Loaf Bread - No Yeast

Loaf bread made without yeast is not as light and airy as bread that rises with yeast.  Unfortunately, I am sensitive to bread that is made with yeast.  The following recipe is a fair substitute - nothing like the real thing!  It doesn't start as a dough like traditional bread.  The batter is more like making a cake.  The large amount of egg whites and baking powder help to make the bread rise.  Since there are no preservatives, it should be refrigerated. Eat the bread fast or slice it and freeze. 

Bread sliced for grilled cheese

RECIPE

1-1/4 cup spelt flour

1 cup oat flour

1 TBS sugar

2 TBS baking powder

1 TBS cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cup egg whites (use carton version)

3/4 cup warm water

3 TBS oil
dash cream of tartar (optional)

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes? (to update time-I forgot to write down)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (flours, sugar, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt).  Slowly pour in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl (egg whites*, warm water, oil). (*Another option is to beat the egg whites separately with a dash of cream of tartar until they peak. Then fold them in gently into the batter so as much air remain as possible. - I plan to try this next time!) 

Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Cook until brown and the bread bounces back when touched (dry fork or toothpick test in the center works too).  

Bread loaf

 

Bread slice

 

Rhubarb Preserve

Rhubarb Preserve in canning jar

Preserves and jellies are so easy to make. I try not to do a lot of sugar, but we all have our weaknesses! It only takes a dab on my bread with some butter to satisfy the

craving. So, I rarely go overboard with them. I struggle with a lot of the common fruits used to make preserves and jellies. Also, most have things like citric acid and gelatin that I am sensitive to as well. In the past, I have made pear preserves, pomegranate jelly, and lime marmalade! Today, I finally got a chance to cook with rhubarb, which is one of my safe fruits. I was a proud mama of my results. Isn't she pretty! Fresh rhubarb is only available a limited time during the season. I found my rhubarb at Publix in the frozen fruit section though.

Recipe :
16 oz (2 cups) chopped rhubarb
2 cups sugar
1 TBS Gerber baby pear juice or just juice from fresh lime (prevents sugar from crystallization as it cools)

Place all ingredients in a heavy bottom pot.  (Don't worry, it makes its own juice!) Cover and cook on medium high for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Mash fruit as it soften. Remove from the heat and pour into a glass jar.  It will thicken more as it cools. It will thicken more as it cools.  Best to keep in refrigerator since no preservatives.  Enjoy!

Frozen Rhubarb from Publix grocery

Early stage of rhubarb, sugar...

Starting to bubble and thicken

After 20 minutes of cooking - ready!

Hummingbird Mug Cake

Cake with frosting and pecans!

This cake was really easy. I just used my mug cake recipe and changed the chocolate to cinnamon, pineapples and bananas. I still cooked the cake in the microwave. I just used a larger container and quadrupled the recipe!  If dieting, I recommend keeping the single serving mug cake recipe size.

Recipe:
Link to mug cake HERE (skip cocoa powder and add the items below)
1 TBS bananas
1 TBS fresh pineapples
1/4 tsp cinnamon (skip if a salicylate trigger-I tolerate if freshly baked-think it ferments with time)

Mix well and cook for 1 minute in the microwave.

Once cake cools, add frosting - recipe found HERE. Note:***Try making about a 1/4 of frosting recipe for mug recipe size. Sprinkle pecan pieces on top.

Cake after cooking in the microwave

Cake sliced

Cake Frosting

I am so excited to finally have a cake frosting recipe that I can fit into my diet (food intolerances and weight loss). I didn't think it was possible to make frosting without powdered/confectioners sugar. Getting the right texture is one of the challenges. Also, it needs to taste great. I don't use artificial sweetener. First of all, I don't think they're healthy for anybody. Secondly, they make my joints ache. I really want a recipe with no sugar, but low sugar will work for now. I will try a fruit sweeten version later.

Here are the steps for the Frosting!!!!

