Food for Travelling

We're going to Whiritoa Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula for a few days. The only shop is a dairy, so we'll be on taking all our food with us. We can top up with a few things from Waihi or Whangamata, but most of the foods we eat regularly won't be available. For many years, we had to carry gluten free food with us. Now that's quite commonly available, we've moved on to starch free!

I'm still finalising the food packing list, but it will probably look something like this (in no particular order).

• Raw milk (fresh and frozen)
• Caspian sea yoghurt (that we can use to make a fresh batch every day)
• Stock (frozen in small containers. If it was winter, they'd be pre-made vege soup, but in summer that feels too heavy)
• Filler free sausages (Stoneycreek Farm or Harmony)
• Meat (fresh & frozen)
• Maybe a couple of tins of salmon or sardines, or maybe just get some fresh fish there
• Sauerkraut
• Carrots, baby beetroot, tangelos and blueberries that will be coming in our order from the CSA the day before. From Commonsense Organics, I'll get a couple of small pumpkins, and see what else will travel well, maybe some avocado. Other than that, we'll probably take pot luck with what produce is available.
• Green Pastures fermented cod liver oil (we're currently "enjoying" Salty) and a probiotic
• A jar of each of Reilly's nut butters
• "Crispy" cashews and macadamias
• Some dried fruit or maybe some homemade fruit cake
• Coconut almond muffins or bread
• Organic butter or ghee
• Cheese
• Eggs - we'll take whatever's here, but buy extra free range eggs as needed
• A jar of Zenian Phillipine coconut oil or maybe just some refrigerated "slice" made from coconut oil and nut butter or cocoa butter
• EV Olive oil and some lemons
• Sea or Himalayan salt
• Bottles of kombucha
• Maybe some bottled water, but we'll mostly buy that once we're there

Anything I've forgotten?

PS. If you're a Nature Foods customer, don't worry, we're leaving my mum and sister in charge of sending out the orders.

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

Breakfast ideas

Many people who are new to GAPS or SCD are at a loss for breakfast, if they can't have cereal or toast.

So here are some other thoughts on what to have for breakfast (depending on what stage you're at):

•  Start with a cup of stock or soup made from stock
• Eggs
• Grain free sausages (eg in NZ - some flavours by Stoneycreek Farm, Harmony, Acme, Hungarian Delicatessan)
• Homemamde meat patties
• Cooked mushrooms, tomatoes or spinach
• Homemade baked beans
• Starch free pancakes or toast with nut butter, avocado or tinned fish
• Nut muesli with chopped "crispy" nuts, dessicated coconut, yoghurt, stevia and spices
• Smoothies with yoghurt, coconut or avocado
• Fruit salad
•  Fruit crumble with nut topping or fruit pudding with coconut flour topping

There is nothing special about what you can have for breakfast, you can have anything that you would eat at any other meal. This may not be to everybody's taste, but for a special treat I love chicken liver pate with carrot sticks.

Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake

When I was surfing about looking for sponge-like recipes for my trifle idea (still not tested, by the way) I came across this recipe for a Coconut Flour Orange Cake that reminded me of a cake Mum used to make. It was a Madeira cake that had orange juice drizzled over the top after baking, making it very moist. The topping was Cadbury dairy milk chocolate melted with a little butter. So I got nostalgic all over again, and had to give it a go.

For my trial, I made just a half recipe and baked it in a mini loaf tin. I made a couple of extra changes:

• melted the oil in a bowl that sat in another bowl with hot water in it, which meant it didn't get too hot and I could add it to the beaten egg mix, before the flour
• reduced the honey a little more, and used just 2 Tbs for the half mix
• replaced the baking powder with baking soda
• made a chocolate topping for it

I was toying with the idea of making the coconut oil topping shown, and just adding cocoa powder instead of orange zest. But I chose to make it even easier. I got some of Reilly's chocolate hazelnut spread, put it in a bowl inside another bowl of hot water, stirred it till was soft enough to spread, and voila!

Ok, so this isn't strictly GAPS, as chocolate and baking soda are illegal. But as an occasional treat, it will probably be tolerated fine by most GAPsters.

