Meat & Vegetable jerky

The original idea for jerky that has vegetables in it as well came from www.pantrypractitioner.com.au/news.php (look down the newsfeed and click the link to download a pdf). We've just started making it regularly again and have made a few minor adjustments, so here they are.

Firstly, she uses an Excalibur dehydrator, which comes with nice flat square trays which are easy to line with baking paper. We have a different type of dehydrator, an Ezi Dry, which is round with a central hole. You can buy solid inserts that you can line the trays with. If you need to use baking paper, it will be trickier to cut for this style of dehydrator. (The reason we bought this one instead of an Excalibur is that it isn't as big, and doesn't take up as much bench space.)

Because of the different shape, we shape the mix into small, individual, flattened patties, instead of one piece rolled out and marked into squares.

Lastly, based on a recipe from Heidi Jean on the GFCFNN discussion forum I used to frequent, I'm suggesting milk kefir as an alternative to ACV for the marinade.

This makes a large amount of jerky, so feel free to reduce the quantity.

• About 2kg minced meat (we usually use premium beef, but higher fat mince is fine, or try lamb, pork or whatever you like)
• About 1 cup apple cider vinegar or milk kefir
• 1 Tbs celtic sea or himalayan salt (or more to your taste)
• Herbs, spices or garlic of your choice
• Up to 600gm of minced or grated vegetables, such as onion, carrots, pumpkin, beetroot, zucchini, broccoli - I find 300-400gm enough, and usually use 100gm onion and 200gm or so mixed other veges.

Mix together everything except the veges in  a large bowl. Get your hands in there and squeeze everything together really well so that the acid from the ACV or kefir will "cook" the meat as it marinates and destroy any pathogens. Then add your veges and mix well again. Cover with a large plate and marinate overnight in the fridge.

Next day, set your dehydrator to HIGH or about 68C. Form little patties and flatten them to no more than 1 com thick.

You can see in the picture that they are on a solid insert at this stage.

Dehydrate for about 3-4 hours. By that stage, they should be firm enough to take them off the solid insert and place them (the other way up) on the mesh tray, to allow better air flow and drying.

After a total of 6-8 hours, they will be dry on the outside, but still moist on the inside. If you will be keeping them in the fridge and eating them within a few days, you can stop there. 

But if you want to keep them longer, you need to keep them going until they are crisp and dry all the way through, up to 24 hours.

These make a perfect Paleo, GAPS or low carb snack that is a bit better balanced than pure meat. 

If you want some extra fat, use them as crackers and spread some butter on top! A slice of tomato or cucumber on top of that would be good too.

Gummy Stars

This is a Mommypotamus recipe, which I found  posted on the Auckland Mums: Super Nutrition for Babies and Beyond facebook page.

I'm in the mode of thinking of Xmas recipes at the moment, and these would be a great recipe for GAPS kids who are ok on honey.

• 1/3 cup lemon (or lime) juice (about 3 large lemons)
• 3 Tbs gelatin
• 3 Tbs honey
• Mummypotamus added some natural food colouring, but I didn't and they still came out a nice colour.

Put the lemon juice in a small pan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. When it's softened add the honey, and stir all together over a low heat till the gelatin is dissolved.

The first time, I just poured it into a glass dish, put in the fridge till set, then cut it up into squares. The second time I used some chocolate moulds. They went into the freezer for a while, then into the fridge. I used the pointy end of a sharp knife to prise a corner out, and then peeled each one out. This amount made about 24 gummies.

Now go and visit Mummypotamus and see all her other great recipes, including her guide to the Ultimate GAPS Xmas recipes. 

She also has a fabulous looking book full of DIY organic beauty recipes. Just what every GAPS household needs.

Cod liver oil jellies

Recently, I've been trying a few different ways to use gelatin. First up was making cod liver oil jellies. The original recipe came to me from Nadine. Her kids used to love the Green Pastures gummy fish, so when they were discontinued, Nadine started making her own. I've tried a few different variations and most of them have worked fine. So first here's the method, then a few different combinations. 

