Health, Home, & Happiness

Chocolate Beet Muffins (GAPS, stevia sweetened, low carb)

2012-05-16T16:23:04Z

“Mommy, I lube beeeeeets” my son sings. Beets in our house are a hit because they are bring pink, sweet, something different, and often made into chocolate muffins! These beet chocolate muffins are a great way to hide beets for veggie-phobic kids, plus the beets add a nice sweetness and moisture to the grain free baked good. Stevia and honey option allow this to be low carb/anti-candida or just full GAPS legal. Check out more GAPS and grain free recipes here.

Chocolate Beet Muffins

2 large (apple sized) or 3 medium beets, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup almond flour
1-1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
5 servings of stevia or 1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, puree raw beets and eggs until smooth. Add in remaining ingredients. Grease muffin tins or place paper liners in and pour a little melted fat in each liner. Spoon in batter evenly across all 12 muffin cups, cups should be fairly full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Allow to cool a couple minutes before removing from the pan. My children love these!

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Announcing the In Print Best Of Grain Free Meal Plans Cookbook!

2012-05-05T22:24:55Z

Ever since I released Grain Free Meal Plans in January of 2011, I’ve been getting requests for the recipes in cookbook format. It took me a while, but I finally got a full color in print cookbook made! My favorite thing about cookbooks is having color pictures for inspiration. The awesome thing about grain free cooking is the beauty of whole foods really shines through.

I’ve been getting great feedback in person (I keep a stack of books in my car now for people who are interested!) and online, thanks guys!

As I was going through the recipes I realized I couldn’t include every recipe I wanted to, so I made this Volume 1, Volume 2 will be full of even more favorites in the future!

Want to see a sample? Click here.

Want to help me out? If you’ve purchased this book, either in print or in e-book format, would you go over to Amazon and leave me an honest review? Also, if you could share this on Facebook or Pinterest it would help me a ton also!

When To Start Solids With Your Real Food Baby

2012-05-07T20:36:56Z

: 14 months and still not getting many calories from solids

Starting babies on solids is something all mothers think about, some wonder when the soonest they can introduce a baby to solids is, others want to put it off as long as possible. Every family needs to choose a method that works for them; it’s my belief that not only are all babies different, but all families are different as well. Here’s what we did, as well as what Sally Fallon of Nourishing Traditions advises and Dr Natasha Campbell McBride of Gut and Psychology Syndrome.

You can see in this monster post about childbirth, breastfeeding, and babies that I like to research this stuff, but then when it comes down to it, I don’t stress if what I believe to be best isn’t actually feasible on our particular family.

How I Introduced Solids

I was super relaxed about feeding solids to my kids. I waited until they met the ‘baby led weaning’ criteria (could sit up unassisted, were at least 6 months old, had at least one tooth) and then offered some whole single-ingredient foods to them. Usually this was off my plate, sometimes while they were sitting in a high chair in the kitchen with me. Both of my children had no interest in swallowing solids until about a year. I would offer a couple times a week (it’s messy! I’m lazy and don’t want to clean mashed squash from the ears of a baby who isn’t actually eating anything!) and see when they started swallowing food.

Upon the advice of our naturopath, I did keep my daughter from grains until she was about 1-1/2, and then some cereal crept into our diet for a while. My son started solids just as we were starting GAPS (his first birthday ‘cake’ was whipped butternut squash with some salt and a candle!) so he has been primarily grain free his whole life.

So, I breastfed. I breastfed my babies on demand; my daughter nursed all.the.time. and my son often went 4-5 hours between feedings from birth. My children were totally different sizes; my daughter being about 6.5 lbs at birth, and my son 11 (yes, 11). Different babies are different, that’s why it’s so important to research things like feeding, but then watch your individual baby and do what is working for them. On my children’s totally different feeding schedules they both grew, and both were happy, so it worked.

