Beef and Sauerkraut Soup

While you may be tempted to throw all the ingredients together, the taste is incredibly different when you follow the recipe step-by-step. I knew this experientially, but finally came fully onboard after reading many of my old recipe books and realizing how many recipes contain essentially the same ingredients but tasted completely different because of the preparation order. The difference between a good recipe and a great recipe is taking the time to prepare things in a specific order.

While this is a delicious soup for anyone, it can be very healing for anyone with a short term or long term illness. Each ingredient in this soup contains its own nourishing and healing properties. Onions are high in sulfur, read more here. Sauerkraut is predigested cabbage, link to recipe. Stock is high in easily accessible amino acids and meat contains proteins, minerals, fiber and other vitamins. Make sure to salt to taste using a good quality sea salt, adding minerals to complete this healing food. It also naturally contains copious amounts of animal fat which your body will use to heal and repair your cells as well as feed the immune system. The probiotics in the sauerkraut will be killed in the cooking process however, you still will get the benefits of predigested cabbage. There is also some evidence that even killed bacterial bodies from fermented foods has an immune benefit to your body. The lamb stock I used in the soup made for a delicious flavor. But all my taste senses were focused on the sauerkraut. Which brought a richness and layered complexity.

Ingredients for Beef and Sauerkraut Soup:

• Chuck Roast

• ½ Stick Butter

• Chopped Onions

• Salt

• 6 Cups Meat Stock (beef or lamb)

• Sauerkraut

Directions for Beef and Sauerkraut Soup

Cube by slicing perpendicular to the grain into half inch slices, then cubing from there. In this recipe, I use a chuck roast, but any cut of meat would be fine. You could also start with stew meat, but be sure to cube it down to bite-sized pieces. Stew meat is often very expensive cuts of meat that did not end up in a pretty cut, so I recommend purchasing and using stew meat to get quality, affordable meat. I often purchase stew meat to get tender cuts at affordable prices.

Melt ½ stick butter, add chopped onions, salt and cook 5-6 minutes until the onions begin to soften.

When the onions are becoming soft, add beef and brown the outside of the meat cubes to trap the flavors. Sauté for 5-7 minutes to brown the outside of the cubes to trap the flavor and moisture inside. Medium High Heat.

Drain the sauerkraut and set aside the juice. When most sides are brown-ish, add drained sauerkraut and stock. Turn down heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, salt to taste.

This recipe is not as boring as it looks, it is actually complex and rich. Feel free to add more sauerkraut and enjoy!!

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Beef and Sauerkraut Soup

Yield: 2-4

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• Chuck Roast
• ½ Stick Butter
• Chopped Onions
• Salt
• 6 Cups Meat Stock (beef or lamb)
• Sauerkraut

Instructions

1. Cube by slicing perpendicular to the grain into half inch slices, then cubing from there. In this recipe I use a chuck roast, but any cut of meat would be fine. You could also start with stew meat, but be sure to cube it down to bite-sized pieces. Stew meat is often very expensive cuts of meat that did not end up in a pretty cut, so I recommend purchasing and using stew meat to get quality, affordable meat. I often purchase stew meat to get tender cuts at affordable prices.
2. Melt ½ stick butter, add chopped onions, salt and cook 5-6 minutes until the onions begin to soften. 
3. When the onions are becoming soft, add beef and brown the outside of the meat cubes to trap the flavors. Sauté for 5-7 minutes on medium high heat to brown the outside of the cubes and trap the flavor and moisture inside.
4. Drain the sauerkraut and set aside the juice. When most sides are brown-ish, add drained sauerkraut and stock. Turn down heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, salt to taste.
5. Add the sauerkraut juice and enjoy!!

Created using The Recipes Generator

How to Make Beef Stock

We use a lot of chicken stock around here but that doesn’t mean it’s superior to other kinds of stock. We’ve recently been working on adding soup recipes that are especially delicious with beef stock.

Whatever meat you use, remember it should be 80% meat and 20% bone with a joint. Depending on your cut, you might need to add additional meat to fulfill these ratios.

Meat stock is a pillar in healing a leaky gut but this rich food is beneficial to anyone. It provides large amounts of the immune system’s favorite foods, is very easy to digest, and is a great base to modify for other healing and nutritious recipes.  

Meat stock is meant to be a meal in itself. It’s short cooking time allows the meat to remain edible while still enriching stock with easy to absorb nutrients. This is the perfect thing to eat anytime you are feeling ill or stressed or “can’t get filled up” hungry. These are some of the reasons meat stock is such an important part of the healing process of the GAPS Diet. Any time you are consuming meat stock on a regular basis, your body will be receiving the healing benefit.

Meat stock can be made into a soup or simply drunk on its own as a hot beverage with a meal. You can also poach a couple eggs in your stock for a rich breakfast. Stock can also be used to cook rice or other soaked grains to increase their digestibility and nutritional content. In short, this should be considered a staple to have in your kitchen at all times, either in the fridge or the freezer.

There are a variety of ways you can skim the scum off the top of your stock. I usually use a slotted spoon but you can also use a mesh scum skimmer, a slotted spoon, a small strainer, or a large soup spoon.

Skimming the scum off the top is where you can tell the quality of your meat. If your meat is poor quality, had a lot of hormones or was poorly processed, you’ll get scum that’s heavy, grey and unappetizing. If you have a good quality meat, you will have a small amount of light almost white colored scum that appears as a lighter foam. This is also where you can tell if your meat has gone bad at this point.

You can store your stock in the fridge or the freezer, depending on how quickly you’ll consume the batch.

A NOTE ABOUT MEAT STOCK AND THE GAPS INTRO DIET:

When Dr. Natasha Campbell talks about meat in stage 1, she’s referring to eating primarily the gelatinous meats like skin, joints and connective tissue. When meat is added on Stage 2, she means the muscle eats, the only thing we Americans consider to be meat. Eating a lot of muscle meat can be constipating so if this is your issue, be sure to eat every last bit of the skin and joints.

Ingredients for Beef Stock:

• Beef. I am using 3 ½ lbs of beef short ribs. Whatever meat you use, remember it should be 80% meat and 20% bone with a joint. Depending on your cut, you might need to add additional meat to fulfill these ratios.

• Small handful of peppercorns

• 2 Bay Leaves

• Filtered Water

Directions for Beef Stock:

Cut your beef ribs apart so that each rib is separated.

Add to a pot and fill with filtered water.

Add peppercorns whole and bay leaves to the pot.

If you are using dry herbs and are on Intro GAPS, pre-stage 4, put your herbs in a reusable herb or tea infuser or muslin pouch for easy removal. This is not necessary if you are using fresh herbs.

Turn pot up to high to bring to a boil. Skim the scum off the top of your pot.

Turn heat down lower to a simmer. Simmer beef stock for 3-5 hours. 

Strain the beef stock using a large mesh strainer and a funnel or large measuring cup with a lip.

Place in jars or a large bowl and allow to cool completely before placing in the fridge or freezer.

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A Guide to Commercial Egg Quality

Eggs are one of the best nutrient dense foods but not all eggs are created equal! Just like choosing good meat and vegetables, it’s important to choose good, quality eggs. This topic is not discussed very often, so in this post I’d like to lay out for you some of the main character qualities to look for in a good nourishing egg.

Just like with any food, it’s best to rely on your five senses to determine a particular food’s quality. Some of this can only be done with experimentation, so I encourage you to purchase a variety of brands or eggs from local farmers and make your own observations on freshness, quality, and nutrient density.

