Eggs in Purgatory.

Fresh fixins were running a little slim this past weekend, and so I went after the numerous cans of tomatoes we have in the pantry. Prior to the GAPS diet, we were big chili eaters. Besides being delicious, it's super easy to make, especially in the slow cooker. Our technique was to basically add a bunch of canned (maybe frozen) veggies to the pot and let it go. After the diet switch, we went through a large purge of the kitchen cabinets when we got rid of just about all of our canned food, except for the canned tomatoes, which we had a lot of. In the end, it was probably not the cleanest, and definitely not the freshest meal we've had in a while, but dang did it turn out awesome!

Due to the anticipated chili making, most of our tomato cans contain various peppers and onions, garlic, and other seasonings. With that, the Purgatory recipe didn't require too much more seasoning, but I did take a couple recipe ideas and added just a few additional herbs and spices. The result was pretty amazing. It's super easy to make (especially with the assistance of canned goodies), and would go well with some kind of veggie hash as a side (we had some leftover roasted rutabaga and winter squash fries). If dairy is well tolerated, I'm sure this would be even more delicious with a cheesy topping. Mmmm....breakfast!

Those poor eggs cooking way in the fire and brimstone of purgatory...I mean delicious, delicious tomatoes!

Voila! Delicious, and relatively quick breakfast with example of the rutabaga prepped as fries, which are amazing as well!

The Recipe:

• 4 eggs
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes and peppers (I used fire-roasted with peppers and onions)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 onion, chopped (I used one large yellow onion)
• Garlic powder to taste
• Coconut oil (for cooking onion)

The Process:

• In a cast-iron skillet (or regular skillet), melt coconut oil and add chopped onion. Cook until onion is soft and translucent.
• Add all the canned tomato stuffs and seasonings to the skillet and heat through.
• Once all the ingredients in the skillet are warm/hot add in the eggs. Let them cook until the bottom of the eggs are done, then (carefully) flip and turn off heat.
• Serve and enjoy some awesome brunch!

This, as with just about any recipe I post, is very fast and loose. Try playing around with the different tomato and seasoning options and see what turns out. It's tough to go astray with tomato anything!

Hasselback Rutabagas.

Is it just me that thinks of David Hasselhoff when I hear the term hasselback?

Anyway, I have been thoroughly enjoying the new diet the hubby and I started back in the early part of 2013. All the home cooked, fresh food has been amazing! We're not only learning so much about cooking and food, but about ourselves as well. One of the things I've been learning, is that I absolutely LOVE eating seasonally! With so much food on-demand at the grocery store, I've never really had an appreciation for how crops and produce changes throughout the year. There just isn't the same consideration when you can get everything and anything all year round. Now that we've been hitting up the farmer's markets (so grateful to have a winter market despite the temperatures in this area!) I have been having fun experimenting with the new produce and trying out new recipes. Today's challenge: how to prep and cook rutabaga.

I don't recall ever really eating, let alone cooking rutabaga. It's one of those odd looking root vegetables that I'm sure would have horrified me back in the day. Things have changed quite a bit since then, and today I am super excited about working with the new root. Fortunately, we live in an age of Pinterest and Google, so even if I've never seen the stuff, within seconds I have info on what it is, how to prep AND cook it, with potential for some pretty amazing results.

So for today I chose to do hasselback style rutabaga for the hubby and I, based on the recipe I found at the Florida Costal Cooking site. It turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. The cook time was a little longer than I anticipated, mostly because in my attempts at healthy cooking, I tend to do more low and slow in hopes of avoiding any chemical breakdown of the oils (and the rutabagas I used were pretty huge). Perhaps that is why these actually turned out quite tender, and the robust, earthy flavor of the rutabage combined with the spiciness of the garlic and onion, all made for an amazing addition to our evening meal. It was a little difficult to get the slits cut as it's a pretty tough root, but I think it was worth the effort. Next time however, I think I'll make things slightly easier on myself and go for rutabaga fries (making things even easier with the employ of a mandolin...)! In the mean time, enjoy and let me know if there are any other good tips or tricks when working with rutabaga!

This is by far the least fun part, trying to cut into that rutabaga!

Minced garlic is definitely the way to go, though I bet a roasted garlic smeared into each slit would be even better....hmmm...next time!

Wrap it up good, though not too tight so you can check on it after 30 minutes.

And this did not last long! Got devoured pretty quickly, you've been warned!

