autoimmune protocol

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Posted on by Tamika

Completely dairy free yogurt.

Vegan. None of the nasty additives of commercial brands. Easy to make.

Luscious, delicious, real YOGURT.

freshly made coconut milk yogurt
To make this rewarding and fantastic recipe part of your dairy-free pantry, pop on over to Team Yogurt read all about it and a little bit about me. Then take a trip around the gorgeous website full of delectable recipes and writings from some of today’s most influential food writers and food makers. Team Yogurt is the newest beautiful creation by Cheryl Sternman Rule, author of the award winning blog 5 Second Rule and her current book, Yogurt Culture.


Replace coconut milk yogurt in any recipe calling for dairy yogurt, while it has a different flavor profile, it’s one that is mild and slightly tangy.

 

Stay tuned for my recipes using this yogurt like grain-free, dairy-free CHOCOLATE DEVIL’s FOOD CAKE (and donuts with coconut raspberry glaze!)

 

As always, this recipe has been tested again and again, but glitches happen, please feel free to reach out to me with honest questions.

Thank you for stopping by here!

 

 

Flat Bread  aip & paleo style 

Posted on by Tamika

‘

FLATBREAD! and AiP you say?! Yes. Yes.  (If you are not familiar with the AIP diet please read about it here).

Well, truth is, it’s basically my Lefse recipe with several twists (see that here).

I bought myself a bag of Cassava flour from Otto’s Naturals and have been playing around with it. I started with cookies (I need to play with that more), moved on to crackers (good!) and then used it in fried chicken (coming soon!). So far (and this is not a paid-to-endorse message) I like it, quite a lot, in small amounts (hence my remake of cookies). Cassava flour is not tapioca starch, which is highly processed from the cassava plant, but it does have the naturally occuring starch in it along with all the fibre from the whole, peeled, cassava root. So it is a root flour, widely cultivated throughout South America, Africa (yuca, manioc), Polynesia and Mexico. Otto’s is from Brazil, which has been cultivating it for about 10 thousand years. So,  they know their cassava. Having never had cassava before I will have to take Otto’s Naturals word that most varieties of the flour are gritty and have a kind of “sour or musty smell and taste”, except theirs, which was pretty gritless, but does have a faint nutty-fermented smell to it, not unpleasant at all.

As I said,  I like it in small amounts. I found for me personally that it contains too much fibre, carbohydtrates and starch when used alone (as in cookies, I’m so dissappointed!) It’s terrific for basic gluten free and grain free/paleo baking, I am limiting starches on the AIP diet, and not consuming tapioca starch at all, too much is not good FOR ME. You, however, are not me.

This recipe uses aip approved arrowroot, along with white sweet potato and cassava flour. I differed it from the lefse recipe in technique as well. Like the lefse, it makes a thin ‘bread’ that is slightly sweet and chewy. I did bake a few to be super crunchy, cracker-like.  I also made several large ones and used them as a ‘pizza’. 

 

Flat Bread Aip, Paleo, Grain Free

2 cups COOKED, mashed white sweet potato (or white yam)

3 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup arrowroot flour plus more for rolling

3/4 cup Cassava Flour (I used Otto’s Naturals)

1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Salt and pepper to sprinkle on before baking, if desired (try other toppings, drizzle with oilive oil and add za’atar, herbs, curry, cinnamon…)

*The white sweet potato (or yam) needs to be mashed and cooled completely before continuing.

Pre-heat oven to 400*

Place sweet potato mash in a food processor fitted with blade, add coconut oil, flours and salt, pulse until a dough ball has begun form, then stop, before it becomes over pureed (this can be made by hand, make sure the sweet potato is mashed until pureed with no lumps). Turn it out on to an arrowroot (or cassava) floured surface. Roll the ball in to a log and cut in to 6-8 even pieces, depending on how large you want your flat breads. Roll each section in to a ball.

Lightly oil 2 baking sheets. Place 2 dough balls evenly apart on sheets, then press one ball into a flat round disc, pressing dough lightly out to sides and evening out the disc. Do this with each dough ball, flouring your hands as needed.

Bake in oven 10 minutes then rotate pans. Bake another 10-15 minutes, checking for browning on edges.

If you wish for crunchy , flip the breads over after 15 minutes of baking and bake until nicely browned on both sides edges, another 15 minutes.

For thin Pizza crust use the dough to make 4 large flat breads, bake 20 minutes, until egdes brown, then remove, flip over and place ‘dry’ toppings on it. Again, since I eat AiP I do not use tomato sauce or cheese, so I’m not sure how well the breads hold up under wet toppings, but baking until it’s crsipy should help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pork Cubano with Jicama Grapefruit Salad

Posted on by Tamika

I have a fairly deep love affair with Mexican food (well, I actually have a love affair with all food, many of  which I most likely will never eat again, unless I’m looking for self inflicted sick days). While a Paleo diet is pretty accommodating to traditional Mexican cooking, aside from beans, corn, sugar and dairy, okay so a little challenging (but Tequila is Paleo!) the AIP diet (autoimmune protocol) is not. So, I’m not using any of the 8 varieties of homemade hot sauce we have. Yet.

I posted this list of AIP foods on my fridge so I would see the possibilities instead of looking at foods to avoid and feeling stifled. Restrictive diets are challenging enough, wishing for foods that may make me ill is pointless (though the almond butter slathered banana my husband eats is wearing me down). I filled our kitchen with vegetables, citrus fruits, the only redeeming thing about winter, and good meats (I’ve also started making water kefir, that is another post).