I love that I was able to see first hand what a best quality egg looks like when I had my own chickens. They were fed small grain, organic, non-GMO, corn free soy free feed, they had constant access to outside during the day, and ran over half an acre of pasture. I understand not everyone has access to a farmer, and not everyone can have their own laying hens,so this blog post is to help you determine which eggs that are available to you are the best quality.

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First, let’s talk about some confusing terms. There’s not a lot of regulation on these terms, and marketing experts often use them to promote their product, but it does not necessarily mean their eggs are of higher quality.

Color of Egg: The color of an egg is determined by the breed of chicken that lays it. No chickens are inherently better than others, so the color of your egg alone doesn’t matter in terms of nutritional content or quality.

Cage Free: This term only indicates that the chickens are not confined in a small, individual cage for 24 hours a day. Cage free does not mean the chickens have access to outside and they may be confined in crowded spaces.

Organic: This refers to the food the chicken is eating. Organic food is better than conventional food because it decreases the number of nasty pesticides and GMOs, but these chickens’ diets are likely heavy in soy and corn or anything else as long as it’s labeled organic.

Vegetarian Fed: This is not a natural diet for a chicken! A natural chicken diet consists of bugs, roadkill, grasses, grains and seeds. They are omnivores! If you limit a chicken to a vegetarian diet, you are messing with nature and your egg will not contain the full amount of nutrition it should.

Free Range: Free range indicates that chickens have to “have access to the outdoors” but it doesn’t specify the amount of space or the amount of time the chickens have to be outside. There may not even be enough room outside for each chicken so some chickens may never be outside.

Pasture Raised: Pasture Raised indicates chickens who are given enough space for all of them to be outside and are moved to fresh pasture regularly, giving them access to new bugs and grass. This is the best choice for any egg you purchase. These chickens have the best opportunity to eat the appropriate chicken diet, get sunshine, and be happy!

Omega-3: Omega-3’s are important in our diet, but an egg from a chicken fed a natural diet will have plenty of Omega-3 in it. If a company is advertising Omega-3 eggs, it is very likely they are giving supplements to ensure a certain level of Omega-3’s in their eggs. Depending on the quality of supplement, this may or may not be good for you, and again if the chicken is given access to sun and an omnivore diet, an additional supplement is unnecessary. On that note, there are different foods and supplements that can be fed to chickens to make their yolks more orange or darker yellow. This does not, of course, equal the same quality of nutrition that a pastured chicken can put in their egg.

Certified Humane: This is a label given to egg raisers who meet the requirements of the Humane Farm Animal Care. In essence, it means the birds are treated well, not starved or debeaked, but does not necessarily mean they are given access to outdoors and beak trimming is also allowed.

Grades: The grades AA, A, & B on the side of the package don’t just refer to size. They refers to the quality and freshness of the egg. “AA” is the best, according to the USDA, but we will teach you how to grade your own eggs!

New advertising measures are used constantly! If you see something new advertised on a carton of eggs, it’s a great idea to look up what qualifications, if any, are necessary to add that label to their carton.

Now that we understand some of the marketing definitions, you can purchase the best quality eggs and do some observations to determine the freshness and quality of an individual egg.

First, look at the thickness and smoothness of the egg shell. A shell that is very thin is deficient in calcium. An overly thick shell likely has an artificial amount of calcium supplementation in the chicken’s diet. A bumpy or disfigured egg shell can indicate health problems or deficiencies in the chicken.

Second, we look at the color of the yolk. Chickens given access to bugs and grass lay eggs with deeper yellow to orange yolks. As a reminder, there are substances, including natural ones, that can be fed to a chicken to make their egg yolk artificially more yellow. Also keep in mind that there is less green plants and bugs in the winter, so even good quality eggs will likely have lighter yellow yolks in the winter.

Third, we look at the white of the egg. A fresh and nutrient rich white will hold together and stand together in the pan. A poor quality or old egg white will spread out over the entire area. I’ve heard that the quality of the egg white is what professional chefs use to judge the quality of an egg.

We purchased a variety of eggs from King Soopers and Natural Grocers to do these observations for this experiment. Please refer to the pictures and analysis below!

Farmer’s Hen House

This brand is my “bulk” go to egg for washing my hair.

Type of Egg: Free Range Large Brown Grade A from Natural Grocers
Price at Purchase Time: $3.45
Labels on Carton: Free Range
Description of Shell: Good thickness, cracked only where hit and didn’t splinter. Fairly smooth.
Color of Yolk: Dark yellow.
Spread of White: Mostly holds together, with a little spread.

Vital Farms Pasture Raised

Type of Egg: Pasture Raised Large Brown Grade A
Price at Purchase Time: $5.69
Labels on Carton: Pasture Raised
Description of Shell: Very smooth, a little thin but broke mostly clean.
Color of Yolk: Dark, deep yellow
Spread of White: Held tightly together

Happy Egg Free Range Eggs

This is the brand that I recommend as a good starting point in looking at higher quality eggs. They are a more accessible egg brand, available at both King Soopers and Natural Grocers.

Type of Egg: Happy Egg Free Range Eggs
Price at Purchase Time: $5.99
Labels on Carton: Free Range Pasture Raised Large Brown Grade A Eggs
Description of Shell: Smooth but a little thin
Color of Yolk: Very deep orange
Spread of White: Held together a little but runnier

Simple Truth Cage Free Eggs

Type of Egg: Cage Free Large Brown Eggs from Simple Truth
Price at Purchase Time: $2.99
Labels on Carton: Cage Free Large Brown Eggs Grade AA
Description of Shell: A little difficult to crack and slightly bumpy
Color of Yolk: Light yellow
Spread of White: Runny and not held together

King Soopers City Market Extra Large Eggs

Type of Egg: King Soopers City Market Extra Large Grade AA Eggs
Price at Purchase Time: $1.39
Labels on Carton: Extra Large
Description of Shell: Thin and bumpy
Color of Yolk: Light yellow
Spread of White: Liquid, doesn’t hold together.
Taste of Egg:

Cage Free Real Egg Product

For comparison, we purchased a “real egg product.” Unlike an egg, which needs no ingredient description, this product contains 19 added ingredients, vitamins, and minerals. I think in this product they are making up for lack of egg yolk (which they omitted) which contains most of the nutritional value of an egg. Let’s do the same analysis of this product!

Type of Egg: Cage Free “Real Egg Product'“ from Kroger
Price at Purchase Time: $4.49
Labels on Carton: Cage Free, Made from Real Egg Whites, Cholesterol Free, Fat Free Food
Description of Shell: Unknown, Not Present
Color of Yolk: Unknown, Not Present
Spread of White: Unknown

How to Make Soup Without a Recipe

I have made a lot of soup in the last seven years. For a long time, I was fine with a simple soup of onions, chicken, stock soup over and over and over...until I wasn’t! I longed for soups that were full of flavors and textures and that were interesting to my body but still nutritious.

Good soup is a great way to gets lots of nourishing food. It’s an essential part of the GAPS protocol because of it’s healing properties. Most of the digestion work is done for you already when soup is simmered for a long time. Nutrients are allowed to come of the protein or fiber where they are bound as free floating amino acids, vitamins, and minerals are all released. This makes them easily digested and able to be used and absorbed by our bodies quickly. Amino acids and collagen from meat stocks and meat are helpful to heal a leaky gut and help our organs be fed. Vegetables and salts add a lot of trace minerals.

Sometimes we don’t have everything we need for a particular soup recipe. Or we might get stuck in a rut, making the same recipe over and over. Variety is the key to success with soups because it’s easy to get bored. There’s a helpful algorithm to making soup. It will help you learn how to think through making a soup creatively.

