Category: Festive
Revisiting my versatile Christmas cake recipe for special diets
Deb
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
Deb
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
Deb
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 […]
Christmas Gummies
Deb
Yes, I know, I know. It’s too late for this Xmas. But never mind, the recipe will be here ready and waiting for you next year. Once again, it’s not my gummy recipe, I’m sending you to somebody else’s website. But I thought these were very cute gummies and perfect for the festive season. Thanks to Becky from Whole Life Cooking for this recipe. Though I would use a natural sweetener instead of white sugar. […]
Real Food Christmas Menu
Deb
I first posted about real food / GAPS Christmas menu ideas a few years back, so it’s time for an update with lots of new ideas. Most of these recipes are from this recipe blog, but some are from other people’s blogs and we may not have tested them. I may post new ideas to my Pinterest Festive recipes board, even if I don’t have time to try them out or post them here, so check […]
CRISP and CRUNCHY Christmas Cheese Stars
Deb
Suitable for gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, egg-free diets, and later stages of GAPS, but not dairy free, strict Paleo or vegan. When I was on Nigella Lawson’s website recently, I came across a recipe for Cheese Stars in her Christmas section. I’ve been meaning to try out cheese straws for a while, and this got me inspired to try some this Christmas. Of course, her stars are made from flour, which is no good for me, or for […]
Festive Breakfast Smoothies for Christmas morning
Deb
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
Deb
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 Stars
Deb
This is a Mommypotamus recipe, which I found posted on the Auckland Mums: Super Nutrition for Babies and Beyond facebook page. I’m in the mode of thinking of Xmas recipes at the moment, and these would be a great recipe for GAPS kids who are ok on honey. 1/3 cup lemon (or lime) juice (about 3 large lemons) 3 Tbs gelatin 3 Tbs honey Mummypotamus added some natural food colouring, but I didn’t and they still came […]
Chocolate “butterfly” cakes
Deb
Perfect for a birthday party. If you have a child with special dietary needs, you can make something that looks festive enough that their friends won’t know the difference, but will be safe for your child to eat. Make a batch of Chocolate macadamia muffins or other muffins or cupcakes of your choice (suitable for your diet) Whip up some cream (if you’re using raw cream, you will need to plan ahead) Slice the tops off […]
Individual fruit jellies
Deb
Although fruit juice isn’t a recommended whole food, the occasional jelly made with real fruit juice and diced fruit, is a much better children’s treat than a commercial jelly. This makes 6-8 individual bowls of fruit and jelly. 200ml (4/5 cup) filtered water 750ml (3 cups) red fruit juice eg. grape, or apple and blackcurrant, diluted with 250ml (1 cup) water 8 tsp gelatin a punnet of strawberries, sliced about 1 cup watermelon, cut up […]
Pavlova
Deb
The quintessential Kiwi dessert, but can we convert it to whole foods? It’s a tricky one, and this is my best shot. Most whole food sweeteners don’t work for pav, as they have too high a liquid content, and also go very brown. The pav is likely to be rather sticky and chewy. But if you can find palm sugar, made from coconut, you get a better result. Not as melt in your mouth as […]
Christmas Morning Almond Muffins
Deb
I tried another version of the Xmas morning muffins, this time with almond flour, for those who can’t have coconut. The texture was quite different, but still very good. 2 cups ground almonds 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon or mixed spice 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 3 eggs 8 Tbs (100gm, 4oz) butter or coconut oil, melted 4 Tbs honey 4 Tbs juice from an orange Grated zest of the orange ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt 1 cup frozen […]
Gingerbread Xmas Cookies
Deb
Last Xmas I had a go at making gingerbread Xmas shapes, which turned out reasonably well. This year I was going to tweak my recipe, but discovered that another GAPS blogger has beaten me to it. So no need to reinvent the wheel. If gingerbread is something that appeals to your Xmas spirit, I’ll just send you over to Thinking Outside the Box. Thanks yet again Dan’s mum.