*The Recipe:

• 2 rutabagas
• 2 cloves garlic sliced (I made things easier on myself by using minced garlic, and lots of it!)
• 2 slices red onion (or more depending on the size of the slits and rutabaga itself)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (or your oil of choice, for something really yummy maybe try bacon grease!)
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp salt (or to your taste)
• Two pieces aluminum foil for baking.

The Process:

• Preheat the oven to 425, though depending on the oil/fat being used, lowering the temperature will help keep all those yummy nutrients in tact, or so I hear. I generally cook at 350 just to be safe.
• Cut the root part of the rutabaga off so it can stand on it's own, then proceed to approximately 1/4 inch slits from the top down, being careful not to go completely through the rutabaga itself. 
• Now the fun part: start stuffing those slits with onion and garlic. If using slice garlic, alternate as you go, if using minced, I stuffed onion into each slice then added minced garlic to the top.
• Once the rutabagas are prepped, place them on the aluminum foil and pour your oil of choice over the top, making sure it seeps into each one of those crevices.
• Next wrap up the rutabagas and place in the oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until tender. Then remove the foil and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the outside is a nice golden brown.
• Finally: enjoy the heck out of them!

*This is a very flexible recipe, so have fun with it! My rutabagas were pretty huge compared to what I was seeing on the FCC site, so modifications were made both with ingredients and cook time. Feel free to experiment with different flavors and seasonings to suit your palate! 

Cocao butter from cacao nibs? Experiment!

For better or worse, the hubby and I go trough a lot of nut butter. What can I say, it's yummy! We've been playing with different types of nuts like pecans, walnuts, cashews, along with some various flavorings; all of which got me thinking: if we can make nut butter from grinding down the raw nuts, could we make a cacao butter or spread by grinding the cacao nibs...? My curiosity was piqued, and after weeks of this idea bouncing around in my head (and needing to buy more cacao nibs), this past weekend I finally got around to experimenting!

The results were not quite what I expected. At first glance it was working pretty well, and the smells emitting from the food processor were simply divine! The cacao nibs ground down to a fine powder, which had the most rich, chocolatey smell, and eventually turned into a very thick paste. This was exciting to me, had I really made a chocolatey spread out of the nibs? The answer: sort of. The hubby and I took a quick break for lunch and left the chocolate paste in the food processor to deal with after. What we found was a very crusty mess. The paste had hardened, and required some heavy chiseling to get the food processor blade free. A minor set back as I was once again able to grind the dried up cacao and get the paste back. With that, I decided to take the paste and flatten it out into a bar form, making our very own 100% cacao bars! That in itself, was pretty amazing, and well worth the effort!

For my taste, the broken down nibs have a slightly more mellow taste than the raw nibs, but both are equally delicious. But since they were able to grind into some sort of pasty butter like consistency, the hubby and I started thinking, what if we added some oil to it, maybe some coconut oil? Or perhaps a 50/50 mix with other nuts like cashews to make a more spreadable chocolate confection. So many possibilities! I will definitely continue the experimentation, and post the (hopefully very delicious) results!

At long last: Pulp Chips!

Sometimes, there's just nothing like a good crispy chip! As a life-long carb addict, after switching to the GAPS diet, I found myself sorely missing that crispy texture I'd grown to love by way of crackers, cereal (LOTS of cereal), toast, etc. I needed something to satisfy that crunch without over doing it on the good stuff like almonds and other nuts and seeds.

Fortunately, with GAPS, especially the intro, we started doing more juicing, which left us with an abundance of a food product that we didn't quite know what to do with, but also didn't want going to waste. I just couldn't justify disposing all that pulp, so I started perusing the interwebs for ideas on how to use it. There were some interesting recipes, many of which I still need to try, but one in particular stood out as it seemed to be rather GAPS friendly: the Detoxinista's Italian Meat(less) balls. With a couple modifications for GAPS, these veggie balls worked quite well. The hubby and I used them on our 50(+) mile bike-ride as a take-along snack. Without a good sauce though, for us at least, the veggie balls seemed to be a little dry and flat tasting. We both really liked the concept though, which got me thinking: what if we just flattened these out and make them into chips?