Download my pdf on Making Soup Without a Recipe here to keep for later. You can also watch the video below on how to cook soup without a recipe.

If you were never taught cooking or aren’t comfortable in the kitchen, you might think you’re behind and unable to cook without a recipe. Fear not! There are many resources to help you get more comfortable. Look to others. Take cooking classes. And most of all, cook! The simple act of cooking and experimenting with your food will help you become more comfortable with creating meals without a recipe.

The basic components of a soup are:

• Meat Stock or Bone Broth (we’ll talk about the difference below!)

• Meat

• Vegetables

• Fat

• Salt

• Peppercorns

• Herbs and/or Spices

Let’s go through them step by step.

Meat Stock and Bone Broth

I almost always recommend meat stock over bone broth. The primary difference between the cooking of meat stock and bone broth is the ratio of meat to bone and the cooking time. Meat stock has a short cooking time and a ratio of 80/20 meat to bone. Bone broth has a longer cooking time and a ratio of 20/80 meat to bone.

Meat stock heals and seals the gut lining and reverses inflammation to complete the gut healing process. Bone broth is totally fine to eat once your gut is healed. It also has many minerals in it like meat stock. However, it also has high glutamic acid which can be neurologically irritating, which might cause migraines or joint pain among other things. Once your gut is healed, bone broth is a great way to reuse meat stock bones which helps with sustainable eating and eating well on a budget.

I recommend an adult eat 3-6 cups of meat stock a day if they are healing and a child 1-3 cups a day. You can of course have more if your body wants it. Getting 3-6 cups in a day can be difficult. Soup is a great way to consume meat stock! (See more ideas for consuming meat stock here.)

Any meat can be used for stock. Find good sources for your meat if you can. Beef, poultry, and seafood are all great choices but also try bison, rabbit, or duck. Even bear! Any game meat does tend to have a stronger taste so I would recommend using it for a more heavily flavored soup.

My preference is to choose meat and joints from the same animal when I make my stock but you can certainly mix and match if you need to.

To learn to make your own stock step by step, click this link or watch me make it below!

Meat

The meat you use can be deboned meat that was already cooked in your stock since it’s not cooked for very long or it can be fresh meat.

Meat can also be seared in good fat before you add it to a recipe to add additional flavor. If you’re following the GAPS Protocol, wait until Stage 4 before eating seared meat.

You can also add ground meat, either loose or made into meatballs. (Flavored or not!) Get a recipe for meatballs here. Fish and shellfish can also be added but be sure you don’t overcook them.

Be sure to add skin and cartilage back in with your meat! That’s the good stuff.

If you’re following the GAPS Protocol, make sure you are not using too much muscle meat, like a chicken breast or thigh. Muscle meat on its own is very low in nutrition and be constipating.

Vegetables

Any vegetable is a good vegetable for most of us! IF you are following the GAPS Protocol, refer to the Allowed/Not Allowed vegetable list in the yellow GAPS Diet book. If you are No Plant GAPS, avoid vegetables.

There are two times you can add vegetables to a soup. The first is when you make your stock. Or you can wait to add vegetables when you make the soup itself. You can also reuse your vegetables from your stock if you like well cooked vegetables.

If you have any issues with bloating, cramping, ulcers or bleeding, avoid vegetables with a lot of fiber or starchy vegetables. (Celery might not be a good choice for you, for example…)

Experiment with what vegetables you like in your soup! You can also sear your vegetables in fat before you add them to the soup for more flavor. Be sure to add the fat into your soup that you cook your vegetables in. Eggplant, for example, absorbs a lot of fat so they will continue to absorb the fat while they are cooked in the soup.

Fat

The most healing healthy fats are mostly animal fats, like lard, tallow, butter, sour cream or creme fraiche, and ghee.

Eat as much fat in a day as you want and can tolerate. I recommend 1/2 cup per day. Work your way up gradually. If you experience issues like burping, nausea, headaches, etc. it probably means your bile is not moving fast enough to help digest the fat. Beet Kvass is a great way to help with this! Learn to make it here!

Bad fats are rancid oils, canola oil or other poorly processed oils, soy bean and peanut oil. Your body doesn’t know what to do with these fats.

To learn more about fat, click here.

Salt

Salt makes food taste GOOD but we also need salt for our bodies to function! Our immune and adrenal systems need minerals to function, which is what real salt is. Detoxification processes and our brain also require a lot of minerals!

When I talk about salt, I’m not talking about sodium chloride. That’s not salt! Everything “bad” about salt is true if you are eating sodium chloride.

A good, real, whole salt is where we get a lot of these minerals. It’s important to eat a variety of sea salts. From my understanding the highest to lowest salts by mineral content are Baja Gold Sea Salt, Celtic Sea Salt, Redmond’s Real Salt, and Himalayan Sea Salt. Learn more about choosing the right salt for you below!

I always recommend having salt on the table in addition to lightly salting your food while you’re cooking. Choosing how much salt we need is an important part of listening to our bodies. Some of us need more salt than others and some days we need more salt than others! Start children on eating salt too and help them salt their food.

Peppercorns

Peppercorns can be whole or ground when they are added to your soup. You can add them to your stock or to your soup after - or both!

Whole or freshly ground peppercorns provide the highest nutritional properties. Once a peppercorn is broken or ground, the nutritional properties decrease.

Sometimes, it can be irritating to have full peppercorns. Try adding whole peppercorns to your soup while it cooks and then remove them before you eat them.

Herbs and/or Spices

It’s important to flavor your soups well to provide variety, prevent soup burnout, and make a soup delicious!

If you are following the GAPS Protocol, fresh herbs can be used on GAPS Intro Stage 1. Be sure to listen to your body. Dried herbs can be irritation so, for most people, avoid adding them until Full GAPS.

Now that you know the components, it’s time to build your soup!

1. Choose a flavor profile:

   Research different cuisines and what their recipes include. You’re not looking for a specific recipe here; you’re simply learning what other cuisines use for flavor profiles. For example, what spices and herbs make up Indian, Greek, or Moroccan food?

   Try experimenting with new herbs or spices than you normally use. This will change your soup’s flavor profile.

OR

1. Choose ingredients from the fridge!

What ingredients do you need to use up right now? What do you have a lot of? Sometimes, the ingredients can make the taste profile.

2. Start your stock

How much stock you need will depend on how much soup you’re going to make. I tend to cook 6-8 cups of stock at a time as a single person. I want leftovers of soup to freeze and reuse. Plus, if it’s a really great soup, I tend to eat a few cups of it in the first day!

3. Add your vegetables and meat

Generally, vegetables take longer to get soft and well cooked than meat does. Some harder cuts of meat may do better with a long simmer but generally, I add my vegetables first and then my meat. Kale, spinach, and other leafy vegetables should be added near the end because of their short cooking time.

4. Add some herbs and spices

Be BOLD with flavors if your gut can handle it! This will keep soup interesting!

5. Add some salt

Salt lightly and be sure there’s more on the table. Go light even if you’re cooking only for yourself. Some days you will want more salt than others and overly salting is a good way to ruin a soup.

6. Finish with toppings

There’s few things I enjoy more with food than topping a delicious soup with a slice of avocado or dollop of sour cream. Freshly pressed garlic is a great topping that is both anti-parasitic and anti-fungal. Whey, the drippings from yogurt or milk kefir, has a lot of nutritive healing properties as well. Ferments and fermented juices can also be added to a soup. Start with just a little bit and work your way up.

