Candida-Friendly Soup Recipe

I’ve decided to start posting recipes that fit in with my Candida diet.  Most people have never heard of a Candida, so here is a definition in a nutshell.  Anyway, when I first realized I had Candida, it required a complete change in the way I ate. No more starches , processed foods, no sugar in ANY FORM, etc.  It is easier to list what I can eat than what I can’t eat. Basically I can consume  meat, veggies and some complex carbohydrates like rice and barley.  I can also eat grains no one has ever heard of like buckwheat, amaranth, and the like.  I was seriously depressed for quite some time because I was hungry and had no idea what to make that I could actually eat.  But with the help of my Mom, my sweet friend Carmen, and lots of experimenting, I have a pretty broad range of recipes to choose from.  So in case anyone else with Candida ever stumbles across my blog, maybe they can benefit from some of the recipes I’ve collected.

So all that to say, I threw this soup together last week when we all wanted something warm, satisfying and comforting.  It turned out delicious! All of the ingredients are Candida friendly except the potatoes.  Those can easily be eliminated and the soup is still tasty and, most importantly, FILLING!

Ingredients

3 cups chicken stock

3 cups water

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 small can Italian diced tomatoes

½ cup rice or barley

½ cup lentils

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 large onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 lb. sautéed sausage

2 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer all ingredients until veggies, rice and lentils are soft.

A Kerr Christmas

Our Christmas was a busy one! We celebrated Christmas Eve with hubby’s family and had a wonderful time.  Bri is at the age where she has fully grasped the meaning and excitement of “presents.” It was so fun to watch her tear into gift bags, rip wrapping paper and exclaim, “Ohhhh!!” when the present was finally revealed. 

Emmie had no clue what was going on, of course.  She did thoroughly enjoy being around all the family, especially Nana and Papa’s dog, Ralph. Ralph is massive golden retriever with the sweetest temperament you could ask for.  He let Emmie hold onto his ears and get right in his face, which sent her into fits of laughter. 

[caption id="attachment_273" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="Emmie and Great-Grandmama Kerr"][/caption]

We also spent quite of bit of time baking.  Bri started baking sugar cookies with Grandma, but rapidly lost interest.  She may do better next year when she has more of an attention span. 

Six hours in the kitchen on Christmas Eve day produced these four gorgeous pies!  I was, and still am, so proud of how they turned out.  They tasted good, too, which was a real plus after all that time I spent on them!

Bri also gave us our first Christmas gift this year.  She went to the bathroom on her potty for the first time!! Best Christmas gift we could have asked for.  I guess this means potty training is looming on the horizon of our New Year!

Emmie also had a milestone on Christmas Morning.  She pulled up for the first time on her own and I got a picture of it!! My babies are growing up so fast!

Emmie Grace

My sweet baby is 8 months old. So far, my favorite age range has been 6-12 months with both my girls.  Emmie is still a soft, cuddly baby but she sleeps through the night (for the most part), responds, interacts and is nearly always happy. 

It’s so interesting to watch Emmie’s personality develop.  This child loves being around people and is definitely not reserved.  She watches everything Bri does with intense curiosity.  I don’t think she’ll grow up to be a person who does anything halfway.  Her enthusiasm for learning to roll over, crawl and pull up is adorable and kind of surprising.  Maybe that much zeal is normal, but it’s new to me, since Bri is so cautious about trying anything new or different. 

This is Emmie’s first Christmas and she has not mauled the tree as I feared she would.  Obviously, she’s touched it and I think she’s pulled an ornament off once or twice, but overall, she’s done well. 

Baths are a big hit with this little girl, just like they are with her big sister.  She loves to splash, chew on the toys and try to eat the bubbles, as you can seein the pictures below :)

Splish-Splash, I Was Takin’ A Bath?

Bri loves her baths, or “bas,” as she calls them.  She can’t strip down fast enough when it’s time to get into the tub.  She has a blast with the bubbles, the cups and the bath toys.  The only drawback is getting her hair washed.  Something about water in her hair triggers wailing and uncontrollable thrashing.  I have yet to figure out the cause of this.  But I digress.

This morning was a particularly whiny morning.  Nothing was making her happy.  She wouldn’t eat much, didn’t want to play with her toys and it was too early for a nap.  So when she followed me into the bathroom, whining, I told her to stop, use her words and tell me what she wanted.  She proceeded to point at the bathtub and say, “Bas, pease!” in the most adorable, pleading tone.  I told her it wasn’t bath-time yet.  She said, “No, bas, pease!!”  When she started trying to climb into the tub on her own, I gave in and lifter her over the edge.  She was THRILLED.  The child plopped onto her bottom, pulled out the bath toys and played in the dry bathtub, fully clothed, for an hour on her own.  I really thought she would want to get out when I left the bathroom, but she didn’t. She sat in there contentedly chattering and playing and didn’t even seem to realize that I’d left.

 

My Introduction to Organic Eating

My Mom bought me this awesome cookbook, Fresh Choices, last week and I've been pouring over it ever since.  It has tons of information about eating organic foods and why it is so much better for our bodies.  It has blown me away.  I always thought eating organic was unnecessary and kind of a waste of money, but not anymore. Since learning all of this new information I've been slowly buying a few organic items to get my feet wet, so to speak. In addition to being more nutritious, I've noticed the organic food I've purchased tastes so much better!  Last week, I purchased a pork roast that was free-range and antibiotic and hormone free.  I threw it in my slow cooker with an onion, three cloves of garlic and half a cup of water and let it cook all day.  It was the most flavorful, tender delicious pork roast I have ever eaten.  We polished off the last of it last night in pork fajitas.  Yum, yum. 

I tried the recipe below this afternoon and it was delish!

Orange Banana Smoothie

1 container (8 oz) organic vanilla yogurt

1 cup orange juice

1 fresh or frozen ripe banana, broken into pieces

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

Pinch of salt

In a blender, combine the yogurt, orange juice, banana, cinnamon and salt.  Blend until smooth and frothy, about 30 seconds.

Try it and let me know what you think!