Veggie Burgers...that my husband ate!

We reached a major milestone today. I created a paleo/scd-safe veggie burger... that my husband ate! You have to understand that my husband does not eat vegetables. Well, he does eat green beans and carrots. But that's as far as it goes. So when I added veggie burgers to the weekly menu, he was less than thrilled. However, to his credit, I must say that he not only tried the veggie burger, but he also finished it. 

The biggest challenge I had in finding a veggie burger recipe was one that  would work for both my j-pouch (no beans) and my scd/paleo diet (no soy or corn). So I combined ideas from Paleo blogs including Gluten Free Happy Tummy and the Preppy Paleo. Often when I'm in the kitchen trying new recipes, I often say "Well, this could be one of my worst yet!" (Thanks Dad for the Eeyore-type outlook). And usually it turns out quite delicious. So tonight when I said something of similar ilk, my husband just laughed. Turns out he was right: these were delicious! So with no further ado... 

Sweet Veggie Burgers 
1/2 cauliflower head
1 zucchini 
2 small carrots
1 pepper of your choice (I used orange since I like their sweetness)
1 cup of cooked butternut squash
1 cup of sugar snap peas
1/2 small onion
1 garlic clove
1 TBS olive oil
1 egg
1/4 cup almond flour 
1 TBS Dijon mustard (SCD-legal)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all the vegetables in the food processor until minced. You don't want them too soupy, so I used the pulse option. You may need to do these in batches. I chopped all the veggies first (coarsely since they were going into the food processor) and added them to a bowl as I went, then minced them in batches in the food processor. 

2) As Gluten Free Happy Tummy says, this next step is vital: using a kitchen towel (if you don't mind it getting stained) or paper towels, squeeze out as much liquid from the veggie mix as possible.

3) Put the minced and drained vegetables in a large bowl then add the egg, almond flour, tablespoon of olive oil, and mustard and mix well. Do not add salt as this would cause the moisture to release from the veggies.

4) Form the veggie mix into 8 patties (about 1/2 cup scoop of mixture for each burger). Try and form them into compact burgers. 

5) Mist with olive oil and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees Fahreinheit. 

In making this a whole meal (as I like to do around here), might I suggest the following: 

Serve along side kale chips and orange soda (seltzer water and Tropicana orange juice).  I topped my burger with some SCD-legal mayo, mustard, tomato slices, and dairy-free pesto. For Paleo-ites, some sweet potato fries would also be a nice addition. You'll never miss the meat!

Fall feast

It is that wonderful time of the year: harvest time. Summer fruits and vegetables give way to autumn's bounty: squash, pumpkin, apples, and pears. Oh my! New England boasts a beautiful fall and these  recipes make use of fall's produce (all local) to put together a fall feast. Here is the menu:

• Roasted squash soup
• Baked pork chops with apples
• Apple pie

Roasted Squash Soup

I have made this soup many times, but with a few tweaks this year it turned out fantastic. I upped the onion and garlic that I normally put in and also added some homemade chicken broth. For those of you following SCD, please check out this site about how to make homemade chicken broth over at Mrs. Ed's site.


Ingredients

1 butternut squash, cut lengthwise
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic gloves
½ tsp salt
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp basil
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cinnamon
3 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
4 Tbsp honey


Steps
Preheat oven to 375.

Place the 3 squash halves cut-side down in a casserole dish.

Pour in enough water to cover the bottom of the dish.

Bake 45-60 minutes or until squash pieces feel a bit soft when you press on them.

Remove the squash from oven. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard seeds.

Scoop out the squash and set aside.

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic.

Add the squash, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, cinnamon, and water, and simmer for 20 minutes on medium heat with the lid of the pot ajar. Stir occasionally.

Remove the lid from the pot and cook for 8 to 10 more minutes.

Add the honey and mix well.

Cool for 10 minutes. Purée until smooth.

**You may want to add more water to taste. Also, try whipping a batch of these dinner rolls from All Against Grain. Delicious! Isn't she amazing?!

Baked Pork Chops with Apples

I don't follow an exact recipe for this dish, so I don't know where I originally found it. There are many out on the web, but here is our version that we're serving up tonight with some faux-rice and green beans. 

Ingredients

3-4 pork chops 

cinnamon

salt

pepper

1/2 medium onion

4 medium apples 

olive oil

Preheat oven to 350. 

Pour salt, pepper, and cinnamon on a flat plate to taste. Mix with a fork then press pork chops into mixture. Lay into baking dish. 

Dice 4 apples and onion into 1" each pieces.  Put into a bowl and pour about 1 tsp of olive oil over the apples. Then sprinkle salt, pepper, and cinnamon over the apples. Mix to coat the apples. Place them around and over the pork in the baking dish. 

Cook for 30 minutes.

Apple Pie

There is something so comforting about apple pie. The smell of it in the oven brings back memories from being in my grandmother's kitchen at Thanksgiving. Though Gram has passed on, my sister carries on the tradition of making a killer apple pie each year. Though this recipe cannot hold a candle to my sister's baking, it hit the spot for me! Try it warmed with some of All Against Grain's french vanilla coconut ice cream.

Ingredients

Crust 

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour 
• 1 Tbs. coconut flour
• 2 Tbs. coconut oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling from Ancestral Chef

• 5 medium-sized apples, peeled and diced (granny smith or honeycrisp)
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) To mix the crust, mix dry ingredients and sift together. Then add the coconut oil (not melted worked for me) and egg and work it into the dry mix. Combine until it forms a ball.

3) Roll out the crust between two sheets of parchment paper. Place half of it in pie plate and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until browned. Leave the other half cooling in the fridge for the top of the pie.

