Black Bean Salad

I've gotten into the habit of keeping bean or lentil salads in the fridge at all times, because they're easy to make and really handy to have around. I make a big pot of beans, use about 2/3 in a salad and reserve the remaining 1/3 for use in other recipes. I generally use the same "recipe" for any bean salad, which involves soaking some diced onion in a shallow pool of apple cider vinegar, adding a chopped bell pepper, then tossing in some olive or hempseed oil, sea salt, herbs of choice, maybe some celery, and finally the beans. Switching up the beans and the herbs allows for some variety so it doesn't get too boring eating bean salad all the time.

For my black bean salad I soaked some diced onion in the vinegar for about 10 minutes, added some orange bell pepper, poured in some olive and hempseed oils, and then sprinkled in some cayenne, sea salt and a couple teaspoons of cumin powder. Then I tossed in the black beans (about 4 cups) and a couple handfuls of chopped cilantro.

I was concerned that the Mexican flavors might go weirdly with the apple cider vinegar, but it tasted alright to me. You could always just use lemon juice instead, I just didn't because I use lots of lemons in other foods and am trying to use more apple cider vinegar in my cooking.

As for the cilantro, I find that it's one of the few relatively affordable herbs available at this time of year, provided you buy a gigantic bundle. I used about a quarter of my cilantro in this recipe, and the rest I'll be using to make cilantro pesto with almonds, basically the basil cilantro pesto from Veganomicon without the pricey basil.

Soba Noodles with Roasted Vegetables

I had a really nice dinner tonight, and it was very simple too. I got some vegetables to roast, and decided to throw a sweet potato in there since It's been a month since I started this diet and I think a few bites of sweet potato here and there should be okay to add back in. So I roasted some eggplant, a sweet potato, red pepper and garlic, which I served over 100% buckwheat soba noodles tossed in oregano and sauteed red onion with canned artichoke hearts. I hated these buckwheat noodles when I first bought them, not least because they were something like $7 for a small bag but also because they taste like buckwheat. They're a special kind of soba noodle I've only seen in one health food store - regular soba noodles are made with both buckwheat and regular flour, so they're not allowed on the diet. Another problem with the pure buckwheat ones is that they have a habit of sticking together in a giant clump. But I'm starting to like them, partially because I've gotten used to the taste, and also because they have a beautiful dark mauve color, which looked really pretty with the red and orange veggies I had tonight. Maybe tomorrow I will have some of my leftover vegetables with regular cooked buckwheat instead of the noodles, and see if my tastes have adapted enough to tolerate the stuff. Really though, the dish was very pretty, and if I had a camera I'd take a picture. Maybe by the time some desperate candida-dieting vegan stumbles upon this blog a couple years from now, I'll have added photos! Until then, you'll have to make it yourself to see.

Sunflower Seed Sushi

For dinner tonight I made these "sushi" rolls from the Vegetarian Times magazine. They're like your regular vegetable and avocado rolls, but with ground soaked sunflower seeds standing in for the glutenous rice. I stuffed mine with avocado, yellow pepper, carrot and steamed asparagus. I don't have a sushi mat so I did without, and they came out a little fat but still pretty good for someone who has only ever made sushi once before.

I did like the sunflower seed "rice," but I wasn't crazy about the final product. I think it was the collards that did it for me. The raw and chewy leaves really overpowered the nori, so I'll try making them again without the collards and just serve immediately to keep the rolls from getting soggy without them. I served them with a simple soup made with sauteed minced garlic and kale, vegetable broth, water and dark miso.

Recipe Suggestions

I spent a little time today looking through some recipes, mostly thinking about what I'd make if I could eat xyz and not be on this diet. I did, however, find some things I'd like to make sometime that are doable on the anti-candida diet.

Red Lentil Thai Chili - from the Post Punk Kitchen blog, would have to be made without sweet potatoes, or much later on into the diet if you want to follow the recipe exactly. I'd just serve it with quinoa.

Other recipes I want to try are from the cookbook Veganomicon. The recipes might even be online somewhere if you search for them, since I'm aware not everyone owns this cookbook. I haven't tried any of these, but I hope to soon!

Chickpeas Romesco (p.123) - would have to leave out the sugar and red wine vinegar, maybe sub apple cider vinegar instead?

Manzana Chili Verde (p.171) - without the potatoes, which I've never put in chili anyways so I won't be too sad to leave them out.

Spinach Linguine with Basil-Cilantro Pesto and Artichokes (p.191) - Okay, so this is probably an annoying suggestion because pasta is a no-go, but I want to try making this with quinoa pasta or perhaps some brown rice pasta, which I'm considering adding into my diet soon in moderate amounts. Hopefully I can find artichoke hearts in oil without vinegar/brine? If not I may have to steam my own and alter the flavor a little bit.

I'm sure there are other recipes in this and other books that can be adapted for the anti-candida diet, but preparing absolutely all my food entirely from scratch is getting a bit tiring, so I'm trying to keep it simple instead of trying out too many exciting recipes.

Lemon Ginger Tea

I've always been a big fan of making this tea in the evening, when I want a nice caffeine-free mug of something hot. A few nights ago I made some, thinking I'd need to add some xylitol to balance the sharp flavors of the lemon and ginger, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was delicious without any sweetener at all! Not only did I get to drink my favorite tea, but I also got a great boost in confidence about my progress on this diet. It used to be that I couldn't fathom the thought of drinking unsweetened tea, perhaps the result of too much time spent in the south. Now, I am able to enjoy the most pungently flavored tea without adding any sugar. I'm taking this as a sure sign that my taste buds are coming back to life, and my addiction to sugar is subsiding. Lastly, I should note that this is an ideal tea to drink because of the digestive benefits of ginger. Great to have after a meal.

To make it, just wash and slice up a whole lemon, and about a small thumb's worth of fresh ginger (peeled and sliced thinly). Boil lemon and ginger in about 3 cups of water for a few minutes, strain and drink.

Basic Lentil Salad

I've been keeping to this diet pretty well by making lots of relatively simple salads, switching around my main ingredients each time so I get a bit of variety. On any given day I'll have two different salads in the fridge, which I'll have with some steamed vegetables to make a nice and colorful meal. I have started making this lentil salad, which is really tasty and also really simple.

After I've soaked some green lentils overnight (2 cups maybe), I cook, drain and rinse them. While they're cooking, I dice up half a red onion and let it soak in a generous splash of apple cider vinegar, in the bottom of the big tupperware container I plan to store the salad in. I chop up half a green pepper, maybe some yellow pepper if I have some, and a small handful of parsley. All of that goes into the container as well. I pour in a splash of hempseed oil (or olive) and mix everything around, and finally I add in the cooked lentils once they've cooled a bit. I usually keep some cooked chickpeas sitting around in the fridge, so I'll toss a handful of those in too if I have them. Mix it all up, stick it in the fridge, and let the flavors combine. An easy and tasty salad you can make with just about any kind of bean!

Less Boring Asparagus

I've been having steamed asparagus every day with coconut oil, and although it's good, I'm getting a bit bored with it. Today I steamed the asparagus as usual, and while that was going I sauteed some minced garlic in olive oil. Then I added my asparagus into the pan, and seasoned it with nutritional yeast and a generous sprinkling of dried oregano (since oregano's supposed to be great for battling candida). The grapevine has told me that nutritional yeast is okay despite being yeast - if you have information contrary to this, or know anything more about the issue, please let me know!

This dish is a little more interesting with some buckwheat noodles thrown in, but I prefer to go without as my daily asparagus portions are designed to make sure I keep my diet mostly veggie-oriented.