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Blueberry Scones

Blueberry Scones for the Win!!! Ya’ll, this is the first thing I have been excited about since starting the elimination diet! I’m not really a breakfast person, and when I do eat breakfast, I like it to be sweet- cereal, cinnamon roll, Burger King Hersey Sunday Pie (don’t judge). But because I have to take medication in the morning, I have to eat breakfast. This weekend I came across this Paleo Lemon Blueberry Scone recipe and can I just say- it has hit the spot the past few mornings!!

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It’s so simple to make! All you need is

  • 3 cups Almond Flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 3/4 cup fresh blueberries

    • You can also add lemon to it by using the zest of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

    1) You want to preheat your oven to 325 degrees
    2) Add Almond Flour, Baking soda, salt and lemon zest (if you’re using it) to a bowl and combine
    3) Next you want to make a wall in the center and add your wet ingredients and stir until well combined. Then fold in the blueberries.
    4) Next scoop out the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can make these as big or small as you want. The directions say they should be about 1 inch thick and should make about 10. I did mine a little smaller and they made 14. You can flatten them out by wetting your fingers with warm water and patting them down.
    5) Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops get golden.
    6) Let them cool on a baking rack. To store, wrap in freezer paper and freeze. To reheat, preheat oven to 300 degrees and then bake them/ warm them up for 15 minutes.

    I had one for breakfast on Monday and they were good but they needed a little something extra- whip cream! But since I can’t have that I had to improvise. So I may Coconut Whip Cream

    1) Take a can of full fat coconut milk and leave in the fridge over night.
    2) Turn upside down, open can and pour out the milk. The solid coconut will be at the bottom.
    3) Whip with a mixer or hand mixer until fluffy, anywhere from a few minutes to 10 minutes (the key to getting it fluffy like whip cream is to put your mixing bowl and wire mixer in the fridge for about an hour)
    4) You can add in sugar and vanilla extract to make it sweeter, but I left it plain and just stored in in the fridge.

    I like to warm one up each morning, put some dairy free butter on it, drizzle a little honey and then top with the coconut whip cream. They are so good, you may want more than one-but make sure to keep an eye on the calorie count, since almond flour can be high in calories.

    Elimination Diet Q&A

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    This week starts week four of my elimination diet! It’s been rough, but everyone has been so supportive and great!
    I’ve received a few questions so I thought I would write everything out in case you had some of the same questions!

    Why all the test to go on an elimination diet, couldn’t you have just cut out food yourself?
    I’ve tried this a few times and here is what I’ve ran into. With an autoimmune disease that specifically effects the thyroid, I read anything from just go gluten free all the way to only eat autoimmune paleo. And there are A LOT of things in between. I really wanted to find how my body was handling food and what my body would react to! And I’m glad I did! I figured I would have to go gluten free for the elimination diet, but my test showed my body reacts to Tapioca and Amaranth- both found in gluten free flours and goods. So if I wouldn’t have had the test done, I would have been putting things in my body that it was constantly reacting too.

    Why did you pick the nutritionist you did?
    I’ve talked to a few people about nutritionist and they have given me great recommendations. I ultimately decided to go with Jessica at Simple Steps Nutrition for a few main reasons: 1) She also has an autoimmune disease and thyroid problems, so she knows exactly what I am doing through and how I feel 2) She is familiar with Young Living Essential Oils so I was very comfortable discussing the oils I am using with her 3) She did a 20 minute free call to make sure we were both on the same page and to talk about my goals. During that call there were a few things that she said that really sealed the deal- the first being that she was going to perform the extensive test needed to truly test my gut and the second being that she doesn’t up-charge for these test. She charges you her cost, plus shipping and some other little fees. If you have ever priced some of these test then you know they can be expensive!

    How long do you have to stay on the elimination diet?
    Three months! I’ll be honest, some days it seems like it will be over in no time and all and then other days it feels like a lifetime! After three months, I can slowly start introducing foods on my “No” list back into my diet. With a few restrictions- 1) No dairy at all 2) Limit gluten as much as possible/ try to go gluten free if I can 3) Limit sugar and sodas 4) If I feel my body having a reaction to the food (headache, stomach cramps, things like that) then stay off those foods. I will retest again after the 3 months to make sure my gut has healed.

