Everything-free Quiche!

Hey, it worked! White beans, ground up, do well as a savory pie center. I made it more liquid to accommodate gelatin because I've found that the gelatin is a terrific nutritional booster and also acts as a good binder for creamy things, in general. I always use fresh turmeric since the dried stuff seems to cause a reaction, so the amount is a bit squishy here. I think if you're using dried, you might try about 1/4 teaspoon.

Everything-Free Creamy Quiche

2 cups white navy beans, cooked and drained

1 to 1 1/2 cup coconut milk

a hunk of fresh turmeric about the size of the top joint of a woman's pinky finger

1 tsp sea salt

pepper to taste

1 small onion

5 large mushrooms or so

1/4 cup parsley

pinch oregano

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs fat for cooking - something high temperature-tolerating like beef tallow, duck fat, refined coconut oil, grapeseed, etc. Ghee is good, too, if tolerated. (We used duck fat, which was left over from the Christmas stuffing.)

1/2-1 cup greens (I used lacinato kale - probably tasty with spinach, chard or anything like that)

3 tbs gelatin

boiling water

The night before, wash, sort and soak the beans in water with 2 tbs fermenting medium (sauerkraut brine, coconut kefir, tea kefir, etc.). The next morning, (at least 8 hours later, preferably 12-24,) rinse and drain the beans. Put into a pot, cover with water, then cook until very soft. (That took a while - at least 30 minutes! Imagine if they hadn't been soaked.)

Chop the onion and saute slowly in the fat for 15 minutes at low heat.

While it cooks, chop the parsley. Add that and the oregano. Chop the mushrooms and garlic, then add them to the pan. Saute another 5-10 minutes or so until nicely blended and well-cooked.

Chop the greens. Steam them until soft but not overcooked.

In a blender, put the beans, the turmeric, salt, pepper and coconut milk. Blend well. Continue to add coconut milk until the mixture is smooth and not too thick.

Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water, add to the blender and blend well.

Pour the mixture into a bowl. Add the onion/mushrooms and steamed greens and mix well by hand. Pour into a pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until top puffs and browns just slightly.

Chill overnight.

Okay - here it is...

I apologize - the recipe isn't exact. I forgot to take notes while I made it, but the proportions are actually pretty clear and precision is not entirely necessary. The raisins are the sweetener, so start small and add to make it sweet enough. I found that little was necessary because the carrots were quite sweet as was the banana.

The best thing about this one is that it's a vegetable that masquerades as a dessert, and there's enough nut in it to make it an acceptable lunch for us if Little Moo has an adequately protein-laden breakfast, which she does these days. (Recently she's partial to hamburgers in the morning made into a burger and veg sandwich slathered with mustard or kraut. I kid you not. Then lunch is smaller and dinner is very light - not a bad way to live, actually.)

Carrot Nut Banana Pie

5 or 6 large fresh carrots

about 1/4 cup freshly roasted nuts (I used pecans and walnuts, but any kind would be tasty)

1 can coconut milk

about 1/4 cup shredded coconut meat

1 ripe banana

a few tablespoons full of raisins

about 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons Bernard Jensen gelatin

boiling water

Peel and shred the carrots. Steam them until soft.

In blender put the raisins, banana, nuts, coconut, carrots, cinnamon, coconut milk. Blend well. Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water. Pour this mixture into the blender and mix well. Pour it into a pie pan, cover with a layer of waxed paper and then a sheet of foil. Chill overnight.

Next one: a savory quiche that is non-dairy and has no flour or eggs! We'll see how it turns out. It's baking now...

GF/DF/EF Stuffing

For Christmas Eve we visited friends for dinner. This is usually a major production for me since I often have to cart over an entire cooked meal for us whenever we go out. A number of our friends are excellent cooks and foodies, but terribly attached to certain types of dishes and traditions in a fairly rigid way. I've never quite understood that. Food for me, even before my allergies were discovered, was a bit of an adventure. I often ate the same things, but that was simply because I didn't have time to learn any other way, or when I was a vegetarian, because I thought I was supposed to. I usually preferred something new and exciting, preferably something that was something entirely new and not a "substitute" food.

