Pineapple Candy Chips

So sweet.  Seriously tastes like an awesomely flavorful, chewy, full-of-sugar candy. I am so excited to have discovered these treasures.  My kids took them to school today and all their friends were jealous, so they look appealing too! I might do these for birthday treats if I can keep them around long enough. It might be hard to find a good pineapple in December, but you never know.

Pineapple is a super sweet fruit and dehydrating concentrates the sugars, so it would be really easy to eat too many.  They are an excellent substitute for candy, but if candy is your weakness, these will be too, fair warning.

I left the core in to keep the prep work simple.  The core is a bit woody, my kids don't care, I nibble around it.  I prefer to save the step.  All you need to do is to cut off the top and the bottom with a sharp knife and carefully trim around the sides.  These slide through a madoline really well, but you could also slice the rounds with a knife. I used three mm slice, but am going to try some seven mm as well. I laid them out on dehydrator sheets and dehydrated for 12 hours on 130 degrees.  You could also lay them on cooling racks and  lay out in the sun on a hot, dry day.  Oven temperatures do not typically get low enough for fruit.

Check out my Pina Colada Kabobs post for tips on choosing a great pineapple.

GAPS Burger Stack

The Backyard Farmer is now delivering grass fed beef at a great price! Sometimes there is nothing like a good, juicy burger. Grain free hamburger buns are not all that great; too dry, too dense, wrong flavors (shoot me a recipe if you have found a good one).  I really love iceberg lettuce, chopped burger-sized, a few layers thick on both sides of the patty with tomato and guacamole, a slice of bacon wouldn’t hurt either.  Unfortunately, it is messy and I always end up eating it with a fork, which led me to my burger stack idea.

It is pretty simple and versatile; all you need is a little creativity for a nice presentation.  Basically, you use whatever fixings you want and stack them in an eye-appealing way.  There are lots of flavor options;

Southwest; flavor meat with chili powder and cumin, stack with beans, cheese, salsa, guacamole.

Midwest; flavor meat with salt, pepper and onion powder, stack with iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, pickle, tomato and bacon.

Middle Eastern; flavor meat with curry powder and ginger, stack with cauliflower rice, tomato, cucumber, yogurt sauce.

Italian; flavor meat with garlic and oregano, stack with eggplant or zucchini, mushrooms, marinara, parmesan and basil.

Thai; flavor meat with basil and mint, stack with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, pineapple and sweet, creamy dressing.

Southern; flavor meat with creole spice, stack with smashed squash, cooked collard greens, bacon, onions and a cream sauce.

Jamaican; flavor meat with jerk seasoning; stack with cauliflower rice with peas, peppers, mango, coconut.

GAPS Coconut Crepes

We have come into lots of fresh eggs lately; I suppose it is the season.  I gladly accept the graciousness of my chicken farming friends.  Eggs last a couple months in the refrigerator, so I am loading it up for when the heat comes and causes the hens to slow down.  Coconut flour baking is my reward for acquiring an abundance of eggs.  I have gotten quite used to the unusual texture and egg-y flavor.

These crepes hold together really well for gluten free. As they cool, they get more firm. I like to fill these with cooked berries, honey custard (substitute homemade yogurt cream) or my old Carmel Banana Pecan Topping.  In the picture, I drizzled them with honey sweetened coconut cream. 

These crepes freeze very well.  I lay them out on a drying rack in the freezer and stack and bay them the next day. They thaw in minutes and have many uses.  Try them with your favorite sandwich filling or as a tortilla.  I have played around a lot with this recipe, it is a new staple.

When using these crepes for a savory meal, consider omitting the honey and using melted butter or expeller pressed coconut oil in place of the super coconut-y virgin.  Also kefir in place of the coconut milk goes well for sandwich wraps.  Cumin in the batter or using strong flavors in your meat or sauce covers the coconut flavor in your Mexican dish.  They end up looking a lot like corn tortillas.  By adding more batter to your pan, you can make them thicker.  Melting cheese on them makes them eve more sturdy to moisture in salsas and such.

8 eggs

1 teaspoon honey

3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil

1/3 cup coconut milk

Dash salt

4 tablespoons coconut flour

Blend eggs in blender, drizzle honey and oil while blender is running.  Add milk, salt and flour, blend well. Heat a small pan on medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of coconut oil and 2 tablespoons batter. Tilt the pan until the batter coats the bottom. Cook 45 seconds on each side.  Flip gently.

