Mini Coconut Carrot Cakes (sugar-free, flour-free, nut-free)

 

Every December, my friendly next door neighbors host a Holiday Cookie Swap in their beautiful home. The whole street is invited and it's lovely, gathering together in such a warm, inviting setting. I always enjoy going. The only problem for me is cookies.

The way a Cookie Swap works is you arrive with two dozen cookies to share, and leave with your choice of two dozen assorted cookies, baked by others. In between is the party!

I wasn't sure about attending this year because, as I said earlier, cookies. Right now, I'm in a disciplined, post-Thanksgiving eating phase (one thing led to another, flares happen, it's okay) and felt hesitant to compromise my progress by tempting fate. On the other hand, I didn't want to miss the event. So I made these Mini Coconut Carrot Cakes. Not technically a cookie, but on the spectrum.

Mini Coconut Carrot Cakes are sugar-free and flour-free. The main ingredient is 1 pound of shredded organic carrots, bound together with 2 eggs. Also in the mix: a half cup each of shredded coconut and hulled hemp seeds, some spices, some lemon juice, and Lakanto monk fruit sweetener. So simple!

I wasn't sure how my little offerings would be received at the party, surrounded as they were on all sides by ginger snaps, chocolate chips, macaroons, creme brulée tarts and so on, but everyone loved them!

And you know what? As gorgeous as everyone's cookies looked, artfully displayed on gleaming counter tops and banquet tables, I enjoyed tasting them with eyes only.

Yes, I felt a little self conscious at first—not partaking, and all—but then I forgot about it, poured myself a glass of water and had a wonderful time catching up with neighbors. Even at a Cookie Swap, there's always more to life than food.

Mini Coconut Carrot Cakes

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 pound peeled organic carrots (roughly 4 large carrots)
1/2 cup shredded coconut, plus a little more to sprinkle on tops
1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
2 large eggs (organic, pastured or free range)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 Tablespoons Lakanto* monk fruit sweetener
2 pinches sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice


Directions

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Shred the peeled carrots by hand, using the smaller size grating option on your stainless steel box or flat grater. Alternatively, use the food processor, which will yield a coarser shred. Sprinkle shredded carrots with lemon juice and set aside.

If you have a mixer, use it for the next step. If not, it's fine to proceed by hand using a large bowl, a whisk and a spoon. Either way, begin by beating the two eggs together. Then add cinnamon, nutmeg, Lakanto and salt, and beat some more. Add in shredded coconut and hemp seeds, and beat or stir to combine. Finally, add shredded carrots sprinkled with lemon juice. Mix in the carrots until batter is uniform.

Next, divide batter into 36 silicone mini muffin cups. I love these flexible little guys, even though they are made of weird stuff. I use them to make Chubby Checkers, too.

(If you don't have silicone mini muffin cups, Option 2 might be to use metal mini muffin tins lined with parchment paper, or to drop batter by the teaspoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Better yet, get some silicone molds!)

When all the cups are full, sprinkle a little coconut on top of each to decorate. Place the silicone molds on a metal cookie sheet to avoid flopping, and place in oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until coconut on top begins to look toasted. Mine took exactly 20 minutes to perfection.

Remove tray from oven and allow to cool before removing mini cakes from molds. Store in the fridge, in a covered container. ♥︎

*I purchase my Lakanto directly from the manufacturer. If you'd like to do the same, here's their website www.lakanto.com This is the sweetener I use in my tea. It's made from a blend of non-fermenting monk fruit extract, and erythritoI (the only non-fermenting polyol). I prefer the Golden (looks like brown sugar), but the Classic (white) is good, too.

Jasmine Rice Custard

On Sunday night I stayed up late, watching and then decompressing from the Season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones which took forever to load on my device due to the massive number of fans all over the world tuning in at the same time. It was an action packed episode, meaning lots of viewer adrenaline was generated—not the best way to promote a calm, sleepy sensation when the credits roll and bedtime finally arrives, which I mention here on Sexy Sibo only because the entire experience led to me waking up somewhat ragged the next morning and craving a soft, warm, comforting breakfast.