    How do you go out to eat?
    Very carefully! I good news is, I’m not allergic to any of these foods- so cross contamination isn’t as big of a deal for me. Most restaurants have an allergen menu and I study that before I go to the restaurant. I make sure to tell the waitress I can’t have gluten or dairy when I order and I order everything with no seasoning and butter. My favorite place to eat so far is Henry’s. We have been eating there for years and know the wait staff and I’m very comfortable with how they prepare my food! 90% of the time I’m eating plain shrimp and veggies. Every now and then I’ll have a steak somewhere-but I’m picky about where (because let’s be honest, no one wants to pay $15 for a bland steak so Henry’s is pretty much my go to for a steak)

    Have you cheated any?
    I have- There are sometimes that I feel if I have to drink another glass of water I will throw up. So I will order a sweet tea, take my medication with it and leave it at that. Normally it’s only about 1/2 a glass. And this is only once a week- if that. Also, I have four chemicals on my “No” list and two of those chemicals are pretty much found in all foods. (They are chemicals that are found in food as it starts to age or ripen- think ripe veggies, or aged meats and vinegar). So I’ve been able to try different foods that have these chemicals in them and see how I react. Like today- I had homemade pickles with my Gluten Free black bean burger patty- Bad Idea!! They were good, but the headache I’ve had for the past three hours after eating them wasn’t worth it!

    So- that’s about all! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

    Week One Round Up

    I have officially made it through one week on this elimination diet. And it wasn’t pretty!

    Monday: I quickly realized that I’m not a turkey person and a person can only eat so many green apples! Also I have no clue how to make muffins with fresh blueberry’s so those didn’t really turn out edible.

    Tuesday: I didn’t eat much at all,had a melt down and cried myself to sleep.

    Wednesday: I realized going cold turkey- with no Mountain Dew and no sugar was making me sick (like light headed and dizzy sick). So I made these wonderful flourless cookies(leaving out the chocolate chips, and subbing in Coconut sugar for brown sugar). I had about one a day, eating 1/2 of the cookie for a mid morning snack and the other half later in the day. I’m suppose to be off sugar completely- so I need to find a good sub for the Coconut Sugar.

    Thursday: Went a little better! I also found out that Domizons gluten free pizza crust doesn’t have anything on my NO list. So for dinner I had a GF pizza, with no cheese and roasted red and green peppers. This will be my GO TO when I need a “junk food” fix.

    Friday: Oh Friday was not a good day. We met some friends for dinner at a local Stir-fry restaurant. And while I tried to stick to food on my YES list, the cross contamination was something fierce. Lesson learned.

    Saturday: My first experience going to a summer party and not being able to eat the food! It was hard!

    Now- it’s on to the next week!

    Elimination Diet: Week One Meal Planning

    After 3 days of planning, two trips to the grocery store and a lot of frustration- I finally have my meal plan for week one!

    I know 3 days of meal planning sounds like a lot, but I was sick, on medication and knocked out for most of that time and while the foods to stay away from were straight forward, the chemicals were not. High Fructose Corn Syrup is an easy one to find, but Benzoic Acid, Candida Albicans and Tyramine took a little more research. Thankfully, Sunday afternoon my nutritionist sent me a list of these chemicals and what they were in- It made life a whole lot simpler!

    So here is Week One’s Meal Planning. Any recipes links will be included. Any changes to the recipes I’ll post at the bottom.

