Simple Beef Stew (GAPS)

One of the main components of the GAPS diet is nourishing bone broths, so soups and stews are a large part of our diet.  These are simple and delicious!  Our weekly Green Bean Delivery organic produce bin had multicolored carrots this week which made this stew not only tasty but also colorful.  Becoming a member of an online produce delivery service is a convenient way to get your organic produce.  My kids love opening up the bins and discovering what surprises we have to try.  This simple stew was made with homemade beef stock.  Here's a great video tutorial on How To Make Meat Stock if you need a little bit of guidance to get started.  I added some leftover roast, chopped carrots, fresh green beans, and chopped onion to the stock and cooked them for about 20 minutes until the vegetables were tender.  Then I just seasoned with some salt and pepper before serving.

GAPS No-Bake Cookies

It's easy to focus on all of the things that we can't eat, but I try to get the kids to focus instead on all of the things that we can eat.  We don't eat packaged candy and other sweets, but we CAN have many wonderful homemade treats that the kids love and appreciate now.  One of their favorites are these GAPS friendly No-bake Cookies.  I based my recipe for these cookies off of this Whole Food No Bake Cookie recipe.  These don't last long at my house.  As you can see, a little cookie thief snatched one before I could even get a picture.

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
5T cocoa powder
1/2 cup Organic Sunbutter (Regular Sunbutter has added sugar!)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut flakes (Make sure you use unsweetened!)

Melt honey, coconut oil, and cocoa powder together over medium heat.  Remove from heat and stir in Sunbutter and vanilla.  Once mixed well, stir in the coconut flakes.  Place by tablespoons on waxed paper and put them in the freezer for a few minutes to set up.

What do my kids eat? Day 7 of 7

Breakfast:

Here's my attempt at heart shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day.  I made my kid's favorite banana flax pancakes.  They were not perfect, but the kids were happy!

Morning Snack:

I grabbed a couple of LaraBar snack bars on the way out the door to gymnastics this morning.  The kids ate them in the van on the way home.  These bars are made with whole food ingredients including nuts and dried fruit and are a great option in a "snack emergency" as my daughter says.  While these are not safe for my teenage son with a peanut allergy, my little ones love them.  Their favorites are the Chocolate Coconut Chew and Coconut Cream Pie.

Lunch:

I needed an easy lunch today since I had two cranky, tired kids as a result of an early morning and long gymnastics class.  Leftovers to the rescue!  They had some leftover "saucy meatballs" from last night's dinner and cucumber sticks.

Afternoon Snack:

Since today was Valentine's Day, we did have some homemade chocolate hearts for our snack along with some coconut milk.

Dinner:

For dinner tonight, we had roast chicken with carrots and mashed cauliflower.  To make mashed cauliflower, I first saute half a small onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in coconut oil in the bottom of a large pan.  Then I add about 2 cups of chicken stock and one head of cut-up cauliflower pieces to the pan and cook until tender.  Finally, I use an Immersion Hand Blender to mash the cauliflower.  While my kids will not eat either raw or cooked cauliflower florets, they love it mashed.

Return to Day 6

What do my kids eat? Day 6 of 7

Breakfast:

Yes, some sausage again this morning along with a leftover butternut squash pancake from yesterday.  The juice was a mixture of kale, carrot, and apple.

Morning Snack:

It's hard to not get caught up in the Valentine's Day spirit.  We dipped strawberries in some homemade chocolate while it was still warm, and then chilled them in the fridge.  Yummy!  Fairly guilt free though since the chocolate only has coconut oil, cocoa powder, and honey.

Lunch:

Simple lunch today with deviled eggs and a mini-salad.  Simply swap virgin olive oil for the mayonnaise and create delicious GAPS friendly deviled eggs.  The kids love them!

Afternoon Snack:

I had hungry kids for snack time today.  They each had two plates of sliced apples and Organic Sunbutter.

Dinner:

My kids call this "Saucy Meatballs".  We just pour some Mariana Sauce (Kirkland Marina Sauce which happens to be sugar free!) over my chia seed and beef meatballs (1.25 lbs. ground beef, 1/4 cup chia seeds, and 1 egg).  Add some peas and voila a simple meal.

