Rainbow salad & pesto mayonnaise

I don’t use purple cabbage all that much but when I added it to this salad, it just looked so gorgeous! I don’t know about you but I get into a rut with salads. After a while they are all very similar. That’s why this one is fun as it’s added another colour and with the grated beetroot and carrot there are a few textures too. You could just as easily serve it with a balsamic/lemon/olive oil style dressing. A few nuts or seeds sprinkled on top would be nice too.

Adjust quantities according to the number you want to feed.  This one serves 3-4.

Toss all ingredients together:

• 2 handfuls mixed salad greens
• 1 large handful snow peas, chopped in half
• 1/2 beetroot, grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 cup shredded purple cabbage

Serve with Pesto mayonnaise.

To make pesto mayonnaise, mixed equal proportions of  pesto with mayonnaise and either serve on the side or toss the salad in the dressing for a more coleslaw style salad.

Paleo Pesto
1 large bunch basil – leaves removed from stalks
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup almonds (or any nut of your choice – raw or roasted)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor and blitz until finely chopped and a chunky paste is formed.  You will probably want to taste and adjust flavours eg more lemon/salt and adjust for consistency with oil and even a bit of water if you want it a bit thinner.

Paleo Mayonnaise

• 1-2 garlic cloves
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper
• 2-3 anchovies (optional)
• 3/4 cup olive oil (or macadamia or avocado)

1. In a food processor or stick blender blitz the garlic, lemon juice, mustard, egg, s&p, anchovies and about 1/4 cup of the oil.  Blitz until well combined.
2. Then with the processor/stick blender going SLOWLY pour in the rest of the oil in a constant but gentle trickle.  Keep going until the oil isn’t absorbed anymore – if it won’t ‘blend’ in anymore, just stop adding the oil.
3. Taste and season again if needed.  Refrigerate.

shredded asian pork kelp noodle salad (paleo)

I was asked to take a savoury paleo dish to an Australia Day lunch that would ‘wow’ the host’s husband.  Feeling no pressure whatsoever (;-)) I ended up do a twist on the pulled pork from the pulled pork taco recipe and turning it into an Asian noodle salad.  Success! This recipe made a large salad – great for a smorgasboard lunch. Begin this recipe a day or 2 earlier for the best flavour.

Slow cooked Asian pork

• 1kg diced pork scotch fillet (sometimes called pork neck)
• about 1/2 cup tamari (use coconut aminos for strict paleo but tamari is GF)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3cm piece ginger – grated
• juice of 1 lime
• 1-2 Tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 star anise

1. Mix together and marinate for at least a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
2. Put all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours on low (or until tender).
3. Shred.  Set aside.  If you’re not serving on the same day, put into a container and refrigerate until you are going to serve.

Salad

• 500g kelp noodles, rinsed drained and roughly chopped
• 2 grated carrots
• 2 large handfuls of finely diced kale/silverbeet/leafy greens
• 1 large cup of mixed herbs, chopped (I used coriander, mint, Thai basil, basil, flat leaf parsley)
• feel free to add any other veggies you’d like.

1. Put all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss well.

Dressing

• juice of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove grated
• 2cm ginger piece grated
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar/palm sugar

Assembly

1. Warm the shredded pork if not using immediately after cooking.
2. Add pork including the juices that have come out in the cooking to the salad and toss well.
3. Add dressing and toss well.
4. Serve – could add toasted slivered  almonds or fried onions for a bit of crunch too.

I haven’t forgotten you! Welcome to 2015.

I know it’s nearly the end of January already but with the kids starting back at school tomorrow, it feels still like the beginning of the year, so happy New Year! I’m quite excited about 2015 after a few challenges in 2014.  I’ve got a few ideas for whatannabelcooks (along the lines of more paleo cooking classes, recipe cards, perhaps a cookbook, gathering a few new followers and selling more rocky road).  Putting on one of my other hats I’ll continue  with my mediation practice (I mediate for separated couples) and am going to start doing pre-marriage counselling/education, so I’m really looking forward to that too (especially working with happy couples).  Somewhere in there the washing will have to get done, family fed and all the mundane things of life done. I’m even planning to prioritise sleep this year too.

