut into bite size pieces, beef hot dogs, or bite size pieces of fresh fish like salmon or cod.

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the olive oil or ghee in a large cooking pot. Add the onions and garlic and sautée until the onions turn translucent. Add the zucchini, jalapeño, and bell peppers and sautée until tender. Add the crushed tomatoes, beans, parsley, cilantro, and seasonings. If needed you can add some filtered water or vegetable broth to make sure everything is submerged in the soup. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 60 minutes or until the beans are tender.

If you want to add fresh fish, I would recommend adding the fish pieces for the last 15 minutes of the cooking time.

As for the sausages, you can add them in at the end and simply give them 10 minutes to heat up in the soup.

Garnish with minced parsley, cilantro, or parmesan cheese.

MY NEWEST RECIPES

Caesar salad used to be our favorite salad when we went out to eat in restaurants, but of course this was no longer an option once we changed our diet to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It broke my heart listening to my youngest daughter bravely placing her own Caesar salad order by saying “please no croutons and no dressing” - leaving her with just Romaine lettuce leaves and a sprinkle of parmesan. Once my middle daughter remarked dryly, albeit a little too loudly: “No carbs ever!!!!” to clarify the situation, which left us cracking up and the waiter mortified. My youngest daughter’s very watered-down version works when you’re hungry and sometimes for us it’s just about the experience of going out to restaurant that makes us happy. Also the fact that I get a rare break for cooking can be the driving motivation to put the poor waiter through the ordeal of very complicated orders resulting in us betting on whether he or she will be able to serve the order correctly (most times they do!). We really appreciate the American way that order changes are usually welcome and followed precisely. It’s still a little frustrating when you remember how easy it was to go out to eat and simply order whatever’s on the menu. At least we know that by now we can recreate many of our favorite dishes at home using simple whole ingredients.

Now back to the Caesar salad story, last summer we ate at a contemporary fancy restaurant in Heidelberg that offered dishes made with simple whole ingredients and everything was made from scratch. They offered Caesar salad and I interviewed the waiter on all of the ingredients in the dressing and to my surprise all of the ingredients were fine for us. Yippee, whenever I find dishes that work for us in a restaurant, I’m more than thrilled because I love going out to eat and I really enjoy a dish that I don’t have to cook myself. I loved the dressing so much (still without croutons of course!) that I memorized the ingredients so I could make it at home too. It seems a little ironic that we traveled all the way to Germany to fall in love with Caesar salad once more, but at this stage we take what we get, right? We have been making this salad regularly since last summer. Finally I wrote everything down and tried to take a picture that’s similar to the salad that they served to us. For dinner we love to add meat or fish, and the girls also brought it along for school lunches if we happened to have leftover dressing. The dressing works wonders - everybody eats more green lettuce than they usually would!

I hope you enjoy this “reimported” salad as much as we do.
Guten Appetit!

INGREDIENTS
2 Romaine lettuce

for the dressing:
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp anchovy paste
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan (make sure check the ingredient list in case you buy grated parmesan cheese)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp honey
freshly grated pepper

to garnish:
freshly grated parmesan

INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the lettuce and cut into bite-size pieces. Add to a salad bowl.

Add all of the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and whisk until well combined and creamy.

Add the dressing to the lettuce and toss to combine.

Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

MY NEWEST REIPES

Raw vegetables with ranch dip make the perfect super-easy dish to bring along for any occasion. Because it’s so easy to put this dish together, it’s something you may want to have readily available to give you a healthy option when you open the fridge looking for something to snack on. It especially helps get kids in the habit of grabbing a healthy raw snack instead of processed options. For those of us with a sweet tooth or carb addiction, this is not the number one choice we reach for, and all the more important to change our snacking habits towards healthy food to stop feeding the wrong microbiome in the gut. I myself have transitioned from not even tolerating raw foods well at all to drinking a raw green juice every morning and eating plenty of raw vegetables and fruit throughout the day. It took time and effort to make this happen but I found the more healthy choices I had readily available, the easier it was to make a healthy choice. Over time I was able to resist the temptation to feed my gut inflammation more and more, and eventually I started craving healthy raw foods to an extent that I don’t even like having to interrupt my healthy routine when I don’t have the time or am traveling.
For the vegetables, I try to buy local and in season as much as possible, as those vegetables usually have the highest nutritional value. If that’s not available, I go for organic raw foods from the local supermarket or Whole Foods store. Anything such as carrots, celery stalks, radishes, cauliflower florets, cucumber, snap peas, broccoli florets, or different kinds of peppers work great - simply peel or cut them and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Unfortunately, store-bought dips usually are loaded with sugar and food additives, ruining the health benefit of the snack. For some people, those processed dips are the only driving motivation to eat raw vegetables, which is not a good sign. Making your own dip from scratch using only whole ingredients removes the unwanted food additives and greatly enhances the health benefit. I know this takes a little time and effort, but it does make a big difference when you add tiny healthy choices whose health benefit will add up over time. I also use my own homemade yoghurt for this dip, which is fermented for 24 hours instead of the usual 6 hours. The longer fermentation process allows the beneficial bacteria to break down most of the lactose and simultaneously multiply in numbers, giving you plenty of good bacteria with every spoonful. This yogurt is much easier to digest due to the extremely low lactose content and the beneficial bacteria that help heal and soothe the gut lining. I hope you too can find time and strength to make more healthy choices every day.
Wishing you all the best in Creating Healthy Times!
Bon Appetit!

