Tag Archives: GAPS

Nov9

Why I Love Real Salt…

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My Real Salt showed up today in the mail.  I was getting a little stressed out.  🙂  I had a little bit left and we wouldn’t have made it through the weekend.  I didn’t have a trip planned anywhere that we could get it so I would have been out of luck.

We love Real Salt.  Alot.  The taste is fantastic.  The color took my kids a little bit to get used to – it looks almost like light sand – but they got over it fast.  Now I don’t think they’d know what white salt even was if they saw it.

We used to use plain old table salt.  However – it contains anti-caking agents such as potassium chloride, calcium phosphates and fumeric acid.  Some salts also contain sugar in the form of dextrose.  I did a little looking after we started the GAPS Diet and found that fumeric acid is actually a derivative of corn.  A big “no no” if you are a) allergic to corn (like me) or b) on a grain free diet (again, like me!).  Chemically altered salt of any kind is nothing like the real deal anyhow.  They have been generally heat processed and have lost much of their natural trace minerals.

So…taking a bit of info right off the back of my Real Salt bag:

“Real Salt’s pinkish appearance and flecks of color come from more than 60 naturally occurring trace minerals.  The result is a “sweet salt” flavor that you may not have experienced before.”

According to the “Nutrition Facts”, 1/4 tsp contains the following daily average percentages:

Sodium Chloride 98.32%

Calcium .40%

Potassium .12%

Sulphur  .11%

Magnesium .10%

Iron  .06%

Phosphorus  .05%

Iodine .002%

Manganese .0015%

Copper .001%

Zinc  .0006%

Pretty good for salt, huh?

I should add one more thing in my non-medical opinion.  I work with elderly folks and/or people with various medical issues, including high blood pressure.  I frequently hear “I can’t eat salt”, “I’m not supposed to eat salt.”  Emphasizing my “non-medical opinion” again  🙂 – I’m going to add a well-written link regarding this topic right from the Real Salt website.   Regarding medical issues, good quality sea salt intake is also very important for people dealing with adrenal fatigue (one last time, like me!)…I find myself going through alot of it quickly.  Keeping in mind that on the GAPS Diet, we eat no processed foods, so there is no “built in sodium” (think:  frozen pizzas, stuffing mix and canned soup – YIKES!).  Anyhow, if you have blood pressure issues, please do your own research and/or talk with your doctor – I am simply providing this info as a “better option” that is worth exploring.

I got my Real Salt this time from Vitacost, although I generally buy it in bulk through our local food co-op.  I am not an affiliate of Vitacost, nor am I getting “kickbacks” from Real Salt. 🙂  Signing off to go and make some chicken stir fry…happily using my Real Salt.  Good night!

This post was shared at Butter Believer’s Sunday School; The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania; The Prairie Homestead’s Homestead Barn Hop; Real Food Forager’s  Fat Tuesday; Cooking Traditional Foods’ Traditional Tuesdays; 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 Fight Back Friday; 21st Century Housewife’s Gallery of Favorites; Cultured Palate’s Tasty Traditions;

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;

Sep8

Salsa Verde (GAPS/SCD/GF)

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We got hooked on salsa verde awhile back…became particularly big fans of the Xochitl brand (Iif you haven’t had their corn chips and can…you should!  It’s the only food I really miss on GAPS!).  At $5.99 a jar…keeping up the addiction got a little steep.  🙂  So…last summer I started making my own.

Working with tomatillos is a little bit of a process…but it’s so worth it.  This year, I planted three tomatillo plants and have harvested a TON.  Last weekend, we made a double batch of this recipe adapted from one in a back issue of Organic Gardening magazine:

Salsa Verde (GAPS/SCD/GF):

5 pounds of tomatillos, husked and halved

2 onions, quartered

3 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 T. sea salt

1 habanero chile pepper, seeded (***BEWARE!  Just chopping this made me have a coughing fit!  Always wear plastic gloves when cutting hot peppers to preserve your hands and anything they touch for the next several hours!)

4 Anaheim peppers, seeded

2-4 Jalapeno peppers, seeded (depending on personal preference)

2 green peppers, seeded

2 T. fresh cilantro

Juice of one lime

I had some good help with picking the tomatillos…

And removing the husks…even got Grandpa into the act there…

And then I was on my own… 🙂

My easy-peasy semi-lazy woman’s way of tweaking this great recipe:  Rinse the sticky film off the tomatillos.  I decided not to roast them (because I was also in the midst of making sauerkraut and pickles and that just seemed like a lot of work), and ran everything through the food processor in shifts until it was well chopped and mixed.  I cooked it in a large stock pot on the stove until boiling, and simmered about 20 minutes – stirring every few minutes (this may be overkill, but I’ve been the victim of burnt salsa before!).

Ladle salsa into hot sanitized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Check for air bubbles, wipe the rims clean and put on lids and rings.  Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  If you haven’t canned before, be sure that the middle of the lid has a “depression” instead of a raised appearance when it’s done.  If it doesn’t, either reprocess the jars in a boiling water bath, or stick in fridge for more immediate use.  If everything has sealed like it should, let them sit out for about a day before removing the rings and storing them.

And if anyone is wondering, this salsa does have a slight kick but it will not burn the hair off your head or anything wild like that. 🙂  It has a medium heat.  If you want it hotter, add another habanero or two…we are not that brave…

Disclaimer:  My kitchen was VERY VERY BUSY on the day I made these and that last picture reflects it…please ignore the mess in the background!!!

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