Back in May, Baden did an informal survey on her blog which showed that out of a group of 21 who had tried pure cocoa, 19 had no reaction, 1 wasn't sure and 1 had a reaction. If you think you react to cocoa, stick to the original coconut oil frosting.

Baking soda is allowed on the SCD, but not recommended for GAPS, as NCM believes most GAPsters have low stomach acid and this will worsen it. Many GAPS baked goods are fine with the soda missed out. But for the occasional cake, I don't believe a small amount of baking soda will be an issue. See Baden's comments on her blog.

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.

Christmas menu

When we go to my brothers house on Christmas Day, there will be plenty of meat and veges, and my own starch free Christmas cake, so there'll be lots we can eat. There'll also be lots we can't have, and when my brother ran through the Xmas menu for me, I got to thinking about a Xmas menu that was 100% gluten free and starch free. Since we're in the Southern Hemisphere, and Christmas Day might be hot, we're looking for festive summer dishes. So here's some ideas to choose from for anyone who might be struggling to think of what to make.

Starters:

• Chilled borscht. I've never tried this, but there are lots of chilled borscht recipes on the net. I'd just use NCM's recipe from the GAPS book, and chill it, and there's our serve of broth.
• Fish kebabs - marinate some firm white fish for 12-24 hours in lemon or lime juice, then drain and mix with come coconut cream. Thread onto skewers, along with something red (tomato, red pepper, red onion) and something green (cucumber or green pepper)
• Chicken liver pate
• Guacamole
• Biscotti made from starch free bread, and carrot and celery sticks to dip in them

Mains:

• Any meat dish, but this one sounds nice - the stuffed leg of lamb in Nourishing Traditions (P344) has a pecan stuffing, so no starch
• Baked pumpkin, mashed with ghee and a large spoonful of peanut butter, then baked again
• Raw vege platter - cherry tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, grated carrot
• Sauerkraut - we've just been trying out one made from red and green cabbage, carrot, apple, ginger and daikon radish, very festive. It's Vim and Vigour from Earthwise Gourmet in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Vegetarian options:

• Nut roast
• Spinach roulade, filled with chopped tomatoes and ricotta

Dessert:

• Watermelon cake
• Jelly trifle
• Starch free Xmas cake

Drinks:

• Punch made from organic fruit juice, kombucha and sparkling water
• Preservative free red wine

I'll post other ideas as they come to me. 

How to whip raw cream

Whipping pasteurised cream is easy, but raw cream doesn’t work the same way. It doesn’t thicken for ages, then it turns straight to butter. Nobody is exactly sure why this happens. I’ve heard theories like “pasteurised cream has carrageen in it” – but in NZ it doesn’t, or “your cream isn’t fatty enough” – but this doesn’t explain it either.

Traditional ways of thickening cream are culturing, or making clotted cream by heating raw cream, then leaving to sit. There do seem to be some ways of whipping raw cream, but it does take some preparation.

1.      Skim well – Pour your cream into a wide mouthed bowl or container, and leave for 24 hours or so. You will then be able to skim full cream off the top and be sure you don’t have remaining milk in it.

2.      Age it – Older cream whips better than fresh cream, so the skimming stage will allow that to happen. But there is a fine line here, if you leave it too long, it will sour, and that may not be suitable for your needs.

3.      Chill it well – It may also help to chill your bowl and beaters. Cream turns to butter faster when warm.

4.      Beat it fast – Use the fastest speed on your beaters. (But be careful starting up, so you don’t spray cream all over the kitchen. A bigger than usual bowl helps too.)

5.      Additives last – If you want to add flavourings (eg vanilla essence) or sweeteners (eg stevia, maple syrup) add them AFTER the cream has thickened enough.

I can’t guarantee this will always work, but will increase your chances.

Jelly Trifle

I always think of my grandmother at Christmas, usually when I'm wrapping my presents. When I was at high school, every year I would go down to her house a couple of days before Xmas and sit at her kitchen table doing her wrapping for her. She would go round the house collecting up all the gifts she'd been putting away all year and tell me who each one was for. Things were more leisurely then, and we had a relaxed evening, with time to get every parcel just right.