Usually I don't eat breakfast at all, so clearly something was up, but I can't talk about it because *SPOILER ALERT*

(Haha I would never.)

Because I only just made up this recipe yesterday, it is a work in progress. The idea was to create a sweet and creamy rice custard, which meant eggs and cream would be involved. I figured I'd need a double boiler to prevent sticking and burning, but I don't own a double boiler, so I improvised by nesting my smallest pot inside my biggest pot. The small pot contains the rice mixture. The big pot contains 4 cups of water, which you bring to a boil on high heat, turn down and keep at a low boil during cooking. Both pots get covered to keep in the steam, and it's the steam heat that cooks the custard.

If you own an actual double boiler, by all means use that to make this recipe, but you don't officially need one as long as you have two pots that can nest completely inside each other with their lids on.

I was pretty happy with how my Jasmine Rice Custard came out. To sweeten it, I used 2 teaspoons of erythritol and, to be honest, it wasn't really sweet enough. I managed, but next time I might use 3. Ideally, I'd add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup on top but sadly, I still can't eat either of those without bloating, pretend as I may. Erythritol or Lakanto (erythritol plus monkfruit extract) are my safest bets. (Stevia would work, too, but yuck—I think it would ruin this. I only like stevia in cold things like lemon water and lime gimlets.) Cinnamon also adds some sweetness of its own, not to mention the luscious heavy cream you pour on top.

This recipe makes two servings. If you are just one person, that means you'll have to eat serving number two tomorrow. If that is the case, be sure to heat it up!! When rice cools down, the starch molecules transform into "resistant starch" and feed SIBO bugs. But when you heat the rice back up, the resistant starch magically turns back into normal starch and, because this is Jasmine rice, the only rice that doesn't ferment, you shouldn't react.

Enjoy this comforting dish for breakfast or dessert. ♥

Jasmine Rice Custard
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw, uncooked Jasmine rice
1 cup water
1 pastured egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of cinnamon
pinch of salt
2+ teaspoons erythritol or golden Lakanto
1 teaspoon butter, ghee or coconut oil
heavy cream to pour on top


Directions
With a whisk, beat the egg in water with vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt until frothy. Pour over rice in top of a double boiler or in a small pan that can fit inside a large pot with the lid on. Stir in erythritol or Lakanto and butter, ghee or coconut oil. (I used ghee—it's wonderful!—but any of these healthy fats will do.)

Bring water in the bottom pan to a boil, cover both pots and keep at a low boil for 20 minutes. Give the custard a stir at this point, and continue cooking another 10 to 15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and custard is firm.

Transfer a half cup of the custard into your favorite breakfast bowl, pour heavy cream on top and dust with more cinnamon. If you can tolerate honey or maple syrup, drizzle on top.  Better yet, sprinkle with golden Lakanto—it's pricey but perfect for this use, as it looks and tastes like brown sugar.

Enjoy!

SIBO ADVISORY: One half cup of cooked Jasmine rice is the safe serving size. More than that and you may be asking for trouble.

Introducing... Chubby Checkers ~ in delightful Pumpkin Spice! flavor :)

Okay, I admit it. I've been holding out on you. All the way back in October, I began working on a recipe for a sweet treat that is completely safe for SIBO and absolutely delicious! But I wanted to get the recipe as close to perfect as I could before I shared it with you.

I believe that day has come.

Anyone on a SIBO-specific diet knows one thing: there aren't a lot of legal treats involved. Back in my raw food days, a few Medjool dates with almond butter, some soft Turkish figs and raw cashews, or a row of organic dark chocolate after dinner were daily practice. Those days are gone, but not the desire for something sweet to delight the taste buds or finish a meal.

I call these delightful little treats Chubby Checkers. I suspect that they may be (*blushing*) my single greatest gift to the SIBO community. But of course that is for you to decide. 

