I've got a mini-forum at Lymefriends for discussing low-carb and gluten-free recipes for people on a candida-avoiding diet or who are eating gluten-free. There are a lot of good recipes and a lot of places listed for where you can mail-order certain ingredients if you're unable to go shopping locally for them.
Here's my latest addition, a fruit-like low-sugar snack made out of the vegetable jicama:
This is a wonderful side dish that has the crunch and juiciness of fruit. Jicama is a root vegetable that you peel and eat raw, it's great cut into 'sticks' for dips, as well as dice for salads. It really feels like a fruit, especially when you sweeten it with stevia and flavor it with flavorful lime juice or lemon juice. It's also a great ingredient in other salads to add 'crunch' and interest. The 'salad' (or dessert) keeps for quite a while, too, which is a bonus.
If you don't like cilantro, leave it out or use different herbs and flavorings.
MariaA's Jicama-mint-lime Chiller:
1 medium jicama, peeled and cut into cubes about 3/4" across 2-3 limes or a large lemon or two, juiced cilantro and mint- about a cup total, chopped (if you dislike cilantro, leave it out or substitute some parsley) stevia to taste to counteract the acidity of the lime juice salt to taste
you can chop the herbs in a food processor if desired. Juice the lemon or limes, add to the herbs and the cubed jicama. combine ingredients and sweeten/salt to taste (it's especially good with the sweet-salty flavor, but you can make it sweet-only if you're trying to make a 'fruity' dish).
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
OH THANKS!! You really need to produce a cookbook!! You have such great ideas!!
Thanks! I want to try this one! Is Jicama pretty low in carbs?
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
I think it's lowish, still seems like a starchy(ish) vegetable, but I think I see it on the wholeapproachforums.com lists of OK vegetables.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Darn. I looked for it at the grocery store today.. couldn't find any. I know I've seen it before. Could it be out of season?
Posted by RubyJ (Member # 28711) on :
Jicama is grown in warm areas like Mexico and I can usually find it all year round. I've found it at Whole Foods, Sunflower market, and Walmart.
It is low carb: 1 cup of Raw Jicama
Carbohydrate 11.5 Dietary Fiber 6.4 g
Net carbs= 5.1 g
I use jicama slices as "crackers" for meat & cheese or tuna salad.
Posted by RubyJ (Member # 28711) on :
Another good fruit-like vegetable is chayote squash. These are harder to find.
You can slice them and use them like apples in an "apple" crumble with finely chopped almonds or pecans, unsweetened coconut, and sweetner of choice for the topping.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Thanks! I looked at our Wal Mart SuperCenter. I figured that was my best shot.
I'll ask next time. Maybe I just didn't see it. I've seen it before at the SC in the next town.
Posted by farraday (Member # 21494) on :
Great tips, everybody! We have always loved jicama with lime juice.
I am currently writing my second cookbook. An important section of it is dedicated to healthy snacks for children. I am saving up for a juicer because that is one of my favorite ways of getting veggies into kids and my juicer has had it.
So I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. My goal is to get kids away from sugar, bread and cheese. Even a beautiful red slice of tomato can be sprinkled with a little Splenda and be delicious. We also use cherry tomatoes with ranch dressing dip.
One of my best ideas was to put out the veggies before dinner...a nice big plate of a variety of colors with a dip or two. Hungry kids munch on them but don't ruin their dinners.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I'll be interested, farraday. I need gluten and sugar free. (low carb too??)
Can't ask for too much! Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Cool! Great tips, everyone! I'm excited to try the sweetened chayote one- I've had it in the past, but didn't cook it like a fruit.
Posted by RubyJ (Member # 28711) on :
Don't mean to hijack the jicama thread but here's a link to a chayote "apple" recipe.
Hijack away!!! And, if you have the energy to, please post these sorts of suggestions in the LYmefriends group, it'll help archive the info in one place that's easier to find in the future. (see signature for link)
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Oh my gosh, that sounds just fabulous. I sometimes make fried apples or fried bananas and have been wanting a low-carb alternative!
I've found that a lot of things can be made to taste vaguely 'fruity' if you add a little bit of grated lemon zest to it- it doesn't necessarily scream "LEMON" at you, just adds some fruitiness. I did that to a squash dish the other day and it made it really 'fresh' tasting.
I think you could just substitute stevia to taste for the Splenda if you're worried about any issues with artificial sweeteners (some people are).
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)