More GAPS festive ideas...

A quick post to pass on someone else's great ideas. I spotted them on Thinking Outside the Box blog and didn't want them to get lost. Thanks Dan's mum!

• GAPS maypole cake
• A simple GAPS birthday cake
• Train GAPS birthday cake
• GAPS friendly birthday party food
• Halloween Pumpkin Faces
• GAPS Xmas Mince pies
• GAPS Xmas Cake
• GAPS Xmas Pudding
• GAPS Xmas dinner

Click on the Festive category over on the right for a bunch of other GAPS festive ideas including boiled Xmas cake, Easter buns, chocolate and fudge, party menus and Xmas menu.

Mayonnaise

I was talking to somebody about homemade mayo the other day, and that reminded me what a good GAPS dressing it is, and a great way to incorporate your olive oil. 

Mix together in food processor till well blended :

• 1 whole egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 ½ Tbs lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp Dijon style mustard or 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder

With the motor running, add one drop at a time:

• ¾-1 cup extra virgin olive oil (preferably from NZ)

Once about a 1/3 of the oil has been added, you’ll be able to add the rest in a small stream. If it starts to get very thick before you add all the oil, you don’t need to use it all. 

It will keep in the fridge for about two weeks.

Variations:

Garlic mayonnaise:

Add 1-2 cloves crushed garlic instead of the mustard

Curry mayonnaise:

Add 1 Tbs curry powder. Use this to make a chicken salad with cold diced chicken, organic green grapes, fresh bean sprouts and crispy cashews. Or add your favourite salad vegetables, and try out different crispy nuts, such as walnuts or slivered almonds.

Cabbage and Apple

A couple of weeks ago, we went to an event hosted by Simply Good Food, our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). One of the growers, Frank van Steensel, was so eloquent about the superior nutrition of vegetables grown properly in nutrient dense soil, that it reminded me that there are not many vege recipes on this blog, yet...


So let's get started with our favourite cabbage recipe - Red Cabbage simmered with apples and onions. This is adapted from a  recipe in Nourishing Traditions that doesn't include the onion. So if you can't have onions, it's fine to leave them out. If you're on GAPS or SCD and can have fruit, the apple adds some carbs without adding starch.

• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
• 1 onion
• ½ medium red cabbage
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cloves
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon honey
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• ½ cup water
• 1 apple
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Optional: 1-2 Tbs red or white wine vinegar

Chop up the onion, and sauté in butter in a large frying pan that has a lid. In a small pan, mix bay leaf, cloves, salt, honey and cinnamon with water and start simmering. Cut the core out of the cabbage, and slice thinly. Rinse the cabbage in a colander and add to the frying pan. Pour the now flavoured water through the colander into the frying pan, and mix all together. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and cook gently for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the apple if you like, but it doesn’t have to be peeled. Cut into quarters, and slice each quarter thinly. Add to the frying pan, stir  and cook for another 15 minutes. Take off the heat, and drain off any excess liquid. Toss with the butter and optional vinegar and serve.

This is a nice side dish with any meat or poultry. Or you can chop up your meat when it’s cooked and toss it through, for a one dish meal. 

You can do something similar with Green Cabbage. Green cabbage doesn't need to cook as long.

• 1 Tablespoon butter or ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, cut in half and then sliced thinly
• ½ a large or all of a small green cabbage
• 1 apple, sliced
• Juice of a lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• sprinkling of paprika

Sauté the onion and carrot  in butter. Meanwhile, chop up the green cabbage, and rinse. Chop up the apple. Add the lemon juice, salt and paprika to pan and stir well. Add cabbage and apple and stir well. Add more butter if needed. Cover and simmer for a few mins till cabbage is soft.

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.

Making ghee

After you've been off dairy products for a while, and want to introduce them again, you need to start with homemade ghee. Ghee is butter that has the milk solids and water removed, leaving pure butter oil or clarified butter. It is often used in Indian cooking as it is a highly stable cooking oil, with excellent flavour, that aids the digestion. It is often used in gourmet cooking as well. It is considered a lactose free food, and can be used instead of butter in most recipes, and for most uses.

Store in a glass jar with a lid, but don’t put the lid on till it’s cooled. You can keep ghee in the fridge, but it doesn’t need refrigeration if you keep moisture out of it; for example, don't dip a wet spoon into the ghee jar, always use a clean utensil. It will keep in the cupboard for weeks. But with it's delicious caramelly flavour, it might not last that long!

Stove top method
(Time: less then 30 minutes)

• 500gm / 1 lb. sweet butter (preferably unsalted and organic)

1. Melt the butter in a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat, and bring to the boil. Do not leave ghee unattended during this process and watch to make sure that the butter doesn't scorch while melting.
2. Lower heat to medium-low. The butter will bubble and make a slightly popping sound and a layer of foam will form. After about fifteen to twenty minutes, it will be a clear golden colour and quiet, and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan will have turned a light golden brown. It is important to take it of the heat as soon as it goes quiet, or it will burn.
3. Pour through a sieve or cheese cloth to strain out the milk solids.