I'm thinking of her early this year and remembering her trifle. Her speciality dishes included her apple pie, jam tarts and my favourite, trifle. It had to be made with jelly, not sherry. (When I was first introduced to trifle made with sherry, it was most disappointing.) It was spread with jam, layered with fruit salad, and then the jelly was poured over it. When it was set, it was topped with a thick layer of thick custard made from Edmonds custard powder. Then another thick layer of whipped cream, and sliced strawberries on top. Or sometimes grated chocolate. It was luscious. And mum, my sister and I kept up the tradition at family gatherings, always making it just the same.

I don't think I've had trifle since I went gluten free, so about 12 years, though I've been known to have a spoonful of custard and cream off the top.  But this year I've been thinking about how to make a GAPS friendly trifle. So far I don't have a firm recipe, just some musings - but I might try out a mini one this weekend.

So I'll start with something sponge like, probably made with coconut flour, as I think almond flour will be a bit heavy for this recipe. Maybe just a batch of blueberry muffins using the recipe in Bruce Fife's book. Or maybe this Triple Berry Coconut Cake. When cooled, they'll be cut into rough chunks.

Then I'll put half in one layer in my dish, then some berries, and another layer of each.

Next I'll take some red organic fruit juice - eg grape, apple & blackcurrant - dilute it a little, and use gelatine to make a jelly. I'll pour this over the top, press it all down firmly and leave it in the fridge to set.

The next day, I'll make a custard with real eggs, and either raw milk or coconut milk, sweetened with a little honey. It might not be as thick as Edmonds, but fingers crossed it will thicken up in the fridge.

Lastly, a layer of raw cream, whipped well, and more sliced berries.

I'll let you know how it  goes. In the meantime, I'd better do another post on how to whip raw cream, because you sometimes need to make some extra preparations.

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.

Watermelon Cake

This watermelon cake looks like a great idea for summer birthdays, or something light to add to the Xmas Day menu...

http://livingfruity.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-make-watermelon-cake.html

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.

GAPS Baked Beans

This recipe is an alternative to the Baked Beans recipe in the GAPs book. They can used as a breakfast dish with eggs or sausages, a side dish, or added to other casseroles.

The Tomato version is aimed to be similar to NZ baked beans in a can.

Basic recipe

• 500g haricot / navy / white beans
• 2 Tbs whey, lemon juice or cider vinegar
• Stock or water (but preferably stock)
• Sea salt

Soak the beans for 12-24 hours in warm water with the whey, lemon juice or cider vinegar added. Drain and rinse. Put in the crockpot with enough stock to cover the beans. Simmer for about 8 hours, till the beans are soft. Periodically check that there is enough liquid covering the beans. Add more stock or water and stir if needed. When they’re soft, stir through sea salt to taste.

These are a basic bean that can be served as a side dish or added to other dishes, such as mince, stews or casseroles. Or stir through some sliced meat or poultry before serving.

~Tomato baked beans ~ Also add to the crockpot at the start:

• Chopped tomatoes, or tomato puree with no additives
• Herbs to taste

~Mediterranean beans ~ Also add to the crockpot at the start:

• Chopped tomatoes, or tomato puree with no additives
• Chopped red and green capsicum
• Herbs to taste

About half way through cooking, add:

• Chopped zucchini

~Baked beans and sausages ~ Near the end of the cooking time, slice up some all-meat sausages, fry then up in some duck fat, ghee or other fat of your choice. Add them to Tomato or Mediterranean beans.

Cashew Bread

I first came across Cashew Bread in Eat Well Feel Well, a book of SCD recipes by Kendall Conrad. While it was delicious, it wasn’t quite what we were looking for at the time. It was a couple of years before I came back to the idea, when I wanted to develop a GAPS friendly bread for those who were having problems with almond flour.

This version has a few changes from the original:

1. I found a version of it at hellokitchen.blogspot.com/2007/11/cashew-coconut-bread.html which substituted 1 cup of coconut flour for some of the cashews. This seems to make the bread a bit more stable. If you don’t or can’t have coconut flour, use all cashews.

2. For those who can’t have dairy, I substituted mashed pumpkin for the SCD yoghurt in the original recipe.

3. The original recipe had 1 cup apple juice. To reduce the sugar content, I replaced that with water plus a little extra apple cider vinegar. The pumpkin gives it enough sweetness.

These three changes make the mix a little drier, so you may need to add a little extra water.

