Yummy Granola

This granola is truly good. It is also nut-free, if you consider coconut a seed (which botanists and most allergy sufferers do). I kept asking myself if I hadn't accidentally grabbed hubby's store-bought stuff. It's easy, stores well, and travels well. Now if that isn't a GAPS convenience food I don't know what is!

Lately I've been able to drink kefir, so having this granola topped with that stuff is like a vacation back to regular food land.

I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does!

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup coconut flakes or shreds
1/2 cup honey, warmed
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 TBSP. vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit (cut up if large)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet. Mix all ingredients EXCEPT dried fruit. Toss well. Spread on baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in dried fruit. Continue to stir every few minutes during cooling process as well.

When it is cool, it will be deliciously crunchy.

Note: I did not soak these seeds, as I can digest seeds alright without soaking. I'm sure it would be delicious with soaked and dehydrated seeds too.

Churasco Burger with Chimichurri Sauce

This recipe comes from the book "Great Burgers" by Bob Sloan.  This is one of the few cookbooks that I have bought since beginning the GAPS diet- even though it is not technically special diet at all, many of the recipes are GAPS-legal without any modification, and most of the others require only minor adaptations.  I particularly like that the recipes in this book provide many ideas for using ground meat, something that I am wanting to use more of to save money, as well as recipes that are very flavorful and with a wide range of flavors to help bring more variety into the diet.

INGREDIENTS:

For burgers:
1 1/2 pounds of ground round (beef)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
3 T finely chopped or crushed garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 T red pepper flakes (optional)

For sauce:
1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1 cup packed fresh mint
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 T finely chopped garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 T red pepper flakes (optional)

METHOD:

In a medium bowl, combine the ground meat with all of the burger ingredients except the salt.  Mix gently until just blended.  Form into 4-6 patties, depending on how large you want the patties.  Sprinkle both sides of each patty with salt.

Grill on high heat (around 500 degrees) for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on how rare or well done you like your meat.  You can also fry the burgers in a very hot skillet for about 5 minutes per side.

To make the sauce, blend all ingredients together in a food processor.  According to the recipe, this sauce also goes well with steak and chicken.

Garlic Bread

Now that fall weather is settling in, it's back to the joys of having the oven on and wonderful smells filling the house.  Garlic bread is a flavor I've missed until now.  This coconut bread recipe is very good, and will work well for many things I'm sure!

The recipe for the bread comes from the Cheeseslave blog:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2008/11/26/coconut-flour-bread/
The original recipe comes from the book "Cooking with Coconut Flour" by Bruce Fife and was adapted for GAPS by the Cheeseslave Lady.  Thank you Cheeseslave Lady!

Once you've made the bread, just melt a lot of butter or ghee in a skillet and gently saute LOTS of crushed or chopped garlic to let the butter take on the flavor.  I used about 1/3 of a loaf of the bread and big chunk of butter, so I can't tell you exact proportions here. Some people prefer to make the garlic butter by mashing the crushed garlic into butter at room temperature without melting it.  Also, many people like to add chopped parsley.  Garlic bread is more of an art than a science :)

Spread the garlic butter between slices of the bread, and wrap in foil (if that's your thing) and place in a baking dish.  I prefer for my food to not touch aluminum, so I put the bread back in it's bread pan and covered the top with foil to keep in the moisture.  If you have another method, please post it in the comments!

I placed it in a 300 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Tandouri Lamb Burger with Cumin-Yogurt Dressing

I recently got the book "Great Burgers" by Bob Sloan from the library, and am loving it.  Because the focus of the book is meat patties with seasonings, most of the recipes are GAPS-friendly (some are entirely GAPS-legal) and offers ways to include more variety of flavor into the diet as well a a way to use more ground meat (which I have been wanting to do to save money).  This was the first recipe from the book that I tried but there are many more that I am eager to get to.  These were absolutely delicious and my 8-year-old LOVED them, he said they tasted just like food from an Indian restaurant.  This recipe did not require modification, and even includes a yogurt sauce that is diet-legal.  Did I mention that I love this book?

For the meat patties:

1 lb ground lamb
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 T finely chopped garlic
2 T finely chopped (or grated) peeled fresh ginger
1 large egg
1 T curry powder (I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I left this out)

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer).  Form into 4 patties. 

To cook them, the book suggests putting them into a 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes in a skillet on the middle rack of the oven.  The idea is to mimic a tandouri oven.  I did this and while the burgers were cooked and tasted good, they didn't brown and were very soft.  In the future I plan to broil them on a rack.

Serve with slices of red onion, tomato, and lettuce leaves.  Cumin-Yogurt dressing is optional.

For the dressing, combine the following ingredients in a small bowl:

1 cup yogurt
1 T freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

French Toast

It would be an understatement to say that we are tired of eating eggs for breakfast, so I've been looking to branch out.  I had part of a loaf of nut butter bread left over and decided to try an old favorite of ours, french toast.  This bread is soft and spongy and worked very well!

To make french toast, first make a loaf of the Nut Butter Bread:
http://grainfreefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/09/nut-butter-bread.html

In a large, flat dish (such as a Pyrex baking dish), put three eggs and several tablespoons of coconut milk.  You may also want to add a dash of vanilla extract and or cinnamon for flavor.  Blend with a fork.

Place slices of the bread in the dish to soak, making sure to flip them over so they soak up the liquid on both sides.  Take care not to soak too long or the bread will come apart when yu try to remove it.  Cook them on a hot greased griddle or skillet, on both sides, until they are brown. 

Serve with butter or ghee, honey, homemade SCD-legal jam, fruit compote, stewed prunes, or honey lemon syrup.  To make honey-lemon syrup:

1/4 C honey
juice of half a lemon
vanilla (optional)

Combine the first two ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. They will heat up and become much thinner very quickly. Turn off heat, and add vanilla, if using. At this point you can further thin the syrup by adding in some filtered water.

This would also be good with a different fruit juice, such as pomegranate or cherry. The Knudsen's Just Juice line is supposed to be acceptable for GAPS, and this could offer some welcome variation.

Nut Butter Bread

This bread is soft like a quickbread, but stays together well enough to use for sandwiches.  It has a pretty neutral flavor to it, but can be either sweet or savory depending on what you add to it.  It is very similar to the recipe for nut butter muffins already on the site.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup nut butter (or seed butter)
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 T vinegar or lemon juice

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients except for the vinegar and mix well (this usually requires an electric mixer for me). Add the vinegar or lemon juice and mix well, then pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  It is done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

For a sweet bread, increase the honey to 1/3 or 1/2 cup and add cinnamon and whatever other spices you like, such as nutmeg or ground cloves.  Adding more honey will extend the baking time so keep an eye on this.

To make it savory, reduce or omit the honey, and add a little more salt as well as crushed garlic, onion powder (if it is SCD-legal), and other savory spices such as thyme.

Gazpacho

We have more tomatoes than we know what to do with right now, so I am doing everything I can think of to do with them.  This is a basic Gazpacho and very tasty. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 large cucumber
4 ripe tomatoes
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups diced bell pepper, preferably blend of red and green
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg yolk
salt to taste
1 tsp ground pepper, preferably white pepper
1/2 cup tomato juice
Handfull of cilantro (optional)
SCD-legal hot sauce, to taste, optional

Chop the cucumber, tomato and onion, peeling the cucumber first.  You should have about 1 1/2 cups of cucumber, 3 cups of tomato, and 1 cup of onion.

Put the chopped vegetables into a food processor, and add the remaining ingredients, reserving some cilantro for garnish.  Blend until smooth.  Taste and adjust the salt or seasonings. 

Let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Garnish each bowl with cilantro when serving.