Je Serai Loin en France Pendant Deux Semaines

Just a little note to let you know that I will be away in France for the next two weeks in the delicious Aquitaine region - the Cote D'argent. So when you think of me (and I will be in a bikini - not my Max from 'Where the Wild Things Are' costume) just imagine me here on this deserted beach.......



Or here, sur un velo - with my lovely boys.



Hopefully I will also be able to eat something when we are there beyond prunes and seafood. I'll let you know how I get on.

Au revoir mes cheries x x x

'Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free!' - Velvet Soup and Squash Bread

Yes, it's that time of month again when us gluten free folks get together to cook up a little something delicious in a celebration of this gorgeous gluten free life we're living (and in my case you can add - grain free, sugar free, dairy and potato free!). This month's theme is Favourite Seasonal Vegetable, hosted by the delightful Rachel (aka - crispy cook) of The Crispy Cook. I need a host for September if anyone would like to take up the baton? Just email me or leave a comment with your blog address.

My only problem this month was narrowing down that choice to one, would it be sweet new season carrots? juicy runner beans? dark leafy spinach or succulent rainbow chard? What about the tiny new season beetroot just appearing or those amazing heirloom tomatoes that come in a rainbow of sunset colours? In the end, my choice was a simple one - a story of girl meets squash, falls instantly in love and takes squash home to have her wicked way with. What a squash! The dense apricot flesh cased in a flamboyant shell of green and cream stripes. This is not a squash to eat neat - it's too dense. You need to treat it with respect and dilute that rich starch with something else.

This week has been all about the soups - nourishing and easy to digest for my newly sparkling insides. A very dense squash makes for a creamy smooth soup - add in some chicken stock and you're half way to heaven. I didn't want to get all fancy on this squash, so I made a really simple soup and some squash bread to go with it. This soup, let me tell you - was so good, soo good! I could hardly wait for Nick to get home for supper and had to keep checking just how good it was. The chicken stock gave it savoury depth, squash provided a luxurious velvety texture,  sweetness came from carrots and caramelised onions and bay lent a soothing nutmeg back note. Yum! Fin went off for a day at the Magdalen Project -  tramping about in muddy streams and woods looking for bugs and building campfires - so I gave him a flask of soup with his lunch and some thickly buttered squash bread. The rest I ate straight from the pan, growling if anyone came near and using my finger to get the last bits.

The bread was simple too - I'll give the recipe another time (or maybe you'll just have to buy my book whenever I manage to spit it out). I toasted the almonds to enhance the mouth filling roundness of flavour and grated in a good amount of squash. It had a great texture, firm but moist and a slight squashy sweetness.

You could use any dense fleshed squash for this soup, but make sure it's local and in season - not some imported butternut from Israel (unless you're reading this in Israel of course)....

Velvet Squash Soup (four modest portions)

Vegetable oil
1 medium brown-skin onion
2 medium carrots (8oz peeled weight)
Sea salt
8oz harlequin squash (peeled weight)
1.25 litres chicken stock (home made is best)
2 bay leaves (fresh ones are lovely)

Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with vegetable oil and heat gently.

Chop the onion roughly and throw into the pan - keep the heat gentle and stir from time to time.

Chop the peeled carrots finely and add to the pan with a pinch of salt. fry gently, stirring from time to time until the onions have started to turn a deep golden colour. This could take up to twenty minutes - but it's worth it.

Peel, de-seed and chop the squash roughly into cubes and put into the pan with the bay leaves. Pour in the stock and bring up to the boil.

Simmer gently with a lid on until the carrots are tender and then take the bay leaves out and liquidise until velvety smooth. You might want to keep back some of the stock - in case the soup is a little too thin - or add a little boiling water if it seems too thick. Taste for seasoning and add some salt or black pepper if you think it needs it. I assume your stock is salt free as I don't put any in mine, but check before you throw a load in!

Pour into bowls or thin it down a little and pack into a flask for tramping through the woods with.

The round up of 'Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free!', will be posted around the end of the first week of September after the September 7th deadline at The Crispy Cook. If you'd like to join in - head over to Rachel's blog for the lowdown on this month's challenge.

Squeaky Clean

Every now and then I like to do some internal housework by treating my insides to a good old cleanse. Even though I eat what I consider to be a very healthy diet, I also probably don't manage to drink quite enough water all the time - all these nuts are quite dehydrating - and I do eat meat which is pretty tough to process. Plus sometimes your digestive system needs a little period of calm in terms of dealing with large amounts of protein or fatty foods. I guess it's a little like Lent after the stodgy winter months - without mountains of chocolate eggs at the end. I used to fast and take herbs, but once I'd heaved a nearly ten pound Finley out and spent the next few years fantasising about sleeping past 6am, fasting didn't seem quite so appealing. I guess I just didn't have the reserves anymore?

