Pesto Pizza, Glorious Pizza (GF, GAPS friendly) and kitchen adventures

We have been quite busy these past couple of weeks. I finished up the Candida diet and we have all been getting ready to start the 2 year journey of the GAPS diet. We are on a full scale GAPS diet, and are planning on going back and starting the intro diet in September. It is all a little overwhelming! In general we are really excited to see the results...even the results we have seen with Noah removing all grains has been encouraging. He is eating like a champ with no eczema, or other skin issues, and after the intro of lacto-fermented foods and pro-biotics his stools are all back to normal, and frequent! Not that I am excited about changing more diapers, but it is so encouraging to see how fast his little body adapts to a huge dietary change, and with such positive results!

Much of the past couple weeks since returning home from vacation have been about Lacto-fermenting. I have very much enjoyed the book "wild fermentation!' I find the whole process quite exilerating, and the geeky science side of me has been loving the process of "playing" with recipes! I currently have a fridge full of bok choi and I can't wait to start the kim Chi making this week! Overall, Saurkraut, ginger carrots, and pickles have been taking up much counter space and now fridge space! We have been enjoying them at almost every meal, and have found that Saurkraut goes particuarly well with eggs. We have even had adventerous guests who have enjoyed these pleasantly sour and salty creations....alright enough about my science projects..onto the pizza!

Who doesn't like pizza? We are pretty fanatical about it in our house. N and J love it, and I have to say it is one of the things we miss most being grain free! While our pizza was starch free, you could easily used a soaked or a sproated grain dough recipe as well! The nut crust was a nice mild flavor that added to the pesto, pepper and tomato top! We even enjoyed this cold the second day! If you aren't able to have dairy, this recipe works well without the cheese too!

Recipe:

Crust:
2 1/2 cups of Walnuts or Almonds (I used walnuts, almonds are a little pricey for us)
3 pasture eggs
2 Tbsp Ghee, Butter, coconut oil, goose fat, etc.
1-3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp minced onion or 1 Tbsp organic Onion powder
2 Tsp salt

Take the 2 1/2 cups of walnuts and place in a food processor until they are tiny crumbles and starting to stick together. Add the 3 eggs and the butter and process until pastey and well combined. Spread about 1 inch thick on a lined cookie sheet (I use a sil-pat, or you would need to use a well greased pan) and place in a 300 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until firm and lightly browned. While the crust is cooking...

Topping:
Pesto 1 cup basil tightly packed 2-5 cloves garlic 1/2 cup romano cheese (or parm.) salt to taste 1/4-1 cup cold pressed organic olive oil

3-4 large tomatoes thinly sliced (varying colors add a nice touch)
1-2 purple peppers thinly sliced (you could also use green or red, but the purple was a nice color)

When the crust is done baking, remove from the oven and spread the basil all over the top of the crust. Than top the basil with thinly sliced peppers (or any other veggie of your choosing) and thinly sliced tomatoes. Ontop of the veggies place desired about of romano cheese or cheese of choosing, and place back in the oven for 5 minutes to slightly melt the cheese and soften the veggies ever so slightly. The veggies will be mostly raw...

Enjoy! Let me know what you think, and share your adaptations! :) Do you have any foods you just can't live without?

Red Pepper Soup

So, we had a bunch of Red peppers hanging out in our freezer from out Porter Farms CSA share this summer. The red peppers where in abundance this year! I decided to give a soup recipe a go with the frozen peppers. It turned out good! I wouldn't recommend this one in the winter, though, if you don't have frozen peppers, red peppers are really expensive this time of year...well in the North East anyway!

6-8 red pepper
2 med onions, peeled, chopped
4 Tbsp Butter or coconut oil
1 1/2 quarts Chicken Stock
1 Bunch Basil, about 1/2 cup or more if you like:)
1 cup yellow squash chopped (we had this in the freezer from the summer too!)
Cream fraiche for topping or a hint of cream (not ultra-pasteurized and not on the yeast diet)

In a stainless steel pot put the butter in and melt over med-high heat, add the onions, chopped red peppers, and squash. Saute until soft and fragrant. Add the stock slowly. Let boil until all is very soft. Use a hand held blend and puree it, or pass it through a food mill. Add in chopped basil. (I also hand-blended this in so the soup has a smoother texture, but for those of you who like chunks of chopped basil, omit)

I topped with cream fraiche! Yummy!

Vegetable Root Soup

3 Large Onions
4 Carrots, peeled and sliced
3 Turnips, peeled and sliced
3 Parsnips, Peeled and Sliced
4 Tbsp Butter
1 1/2 quarts Chicken Stock (maybe more depending on desired consistency)
1 large elephant garlic bulb, or 4 small cloves peeled and mashed
1 tsp or more dried thyme or fresh sprig of thyme
pinch Cayenne Pepper
Sea Salt or Fish Sauce to season
Pinch fresh grated nutmeg
Pima Cream, or Creme Fraiche for topping

Melt butter in a large, stainless steel pot and add onions,carrots, turnips, and parsnips. Cover and cook about 1//2 hour over med-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add stock, bring to a boil and skim. Add garlic, thyme and cayenne pepper. Simmer, covered for about 1/2 hour until soft.
Remove thyme sprig if used. Puree soup with a hand-held blender. Season to taste. If you want your soup thinner, add more water or stock. Place cultured cream on top when serving.

Corn Chowder

This Chowder is unbeatable during the peak of Corn season when the ears are extra sweet. Just don't overdue it!

1 med Onion -- chopped
6 cups Fresh corn kernels (12 ear) With milk from cob or frozen
2 cups Defatted chicken broth
1 ½ cups milk or 1/2 cream (not ultra-pasturized) and milk
1 Red bell pepper -- chopped
1/2 teaspoon rosemary -- chopped
1/2 teaspoon Dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon Fresh ground pepper Cayenne -- to taste

Preheat a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat for about one minute.
lightly coat with oil. Saute onion for five minutes or until translucent. Add four
cups corn and saute for four to five minutes, until it softens a bit. Add two cups broth
and cook 20 minutes or until corn is very tender. Pour into a blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to saucepan over medium-low heat. Add bell pepper, rosemary, thyme, pepper,
cayenne and the remaining 1 cup broth and 2 cups corn. Stir and simmer ten minutes more,
until thick and creamy

Carrot, Parsnip, Apple Soup

This is one of my favorite autumn soups. I need to come up with a replacement now that Noah is allergic to Apples.
Ingredients
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon rosemary
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks

1. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, parsnips, carrot, apple, rosemary, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Add broth and water and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Transfer the soup to a blender; add vinegar, cover and pulse until it forms a chunky puree. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids; see Tip.)
3. Clean the pot, return it to medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour the soup back into the pan. Cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until heated through, about 1 minute.
Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.


If you want to cut down on cost omit the chicken and serve with Grilled Whole Wheat Cheese sandwiches, also goes well with a dark brew beer.