Piña Colada Kabobs

The flavor reminds me of summer and Hawaii and delicious.  Such a fun treat, with a great presentation, yet quick and easy.  Pineapples are one of those fruits that you should smell before you buy. It should have the aroma of a fresh pineapple without any hints of mustiness. The stronger the pineapple scent, the juicier the fruit will be.  Yellowing is also a good sign of ripeness.  Some people pull out a leaf and according to the resistance know if it is a good one.

Many people don’t buy fresh pineapple because they don’t know how in the world they would cut it.  I prefer to slice the bottom and top off, stand up on its end and then cut down the sides with a carving knife to get most of the brown off, small bits do not bother me.  I cut this in half lengthwise and each half in half again, then trim the middle core like an apple.  The core is a bit woody, but has great flavor, so it is great for juicing and even smoothies.  Throw them in the freezer if you don’t have immediate plans for them. If I am going for bite-sized pieces to snack on, I slice each quarter into four slices and dice into the common “tidbits.” For this recipe I slice each quarter into thirds, so it will make six kabobs.

½ pineapple

1/2 batch coconut cream frosting

1 cup shredded coconut (toasting is optional)

6 skewers

Slide a skewer into each wedge.  Pat the back of the wedge with a paper towel, spread with one tablespoon frosting and press into a bowl of shredded coconut.  Repeat with each wedge and refrigerate until ready to serve.

GAPS Fried Cauliflower

Winter squash was the base of a lot of dishes I made through the winter, but now, finding a nice squash is proving to be a challenge.  Typically they are harvested at the end of summer and stored through the winter.  By spring, they have either all been purchased or are getting pretty old and wrinkly. I have been using more cauliflower as a base since this is peak harvest time.  I like to shred it fine so it resembles rice and serve it with stir fry, it makes a nice side dish too.

This recipe is very versatile, you can add whatever veggies you like for flavor and color.  Herbs are also nice.  I use the small julienne blade on my mandolin to shred  the cauliflower.  Many people pulse it in a food processor to find the right texture, but a good knife would do the trick too. Once cauliflower goes out of season, summer squash (zucchini) will be in full production. Summer squash, winter squash and cauliflower are my three big fillers that have taken the place of grains the past nine months.  If you are grain free or grain lite, tell me what you use to take the place of grains in the comments.

¼ cup butter

1 large head cauliflower, grated

1 small onion, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Melt butter in a wide bottom fry pan on medium high.  Add grated cauliflower and sauté until it begins to brown. Add the rest of the vegetables, turn down the heat and cook for ten minutes, stirring regularly. Season with salt, pepper and garlic, cook one more minute, remove from heat and serve.

Cruising on GAPS

We just got back from an amazing trip to the Caribbean, hence the lack of posting. This was my third cruise since starting the family on GAPS.  There is always worry over food when we leave our home.  Quality always diminishes; conventional instead of organic, feed lot instead of pastured and farm raised instead of wild caught.  Ferments and bone broths are not available. The diet was undoubtedly compromised, but for the first time, our bodies never gave us grief for it.

 In October, we went on a four day cruise as a family.  We had just started the diet a few months earlier and wanted to stay really strict.  We ordered an amazing fruit plate each evening for dessert. On the last night, I really wanted to try the chocolate cake, which meant everybody else wanted to try it too. We ordered two to share between the five of us, knowing that my husband would want a whole one.  I took a few bites and found that it wasn’t too impressive, so I stopped eating it. My two younger sons were really full from dinner and didn’t have much of an appetite or attention for the cake, which left the rest of the large slice for my eldest, who scarfed it down.  About two hours later we got a call from the kid’s camp leader that he was not feeling well.  He had a bad stomachache and diarrhea all night and part of the next day.

In November, my husband and I went on a five day cruise as a couple. I liked how I felt on the diet, so made mostly good food choices.  I took bites here and there of things like breads and desserts.  My stomach was slightly uneasy, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. A couple days in. we were in the middle of an excursion and I was hungry.  There were a few snacks laid out and I chose to have tortilla chips and guacamole with fruit.  I was intentionally dipping for bites of more guac and less chip, but I ended up feeling worse.  After we got back to the ship I thought eating a good meal would help me feel better.  Another moment of weakness with an amazing chocolate ganache brownie and I was in bed for the better part of two days with horrible stomach cramps and diarrhea.

