Kayla's recipes and menus

[Guest guest]

Hi,

A few folks have been interested in seeing recipes and sample menus from

me, so here they are. (Warning: This is a LONG post.) I hope people aren't

dreadfully disappointed! I cook very, very simply and plainly! (If you're

a newbie with an impossibly picky eater, you might find the info on crockpot

cooking and the recipe for " Fluffy Soup " helpful!).

Between one thing and another, we have many different diet restrictions at

our house so there are lots of things you won't see in my recipes...like

spices, because most are high salicylate (*not* necessarily a problem if you

use modest amounts and not too many at once) and I like to unburden the

liver detox pathways. My daughter is dairy-intolerant, goes bonkers

(hyperactive and aggressive) with almonds (though we did use almond milk

successfully for a while, and enjoyed the almond muffins during our brief

trial of them), also has some food allergies. Fruit is restricted to help

control candida.

She's on a rotated diet, too; with proteins on a six-day rotation (with an

occasional seventh day stuck in) and everything else on a four-day

rotation -- this gives different combinations each " round " so things are

more interesting, less boring. Often I start a " rotation day " with dinner,

to help with boredom again; but I'm not at all strict about this, often

finish up the food that's " out and about " before moving on to the next

rotation day, even if that means going over 24 hours on a certain " food

day " .

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are interchangeable at our house. There's no

such thing as " breakfast food " .

Some of the menus and recipes below are not currently in use (like the

almond muffins) -- produced bad reactions; we hope to use them again later.

I hope these recipes and sample menus will be helpful! If you have an

impossible picky eater (like my daughter was), three things that got our

daughter eating were crockpotted meats and broths, grouge, and " Fluffy

Soup " -- all described below. Of course, what really got her eating a

variety of foods and enjoying them was having better digestion!

SAMPLE MENUS:

Salmon (canned) and avocado (she puts some of each together in each bite),

fennel (steamed), avocado oil drizzled over everything

Chicken hearts (lightly simmered), " Fluffy Soup " (many variations, but this

time it was crockpot chicken broth blender-ed with steamed zucchini and

spinach)

A " stir-fry " (not actually fried) of squab (pigeon) (roasted then cut off

the bone) and steamed chopped vegies (beets and beet greens, red onion,

celery) with walnut oil drizzled over the top after cooking (this recipe was

a big hit with my daughter)

A different " stir-fry " (not actually fried) of red snapper (rock cod)

(baked), peas and edible pods (steamed), artichoke hearts (steamed), and

green leaf lettuce (cut in thin strips, stirred in for last minute of

cooking), with hazelnut oil drizzled over the top after cooking

Ostrich meatloaf muffins (ostrich and chopped steamed vegies mixed, baked in

paper muffin cups) with olive oil drizzled on top after baking, dinosaur

kale (steamed)

Guinea hen stewed in the crockpot, golden soup (crockpot broth blender-ed

with winter squash), broccoli leaves (steamed)

Most menus include a little fruit (2 cherries or a tablespoon of applesauce

for ex.) with supps mixed in.

Ok, you get the idea. Most often I crockpot or roast " bird meat " ; bake

fish; steam vegies. Our " stir-fry " ingredients are baked or steamed,

stirred in a skillet for a quick reheat, and drizzled with oil after

cooking.

I like to cook things til " just done " for best nutrition; especially

protein foods because protein becomes rubbery and indigestible when

overcooked. I steam green vegies through the brilliant green stage then

snatch them out of the steamer as soon as tender.

I serve almost everything very warm (cold food slows digestion because the

digestive enzymes, like all human enzymes, work best at 98.6 degrees).

Essential equipment in my kitchen: A high quality 6-inch chef's knife with

a comfortable handle (makes chopping vegies quick and fun); crockpots (we

have 3!); two different steamer pots; an enameled covered roasting pan; a

great big skillet for briefing heating all " stir-fry " ingredients after

combining them; an Omega juicer (model # 8002?).

