I'm thankful for the SCD! :)

Our 2 pre-roasted salted & peppered chickens; one brined with roasted garlic, lemon juice, bay leaves,  salt, pepper, & olive oil. AMAZING!

Our organic veggies before we roasted them. Lots of chopping/prepping to do beforehand!! 

Our cheerful heart-warming dining room. :) 

The finished product!!! :D Absolutely phenomenal!

My SCD plate of deliciousness. :) 

The desserts my darling mom & I slaved over. All made from scratch! I know they were good; they were made with lots of love. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!! :) I hope your day was full of chopping, cleaning, slicing, chomping, devouring, roasting, baking, gawking, overindulging, smiling, laughing, loving, & wishing. Wishing that the day would never end! This was my first turkey day on the SCD & it was a huge success!!!! Every one of the ten individuals sitting around our dining room table left satisfied & astronomically happy! How was your dinner on this heart-warming, appreciative evening? Hugs to you all & to all a good night! :) 


...I'm off to the couch to rest. SO much chicken!!!!!! ;) 

Gone in 60 seconds

I kid you not, these are three of my most favorite meals since starting the SCD. I ate every last morsel. No napkins were involved in the killing of the buffalo wings either. I dove in headstrong, hands at the ready, tummy eager to be fed. I came out a winner in the end with bones from 14 wings leftover; I tied with my dad. He thought he could eat more than me... HA! What a bunch of bologna. 


As for the toast you see pictured here, there was a little bit of heaven in each crunchy bite. INCREDIBLE!!!!! First slices of toast in years. It was like a kid in a candy store to say the least. Then to go & place an egg with a perfectly runny yolk on top, you've hit the jackpot. You've reached the peak of Mt. Everest. You've swung a home run. You've landed the manager position at work. You've just made the impossible possible!! Its deliciousness will not go unnoticed, I will tell you that much. 


Don't fret, they're both easy to make as well. The recipes are posted below. Make it a date this Friday!! Cook yourself up some blanched almond butter bread & a copious amount of buffalo-style chicken wings. Your tummy will thank you for it. :) 

Absolutely the best bread I've ever had. 

Look at those slices... Whoa!

A little maple leaf of butter on a dainty piece of toast. How precious

Bring it onnnn!!!!!! It's wing timeeeee!!!! :D

Toast, a sunny-side up egg with salt & pepper, a dream come true.  

I recommend taking a triple bite with toast, egg white, & a dunk into the rich creamy egg yolk. It's the BEST!

Bread 5.0 as I like to call it (thank you darlin' from Z's Cup of Tea!)

*I used blanched almond butter instead of regular* 

Unforgettable Buffalo-Style Chicken Wings

• 2 packs of organic (if you can) buffalo-style chicken wings & drumsticks, about 28 total 
• the juice of about half a lemon
• 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic
• 3 tbsp. organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
• a sprinkle of himalayan pink sea salt
• a heaping amount of organic ground oregano & basil 

Place all your wings & drums into a deep container to marinade them in. Squeeze your half a lemon directly over the chicken so as not to lose a single drop of that zing! Press your garlic over the top as well, scraping off the stubborn bits that stay behind on the kitchen utensil. Generously drizzle your 3 tbsp. EVOO next!! Go ahead & add your dusting of himalayan pink sea salt. Lastly & most importantly, slowly incorporate all your ground oregano & basil. Take your hands & mix those wings & drums thoroughly to evenly coat them with the kickin' flavors in the container. Pop a lid on the container & let the chicken befriend those potent kicks & punches for about 7-8 hours. Once they've become best friends, lie the wings & drums on a broil pan on the grill at medium-high heat for 8 minutes each side. BAM!! Push everything white aside, the messy chicken's comin' through. I hope you enjoy!!! :)  

~Allie~

Another milestone on the SCD!!!!! :D

7 MONTHS ON THE SCD TODAY!!! :D YAY! I cannot express my happiness for this life-changing diet enough. It's been nothing short of a miracle (no, seriously). 