So, I must apologise for not having posted a blog since November (but it was a raw paleo snickers bars so surely that makes up for it!).  After November I got pretty busy making and selling my Christmas Rocky Road Wreaths which were a huge success, so that didn’t leave a lot of time for new recipes and blogging.  I often post photos with short recipes on  Facebook  or Instagram so if you don’t follow me on there, I highly recommend you do for the quick recipes, tips, inspiration etc.

We were away for about a month too – 2 weeks with my parents, and siblings and their families in Orange (country NSW) over Christmas and then for 2 weeks with Leigh and the boys in the North Island of New Zealand.  So much adventure, fabulous people and of course lots of food to eat along the way.  I am constantly learning about travelling and following a paleo-ish way of eating and I think the real key is to be prepared and pack a travel cooler bag with snacks like nuts, seeds, jerky, fruit etc. As long as it’s gluten free though I’m far less ‘strict’ than when at home. It also helped that in NZ all the places we stayed had kitchens so we had fun cooking a few things along the way (like rainbow trout caught by my middle son, and green lipped mussels).

So after rocky road licks, Christmas and holidays I’m back on the healthy eating wagon with a mission to stay off sugar and ‘healthy’ sugars for the next little while, so expect more savoury posts/photos etc over the next couple of months.  I’m following Pete Evans (Australian chef now a huge paleo advocate)’s 10 week The Paleo Way program, so I imagine a number of ‘my recipes’ will be from Pete, but I’ll be sure to let you know if they are!

Here are a few holiday food snaps for you to drool over.

Don’t forget that I LOVE getting feedback/questions/comments etc so please ‘like’, comment away.

Annabel xo

slow roasted honey ‘soy’ duck

Recently when I was visiting my family over Easter, Mum made slow roasted duck.  She made this version and it was beautiful, so tender! Last night, we had friends over and I made the version below but forgot to take a photo!  I didn’t have any orange/juice hence the switch to the ‘soy’ version.

2kg-ish whole duck, rinsed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut aminos/tamari/soy
2 cups water
1 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil/olive oil/butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 175C/350F.
2. In a small bowl mix together mix together the basil, ginger, salt and 1/4C coconut aminos or substitute and rub mixture all over the duck. Place it into a roasting dish with a lid.
3. Add water.
4. In a small saucepan combine the honey, coconut oil/butter, lemon juice and remaining 1/4 C coconut aminos. Simmer together over low heat until syrupy; pour a little of the mixture over the duck, saving the rest for basting. Cover dish.
5. Bake/roast duck for 30 minutes. Turn duck breast down, reduce heat to 150C/300F and roast covered for another 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until very tender. If desired, turn duck breast up during last few minutes of cooking, to brown.
6. Once removed and cooled slightly you can pull all the meat of the carcass.
7. Serve with side of your choice (eg warm sweet potato and herb salad) and pour over some of the syrup.

Serves about 4-6.

NB:  I made this ahead of time and once I removed all the meat and got rid of the carcass, I left the juices/fat in the pan, and put it in the fridge for a few hours.  The fat the solidified and I scraped the fat off, threw it out and then put the meat back in the juice to warm just before serving.

NB for AIP or paleo use the coconut aminos and coconut/olive oil.

What is the auto immune protocol (AIP)?

Are you wondering what AIP is?  What does it stand for? Why on earth Annabel are you eliminating so many foods from your diet?  Please explain!

Over the last few months as I embarked on the autoimmune protocol elimination diet quite a few people have asked me for a bit more information about what it actually is.  Whilst there are many others who have written excellent explanations about it, I’d like, in this post to explain what I know about it, why do it etc.  Listed at the end are a few excellent resources with far more detailed and scientific explanations than this one!

What is the AIP?

Essentially the autoimmune protocol (AIP) is a form of elimination diet that is designed to reduce inflammation in your system, and in particular in your gut.  It is an ‘extension’ of the paleo diet.  It’s not for everyone, it’s designed for those of us with auto immune conditions.  I have hashimotos (under active thyroid).  Many other common auto immune conditions include rheumatoid arthritis, crohns disease, coeliac, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis &  lupus.  Here is a list of many common ones.

An auto-immune condition occurs when your immune system  attacks itself because it loses the ability to differentiate between which proteins belong in your body and which ones don’t. So, in my case my immune system attacks my thyroid gland. It is believed that all auto-immune conditions stem from having gut dysbiosis and a leaky gut (and have been found in every auto-immune condition in which it’s been tested!).

