Sassy Soused Cauliflower Salad

     Here I am again, with another tweaked recipe.  Is it just me, or do other people find awesome recipes and never have the ingredients on hand.  I could constantly buy random ingredients so I can make recipes I find.  My practical nature is one of the major reasons I tweak recipes.  Why would I run to the store to get a special ingredient when I can improvise?

     Enter our recipe for today!  Sassy Soused Cauliflower Salad!  I got a bit fancy with the name.  I am feeling a bit feisty today.  The recipe was a success, and I wanted to share it right away.  I got the recipe idea from Martha Stewart's web site (here).  I wish I had taken pictures for you, but I did not think it would turn out so well.  I also did not "souse" (or marinate) the cauliflower nearly as long as the recipe called for, and it still tasted good.  I think it would have tasted better if I had soused it longer.

     Another great thing about this recipe is it has sauerkraut in it, and you do not even notice!  I am always trying to find recipes that I can put sauerkraut in.  Most recipes I have seen require the sauerkraut to be cooked in, and that kind of defeats the point, to me.  While it tastes good, I really want to give it to  my family raw, so they get all that good bacteria, the whole reason I even make the stuff.


Sassy Soused Cauliflower Salad

Things you will need:

• 1 large head cauliflower, cut into bite size florets

• 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar (ACV)

• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion

• 1/4 cup chopped sauerkraut 

• 1 tablespoon ground mustard powder

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• salt and pepper
• 
  

Directions:

First, blanch the cauliflower, until just tender (about 2 minutes) and then drain and transfer to a bowl.  Place the bowl into the freezer until the oil and vinegar mixture is ready.  (You do not want to kill the good bacteria in the sauerkraut by putting it on boiling hot cauliflower.)

Second, in a bowl whisk together ACV, chopped onion, sauerkraut, honey and mustard powder.  Then, slowly pour in (making sure it is a steady slow stream) the olive oil, making sure to whisk constantly until it is  emulsified.  Add salt and pepper and then drizzle the vinegar mixture  over the cauliflower.  Mix together, and place in the refrigerator.  The longer it marinates the more flavor the cauliflower will soak up.  I would not suggest longer than 12 hours, though.

We ate ours warm, and it was very good.  I am sure it will taste good cold too, though.

Enjoy!

GAPS Quesadilla

     When you have been on GAPS for a few weeks it all starts to sink in.  You can only make so many things with the limited diet.  A huge part of figuring this diet out is how to get by with out grains.  No more sandwiches, tortillas, pastas....all those foods that make the foundation of a lot of meals.  It has taken me awhile, but I do not even think of the missing staple when I plan meals any more.  Well, that is until my daughter wants to make quesadillas.

     It took some research, and there were a lot of options, but I decided to try this simple recipe out. 

 Basically it is an omelet.

I took two eggs and some butter.  I buttered my small ceramic coated pan and whipped up two eggs.  I poured the eggs in to the pan, let it cook, and flipped it.  They were not difficult to make.  The challenge came in implementing them in the recipe that my daughter wanted to make- Tuna and Bell Pepper Quesadillas.

     We used canned tuna, cheddar cheese, green and red bell pepper, and green onions in the filling.  I took one egg tortilla and laid it in the pan, then added the toppings and topped it with another egg tortilla.

     Over all I was pleased with how the meal turned out.  It was very tasty, but it did not taste like a tortilla (just so you are prepared).  It did have an almost omelet texture, but it was really good.  I am not entirely sure that I would not just opt to make a tuna omelet next time.  It sure would save time.  But if you are in need of a wrap for a recipe, this would work really well.  It did stay together and hold all the filling quite well.  It was a nice change to the normal food we eat.

Go-Go-Gadgets!

     Cooking from scratch three times a day can be a full time job.  Part of the reason I chose "pioneer" for my blog name is how much I feel like the pioneer women who ventured into the west.  Back then they did not have the conveniences we have today.  No microwaves, boxed foods, instant potatoes or instant rice.  In fact, what processed foods they did have were the a special treat, more expensive and hard to come by, not the norm.  They cooked from scratch with what they had, and they did it by hand.

     Thankfully I do not have to do it all by hand.  I have some handy dandy gadgets I use in  my kitchen.  These gadgets have been so helpful in keeping me sane.  Unfortunately there are some gadgets that are more of a pain to use than are worth the time.  I will give you my tried and true gadgets and one gadget that is not worth all the hype.

     First must have gadget if you are doing GAPS is a FOOD PROCESSOR.  Hands down this is the most labor saving device in my kitchen.  The first food processor I owned was a waste of time and  money, though.  It was an Oster product.  While the Oster company was very helpful in replacing the machine every time it broke (three times before I gave up on them), it was a complete nightmare to deal with it.  I am hard on appliances in general, I do not always know my own strength, but this machine never lasted very long in my kitchen.  I have a Cuisinart now.  Wonderful machine.  I am hard on it as well, and so is the resident dishwasher (my oldest son).  The replacement parts are pricey, but this machine saves me so much time.  In the beginning when we ate nothing but soup every meal, it was a must (probably why we needed replacement parts after 6 months).  Now that we eat more variety of things it is not as necessary.  Sometimes, for smaller jobs, it is easier to pull out a trusty sharp knife and cut my onion, rather than have to wash all the parts to the food processor.  I also have a very old mini food processor that is still going strong.  I got it from my grandmother when she changed the colors in her kitchen, and went with a bright red one instead.  This thing has got to be twenty years old, and it is more powerful than my Cuisinart!  I love it, and it is especially handy for little jobs like mayonnaise, chopped nuts or herbs.