Remember: salt, fat and acid help soup taste good and will help you avoid soup burnout.

Simmer everything for 20-30 minutes until everything is cooked then add your final toppings and enjoy!

Now you’re a soup master!

sometimes you just need a recipe…

Here are some of my favorite soups to make. Use these recipes as a jumping off point for creating your own!

Beef Sliders

This meal is very versatile! It’s a quick, easy, and mobile protein. However, it can also be dressed up to make an elegant dish. (Not pictured today.)

You can make sliders as simple as plain ground beef boiled in water or you can add spices to the ground beef mixture before cooking depending on what you are tolerating.

In general, I buy the highest quality meat I can. This means the flavor of the beef itself can stand on its own. I often do not need to add any additional spices for this as I enjoy the taste of the beef alone. If you also enjoy the taste of the beef alone, you can skip the mixing steps and go straight to the cooking. Otherwise, you can modify this recipe to your preferred spice palate before cooking these sliders.

One great way to get more fat into your diet is to buy 80% ground beef. Read more on why fat is important here.

Other potential ingredients, depending on what you are tolerating, are soy sauce or worcestershire sauce, chilis or jalapenos, or pepper flakes. If you’re feeling adventurous, try folding cheese into the center of your slider. I usually eat mine with sour cream on the side and slices of red pepper.

Ingredients for Beef Sliders:

• 1 lb Ground Beef

• 2-3 tbsp Onion

• 3 cloves Garlic

• ¼ - ½ tsp Salt

• ¼ tsp Ground Pepper

Directions for Beef Sliders:

Finely mince onion until you have 2-3 tbsp.

In a bowl, mix together beef, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Add ¼ to ½ tsp of salt to the mixture. You can always salt more on the table!

Add about ½ inch of water to a cast iron pan. 

Once the water is boiling, add small formed patties of similar sizes to the water.

If you are not adding seasoning to your patties, salt them once you add them to the pan.

Turn as needed to ensure even cooking. Do not overcrowd the pan; only add as many as comfortably fit. They only take a couple minutes on each side to cook.

Top as you like and enjoy!

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Beef Sliders

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Prep time: Cook time: Total time:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 2-3 tbsp Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic
• ¼ - ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Ground Pepper

Instructions:

1. Finely mince onion until you have 2-3 tbsp.
2. In a bowl, mix together beef, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Add ¼ to ½ tsp of salt to the mixture. You can always salt more on the table!
3. Add about ½ inch of water to a cast iron pan.
4. Once the water is boiling, add small formed patties of similar sizes to the water.
5. If you are not adding seasoning to your patties, salt them once you add them to the pan.
6. Turn as needed to ensure even cooking. Do not overcrowd the pan; only add as many as comfortably fit. They only take a couple minutes on each side to cook.
7. Top as you like and enjoy!

Created using The Recipes Generator

What to do with Chicken on the GAPS Diet

Chicken is such a versatile and easy to meat to cook! It’s a mild meat so it can be easily adapted to many different recipes and flavors.

Purchase the highest quality meat you can afford! For me, this means buying chickens directly from farmers whenever possible. If I buy a chicken from a store, I buy organic and antibiotic free. And make sure you get the organs whenever possible! If you have the space, time and allowance from your city, consider raising your own chickens. I loved raising chickens, both for the fresh eggs and the delicious meat. I knew exactly where my food was coming from - and everything that had gone into it!

To help your budget, make sure you’re using as much of your chicken as possible. Chicken feet and gizzards can be added to stocks. The skin and joint cartilage can be blended in a stock. Liver can be made into pate. And the chicken heart is my favorite treat!

Below are some of my favorite recipes for chicken!

Chicken Stock

Meat stock can be made into a soup or simply drunk on its own as a hot beverage with a meal. You can also poach a couple eggs in your stock for a rich breakfast. Stock can also be used to cook rice or other soaked grains to increase their digestibility and nutritional content. In short, this should be considered a staple to have in your kitchen at all times, either in the fridge or the freezer.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

Whole Roasted Chicken with Salt

This is a very simple recipe that makes a whole, juicy roasted chicken. It takes just two simple ingredients and is a very hands off recipe.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

Honey Roasted Chicken

Roasting a chicken is a great and simple way to make a meal. This particular roasting recipe requires a little more attention than others, as you need to baste and adjust the temperature often, but it's definitely worth it!

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a good GAPS soup because of all of the sour cream. It wasn't too spicy, and it's different than plain meat stock that you typically eat on Stage 1. There are many different ways to make it, so it's also easy to switch up to match your tastes.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup

Because you immersion blend the vegetables into the stock, this is a great recipe to also blend in the the joint cartilage, skin and any of the other parts of the chicken that you may be tempted to throw away. I separate the chicken into three parts usually - bones, chicken meat, and everything else.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

Creamy Chicken Pot Pie Soup

The key to this soup being reminiscent of a pot pie is to cut the vegetables into bite size pieces and make a consistency that’s more like a stew than a soup. Included in this recipe are a few tricks to thicken the soup so it more closely resembles the gravy that we associate with chicken pot pie.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

A Simple Cabbage Soup Recipe

I love this cabbage soup. Maybe it’s because of my German roots. 

Cabbage is good for stimulating hydrochloric acid production in your stomach. This is an important first step of food digestion. If your stomach pH is greater than 3 (meaning less acidic) the enzymes that we use to digest protein don’t even get turned on! This means your body won’t give the signal to digest the protein and the proteins that you eat won’t get digested. Cabbage is also very high in Vitamin C. The Vitamin C concentration is much higher in sauerkraut, however eating cabbage in any form is a great way to get important nutrients into your body. Cabbage also contains high amounts of Vitamin K. Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin that helps with inflammation.

Try cutting your cabbage into long strips to resemble noodles for pasta loving children. 

I recommend pairing this soup with our meatballs. You can drop balls of raw meat in to cook in the stock and the pairing would be legal on GAPS Stage 1. If you’re on more advanced stages (or not following the GAPS Diet) you can drop frozen pre-cooked meatballs into the soup or serve the meatballs on the side.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cabbage

• 1 stalk of Celery

• 5 cloves of Garlic

• 6 cups Stock (I used pork as a nod to my German roots but you can also use chicken or beef)

• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

Bring stock to a boil in a large pot.

Chop up cabbage into bite size pieces. Slice the celery into half moons. Remove the garlic wrappings and cut in half.

Add the cabbage, celery and garlic into the stock. Add salt to the pot to help draw out the moisture in the cabbage.

Simmer on medium heat for 30 to 45 minutes until the cabbage is soft.

Enjoy!

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Cabbage Soup

Author: The Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 1 Cabbage
• 1 stalk of Celery
• 5 cloves of Garlic
• 6 cups Stock (I used pork as a nod to my German roots but you can also use chicken or beef)
• 2 tsp salt

instructions:

How to cook Cabbage Soup

1. Bring stock to a boil in a large pot.
2. Chop up cabbage into bite size pieces. Slice the celery into half moons. Remove the garlic wrappings and cut in half.
3. Add the cabbage, celery and garlic into the stock. Add salt to the pot to help draw out the moisture in the cabbage.
4. Simmer on medium heat for 30 to 45 minutes until the cabbage is soft.
5. Enjoy!

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GAPS Legal Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin is a winter squash but it contains less sugar than most winter squashes, making it ideal for the GAPS Introduction Diet. Pumpkins are also very easily grown so if you’re a beginner gardener looking for an easy first crop or if you only have a small amount of growing space available. 

