Christina mentions the work of Dr. Dale Bredesen, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and Christina's Website is honeyandvanilla.com.

The opinions of the Food Stories Podcast guests are theirs and theirs alone. The information on this podcast is NOT intended as medical advice, nor is it intended to replace the care of a qualified healthcare professional. This content is not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases. Always consult with your primary care physician or licensed healthcare provider for all diagnoses and treatment of any diseases or conditions, for medications or medical advice as well as before changing your healthcare regimen.

Cranberry Orange Cake

By Chef Christina Acevedo, RHN

Cranberries and oranges go together like rosemary and potatoes!!! When I created this recipe it was my full intent to make scones but as the results kept turning out more like cake than a scone I had to concede that this beautiful baby was a cake by nature. The best part is that it has only 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey in it. When I added up the natural sugar from the fresh orange juice and the natural sugar from the honey it still only came out to 5-7 grams of sugar per slice depending on how many slices you choose to have. Dammmn that’s good!!!! Find me a cake that tastes this good and has a texture like a soft baby bum with this amount of sugar per slice and I’ll think about trying harder.

Wet ingredients

2 eggs (room temperature)

¼ plain yogurt (full fat) or Coconut Mylk yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Zest of two oranges

½ cup fresh orange juice

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

Dry ingredients

2 cups almond flour

½ cup arrowroot flour or tapioca flour

¼ cup +1 tablespoon coconut flour (sifted)

1 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

½ cup butter (cold, shredded with a cheese grater)

¾ cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)

3 tablespoons shaved coconut

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grate the cold butter with a cheese grater and place the butter  into the freezer

In a medium bowl add all of the wet ingredients and whisk together

In another bowl add all of the dry ingredients except for the frozen butter, shaved coconut and cranberries.

Mix the dry ingredients well with a fork.

Add the frozen butter to the dry ingredients and crumble the butter into the dry ingredients with your...]]>Long-time friends and culinary co-instructors Barb and Christina sit down at Barb's kitchen table to talk about the power of food and connection, the enlightenment that caring for a mom with Alzheimer's has brought to Christina's life, her love of a good burger, and why she wrote her cookbook, Two Little F Words.

Christina mentions the work of Dr. Dale Bredesen, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and Christina's Website is honeyandvanilla.com.

The opinions of the Food Stories Podcast guests are theirs and theirs alone. The information on this podcast is NOT intended as medical advice, nor is it intended to replace the care of a qualified healthcare professional. This content is not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases. Always consult with your primary care physician or licensed healthcare provider for all diagnoses and treatment of any diseases or conditions, for medications or medical advice as well as before changing your healthcare regimen.

Cranberry Orange Cake

By Chef Christina Acevedo, RHN

Cranberries and oranges go together like rosemary and potatoes!!! When I created this recipe it was my full intent to make scones but as the results kept turning out more like cake than a scone I had to concede that this beautiful baby was a cake by nature. The best part is that it has only 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey in it. When I added up the natural sugar from the fresh orange juice and the natural sugar from the honey it still only came out to 5-7 grams of sugar per slice depending on how many slices you choose to have. Dammmn that’s good!!!! Find me a cake that tastes this good and has a texture like a soft baby bum with this amount of sugar per slice and I’ll think about trying harder.

Wet ingredients

2 eggs (room temperature)

¼ plain yogurt (full fat) or Coconut Mylk yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Zest of two oranges

½ cup fresh orange juice

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

Dry ingredients

2 cups almond flour

½ cup arrowroot flour or tapioca flour

¼ cup +1 tablespoon coconut flour (sifted)

1 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

½ cup butter (cold, shredded with a cheese grater)

¾ cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)

3 tablespoons shaved coconut

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grate the cold butter with a cheese grater and place the butter  into the freezer

In a medium bowl add all of the wet ingredients and whisk together

In another bowl add all of the dry ingredients except for the frozen butter, shaved coconut and cranberries.

Mix the dry ingredients well with a fork.

Add the frozen butter to the dry ingredients and crumble the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together.

Grease a deep dish glass 9 1/2” pie plate and place the batter into the pie plate.

Spread the batter out with your spatula or your hands.