Last week we spent seven days out to sea with the whole extended family without even a stomachache! The kids ate tons of fruit, which they thought was awesome.  I ate tons of seafood, which I thought was awesome.  We ate no bread/baked goods or grains.  Half way through the trip, our waiter offered to make some gluten free pancakes for the kids.  He didn’t know what they were made of and I was positive they would not be GAPS friendly, but eggs were getting old, so we each tried one.  All morning I kept asking them how they were feeling and they always were good, so the pancakes became our biggest compromise.  My eldest had gluten free spaghetti one night and I had a soufflé (without added sweet sauces) for dessert on two of the nights.

Here is the legal stuff we ate regularly;

Seafood (shrimp, fish , mussels, lobster, scallops, calamari)

Vegetables (peas, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, celery, asparagus, green beans, lettuce- no dressing just olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper)

Fruit (melon, grapes, pineapple, bananas)

Chicken on the bone, duck, steak, lamb, some sandwich meats, bacon and sausage

Cheese

Butter (yes, it was its own food group)

For a topping on the pancakes I would slice up some bananas and mix them with sliced almonds and drizzle with honey.

The kids were excellent with asking and most of the time knowing what was allowed.  Even my three year old would question me if he saw something on his plate he wasn’t familiar with.  Something about a three year old saying “Is this on our diet?” is extremely comical.  There were plenty of options each meal. They are getting so good at strict adherence, it is when I allow a little taste of something illegal here and there that provoke fits and other issues. One day they were having an ice cream party in the kids area, my kids had fruit.  Afterwards I asked the kids if they were sad that everyone was eating ice cream while they ate fruit and nobody was sad.

I am sure we slowed our healing down, but I can’t miss out on family reunions because our diet.  I am doing a juice fast this week to do some deep cleaning and get back on track.  Anybody have good GAPS travel advice?  Please share in the comments.

GAPS Peanut Butter Crunch

Sweet, crunchy and a quick-grab-breakfast; cereal is an excellent invention.  The food industry has really done a number on this convenience food with all it's extrusion, colors, preservatives and other chemicals and processes. I understand fully that still, it is a hard thing to give up.  There are so many varying levels of commitment in a real food journey and once "the box" is gone, you have officially turned a corner in my book.

We are three years box-free, but still enjoy the goodness of cereal now and then with homemade, make ahead recipes like this one (GAPS) or this old favorite. We try not to over do it on nuts, so this is still a special treat.  It goes great with yogurt/kefir and bananas.  It is like a tangy, extra crunchy peanut butter cookie. Thanks to The Healthy Home Economist for the inspiration, check out her Cinnamon Crunch Breakfast recipe as well.

4 cups soaked and dehydrated almonds
2 cups organic, soaked, dehydrated and roasted peanuts
3 cups kefir or yogurt
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup coconut flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind two cups of almonds with one cup of kefir in blender until smooth. Pour mixture into large bowl and repeat with two cups almonds and one cup kefir, pour into bowl. Grind one final batch, this time using two cups peanuts and the final cup of kefir, add this to the large bowl as well.  Place oil, honey, salt and vanilla in blender to combine well and add to nuts.  Stir the entire batter to combine, sprinkle coconut flour on mixture and mix thoroughly.  Pour batter into a half sheet pan (9 x13) and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool and then crumble onto baking sheets or dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 150-200 degrees for 12 - 16 hours. Once cooled, store in airtight container in the refrigerator.
links; Fresh Bites Friday, Finer Things Friday

GAPS Coconut Butter Chocolates

Have you ever had Artisana Coconut Butter?  It is excellent for making frosting's, among other things.  I can eat it straight from the jar.  It is like peanut butter only with coconut flavor, it is also dryer/more fibrous and because it is higher in saturated fat (verses peanuts polyunsaturated) it is much firmer at room temperature. Eat Nourishing had a post on making homemade coconut butter and I had to try it out!  I made it in my vita-mix and it turned out pretty well, not quite as smooth, but saves me ten bucks.

Once I had a blender full of this yumminess, I got a bright idea of formulating a chocolate treat for my kids for valentine's day. Long ago on a trip to IKEA, one of my babies sneaked a silicon heart mold into my cart and I bought it without realizing.  It has been floating around the house for over five years now, and luckily I was able to locate it and use it for the first time! Amazing.