I'd seen enough recipes online for juice pulp chips, and since we already had a pretty tasty recipe that just seemed to be missing that little extra something, we went for it! I adjusted some of the quantities to make it work better on the flat baking sheet, and after some trial and error with bake-time, ended up with a dang tasty chip recipe! This has become another one of our go-tos. Since we're juicing on a daily basis, we rarely have a shortage of pulp, so the chips are on a pretty heavy rotation throughout the week. Besides the fact that they are a great snack, the pulp seems less likely to go bad when it's all crisped up. One day I will give this a try in a food dehydrator for a more "raw" version and do more of a side-by-side comparison. Now I just need to get the dehydrator!

As for serving, they are of course great on their own, but they go particularly well with guacamole (especially our go-to, extra garlicky, extra oniony guac), cheese, dip, nut butter, just about anything! And the pulp does not need to be strictly vegetable base, as ours consistently has some type of fruit in it, and still works well with the more savory seasoning. With that, I'm hoping to try making a more pumpkin spice-like recipe soon, so stay tuned for those results!

Pro tip: start with the egg. I use an immersion blender with a whisk attachment.

Once the eggs are scrambled, everything else gets added, in no particular order.

Flatten everything out on the pan. I find parchment paper is almost critical for non-stick results.

After a good night in the oven, break apart and enjoy!

The Recipe (makes two baking sheets):

• 5 Cups Juice Pulp (very rough measurement)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp Onion powder
• 2 tsp Garlic powder
• 2 tsp Oregano (dried)
• 2 tsp Basil (dried)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbs Parmesan Cheese
• 1 oz Olive Oil

The Process:

• In a large bowl, mix eggs until well blended.
• Add pulp, seasoning (onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, salt), cheese and olive oil. 
• Mix ingredients by hand start dividing between the two prepared baking sheet (I use parchment paper and it works fabulously!).
• Flatten the mixture out so that it fills the full baking sheet.
• Place in the over on a low temperature setting (for my oven, 200 degrees is ideal) and let sit for at least 8 hours (overnight or during the day while at work). 

As the pulp mixture dries it will detach from the parchment paper making it easy to break into bite-size pieces. 

Zughetti and squash sauce with a side of veggie balls.

The hubby and I were on the lookout for some quickie meal ideas, and since we had just gone to the market, we had a few extra ingredients on hand, one of which being zucchini. We wanted something simple, yet comforting, and what is more comforting than spaghetti and meatballs...? Zughetti and veggie balls of course! I've always had an interest in using zucchini in place of traditional spaghetti noodles, and now that we're on the GAPS diet, it seemed like the perfect time. I thought it was a fun idea, and since I was planning to quickly and lightly stir-fry the noodles, thought it would be just the thing to star in our quickie dinner.

It was also a bit of a leftover meal, using up some of the older ingredients that had been lingering about the kitchen, in particular these two acorn squashes that had been threatening to become permanent fixtures if they weren't used sooner than later. So it was decided, squash sauce to top the zughetti noddles! The recipe for the sauce comes from MarthaStewart.com, and with only minor modifications, primarily the use of coconut milk in place of half-and-half, the dish was rather GAPS/paleo friendly. I was also quite liberal in my use of garlic (as always), caramelizing the cloves**, and adjusting the rest of the ingredients accordingly to accommodate the large amount of squash we had. Sticking with the theme of simplicity, instead of pealing and cubing the squash as the recipe suggested, I simply cut the squashes in half and sprinkled in my seasoning and oil, letting them cook open side up. Overall it worked out quite well. The sauce was delicious, and went amazingly well with our second attempt at the Detoxinista's Meat(less) Balls. What pulled it all together though, was how we topped everything off with the amazing leftover slow-cooker chicken we had made earlier in the week.

It turned out to be quite an amazing meal. Not necessarily the quickest, but considering what was all made, the effort was fairly minimal. And as a bonus, we finished off the last of our fouxtatoes/cauliflower hummus, which made for another great serving idea for the veggie balls. Definitely need to try doing the veggie balls falafel style!

I LOVE garlic, and really, is there anything roasted garlic doesn't go with?

While zucchini noodles are great on their own, a quick stir-fry can really make the flavor shine!

Delicious.