Sprinkle the cranberries on top and push them down slightly with your hand.

Sprinkle the shaved coconut and bake for 35-40 minutes

Note

You can substitute the arrowroot for cassava flour but eliminate the extra 1 tablespoon of coconut flour. It will be a little more dense but I switch back and forth depending on what I have.

Dr. Gibson is a family physician in Calgary, Canada with a background in justice work, medical education, and global health. A skilled facilitator and speaker, she is engaged in building individual and community resilience. Her writing creates the woven narrative between her interests – wellbeing, trauma recovery, and the power of story. She is a skilled trauma therapist who understands that stress lives in human and community bodies, and is the author of the book The Modern Trauma Toolkit . You can find out more about her on her super popular TikTok/IG channels @tiktoktraumadoc or her website https://www.christinegibson.net/

Christy's recipe:

West African Ground Nut Stew:

Shared with love from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, Copyright © 1990 by Moosewood, Inc. Simon and Schuster, publisher

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic, pressed
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 3 cups cubed sweet potatoes (1-inch cubes)
• 3 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup apricot juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger root, fresh
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, fresh (optional)
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 1 1⁄2 - 2cups chopped okra
• 1⁄2 cup natural-style peanut butter

Directions: Sauté the onions in the oil for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne and garlic and sauté for a couple more minutes. Add the cabbage and sweet potatoes and sauté, covered for a few minutes. Mix in the juices, salt, ginger, cilantro, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add the okra and simmer for 5 minutes more. Stir in the peanut butter, place the pan on a heat diffuser, and simmer gently until ready to serve. Add more juice or water if the stew is too thick.

Get Christy's book here: Introducing our next guest, author of the brand-new book The Modern Trauma Toolkit, Dr. Christy Gibson (she/her). Christy joins me at the kitchen table to discuss the gentle softness of her grandmother's cooking, the connection between food, trauma, flexibility, and its role in healing, and the joy of wild blueberries! 

Dr. Gibson is a family physician in Calgary, Canada with a background in justice work, medical education, and global health. A skilled facilitator and speaker, she is engaged in building individual and community resilience. Her writing creates the woven narrative between her interests – wellbeing, trauma recovery, and the power of story. She is a skilled trauma therapist who understands that stress lives in human and community bodies, and is the author of the book The Modern Trauma Toolkit . You can find out more about her on her super popular TikTok/IG channels @tiktoktraumadoc or her website https://www.christinegibson.net/

Christy's recipe:

West African Ground Nut Stew:

Shared with love from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, Copyright © 1990 by Moosewood, Inc. Simon and Schuster, publisher

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic, pressed
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 3 cups cubed sweet potatoes (1-inch cubes)
• 3 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup apricot juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger root, fresh
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, fresh (optional)
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 1 1⁄2 - 2cups chopped okra
• 1⁄2 cup natural-style peanut butter

Directions: Sauté the onions in the oil for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne and garlic and sauté for a couple more minutes. Add the cabbage and sweet potatoes and sauté, covered for a few minutes. Mix in the juices, salt, ginger, cilantro, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add the okra and simmer for 5 minutes more. Stir in the peanut butter, place the pan on a heat diffuser, and simmer gently until ready to serve. Add more juice or water if the stew is too thick.

Get Christy's book here: The Modern Trauma Toolkit

Find out more about Luka at https://www.histaminehaven.com/

http://www.lukasymons.com/

Luka's Low Histamine Acadian Tortiere

Recipe by Luka Symons

Serves: 8 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes, most of it spent stewing the meat

Freshness Tip: Cooking meat from partially frozen will help reduce the histamine. Using your Instant

Pot to cook those meats will also help keep your histamine count down!

Filling:

1200 grams pork shoulder roast, cut into cubes

600 grams beef stew cubes (stage 2) or 600 grams lamb stew or additional pork for stage 1

Filtered water

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds, crushed (optional)

4 large onions, peeled and chopped

For the crust, you can use a store-bought crust that you like (regular wheat or gluten-free – your

choice). Make one big pie instead of small pies as indicated in this recipe.

For those who struggle with complex health issues, or need to reduce the gluten and/or grains in their

life, consider making the cassava crust.