OK, so I have to confess, it does have baking soda which isn’t GAPS friendly. I haven’t tested it without baking soda yet but will let you know when I do. (If you try it before me, post a comment letting me know how it goes.) It is a dense loaf anyway, so I think it will come out pretty much the same.

Pumpkin cashew bread

Makes 2 loaves

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1 tsp sea or Himalayan salt
• 5 cups raw unsalted cashews
• 1 cup coconut flour (or an extra cup cashews)
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin (or SCD yoghurt)
• 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• Extra water if needed

Preheat oven to 300F / 150C. Line loaf pans with baking paper - either two approx 14cm x 23cm or three smaller ones.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a large bowl and the yolks into a smaller one. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs whites with the salt until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Using a food processor, grind the cashews till they are in small pieces. Add the coconut flour and baking soda and process till the cashews are as fine as you can get them. If a paste starts to form on the sides, stop now.
With a whisk or fork blend the egg yolks, pumpkin, water, and vinegar. Add to the ingredients in the food processor and mix thoroughly. If necessary, add a little extra water to blend it all together to a thick paste.
Take out the blade, and add a little of the egg white mix to the food processor. Mix it in with a fork. Add the mixture to the egg white bowl and fold into the egg whites using a metal spoon. Mix just until you no longer see clumps of egg white, trying not to overmix.
Spoon into prepared pans and bake for 1hr-1hr 20min, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in pans on a rack for about 15 mins, then slide the loaves onto the racks to complete cooling. Keeps in the fridge for a few days, or can be frozen.

Milk kefir

Milk kefir can be made from kefir grains, or from a powdered starter. Here's how to make it from kefir grains.

When you receive your grains

If your grains have been stored in the fridge or freezer for a while or someone has posted them to you, they'll need some preparation before they make a good batch.

Put the grains into a jar with about ¼ of the normal amount of milk (eg. if you have 1 tablespoon of grains, use 1/2 cup milk). Leave out for 12 – 24 hours (depending on temperature), shaking or stirring from time to time. When the milk separates out (so that the thick curds are at the top, and the liquid whey is at the bottom), it’s fermented. Shake or stir well, so that the grains are easier to separate. Pour the mixture into a non-metallic strainer, with a jug underneath. Throw away the milk.

Repeat this washing and throwing away a second time.

After that they will make great kefir on the third batch.

Types of milk

Raw milk is best, but pasteurised works also. Avoid homogenised or ultra heat-treated milk.

If you can get milk from Jersey cows, it will be very high in cream, which makes delicious kefir. If your milk is lower in fat, you can add some extra cream to it, if you like.

Cow’s milk is usually used, but you can also kefir goat’s milk, coconut milk and other liquids. When you use cow’s milk, the grains will grow each time you use them. But with other milks they won’t grow, and may eventually stop working.

You can also get water kefir grains, which feed on glucose instead of lactose. Or you can convert milk grains to water grains, though they won’t then grow. They can then be used to make fermented fruit juice drinks. (But that’s another post!)

Ratio of milk to grains

Each tablespoon of grains will ferment about ½ a litre (2 cups) of milk. Each time, your grains will grow a little. So you can increase the amount of milk you’re fermenting, or separate the grains into two batches. Store the spares, or share them. (Detailed instructions for shipping grains are available on request).

Making the kefir

Kefir is much more “forgiving” than yoghurt, as it isn’t temperature sensitive. It will ferment in about 7 days in the fridge, or in 12 hours to 2 days in a warm place (18-25C). The most popular way seems to be to keep in the fridge for 24 hours (or more) then leave on the bench for about 24 hours.

Place milk and optional cream in a clean wide-mouth jar. Ceramic is best, but glass will do. Add kefir grains, stir or shake well and cover loosely with a cloth or with the jar lid, placed loosely on top. Stir or shake vigorously occasionally to redistribute the grains. Every time you stir, taste the kefir. When it achieves a tartness to your liking, the kefir is ready. The kefir may also become thick and effervescent, depending on the temperature, incubation time and the amount of curds you use. (If you’re having trouble telling when it’s ready, I consider it ready when the mixture separates out. But that will depend on how tart you like it.)