While other winter squashes like butternut squash can be tolerated by people on the GAPS Introduction Diet, it’s best to do pumpkin because it’s milder and with less sugar.

Pumpkin puree is very easy to freeze in individual portions. You can also sprout the pumpkin seeds. Both mean you can enjoy your own homegrown produce throughout the winter! Once you have the puree for this pumpkin soup recipe, you can also use it to make a pumpkin pie or use it to make GAPS Pancakes.

I usually eat a small bowl of pureed soup alongside a much larger bowl of another soup. It’s a great way to have a multi course meal on the GAPS Intro Diet. 

Ingredients for Pumpkin Soup:

• 2-3 Small Pumpkins

• 4 cups of Chicken Stock

• ¼ of a White Onion

• 1 inch of Fresh Ginger

• 1 tsp Salt

• 2 Bay Leaves

• 1 Cinnamon Stick

Directions for Pumpkin Soup:

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut each pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and set aside to make sprouted pumpkin seeds.

Set each pumpkin open face side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the pumpkins in the oven.

Roast the pumpkins for about 45 minutes in the oven until the tops are soft.

Remove them from the oven and flip the pumpkins over so they cool faster.

Using a fork, carefully remove the pumpkin flesh from the skin and add to a bowl. If it’s not well cooked, it won’t remove from the skin easily.

Warm chicken stock on the stove.

Add 3 cups of pumpkin to the warmed stock. Immersion blend until well pureed. Pureeing the pumpkin on it’s own will allow the flavors of the other ingredients to meld better.

Chop onions into bite size pieces so they cook quickly. Add to the pureed mixture. 

Slice ginger and add to the pureed mixture. Add the salt and mix well.

Add bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Simmer for 20 minutes. Be sure to stir as the pumpkin and liquid will separate and the pumpkin will stick to the bottom of the pan. 

Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick from the mixture. Immersion blend everything again.

Enjoy! I topped mine with a dollop of creme fraiche but this is optional. Leave it off if you are not tolerating dairy.

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GAPS Legal Pumpkin Soup

Author: The Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 2-3 Small Pumpkins
• 4 cups of Chicken Stock
• ¼ of a White Onion
• 1 inch of Fresh Ginger
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 Cinnamon Stick

instructions:

How to cook GAPS Legal Pumpkin Soup

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Cut each pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and set aside to make sprouted pumpkin seeds.
3. Set each pumpkin open face side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the pumpkins in the oven.
4. Roast the pumpkins for about 45 minutes in the oven until the tops are soft.
5. Remove them from the oven and flip the pumpkins over so they cool faster.
6. Using a fork, carefully remove the pumpkin flesh from the skin and add to a bowl. If it’s not well cooked, it won’t remove from the skin easily.
7. Warm chicken stock on the stove.
8. Add 3 cups of pumpkin to the warmed stock. Immersion blend until well pureed. Pureeing the pumpkin on it’s own will allow the flavors of the other ingredients to meld better.
9. Chop onions into bite size pieces so they cook quickly. Add to the pureed mixture.
10. Slice ginger and add to the pureed mixture. Add the salt and mix well.
11. Add bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Simmer for 20 minutes. Be sure to stir as the pumpkin and liquid will separate and the pumpkin will stick to the bottom of the pan.
12. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick from the mixture. Immersion blend everything again.
13. Enjoy! I topped mine with a dollop of creme fraiche but this is optional. Leave it off if you are not tolerating dairy.

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Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup

This is one of my favorite soups! It’s warm and creamy and so delicious.

This soup is easy to make in large or small batches depending on how many servings you need. A small batch requires one small chicken, about 4 lbs, one head of garlic, and one glass baking dish of vegetables. A small batch will make about 4-6 hearty servings of soup. A large batch requires a larger chicken, about 6 lbs, two heads of garlic, and two glass baking dishes of vegetables.

Keeping the garlic in their paper shells roasts the garlic while preventing them from getting burnt. Don’t worry if your paper peels a little off the garlic - it’s still ok!

This soup requires a LOT of salt. If you don’t salt this soup enough, it is very bland and boring.

Because you immersion blend the vegetables into the stock, this is a great recipe to also blend in the the joint cartilage, skin and any of the other parts of the chicken that you may be tempted to throw away. I separate the chicken into three parts usually - bones, chicken meat, and everything else.

Ingredients for Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup:

• 1 Chicken

• 1 Zucchini (Courgettes)

• 1 Yellow Squash

• ½ Large Head of Cauliflower or 1 Small Cauliflower

• 1-2 Heads of Garlic, Cloves separated but still in their paper

• 3-4 tbsp Lard (Learn to make your own lard here.)

• 1 tbsp Salt

• ½ Bunch Parsley

Directions for Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup:

Start a chicken stock on the stove. (Find the recipe for a chicken stock here.)

Cut the vegetables into even size pieces for even roasting. For the cauliflower, you can remove or keep however much of the fibrous material (stems), depending on how much you are tolerating.  Start the oven preheating to 400 degrees.

Add the squash, zucchini, cauliflower and garlic to a baking dish with the lard. Melt the lard in the oven on top of the vegetables and then stir to fully coat the vegetables with the melted lard. If you do not have enough lard to fully coat your vegetables, add more! Season with salt.

Roast the coated vegetables uncovered in the oven for about an hour. The vegetables are done when they are softened and slightly browned. Set them aside to cool. 

About ten minutes before the stock is done, add in ½ bunch of parsley for an added dose of Vitamin C and magnesium. 

Once the stock is done, strain the stock and set the cooked meat aside to cool. 

Once the roasted vegetables have cooled, peel the garlic paper off. Wait until the garlic is cooled - if you are impatient and peel it too early, it will burn your hands.

Add the roasted vegetables to a large pot. Add 12 cups of stock to the pot. 

Once your meat is cooled, remove it from the bone. Separate the joint cartilage and skin from the meat. In the above photo, the top left is the bones, the bottom plate is the meat and the plate on the right has everything else that will be added into the stock and blended.

Add the skin, cartilage and other non-meat bits (no bones) to the pot. 

Immersion blend everything together until it is well blended and the vegetables are in small pieces.

Add the meat from your chicken into the blended stock. Add 1 tbsp of salt.

Cook for 15-20 minutes to blend the flavors.

Enjoy! I topped mine with sliced avocado. However, this does make it legal on GAPS Stage 3.

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Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup

Author: The Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 1 Chicken
• 1 Zucchini (Courgettes)
• 1 Yellow Squash
• ½ Large Head of Cauliflower or 1 Small Cauliflower
• 1-2 Heads of Garlic, Cloves separated but still in their paper
• 3-4 tbsp Lard
• 1 tbsp Salt
• ½ Bunch Parsley

instructions:

How to cook Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup

1. Start a chicken stock on the stove.
2. Cut the vegetables into even size pieces for even roasting. For the cauliflower, you can remove or keep however much of the fibrous material (stems), depending on how much you are tolerating. Start the oven preheating to 400 degrees.
3. Add the squash, zucchini, cauliflower and garlic to a baking dish with the lard. Melt the lard in the oven on top of the vegetables and then stir to fully coat the vegetables with the melted lard. If you do not have enough lard to fully coat your vegetables, add more! Season with salt.
4. Roast the coated vegetables uncovered in the oven for about an hour. The vegetables are done when they are softened and slightly browned. Set them aside to cool.
5. About ten minutes before the stock is done, add in ½ bunch of parsley for an added dose of Vitamin C and magnesium.
6. Once the stock is done, strain the stock and set the cooked meat aside to cool.
7. Once the roasted vegetables have cooled, peel the garlic paper off. Wait until the garlic is cooled - if you are impatient and peel it too early, it will burn your hands.
8. Add the roasted vegetables to a large pot. Add 12 cups of stock to the pot.
9. Once your meat is cooled, remove it from the bone. Separate the joint cartilage and skin from the meat. Add the skin, cartilage and other non-meat bits (no bones) to the pot.
10. Immersion blend everything together until it is well blended and the vegetables are in small pieces.
11. Add the meat from your chicken into the blended stock. Add 1 tbsp of salt.
12. Cook for 15-20 minutes to blend the flavors.
13. Enjoy! I topped mine with sliced avocado. However, this does make it legal on GAPS Stage 3.

