Gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie!

I finally took a photo of a gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie this year! Two different times!

The crust was largely hazelnut and rice flour with all the spices of pumpkin pie. I used coconut oil and put a little vanilla in with the cold water, using this crust recipe (with mostly nut flour/meal). I baked the shell for 15-20 minutes before filling it with the pumpkin mix.

I used essentially the spices in the proportions on the can of pumpkin (there were no pie pumpkins available this week) with just a little extra of each spice. For one pie, Libby's calls for

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 nutmeg (that's my addition)

The liquid filling for my one pie omitted the "3/4 cup granulated sugar" and instead included:

• 2 pastured eggs from the farm
• about 1 1/2-2 cups of coconut milk (full fat, unsweetened, organic - see brand discussion below)
  
• a half cup of maple syrup
• a dollop of molasses
• less than a teaspoon of Sucanat (actually this was probably in with the dry spices)
  
• about a teaspoon of vanilla.
  

I put just a little arrrowroot in a tiny bit of water and mixed that with the coconut milk (and syrup) just to add a little stiffness. I think that was about right.

Another time I used pumpkin, which we roasted and then scooped out, but I added too much starch. That time, I included arrowroot and a few Tablespoons of rice flour in the mix, and the result was too solid, as you can see -- more like a quiche instead of velvety.

The rest of the mainstream directions I followed, after baking my mostly-nut meal crusts for 15 min first:

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a larger bowl. Add in pumpkin and spices and mix well. Slowly mix in in coconut milk/maple syrup/vanilla mixture.

Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

In all cases, the pies were delicious. People who need more sweet can add ice cream. We used So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream though I am not a fan of that brand's coconut milk in a carton and always use the canned organic coconut milk that has no weird additives besides a little guar gum and water. And it tastes a lot better than the So Delicious cartons. As for coconut milk brands, Thai Kitchen is a little more expensive where I live than Native Forest, so I usually go with NF. The Whole Foods Brand is cheapest but is often more watery and less flavorful. I found I couldn't really tolerate the Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate very well, and I didn't like having to warm up and add water.

GFCF rolls with hazelnut flour

I wanted to share a photo of the GFCF rolls I made for Thanksgiving this year and an update on the recipe. The bulk of the flour this time was Hazelnut flour from Bob's Red Mill with some sorghum, rice, and tapioca. Also, I got away with using hardly any sugar and a little more molasses (along with a little more flour) than in my original recipe, which, I believe should be in the new Holistic Moms Network cookbook (I haven't seen a copy yet).

Ideally I would soak and dry my own organic nuts (or use nuts from Wilderness Family Naturals) and then grind those for my flour since Bob's nut flour is not organic. But at least the rolls don't send anyone's blood sugar through the roof!

Healing a Face Wound (and more?)

Almost a month ago, I went to the grand re-opening of Holeco Wellness Medi Spa, the first holistic/wellness medispa recognized by Green America as a Green company and listed in their Green Pages. The owner is a wonderful woman who recently spoke at a Holistic Moms meeting. They are in a building that just underwent some lobby renovations, including new glass doors. On my way into the event, where I hoped I might win some fun beauty or energy door prize, I got instead the most ironic of injuries -- I walked right into the glass door that I thought was open, cutting my nose bridge with my glasses and giving myself a huge blow that resulted in a mild black eye a few days later.

As someone who has gotten a ton of craniosacral therapy, I knew that this blow was going to be with me for a while. The knowledge that I was setting myself back hurt more than the immediate physical trauma, though that was pretty bad, too. I was so upset that I was not aware enough to prevent this injury. Honestly, a perpendicular piece of glass did sort of look like the door, but I still should have seen that the door was closed before I rammed into it.

So after I bled all over the ground, went up to the open house and got some ice (and got looked at by a nurse), I drove home as soon as I felt it was safe to do so. When I got home, I immediately took Emergency Trauma Solution and then later Arnica. This was a Tuesday, and on Friday I had a previously-scheduled craniosacral appointment. The therapist said there was quite a bit of trauma, and he recommended Traumeel cream and anything to help with lymphatic drainage.

The next Tuesday, a week after the incident, I saw an acupuncturist and chiropractor who, before he did acupuncture, used an activator on my sinuses, which kind of freaked me out. But some stuffiness cleared up right away, and when I saw the craniosacral therapist again on Friday, he said I seemed much better than he would have expected. He gave props to the acupuncturist. Two weeks later, I saw him again, and he said that the intense jarring of energy actually let him work more deeply into my birth strain than he's been able to before.

So even though I really hadn't planned to spend that much money on treatment and time without exercising (even after three weeks, I still felt the injury in my nose when I first went jogging), I am trying to believe that there is/was/will be something good to come out of this injury, as the spa owner suggested when she kindly called me the day after the injury to check up on me!

Traditional, GFCF, and Low-Carb Eating 101

I just attended a local hospital's women's health expo and spoke to a diabetes nutrition educator who was horrified that I would pursue a low carb diet. "Why would you do that?" she asked. I dropped a lot of names, none of which she was familiar with. I just wrote her an email and decided to post it here and at my other blog for my own (and anyone else's) future reference.


Dear health practitioner,

Different people find health and wellness through different means, but it is through a gluten-free, casein-free, low-carb, low-grain “traditional” diet that I personally was able to reverse autoimmune hyperthyroidism, regain my fertility and address chronic depression.

A powerful book about the wisdom of limiting or avoiding grains is on the site of author Melissa Diane Smith. She wrote a book called Going Against the Grain that explains connections between grain intolerance and other health issues and explains why grains give so many people problems.
http://www.melissadianesmith.com/

I recently saw two speakers talk about avoiding grains at a Gluten Intolerance Group gathering in Richmond, VA.
Dr. Stephen Wangen, author of The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Solution, has written a new book called Healthier Without Wheat. Information is available at www.HealthierWithoutWheat.com
Dr. Rodney Ford makes the case that gluten has neurological impacts on people who do not have celiac disease. Information is available at www.DrRodneyFord.com
These men both gave fascinating presentations.

In terms of traditional eating, the group I referenced is the Weston A. Price Foundation
http://www.westonaprice.org/
Some quick information from the WAPF on healthy vs. unhealthy fats is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
An article on proper preparation of grains is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html
and in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions

A growing number of people are finding better health through increasing their intake of vegetables and decreasing their carbohydrates. Some people even point to a theory of food combining that claims putting carbohydrates with animal proteins inhibits proper digestion of food and leads to an acid/alkaline imbalance, which contributes to inflammatory conditions and to an overgrowth of Candida (yeast).

Some of this information can be found at The Body Ecology Diet - http://www.bodyecologydiet.com/ and in the BED book by Donna Gates.
Some general resources on the benefits of limiting carbohydrates can also be found at
The Gut and Psychology Syndrome - http://gapsdiet.com/
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet - http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

A great read on why follow the wisdom of our ancestors is Nina Planck’s book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why. A farmers' daughter and a proponent of farmers markets, Nina also has a new book out for fertility, mom and baby. See her website at http://www.ninaplanck.com/

I hope you’ll get a chance to look into some of these resources and share this information with your patients.

In health,
Crunchy-Chewy Mama
http://crunchychewymama.blogspot.com/