27Aug

The Egg-Free Breakfast for the Egg-Free Diet

August 27, 2010 by 5 Comments
avocodopearbreakfast

Pear, Avocado, Almond and Coconut Butter Breakfast

It can be extremely difficult to give up certain foods you’re used to eating and depending on.  I have personally eaten eggs almost every day for the past “I don’t know how many” years.  I love eating them in the morning because they are easy to fix, don’t require defrosting or planning ahead, can hold me over all morning and are relatively inexpensive for a meal.  Then there is the whole “what the heck would I eat if I didn’t eat eggs” dilemma.

All of these reasons have kept me eating eggs, until up to about three weeks ago.  My belly had had enough.  I distinctly heard it say to me one day, “No More EGGS!”  Yikes!  What was I going to do?

Sigh.  Many people email me asking me for breakfast ideas, especially egg-free ones.  I have promised them a menu planner…soon.  I do have the Egg-Free GAPS Menu Planner available that has one breakfast idea for each week.

However, I have yet to deliver a complete list of recipes and/or menu planner for breakfast ideas that are free of eggs.  So, I don’t have a release date yet, but I am planning on compiling an e-book of egg-free breakfast ideas for people who feel just as lost as I do when I comes to facing breakfast in the morning on an egg-free diet. Hooray!

This morning my husband looked at my breakfast inquisitively.  He was obviously interested or maybe confused about what I was eating.  I told him it was avocado, pear, almonds and coconut butter.  He seemed a little impressed, but I don’t think he’s going egg-free anytime soon.

Here’s the recipe to my surprisingly filling breakfast:

Pear, Avocado, Almond and Coconut Butter Breakfast

1/2 avocado, cubed

1/2 ripe pear, cubed

1/4 cup almonds, soaked, dehydrated and chopped coarsely

2 Tbsp coconut butter at room temp. from Artisana

How to make it: Gently mix all the ingredients together and enjoy.

In the end, I had almost two helpings of this, but so far it has held me over and it’s just about lunch time as I write this.

List of Egg-Free Recipe Ideas (also grain, gluten and starch free)

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27Aug

Great deals on cookware at CSN stores, plus review on Cuisinart's Quick Prep Stick Blender

August 27, 2010 by 2 Comments

CSN_Stores_Logo.gifTheir logo really says it all. Shopping is easy and I love the fact that I can find what I am looking for at the CSN stores at such great prices.  You can find a wide variety of merchandise such as Le Creuset dutch ovens to beds and baby blankets.  I also love websites like CSN stores that allow their customers to write reviews of the products so that I can read them and get a feel for the product through the eyes of someone who has already used it.  Because of this one feature, I usually end up buying most of our household items online.

For the times I don’t read reviews and make a really informed choice before handing over my cash, I do sometimes end up with something I am not extremely happy about.  Last winter I bought a Cuisinart Quick Prep stick blender from Sear’s and I thought it would do the job.  My old one had been recently retired and I didn’t realize at the the time that stick blenders are not created equal!

stickblenderHere is a picture of the stick blender that I have.  First of all I should have followed my intuition and purchased a blender with metal around the blade because I use the blender for blending up soups and have been steering away from using plastic.  But for whatever reason, I purchased this one.

The other thing that simply does not thrill me about this blender is that bits of food constantly get stuck inside the little holes around the base of the “blade shield.”  I can’t really blend up pea soup or plum smoothies without a mess of unblended food getting stuck in these holes.  This results in having to bang the stick blender against the pot or cup numerous times before it eventually gets blended.  And sometimes, even then, it is not as smooth as I’d like it.

So!  I have decided to take up CSN’s offer for me to review one of their products so that I can try out a new stick blender.  So, keep an eye out for a review of a different stick blender!

By the way, if you don’t have a stick blender, please consider buying one.  They make your life in the kitchen so much easier (when you have a good one).  Some of them even have an attachment for chopping nuts as well as whisking liquids.  I find it so much easier to pull out the stick blender than the food processor or counter blender for smaller jobs.  And it’s great to use for creaming soups because you don’t have to transfer the hot liquid to a blender – which can be somewhat dangerous.

25Aug

Homemade Tomato Sauce

August 25, 2010 by 2 Comments

tomato-sauce

A couple of weeks ago our tomatoes were booming, so I made a batch of homemade tomato sauce.  It didn’t last long and it was delicious.  There is truly nothing like fresh home grown tomatoes and sauce!

