I have 4 hours till the plane leaves. I managed to pressure Qantas into upgrading me with my frequent flyer points to business class and have partaken of the cheese platter and fruit platter in the Business Class Lounge. My trusty squeeze bottle of honey has sweetened my tea and I went to my all-time favorite store ‘Wholefoods’ to pick up some Lara Bars. If you haven’t tried them, you should. They are a great hunger buster on these long trips and totally SCD legal.

Last time I was in the U.S. to promote my book I did a ‘Radio Tour’, which my publicity company organized. I managed to do 26 interviews with 26 different radio stations. Whether anyone actually got to hear these I really don’t know. Never the less I was able to download a podcast of some of them, which you can find in the reviews section of the website. I thought I sounded okay.

This time I came back to do a “Cable TV Tour”. I managed to do seven TV interviews and nine radio interviews. Whether anyone saw these or heard these I don’t know either, except for one wonderful member of the SCD/BTVC Yahoo group. Lovely lady even attached a link to the interview. Now….. I believe that we are our own worst critic, but I will apologise in advance…… In my opinion I look like Mortisha on a bad day. The make up artist painted my face so white and my eyes so dark that it looks like I have just risen from the dead. The studio was freezing and I was really nervous. So forgive me for coming across a little stiff. Anyway, the message is out there and hopefully it will inspire.

So my other job on this trip was to go to as many bookstores that carry the book to do some signing. This was really interesting. Most of the stores were Borders and I was able to speak with some of the staff members to let them know of the book. Did you know that Borders carries over 178,000 different titles?

We’ve also been trying to get ‘Wholefoods” to carry the book, but apparently trying to speak to the person responsible for books, or for that matter any other product, is like trying to speak to God. I went to as many as I could and left brochures on their message board. Because if customers ask for the book they will endeavor to get it in for them, and that means they will order more copies and eventually carry the book in all their branches. I would love for that to happen.

I know the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to be such an amazingly simple solution to so many gastric problems, that I realize it might cause a problem to the pharmaceutical companies who are constantly flogging different kinds of drugs. I have no problem with medication as such, because I certainly was happy to take anything when I was suffering from UC. This diet did what no drugs could do ….. give me a symptom free, healthy life.

Keep spreading the message!

Sandra

I am in heaven! Finally an alternative to baking and cooking with Almond Meal. Coconut Flour is SCD Legal, it is very good for you, it is great for thickening stews and sauces and comes up beautifully in baking.

Here are some facts:

Coconut Flour, the new low-carb, high-fibre, gluten-free alternative to wheat flour. It contains no fillers, grains, or soy.

Coconut Flour is made from fresh organic coconut meat. The meat is dried and defatted and then finely ground into a powder very similar in consistency to wheat flour. Use 15-25% in place of other flours in most standard recipes. A variety of delicious baked goods can also be made using 100% coconut flour.

Coconut Flour is a low carb flour. It is ideal for baking low – carb breads and baked goods. It has fewer digestible (net) carbs than any other flour, including soy! It even has fewer digestible carbs than most vegetables.

Coconut Flour is a good source of protein. It has as much protein as wheat flour but it has none of the specific protein in wheat called “gluten”. This is an advantage for a growing percentage of the population that have developed an allergy to gluten or a wheat sensitivity.

Coconut Flour is high in fibre. It contains 38.5% fibre which is the highest percentage of dietary fibre found in any flour (wheat bran is 27% fibre). Coconut flour contains almost 3 times as much fibre as soy flour. Instead of contributing to health problems like starch and sugar do, fibre promotes good health.

This great information comes from a fantastic website which sells coconut flours and oils in Australia: (click here)

Coconut Flour and oil is widely available throughout the U.S and Europe.

Muffins

Makes 6

2 eggs
3 egg whites*
1 tsp vanilla essence
150 g (½ cup) honey
30 g (2 Tsp) coconut oil
75 g (¾ cup) coconut flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda

100 g (1 cup) apples or berries
or bananas

*by eliminating the egg yolks the
fat content of the recipe is reduced

Pre-heat oven to 160ºC/320 F - baking time 45 minutes

Line a six-hole muffin tin with baking paper: To do this I tear of 6 pieces of baking paper about 10 cm wide. Then once the filling is made I mould the paper into one muffin mould first and while holding down with one hand fill it with the dough with the other hand. The paper sticks out a fair bit at the top, but that’s part of the decorative look.

Mix the eggs and egg whites with the vanilla essence, honey and coconut oil using an electric beater until well combined and frothy. Then add the sifted coconut flour and bicarbonate soda and mix well. Finally fold the fruit under and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and lift the muffins out of the tin and place on a wire grid to cool.

I find it extremely hard waiting for them to cool down and have been known to burn my mouth on the hot fruit inside the muffin. They are of course at their most delicious when still warm from the oven, but even after refrigeration a quick warm in the oven (about 10 minutes on fan forced) will make them taste like you’ve just made them.

Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Well 79 days till the book will be on the shelves. In the meantime I am furiously re-testing some of my newest recipes. The fig and strawberry brulee is fast becoming my favourite dessert and with the extra tweaking on the sweetness level it definitely is attracting some major taste testing from kitchen assistants to family members. This weekend the final touches on the photographs and finally the cover shot, which will hopefully work like the sound from the pide pipers flute and be the flag ship photo for all the yummy recipes inside.

Everything is l(c)ooking fantastic.

Sandra