Well I realised that I hadn't done a cleanse in a good long time and whilst Summer is a little later than the traditional Spring purge - it seemed as good a time as any to do it. I wanted something gentle and thorough and considered a juice cleanse or maybe a couple of weeks of soup and salad? But during my internet wanderings on the subject I was reminded about an oxygen based cleanser that sounds just like the sort of thing you put down the drains when they are a bit silted up - but I promise you, is nothing of the sort.

Now oxygen therapy isn't new to me, I first found out about it right back when I was starting to have all my gut trouble and had been told it was just IBS. We were living in Brixton at the time and I was recommended a wonderful colonic hydrotherapist called Jean Clarke. At home we simply called her, 'The Batty Lady'  - referring to the area of one's body she worked on, not her mental health you understand. Our upstairs neighbour had been to see her too because she had skin problems and told me every gory detail when she got back. She was so dehydrated that The Batty Lady put her on a course of oxygen therapy before she would even contemplate getting in there with the equipment. What the oxygen did was to gently fizz through her digestive system, gently lifting away anything that was, erm... stuck there. Now some people would have been revolted by all of this, but I loved it and listened rapt to every word. Maybe I did absorb some of those Catholic tenets from my early childhood - because for me, bowel cleanliness is pretty damn holy.

Over the years I've toyed with the idea of oxygen therapy, but never gone ahead with it. I've even recommended it to patients with bowel problems and felt that I should really try it out myself so that my knowledge was authentic. So when the cleansing urge came upon me and I found this oxygen cleanser again, I took it as a sign from the universe and just went ahead and ordered it. The testimonials were amazing and I awaited its arrival impatiently.

Finally it came and I cracked open the bottle instantly - mixing a teaspoon of the chalky powder into a huge glass of water and downing it before I could taste a thing. Then I squeezed the juice of half a lemon into the glass as instructed and downed that too.

When my mouth finally un-puckered I continued with my day - feeling slightly apprehensive that I may be about to puff up like a character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and find myself being rolled about the house by oompa-loompas. Nothing happened. A little internal gurgling maybe - but no fireworks.

When Nick got home I told him about the powder and the lemon juice and he asked me how it worked?

'Well', I started - about to launch into a full chemical explanation, 'it's magnesium'

And before I could finish my sentence he guffawed loudly and shook his head, explaining to me that magnesium was highly combustible and that all he remembered from those distant chemistry lessons was exploding little pieces of it on contact with air.

I clutched my stomach and wondered what I'd done. Surely I hadn't just willingly swallowed something that was explosive? What if I needed to fart? Did I need to be careful about naked flames? Everything felt ok, but I took my bedtime dose a little more hesitantly in case this was the one that unleashed Niagara during the night.

The next morning I awoke after a good night's sleep and still nothing. Hmm? I downed another chalky pint and followed with the lemon juice chaser.

Nothing.....

In fact there was nothing at all that whole day (and I'm a regular girl) so I began to be worried that somehow everything was stuck in there because my intestines were in shock and why didn't I just go with my gentle juice fast like I usually do?

The following morning the cogs were rolling again and then half an hour later they were rolling again, and again, and again until I considered spending the morning in the bathroom with a good book. Suffice to say - the cleansing had begun. I felt slightly high from all the activity and drinking of water and also relieved that there wasn't anything actually wrong with my insides - it was just a time delay.

The great thing is that I can cleanse with minimal adjustments to my diet, I've already given up grains, potatoes, sugar and dairy! All I need to do is cut out the meat for a week, increase my fluid in take and watch how many (very well chewed) nuts I consume. For lunch I made some vividly orange carrot and ginger soup to soothe things along and support my eliminative organs as they did their work and decided not to venture too far from home, you know - just in case.......

Cleansing Carrot and Ginger Soup (3-4 portions)

This is a picture of Finley's bowl with a swirl of yogurt. If you're cleansing then have this without yogurt.

Ingredients

vegetable oil

1 stick of celery (supports kidneys)

1 - 1 1/2 inches of fresh ginger - peeled (calms digestion and stimulates circulation)

2 bay leaves (aid digestion, diuretic - stimulates kidneys)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric (supports both digestive system and liver)

Good grating of fresh nutmeg (aids digestion)

1lb 4oz organic carrots, chopped - peeled weight (supports kidneys, liver and digestion)

2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped (antiseptic & antifungal)

700ml boiling water

Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with vegetable oil, chop the celery and ginger finely and saute until translucent.