Anyway, I've never gotten into the "traditional" stuff that goes with celebratory meals (read: super-sweet candied sweet potatoes with stuffing and a big, often overcooked tryptophan-laden bird with sticky, glutenous gravy - no fermented foods and nothing to relieve the heaviness but a bit of raw green salad with bottled dressing,) although I understand that for many folks it is important.

Our hosts decided to go with the old standbys, but bless her heart - she used ghee in the sweet potatoes so that Little Moo could eat them. She made the turkey herself and it was delicious. I think she gave up entirely on making a stuffing that her husband might like and went and found some at Whole Foods, then I suggested that perhaps I could take all of Little Moo's leftover rice bread-ends and make a stuffing for her and anyone else who wanted it. It was a huge winner. Little Moo had two big helpings, and it went great with an amazingly flavored turkey. Here's the recipe, based on the basic Joy of Cooking for a stuffing made separately from a roast:

Rice Bread Stuffing

4 cups lightly toasted or otherwise hard rice bread, cut into small pieces

about 1/4 lb giblets, cooked overnight in chicken soup

1 onion

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup rendered duck fat

1 cup chicken broth

additional fat for top - can be ghee if tolerated

Finely chop separately: giblets, onion, celery, parsley and mushrooms.

Saute onion for 2o minutes or so in duck fat. This is a good time to chop everything else to make the time go by. Add giblets first, then everything else to the pan and saute another 10 minutes or so.

Pour the bread pieces/crumbs into a 9x12" pan. Pour the sauteed mixture over it. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add more fat if necessary and the cup of broth and mix it in. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Remove foil. If the bread was cut into pieces, you might want to stir and mash it up a bit more if you like a finer grain stuffing. Dot the top with more fat and brown for up to 10 minutes.

What I discovered: when in doubt, add more fat and more broth. :)

My people liked it so much that they had it for Christmas Day breakfast!

Soon to come - Carrot banana nut pie!

Just a heads up - I threw together a version of the flourless/eggless/dairy-less gelatin molded pie with carrots, nuts, banana and a few other things - the batter is even tastier than the squash version. This is promising considering how scornful Little Moo is of the vegetable course generally, and that she often has seconds and thirds of squash pie. Also up my sleeve - "quiche" with white bean mash instead of egg for a savory pie.

Did I really forget? Autumn Squash Crustless Pie

I've been making this for a long time now and Little Moo will gobble down firsts and seconds and eat it for breakfast the next day. As usual, I hid some solid nutrition inside, so it actually does make a great breakfast!

1 cup baked autumn squash (Kabocha, carnivale, butternut and delicata are the tastiest. Oddly enough, pumpkin is dry, bland and has very little character.)

1 can organic full-fat coconut milk
1/2 ripe banana
3 dates, pitted
a handful or so of raisins (to taste - this is the sweetener, and it all depends on the flavor of the squash)
1/2 cup crispy nuts (we prefer pecans or cashews, but if you'd prefer a bigger protein kick, try walnuts or even pumpkin seeds for thematic closure. :) )
between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to taste
1 tablespoon non-alcohol vanilla
3 tablespoons Bernard Jensen Gelatin
about 1/4 c boiling water

In a strong blender, blend the squash, coconut milk, banana, vanilla, nuts or seeds, cinnamon and dates. Taste it and add raisins until it's sweet enough.

Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, then add to the mixture. Blend thoroughly.

Pour into a glass or ceramic pie pan. Cover with a sheet of wax paper, then seal with a sheet of aluminum foil. Chill well for 24 hours or overnight.

Feeds 3 people for dessert one night and breakfast the next day with a bit leftover. I'd say that about 6-8 people could finish it off in one sitting.

Elderberry Coconut Kefir - It's a tasty drink...no, it's a flu preventative...no, it's a sports drink!