You can see in the picture above that I got a little thin making milk that met the calorie requirements for a one-year-old, but both my kids were quite pudgy even at 12 months existing completely on breastmilk.

Once solids were introduced, I watched for reactions and then pretty much just fed my young toddlers table food. Knowing what I know now, I would try to keep my baby on GAPS until 2 years to establish good gut flora and provide added nutrition during the early years. Once I saw my baby didn’t react to any of the big things (nuts, eggs, dairy) I didn’t stress about introducing foods individually.

I continued to nurse, mostly at night, until 2-1/2 for my daughter and nearly 3 for my son, then I did wean them. It was an easy thing to do at that time and didn’t feel traumatic, I mostly chose the time to wean them based on our life circumstances- I weaned my daughter shortly after her brother was born and I saw that she was making the adjustment just fine. I weaned my son shortly after we moved, and again, the transition was made just fine. I was hesitant to wean before a major life change for them, so I just waited til after.

Some things that worked for me:

Don’t stress if they don’t eat, they will eventually (I questioned this a lot around 11-12 months with my daughter!)
If your baby is still hungry and is breastfed, look up block feeding to encourage them to get the fatty hind milk out
Salt their food! Use real salt to taste. Babies need salt.
Hold off on sweet foods like cooked fruit until baby is eating proteins and veggies.
Smile, nod, and do what you were previously doing when given well meaning advice about feeding your child.
Watch your baby like a hawk when you think someone might slip them some unauthorized food. Don’t be afraid of offending them, nobody needs to be giving your infant a lick of a lolly pop and it’s your job as a parent to protect them.
Don’t stress if your baby is ready for solids early, some babies are. Trust their bodies.
Introduce fish, cod liver oil, egg yolks, and liver early, most babies like these.
Tea tree oil topically relieved mastitis
Fenugreek tea boosted my supply, but I also think it made my milk more sugary, make sure baby is getting enough hind milk.

Nourishing Traditions on Feeding Babies

Sally Fallon talks about traditional cultures supplementing breastmilk at 4 months. She stresses prenatal and pre-conception nutrition, especially with a focus on animal fats, shellfish, and organ meats. She warns about a mother with a low quality diet producing low quality milk; while I don’t disagree with this, I do think that human milk in nearly all situations will be better for a baby than non-human milk. Breastfeeding is recommended to continue to 6 months to a year (I believe a minimum of 2 should be standard). One egg yolk a day with a small amount of grassfed liver and some sea salt is recommended to start at 4 months. Cereal grains are advised to avoid until age 1 or 2. I like this quote on page 601 from Nourishing Traditions, “Remember that babies should be chubby and children should be sturdy and strong, not slim. Babies need body fat to achieve optimum growth. The fat around their ankles, knees, elbows, and wrists is growth fat that ensures adequate nourishment to the growth plates at the ends of the bones. Fat babies grow up into sturdy, well-formed adults.”

Gut and Psychology Syndrome on Feeding Babies

Natasha Campbell-McBride has a chapter in the new version of Gut and Psychology Syndrome (page 351) that explains her views on feeding a baby in a GAPS family. Because these babies are more likely to have poor gut flora and be nutritionally depleted due to poor health in their parents, special considerations are taken. Breastfeeding is, of course, encouraged, and if that is not possible a wet nurse or milk donor is encouraged (I love this- human milk for human babies should be normal). If for some reason baby must take formula, probiotics should be added to the bottle from the start (Nourishing traditions has this in their handmade formula as well). As with the entire Gut and Psychology Syndrome protocol, emphasis is placed on reducing toxins as well as eating wholesome foods. Natural crib mattresses should be used, and commercial baby care products with toxic ingredients should be avoided.