Put the water in a medium sized pan, then sprinkle the gelatin over the top. When it has softened, heat the water gently, stirring till the gelatin has dissolved. Take off the heat and add the honey and coconut oil, stirring till dissolved. If you are adding an extra flavourings, add them at this stage. When the mix has cooled down to body temperature, whisk in the cod liver oil. Pour into a tray lined with baking paper, and put into the fridge. When it's set, cut into 24 pieces. Each is equivalent to about 1 tsp cod liver oil, a std adult dose. Cut smaller for kids.

Nadine's original - Jaffa

• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbs gelatin
• 12 Tbs honey
• 4 tsp coconut oil
• 4 Tbs orange fermented Cod liver oil
• 4 Tbs chocolate Royal

Chocolate cinnamon

Replace the orange with cinnamon, and can also add an extra tsp of raw cacao powder. As there is stevia in the cinnamon, the honey can be reduced a little too.

Skate Jaffa

• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbs gelatin
• 12 Tbs honey (or replace some with stevia)
• 4 tsp coconut oil
• 4 heaped Tbs cacao
• 8 Tbs spicy orange fermented Skate liver oil

Choc Orange Cinnamon (makes 30 pieces)

• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbs gelatin
• 12 Tbs honey (or replace some with stevia)
• 4 Tbs coconut oil
• 4 heaped Tbs cacao
• 6 Tbs cinnamon fermented Cod liver oil
• 4 Tbs spicy orange fermented Skate liver oil

Anyway, you get the picture. You can mix things around a bit and they all pretty much work. You get the goodness of the gelatin and an easier way to take your cod liver oil. Skate liver oil has a lot of the same properties as the butter oil, so using either Royal or skate will complement the Cod nicely.

There was one combination that DIDN'T work as it separated into two layers:

• 1/3 cup lemon juice and 2/3 cup water
• 4 Tbs gelatin
• 4 Tbs coconut ghee or maybe oil would have worked better
• 100ml honey
• 30 drops stevia
• 5 Tbs orange fermented Cod liver oil
• 5 Tbs spicy orange fermented Skate liver oil

But I put it all in the mini food processor and zizzed it up and now we have a jar of citrus cod/skate gel. So that's all good too.

Mushroom Nut Roast

A few years ago I went in search of a nut roast recipe, and was interested to find they were all so different. So I made up my own composite, picking all the tastiest sounding ingredients. And I was surprised how delicious it was. It keeps well in the fridge, and can also be frozen. 

This is a handy recipe if you have vegetarians in the family. For Xmas Day, they're festive made in star shaped tins, or mini loaf tins, and can be made in advance. At other times of the year, it's a satisfying any time snack for even a dedicated carnivore like myself.

If you’ve only got a small food processor, or are only feeding 1 or 2 people, it might be easier to make a half mixture.

• 1 Tbs each butter & extra virgin olive oil (or 2 Tbs olive oil)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 baby leek (optional), sliced and rinsed
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
• 2 large mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups crispy cashews
• 1/2 cup crispy brazils
• 1/2 cup crispy walnuts
• 1/2 cup crispy almonds
• 2 small slices bread (starch free is fine, or you could omit it), roughly torn into chunks
• ½ tsp sea salt
• Your own favourite fresh or dried herbs
• 1 egg (can be left out, if you don’t tolerate eggs)

In a large food processor, grind together almonds, cashews, brazils & walnuts until they’re the consistency of large breadcrumbs. Add the bread. Process again. Sauté onions, leeks and garlic in the oil and butter. Add mushrooms, and cook till softened. Add to the food processor along with seasonings, herbs and the egg. Process till smooth. Cook in a greased, lined ring tin, for about 40 mins at 180C, or in four individual tins for less time. 

Gingerbread Xmas Cookies

Last Xmas I had a go at making gingerbread Xmas shapes, which turned out reasonably well. This year I was going to tweak my recipe, but discovered that another GAPS blogger has beaten me to it. So no need to reinvent the wheel. If gingerbread is something that appeals to your Xmas spirit, I'll just send you over to Thinking Outside the Box. Thanks yet again dansmumm.

Beetroot dip

I love baby beetroot, and we got some picked fresh from my sister's garden last week. I turned them into a beetroot dip which we served with fish for dinner.

