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.

The Easiest GAPS-Friendly Desserts I've Thought Of

Coconut-stuffed Date Sweets

Coconut butter spread, slightly warmed (we get a lovely one by Artemisia, but I think you could take whole coconut and just blend the meat with the fat and a bit of the water for a similar spread)
Chilled dates

Slice each date on one side, open wide and remove the pit. Scoop about a 1/4 to 1/2 ts coconut butter into the place where the pit was. Close around the butter which will then harden into a fudgy center. Eat.

Bananas and Creme Fraiche

Slice up bananas and top with homemade creme fraiche. Eat.

Enjoy.