The Order of Starting foods in the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Feeding Babies Protocol

Breastmilk
Homemade meat or fish stock, no salt, start with 1-2 teaspoons starting at 6 months for a breastfed baby.
Freshly pressed vegetable juice diluted with warm water between meals, carrot then cabbage and celery
Add probiotic food to stock, start with 1/2 teaspoon a day: Whey, sauerkraut juice, yogurt
Vegetable soup or puree from peeled and deseeded well cooked veggies and stock (no starchy foods like potatoes or yams)
Boiled meats
Ripe avocado
Raw organic egg yolk added to vegetable soup
Cooked apple as apple puree, butter, coconut oil, or ghee added
Pancakes made with nutbutter, squash, and eggs
Add fresh apples to veggie juice
Raw vegetables: Lettuce, peeled cucumber, carrot, celery, cabbage- all blended/pureed
Gently scrambled egg with raw butter
Ripe raw apple without skin
Ripe banana with brown spots (fruit should be given away from meats)
Homemade cottage cheese
Grain free bread
Small amounts of natural salt
Table foods that are GAPS approved

Resources:

Heather of Mommypotamus wrote Nourished Baby, which talks more about what to feed your baby and why.

Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck

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Real Food 101 – The Picture Tutorial Nourishing Traditions Handbook

2012-04-25T20:19:42Z

My friend Kendahl writes at Our Nourishing Roots. She has been cooking with traditional foods just about as long as I have, and just published the e-book Real Food 101 (purchase here). I love visiting her house, I’ll admit she is more of a ‘foodie’ than I am and always knows how to perfectly combine spices and flavors to make fantastic dishes. Me, I’ll admit I’m in this whole real food thing primarily for the health benefits- I appreciate good tasting food, but health is my main passion.

View our video interview about how she got started with real food here.

She saw the need for picture tutorials for the basic real food recipes, and she put together a nice e-book for you! See the topics below. And check out a sample here. Isn’t it pretty?

What is in the e-book?

Grains, Nuts, Beans, & Seeds: Sprouted Flour, Soaking and Dehydrating Nuts, Beans, and Seeds.
Working with Raw Dairy: Butter, Buttermilk, Yogurt three ways, Whey, and Cream Cheese.
Salad Dressings: Basic Vinaigrette, Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette, Ranch Dressing
Traditional Bone Broths & Stocks: Beef Stock, Chicken Stock, and Shellfish Stock.
Lacto-fermented Condiments: Ketchup, Hand-Beaten Mayonnaise, and Traditional Sauerkraut.
Probiotic Drinks: Beet Kvass and Water Kefir.

Purchase here! Health, Home, and Happiness readers get a 30% discount with the code HHH30 until May 4th, 2012.

Giveaway opportunity: Comment below telling me why you’d like to win a copy of this e-book, and on Friday April 27th I’ll pick a winner at random.

What is a Healing Crisis?

2012-04-18T03:14:16Z

What Is a Healing Crisis?

A healing crisis is the body’s sign of being overloaded and overwhelmed with the changes that are taking place on the road to becoming healthier. This is often due to the body suddenly recognizing and eliminating toxins that otherwise had just been sitting there. Donna Gates in The Body Ecology Diet refers to healing crises as something that the body does as it’s organizing a major cleanse.

The first time I saw a healing crisis was when I put my daughter on a gluten free casein free diet (prior to GAPS); one of her cheeks turned bright red with the removal of gluten, which was acting like a toxin (or feeding toxins) in her body. As we went through the GAPS Intro I saw the same red cheeks. When I started her on B12 injections (B12 plays a huge roll in detoxification, which many GAPS kids have trouble with) she got night terrors/has trouble sleeping.

Night terrors and trouble sleeping are other signs of her healing crises, though these also are signs that she’s gotten food she shouldn’t have or has been exposed to a toxin. This is where it gets tricky figuring out what is what.

What’s the Difference between a Healing Crisis and a Reaction?

This is the hardest thing to figure out when first trying a new diet, supplement, or treatment. The way I go about figuring this out is first I look at what has been introduced- is it known for causing detoxification? If so, it’s likely a healing crisis. A reaction is usually caused by one of the more allergic foods, foods that are difficult to digest that are being introduced too quickly, and/or synthetic products.

