Quick, easy lunch

I seem to always forget about this easy option for lunch and when I remember its like a light beaming through the dark clouds. Do you have those clouds? The clouds of: I forgot to plan for something, there is nothing in the fridge, and I don't feel like cooking.

It only requires 2 ingredients and I usually have them in the freezer. It takes less than 10 minutes. It is very nutritious and healing for the tummy and builds the immune system. Are you dying to know? Its, Pea Soup. Kind of a let down after all that build-up, isn't it? You aren't going to win many friends by inviting them over for "Pea Soup." But, if you can get over the name, the green color, and the fact that its probably the top meal served at nursing homes, I think you'll love it as much as we do. Here is the recipe:

Pea Soup
Ingredients:
One bag of frozen green peas
Chicken Stock
Salt

Method:
I make ours in the VitaMix so you if you do not have one you'll have to adjust. First I dump the entire bag of peas into the containter. (You can reserve some to put in after the soup is done for garnish). Then I add enough chicken stock to meet the top of the peas. (This is usually about 3 cups). I add about 1TBsp of sea salt and blend. I blend for about 5 minutes until hot. That's it!

As I am typing my kids have asked for more soup 4 times.

Cream of Vegetable Soup

simmer equal parts chopped carrots, rutabaga, onion, zucchini and fresh thyme in chicken stock.
Remove thyme stem
puree and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Veggie Minestrone

Found this on GAPS group site

• Broth (combination is good) simmered with celery and peppercorns
• zucchini or summer squash
• carrot
• green beans
• onion and/ or leek
• tomato
• salt

Season with thyme, basil, garlic and dash of cayenne. Add chicken fat/olive oil/ghee as permitted.
It's more work, but it adds visual interest if you cook each veggie separately and arrange a small helping of each around the bowl before filling with broth.

Beef and Pumpkin Stew

Found this on a GAPS group site

• Beef broth seasoned with peppercorns and strained.
• Add small diced pumpkin and salt and cook until soft.
• Add diced, shredded beef and pumpkin puree.
• Use a bit of chicken fat to balance the flavors.

Serve with the obligatory dash of fresh garlic and kraut liquid. This is also wonderful with a swirl of blended kefir (sour cream mimic if you pour a circle you can then make awesome designs by dragging a knife through in an X.)

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Beef Soup

Recipe from GAPSters

• Full fat, hugely gelatinous beef broth
• 1 lb beef
• 2 med zucchini
• 1 med onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 carrots
• Celtic Sea Salt
• Ghee

Simmer the beef, garlic and onion in some broth for about 30 min. Add prepped vegetables and enough broth to come within 2" of the vegetables. Add 2 larges pinches of celtic sea salt and simmer about 30 min. Take 1/4 of the vegetable and meat and blend till smooth. Add back into the pot and add ghee and more salt to taste. And yes!!! Add 1-3 tsp avocado (if on stage 3)

Pork Stew

• Already boiled pork to pork stock in a crock pot.
• Add zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms and carrots.
• Add salt.
• Simmer for a few hours.
• Remove meat, blend most vegetables with immersion blender
• Add meat in pieces.

Butternut Squash and Fennel Soup

I found this recipe at GAPSters

• 1 butternut squash
• 3-4 fennel bulbs
• 2 large leeks
• 1 large zucchini (this will dilute the sweetness)
• 1/2 cup beef fat/marrow blend
• Celtic Sea Salt to taste

Peel, de-seed, wash--prep your vegetables to where they're chopped and ready to go. Throw them in a pot, add stock so that 2" of your vegetables are not immersed. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 30+ minutes. Because the fennel would be considered 'stringy,' simmer for an hour and a half or more. When done, take off heat, add fat/marrow, salt and blend.

TIP: The beauty of this soup is that it contains vast amounts of vegetables, broth. I blend in raw egg yolks and the flavor remains delicious. With the zucchini added, the sweetness becomes subtle.

Winter Squash Soup

Very, very yummy and soothing to an upset stomach or diarrhea.