Almost everything we eat is organically grown -- usually *much* higher in

nutrients than conventionally grown! We buy locally-produced stuff when we

can. Exotic meats from Whole Foods (sometimes special order). A few vegies

from a backyard garden.

SOME RECIPES

About fowl: Dark meat is far more nutritious than white meat. I give my

daughter the dark meat (well, most of it). Backs and necks are cheap and

some of the most nutritious meat. Great crockpotted (lots of bones to pick

out, though). Livers and hearts are also highly nutritious.

Liver -- I used to hate liver, so I started with organically grown Cornish

game hens (which, these days, are just very young chickens); their liver is

very mild. I think liver tastes immeasurably better if organic. To my

surprise, my daughter likes liver of all kinds. Usually I just simmer liver

lightly just til tender. Another cooking option is to blend cooked livers

into " Fluffy Soup " (recipe below); 1 or 2 spoons of liver disappear nicely

into a bowl of soup, enriching the flavor without tasting like liver. We

also like pan-fried liver, sliced thin and fried just a minute or two.

Hearts -- Chicken or turkey hearts. Oh, are these good! I simmer them til

barely done. At first I sliced them crosswise, 1/8 inch thick, for my

daughter, but now she prefers them whole. I used to slice the blood vessels

off the top, too, but she likes them so now I don't. Now and again I slice

crosswise and quickly pan-fry. Hearts are great snacks for long car rides

(my daughter always wants to nibble). They also go well in a " stir-fry " (or

a sort-of-stir-fry like ours). (At our Whole Foods we can special order

chicken hearts. Otherwise we get hearts from our local organic meat farmer

who sells us chickens and turkeys.)

Fluffy Soup -- The original Fluffy Soup was chicken broth (with some of the

fat) from the crockpot, with (peeled and seeded) steamed zucchini and

steamed spinach blender-ed in til perfectly smooth. My daughter exclaimed

" Fluffy soup! " the first time I served it -- that's where the name came

from. My picky eater loved Fluffy Soup! I introduced many (steamed) vegies

by adding tiny amounts (grain-of-sand-sized) to her Fluffy Soup and

gradually building up amounts as she got used to the taste. As her tummy

got better, I stopped peeling and seeding the zucchini.

Fluffy soup can be made with any kind of broth and combo of vegies, but

some zucchini or other summer squash in there helps keep the texture smooth

and silky. Winter squash (steamed or baked) is another good base.

Sometimes I use fish broth instead of fowl broth. Sometimes I use pan

drippings from roasted fowl plus water, instead of broth.

Things I have successfully added to Fluffy Soup: all sorts of supps (I just

don't add too many strong/sour ones at once; I stir into not-too-hot soup

after blending); raw egg yolk; liver (cooked); vegie oils; small amounts of

crockpotted meat, fresh homemade vegie juices. Anything goes in Fluffy

Soup!

Crockpot cooking in general: Back in the days when my daughter was an

impossibly picky eater, crockpotted meats and broth were something she would

willingly, if not enthusiastically, eat.

Crockpotted meat is tender and delicious and the broth is superb. But it

is possible to overcook meat in a crockpot; then the meat turns tough and

flavorless and the broth loses its flavor, too. So don't think " Oh, it's

done but I'll just keep it warm all day. " When using broth for soups, etc.,

I never bring it to a boil -- this high heat quickly kills the delicious

slow-cooked flavor.

You can make crockpot soups or stews with all sorts of vegies, but (except

for hard things like carrots and celery) you don't add the vegies at the

beginning, but partway through the crockpotting time; otherwise the vegies

all turn to mush. I usually steam vegies separately and stir them in at the

last minute.

All sorts of delicious recipes can be found in crockpot cookbooks and

adapted to SCD.

Crockpot chicken: A fresh or thawed chicken in the crockpot with any amount

of water, overnight on low; or maybe 4 to 5 hours on high. A frozen chicken

with any amount of water, overnight or several hours on high (but you need a

small chicken or a big crockpot for " fit " ). Sometimes I add carrots and

celery for a very nice super-simple stew. Unless the chicken is quite

mature, the bones will soften (releasing minerals into the broth) and the

ends of bones will be chewable (good minerals!) My daughter likes chewing

the bone ends!