• Baby beetroot (5 of them made a dip that served 2 of us for 2 dinners)
• Cultured cream, homemade yoghurt or yoghurt "cheese" (ie after dripping out the whey). For a dairy free option, homemade mayo would probably work fine.
• A little himalayan or celtic sea salt

You can add extra flavourings, though I didn't this time. Some possibilities (choose one only!):

• Horseradish cream is a classic addition (check for non-GAPS ingredients)
• I've used PureWasabi by Coppersfolly as a horseradish substitute before
• Lemon juice, ground cumin, ground coriander seed, crushed garlic
• Or just the lemon juice and cumin

Trim the beetroot, leaving about a 1cm of stalk and tail. Wash well, but leave the skins on. Put into a pan and cover with cold water and a little sea salt. Simmer till they can be pierced with a skewer, approx 45-60 minutes, depending on size. Drain off the water and cover them with cold water, till they're cold enough to handle. Slice off the two ends, and you'll be able to slip the skins right off.

Put into food processor with a couple of tablespoons of the sour cream or yoghurt, and zizz. Add more sour cream till it comes to a good consistency, and seasonings to taste. (Sorry, I didn't measure anything). I didn't even take a photo, the one above is pinched from another site. But it's there so you can get a rough idea of what the colour and consistency will look like.

This would  make a lovely Xmas dinner starter, with a bowl of guacamole and maybe a third bowl of chicken liver pate. Make some biscotti from starch free bread, or cut up some vege sticks or chunks to go with it.

Dukkah

Ok, this probably isn't an authentic dukkah recipe. I didn't even look on the net to see what usually goes into it. I just grabbed a few things I had in the cupboard. I think these were the quantities:

• About a cup or so of nuts: tamari roasted almonds and cashews, pistachios
• About a tsp ground cumin seed
• About a tsp of curry powder

Zizz in mini food processor till it resembles bread crumbs. Keep in a jar in the cupboard, and use to spice up your sauerkraut salad.

To make it fully GAPs or WAPF, it would be better to use your own "crispy" nuts. You might then need to add a little sea salt.

Christmas Morning Muffins

I love Nigella Lawson's recipes, even though most of them are full of white flour and sugar and other things we don't want to have on a WAPF diet, let alone GAPS! I love her passion for food and her ideas. This morning her recipe for Xmas Morning Muffins arrived in my Inbox, and I could immediately see how to make them GAPSy. My recipe is a variation of Bruce Fife's Honey Blueberry Coconut Flour muffins.


For those who can't have coconut, see the almond flour version I tried later in the week.

• 1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon or mixed spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6 eggs
• 4 Tbs (50gm, 2oz) butter or coconut oil, melted
• 4 Tbs honey
• 4 Tbs juice from an orange
• Grated zest of the orange
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup frozen cranberries

Grease a 12 pan muffin tray with Dr Fife's magic oil, or line with baking paper. Sift the coconut flour, baking soda and spices into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Blend together eggs, butter or oil, orange juice, honey, salt and zest.  Mix the two together until there are no lumps.  Stir in cranberries. Pour batter into muffin pans.  Bake at 400 degrees F (205C) for about 16-18 minutes.  Makes 12. (If you want to make less bigger muffins, adjust cooking time accordingly.)

Note that there is a small amount of baking soda, which is technically not GAPS legal. For most people, that small amount shouldn't cause a problem, and I think the texture would really suffer if you left it out. Use your own judgement, or talk to your GAPS practitioner about it.


For my first trial, I used just the mixed spice (in place of the original cinnamon and nutmeg). Ian thought it was spicy enough, but I didn't, so next time I'll add the 1/4 tsp nutmeg as well.


They came out a nice consistency, both warm and cold, and didn't need a spread. But they would be extra good with ghee, sour cream, or yoghurt cheese. Or maybe even sour cream or yoghurt cheese mixed with some lemon juice and honey.


Next day PS: We just had one each out of the fridge for morning tea. Ian had his plain and I cut mine open and spread with coconut ghee. Both ways were great.

White Christmas slice

We recently discovered dried strawberries. Not the sugar coated, preservative laden things you might have seen in the supermarket, but ones where strawberries are the only ingredients. I found them in Hardy's Health food shop. They're so sweet, it's hard to believe there's no added sugar. Anyway, I got thinking about how they would be a good substitute for glaced cherries in some Christmas recipes, and had a hazy memory of something called White Chrismas.