The third reaction/crisis that we’ve dealt with is the so-called Atkins flu that happens when switching over to a low carb diet. The first two times I put my little one on intro, she got lethargic, dry mouth, didn’t want to eat, and acted like she had the flu. This isn’t really either a healing crisis (though that is part of it) or a reaction the way someone would react to a food they’re allergic to- it’s just the body learning to run on fat rather than carbs.

Some things that cause detoxification and are likely to trigger a healing crisis:

Epsom salt baths
B12
Coconut products- coconut oil is antimicrobial
Probiotics, including cultured foods
Herbs being used for detoxification purposes
Chiropractic or Acupuncture

Things that are more likely to cause reactions when re-introduced:

Dairy
Eggs
Nuts
Grains
Beans
Gluten
Fibrous veggies
Fruit and sweet foods (feeds yeast)
Commercial soaps, hand sanitatizer, etc
Chlorine
Polyester or synthetic clothing
Commercial mattresses

What are possible healing crisis symptoms?

The symptoms of a healing crisis are all over the map. Red cheeks, headaches, joint aches, flares of asthma, irritability, spaciness, tiredness, and digestive upset are all possible symptoms of a healing crisis, but there are many many more. You really need to pay attention to your body’s symptoms (of course consulting your healthcare professional when needed!) so you can learn to recognize a healing crisis from being sick from having a reaction. In the 30 Days on the GAPS Intro e-book I give you a chart at the end that can help you track these symptoms and find patterns.

Should we try to slow down a healing crisis?

I do try to slow down healing crises. They show that the body is not processing toxins as quickly as they are being released. Epsom salt baths, extra rest, drinking plenty of fluids, eating healthy foods as your body craves them, clay, and detoxification tea can all help.

When needed I also cut the dose of whatever is causing the issue down by quite a bit (in the case of B12 we went from every 3 days to once a week for a while, then back down to every 2-3 as tolerated) and see if that helps. Commercial probiotics, epsom salts, coconut, and kefir and/or yogurt can all require very slow introduction to keep from overloading the body. When starting a major diet change, you may want to slowly transition over the course of a couple weeks rather than go cold turkey.

Healing Crises Give Important Feedback

Now that I’ve scared you away from trying anything natural to improve your health, I should mention that seeing a healing crisis is actually a very helpful sign! I was telling my neighbor who was trying her toddler on the GAPS Intro Diet, “Since he’s reacting to it, you KNOW there’s something wonky in his symptom, and it’s being fixed with food! If nothing happened, you wouldn’t know whether this was doing anything or not”.

Healing crises are important to know about, because they often get mistaken for allergic reactions. Thinking that many foods are causing allergic reactions can unnecessarily limit your food choices.

It also is helpful to me now as I’m trying new therapies out on my little one. She had a healing crisis (night terrors) to KST. I honestly was pretty skeptical that KST would help her, and without seeing her go through a healing crisis after just one treatment, I likely would not have spent the money to get her months’ worth of treatment, and the continued treatment has helped her tons.

A healing crisis is great for showing you where you can focus your time and energy on, because it shows what the body is responding to.

Related Article:
What is Holistic Healthcare?

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GAPS Intro E-book 30% off Sale for Autism Awareness Month

2012-03-31T14:53:17Z

April is Autism Awareness Month! To celebrate our children, I’m putting my What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on the GAPS Intro E-book on sale for the whole month. Use coupon code AUTISM for 30% off the whole month of April 2012. Purchase here

Why the sale? Because the GAPS Diet, specifically the intro diet, has been hands down the most effective thing we have tried for my daughter’s autism. I want to help you help your family! Read more about the GAPS Intro diet here, the Gut-Brain connection here, and see tons of GAPS and Grain Free Recipes here.