Pour the kefir through a strainer into another jar to remove the grains. Store in refrigerator. If you have enough milk for a new batch, start it straight away. Keep in the fridge for up to a week, taking it out about 24 hours before you need it, to finish the fermenting. Otherwise, store grains in a small jar in some fresh milk. Grains may be stored in the refrigerator several weeks, but change the milk every few days. If you don’t have any milk, store them in filtered water, but they won’t keep as long.

Note: some people rinse their grains in water before starting a new batch. This isn’t necessary, and the grains will grow more quickly if you don’t rinse.

Check out Dom’s kefir “insite” http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html#what's-kefir for more information and recipes.

Kombucha

The kombucha starter culture or scoby (a symbiotic colony of yeast & bacteria, sometimes known as a "mushroom") acts on sugar & tea to produce a wide variety of beneficial acids, such as acetic & lactic acid.

It is a therapeutic drink, and is considered a liver tonic, but is also very refreshing as a summer drink.

• 1 large, uncoloured pyrex bowl
• 2.7 litres filtered water (3 quarts)
• 1 cup sugar (white sugar feeds the culture best)
• 4 tea bags of black tea
• 1/2 cup kombucha from a previous culture
• 1 kombucha scoby

Bring the filtered water to boil. Put the sugar into your bowl, add the boiling water and stir till dissolved. Add the tea bags and leave the tea to steep until the water has completely cooled.

Remove tea bags, add 1/2 cup kombucha from previous batch and stir. Place the scoby on top of the liquid. Cover the bowl loosely with a cloth or towel, secured with a ring of elastic and leave to a warm, dark place, away from contaminants and insects.

The kombucha will be ready in about 7 to 10 days, depending on the temperature. The ideal temperature is about 23-27°C (74-80°F) and if possible, don’t let it fall below 20°C (68°F) or rise above 30°C (86°F). A hot water cupboard is a good place to ferment it, or if you don’t have one, you may need a heating pad in winter. If it gets too cold, the balance of bacteria and yeasts will be disturbed. Avoid moving it until it’s ready to bottle.

When the kombucha is ready, it should be fizzy and rather sour, with no taste of tea remaining. The scoby will have grown a second spongy pancake, which can be used to make other batches or given away to friends. If you are doing the GAPS protocol, or SCD diet, you will need to make sure all the sugar has been fermented away. (Test this cautiously when you are stable on the main diet.)

Store fresh scobies in the fridge in a glass jar (never plastic), covered with some of the last batch. A scoby can be used many times. If it begins to turn black, or if the resulting kombucha doesn't sour properly, it's a sign that the culture has become contaminated. When this happens, it's best to throw away all your scobies and get a new clean one.

Set aside a cup of liquid for the next batch, and bottle the rest. Use bottles suitable for carbonated drinks – otherwise they are prone to exploding! Keep at room temperature for 5-7 days, then store in the fridge.

Contraindications:

As with any food, kombucha will not be suitable for everybody. Always start with a small amount and increase your intake slowly. It may not be suitable for you, or you may need to be especially careful introducing it if you:

• Are diabetic, or on any other sugar controlled diet - Some diabetics have had great results from drinking Kombucha. But it is important to remember that although most of the sugar is converted into other components during the fermentation process, some still remains as sugar in the finished tea.
• Are an alcoholic in recovery - Recovering alcoholics sometimes find it helpful to drink Kombucha during their recovery period. Be aware though, Kombucha does contain a small quantity of alcohol. It is usually less that 1% by volume, but even a small quantity of alcohol can have a negative effect on a recovering alcoholic.
• Have a yeast allergy – most people with yeast allergies find Kombucha helpful, but there is a possibility of an adverse reaction in some people
• Have a badly functioning liver, or any other chronic disease - Kombucha is a very powerful detoxifier and will pull toxins from your body and pass them through your liver on their way out. If your liver does not function correctly then it may be unwise to drink Kombucha, or you may be only able to take very small quantities (such as a spoonful).
• Are giving it to an infants under 6 Years - Whilst a young body is growing it cannot withstand the same degree of supplements and foodstuffs as an adult. Kombucha is very strong and should not be used on infants. Dilute an older child's Kombucha with water.
• Are a pregnant and breastfeeding mother - As above. Nutrients from the mother will pass into the unborn child and / or breastfed baby.