3)  For the filling, melt the coconut oil in a pot over medium.

4) Add the honey and stir together. Then add the apples and spices. Stir the mixture to cover the apples with the oil, honey and spices.

5) Add in the coconut flour and mix well.

6) Add the vanilla extract and turn off the heat. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes.

7) Once filling has cooled, add to crust and then cover with the leftover crust from the fridge. If you want to make it look cool, use a fork to crimp the edges together. Make sure that they are sealed first, or some of the filling may leak out.

8) Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy! And give thanks for all the delicious foods that autumn brings to our bellies!

Pizza Time

"What's better, a medium amount of good pizza or all you can eat of pretty good pizza?"- Michael Scott

Any Michael Scott fans out there? I would have to go with a medium amount of good pizza. Last night, I created what I believe to be good SCD pizza. There is something so satisfying about pizza. I can remember many a Friday night, mom would make homemade pizza dough, we'd top it with cheese, hamburger, or olives,  and serve it up along with carrot sticks and a "treat" of diet Coke. I loved not only the routine in that meal, but also the way we all sat around the table talking about our days. I have so much to learn from my mother!

So obviously even homemade pizza dough is full of illegal ingredients, so I wanted to find a pizza dough that was hearty enough to replace the crust of my childhood. For the first two years of being on the diet, I used the recipe in Elaine's book "Breaking the Viscious Cycle" (if you don't have this already and are following the SCD diet, please consider buying it, as it was a godsend to me when I first started!). Then, one day I ran across this recipe from the blog Heal-Balance-Live. Not only does it crisp up nicely, but it also holds together well.

One of the great things about pizza is the array of toppings to choose from. When I first started making this pizza, I would top it with Havarti cheese, grilled chicken, SCD-safe black olives, or hamburger. Now, since I am trying to limit my intake of cheese (yes, I do use the Parmesan in the crust), I have tried chicken and pesto pizza, which was delicious. I also most recently tried topping it with homemade pizza sauce, prosciutto, broccoli, and grated Parmesan. It was equally delicious. What toppings do you like to add to your pizza?

Cheers!

Summer eats: pulled pork and more!

I always look forward to summer time. Not just because of the nice weather or being on school vacation, but also because of all the cooking I can do with my free time. Though I use this time to explore new recipes, there are some summer classics I look forward to all year. For example, blueberry pie (made with hand-picked Maine blueberries of course). Then, there is what I consider foods that I borrow from our neighbors from the south, which will make up our menu for this meal:

•  pulled pork
• cornbread 
• coleslaw
• baked beans

Pulled pork: this recipe I adapted from a few different places. But since I forgot to write the final compilation down, I'm posting a recipe from Turtle Soup. The only change I made to the recipe was that I put the dry rub on first, before putting it in the crock pot. For a fun variation, I have used that dry rub and then put SCD legal BBQ sauce and diet root beer in the crock pot for 4-6 hours. It adds a sweeter touch.


For the cornbread, I have used the recipe from austinscdfriends.com for the past two years. Topped with a little butter and honey, it melts on your tongue. Before serving, I like to toast it to give it a bit more crunch. The recipe is called Mock Cornbread and it is worth every second it takes to make it.

Right about the time we turn the calendar to the month of July, I start craving some serious coleslaw. I am a friend to all things vinegar, and this Creamy Coleslaw recipe from the Comfy Belly site satisfies that craving just perfectly. The only modification I made was to buy a coleslaw mix that is local from the supermarket, rather than chop up the cabbage. My mother-in-law continued snacking on the slaw even as we were cleaning up from the meal!

Finally, what would a pulled pork recipe be without some baked beans. Being from New England, my family takes pride in their homemade baked beans recipe. And each August, my family would pack up and drive the three hours north to our rustic cabin on an island in the North Woods, about a half hour boat/car ride from my grandparents' house. Without fail, at least once during our week at camp,  I would hear the boat coming across the lake, and as it rounded the point, would see my grandparents and and the cooler that contained gram's hot baked beans and oatmeal rolls. Even after Gram died of cancer, Gramps took up the baking of the beans in the same pot. Since I no longer can partake in these due to the illegality of molasses among others, I set out to find a replacement for Gram's baked beans. I have tried three different recipes, and the one that I most resembles the baked beans of my childhood comes from the scdrecipe blog. I do add a few other spices that I borrowed from Gram's beans including: 1 tsp allspice, 1 bay leaf, and a clove of garlic.

I hope you enjoy these summer eats as much as I did. Cheers to the chefs who came up with such delicious eats all SCD friendly (or "BFF": Becca Friendly Foods).

Meatloaf!

Who doesn't like a good meatloaf? Okay, well there are actually quite a few people who probably wouldn't. BUT, if you are looking for a SCD-friendly version, I have used this one a few times with great success. Even my picky eater husband likes it. And, if you want to avoid red meat, I think the recipe would still turn out tasty if you used turkey meat instead.

Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1 clove garlic (I used Spice World's minced garlic)
1 T. cilantro or Italian parsley
2-3 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese
handful of almond flour (about 1/4 c. or so)
salt and pepper to taste


1) Preheat oven to about 375 degrees F
2) Mix ingredients and place in greased loaf pan
3) Cook for about 45 min to an hour


I serve it with SCD ketchup on top and with potatoes for non-SCDers and "fauxtatoes" (mashed cauliflower) for SCDers. I can't remember which ketchup recipe I use, so here are some links to some options (I think I used the one from Jilluck):


SCD recipe.com's version
The SCD girl
Comfy Tummy
Dietary Adventures of Jilluck