     The next things to invest in for the kitchen are a good quality set of knives, cutting boards and a knife sharpener.  While knives might not be considered a gadget- as in machine, they are a MUST in the kitchen if you are going to do GAPS.  I have tried to cut onions with varying degrees of sharpness on my knife.  I have also tried cutting onion with a serrated knife.  It is so much easier and quicker to cut something with a sharp plain blade than a serrated blade.  If my knife is at its sharpest I will be able to cut my onion like butter.  REALLY!  I keep a V-shaped knife sharpener handy so I can sharpen a knife blade before I use it.  If you keep on top of sharpening your knives you will end up saving yourself time and labor in cutting things.

     A crock pot is next on the list of must have gadgets in the kitchen.  I have two (and a roaster oven as well).  The crock pot is so useful, I wish I had one in every size.  Being able to start something in the crock pot and walk away for hours is a serious convenience that pioneer women did not have (electricity in general, actually).  I make a lot of different things with my crock pot.  I use to make yogurt (now I have a yogurt maker that my husband bought me).  I use it to make bone broth.  I use it when I need to make a meal for dinner, but I will not be around to start it later (like beans or roasts with vegetables).  I also like to make apple butter (and similar things) with it.  When we first started GAPS Intro. diet I had a chicken going in the crock pot constantly.  I would take one out and serve it up (giving everyone a large mug of broth) and start another one.  It was important to have hot broth available at all times in the beginning.  With my roaster oven I make apple sauce, cook three chickens at a time (for long trips or when I will not be able to cook for a day or so), cook large amounts of pie pumpkins for freezing and roast large turkeys (to name a few).

     I have a few little gadgets that make life easier, that I would highly recommend.  A salad spinner is so helpful, especially if you are growing and eating your own lettuce.  It is also very useful for freezing green beans.  An egg slicer is something we use a lot, as well.  We actually have two of them.  Each family member can cut their own eggs for salads.  It also makes quick work of egg salads and other type recipes with hard boiled eggs.  A metal mesh strainer is a must.  I have a few colanders, and they are great for rinsing and draining beans and vegetables, but they are all plastic.  They also have bigger holes.  A metal mesh strainer is perfect for straining broth.  An Asian Strainer is another gift I received from my husband, and I use it nearly every day.  It is so helpful for straining bones and things out of pots, or scooping many different things.  Another must have in the kitchen is a metal funnel along with canning jars of various sizes.  I am always pouring one thing or another into jars, and the funnel helps minimize the spills.  You do not want to use plastic if you are doing hot things.  A recent find (from a dear friend of  mine) is a garlic peeler.  It is almost the length of  my hand, a small silicone tube.  I put a piece of garlic into it and roll it around on the counter, and with in seconds the garlic has been peeled.  Then all I do is shake out the garlic, and it comes out with out its peel!  GENIUS!

     Lastly, one specific gadget I do not use that often, my juicer.  Juicing is a part of the diet, and I did do it for a good month or so in the beginning.  Unfortunately they are a pain to clean, and unless you plan to juice every day for the rest of your life, they may not be worth your time and money.  The one I have works really well, but like I said, is a pain to clean, so I rarely use it.  Another thing about juicing and kids is the amount of carrots they will drink, but will not eat!  I could juice a two pound bag of carrots for each kid, and they would still want more.  However, they would never eat that many carrots.  It seems a waste to me, and just another thing to have to prepare (clean, peel and or cut).  I have used three different kinds of juicers, and none of them were super easy to use and/or clean.

     I am so thankful to have access to such conveniences.  Of course, there are conveniences that I have not mentioned that pioneer women did not have like running water, indoor plumbing, refrigerators and gas stoves.  I am thankful for those as well.  I could not imagine having to draw water from a well and bring it to the house for soup every meal!  While I am thankful for the things I am learning that take me back to those pioneer days, I am still content to live in this time period with all of its conveniences.

       

Let's Get Cooking, Mom

     Abigail has been begging me all summer for cooking lessons.  This makes me laugh because what she does not realize is I am always teaching her things in the kitchen.  She is very used to being in the kitchen, and very helpful.  However, I did not want to discourage her, and I liked her enthusiasm, so I said, "Sure!  We will have cooking lessons this coming school year."

     My biggest challenge was finding a cook book we could work from that would be easy to tweak the recipes.  I found this book- Kids' Fun & Healthy Cookbook by DK, at our local library.  The first fifteen pages of the book talk about the different food groups, and how to eat healthy.  I had to correct a few things, like the negative view on fats (you know the thing that helps with brain development and function, just to name a few- see here for more info), but other than that, it was good info, presented in a good way for the kids to understand.

     Abigail read the first fifteen pages, and the "Breakfast" section and then chose a recipe to try.  She chose Strawberry Yogurt Crunch.  We had to tweak it a bit (the main ingredient, strawberries, was not available organically, and since they are a very pesticide rich berry, we opted for our local blueberries), but it turned out delicious.  So we ended up with a new recipe, and we called it GAPS Blueberry Yogurt Crunch.

GAPS Blueberry Yogurt Crunch
*recipe serves 2

Things you will need:
1 cup blueberries
2/3 cup chopped almonds (not to fine)
3 tbsp sunflower seeds
3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp honey
1 cup plain yogurt
cast iron skillet
2 small glasses (or glass bowls)

Directions:

1. Warm cast iron skillet on stove by setting the heat to medium.  After 30 seconds to a full minute, place chopped almonds in skillet.  Stir almonds occasionally with wooden spoon, so they do not burn.

2. After 3 minutes, add the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and let them toast for 2 more minutes. (Note, the pumpkin seeds will pop a bit.)