My little one has been on the GAPS diet for over 2 years now, and I’ve seen so much progress. I’m going to try to write an update post for you sometime this month. Stay tuned!

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Low Carb Coconut Lemon Vanilla Gelatin

2012-03-27T20:25:28Z

Stevia is a natural calorie free sweetener, acceptable for those on anti-yeast, ketogenic, or low carb diets. I’m not a huge fan of the flavor of stevia, but adding a pinch of salt, vanilla, and lemon extract to this jello gave it a variety of flavors that work well with the stevia.

The gelatin is from healthy cows and is a good source of amino acids (protein). I don’t have any real studies, but I find when my children regularly consume about 1 teaspoon of gelatin a day their dry-weather induced nose bleeds completely stop.

The coconut milk in this recipe is a great source of medium chain fatty acids, and coconut also has antimicrobial properties.

Let food be your medicine…

My children actually don’t like jello (one of the few foods they don’t like) so I freeze this in popsicle molds (available here) for them and they still get the gelatin health benefits. For a quick on the go snack, chill the jello mixture in lidded single serving containers.

Low Carb GAPS Friendly Coconut Jello

Makes 8 servings

1-1/2 cups filtered water (buy water filters here)
1 can coconut milk (buy here)
5 tablespoons beef gelatin from grassfed cows (buy here)
5 servings (scoops) powdered stevia (buy here)
1 pinch sea salt (buy here)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract (buy here)

Directions: Bring water and coconut milk to a simmer over medium heat. Add gelatin, stevia, salt, and extracts. Stir with a whisk or a fork (fork is easier to clean, that’s what I use!) every few minutes for 10 minutes, or until all gelatin lumps have broken up. Pour into bowls, cups, or popsicle molds. Chill and serve when set. The fatty layer of the coconut separates a bit from the liquidy part, but it still all tastes great.

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Hearty GAPS Chili

2012-03-23T13:02:54Z

Though here it’s in the 80s and sunny, I know it’s still chilly in other parts of the country. This chili recipe makes for plenty of leftovers, use over the top of organic grassfed hotdogs for chili dogs for lunch the next day, or use it to feed a crowd. Yes, the liver can be omitted, but chili is a great way to hide liver for a boost in iron and B vitamins (read more). This chili is excellent served with baked almondflour ‘sourdough’ pancakes, as a bread-like side dish. If you’re looking for a change of pace, check out my White Chili Recipe as well. This recipe is Slow Carb (omit dairy), GAPS, SCD, and Grain Free.

Hearty Red GAPS Chili

(yields 8-10 servings)

2 pounds ground beef (buy grassfed meat here)
1 pound beef, chicken, or lamb liver, cooked and crumbled (see below to prepare liver)
4 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin (buy organic herbs and spices here)
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup navy (white) beans, soaked overnight (see below)
2 1/2 cups (or more) chicken stock (chicken stock recipe)
2 cans tomato paste or diced tomatoes (purchase tomato paste in glass jars here)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
1 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Grated cheddar cheese
Yogurt (as sour cream)
Additional chopped onion

Sauté beef and chopped onions in large Dutch oven or pot over high heat until beef is cooked through, stirring often and breaking up beef with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. (if using a crockpot, transfer now) Add cumin, chili powder, garlic, and beans. Mix in 2 1/2 cups chicken stock, tomato paste, honey, and 1/2 cup cilantro. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover partially and cook 1 1/2 hours on stovetop or 6-8 hours on low in crockpot, adding more water by 1/4 cupfuls if chili becomes dry. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix remaining 1/2 cup cilantro into chili. Ladle chili into bowls. Serve, passing cheese, sour cream and additional chopped onion separately.

Soak Liver:
Drain any blood from thawed liver. Place in a bowl. Cover with the juice of one lemon and filtered water until the liver is completely covered. Cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap and return to the fridge. Soaking the liver removes the blood and bitterness.