Beetroot dip
Deb
I love baby beetroot, and we got some picked fresh from my sister’s garden last week. I turned them into a beetroot dip which we served with fish for dinner. Baby beetroot (5 of them made a dip that served 2 of us for 2 dinners) Cultured cream, homemade yoghurt or yoghurt “cheese” (ie after dripping out the whey). For a dairy free option, homemade mayo would probably work fine. A little himalayan or celtic sea salt […]
Christmas Morning Muffins
Deb
I love Nigella Lawson’s recipes, even though most of them are full of white flour and sugar and other things we don’t want to have on a WAPF diet, let alone GAPS! I love her passion for food and her ideas. This morning her recipe for Xmas Morning Muffins arrived in my Inbox, and I could immediately see how to make them GAPSy. My recipe is a variation of Bruce Fife‘s Honey Blueberry Coconut Flour muffins. For those who can’t have coconut, see the almond flour version I […]
Cranberry Sauce
Deb
Turns roast turkey, chicken or duck into a Christmas treat. This is an easy sauce, made from the recipe on the frozen cranberry bag, but using natural sweeteners instead of sugar. 1 cup frozen cranberries 1 tart apple, peeled and grated Juice of one orange Zest of half the orange a bit under 1 cup rapadura, shakkar or muscavado sugar Simmer berries, juice, zest and sugar together till sugar melts and glazes the berries, and berries are […]
White Christmas slice
Deb
We recently discovered dried strawberries. Not the sugar coated, preservative laden things you might have seen in the supermarket, but ones where strawberries are the only ingredients. I found them in Hardy’s Health food shop. They’re so sweet, it’s hard to believe there’s no added sugar. Anyway, I got thinking about how they would be a good substitute for glaced cherries in some Christmas recipes, and had a hazy memory of something called White Chrismas. […]
More GAPS festive ideas…
Deb
A quick post to pass on someone else’s great ideas. I spotted them on Thinking Outside the Box blog and didn’t want them to get lost. Thanks Dan’s mum! GAPS maypole cake A simple GAPS birthday cake Train GAPS birthday cake GAPS friendly birthday party food Halloween Pumpkin Faces GAPS Xmas Mince pies GAPS Xmas Cake GAPS Xmas Pudding GAPS Xmas dinner Click on the Festive category over on the right for a bunch of […]
Chocolate & fudge recipes
Deb
Holidays like Easter or Valentines Day can be a challenge for those on restricted diets. Here are some ideas for chocolate replacements. And the links at the bottom have some non food ideas. Most people on gluten or starch free diets will be able to tolerate cocoa butter, as its fully fat. You need to melt it before using in these recipes. The easiest way is to chop it up finely, then put it in a bowl […]
Easter Spicy Buns
Deb
These gluten-free, starch-free buns don’t have the texture of hot cross buns, but they’re still a tasty treat for Easter. They can also be made casein-free. 1 cup ground almonds ½ cup coconut flour ½ tsp baking soda 1 heaped tsp mixed spice ½ cup sultanas, raisins or currants 2-3 tsp grated orange rind 3 eggs 75gm melted butter or coconut oil 2-3 Tbs honey ½ tsp sea salt ½ cup yoghurt OR mashed, cooked pumpkin (prepared […]
How to whip raw cream
Deb
Whipping pasteurised cream is easy, but raw cream doesn’t work the same way. It doesn’t thicken for ages, then it turns straight to butter. (If you want to make butter, see how here.) Nobody is exactly sure why this happens. I’ve heard theories like: “pasteurised cream has carrageen in it” – but in NZ it doesn’t, or “your cream isn’t fatty enough” – but this doesn’t explain it either. Traditional ways of thickening cream are culturing, […]
Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake
Deb
When I was surfing about looking for sponge-like recipes for my trifle idea (still not tested, by the way) I came across this recipe for a Coconut Flour Orange Cake that reminded me of a cake Mum used to make. It was a Madeira cake that had orange juice drizzled over the top after baking, making it very moist. The topping was Cadbury dairy milk chocolate melted with a little butter. So I got nostalgic all over again, and had to give it a go. […]
Children’s Party
Deb
While we’re talking about parties, I’m reminded of all the great ideas that Hollie from Auckland posted about a few months back. She kindly gave me permission to repost it here: I know the thought of upcoming parties is tough with our kids limited diets… so I thought you might be interested in some of the party food I created for our sons birthday party. All the food was GAPS (stage 6) friendly. The food was a hit […]
Christmas menu
Deb
When we go to my brothers house on Christmas Day, there will be plenty of meat and veges, and my own starch free Christmas cake, so there’ll be lots we can eat. There’ll also be lots we can’t have, and when my brother ran through the Xmas menu for me, I got to thinking about a Xmas menu that was 100% gluten free and starch free. Since we’re in the Southern Hemisphere, and Christmas Day might […]