We love this cookbook!     

Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a wonderful addition to your SCD cookbook collection, a must have first cookbook if you are starting out on the SCD.  

"I would have loved to have this information packed cookbook when I was learning to cook SCD for my son Tucker eight years ago" Says my mother Carol Sweeney.  

The 'BASICS' section is invaluable and makes you feel like Erica is right there in your kitchen helping you learn new recipes and cheering you on. 

We love the Cinnamon Bun Muffins, seafood chowder, cauliflower "popcorn", no grain granola, curry dressing, blueberry cinnamon coffee cake, and many others have now become our favorites.  The color pictures of food throughout the book make you want to cook and eat everything.  If you are craving comfort foods try braised short ribs and carrots, chicken pot pie, sweet fries, chicken tenders, fish tacos or waffles.  These are delicious 

recipes and quite easy to make following Erica's directions.   A bonus to this cookbook well worth mentioning are the sections devoted to information, tips and advice on adapting your lifestyle to the SCD, plus kitchen and pantry items to have on hand, product sources, and a list of handy SCD websites.  I love the measurements and ingredient substitutions in the back so you can adapt recipes to your individual needs.

A great buy and a great addition to your SCD resources.  

Check it out on amazon.com or at comfybelly.com

Take care and stay healthy,

Tucker Sweeney & Carol Sweeney

Hi there everyone!
Wanted to share the interview that I did with Erika over at the food blog Comfy Belly.  She did a great job putting together the interview and I think the questions and answers that are presented will benefit many as they go through the process of eating SCD.
Check out her site while you are there.  She has some amazing recipes, mostly SCD but some GF.

Comfybelly Interview Here

Take care and good health to all of you,

Tucker

Crunchy Energy Bars

These bars are super easy to make and in my opinion put other bars like Lara Bars to shame.  Think salty, sweet, and crunchy compared to thick and pasty.  I almost always make a batch of these before an outdoor trip because they provide plenty of quick energy and are tough enough you can just throw them in a bag with some other food and they wont get crushed.  Sometimes I like to add a little kick to the bars by adding a dusting of cayenne.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I like the large flake variety)
1/4 cup honey ( I like 1/4 cup but you could use 1/2 cup if you like it sweeter)
2T Butter or coconut oil/manna (The coconut oil tends to make them a bit greasy)
1tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (raises, dates, etc.)
Dusting of cayenne (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Rough chop the nuts using a knife or food processor.  Do not over chop.  Think about cutting a cashew into 1/3-1/4 no smaller.  Add the chopped nuts, seeds, and coconut to a large bowl.  In a bowl or measuring cup mix together the honey, vanilla, and butter/coconut product.  Heat honey mixture in microwave if needed to get to a more liquid state.  Add to nuts and mix.  Add salt and mix again. 

Spread nut and honey mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 minutes, re-spreading the mixture once to cook evenly.  After 10 minutes mix in the 1/2 cup dried fruit and bake for another 10 minutes stirring once.

Remove the mixture from oven and pour into a large bowl.  Do not let it cool on the parchment paper as you will not be able to remove it without sticking.  Let mixture cool until you can easily handle it with your hands, yet not cool enough that it is rock hard.  This should take about 10-15 minutes. 

When cool, form into bars with your hands by compressing the mixture between your two hands.  You need to use pressure to initially hold the bars together until they cool.  I like to form bars that resemble a Clif Bar.  About 1/2" thick X 3" long and slightly oval shaped.  You however, can make any shape you want just realize they will become hard when cool so ball shapes aren't easy to eat.

Let shaped bars cool in room temp for about an hour then toss into fridge.

Have a wonderful winter season!




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