Deck Your Halls With Bourbon Balls (or Rum Balls) (GAPS, paleo, Primal, dairy free, gluten free)

By Kristen

There is something about food in ball form that pleases everyone, from your lumberjack cousin to your blue-blooded grandmother, everyone will be smiling when they lay eyes on this slightly sinful treat.

Part 1: Coconut Vanilla Cookies (don't worry, you can't taste the coconut once the balls are complete)

Have you ever noticed that honey cookies are always soft? That's because honey is a humectant, which means it both attracts and retains water. However, this dessert desires a dry cookie to start, which is why you have to throw these into the inferno of your oven until they are seconds away from burning.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup sifted coconut flour

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1 pinch Celtic sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a largish bowl combine the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Slowly mix the coconut flour into the liquid ingredients using an electric mixer. The dough will be dryish but will still stick together. These cookies do not need to be pretty my friends, they will soon be decimated into tiny little crumbs, so grab an inch-sized ball and smash it down flat on a well greased cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until they are so dry and brown they are almost burned.

Part 2: The Balls

1 batch coconut vanilla cookies

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons honey 

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons small batch bourbon or dark rum (rum is not GAPS legal)

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate 

1/8 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

11/2 cup lightly toasted pecans (or walnuts for rum balls) pulsed in your food processor until they are fine little pieces.

Pulse the coconut vanilla cookies in the food processor until they are small crumbs. Melt the chocolate over a double broiler or one you make by putting a metal bowl into water that has just been boiled. stir the honey into the chocolate. Stir the bourbon into the chocolate, one tablespoon at a time. Mix 1/2 the nuts into the cookie crumbs along with the salt. Stir the chocolate into the cookie crumb mixture. Form into balls and roll in the remaining nuts. Let sit in your fridge for a day to allow the flavors to mingle. They really are better with age, but who am I kidding? You are totally eating one right now :) One more thing: you can freeze these and they will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Chip Cookies (GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten free, dairy free)

By Kristen

Who, besides a smug few, doesn't revel in the indescribable flavor of chocolate? There is nothing else like it, but unfortunately our modern ways have led us to mixing sugar mountains into our precious cocoa. This recipe uses honey and none of the misplaced coconut oil found in other honey sweetened chocolate recipes.

Ingredients:

8 ounces unsweetened organic chocolate

2 tablespoons honey (or a bit more if you like things on the sweeter side, but no more than 2 1/2 tablespoons)

1/8 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Do it:

On super low heat melt the chocolate. Be careful, it can burn REALLY easily. If you have it use a double broiler or make one by boiling water in a saucepan and putting a metal bowl on top. When melted remove from heat and stir in honey and salt. Finally, stir in the vanilla. Take foil and pinch up the sides to make a vessel. Spread the chocolate into a flat bar, about 1/4 inch thick, or thinner depending on what size you want your chunks. Allow to cool. Use a sharp knife to cut it into chunks.

Use it:

Chocolate chips cookies using the Bake Me Home Tonight recipe:

1/4 Batch chocolate chunks
1/2 a stick butter (or palm or coconut oil), melted
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Celtic salt

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the honey. Hint: if you grease your tablespoon the honey slides right out. Remove from heat. In a medium sized bowl mix the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla to the butter mixture. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Drop overflowing tablespoons of batter on to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on your altitude and the actual internal temp of your oven, which can vary from what your dial says.

Zucchini Muffins (GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten Free, grain free, dairy free) )

By Kristen

You know when you find that zucchini in your garden the size of a submarine torpedo that you may or may not have been ignoring the past few weeks? This recipe is especially for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 cup butter (or palm or coconut oil), melted

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 eggs, separated 

1 cup raw zucchini, shredded

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the almond flour, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the honey to the melted butter, then add the vanilla. mix into the almond flour mixture. Stir in egg yolks. Whip egg whites to form stiff peaks, then gently fold into batter. Divide evenly into 12 paper lined muffins. Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

Arugula Pesto Sauce ((GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten Free, grain free, dairy free, nut free)

By Kristen

Pesto has a ridiculously high flavor to time in kitchen ratio, making it a super simple way to make your summer grilled meats and veggies pop. Additionally arugula is the classiest of greens, once it joins the party your dish is instantly propelled into flavors of the upper class, leaving you feeling like one of the 2%.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch arugula (about 8 cups), chopped.  Arugula is most often found in your garden, CSA or farmer's market

• 1-2 cloves garlic depending on the strength and size of your garlic

• Juice from 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons

• 1/2 cup olive oil (add more if you want a thinner sauce)

• Celtic sea salt to taste. Add pepper too if it pleases you.

