GAPS Gharam Crackers! (Gluten, dairy, grain and egg free)

After an exceptionally long hard summer this yr for all of us due to my husbands busy summer schedule we are all overflowing with excitement that we will soon get to take a family camping trip!!!! If feels like we've been waiting forever to have some family time together and can hardly count the days fast enough until we get to go :)

As I've been planning, making lists and thinking mostly about what food to bring I just could hardly imagine a camping trip without s'mores. I have a GAPS legal marshmallow recipe we've used for roasting and the chocolate is easy but had not yet played with any graham cracker recipes. I'm delighted to say that the following recipe is as close to perfect as I can imagine. I am so excited about it I can hardly wait to make a cheesecake with a real graham cracker crust!! That will have to wait until after camping though ;)

Here's what I did....

mix together:
 4 cups almond meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bkng soda
1/2 cup coconut oil (I think butter would work if one were allergic to coconut oil but maybe decrease the 
     salt a bit if using butter)
1/3 ish cup honey (or to taste)
6 TBLS cinnimon

Press and/or roll dough onto a parchment paper covered, flat, baking sheet to about 1/8" thickness (if rolling you will want to cover dough with parchment paper on top before rolling or it will stick terribly to your rolling pin). Score into squares and prick with fork and bake at 350 until edges turn brown. Remove from oven and cut into squares, let cool, if any are still soft or chewy, dehydrate until all the moisture is gone and they are nice and crispy (if you don't own a dehydrator you could do this in your oven on its lowest setting). My poor baking sheets are pretty warped so my crackers weren't as evenly rolled as I would have liked and some of the thicker spots needed a bit of dehydrating. I'd imagine if you had nice flat bkng sheets and your dough was evenly spread the need for dehydrating would be eliminated.

They were super easy, the kiddos love them and we will have GAPS legal s'mores for our camping trip :)

Super moist and Yummy Chocolate Cake With Rich Chololate Frosting (Grain free with diary free options, GAPS legal)

My sweet Levi's third Birthday was last week and I made for him what I think is the most perfect chocolate cake ever and its even GAPS legal. I was (am) so impressed with this one I had to share it with you. I wish so much I could post a picture for you!! I will post one as soon as I am able!

1/2 cup butter (or coconut oil if you can't have butter) 

4 cups white beans (soaked and well cooked)

2 big splashes of vanilla

about 3/4 cup strongly brewed coffee

10 eggs

4 tsp baking soda

about 1 cup honey (or a combination of honey and stevia extract to taste which is what I did)

1 1/2 cup cocoa powder

about a tsp salt (I used Himalayan)

I put everything in the vita-mix and mixed until it was well blended scraping the sides as needed. You could use a mixing bowl and mixer if you ran the beans through a food processor first and you might want to melt the butter if you do it this way too or at least make sure its very soft. An immersion blender would work as well you just need to make sure the beans are completely pureed.

Pour batter into 2 well greased (coconut oil or butter) and floured (coconut flour) round cake pans (or square or 1 sheet cake pan or alternately you could make cupcakes too...) and bake at 350 until done (I know that's not very helpful, sorry) I just bake it until I can smell it them I check it to determine how much longer it needs after that.  Let cool and frost. 

My very favorite chocolate frosting is not GAPS legal and I have to admit that I do cheat on birthdays and use it anyway but I'll share a legal one too for those who are more disciplined than I or who need a dairy free frosting.

Best Ever Chocolate Frosting (with Dairy)

1 c Heavy Whipping cream (raw is of course best if you have access to it)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup honey

Good splash vanilla

Beat all together until thick and fluffy. Make sure cake is completely cooled before frosting!!

