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SCD Apple Banana Cake

SCD Apple Banana Cake

SCD eaters have a hard time finding carbs that are comfortable and safe to eat – especially the ones I know, who are little – but this SCD legal Apple Banana Cake is a problem solver!

The problem with SCD for kids is that it can stunt growth. Those are fightin’ words I know! But, when children eat a high protein, high fat, low carb diet (as was true for the infamous Atkins diet of the ’80s), they will not only not gain weight very well, they may not grow well either – even when they eat ample daily total calories.

Why is this? Because little humans need carbohydrates for growth. Carbs protect protein for other tasks during growth. They also help build a healthy gut biome, when the right carbs are eaten. When kids go keto, they are using protein and ketones for energy. Protein is a lousy fuel source. Relying on it day after day will overburden kidney. Ketones (as you probably know) are a great fuel source. While this works great for adults and anyone who does not need to lose weight, it doesn’t work so well for children who need to gain weight and correct a growth pattern that has flattened. Ketones can also suppress appetite, making it even harder to eat the amounts of food children need to repair growth patterns

Once you get past Intro, Stage 1 and Stage 2 of SCD, try this recipe. I took extra care to cook apples before baking them in to the cake (a tool like this, if you don’t already have one, makes the core/cut/peel part of the task fast and easy). If you’re further along in the Stages of SCD, you may be fine putting cut raw apples into the bake. If you don’t have time to cook the apples, use SCD legal applesauce (2 cups).

I also took extra caution with the orange juice, and fresh-squeezed my own for the recipe (with one of these – makes this job a snap too, and many versions abound. I’ve had mine for over 30 years and it’s still going strong). Or, you can use any store bought SCD legal OJ instead (Whole Foods 365 fresh squeezed for example) to save time.

The third thing I was careful to do was grind the pumpkin seeds into meal before adding to the recipe. Again, SCDers who are stable, past early phases, and not trying to resolve active symptoms may be able to skip that step and just place the seeds in the batter.

Ok enough tips – bake and enjoy. This is moist and yummy, almost like a kugel, minus the grains and sugar!

SCD Apple Banana Cake
Print Recipe
Moist, rich, delicious...like a kugel or bread pudding - but Paleo and SCD legal!
Servings Prep Time
9 3 inch pieces 90 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
9 3 inch pieces 90 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
SCD Apple Banana Cake
Print Recipe
Moist, rich, delicious...like a kugel or bread pudding - but Paleo and SCD legal!
Servings Prep Time
9 3 inch pieces 90 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
9 3 inch pieces 90 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: 3 inch pieces
Instructions
  1. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan with coconut oil or ghee, and line with parchment baking paper. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Place pumpkin seeds in a food processor. Grind to fine meal. Add this to a medium size bowl and combine with dry ingredients: Almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, raw maca powder.
  3. In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer bowl, combine eggs, honey, vanilla. Beat til smooth and evenly mixed.
  4. Core and peel apples (a coring tool makes this easy). Slice thin and then chop into smaller pieces. Sauté these in ghee in coconut oil, and add orange juice. Cover and simmer til bubbling soft, about 15 minutes.
  5. Mash banana to gloppy liquid in another bowl. Add the cooked apples (or applesauce) to the banana mash, and stir both to mix together evenly.
  6. Add the banana/apple mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir to evenly combine everything.
  7. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, stir til evenly mixed. Batter will be thick and wet. Spoon into baking pan. Bake for one hour, til top is browned and cake has begun pulling from edges of pan. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

[recipe]

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Summer Peach Blueberry Crisp (Paleo)

Summer Peach Blueberry Crisp (Paleo)

I bought peaches too early and this Summer Peach Blueberry Cobbler was the answer. My husband was right. “Don’t buy those, June is too soon. They look great but they will not ripen.” He was right. We had a whole case of beautiful looking, organic peaches in mid June. After trying to eat one or two, we gave up. The skins were dehydrated and showing mold. The flesh had great flavor but was so hard the pits couldn’t be separated out. We tried putting them in paper bags to ripen, no go. I couldn’t bare to toss them all out. After perusing recipes from several favorite sources, this is the amalgam I came up with, and it’s delicious!

Peaches and blueberries are problem solvers in my pediatric nutrition practice too. Obvious benefits are antioxidants and vitamins, but I like to find healthful, non-sugary carbohydrate sources that picky eaters will enjoy (besides cheese crackers, bread, sugary granola bars, etc). If your kids won’t touch the fresh fruit, this is a good recipe to try. Blueberries are a low FODMAPs fruit, meaning kids with gas, bloating, FPIES, or reflux may do okay with them. And, both peaches and blueberries are “legal” on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, meaning that they are easy to digest in the upper small intestine, where Candida and other disruptive microbes don’t like to hang out. These fruits won’t feed yeast or dysbiosis much if at all. When both are cooked as in this recipe, they become even more digestible.

