Lentil-Tomato Soup

INGREDIENTS:
3-4 T butter or fat for cooking
1 onion
2 leeks
1 red bell pepper
1 zucchini
2 cups of greens
2 cups of cooked lentils
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 T dried basil
1 T dried thyme
1-2 cups of GAPS-legal tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes or diced tomatoes
1 quart meat stock
salt and pepper to taste

 METHOD:

Melt butter or fat in a large pot.  Chop the onions and leeks and saute for about 5 minutes,  then add the other veggies, chopped.  Add the salt, spices and crush the garlic into the pot. 

Pour in the stock and tomatoes, and add the bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the veggies are cooked and the flavors have had a chance to blend.  Add in the lentils and continue to cook until they are hot.

Remove from heat and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

The Creamiest Ice Cream Ever!

This ice cream is made from kefired heavy cream and is so incredibly luscious and creamy.  The richness out-does Hgen-Daaz but with the tangy flavor of frozen yogurt.  This has become one of our favorite ways to get good fats and probiotics into diet.

To make the ice cream, kefir pure heavy whipping cream for at least 24 hours and strain out the grains (I would use between 2 and 4 pints).  Mix honey and vanilla into the kefired cream to taste, several egg yolks if you want (I add at least 3), and pureed fruit if you want.  Then freeze in an ice cream maker.  This also makes creamy popsicles with the "feel" of a fudge-sicle. 

Golden Beet Noodles

These noodles are a bit more like pasta in their texture than spaghetti squash, and offer another option if you can't find spaghetti squash or are wanting more variety in your meals.  They are also much faster to make (as long as you have a food processor).  To make them, simply grate golden beets.  I found that 3 beets makes a nice amount of "pasta".  You can either eat them raw, in which case they have a harder, crunchier texture, or you can boil them for 2 minutes.  This gives them a texture much more like al dente pasta and reduces the bitter taste that raw beets have.  Serve them with whatever sauce you like or just with butter and salt.

Mexican Chicken in Green Almond Sauce

This recipe came from The Mexican Kitchen by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. It is super good. I modified it slightly to be GAPS legal*.

Ingredients

Whole chicken--3-31/2 pounds
2 cups chicken broth
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch fresh cilantro, washed
1 green bell pepper, washed
1 jalapeno pepper
1 lb. fresh tomatillos*, papery coating removed, and tomatillos washed
1 cup ground almonds
2 Tbsp. fat
Salt

Method

Cut up chicken and poach in broth (cover pan) until done, about 45 minutes. Drain the stock, and reserve. While chicken is poaching, roast peppers and tomatillos in a very hot oven (around 450-500 degrees F) until charred on the outside. Watch closely. Remove from oven and place in a brown paper bag (top rolled down to keep in steam) for a few minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove the peel, stems and seeds from the peppers and the peel/blackened bits from tomatillos. Don't worry if a little is left on.

Roughly chop onion, garlic and cilantro in a food processor. Add almonds, tomatillos and peppers and pulse until blended, but still chunky. Heat the oil in a frying pan over low heat. Add almond mixture and cook for three to four minutes. Add reserved stock and some water to equal two cups, if necessary. Mix thoroughly and add chicken. Simmer to reheat chicken and allow flavors to blend. Add salt to taste and garnish with cilantro.


*Tomatillos are not listed as legal or illegal, so their status is officially unknown. If you are in a very compromised situation, please try a different recipe.

Apricot Rosemary Turkey Breast

This is a simple and delicious way to roast a turkey breast, as well as a way to include some broth.  The sauce that results from this dish is light and tasty and my otherwise broth-averse 8-year-old loved it.  It goes well with cranberry sauce and celery chestnut stuffing.

INGREDIENTS:

1 4 lb turkey breast (I prefer bone-in)
1 c meat stock
1/2 c apricot jam
        OR 1/2 c pureed fresh apricots, or 8 dried apricots
1/4 c honey 
1 T dried rosemary (or fresh if you have it)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Rinse the turkey breast, pat it dry, and place it skin side up in a roasting pan.  Place in the oven and set a timer for one hour and fifteen minutes.

Combine the stock, apricot jam (or pureed apricots), honey and rosemary in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.  Simmer for about 10-15 minutes to allow it to thicken and reduce.  Set aside.  NOTE- if you are using dried apricots, pour boiling water over them and let them stand until soft.  Drain them and add them to the stock mixture as you would the jam, but puree the mixture BEFORE adding the rosemary. 

When the timer goes off, pour the apricot mixture over the turkey breast and return it to the oven for another 15-30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees.

Celery Chestnut Stuffing

Chestnut stuffing has always been one of my favorite comfort foods and I have been experimenting with it for quite a while now.  This version is my favorite so far.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T butter or ghee
2 onions, chopped
1 T dried rubbed sage
2 tsp dried thyme
1 cup reduced turkey stock (or other meat stock)
1 large celery or 2 small ones
2 c chopped chestnuts
salt to taste
additional stock as needed

METHOD:

Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet.  Saute the onions until softened, about 5 minutes, then add the herbs.  Mix and add the stock, and bring to a simmer.  Add the celery and chestnuts and cook until they are soft, adding additional stock if needed.  Taste and add salt if desired.  This will depend on how salty the stock was.

VARIATIONS:

For "rice stuffing", add a grated cauliflower at the end.  You may need to add additional stock as well.

For bread stuffing, I used the nut butter bread recipe although coconut bread may work as well.  Cut about half of a loaf of bread into cubes.  If you feel that the bread is too soft, you can slice it and toast it first.  The cubes can then be added to the above recipe at the end and cooked until they are softened and have absorbed the liquid.  You may need to add extra stock or butter.

Jam

This is a very simple way to make GAPS-legal jam.  It is a bit runnier than "normal" jam, but still works well.  You can adjust the level of sweetness to suit your preference.  I made my jam not very sweet at all, figuring that I could always mix honey in later for flavor.  Also, if you make it less sweet, then you can use it in savory sauces and dishes (such as apricot-rosemary turkey breast).

I used apricots, but pretty much any fruit that you would normally make jam from would work.  I simply cut up the fruit into large pieces- probably into quarters or eights- and then put it in a large stock pot.  I covered the fruit with cold filtered water and brought it to a boil, then turned it down to a simmer.  I think I added the honey at this point- I'm not sure it matter exactly when you add it. 

Simmer the fruit for several hours until it thickens and cooks down to a consistency you like (keeping in mind that it is thicker when cool).  Keep a close eye on it while it cooks so it doesn't scorch, and add more water as needed.  Once it has thickened, remove a little and let it cool enough to taste, and add more honey if desired.


Once the jam is done you can either can it or freeze it in small containers or ziploc bags.  I suggest making large batches in the summer when the fruit is in season and less expensive, but many of us on GAPS don't have as much control over when we are ready for certain foods.  You can easily make this in smaller batches during the winter as well.  Even though it may be more expensive, it can still be cost effective compared with purchasing SCD-legal jam online.

This jam is delicious on toast, in sandwiches, on pancakes or french toast, in crepes, or as a filling in desserts.