Crab and Asparagus Salad

This salad turned some leftovers into a fabulous lunch.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c crab meat
1 c cooked asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 c cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/2 c mild cheese, cut into small cubes (optional)
2 T olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp curry powder or cumin
salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Combine the crab meat, asparagus, tomatoes, and cheese (if using) in a bowl.  Drizzle the olive oil over the food and stir to coat, then sprinkle on the salt and pepper and curry powder and stir.  Pour on the lemon juice and stir again. 

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This dish is great for summer barbecue parties. The recipe works well with shrimp, and would probably work well with other meats as well (pork, etc). I suggest making a lot of it and using the leftovers for easy lunches.

INGREDIENTS:

For the marinade (per pound of meat used):
1 tsp dry white wine
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp curry powder *
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp powdered ginger (or grated ginger root)
1 clove of garlic, crushed

*I use the curry powder from Mountain Rose Herbs, but there are many recipes online to make your own, and there is also a good recipe in Raman Prasad's book "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet".

For the Peanut Sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut or seed butter)
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T toasted sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 T honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 T grated ginger root
1/4 cup coconut milk

METHOD:

Combine the ingredients for the marinade, multiplying the units in the ingredient list by the number of pounds of meat to be used. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and marinade for at least 30 minutes, preferably several hours (in the refrigerator). If using shrimp, marinade whole.

Put the meat on skewers and grill it on both sides until done. The meat can also be cooked in the broiler, about 5 minutes per side, but check often. Cooking time will vary depending on how small the pieces are.

Combine the ingredients for the peanut sauce and serve along with the meat for dipping. The peanut sauce can be thinned by adding additional coconut milk if desired.

Ceviche

My DH used to make ceviche with large shrimp when we lived on the East Coast. Now that we live on the West Coast, we use small salad style shrimp which are local, wild and sustainable, not to mention inexpensive here. I recommend making this in the morning on the day you will be serving it. I found this to be delicious, even two days after it was made.

Ingredients

1 pound small salad shrimp, cooked

2 lemons, juiced

2 limes, juiced

2 oranges, juiced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

4-6 jalapeno rings finely chopped

1 tomato, diced

1 Hass avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1 tablespoon roughly chopped cilantro leaves, plus leaves for garnish

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Method

Rinse and drain shrimp. Place in a non-reactive bowl (I use glass). Add the lemon, lime and orange juices and stir in the cucumber, red onion and chiles. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Stir the tomato, avocado, chopped cilantro, and olive oil into the shrimp mixture at least 30 minutes before serving.

Jambalaya

We were able to special order GAPS-legal Andouille sausage from the meat department of our local grocery store, which naturally led to a foray into adjusting Cajun recipes for GAPS. This recipe is the first success from this adventure. It was inspired by this recipe on this wonderful blog of New Orleans cooking:
http://neworleanscuisine.blogspot.com/2005/03/jambalaya.html

If you can't get ready made Andouille sausage, you can still make this recipe with other meat, but if you are feeling adventurous, this blog has a recipe for Andouille that you could adapt:
http://www.nolacuisine.com/2005/11/14/andouille-sausage-recipe/ (make sure to replace the powdered milk!)

INGREDIENTS:

2 T butter or ghee
2 cups Andouille sausage, chopped*
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup green bell pepper, diced
4 T garlic, minced
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup tomato sauce (or additional chopped tomatoes)
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
2 cups grated cauliflower
2 cups additional meat (chopped raw chicken, shrimp, ham, etc)

Seasoning Mix:
1/4 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp rubbed sage
3 bay leaves

*If you can't find Andouille sausage, you can use Kielbasa, chorizo, other sausage, ham, or other meats if you want to experiment.

METHOD:

Melt the butter and saute the sausage until lightly browned, then add 1/2 of the onions, celery, and green pepper. Saute about 5 more minutes, then add the chopped tomato, tomato sauce (if using), and garlic and saute several more minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (including the other half of the onions, celery, and peppers). Mix thoroughly and cook another 5 or 10 minutes to make sure all the veggies are meat are cooked through. Garnish with parsley and chopped green onion.

Crab salad

One of my personal survival strategies when doing a special diet is to remember how wonderful simple meals, using high quality ingredients, can be. Some of our recipes are very time consuming or require planing ahead, and it can be nice to have a few simple, elegant options for those nights when you just don't feel up to anything more complex.

To make this meal, which was a favorite of mine before this diet, I simply make a green salad with lettuce and tomatoes and dress it with a tangy vinaigrette dressing. I then place the shelled crab on top and it is just wonderful that way. This would go well with Teri's now famous onion torte (see earlier post), or some form of GAPS-bread made into garlic bread. I will update this post when I accomplish that! But then, since crab season is coming to an end, that may have to wait...

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.

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!