Tracy's Fabulous Nut Pancakes

We would like to welcome our newest Grain-Free Foodie, Tracy. This recipe looks delicious and I know we are going to see many more great things from her. Please note that this recipe is unsweetened for those people needing to avoid or restrict honey intake.

Nut Pancakes with Wild Blueberry Topping

2 ½ cups ground nuts and seeds. (Grind nuts first, then measure)

¼ cup COLD butter or Ghee straight from the fridge – it is important that the butter be cold

½ teaspoon baking soda

(note- while baking soda is not technically GAPS-legal, it is neutralized in the cooking process so it shouldn't affect stomach acid)

Juice of 1 large lemon

¼ teaspoon of salt

3 eggs (separated)

1 cup coconut milk, well-chilled

Oil for frying

Topping:

1 cup blueberries (we use Trader Joe’s frozen Organic Wild Blueberries)

Pats of butter

Method:

For this recipe, I use a coffee grinder, food processor, and KitchenAid mixer. I find these very helpful for achieving the consistency and rise in the pancakes. I also tend to keep a can of shaken coconut milk in the fridge at all times, so it is cold when I am ready to use it.

First, grind the nuts. I mix up a combination of cashews, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, walnuts, and sunflower seeds, or any combination of the above. Usually, I keep a big bowl on the counter full of this mixture so that when I put a scoop into my coffee grinder, it’s a good combo. Extra ground nuts I keep in the fridge until I’m ready to use them.

Separate the eggs, and put the egg whites into the mixer, and beat them until soft peaks form. Transfer them gently into a large mixing bowl.

Put the nuts into the food processor and add the baking soda and salt. Pulse until combined. Add the very cold butter in chunks and pulse until well-combined. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice and the cold coconut milk, and pulse until well-combined. The batter should be thick but not stiff, closer to cake batter than cookie dough; add more coconut milk if necessary. Gently transfer the batter into the mixing bowl and fold the egg whites into the batter.

Fry immediately in a heated frying pan with a generous coating of oil. Pancakes are best eaten hot right off the griddle, but you can also keep them in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Topping:

We like to heat the frozen blueberries in a small saucepan with a little water (maybe 1 or 2 Tbsp per cup of berries) until they release their juices and come to a boil. Use as little water as possible, as it diluted the wonderful juices released.

Serve pancakes hot with pats of butter and scoops of hot blueberries and juice.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

This simple and delicious soup is a re-creation of one of my favorite soups pre-GAPS.

INGREDIENTS:
2 T butter or ghee
1 onion
5 c sliced mushrooms
2 tsp paprika
1 c meat stock
1 c coconut milk
3/4 -1 tsp salt

METHOD:

Melt the butter or ghee in a medium soup pot.  Add the onions and saute until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add the paprika and stir, then add the mushrooms.  Continue to saute until the mushrooms become soft.

Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.

This soup is delicious with sour cream or kefired heavy cream on top.

Tacos with Salsa and Guacamole

This has become one of our favorite dinners, both because it is delicious and because it is relatively quick to make. We use iceberg lettuce leaves as the taco "shells", and fill them with taco meat, salsa, guacamole, and top them off with green olives.

For the meat, we prefer ground buffalo, but any ground meat (or shredded leftover meat) will do. First, I saute an onion (sweet onions work well) in coconut oil, then stir in cumin and oregano. If tomatoes sit well with you then adding homemade tomato paste would be good. I add the meat and lightly brown it. If you are early in the diet, you can add broth and simmer the meat instead. Once it is close to done, I add in crushed garlic, lime juice, salt, and chopped cilantro. Adjust the seasonings and mix thoroughly, then serve!

The salsa is simply chopped tomatoes, red onion, chopped cilantro, and whatever else we have on hand that seems appropriate. We sometimes add bell pepper, mango, or cucumber as well. This would be delicious with fire-roasted chiles. Once everything is chopped, I add crushed garlic and dress with olive oil, lime juice, salt, and apple cider vinegar. In the photo above I have also made a mango cucumber salsa. The recipe for this is in the post featuring fajita salad.

Guacamole is simple and many of you probably already have your own favorite way of making it. For ours, we mash the avocado with lime juice, salt, and cilantro. If we're in the mood we may add onions.

Peanut Butter Pie

I made this for my son's birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It is a layered frozen pie, that tastes really decadent. It's reminiscent of fluffer-nutter sandwiches.


It was a big hit with the adult non-GAPS guests. My mom even asked me for the recipe. So here it is. (Hi, Mom!)







