Macadamia muffins – gluten free, sugar free, keto, paleo or whole food

I’m keto at the moment, so the way I make them these bite size morsels are effectively a fat bomb in the form of cake. But I think they would adapt fine for other whole food diets. I made a blueberry version of these for Xmas, but previously I’d been making them with choc chips. So I’ll start with that version. First off, 150 grams of macadamias go into my mini food processor. They will […]

Revisiting my versatile Christmas cake recipe for special diets

I have previously posted about this cake here, but now seems like a good time to put all the versions together in one place. This is a beautiful dark cake, but because it’s a boiled cake, you don’t need to mature it for a month. If you want to use the brandy version and store in the bottom of the fridge for a month, it will improve with maturing, but can be eaten the same day, […]

Gingerbread

It’s been a couple of years since I made gingerbread, and at that time I was focusing on making it GAPS friendly. I’m currently eating keto, so had a different focus this time. But by tweaking one or two ingredients, you can adapt this to be gluten free, dairy free, GAPS, Paleo, keto, or pretty much whichever variant of whole food diet you favour. Not AIP though – because without the spice, it wouldn’t be […]

Low Carb / Keto Brownies

A few months ago, I was trying out a recipe for Keto Flourless Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies which sounded divine. Unfortunately, at the point where I should have had a dough, I didn’t – I had a cake mix. So I lined a swiss roll tin with some baking paper, slopped it on, and threw it in the oven. When it came out, it was like a flat brownie. So I just abandoned the idea of […]

Ginger Carrot Cashew spread

This recipe is my adaptation of one I came across on Steemit. The original recipe is raw and vegan, and you can see it here. I encourage you to check it out. My version is no longer raw, which I think is more suitable for a GAPSster or anyone with digestion issues. I also tweaked amounts of some of the flavourings, including increasing the extra virgin olive oil for added GAPSy goodness. Ingredients (makes about 2 […]

Velvet Latte Strawberry Smoothie

Just before Christmas, we added a new product to the Nature Foods line up called Velvet Latte. It’s a whole food, caffeine-free, latte mix that’s a variation on a Chai Latte. (Update: no longer stocked by Nature Foods, but widely available throughout NZ & Australia) The manufacturer describes it as  “a delicious beetroot chai infusion, which makes a beautiful vibrant pink latte. Naturally sweet with subtle ayurvedic chai spices, this blend is a perfect harmony of […]

Pemmican and Biltong

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been posting and reading on Steemit for the last few months. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve come across two great recipes for a couple of meat-based traditional foods. The authors have given me permission to share them with you. They are so detailed and well written that I’m going to send you over to the posts for the actual recipes. The first recipe is for pemmican. I thought I […]

Festive Breakfast Smoothies for Christmas morning

A few different varieties to suit all tastes and dietary needs. If your family is anything like ours, on Christmas Day everybody will bring enough of every dish for the whole extended family. And when that’s 10 dishes or more, there is food to excess, as far as the eye can see! You may be tempted to not eat in the morning, or just have a cup of tea or coffee. But if that means […]

Chocolate Mousse or Cheesecake special occasion desserts

If you’ve seen my last few posts, you’ll have noticed I’ve been hanging out on Steemit a bit recently. This is a new blogging platform, where you have the potential for being paid for your posts. It’s still in Beta, so still in development, but the advantage of getting in early is that you can start to build your audience. Mostly when I come across new recipes I like the look of, I pin them […]

Gummy Bears Mark 2

Back in August, I posted a link to some gummy bear recipes by Stacey from New Zealand blog “My Kids Lick the Bowl”. Today I want to share some more gummy bears recipes by Malena of “Fun with Allergy Kids” blog. Malena’s recipes are more geared towards kids with allergies, so the recipes on her blog may be more suited to my readers. Here’s the link direct to the gummy bear blog page. The variation […]

Fruit & Nut bar (grain free)

Suitable for GAPS, SCD, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, low carb or other whole food diets. This recipe is a new variation on my Real Food Chocolate and Fudge recipe. The focus in that recipe is the chocolaty or fudgy texture. But this one is more about all the other goodies in it, and the creamed coconut base is just to hold it all together. Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Fruit and Nut Bar I’m calling it […]

Carrot Almond bread (with variations)

Suitable for GAPS, Paleo, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, vegetarian diets I haven’t made this bread for a while, as some members of the household have been doing the AIP (Autoimmune Paleo) diet, which excludes eggs and nuts. Now that we’re all eating those again, I can make this bread. Today I made just a half mix, which is why the photos are of two mini loaves. But the full recipe will make a decent sized loaf. This is […]

Chocolate-mallow Protein Bars

Plus fruit gummies and other variations. Suitable for Paleo, GAPS, Clean Eating, low sugar We first started making this protein slice a few years ago, as a way to make cod liver oil a more palatable supplement. One of our customers came up with the prototype recipe, and I’ve tweaked it a few ways since. Here’s the original recipe complete with cod liver oil. If you leave the cod liver oil out, it becomes a […]

Meat jerky, with vegetables and without sugar!