I had this idea to make a kefir drink that was also a flu remedy recently. The culturing process makes the elderberry syrup even more potent and all the good stuff in the coconut water even better. Get the syrup version that is as unadulterated as possible, sans alcohol. The unsweetened tincture generally contains citric acid and glycerin, but it's still pretty clean.

3 cups coconut water, warmed to room temperature
4-6 tsp elderberry tincture
1 package of kefir starter

Mix the coconut water with the tincture. Thoroughly mix the starter and pour into a jar. Screw on the top lightly and leave at room temperature overnight to 24 hours. Chill and drink.

My daughter couldn't get enough of it...but do remember that 1 or 2 teaspoons of elderberry tincture is what you're supposed to take 2 to 4 times per day, depending on how proactive you're being. So that's maybe a cup at most!

Three new recipes in one day!!! Coconut cream cheese!

Actually it has to do with deciding to stop dairy for a bit. We've gotten very used to having raw, cultured creamy goodness in our day and I just have to experiment a bit to find something as good.

So, our other option is coconut kefir, basically strained into cream cheese. It's quite good, a bit sweeter than cream and tangy. I'd like it a bit tangier, I guess. but it's surprisingly tasty. We'll give it a try tomorrow.

I keep forgetting: Cranberry Relish (Raw, cultured)

This was the highlight of our Thanksgiving table for me, mainly because it was on my mind for weeks and when I finally put it together, it was incredibly slapdash. Speaking of which, I'd better type fast before I forget what went into this thing. (Wow...so slapdashy that I never even took a photo...you'll just have to take my word for it.) It was super-good! Sweet and tart, with a bit of autumn spice and a nice kick. It also had an almost carbonated fizz to it...kind of like the best punch. (No alcohol, of course! Just kefir-y goodness.) It was also sort of like charoset, and, actually, could be modified for Passover, come to think of it.

Raw Cranberry Relish

1 box (pint) raw fresh cranberries

1 pear, peeled, cored

1 sweet apple, peeled, cored (please note that I wound up adding a bit more fruit midway, so you might need to add as you go for taste)

1/2 cup raisins (to taste)

Blend the above together in a blender or food processor until fruit mixes, but stays a bit crunchy and slightly defined. I looked for the cranberries to start looking moist and as if it was starting to sink into the sweeter fruit.

Add to taste:

about 2 tsp lemon juice (this was the point that I had to sweeten it a bit with more fruit)

Add and blend:

2 crushed cloves

1 large pinch cinnamon

Add and blend slightly:

1/4-1/2 cup crispy pecans (you can also crumble or chop the nuts and hand-mix)

Carefully blend or hand mix into the fruit:

1/4 cup coconut milk kefir (or any non-dairy kefir, actually)

Pour the mixture into a canning jar and loosely fasten the lid. Put up for about 3 days. I thought it was done when it tasted slightly fizzy.

Super-yum. We just finished it tonight.

Farmers' Market Booty = Raspberry Banana Nut Pudding!

Thanksgiving is over and our traditional post-holiday duck soup is simmering in the crock pot. We decided that it was time to buy some more produce today and stock up on meat again for the next week or two. We stopped at the Civic Center farmers' market and found, amazingly, 3 big boxes of raspberries for about $7. I mean, big. And they're organic! I couldn't resist. $7 is actually a chunk of change when it comes to produce, but that's some berry booty we're talking about. We also found some interesting lemons and limes. The lemons are called "sweet lemons" and are meant to be eaten like oranges. The limes were almost like lemons, sharp, bright and seedy, but somehow different tasting and very pleasant.

So I got it and all our other purchases home and set about thinking of a good use for 3 big boxes or raspberries. There's eating, of course, and I'm sure Little Moo could put away a box quite happily, but that still leaves two. Besides, it would be wimpy to let such a great creative moment go to waste.

We're also taking a break from dairy at the moment (again - time for a change) so the creaminess had to come from elsewhere. No flour, of course. I'd like to eat it, too.

Here's what happened:

Raspberry Banana Nut Pudding

Ingredients:

1 big box (probably a pint or so) raspberries

about 1/2 cup crispy cashews

1/4 cup raisins

3 tbs coconut milk kefir

1 ripe banana

2 rounded tbs coconut butter

juice of 1/4 lemon or sweet lime.