3. Remove the skillet from the heat and drizzle the honey over mixture.  Stir until everything is mixed well.  It will be hot, let it cool a bit.

4. Layer the nut/seed mixture in the glasses with blueberries and yogurt in between.  There should be 6 layers total, nuts, yogurt, berries, nuts, yogurt and finally berries on top.  Putting it in glasses is especially pretty.

Here is a picture of my very proud little chef; she layered the layers her self.

Greek Yogurt Dip

     We eat so many carrots that I start to feel bad for my kids.  Today I gave them some carrot sticks while they waited for lunch to be ready.  They did not complain, but I could tell they were less than enthused.

     I love ranch.  Before we went gluten free and dairy free five years ago, we always had a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch in the fridge.  When we found out we had food allergies, it was the first thing to go.  Before we started GAPS I had found a really good recipe for ranch that put all others to shame!  I was so excited!  Here is the recipe I adapted four years ago, but I can not find the source for the original recipe.  (Note, this was before I learned of the "evils" of soy).

RANCH!

1 cup Mayo

1/3 cup soy milk

1 ½  TBSP lemon juice

Fresh Chives

Fresh Basil

Fresh Parsley

Fresh Dill

Fresh Garlic

Fresh Onion

Dash of Salt and Pepper

Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until everything is smooth and creamy.  Will have a slight green tint to it from all the fresh herbs.  It also will taste a bit strong on it’s own, but tastes AMAZING on salad!

     When we started GAPS we did not use soy milk anymore.  I have seen ranch recipes that use coconut milk instead, but I have never really explored coconut milk much.  If you do end up trying coconut milk, I think it could work really well.  The above recipe is really tasty.  All the herbs together would cancel out any coconut flavor in the final product, I think.

     Back to the children being less than enthused about the carrot sticks.  I have a ton of fresh herbs in my fridge right now from my garden.  I decided to try to make a dip for the kids.  It turned out so well!  We were having fried eggs for lunch, and I put some on my eggs (with runny yolks) and it was REALLY good.

     So here is the recipe for my Greek Yogurt Dip.  I have to confess that I did not measure anything while I was making the dip.  After I tasted it and it was so yummy, I tried to guess how much of everything I used.  Feel free to tweak this.  

Greek Yogurt Dip

Things you will need:

food processor or blender

1/2 large onion

8 fresh chive scapes or stems

1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp fresh dill

1 tsp natural sea salt

1 tsp pepper corns

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cups greek yogurt

Directions:

Place everything in food processor or blender and blend until creamy.

     I did not put any parsley or basil in it because I was in a hurry, but in the future I might add some of that.  Also, it would be really easy to make mayo first, and then add these ingredients to it to make ranch dressing.  I will try that next time.

     The kids loved the dip, and were so happy to have something to dip for once.  We miss chips and salsa so much.  Finding something crunchy to dip is a personal mission of mine.  I would love to hear your ideas!

Lots More BANANAS!

     A wonderful friend of mine told me about this wonderful idea.  Banana pancakes made with eggs and bananas.  Does it sound as gross to you as it did to me?  I think I may have gave her the wrinkled up nose look when she told me because she tried really hard to convince me that they were tasty.  That was nearly two years ago, maybe even three.  I avoided trying them, they just sounded gross.

     My mother sent me a recipe for them a few months ago.  I kind of rolled my eyes, I must admit.  (Something she is quite use to, I am sure.)  I clicked the link and the picture of the pancakes looked amazing!  I could not believe it.  They looked like they had grain in them.  I decided I had to try them, just to see if I could get mine to look like the ones in the picture. (This is not the original link my mother sent me, but it is close, and the pancakes look just as gorgeous- http://www.ourbestbites.com/2014/02/2-ingredient-pancakes/ )

GAPS Banana Pancakes

Things you will need:

Skillet

Mixing bowl or stand mixer

Butter

Cast iron skillet

6 bananas (I did one for each person eating)

12 eggs

Directions:

1. Start skillet heating, so it is nice and hot when the batter (for lack of a better word) is ready.  (I usually turn the burner to high to start, so they are hot and ready more quickly.)

2. Peel bananas and put them in the mixing bowl.  Mash them well.

3. Crack eggs into bowl.

4. Mix bananas and eggs together, really well.

5. Grease the skillet with some butter.  (I turn the burner down right before I do this, medium seems to work pretty well.)

6. Pour some batter into the skillet.  I notice that the smaller the pancakes the easier they are to flip.  My batter was a bit runny so it was important that the skillet was nice and hot so they did not run everywhere.

7. Flip the pancake when you see bubbles in the batter.  It will not take much time to cook the other side.

     I got varying degrees of color in my pancakes.  I had all five burners going on my stove so I could make them more quickly.  They are quite filling, my kids only had four.  The plate in the bottom picture is a small salad plate.

     They did not turn out as fluffy and nice looking as the pictures online.  But, I used cast iron pans.  I believe the pancakes from the link were cooked on a pancake griddle.  That is the only time I see pancakes turn out that perfect.  The GAPS diet is against Teflon pans, so I got rid of all of mine, and also inherited my mother's camping cast iron pans.  We have picked up a few more at good will too.  I really like them.  They are so easy to clean if you keep them seasoned.  They ARE heavy though.  The above picture may be a Teflon coated griddle, actually.  I am not sure.  It came with the stove.  I have not looked into it, because I am afraid I will have to get rid of it.

     We drizzled honey on them, and they were so good!  I was so surprised.  I should have tried them years ago.  Silly me.  For the first day of school I made them with blue berries in them.  Also very good, but quite tricky to flip.

