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Category: dairy free

Avocado Bird’s Nest (grain free, dairy free, nut free, GAPS-legal)

I’ve been watching The Next Iron Chef on Food Network. And on this week’s episode someone made a bird’s nest using avocado. I’ve seen it done with bread, zucchini, various things. But never avocado. I thought it sounded like a neat idea since one of my absolute favorite things to eat with egg is avocado. So I made one for lunch yesterday. Yum!! I don’t think I’ve ever actually cooked an avocado. But they are quite good when they get warmed. This is a quick, nutritious breakfast, lunch or dinner. I let the yolk sit in the hole and the whites run over the edges to cook. I’ll definitely make this again! I added a little extra butter and another egg yolk to mine for extra nutrition just before taking it out of the pan.

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager.

Avocado Bird’s Nest

1/2 avocado
1 egg
butter, coconut oil or lard for cooking

Remove pit from avocado. Slice a little piece off the back of the avocado so it can sit flat. Make the hole large enough for an egg yolk all the way through. Heat butter in skillet. Add avocado. Crack egg over avacado so the yolk sits in the hole. Push the whites over the edge/onto the pan surface to cook. Sprinkle with salt. When the whites are cooked remove the bird’s nest.

Creme Caramel (grain free, dairy free, nut free, GAPS-legal)

Last night I tried another GAPS book recipe. It’s another single serving, nourishing dessert. This one does require baking, so you have to plan ahead. But the preparation takes about 30 seconds. This creme caramel turned out well. It’s kind of custard-like in the middle. Slightly sweet. I enjoyed it. And it was good to get another egg in my diet at the end of the day. I’m sure I’ll make this again. I bet it would be good with a little sweetened sour cream on top. If you’re looking for ways to get your kids to eat eggs give this a try. I ate this right out of the oven. Next time I’ll let it cool a while first I think.

Creme Caramel
serves 1

1 egg
3 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. honey
cinnamon to taste

Mix egg, water and honey in small oven safe dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Russian Custard (grain free, dairy free, nut free, GAPS-legal)

I often read through the recipes in the GAPS book. There really aren’t many. And I don’t know that I’ve actually made any of them aside from the ferments and cultured products. But there are a couple simple recipes I’ve been wanting to try. I finally got around to one of them last night…Russian custard. Sounds fancy. But really it’s just egg yolks 😛  The recipe is for single servings, which is nice.

I made one serving for my snack last night. A nice little nourishing treat.

This is a great snack for those days where you want something just a little sweet. There is only a little bit of honey. And you can make it in minutes. You can serve it over fruit or mix things in. I added a few sweet cherries and some crispy almonds. It can also be used in recipes (*see note from GAPS below). I’m glad I finally tried this. Any way to get extra egg yolks down is good. By having a little treat I added 2 to my intake yesterday. Love it.

This is also a great substitute if you can’t have yogurt. I like to add fruit and homemade cereal for a little parfait.

I use my hand mixer to make this. It gets thick and gooey. My whole family enjoys it. I have adjusted the recipe to my liking. This is how I make one serving for an easy breakfast or snack.

 
 Russian Custard

serves 1

3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. honey

Whip egg yolks and honey until it gets thick and almost white, about 3-5 minutes with a hand mixer, depending on the speed of the mixer.

*”Russian custard can be used instead of cream on fruit or you can serve it on its own with some chopped nuts on the top or pieces of fruit. It can also be used instead of cream in making cakes.”

Guest Post – Pumpkin Smoothie…Plus GAPS-legal Pumpkin Ice Cream!

Today I have a guest post at Gapalicious! My first guest post. Go check it out. Thanks, Hannah for asking me!

A little add on to my smoothie post…you can turn it into ice cream! Yesterday morning I made my usual smoothie. Then I put half of it in my ice cream maker. 15 minutes later…GAPS-legal, nourishing pumpkin pie ice cream 🙂  If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can just freeze it as is. I’ve done that too. Still a tasty cold treat 🙂  And you can freeze it in single servings so it’s all set to go when you want it…and so you don’t go overboard 😉  Ice cream is my absolute favorite food…and the hardest thing I had to give up. But I’m finding ways to get my fix again…the healthy way.

Pepper Steak (Grain Free, Dairy Free, GAPS-legal)

Once in a while I ask Justin if he has any specific requests for dinner. This week he asked for pepper steak and mashed potatoes. So that’s what I made last night. It’s a recipe from my MIL. It’s very simple and very good. I adjusted the ingredients to make it healthier (since I don’t use soy sauce or bouillion). The full recipe is not GAPS legal. But just the steak part is (minus the gravy). The gravy uses flour, so that part is not grain free. But the meat is great without the gravy. There is plenty of sauce in the pan that you can use as gravy even if you don’t thicken it. I put mine on top of squash. Justin had his over mashed potatoes. We all enjoyed it. The one thing I have never understood is why it’s called pepper steak…there is no pepper in it 😛  The recipe calls for round steak. Use whatever you have. I used sirloin because that’s what I could find first buried under all of our pork 😛  This is a great recipe to use with grassfed beef since it simmers a long time and the meat gets very tender. I hadn’t intended to post this recipe at first, but after serving it I realized I should. So I had to take pictures of what was left after dinner and what I packed for Justin’s lunch.