2 tbs gelatin

1/8 c hot water

Blend the raspberries, cashews, raisins, kefir, banana, lemon or lime juice and coconut butter well in a blender. In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the hot water, then add this to the blender and also blend well.

Pour into custard cups or ramekins. Before serving, top with more raspberries and (Little Moo's request) a few raisins.

You will notice that the photo up top shows Little Moo shoveling it in. That's because, although I asked her to smile, she refused to be interrupted. I thought that spoke well of the pudding. :)

Persimmon Paradise Ice Cream (non-dairy!)

This is a coconut milk-based ice cream, made without eggs or dairy that's sort of a dress rehearsal for Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe just how good it was right out of the ice cream maker - we'll see what it's like set and frozen tomorrow. Little Moo licked the spoon for about 10 minutes when we scooped it out to put away. It's got lots of nice fall flavors and is a pretty orangey-tan color. It would be nice topped with seasonal fruits - more persimmons, 2 colors of sliced grapes, a slice of pear or apple, maybe. Nuts would be tasty and pretty, too.

The problem I was trying to solve was that grainy watery texture that coconut milk ice cream often has. The key to the texture and richness was adding raw virgin coconut oil to the mixture as well as coconut milk kefir and regular coconut milk. The oil, which is solid below about 76 degrees F, keeps it creamy. It would also be good with just kefir, I'd think. Tangier. For a milder version, maybe just the milk.

Persimmon Paradise Ice Cream

2 fuyu persimmons, quartered and peeled (hachiya would also be fine)

1 can coconut milk, preferably organic, definitely full-fat

2 heaping ts raw, unrefined coconut oil

2 ts non-alcohol vanilla extract

2 pinches ground nutmeg

about 1/8 ts ground cinnamon

about 1/3 c dark raisins

1 cup coconut milk kefir

optional: 3 drops liquid stevia if it's not sweet enough

Put everything in a blender. Blend well. Pour into ice cream maker. Process according to the instructions for your particular churn. Scoop...enjoy! Store leftovers in the freezer for later (if there's anything left!).

Autumn Squash Custard

When I set out to make this I was aiming for GAPS-friendly pie for the fall, but wound up with something between flan and pumpkin pie.

It has no sugar or syrup. The sweetness comes from ground up raisins, banana and the natural flavor of the squash. It tastes like a dessert, but could also be breakfast - it contains nut butter for a bit of protein. It tastes great topped with a bit of homemade sour cream.

Ingredients

1 can coconut milk

2 tbs Bernard Jensen Gelatin

1 orange-fleshed winter squash, baked and scooped out of its skin

1/2 banana

raisins to taste (I think I used about 1/2 cup...it really all depends on how sweet your squash is. If it's super sweet, use less. This one was a bit bland)

2-3 tbs nut butter (pecan butter was delicious and very autumnal)

1 tb non-alcohol vanilla

3/4 ts cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

In a double boiler, heat the coconut milk and the gelatin until hot enough to dissolve the powder.

While the coconut milk is heating, put the squash, banana, raisins, nut butter, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a strong blender and blend until smooth. Pour in the coconut milk/gelatin mixture and blend completely. Pour into a pan (I used a 9" pie pan) and chill until gelled.

Mango Chutney

After months and months of lactofermented veggies (for me it's been a few years, actually) it was time for something different. I tried a mango version of the Nourishing Traditions Papaya Chutney. It's delicious. I left off the rapadura and it's STILL amazing.

Basically, get a small onion, bunches of mint and cilantro, respectively, 3 big mangoes, a red pepper, and mix them up in a bowl. Cube the fruit, julienne the pepper, and chop the leaves of the herbs coarsely. Chop the onion, too.

In a separate bowl, mix together a few ts salt, 1/4 c whey, 1/2 c lime juice and 1/2 c water.

Put the fruit mixture into a quart mason jar, punch it down with something like a meat hammer or a ladle. Add the liquid, adding enough water to fill to 1" above the fruit. If anything floats to the top, try to push it down.