When I googled it, it turned out to be a rice bubble slice with glace cherries, Kremelta, and dessicated coconut and of course lots of icing sugar. So today I've been playing with versions of creamed coconut slice, and here's what we've got so far.

Version 1 used creamed coconut, coconut oil, vanilla essence, dried strawberries and sultanas. I didn't add extra sweetener. It tasted ok, but nothing special, just an everyday slice. For version 2, I used cocoa butter instead of the coconut oil. I added some mixed spice, and replaced some of the strawberries with dried pawpaw (cos I didn't have enough strawberries). It was much more Christmassy.

If you wanted extra sweetness, you could add a little honey. If you wanted some rice bubble like crunch, you could add some chopped nuts.

So here's the final recipe - well, as final as these things get. I'll probably tweak it again next time I make it. But we've got a lot of slice to eat before the next trial!

• 250ml (1/2 jar) creamed coconut
• 50g coconut oil -OR- cocoa (cacao) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1-2 tsp honey (optional)

• 50g dried strawberries (or other red dried fruit of your choice)
• 50g apricots, pawpaw or pineapple
• 50g sultanas or raisins
• 50g almonds, cashews or macadamias (optional)

First, get your jar of creamed coconut softening in a bowl of hot water. (If you've got a jar already prepared, you won't need to do this). Next, line a plastic container that's about 15x20cm, or 12x25, or similar, with baking paper. Prepare your fruit: stir through the raisins and sultanas and remove any stalks; chop the rest into small pieces with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. (note: choose fruits that are free of sweeteners and sulphites)

If you're using nuts, chop them up. (Best nuts for flavour, texture and digestibility are ones that have been made into "crispy" nuts, but raw or roasted unsalted will also do).

When the creamed coconut is soft enough to get out of the jar, scrape it all into a food processor and zizz till smooth. You might need to jab any big bits with a knife to break them up a bit more, and zizz again. When it's smooth, pour half back into the jar for another batch later on, or for adding to soups or stews.

If you're using cocoa butter, grate that and add. Or just spoon in the right amount of coconut oil. Add the other flavourings and zizz till it's all mixed together and smooth. Add the chopped fruit and nuts and pulse just enough to mix them in, but not mush them.

Pour into the container and mix around a bit to make sure the fruit and nuts are evenly dsitributed. Refrigerate for an hour or so, till hard. Lift the baking paper and contents onto a chopping board, and use a large knife to cut into small pieces, 1-1.5 cm wide. Gather up the corners of the paper, and you'll be able to stuff the whole lot back into the container, put the lid on and back into the fridge.

If you want to make them look pretty, spoon the mixture into mini muffin patty pans that have been stuffed into mini muffin trays. Or use foil thingies that are designed for truffles.

Coconut almond bread

A few of you that came to my GAPS workshop last week wanted the recipe for the pumpkin bread, and I discovered I hadn't put it on the blog yet. So here it is!


The basic almond bread recipe in "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" contains just ground almonds, eggs and fat of some kind (eg butter, ghee, duck fat or coconut oil). In "Breaking The Vicious Cycle" Lois Lang's Luscious Bread also contains dry curd cottage cheese, salt and baking soda.


I developed this combination of Lois Lang's bread with the basic coconut flour bread recipe. It contains baking soda, but to be 100% GAPS just leave that out. The variation I made last week used coconut oil for the fat and pumpkin for moisture to make it dairy free. It stays moist in the fridge for a few days.

• 5 eggs
• 4 oz melted butter (or ghee, coconut oil, duck fat, palm oil)
• 1 cup cottage cheese, yoghurt, yoghurt “cheese”, kefir, kefir cheese OR 1 cup mashed pumpkin 
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cups ground almonds (or other nut flour)
• ½ cup coconut flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Line a loaf tin with baking paper. Beat the first 5 ingredients together. Mix the flours together and beat into the wet ingredients. Spoon into tin and smooth the top. Bake till golden, about 45 minutes.


Variation: Zucchini bread


Replace the cottage cheese or pumpkin with 1.5 cups grated zucchini. Stir this in when you mix the wet and dry together.

