by Bea Garth

Here it is Thanksgiving and my honey had to go out and work. Rather than huff about it, I decided to make a yam pie anyway.

I shouldn’t  have that much pumpkin (too high histamine and fructose).  Many find that sweet potatoes are better for them, but I seem to be sensitive to them, whereas yams suit me well.  I often use them in place of carrots for instance, since I seem to have a true carrot allergy (rash, welts, confusion). Yams are a great way to get some good vitamin A.

Anyway, I am also sensitive to sugar of most any kind. The only thing that way that I seem to tolerate is a bit of maple syrup, as long as I don’t use much.

So what to do when making a pie for me and my sweetheart, when he does not tolerate stevia at all? Fortunately he is just fine with plain sugar. I came up with what I think is an ingenious idea: why not make the whole recipe for us both in the same container, and then just split it at the end–so he can have sugar added to his pie and I can have stevia added to mine instead.

The other wrinkle however was how to separate the two pies when really I am making only enough for one?? And want to use just one tin or pie plate to bake them in? I hit upon this idea which has turned out great: make a bit of extra dough and then make a well (using the dough) in the middle of the pie plate (or in this case since I didn’t have one, the rectangular tin).

I split the raw pie mixture in half and then mixed sugar into his half and stevia to taste into mine.  I then put some extra bits of almond flour on his side after I poured the pie mixture with the added sugar in, and left my side plain  so I wouldn’t get mixed up as to whose pie is whose…

So here’s the recipe:

2-Well Yam Pie: gluten, lactose and histamine free

Pie Ingredients and Recipe:

. peel and chop one medium largish yam (or sweet potato) to make roughly 3 1/2 cups chopped yam–put in blender
. melt 1/2 cup coconut oil on low slowly
. put one cup water into blender

Grind 2 tbsp. flax and 1 tbsp. chia, and then add to the blender

. add 1/4 cup maple syrup to blender
. add one egg (optional–you don’t have to use it if its a problem)
. add 1/2 tsp. salt
. add 1/2 tsp. baking soda
. add 2/3 cup sorghum, rice or millet flour

Blend the above ingredients at least a minute. Then add in 1/4 cup melted coconut oil to the blended ingredients, and blend well again for another minute or so.

Let pie ingredients sit a bit while you make the crust. This will allow the flax and chia seeds to gel.

Crust Ingredients and Recipe
Use a small mixing bowl and add the following ingredients (please note, I am making extra crust so a separation well can be made and a nonstandard pie plate can be used):

. 1 1/2 cup almond flour
. 2/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
. 2/3 cup millet, sorghum or rice flour (etc.)
. 1/4 tsp. to 1/3 tsp salt (to taste)
Mix above ingredients in the bowl so they are evenly distributed. I used my hands actually.
Then add in 1/4 cup melted coconut oil. I use a sprinkling method, and toss flours with a fork
. then add roughly 1/3 to 1/2 cup water, tossing and mixing similarly.

Then mix the ingredients with the water together with a fork a bit more, followed by mashing them together and kneading them into a dough with your hands.

This makes your crust. You can then coat your chosen pie pan with coconut oil, put your ball of dough inside the pan while choosing a bit of it to put aside to make the separation well in a minute.

Using your hands, flatten the dough so it covers the pan’s bottom and up to the top edges. Use bits of dough to complete the edges as needed. Then make the well in the center so the ingredients in the two separately sweetened pies don’t mix. It looks kind of like a separate section in your garden edged with wood if you get my drift…

Back to the pie mixture:
take one half of the blended pie mixture (roughly 2 cups) and put in 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste), and mix well with a spoon or fork.
Then pour that sugar flavored pie mixture into one of the wells in the pie pan. Put something on top of it that can survive baking. I sprinkled some of the almond flour on top and then added 5 almonds to mark the area.

Then with the rest of the blended pie mixture (also roughly 2 cups), add in 2/3 tsp. of plain powdered stevia, again mixing it well with a fork and/or spoon. Pour this stevia flavored mixture into the unused pie well.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for roughly 50 minutes. It you have a hot oven, turn it down a bit.

When the pie is done, take it out of the oven and let cool on a wire rack. I ate a piece after 15 minutes, but its better to wait at least half an hour or longer for the pie to cool.

Added Notes: The taste of the pie is excellent! The maple syrup and yam gives it a good flavor without histamine high spices like cinnamon and cloves. And the crust is to die for! Actually flaky. It tastes better to me than a gluten crust, if my recollection is correct. Very nice! I can’t wait to see what my fiancee thinks of the pie sweetened with sugar.

This separation of recipe only at the end gives me other ideas to do the same say with cookies and cakes etc. I am inspired!! And yes I do have a sweet tooth. It is so nice to be able to eat something like this without ruining my health, and actually instead aiding it since the above ingredients are actually good for me, and I hope good for you too!