   

Bananas for Banana Smoothies

     Here is a house hold favorite: Banana Smoothies.  Bananas are so amazing.  God is so awesome.  They grow on a tree in huge bunches, you can pick them when they are green and ship them across the world so that they do not spoil before they make into my kitchen.  On top of that, you can do all kinds of things with them.

     Our favorite thing to do with them use to be banana bread.  I have not gotten baking with nuts down yet, so I do not venture to try to give anyone advice in how to conquer the nut flour equation.   It is interesting to me that the difficulty of a thing can completely change your mind about it.  For example, my love of getting out of the house.  Come winter, this desire will completely disappear.  The amount of work (and I like work) required to dress four children in warm things, from head to toe, mount looming snow drifts and arrive at a destination in one piece does not bring joy.  Staying home, at that point, brings the joy.

     So!  Our new favorite thing to do with bananas is Banana Smoothies!  They are so easy it is ridiculous.  We buy bananas in huge quantities to keep up.  So many, in fact, that very frequently we are asked if we keep pet monkeys at home, to which I most definitely say, "Yes!"

     We let the bananas sit out on the counter until they have lots of little brown spots (that means they are sweeter).  Then we peel them and line them up on cutting boards and load them into the freezer.  Once they are frozen I condense them down to a Ziploc bag, and try to keep them on hand.  I am not always successful in this endeavor.

     When we have enough frozen bananas, I pull some out to make smoothies.  (I also have to have yogurt on hand to do this.  I will post that recipe next.)  We have a Magic Bullet, so I take one "cup" for each kid and I fill it with one inch chunks of banana.  I then pour home made yogurt on top, screw the lid on the "cup" and blended it with the Magic Bullet.  That is it.

     The most interesting thing about this recipe is how it is not too sour (from the plain home made yogurt) and yet how not too sweet it is either.  I am not one for really strong banana flavoring.  The yogurt and banana combo here makes for a really interesting texture and flavor.  It really tastes a lot like a plain vanilla milkshake or maybe more like a protein shake.  It is really quite tasty, and so easy.  And the kids love it, as you can see.

On No! What's For Dinner?

     August flew by.  I really cannot believe how quickly the summer went, despite my continued resolve to take advantage of every minute.  Cooking meals was one of the hardest parts.  I would stand at my kitchen sink, washing lettuce leaf after lettuce leaf and say to myself "I should really be outside right now".  With GAPS there is so much cooking.  When you have to make all your food from scratch, it is time consuming.  Time is priceless during the summer, at least up North.

     Many days this past summer I would glance up at the clock and literally gasp.  I try to be in the kitchen by 3:30 PM as a general rule.  I find this gives me plenty of time to get food ready by a reasonable time.  A lot of times I will start dinner (usually baking) and then be able to walk away until dinner time, but that takes planning ahead.  When I glance up and it is four or even five o'clock what do I do?  I make scrambled eggs.

     I actually like to call it "egg scramble" when I write it down on the menu board I keep on the fridge.  It sounds a little more substantial, and really it is more substantial.  In the above picture I am using my awesome cast iron skillet.  I have cracklins (actually called "crackLINGs", apparently), diced onion and shredded kale frying.  Basically I put butter (or lard) in the skillet and cook whatever vegetables I have on hand, or that sound good.  A lot of times I will use left over salad toppings.  Last night we had salad with shredded carrot, diced onion and chopped broccoli.  This morning I put lard in the skillet, added the onion and broccoli, and when it was cooked I added eggs and scrambled them.  If things are already chopped up it takes maybe fifteen minutes total.  If you have to chop things it will take additional time.

     With the above picture I added a dozen and a half eggs.  That is about what my family of six will eat.  The more vegetables I use the more food their is, but the less "eggy" it is.  If you have sausage or even hamburger on hand, you can cook that instead of cracklings.  Fry the vegetables and eggs in the fat from the meat.

     It is really nice to have a meal I do not have to spend so much time making.  I think we have consumed more eggs this summer than we have in the fall and winter months previously.  Thankfully my kids are not sick of it yet.  Harvest time is here, and with all the apple sauce making, kale freezing, green bean freezing, blueberry freezing, apple dehydrating and picking and gathering (in general) of food, we will probably be taking advantage of this simple meal for a few more weeks.

Coffee is Always a Good Idea

     I love coffee.  If it did not hinder my sleeping abilities, I would drink it all day long.  I did not used to like coffee.  On my husband's and my ninth anniversary my gift to him was to start drinking coffee.  For nine years he had dutifully asked me if I wanted any coffee every time he poured himself a cup.  It took four children and a twenty by ten foot camper to bring me to my knees at the doorstep of coffee.

     Iced coffee is just about the best liquid on the planet.  That is why they get away with charging so much for it at places like Starbucks and Scooters.  (If you have never heard of Scooters I am tempted to tell you to forget the name completely, and never think of it again.  Once you experience Scooters coffee nothing can fill the void it leaves behind.  Nothing.  So in that way it is a lot like crack.)  I, however, have three reasons why you should make your own.

1. It is really easy.

2. It is really yummy.

3. It is so much cheaper!

     So, here is my personal recipe for Iced Coffee.  Note that this is not really GAPS legal.  If you use raw milk (or cream) it is more GAPS friendly.  If you substitute coconut milk it is GAPS legal, but I do not guarantee the flavor.  I have never tired coconut milk, mainly out of laziness.  If I was going to try it I would want to sit down and research it.  Do I need to buy it organic?  Where can I get it at the best price?  I have sat down to find out the answers to these questions, and wound up on Facebook instead.
   
Iced Coffee

Things you will need:
coffee
cream
honey
ice

Directions:

1. Brew coffee at double strength.

2. Pour a little bit of coffee into a quart mason jar and add 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey (depending on how sweet you like things).  Stir until the honey has dissolved.