Crockpot turkey: Ah, there's nothing like hot turkey stew for breakfast! A

turkey thigh or two, thawed, overnight in the crockpot on low, with carrots

and celery; or frozen, overnight or several hours on high.

Crockpot buffalo: A chuck or rump roast, frozen, no water at all or 1/4 cup

at most, several hours on high til the meat falls apart (or, well, it would

fall apart if not held together by the butcher string).

Fish -- Steamed fish is superb; I just don't like scrubbing fish " glue " off

the steamer!

Roasted meats -- I use a big enameled roaster. Sometimes roast vegies with

the meat or fowl. My husband puts a frozen chicken in the roaster and turns

the oven up to 450 degrees; in an hour and 15 to 30 minutes, it's done,

delicious, moist, with nicely browned skin. But I often roast at a lower

temp, maybe 350 degrees, for longer.

Grouge -- I don't really know how this is spelled, but it rhymes with

" rouge " . This is the pan drippings, especially the brown stuff (puddingy

cooked blood and " juices " ). Tasty and nutritious. Back in her " impossibly

picky eater " days, my daughter would eat grouge willingly. I let her have

plenty of the fat with it, since animal fat is healthy if the animal is

organically " grown " on a species-appropriate diet (grass-fed-and-finished

for grazers, not grain-finished; healthy fat is yellowish and soft, not hard

and white). Grouge plus water is a good substitute for broth in Fluffy

Soup.

Eggs -- There ain't nothing like an egg! Raw egg yolks are delicious, easy

to digest, easy to mix into soup, and virtually always safe (Weston Price

Fdn. website has info on safety). I cook egg whites til " just done " because

overcooked egg whites are totally indigestible. We do eggs scrambled,

sometimes with leftover meats, fish, or vegies stirred in before or after

cooking. Or hard-boiled. Or in " egg soup " .

Perfect hard-boiled eggs -- Took me decades to get it all together about

hard-boiled eggs! Cooked this way, eggs are tender (not rubbery and

indigestible) and easy to peel, and the yolk is all yellow (no gray

coating). I boil enough water to generously cover the number of eggs I'm

hard-boiling; turn it down to a gentle boil; lower the eggs in gently with a

spoon or whatever; boil gently for 6 to 8 minutes; quickly cool eggs in very

cold water, cracking the shell of each egg in a few places as soon as cool

enough to handle and then letting sit in the cold water again til completely

cooled. (I adjust the cooking time to size of eggs, their temperature when

starting, etc.) Starting with boiling water and cracking/soaking makes eggs

easy to peel; quick, complete cooling prevents gray yolk.

Egg soup -- We bring crockpot broth to barely simmering, stir in an egg

white and keep stirring til cooked. The results vary according to how much

broth you use and how fast you stir. Sometimes we stir in freshly steamed

or leftover steamed vegies.

Ostrich meatloaf muffins -- Yeah, I know, ostrich?! We buy it ground and

mix in barely-cooked steamed vegies (fine-chopped); an egg or two is nice,

but not necessary. We bake " meatloaf muffins " in paper muffin cups (these

are fun for take-alongs, car snacks, etc.). My daughter can do lots of the

chopping, mixing, muffin-making, on these herself.

Ostrich rolls -- With clean hands we thoroughly smush up the ground ostrich

in a bowl (the rolls hold together better this way). Then we take 1/2 pound

at a time and pat it out into a rectangle (maybe 6 by 8 inches) on waxed

paper. We spread chopped steamed vegies on the rectangle, leaving a

quarter-inch margin without vegies, and press the vegies lightly into the

meat. Using the waxed paper to help lift and roll, we roll up the rectangle

(the long way), pinch the ends closed, then carefully place in a greased

baking pan with the seam on the bottom. We bake the rolls for about 30

minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven and drizzle oil (olive oil is my

daughter's favorite for these) over the rolls before serving. My daughter

will eat a whole roll for a meal and want more! These look nice when sliced

crosswise -- a little swirl of vegies in the meat. Ostrich is rather dry

and needs fat to enhance flavor; we solve this by drizzling olive oil after

cooking; another option would be to add chicken or turkey fat (skimmed off

the crockpot!) before cooking. (Is there such a thing as SCD legal bacon?