The Recipe

• 1 large zucchini (for the noodles)

• 1 medium butternut squash, about 1 1/2 pounds (I used acorn squash)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic*
• 5 cloves garlic (very rough estimate)
• 1 heaping tablespoon coconut oil (or desired fat for caramelizing)
• 1 cup coconut milk (original recipe calls for half-and-half)

The Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Using a large, sharp knife, trim ends; halve squash crosswise to separate bulb from neck. Peel with a vegetable peeler. Cut both pieces in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out seeds; discard. (To simplify, cut squash in half, remove seeds and prep each open half. Bake open side up. and proceed to step 4.)
3. Cut squash into 2-inch chunks; transfer to a small rimmed baking sheet. Toss with oil and sage; season generously with salt and pepper. Scatter garlic around squash. (*If cooking as whole halves, sprinkle minced garlic on each half.)
4. Roast until squash is very tender, about 40 minutes, tossing once halfway through. Remove and discard skin from garlic.
5. *While squash is cooking, begin cooking garlic cloves on a low setting, stirring occasionally. (The goal is to slightly caramelize.)
6. Transfer squash and garlic and onion mixture to a food processor; puree. With motor running, add coconut milk through the feed tube; process until smooth. Add 1 to 2 cups water (I did not add water as I like a thicker sauce); continue to process until smooth, adding water to thin if necessary. Season again generously with salt.

Serve over zughetti, veggie balls, or anything else you're looking to spice up, and enjoy!

**I have grown to love Sam's Club's Fresh Peeled Garlic. It's a huge bag of garlic already prepped for cooking. What more could you ask for?!

Another juice pulp recipe: Bread

The homestead has had a bit of a juice pulp surplus as of late, mainly because I've been holding off on the chip making to look for more ways of putting the pulp to good use. As I've scoured the net for more juice pulp recipes, I've come across quite a few bread recipes, and so was curious to give it a try myself. I found this recipe from the Milk From The Morning Cake blog. All in all it was a pretty painless process, and was ready to enjoy in about an hour. Since I've been avoiding sugar, I left out the honey/sweetener, and did not find it to be lacking in the slightest. I love the spice flavor with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and in many ways it reminds me of my mom's zucchini bread. Quite delicious, it may be one of those recipes we need to add into the regular rotation. The biggest takeaway for me though, was the prep tip of lining the bread pan with parchment paper. A simple thing I know, but made all the difference in the world when it came to removal. I had tried using various types of fat to grease the pan in the past like butter, coconut oil, olive oil, but the parchment paper definitely wins out.

One thing I'll be interested in trying in the future is a more savory version of the bread, something more akin to the pulp chip recipe I love so much. Perhaps mingling it with the wonderful savory waffle recipe. I could imagine this turning out to be some pretty awesome sandwich bread, or perhaps it would work best as a dipping bread (I love olive oil!)! Hmmm....sounds like a new recipe experiment!

I again found that mixing the eggs first and adding everything else to them worked VERY well!

Getting my hands dirty.

Success!

A little quick cinnamon butter and we're all good.

The Recipe

• 8oz juice pulp
• 6oz ground almonds (or ground cashews, hazels or sunflower seeds or coconut flour, I happened to use almonds)
• 2oz melted butter
• 2-4tsp honey (or maple syrup for non SCD and low fructose diets, can also be omitted if avoiding sugar all together)
• 4 large free range eggs
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Juice of half a lime or a third of a lemon (I used a tablespoon of lemon juice)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Half tsp fresh grated nutmeg (I used dried, powdered)
• 3 tsp cider vinegar
• small handful of chopped walnuts, pecans or raisins (This is entirely optional, though I found the walnuts to be a wonderful addition. Leave out raisins for low fructose diets)

The Process

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a 1lb loaf tin with parchment paper, letting it hang well over the edges.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together carrot pulp, ground almonds, melted butter, spices, bicarb and eggs.
3. In a small bowl or cup stir together, lime juice, vinegar and honey. Pour over the rest of the ingredients (adding the option extras if wished) and stir till well mixed in. Pile into the tin and smooth the top.
4. Bake for 50 - 70 minutes (mine was done in about an hour), until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes and then gently loosen with a knife and lift out using the paper strips. Leave paper attached until completely cool and then remove carefully so as not to detach the crust. Slice and toast or keep in an airtight container for up to three days. Otherwise, slice and open freeze, storing in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three weeks.

A savory update to the Civilized Waffles

I just wanted to post a quick update to the Savory Waffles post.

After the delicious results from the modified waffle recipe, I wanted more. The hubby was in agreement as well, but wanted to do the waffles properly, most closely following the recipe with benedict and all! And so it was, and it was once again amazing! The bacon and chives not only add another degree of flavor to the waffles, but texture. The fresh waffles are so crunchy, and while they have a wonderfully light, airy middle, the bacon adds an additional savory crunch to every bite. In many ways it reminds me of chop block bread, but even more awesome! I'm excited to experiment with these more, perhaps adding in some sun-dried tomatoes and herbs, maybe even a cheese. Sounds like a modified breakfast pizza will be in the near future....

