Tag Archives: Dinners

Feb9

GAPS BBQ Hamburger Stew

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This is one of our favorite “go to” meals…my kids (and husband) actually ask me for this one which doesn’t happen nearly as often as I’d like…   It is better known in our house as Christy Nockels hotdish…  (She is a contemporary Christian singer who is one of my favorites!)  A few months back, we drove over three hours to attend a Night of Worship with her, and took this stew with us to eat on the road.   If you ever have the chance to see her in person…GO!  She is an angel.  Anyhow…I digress.  And Christy, if you ever read this, I hope you think it’s pretty cool that my children have named a stew/hotdish after you.  🙂

Since my three year old and I are on the GAPS Diet…eating on the road gets challenging sometimes, so we always go prepared.  I threw this together for the whole family before we left and we brought it in our Foogo Thermoses.  A side note on the Foogo’s…if you are on GAPS or any special diet, get like four or five.  You won’t regret it.  We have five, and some days, we seriously have them all in use.  I have a couple others that I’m not as happy with – my food is inevitably cold by lunch time – but my kids report things are still hot in the Foogo’s by the time they eat lunch at school.

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GAPS Hamburger Stew (aka Christy Nockels hotdish)

3 lb ground beef

1-10 oz pkg of frozen beans (optional – this time I didn’t have any, but I usually do add them)

1-10 oz pkg of frozen peas

6-8 peeled and chopped carrots (you could definitely use a bag of frozen carrots, I just haven’t been that organized to have them on hand!)

1 qt homemade broth (I have used everything from duck to beef, I don’t think it matters!)

1 chopped onion

1/2 batch of homemade barbecue seasoning (see recipe below)

Homemade Barbecue Seasoning:
(I think I found this on Allrecipes.com awhile back – can’t take credit for it myself.)

1 T. salt

1 T. pepper

1 T. chili powder

2 T. paprika

1 T. cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne (you can leave it out of you don’t like “spicy” stuff)

I prefer to use homemade seasoning mixes…one of these days I’ll share my cajun and taco seasonings too.  You just never know what you’re going to find in store bought packets (like…MSG – an excitotoxin that literally stimulates brain cells to death (and since it comes in somewhere around 40 forms…good luck figuring that out easily!), sugar or HCFS, and other unmentionables that I don’t care to ingest!).  This comes together quickly, with spices that are generally on hand.  At least here.

Brown hamburger and onion until thoroughly cooked.  Add chopped carrots and broth.  Cook til carrots are nearly tender.  I then add the peas and beans – since they’re only frozen they don’t take as long.  The liquid will cook down some, which is fine.  At the end, I add the barbecue seasoning and mix in well.  Real food doesn’t get much easier than this!!!

I can only speculate on servings.  I like to make alot of food – since there are five of us – and it is extremely helpful to have enough left for lunch the next day.  I’d guesstimate that this serves 7-10 depending on serving size.

Enjoy!

This post was shared at The Prairie Homestead’s Homestead Barn Hop; The Better Mom’s Mondays Link Up; Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesdays; Simply Sugar and Gluten Free’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Cooking Traditional Foods’ Traditional Tuesdays; Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays; The Tasty Alternative’s Allergy Free Wednesdays; GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursdays; The Cultured Palate’s Tasty Traditions; Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday; 21st Century Housewife’s Gallery of Favorites; Vegetarian Mamma’s Gluten Free Fridays; Butter Believer’s Sunday School Blog Carnival;

Dec31

Porketta (GAPS/SCD/GF)

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Porketta is a childhood favorite of mine.  I remember having it around the holidays…the local grocery store sold it ready-to-bake.   I can only venture a guess that it was laden with MSG and other nasties that I don’t care to eat…and who really wants all that in their food anyhow?  I recently found a recipe for it in the December 2012 issue of Food and Wine magazine (this link shows the step by step for you) and decided I had to make it.  I made a couple mild adaptations for us GAPSters.  I’ll share the recipe as it was written as well as my adaptations, and you can decide what best suits your tastes and/or dietary needs.

Anyhow, I’m jumping the gun a bit.  I just put it in the oven an hour ago, and I have no proof it will turn out good yet, but it smells fabulous so I’m venturing a guess it will be fine. 🙂  And I felt compelled to share.  Also, I messed up on it and missed a step…and I just realized that I forgot the garlic too (GASP!) but it will hopefully turn out stellar anyhow.  I’ll probably add a little raw chopped garlic after I slice it.  Nobody’s perfect! 🙂

Porketta (GAPS/SCD/GF):   

**Note that total prep time is 2 days for brining and seasoning.  In my rush…I missed this so only brined for a day and did not have time to season for a day.  Just thought I’d better point that out in case there are other sloppy cooks out there too who don’t always read as thoroughly as they should…ha ha.

BRINE:  10 rosemary sprigs (I used dry)

10 bay leaves (again, I used dry)

3 heads of garlic, smashed

1/3 c. juniper berries (I purchased bulk Frontier brand from the local co-op)

3 T. black peppercorns

2 T. fennel seeds

1 T. crushed red pepper

1 1/4 c. kosher salt (I used canning salt, which appeared to have no other ingredients than salt.  I am too cheap to burn through that much of my Real Salt in one recipe! :-))

1/4 c. sugar (see below but personally, if I chose to use sugar, I’d use something like rapadura which is more unrefined)

2 T. honey (****Note to GAPSters…I omitted the sugar and just used the same amount of honey + this 2 T.)

One 9 pound meaty pork belly with skin (I special ordered my pastured beauty from a local farmer…)

RUB:  1 1/2 T. fennel seeds

1 tsp juniper berries

3/4 tsp black peppercorns

3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (in a perfect world I would have had this but I didn’t so I just used powdered nutmeg!)

