Recipes

Delicious, No-Churn Ice Cream!

In the process of developing a delicious GAPS cheesecake, I discovered that with a few minor adjustments to the filling, one can have fantastic GAPS ice cream! Even if you don't have an ice cream maker. The texture is a little hard, but not icy, and super creamy and delicious. Add 3/4 c. good-quality organic cocoa to the honey/date mixture before blending with the cream, if you want chocolate.

Eileen's Tasty Meatballs

This is a tasty way to mix meat and veggies in a form that isn't soup. :) I like to bake these, to make it super easy to prepare a lot (4 lbs of beef makes enough for two large sheet pans' worth). They're also very yummy with tomato sauce.

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup lightly sauteed/steamed cooked veggies (onion, celery, carrots, cauliflower, and/or broccoli, etc.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dry thyme or 1 tsp. fresh
1/2 tsp. dry oregano or 1 tsp. fresh
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425f.

Fermented Spiced Apples

I got this lovely and simple recipe from someone on the Microbial Nutrition yahoo list; it's tasty, like crunchy apple pie filling. :)

7-8 lg. tart apples, cored/peeled/sliced into 1/4"x1" pieces
1/2 cup whey
2 T. pumpkin pie spice (about 4 tsp. cinnamon, 1.5 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and 1/4 tsp. cloves)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. salt dissolved in 2 cups hot water, then cooled; more water to cover, as needed

Toss apples and spices together until thoroughly mixed; add whey and mix again.

Remarkably Tasty Rosemary Scones-ish

Most coconut- and almond-flour baked goods are pretty unpleasant, dense, mealy, or otherwise unappetizing. These...were actually delicious. Sort of like a cross between a biscuit and a scone. I think it was the moistness contributed by the carrots, as well as the fat contributed by the Fat, that allowed them to avoid the being dumped into the chicken bucket.

Warm Chicken Salad

This is adapted from "Cooking Provence," by Antoine Bouterin, and is super delicious and fairly simple.

For the dressing (makes a little extra):

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard (prepared, without sugar)
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken:

3 tbsp. or so, refined coconut oil
6-8 chicken thighs, no bones or skin for this dish
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the rest of the salad:

Crazy Good and Simple Roasted Lamb Ribs

This is my favorite way to make lamb ribs; it works with Denver ribs, short ribs, riblets, or any other. I use another sheet pan to cover the meat during cooking, but you could use aluminum foil.

3-4 lbs. of ribs, depending on how many people you're feeding (I find that each of us can devour one rack of Denver ribs)
Salt and pepper

Lay the meat on a sheet pan, fat side up, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the pan, and roast at 300f for about two hours, until everything is looking delicious and tender.

Natto, Untraditional

Natto is traditionally an Acquired Taste--a stringy, stinky, almost moldy-looking ferment cultured with soybeans. I've heard that in Japan, it's eaten for breakfast with some raw egg yolks over rice.

Since soy is not something I'm super keen on eating much of, these days, I've tried natto-ifying various other beans, including black turtle and lentils. These produce natto that is milder than the soy version, but I'm hoping that the spores still manage to produce lots of Vit. K, etc.

How To Keep Your Water Kefir Grains Alive

After killing several batches of water kefir grains, I finally settled on the following technique for feeding my water kefir grains. (We don't drink the liquid, but I use extra grains for culturing watery beverages like coconut water. Meanwhile, the grains stay alive in their primary medium of sugar water.)

1/4 cup water kefir grains
1/4 cup sucanat
5 raisins
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 slice unjuiced lemon
filtered water to cover, and mostly fill a 1-quart jar, with at least an inch of headroom

How to Cook a Tough Old Bird

This is based on a recipe from The Grassfed Gourmet, which promised really tender meat, perfect for leftover cold-chicken lunches. Except that our chicken was a REALLY tough bird, so I cooked it around the clock. Probably if you have a tender one, then you should try 8 hours or so. The meat was delicious! And the vegetables and juices were good too.

After Dinner Mints

These are still a work in progress, while I try to understand the physics of chocolate and how to make it come out Perfect...but we're enjoying all the experiments (and I'll keep updating this recipe once I figure out the Perfect Version). They're truly yummy and decadent, after nearly three years of cooking without any sugar at all.