Step 1:
THE CUSTARD BASE
This recipe works great, but does require some extra prep time. There is science actually behind frosting! There must be a custard or pudding portion to stabilize the frosting (keep the butter from melting!). The custard part of the recipe has to cool before it's combined with the butter mixture. I cooked it the night before and let it cool in the refrigerator.
Recipe-
1 cup of rice milk (or any type of milk)
5 TBS spelt flour (or regular wheat flour)

Measure out 1 cup of milk. Put the 5 tablespoons of flour into a heavy bottom pot (that will later be used for heating it). Slowly add milk to the flour and stir until into forms a paste and later a liquid (the goal is to add it slowly to prevent lumps later).  Heat until thick like custard/pudding. Cool in refrigerator.

Step 2:
OIL BASE
We don't normally think oil when we think frosting. However, most mass produced basic frosting is just some solid oil like shortening mixed with confectioners sugar which is powdered regular sugar and cornstarch. For this recipe, we are using butter.
Recipe-
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks or 8 oz cream cheese - or 1/2 of each butter & cream cheese)
Start with room temperature butter. Whip until light and fluffy.

Step 3:

FLAVOR
If dieting for weight loss, you quickly learn that sugar is a flavor!  However, you learn to use less of it. It takes time but soon everything is too sweet. This recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but I only used 3 tablespoons. My taste buds wanted more sweetness. I will keep experimenting and update. I'm thinking of trying rice syrup next time.
1 cup of sugar (or less based on preference)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Optional - Add other flavors like cocoa powder, instant coffee...
Add these ingredients to the butter. Next combine the butter mixture with the custard and blend until smooth.  Frost cake!

Rice milk in pot

Spelt flour measured

Combining the rice milk and spelt flour

Rice milk and spelt flour blended until smooth - ready to heat

Weekend - My Pitfalls

These are things that seem to cause me to stumble on the weekend:
1.  Extra time leads to more food testing and chances for food reaction. So I get inflammation weight gain.
2.  Less sleep - up late doing special projects. Sleep helps weight loss.
3.  Easy access to chocolate - relaxed and guard down! Extra calories.
4.  I am more likely to eat something with gluten - things like pasta and cake.

Forgive myself, and keep pushing!

PITFALLS!!!!!!

Thyme for PMS

Ain't nobody got "thyme" for that - PMS! 

I never really understood why I get similar symptoms from PMS as I do to a food reaction. The connection is histamine. Yes, they both fill my body with histamines. Actually, it is too many histamines. More than my body can tolerate and remove quickly. So my head hurts, eyes burn, neck hurt, vision is blurred, brain fog, shortness of breath, skin irritations, and the list goes on. I popped over the counter pills for this for decades. I finally felt better once getting the food intolerances under control, but not completely. I try not to take pain medication because it is not good for the liver. So I was super excited to find that thyme seasoning actually helps.

Just a little though and try to limit to once per day. Best to chew on it like my grandmother did her tobacco! I found making it as a tea was too powerful since it is high in salicylates, and as tea it gets in my nose and eyes and becomes overpowering.  

A Successful Friday!

I am so excited. I lost almost 2 pounds yesterday! So I thought that I better write down what I ate, and repeat it next week. I do a combination of Phase 2 and 3 for Friday. Note:  For Phase 2 days - (Wed & Thu) I mostly ate chicken and bok choy. The same breakfast as below but with egg whites, and the same snack (no liver).

Breakfast:
Whole egg in the steamer with a fresh curly kale leaf. Dash of pepper jack cheese on top.

Snack:
"Just Chicken" grilled chicken breast from Trader Joe's

Lunch:
Fried chicken livers (fried with Mazola oil blend - canola blend with soy -  high omega 3)
Bok choy

Snack:
Same as snack above with 2 chicken livers

Dinner:

Classic Chicken Cobb Salad from O'Charley - removed avocado and croutons - ate half:

• "The Classic with diced grilled and chilled chicken, tomatoes, bacon, fresh avocado, hard-boiled eggs, bleu cheese crumbles and croutons on a bed of crisp romaine, iceberg and spring mix with our Bleu Cheese Dressing"