I made this a few times to work out the kinks and this is what I found. More coconut oil creates a more smooth chocolate and also pours into the molds better for a better appearance with less air bubbles, but has to be kept in the refrigerate because they melt more readily.  Less oil will make them more firm, but not worth it to me for it sacrifices creamy texture.  Less cocoa powder makes a milk chocolate like flavor, while more is like dark chocolate.  You will want to taste the mixture for sweetness, our sweet sensors are ultra sensitive since we have been eating minimal sugars, so a little goes a long way for us.

2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
2 tablespoons raw honey
2-4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 dash salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 drops peppermint essential oil (or other flavoring)

Place coconut and oil in vita-mix and blend on high for one minute.  Scrape down sides and blend for another minute.  Check for creaminess, you may want to blend for a third minute.  Add honey, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and any other flavoring and blend thoroughly.  Pour into molds and set up in refrigerator for 20 minutes. If you don't have a mold, you could pour mixture into a bowl and let set up slightly, then scoop out like truffles.  Makes 24 tablespoons.
links; Menu Plan Monday, Monday Mania, Recipe Swap
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GAPS Blender Pancakes

Disclaimer; I make these in my vitamix and do not own a regular blender to try them in, I am not sure how they would turn out.  If you try it, let me know in the comment section how it goes and I will update this post with your information.

I bought some really good quality almonds in bulk last year.  I use them where ever possible as an alternative to almond flour, which is three times more expensive and three times less nutritious.  I usually grind them in my vitamix to get them as fine as possible.  After doing this for months, I thought what if I could just blend the whole recipe and save the grinding flour step?  If you can do it with a whole grain berry, why not a nut? So here is my favorite pancake recipe from Elana’s Pantry, made over to a GAPS friendly blender pancake.

2 cups almonds

½ cup whole milk yogurt
6 eggs
½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
butter for frying

In Vitamix, combine almonds, yogurt, eggs, butter, honey, vanilla, baking soda and salt and blend on high until smooth, takes a couple minutes.  Melt 1 tablespoon butter on skillet over medium heat, ladle pancake batter onto skillet.  Cook for 1 minute on each side. Add more butter for each batch as needed. Makes 24 medium pancakes.  Serve with yogurt and berries.

GAPS Sloppy Joes

This is one of my oldest recipes I redid it when I started getting into using whole grains and now I am undoing it to make it grain free for GAPS.  It is still not the same as my original recipe that had a seasoning mix with MSG, Worcestershire sauce with HFCS and far less veggies.  It is amazing how things change. Life is like a great big experiment with infinite variables!

This recipe feeds my family of five for two meals and makes awesome left overs.  It also freezes well and travels well. I serve it on toasted pancakes, usually open-faced.  It is the perfect meal to serve those lacto-fermented pickles or sauerkraut with!

2 tablespoons butter

2 pounds ground meat
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped

1 zucchini, shredded
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 cups tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon honey

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Melt the butter and spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. When the meat has browned, add onion and peppers to the skillet. Cook for five minutes and add zucchini.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook vegetables. Add garlic, vinegar, tomato sauce, paste and honey to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook mixture 5-10 minutes longer or until desired consistency.

GAPS Six Month Update

As you know, I started this diet for my kids, one in particular.  But it has turned out to really effect me and made big changes in my body that I want to shout from the rooftops! For the past ten years I have thought myself to be very healthy, energetic, strong immune system, fit, the works.  The past couple years I have had some things pop up here and there that had me questioning.  I had a handful of colds and flues and the symptoms were more severe than I was used to, regular headaches, non muscular back pain became an issue, I was often tired in the afternoon and took naps almost daily, I had this strange crawling feeling under my skin, I always seemed to be on the verge of a yeast infection and the cherry on top was passing a kidney stone last May (which explained my back pain). I talked to various professionals in health care about these issues and no one seemed to think they were anything to be concerned with.  Seriously, three different doctors told me anyone can have a fluke kidney stone, it is after the second one that we begin looking into what is wrong. I didn't want to wait for another one, I want to prevent another one!

As I type this, I have my notes all laid out before me.  One thing I have learned is that healing is slow, unperceived from day to day.  It is easy to miss things, important things, though small in nature, they add up to paint a picture that shows underlying problems.  This is in great contrast to our modern medicine that symptoms are improved in minutes, hours and days, but it is not true healing, of course. I have meticulously recorded our journey on the GAPS diet in a notebook and will periodically record summaries here since thumbing through nearly 100 pages of chicken scratch tends to be a pain in the butt.  I don't feel I have a full picture to write up the kids yet. The first person perspective gives me a much better understanding of myself.  Also, I have been doing the diet better than the kids in the way of more broth and fewer cheats.