Fermented cabbage juice

If you are doing the GAPS Intro stage where you use sauerkraut juice only, this recipe is a lot easier than making the full sauerkraut recipe. It's also easier to sip this if you don't like eating sauerkraut.

I found this recipe on a NZ website Jacqueline Organics. Here is her recipe with a couple of my own comments below:

Fill a blender with chopped green cabbage and distilled water, which is available at the warehouse - bottom shelf in drink section, called Pure Dew. (Deb: We use artesian well water from the Petone aquifer, and that works fine too)

Add water till 2/3 full - beat at high speed in the blender for one minute and pour out into bowl and repeat with two more batches.

Cover with gauze or stocking and let stand at room temperature. After 3 days, the cabbage juice solution is ready to use. It is preferable to keep this in warm place out doors as it has strong smell and some may find it unpleasant! (Deb: Or keep it in a chilly bin in the laundry or garage.)

Strain the mixture to separate the liquid and the pulp. Place cultured cabbage juice in the refrigerator.

When your supply gets low, make a second batch just like the first one, except, add 1/2 cup of the juice from the first batch to the second batch. Your second batch will be ready in 24 hours.

Drink up to ½ cup 2 to 3 times each day, but start with small doses. Dilute with equal part of water.

The lactic acid in the cultured cabbage juice will purify the G.I tract and kill most strains of fungi, parasites and other pathogens. You should drink this drink until your stools float in the toilet bowl and are odour free. You can gain some benefits from eating the cabbage pulp (which is what you separate off from the liquid).

My experiences so far making it:

Batch 1:

The cabbage I bought from Commonsense Organics was quite small, so it didn't make 3 blender loads - only 1 .5. As she said, it was very smelly, right from the start and did need to be fermented outside. It took about 6-7 days to be tangy enough, rather than 3. It wasn't that great tasting, but not too bad either. Since I bottled it, it has been left on the bench and not refrigerated, and it seems to be tasting better as it gets older. Or I'm getting more used to it. Either way, its all good.

Batch 2:

As she says, I added some of the first batch to it, but since my cabbage was again small, I only added 1/4 cup. Funnily enough, it doesn't smell anywhere near as bad as the first batch and although you can smell it when you get within a couple of metres, I have been able to keep it inside. It's currently on Day 3 and tastes nearly ready.

Later updates:

Another way of controlling the smell is to keep your jar inside a chilly bin, if you haven't got a suitable outdoor area to keep it in.

I have found that you can also ferment red cabbage juice, and it doesn't smell so much. Though I think it's also not quite as effective a digestive tonic.

So I have been doing a mixture of red and green cabbage, which is a nicer flavour and smell, but still helps digestion. Build up to 1/3 or 1/2 glass before each meal.

Another variation:

Add some chopped raw beetroot, and a small amount of salt and extra water to each batch, so you are also getting the benefits of beet kvass.

Sauerkraut

Another important food, especially for the GAPS protocol, is sauerkraut or other fermented veges.

There are a variety of different ways of making sauerkraut, but these are the basic steps:

• Select your veges, wash and, if necessary, peel them
• Chop them - with a knife, grater or in a food processor
• Add sea salt and give them a good squeeze with your hands, or pound with a heavy object, such as a bottle filled with water. You need to get lots of juice out.
• Pack into the container you're going to ferment in, either a large bowl, with a plate on top, or directly in a jar. Make sure the veges are covered with the juice.
• Ferment at room temperature till the sauerkraut is slightly sour
• Store in the fridge - it will keep for ages

Following are three different recipes you can try (remembering at each step there are different ways of doing it, that all work fine). My next post will be a recipe for fermented cabbage juice.

Recipe One:

First is a YouTube video by Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, so you can see how it works.