3. Fill the jar with ice.

4. Pour more coffee over the ice.  Leave enough room for 1 or 2 tablespoons of cream.

5. Stir and then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cream.  Stir again, and enjoy!

*A note about coffee- I prefer to use flavored coffee, because I like the added flavor with out the calories.  Also, I have been meaning to try the cold brew coffee method, but I have not had a chance.  If I do, I will definitely share my findings.  Here is a link to the cold brewed coffee recipe I might try (http://www.chow.com/recipes/30487-basic-cold-brewed-coffee).  It looks time consuming.  I hear that it is less bitter when cold brewed.  In my opinion it is easier to either refrigerate the left over coffee, or to brew double strength coffee and pour it over ice to dilute.  But I am not an expert.

*Another note- I hurt my back shortly after my last post, hence the two weeks absence.  I can not sit at the computer for very long with out severe pain.  I hope to be back to myself again soon, and posting away, again.

As Close to Following a Recipe as I Get

     I catch a lot of slack at my house for my method of making a recipe.  It started pretty much right after I was married.  My husband was used to his mother's way of cooking.  She had classic recipes, things she had made him quite often over the course of his life.  He is a man that likes stability, and being able to count on something staying the same (aka- he does not like change).  His new wife, he quickly realized, is nothing like that.  In fact, I am just the opposite.  I have heard of people who eat the same thing for breakfast every morning.  Every. Morning.  Dude!  How is that possible?

     A recipe to me is a starting point.  It is suggestions by someone who knows what they are doing.  Cooking is an art (unlike baking, which is a science- and when I bake I do follow the recipe).  Everyone's taste buds are different.  For example, I like garlic.  A lot of garlic, actually.  Not everyone does though.

   
     Here is the recipe I started with yesterday, when I went to make dinner:  Acorn Squash Soup with Kale.  The picture at the top corner of the recipe is a bit misleading, if you ask me.  Here is what my soup looked like.

     First, I did not have any bacon (tragedy, I know).  So I skipped to step two, but I needed some fat to cook the onion in.  I had run out of butter.  I frantically searched the fridge for some form of animal fat, and lighted upon a few jars of chicken broth, which had a bit of fat layer on top of them.  I scooped that out, and used that to fry the onions in.

     Next came the kale.  The recipe called for 4 cups of acorn squash, I had 6, so I took the recipe amounts and multiplied them by 1.5, giving me 6 cups of acorn squash and 12 (!) cups of kale.  It says 8 cups of "finely chopped kale", right?  I read it over and over before I finally added the kale.  I decided against adding 12 cups (mostly because my kids were sick of bringing me in bowls and bowls full of kale leaves from the garden, just to have me tell them to go back and "fill 'er up again".  I am not sure if the author of the recipe meant 8 cups of kale before it was finely chopped or not, but my soup did not look like theirs, so I am assuming 8 cups of finely chopped kale was a bit more than what they used.

     Step three is where I made a mistake.  It clearly states "Add squash puree" and I assumed my nearly boiled to death squash would suffice.  I was wrong.  While it did not ruin the soup, I think if I had run it through the food processor the soup's texture would have been better.  I ended up taking a potato masher to the soup before I served it...it didn't really help.

     The recipe then calls for water.  Water?  Really?  Let me give you some advice.  If ever your recipe calls for water, no matter what you are making, stop and think, "Would chicken broth make it taste better?"  I bet 75% of the time you will answer yourself with a "HECK YEAH!"  (If you are a vegetarian, you might think vegetable stock.)  Thus I added 6 cups of chicken broth, in lieu of water. (I should have added 4.5 cups if I was following the recipe, but after adding 5- I do not like fractions, I decided it wasn't "soupy" enough.)

     After bring the soup to a boil I let it cool a bit and then tasted it.  It was alright, but I knew immediately it needed garlic.  Hence, I added half a head of garlic, about 2 tablespoons, minced, and then a lot of salt.  When I tasted it, it was perfect (except for the texture....again, I wish I would have blended it).

     Now, the really funny part about this whole thing is that if I was not writing a blog I would never have written any of this down.  I would not have measured the broth or the squash, and I would not have eye balled the garlic.  I do not measure things.  Which is why my husband, and now my children, tease me nearly every meal.  After eleven years of marriage my husband has finally come to expect recipes to differ from time to time, and not to get too attached to any one meal.  It will change, and be different next time.  Most of the time my changes improve the recipe.  (Though, I have had my disasters as well.)

     So, here is the recipe with my changes I made, plus the changes I will make for next time.  It was really tasty, and very inexpensive.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, but I think cheese would have made it!

Katie's Acorn Squash and Kale Soup

Things you will need:
2 tbsp. butter
1 large onion, diced
5 cups of kale, finely chopped
6 cups of pureed acorn squash (about 3 medium acorn squash)
2 tbsp. minced garlic
5 cups chicken broth
salt
cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in soup pot.  Add diced onions and cook until tender.  Add kale and cook until soft.

2. Add pureed acorn squash and chicken broth.  Stir and bring to a boil.

3. Remove from heat and add salt and garlic.  Mix well, and serve with cheese sprinkled on top, or you could add the cheese after it is done boiling, and have a cheesy kale and acorn squash soup, the possibilities are endless! ;)

A Surprising Favorite

     One of my favorite things about Spring is my garden.  I usually plant at least eighteen square feet of lettuce, at least!  Once the lettuce has grown enough that it needs to be thinned the meals consisting of mostly salad begin.  We eat all kinds of salads, but then again we also tend to eat the same salad over and over again.  Yes, salad ends up being our go to meal when the schedule gets full and we are out and about all Summer.  This Spring we had snow on the ground well into May.  My lettuce did not get planted as soon as I would have liked.  This left me needing meal ideas.  Enter cabbage.

