Yummy Substitutions

I've been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), for a little over 2 weeks. When I tell people that the diet is "no grains, no sugar, no dairy except homemade yogurt and aged cheese", a lot of people are appalled at the restrictiveness. However, I find the food I do eat really tasty. I thought I'd share some of my favorite substitutions:

• Butternut squash fries (instead of potato or sweet potato fries)
• Prosciutto instead of bacon
• Banana bread made with ground almonds (instead of flour)
• Hot chicken wings made with homemade hot sauce of honey, butter, vinegar, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper (instead of bottled hot sauce)
• Club soda with a lemon wedge (instead of pop)

In general I consider the substitutions I make better for me. While they sometimes have more calories or fat, they also have more nutrition and less processing.

Holiday Food and Yummy Pancakes

My last post about food was on December 13. I was still flying high on healthy food that day. Then I started to have problems with the foods I was adding back into my diet (tomatoes, chili peppers) and with other foods I had been eating all along.

Then came the first of my indulgence days. And they're still going. What can I say? It's the holidays and I'm enjoying all of the sweet treats of the season. And I'm paying for it because my body certainly doesn't love me eating this way.

I made a decision almost a week ago to go back on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), starting Dec 27. I've done this diet before for 8 months and it was the happiest my digestive system has ever been.

Almond flour (ground blanched almonds) is typically a big part of the SCD. I've had a lot of experience cooking with almond flour and made some great recipes. However, they always were obviously different than their grain-filled counterparts. Until I made these pancakes.

Before I share the pancake recipe, if you make these don't feel discouraged. I made a half batch and they got all gummed up in my blender (oh no!). So I put the batter in a bowl and stirred it; it seemed way to thick (oh no!). I put the batter on a griddle and it didn't spread itself, I needed to use the spatula (oh no!). Then I burnt one side (oh no!). After all of that I almost didn't try them. But I'm so glad I did. So tasty! And very pancake like.

Elana's pancake recipe (and see my notes below): Pancakes

1) Almond flour can be anywhere from coarse to fine depending on your source. Mine has always been on the coarse side which is what made my baked goods so different from flour based recipes. Before making the pancakes, I pulsed the almond flour in my mini-food processor to get a finer grind. I think this is what gave them that perfect pancake texture.

2) I don't use agave, so I substituted homemade apple syrup.