Chubby Checkers are the Sexy Sibo version of a "fat bomb," essentially a carb-free, sugar-free candy containing mostly fat. Mine also contain some low-FODMAP protein powder for flavor and texture.

When it comes to low-FODMAP protein powder, there are just two choices: whey protein isolate or beef protein. (I know, gross. Just accept and move on.) Unfortunately pea protein, hemp protein, rice protein and other vegan protein powders contain FODMAPs, so we can't use them. It has to be beef protein or whey protein isolate. (Note: it's very important to use only whey protein ISOLATE, not whey protein concentrate, because only the isolate is lactose-free, and lactose is a FODMAP.)

The fat I use to make Chubby Checkers is raw, organic cacao butter—the best!

For protein powder, I've been using Pure Paleo from Designs for Health. Pure Paleo is created from something called Hydro-Beef and comes in Chocolate or Vanilla flavor. I've also used Vanilla Whey Protein Isolate from Bluebonnet, which is super high quality: cold processed, grass fed, the works. If you can't find Bluebonnet, it's fine to substitute with another whey protein isolate but read the label and, if the product is sweetened, make sure the sweeteners are strictly one of the following: stevia, erythritol or monkfruit (aka lo huan guo). No other natural sweetener is SIBO-safe.

If your protein powder is not sweetened, you can use one of the above sweeteners, or Lakanto. Crystallized sweeteners need to be ground up before adding to batter.

To create the "checker" shape you'll need a silicone mini-muffin mold, which you can buy online or someplace like Bed, Bath and Beyond for under ten bucks. If you don't have a silicone mini-muffin mold, you can still make this recipe using a shallow dish lined with waxed paper or parchment paper. When the candy hardens, just peel off the paper and cut or break the candy into pieces. I recommend you invest in a silicone mold, though. It makes a nice presentation and it's fun to use, especially when it's time to pop out the checkers!

Pop!

So far, I've got THREE yummy flavors of Chubby Checkers ready to share with you. But I wouldn't want to overwhelm. So today, I shall present to you just the latest: Pumpkin Spice!

Next up will be two different chocolate versions. I'll post a link from here to that page when it's up. Stay tuned! And enjoy. xo

Chubby Checkers - Pumpkin Spice!

This recipe makes 12 checkers.

Ingredients
2 oz raw cacao butter
1/3 cup Vanilla Pure Paleo powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
generous pinch of Himalayan pink salt (about one third of a quarter tsp measure)

Directions
Chop cacao butter into chunks if it isn't already broken up, and melt it in a Pyrex or ceramic dish, on VERY low heat, in your oven or toaster oven. My toaster oven has a low setting of 150 degrees F. At that setting, the cacao butter takes about 20 minutes to melt.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate dish. When cacao butter is melted, remove from oven and let it cool down a bit. Then, stir in the dry powdered ingredients using a whisk or fork. When batter is smooth and fully mixed, use a spoon to distribute it evenly between the 12 cups of a silicone mini-muffin mold. Transfer mold to fridge and allow candy to harden—this takes about an hour, tops.

Pop Chubby Checkers out of the mold (super fun part!) and store in a covered container in the refrigerator. Recommended serving size: 2 checkers.

Pumpkin Spice! Chubby Checkers

White Chocolate Coconut Cups (Fat Bombs)

A year ago I would NEVER have made this recipe! I was eating a low fat, vegan, whole foods plant based diet—about as far away from a ketogenic, Paleo-inspired diet as you can get. The idea of eating a “fat bomb” would have made me laugh out loud, if not gag.

Then came SIBO.

Technically, these cute little treats are called “fat bombs”, not a pretty name. I prefer White Chocolate Coconut Cups. Doesn’t that sound nicer?

Backstory. I discovered fat bombs when scouting around online for a sweet treat that wouldn’t feed my archaea and aggravate my SIBO. The treat I was searching for needed to be grain-free, sugar-free and low in fermentable carbs.

