Bacon Cheddar Potted Cheese

When I was a kid, one of my favorite flavors of the holidays was those salty cheese spreads that came in the Christmas food packages.  I loved how they were so creamy and salty, and probably loved them partly because of the MSG.  A friend recently posted a recipe online for one of these spreads and when I saw it I knew I had to make it work for GAPS.  I think this is even better without the MSG.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T coconut oil
12 oz raw cheddar cheese
8 oz bacon (I used Organic Prairie brand)
2 shallots
1 T bourbon
1 cup kefir or homemade yogurt (you could probably use coconut milk if you don't have either)

METHOD:

Chop the bacon and cook in the coconut oil until crispy, remove and set aside.

Fry the shallots in 2 T of the fat left from cooking the bacon, until caramelized.

Chop the cheese into small cubes and put into the bowl of a food processor along with the bacon, and pulse until well blended.  Add the kefir, bourbon, and shallots and continue to blend until the mixture is creamy. 

At this point the mixture is a thick spread or dip, that would go well with veggie sticks, apple slices, crackers, or coconut bread or nut butter bread..  You can easily adjust the consistency by adding in more kefir, if you want a thinner dip.  For an extravagant salad dressing, or dressing for vegetables, you could thin this down a lot with oil and vinegar as well as more kefir.

Cinnamon Nut Cookies

This is essentially a recipe that I found online but I don't remember where.  If it looks familiar please let me know who to credit :)  It's simple, my kids love it, and is a great way to use some of those egg whites that I always have left over from other things.

INGREDIENTS:

2 egg whites
2 cups of nut flour or nuts that have been soaked and dried
1/4 cup honey
1 T cinnamon

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the egg whites until frothy.

If using nut flour, fold it into the egg whites.  If using nuts, grind them into flour (I use a coffee grinder for this, or you can use a food processor too), then fold them in.  Fold in the other ingredients.

Drop teaspoonfuls of the batter onto a  cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned.

For variation, you can use different combinations of nut flour and spices as well as flavoring extracts or lemon or orange zest.  

Lima Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

This salad is so simple and absolutely delicious. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cooked and rinsed lima beans
1 roasted red bell pepper
about 1/4 cup chopped parsley
1-2 T olive oil
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste (preferably a course, gourmet salt such as Hawaiian Red Salt)

METHOD:

Cut the pepper into chunks and mix with the beans and parsley in a small bowl.  Add enough olive oil to generously coat the vegetables, squeeze on some lemon juice, and sprinkle on the salt.

Roasted Peppers

This is a simple thing to do to add some wonderful flavor to many different dishes.  Roasted peppers are great in salads, mixed in lima bean hummus, added to salsa, on pizza and burgers, and so many other things. 

The technique I use is simple.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Wash the peppers and cut them in half, then clean the seeds and pith out of the middle.  Rub the skins with oil or fat (I used olive oil) and place them skin side up on a baking sheet.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until the peppers are soft.  I like it when the skins get a little burned or charred.  When they are cool enough, remove the skins.  If using smaller peppers such as Anaheim, reduce the cooking time.

Peppers, particularly hot chili peppers, are also very good roasted over a fire or roasted in the broiler for a similar effect.  Hold them near the fire until their skins blacken, then cover them or put them in a bag for 10 minutes, which will cause the skins to come off more easily.  Be careful with hot peppers- roasting them in any fashion can release the capsaicin (what makes them hot) into the air which can irritate your eyes and nose.

Cracklins

Sorry if this grosses some of you out- it's an old time treat that has become one of my boys' favorite snacks.  It's so simple, and a great way to use more of our food and have less waste.  Between making these and broth with the bones, we pretty much use up the whole chicken these days. 

To make cracklins, simply heat fat or oil for frying in a large skillet and fry the skins on both sides until crispy.  I salt them as they are cooling down.  You can also shake on other seasoning if you like.  These are best eaten when still warm.

Turkey Green Chile Stew

I was looking for a creative way to use leftover turkey and came up with this.  It was a pleasant change from chicken soup.  The flavor of the soup would be greatly enhanced by fire roasting some or all of the chiles ahead of time.  I didn't have time and it still came out very nicely.

INGREDIENTS:

1 onion, chopped
2 T butter or other fat for cooking
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 cups various green peppers, chopped (I used a blend of poblano, anaheim and green bell pepper)
1 quart meat stock (ideally turkey, but I used chicken and it was fine)
1-2 cups of chopped cooked turkey (however much you have on hand)
handful of chopped cilantro
salt to taste
dash of lime juice
optional- chile powder or chipotle powder, fresh jalepenos

METHOD:

Fry the onion in the butter or fat.  Add the spices and garlic and let cook a few minutes, than add the peppers.  Once they have cooked down a little, after about 5 minutes, add the stock.  Simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the flavors have blended more and the veggies are soft.  Add the turkey and cilantro and cook another few minutes to allow the meat to warm through.  Remove from heat, add the lime juice, and taste and adjust the seasonings.  This is delicious with sour cream, if you can have it.

For intro, just simmer the vegetables and meat in the stock.

Trail Mix

It seems a little silly to post a recipe for trail mix as it's such a simple snack and one that is infinitely variable.  However, I came up with this particular blend that is a little more fancy than just peanuts and raisins and is really a treat.

Mix together:

2 parts nuts
1 part granola
1 part dried fruit (chopped if large fruit)
chopped GAPS "chocolate" coconut candy

When making the coconut candy for this, you can use the leftover bits from cutting it with cookie cutters, or you can roll it out and cut it into squares, than cut it into small pieces.  This is a replacement for chocolate chips so I was going for the equivalent size.  The coconut candy does get soft if not refrigerated so you may want to store this in the fridge.  I kept mine in the cupboard and didn't mind the softer texture.

When I made this, I used granola that had raisins in it, so for the dried fruit I added chopped dried apricots for variety.  I used peanuts but using different nuts and combinations of nuts would give this some variety.  My friend Chris was just saying that hazelnuts and dried cranberries are a great combination.  There are so many ways of varying this recipe, I'm sure you'll find your own favorite way to make it! 

You can make this ahead of time and put some in plastic baggies and you have a convenient "take along" snack food, just as convenient as the old snack bars and junk food that many of us probably used to keep around for convenient snacks on the go.  It is also delicious enough to go into a Christmas stocking as a treat, especially if it were in a small tin.

Lima Bean Hummus

It looks sort of grayish in the picture because I added black olives before I thought about how unappetizing that might make it look in the photo!  Honestly this tastes so good that my husband has wondered why everyone doesn't make hummus with lima beans.  This would work fine with other white beans that we're allowed on GAPS, but as they are higher in oxalates I decided to go with limas.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups soaked and cooked lima beans
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
3 T lemon juice
3 T olive oil (or more depending on how "wet" your beans are and the texture of hummus that you like)

METHOD:

Put all ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend to desired consistency.  Taste and adjust flavors.  You will undoubtedly find your own blend of ingredients that you like best. 

For variation, try adding olives, anchovies, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, dried tomato, or whatever herbs and spices you like.  If you find an especially tasty variation, please post it in the comments for us all to enjoy!

If you serve the hummus with sliced veggies for dipping it makes a nice side dish or even a light meal.