In the beginning, things undoubtedly got worse across the board.  Weeks of brain fog has helped me empathize with my eldest.  Of coarse I had headaches and was tired.  I was often hungry to no avail.  Bad breath, dandruff and body odor that I hadn't had to deal with before. The yeast was raging and I had bags under my eyes that made me look ten years older. When you start something new and things get worse, your instinct is to stop. I had to grow deep in my understanding of what was going on within myself to clear this hurdle. It was about two months before I noticed my first big changes in a positive direction.

I have had issues with my blood sugar getting too low all my life, I would get dizzy and have even passed out a handful of times.  Missing a meal was rough, I got grumpy and nauseous.  I would always bring snacks everywhere and if I let myself get too hungry I would binge on candy and then feel yucky the rest of the day. I have been diagnosed  with vasovagal syncope, but am guessing there were some hypoglycemic issues going on too. This last year, my back would ache terribly when I was fasting, even before the stone, I knew it was my kidneys.  The first month of the diet, I was always hungry and ate constantly, but once my body transitioned, I had fewer of these symptoms and by two months in they were gone!

To me, this is a big change, not only because it had been a life long issue, but because I had no idea how liberating it was not to have to plan every outing around food.  I can pretty much eat whenever, I still get hungry, but there is no immediate need.  I am ache-free with my fasts (though this is more recent) I still get a little weak, but not dizzy.  Without cravings and blood sugar drops, I now make my eating choices with a clear head instead of just grabbing the quickest and most tempting food-like substance. It sure makes dieting so much easier.

The second big change, that means a lot to me, is a clear complexion.  I was plagued since adolescence with acne and as much as I tried to not care, I did.  I was so aggravated by it and desperate to rid myself of the angry redness and sometimes painful deep sores. I tried tons of topical solutions, even a couple years of tetracycline, nothing made a lasting difference.  I thought I was doomed, so it has been a dream to me to have consistently clear skin. I still have small blemishes pop up here and there, but they heal extremely fast, the scars and such from past break outs are healing too.  Along with this, I had an age spot by my eye that I started concealing about five years ago.  A few months ago, I brought my makeup brush to my eye out of habit and there was nothing there to conceal, it is gone!

I wear contacts and have yearly exams to check my prescription and order more contacts.  My vision isn't terrible, but I have worn corrective lenses since sixth grade.  A few times in the past 20 years, my eye doctor has added a little power to my prescription, but last month he took power off and noted there was a great improvement in my astigmatism!

I am fascinated by all of this.  This diet takes courage and faith and when I am in the middle of what I can only guess is die off, instead of giving up I will press on.  I never would have done GAPS on my own, it is thanks to my son and my maternal instincts to do the best by him I possibly can that I gain these benefits. There are so many toxic substances that contribute to deterioration of health that are uncontrollable, it can induce a real feeling of helplessness.  It is easy to summit to the ways of the world when we feel trapped in the world. We can control the food we put in our mouths and through these food choices, realize the power we hold.

How We Were Lead to GAPS

I started writing a summary of my healing thus far on GAPS, but this came out instead.

I had learned about GAPS at the end of 2010, I came across it on a few blogs that I kept up with. 2010 was the year I had a vegetarianish mindset.  I worked on using less meat and replacing it with grains and vegetables.  In hindsight, it was the year that I started getting sick more regularly and taking more naps, but this could truly be coincidental.

Our eldest son had always been a handful, but as he got older, his behavior became more disturbing.  We started actively looking for help.  I tried essential oils and acupuncture, we took specialized parenting classes, we talked to psychologists, he met with a therapist, was fitted for a compression vest. Finally, in January 2011, we found something that worked called amino acid therapy (5HTP, GABA, Tyrosine and Grapeseed Extract).  It was incredible how well he responded, but after three months it simply lost effect.  We tried upping the doses, cutting the does, stopping and starting back up. It just stopped working and I was scared, scared because our next step was medication.  I tried to rationalize that even though I knew it wasn’t the best thing for my son, it was the best thing for the other four members of his family.

I looked all over for the GAPS book and finally ordered it late spring 2011.  In the following months, between rages and meltdowns, I read a few pages.  I knew I wanted to read more and I wanted to get our son on this diet, but my mind was muddled, I couldn't see how we could possibly make it work, it seemed out of reach.