Bedtime Snack:

Here's another of our favorite ways to incorporate calcium and vitamin D fortified coconut milk into our diet:

Pineapple Whip

The recipe calls for Almond milk, but I just substitute coconut milk because that's what we typically have on hand.  We buy frozen pineapple chunks at Costco which makes this a simple treat to whip up.

Return to Day 5

Continue to Day 7

What do my kids eat? Day 5 of 7

Breakfast:

Our juice this morning was made with beet, carrot, and apple.  I made butternut squash and Sunbutter pancakes.  I just use 2 cups cooked butternut squash, 1 cup Organic Sunbutter, and 4 eggs to make the batter and cook on a skillet with coconut oil just like regular pancakes.  I added 1/2 a banana and and handful of blueberries to eat kids plate to help fill them up.

Morning Snack:

Snack at school today!

Lunch:

We finished up the pork soup today for lunch.  I follow the motto, "Cook once, eat twice" or maybe even three or four times.

Afternoon Snack:

I surprised the kids this afternoon with an early Valentine's Day treat.  I made a variation of these 3-Ingredient Energy Bars with 1 cup almonds, 1 cup dates, 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, 3T of cocoa powder, and 2T coconut oil.  I formed the mixture into small balls and pressed them into heart shaped candy molds.  All of the kids loved them!

Dinner:

I was able to get one more meal out of the leftover pork roast by making some homemade BBQ sauce to serve with pulled-pork and adding some steamed broccoli.  I just made 1/2 batch of the BBQ sauce which was more than enough for dinner tonight.  I have tried to save leftover sauce for later use in the past, but it didn't keep well.

Bedtime Snack:

We had a warm, delicious treat before bed tonight:  baked pears with honey, coconut oil, and cinnamon.  I used this recipe as a guide, but I did not peel the pears.  The kids also had a glass of coconut milk with their treat. 

Return to Day 4

Continue to Day 6

What do my kids eat? Day 4 of 7

Breakfast:

Another busy morning, Dad made the kids breakfast while I was getting ready to do a lesson with my son's class.  Juice and sausage patties again since it's easy and the kids love it.

Morning Snack:

Snack at school today!

Lunch:

I made a simple pork soup for lunch today with the leftovers from the pork roast that I made yesterday.  I simply added some shredded pork, chopped onion, carrots, and celery to my pork stock with a little bit of salt and pepper.  We had some friends over for lunch today, and the soup was a big hit.

Afternoon Snack:

Yum!  Shared some banana ice cream with our friends during a play date this afternoon.  It's super easy to make and a kid favorite!

Dinner:

My kids love Sloppy Joe's.  Unfortunately, prepared sauce usually contains added sugar.  It's pretty easy to make your own GAPS legal using this recipe.  The first time I made it though my kids picked around the peppers and onions, so I started making the sauce in a separate skillet and pureeing it in the blender first to get rid of any chunks before adding it to the ground beef.  Works like a charm for picky eaters!  Now it's one of their favorite meals.  I made these Coconut Flour Biscuits to serve with the meal.  I just substituted honey for the agave to make them GAPS legal.  While the Sloppy Joe sauce has strained tomatoes, peppers, and onions, it never hurts to add some more vegetables.  I just warmed up some organic frozen peas.

Bedtime Snack:

The kids had some frozen berries again tonight before bed.  Easy and nutritious is always a good thing!

Return to Day 3

What do my kids eat? Day 3 of 7

Breakfast:

Ugh, Monday morning craziness.  Kick started the day with carrot, celery, and apple juice.  Thank goodness we had some frozen sausage patties ready to go! Kids had some dried apples to finish off breakfast in the van on the way to school.  Hectic morning, but we made it!

Morning Snack:

The kids were at preschool this morning.  The school provides a raw fruit or vegetable, gluten free snack item such as pretzels or crackers, and small protein item (hard boiled egg, cheese, or nuts) for snack time options.  The kids can eat the fruit or vegetable item provided and have a bag of almonds to snack on to fill in for the other items that they cannot eat.  So far this has been going well.  We are lucky that the school is very supportive of our diet change.

Lunch:

Today was leftover day for lunch.  My son chose Italian Meatball soup, and my daughter chose a hamburger patty with some carrot sticks and blueberry basil dressing.