The second part of the recipe, the Hollandaise sauce, was interesting. Not quite as sauce-like was we were anticipating, though that may have been chef error (guess we'll just have to try making it again), it still had an amazing flavor that only got better as it mingled in with the egg yolk and started soaking into the waffle.

All in all this was another amazing brunch. Eating out on the porch I felt like we were at our own little bistro complete with exceptional food and the best company (thank you honey!). Can't wait till next weekend to experiment some more!


The Recipe(s):

WAFFLES

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup raw cashew butter
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 2 teaspoons bacon fat, melted
• 1/4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 piece of bacon and chopped rough
• 2 chives chopped

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

• 2 eggs yolks
• 1/4 cup melted grassfed butter or ghee, unsalted (for dairy-free, follow my recipe for Coconut Oil Hollandaise)
• 2 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/8 Tsp Paprika or Cayenne if you want some heat

TO SERVE

• 4 Savory Waffles
• 4 Slices cooked ham
• 4 Eggs poached
• 1/4 Cup Hollandaise Sauce, recipe follows
• Chives to garnish

The Process (Waffles and Benedict):

• Preheat your waffle iron
• In a stand mixer, or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the eggs with the cashew butter, almond milk, bacon fat, and garlic.
• Mix the salt, baking soda and coconut flour in a small bowl, then pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
• Beat for 30 seconds until the batter is fully incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure you get all of the sticky cashew butter.
• Fold the chopped bacon and chives into the batter by hand.
• Cook your waffles according to the instructions on your waffle iron, then keep them in a warm oven until you’re ready to assemble the benedict.

***Every machine is different, so watch the waffles really carefully to ensure they don’t burn. This batter will not take as long to cook as a regular waffles and will probably be done before your indicator light turns green. Once the steam stops, they are likely done. Mine takes about 30-45 seconds for each batch.***

The Process (Hollandaise Sauce):

• Pour boiling water into a blender, then cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Dump out the water and dry the container thoroughly.
• Blend the egg yolks with the lemon juice, salt, and paprika.
• With the blender running on low, slowly pour in the hot melted butter.
• Blend for about 30 seconds until the sauce has thickened and the butter is well incorporated. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

***If it gets too thick, warm it over very low heat until it becomes runny again (about 10 seconds in a microwave and a minute on a low burner). Be careful not to use too high of heat or your eggs will scramble and your butter will curdle.***


Layer each waffle with a slice of ham, poached egg, drizzle of hollandaise, and a few chives.

The best whole chicken in a crock-pot, really!

This recipe has really become the go-to for the hubby and I, and I can't tell you enough just how amazing it really is! The recipe comes from the 100 Days of Real Food blog, and besides being incredibly easy, as most slow-cooker recipes are, the resulting chicken tastes fantastic, so juicy and flavorful! We generally double up on the recipe, somehow squishing in two whole chickens into one (large) crock-pot, and reserving the remaining juices and bones to start the next batch of bone broth.

I love the set-it-and-forget-it style recipes, especially when they yield such awesome leftovers, and as we continue to go more GAPS/paleo, having a good meat recipe on hand is an essential. This slow-cooker chicken has made an awesome addition to dishes like our zughetti with squash sauce and salads, is a great topper for juice pulp chips, and is pretty darn good all on it's own. I can't say enough about this recipe, so try it and let us know in the comments what you think, and if there are any fun variations you've come up with!

The Recipe

• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 large chicken

The Process

1. Combine the dried spices in a small bowl.*
2. Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Remove any giblets** from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. You can even put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.
4. Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.
5. Cook for 4 – 5 hours on high*** (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone. Don’t forget to make your homemade stock with the leftover bones!

*I just sprinkle all the ingredients over the chicken(s) once they are in the crock-pot, which has worked just fine.

**When possible (or when provided) we use the entire chicken, giblets and all!

***I generally let it cook on a low setting for at least 8 hours or more, till it's falling off the bone, or when I can get around to processing it.

More Civilized ideas: German Apple Pancakes

Ah breakfast. My husband and I have made the most important meal of the day into a bit of an art. We love breakfast foods, so when we came across this delicious looking German Apple Pancake recipe from the Civilized Caveman, we had to try it. The photos made them look more like apple fritters than pancakes, which was especially intriguing to me (who doesn't like apple fritters?!). They just looked like a whole lot of awesome, and based on the ingredients (with one minor modification) would be GAPS friendly. The hubby and I were definitely in the mood for a whole lot of awesome!