Pepper Steak

1 large steak (round or sirloin work well), cut into chunks
olive oil, coconut oil, lard or palm shortening
1 cup beef broth, chicken broth or water (may need more as it cooks)
1/4 cup ketchup (I used homemade fermented ketchup)
salt and garlic powder to taste

1 Tbsp. flour
1/4 cup cold water

Brown meat in oil in skillet. Add water/broth, ketchup and seasoning. Cover and simmer over low heat 1 1/2 hours. Stir periodically and add extra liquid if it gets too dry. You can serve it like this over veggies, rice or potatoes.

To make gravy: Remove meat from pan. Mix flour and water until the lumps are gone. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sauce in the pan, stirring over low heat. Add more water until desired consistency and quantity of gravy. Serve gravy on the side or add the meat back to the pan for serving.

GAPS Dairy Introduction

I cut dairy out of my diet after Abram was born because it seemed to impact his reflux (which has cleared up now) and tummy. But also because it is hard to digest and was causing me problems as well. I would like to try adding it back into my diet now. It is GAPS-legal…depending on the form. And the GAPS book outlines how to gradually introduce dairy…starting with the easiest forms to digest. And it gives advice about which forms are best for those that deal with diarrhea and those that deal with constipation. Since I’d like to start introducing dairy I thought it would be helpful to myself to write down how to go about doing it. Here is the suggested order of introducing dairy products.

1. Ghee
2. Butter
3. Homemade Sour Cream (made with yogurt culture), Homemade Yogurt
4. Homemade Sour Cream (made with kefir culture), Homemade Kefir
5. Cheese (only certain hard varieties. no soft cheeses except for the ones you make from straining homemade yogurt and kefir)
6. Store bought plain yogurt and sour cream
7. Milk (only raw milk…and only tolerated by some people after being on GAPS for quite a while…some people have to just stick to fermented dairy products for life)

This is strictly a dairy introduction method…it’s not exactly the same as the order if you are going through GAPS starting with intro. On intro some people can have whey, yogurt, kefir and sour cream from day 1. This tends to work well for those prone to diarrhea (high protein dairy). For those prone to constipation it is best to hold off on dairy right at the beginning. And then start with high fat dairy (like sour cream, ghee and butter). Ghee is added in stage 2 of intro. Then butter. But whey, yogurt, sour cream and kefir are all options already in stage 1 if you’re doing intro. The method I’m mentioning is for those introducing dairy while on full GAPS. I’m kind of doing a combo. I’m partially doing intro. But I think I’m going to follow the dairy introduction guide instead of the GAPS intro guide.

Why start now? I have been holding off since we currently don’t have access to raw milk. But we are hopefully starting our cow share next week. Once that happens I will be able to make good quality, raw dairy products…that are safe for me! And I think it will be very beneficial for Abram as well. Sometimes I wonder if I’m missing some things in my diet by not eating any dairy. And considering how much he eats and how thin I’ve gotten already it can’t hurt to have some extra fat, vitamins, minerals and calcium in my diet 😛

So I think this is my plan. I have started using ghee this week. After doing that for a bit I’ll try butter. Next will be homemade sour cream. Those three are high fat dairy products that I will hopefully tolerate well. Then I will move on to homemade yogurt. Since I am prone to constipation this will be the real test. Hopefully it will go well. Of course yogurt, kefir and cheese are my favorite dairy products…the ones I tolerate the least 😛  Hopefully following this introduction I will be able to enjoy them again at some point. If yogurt goes well then I’ll move on to kefir and cheese. And hopefully someday be able to drink plain raw milk. I sure miss that! I want to mention that when introducing dairy you should start very small. Like a few teaspoons at a time to see if you react to it.

I’m very excited to try making butter, sour cream and yogurt soon since I’ve never done that before. And very excited to have Rebecca back on raw milk and milk products. Plus it will be saving us money to not have to buy so many dairy products. For now I’m just happy to at least have ghee to spread on things 🙂  After being dairy free for a while even that is a huge treat. It was great on my nut butter bread yesterday and added a real richness to my soup. I’m hoping to try making sour cream ice cream in the near future too when I can have sour cream. I got a great recipe from a fellow GAPS blogger that I’m anxious to try. So happy to have dairy again. I hope Abram and I both handle it well.