Chocolate Frosting (Dairy Free)

1 c cream taken from top of canned coconut milk (Native Forest Brand). Its 

   helpful to put the can in the fridge until chilled before opening and 

   removing the cream

1/2 c cocoa powder

Honey and stevia extract (vanilla flavored is best) to taste (I prefer more 

   stevia than honey or all stevia in this version of the frosting) 

Good splash of vanilla

Optional is a couple pinches of pumpkin pie spice 

* This serves as a lovely mousse also ;)

Beat until well mixed, thick and fluffy. Again its very important that the cake is completely cooled before frosting!!

Chocolate No Bake Cookies (grain free, dairy free, honey sweetened)

In a large sauce pan, mix and bring to a boil:

1.5 cups coconut milk,  homemade or Native Forest canned full fat coconut milk (Native Forest is BPA free)

1 cup butter, ghee, coconut oil or a combination of any of the three

3/4 c cocoa powder

honey and/or stevia to taste (I use both approximately 1 dropperful of stevia extract and 1/4 cup honey)

a couple good glugs of vanilla

Then add:

1.5 cups nut butter (we use cashew or almond)

6 cups shredded coconut (or a combination of chopped nuts, coconut and if you like some dried fruit is nice too.)

Mix well and spoon onto waxed paper and place in fridge or freezer until firm.

Honey Custard (dairy free)

This is a very simple, delicious rich yummy dessert or we even like it for breakfast with fresh fruit. 

This also makes a great baby food if you omit the honey and use extra egg yolks instead of whole eggs.

2 cups full fat or homemade coconut milk, the richer the milk the better.  (use  

   whole raw milk if not on GAPS or allergic to dairy)

4 large organic and pastured eggs

1/3 cup honey

1T gelatin

1 good splash vanilla

In a large sauce pan dissolve the gelatin in part of the coconut milk, add the rest of the ingredients and stir constantly as it cooks until it thickens. Pour into cups or small dishes and dust with nutmeg, chill until set. 

If not on GAPS this is amazing with a bit of maple syrup drizzled over the top ;) 

Beef Breakfast Sausage

This recipe was adapted from a turkey sausage recipe I got from a friend years ago. Since I don't have access to affordable, quality, ground turkey,  I have adjusted and tweaked that original recipe to use with our hamburger meat instead.

For every pound of grass fed hamburger add:

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp rubbed sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp sea salt

ground black pepper to taste

1 or 2 large cloves of garlic crushed

I usually cook a tiny bit in a small pan after mixing it to make sure I don't need to adjust the seasoning but otherwise that's all there is to it.

I prepare about ten pounds of this at a time. Some I fry up ground to freeze and have on hand for soups, casseroles and such then I make the rest into patties which I keep in the freezer to fry up when ever needed for breakfast.

Because I can't eat eggs, my staple breakfast is one of these patties simmered in broth with squash or whatever leftover veggies I have on hand.

White Bean and Chicken Stew

This is the perfect winter comfort food, but we like it so well we eat it throughout the year and unfortunately even though its June, here in Central Oregon it feels like "soup weather" today (personally though, I think any weather is soup weather).

To make this simply throw all the ingredients in the crock pot and let it cook all day.

From experience I can tell you it is crucial that you remember to both turn on AND plug in the crock pot in order to come home to cooked meal, oh yes and putting the lid on the crock pot is crucial too ;) 

3-4 cups white beans that have been soaked overnight in water with a splash of whey in it (whenever I soak beans I always soak as many as I can at once then I freeze the soaked beans in four cup packages so I always have soaked beans ready to use.)

3-4 lbs uncooked organic pastured chicken thighs (boneless is nice if you access to good boneless chkn thighs, however bc I prefer to use the meat we raise and I've no clue how to de-bone a chicken, I have made this with thighs with the bones in. It's really not a big deal for our family to pick the bones out once its cooked and I figure it adds to the nutritional quality of the meal to have them in anyway.)