Ingredients

1 recipe pie crust
1 recipe marshmallow frosting
2 cups salted organic peanut butter, at room temperature, divided


Method

Fold one cup peanut butter into at least two cups frosting. You can add more so that it appears light and fluffy and so it tastes good :) Spread in prepared and cooled pie crust. Place the whole lot into freezer until it is firm, at least four hours.

Spread second cup of peanut butter on the frozen first layer of your pie. Freeze again until second layer is firm. At least two hours.

Spread a thick layer of marshmallow frosting on top of the whole thing, until it's close to the top of your pie crust. Freeze again until serving time.

This does not freeze solid, so you won't need to bring it out too long before serving. I did take it out, then put it back in, because it was thawing out.

Pie Crust

A few of you have been asking for a pie crust recipe. I haven't found one that I love yet, but this one is reminiscent of a graham cracker crumb crust, in flavor. The texture needs work though :)

I'm thinking of doubling the recipe next time, but using only one egg and perhaps a bit more butter. I'll post my results then, but in the meantime, this will do.

Ingredients

1 cup ground pecans
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. salt

Method

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Pulse all ingredients in food processor until they form a ball. If too liquidy, add more ground pecans. Spread dough into a greased (I used ghee) 9 inch pie plate. Place in oven for 10-20 minutes until lightly browned. (The timing here is a ball-park estimate. I took it out when I smelled the pecans toasting.) Allow to cool completely before filling with lemon curd or peanut butter pie (recipe follows in the next post).

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

I had some leftover corned beef last week and wanted to use it in a novel way. I served these with zucchini carrot latkes (which were not very photogenic and need some work before they are blog-worthy). Here's how I made the stuffed cabbage:

First, parboil a large cabbage, then let it cool and drain while you prepare the filing.

To make the filling, saute one chopped onion along with several chopped ribs of celery and a chopped carrot or two in plenty of butter or ghee. Add meat, which can be any leftover meat or raw ground meat and mix in until heated through (for leftover meat) or cooked (for raw meat). Season with whatever seems appropriate for the meat that you are using (I didn't season my filling because the corned beef was so flavorful).

Preheat oven to about 350 degrees. To assemble the cabbage rolls, carefully peel off a leaf from the cabbage, then place a spoonful (or so) of filing in the middle and roll it up. In the photo, you can see that I've rolled them with the vein down the back. Once they are closed, place them opening-side down in a shallow baking dish (preferably with a lid). Keep rolling until you run out of leaves or space in the pan. I ran out of filling first, so I quickly sauteed up some mushrooms and onions in butter for the last leaves- they were so good! Pour some broth over the top of the rolls (so it comes maybe halfway up the rolls?), then cover and bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove lid and bake another 15 minutes or so if you'd like them browned on top (otherwise simply bake about 45 minutes). If you can have yogurt or kefir you should definitely serve some along with these!

Almond coconut cupcakes with marshmallow frosting

It was my son's second birthday last week, so we decided to celebrate with some friends and a few treats. I modified this cupcake recipe from one I found on Elana's Pantry. It does contain baking soda, which is allowed on SCD, but not GAPS. So be warned.

All of the kids gobbled these up, even the non-GAPS ones! My son just licked the frosting off the top, but that was OK, it was his birthday, after all.


The frosting is modified from the honey frosting recipe in Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I found theirs to be way too sticky. This one is a lot lighter and fluffier. It makes a good base or topping for other desserts too. It's used in the peanut butter pie recipe, which will be coming soon.

Ingredients for Cupcakes

6 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tsp. almond extract

Method for Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper or silicone.

Warm honey and melt coconut oil together over medium low heat. Sift coconut flour, salt, and baking soda into the eggs and beat with a hand mixer. Add warm honey/oil mixture while continuing to beat until thoroughly blended. Add almond extract and blend until smooth. Pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. These will brown quite a bit because of the honey. Cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for Frosting

3 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup honey
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Method for Frosting

Beat egg whites until foamy. Boil honey until it forms a hard ball in cold water (about 210 degrees on a candy thermometer, if I remember correctly). My honey just starts to smell like it's scorching when I'm at the right temperature. Don't burn the honey though or it will taste gross (trust me).

With the mixer running, continue to beat the egg whites while adding the boiling honey. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. This makes way more frosting than you will need for the cupcakes. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days (theoretically).