6 cups of home-made meat stock
1 leak, washed and sliced
broccoli, 3-4 medium sized rosettes
1 medium-size carrot, sliced
1 medium size butternut squash or any winter squash with sweet orange flesh
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

While sauteing leak and garlic in 2-3 Tbsp of coconut oil, ghee, or lard, peel and de-seed squash, cut it into chunks. Wash and cut into pieces all the vegetables. Add all the vegetables to the pot. Add the meat stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a minimum, cover with the lid and simmer for about 30 minutes. Pull out about 1 cup of squash and reserve. Blend soup mixture then return to pot and add reserved squash. Serve with 1/2 cup of yogurt (optional).

Meatball soup

1 1b. ground beef or pork
1 lrg onion finely chopped
1 lrg carrot thinly sliced
1 cup winter squash cut into small cubes
1 cup of finely chopped cabbage (optional)
other veggies (optional)
2 Tbsp. of chopped garlic

Saute onion and garlic in 2-3 Tbsp. of coconut oil, ghee, or lard until onions are clear. (puree and then add back to pot if kids will resist onion)
In pot bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
With your hands shape meatballs about 2 cm in diameter and add them, one at a time, into the boiling water. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 min. Add all the vegetables, cover and simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve with sauerkraut, spoonful of yogurt and chopped dill.

French Beef Stew

I'm cataloging my recipes as I make them. Here is what we're trying tonight:

French Stew

• 2# beef stew meat
• 2c. beef stock
• 1 onion, sliced
• sea salt & pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into a large covered casserole, 4 hours @ 300*. The original recipe says to thicken with a flour & water mixture and put back into the oven for 10-15 minutes then serve over noodles or rice, or throw in some carrots & potatoes for the last couple hours of bake time.

I am going to try to thicken with Xanthum Gum instead of flour and we can not do potatoes. We did it in the crock pot on low.

Making Bone Stock

I've had many requests to get this info out there so here you go...

Why make your own bone stock?
There are many blogs that answer this question already. For a good one go here
In my own words, basically its one of the most nutritious things you can do for you and your family. Its been traditionally used for centuries as a healer to the gut but you don't have to have gut issues to benefit from it. Home made beef stock (from pasture raised animals) has as much calcium as milk and tons of other vitamins and minerals. It is also loaded with lots of good fat that we all need. It is the staple of the diet we are following.

Commercial stock adds flavor to cooking but does contain anywhere near the health benefits and may even contain genetically modified organisms, MSG, and hormones.

How do you make your bone stock?
Again, there are many, better blogs out there that answer this question. Two I like are:
1. From GAPSters
2. From the Simple Dollar: this one talks about how to use all parts of the chicken and not waste anything.
3. From Simply Recipes: this one talks about roasting your meat bones first to get a good flavor

I have found that I like making it in the crock pot better...it keeps our kitchen cooler and I don't have an open flame going all night.

I have also found that you shouldn't go light on the salt. Put in LOTS of salt.

Where do you get your bones?
The best place I've found is from Greenwood Farms at the Tower Grove Farmers Market. We go on Saturday mornings. You can buy a bag of backs and necks for about $2/lb. One bag makes about 3 mason jars of stock. You can also buy a bag of legs and thighs (also about $2/lb). One bag of these also makes about 3 mason jars and also lots of yummy chicken to pull off and eat for dinner or save for snacks/lunches. You can also make stock by boiling the whole chicken or using the bones after you've roasted and eaten the chicken.

Greenwood Farms will be supplying meat, pork, chicken and eggs throughout the winter. You call them at 800-253-6574 to place your order (by Thursday each week) and then you go pick it up on Saturday at a place on Kingshighway.

What do you do with your stock?
We drink it with our meals to aid the digestion of your food. Its supposed to act like a digestive enzyme. I send it in thermos straw cups with the kids to school for snack and lunch time. I make all kinds of soup with it. I boil vegetables in it. I freeze it in ice cube trays and pull out when I need to add flavor or in cup size containers to make soup later. I put it in Annabelle's bottle instead of milk.