Winter Warmer Soup

This is a quick and easy way to make your daily stock more interesting, when you can't be bothered making a vegetable soup. 

Have a mug of this warming soup at first signs of a flu or cold, or when you're feeling the winter weather. If you get sick, sip throughout the day.

• 1 litre of chicken, duck or turkey stock
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
• 4-8 Tablespoons creamed coconut
• juice of 1 lemon
• sea salt to taste

Bring the stock to a boil, skim off any foam. Add the ginger (and optional extras) and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the creamed coconut and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and sea salt to taste, and serve.

Variations:

• For an even more heating soup, also add 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes -OR- 1-3 dried chillies (depending on their size)
• Use as a base for a more filling soup by adding pumpkin, butternut or kumera. After adding the lemon and sea salt, take out the chillies (if you used whole ones) and puree with a handheld wand blender.
• Garnish with a spring onion, very finely chopped

Chocolate Spread

I'm very excited that the stock of our new product - creamed coconut - has arrived today! One of the first things I did was whip up a nutella type chocolate spread for people to sample, but free of dairy, sugar and even nuts!

• 250gm (1/2 a 500ml jar) of creamed coconut
• 125gm coconut oil 
• 2 Tablespoons raw cocoa powder (it doesn't have to be raw, but raw tastes better)
• 2 Tablespoons honey (or your favourite sweetener)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Zizz it all together in a food processor till smooth and pour into a jar. Eat as you would any chocolate spread, or just off the spoon.

Easter Spicy Buns

These gluten-free, starch-free buns don't have the texture of hot cross buns, but they're still a tasty treat for Easter. They can also be made casein-free.

·         1 cup ground almonds

·         ½ cup coconut flour

·         ½ tsp baking soda

·         1 heaped tsp mixed spice

·         ½ cup sultanas, raisins or currants

·         2-3 tsp grated orange rind

·         3 eggs

·         75gm melted butter or coconut oil

·         2-3 Tbs honey

·         ½ tsp sea salt

·         ½ cup yoghurt OR mashed, cooked pumpkin (prepared earlier) OR finely diced feijoa (I haven't tested these, but mashed banana or grated apple should work fine too)

Preheat the oven to 175C. Set butter or oil melting over a low heat, and if your honey is solid, add that to the pan as well. Mix together the flours, baking soda and spice in a large bowl. Stir in the dried fruit and rind. Beat together the eggs, melted butter, honey and sea salt in a small food processor.

If you’re using feijoa, chop the ends off, peel them and dice them. If you’re using pumpkin, it needs to be pre-cooked, mashed and cooled.

Add the yoghurt, feijoa or pumpkin to the wet mix and beat. The pumpkin needs to be well mixed in, but the feijoa can be still in tiny pieces.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. If the mix is too wet, add a little extra flour. Leave to sit while you grease the muffin tins. Spoon in the mix and cook for 15-20 mins. Serve hot, with butter or ghee if you tolerate it. Makes 8-10 std muffins or about 24 mini ones (which need less cooking time).

Cheese muffins (no starch)

We're going away on holiday for a few days, and my mind has been mulling over what food to take with us - especially for the 9 hour drive north. We usually travel with a chilly bin full of chilled food, another full of frozens (depending on how long we're away for), and a cooler bag with food for the trip.

For snacks, we'll probably have nuts, fruit (fresh blueberries would travel well), maybe a coconut oil or cocoa butter based "slice". For lunch, I'll roast or bake some duck or chicken legs which we can eat cold with some carrot sticks and maybe some pre-cooked baby beetroot. I've also decided on cheese muffins. With pesto, ghee or another spread, carried in another container, these are filling and tasty.

I've used the standard coconut flour cheese muffin recipe before, which is nice. And I've also got an almond flour cheese scone recipe which I used to use a lot. But I usually prefer the two flours mixed. So here's my first attempt at a hybrid recipe. This amount made 6 standard sized muffins and about 10 mini muffins, so I think would make 9 std.

Please note, this isn't suitable for early stages of the GAPS Intro, only once you're back on full dairy.

