I was inspired to start this thread when I read of Elsa's interest in cheese making. Each of us probably has favorite recipes to share that are healthy and preservative-free. While mulling this idea over, BD sent me a recipe for Almond Bark.

Thanks, BD! Please, everyone, post your recipes here if you have healthy recipe to share.

Credit to Marie Sooklaris for this recipe from BD. It is almost identical to a recipe I devised when I wanted a chocolate candy-type treat that was OK for the candida diet (well, sort of OK).

Chocolate Almond Bark

By Marie Sooklaris

This is a sugar-free recipe that uses stevia powder as a sweetener. If you use any other type of sweetener, you will have to experiment with amounts of sweetener. Being that I'm low-carb and a natural girl, I won't use anything but stevia to sweeten. I'm still suspicious of sucralose (Splenda), I don't trust aspartame, and simply cannot do sugar of any kind. That's just me.

4 T. (1/4 Cup) Virgin Coconut Oil
1-1.5 T. alkalized Cocoa Powder (your favorite -- I like Valrhona)
2 oz. (by weight) almonds
1/4 t. stevia rebaudiana powder

Place small pan or steel bowl with coconut oil on very low burner just enough to melt coconut butter but not for the purposes of heating it. In fact, remove from heat before all coconut butter melts. The ambient heat will finish the job. Stir to melt down the white gobs.

Add in cocoa powder and stevia and using rubber spatula, stir to combine and blend well. Taste chocolate mixture and adjust seasonings if needed. You might want to add more stevia, but add it in 1/8 or 1/16 teaspoon increments.

Chop or grind almonds (or other nut or combination of nuts and seeds, for that matter) to desired chunkiness or fineness (I used food processor for fine grind), then toast by placing in non-stick skillet on medium heat and stirring occasionally with spatula until they just warm or turn a little golden (to your preference).

Blend nuts (and/or nut/seed combo) into chocolate mixture.

Have chilled a metal bakeware lasagna or cake pan or pans in freezer for ten minutes or so. Remove from freezer and line with plastic wrap. You may
need to moisten side walls of pan with a finger's dab of water so plastic wrap sticks to it. Then pour chocolate/nut mixture into chilled pan and spread to desired thickness. Some like it thin and crackly. Some like it a little thicker. Try the thinner version first because I know that is popular.

Pop it in refrigerator or freezer on level shelf and let it sit 10 minutes or so. It will harden quickly and breaks with a snap and is so much fun to eat.
(It melts in your hand -- ! ! ! -- so you may want to handle it with plastic wrap. Or what I do is break it into bite size pieces and keep it in a container lined with plastic wrap in the fridge or freezer, that is if it lasts that long!)

Aside from almonds, I have used and like a combination of equal amounts of shredded coconut, macadamia nuts and almonds. Or toasted sesame seeds. Or add some flax meal as well (don't toast so you preserve the EFAs). Pecans, walnuts, whatever you like.

Note from kebod: I make something almost identical, but I use coconut oil and butter, 50/50. I grind cacoa beans* in the coffee grinder to make cocoa powder. And I have never added nuts, since my very strict candida diet does not allow them. ( I cheat sometimes. ) Stevia* is my only sweetener, also.

*Cacoa Beans:The seeds contained in the fruit of the cacao tree, from whence all chocolate is made. These seeds can be purchased at natural food stores, sometimes broken into small pieces and called cacao nibs or coco nibs. They are an excellent source of anti-oxidents.
"Antioxidants: Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than any food tested so far..."
Raw Cacao Nibs - Live SuperFoods

*Stevia: a sweetener made from leaves of a shrub grown in S. America. It can be up to 300 times sweeter than sugar and is a healthy sweetener for diabetics.
The Stevia Story: all about the herb that's sweeter than sugar

In the interest of moisturizing from the inside out, and to get good fats in my body, I have started making my own mayonnaise.

You can go cross-eyed reading the strange, chemical ingredients in commercial mayonnaise. This recipe has only good ingredients in it and it only takes 5 minutes to make.

In a blender, crack 2 eggs, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons to 4 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice. (I use 4 tablespoons, because I like mayo with the extra kick of citrus flavor.)

With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 1 cup of olive oil and one cup of a milder flavored oil, such as avocado, sunflower or safflower. (Avoid canola, peanut and corn oil.)

That's all there is to it. Keep in fridge in a glass jar.

Don't try to eat this.
This is the recipe for my OCM (Oil Cleansing Method) face oil. I use this to cleanse with every night and then moisturise with pure emu oil.

