Thursday, September 1, 2011

GAPS Progressive Soup

I love how going through the introduction diet gives you a new appreciation for foods that you never really enjoyed before.  This goes for the kids too.  My anti tomato kid, eats them easily now.  My oldest two hated winter squash in any form, now they eat it on a daily basis.  I never thought too highly of cauliflower, now I buy 3 heads each week.  In the beginning, the limits were confining and my creativity was stifled by it, but now I look back and see how much good it did for our relationship with food.  Once our bodies regulated our constant need for sugar and starch to fill us up, we were able to find complete satisfaction in these highly nourishing, healing foods.

Although the first stage is known as "just soups"  there is actually a lot of variety right off the bat.  A huge assortment of meats to choose from with ten different veggies mixes and matches in to quite a few options.  Then, slowly you begin to add in small amounts of new things, one at a time.  We have been transitioning out of the intro for three weeks now, and have not even scratched the surface of all the things we are allowed to have on the Full GAPS diet because we still have to add things slowly to check for reactions and become accustomed to foods that are harder to digest than soup and eggs.  Our ingredients are adding up and we tend to feel like we are no longer on a special diet.

A soup that has always been a family favorite for years is tortilla soup.  Although I am making it differently now, it still has the same flavor from our memories.  Taking out the corn chips and millet (GAPS illegals) and adding lots of chicken, olive oil and sour cream makes for a tasty, filling, meal.  When I first went back to this recipe it ended up being chicken, carrots, onions, zucchini and garlic simmered in chicken broth with a small spoon of sour cream (stage 1).  In stage 2, I added an egg yolk, cilantro and larger spoons of sour cream.  Stage 3, I got to include avocado and we had worked up to around 1/3 cup sour cream.  Stage 4, I added peppers (not sure what stage these become legal, but after I was confident Number 1 was not allergic by this time, I was happy to add them in because they add so much flavor. Speaking of flavor, the homemade broth MAKES this soup!

I tended to make double or triple batches so it would last a few meals.

6-8 cups chicken stock/broth
6 carrots, chopped (stage 1)
2 zucchinis, chopped (stage 1)
1 large onion, chopped (stage 1)
5 roma tomatoes, diced (stage 2)
2 red bell peppers, chopped (stage 4?)
1 small jalapeno (full GAPS)
2 cups boiled chicken (stage 1)
3 garlic cloves (Stage 1)
2 teaspoons ground cumin (full GAPS)
2 green onions, sliced (stage 5)
½ cup cilantro, chopped (stage 2)
Juice of 1 lime (full GAPS)

Salt and pepper to taste (stage 1)
1/4 cup beef tallow (stage 1) ghee (stage 2) coconut oil (stage 4)
1 egg yolk per bowl (stage 2)
1 avocado, diced (stage 3)
GAPS legal cheese like colby (full GAPS)
homemade sour cream


Skip the ingredients listed that are past your current stage.


Boil carrots, zucchini, onions, peppers and tomatoes in broth until tender. Add chicken, garlic and cumin, cook 1 more minute. Mix in green onions, cilantro, lime juice, fat, salt and pepper to taste. Crack one egg yolk per bowl and whisk warm soup into it. Garnish with avocado, cheese and sour cream.

5 comments:

  1. Oops...I have been messing up with the vegetables. We've totally done red peppers and green onions...I didn't know that those weren't allowed yet (we're on Stage 3). This looks delicious...I think I'll make it tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am not sure about the red peppers, they could be allowed earlier, I couldn't find it anywhere. I typically don't cook green onions...they are only heated through in this recipe. Raw veggies are introduced in stage 5, so as long as you are cooking them, it is fine.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have you noticed any behavioral changes yet with your children? I've been debating doing GAPS with my kids, some have ADD tendencies, but I just haven't gotten the courage up yet. I'm wondering if it's worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I take it you are adding a raw "egg yolk" when you added an egg yolk in stage 2?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, raw egg yolks.

    It is too soon to tell if it is "worth it." I still have hope, but I haven't seen a lot of big changes. There have been little ones here and there, but they are mixed in with a lot of bad days. There were 6 days a couple weeks ago that we were amazed at how well Number 1 could reason all of a sudden, but for the past couple weeks he has been back to being very unreasonable :( Some behaviors that have lessened are the sneaking and lying.

    We have only been at it less than two months. I am starting to make note of frustrating behaviors so that I can reflect on them in the future and realize progress more easily.

    I hope you do find the courage, there is a GAPS yahoo group that lends a lot of support and success stories to keep ya going.

    ReplyDelete

It's rude to eat and run. Humor me with conversation please!

Related Posts with Thumbnails