Today was an especially  phenomenal day though. Not only am I feeling a thousand times better but I'm also back in school & doing well. I had two tests today & I'm confident that I aced them both!! My brain is BACK! I have proven to myself that I can go to school & be healthy at the same time. This is a feeling of accomplishment I never thought I'd experience again. I'm the student with the psychotic amount of study material & no life outside of her textbooks; I'm perfectly okay with that! I'm the student who gets the recommended hours of sleep the night before the test because she's not panicking & cramming at the last minute like she did before when very ill; definitely not going to reject that new groove. I'm the test-taker who walks out of the classroom full of contentment & doesn't look back; what a treat! I've never been that person before & so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed very minute of it. 


I also met with a darling counselor today & signed up for three classes next semester. Will I end up taking all three? I'm not entirely sure yet. If within the first week I find that my load is too heavy & I'm not ready to do the SCD with three college classes, I'll drop one. I've allowed myself to have that wiggle room but still push myself to see if I can pull through. I've got my fingers crossed!! :) 


There's still some tweaking to be done to the diet as well. Right now I'm experimenting by removing dairy from my food repertoire to test my theory of a casein issue. I'll have a clear answer by this weekend once all the dairy has left my system. The best part about this is that if it actually ends up being an issue with casein, then I can probably reintroduce some fruits back into my diet! Banana pancakes: YAY! Pear sauce: even BETTER! :) I'm eager to see results. Look out for a verdict within the next two weeks. 


So my dear friends, readers, fellow bloggers, family, & other SCDers, I thank you for helping me succeed on this life-changing diet. You have shown me that anything is possible if you trust your heart & follow your gut. Cheers to you all. :) Well, I'm off to plop onto my comfy couch in the basement that sits next to a little warm "fire place" & throw a movie in the DVD player to relax & enjoy the moment. I have several recipes to post within the next day or two so stay hungry! 


xoxox, Allie
p.s. check out these photos. WHOA! That's all there is to say.  

Me at senior prom BEFORE I got extremely ill, crashed, & burned. Thin but practically starving myself: weight is about 124.

Right in the THICK of it away at school freshman year. Absolute nastiness. Puffy, bloated, tight, miserable, felt ugly, in pain, sicker than I'd like to think. :( Heavy but exercising a ton & still eating very little. 

On the greener side of life. 7 months into the diet, 22 lbs. lighter bringing me back to my original weight (122), feelin' pretty, loving feeling healthy, exercising mildly, & best of all, EATING MY HEART OUT! :) Rockin' a new do, too!!

The Souper Powers of Chicken Soup

Feeling hungry? Have chicken soup.
Feeling happy? Have chicken soup.
Feeling silly? Have chicken soup.
Feeling cold? Have chicken soup.
Feeling sick? Have chicken soup.
Feeling lonely? Have chicken soup.
Feeling mad? Have chicken soup.
Feeling frustrated? Have chicken soup.
Feeling stressed? Have chicken soup.
Feeling blue? Have chicken soup.
Feeling anxious? Have chicken soup.
Feeling worn out? Have chicken soup.
Feeling lucky? Have chicken soup.
Feeling thin? Have chicken soup.
Feeling fat? Have chicken soup.
Feeling dry? Have chicken soup.
Feeling energetic? Have chicken soup.


Feeling like you want to have a souper douper day? Have chicken soup. :)
~Allie~

BOO!!!! :) Happy Halloween!!!

Whoever said Halloween treats had to be made with chocolate & refined sugar was completely off their rocker. I do believe it's possible to take any common food such as an egg & turn it into an eerily adorable dish. See for yourself!! :) 

One egg carefully cooked using a cookie cutter, ground peppercorn for the spider stencil, & two peppercorns for the eyes! 

Or even a slice of cheesecake turned into a mischievous little bat!! How easy is that?! 

An ordinary piece of cheesecake transformed into a bat using a tin cookie cutter. 

