Squash Porridge

 My littlest girl has started pre-school!  She is so happy to join other children her age and to enjoy the wonderful Waldorf-inspired school.  Most Waldorf schools are heavy on the grains, and it can be tedious to send her with her replacement food, but so worth the effort to keep her healthy and nourished.  On one of the days her teacher serves oatmeal, or porridge.  So, I send her with her squash porridge.  She loves it and eats it all up every time.

Ingredients:

• Squash, any variety (my favorites are butternut, acorn, and banana)
• 2 pastured eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• water, for blending

Directions:

1. Cut up squash in large chunks, leave the peel on it will save you time.  Steam it over water until soft.
2. In blender mix peeled squash, egg, vanilla and cinnamon.  Add enough water to make the blender move.  The hot squash will cook the egg, don't worry here.  
3. Serve, and enjoy.

Intro: omit vanilla and cinnamon and use egg yolks

GAPS Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup coconut milk or water
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey 
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (or not)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• coconut oil  for frying

Directions

1. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. 
2. In a small bowl beat eggs, milk, vanilla, and honey.  
3. In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated. (Or use a Cuisinart to mix all ingredients quickly).
4. Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle 1-2 tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake.   Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve hot with coconut oil, honey, jam, or fruit.

Banana Mint Smoothie

Ah, Summer freshness in a cup.  This creamy minty concoction is often requested on a hot day.  It can also easily be turned into a popsicle.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup water
-Handfull of mint, washed
-2 Frozen Bananas
-1 pastured egg (optional, but adds creaminess and protein)

Directions:
In blender, add water and mint, blend until mint is liquified.  Add bananas and egg, blend again, serve.  For an added punch of mint, you could add peppermint flavoring.

Fluffy Egg Cake

Perfect for a Saturday morning, this beautiful egg souffle will win over your children or yourself for that matter.  It takes a little longer than the normal breakfast and is best made when you don't have to rush out of the house.  We have called it "Egg Cake" from the beginning, as in the first few months of GAPS this was the only thing that resembled cake to all of us.  It smells like doughnuts, although my sniffer may be altered due to the lack of doughnuts for the last 8 years.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
3 Tablespoons Honey
1 Tablespoon Vanilla (optional)
Shake of salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut oil

Toppings of your choice: blended fruit, apple sauce, etc.

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2.  Separate the whites and the yolks.

3.  Whip the the egg whites and a sprinkle of salt in a stand mixer until they are stiff.

4.  Meanwhile, stir in the honey and vanilla to the egg yolks.
5.  Also, begin heating your cast iron pan on the stove.  Add coconut oil when the pan is hot.

6.  Fold the egg yolks into the white mixture gently.

7.  Spread the mixture gently in the hot pan, spreading it out evenly.

8.  Place a lid on the pan, let cook for 5 minutes.
9.  Remove lid, cook in the oven for another 10 minutes, until top is not too spongy and looks slightly browned.

10.  Run a knife around the edge and serve in cake like slices.

11.  Top with your favorite fruit, or not.

Best Carrot Muffins Ever

Beginning the big birthday WEEK at our house.  Someone is turning 7!  Her first request for her "boss us around birthday week" was to make muffins.  She helped mix and measure and they turned out wonderful!  We served them with fresh pressed veggie juice and bacon.  Well into her first bite my girls exclaimed, "These are the BEST muffins, EVER!"


1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
3 large carrots, grated
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (optional, we omitted them)


1. In a large bowl or mixer, combine almond flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg; Mix.
2. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, honey and oil.
3. Stir in carrots, raisins, and walnuts into wet ingredients. 
4. Add wet ingredients to dry.
5.  Place batter into muffin tins.
6. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes.
7. Cool lightly, serve and enjoy.