I decided to leave it “chunky” but you could blend it up after it’s cooked if you want a smoother sauce.  Or you could blend up half and leave the other half chunky.

So here’s my recipe:

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13Aug

Gluten-free Summer Salads

August 13, 2010 by 1 Comment

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One of our meals last week was a delicious Roasted Chicken with herbs and lemon as well as Cold Beet Salad, Sauerkraut and Garden Tomato and Basil Salad.  The three salads looked so beautiful together, I couldn’t help but take a picture.  And they tasted great together as well.  The beet and tomato salads are very easy while the sauerkraut takes some time and effort, but all were very delicious.  So I thought I’d share the Beet and Tomato salads with you today and keep the Sauerkraut for another day…

Garden Tomato and Basil Salad

Garden tomatoes – as many as you’d like, chopped up into medium sized chunks

Fresh basil, chopped – about 1/4 cup to 2-3 large tomatoes

Dressing: About 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 olive oil  (you can play with the proportions – I usually don’t measure but simply pour onto the tomatoes)

Apple Cider Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar (not GAPS friendly)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper, freshly cracked, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.  You can chill ahead of time and the flavors will mingle together.

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Cold Beet Salad

4-5 beets, peeled, cut into chunks and steamed until tender, chilled

Fresh mint, chopped – about 1/4 cup (I actually didn’t add mint this time but it is very good with the beets)

Same dressing as above for the tomato salad

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.

For the beets, you will need to chill them before serving.  Enjoy!

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I hope you enjoy these simply delicious summer recipes for these really hot days we’re having!

11Aug

Raw Granola Bars and Raw Granola

August 11, 2010 by 2 Comments

CIMG1446I was craving cereal over the weekend (doesn’t help that my husband buys cereal I can’t eat!) so I finally tried out a recipe I had found for Raw Nut Granola.  It is a bit of a process but it was so worth it.  It turned out as raw granola bars that you can break up into granola for cereal.  So you really get two recipes in one!

This recipe does require a dehydrator so if you don’t have one, you may be able to bake the mixture at about 300 degrees F until it is crisp.  You may want to put it on parchment paper or just grease the pan very well.  You’ll also want to make the mixture quite thin on the pan.  This does kill the beneficial enzymes in the nuts and seeds but it is an option if you don’t have a dehydrator.

I did make some adjustments to the recipe, simply due to not having dates, lemon, pumpkin seeds or vanilla.  But here is the original recipe as well as my adjustments.  For me, it made two  full sheets of granola on the Excalibur dehydrating sheets which later fit almost into two quart sized jars (one is already gone…)

Raw Nut Granola (egg-free, dairy-free, grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, soy-free)

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06Aug

Summer Pizza with Zucchinis and Basil and gluten-free pizza crust

August 6, 2010 by 1 Comment

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This pizza tastes like summer!  Enjoy!

Zucchini and Basil Pizza with Almond Flour Pizza Crust (gluten-free, grain-free and yeast-free)
Adapted from: Breaking the Vicious Cycle by
Elaine Gottschall

Ingredients:
Crust:
2      eggs (EGG-FREE:  2 Tbsp flax meal combined with 6 Tbsp. hot water)
2      cups blanched almond flour, or more as needed to make a stiff and not sticky dough
2      tsp olive oil
1/2  tsp garlic powder or 1-2 cloves of garlic
1      tsp honey
1      tsp salt
2    tsp dried herbs, such as basil, thyme and oregano
(optional)
Sauce:
8      oz. Bionaturae strained tomatoes
1-2   Tbsp. Bionaturae tomato paste
1 tsp. Italian seasoning or a mix of basil, oregano,
marjoram and parsley
1/4  tsp. garlic powder, to taste
1      tsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:
1/2   onion, diced

1-2   zucchinis, cut into half moon slices

1/3  cup chopped fresh basil

grated cheese (optional)

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05Aug

Vanilla Ice Cream recipe (dairy-free and sugar-free)

August 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

It’s summer and we all love ice cream, right?  The best dairy-free and sugar-free vanilla ice cream I’ve found is this one.  It is really delicious, both with the lavendar and without.  It is creamy and smooth and freezes well.  However, it is quite a bit of work so I don’t always feel like making it.  It also has eggs in it so for people who can’t eat eggs, it won’t work for them.