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Beef Tongue Recipe

I recently got half a cow and had a beef tongue in my freezer! I wanted to use all of meat and wanted to give this recipe a try. Turns out - I love beef tongue!

Beef  tongue is a very delicious dark meat with a rich flavor because of it’s high fat content. It’s about 66% fat! It’s also a highly used muscle so it’s very tender. 

Beef tongue is very simple to prepare. I prefer to boil it, like the recipe below, but you can also put it in a slow cooker for 8 hours. Either way, the stock that you’re left with is rich and delicious. I’ve kept my beef tongue stock before and used it to make Egyptian Lentil Soup. 

You can also shred beef tongue to use it in tacos or slice it to use in a stir fry. Because it looks like any other cut of meat, no one will know it’s tongue! It’s not an organ meat so it doesn’t have the strong taste associated with it like livers or hearts to.

Ingredients for Beef Tongue:

• 4.4 lbs of beef tongue

• 1 ½ tbsp Salt

• 1 tsp Peppercorns

• 5 Cloves of Garlic, Whole

• 4 Bay leaves

Directions for Beef Tongue:

Rinse the beef tongue thoroughly.

Place beef tongue in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the beef tongue. Gently press the beef tongue down so it is under the water.

Add salt, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves to the pot. Or to prevent inadvertently taking out peppercorns with the scum, add your aromatics after you skim the scum. 

Bring beef tongue and water to a boil. Skim the scum off the top. 

Turn heat down to medium and cook for about two hours, until the outer skin starts to peel off . You want everything to be on a high simmer, low boil.

Once the outer skin can be peeled away, remove the tongue onto a plate to allow to cool. 

Strain the aromatics out of the stock and set aside to use in another recipe. (I suggest this Egyptian Lentil Soup recipe.) 

Once the tongue is cool, peel off the skin completely. Then chop up the meat as you would any other cut of meat!

Enjoy!

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Beef Tongue

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Author: The Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 4.4 lbs of beef tongue
• 1 ½ tbsp Salt
• 1 tsp Peppercorns
• 5 Cloves of Garlic, Whole
• 4 Bay leaves

instructions:

How to cook Beef Tongue

1. Rinse the beef tongue thoroughly.
2. Place beef tongue in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the beef tongue. Add salt, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves to the pot. Or to prevent inadvertently taking out peppercorns with the scum, add your aromatics after you skim the scum.
3. Bring beef tongue and water to a boil. Skim the scum off the top.
4. Turn heat down to medium and cook for about two hours, until the outer skin starts to peel off . You want everything to be on a high simmer, low boil.
5. Once the outer skin can be peeled away, remove the tongue onto a plate to allow to cool.
6. Strain the aromatics out of the stock and set aside to use in another recipe. (I suggest thisEgyptian Lentil Soup recipe.)
7. Once the tongue is cool, peel off the skin completely. Then chop up the meat as you would any other cut of meat!
8. Enjoy!

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Egg Free, Dairy Free Liver Meatballs

Liver is an amazing superfood! It contains lots of vitamins and minerals, including zinc, iron, B vitamins, A vitamins, and folate. In our modern world, all of our livers are well taxed because of our exposure to chemicals. Anytime we know we need to support a particular organ, one of the best ways to do that is to consume the organ meat of the organ you’re trying to support.

You can spice your meatballs with anything you want but think of strong flavors. You want to neutralize the flavor of the liver.  You can also add any additional vegetables that you know your family likes. If you add additional vegetables like zucchini, eggplant or peppers and are finding the consistency of the meatball mixture to not be very sticky, you may want to add an egg to help bind everything together. Otherwise, these meatballs are egg free and dairy free!

This is a recipe that I recommend to a lot of moms! It’s a great way to help your kids eat a little bit of liver every day, which is the best way to eat liver. This recipe makes a lot of meatballs so you can freeze them and take out a few at a time to have for lunch or dinner.

Makes 27-30 Meatballs

Ingredients for Liver Meatballs:

• 2 lb ground beef

• ½ lb beef liver

• 2 carrots, about 1 cup grated

• ⅓ large white onion, about ⅔ a cup grated

• 6 large cloves of Garlic

• Oregano, 1 bunch Fresh or 1 tbsp Dried

• Basil, 1 bunch Fresh or 1 tbsp Dried

• ¼ - ½ tsp Pepper

• 2 tsp Salt

• 1 tbsp lard

Directions for Liver Meatballs:

For milder tasting liver, soak it in some kind of acid. Cover the liver in filtered water and then add the juice of one lemon or 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. Be sure not to soak it for too long. The acid will break down the liver and start it “cooking” prematurely.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Grate your carrot, onion and garlic into very fine pieces. Add to a large bowl with ground beef. Add in oregano, basil and salt and pepper. Mix with your hands. 

Place your liver into a food processor once it has soaked. Pulse until smooth. Add to the bowl with the beef, vegetables and spices and mix again.

Spread lard onto the bottom of a glass oven safe casserole dish. 

Take a small handful of meat at a time and roll into a meatball. Continue to roll meatballs until you have filled your casserole dish. Keep consistency in the size and shape of your meatballs to ensure even cooking time.

Line meatballs, leaving some space between them.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Enjoy with spaghetti squash and make your own spaghetti sauce for a spaghetti night. Or enjoy with any variety of vegetables like brussels sprouts or broccoli!

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Egg Free, Dairy Free Liver Meatballs

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 2 lb ground beef
• ½ lb beef liver
• 2 carrots, about 1 cup grated
• ⅓ large white onion, about ⅔ a cup grated
• 6 large cloves of Garlic
• Oregano, 1 bunch Fresh or 1 tbsp Dried
• Basil, 1 bunch Fresh or 1 tbsp Dried
• ¼ - ½ tsp Pepper
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp lard

instructions:

How to cook Egg Free, Dairy Free Liver Meatballs

1. For milder tasting liver, soak it in some kind of acid. Cover the liver in filtered water and then add the juice of one lemon or 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. Be sure not to soak it for too long. The acid will break down the liver and start it “cooking” prematurely.
2. Preheat your oven to 375.
3. Grate your carrot, onion and garlic into very fine pieces. Add to a large bowl with ground beef. Add in oregano, basil and salt and pepper. Mix with your hands.
4. Place your liver into a food processor once it has soaked. Pulse until smooth. Add to the bowl with the beef, vegetables and spices and mix again.
5. Spread lard onto the bottom of a glass oven safe casserole dish.
6. Take a small handful of meat at a time and roll into a meatball. Continue to roll meatballs until you have filled your casserole dish. Keep consistency in the size and shape of your meatballs to ensure even cooking time.
7. Line meatballs, leaving some space between them.
8. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. Enjoy with spaghetti squash and make your own spaghetti sauce for a spaghetti night. Or enjoy with any variety of vegetables like brussels sprouts or broccoli!