Add bay leaves, turmeric and nutmeg to the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cook off the bitterness of the turmeric.

Stir in garlic and then carrots and allow to sweat for five minutes while you boil some water.

Pour in water and simmer until the carrots are tender. Season lightly with salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Check the seasoning and add some more salt and maybe a squeeze of lemon or thin down with a little boiling water if too thick.

Serve with a little swirl of creamy cold pressed oil or yogurt on the top, a teaspoon of toasted cumin seeds are also delicious sprinkled over at the last minute.

Fig & Walnut Bread for Sunday (dairy free & SCD)

There are certain times of the month when I find myself constantly craving something toothsome to nibble on. I'm currently working my way through a 5 kilo bag of hazelnuts that I like to roast and keep in a jar for such an occasion - occasions..... But there are days when I have eaten a perfectly ripe banana, handful of toasted nuts, raw carrot, handful of leaves, a large black prune and a couple of chewy tart dried mango strips and I still find myself hanging around the kitchen cupboards like Pooh Bear, wondering if there isn't a little smackerel of something else I could eat. Finley is constantly on a breeding bird's hunt for tidbits to feed himself and often stops me in the middle of an important job to point at his open mouth and squawk, 'feed me mummy!' before slumping at my feet - as though in the last stages of starvation.

Today I had the presence of mind to write Nick a shopping list and take up his kind offer to get the groceries in - without the list we get an assortment of gourmet treats and a bag of carrots, but no toilet paper. While he was gone I tinkered about with some figs and walnuts and produced a bread/cake of surprising lightness - but with a real depth of flavour and pleasing crunch provided by the fig seeds. It was out of the oven and cooling by the time Nick returned with everything on the list (hurrah!) and I was able to offer him a slice for his trouble - while Finley and I consumed snack number eight or nine.

I baked this in a round tin because I wanted it to cook quickly - and therefore be consumed as soon as possible - but you could bake it in a small loaf tin and give it another 10-15 minutes cooking time. If you want to make it more of a cake then add a heaped dessertspoon of honey to the eggs before you add the oil and maybe drizzle a little over the top, or serve with some grilled fresh figs?

Light Fig and Walnut Bread (Dairy Free & SCD) serves 8

3 oz sweet dried figs (I used baby figs)
4 floz water
2 oz walnut halves
6 oz ground almonds (almond flour)
3 large free range eggs
80 ml vegetable oil (almond, organic rapeseed or grapeseed etc)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cider vinegar

Grease and line a deep sided 8" diameter  cake tin - or a 1lb loaf tin. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan assisted (175 without)

Place figs and water in a small saucepan and simmer until most of the water is absorbed - there should just be a bit of moisture left in the bottom.

Blitz the figs in a food processor until they form a coarse paste. Add ground almonds and process again till damp crumbs form. Add walnuts and process again briefly until they are coarsely chopped. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs with an electric hand whisk until frothy. Still beating, slowly drizzle in the oil in a thin stream and continue beating until the eggs are pale, thick and doubled in volume.

Sprinkle bicarb and vinegar over the eggs and beat briefly to distribute evenly.

Tip nut mix onto the eggs and fold in thoroughly with a metal spoon until the nuts are evenly distributed - there will still be quite a lot of egg apparent, but don't worry.

Scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes - or until firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Give the loaf more time to bake and maybe turn the temperature down if it browns too fast. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to three days - or slice and freeze for up to two weeks.

Comforting Cocoa-butter Cupcakes (Dairy Free, SCD)

Finley was tucked up in bed, piggy under one arm when I arrived home yesterday evening after a two hour driving lesson. Next to him on the bottom bunk was Nick, all six feet improbably squashed into the tiny bed for a last cuddle before sleep. Amazingly, Nick has been known to fall asleep like this in the five minutes between finishing a story and turning out the fairy lights that twinkle at the end of the bed. Last night he was still awake and two faces turned up to me like peas in a pod, as I leaned in for a goodnight kiss. Fin's face wore an expression of pure bliss and I remembered it distantly - that feeling of completeness that comes from falling asleep on someones lap, or holding a hand, of hearing my grandad's smooth Dublin tones fade away as I gratefully gave in to sleep.

Making my way quietly downstairs I was overcome with the need for something delicious to eat, something to curl up in front of our rented movie with and munch gratefully - something warm and buttery with a deep vanilla note, to soothe my desire for comfort and hush my jangled driving lesson nerves.

