As I took the two loaves out of the oven, the first thing that struck me was their appearance.  They were beautiful with a deep golden brown crust.  They were not flat hard bricks, but instead had risen well with only baking soda as the leavening agent.  As I sliced the loaf, the texture was good and held together.  It did not crumble all over the place; therefore, it made good sandwiches.  This bread was a hit.  My only regret was not taking a picture of the loaves before my family devoured them.

 Almond Flour Bread

5 cups of blanched almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
8 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  I used my electric stand mixer to make this bread; however, it is not necessary.  In the large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Add the melted butter and honey.  Turn the mixer on the lowest speed.  Add the eggs one at a time as the dough is mixing.  Beat it until everything is combined well. 

Divide the dough equally into two oiled loaf pans.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.  Allow to cool for five minutes in the pan and remove to a cooling rack.  Slice and serve warm or later at room temperature.  Makes two loaves. 

We had warm slices of bread iced with butter.  Later we had grilled cheese sandwiches.  We also used two slices like hamburger buns another day.  And, my husband ate toast for breakfast this morning.  I thought the two loaves went pretty far considering how many people we are feeding.  Already each child has asked me when I am going to bake more of my bread.

Baking bread on SCD was never on my radar ten months ago.  However, it is possible.  It helps give a little variety to your meals and satisfy even the appetites of growing boys and girls.  Try my recipe and let me know what you think of it.

Honey Cured Ham straight out of the smoker.

One of my daughter’s favorite foods, ham, has been off limits to us these past nine months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  It is not because it is pork; it has been a no-no due to the sugar used in the curing process.  We are only allowed to consume mono-saccharides like honey.

For Christmas dinner, we really wanted to eat ham.  Our desire spurred us to research home curing pork.  Everything used sugar, but we decided to take a chance and alter the recipes we found.  The result was an absolutely delicious ham.  It was surprisingly easy to prepare.

The first step in the curing process is knowing how much your fresh pork weighs.  Some people use a pork shoulder or large roast from the store.  We used a fresh pork ham from my daughter’s 4-H swine project.  It weighed a little over 6 pounds.  We could easily work with this size of pork.

Honey Cure (for about a 6 pound ham)

2 liters of filtered water
1 cup honey
1/4 cup Kosher salt

This amount works well up to 6 pounds.  If your ham is larger, double the recipe.  In a pitcher combine all three ingredients and stir until the salt dissolves.  Place your fresh ham into a large bowl.  It has to be deep enough to allow the meat to be completely submerged in the brine, but small enough to fit in your refrigerator.  Pour the brine over the ham.  Place a plate on it to hold the meat down.  Refrigerate for three days.  The rule of thumb is 2 pounds per day so it will take longer for a larger ham.

Once it is fully brined, remove it from the brine and place on a rack to dry in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours.  Then you smoke it.  My husband used hickory chips.  Most men have their own way of smoking meat, which I am not going to discuss at this time.  However, the important part is making sure that the ham reaches the proper temperature.  It has to reach 155 degrees Farenheit before removing from the smoker.

We chose not to use insta-cure, which acts a preservative in case you do not handle the meat properly.  It protects you from the possibility of botulism.  If you are not going to be diligent in cooking your pork properly, then do not attempt this recipe.

Once you remove the pork it will continue to cook when wrapped in foil to hold the heat in.  Allow it to cool wrapped on the counter.  At this time, we refrigerated the pork because it was not Christmas.

On Christmas morning, I set it out on the counter to take the chill off the meat before cooking it.  Then I preheated the oven to 325 degrees while I prepared the glaze.

Honey Glaze

2 cups honey
2/3 cup butter
whole cloves

Stud the ham with the whole cloves.  One every two inches is sufficient.  Heat the honey and butter together in a small saucepan.  Brush the glaze over the ham. Cover the ham with foil.  Then bake for 1 1/2 hours, glazing every 15 minutes.

Unwrap/uncover the ham.  Change your oven from bake to broil.  Broil the ham for about 5 minutes to allow the honey to caramelize.  Serve warm.

This is a delicious recipe.  Watch out Honey Baked Ham!  The main difference is the color of the ham.  Our ham still looked like pork since we did not use insta-cure preservatives, which gives a pink color to the meat.

Christmas Dinner was a rewarding feast.  We were eating a home-grown and home-cured ham along with a roasted wild duck that my boys brought me from a hunt.  Regardless of the occasion, it is special when you honey cure your own ham.

First, let me tell you my criteria for the perfect Christmas breakfast.  It needs to be warm and delicious.  It needs to be easy to prepare or prepared the day before and warmed.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy standing in the kitchen by myself on Christmas morning.  I have narrowed down the possibilities to the following.

Inspired by Elana Amsterdam’s recipe in Gluten-Free Cupcakes, this recipe uses frozen blueberries and coconut flour.  They rival any blueberry muffin you have ever had.

Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine everything but the fruit, and then fold the blueberries into the mixture gently.  Put in a muffin pan with paper liners.  It makes 12.   Bake for 22 minutes or until only a few crumbs come out on a toothpick.  Eat warm.

Another contender for our Christmas morning breakfast is Cinnamon Raisin Bread.  I used to eat slices of this toasted bread for breakfast as a kid, but this version is gluten-free and SCD-friendly.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup homemade yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2-1 cup raisins, as desired

Combine the first five ingredients together.  Slowly swirl in the cinnamon and raisins so there are streaks of the spice and it is not well combined.  Put into a one quart loaf pan that has been buttered or greased with olive oil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 5 minutes in pan and then remove to cool on a rack until you are ready to serve.  I like mine warm with a pat of butter.

Another option is Cinnamon Coffee Cake in Lucy’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet Cookbook.  It is yummy!  It tastes similar to a cinnamon roll.  It is on page 92 of her must-have cookbook for anyone on SCD.

My final possibility is also inspired by an Elana Amsterdam recipe.  It is like a crumb cake in muffin form.  They are so good that Lane with Jake’s help made these for my birthday breakfast.

Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

1 cup almond flour
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients and fill half of the paper liner in a muffin tin with the batter.  Now make the topping.

3/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of honey

Combine these ingredients in a bowl.  Crumble it over each muffin.  Then bake for 18 minutes.  It is ready when just a few crumbs comes off on your toothpick.  Serve these warm, too.

All of these options would be served at my house with fresh fruit, diluted juice, and/or coffee.  Whether you are eating on the SCD protocol or not, these baked goods are absolutely delicious and a great way to start your morning.  These options are gluten-free, also.

I am not sure which ones I will prepare Christmas morning.  I know my husband will ask, “Why choose?  Why not all of them?”  Well, there are several reasons, but I won’t go into all of them.  Believe me, you cannot go wrong with whichever you choose.

Later I got up and to my disbelief all the chili was gone.  Not a spoonful was left.  In fact, it looked as though someone had licked the pot.  I was mad.  I confronted my family about where all the food went.  They looked at me with blank stares.  I explained to them the amount of food I had prepared and how I thought it was ridiculous that there were rarely any leftovers.

My husband finally spoke.  In a matter-of-fact voice, he said, “Well, Lara, if you want leftovers or seconds, I guess you’re going to have to cook five pounds of meat.”

Ahhhhh! I cannot stay mad at him for long even when I want to.  Now five pounds of chili has become an inside joke in our family.

I was helping Lane make chili again this week.  As I was chopping onions, I was absent-mindedly humming Christmas carols.  The Twelve Days of Christmas came to mind and instead of singing “Five Golden Rings”, I sang “Five Pounds of Chili.”  From there we came up with our own version of this song.

When you are raising five growing children, your grocery bill is high.  When you are raising five growing children on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, it is out of this world.  And, we don’t depend on the grocery store for all of our food needs.  So don’t be alarmed by our list.  As my husband says, “It is what it is.”

In Twelve Days of Eating at the DeHaven household, we consume…

12 cups of almond flour,
11 sticks of butter,
10 dozen eggs,
9 gallons of iced tea,
8 pints of yogurt,
7 apples each day,
6 pounds of honey,
5 p0unds of chili,
4 pounds of cheese,
3 links of sausage,
2 bunches of bananas, and
1 bottle of stevia.

Though this list might seem unbelievable to some, sadly it is pretty accurate.  The bigger your family, the bigger your food bill.  That goes without saying.  However as much as we have benefited from eating on the SCD protocol, the cost of eating on it needs to be considered before beginning.  One thing that I keep in mind to justify the expense is that we are eating healthier, our bodies feel great, and we have virtually no health expenses other than food.

I hope you don’t mind our silly song.  It was just timely and, for us, fun.

The menu is usually pretty standard.  Turkey, dressing, and all the fixings.  However this is our Thanksgiving on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  So, the menu calls for more attention to ensure that the foods are legal and follow the diet protocol as well as are delicious and Thanksgiving-worthy.

After much discussion as a family we have finalized our menu for that special day.  It is as follows:

Turkey
Dressing (I am using the recipe from Lucy’s SCD Cookbook.)
Gravy (I am boiling the neck in water and thickening the broth with onion.)
Steamed Carrots with butter
Green Beans with legal bacon
Roasted Squash and Zucchini
Mashed Cauliflower with butter and parsley
Homemade Cranberry Sauce (I am torn between two different recipes.  One uses orange and the other grape juice.)
Biscuits (I am using the drop biscuit recipe from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook substituting honey for agave nectar.)

