Spiced Sweet Potato Quick Bread

I've been working my way through various recipes in Dr. Mark Hyman's books. This one is from The Eat Fat, Get Thin Cookbook on p. 251. I can't post the entire recipe due to copyright law, but wanted to include some comments about the recipe. The recipe can be found on his blog here.

I love to cook, but not bake. So, if I want a treat it has to be something I can make easily and quickly that has little to no sugar (and preferably uses fruit, coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup instead of granular sugar), doesn't contain wheat (gluten free is our preference), and of course, tastes great. Typically I make a quick banana bread. Today I decided to try the sweet potato bread - no added sugar, just sweet potatoes, coconut flour, spices, eggs, almond butter, and butter.

The nice thing about quick breads is that you don't have to be too exact with amounts. I used about 3 cups mashed sweet potato (2 large). I didn't have ground mace but added a little nutmeg and allspice along with the cinnamon. I also didn't have almond extract so used vanilla instead. One other note: I only used about 2 tsp of coconut oil to oil the pan (not 2 T it called for) and it slipped out of the pan just fine.

Here is the mixture going together:

The batter is quite thick:

The finished bread. Mine took about 65 minutes to cook (instead of the 50-60 minutes specified in the recipe).

It smelled so good we couldn't wait for it to entirely cool to try it. So good! My husband devoured 2 slices and my daughter and I shared a slice spread with ghee.

Artichoke Dip

My family (husband, Rob and daughter, Taylor) and I decided to do Dr. Mark Hyman's 10 Day Detox in December, 2016. I had just finished up a course of antibiotics for Lyme disease and we all wanted to eliminate sugar for awhile. Taylor was hoping it'd help clear up her acne. Rob and I aren't big consumers of sugar; but, our teenager is. We challenged her to go the 10 full days without any sugar and increase her veggie intake. She did quite well; only cheating a couple times while at school. She reported feeling less bloated, her skin became clearer, and she slept better.

Since then we've been mostly following his Eat Fat, Get Thin plan. I prefer to eat meats and veggies anyway so cutting out and minimizing carbs such as flours, rice, pasta, etc. hasn't been too difficult. Taylor gets more rice pasta, brown rice, and seeded crackers than Rob and I; she is a busy, growing teenager after all.

We need and like to eat every few hours.  It's important to have a variety of healthy snack foods available. There are always cut up fresh veggies in my fridge and usually some type of dip available.

Dr. Hyman's Artichoke Dip with Crudites on p.96 of his book is one of our favorites - delicious and a great snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Even Taylor loves this dip!

I've modified his recipe slightly. This is the version I made today:

1 (15-ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, drained
1 cup avocado oil mayonnaise (or homemade; see p.265 in the book)
1/2-1 cup packed organic baby spinach leaves
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 smoked cayenne 

Place artichokes and spinach in a food processor. Pulse a few times to roughly chop.
Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until desired consistency. 

Serve with a variety of veggies. Today I had organic red bell peppers, organic celery, and organic purple carrots.

Favorite Autumn Smoothie #1 - Pumpkin Chai

I love smoothies for their on-the-go portability to provide a healthy snack, breakfast, or lunch. They are an easy way to sneak in veggies for the kids.  My teenage daughter knows they are in there and is her preferred way of getting in those dreaded vegetables (because she can't taste them). I don't know how I have a kid that doesn't like veggies!

During the summer months, my smoothies usually consist of protein, spinach/kale, and mixed frozen/fresh berries picked from local organic farms. I use organic whenever possible.

Come Autumn here in New England, pumpkin is the highlight mixed with high quality protein and superfoods such as flax and chia seeds.

Step 1: Get yourself some pumpkin. Canned is fine but making some yourself is even better and costs a lot less. This one small local organic sugar pumpkin made 7 cups of pureed pumpkin and a cup of toasted seeds for snacking for only $2.50 plus the few cents it cost to run the oven and little of my time.

To make your own puree: cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds and stringy parts. Place halves cut side down on a baking tray and bake at 400 degrees about 40 minutes (or until soft when pierced with a knife). Let cool for an hour and puree in a food processor with a little water or apple cider (not too much; just enough to process).

Step 2: The rest of the ingredients:

• 1 medjool date (optional), soaked in hot water a few minutes
• 8 raw almonds (helpful to soak overnight - just put in the blender with 1/2 cup of the chai tea before bed)
• 1-2 cups cooled chai tea (or plain water or milk or milk alternative)*
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 4 scoops (or as noted on can for 2 servings) plain whey (or your favorite vegan plain or vanilla flavored)**
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or more as desired)
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 2 tsp finely ground flax seeds
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp pure maple syrup (don't need if using stevia based protein powder) 
• Optional: sneak in a green veggie by adding a handful of baby spinach

 *If you don't use chai, you will need to add in extra spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom.

**I prefer unsweetened but for those of you that like sweet, choose a protein powder with stevia, a plant-based natural sweetener.

Step 3: Blend it up!

• add almonds, 1/2 cup chai, and medjool date to blender and blend until smooth
• add the rest of the ingredients (start with another 1/2 cup chai and add more liquid as needed) and blend until smooth. You can also add in a couple ice cubes to make it frosty.
• Serve sprinkled with a little more cinnamon or nutmeg and enjoy!

 Nutritional Information:

• Pumpkin provides a day's dose of Vitamin A along with some Vitamin C, calcium, iron and other trace minerals. For more info click here.
• Banana provides a nice dose of Vitamin C along with some Vitamin A, calcium, iron and other trace minerals. Click here for more info.
• Chia seeds are high in dietary fiber, calcium, omega-3 fats, trace minerals, and rich source of anti-oxidants. Click here for more info.
• Flax seeds provide fiber, omega-3 fats, protein, Vitamin B1, manganese, magnesium, and other minerals and vitamins. Click here for more info.
• Whey = easily digestible and absorbable form of protein. I love Tera's brand for their high quality and commitment to sustainable farming practices and the ethical treatment of animals. If you are vegan/vegetarian, I recommend Sunwarrior brand plant-based protein.