The overall process was pretty painless, and cook times were pretty accurate as well, which was only somewhat surprising since we used jumbo muffin tins instead of the suggested Ramekins. The results were amazing. In the end, they turned out looking a little more like pineapple upsidedown cake, but the (not too overpowering) sweetness of the apple, along with the spiciness of cinnamon and nutmeg gave these German Apple Pancakes an incredibly rich flavor. Serving suggestion: place in the middle of a large bowl of (plain, full-fat) yogurt - amazing!

The Recipe:
(the batter)

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup almond milk (coconut works too)
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp pure maple syrup (sub honey for GAPS)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

(the filling)

• 2 apples, cored and diced
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• juice of 1/2 lemon (I used 2TBS lemon juice)
• handful of crushed pecans

The Process

1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla, and maple syrup
3. In a small bowl, stir coconut flour, nutmeg, and baking soda
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and beat well to combine, set aside while you prepare the apples
5. In a small frying pan, heat 2 tbsp coconut oil and raw organic honey
6. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg and juice of 1/2 Lemon and cook for 1 minute
7. Add in your apples and sauté until all your apples are nicely coated
8. Evenly divide your apple mixture between 8 ramekins greased with coconut oil and then evenly divide your egg mixture on top of the apples between the 8 Ramekins
9. Place your Ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees and then reduce heat to 375 and cook for an additional 20 minutes
10. Sprinkle with pecans when removed from the oven
11. Enjoy

The Civilized approach to food: Savory Waffles

This past weekend involved the hubby and I experimenting with some new recipes, which culminated into some pretty amazing meals! As we continue to adhere to the GAPS diet, We've also been getting more into Paleo, which is quite GAPS friendly minus the sweet potatoes and bacon (though lets face it, exceptions need to be made for bacon!). I admit, most of my Pinterest time is spent salivating over the awesome looking Paleo recipes, especially those in the dessert category. Even with my diminished sweet-tooth (thank you GAPS!), desserts always look so darn good, and tend to fill most of my Pin boards. Which is why I was so excited to see this delightfully savory waffle recipe courtesy of the Civilized Caveman. I don't recall ever having savory waffles prior to this, but they were amazing, and that is even with the minor modifications we were (sort of) forced to make due to lack of ingredients...

As you can see from the Civilized Caveman, this is part of a larger Eggs Benedict style recipe. We were more interested in trying the waffles themselves since we already had another recipe started (German Apple Pancakes, again from the Civilized Caveman). With that, we served these waffles sans the eggs and ham, and instead used some leftover broth/stock meat and our homemade guacamole. The savory, garlicy-ness of these waffles (I did not skimp on the garlic) really make them a great pairing for almost anything, so feel free to experiment with your own toppings and post your results in the comments!

The few substitution we made due to our missing ingredients were coconut milk for almond milk, butter for the bacon fat, and simply left out the bacon (tragic I know) and chives. By not skimping on the garlic (using more like a heaping tablespoon rather than the 1/4 listed), the waffles maintained a rich, savory flavor even without the bacon and chives.

The results: Amazing!

breakfast out on the porch, by Phillip Fischer

The Recipe:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup raw cashew butter (or your preferred nut butter)
• 3 tablespoons almond milk (coconut works fine too)
• 2 teaspoons bacon fat, melted (or butter)
• 1/4 teaspoons minced garlic (I chose to be more generous here with 1 heaping tablespoon)
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 piece of bacon and chopped rough
• 2 chives chopped

The Process:

1. Preheat your waffle iron
2. In stand mixer, or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the eggs with the cashew butter, almond milk, bacon fat, and garlic.
3. Mix the salt, baking soda and coconut flour in a small bowl, then pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
4. Beat for 30 seconds until the batter is fully incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure you get all of the sticky cashew butter.
5. Fold the chopped bacon and chives into the batter by hand.
6. Cook your waffles according to the instructions on your waffle iron, then keep them in a warm oven until you’re ready to assemble the benedict.

***Every machine is different, so watch the waffles really carefully to ensure they don’t burn. This batter will not take as long to cook as a regular waffles and will probably be done before your indicator light turns green. Once the steam stops, they are likely done. Mine takes about 30-45 seconds for each batch.***