Cassava crust:

1 cup (140 g) cassava flour

1⁄2 cup (100 g) lard, cold

1/8 teaspoon Himalayan or sea salt 5-10 tablespoons ice cold water

1. To make the filling in the instant pot: add your meat and sea salt, along with 1 cup of filtered water

to your insert. Secure the lid and set your timer for 120 minutes. When the time is up, allow the

pressure to release naturally. After 20 minutes, release any remaining pressure. Shred the meat with two

forks. Add in your nigella seeds and sliced onions, securing the lid back on. Cook for another 30

minutes. When the time is up, release the pressure. When it’s safe to do so, remove the lid.

2. To make the filling on the stovetop: add your meat to a big enough pot, along with your sea salt.

Add 2 cups of filtered water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat with the lid on. Reduce your heat to

medium low, stirring often, and cook for 5 hours. Add water if it starts to dry out. Shred with two forks.

Now add your nigella seeds and sliced onions, and continue to cook for 1 more hour on medium low

with the lid on, adding enough water again to keep the mixture moist but not sopping wet. Turn the

stove top off.

3. While your meat is cooking, make your crust (or defrost if using a prepared crust). Pulse the

cassava flour, salt and lard in a food processor until the lard is pea-sized. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water

as you continue to pulse, adding in more ice water one tablespoon at a time until you can press the

mixture together. It will look very crumbly.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Prepare two sheets of parchment paper. Form the dough into a

ball and press it into a disk on one of the prepared parchment sheet. Place the second sheet of

parchment paper on top of the dough, and roll it out until it is 1/8-1/4” thick. This is to help you roll out

the dough easily, as it will be sticky. Remove the parchment paper.

5. Using your big pie plate or the small individual-sized dishes you’ll be baking your pies in, cut out

rounds from the dough to fit the shape snuggly. These will be your toppers for your pie. (This is a true

deep dish pie, only a topper.)

6. Fill your big pie plate or individual-sized dishes with your prepared meat filling right to the top.

Lay your cut dough rounds on top and decorate if you wish, cutting holes to allow the steam to vent

during cooking time.

7. Put your pie(s) into the preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes until the top is golden. Serve...]]>HIstamine Haven Maven Luka Symons talks to Barb about her ancestors and how they ate, radical ways to see food, and why senses are crucial for maximum food joy.

Find out more about Luka at https://www.histaminehaven.com/

http://www.lukasymons.com/

Luka's Low Histamine Acadian Tortiere

Recipe by Luka Symons

Serves: 8 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes, most of it spent stewing the meat

Freshness Tip: Cooking meat from partially frozen will help reduce the histamine. Using your Instant

Pot to cook those meats will also help keep your histamine count down!

Filling:

1200 grams pork shoulder roast, cut into cubes

600 grams beef stew cubes (stage 2) or 600 grams lamb stew or additional pork for stage 1

Filtered water

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds, crushed (optional)

4 large onions, peeled and chopped

For the crust, you can use a store-bought crust that you like (regular wheat or gluten-free – your

choice). Make one big pie instead of small pies as indicated in this recipe.

For those who struggle with complex health issues, or need to reduce the gluten and/or grains in their

life, consider making the cassava crust.

Cassava crust:

1 cup (140 g) cassava flour

1⁄2 cup (100 g) lard, cold

1/8 teaspoon Himalayan or sea salt 5-10 tablespoons ice cold water

1. To make the filling in the instant pot: add your meat and sea salt, along with 1 cup of filtered water

to your insert. Secure the lid and set your timer for 120 minutes. When the time is up, allow the

pressure to release naturally. After 20 minutes, release any remaining pressure. Shred the meat with two

forks. Add in your nigella seeds and sliced onions, securing the lid back on. Cook for another 30

minutes. When the time is up, release the pressure. When it’s safe to do so, remove the lid.

2. To make the filling on the stovetop: add your meat to a big enough pot, along with your sea salt.

Add 2 cups of filtered water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat with the lid on. Reduce your heat to

medium low, stirring often, and cook for 5 hours. Add water if it starts to dry out. Shred with two forks.