INGREDIENTS
raw vegetables to fill your vegetable platter:
carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise
celery stalks, cut lengthwise
English cucumber, sliced 1/4”thick
bell pepper, seeds removed and cut
cauliflower florets
radishes

for the dip:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup homemade yoghurt
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
fresh black pepper
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1 tbsp fresh chives, minced
1 tbsp fresh dill, minced

If you do not have fresh herbs available, you can substitute them with 2 tsp of my homemade ranch seasoning mix - see recipe below.

INSTRUCTIONS
Add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and use a whisk to mix together until smooth. Serve with your favorite raw vegetables.

The dip can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

RANCH SEASONING MIX
INGREDIENTS
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp onion flakes
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried chives
2 tsp dried dill
3 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp sea salt
black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Add all of the ingredients into a sealable glass container, close the lid, and shake to combine.

MY LATEST RECIPES

Game day!!! Ready for the play-offs? Before I moved to the US in the year 2000, football and baseball were not on my radar. When it came to sports, I always enjoyed exercising myself over watching sports, but I did enjoy occasional events life or on TV occasionally. I had been to soccer games in my local hometown of Freiburg and always loved the spirit of the local SC Freiburg team and fanbase, cheered for the Tour de France from the roadside, attended basketball and tennis games, and of course followed the Olympics and other events on TV.
The transition into the US inevitably exposed us to the world of football and baseball. I must admit that even after 22 years in the US, I really have a hard time with baseball. The only thing I enjoy about this sport is playing it occasionally on the beach with those cheap plastic bats and very light plastic balls, but watching a whole game, which I did for the Phillies years ago seemed like wasted time to me. With football it was different - this sport can get really intense to watch. It took me a while to really understand the rules, but eventually I came to be really fond of it. So over the years, we got more and more into the football season. We do have our favorite teams my son and I still root for the New Orleans Saints and my husband turned into a hardcore Eagles fan to an extent that his moods are affected by the teams performance. Although I miss the times when we were hitting the empty ski slopes during Super Bowl, I really enjoy this event now, watching with family and friends while enjoying Super Bowl foods that are inseparable from the occasion!

That being said, game day and wings are a must in this family. For us, that means plain (naked) wings without any breading or sugary sauces. If this sounds boring to you, just wait until you tried these perfectly crisp oven-baked wings with our homemade garlic hot sauce. Not only are they super delicious, but with free range chicken and without food additives and sugar-loaded sauces they are as a matter of fact, super healthy too! When it comes to the hot sauces, I personally can live without them and I think it’s not really necessary to check the ingredients for added sugar because you end up beyond pain anyway. For those of you that can actually distinguish between spice pain and carb pain, I picked a hot sauce that is refined sugar-free and supposedly easier on your intestines. For those of you who aren’t football fans, these wings can be a perfect appetizer, snack, or dinner any day of the year. For the football fans, I wish all the best for your team - mine was already kicked out, but I can still go for the food, right?

INGREDIENTS
3 lbs chicken wings (preferably free range chicken)
olive oil spray or melted butter
sea salt
freshly grated pepper

for the sauce:
8 tbsp butter
1 tsp or more of your favorite hot sauce
1tsp apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly grated pepper

tools: cooking oil sprayer

INSTRUCTIONS
for the wings:
Preheat the oven at 400°F / 200°C.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the wings to the baking sheet. Distribute the wings evenly with the skin side facing down at first. Using a paper towel, thoroughly pat the wings dry. Spray the wings with vegetable cooking oil or brush them with melted butter, then season with salt and pepper.

Place the baking sheet in the upper level of the oven. Bake at 400°F / 200°C for 20 minutes, then flip the wings over and continue baking until the skin is really crisp, about 15 more minutes.

Brush the wings with the sauce and bake for 5 more minutes.

Remove the wings from the oven and add to a glass bowl. Pour the rest of the sauce over the wings and toss to combine. Serve hot together with vegetable sticks and ranch sauce.

for the sauce:
In a small saucepan, melt one tbsp of butter, add the garlic and sauté for two minutes. Add the hot sauce, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Stir and sauté for two more minutes. Turn off the heat and add the remainder of the butter and let it melt. Stir to combine.