Method:

Throw it all in your food processor with the regular blade. Process until it has reached desired consistency.

Serve on burgers, grilled chicken fish or shrimp, grilled vegetables, or whatever else inspires you.

Banana Babycakes at the Beach (GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten Free, grain free, dairy free)

With Love, From Stage 2 of the GAPS Intro Diet ((GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten Free, grain free, dairy free)

                                           

By Kristen

Most of you fellow GAPSters are relaxing into a summer of delectable grilled fresh produce and sipping on iced cold glasses of bone broth (ha ha). Not my father or my sister. No, these brave souls are embarking on the GAPS intro diet just days before the summer solstice. This recipe is especially for them. I promise to support them as much as I can and I will do my best not to eat my juicy watermelon in front of them as they sweat over boiling cauldrons of soup.

This soup contains the following:

1 pound grass fed stew beef

2 quarts bone broth
2-4 tablespoons of your fave saturated fat

1 1/2 onions, chopped

3-4 medium carrots cut into circles or half moons

1 whole bulb garlic, minced

3-4 smallish tomatoes, quartered

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1 small bunch fresh basil, bonus points if you grew it yourself

Combine beef, fat, broth, onions, carrots,  garlic, and tomatoes in a pot. Boil, then reduce to a simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until the beef is tender.  Skim any meat foam and the tomato skins off the top. Stir in peas until they are heated, about 3-5 minutes. Finish by adding in the basil.

Pizza! (GAPS, Paleo, Primal, gluten Free, grain free, dairy free)

 

By Kristen

Eager as I am to shed the standard American diet and tout myself as reformed Primal/Paleo/GAPS foodie snob with highly developed taste buds (while sometimes secretly wishing I could just eat some mac and cheese) I just can't seem to quit pizza.  I made this almond flour crust that is sure to fulfill the pizza deficiency that resides within us all. While you cannot order this to be delivered to your house, you can coerce your partner/significant other to dress as a delivery person and knock on your front door, GAPS legal pizza in hand.

Make it with: 

Almond Flour Crust

2 + 1/4 cups of almond flour (the type you use wil make a difference in the amount you need. I prefer Honeyville, with which you will need less, more with Bob's Red Mill)
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter or melted palm shortening
1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Simple Sauce

1 7 oz jar tomato paste
1 tablespoon Italian herb seasoning, or not
salt, if you wish

Toppings

Dream away my friend. This pizza was made with our favorite toppings; green pepper, onion, black olive, and browned hot link sausage. Don't get hung up on mozzarella being GAPS illegal, I used 1 block of grated Organic Valley raw cheddar and it was delish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Mix 2 cups of almond flour, salt, and garlic powder. add the melted butter and stir. Scramble the eggs and then blend them in.

Blend the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.

Sadly this is not the kind of pizza you can throw up into the air whilst singing "That's Amore" and end up with a perfect crust. You will need to cover a 16"x14" cookie sheet or pizza stone covered with parchment paper. Plop your dough ball on . Now you can either press it down with your hands or place another piece of parchment paper on top and roll it out. If dough is sticky sprinkle almond flour  on top until every part is covered, then continue pressing or rolling. Add more almond flour as needed if it continues to stick. Make the crust quite thin. Bake in the oven for 10-15 min, or until barely golden brown. Add your sauce and your toppings and heat again in the oven until they are melted into delicious goodness.

Note: My husband says this is better than pizza you can get at a restaurant. He also loves me and really isn't all that hung up on gluteny goodness even though he can eat whatever he wants. You decide.