Fried fish and tartar sauce

I'm not a big seafood fan, but lately I've been craving it. I bought this sole, because it was on sale, wild caught and was very fresh. I decided to fry it in the hopes that my chicken nugget-loving six year old would be enticed. He wouldn't even try it, but DH and I loved it.

Coconut flour is expensive, but I used a very light dusting of it here, with good results. Though the recipe uses coconut flour and oil, the resulting dish is not very "coconutty". I was surprised at how mild it was. I used the tartar sauce recipe from Nourishing Traditions, which was delicious.







Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds sole filets
1 egg
1 tsp. or so filtered water
1/2 cup or less coconut flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup or more coconut oil

Method

Beat the egg with the water. Mix the coconut flour with the salt and pepper and place in a fine mesh sieve or sifter over a plate. Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

In batches, dip the filets in the egg wash. Place on a clean plate and lightly dust with the coconut flour on both sides. Fry in the oil until golden, then flip. This took moments for these very thin filets, so keep a close watch. Place on a plate in a warm oven while you finish frying the rest of the fish.

BLT rolls with turkey and avocado

We love bacon, and were excited to find that Shelton's Turkey Bacon seems to be fine for us on GAPS. The strips are wide, and stay pliable after being cooked, so they work well as the outside of wraps. To do this with real bacon, simply crumble the bacon and wrap everything up in a lettuce leaf.

We filled our bacon rolls with tomato, lettuce, homemade GAPS mayonnaise, leftover roasted turkey breast, and avocado. This made a wonderful lunch and was a great way to use leftover turkey.

Shepherd's Pie

Many people already have their own favorite recipe for this dish, which shouldn't be difficult to adapt for GAPS. I had a pound of ground lamb that needed to be used, and some leftover mashed cauliflower, so this dish was very quick and easy to make.

I chopped half an onion and sauteed it in butter, then added some chopped carrot and celery. I added the meat and seasoned it with crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme. When the meat was cooked through I spread it on the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish and covered it with a layer of the mashed cauliflower. I dotted the top with butter and baked for about 45 minutes at around 350 degrees. It was simple but good. There are so many ways to make this dish that it is fun to experiment with. Later in the diet I may try it with lentils and chestnuts instead of meat for variety.

Italian Sausages with Peperonata

For a simple dinner the other night, we had sausages, an Italian pepper stew called Peperonata, and a green salad. A local grocery store has a wonderful in-house meat counter that makes many delicious sausages by hand, many of which are GAPS-compliant. Since beginning the diet, my kids, ages 5 and 7, have begun to really enjoy sausages so they make an easy meal. These ones are chicken sausages with basil so I felt inspired to find an Italian side dish to accompany them.

Peperonata

Ingredients:
4 large bell peppers, I prefer two red and two yellow
2 large onions
4-5 T of butter or ghee
2-3 fresh ripe tomatoes
salt to taste
3 T vinegar, I used apple cider vinegar
A handful of green olives

Cut the bell peppers into strips, chop the tomatoes, and set aside in a bowl. Slice the onions into thin strips, and saute in the butter or ghee until soft but not browned, then add in the tomatoes and peppers. Sprinkle with salt and cook on medium heat until the peppers are soft but not mushy. Stir in the vinegar and olives, and cook just a little longer. Some recipes suggest adding chopped parsley as a garnish.

Carrot Soup

I have to confess that I haven't eaten soup in at least a couple of weeks. My excuse? A broken immersion blender. I really like pureed soups with my homemade chicken broth. Well, a trip to Goodwill yesterday yielded a "new" immersion blender, so I decided to make my favorite carrot soup tonight.







Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter (or ghee)
1 1/2 large onions, chopped
2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 quarts (or more) homemade chicken broth
2 tsp. ground coriander
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

Method

Sautee the onions, ginger and carrots in the fat until onions are translucent. Add coriander, salt and pepper. Stir for about a minute. Add chicken broth and cook until vegetables are very soft. Puree. Add more liquid, if necessary. This is good with coconut milk too, but I don't have any that's suitable on hand at the moment.

You can leave out the coriander for the intro diet, if you are avoiding spices. You can also substitute the fat without worrying.

Fajita Salad with Cucumber Mango Salsa

My family loves steak, so we have been looking for some more ways to enjoy it that are both delicious and able to make a little go a long way, since steak is an expensive habit:)

To make the fajitas I simply cooked sliced steak, onions, and red peppers in ghee with cumin, oregano, garlic, and salt. We served this on a very simple green salad with a vinaigrette dressing, and topped with the salsa.