MY NEWEST RECIPES

During the holidays, I tend to enjoy sweets and treats and lots of cooked foods as well as the occasional alcoholic beverage. Although I still stick to the main SCD diet free of refined sugars, grains, lactose, and starch, I still rack up the natural sugars, carbs, and cooked foods more than I normally would. Come January 1st, I’m always eager to switch my diet back to mostly fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish or grass-fed lean meat, homemade yoghurt, and fresh pressed vegetable juices. My gut never feels bad throughout the holidays, but my energy level increases as I cut out the extra sugar and ramp up high-quality nutrients. The change from the holidays to my usual diet is actually one I’m looking forward to. I love all kinds of different salads and combine them with grass-fed beef, chicken, or fish to make it my main meal. Many of my favorite salads are on my website, including the arugula salad, wedge salad, Belgian endive salad with apples and lemon dressing, arugula with lemon dressing and parmesan, the Greek salad, and now this roasted beet salad with yoghurt dressing. The roasted beet salad is packed with antioxidants from beets including a load of vitamin C and vitamin A, as well as potassium from the pea sprouts and plenty of probiotics from the homemade yoghurt. If you prefer a raw salad, you can also simply grate four peeled beets to replace the cooked beets. I wish all of you a good and healthy start into 2022!

If you’re like me and love anything salad, make sure you don’t miss the recipe for Caesar salad that will soon be on the blog - it has been the kids absolute favorite for the past couple of months! You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates, or feel free to get updates through the RSS feed below!

SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
for the salad:
2 bunches of beets (about 6)
4 oz sweet pea sprouts

for the dressing:
1/2 cup homemade yoghurt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly grated black pepper
4 sprigs of dill, minced

tools:
skewer stick and aluminum foil

INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the beetroots and wrap them in aluminum foil. Place the beetroots onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350°F / 180°C for about 50 minutes. They’re done when a skewer stick can be inserted easily. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Once they’re cool enough to handle, unwrap the beetroots and, wearing rubber gloves, remove the peel by rubbing it off.

Cut the beetroots into bite-size wedges and set aside.

for the dressing:
Place all of the ingredients for the dressing in a small mixing bowl and mix until smooth.

Add the beetroot pieces and sweet pea sprouts to a medium salad bowl and drizzle with the salad dressing. Garnish with dill.

MY LATEST RECIPES

I still remember shaking off the excess snow from our clothes after spending hours outside sledding, building snowmen, and having snowball fights (back then we had winters with plenty of snow in the Black Forest). We would enter the warm house and take off gloves, hats, coats, and snowpants, running around in stockings and wool sweaters that Grandma had knitted. We would sit on the wooden bench surrounding the tile stove that roared with a fire to heat the house. Cold and exhausted, we would press our fingers, feet, and backs to the warm tiles of the stove to warm them up.

Another fond memory of those cold winter nights were baked apples with nuts, cinnamon, and honey covered in vanilla sauce. I loved them so much that I always hoped to get a second one. From when I was little, I would help make them because I would get to taste a little bit of the vanilla sauce or nibble some nuts and dried fruit while cutting them.
Back then, we used an apple corer to cut out the core of the apple from top to bottom. I still have one of those tools but I must admit that I don’t use it anymore. Instead, I use a sharp paring knife to cut out an upside-down cone shape with the tip slightly below the center of the apple. This way, the bottom of the apple is still sealed so that the honey cannot escape. Also, it makes plenty of space to add all the goodies such as dried fruit, nuts, honey, or marzipan.

When it comes to the apples, I think it’s vital to find a good baking apple. I listed a few excellent options below. Boscop and Winsap are my absolute favorite apples for baking and I really love when they turn super soft, like apple sauce in a peel.

The next best part, or arguably even better, was the vanilla sauce that was poured over the apples. Today, I can’t believe that opening a package, mixing it with milk and sugar, boiling and serving was the ‘normal’ way to make a vanilla sauce back then. It’s been almost 10 years since I switched to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet which means that now, most of what I eat has to be made from simple ingredients. No more pre-mixed food packages in our house! When I want vanilla sauce, I make it from scratch. I use coconut or almond milk, honey, and vanilla, and then I heat it and thicken it with egg yolks. You do have to pay a little attention to not overheat the egg yolks and end up with scrambled eggs, but it is very much worth the effort. It guarantees that the sauce is free of lactose, refined sugar, food dyes, preservatives, starch, and other harmful chemicals. The result is not only very delicious, but also super healthy! And it’s honestly almost as easy to make!

You can also make the sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until the apples are baked.

Pour the Crème Anglaise over the hot and steaming apples and serve immediately.
Bon Appetit!

SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
4 large apples (I used Winesap but you might as well use any ‘baking apple’ like Boscop, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady)
1/4 cup nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecan nuts, cut into pieces
1/4 cup dried fruit like black mission figs (quartered), currants, or raisins
4 tbsp honey (or maple syrup for paleo/vegan option)
pinch of cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven at 350° F / 180° C.

Using a sharp knife, cut out a cone shape in the top part of the apple. Remove the stem and most of the core while leaving the bottom intact so the honey won’t escape as soon as it gets hot but is still absorbed into the apples to sweeten them.
Place the apples on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Fill the cut-outs with nuts, dried fruit, and honey. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the peel breaks apart and the apple is cooked through.

Serve hot with Crème Anglaise or Vanilla Ice Cream.

MY NEWEST RECIPES

I couldn’t even count how many crawfish boils we held and attended in the six years we lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, but I do know that the whole family loves crawfish and especially crawfish boils. There are no meteorological seasons in the South, but there is crawfish season and it’s celebrated throughout the springtime when the crawfish are harvested. Family and friends gather in large numbers to enjoy this special dish.
And this is how it goes: crawfish, potatoes, garlic, onion, corn, andouille sausages, and spices are boiled in a huge perforated basket inserted to a stainless steel pot heated by a propane jet burner. Once fully cooked, the crawfish is strained and everything is spread out onto a large table covered with newspapers. Everybody gathers around the table, peeling and eating crawfish for hours while enjoying a cold Abita, the local beer. We really loved those frequent gatherings where you would simply hang out together and have a good time.

Moving up north was quite a change in American culture, but we still cherish these fond memories that stayed with us, along with the many wonderful, spicy New Orleans Style recipes.

When I came across an article about Southern-style Thanksgiving recipes in a Bon Appetit magazine many years ago, of course I had to try the Cajun spiced turkey and gravy made with crawfish tails and bacon. Since then, the recipes have become staples of our Thanksgiving meal tradition. Two of my kids even prefer the crawfish gravy over the turkey! I still wonder if eating so much crawfish during my pregnancies has caused my kids love for crawfish and Southern spices.

Changing our diet to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for multiple health reasons (you can read more about this in the ABOUT ME section) left us with the problem that sauces or gravy that relied on flour or starch for thickening turned out watery. Now I use the onion technique to thicken the gravy, meaning I boil a large onion in broth until it falls apart, then I purée it with a stick blender and reduce the liquid as much as I can before I add it to the other ingredients. This method makes for a very flavorful gravy or sauce and if it’s done right, gives a similar texture to the original recipe. I know there are several other methods to achieve a thick texture I have read about people adding cashew or coconut flour but I must admit that I’ve never tried it. If you have a favorite SCD method to thicken your sauces or gravy, feel free to leave a comment below! The altered recipe has not hurt - it still boasts a high ranking among our favorite Thanksgiving recipes!

The gravy is spicy and adds a lot of flavor to the Thanksgiving turkey. We usually add a variety of side dishes like our Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Delicata Squash Gratin, Arugula with Lemon Dressing & Parmesan, or Spinach Salad with Roasted Beetroots. To complete the healthy Thanksgiving menu, I can only recommend the Festive Pear & Fig Pie, Walnut Caramel Pie, or if you’re in a hurry the Grain-Free Peach & Berry Cobbler made with frozen fruit. My kids love this refined sugar-free ice cream Anna’s Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream (for the record, chocolate is not SCD legal - we reintroduced it once symptoms had subsided) that I make and freeze one week ahead.

I buy frozen cooked crawfish tails at our local seafood market, but you can also order frozen crawfish tails through cajungrocer.com or substitute the crawfish with shrimp.

More of my Southern recipes: Cauliflower Jambalaya; Cajun Shrimp, Cajun Spice Mix.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb peeled cooked crawfish tails
1 lb sugar-free bacon, chopped into 1/2” pieces
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped into wedges
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped celery stalks
1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeño, seeded
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups vegetable broth or turkey stock or more as needed
2 tsp Cajun Spice Mix
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
6 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or fermented cream (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS
Thaw, rinse, and pat dry the crawfish tails.

Bring two cups of vegetable broth, onion, and sea salt to a boil in a medium size saucepan. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the onion falls apart. Purée the onion using a blender or stick blender. If the broth onion mix is too liquid, return to the stove and simmer until the desired consistency is reached if it is too thick add some more vegetable broth.

Add the bacon to a large skillet and fry until the fat is melted and the bacon is crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside. Remove some of the fat, leaving enough for frying in the pan. Add the celery, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeño to the skillet and fry until they turn soft, about 20 minutes.

Add the onion broth mixture, bacon, and crawfish tails. Heat once more. Add heavy whipping cream.

Garnish with chopped scallions, and serve immediately.

MY LATEST RECIPES