     While waiting for the lettuce to grow in I discovered the many advantages to using cabbage.  It is one of the cheapest vegetables you can buy.  It is on the clean fifteen list, so I do not have to buy it organic.  I also do not have to spend an a lot of time rinsing each leaf; simply peel off the outer leaves that need to go, and you are ready to shred.  Lastly, it is so crunchy.  I love how crunchy it is.

     It surprised me how much I liked Cabbage Salad (that is what we have named it).  I made it for a potluck today.  It was quick, easy, I had all the ingredients and it handles well (heat and traveling).  At the meal tonight a friend of mine told my daughter that she really liked it.  I was so glad to hear it because it almost seemed too easy, but it is a favorite of mine.  So, here is the recipe:

Cabbage Salad

Things you will need:
1 medium sized head of cabbage, shredded
6 large carrots, peeled and shredded
1 large onion, diced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
salt to taste

Directions:
Toss all of ingredients together in a large bowl.  Serve.

     SEE!  Easy!  And if you really want a treat you can add 1/3 cup of honey to it as well, and then you have Coleslaw!  I usually make coleslaw from the left overs.  To make this recipe a complete meal sometimes I add sliced hard boiled eggs on top.  I also make egg salad to go with it sometimes, or we have even put cold shredded chicken on top.  No matter how I add to it, it always turns out yummy.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the "clean 15" and "dirty dozen".
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/

Sipping Once, Sipping Twice, Sipping Chicken Soup is NICE!

     Have you read the book Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak?  It is a family favorite in the Goshert household.  I read most of the page, but at the end of the page my kids pipe in, "Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice!"  Usually they are able to implore me to read it "just once more".

     In my post: The Delicious Side of GAPS I talked a little bit about the health benefits GAPS brought to our family.  The simple concept of drinking bone broth can make a huge impact on ones health.  In fact, a person does not even have to be on the GAPS Diet to reap the benefits of bone broth.  When ever I hear a friend or family member mention their family is sick I cannot keep myself from suggesting they make some chicken soup.  I actually grew up with my mother making chicken soup for people who were sick.  Back then, I thought it was a comfort food, and I could not understand why.  In all my historical fiction novels I love to read, the characters are always ladling broth down the throats of the invalid.  I am pretty sure they were not using bouillon cubes.

     Broth is really easy to make; take a bone and boil it in water.  Personally I like to take a whole chicken and boil it in a pot of water for an hour and a half (any longer than that and the meat gets dry).  I add lots of salt and crushed pepper corns, as well.  The oil that comes off the chicken skin makes the broth very tasty.  (When the chicken is finished cooking, you can even remove the skin and lay it out flat on a cookie sheet and broil it for a nice treat that we like to call CHICKEN BACON- add a little salt and garlic for a real treat!)  After I have removed the chew-able parts of the chicken from the bones, I boil the bones and non-chew-able parts of the chicken in the crock pot for an additional 24 hours.  If you did not partake in the chicken bacon, mentioned above, then I would add the skin to the crock pot as well.

     A quick warning if you are going to use beef bones.  Dr. Campbell-McBride says that chicken broth is very soothing to the gut, while other bone broths are more healing.  So, it is good to try other types of bones.  What I found was my family did not like the taste of the beef soup bones (the big thick bones with all the good for you marrow inside them).  Their systems did not respond very well to the very greasy broth either.  We did do pork bones with great success.  I have never tried fish bones or any other poultry, besides turkey.  I have not tried any wild game bones.

     On the GAPS Introduction Diet bone broth is supposed to be available at all times as a drink and to make into soups.  One of my favorite chicken soup recipes is loaded with garlic, onions and peppers to help scare off those cold viruses!

Chicken Soup with Rutabaga 

Things you will need:

1 whole chicken

4 large rutabaga,peeled and diced

1 small cabbage (or a handful of kale leaves), shredded

1 pound of peeled carrots (they taste better when you peel them), chopped or shredded

3 cups of minced onion

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

3 whole heads of garlic, peeled and minced

salt, to taste

pepper corns, crushed, to taste

Directions:

1. Place chicken in soup pot and cover with water.  Add salt and crushed pepper corns.  Boil for about an hour and a half, until chicken is cooked thoroughly.  (I usually start the chicken cooking and then do all my vegetable prep work.)  Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool.

2. Add all the vegetables to the broth, and bring to a boil.  Cook until all vegetables are tender.

3. While vegetables are cooking remove the meat from the bones of the chicken.  Save the bones and skin for later.  Chop the meat into bite size pieces.  When the vegetables are done cooking, turn off the stove and add chicken (you really do not want to cook the meat any more than you have to, otherwise it gets really dry).

     If you are doing GAPS you may already know how tedious it can be to prep food.  Peeling garlic is one of the most tedious jobs in the kitchen, right up there with washing the pots and pans!  I have seen several tricks to peeling garlic.  My trick it to call in my 6, 8, and 10 year old and ask them to peel garlic.  I have seen people use mortar and pestles to slightly crush the garlic to make it easier to peel.  I have seen a huge man take two giant metal bowls, crush a head of garlic with his bare hand and toss it into one of the bowls- placing the other bowl on top as a lid, and then shake the bowls vigorously.  My mother likes to shake garlic in a glass jar with a metal lid.  I usually like to avoid as many dirty dishes as possible and crack the clove with my fingers, thus breaking the skin, and peel it (or have my kids do it).