To make the salsa, mix together cubed cucumbers (peeled and seeded), cubed mango, diced red onion and chopped cilantro. Dress with olive oil, lemon or lime juice, salt and crushed garlic.

Surf n Turf

We found these Langostino tails at Trader Joe's, a specialty grocery store, at a low price and thought we'd have some fun. They came pre-cooked so I just reheated them in ghee and garlic, cooked up a small steak to go with it, and made cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and peas to go on the side. When trying something new with my kids, such as the langostino tails, I do like to have an old standby ready in case the new item doesn't go over well. This meal let us do that in "kitschy" style!

Lettuce Wrap Sesame Chicken with Fried "Rice"

This is a simple, delicious, and inexpensive meal that needs very little adapting for GAPS. I've had variations of this recipe at restaurants and decided to experiment at home one day. There are endless ways to be creative and inventive with this one so have fun!

INGREDIENTS:

2 T coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 T ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder
1/4 cup of meat broth
1 tsp salt
2 lbs of ground chicken
1 tsp sesame oil
4-5 green onions, sliced
lettuce leaves for the "wraps" (iceberg works well)

METHOD:

Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet.  Add the onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger and stir, then add the five spice powder and salt.  Saute anther few minutes.  Add small amounts of the meat broth as needed to keep the vegetables from burning.

Add the meat and stir to break it up.  Cook it uncovered, on medium heat, until the meat is done.  Continue to add meat broth as needed to keep the meat moist.

When the meat is cooked, remove from heat, and stir in the sesame oil and the green onions. 

To make the wraps, simply hold a lettuce leaf in you hand and spoon in some of the meat filling.   Wrap the lead around it and enjoy!



To go along with this, my husband used some leftover cauliflower "rice" to make fried rice. He made this exactly as he would have with regular rice, adding in some egg, diced red pepper, slivered almonds, lots of sesame oil and garlic, and some jalapenos on top.

Here is a blog post from the GAPS Guide blog that discusses how to make the rice substitute and gives credit to the people who came up with this fabulous idea.

Hollandaise Sauce

Every time I make hollandaise sauce, I am reminded of how easy it is, and I ask myself why I don't make it every day! Most people have tried something called hollandaise, but many people have not had the "real thing". I was given the packaged stuff as a kid and decided that I hated hollandaise. Of course, once I tried the good stuff, I couldn't get enough of it!

Hollandaise makes practically anything taste better, but it is especially popular on fish, chicken, assorted cooked veggies, and the ever-popular poached egg (with or without ham).

This recipe can easily be adapted for intro by using ghee in place of the butter. I could hardly taste the difference myself. I promise you, boiled veggies and meat taste a lot better with hollandaise!

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

Between 1 and 1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (I like it with 1 1/2. The classic is 1).

1/2 cup cold butter (or ghee), divided

Sea salt, to taste

Method

Mix egg yolks and lemon juice in medium saucepan (cold). Add half of the butter and whisk constantly over low heat.* When butter has melted, add second half, and continue whisking until it is completely melted and sauce is thickened. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Any remaining sauce may be refrigerated and "refreshed" by whisking in a very small amount of hot water before serving. You can also use this technique, if your sauce is too thick. If your eggs have curdled, you can strain the sauce through a fine sieve, and you should be good to go.

*You have to be a little patient here, as the slow melting of the butter allows the sauce to become creamy without curdling. I kind of wedge my whisk into the block of butter and rub it around on the bottom of the pan to melt it.

Chinese Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

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Ingredients:

1 lb chicken 
3 T coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tsp freshly grated ginger
4 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 c chopped green onion
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Powder
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 T honey
3-4 c broccoli florets
1 lemon, thinly sliced

Method:
-Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, set aside.
-In a medium bowl, combine the lemon juice, green onion, honey, and 5 Spice Powder.  Add the chicken, stir to coat, and let it stand for 10 minutes.
-In a wok or large skillet, melt the coconut oil and saute the onions for a couple minutes, then add the garlic and ginger and saute several minutes more.
Pour in the chicken mixture. Cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes, then add the chicken broth and reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.  
Add the broccoli florets, cover again, and simmer another 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and the broccoli is tender.
-Serve garnished with additional lemon slices.  Or, if you prefer, the lemon slices can be added to the dish when there are about 1-2 minutes left to cook.

A wonderful side dish for this meal is to cook veggies, such as broccoli and snow peas, and serve with sesame sauce for dipping.