Pecan Praline Shortbread (Also from the above cookbook.  Are they cookies? Candy?  Who cares?  They are delicious and close to  pecan pie.)
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Incredible Icing (These cupcakes are in Gluten-Free Cupcakes again with the same substitutions as above.)
Apple Pie (I am still working on this recipe.)

We are going to have a wonderful feast in spite of our dietary restrictions.  I cannot wait!  It just goes to show that you are not deprived while on SCD.  You might not get to eat whatever you want, but with a little planning and creativity, you can still eat like a king.

I wanted to make my menu available in case some of you were struggling with what to prepare.  A Thanksgiving dinner that is completely gluten-free, legal on either SCD or GAPS diet, and easy on your tummy.  It is full of fresh vegetables and fruit.  It relies on almond flour for the baked goods.

The best place to order blanched almond flour is Honeyville Grain. Sign up on their email list and they send you coupon codes from 10% to occasionally a 15% discount.  These codes combined with their low shipping equal a good price per pound.

As thankful as I am to have my menu selected, I was even more grateful for the way my older children enthusiastically volunteered to be in charge of several dishes.  My husband is heading up the preparation of the turkey.  That means that mom won’t be in the kitchen by herself for a couple of days.  Yeah!!  I will have to add this to my growing long list of blessings this year.

Halloween Cookies

Considering that many a young child is going to go to bed tonight with an upset stomach from eating too much sugar, it has been an interesting task to create a memorable Halloween without sugar or starch.  Jake picked three pumpkins from a nearby fruit and vegetable stand, Cherry Farms, in Plantersville the other day.  They gave him a great deal, and he proudly purchased them for his and his siblings’ fun.

First they drew faces on the pumpkins.  Then this morning we took them outside and began the carving process.  Jake designated one pumpkin to be a jack-o-lantern.  He allowed his younger brothers to carve the other two with the understanding that we were cooking them as soon as they were finished.  Lane helped Isaac and Kyla helped Andrew as Jake worked alone on his pumpkin.

We took pictures of the boys with their pumpkins and then brought them inside to prepare them for roasting.  I cut the pumpkins in half and cleaned out the insides.  I reserved some of the seeds in order to make pepitas, or roasted pumpkin seeds, later.  Then in a large pan I placed the pumpkin halves cut side down with about 1/4″ of water.  I then baked them at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Jake brought in his carved jack-o-lantern to show us his masterpiece.  On one side he carved a traditional face.  On the other side he carved a “J” for his name and carved a heifer under it.  It looks really cool lit up.

Not bad for a pumpkin carving. A true Jake original.

Then Isaac and Andrew helped me make Holiday Cookies from Elana Amsterdam’s, The Almond Flour Cookbook.  Instead of using agave nectar, I use honey, which works perfectly for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  I made a buttercream icing using All-Vegetable Shortening, softened butter, vanilla, and honey.  My kids had so much fun rolling out the dough and cutting out cookies into different shapes.

We chose to use a ghost, pumpkin, bat, and crescent moon cookie cutters.  The dough rolled out nicely and moved to the pan easily.  They bake fast, too.  In six minutes, mine were done and the edges were brown.

Kyla oversaw the cookie decorating.  I put out orange buttercream icing, raisins, shredded unsweetened coconut, and chopped walnuts for them to use as they desired.  Isaac and Kyla, especially, had fun decorating the Halloween shapes.  The cookies are not my favorite; however, they provided an hour of fun for my kids so I am not sorry we made them.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

By the time that task was finished, it was time to make pumpkin cupcakes.  I pureed one cup of our roasted pumpkin along with the other ingredients from Elana Amsterdam’s, Gluten-Free Cupcake Cookbook.  I made a double batch.  They filled my house with such a wonderful aroma.  The spices combined with the pumpkin truly made it like fall was here to stay.  When they cooled, I iced them with buttercream frosting.  They are delicious!

My husband is preparing to surprise our children with a hay ride later.  We are going to hang granny smith apples from hooks on our mantel by twine.  It is always a fun game to watch people try to eat them without using their hands. Then we are going to sit back and watch my children’s favorite Halloween-type movie, Sleepy Hollow.  We watch it every year.  Jake has been talking about playing a rousing game of Clue, but this plan has not been finalized with his daddy’s approval.

For dinner, I am making a small pot of chili to go with a special treat for my children.  I splurged on grass fed beef hotdogs without any starch or sugar.  They love them and do not get them very often.

I have done my best to make Halloween fun for my children.  If they don’t feel that they have had enough sweet things, I have a bag of pitted California dates hidden away.  Don’t laugh.  These dates eliminate any cravings for sugar.  They are so sweet; we limit ourselves to four as recommended by the diet protocol.

No sugar.  No starch.  No problem.  Having a Halloween SCD-style is still a fun and memorable event.  We sure don’t feel deprived.  Now I can turn my thoughts to a SCD legal Thanksgiving.