So maybe these treats aren't full of gluten, or sugar, or artificial flavors, or anything out of a box. Who cares!! No one needs to eat that junk anyway... These are cute, healthy, & extremely easy to conjure up!! :) 


I hope my goodies have inspired you to look in your fridge & spice cabinet for the proper ingredients needed to create something clever & spooky for this creepy holiday. Now go have fun!! 
<3, Allie 

"Eye See You!!!!!" :) Chicken eyeballs with cilantro, DCCC, slice of an olive, & a peppercorn in the middle  over a bed of zucchini pasta (raw for the picture)

I thought my post was finished earlier but no... Another scary idea popped into my head!!! Creepy huh?! :) Definitely the spookiest dish I came up with this year. Once again, incredibly easy to make & oh SO scrumptious!!!!!! Put this together for Halloween dinner tonight. Mmm, mmm, ghoulishly tasty!! ;) Hope you've been having a spooktacular night!!!! 


xoxo, Allie

Soup's on!

Cream of cauliflower soup. YUM! :) 

Roasted cauliflower & chicken soup come together to create this heart-warming masterpiece

What a cute soup bowl!!!! Perfect for the month of October :)

The most delectable soup for a chilly October day. Try it out, I know you'll love it!!!! :) It's easy! Just roast a head of cauliflower with a sprinkle of olive oil, then toss it in the blender with some homemade chicken soup & VOILA! Cream of cauliflower soup. Add a few pinches of salt & pepper for some kicks. Be careful, it's known to cause overindulgence!! ;) 

<3, Allie

Chicken Addicts Anonymous (C.A.A.)

Marinated chicken thighs that lasted no more than 5 minutes... Oops. 

Time to confess a few things about myself. Number one, I am a bookworm. Stephen King continues to be my favorite author. Number two, I am a computer geek. Apple products all the way!! Number three, I am such a fan of books & computers that I rarely find time for both!!!! This would explain why it's been a whole 11 days since I posted last. Whoops! :) Okay, now that I've cleared that up, back to the important thing: food! 

I'm sure you noticed my enticing photo of marinated chicken thighs & immediately thought to yourself, "is she going to eat ALL of those?!". To answer your question, absolutely positively. I enjoyed every single bite! :) I happen to be the biggest fan of chicken thighs in case you weren't already aware. These were especially delicious because they were celebratory. I checked my midterm grades last night & am proud to report that I received TWO A's for my classes!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! :D I couldn't have been happier!!!! This meant that my brain fog was no longer hindering my ability to succeed in school. **giggle overload** To celebrate, I woke up this morning & began marinating my chicken thighs. Waiting for an hour was pure torture. An easy microwaved egg with a smidgen of butter seemed to hold me over for the time being. I removed the thighs from the fridge, took off the lid to place them on the broil pan, & BAM! The lemony, garlic-y, salty, peppery marinade smacked me like a ton of bricks. The SCD-friendly dressing I used was none other than the incredibly scrumptious Tessemae's . Delish!!!! In addition to that, I sprinkled in some salt & pepper for texture. That's everything, foodies! My recipe for gourmet chicken thighs. Simple & satisfying. The last step is placing them in the oven on low broil for about 18 minutes, 9 minutes per side. :) Be prepared to share although we both know that's tough to do when it comes to chicken thighs...  

Now I'm off to make a cheesecake. Even though I've been 100% sugar-free (no honey or bananas or pears) for about 2 weeks now due to some evidence of insulin resistance, I feel comfortable with having a teeny tiny piece of lemon cheesecake. Just a little itty bitty square. :D The rest shall be split between my parents. I'm not looking to have yet another horrible reaction to sugar!!! 

Stay hungry, foodies. Look out for a special Halloween post within the next few days!!!! :) 

xoxox, Allie 

p.s. if you've emailed me & I have not replied, please forgive me!! I'm working hard to balance school with my path to wellness (aka the SCD support group, all the cooking, & my beloved SCD blog)

OH! And please check out my poll if you wouldn't mind. I'm trying to collect some data. :)