In July, my two oldest children went to the Midwest with my sister and stayed with my parents for a week. The first day they left, I picked up the book and read nearly half of it.  The next morning, my mind was going over parts of the book, I was digesting it when I got a feeling.  It was a strange feeling, hard to explain exactly, if you have read The Book of Mormon, you know exactly what I am talking about.  My heart began racing it was almost like panic, yet I was calm and clear headed.  All of the muddled thoughts cleared and one thought remained, alone, on a clean canvas with nothing in the background. “Set a date.” I took out my calendar and began pursuing, knowing I needed uninterrupted time that my kids would be home all day, no commitments for weeks to start…Intro.

July 20, the day after the kids got home from their grandparents’ was our first day on “the diet.”

GAPS Pancake Pizza

My son’s class won a pizza party for turning in the most box tops for the month.  We don’t get a lot of box tops to turn in around here, but my mom mails them to the kids periodically so that they can feel like they are contributing with their classmates. There are a few GAPS friendly pizza recipes that I have been wanting to try.  One uses a cauliflower and cheese base, I would substitute Gouda for mozzarella.  The other one is almond flour based and looks awesome in the pictures. These, however, take planning and work. His lunch time is 10:55 and I had an 8:30 racquetball appointment, with drive time and a shower, I was short on cook time.

A regular GAPS pancake will work in a pinch, but I found them too sweet and much preferred a recipe with no honey and a bit of oregano.  Also, overcooked pancakes work well, not burnt, but dry and tough.  Leftover pancakes can be toasted to dry them out. This keeps them from getting too soggy with the sauce.

The Pancake Pizza’s were a hit. One kid at my son’s table asked him if he could come over for a play date and if his mom would make him those pancake pizzas. I think next time I will try to find a pizza box to bring them in.  It is nice to see my kids happy to eat their special foods.  The more I prepare and think ahead, the better the experience is.  It doesn’t take much, but it does take extra thought.

1 dozen savory pancakes

1 cup pizza sauce sans sucanat

1 cup gouda cheese, shredded

Choose a pancake recipe that holds together well.  Make it savory by omitting the sweetener and adding Italian herbs.  Over cook pancakes or toast leftovers thoroughly.  Lay each pancake side by side on a sheet pan.  Spoon a tablespoon of sauce in the center of each pancake, spread to the edges and sprinkle with cheese.  Broil for 3 minutes.  I found that if I let the cheese brown , the pancakes would get too dark, so I just go with melted cheese.  Serve as soon as possible.  The longer you wait, the more soggy the pancake gets.

GAPS Sandwiches

Sandwiches are not quite the same as they used to be, without the bread and all, but I improvise.  Left over pancakes and waffles made from almond butter/flour or coconut flour are excellent replacements for us.  Bacon, egg and cheese, tuna melts, BLT, egg salad, chicken salad, BBQ pork and sloppy joes, just a few tweaks and we can enjoy our old favorites.

I prefer to make a batch of bread specifically for sandwiches and leave out the sweetener.  Actually, I minimize the sweetener in most of these recipes because sweet breakfasts' do not appeal to me lately.

Here are a few “bread” recipes I have had success with;

Pancake “Bread”

Pancakes (My favorite, hold up well and excellent flavor)

Waffles

Toasted Coconut Waffles (sub honey for agave and use half as much)

Squash Pancakes

Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes

GAPS Spaghetti

We stayed strong through the holiday's with GAPS.  I am quite proud.  I made a few batches of legal macadamia nut brittle and cut out butter cookies for decorating and a gingerbread celebration.  We always ate a good meal before we went somewhere that food was being served, which helped a lot with the temptations.  I had a few bites of tempting treats here and there, but honestly, nothing was even worth a second bite.  Even legal treats we kept to a minimum because I would notice having cravings and itchy skin when I ate them.

It is nice to have the parties over and get back to normal again. We have been on the diet for five months.  I have heard that six months is the magic mark, so I have a goal to compile all the changes and record them here next month.

This spaghetti is a family favorite, the Italian version of Fideo. Another recipe I make a double batch of.  I freeze half of the meat.  All I have to do is bake another spaghetti squash and heat up the meat/vegetable mixture and dinner is ready. Love those kinds of ready meals.  I save them  for when groceries are low, for company (so that I can do more hosting and less cooking) and for trips.  Last week is was so nice not to have to spend a full day in the kitchen to get ready for our ski trip.  I just had to write out a packing list because all the food was already made up and ready in the freezer.