Frozen Strawberry "Gelato" Bites

In the middle of the night recently, during one of my daughter's too-numerous-to-count Wakeful Periods, I thought these up. And they're really tasty! Kind of like a bite of very flavorful, creamy strawberry ice cream.

1 cup strawberries
2 tbsp. water
6 pitted dates
1/2 tbsp. gelatin
1/2 c. "refined" coconut oil (the kind that doesn't taste coconutty)

Italian Wedding Soup

I recently adapted this recipe and we liked it a lot; serves four sparsely.

MEATBALLS:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. shredded carrots
2 cloves minced garlic
few sprigs parsley, minced
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, shredded (optional)

Cod with Olives

This was SO so good, even though I adapted the recipe (to eliminate the flour used in the original recipe, for dredging the fish, and then to eliminate the dredging/frying step entirely). I think the breading could be improved, actually (the spectacular part of this recipe is the sauce, which tastes great over plain old unseasoned, non-breaded cod filets); my friend had an idea to use partially-ground sesame seeds mixed with coconut flakes, which might be less-dense than the macadamias I used.

A Big Pot of Simple Chicken Stew

Lately I've been trying to make a large pot of stew once per week that can be stored in four half-gallon jars; we heat one jar's worth and divide among four people each morning for breakfast. This stew was better than most I've been making, and is dead easy (at least considering how much you get). I adapted the recipe from "Cooking Provence," by Antoine Bouterin

Tony's Fantastic Beef Stew

This recipe is actually adapted from the cookbook "Cooking Provence," by Antoine Bouterin, but Tony is the one who told us about it. And it's SO good! Worth the little extra work and the slightly longer ingredients list. For the final cooking, you can simmer on the stove, dump everything into the crockpot and forget about it, or transfer to an ovenproof pot and bake in the oven at 325f for about two hours, covered. All the vegetables can be cut into bite-size pieces, for a very appealing and easy-to-eat dinner (or breakfast!).

The Best Cooked Beets

This is from Laurel's Kitchen, and it's SO tasty, even if you don't have all the ingredients, or any herbs.

12-15 tiny beet, tops and all
OR
6 medium beets, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 T. olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/2 tsp. tarragon
1/2 tsp. salt
a squeeze of garlic

Wash beets well and remove inedible parts, leaving them whole and keeping the skin and leaves.

Fantastic GAPS Cheesecake

I tried to prepare this recipe http://heal-balance-live.blogspot.com/2009/09/scd-cheesecake.html , but made some adaptations to make it fruit-sweetened (and my cream would NOT whip!). It was really fantastic anyway. Then, I made some more adaptations and came up with a much easier and super-tasty version; here it is.

This recipe makes 1 10-inch springform pan.

Crust:
2 c. raw macadamia nuts, or soaked/dehydrated raw pecans
1/4-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
6 T. butter
4 pitted dates

Coconut Butter Cake

With MANY thanks to Patty for providing the basis for this recipe! http://www.lovingourguts.com/coconut-butter-cake-with-coconut-frosting-…

This is very versatile, almost like a pound cake (and it does not taste coconutty at all) and you could probably omit the baking soda to make it truly GAPS-legal (but would need to whip the egg whites, I think). To make fantastic berry muffins, add 1 tsp. lemon zest and 1 c. blueberries to the final batter, and bake in muffin tins for slightly less time.

Banana Nut Muffins

I recently adapted this recipe from one I found online. I know that baking soda is not GAPS legal, but I wish it was--the recipe is slightly lighter with it. (Maybe the same effect could be achieved by whipping the egg whites?) Either way, though, the flavor is pretty amazingly decadent after spending two years eating no fruit!!

One recipe makes twelve muffins, or one round springform 10" pan cake.

Herb Broth

I recently adapted this recipe to make an unusual and very nutritious and gelatinous broth for our family. The original recipe pointed out that broth is really very similar to tea--so why not add some herbs to up the ante??

several gallons of filtered water
1 or 2 chicken carcasses
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Bring this to a boil, and them simmer gently for about twelve hours. Then add:

Jake's Koftas

This is actually a recipe that my brother found by googling, but my boys refer to them as "Uncle Jake's Koftas" and they are really, really delicious--maybe better than the other recipe I have. They are delicious little spiced meatballs that are fantastic when dipped in a simple yogurt sauce. In our house, this recipe serves two.

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
2 T. minced onion
2 T. yogurt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriender
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 lb. ground lamb