little dollop

Welcome

Welcome to my little food blog. It's not for everybody, but could be just right for you. If you fit one of these categories, you might find this blog useful:

• Doing the Body Ecology Diet, GAPS Diet, or Paleo Diet 
• Interested in making their own cultured and fermented foods
• Avoiding grains, dairy and/or sugar
• My friends, since we all share recipes

Feel free to leave a comment -- I'd love to hear from you!

References

The more doctors I see, the more I realize that one's own journey to health is all about researching and learning for oneself. I've been keeping a sort of messy collection of bookmarks that I like to refer to, but I thought I may as well keep the links here, so that they can be of some benefit to others. I'll do my best to group them by category below and I'll add on more as I find them.

Healing Allergies

• Three Ways to Heal Food Allergies
• Is There a Natural Cure?

 

Gluten-Free Recipes

• Tasty Yummies

 

Illness Prevention

• HealthNOW

 

Recipes I Love

Sometimes I come upon a recipe that is perfect just as it is, and I see little point in rewriting it for the blog. Here is a list of recipes that I love. It's starting off small, but I will add to this list over time as I try new things. 

Fish

• Spicy Tuna Cakes (Paleo)

Veggies

• Oven Roasted Broccoli
• Kale with Cranberries

Sweets

• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (for a regular sized muffin tray, double recipe and extend time by at least 15 minutes) 

Garbanzo Bean Salad

I just finished reading The China Study, so these days, I'm trying to eat as many whole food, plant-based meals as I can during the week in order to increase the ratio of plants I consume, compared to how much animal protein I'm eating. This is no small task when you're avoiding grains, dairy and sugar but I'm working hard at it anyhow. 

I generally try to avoid legumes, but I find garbanzo beans relatively easy to digest. Here's a quick and easy salad to mix up which tastes great warm or cold. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/4 cup red or green onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice of one lemon, freshly squeezed
• 1 carrot, finely shredded
• Black pepper to taste
• Pine nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Measure out the quinoa, rinse and drain.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and quinoa and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed (10-15 min). When done, the quinoa should appear soft and translucent. 
3. While the quinoa is cooking, prep the remaining ingredients and toss lightly to cover with lemon juice.
4. Fluff the fully cooked quinoa and add to the bowl. Mix gently to combine. 

Roasted Pears

A fun little dessert to make when you find yourself with a few extra pears lying around. Plus, it's super tasty.  

Ingredients

• 3 firm Bosc pears, peeled, halved and cored
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar (or sweetner of your choice)
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter (or coconut oil)

Directions

1. Preheat the over to 400 degrees F.
2. Arrange the peeled pear halves, cut side up, in an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
3. Whisk the apple juice and coconut sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. 
4. Whisk in the butter and pour the resulting sauce over the pears.
5. Bake about 35 minutes, until the pears are crisp-tender and beginning to brown, basting occasionally with the juices.
6. Spoon the pears onto plates and drizzle with remaining juices and serve. 

My husband, who can eat dairy like nobody's business, likes this dessert with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream on the top. Just sayin'... 

Paleo Pumpkin Spice Muffins

These are oh-so-perfect for the holiday season and they are super easy to make once you've made that trip to the health food store to stock up on the ingredients. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup palm shortening (or coconut oil or ghee) melted
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or maple syrup)
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or 1/2 cup tapioca flour)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of sea salt
• something tasty for the top (crystallized ginger, nuts, etc)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare a muffin tray with 10 liners
3. In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, starting with the melted oil, then one egg at a time (making sure each one is fully incorporated before moving on to the next), then add the pumpkin puree.
4. Gently mix in the dry ingredients. 
5. Scoop the batter evenly into 10 muffin liners. 
6. Top with toppings, if desired. I like to sprinkle a little extra coconut sugar on top.
7. Bake for about 24-26 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let cool. 

These are surprisingly good. If they aren't sweet enough for you, just add a little more coconut sugar to the mix. 

*This recipe has been slightly altered, but is largely based on this one by girlmeetspaleo.