Crockpot Stuffing

I know. I know. But seriously, this is an amazing recipe.  It's easy, doesn't take up any room in your already packed oven, and is delicious!

Ingredients:

Photo: Serious Eats

• 1 C butter
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 C chopped celery
• 2T chopped fresh parsley
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 12-13 C slightly dry gluten free bread, cubed
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 t dried sage
• 1 t dried thyme
• 1/2 t ground marjoram
• 2 - 2 1/2 C chicken or bone broth
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Photo: Serious Eats

1. Melt butter in a large skillet and sauté onion, celery, parsley, and mushrooms, until onions are translucent.
2. Add bread cubes to a large bowl and add butter mixture.
3. Add all the seasonings as toss well.
4. Pour in enough broth to moisten bread cubes.
5. Add beaten eggs and mix well.
6. Pack lightly into a well buttered slow cooker.
7. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serves 6.

Whole30 Day 22: Shepherd's Pie

I like to think of Shepherd's Pie as an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of dish because you can throw almost anything in with the meat.  I've posted Shepherd's Pie on my blog before but it's not whole30.  I made some tweaks and easily turned this dish into a yummy whole30 meal.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs sweet potatoes or yams, baked until soft and cooled
• 1T evoo
• 1 small onion, chopped
• about 5 small carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• a couple handfuls of baby brussel sprouts, sliced
• 1lb chorizo
• 1/2 lb grass-fed ground beef
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup bone broth or other broth

Directions:

1. In a large skillet heat evoo and add onion, carrots, and celery. 
2. Cook about 5 min and add brussel sprouts, cook for about 2 min
3. Add chorizo and beef and cook until no longer pink
4. Add seasonings to taste
5. In a large mixing bowl add the sweet potatoes and broth (I was lucky enough to have some leftover homemade vegetable soup and used that for extra veggies!)
6. Blend potatoes and broth until smooth
7. If your skillet is oven proof, spread potatoes over meat mixture and put into oven.  If not, pour meat mixture into a baking dish and top with potatoes.
8. Bake at 350˚F for about 30 minutes.

I super, super love this one pot meal!!

Whole30 Day 9: Homemade Chicken Soup

So, my youngest is home sick.  Time to make chicken soup.  Thankfully, I turned my bones from last Monday's "Beer Can" Chicken into delicious, healing broth.

Ingredients:

• bone broth - make it yourself to get all the rich, healing nutrients.  Why bone broth? Check it out here that includes a recipe.
• organic, free range, roasted chicken
• veggies: carrots, celery, onion, kale, zucchini, broccoli, etc.
• salt to taste

Directions:

Add all ingredients to bone broth and bring to a boil.  Simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender (not mushy).

Curry Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

Photo: the café sucré farine

This recipe is based on The Café Sucré Farine's Thai Butternut Coconut Curry Soup.  I had to modify ingredients to get my family to eat it.  It turned out delicious!

Ingredients:

·      1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

·      1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped in 2" pieces

·      2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

·      1 large onion, chopped

·      2 stalks celery, peeled, chopped (I recommend peeling to avoid strands in final product)

·      4 cloves garlic, chopped

·      1" piece fresh ginger, peeled, coarsely chopped

·      1 teaspoon crushed coriander seed

·      2 teaspoons sea salt

·      1 tablespoon mild curry powder

·      2 quarts home made bone broth or organic, gluten free stock

·      1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped in 2" pieces

·      1 can coconut milk, we use Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk

Directions:

1.     Coat butternut squash with coconut oil and  roast  in a baking dish at 400˚F for about 30 minutes or until soft.  Set aside.

2.   Add extra virgin olive oil to a large stock pot. Heat on medium high until hot.

2.     Add onions and celery and sauté until translucent.

3.     Add garlic, ginger, coriander, salt, and curry powder and cook for two minutes.

4.     Add broth and sweet potato. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

5.     Cook for 45 minutes or until all veggies are very tender.

6.     Add coconut milk and cook for another two minutes.

7.     Puree with a stick blender, food processor or regular blender until smooth and silky. 

Butternut Squash Risotto

My husband and I are of the paleo and bulletproof thinking that white rice is ok, as long as you can tolerate it.  For more info than you really want about rice you can check out FitBomb.  Fitbomb says,

If you stick with white rice (which doesn’t contain the phytate and trypsin inhibitor content of the less-milled brown rice) and you cook it properly (which neutralizes the haemagglutinin-lectin), you don’t have much to worry about from an anti-nutrient perspective... It is essentially a blank slate, nothing all that bad about it, but nothing all that great, either.