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Making Your Own Kefir from Milk Kefir Grains

Kefir is a fermented drink made from kefir grains. It’s a bit like a very thin yogurt and has great health benefits!

The great news is, like many fermented drinks, kefir is very easy to make on your own!

Kefir grains are very sensitive to metal so it is best if you use little to no metal when you’re preparing this recipe.

If you use a dishwasher, rinse your bowl thoroughly before using to ensure there is no detergent residue on it. 

You will need:

• A strainer (preferably not metal)

• A jar to put your kefir in

• A bowl

Ingredients for Kefir

• Fresh Milk (raw or freshly repasteurized, depending on what your grains are used to)

• Kefir with Grains, 4 to 5 healthy grains will make a pint 

Directions for Kefir

Separate kefir grains from kefir by pouring into a non metal strainer. Gently separate the kefir from the grains with a non metal spoon. Don’t push too hard - be very gentle! 

What falls below is your kefir. What stays in the strainer is the kefir grains. 

Leave out on the counter for about 24 hours to ferment. After 24 hours, put the grains into milk into the fridge. OR if you are not needing so much kefir, store it in the fridge directly.

If you store the kefir in the fridge, continue to feed your kefir in the fridge. It takes about two to three weeks before you need to feed it again by changing the milk.

You can use the kefir itself to make kefir cream.

Enjoy!

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Making Your Own Kefir

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• Fresh Milk (raw or freshly repasteurized, depending on what your grains are used to)
• Kefir with Grains, 4 to 5 healthy grains will make a pint

instructions:

How to cook Making Your Own Kefir

1. Separate kefir grains from kefir by pouring into a non metal strainer. Gently separate the kefir from the grains with a non metal spoon. Don’t push too hard - be very gentle!
2. What falls below is your kefir. What stays in the strainer is the kefir grains.
3. Leave out on the counter for about 24 hours to ferment. After 24 hours, put the grains into milk into the fridge. OR if you are not needing so much kefir, store it in the fridge directly.
4. If you store the kefir in the fridge, continue to feed your kefir in the fridge. It takes about two to three weeks before you need to feed it again by changing the milk.
5. You can use the kefir itself to make kefir cream.
6. Enjoy!

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Mushroom Ketchup Recipe

I found this recipe from my new favorite show on YouTube, 18th Century Cooking. It is a GAPS Legal sauce and since many people do not tolerate tomatoes, I thought it would be a delicious option for a sauce!

I’m excited to add this sauce to many dishes!

This is Stage 1 legal on the GAPS Diet if you can tolerate the dried spices. Most can tolerate these spices unless you still have significant intestinal symptoms.

Ingredients for Mushroom Ketchup

• 30 oz Mushrooms

• 2 tbsp Salt

• 4 Bay Leaves

• 1 chopped onion

• 1 Lemon, zested

• 1 tbsp finely grated horseradish, fresh or prepared

• ¼ tsp cloves

• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

• ½ tsp allspice

• ¼ - ½ cup apple cider vinegar

Directions for Mushroom Ketchup

Rub the top of the mushrooms to clean them. Do not wash your mushrooms!

Roughly chop the mushrooms and add to a large pot. Add in salt and bay leaves.

The mushrooms will begin reducing within a few minutes.

When they’ve reduced in size, add them to a glass container. Adding them to a glass container is important so they don’t take on the metal taste from the pot.

Leave the mushrooms on the counter overnight and no longer because mushrooms are a fungus.

The next day, add mushrooms, chopped onions, zest of 1 lemon, grated horseradish, cloves, cayenne, allspice, and apple cider vinegar to a pot.

Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes.

Let sauce cool. Put into a cloth and squeeze to strain the sauce.

Save the solid pieces and dry them in a dehydrator. Once the solid pieces are dry, you can crush them and use them as a powdered flavoring or use the pieces as flavoring.

Pour into a glass sealable jar.

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Mushroom Ketchup

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 30 oz Mushrooms
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 4 Bay Leaves
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 Lemon, zested
• 1 tbsp finely grated horseradish, fresh or prepared
• ¼ tsp cloves
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• ½ tsp allspice
• ¼ - ½ cup apple cider vinegar

instructions:

How to cook Mushroom Ketchup

1. Rub the top of the mushrooms to clean them. Do not wash your mushrooms!
2. Roughly chop the mushrooms and add to a large pot. Add in salt and bay leaves.
3. The mushrooms will begin reducing within a few minutes.
4. When they’ve reduced in size, add them to a glass container. Adding them to a glass container is important so they don’t take on the metal taste from the pot.
5. Leave the mushrooms on the counter overnight and no longer because mushrooms are a fungus.
6. The next day, add mushrooms, chopped onions, zest of 1 lemon, grated horseradish, cloves, cayenne, allspice, and apple cider vinegar to a pot.
7. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Let sauce cool. Put into a cloth and squeeze to strain the sauce.
9. Save the solid pieces and dry them in a dehydrator. Once the solid pieces are dry, you can crush them and use them as a powdered flavoring or use the pieces as flavoring.
10. Pour into a glass sealable jar.

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Cast Iron Parboiled Lamb Meatballs

Meatballs are a simple way to add variety to your diet. They can also be a great way to get your kids to eat vegetables! Add finely chopped onions, zucchini, peppers, etc. in to your meatballs to add vegetables.

I’m making these meatballs with lamb burger but you can do it with any kind of burger.

If you have a lean cut, make sure you add fat! I prefer to not use a lean cut; it’s better for your health! Remember, fat is your friend.

My preferred way of making meatballs is to parboil them.

An added benefit of rolling lamb meatballs is the lovely lamb tallow on your skin! Tallow is fat and lamb tallow is the best for your skin. Your hands will be soft, moisturized, and waterproof after rolling your meatballs.

Ingredients for GAPS Friendly Lamb Meatballs

• 1 lb ground lamb

• Salt

Directions for GAPS Friendly Lamb Meatballs

Heat ½ inch of water in a pan.

Roll your lamb into inch sized balls. You can make your meatballs any size, just make sure they’re consistently sized.

Add your meatballs into your pan with water.

Turn your meatballs with a fork to continue to cook on all sides. Salt your meatballs generously.

As you turn them, continue to salt the meatballs.

After approximately five minutes, when you think your meatballs are done, cut one open to check it if it is done.

Continue to add water, meatballs, and salt in batches until you have cooked your desired number of meatballs.

Enjoy!

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Cast Iron Parboiled Lamb Meatballs

Author: Amy Mihaly

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 1 lb ground lamb
• Salt

instructions:

How to cook Cast Iron Parboiled Lamb Meatballs

1. Heat ½ inch of water in a pan.
2. Roll your lamb into inch sized balls. You can make your meatballs any size, just make sure they’re consistently sized.
3. Add your meatballs into your pan with water.
4. Turn your meatballs with a fork to continue to cook on all sides. Salt your meatballs generously.
5. As you turn them, continue to salt the meatballs.
6. After approximately five minutes, when you think your meatballs are done, cut one open to check it if it is done.
7. Continue to add water, meatballs, and salt in batches until you have cooked your desired number of meatballs.
8. Enjoy!

https://www.bewellclinic.net/blog-posts/cast-iron-parboiled-lamb-meatballs

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How to Make Sauerkraut - DIY Sauerkraut

Fermented cabbage is very high in vitamin C which is essential for healing a leaky gut. Vitamin C is anti-inflammatory and immune boosting.

While good quality sauerkraut can be obtained in most stores now, I still prefer to make my own as I think it tastes the best. I put a lot of love and anticipation into my sauerkraut, as I don’t eat it until it has been fermenting for at least three months.