I reached for - you guessed it - my tub of cocoa butter - kept securely in the special things cupboard. The opening of which resembles the iconic scene from pulp fiction where Vincent Vega flips the combination on the briefcase to reveal.......something so amazing that he is flooded with golden light while a far away smile creeps onto his face. That my friends is how I feel every time I get down the cocoa butter - the most delicious fat I own!

In a very few minutes I was sliding a tray full of filled cupcake cases into a hot oven and instructing Nick to fire up the movie in anticipation. When they were done, we ate one as soon as they were cool enough to touch, blowing on each piece as we went. Then - purely for comparison's sake you understand - we ate another cooler cake, slowly, our feet touching as the film unfolded and my nerves sighed with the relief of homecoming.

Cocoa-butter Cupcakes (makes 8)

You could ice (frost) these if you want with creme fraiche and honey, marshmallow icing or butter cream, but I prefer them plain to let the cocoa-butter speak for itself. When the cakes have completely cooled, the cocoa-butter gives them a very satisfying density.

I buy my cocoa butter from Detox Your World, but there are plenty of other online retailers who sell it - just don't buy a huge amount at once as it can go rancid like any other fat (and it will bankrupt you) and check out the return policy, because if you get sent some cocoa butter that is no good then you should send it back. If it doesn't smell chocolaty, creamy and slightly alcoholic - if it has a bitter smell - then it's probably started to go off and won't taste good.

2 1/2 oz raw (food grade) cocoa butter
3 large free range eggs
Heaped dessertspoon white almond butter (or hazel/cashew butter)
6 heaped tsp mild tasting set honey
2 caps full of bourbon vanilla extract (contains no sugar)
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp cider vinegar or lemon juice
6 oz finely ground almonds (almond flour)

Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted, (175 without) fill a muffin tray with 8 paper muffin cases and pour water into the empty spaces.

Melt the cocoa butter in a bain marie or a dessert bowl over a small pan of simmering water. As soon as it is melted, take it off the heat and set aside.

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl with your chosen nut butter, honey, vanilla extract and bicarbonate of soda. Beat with an electric mixer until light and frothy.

Pour the melted cocoa butter in a thin stream into the eggs with the beaters still going, until it is all incorporated. Beat for an extra minute to get as much air as possible into the mixture.

Sprinkle in the vinegar/lemon juice and beat again to distribute.

Add the ground almonds to the bowl and fold in thoroughly with a metal spoon. Pour into a jug and fill the waiting cases evenly.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container for up to three days (or eat whilst still hot and try not to burn yourself)

A Simple Pea and Basil Soup (Dairy Free & SCD)

Fin mostly travels anywhere with a little supply of food attached to his back in a boy sized rucksack, like a little red humped camel (or is that a myth, camels living off their hump? hmmm). With enough notice I can provide Fin with an enviable selection of treats, grain and tomato free pizza, sugar free cakes, burritos, sushi rolls - you name it. Unexpected invitations however, can throw me into a frenzy of food preparation if I haven't kept the freezer well stocked with breads and muffins, the fridge replete with low salicylate vegetables and fruits and the banana cupboard ready to give up a perfectly ripe spotted specimen.

We camped all weekend in a miracle window of sunshine during this endless wet summer and then on Monday I saw patients all day. When Joy called on Tuesday morning and said she would pick Fin up in half an hour if I liked? I flew to the kitchen cupboards and saw that I had inadvertently become Old Mother Hubbard and had only a couple of courgettes and a lonely stick of celery to conjour with (also some Greek yogurt and half a pomegranate that I quickly made into a delicious cheese cake type dessert with some ground nuts and not a little magic). No onions, no squash, no eggs, no tuna......

What to do? what to do? The freezer seemed unable to help, being stuffed full of half a lamb and an eighth of a cow. Even I am not game enough to send Fin to a friend's house brandishing a frozen shin of beef. But there in the bottom drawer I spotted the frozen peas all frosty green, and knew that soup was the answer to my predicament.

By some stroke of luck I also had a fat head of new season garlic in the bowl and a great big bunch of basil that I had intended to make into pesto. The smallest amount of chopping later and a quick whizz in the blender and Finley had a flask of bright emerald, basil and garlic scented soup. As he wafted past the kitchen door still wearing only pants and a single sandal, he sniffed the air deeply in  appreciation and came to taste the soup. More basil or lemon? Nope, it's just perfect.......

