I can't live without coffee

Before I even began the SCD diet, I knew I would have to find a way to still enjoy my coffee in the mornings.  Typically, I would by some Coffemate flavors and enjoy the creamy, sweetened coffee that just makes mornings bearable.

However, that was out, since there is no milk or sugar allowed on SCD.  So, I did a bunch of research on pinterest and found some recipes to try.  The one I went with called for coconut cream and a paste made of pureed dates.  You are supposed to mix the coconut with the dates and get this yummy cream.

Here is the recipe:
http://deliciouslyorganic.net/homemade-dairy-free-sugar-free-coffee-creamer-recipe/

I didn't last very long.  I ran out after a few days and had to substitute a quick and dirty solution - some coconut cream and honey stirred into my brew.  And actually, it was way easier, and I thought to myself, "Screw it, I am just going to do this."

It isn't the best solution.  It tastes ok enough.  After some more experimenting, I ended up with my daily jam: Using a smoothie blender, I combine a can of coconut cream, some almond milk, and about a half cup of honey (warmed a little to make it blend easier - 20 seconds in the microwave).

This makes an easy one-scoop addition to the coffee cup.

But then there is the magical secret that I stumbled upon that ended up changing EVERYTHING.

After I had just made a new batch of my creamer, I had a little left in the blender.  So, I made a cup of coffee and dumped it into the blender and gave it a little whirl to mix it all up.

The result was fabulous.

The little difference of blending the coffee made the oil in the coconut cream get all emulsified in the cup and now it is like drinking a freaking latte.  Same ingredients, just a million times better that mixing it in with a spoon.

My little smoothie maker doesn't like to blend hot things - it barfed at me when I did this.  So I've added an immersion blender to my list of things to purchase.

It's still more futzy than just pouring some cream into the cup and brewing the keurig.  But at least I still get my morning buzz.

Step One - Yogurt

The first thing I learned about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is that making your own yogurt is an essential part of the diet.

I guess there is not any substitute for the probiotic benefits you get from homemade yogurt.

Knowing that a putzy proccess for making yogurt would be my downfall, I invested in the most easy-to-use machine I could find.

The Cuisinart CYM-100 Electronic Yogurt Maker with Automatic Cooling.

http://amzn.com/B00ARSC1MK

I am quite happy with the purchase.  It automatically times how long you cook the yogurt, and then turns into a cooling unit to refrigerate the yogurt until you can put it in the fridge.

Basically, you can dump your yogurt mix into this and walk away for a day and come back to ready to go yogurt.

I have tried a few different batches, each one more successful than the last.  I prefer my yogurt super thick like Greek yogurt, so after a few attempts, I found the best way to achieve this is to cook the yogurt for a super long time.  18 hours.

Even then, the yogurt can be a little runny, so the next thing I did was purchase a strainer.

You could do this with a bit of cheesecloth to save money, but again, I wanted to do things the easiest way possible.  So I purchased this thingy:

http://amzn.com/B0091XNL0I

This is big enough to dump the entire 42oz of yogurt into and drips the extra liquid out.

The first time I tried the strained 18 hour yogurt,  I ate it with honey and some homemade SCD granola.

It was super delish.

I suspect that by straining the yogurt, I lose some of the beneficial probiotics.  But, I really didn't enjoy the first attempts of runnier yogurt that I made.  So, I am going to try the ignorance is best approach to this and tell myself that this is just fine.  The other benefit to this strained yogurt is that it can be used as a substitute for sour cream.  I haven't braved that yet, so I will post about it when I have gotten the courage.