5-6 cups homemade chicken broth

1 can green chillies (from BPA free cans) 

3 large cloves of garlic crushed

1 large onion diced

About 1/4 tsp cayenne (adjust according to how hot your family likes their food)

1 good tsp paprika

1 heaping tsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

2-3 drops oregano essential oil

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

about 1 tsp sea salt

 

We garnish this with any combination of the following; finely chopped cabbage, fresh cilantro, diced onion or green onion,  diced avocado, sour cream, cheddar cheese and sometimes some fresh diced up tomatoes too :)

Carrot or Zucchini and Raisin Muffins (grain and dairy free)

These are a favorite with our family, I make a a huge batch and keep them in the freezer for days when we have to pack a lunch or grab a really fast breakfast.

6 Large organic and pastured eggs

4 Tbls butter or coconut oil

1/2 cup honey (or 1/4c honey plus several drops stevia extract) 

1t sea salt

2 or 3 good splashes vanilla

1c homemade coconut flour (1/2 cup commercial)

Good pinch aluminum free baking soda

1 cup shredded carrots or zucchini (or you could a combination of both if you wanted too)

1/2 cup raisins

2Tbls pumpkin pie spice (or 1Tbls cinnamon, 1/2 Tbls cloves & 1/2 Tbls allspice)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all together and bake in lined muffin pan at 350 until done (when you can smell them and are firm to the touch but not hard)

Creamy Mexican Chicken Soup (Dairy Free)

I cleaned out the fridge the other day and found I had quite a bit of cauliflower I needed to use up, some chicken and 1/2 an onion. I was pleased with what I came up with using these ingredients so I thought I'd share it with you:

1/2 gallon chicken broth

1/2 can of diced green chillies (I get mine from Trader Joes bc I read once that as of fall 

   2011 all their veggies are in BPA free cans. I really should check this out to be certain its true 

   but bc I don't use canned chillies very often I went ahead and hoped for the best)

1 head cauliflower cut into large chunks and lightly boiled

1 med carrot (boiled with the cauliflower)

a few drops of oregano essential oil 

a heaping tsp or so of paprika

a large heaping tsp of cumin, 

about a tsp of coriander

3 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 a small onion minced 

2 or so cups of cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces

sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Bring the broth to a boil, add all but the chicken and let simmer a bit. Blend until smooth with an immersion blender, add chicken and continue to simmer until flavors are all nicely melded together. If you prefer to have the soup completely smooth you can blend the chicken in too.

Serve with some fresh chopped cilantro, diced avocado, a touch of fresh lime juice, also sour cream and grated cheddar cheese if you can have them.

Our Favorite Pancakes (grain free with dairy free options)

I've not been posting bc my camera is broken and blog posts to me are just so much more interesting when there are pictures included. 

It may be a while before I can replace my camera though, so I'll share with you now and add the pictures later.
 
We had our favorite pancakes for breakfast today and while they are not the lovely fluffy flour pancakes you're used to, they are the best GAPS legal alternative we've tried.

Using my Vita Mix, bc it makes the whole process so much easier, I throw in...

2 med bananas (we like banana flavor, if you don't, use 1 instead instead of   
                 two, you won't notice the flavor but the banana helps the texture)


2 cups coconut milk, raw dairy milk or cultured buttermilk  (unfortunately kefir 
                             does not work well) 

8 Organic pastured eggs


2 good pinches of baking soda

A nice big splash of vanilla

A couple good pinches of cinnamon 

About 1/2 a tsp or so of a good sea salt 

3/4+ cup coconut flour

Spoonful of a good beef gelatin (this is optional, you won't notice a difference in the pancakes if you add it or not, but I like to add gelatin to anything I can)

Some delicious additions we often add are organic blueberries or sliced bananas. Obviously we stir these in by hand after we have blended the rest of the ingredients.

Fry them as you would any pancake in butter, coconut oil or Ghee and enjoy with honey butter, some nice pure grade B maple syrup (sadly maple syrup is not GAPS legal)  or some fresh fruit and yogurt.  

I recommend you make these the size of a silver dollar or just slightly larger bc they can be a bit tricky to flip if they are too big.