A friend of mine is a whiz at researching ingredient substitutions to meet what I call, “extreme” dietary needs.  She is able to make cheesecake out of nut creams!  Yes, that’s right.  A wonderful creamy and light version of a nut butter that spreads and chills like cream cheese.  Perhaps she will share some of that with us in the future?  Hope so.

For now, I realize that out of necessity and for survival, I have come up with several of my own special recipes.  In this section you will find foods that are dairy free, sugar free, decaffeinated, soy and gluten free.  They are very specific to my extreme diet to kill candida and go beyond the typical yeast-free/candida diet due to my food sensitivities.  For example:  you won’t find tomatoes, eggs will be for the egg yolk only, and spices will be limited.  I use a Vita Mix for many of the puddings so please make any adjustments needed for your own food processor!

For general survival tips with extreme diets, please go to the “Extreme Dietary Strategies” page of this blog.  You will find it along the far right-hand column.  And remember, I am a fellow sojourner with a long term illness, not an expert on food, nutrition, and so on.  If it doesn’t taste good to you, please just change the ingredients to your liking.

So let’s get to it with our first recipe:

Protein Cream Pudding

Place in the Vita Mix:

1 1/2 cups (estimated) unsweetened coconut milk (shake well before using)

1/4 cup cashews (if you are low oxalate use pumpkin seeds instead)

1/2 soft avocado

About 4 ice cubes (one could be a frozen spinach mash made in and ice cube tray or just add a chunk of frozen spinach)

1/2 t. cinnamon (Doctor’s Best cinnamon extract is low oxalate)

3 scoops hemp powder (omit if low oxalate)

1/8 t. Celtic sea salt (or sea salt)

Start the VM on 4 then increase both knobs to full power until the drink is creamy and smooth.  Pour into a dessert cup or mug with a large opening.  Get out a spoon and enjoy!  Added twist:  top with chopped nuts.