Simple Pea Soup (Feeds 4-5)

I needn't tell you that not all frozen peas are created equal - make sure you buy a good brand and they will be sweeter and more tender, or use petit pois if you like. Unless you have fresh peas in your garden that you can rush from pod to pot, buying fresh peas in a pod is a bit of a waste of time - all the sugar turns to starch and they will be bland at best. You could substitute mint for the basil here, (or even a little sage) and dress up the bowl as much as you like with yogurt, creme fraiche, lemon, a drizzle of olive oil or a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts. It's your call.

3-4 fat cloves of garlic
2 medium sticks of celery
2 small or 1 large courgette
2 bowls of frozen peas
1 1/2 pints boiling water
pinch of sea salt
squeeze of lemon juice
handful of fresh basil leaves

Wash and finely chop the celery and courgette. Coat the bottom of a soup pan with vegetable oil (not olive) and saute the vegetables gently until transparent. Then roughly chop the garlic, removing any green shoots and add to the pan, stirring to prevent it burning, until it starts to soften - about 3-4 minutes.

When the garlic is soft, pour in the boiling water and bring back up to the boil, simmer for ten minutes. Then add your frozen peas and simmer again until they are tender and still bright green - if you let them boil too long, the soup will be dull coloured.

Pour everything into a blender with a pinch of salt and the basil leaves and process until smooth. Then taste again and decide what it needs, more basil, lemon or salt? If it's too thick then add a little boiling water. When the flavour and consistency are just right, pour into bowls and garnish as you like.

A Book Review - Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet by Raman Prasad

When Raman Prasad asked me if I would like to review his new book, I was delighted to say yes. Of course I already have it Raman! It's one of my favourites, packed full of interesting recipes and not a whiff of aestheticism or restricted diet about it. I'll tell you why I love it in more detail below.

The Recipes:
The book is structured in a pretty standard way with breakfast at the front (Hazelnut and Vanilla Pancakes, Huevos Rancheros, Raspberry Scones with Cardamom) and dessert at the back (Nonnies Thanksgiving Pie, Mango Ice-cream, Scottish Shortbread, Portuguese Almond Puffs....drool). In between are a range of delicious, ethnic inspired dishes - lots of Indian influences and a little Mexican and Middle Eastern too, making this food tasty and satisfying in a way that would be unthinkable for most books on treating inflammatory bowel disorders.

Raman gives recipes for SCD yogurt - fermented for 24 hours to eliminate most of the lactose. He also provides useful alternatives to sauces and condiments that are not allowed on the diet due to the sugars or starches they contain. The section on snacks will be especially useful for those with children  - who need constant topping up with treats and fuel. It can be daunting to know what to eat when you suddenly feel hungry and don't want to just scarf down another ripe banana!

Explanation of the Diet:
The book gives a beautifully clear explanation of what happens in inflammatory bowel disease and why this diet is appropriate to treat it. You may feel like a little light bulb is flickering to life in your head when you read this section, if you haven't read Elaine Gottishall's work on the subject. We get a little of the history of SCD and its founder Doctor Haas which is also easy to read and assimilate.

Presentation:
Top marks again for the presentation of the book! It looks fresh and modern - the type is easy to read and recipes are given a whole page each with a little explanation of the dish. A visual feast in itself, the photography is luscious and drool worthy. A coffee table SCD cookbook - who would have thought it eh?

The Personal Touch:
We get a brief biog on Raman and little snippets throughout the book, but I wanted more. I wished he had expanded a little on his own journey and given himself the space he allowed Elaine Gottishal and Doctor Haas. The little bits you do get sound so lovely and personalise the recipes in a way that speaks to me. Food is life and a little more of Raman's life would have been the vanilla frosting on this delicious cake.

I also have to celebrate Raman for giving us sweet treats that are not saturated in honey. Many of the SCD recipes books I have read use far too much honey in their recipes. It's my belief that most people with IBD should not eat any honey until their symptoms are in remission and after that it needs to be an occasional treat, not a daily indulgence. We need to wean ourselves off super sweet foods in order to allow the taste buds to wake up and taste the inherent sweetness of fruits and vegetables.

So if you're interested in the SCD diet, or a grain free diet - or if you're a celiac who would like some recipes that are guaranteed to treat your gut with respect, then choose this book and await its arrival with excitement, because you will eat very well indeed once it lands on your doormat.

The book is available from Raman Direct at SCD Recipe.com: Recipes for the SCD

Or buy it on Amazon UK here: Recipes for the SCD

Amazon US here: Recipes for the SCD