    Monday
    Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
    Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
    Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
    Snack: Green Apple Slices
    Dinner: Pork Chops with Roast Tomatoes (for Scott) and Asparagus

    Tuesday
    Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
    Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
    Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
    Snack: Green Apple Slices
    Dinner: Grilled Shrimp with Roasted Brocolli and Carrots

    Wednesday
    Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
    Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
    Lunch: Hamburger with Lettuce Wrap
    Snack: Green Apple Slices
    Dinner: Taco Night- with Shredded Chicken, Gluten free rice, and chopped Peppers

    Thursday
    Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
    Snack: Three Blueberry Bannana Almond Butter Muffin
    Lunch: Grilled Fist with Zucchini and Squash
    Snack: Green Apple Slices
    Dinner: Stuffed Peppers with Gluten free rice and left over veggies from the week

    Friday
    Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
    Snack: Three Blueberry Bannana Almond Butter Muffin
    Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
    Snack: Green Apple Slices
    Dinner: Steak with Roast Sweet Potatoes

    Recipes or Changes to Recipes
    Swanson-Organic-Chicken-Broth-Ingredients
    Vegetable Stock (since I can’t have chicken). There are a lot of great Gluten Free Options on the market, unfortunately most of them had onions, mushrooms and garlic in them. Three things are on my no-no list. So I decided to make my own
    * Celery
    * Carrots
    * Salt, Pepper and a Mix of Herbs that are on my YES list
    Add to crockpot, fill with eight cups of water and cook for six hours. Drain, store in freezer bags and repeat the process.

    FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP MINI BLENDER MUFFINS
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    I had to tweak my favorite flourless muffin recipe
    * I always sub Almond butter for Peanut Buteer and I found Juntin’s Almond Butter– which makes an Almond Butter with no sugar added!
    * I added blueberries in place of chocolate chips. I will leave those out next time and probably just have these plain.
    * I used a green banana in place of a ripe yellow banana since I can’t have ripe fruit
    * And I left out the vanilla extract since I can’t have that either
    * I just realized i left out the baking soda- not on purpose but because it was 11:00pm and I just forgot! They still turned out fine!

    So there is week one! I haven’t made it to Saturday and Sunday yet. I will probably have leftovers.

    My Adventure with an Elimination Diet!

    Every since we have been using oils, I’ve been getting a little more health conscious. As you may know, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder about twelve years ago. When looking up what to eat I would see anything from go paleo to cut out everything except water (that’s an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it). I wanted to know what I needed to do for MY BODY. About a year ago I was listening to a webinar from a friend of mine and she mentioned seeing a nutritionist and how much that helped her. Ever since then, it has been something I have really wanted to do. Last month, I finally got the nerve to set up an appointment with one! We started some test that would give us a better reading of my gut health and well as my eating habits.

    My test included an Expanded GI Panel, Symptom Burden Report as well as a Mediator Release Test. I know, I’m exhausted thinking about it! Here is what the test showed

    Expanded GI Panel:
    * Many yeast present in the gut (not surprising since that is a symptom of an autoimmune disease)
    * Heavy growth of Proteus Mirabilis- not really sure what exactly it is, but it can cause kidney stones!! Cue the flashback to having one removed last summer!!
    * Positive for being sensitive to Milk (casein)- which means no milk products….ever again…. not even butter.

    Symptom Burden Report
    * I scored in the high priority of EVERYTHING (expect for the male only section)
    * But the main thing to work on was healing the gut!

    Mediator Release Test– blood test which measures if you are sensitive to certain foods
    * On the line for Non-Reactive and Moderately Reactive (only eat once or twice a week): Leek, Watermelon, Asparagus, Green Pepper, Sweet Potato, Wheat, Beef
    * Moderately Reactive (take out of diet for 3 months): Benzoic Acid, Fructose, Tyramine, Candida Albicans, Cow’s Milk, Cheddar Cheese, Garlic, Basil, Pineapple, Corn, Crab, Clam, Chicken, Tapioca, hazelnut, Garbanzo Bean
    * Reactive (take out of diet for 3 months): Yogurt, Amaranth

    In addition to these restrictions, I have an anti-fungal diet list to follow because of the yeast overgrowth. Also since I have an autoimmune disorder, she is advising me to adopt a gluten free lifestyle.

    For the most part this is only a 3 month reset and then I can closely start adding foods back in. But milk is gone for good and gluten if at all possible. I’ll post my Week One meal plan later!