Mix together:

• 1 cup ground almonds
• 4 tablespoons coconut flour
• a sprinkling of herbs of your choice (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (leave this out if you're full GAPS, they'll just be a little heavier)

Beat together:

• 3 eggs
• 50gm (2 oz) melted butter or ghee
• 1/2 cup yoghurt or kefir
• 1/2 teaspoon sea or Himalayan salt

Grate:

• 1 1/2 cups tasty cheddar cheese (or substitute up to half with diced feta)

Mix all 3 together, and leave to thicken slightly while you prepare your muffin trays. I use a combination of coconut oil and lecithin for this, as recommended by Bruce Fife in his book on coconut flour cooking. Three quarter fill the muffin pans. Bake at about 175C for about 20 mins (a bit less for bite sized).

You can add other savoury goodies like bacon, salami, mushrooms, etc, depending on what your particular diet restrictions are. 

These came put a pretty good consistency, and I haven't even got any notes for how to improve them next time!

Snacks

I also get asked about snacks a lot, so here's some ideas to get you started

• Stock or soup
• Fermented drinks such as kombucha or coconut water kefir
• Milk kefir smoothie
• “Crispy” nuts
• A little fried fruit with some nuts. NEW: Correction - fruit fried in some ghee or coconut oil would actually be fine , but I MEANT dried fruit.
• Fresh fruit with nut butter
• Cashew bread with ghee
• Coconut flour muffins
• Almond flour baking
• Homemade snack bars - made with coconut oil, ground nuts or nut butter and a little honey or dried fruit
• Homemade crackers
• Avocado dip and vege sticks
• Coconut ice cream

Other Festive recipes

There are a bunch of useful Christmas recipes and resources on the Biomedical forum.

Here are links directly to each topic:

GFCF Christmas cake recipe
Raw carrot cake
Pina Colada Ice Cream (GFCF)
Christmas Pudding & where to buy premade Xmas goodies
Crisp biscuits
GFCF chocolate

Children's Party

While we're talking about parties, I'm reminded of all the great ideas that Hollie from Auckland posted about on the Biomedical forum a few months back.

She kindly gave me permission to repost it here:

I know the thought of upcoming parties is tough with our kids limited diets... so I thought you might be interested in some of the party food I created for our sons birthday party. All the food was GAPS (stage 6) friendly. The food was a hit with all people big and small. One little boy came and asked for his 4th 'cupcake'!!! No one even knew the food was ‘good’ for them... one mum was avoiding the food cos she thought it was too sugary for her kid – once I told her what was in it, she kept coming back for more, and the kid loved it.

The menu:

Ø      Muffin stand instead of birthday cake. Purchased coloured muffin cups and a fancy cake/muffin stand to put them all on. Did a variety of GAPS muffins:

o       Coconut berry muffins decorated with frosting and strawberries

o       Coconut banana and raisin muffins decorated with frosting and fruit leather shapes

o       Could also have done blueberry or pumpkin

Ø      Tahini and raisin biscuits decorated with frosting and dehydrated kiwifruit

Ø      'Fairy Bread’ - coconut bread, cut into shapes with cookie cutter, then frosted and dipped in dehydrated crushed raspberries and kiwifruits

Ø      Fresh fruit platters

Ø      Homemade lemonade sweetened with honey and topped with Soda water for some fizz

Ø      Homemade 'pink' iced tea (rosehip & raspberry) sweetened with honey

Goodie bags:

Instead of Goodie Bags packed with lollies and other crap, I got a bunch of helium balloons, ($3 each) which made great decoration - and handed each one to the kids as they left. They thought that was pretty cool too - and much cheaper than a bunch of $2-shop junk in a bag.

To check out the original post on the Biomed forum, click here.

Chicken Liver Pate

Christmas is at my brothers house this year, and I got a phone call from him the other day, with my instructions on what food to bring. I'm to take pate, fruit and christmas cake - 3 things that can be made GAPS and SCD friendly. I've been making this pate recipe for years now. It used to have bacon in it as well, so people who are not GAPsters can add a handful of bacon rashers. But unless you can find sugar free bacon, for GAPS leave it out.