To cook, pan fry in 1 teaspoon fat (coconut oil, butter, ghee, etc) over medium heat, 5 minutes on each side. Allow to cool and crumble or chop into 1/4 inch cubes for recipe. Chicken liver is most mildly flavored, but beef and lamb are hidden surprisingly well in chili.

Soak beans:

Rinse navy beans in a colander, removing any rocks or debris that may be in the package. Put in a large bowl (they will swell to triple their current size) and cover with filtered water so that they are covered by an inch or more. Allow to soak for 24 hours, changing the water once during this timeperiod. This reduces the starch content of the beans and makes them easier to digest.

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What Holistic Healthcare is All About

2012-03-13T01:35:41Z

Yes, running in the sunshine and enjoying nature is holistic 'healthcare'!

What defines holistic treatment?

ho·lis·tic

[hoh-lis-tik]

adjective

Based on the idea that you should take care of your whole body and mind, rather

than just treating a partof the body that is ill.

Thinking of health problems holistically is a learned behavior, but once you are used to it it becomes second nature. The main objective is to get to the root of any given problem, by treating the entire body and environment, notjust the specific part of a person that is ill.

The holistic approach takes more time and thought at first, and requires that you know the patient (often yourself or your family members) well. But the benefits are great. As we have found with the GAPS Diet, when holistically treating something like autism we end up also treating skin, blood sugar, allergy, and energy issues as well.

An example of ways to think holistically vs conventionally about a common childhood problem, diaper rash:

Baby has rash.

Conventional treatment: Desatin and frequent changes, possibly fresh air.

Holistic treatment; try any or all of the following until something that works long term is found:

Is baby in disposables? Switch to all natural diapers or cloth.

Is baby in cloth? Check for synthetic materials, many babies are sensitive to PUL, polyester, fleece, or microfibers used in diapers. Change to all cotton, wool covers.

Does baby have food allergies? Remove common allergies (wheat, dairy, food dyes) from mom’s and/or baby’s diet.

Is baby breastfeeding? Is baby getting enough fatty hind milk? Try block feeding (4 hours on each side) rather than switching sides at each feeding.

Does mom have yeast issues? Treat mom and baby with probiotics and possibly an anti-candida diet.

Is baby getting plenty of fresh air daily? Yes, we love sunshine, even for little babies (careful that it’s not for too long!)

Why choose the more time consuming holistic treatment?

To those who are not used to the idea of treating the whole person often think that the holistic option is an awful lot of work for something simple as a diaper rash. The conventional treatment, which claims a quick fix, sounds much more appealing to a busy mother.

But when we look at all the different root causes for the diaper rash, we end up preventing that problem from coming back, and future problems from coming up. A baby with a yeast rash is showing that they have a yeast overgrowth in their system. Without treating that, later in life they often develop attention deficits and other issues.

How ‘natural alternatives’ often are not holistic

When first looking into natural health it’s tempting to just keep the same conventional mindset (a quick fix) but use natural treatments. I do this too sometimes, but it’s not what holistic healthcare is all about. Yes, a natural medicine is usually better than a conventional one, but it still is applying a bandaid fix rather than a permanent one.

I do use ‘natural fixes’ that are for a temporary specific problem, but it’s still preferable to really get to the root of a problem. Sometimes all that means is making sure you get enough sleep, cut out the junk food from your diet, and reduce stress.

Just because it worked for one person…

Another common mistake, for in both conventional medicine and holistic medicine, is to assume that just because something worked for you, it is the solution for everyone with your same problem (see a little discussion about carbs that we had on Facebook recently). Holistic medicine is very individualized and the slow and steady ‘educated trial and error’ approach seems to work best for finding what treatments are needed.