Peas Porridge Hot

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold

Peas porridge in the pot, nine days old

Some like it hot, some like it cold

Some like it in the pot, nine days old

We discovered a GAPS breakfast cereal!  One morning my daughter refused her breakfast and asked for broth instead.  I whipped this up.  When I served it to her she said, "I am eating cereal"!  She was so excited and it added a level of newness to this bone broth that we have been drinking and eating for almost a year and a half.  No need to measure, but here is what I do:

Ingredients:
Bone Broth
Fresh or frozen peas
Thyme
Salt
Egg yolk

Directions:
Warm or cook peas in broth on low.  Add thyme and salt to taste.  Separate egg white from yolk, but whites aside for something else.  Pour broth and peas into a bowl.  Add your yolk.  I find it works best if you break the yolk open in your hand above the bowl and then add the yolk, discarding the sack that it comes in.

Almond Flour Pancakes

This recipe is SO easy, I can now make it without measuring.

Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour (I used Benefit Your Life Organic Blanched Almond Flour)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp. baking soda (not GAPS, but okay for us)
2 eggs
1-4 Tb. water depending on consistency

Method:
-Mix all ingredients together.  Add needed water until pancake consistency.
-Dollop mix onto well heated and greased pan (I used coconut oil or duck fat).  Make them on the small side (1-2 Tb of mix) so you can turn them.  Let them cook longer than you think, and then pry the edges and give a good flip.
-Toppings to consider:  Apple Sauce, Honey, Pineapple, Yogurt, Blueberries, Home-made Jam, Pumpkin butter, etc.  You get the idea.  No need to feel deprived here.

Saturday's Meals

Hello Weekend!  Time for some breakfasts that take a little extra time.  I got this breakfast idea from another GAPS momma who is on the Yahoo list serve (I will credit her when I can find her post...).  This has been a hit with my family, and certainly my husband who's favorite breakfast pre-GAPS was Biscuits and Gravy.

Saute sausage, onions, spices.  Steam Cauliflower in bone broth, blend.  Add blended cauliflower to sausage.  Stir.  Add pepper and salt to taste.  Biscuit recipe here.  I used bacon fat instead of coconut oil. They were a hit for the family, but a little to "cookie" like for me.  I meant to cook up some cabbage too, and I am not entirely sure why that went unnoticed.

For lunch, we took it on the go.  We heated up the leftover soup from Tuesday (No leftovers from last night, they were all eaten up!).  I made a squash puree, grabbed an avocado and we headed out to the Sacramento Waldorf Harvest Festival.  We had a blast, but were a little limited on food, and luckily there was a farmer's market there and we bought some fruit too.

Thankfully, my husband had made dinner that morning, so it was ready when we arrived home from our big rainy adventure.  He used the pressure cooker to make a brisket.  I made some green beans and mushrooms, and bone broth and that made dinner.

Friday's Meals

Steamed squash and scrambled eggs with onions this morning.  Easy.

Left over chicken from roasting made a beautiful chicken salad that my family will easily eat for lunch.  (Except Maeve who does not care much for mayonnaise).  I cut up the chicken into little bite sized pieces.  I added the following: celery, chives, grapes, apple, red pepper, dill, onions, salt, and home-made mayonnaise.

For dinner I made a recipe adapted from Diet for a New World by John Robbins called, "Curry in a Hurry".  I have changed the original to add meat and to make it GAPS friendly.
4 T. animal fat
1 lg. onion
2 chicken breasts, cut up into small bite sized pieces
3 carrots, cut into small pieces
1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 cup squash, cut up into small pieces
1 Tb. curry powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 cups bone broth
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
3 T. coconut aminos

Saute Onions and Chicken with animal fat (I used pork fat).

Add Cauliflower, Carrots, Broccoli (I forgot mine), & Squash

Add Curry Powder, Turmeric and Cumin.  It calls for soy sauce, but we use Coconut Aminos which have a salty hearty flavor like soy sauce.  Add several cups of bone broth and simmer until veggies are soft.  Add frozen peas at the very end.  The heat of the curry will defrost them quickly, no need to continue to cook.  Serve.

Thursday's Meals

I am not sure why this week is behaving so crazy, but it is.  We all woke up this morning at 7:15, and need to be out of the door by 7:40!  Yikes, we were moving like chickens with our heads cut off!  So, I altered the breakfast plans a bit.