• 50gm (2oz) butter or duck fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• approx 225gm (1/2 lb) brown mushrooms (a bit more or less is fine)
• 1 bayleaf
• approx 450gm (1 lb) chicken livers (a bit more or less is fine)
• a little sea salt
• 15ml (1 Tbs) brandy, sherry or port (optional, leave out if doing GAPS)
• ½ cup (125 ml) cream, plain or cultured – or – 50 gm (2 oz) softened butter or duck fat

Sauté onion, garlic, mushrooms and bayleaf in butter in a large frypan. Turn up the heat & add chicken livers and sea salt. Cook quickly for 5-10 mins till just cooked. Take off the heat, take out the bayleaf & let cool. Put into food processor, along with the brandy, and cream or butter. Blend till smooth. This will do about 3 bowlfuls. To keep for a few days – pour a layer of melted butter carefully over the top of the pate. This could take ½ a lb of butter. Make sure it completely covers the pate, and seals it in the bowl. Store in the fridge, and chip the butter off just before serving.

Serving suggestions:

• This is quite a soft pate, which can be served with toast or crackers, or serve as a dip, with corn chips, toasted pita breads and raw vege sticks
• Makes a very satisfying quick breakfast with vege sticks. Freeze in 1-cup containers and take out the night before.

GAPS friendly Boiled Christmas Cake

Over the years I've made various different Xmas cakes recipes, but it all got a lot easier a couple of years ago. I watched Nigella's Christmas and was inspired to find her recipe for a boiled Xmas cake which looked so easy.

Have a read of her original recipe here (I'm sure we can all relate to her description of the busyness of Xmas!), and then come back for the GAPS version.

The first year, I made a few slight tweaks:

• Gluten free - ground almonds, rice flour, arrowroot PLUS pectin, xantham or guar gum
• Unrefined sugar (eg rapadura, shakkar or muscavado) instead of brown sugar
• "Ruby Red" cooking wine instead of rum - just because that's what I happened to have lurking in the back of the fridge
• and no chestnut puree because I couldn't find any

It was a fantastic cake. And I didn't have to make it months ahead. You can make it and eat it on the same day, and it's still delicious.

The second year we were starch and sugar free, so a few more tweaks:

• Coconut flour instead of rice flour and arrowroot
• I could have used honey or stevia, but decided to try it with no sugar

and it was still great. By now, it was still Nigella's recipe in spirit, but she probably wouldn't have recognised it! To see the recipe at this stage, see where I posted it on her website.

2009 and we're 100% GAPS, so a couple more tweaks:

• No pectin or gum
• No baking soda

This is the version I'm sharing with you today. (See egg free and nut free notes at the end).

• 900g dried fruit
• 170g butter, ghee or coconut oil
• Zest of one orange and one lemon
• Juice of one orange
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup extra fruit juice, or extra water (I just used water)
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 3 large or 4 small eggs
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup coconut flour

First, prepare your fruit. This is the lengthy part of the process, so have some favourite music playing, or something else to listen to. Or get the whole family helping, which will make it much quicker. I like to make up my own mixture from raisins, sultanas, dates, prunes, figs, apricots or whatever is to hand - this year I even added some goji berries as I didn't have enough other stuff. If you are salicylate sensitive, choose mango, papaya, apple and pear.

I'm rather particular about not having raisins stalks in there, so I always give my raisins, sultanas and currants a good stir first, turning them over and looking for stalks, turning them over and looking for stalks, and so on. That probably takes 5 minutes. Then chop everything else up and mix together. I use kitchen scissors which is much easier than using a knife.

Put the next 7 ingredients into a large pan, and melt them all together. Stir the fruit in, bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 10 minutes. All the liquid will have been absorbed, though you may have a bit of the oil that doesn't soak in. Leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk up your eggs and put them to one side. And mix together the two flours and set them aside. Then prepare your tins.

The full recipe fills an 8” x 8” (20cm x 20cm) square tin. Line tin with a double layer of brown paper, which comes to about double the height of the tin. Then line with a double layer of baking paper. Or you can make a selection of different sizes. 1/3 of the mixture will fill a mini loaf tin or you can make star shaped cakes (as per the photo), muffin sized or bite sized mini muffins. With the stars and muffins, you'll probably only be able to line the bottom.