Jerky is a very convenient and portable snack, but bought versions nearly always have sugar in them. This version has no sugar and has the added goodness of vegetables, to make it a more balanced snack. Suitable for GAPS, SCD, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, low carb or other whole food diets. Although it’s obviously no good for vegetarian readers, I’ll suggest some options at the end.   Ingredients These amounts are approximate; […]

Healthy Real Food snacks – Chocolate and Fudge

Suitable for GAPS, SCD, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, low carb or other whole food diets. I first discovered creamed coconut (also known as coconut butter) in a faded orange box, in the international section of our local supermarket, many years before it became trendy. It made the most amazing sugar free date or apricot fudge, and was very popular in our house. It wasn’t always easy to find, so when one of […]

Warming Soup for Fall (Autumn) or Winter

A good way to utilise the bounty of warming vegetables from your late summer garden. If you’re doing any dietary protocol that encourages bone broths, here is a tasty way to have your daily soup. This recipe is compatible with any whole food diet including Paleo, GAPS, SCD, and is gluten, grain and dairy free. It’s not vegetarian, as the nourishment of the bone broth is one of the important healing benefits of it. But […]

Easy banana cashew bread or muffins

Suitable for GAPS, SCD, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free or low carb diets After posting my recipe for Pumpkin Cashew bread, and writing about the possible variations, I had a hankering for banana muffins. So one night I whipped up a batch while making dinner, and now have some more precise instructions and photos for you. Ingredients: 500gm raw unsalted cashews 6 large free range (pastured) eggs 2 cups mashed banana Optional whole food […]

EASY no-starch, dairy free PUMPKIN & CASHEW BREAD recipe

Suitable for GAPS, SCD, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free or low carb diets This is my favourite GAPS bread, and really it’s more like eating cake. It’s not ketogenic or very low carb, but it’s much lower than typical breads. You can dress it up or down, make it savoury or sweet. It goes well with soup to make a meal more substantial. For a recent choir trip, I made it into muffins and filled […]

Using up the summer bounty of FEIJOAS (Smoothie recipe)

For a few weeks every summer, anyone in New Zealand with a feijoa tree has more of them than they know what to do with, including members of our family. So we regularly bring home way more than we can eat before they go off. This recipe is GAPS friendly, Paleo, grain free, sugar free and can be made dairy free. We’ve found an EASY way to store them for winter. Just throw a bag of […]

Paleo Cottage Pie (low carb, nightshade free)

This is made without nightshades, and is low carb. There are vegetarian, dairy free and other options below. You may have seen recipes using cauliflower for pizza bases, or for faux “rice”, now here’s a recipe using it for mashed potato, or as some say “faux-tato”. This recipe was developed for a person who reacts to nightshades, so has no potato, tomato or peppers (bell peppers, capsicum, chilli peppers, cayenne, paprika). Meat layer • 400-500gms ground […]

Choc-Currant Breakfast Smoothie

Many people love blueberries in their smoothies, but I prefer blackcurrants. They are higher in ORAC (antioxidant) value, have a more complex flavour and go wonderfully with chocolate. What more could you ask for? I’ve made this version with homemade cashew milk, as many people have issues with dairy (especially pasteurised dairy), but you could use milk, yoghurt, coconut milk or any other kind of nut milk. You can buy your nut milk, or there […]

Gummy Bears

Stacey from New Zealand blog “My Kids Lick the Bowl” posted some fabulous fruit Gummy Bear recipes yesterday. There are six different recipes, so you can create a rainbow of bears (or whatever other molds you might already have) – white, green, yellow, orange, red or purple. Go check them out! And while you’re there, check out her other kid friendly recipes. If you’re on GAPS or another special diet, not all of the recipes […]

Beefing up your Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate

Some of us wanting to eat only real foods might miss the convenience of whipping up a protein rich smoothie – most protein powders are too processed, contain some sort of undesirable additive, or are based on foods that might not suit our metabolism. Yes, we can add raw eggs to our smoothies, but we may be aiming for more protein per meal than we can get from eggs. Enter, gelatin! Yes, there is still […]

AIP-Friendly Mousse

This is suitable for most diet types, but I originally developed it for someone doing AIP. 1 x 400ml can coconut milk or cream (choose one with as few additives as possible. In NZ, we use TCC or Ayam brands) 1/4 cup collagen hydrolysate eg Great Lakes green can (if you don’t have hydrolysate, see gelatin version below) Flavourings of choice Shake the coconut milk can well. Put the coconut milk, then everything else, in a blender […]

Watermelon “slushy” (Serves 2)

This takes a bit of forward preparation but the actual making is close to instant. Chop and deseed your water melon. Even if pips don’t usually bother you, take the time to get rid of them for this recipe. Freeze 2 cups at a time. When you’re feeling hot and in need of cold refreshment, take a container out of the freezer, zizz it up and serve straight away. Optional, add a sprig of mint, […]