     Chopping vegetables is a time consuming task.  I do not know what I would do with out my food processor.  I have changed recipes just so I could use my food processor on all my vegetables (some things do not fit well into food processors, so I will shredded them, or cut them differently so they will fit in).  For kale I will avoid the extra work of shredding by putting it in the food processor with the chopping blade.  I pulse it and get a good result.

     Part of cooking from scratch is just excepting that you are going to be in the kitchen a big chunk of the day.  If you can cook large portions of food you can have left overs, that helps keep dishes down and cooking time down.

Sauerkraut: Getting Ready to Start GAPS Introduction Diet

     Sauerkraut is a fermented vegetable, and it is as far as the Goshert family reaches in to the realms of fermented foods.  My husband and I agreed to do the diet, but we also both adamantly declared that we would not be eating vegetables that had sat in a jar fermenting for any length of time, besides sauerkraut that is.  (See, I told you I wasn't Super Woman.)

     The reason I am starting with sauerkraut is because the first lesson I learned on GAPS (the hard way) was sauerkraut takes five to seven days to finish fermenting.  The first time we started the diet I basically turned to the section describing each step of the diet and read down the list, making a shopping list and to do list, THE DAY WE STARTED THE DIET.  If you have done GAPS Intro diet, you know this is a costly mistake.  It cost us five extra days of nothing but soup.

     The process of making sauerkraut was quite daunting to me, in fact, when I have gone long stretches with out making it I will find myself feeling daunted once again.  But every time I suck it up and make it, I think to myself, afterwards, "Now that was not that hard, was it now?"

     I got the recipe from the GAPS Diet book by Dr. Campbell-McBride, but I have learned a few tricks as well.  Here is the process, in it's entirety.

Homemade Sauerkraut

Things you will need:
-large bowl
-knife
-cutting board
-food processor (optional)
-cabbage (any amount, in my pictures I used 1/3 of a head, because that is what I had)
-natural sea salt (we use Redmond Real Salt)
-filtered water

Directions:

1. Cut up the cabbage in to smaller sized pieces, if you plan to use a food processor.  I use the 2MM blade because it makes thinner slices and is easier and quicker to turn into sauerkraut.

2. Shred the cabbage with the food processor.  If you do not have a food processor you can use a knife.  Make sure to slice the cabbage as thin as possible.

3. Once all the cabbage is sliced, place it in a bowl.  (Make sure you use a nice big bowl to give yourself ample room to "knead" the cabbage into submission.)  Add  3 table spoons of salt for every medium sized cabbage.  I did a third of a cabbage, so I added 1 table spoon of salt.  I also added a third cup of filtered water.

4. Once you have everything in the bowl start to "knead" it and squeeze it.  Depending on how much cabbage you are doing at one time, you might even want to give yourself some leverage.  I frequently will stand on a stool when I do an entire large cabbage.  When I first started making sauerkraut it would take me a half hour of kneading to get it done.  Now, I do not mess around.  In the next picture you can see me squeezing the cabbage with all  my might.  When I first started I also did not really know what I was aiming for.  Now I know the texture, and it only took me seven minutes to make this batch (and that was with taking pictures added in).

The picture above is in the beginning, and the one below is after a few minutes of squeezing and kneading.

It becomes really juicy.  You can feel the cabbage start to give.  It is no longer ridged but more spongy.  I have found that adding as much water as I do does not hurt the process at all, but it helps the cabbage get to the spongy texture more quickly.

5. After it is nice and spongy and juicy put it into a jar (or a few jars).  Make sure to push the cabbage down to the bottom, making all the air come to the top.  After you have it all in, and pushed down, add more filtered water, leaving almost an inch of air at the top.  DO NOT OVER FILL, I have made this mistake.  As the cabbage ferments it will bubble and leak out of the jar.

6. Make sure to wipe the rim of the jar clean and put a lid on it.  Set it out of the way in a darker corner of your kitchen.  It will take 5 to 7 days to finish fermenting.  When it is done it will smell like sauerkraut.  Place it in the fridge to use as needed.

     See, I told you it would be easy.  Of course your first time may be daunting, just like mine.  I strongly suggest making sauerkraut BEFORE you start the diet.  Having it ready and on hand will help alleviate stress.  GAPS Diet calls for fermented juices in soups and broths.  It is very healthy and has lots of good bacteria, minerals and vitamins.  It is tasty with meats (particularly bratwurst and sausages).

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that air pressure will build up, and every other day or so you should open the lid to let out some of the pressure.  Also, I forgot to mention that all the cabbage needs to be submerged under liquid, otherwise it will rot, not ferment.  I just checked on this today, my batch I made, and it was ready.  I put it in the fridge today.

The Delicious Side of GAPS

     I have been doing GAPS for three years.  It has not been an easy road, but the benefits have been amazing.  So amazing, in fact, that I have to restrain myself from suggesting it to every person I meet who even has a slight health issue.

     I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now.  I have experienced so much and learned so much that it almost feels greedy not to share my experiences and knowledge with others.  I have also doubted my self, and what I really have to offer.  I have not done GAPS perfectly.  I have not even done it exclusively for the whole three years.  There have been many bumps on my GAPS journey.

     GAPS Diet stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome Diet.  If you read the book and/or search online you will find big words and phrases describing this strange diet.  In the beginning I was leery of this diet.  The ideas presented in Dr. Campbell-McBride's books are strange and a bit confusing.  If I had not promised myself that I would try this diet out, for the sake of my youngest son, no matter how hard it was, I probably would not have made it this far.  But I am not Super Woman.  I do not have this diet down pat.  We do not even do all the things Dr. Campbell-McBride says to do in the book.  But I did read the book, and I was convinced that I needed to try the diet.