The AIP diet isn’t designed to ‘cure’ autoimmune disease but to relieve from the many symptoms. Whilst there is plenty of information provided by doctors about medical treatments (eg forhashimotos I takeoroxine daily for the rest of my life and will have to even if I follow theAIP), they don’t usually give much information about food and lifestyle choices that can dramatically improvethe quality of your life (and I think stop further deterioration of your immune system – including collecting MORE autoimmune diseases).  This is whereAIP can help.  It addresses the FOOD side of things.

So how do you do it?

The AIP elimination diet is designed to be done for 30-60 days and then you gradually reintroduce the eliminated foods (to be done properly it’s in a specific order) and see how your body responds to each one to know if you should leave it out or keep it in.  I did it strictly for 6 weeks and have added back in eggs, milk (dairy), butter and some small number of nuts but have found that I’m not that fantastic with nightshades.  Even those I have introduced back, it’s been done with a digestive enzyme support (a magic ginger concoction called digestaid, available here in Brisbane).  I don’t eat grains of any kind (I feel much better without), I know I’m better without high fat dairy eg brie & cream.  I also don’t have a gallbladder so I need to make sure the fat I eat is easily digestible, which is why I eat so much coconut oil as it’s the easiest oil to break down.

What to cut out?

The first and most important recommendation (it was certainly the first given to me about 8 yrs ago – but it took me 5-7 years to really accept and live it) is to be completely gluten free for the rest of your life.   If you can only do one thing, do this.

The AIP diet first and foremost a nutrient dense diet, focussing on fresh vegetables, fruit, fat and protein.  REAL food.  There is still soooo much you can eat, but I have to say it is quite tricky to eat out whilst strictly following the AIP diet.

Here is what needs to go:

• ALL grains (paleo)
• dairy (paleo)
• legumes (paleo)
• refined sugars (paleo)
• some oils (paleo)
• chemicals (paleo)
• alcohol (paleo)

In addition to the paleo restrictions, you also take out:

• eggs
• nuts (and nut oils)
• seeds (and seed oils)
• nightshades (potato, eggplant, tomato, capsicum, chilli, paprika, many spices, goji berries)
• potential gluten cross-reactive foods (ie the proteins in these foods are so similar to gluten your body can thing you are eating gluten and reacts to them in the same way), the saddest for me in this category is caffeine.
• NSAIDS (eg asprin, ibuprofen)

There are some excellent, clear print out guides to what’s in and what’s out here.

I have also created a couple of ‘word clouds’ to show you what’s in and what’s out.

IN:

OUT:

Should I do it?

Whether or not you should consider trying the AIP is certainly a personal choice.  Given it’s for auto-immune conditions, if you have an auto-immune disease or your think you might, it would be worth giving it a go.  It does require preparation (mentally and practically) and support from those you live with.  I’m certainly glad I did it.

I definitely feel ‘cleaner’, less puffy, I think I have less joint pain (my back in particular has been great), I have lost a few kg.  I must say though that I wasn’t suffering terribly from symptoms when I started, if I was I think the results would have been more dramatic. There is a FB group I belong to called ‘AIP for you and me’ and I hear of some AMAZING results!

** please notw none of this information constitutes medical advice.  Talk to your holistic doctor or naturpath for specific advice.

For more info, detail, recipes and science check out:

www.thepaleomom.com – Sarah Ballentyne.  Her book The Paleo Approach is a must buy if you are serious about finding out more.  Her website  has SO much information about paleo and AIP, recipes etc. She is also worth following on Facebook

www.aiplifestyle.com

www.autoimmune-paleo.com

www.phoenixhelix.com

It Starts with Food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. See www.whole9life.com

www.againstallgrain.com

The Clothes Maketh the Girl

www.chriskresser.com

Good luck and feel free to comment, share your experiences, ask questions etc.

Annabel x

 

eye fillet, mushrooms and sweet potato crisps (AIP/paleo)

We just finished this sensational dinner and so I just had to share it with you all! Eye fillet steak cooked to perfection by my hubby, topped with mushrooms (they are hiding a bit in this photo) and sweet potato spiral crisps.  It was served with a simple green salad on the side.  The crunch of the sweet potato makes this a complete winner for either an ‘above average’ mid week dinner, or a great meal for entertaining!