Afternoon Snack:

We splurged a bit for snack today and had these Almond Flour Brownies along with a glass of coconut milk. We had a surprise visit from Mamaw and Papaw this afternoon just as the brownies finished baking.  Papaw enjoyed some brownie with us!

Dinner:

I started a pork roast in the crock pot this morning and cooked it on low all day to have for dinner tonight.  The green beans were cooked in chicken stock to add flavor and a little bit of gut healing.  I knew that the amount of green beans that I had would not be enough to fill everyone up tonight, so I also made some butternut squash pancakes.  Now that we are on the GAPS diet, pancakes are not just for breakfast anymore.  They make a great snack as well as a pseudo-bread substitute with meals.  These are also a great way to sneak in some extra vegetables.

Bedtime Snack:

The kids had a bowl of frozen berries for their bedtime snack.  These berries are great to have on hand during the winter months when it's harder to find fresh fruit.  We also use them frequently for smoothies.  Strawberries are on the Dirty Dozen List of the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with the largest amount of pesticides, so organic is a must!

Return to Day 2 

Continue to Day 4 

What do my kids eat? Day 2 of 7

Breakfast:

Today's morning juice was carrot and apple.  For a special treat, we had bacon with our eggs.  Yes, bacon is on the avoid list in the GAPS diet book, but I was able to find some uncured bacon without sugar at Costco that is safe (Coleman Natural Uncured Hickory Smoked Bacon).  Hurray!  It's one of our favorites!

Morning Snack:

The kids call this loved snacked "Ants on a Log."  It's just a 1/2 banana with Organic Sunbutter and raisins.  You could use any nut or seed butter.  Quick, easy and delicious!

Lunch:

I made Italian Meatball Soup for lunch.  It is a beef stock based soup with a jar of strained tomatoes, a chopped onion, and carrot slices served with homemade Italian Meatballs with some hidden chia seeds.  I use Bionaturae Strained Tomatoes.  BPA in the lining can be problematic in canned goods particularly with tomato products due to their acidic nature, so I like that this product is sold in a glass jar.  Italian Meatballs recipe coming soon!  How do you get little kids to eat broth?  Let them drink it with a straw! Less mess and more fun for the kids!

Afternoon Snack:

The kids finished up the Energy Balls that we made yesterday and had a handful of blueberries for snack.

Dinner:

Dinner was not exactly a culinary masterpiece, but the kids like it.  We had baked spaghetti squash with Creamy Cauliflower Alfredo sauce and some leftover chicken.  I substituted chicken stock for the water in the recipe to increase the healing power of the meal.  According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, bone broth is important for "healing and sealing" your gut, so it is an important component of the GAPS diet .  Therefore, I add broth into recipes whenever possible.

Bedtime Snack:

I told the kids that we didn't have much color for dinner, so they needed to choose a colorful snack.  They decided to have a Berry Coconut Smoothie.  Check out the simple recipe from this previous post.

Berry Coconut Smoothie Recipe

Return to Day 1 

Continue to Day 3

What do my kids eat? Day 1 of 7

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently studying to be a health coach at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. One of our assignments this week is to keep a food journal since this is a tool that we will use with clients.  Since I am already tracking our meals this week, I thought that it would be great to share my journal to give you an idea of what a family with young kids eats on the GAPS diet.  Check out my previous post if you want to learn more about the diet and why my family is following it:

Starting Our GAPS Journey

Since my primary focus is on my young kids, I'll share pictures of their meals and snacks.  My husband, teenager, and I eat similar meals though typically with larger portion sizes.  Here's the first day of my food journal:

Breakfast:

Most mornings we start the day with freshly made juice.  Today our juice was a combination of carrots with greens and apples.  The kids also had a couple of homemade breakfast sausages.  I make a double batch of these and freeze them, so that I have an easy breakfast option on hand for busy mornings.  Most purchased breakfast sausages has added sugar and nitrates, so they are not GAPS friendly.

