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).