Seal it up and keep it in a warm place for 2 days, then refrigerate.

The trick here is that almost anything blended with whey and left to ferment tastes great. So, for a small jar of mustard, relish or whatever gets a few tablespoons and a quart gets 1/4 cup.

Like Buttah

We're back to eating a bit of ghee every 4 days or so...and the "or so" means whenever I run out of other things to cook with or spread since everything else Little Moo eats is also on a 4-day rotation.

The deal is that ALL the lactose must be out. For me, too. Here's the latest innovation in butter-

straining improvisations.

GAPS-friendly white bean, eggless pancakes

Mwahahaha!

Today is bean day on the 4 day rotation diet. So at some point I have to bake something and pancakes are sometimes easy. Sometimes not. They don't like to hold together and today is NOT egg day. Sigh. Julie Matthews turned me onto the possibility of chia seeds as a binder. Actually, it's the gel they make in water. Unfortunately it was nowhere nearly enough. I think I'd have to use way too many seeds and the cakes would taste weird at that point. If I had a ton of flour to try stuff with, I may do that sometime, but I only made 1 cup. Thilly me. So I added guar gum. That seemed to do it, although it's not perfect.

White navy beans make a great neutral tasting flour. To make them GAPS and digestion-friendly I presoaked and dried them before grinding (it also makes the batter testing a bit more easy on the gut).

To make up for the missing fat from the egg I made sure there was a nice amount of extra added. I used nut butter with the dairy so that I wouldn't have to make them too dairy-centric and because today is also nut day. :)

I would think that you could substitute nut milks or coconut milk (kefired or not) for water and sour cream, more nut butter, beef tallow, lard or coconut oil for ghee. We have to stay away from coconut for a while. :(

Lastly, please feel free to play with the amount of banana. Little Moo kept noshing as she mashed so there may be a bit more or less since I added as she subtracted.

White Bean Flour:

2 cups white navy beans, soaked overnight in 2 tbs baking soda and 6 cups water in a mason jar.

Drain and thoroughly rinse beans. Spread on a big shallow pan and dry in an oven at the lowest temp until dry. (Several hours to overnight.)

Put into a VERY STRONG blender and blend into a fine flour.

White Bean Eggless Pancakes

1 c white bean flour (see above)

2 tbs melted ghee

pinch salt

1 small mashed banana

1 tsp chia seed gelatin (soak and strain 1 tsp of seeds...keep the gel)

1 tsp guar gum

4 ts (1 1/2 tb) nut butter

1/2 c water

2 heaping tb sour cream

1 tsp soda

1 tsp vanilla

Blend together everything but soda in a bowl. Add the soda. blend well.

Fry in pan with a bit of ghee. It takes a while to cook. When they're done they're quite brown, but very tasty. Little Moo gobbled them down with maple syrup. I'm on GAPS, so I had a smear of nut butter and some fresh mango on them. Yum.

A GAPS variation on Coconut Milk Custard

If you look back to last August, you'll see that I came up with a coconut milk custard to make for Rain's 2nd birthday. Well, I planned on making that today, only GAPS friendly* so I could partake.  My idea was to add gelatin and remove the sugar so it would be more gut-friendly. 

Everything seemed to go wrong. I thought the egg curdled, the stevia smelled weird to me. It seemed too liquid. I actually went to the store to get more eggs and made the one from August with rapadura in it. I figured that Snackboy and Little Moo could enjoy but I'd sit on the sidelines, perhaps trying the ruined version. 

Both of them enjoyed the rapadura version. Little Moo liked hers so much that she took offense when I tried to clean her - she wanted to lick it off!

Anyway, the first version was INCREDIBLE...and no sugar! Just dates and a few drops of stevia. Here it is:

1 can whole organic coconut milk

3 egg yolks, preferably from pastured eggs

1 tb Bernard Jensen's gelatin

5 drops stevia

4 or 5 dates, pitted and chopped

Take 3 or 4 custard cups or little canning jars and set aside. Line the bottoms with dates. Heat the coconut milk in a double boiler. Add the gelatin, stir well. Beat the egg yolks. Add them slowly while stirring with a whisk until the yolks thicken the mixture slightly. Remove from heat. Add the stevia, then pour on top of the dates. Allow to cool somewhat, then cover and chill for a few hours. 