Morning Snack:

Our simple snack this morning was apples slices with SunButter Organic Sunflower Seed Spread for dipping along with a glass of coconut milk with just a little bit of honey to sweeten it.  Many of the prepared butters have added sugar, so be sure to read the labels carefully.  Regular Sunbutter has added sugar, but the Organic version is simply roasted organic sunflower seeds.  Sunbutter is also a great option if you happen to have a nut allergy in the family since it is processed in a peanut free facility.  My kids eat quite a bit of Sunbutter, so we have an automatic shipment from Amazon to save money.  We save over $3 a jar that way.

Lunch:

The kids had cut-up hamburger bites and a mini-salad with lettuce, carrots, cucumber and Salad Girl Blueberry Basil dressing for lunch. The kids needed a little extra motivation to finish their salads, so they also had a homemade chocolate robot candy for a treat once their salad was gone. The kids love the Robot Pattern Candy Mold that I purchased from Amazon.

Afternoon Snack:

Chocolate Banana Smoothie: For 4 servings, simply blend 4 cups of unsweetened coconut milk, 2 bananas, 1 avocado, 4T cocoa powder, and 2T honey.  The kids love the smooth, creamy texture that the avocado adds, and I love that they are getting healthy fats, fiber, and an abundance of nutrients from them.  Check out the many benefits of eating avocados:

What are the health benefits of avocados?

Dinner:

I made chicken soup for dinner. I started a whole chicken in the crock pot in the morning to have ready for dinner. I used the chicken stock and meat from the leg quarters and wings for the soup saving the white meat for lunch tomorrow. To make the soup this evening, I just added some finely chopped onion, carrots, and celery to the stock and cut-up chicken pieces.

Bedtime Snack:

I made 3-Ingredient Energy Balls for a snack tonight. I blended up 1 cup of whole almonds, 1 cup of dried apples, 1 cup of dates, and 1T cinnamon in my Ninja Master Prep Blender (QB900B) and then formed the mixture into balls. The kids call these apple pie bars. I use Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds to keep them safe for my son with a peanut allergy. We had some leftover to save for a snack tomorrow.

Continue to Day 2

Sugar, Sugar Everywhere!

The most surprising thing so far being on the GAPS diet is that there is sugar in everything.  I knew that we'd be giving up the obvious sweets such as cookies, cakes, and candy, but sugar is added to pretty much every packaged, pre-made food, dressing, or condiment.  I spent a couple of hours at Whole Foods one morning reading labels trying to find some alternative sauces, dips, and/or dressings because my kids love to dip their food.  Frankly, I didn't have too much luck.  No ketchup!  I tried making some, but it wasn't very good.  How was I going to get them to eat?

About the only thing that I did find were Salad Girl Organic Salad Dressings. They use a sunflower oil base and are sweetened with honey and fruit concentrates. I originally bought some to try thinking that it was just for my husband and I to use for salads. I guess that the kids missed dipping because they wanted to try it with their carrot sticks that day. They loved it! They now dip pretty much everything in these dressings. Just about every day they eat a bowl of carrots, cucumber slices, and spinach leaves that they dip in dressing. They also like to dip cutup meat, chicken, and turkey. Our favorites so far are Lemony Herb, Blueberry Basil, and Pomegranate Pear.

It is very difficult to eat out on the GAPS diet, but when we do we usually order salad.  Unfortunately, we haven't found a restaurant yet with any dressing without added sugar.  Even balsamic vinaigrette typically contains sugar!  We have just started bringing our own dressing with us.  This Evriholder Dressing to Go Salad Dressing Container is great for packing lunches or bringing your own dressing with you to restaurants.

One other thing that I was able to find that day at Whole Foods was some spaghetti Sauce.  Yes, most of the canned sauces have added sugar, but the Whole Foods brand 365 Organic Everyday Value Pasta Sauce is sugar free.  I simply brown a pound of grass-fed beef to add to the sauce and serve it over baked spaghetti squash for an easy meal which has become one of the kids' favorites.  Not all of the Whole Foods sauces are sugar free, make sure that you check the labels to find the right one.

I was able to find a couple of other sauce recipes that have worked out well for my family.  I made this Soy-Free Soy Sauce to serve with stir fry.  I made this BBQ sauce recipe for ribs. My family loved it!  I tried to save some of the extra sauce for the kids to eat later that week, but it had a strong vinegar taste by the next day.  It's a great recipe for a special meal, but it doesn't keep well.