Celery Cheese Soup

My family, including my formerly profoundly casein-sensitive son, are now able to eat cultured dairy including cheese!  I am amazed at the level of healing that my family has experienced from the GAPS diet.  I am also so grateful to be able to include cheese in our meal planning as it opens up so many possibilities!  This soup is a simple and delicious step into the lovely world of cheese.  The recipe that this is based on comes from the book The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine" by Rose Elliot, and originally called for Stilton, but I used very sharp cheddar and the result was fabulous.

INGREDIENTS:

1 head of celery
1 onion, chopped
2 or more T of butter or ghee
1 quart of meat stock (I used chicken)
1 cup grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Saute the onions in the butter for 5 minutes or so, until they soften, but don't let them brown! 

Clean and chop the celery, including the leaves.  You may want to save a few leaves for garnish.  Add the celery to the onions and stir.  Then cover, and cook on low for about 10 minutes.

Add the stock and let it simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes, until the celery is very soft.

Add the cheese and puree with a hand blender.  A regular blender or food processor will also work but will be so much more work to clean.
 
Adjust the seasonings, and serve a few celery eaves for garnish.

Mexican Caprese Salad

I can't harvest a beautiful, ripe red tomato from the garden without thinking of Caprese Salad- the wonderful summer dish of fresh tomato, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella.  Since the fresh mozzarella is out, I tried to think of what else has a creamy texture and goes well with tomatoes....  Once I had the avocado and tomato combo, it seemed only natural to give it a more Mexican feel.  This is a bit unorthodox, but it is delicous!

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 vine-ripened tomatoes, depending on size
1-2 avocados, depending on size
handfull of cilantro
olives to taste
olive oil
salt to taste

METHOD:

Slice the tomatoes and avocados, and then arrange them on a plate in a circle, alternating tomato with avocado.  Drizzle generously with olive oil, then sprinkle with cilantro and olives.  Salt to taste.

Ranch Dip or Dressing

This is a simple and delicious recipe that Teri came up with.  It is basically the "real thing" rather than the sugar-and-MSG concoction that tends to pass for ranch.  This is an easy and wonderful thing to bring to a potluck or buffet.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup mayonnaise (yogurt and thick kefir would also work if you prefer egg-free)
2 T chopped parsley or cilantro
1 (or more!) cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
2 green onions minced, or 1/4 regular onion minced
squeeze of lemon juice
ground pepper to taste

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  This is great for simply dipping veggies in, or can be thinned to make salad dressing with olive oil, nut milk, kefir, or water. 

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