Chris Kresser, whom my husband and I both highly respect, shares his idea of a paleo template and the optimal diet for modern day humans.

If we are indeed asking what the optimal diet is for modern humans (rather than simply speculating about what our Paleolithic ancestors ate), there’s no way to answer that question definitively. Why? Because just as there is tremendous variation amongst populations with diet, there is also tremendous individual variation. Some people clearly do better with no dairy products. Yet others seem to thrive on them. Some feel better with a low-carb approach, while others feel better eating more carbohydrate. Some seem to require a higher protein intake (up to 20-25% of calories), but others do well when they eat a smaller amount (10-15%).

The only way to figure out what an optimal diet is for you is to experiment and observe. The best way to do that is to remove the “grey area” foods you suspect you might have trouble with, like dairy, nightshades, eggs, etc. for a period of time (usually 30 days is sufficient), and add them back in one at a time and observe your reactions. This “30-day challenge” or elimination diet is what folks like Robb Wolf have recommended for a long time.

As I try to figure out what my optimal diet is, I've begun to "experiment and observe" with a fodmap free template.  Cauliflower is a high fodmap food and so we've had to cut out the cauliflower rice recipes that have become so popular.  Fine with me.  I like rice and can tolerate it well.

With all that in mind here is a fodmap free, very yummy recipe for risotto.  Of course, if you would rather stick with cauliflower, substitute the arborio rice for a head of cauliflower (about 1 1/2 lbs).

Photo: The Italian Chef

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash (about 1 1/2 lbs), peeled and cut into chunks
• 4T ghee or bacon fat, divided
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 1 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1T fresh sage, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 1/2 cups grass-fed bone broth or organic, grass-fed beef or pastured chicken stock
• about 3 slices bacon, cooked, chopped, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
2. Place the butternut squash on a foil-lined baking sheet and coat with 2T bacon fat and sprinkle with salt.
3. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until tender.
4. Blend squash with 1/2 cup broth in a blender.  Set aside.
5. Heat broth in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat.
6. While squash is roasting melt 2T bacon fat in a large skillet.
7. Add rice, asafoetida, sage, and nutmeg, stir about 2 minutes.
8. Add 1/2 cup heated broth to rice.  Stir together until liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.
9. Repeat with remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, until all liquid is absorbed.  Rice should be cooked through and creamy.
10. Fold blended squash into rice.
11. Season to taste with salt.
12. Top with bacon.

Butternut Squash Soup

Here we go!  I'm taking you with me on my 30-day fodmap free journey.  I've made a few new things and tweaks some old things.

Here I revisited my fall soup and made it fodmaps free.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4-6 carrots, cut into chunks
• bone broth made without foods from fodmap list
• bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida,* optional
• sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Place all the vegetables in a heavy stock pot or dutch oven.
2. Add bone broth to cover vegetables.
3. Add bayleaf and asafoetida.
4. Cook until boiling then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until vegetables are soft.
5. Discard bayleaf.
6. Pour ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
7. Add salt to taste.

*Asafoetida is an excellent substitute for garlic and onion.  You can find it at specialty spice shops.  We bought ours at Savory Spice Shop.

Bone Broth

Photo: NomNomPaleo

One crucial super-food I'm trying to get more of is bone broth.  Homemade, gelatin, collagen, mineral rich yummy goodness!  Learn more about why bone broth is a super food at one of our favorite sites, Balanced Bites.

My main reason for having bone broth everyday is the gelatin helps your system digest more effectively which evidently I need help with.  Bone broth is a gut healing super food!

Aids Digestion
Yet another benefit of gelatin, bone broth helps your system digest more efficiently, especially milk, meat, beans, and grains. That’s likely why it’s used in GAPS and other gut healing diets. Who doesn’t need a little help digesting everything in our day and age?

Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/02/21/10-reasons-i-drink-bone-broth/#OKdVJyHD2MtOC4yy.99

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10 Reasons I Drink Bone Broth

February 21st, 2013 · 56 Comments · Food for Thought, Frugality, Natural Health

Welcome! If you wish you could eat more whole foods without breaking your budget, you're in the right place. Start here for my top 10 baby steps to better Kitchen Stewardship.

You might also be interested in family-friendly, delicious and nutritious recipes or one of my popular eBooks to help you on your journey.