3/4 tsp crushed red pepper

3 T. finely chopped rosemary (I used my coffee grinder for this)

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1)  BRINE THE BELLY:  In a large pot, add the rosemary, bay leaves, garlic, juniper berries, peppercorns, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and 1 gallon of water.  Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes.  Add the salt, sugar/and or honey and stir until dissolved.  Pour the brine into a large roasting pan and cool.  Add the pork belly, skin side up.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2)  MAKE THE RUB:  In a small skillet, toast and fennel, juniper and peppercorns for a minute or two.  Cool, the grind to a powder (again, I used a coffee grinder, works slick).  Stir in the nutmeg, red pepper, rosemary and garlic.  Drain the pork belly, pick off spices.  With the belly skin side down, rub the meaty side with the spices.  Refrigerate the pork uncovered overnight.

3)  BAKE YOUR PORKETTA!:  Before roasting, I rolled mine up (from the short end) and tied it tightly with cooking twine at 2″ intervals, and put it in a roasting pan.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake covered in a roasting pan for one hour.  Then, lower the heat to 300 degrees and roast for 2 hours and 15 minutes longer, until the skin is deep brown and crisp and an instant read theremeter inserved in the center registers 185 degrees.  I’ll leave it covered until the last 1/2 hour or so, and then bake uncovered, to let it brown up.  (And I frankly have my doubts about this timing…this is a big hunk of meat!  So, use your own discretion and allow enough time for your own purposes…I’m just guessing it will take longer.)  Anyhow…when it’s finished, transfer the porketta to a cutting board and let it rest for 20 minutes.  Remove the twine and slice 1/2″ thick.

I wish I had broccoli rabe – I think that sauteed rabe with garlic would be heavenly with this…but I don’t have any so I think we’ll settle for buttered carrots tonight.

A couple of tips offered by “Food and Wine” magazine:  This porketta can be prepared through Step 5 and refrigerated overnight.  They also recommend for leftovers:   Folded into an omelet with goat cheese and  scallions…or a sandwich with ciabatta bread, melted provolone and sauteed broccoli rabe for any bread eaters out there. 🙂  We can’t eat goat cheese or ciabatta bread around here…but that does sound good!!!

And a tip offered by me:  If you can’t find these spices and herbs locally, Mountain Rose Herbs has a great selection and I think you can find it all here.  I am not an affiliate at this time, and am offering this info as a public service only.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

This post was shared at Cooking Traditional Foods Traditional Tuesdays; Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays; GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursday; Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday;

Sep14

Cooking with Kids: Homemade Tomato Soup (GAPS/SCD)

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Last weekend the girls and I made tomato soup – some for supper and some for freezing.  I love cooking with my kids. It’s a great productive task for them (away from TV!), and it gives us the perfect chance to “visit” and just be together.  My littlest got her stool, my eldest found her station…and we all pitched in and worked…

Homemade Tomato Soup: 

Ingredients:

roughly 40 tomatoes, cored and quartered

2 quarts of homemade beef stock (see Sally Fallon’s recipes at the bottom of the link here)

1 bunch of mixed greens (I used kale and dandelion greens – you can find dandelion greens at Whole Foods, or grow them in your garden like I did!)

1-2 large onions, chopped

3-4 stalks celery, chopped (I use the greens and all)

4 leeks, chopped (if you’re not familiar with using leeks, just chop the white part up and wash out dirt well.  I suppose you can use the green parts but I didn’t here.)

8 carrots, peeled and chopped

5 cloves of garlic

1/4 c. fresh basil

sea salt and pepper to taste

coconut oil for sauteeing

Chop your veggies…

Even your small children can rip greens…

Saute your chopped veggies in the coconut oil (or olive oil)…

Add your broth…

Add tomatoes, greens and herbs, and seasonings…  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer until your veggies are tender…for about a half hour.

Puree with a stick blender.  If you don’t have a stick blender, you can do it in batches in the blender or food processor.  For the size of this pot, this is the most handy.  Watch for splatters though…

Voila!  I had a lot of leftovers, which was my intent, and I froze the rest in several mason quart jars.

Kitchen scraps for the happy hens 🙂

This post was shared at The Morris Tribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival; Simply Made Home’s Make a Move Monday; The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania; The Prairie Homestead’s Homestead Barn Hop; The Better Mom’s Mondays Link Up; Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesdays; Simply Sugar and Gluten Free’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Like a Mustard Seed’s Living Green Tuesdays; Cooking Traditional Foods Traditional Tuesdays; The Tasty Alternative’s Allergy Free Wednesdays; Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays; Frugally Sustainable’s Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter; GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursday; Real Food Freaks Freaky Friday; Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays; The 21st Century Housewife’s Gallery of Favorites; Too Many Jars In My Kitchen’s Fill Those Jars Friday; Vegetarian Mamma’s Gluten Free Friday;