This Pork dish came from a longing for fresh Mexican within the constraints of AIP,  but it’s really Cuban. And it’s delicious. The Jicama Grapefruit Salad is a completely lame attempt to replicate one we had in Mexico, but very good in it’s own right.

Also, toast your peppercorns people! Toast them in a small skillet until fragrant, let cool and put in your pepper mill. It adds a whole new dimension to black pepper.

 

the slow cooker is your friend

the slow cooker is your friend

 

Pork Cubano  (aip style)

1 3 lb pork loin or shoulder roast (give or take a 1/4 pound is fine)

3 or 4 mixed citrus fruit (grapefruit, orange, blood orange, sour oranges) mostly peeled and cut into small sections

1 cup fresh grapefruit or sour orange juice

1 large onion cut into medium thick slices

4 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tbsp oregano

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp toasted black peppercorns

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar, for deglazing

Place all ingredients except pork and cider vinegar into a slow cooker.

Heat a heavy skillet over high heat, add pork fat side down and brown for 5 minutes or until some of the fat starts releasing. Turn and brown the other side. Place pork on top of the mix in slow cooker. Turn flame back on under skillet, add apple cider vinegar scraping up the stuck bits of pork once the vinegar boils, add all this to the slow cooker. Place lid on, turn slow cooker to high and cook until pork is fork tender and can be pulled apart, about 5 hours. Half way through turn the pork roast over (if you’re around).

NON AIP:  add 1 tbsp ground cumin to the spices. To make it authentically Cuban, remove cinnamon and ginger.

No slow cooker? not a problem. Use a dutch oven with a lid and cook for 4 or more hours at 300*, checking every so often to make sure things aren’t sticking, add a little water or citrus juice if you need.

image

Jicama Grapefruit Salad

This is really simple.

Napa cabbage (or lettuce), 2 cups shredded

1 grapefruit, peeled, pith removed and sliced into 1 inch chunks removing membranes and seeds as you go (you can segment it if you’re inclined)

1 small Jicama or half a large, sliced very thin (a mandolin works well) then cut into matchstick pieces

2 scallions, chopped

juice from 1 lime

1 tbsp honey

Pinch of salt

avocado or olive oil

Cilantro leaves, chopped, to taste

Toss Jicama, grapefruit, scallions, cilantro and salt together in a  bowl. Mix lime juice with honey and a few tablespoons full of avocado or olive oil in a small bowl. Place cabbage on the bottom of your serving dish, top with jicama grapefruit mix. Drizzle with dressing.

We serve Pork Cubana and Jicama Grapefruit Salad in plantain tortillas and love this meal.

image

 

 

 

 

 

Plantain Tortillas (AIP Paleo)

Posted on by Tamika

Plantains are a beautiful and versatile starch full of fiber and potassium, often overlooked by cultures where they are not grown. They are considered a ‘cooking’ banana, not intended for raw eating, which is just fine because they cook up wonderfully wether yellow-ripe or green.

While in Tulum last winter we ate at Hartwood  where, among many incredible dishes (the Pulpo Platter, holy smokes!) we had plantains roasted in a wood fired oven, drizzled with honey and cinnamon, proving plantains can be incredibly luscious. My love for plantains was complete. ( If you are vegatarian and ever go there, order two).

In my quest to create bread-like foods on the AIP/Paleo diet I did a quick internet search and discovered quite a few recipes for plantain tortillas. I picked one that made the most sense to me,  I made them but was not wholly pleased. Being hopeful and full of perseverance,  I tried again, altering until it worked. With good green plantains these are foolproof.

We eat these every week, sometimes for breakfast.

Plantain Tortillas 

3 green plantains (make sure they are not turning yellow)

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup coconut oil (no need to soften)

1/4 cup arrowroot flour

1 tsp salt

Optional: try substituting 2 tbls of water with fresh lime juice. Add 1/2 tsp spices such as smoked paprika, cayenne or chipotle.

Heat oven to 400*. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Peel green plantains (you may need to cut some of the fibrous inner peel off the plantain) and slice them in to 1 inch rounds. Place them in your blender or food processor. I have found the Vita-Mix to work the most efficiently, try pureeing half the plantains and water at a time in a less powerful machine.

Add the remaining ingredients and puree until you’ve achieved a smooth applesauce-like consistency. If your plantains were tough to peel they may be dry, add additional water 1 tbsp at a time, too thin and the tortillas won’t come together properly.

Scoop a spoonful of batter on to your parchment lined baking sheet spreading  it around until a thin 1/8-1/4 inch thick circle is formed (or any wonky shape will do) about 4 inches around. I use a soup sized spoon, you can make them bigger if you like. They do not spread during baking, so go ahead and put 5 or 6 on each sheet.

Spreading tortillas

Place your baking sheets in the pre-heated oven set a timer for 10 minutes, at that point you need to check for loosened edges and dry centers, it may take up to 14 minutes a side. Carefully flip the tortilla and bake another 8 minutes or so. Baking time depends on what your goal is, you can have soft foldable tortillas or crisp tostadas. So versatile!

Store in a bag in the fridge or freeze if desired. Reheat in the oven, microwave or, my preference, quickly on a low open flame.

A final note: if you do this recipe with ripe yellow plantains (when the skins are close to black that means ripe) you can make them thicker and eat as sweet pancakes 🙂