This recipe serves 2.

• 2 eye fillets or steak of your choice
• 300g sliced mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbspn olive oil
• 1 Tbspn vegetable stock concentrate
• 1 Tbspn coconut aminos or soy sauce (if you can have it)
• 1 med sweet potato
• 2 Tbspn coconut oil

Mushrooms:

1. Fry onion and garlic in olive oil.  Add mushrooms and vegetable stock and cook until the mushrooms are soft.
2. Add coconut aminos/soy sauce and stir though.

Sweet potato crisps

1. Create spirals from the sweet potato using a spirialiser. (see picture below)
2. Toss in coconut oil.
3. Spread out on lined baking tray and bake in the oven (180C/350F) for 25 mins or until they have turned crispy but not burnt.  You may need to toss them around mid-bake so the edge bits don’t burn.

Steak

1. Grill or panfry your steak to your liking whilst the sweet potatoes and mushrooms are cooking.

Place the steak on the plate, top with mushrooms and sweet potato crisps and serve with a green salad.  YUM!

This is my spiraliser – you can buy on eBay or I got mine from local farmers markets.

coconut shortbread (AIP/Grain free/dairy free/paleo)

Christmas is upon us! There’s no escaping it now it’s December,  so many of the posts over the next few weeks will be my favourite Christmas treats (my famous rocky-road/ a new GF & nut free version of the rocky road, nougat etc) are a few on my list to make and post.

I came across this recipe through a blog I follow on Facebook: The Clothes Make the Girl.  It appealed as it’s a biscuit that’s Auto-Immune Protocol compliant which sounded intriguing (no eggs… hard to bake!).  They worked!  They are certainly a shortbread style, coconut-ty and the chocolate on top makes them look good (but not AIP).

They were SUPER easy.  Here is the link to the recipe.

I cut mine after the freezing stage.

rainbow noodley salad

I just love the look of this salad.  It’s so bright and interesting shapes and textures.  Looks like it MUST be good for you! Serve it with your favourite salad dressing – something fresh and lime-y I think would work really well.

• 1 zucchini – spiralized (or grated)
• 1 carrot – spiralized (or grated)
• 1 beetroot – Julienned
• 1 bunch asparagus (chopped, blanched, drained and cooled)
• 1 bunch broccolini (chopped, blanched drained and cooled)
• 1 pomegranate – seeded

Toss together all ingredients and dress with your favourite dressing.  Serves 4-6

This would work well with nuts if you eat them or adding some diced orange, the options are endless!   Looks fabulous all spread out on a platter.  We ate it topped with poached chicken.

Enjoy.

 

green breakfast protein smoothie #2

Having a smoothie for breakfast is now part of my usual routine. It’s quick, healthy, a great way to get in a lot of greens and when trying to follow the AIP protocol diet for auto-immune disease, well, let’s face it there’s not much left for breakfast unless you want last night’s left overs.  Each day my smoothie is similar but different depending on what fruit and veg is to hand. Here is the link to green breakfast protein smoothie #1

Here is todays:

Blend together until smooth:

• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 kiwi fruit
• 1 frozen banana
• a few frozen mango chunks
• wedge rockmelon
• 2 cups english spinach
• 1/2 cup coconut kefir yoghurt (great for gut health – or omit or use regular coconut yoghurt)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (or milk of your choice or coconut water)
• 2 scoops protein powder (omit to be AIP)
• 1 Tbsp buckinis (my kids thought I said bikini’s!!) (or other crunch)

Pour into glasses and sprinkle with pomegranates or berries for some colour and texture.

Serves 2-3

everyday chicken

Some days I simply lack inspiration for the family meal.  Last night was one such night.  I kept staring into the fridge looking for something exciting to jump out.  All I saw was mushrooms and zucchini that needed using up and some chicken thighs. Here was my ‘mystery box’ moment.  Not very exciting ingredients,  but a meal needed to be cooked none-the-less.  A further investigation found some bacon and sweet potato.  So here is my ‘everyday chicken’ with roasted veggies.  The secret in the veggies is coconut oil – if you haven’t started to cook with it, please do.  It’s ultra healthy and doesn’t have a strong flavour.  This meal might not win any Masterchef competition but it did get eaten by everyone in the family (well the chicken did), so that makes it a winner!