It’s exciting to find an easy natural remedy for a chronic condition that you’ve had, but try to be objective and realize that just because, for instance, removing dairy (or gluten or nightshades) from your diet cured your arthritis (or digestive trouble, brain fog, eczema, sinus infections, etc), doesn’t mean that everyone with arthritis will find the same benefit from removing that particular food. It has to do with their specific body. A good holistic treatment recognizes this, be wary of any ‘holistic’ practitioner who is pushing a one-size-fits-all treatment.

Healthcare as a Lifestyle

Keeping heath in the back of your mind and making small changes to your every day activities ends up changing the way you do life. It might take a little bit of time to get used to, but eventually you will crave the stuff that’s healthy for you!

Some examples of everyday ‘healthcare’:

Being out in the sunshine (seriously- enjoying nice weather is healthy!)
Eliminating allergies though food elimination and the GAPS Diet
Adding cultured foods to your diet
Making sure there is healthy food in the house
Reducing your stress level by keeping relationships healthy
Getting enough fresh air and enjoying exercise
Researching routine prenatal/baby care
Focusing on priorities and enjoying the simple small things
Making a hobby/social network of sourcing quality foods

Prioritizing treatment options

When it comes to holistic treatments, there can be so many good things that we get overwhelmed. Holistic healthcare takes time, effort, and money. I prioritize treatments based on what I believe to be most effective for the least amount of time/money.

Here’s how I start:

1. Food, add in the good, take out the bad. You’ve gotta eat anyway, so start here. (Healthy eating 101, GAPS Intro)

2. Sleep (Epsom salts can help, I use melatonin as well simply because I have a set amount of time that I can sleep each night, and I need to make sure I’m actually asleep during that time)

3. Stress

4. Supplements and herbal remedies (cinnamon and honey for a cold, elderberry syrup, other supplements, dandelion root, etc)

5. Reducing toxins in the home (natural mattresses, sunscreen, etc)

6. Other alternative medicines as you think they would help (chiropractic, acupuncture, visiting a naturopath, etc)

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Busy Day Grain Free Casserole (or a week’s worth of lunches)

2012-01-12T01:44:20Z

Being creative with our grain free meals can be fun (sushi, baked apples, fried cheese sticks) but sometimes we wake up with a full day ahead wanting a shortcut. Soups in the crockpot are great for this, but sometimes the day calls for something other than soup. Busy day casserole it is, frozen veggies, boneless chicken thighs, and optional cheese layer together quickly, spices give flavor. The chicken releases juices that flavor the veggies nicely, and if using frozen veggies, you can put together the meal in under 15 minutes.

Bulk cooking tip: Multiply this out for as many casserole dishes as will fit in your oven easily (usually 3 is the max, you need a little space for the air to circulate) and pre-cook lunches for the week, or stick a few uncooked casseroles in the freezer to save even more time later.

Busy Day Grain Free Casserole

Serves 4, multiply as needed

1-2 pounds boneless chicken thighs (buy organic free range chicken here)

2-3 pounds fresh or frozen veggies: Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, butternut squash, asparagus, carrots, beets.

1 large yellow or white onion, cut into thin rounds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Optional: pinch of ground ginger, sage, and/or smoked paprika

Optional: 1 lemon, juiced

1/2-1 cup cheese: Bleu, parmesan, gouda, pepperjack, or cheddar

Instructions: If using fresh veggies, scrub (peel if necessary: beets, squash) and cut into bite sized pieces. Place in the bottom of 9×13 or similar sized casserole dish, to fill the dish 3/4 full (they will cook down). Rinse chicken if needed and cut into bite sized pieces with a butcher knife. Cover the vegetable mixture evenly, it’s okay if the chicken touches. Peel and slice onion and top the chicken layer, sprinkle with lemon juice and seasonings. Shred cheese if using and top onion layer. Cover with foil (if using cheese, lightly grease foil first with butter to prevent sticking) and place in the fridge to bake later, or bake now at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, removing the foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.

To prepare lunches, allow casserole to cool and then portion out into single serving containers. Pour liquid released from the chicken over the top. Eat cold.