Archive for November, 2011
Some random recipes I want to try soon.
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged breakfast, dessert, GAPS diet on November 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Beverages, real and imaginary.
Posted in GAPS, Health, tagged beverages, GAPS diet, in-season, probiotics on November 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Azure Standard came today! I had ordered beets and ginger so I could make kvass and ginger ale this month, and I thought I’d try my hand at the apple cider in Nourishing Traditions. While I was on that page in the book today, I saw the recipe for Orangina…and with tons of oranges looking at me, I decided to go for it.
************************************
Before we proceed, I must remind you that today is Tuesday.
The previous 24 hours had been preceded by craziness. I don’t usually breathe between Monday morning and Tuesday night. Under no sane circumstances would I ever take on more tasks on a Tuesday.
I have no idea what possessed me to make these beverages today.
Having said that, I will continue.
***********************************
I started off making beet kvass. I’ve done it before, and it’s a 15-minute job, tops. Sure enough, I had it sitting on top of the refrigerator in all its ruby-red glory before a quarter of an hour had passed. And then I got ambitious.
I have good ginger ale intentions. I frequently buy a huge chunk of fresh ginger, think to myself “I’ll make ginger ale this week” and then put it off until the chunk has rotted. Not this time. Fresh ginger was looking up at me expectantly as I unpacked my Azure order, and I decided that today was the day I would meet those expectations.
Instead of grating the ginger as the recipe calls for, I decided to juice it. The juicer made quick work of the ginger and lemon, and I was pleased as punch! Another ferment on top of the fridge, smilingly proclaiming my rock-star status. Yeah, baby! I looked at the juicer and thought to myself, “Orangina. Today is your day.”
I did not clean out my juicer before I juiced the oranges. I didn’t really think about the fact that the hard ginger pulp remaining in the chute might force the soft orange pulp into the juice. Or at least I didn’t think about it until 8 oranges-worth of pulp came cascading through the pipeline and down into my juice. “Hmm, that’s probably not good,” I thought to myself. So…I tried to filter out the pulp using a coffee filter.
That didn’t work.
But while it was sloooooooowly dripping through the filter, I washed out the juicer and got started on the cider. By this time, I was getting tired. I decided to make a quart of cider to start, instead of the gallon the recipe called for. No problem – just use a dozen apples and adjust the salt and whey accordingly. I’m a little sketchy on the details here, but after I juiced the apples, mixed everything, and cleaned my juicer for the last time, I realized that I had only HALVED the salt and whey, instead of quartering them. I was so tired by this point that I did not care. At all. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have enough energy to juice another dozen apples and try to salvage this ferment.
The finished Orangina tasted bitter (due to all the pith that made it through, I’m sure) so I added a little sucanat to the ferment. I have a feeling this one is not going to make the cut. We shall see in a few days, I guess.
Oh, barf!
Posted in Health, tagged falling off the wagon, ferment, GAPS diet, illness, probiotics, supplements on November 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A 4 a.m. visit from the 7-yr-old complaining about her tummy is definitely a wake-up call. And when it is followed by hours of vomiting, the guilt starts to set in…remember the Sticky Nuts you let her eat yesterday? And the year-old cupcakes that were in the freezer? And remember how you’ve slacked off with ferments lately? And probiotics? And cod liver oil? This is what comes of junkin’ it and then going to Walmart, a.k.a. Germ Capital, U.S.A.!! So here is my confessional: all of those things are true! But we got back on the ball immediately. Chicken stock had been depleted because of our impending trip, but I busted out the last bag of chicken feet and had more made by the time she was able to keep fluids down. Vitamin D drops under the tongue and some ViraStop were next, and then a detox bath (which was by far her favorite part of the day!). She had as much broth as she could drink and some homemade applesauce in the afternoon. She didn’t take a nap, and still she was able to participate during a 3-hour rehearsal that evening! We kept her apart from the other kids, but other than being tired and having little appetite, she seemed to be almost her normal self.
Yay!!
My son and I seem to have dodged the bullet. What a difference from a couple of years ago, when this kind of a tummy bug would have been a huge blow to our family!!
Now to shift from Disaster Mode into Travel Mode.
Thanksgiving Cranberry Salad
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged dairy-free, fruit, GAPS diet, in-season, special occasion on November 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
My grandmother always made a yummy fresh cranberry salad for Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t live without it. I’m going to try adapting it to a GAPS-friendly recipe this year, and we’ll see if it passes muster! Note: Grandma’s original recipe is a bit cryptic, so bear with me. I’ve just copied it as written (and in a few cases, interpreted it the best I could!) and substituted GAPS-legal ingredients for processed or refined foods.