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485
Would you drink a mug of chicken bone broth? I never drank it before last week.
In that week, my toddler got pneumonia, my second grader threw up, my preschooler coughed for days on end, my husband coughed…and I would get a tickle of a sore throat now and then. It always went away.
Let me also explain that I do not have the perfect diet – I eat too much late at night while blogging and get into the Halloween candy and random Costco chocolates far too often.
I do not get enough sleep. Some nights I only get three hours of sleep, and even that is interrupted at least once by my nursling. The day before Thanksgiving I was up until 3:30 a.m. baking pies and writing a post for Attune, and then I saw my little guy once or twice (maybe three times), my daughter had a nightmare and cuddled in my bed for a few minutes, and by 6 or 6:30, my oldest son was throwing up.

My husband, who slept through me getting out of bed at least six times plus Leah getting into our bed, received the “state of the family’ address at 7:30 a.m., otherwise known as, “Honey, let me catch you up on what has happened while you were sleeping.”
That part has nothing to do with my story except that it’s amazing the man slept through all that, and woefully ironic that he pops out of bed the second his alarm goes off while I have no idea anything happened. He’ll wake me up for a third time and I think it’s only the first.
I digress.
I never promised to be right in mind, just able to fend off illness with a mighty hand…I mean, cup of bone broth.
I wrote the intro to this post in December, hence the Thanksgiving reference, but ironically, in the last two weeks we’ve had two kids with ear infections, three kids with fever, one toddler with pneumonia (again!), lots of coughing, (all of which we fended off without antibiotics) and no bone broth in the house for the last month. Coincidence? Maybe. But I bought a chicken not-on-sale yesterday and have been drinking mugs of it this morning. It’s broth week at Kitchen Stewardship, after all!

485

10 Reasons to Drink Bone Broth

1. Immunity Boosting Fat
The yellow fat from pastured chickens holds immune boosting powers that are only the tip of the iceberg in the power of a properly prepared chicken stock to keep you from getting the next cold or other bug that flies through your house.
2. Warm Liquid is Soothing
It’s okay to mention the obvious. There are plenty of other immune-boosting strategies, like apple cider vinegar water, using lots of raw garlic, and taking fermented cod liver oil, but the soothing feel of a warm liquid on a cold day can’t be beat. (You’ll still want FCLO from Green Pasture for the Vitamins A and D and omega 3s, but you might not want to sip it as you sit at the computer!)
3. Super Mineral Boost
Bone broth contains minerals from the bones that are not only abundant but easy to assimilate into our bodies (unlike the whole mess with whole grains and phytic acid and such – see the soaking grains series for more info on that). Minerals that will help you stay in optimal health include:

• calcium
• magnesium
• phosphorus
• other trace minerals
• (source)

4. Better Carrier for Garlic and Cayenne than Tea
Fresh garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper are great immunity boosting foods to eat as well, and while ginger makes a decent tea, it’s just weird to sip tea with garlic and cayenne. They taste awesome in broth though…

5. Gelatin for Joint Health
One of the incredible benefits of real bone broth made with the vinegar soak, all the cartilage from the animal and the actual bones is that your finished stock should have a good amount of gelatin. Gelatin is the cooked form of collagen, which makes up about half the protein in our bodies, so you’re truly “body building” when you consume it.
Gelatin provide glycine, an amino acid that promotes healthy cartilage and ultimately aids in avoiding joint pain. Could a cup a day keep the acetaminophen away?
6. Improves Bone Density
The calcium that leaches out of the bones into the stock is ready to be absorbed into your body, the perfect weapon against osteoporosis or weak bones in any way. (source)
7. Aids Digestion
Yet another benefit of gelatin, bone broth helps your system digest more efficiently, especially milk, meat, beans, and grains. That’s likely why it’s used in GAPS and other gut healing diets. Who doesn’t need a little help digesting everything in our day and age?

Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/02/21/10-reasons-i-drink-bone-broth/#OKdVJyHD2MtOC4yy.99

Here's my husband Brad's recipe:
Note: There are many recipes and a lot of them add in veggies.  We've kept it simple here to keep in line with the low-fodmap diet.

Ingredients:

• bag of bones from grass-fed beef, lamb or organic pastured poultry
• a splash of apple cider vinegar to help leach minerals from the bones
• filtered water to cover

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to your slow cooker.
2. Cook on low for 12-24 hours.
3. Skim the fat off the top before drinking.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Remaining broth can be poured off and refrigerated. Lift off hardened fat before heating and drinking.
6. If freezing, cool to room temperature in a glass, bpa-free container.  Put in freezer and leave top off until frozen to avoid cracking jar.  Replace lid.