Cleansing oil 100ml percentage/volume
Sweet Almond oil 35%/35ml
Jojoba oil 25%/25ml
Castor oil 15%/15ml
Extra Virgin Olive oil 10%/10ml
Rice Bran oil 10%/10ml
Rosehip oil 3%/3ml
Vitamin E natural 1%/1ml
Lavender essential oil 0.75%/15 drops
Geranium essential oil 0.25%/5 drops
100%/100ml

Thanks for the recipe, Sigzephyr. Everything in it looks so good -- a great way to feed your skin.

When I started this thread, I wasn't thinking about non-edible recipes, but I think this is a great idea to include recipes for body care, as well.

kebod

My version of Coconut Fudge:

Melt 1/2 cup of butter. Stir in 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil. Add about 1/4 cup of cocoa or freshly ground cacao beans. Add stevia powder to taste, like about 1/4 teaspoon. A la Bunny Day, you can add ground nuts. Or flaked coconut. Or minced dried fruit. Pour into a small container and chill. Cut into squares. Enjoy without guilt.

This isn't exactly a recipe. It is a link to 100 easy recipes using 100 of the world's healthiest foods. This site offers a free subscription and will send you weekly or daily recipe and food tips. The World's Healthiest Foods is great for someone just starting out on cooking and eating healthy, or if you already know what you are doing, but need some inspiration to try something new. This week's food tip and recipe is for salmon.
The World's Healthiest Foods

kebod

kebod & sigzephyr - do the oil prices at the following site look good for lotiion and cleanser making, etc?
Camden-Grey Essential Oils, Inc.

They had about the best on macadamia oil which I'm into on my skin. they also have palm and jojoba and others.
thanks -

BD,

I'm sorry, but I don't have enough experience ordering online to compare Camden-Gray prices. I have only ordered from Mountain Rose, as they have the best coconut oil price. Perhaps you would like to compare C-G's prices with M.R. They have a very extensive selection.

kebod

Bunnyday,
I will add the link to where I order my OCM oils from so you can campare prices. These prices are in Australian Doillars, but at the moment our dollar is almost the same as the US. Yay!!
Aromatherapy and Essential Oils - Fragrant Oil, Certified Organic Books, Candles
I don't get my emu oil from here, or any of the oils I OP with.

Thank you dears! I will do some comparing. I have figured I will save about $1,000 US if I buy a few gallons and halves of oils and mix my own lotions! - bd

Bunnyday, You can save a lot of money mixing your own. Just remember that some oils should be refigerated if you are keeping them for longer than 6 months.
I used to pay $30 for 100mls of OCM blend. This lasts me and my son (who also uses it) 3 weeks. Now i make it myself it costs $8 a bottle. I make it for my mum and sisters too. They are happy to get such an affordable cleanser.
I buy the emu oil in 1 litre bottles (huge) for $100. This used to cost me $35 for 200 ml. A big saving for the best moisturiser I have ever used.

Bunnyday, could you post your recipe for the sugar scrub that you make? And how long does it last, does it need to be refridgerated?

Thanks!

Bunnyday, could you post your recipe for the sugar scrub that you make? And how long does it last, does it need to be refridgerated?

Thanks!

Well, this is not bunnyday's sugar scrub, but this one is the one we use daily.
a new member says hi- started op today!

Sheena - sorry about the delay, I don't get to all the forums all the time... I don't really have a recipe, sorry. what I do is I buy a GIANT bag of sugar at a mega-mart of some sort and keep it in a big plastic bin in a pantry. From that, I fill a plastic container with a tight lid - like an old yogurt container or a tupperware/rubbermaid thingy, some good storage - with the sugar and keep it in my shower. Depending on various things, I might just use the sugar by itself lightly or mixed with acv for more sloughing action or with oil or both. I just tried using the Oil CLeansing method all over, and that was great. basically rub oil all over yourself before getting in the shower, really massage it in, then get a nice steamy shower going, and then instead of using a washcloth, I first used some sugar on top of the oil. That seemed a level even more moisturizing and soothing than just mixing the oil with the sugar in the shower.

I'm not sure what it is but I don't like oatmeal in my scrubs. I've tried it a few times as it's supposed to be so great for itchiness and irritation but that is not true for me. I wonder if it's because there's a little gluten in it? whoa - that JUST occurred to me as a possibility...

my proportions would roughly be:

half cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon ACV, then enough water or oil to make a slurry (just enough liquid to envelope the sugar without melting it much). you can leave out the ACV if it's too strong.

or mix sugar and epsom salts half and half and process in a food processor and keep dry in a tub in shower, then mix with oil or water (no vinegar in this) as needed to get your slurry.

HTH - bd