Pumpkin Nut Butter Bread

Yesterday I made a pumpkin version of nut butter bread to go with our chicken apple chili. I just kind of guessed on quantities, lowering the pb to add the pumpkin. So I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. But it worked great! Rebecca loves it. We’ll see if our guests like it tonight 🙂

Pumpkin Nut Butter Bread

3/4 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter)
3/4 cups pumpkin
3 eggs
pinch salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/3 – 1/2 cup honey

Blend all ingredients in a bowl (I do it by hand). Pour into a greased loaf pan (1 large or 2 smaller). Bake at 350 for 45-70 minutes (depends on the size of pan you’re using…just keep an eye on it that it doesn’t get too dark on top).

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers (Grain Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, GAPS-legal)

Yesterday I had a doctor appt. in the afternoon, so I needed a prep ahead dinner. I decided to try making stuffed peppers in the crockpot. I didn’t really use a recipe. I just made a simple meat mixture and stuffed it into a couple peppers. 

It cooked all day in the crockp0t. What a super easy, super tasty dinner! I just ate the meat since peppers bother my little one. But it was still good. Even my daughter ate all of hers.

The peppers get super tender. You can peel the skins right off (a big bonus for kids). You can mix just about anything into the meat…rice, veggies, beans, cheese. I kept it very simple so that I could eat it. I used one pound of meat for 2 large peppers…that could easily serve 4 people.

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

2 large bell peppers, top cut off, seeds/insides removed
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/3 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. mustard
salt and garlic powder to taste
(any other fillings you like)

Prepare the peppers.

Mix the meat with the remaining ingredients. Stuff the meat mixture into the peppers.

Put the tops on the peppers.

Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the crockpot. Place the peppers inside (I found it worked well to have them against the sides since they get soft and can tip while cooking).

Cover and cook on high 4-8 hours or low 6-12 hours (I think I had mine on high for a few hours then switched it to low for the rest of the day…about 9 hours total).

Easy Chicken Nuggets…Another Way to Use a Roasted Chicken (grain free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

On Sunday I roasted a chicken. I love having all the leftover meat to use in other meals. I had planned to make chicken nuggets this week. I usually use boneless skinless chicken breasts for that. Cut them, bread them, fry them. But when I deboned my chicken this week I had very limited time so most of the meat was still in large chunks. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be easier to use that to make my chicken nuggets? So I tried it last night…AWESOME!! Best chicken nuggets I’ve ever made I think. The meat is already cooked, so you just have to fry it until you have a nice crust. So quick and easy…and much less messy…no raw chicken to deal with. I broke the meat into the size of strips/nuggets I thought looked right. Then I dipped them in egg, rolled them in coconut flour and pan fried them in a combo of lard and palm shortening. Delicious!! I served them with homemade honey mustard. It reminded me of eating chicken strips at Fudruckers when I was younger…the flavor anyway…this meat was far superior 🙂  Rebecca absolutely loved them as well. I don’t know that I’ve seen her eat/chew her food that quickly in a long time 🙂  I can’t wait to have leftovers for lunch today. Dip them in honey mustard with extra egg yolk mixed in…tons of nutrition. I think I know what I’ll be making with leftover roasted chicken in the future 🙂  You could even make a huge batch and freeze them for even easier meals on busy nights. Just warm and serve.

This post is linked to Grain Free Real Food Linky Carnival at Real Food Forager.

Easy Chicken Nuggets

Leftover roasted chicken in large chunks
1 egg, beaten
1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut flour
salt to taste
lard, palm shortening, coconut oil, tallow or butter for frying

Break chicken into strips/chunks. Coat chicken in egg. Then in flour/salt mixture. Fry in hot grease/oil in cast iron skillet, a few minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Serve with honey mustard or fermented ketchup.

Easy GAPS Snack Ideas

At the beginning of the month I said I wanted to make a snack list so that I wouldn’t run out of ideas (meals are easy…snacks are tough). It seems I’m always wondering what to eat between meals when I just need a little something. So here are some GAPS legal snacks. I can’t eat all of them at the moment (the ones with dairy). But they are still good options for a healthy snack for our family. I’ll keep adding to the list as I think of things. And I’ll add links to recipes as I have time.

GAPS Snacks

pesto
navy bean hummus
crispy nuts
hard boiled eggs
leftover roasted veggies
raw veggies
coconut milk ice cream
kefir smoothies
nut milk smoothies
zucchini cakes
nut butter pancakes
nut butter w/ fruit or on pancakes
gf granola
frozen fruit
fresh fruit
honey butter or honey coconut oil
roasted beets
olives
cheese crisps
leftovers
gf baked goods – scones, breakfast cookies, muffins, bread
chicken, salmon, tuna or egg salad
salmon cakes
broth
apple raisin bars