Most of the fat bomb recipes I've come across are made with a base of coconut oil, which is fine, but I prefer to use cacao butter, which is the pure fat of the cacao bean.

Cacao butter is rock solid at room temperature but melts instantly upon contact with the human body.

It also tastes lovely, providing the aromatic essence of chocolate without any fiber or caffeine. Cacao butter is the key ingredient in so-called "white chocolate", hence the name of these adorable coconut cups.

In case you're wondering where to find Raw Cacao Butter, try The Raw Food World online, a super sweet family-run business. That's where I get mine.

As you can see, I use a fancy high tech kitchen scale (pictured at left) to weigh it out. Then, I melt it in the toaster oven on the lowest possible bake setting: 150 degrees Farenheit. You can also use a double boiler to melt cacao butter but please, don’t use a microwave. Microwaves alter the molecules in your food in unnatural, cancer-causing ways. (If you don't believe me, read this.)

By the way, if you don't have a kitchen scale, just chop up the cacao butter and measure it instead. 3 ounces equals about a half a cup chopped -->

According to my research, the purest fat bombs are made only with 2 main ingredients:

1) a fat (usually coconut oil)

2) a sugar-free, zero-carbohydrate sweetener such as stevia, erythritol or monkfruit.

Some recipes call for Sucralose/Splenda but I wouldn't touch that scariness with a 10-foot pole, let alone my lips. Not to be overdramatic, but really. Just, no.

For the sweetener in this recipe I used Golden Lakanto, a combination of monkfruit and erythritol. Lakanto, available in white or golden, is currently sold online only, as far as I can tell. The golden tastes quite nice—brown sugarish with no nasty aftertaste. It is kind of hard to get, though. If you can't find Lakanto, try organic erythritol, a pure sweet tasting, non-fermenting polyol (sugar alcohol) that's sold at Whole Foods under the somewhat unfortunate brand name "Zero." Zero erythritol is what I put in my tea these days. It's a white crystalline sweetener offering plain, slightly cool sweetness and is 100% SIBO-safe, as well as non-poisonous (e.g. sucralose, aspartame) and a little less pricey than Golden Lakanto. But I digress...

Anyhoo, here's a secret: I’ve been experimenting with making fat bombs for a while—adding whey protein isolate to make them chewy, spicing them up with cinnamon, ginger, vanilla extract and essential oils like lemon, orange and tangerine. But I haven’t shared any of those recipes because, to be honest, so far they haven’t been THAT great.

But...I got a little crazy yesterday and decided to make some über-fancy fat bombs with shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds added. BE ADVISED: nuts and seeds are not recommended when you are first starting out on a SIBO-safe diet.

I avoided all nuts and seeds like the plague over the entire summer, i.e. for two or three months while I was on my strict ketogenic healing program, and I’m NOT planning on eating them regularly now. But for a treat, IF you can limit yourself to one or two AND you’re out of the woods with the bloating (very important point), you might like to give these babies a try. They really are pretty darn good!

White Chocolate Coconut Cups (Fat Bombs)

3 ounces raw cacao butter (about ½ cup roughly chopped, 1/3 cup melted)

1 teaspoon coconut oil

3 teaspoons Lakanto or erythritol (Zero)

½ cup shredded coconut

¼ cup each raw pumpkin seeds & raw sunflower seeds

¼ teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt (my fave)

DIRECTIONS: Melt cacao butter in a low oven or double boiler. Stir in coconut oil and Lakanto. Add shredded coconut, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, and salt. Mix well. 

Divide mixture evenly into the 12 cups of a silicone mini muffin cup mold, or if you don’t have one of these (I just got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond—it’s awesome!), turn the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper, shape it into a log and roll it up. Refrigerate or freeze for 20 minutes to harden. If you did the log method, slice into 12 circles, or as desired. The mini muffin mold cups just pop right out!