You can drink the stock any time and you can use it as a base for soups and add it to recipes calling for water or broth.

OK, so what can I eat on a 30-day FODMAP free journey?  Easier to say what I can't eat.  Depending on whose list you are looking at some things may vary.  I've decided to go with Chris Kresser's list:

FODMAP rich foods to avoid:

Vegetables

·      Artichokes

·      Asparagus

·      Beets

·      Broccoli

·      Brussels Sprouts

·      Cabbage

·      Cauliflower

·      Dandelion Greens

·      Fennel

·      Garlic

·      Green Bell Peppers

·      Green Onions

·      Leeks

·      Mushrooms

·      Okra

·      Onions

·      Shallots

Fruits

·      Apples

·      Apricots

·      Avocados

·      Blackberries

·      Cherries

·      Lychees

·      Mangoes

·      Nectarines

·      Peaches

·      Pears

·      Persimmons

·      Plums

·      Prune

·      Watermelon

Herbs & Spices

·      Chicory

·      Fennel

·      Horseradish

·      Wasabi

Nuts & Seeds

·      Pistachios

Why am I doing this?  My stomach has been hurting with almost everything I eat.  Even a strict Paleo diet wasn't helping.  So, I'm trying to cut out more foods that may be exacerbating my problems.  I just need to clean out a little and see what happens.

Roasted Garlic and Parsnip Mash

I really enjoyed this possible Thanksgiving side dish.  Turns out, though, my daughter doesn't like parsnips - too much like cooked carrots.  Just found out she doesn't like sweet potatoes, either.  Yikes!

So we won't be enjoying this dish for Thanksgiving, but you might.

Photo: Paleoaholic

Ingredients:

3 big parsnips, peeled, and cut into chunks
2 Tbsp olive oil or other fat suitable for high temperatures
1/4+ cup homemade bone broth or raw milk
2 whole garlic bulbs
sea salt to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400˚F
• Place parsnips in a baking dish and drizzle with oil.  Sprinkle with salt.
• Cut tops off of garlic bulbs to expose cloves.  Place on a square of foil, drizzle with oil, and fold up sides of foil to create a pouch.
• Roast parsnips and garlic until soft, about 40 minutes.
• Place parsnips in food processor and add liquid.  
• Squeeze garlic cloves out of bulb and add to food processor.  
• Blend ingredients together until they are the consistency you desire.  Add more liquid and salt to taste.

Green Bean Casserole With Crispy Shallots

We usually pass up green bean casserole due to it's unhealthy ingredients.  This year it sounds good so I'm hunting for the perfect recipe.  Here's my version of The Urban Poser's recipe.

 

The Urban Poser

Ingredients:

1½ cups of Creamy Cashew Gravy*

1 lb haricots verts

2 large shallots

¼ cup coconut oil or ghee

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400˚F
• Blanch the green beans in boiling, salted water for about 2 min. Drain. If you are not going to bake green beans immediately, you will need to shock them in a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking.
•  In a large bowl, combine the green beans and gravy. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake at 400˚F for about 20 min or until the gravy begins to bubble.
•  Meanwhile prepare crispy shallots.  Peel and slice the shallots into thin rings.
•  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium/low heat until oil bubbles slightly. Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots and cook for 5 - 6 min or until they reach a golden brown color. Stir occasionally to ensure even browning.
•  Using a slotted spoon, remove shallots from the oil, drain well and let cool on paper towels until ready to use.
•  Remove green beans from oven, top with crispy shallots, and serve.

*Creamy Cashew Gravy

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup homemade bone broth + ¼ cup

1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee

½ onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

½ tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

sea salt to taste

Directions:

• Soak the cashews for 4 hours then rinse and drain. Transfer to food processor 
• Sauté the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat, cook until caramelized.  
• Add onion & garlic to food processor with the cashews. Set the pan aside.
• Add 1 cup of broth to the food processor and blend until smooth.
• Pour the cashew mixture into the onions & garlic pan. Add the thyme and whisk the cashew mixture over a medium heat for a few minutes or until it thickens and darkens up a little bit.  Whisk constantly so that it doesn't burn.
• Whisk in the ¼ cup broth, lemon juice, and salt.  Stirring constantly, allow it thicken for a few minutes.