So I set out this past week with the goal to come up with a very easy vanilla ice cream.  While it’s not quite a creamy, it is still delicious and very vanilla-y.

GAPS note:  I did use canned coconut milk for this recipe and used Trader Joes’ brand which doesn’t have guar gum in it.  However, I still only use this at the most once a week because of the BPA in the cans.  This is the only canned good I still rely on besides sardines and fish at times.  For those of you who are staying away from all canned goods, you can try making this ice cream with your own homemade coconut milk.  There are a few recipes floating around but here one of mine:

Homemade Coconut Milk

Ingredients:
1     box “Let’s Do Organic” Creamed Coconut (you can find it in the baking section in health food stores in a small green box)
14   oz. filtered water

Steps:
1.  Bring 14 oz. of filtered water to a boil, then turn off heat.  Add the creamed coconut from the bag.  Stir until well combined.  You can use less or more water depending upon the consistency you want.  It will have the coconut meat in it so if you want a smoother coconut milk, put the creamed coconut through a strainer.

So now onto the Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe!  (Dairy-free, sugar-free and egg-free)

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04Aug

Traditional Foods cook-day and GAPS menu plan

August 4, 2010 by 3 Comments
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Sauerkraut

This week I had somewhat of a spontaneous “traditional foods cook day” for our family.  When I cook for clients as a personal chef, I call it a “cook day”, so this is where the term comes from.  It all came about when I decided to finally catch up on making sauerkraut and broth, both of which have been somewhat ignored since moving into our new house.

I also had to make tea for kombucha, our weekly yogurt and finish off packaging the soaked and dehydrated nuts I’d made over the weekend.  I had some time while Elijah slept so I got to work!

I have never made all my ferments and other traditional food items in this way – I usually just spread out making these type of foods over the week.  But it actually turned out really well and I got a lot done.

I ended up making the following:

  • Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut with carrots and caraway seeds (followed recipe in Nourishing Traditions without the whey and added grated carrots)
  • Chicken broth (let cook for almost 24 hours)
  • Kombucha
  • SCD/GAPS goat yogurt (we go through about 3-4 quarts of this a week so I make it about twice a week)
  • Soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds, almonds and walnuts

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21Jul

GAPS, Paleo and Limited Diet Weekly Menu Planner

July 21, 2010 by 4 Comments

organic-food-gWhat did you eat this week?  I’d love to hear about your meals, and share mine with you!

This past week was one of those weeks where I decided pretty much a few hours before dinnertime to decide what to make, but everything turned out yummy (well, in my opinion at least!)

My GAPS Weekly Meal Un-Plan

(gluten-free, dairy, free, starch-free, sugar-free, soy-free, legume-free)

Dinners (leftovers for lunch):

  • Turkey Tacos with Cabbage wraps
  • Coconut Fried Chicken and Mashed Cauliflower
  • Beef Marinara with Zucchini Noodles
  • Salads:  hard boiled eggs or chicken, peas, shredded carrots,  pea shoots, garden tomatoes, cooked and cooled beets, etc.
  • Egg wraps with Sautéed Cabbage, Shredded Carrots and Onions
  • Chicken Legs with Barbecue sauce and Steamed Broccoli

Desserts:

Breakfast:

  • Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies – just yogurt, blueberries and bananas
  • Banana Pancakes – just bananas and eggs
  • Eggs…

Ferments, etc:

  • Soaked and Dehydrated nuts
  • Kombucha
  • Yogurt

Well, that’s me!  I’m always looking for new ideas so please do share!

17Jul

GAPS, SCD, or Paleo shopping list

July 17, 2010 by 4 Comments

42-16245672Since I’ve been on GAPS, it seems as though shopping has become similar and easier. Even when I am at the health food store, there are so many aisles of foods that we can’t eat.  So I end up zooming past them to get to the things we need from the fresh and bulk sections.

Because we buy the same things every week, I have a master shopping list that I use to make sure I buy what we need.  You can do this for any diet you’re on to make things easier when you shop.  I thought I would share my list with you today, so if you don’t already have a master list for a GAPS, SCD or Paleo diet, you are more than welcome to use mine and then adjust it to your own needs.

The nice thing about having a master shopping list like this is you tend not to forget to buy things you need as much. And every week, you can just print off a new one and cross off the things you already have or don’t want for the week.

GAPS, Paleo, SCD diet Shopping List

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