Another lovely addition to this would be about 1 ts vanilla, added at the end with the stevia. 

*Well, almost GAPS friendly. It has a small amount of stevia in it. It's entirely possible to leave that out, too.

While I chop late season celeriac... (Recipe: Coconut Kefir/Pear Shake)

It's been a while.

That's the trouble with GAPS. Just when I figure out something interesting to say, the kitchen calls again...time to make yogurt, or chop veggies, or take the bones out from soaking, or time to put the chicken in, or take it out...etc.

It never ends.

So here I am, overdue with my own preparations to get our girl into bed, chopping celery root for tomorrow's (not even today's) soup. Never mind that I have to put that 24 hour yogurt away, too.

It takes an amazing amount of effort to keep us in food, and to keep food around that keeps Little Moo's interest. It's not like she's a sweets addict like some kids and won't eat anything else, but she does turn on and off of things unpredictably.

The other news around here is that after several fine months of pleasant and harmonious dairy ingestion it appears that both she and I are reacting to the yogurt. For me it's digestive - boy is that new - and for her, it's rashes...very similar to mine and in the same places. For me cheese, ghee and 24 hour sour cream appear to be fine. I'm not sure about her. I know that the precious sheep's milk yogurt that she adores gave her a rash in about 15 minutes after eating. Of course, it's packaged, no matter how pure, and is probably only cultured a few hours, so it could be lactose. 

Either way, we went dairy-free again today and the rashes are fading. Yay!

Here's a recipe that went over very well with the family these last 2 days:

Coconut Kefir/Pear Shake

2 ripe pears

1 1/2 cup coconut milk kefir

1/2 small ripe banana

dash cinnamon

dash nutmeg

Peel, core and cut up pears. Cut banana into a few pieces. Add these to blender. Add kefir to blender. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to blender. Blend well. Enjoy. It hardens to a spoonable consistency in the fridge, which makes it very pleasant for a girl who's craving rich yogurty goodness. Adding some nuts to the blend would make it a more complete meal. 

I have an idea for a sort of coconut kefir mango lassi sort of thing that I intend to try tomorrow. 

Highlights from 4 months of soup...

On the GAPS Diet you eat soup. Soup for dinner, lunch and even breakfast. Since I've cut out sugars, I'm even more reliant on soup than before. I also eat lot of soaked and slow-roasted nuts now that I can eat them. 

When you eat that much soup, sometimes it's just a matter of pouring the broth in the pan, chopping vegetables while it's boiling, whatever's in there. Once it boils, turn down to simmer, add gelatin if necessary, add chopped veggies and soup meat, stew for 25-35 minutes. Put in bowl, allow to cool slightly, add lactofermented food item of your choice plus a whole fat. Stir. Eat. Eat seconds cause usually I'm still hungry after. 

Occasionally I have a plan. But when you eat that much soup, the best ones are accidental.

I have some favorite soup combinations and here they are:

Super-gelatinous beef broth made with shoulder and knuckle bones with stewed ground lamb, brussel sprouts, onions, carrots, mushrooms served with homemade creme fraiche, a bit of ghee and a big dollop of sauerkraut on top. Ours is pink, which makes it quite exciting to look at.

or with celery root, onion, carrot, and a bit of kale with ghee and yogurt.

or with bok choy, onion, brussel sprouts, carrots, with chopped stew-beef or ground beef, creme fraiche and lactofermented raw garlic chopped fine and soaked in a few teaspoons of cold-pressed olive oil. This one's also good with sauerkraut. Oddly enough I enjoyed this quite a lot with a handful of salty cashews. 

