If you can find celeriac or celery root in your grocery store, you should try this soup.  It’s a low starch vegetable that has a wonderful celery-like flavor, but it’s meatier than celery so it lends a creamy texture to soups when they are pureed.  Our Co-op here in Roanoke often has organic celeriac so I have been using them in soup regularly this winter.  The cauliflower soup recipe I posted can be made with celeriac–just omit the carrot and if you want the potato and add 1 celeriac root.

This simple soup is more like celery soup but without dairy–except for the ghee which is well tolerated by many folks sensitive to dairy.  The soup is blended once the vegetables are cooked so no need to finely chop them.

 

Serves 4

1 large celeriac root, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces

1 very large (about 4 inches in diameter) yellow onion, chopped

1/3 cup of ghee

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 small potato, chopped (optional)

4 cups of broth or water ( I used water)

1/4 cup fresh dill weed, chopped fine or 1 tsp. ground dill seed (optional)

salt to taste

black pepper, optional

 

In a soup pot, melt the ghee.  Add the onion and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes giving an occasional stir.  Wash and chop the other veggies while the onion is sauteing.  Add the other vegetables and continue to heat over medium heat giving an occasional stir for another few minutes.  Add the broth or water.  Bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to low to keep the soup cooking at a simmer for about an hour or until the vegetables are very tender and easily pierced.  Remove from heat and carefully blend with an immersion blender until creamy.  Add salt, and pepper if desired, to taste.  Serve hot garnished with dill.

 

 

Many people think their diet will be inadequate (especially in fiber) without including grains.  Yet many other people are perfectly happy and healthy without eating grains.  Whether one is following a keto or low carb or low inflammatory diet, there can be plenty of fiber and nutrients in a grain-free diet.  And it is not hard to replace some grain dishes, with ones containing hi-fiber, nutritious ingredients but no grain products.  If you like hot cereal in the morning, give this a try.  Some compare it to cream of wheat.

Serves 2

1/4 cup organic coconut flour

2 Tbsp. organic flax seed, ground to a powder in blender

1 cup water

1/2 cup coconut milk (optional, can be replaced by another 1/2 cup of water)

1/2 organic apple, chopped fine

1/4 cup blueberries, optional, fresh or frozen

2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts, optional

1-2 Tbsp. collagen powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. ghee or butter

1/4 tsp. monk fruit powder to sweeten, optional

Bring water to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Add apple and cinnamon, cover, and simmer 5 minutes until tender.  Add ground flax and coconut flour and stir well.  If using, add coconut milk , collagen powder,  walnuts and blueberries.  Continue to stir over low heat until evenly heated.  Add water if desired to consistency of your choice.  Remove from heat.  Add ghee and sweeten with monk fruit to taste if desired. Serve immediately.

 

A cup of this before a meal will warm you up, stimulate digestion, and act as an anti-inflammatory.  All of that and it is pretty tasty.  A serving is about 1/2 to 1 cup so this should serve 2-4.

1 tsp. ghee

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp. cardamom powder

1/2 tsp. ginger powder

pinch of ground black pepper

1/2 cup coconut milk (Native Forest is a good organic brand)

1  1/2 cups water or black tea of your choice

1-2 tsp. maple syrup or monk fruit powder to taste

Melt ghee in sauce pan.  Over medium-low heat, add spices and stir well until it browns lightly–just a minute or so.  Pour in coconut milk and stir well.  Continue to heat and add water or tea.  Add monk fruit powder to taste.  Serve hot.

 

Dense but not too sweet, these brownies will please most chocolate lovers.  They do contain sugar–but a reduced amount–so best to make them for special occasions.  The monk fruit powder is a good sweetener when you want to reduce the sugar in a recipe.  Be careful when you buy it though because many monk fruit products also contain erythritol.   I try to avoid the sugar alcohols as they can cause digestive disturbances.  If you don’t have palm oil, you could use coconut oil instead though I prefer the taste of the palm oil.

1/4  cup ghee

1/4 cup red palm oil

1/3 cup organic cacao powder

Organic baking chocolate (a piece about 1/2 inch wide by 4 inches long), Dakoba is a good brand

3 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup organic coconut sugar or cane sugar

1/2 tsp. monkfruit powder, more to taste to increase sweetness

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3 cup coconut milk

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

In a double boiler, melt oils and baking chocolate.  Remove from heat and add  cacao powder.  Set aside.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients and add beaten eggs and coconut milk.  Mix well.  Add cacao mixture and beat with an electric beater until smooth.  Fold in chopped nuts.

Spoon into a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Insert clean knife in center and bake until knife comes out clean.  Let cool.  If desired, frost with a mixture of  4 Tbsp cacao powder, 2 Tbsp. honey, and 1-2 Tbsp. coconut milk (enough to form the desired consistency) with a dash of vanilla extract.  Serve warm or cold.

 

 

 

The dressing makes a salad and it compliments salads containing bitter vegetables such as radicchio, arugula, dandelion leaves, and mustard greens.   Remember, the bitter tasting vegetables stimulate bile flow and aid digestion so be sure to use them in your salads and try to eat your salad at the beginning of your meal.  Enhance your salad’s general appeal by using at least half mild tasting lettuce such as romaine.  Also, avoid adding  tough/fibrous greens to your salads as these are better digested when they are cooked, marinated, or fermented  (this includes kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower).  And, don’t be stingy with the dressing–pour a couple of tablespoons on!  The oil helps with absorption of the nutrients in the vegetables.

Try making the dressing with and without the miso–it’s delicious either way but there will be recipes that may be better without the miso taste.  Double or triple the recipe so you have enough in the fridge to last a week.

 

1 Tbsp. prepared yellow mustard

1 Tbsp. organic miso (I like the chickpea variety from MisoMaster)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (I have used the vinegar liquid from the marinated red onions which give a nice onion flavor.)

1-2 tsp. honey

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients except the oil in a jar and mix very well.  Add the olive oil and mix again.  The miso is salty so you should not have to add salt but you may wish to add some ground black pepper.  Pour on your salad just before serving.