1 medium spaghetti squash

4 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 pound ground meat

32 ounces crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Cut squash in half and spoon out seeds.  Place halves, cut side down, on sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes.  Do not over bake, noodles should be slightly crunchy.  Melt butter in pan on medium high heat.  Sautee onion and peppers until soft and beginning to brown.  Add ground meat, break up as cooking.  Once cooked through, add tomatoes, seasoning and salt.  Simmer for 10 minutes until liquid reduces.  Flake cooked squash with a fork and scrape out with a spoon and place in a large bowl.  Add tomato paste and garlic to meat and tomato mixture.  Mix in thoroughly. Combine squash and meat.  Cook until heated through. Remove from heat and drizzle olive oil. Serve.  We enjoy it with homemade sour cream.

GAPS Thanksgiving

Spice Brined Turkey

Gravy

Cranberry Relish

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

Grain Free Stuffing and Biscuits

Butternut Squash Casserole

Holiday Green Beans

Pumpkin Pie Soufflé

What are we missing?

GAPS Pumpkin Pie Soufflé

I have wanted to post this recipe for a while now, but I couldn’t find it in my files. I had accidently saved it in my general recipe file instead of my GAPS recipe file, which is fitting since this pie pleases everyone alike, but then again, most of my recipes do : -)

On GAPS there are a lot of eat this at this time, 20 minutes before this and at least 2 hours after that and first thing in the morning or before bed... It takes major choreographing at first and can be difficult to orchestrate. One of these situations is that fruit is not supposed to be eaten with meals because it interferes with digestion. This makes desserts tricky because fruit makes an easy dessert without added sweeteners (honey or ground dates). I am so excited about this recipe because it fits the bill and is based on vegetables!

The idea came to me instantly after reading Kami’s post for Squash Bars on her blog Finding My Niche. I made these bars as given and they are awesome for snacks and even treats. I had to call them pumpkin bars because my kids think they don’t like squash. I added a few spices, sweetened it to my liking and poured it on a grain free crust for a pie. The egg whites make it nice and light. I have not tried this without whipping the whites, but would imagine that it would yield a denser pie like the traditional thanksgiving dessert.

I serve this with homemade yogurt cream for us and we love it. For guests and my husband, who has not lost his sweet tooth, I serve it with a good dollop of amply sweetened whipped cream and it gets rave reviews.

I have used both a pie pumpkin and butternut squash in this recipe and feel that the squash was slightly sweeter. Squash is always much easier to find. Either way, just cut them in half, remove the seeds and bake on a sheet pan, cut side down until completely soft. The spices are completely flexible, nutmeg and would be nice as well. Some people like a lot of spice to their pumpkin, so feel free to add more if that is the case. 


This recipe is for a deep dish pie plate or two regular pie plates.  You can pour leftover filling in any baking dish to have some extra treats on the side.  This is also fantastic sprinkled with my GAPS Crumble halfway through the baking time.

8 eggs, divided
2 cups pureed butternut squash
4 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup honey
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate egg yolks and whites. Place whites in mixing bowl and yolks with cooled pumpkin puree. Whip egg whites until light and fluffy. Combine egg yolks, squash puree, melted butter, honey and spices. Mix well. Fold in egg whites gently. Pour into a deep dish pie plate with optional crust. Bake for 55 minutes for deep dish 30 for regular. The middle should still jiggle slightly . Let cool, then slice and serve. Keeps five days in the fridge.
links; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

GAPS Shepherd's Pie

One of the best ways to keep your family happy at mealtimes when making drastic diet changes is to remake old favorites.  This shepard’s pie is patterned after our old one, which was laden with grains.

I chose to use a roast instead of ground meat since we are finding a lot of uses to ground meat lately and I wanted to change it up.  The potatoes are replaced by cauliflower.  I would love to do smashed butternut squash, but my kids are not fans.  We stick to cauliflower, but call it potatoes.  This confuses the kids a bit when I say that potatoes are not on the diet, but these special ones are, but it gets them to eat the food easier.

This dish saves well and freezes well and is easy to make in large batches. Sometimes I change it up by adding green beans or tomatoes or cheese on top, but this is our basic standby recipe with all those things I typically have on hand (sometimes I have to leave out the peppers).  It is also easy to make it really heavy on your faves and lighter on the not-so-faves.  Carrots seem to be most kid friendly.  I personally love onions.  Peas are nice on the GAPS diet because they are one of the few legal starches. 