Happy soup making!

GAPS Diet: Day 3 & 4

Today (Day 4) was easier. Partly because its Monday and I'm busier than we were over the weekend so my mind isn't as filled with food fantasies. It was also easier because my cravings seem to be lessening. I made a better soup yesterday, I ate the whole thing; probably 7 bowls. I was really hungry. I'm still experiencing symptoms so I did more research and realized I wasn't following the into diet completely correctly. I need to start with a bone stock base and add one vegetable at a time.

The following vegetables are the easiest to digest and where I'll start. If anyone has any soup recipes you like or think I could adjust, please pass them on.
Avocado
Artichoke, French
Asparagus
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celeriac
Celery
Collard greens
Eggplant
Garlic
Ginger root, fresh
Kale
Mushrooms (some say folks with candida overgrowth should avoid)
Onions
Parsley
Peas
Peppers (green, yellow, red, and orange)
Spinach
Squash, Spaghetti
String beans
Tomatoes
Turnips (caution re: fibre)
Watercress
Zucchini

I made this soup today. It turned out pretty good, I used too much salt and like most of my soups its too thin. I copied it from the blog Thinking Outside the Box

Broccoli and Garlic Soup – simple but tasty soups for GAPS Intro

INGREDIENTS:

• broccoli (1 lb / 450g)
• broth (1 litre)
• garlic (3 large cloves)
• onions (2 medium size)
• salt (3/4 tsp or to taste)
• freshly ground peppercorns (3/4 tsp or to taste – pretty finely ground)

METHOD:

Wash the broccoli and cut into florets. Later, on GAPS intro, I also used the peeled, chopped stalk, but not early on. Peel the garlic cloves and peel and chop the onion coarsely. Place them all in a pan. Sprinkle over the salt and the freshly ground (this REALLY makes a difference!) peppercorns.

Add the broth and bring to simmering point. Put a lid on and simmer gently for about 25 minutes. Blend, dust with ground pepper and serve.

Alternatively you can add the garlic at the end of simmering and bring back to the boil briefly before blending. This method increases the health benefits from the garlic but I prefer the flavor when the garlic is included from the start of cooking.

GAPS diet, day 1 & 2

These have been difficult days, to say the least. I've decided to follow the GAPS diet. I'll post later more on what the philosophy of GAPS is all about. In the mean time if you would like to find out more take a look at: http://www.gaps.me/preview/ or http://gapsdiet.com. If you struggle at all with GI issues, if your child has allergies or food sensitivities, or has SI issues or is on the autism spectrum then you need to just take a look to see what you think.

So here is what my diet has consisted of:
1. Bone Stock (beef and chicken). I've learned how to make this myself and pretty much have a pot on the stove making some type of stock all the time now. I supposed to drink cups of it with and in between meals but I can't stomach the taste of broth by itself. It reminds me too much of being sick as a child. Bone stock will continue to be a staple in my diet. "Meat stock aids digestion and has been known for centuries as a healing folk remedy for the digestive tract. Also bone-stock meat is extremely nourishing, it is full of minerals, vitamins, amino-acids and various other nutrients in a very bio-available form." GAPS. I'll post later on how I've learned to make it. This was my very first step in the diet overhaul process.
2. Boiled meat and non-starchy vegetables. I'm trying to make soups with these. I've made four different soups and I only liked one of them. It would really help if I were a good cook.
3. Ginger, mint, and chamomile tea.
4. Juice from fermented vegetables. I know that sounds crazy and I'll post on that later. Its not too bad and has great probiotic value.

That's it.

Can you see why its been a hard couple of days. All I can think about is the Chick-Fil-A add I watched on TV. I can feel the hot grease squirting into my mouth as I take my first bite of their fried chicken sandwich. The cravings I've had today are harder than any craving I felt the first week off sugar. I don't crave sugar right now though...that's a positive.

I'm supposed to be on this introduction diet until my GI symptoms normalize. Pray it goes fast.
To read the full GAPS intro diet click here http://gapsdiet.com/INTRODUCTION_DIET.html