I used to like ground ostrich pan-fried with chopped bacon. Chopped fried

bacon would be a nice addition to ostrich rolls.)

Ostrich filet -- We buy this frozen, let it thaw slightly, then slice it

across the grain, about a quarter inch thick. Then we pan-fry it and eat

plain or use it in a " stir-fry " .

Almond milk -- I soak almonds for one to three days, to inactivate the

enzyme-inhibitors that make unsoaked nuts and seeds harder to digest. Then

I blanch the almonds by plunging into boiling water for about 45 seconds;

draining; cooling quickly in very cold water; and then popping the skins off

by pinching the almonds. Then I grind the almonds in my juicer using the

nut butter attachments; this makes a grainy, moist meal. I shake this up

with water, then pour the stuff into a heavy-duty cloth coffee filter (in a

sieve over a giant measuring cup), gather the top of the filter together and

squeeze it tight closed, then squeeze the filter to get the " milk " out. The

last squeezes are important for richness and fat. Then I pour the milk

through a finer filter to get out any little grits of almond that slipped

through, and dilute the milk to whatever strength I want. This freezes well

or keeps in the frig for several days.

I have also made almond milk without blanching the almonds. I suspect

" unblanched " milk has higher salicylate and oxalate levels.

Oddly enough, kinesiological testing shows that for my daughter, having

almond milk and most nutritional supps in her stomach at the same time

causes bad reactions! Supps have to be given at least one hour before or

two hours after almond milk!

Almond muffins -- The first few steps are just like for almond milk --

soaking, blanching (optional), and grinding in the juicer. Then I take

about 3 cups of the almond meal, mix in an egg or two (or two egg whites)

and perhaps some applesauce, put the batter into paper muffin cups, and bake

in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for -- hmm, I think it's about 30

minutes. Mixing fresh, frozen, or dried fruit into the batter, or putting

fruit bits on top of each muffin, is fun. We also like putting a dried

apricot half in the middle of a muffin (put some batter in the cup, add the

apricot half, add the rest of the batter. Almond muffins with cinnamon and

a little nutmeg added taste good, too. I've tried making muffins from the

almond meal left over from making almond milk, but they aren't very

flavorful. (By the way, we've had the same problem with supps and almond

muffins as with supps and almond milk!)

Filbert (hazelnut) milk -- I make this the same way as almond milk, but I've

never blanched the filberts.

Filbert muffins -- I haven't tried these but I'll make them just like almond

muffins...someday.

Pumpkin muffins -- Pureed pumpkin plus an egg makes a very soft, almost

puddingy muffin that my daughter likes. Some fruits go ok with pumpkin,

like raisins.

Spaghetti squash muffins -- We cut the squash in half, scoop out seeds,

place cut side down in a baking pan and bake at 350 or 400 til soft. We use

a paring knife to cut the " spaghettis " crosswise, still in the squash skin,

to make pieces about an inch long. Then we scoop the squash out into a

bowl, mix in an egg or two, and drop the " batter " into paper muffin cups,

and bake at 375 degrees til firm and golden. Yummm, these are good! I

think this kind of batter would make good waffles, too, but we haven't tried

that yet.

Ok, that's it for my menus and recipes! Hope they gave you some good

ideas!

Kayla

[Guest guest]

Kayla, this is great! You've given me some ideas for our limited food,

egg-free, nut-free, milk-free diet.

Ostrich muffins ... these are the same thing I send with Tom to

birthday parties as " cupcakes " , in a pretty baking cup wrapper with

palm shortening on top for " icing " !

Suzanne