I like to use a bone in roast so that the stock is extra flavorful. A nice flavorful stock is really important in this recipe.  Vegetables do bring a lot of flavor to the party, but the broth penetrates everything with meaty goodness.  Looking back, I used to make this recipe with a powdered soup base to get that flavor punch.  It is such a sad thing that bullion and powders have taking the place of such an incredible traditional food.  Once you get in the habit of making broth, you wonder why everybody doesn’t do it.  Speaking of, I just picked up a new crock pot this week, can’t wait to get another pot of stock going.

2-3 pound roast

6 cups water

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons salt

2 heads cauliflower

1/3 cup beef stock (from the meat pot)

½ cup butter

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons coconut oil or tallow

1-2 onions, chopped
8 carrots, peeled and chopped

1-2 peppers, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white bean flour

2 cups beef stock (from the meat pot)

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup frozen peas

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Boil roast for three to four hours in six cups of water, one bay leaf and two teaspoons salt.  Cut cauliflower into large, even pieces.  Place in a pot with 1/3 cup beef stock, cover and simmer on medium low heat for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large fry pan on medium high add oil and onions, cook for five minutes or until they begin to brown.  Add carrots, bell peppers and one teaspoon salt, turn heat down to medium low and simmer for ten minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook for two minutes, then mix in two cups stock. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add black pepper, peas and meat to vegetables. Stir in parsley, reserving some to garnish the top then, check for seasoning and salt to taste. Remove cauliflower from pot with slotted spoon and place in a blender or food processor with one teaspoon salt and ½ cup butter.  Pulse until broken up and grind briefly to make mostly smooth.  Fill a large casserole dish with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon cauliflower mash over meat evenly. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley and serve.

GAPS Crumble

Life without rolled oats is rough.  Okay, not really, but I really wanted to make me a darn good apple crisp.  I feel like I nailed the crumble, but can’t post the whole recipe yet because the apple filling part wasn’t top notch.  I am thinking I might experiment with gelatin to thicken the sauce.  Without anything it is too soupy.  Cornstarch and arrowroot are not GAPS legal.  I tried a little bean flour, I may have just added too much, but the texture was slightly gritty, which I assume is what coconut flour would be like to.  Shoot me some suggestions if you have any, I sure don’t mind experimenting on this one, because even when it’s not perfections, it’s still pretty darn good.

In the meantime, try out this crumble on other baked goods.  I stuffed it in some cored apples and baked them for a super easy breakfast.  It also made a delicious topping on my pumpkin pie soufflé.  Half way through baking, I sprinkled the crumble on top and it was nice and golden by the time the pie was done.  I also think it would be wonderful to dress up muffins and make them a little fancier I have had good success with this Banana Muffin recipe.  Do tell what you like to add crunchy toppings to.

1 cup almond flour

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/4 cup dates, chopped

.

Combine all of your ingredients into a bowl and mix until crumbly.

GAPS Chili

The only thing that makes this stand out as diet food is the lack of cornbread. Chili has so many variations and is such a typical cool weather dinner. It is nice to have a few mainstream recipes that everybody recognizes in your back pocket.

This is a robust, thick and rich version. It has a nice balance of meat and vegetables. Since it simmers for a good amount of time, all the flavors meld and you don’t taste one vegetable in particular.

I had made a double batch of this and froze half of it. Just as we were sitting down for our second meal of chili two days in a row, we were invited to family dinner, where chili was on the menu. So I thawed out the other half and we ate chili three days in a row, nobody complained. I am looking forward to making this again.

1 cup lima beans, dried
2 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pound ground meat
1 large onion
3 celery stalks
3 medium carrots
2 pablano peppers
½ cup butter
2 tablespoons navy bean flour
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 cups beef stock
48 ounces crushed tomatoes

Soak beans in two cups water and two tablespoons lemon juice for 24 hours. Brown ground meat in a large pot; add onions, celery, carrots, and peppers. Stir vegetables and let heat through. Melt butter in pot and sprinkle flour on vegetables, stir to coat. Add garlic and spices. Stir in stock and tomatoes and heat to a simmer. Rinse soaked beans and add to the pot. Simmer for one hour. Serve with homemade sour cream.
links; Simple Lives Thursday, Creative Juices Thursday,