Variation: Replace the coconut, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds with about ½ cup of whey protein isolate or Pure Paleo protein powder, vanilla or chocolate flavor.  This is a good option for people on Phase 1 of SIBO-safe diet. Note: The exact amount you need to add will vary depending on the consistency of your powder. Just start stirring it in one tablespoon at a time until the mixture starts to thicken up enough to divide into the mini muffin cups or roll into a log. Then, chill as above and enjoy. :)

Sexy Sibo White Chocolate Coconut Cups (aka Fat Bombs!)

Pink Salted Coconut Bliss Bites (Raw, Paleo, Gluten-Free, low-FODMAPs, SIBO-safe)

If you are on a strict SIBO-safe diet and can tolerate small servings of nuts and seeds, you are guaranteed to ADORE (if not come to worship) these chewy little Coconut Bliss Bites!

Sexy Sibo Pink Salted Coconut Bliss Bites are a naturally gluten-free, unbaked raw dessert that I created out of desperation and inspiration (!) using a variety of SIBO-safe nuts and seeds, a drizzle of raw honey to sweeten and my beloved Himalayan pink salt to add the flavor complexity that takes them over the top. Raw shredded coconut plus a touch of coconut oil make these bites divinely smooth and chewy at the same time while protecting your belly with healthy, antimicrobial coconut fatty acids.

For those who don't know, Himalayan pink salt is high in minerals, does not come from polluted oceans like sea salt (my previously preferred crystal sodium source) and tastes better than any other salt in the world, imho, which is why it's the only salt I use. (Click here to read all about it!)

And now...the recipe!

Pink Salted Coconut Bliss Bites

 Ingredients

1 cup raw walnuts

¼ cup raw almonds

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ cup almond flour

½ cup (+ 4 Tbs) shredded coconut

½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

4 Tbs coconut oil

2 Tbs raw honey (or maple syrup*)

2 tsp vanilla extract

*If honey is out for you, use maple syrup instead—just increase the almond flour by a couple tablespoons to make up for the lower viscosity of maple syrup. Also, please see my note below, after the recipe, on the Honey vs Maple Syrup controversy for SIBO peeps. 

Directions

 

Pulse together nuts and sunflower seeds until chopped very small, but with some bigger pieces here and there. 

Add in almond flour, 1/2 cup shredded coconut and pink salt. Pulse to combine. Add in coconut oil, honey or maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Pulse until well combined. (If using maple syrup, add 1 or 2 Tbs more almond flour to stiffen dough.)

Transfer mixture to 8x8 Pyrex baking dish and press flat to fill dish. Sprinkle top with remaining 4 Tbs shredded coconut. Shake pan side to side to get the coconut evenly distributed, then press it gently into surface using the back of a spoon or spatula.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Slice into 1-inch squares to make 64 Bliss Bites, or shape as desired. Seal in plastic or airtight container and store in fridge for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy right out of the fridge or warm them up to room temperature before eating for a softer, more blissful bite.

Don't they look heavenly?

♥

Sexy Sibo Pink Salted Coconut Bliss Bites

Honey vs Maple Syrup: Which Natural Sweetener is Safe for SIBO?

There is no consensus on whether honey, maple syrup, both, or neither are SIBO-safe sweeteners.

Here's the scoop: Honey, which is high in fructose, a disaccharide, is SCD and GAPS legal but not allowed on FODMAPs. (The D in FODMAPs stands for Disaccharides.)

Maple syrup, which is high polysaccharides, is low-FODMAPs but not allowed on GAPS or SCD, both of which eliminate all the longer-chain sugars.

Are you confused yet?

Bottom line: sweeteners are a highly individual food category for SIBO peeps. To find out which (if any) sweetener works for you, you will need to a) tune in to your intuition, and b) test each one on yourself—if and when you feel ready, separately and in small doses.

Personally, I am able to use raw honey (from clover or other flowers) every day and tolerate it well, taken in small, one-teaspoon servings. I tried maple syrup recently and wasn't sure if it was that or the yogurt I mixed it with that made me bloat, but bloat I did. So I'll have to retest maple syrup all by itself, alone, another time. For now, I am happy with honey. :)