Recipe Two: Libby's sauerkraut

• Take a large "white cabbage". Cut off the outside green leaves until you have clean leaves. Wash the leaves you cut off and save them.
• Using a knife, or food processor, cut the cabbage into quarters and slice the cabbage quarters fairly finely [3-2mm slices] into four heaps.
• Optional extra: For each quarter, take about three good sized carrots, about the bulk size of one third of each quarter. Peel the carrots, and shred them into four piles, slightly finer pieces than the cabbage.
• Take a large enamel or plastic bucket or stew pot or similar. DO NOT USE METAL CONTAINERS.
• Place half of the washed cabbage leaves on the bottom of the container.
• Mix in another bowl one quarter of the cut cabbage with its share of shredded carrot. Add some salt, mix in about one level tablespoon per large quarter of cabbage to start with [then use more or less next time to taste]. Use more if you want to use sea salt.
• Place the mix of cabbage, carrot and salt into the container and repeat until all is mixed. As you place the mix in the container, squeeze it as strongly as you reasonably can to draw out any liquid.
• Place the rest of the cabbage leaves on top of the mix to finish.
• Place an ice cream container or similar on top of the leaves, filled with water [NO WATER IN THE CABBAGE MIX, THE WATER GOES IN THE CONTAINER TO MAKE A WEIGHT]. We use an old plate upside down on top of the cabbage leaves to ensure good cover and spread of pressure, and then put the weight on the plate.
• Leave for three or four days, then take off the weight and top leaves, turn over the mix and re-lay the leaves and weight. Sometimes under the weight liquid will rise over the leaves, simply stir it back in when you stir the mix. The product should be finished to eat in about six-eight days. (Note: in colder weather this can take up to 3 weeks)
• When tasting tells you the sauerkraut is ready, take it out of the container and store it in the fridge in any sealed container you want to use.

Recipe Three: Kimchi

Our friend Evan makes his own kimchi, which is a Korean fermented cabbage and is more spicy than sauerkraut. He tells us the best recipe is Ultimate Kimchi.

Bone broths & GAPS Intro soup

Bone broths (or stocks) are a basic for a Weston Price foundation style diet, and for the GAPS protocol.

They are a good source of minerals and amino acids, and aid digestion.

For more information on the benefits of broth, see this article on the WAPF website. It also has full recipes for classic beef, chicken and fish stocks, towards the bottom of the page. Have a read of this article and familiarise yourself with the full recipes before reading the summary below.

The classic recipes above use a variety of bones, plus vegetables and seasonings for flavour, and are simmered for several hours (4+ for fish, 6+ for poultry and 12+ for beef).

• For beef stock (or other red meats), you need a combination of meaty bones for flavour, marrow bones and knuckle bones.
• For poultry, use a full carcass or a whole bird. If you use the whole bird, simmer for 2-3 hours, just till the meat is cooked. Then take that off the bones, and put aside, and simmer the bones for a few more hours.
• For fish, ideally use all the bones and the head.

After simmering, pour the contents into a colander to seperate out the bones. Take any meat off the bones to use later. If you're doing GAPS, you may also want to put the skin, fat, etc into a separate bowl for adding back to your soup.

Let the stock cool, then refrigerate it. You can then take the fat off the top if you want a clear soup, or leave it on if you want to make a thicker, higher calorie GAPS soup.

GAPS Intro soup

If you're going to turn your stock into vegetable soup, you can simplify the basic recipes by leaving the vegetables out of the initial stock.

When you're doing stage 1 of the GAPS intro - you need to use all the meat, fat and marrow in your soup, to give you enough sustenance.

Make your stock as usual, using quite meaty cuts. Cook till the meat or chicken is just cooked, then take the meat off the bones and put to one side. I like to have three bowls - one for meat; one for fat, skin, marrow, any gelatinous bits, etc; and one for the bones. The meat and fats go into the fridge. The bones go back into the pot with a splash of apple cider vinegar and cook for a few hours more.

When you're ready to make your soup, pour into a clean pan through a colander, and throw the bones away. In the classic stock recipe, you would then skim the liquid fat off the top, but we need it in this soup.

Chop up your veges and cook in the stock till tender. Choose low starch veges like pumpkin, butternut, zucchini, onion, garlic, carrots, etc.

Then get your bowl of fatty bits out of the fridge and add it back to the soup. Take a wand blender and blend till everything is combined, and you have a thick creamy soup. Add salt to taste. Shred the meat and add it back to the soup.

This will be your main food while on the early stages of GAPS Intro.

Variations: I like this variation as it "hides" the fat and the veges, which some children (and adults for that matter) don't like. But you can leave your veges chunky, and have the fatty bits loose, if you prefer.