Mock Stroganoff (GAPS style)

     I just made this.  I loved it so much I rushed to my computer to post this recipe.  Of course I did not use an actual recipe.  I did reference an Eggplant Stroganoff recipe to see if I could actually call what I made a stroganoff.  I think I can get away with it!

MOCK Stroganoff (GAPS Style)

Things you will need:

cast iron pan

1 pound ground beef

1 large to medium size onion, diced

1 large to medium size eggplant, diced in small slices, almost like small noodles

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 cup yogurt or yogurt cheese

Directions:

1. Place beef, onion, eggplant, garlic, salt and pepper into the cast iron pan and cook on high for about 10 minutes (or until beef is cooked).

2. Turn off heat, and let cool for a few minutes.  Add yogurt to pan and mix well.

3. Serve.

     Okay, so there are not any mushrooms in this, so I may not actually get away with calling it a stroganoff, but it was SO GOOD!  And mushrooms are expensive, and a lot of people do not even like them, so that works.  We normally do not allot for beef in our budget, but ended up with some this month, and I am so excited because I can make recipes like this!

     Did I mention I love beef?

Three Ingredient Soup

     Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooup!  My life seems to revolve around soup.  Soup pops up everywhere, and in just about every conversation I have, it seems.  A friend calls to cancel a play date because of sick kids- I naturally ask if I can bring her some chicken soup.  I plan a day in town, I grab a quart of soup I have stashed for just such an occasion.  In fact, the first thing I usually do in the kitchen is check in on my soup reserves.  I eat a lot of soup.  To be honest, I am getting kind of bored of it.

"At home I have big vats of cabbage soup I make to slim down." 

-Jilly Cooper

     I try fancy recipes to get me out of the slumps, but to no avail.  I just do not really want to drink my food anymore, and the more ingredients the more complicated and for some reason the less I like the flavor.  So, I came up with this simple recipe.  This is a winning soup.  I can not really tell you why I like it so much, or why I prefer it to any other, but it just works so well.  So here it is, Three Ingredient Soup

Three Ingredient Soup

Things you will need:

whole chicken

4 cloves of garlic, minced

peeled and shredded carrots (about 2 to 3 pounds)

soup pot

salt and pepper

water

(okay, so technically there are six ingredients if you count the salt, pepper and water)

Directions:

1. Place whole chicken in soup pot and cover with water.  Add salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for an hour and a half or until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.

2. Remove the chicken from the soup pot.  Cut open to cool more quickly, slicing down the middle of the breast.

3. Add shredded carrots and minced garlic to soup pot and bring to a boil.

4. While waiting for the soup pot to come back to a boil, remove the chicken from the bone.  (I usually am hungry by this point and I eat the chicken skin and things you would not want to bite into in your soup.)  Cut the meat up into bite size pieces and set aside.  (Save the bones for bone broth.)

5. Let soup boil for 15 to 20 minutes, then remove from heat and mix in chicken.  Stir and serve.

"Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake." -Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear     

GAPS Ice Cream Sandwiches

     I have lots of recipes to share, and no time to share them.  Time is flying by here at the Goshert house!  Aaron has just turned eleven and more birthdays are on the way, Summer must be around the corner.

     Aaron requested ice cream sandwiches instead of a cake.  I racked my brain for a while trying to come up with something that would work.  He can not have dairy or almonds right now (he is seeing a special chiropractor for an additional heath issue right now) so that limited me a bit more.  In the past I have made home made frozen yogurt in our ice cream maker.  

     I had narrowed down the cookie part of the ice cream sandwich down to four recipes.  I wanted to try them all before hand, in case they did not turn out.  That did not happen.  Nine o'clock the night of Aaron's birthday I end up choosing the cookie recipe based on what ingredients I actually had.  My coconut oil supply had been depleted because of all the frying I did for Aaron's birthday dinner.  I had a half cup of coconut oil left.