Cranberry Salad
2 pkgs gelatin (I’m guessing this is about 2 Tblsp)
Soak in 1/4 cup cold water.
Dissolve honey to taste (approximately 1/4 cup) in 1 1/2 cups hot water. Add honey mixture to gelatin. (And I assume mix until dissolved completely? I think I’ll heat the gelatin & water, then add the honey after it has cooled to preserve the enzyme activity of the honey. I also might reduce the water a bit since I am using honey instead of sugar.)
Mix:
2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped finely
1 cup celery, diced finely (I think I want to reduce this to 3/4 cup)
1 cup apples, chopped finely (and I’ll just use 2 apples, so however much that comes to.)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped finely (Crispy nuts would be best but not sure I have time to soak/dehydrate before T-day!)
1 tsp grated orange peel
juice of one orange
juice of one lemon
Pour gelatin mixture over cranberry mixture and chill 24 hours. Use a fancy jell-o mold or bundt pan for something special!
Apple-Cranberry Coffeecake
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged baking, dessert, GAPS diet, in-season, review, snacks on November 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I adapted a recipe this morning that turned out pretty good!
- 1 apple, chopped
- 2 cups frozen cranberries
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tblsp cold butter, cut in several little chunks
Mix and place in bottom of 9″x9″ pan.
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup yogurt (will try 1/3 cup next time)
- 1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Mix well and pour over apples & cranberries. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and not jiggly.
This coffeecake did not taste pumpkin-y. You could probably substitute applesauce for the pumpkin and reduce the honey further. This version came out just a bit more moist than I would like, so next time I will reduce the liquid. It was plenty sweet this way – more dessert-like than snack-like, in my opinion.
Hurry Curry
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged dairy-free, ethnic, GAPS diet, GAPS intro, main dish on November 17, 2011| 12 Comments »
I printed off a recipe from Jennette several years ago and I’ve adapted it a bit for our family. Whenever we have cauliflower and zucchini on hand I pull out this recipe:
- 1 large sweet onion, diced and sautéed in schmalz or coconut oil
- 4 or 5 large carrots, sliced into chunks
- 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
- 1 zucchini, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 lb cooked leftover chicken or turkey
- 2 to 3 tsp curry powder
- a few splashes of lemon juice
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
I start the onions cooking and then add the other ingredients to the pot as I chop them. Then I let them all simmer for about 20 minutes and we’re done. The original recipe called for rice to be served with this dish but we like it fine as a really saucy dish without the rice. Since it is dairy-free, it could be used on the intro diet as soon as you can tolerate curry.
Review – Cinnamon Bun Muffins
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged GAPS diet, muffin, review, snacks on November 14, 2011| 5 Comments »
I threw together a double-batch of these muffins this morning. I thought 1/2 cup of honey for 8 muffins would be much sweeter than we were used to, so I reduced the honey by half and added a touch of stevia instead. Then since the liquid content was reduced, I thought I’d better add some fat! I put in a little coconut oil to keep the muffins from being dry. Then I filled the muffins to the top and sprinkled them with cinnamon instead of doing the nut topping. Here is my version:
- 1 cup of coconut flour
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened but not melted
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- teeny bit of stevia powder
- 8 eggs
- 2/3 cup of yogurt
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
I mixed the coconut oil and coconut flour thoroughly, then added the salt and stevia. Then I combined the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and added them to the dry ingredients. I let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes so the coconut flour could absorb the liquid, then I beat the mixture thoroughly and added the baking soda. I sprinkled the tops with cinnamon and baked as directed in the original recipe. The recipe as I’ve written it above fills 12 muffin cups to the top.
We found the muffins plenty sweet! I’m glad I didn’t use the full amount of honey. They were not too dry and the texture was pretty decent for a coconut-flour recipe.
My son took one bite and made a face, declaring that they tasted like coconut. My daughter and I liked them! Fresh out of the oven with butter, they were yummy. :) I’d like to try them again, perhaps with an apple-nut topping. Or with berries. Hmm. I might try using butter instead of coconut oil next time and see if that makes them more tolerable for my son.
This one’s a keeper!
A muffin recipe for later…
Posted in GAPS, Recipe, tagged GAPS diet, muffin on November 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
gapsdiary 