     I am starting this blog to help other mothers out there, like me, who have kids who are sick.  I am taking a leap of faith, I am putting myself out there and encouraging others to read the Gut and Psychology Syndrome book by Dr. Campbell-McBride, to make a life style change for good for their families and themselves.  And I am also here to say that you do not have to eat fermented vegetables every meal to heal your gut.  While doing the GAPS Diet is a big step, if does not have to happen all at once.  You can take baby steps, and you can learn to love different foods.  You can even learn to cook, like me!  I am not Super Woman, and I do not have all the answers, but I do have a crazy cool story!

My GAPS Story

     Our story begins with my youngest son's first birthday.  I made him a Betty Crocker boxed chocolate cake in the shape of a dinosaur with neon green frosting and with it we served chocolate ice cream.  My mother loaded him up with a heaping plate.  He was happy and content, but that night turned into one of the worst nights of my entire life.  He was in some sort of comma that would only be broken by agonizing screams every hour or so.  He would not open his eyes, he just screamed, and then fell back to sleep.  If I had been more awake I might have taken him to the hospital, but instead I held him and slept while he slept, and tried to calm him when he began to scream.  The next day I beat myself up for hours over my cake and ice cream flavor choices.  I decided that it had to be the chocolate, and we started avoiding chocolate.  Soon after (with no connection to the birthday cake incident) we made the switch to cloth diapers.  All the blog articles I read made it sound so easy.  I was excited to have my new cute gDiapers.  It was not long before I realized that cloth diapers were not easy, not for my one year old.  He never had a normal poop.  He had puddles of poop.  Not shortly after that I met a woman who had a wheat and dairy allergy.  I myself discovered I was having PMS like symptoms all the time, and had been for months.  I decided to try not eating wheat or dairy and see if I had an allergy.  Within a few days I felt myself again, and I was so happy.  I introduced wheat again to see if it might just be the dairy, with success.  I then decided to see if my son might have similar issues.  I took him off wheat and dairy with immediate results.  About a week later he accidentally got a hold of some cheerios at church and later had a bloody stool.  I knew then that this was a big deal.

     Next my husband and I moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with our (then) three children.  Our son was a peanut, really little for his age.  He was now two years old, and although he was active and happy, he was small and quite sickly (despite the food changes).  Because he was so sickly I never got around to having him immunized; it just never seemed like he was healthy enough.  A few months after we settled in to our new home I found a doctor who I had heard really good things about with regards to allergies.  We visited her and that is where we first learned about the GAPS Diet.  She strongly encouraged me to try it, saying that his allergies would only get worse, soon he would grow allergic to rice, soy and maybe eggs.  His problem was not a true allergy, but his gut was messed up.  This made me think back to his birth.  I had tested positive for Strep B before I gave birth, and went in once my contractions started to get two doses of antibiotics in before he was born.  I also thought about how he had not been immunized, and the doctor cautioned against it, saying his gut was not healthy enough.

     It took a few months for me to read the book.  I learned so much, and I was scared and over whelmed.  But I knew it was what we needed to try.  Then I picked a day to start the Intro Diet, and started using up the foods we would not be able to eat on the diet.  Looking back I did a lot of things I would suggest people NOT do when they start the diet.  But that is kind of how I roll, learning what NOT to do the hard way.  One example of this is the camping trip we took a week before we started the diet.  I knew we would not be able to eat all the wonderful camping comfort foods after the diet started, so we loaded up on orange pop and Cheetos!  I shake my head in utter amazement at myself now, exactly three years later.

     So, three years later, after starting the diet on July 28, 2011, I am now the mother of four.  I have survived long road trips, moving, renovating a very old house (and living out of a camper for the first 5 months of it) and church potlucks, all while doing GAPS.  And like I said before, we have not always done it perfectly, but we have done it.  The health benefits I have seen astound me.  Not only are my sons food allergies gone, but so are mine, and my husbands (we later found out that he had the same allergies as my son). Another benefit we have seen is general healthiness of the whole family.  Before we tried GAPS our kids were sick all winter.  They had continual runny noses and it was nasty thick green snot.  Now they get the sniffles every now and then.  Before we started the diet my medicine cabinet was full of all kinds of medicine.  After the diet it I watched as my medicines expired and I had to throw them away, never needing to replace them.  But the coolest benefit of all was when my kids stopped being picky eaters.  My oldest son would throw up when ever he thought a potato was in his mouth.  No french fries or tatter tots for him.  He would not touch a tomato.  Now he eats beets and lima beans.  He begs for tomatoes in his soups and salads.

The Delicious Side of GAPS
   
     GAPS is a lot of work, especially in the beginning.  I have learned a lot of tricks to doing GAPS on the go, and making meals that are quick but yummy.  I have also learned how to make up recipes from the ingredients I have on hand.  But the biggest thing I have learned while on GAPS is it is delicious.  The benefits I mentioned earlier do not have to come at a price to taste.  There are lots of wonderful things you can eat on GAPS, it just takes some time to learn how.

     I hope you have been encouraged by this.  I am eager to share recipes and tips with you in this blog.  I will be starting with the intro diet, because I think it is a big part of healing the gut.  I will actually be going back to the intro diet due to a miscarriage I had three months ago.  I was thirteen weeks along, and I had been having a horrible time keeping food down, and I stopped GAPS all together.  After the miscarriage I ate horribly, just trying to survive.  Now I am eager to get my body back to one hundred percent.

     Please join me for the rest of our GAPS journey.  I look forward to sharing with you and being a source of encouragement to you.  You can do it.  And you will be so happy that you did!