     I ended up going with "GAPS Date Cookies" because I happened to have some dates on hand (a gift from a wonderful friend).  See the recipe here.  I did change a few things, out of necessity, but the cookies did not turn out better for it, so I would stick with the original recipe.  The cookie was very much like a short bread.  Not too sweet, and a great texture.

     Next comes the ice cream, and actually this was the easy part.  Frozen bananas and a little, fifteen dollar, kitchen toy.  (It was 75% off, and since my Cuisinart food processor bowl and lid broke and I have not been able to replace them, my husband bought me this cute little "toy" to pitch in where the Cuisinart had left a void.  It is trying it's best, but having a hard time.  Good thing it is so cute.)

Now that Summer is nearly here I buy even MORE bananas.  People actually question my sanity in the check out line.  We also hear quite frequently, "Do you guys have pet monkeys?"  To which we smile and nod and say, "Yes, four of them.  They are adorable, and love bananas, not to mention bananas are cheaper and healthier than candy bars..."  I digress.  Anyway, when the bananas get really ripe, we peel them, lay them out on a cutting board, and place them in the freezer.  After a day or two I put all the frozen bananas into a freezer bag, and put them in the deep freeze.  This makes banana smoothies and banana ice cream a snap to make.

     I did not plan on posting about this, so I did not take many pictures, but here is the final product.  I had to put some ice cream in a glass cup so I could put the candles in something.

     Here is the recipe break down for you, everything in one place.  So handy!  Speaking of handy, I have started using my iPad (another wonderful gift from a wonderful friend) as a cook book.  I tried a few apps first, but most of them would not work on my iPad because it is older, but that ended up working out fine because I just look up recipes on the web and book mark them.  Of course I can not edit the recipes (which you all know of my compulsion to do so) but since I change them every time anyway, it keeps me looking at the original, which helps my success rate a bit more.  Plus I have a good memory.  Anyway, back to why it is so much easier, rather than just writing it down, I now have a file folder over flowing with recipes.  This is a great resource, except me, the organizing queen can not find a way to organize them!  It started a few months ago, I just stopped looking for the recipes in the folder and started using the iPad to find the original recipes on line.  Now I just bookmark them and they are easy to find.

GAPS Ice Cream Sandwiches

Things you will need:
6 frozen bananas (a banana for each person)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 and 1/2 cups of coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used home made, another gift from a wonderful friend!)
1 egg (but it turned out pretty crumbly, so I think 2 would be better)
10 pureed dates
1/8 cup honey (optional)
baking stone or cookie sheet
parchment paper
blender, food processor or a Black and Decker Lean Mean Prep Machine
stand mixer and a few other bowls
platter of some sorts
ice cream scoop

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pull out frozen bananas to thaw a bit.

3. Line baking stone or cookie sheet with parchment paper.

4. Remove the pits from the dates and puree the dates in a blender or food processor.

5. Add egg, coconut oil and vanilla extract to the dates and puree until smooth.

6. In the stand mixer (or a separate bowl) mix the coconut flour, and salt together.  Dump the wet ingredients in and mix.  This was the tricky part for me.  The "mixture" seemed really crumbly to me.  I added some honey and used my hands to get the ingredients to stick together.

7. With your hands make flat round cookies, the size of your hand.  Place on a cookie sheet or baking stone lined with parchment paper.  Make two "cookies" for each person, so you have enough to make an actual ice cream sandwich.

8. Place the cookie sheet or baking stone into the oven for 20 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and let cool.  I ended up having to put mine in the freezer because I was out of time.  Make sure they are not hot, or the ice cream will melt.

10. While cookies are cooling, take the bananas you pulled out previously and chop them into smaller pieces and place in a blender or food processor.  If you are using the handy dandy Black and Decker Lean Mean Prep Machine, you do not have to cut the bananas.  The texture should be like soft served ice cream.

11. Lay the cookies out.  On half of the cookies place a scoop of banana ice cream, then place another cookie on top of the ice cream.  Carefully smash the cookie down.  I also used the ice cream scoop to smash the ice cream down a bit.

     There you have it!  Easy peasy, eh?