Summer Peach Blueberry Cobbler (Paleo)
Print Recipe
A luscious summer treat without all the sugar and junk. Amazing warm out of the oven with some coconut whipped cream or dairy free ice cream option like Coconut Bliss Vanilla. If your peaches are too firm for eating, cooking them slightly and then baking as is done in this recipe solves the problem. The fruit becomes sweeter and texture-perfect.
Servings Prep Time
8 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Summer Peach Blueberry Cobbler (Paleo)
Print Recipe
A luscious summer treat without all the sugar and junk. Amazing warm out of the oven with some coconut whipped cream or dairy free ice cream option like Coconut Bliss Vanilla. If your peaches are too firm for eating, cooking them slightly and then baking as is done in this recipe solves the problem. The fruit becomes sweeter and texture-perfect.
Servings Prep Time
8 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Rinse blueberries and remove any stems. Set aside. Grease a 9 x 12 glass baking dish with butter, ghee or coconut oil. Heat oven to 350.
  2. Skin and pit the peaches, and cut them into chunks. You can skin peaches via one of two ways: Blanching (skin pulls off easily) or, by peeling the skin off the raw fruit with a sharp knife. To blanche and skin peaches, follow these steps: https://www.wikihow.com/Blanch-Peaches Be sure to remove pits.
  3. Add water and honey to a pot, place over medium heat and stir to blend together evenly. Add just the peaches. Cook on medium heat to reach a low simmer, about ten minutes. Let peaches cook long enough to soften the flesh. If already ripe and soft, heat through enough to see a simmer emerge, eg 5 minutes.
  4. Make a space in the center of the pot by clearing the fruit away. Add the arrowroot or tapioca starch, and mix it with the liquid. Continue medium heat and low simmer, and blend starch evenly with the liquid to thicken it. Then stir the peaches til evenly distributed throughout the thickened liquid. Cover and remove from heat.
  5. In a food processor, place the GF oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, flax meal, coconut sugar, cinnamon, stevia, and salt and process to a coarse powder. Add ghee or coconut oil and pulse again briefly, til evenly blended. Substitute additional nuts (cashew, macadamia, walnut) if you want to omit the oats for full Paleo. If these nuts are unsafe, omit oats and increase almonds, flax meal, and pumpkin seeds to make up the lost volume.
  6. Place cooked peaches and rinsed blueberries in the greased baking dish. Spread topping from food processor generously over all. Bake 25-30 minutes. Top should look golden brown and crisp.
Recipe Notes

For Paleo option, omit gluten free oats and substitute walnuts or macadamia nuts. If these are not safe for your household, simply increase the other topping ingredients to make up volume lost by removing oats.

Canned peaches may work in a pinch, use peaches that have no added sugars or syrup. You'll need two 15 oz cans.

 

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Paleo Tuna Pesto

Paleo Tuna Pesto

Tuna Pesto? It’s good. I modified this recipe from a cookbook I was gifted many years ago, of traditional Italian pasta sauces. One of the recipes called for a can of tuna, which sounded awful, until I tried it. It’s delicious. Merging that recipe with a basil pesto – minus the Parmesan and boosted on lemon – produced my version below.

Most of us are not eating a lot of tuna these days. But I keep this recipe in my rotation because it is so easy and fast to make, and it’s versatile – it can pair with anything from gluten free pasta (for picky eaters working on transition away from grains) to green beans, cauliflower, on a baked potato, or in a soft tortilla. Use a lentil pasta to keep the whole meal grain free. You can also vary the nut or seed choice; my favorite is raw sprouted pumpkin seeds, but classic walnut or pine nut are wonderful too; raw sunflower seeds work as well. I like unseasoned, raw or sprouted seeds or nuts for best flavor.

Note: Worcestershire sauce can be tricky to find gluten free, and without stuff like corn syrup – but it is a major piece of the puzzle in this recipe’s flavor. Don’t skip it. Find The Wizard’s brand gluten free, organic, vegan version and keep it on hand for this and other occasions calling for this complex condiment. In the US, Lea & Perrins claims to be GF also.

Paleo Tuna Pesto
Print Recipe
An unexpected variation on the usual pesto! If your family tolerates nuts, try this with walnuts or pine nuts. Enjoy tossed with cooked vegetables, a favorite pasta of any type, as a crostini or bagel spread, packable school lunch dip, or rolled up in soft tacos.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Paleo Tuna Pesto
Print Recipe
An unexpected variation on the usual pesto! If your family tolerates nuts, try this with walnuts or pine nuts. Enjoy tossed with cooked vegetables, a favorite pasta of any type, as a crostini or bagel spread, packable school lunch dip, or rolled up in soft tacos.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Start vegetables or pasta that you will be using with the sauce: Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli or Romanesco are delicious with this sauce. Steam, roast, or sear to desired doneness, about 15 minutes. While these are cooking, assemble the sauce.
  2. Place half the olive oil in a food processor. Add the drained tuna, seeds or nuts, lemon wedge (washed and seeds removed), Worcestershire, ginger root, and fresh herbs. Slowly add the remaining olive oil, and process until smooth.
  3. Once blended, here is the consistency you're after. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, process to blend.
  4. Toss sauce over warmed vegetables and serve.
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