I quickly ground up some pork, onions, and salt in the Cuisinart and fried those up.  While those were cooking I made beautiful smoothies with Mint, Banana, Mango, Spinach, and Water.  I served some leftover pesto and avocado with the sausages, and there you have it. Breakfast.  Bone broth was also served.  No time to slowly cook those onions to soft deliciousness.

We were all on our own for lunch, but eating the same thing.  We had steak leftover from the evening before, steamed beets, and cucumbers.  Nothing fancy, but everyone ate their lunch up.  Maeve had pineapple too.  No photo, as I forgot my purse today and could not document my lovely and colorful lunch option.

For dinner I roasted a chicken with my "Mason Jar Method".  I used to use the "Beer can method", but I don't drink beer or anything that comes in a can; so this limited my can resources.  I roasted the chicken with brussel sprouts and onions.  I also baked some kale to accompany this lovely assortment of goodies.  Bone broth was served at dinner.

Baked Kale:
Tear into bit sized bits.  Place in a large bowl.  Liberally douse in animal fat (I used pork fat), salt.  Spread out on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven at 350* for 10-15 minutes.  They will be crispy, like chips.

Wednesday's Meals

Today was another crazy day, but thankfully we all ate and we all ended the day happy.  Breakfast in my household is often packed with protein.  I want to send Arabella off to school with a full belly, knowing she often has fruit for snack.

I made these Almond Meal, Coconut flour Cinnamon muffins from Elana's Pantry again, with my modifications (coconut oil, honey, add raisins).  They were super delicious and quite a hit!  Served with our favorite... Bacon!  Yikes, it has been the week of bacon with it's reappearance at our Co-op.

I made lunch the night before again.  While cooking the stew, I was steaming squash & green beans, and mixing up meatballs.

Today I made a smoothie too.  Sometimes I find this necessary, and other days I skip it.  To make this particular smoothie I separate the 2 eggs (organic, free-ranged and pastured) and blend the whites in the Vita-Mix.  After they have gotten frothy, I add the rest of the ingredients: frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, and 1/4 cup coconut.  Creamy and like ice-cream!  That was the first time I used shredded coconut, and I have to say, I am not a fan.  Perhaps coconut milk next time.

Dinner was really easy.  Grilled organic grass-fed T-bone steaks and grilled asparagus.  We also grilled a Buffalo Rib-eye, but I didn't get to try that one.  Bone broth was also included with this meal.  Tonight, while making dinner, I steamed the beets for lunch tomorrow.

Monday's Meals

Winter is certainly coming, and waking up when it is dark does not suit me very much.  Nevertheless, when you have children who wake up bright and chipper it forces you to at least try to act happy.  I was grateful that I could stumble with my eyes half shut and make the breakfast for today.

This morning I sauteed some onions in bacon grease and made Scrambled Eggs.  Easy and no-fuss.

I made the lunches last night after everyone had gone to bed.  Normally I do not send out bacon, but our meat options were minimal and our GAPS friendly bacon has just appeared at our local Co-op again.  For lunch I gave them both bacon, cucumbers, an almond cookie, and avocado.  Maeve got some mango because Arabella gets fruit at school.

I was a little late in starting dinner, and grateful that everything was planned out and all the groceries were available and defrosted.  This chicken is one of my go-to recipes, because it does not require a recipe at all. I much prefer cooking without all that measuring and fuss.

I started with the family pack of Organic bone-in chicken thighs.  First, I ripped off all the skin, and fried them until crispy; I also added a little salt.  These are wonderful treats for all and there is never any waste.  I then dump the chicken grease into a mason jar for later use.

Leaving a little grease in the pan, I slightly pan fry the thighs and turn them.  While waiting I chop up onions.  I add the onions and then chop mushrooms; I place all this on top of the cooking chicken.  I then pour chicken bone broth (1-2 cups) onto the chicken mixture and cover for 15-20 minutes on medium heat.

Then, I remove the chicken and boil down the broth to make "gravy".

I also sauteed greens and garlic to have as a side dish.  Salt to your liking.