Crock-pot method
(Time: 8 hours)

• One or more pounds of unsalted butter

1. Cut the butter into 1/4 pound portions and place into the crock-pot on low temperature setting.
2. Leave it on all night.
3. In the morning you will notice that there is a brown crust on the top and a white sediment on the bottom. Skim the crust off the top and pour the golden liquid into stainless steel or glass containers. When the white sediment begins to mix with oil while pouring strain the sediment from the ghee by pouring it through a cotton cloth placed over a stainless steel strainer.


Oven method
(Time: Depends on quantity. 1 pound could take as little as 1 hour)

• A heavy-bottomed, thick-walled ovenproof pan
• As much unsalted butter as will comfortably fit into your pan

1. Preheat the oven to 150 C / 300 F.

2. Cut the butter into 1/4 pound portions and place into the pan.

3. Allow the butter to melt and slowly clarify, uncovered and undisturbed, until there is a layer of solid foam on the surface, clear amber-gold ghee in the middle and lumps of pale gold solids on the bottom. Remove from oven.

4. Skim off the crusty foam on the surface with a fine mesh skimmer or a large metal spoon.
5. Ladle the clear ghee into a glass jar using a strainer lined with several layers of cheese cloth. When you have removed as much as you can without disturbing the solids, skim off the last 1 inch with a large spoon. 

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.

Chocolate & fudge recipes

Holidays like Easter or Valentines Day can be a challenge for those on restricted diets. Here are some ideas for chocolate replacements. And the links at the bottom have some non food ideas.


Most people on gluten or starch free diets will be able to tolerate cocoa butter, as its fully fat. You need to melt it before using in these recipes. The easiest way is to chop it up finely, then put it in a bowl on top of a pan of gently simmering water. If you want to maintain its raw status, melt it a small bowl inside a larger bowl of hot tap water. Keep replacing the hot water, until it’s completely melted, which will take a lot longer.

Another whole food that’s good for making fudge like confections is creamed coconut (or coconut butter). It’s very solid to start with, but softens up when gently heated, which can also be done over a pan of simmering water.

Coconut oil is also used in some of these recipes. You can place your whole jar of oil in a container of hot water, or measure out what you need and melt it in a pan.

Try different combinations of these, flavoured with vanilla essence, dried fruit, citrus fruits, spices or raw cocoa powder. Although GAPS doesn’t allow cocoa or carob, some people find they can tolerate them if they're far enough into healing, so use your discretion.

I prefer a little honey as the sweetener. When using honey, it doesn’t mix well with the oils and often separates out. So for the recipes that use a lot of fat, let the mixture cool in the fridge, still in the mixer, taking out and beating from time to time, till it’s almost set. THEN add the honey and process again. Or try your own favourite sweetener instead.

Pour into a flat tray lined with baking paper, mark into squares, then refrigerate till set. Or roll into small balls to make truffles. The oilier mixtures can also be poured into chocolate moulds. In the picture below I've used Easter egg, star and heart shaped moulds.

Store in the fridge. The ones that are mostly creamed coconut might need to sit at room temp for a few minutes before serving, but the ones that are higher in cocoa butter or coconut oil will melt if left out too long.

WHITE CHOCOLATE with nuts

·         2 cups raw or crispy (ie. soaked then dehydrated) macadamias or cashews

·         75g cocoa butter, melted

·         25g coconut oil, melted

·         2 Tbs honey

·         1 tsp vanilla

Zizz up the nuts in a food processor. Melt the cocoa butter and coconut oil. Add to the food processor, along with the vanilla, and combine well. Put the food processor into the fridge until nearly set. Take out a couple of times and give it another zizz, then back into the fridge.

Once it’s thick but not completely set, add the honey and zizz well. Spoon into chocolate moulds or into a flat tray lined with baking paper. Or roll into small balls to make truffles.
 
Variation: & 2-3 Tbs raw cocoa powder

Try these other combinations using the same basic method, or make up your own.

COCONUT WHITE CHOCOLATE 

·         100g creamed coconut, softened

·         100g cocoa butter, melted

·         1 tsp vanilla

·         2 tsp honey

Variation: & 2-3 Tbs raw cocoa powder (pictured)

COCONUT ORANGE FUDGE

·         1 cup creamed coconut, softened

·         1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted

·         1-2 tablespoons honey

·         1-2 Tbs grated orange rind

·         Optional: orange oil
 
Variation: 
Replace the orange oil and rind with 1 tsp vanilla and a splash of almond or other essence. 
Mix in a handful or nuts and/or raisins before forming into truffles.
 

COCONUT FRUIT FUDGE

·         200g creamed coconut 
·         1-2 teaspoons coconut oil
·         a little honey added at the end if needed

·         some chopped dried fruit, eg:

o        4 fresh dates – or –

o        4-6 dried apricots

COCONUT CHOCOLATE FUDGE

·         200g creamed coconut 

·         1 Tbs raw cocoa powder

·         1 Tbs carob or extra cocoa

·         1-2 tsp natural sweetener of your choice

Variation: & 2-3 Tbs raw cocoa powder


OR for something completely different, this chocolate substitute recipe that Shelley sent me:
Mix together pureed dates, pecan butter and a little honey


For more Easter ideas, see this post and this post on Baden's GAPS Guide. There are also some great ideas on Pecanbread.com

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).

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.