I’ve been sprouting raw hulled sunflower seeds lately.  There’s very little work involved and the result is a tasty snack or salad topping.  I tried a fancy sprouter a year or so ago and the tray system for this gagdet was a pain in the neck to use. The water was hard to add and change and worst of all the sprouts often got moldy.  Now I use the old mason jar with a porous lid method with great success - easy and clean. I have "Sprout_Ease" lids which come in a pack with 3 sizes for under $5.  A long time ago I used cheese cloth and rubber bands which worked fine but the lids are easier to use and clean so I think they are worth the little investment.

Sprouting Raw Sunflower Seeds

Put 1/2 c. raw hulled sunflower seeds in a wide mouth mason jar, fill half way with water, screw on lid.

After 8 hours, dump water through lid, rinse several times and drain by dumping water through lid one final time and shaking.

Each morning and night rinse and drain the seeds.

Within a day or so you’ll see "tails" on the seeds.  They are fine to eat now and / or later when leaves start to form in a few more days.

My partner and I already don’t have traditional Thanksgiving fare since we’re both vegetarians.  We’re also not too traditional period and try to do something new and unique every chance we get.  Last year we fasted for Thanksgiving.  This year we made an incredibly delicious, Candida Diet friendly dinner and dessert.  The recipes came mostly from the Eat-Taste-Heal: An Ayurvedic Cookbook for Modern Living cookbook. The highlight was Roasted Tuscan Vegetables - red bell peppers, acorn squash, zucchinis, fennel bulbs and parnsips marinated in fresh basil, olive oil, lime and sea salt and then well roasted with two sauces:  Vegan Pesto from The Chopra Center Cookbook : A Nutritional Guide to Renewal / Nourishing Body and Soul cookbook and Cilantro Salsa from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

For desert we had Raspberry Crepes with Sweet Cream with crepes from Eat-Taste-Heal made with quinoa, amaranth and rice flour with coconut milk, filled with rasperries (sweetened with Xylitol) and our recipe for Sweet Cream.  Yum.

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Put 1 1/2 cups of mixed frozen blackberries and strawberries in a food processor with 1 1/2 T. Xylitol.  Blend, slowly adding unsweetned almond milk until desired sorbet consistency is achieved.

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Miss candy?  These fruit sours are sugar free and awesome.  I’m trying out the Watermelon Splash and Cherry Blast.  Both are mighty good!  I just ordered the six pack for $13.50 from Emerald Forest. Soon I’ll get to try Raspberry Dance, Citrus Sky, Keylime Dream, and Grape Blizzard.

Spread 3/4 c. of raw pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile boil a little water and add 1 1/2 t. of hot water to 1/2 t. of good sea salt.  Take the seeds out of the oven and dump on the salt water.  The seeds will sizzle.  Put the seeds back in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes to dry them out.  That’s it!

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When I feel a little deprived about not getting any decadent treats - I have this hot chocolate substitute.  I always feel requited afterwards - and to tell the truth I also feel much better than I would if I’d had hot cocoa with sugar.

1 c. unsweetened almond milk  
Stir in Xylitol to preferred sweetness

Heat up on medium heat and drink

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While I was in the “very sick” part of this journey I read some advice from Mantak Chia, the Taoist teacher and healer, which proved to be extremely helpful to me.

It went like this:

“You must love the part of yourself that is sick.”

I didn’t even realize until I heard this advice that I seriously hated the part of myself that was sick. After reading Chia’s words it felt so right and so needed to love that sick part me especially.

modified from the recipe at Bob’s Red Mill (bobsredmill.com)

This is my first cake experiment since going on the diet.  I will definitely make this one again.  As the name implies it is moist and also very tasty.