When the mixture is about room temperature, stir through the beaten eggs and mix well. Then stir through the flours. It should be thick and hard to stir. If it's too runny, add some extra flour. Fill your tin, smooth the top, and bake at 150C or 300F for 1.75 to 2 hours. Use the usual skewer test to see if it's done, or listen - if it's still sizzling, it's not quite ready. Towards the end, you may need to cover the top loosely with extra brown paper or tin foil to stop it browning too much.

If you use smaller tins, approx cooking times are:

• 1/2 mix in a loaf tin - 1.5 to 1.75 hours
• 1/3 mix in a small loaf tin - 1 hour
• star - 45 to 60 minutes
• muffin - 40 to 50 minutes
• mini muffin - 30 to 35 minutes

Troubleshooting - if it doesn't cook properly - it doesn't matter!! Ground almonds and coconut flour are perfectly safe to eat raw, so call it Xmas pudding and serve with some whipped cream or custard (coconut custard for dairy free).

Let it cool at room temperature. Then take it out of the tin, wrap in baking or greaseproof paper, then a tea towel and refrigerate. It can be a bit crumbly, so it;s best to store it in the fridge, cut it cold, and then let it get to room temp before eating it. If you can wait that long!

I've also tried it without egg, as I need to cater for an EGG FREE person this Xmas. My first trial, I just missed the eggs out. I made a 1/3 quantity and baked in a small loaf tin. I pressed the mixture down well as I put it in the pan. I let it cool completely, and then refrigerated it. I made it with coconut oil, which I think was what held it together well once it was cold. It sliced easily when cut straight from the fridge and didn't fall apart. Though a large size cake might not hold up as well. You could also try replacing the eggs with 1 Tbs gelatine dissolved in 6 Tbs to replace each 1-2 eggs.

If you need to be NUT FREE, replace the ground almonds with half that amount of coconut flour. Then just keep adding coconut flour 1 Tbs at a time till you get the right consistency. I haven't tried it, but it should work fine with the version that includes eggs. I'm not sure that just coconut flour would work as well egg free, so with that combination I would definitely try the gelatine. If anyone tries it nut free, please report back.

Crackers

I've been investigating a few GAPS friendly cracker recipes based on nuts. This recipe from Elana's pantry is particularly good, though I used coconut oil instead of grapeseed.

It seems you can make them using eggs, egg whites or even egg free. Different combinations of nuts and seeds also work. So here's a "mix and match" type recipe you can adjust to your own specific needs.

This amount will make two trayfuls of crackers.

• 4 cups of nuts of your choice, eg: 1/3 each almonds, pecans and walnuts OR all the same nut OR all ground almonds OR 3/4 ground almonds & 1/4 sesame seeds (my favourite)
• 1 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt ( a bit less for a sweet biscuit)
• 1-2 tsp herbs & spices of your choice, eg: I like basil or oregano with paprika OR cinnamon for a sweet cracker OR ginger and spices to make gingerbread. You can also add cheese or peanut butter for different flavours
• 2 Tbs melted coconut oil, butter, ghee or duck fat
• 2 eggs, beaten till frothy OR 4 egg whites OR an extra 2 Tbs fat
• Water to bind if needed

Preheat the oven to 325F or 165C.

If you're using whole nuts, grind them up in your food processor till they're pea sized or smaller. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse till well mixed. If you're using ground almonds and maybe sesame seeds, you don't need a food processor, you can mix it all up in a bowl. Mix the dry ingredients first, then the wet. If it's too dry to hold together, add a little water drop by drop, till it all binds into a ball of dough.

Divide the dough into two halves. Cut three pieces of baking paper that are the same size as your baking tray. Put one piece of dough on one of the sheets of paper, with a second piece on top. Roll the dough out to as thin as you can get it. Carefully peel the top layer of paper off and place it on your baking tray, with the greasy side up.

If you've got spare time and cookie cutters, you can cut your crackers into nice shapes. But if you're in a hurry like I usually am, just cut them into squares. (And even my squares aren't as beautiful as Elana's, but they still taste great).

Lay them on the tray and bake for 10-15 minutes till they are golden but not brown. Set a timer for 10 minutes, because it really is important not to let them cook too long. If some are ready before others, take them out, and put the rest back in. Meanwhile, prepare the second batch.

Cool on a wire rack, and once cold, store in an airtight container.