Cheeseburger Soup:

Beef broth with greens of some kind, ground beef and lamb cooked with spinach, lots of onion, lactofermented garlic in olive oil with cubes of floating raw jack cheese getting all melty. This one is also good with cubes of ripe avocado in it.

The last beef one is similar to the top one, only I mixed up both homemade lactofermented ketchup and mustard in it and left off the dairy. Instead, I cubed up some avocado. 

Super-gelatinous chicken broth made with a whole carcass, necks, backs and feet with small-chopped carrots, rutabaga, onion, celery root, served with ghee and with homemade lactofermented mustard stirred around in it.

Ooh. Idea.

Hmm. Now that I can make a nice ketchup, it's just that much farther to barbeque sauce...Heh.

Lactofermented Condiments and IT'S TOO DANG HOT!

It's been a little while. I've had no time to get on to post. Anyway, here's a bit about what's been going on. 

CONDIMENTS. Yeah. Yum.

Okay, so, for about 2 years I was unable to have either garlic, ginger, turmeric or greens, then for a short bit I could have greens (but not garlic or the other foods). Then I started GAPS about 4 months ago (has it really been that long?) and little by little I've discovered what causes my rashes in strange layers that peel off bit by bit. 

My biggest problem, it turns out, is yeast. While I had other problems, liver, allergy, etc, it was hard to see the yeast issue. Then, after GAPS, I think my liver issues are close to cleared up and I've eliminated my allergen foods pretty well. Then I had a terrible reaction to homemade kefir, which is a yeast ferment.  I started taking grapefruit seed extract 3 times a day (yech) and eliminated all sugars, including fruit and sweet vegetables. I occasionally, at this point, eat a bit of fruit, but always have grapefruit seed extract either before or after.  My most problematic rashes DISAPPEARED and appear to be gone for good, except for when I slip up. 

So I tried greens, garlic, turmeric and broccoli. All are fine!

Now, for the mustard. I went a bit turmeric crazy - can you really have too much? - so it's a bit sharp, but quite tasty.  (See last post for recipe, but if you're more turmeric-shy than I am, cut it back to about 1/3 of an inch of fresh grated root.) I've been eating it every night on just about everything - veggies, meat, in soups. It's so good! Little Moo likes it, too.

Okay, so I just pulled the ketchup off the shelf today. Snackboy and I couldn't stop eating it. I don't usually like bottled ketchup since it's so corn-syrupy sweet. There's no sugar in this version, and it's fermented, but it's got a nice natural sweetness plus a happy garlicky flavor.

Ketchup (a blend of Nourishing Traditions and Joy of Cooking)

7 roma tomatoes, stewed down over about 7 hours with 3 tablespoons of ghee, then sieved into tomato velvet (a can of tomato paste would do, but I don't trust the additives or the cans...)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbs yogurt whey

2 ts sea salt.

Mix together and put in a mason jar for 3 days. Make sure the top is not air-tight. Then refrigerate.

Lastly, you'll notice that there's a picture of a thermometer. That's because it shows just how incredibly hot it gets in our apartment in late January thanks to our busted radiator valves. All I have to do is make supper and it becomes 82 degrees or worse. The summer is unbelievable. 

Lactofermented Mustard

I had NO idea that it was possible to make something to take the place of those irreplaceable condiments in jars and plastic bottles, but it is. They taste 100 light years better than anything that you can get at a supermarket. They're also much better nutritionally. In fact, they add good nutrition to food and are digestive assistants. This mustard is especially healthful because it's lactofermented, so it's like getting a super tasty probiotic with every bite of savory food and the nutrition of each ingredient is magnified by the fermentation. The turmeric is nature's anti-inflammatory. Garlic keeps away viruses (and certain people, so be forewarned). Mustard is used to cure lung ailments.

This recipe is based on Nourishing Traditions.

1 - 1 1/2 c mustard powder
juice of 1 lemon
2 ts sea salt
1 clove crushed garlic
about 1" grated turmeric root
2 1/2 tablespoons of yogurt whey

Blend ingredients together and put into a mason jar but do not seal air-tight. Ferment 3 days in a warm place then seal the jar and refrigerate.