Now add your nigella seeds and sliced onions, and continue to cook for 1 more hour on medium low

with the lid on, adding enough water again to keep the mixture moist but not sopping wet. Turn the

stove top off.

3. While your meat is cooking, make your crust (or defrost if using a prepared crust). Pulse the

cassava flour, salt and lard in a food processor until the lard is pea-sized. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water

as you continue to pulse, adding in more ice water one tablespoon at a time until you can press the

mixture together. It will look very crumbly.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Prepare two sheets of parchment paper. Form the dough into a

ball and press it into a disk on one of the prepared parchment sheet. Place the second sheet of

parchment paper on top of the dough, and roll it out until it is 1/8-1/4” thick. This is to help you roll out

the dough easily, as it will be sticky. Remove the parchment paper.

5. Using your big pie plate or the small individual-sized dishes you’ll be baking your pies in, cut out

rounds from the dough to fit the shape snuggly. These will be your toppers for your pie. (This is a true

deep dish pie, only a topper.)

6. Fill your big pie plate or individual-sized dishes with your prepared meat filling right to the top.

Lay your cut dough rounds on top and decorate if you wish, cutting holes to allow the steam to vent

during cooking time.

7. Put your pie(s) into the preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes until the top is golden. Serve right

away with colourful seasonal veggies, and a side dipping sauce that agrees with you! This goes very

well with our Histamine Haven Apple Cherry BBQ sauce, or a chutney or relish of your choosing. (At my house, it would always be a zucchini relish!)

Serving Suggestion: This is a low histamine tweak on a very traditional Acadian offering that Histamine Haven Maven Luka’s Grand-Maman would make with her Mom right around late December for Le Réveillon, a traditional French-Canadian celebration on December 24th.

This is the Acadian way to make this very popular meat pie. May the scent wafting from this seasonal

offering be the backdrop to yours and your family’s own deep winter celebrations!

Alexis is passionate about speaking with audiences of all ages about the importance of disability representation, accessibility, cooking, and cosplays, and sharing stories that centre her experience as a disabled, queer creator.

Here's the recipe for Alexis' Coconut Bacon!

Ingredients

2 tbsp tamari

1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil

1 tsp liquid smoke

2 cups large coconut flakes (about 1-2 cm long)

Method

Preheat oven to 325 F

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. To a large bowl, add wet ingredients. Whisk together, and then add coconut flakes. Coat well and allow to marinate for a few hours (if you can stand to wait that long). Spread coated flakes on baking sheet and bake in oven at 325 F for 6 minutes. At that point, remove from oven and stir and flip the flakes. Place back in the oven for another 6 minutes. They should be a bit sticky. Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheet. Yummmm!

JChu Photography: https://jchuphotography.com/

Josie's favorite recipe:

Black Bean Sea Bass

INGREDIENTS

    •    3-4 Chilean sea bass steaks

    •    3 stalks green onions julienned

    •    1 thumb-sized ginger peeled and julienned

    •    Pinch of Kosher salt

    •    2 tbsp Black Bean Garlic Sauce

    •    1 tbsp soy sauce

    •    1 tsp Veg. oil

 INSTRUCTIONS

    •    Rinse steaks, pat dry with paper towels and then sprinkle with salt.

    •    Place the steaks on a heatproof plate that would fit in your steamer. Spread black bean sauce, oil, green onions and ginger over the fish.

    •    Put the plate in the steamer and steam the fish for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Gently transfer the cooked fish (minus the accumulated water) on a serving platter.

    •    Add soy sauce.

    •    Serve with a garnish of julienned green onions and ginger and a side of steamed rice.

    •    Enjoy!

So each Sunday, grab a cup of something cozy and join host Barb Sheldon at her kitchen table as beautiful people tell her the story of their lives, through food. Each guest will share memories and views on food that are comforting, surprising, and maybe even a little subversive! They'll share their top 5 food story songs for you to cook along to, and a delicious recipe from their life that will help to connect you to their story (and maybe even your own) through taste and smell and the very act of cooking.

Remember to listen to the Food Stories playlists on Spotify, and download the recipe each week in the show notes. Find out more information at barbsheldonfoodstories.com.

We all have a food story to tell. What's yours?