Making your own sauerkraut is very cost effective if you are eating on a budget. Not only are you making it for pennies, fermenting vegetables increases the bioavailability of nutrients, making this a ‘food hack.’

I used to cut my cabbage in a food processor but I feel that all time considered, including clean up time, it’s actually faster to cut it yourself. Plus, I like touching the cabbage myself instead of letting a machine cut it.

Sauerkraut works anaerobically, meaning it does not require oxygen. Any vegetable that is above the level of the water can grow mold or undesirable bacteria strains.

I do my sauerkraut in one quart jars because I prefer to open a smaller amount at a time. You can use any size jar that you want. An open jar in the fridge will keep for six months to a year. If kept at cooler temperatures, unopened, like in a root cellar or in the fridge, sauerkraut will keep for two or more years.

You can add whey to your cabbage to make the sauerkraut. Not using whey is called wild fermentation. It allows for different bacteria to grow than using a dairy based whey. I prefer to make my sauerkraut without whey.

With all ferments, variety is key. Using both whey and simply salt to make your ferments provides good variety in your diet.

Ingredients for Making Your Own Sauerkraut:

• 1 Medium Cabbage

• 2 tbsp Salt

• Filtered Water

Directions for Making Your Own Sauerkraut:

Remove and rinse outside leaves and reserve them for the tops of your jars to keep the vegetables from coming up the level of the water.

Slice cabbage into slivers. As you slice it, keep turning it to keep yourself safe and keep your cabbage evenly sized.

Add a little bit of salt and massage with your hands for a few minutes. The salt starts breaking down the cell walls of the cabbage, which will save you from having to beat the cabbage a lot.

After you have massaged your cabbage, let it sit for 10 - 15 minutes.

Knead your cabbage again.

Once you have kneaded your cabbage to the desire texture, fill your jars. It’s best to continue kneading until you can squeeze a little bit of water from the cabbage.

Fermenting cabbage produces a decent amount of gas, Make sure to leave head room in your jars to accommodate. This means lightly packing cabbage into your jar, about ¾ full.

Add water to just under the shoulder of the jar.

Sometimes cabbage produces enough liquid while it's fermenting. If it doesn’t feel free to add more liquid.

Top your sauerkraut off with a whole cabbage leaf, packing it along the sides of the jar to keep all the vegetables below the level of the liquid.

Seal with a two piece lid.

Leave on your counter. No need to burp this ferment! This process works anaerobically, without oxygen. If your jars burp, overflow or explode, you simply packed your jar too tight with vegetables.

How to Make Cabbage Tonic

Fermented cabbage is very high in vitamin C which is essential for healing a leaky gut. This cabbage tonic can be taken from the beginning of the Intro Diet of GAPS. Use this tonic daily to help change your gut flora. As with all probiotic foods, make sure you begin with only a small amount, about a tablespoon at a time, keeping an eye out for symptoms of die off. If none are present, you can continue gradually increasing your daily amount and the frequency that you consume this tonic throughout the day.

Fermented cabbage is very high in vitamin C which is essential for healing a leaky gut. This cabbage tonic can be taken from the beginning of the Intro Diet of GAPS. Use this tonic daily to help change your gut flora. As with all probiotic foods, make sure you begin with only a small amount, about a tablespoon at a time, keeping an eye out for symptoms of die off. If none are present, you can continue gradually increasing your daily amount and the frequency that you consume this tonic throughout the day.

When you do ferments, your intention and energy really does affect the taste of the ferments. If you’re stressed, it will show in the food. Do ferments at a time that you’re relaxed and enjoying being in the kitchen. If this is not your mindset, take a couple minutes to reset, thinking about how this work is bringing such amazing health and healing to your body and your family. After your mindset is set, smile and preparing your ferment!

When doing ferments, it is important to hand wash your jars. A lot of dishwashers leave a film of soap, even if you’re using a natural soap. Make sure you rinse your jar well with hot water. It’s not necessary to sterilize your jar; we’re not canning. Fermentation creates a live food that will take care of the bad bacteria.

Tidbit from Nourishing Traditions: “Add ¼ - ½ tsp cayenne pepper to 4 ounces of cabbage tonic for a gargle and sore throat remedy.

This recipe is based on the Nourishing Traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon on page 614.

Ingredients for Cabbage Tonic:

• ¼ Organic Green Cabbage

• 1 tsp Sea Salt

• ¼ Cup Whey (how to make whey)

• Filtered Water

Directions for Cabbage Tonic:

Shred cabbage finely with a knife. You want small even pieces so it ferments evenly. (Similar to cutting onions for even cooking.)

Add cabbage and salt to a bowl.

Using your hands, squish the cabbage for about a minute.

Let the cabbage sit for five minutes.

Squish the cabbage again for a minute.

Put cabbage in a 2 quart jar with whey.

Add enough water to fill the container.

Cover tightly.

Leave at room temperature for 2 days before transferring to the fridge.

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Cabbage Tonic

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• ¼ Organic Green Cabbage
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• ¼ Cup Whey
• Filtered Water

instructions:

How to cook Cabbage Tonic

1. Shred cabbage finely with a knife. You want small even pieces so it ferments evenly. (Similar to cutting onions for even cooking.)
2. Add cabbage and salt to a bowl.
3. Using your hands, squish the cabbage for about a minute.
4. Let the cabbage sit for five minutes.
5. Squish the cabbage again for a minute.
6. Put cabbage in a 2 quart jar with whey.
7. Add enough water to fill the container.
8. Cover tightly.
9. Leave at room temperature for 2 days before transferring to the fridge.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Making Whey

Easy Do-It-Yourself Whey from Yogurt

Whey is the other protein in milk aside from casein. It’s only present after milk products have been cultured and it’s a live food. This liquid is teeming with good lactic acid producing bacteria (LABs.) Whey is a basic to keep on hand because it can be used to ferment flours, seeds, nuts, vegetables, or as a starter to culture other dairy.

I use homemade yogurt to make my whey but you can use store bought yogurt to make your own whey. Make sure you get a full fat, grass fed yogurt that only contains milk and cultures. It’s ok if it’s pasteurized as the culturing process adds life back to this food! Greek yogurt will not work to make whey as there is very little whey naturally in that strain of yogurt. If you are sensitive to lactose or casein, you should leave your store bought yogurt out on the counter, unopened, for an additional 12 - 24 hours to finish culturing the yogurt before you strain the whey. (Essentially making it lactose free.)

If you strain your yogurt for a long time, it becomes almost like a cream cheese substance. It’s great to add fresh herbs to and make a dip!

To speed along the straining time, stir your yogurt well before adding it to the cloth.

I really like using the villi life culture from the Heirloom Yogurt Starter pack at Cultures for Health. Not only is it a mesophilic culture, meaning it cultures at room temperature instead of at 110 degrees like most yogurts, but it is a runnier yogurt and produces a lot of whey for my baking and fermenting needs.

I enjoy to the runniness of the ville life culture. If you don’t, simply separate some of the whey out of each batch for a thicker end product.

The cloth I used is the single fold diaper cloth, you can purchase it at Walmart or find something similar at Cultures for Health.

It’s best to use a plastic funnel because metal can be damaging to the good bacteria inside the whey.

Whey keeps in the fridge for about six months if you’ve successfully removed most of the milk solids and strained well.

Ingredients for DIY Whey

• 3 Cups Homemade Yogurt

Directions for DIY Whey

Set a plastic strainer inside a large measuring cup or bowl.

Fold the cloth four times and set inside the strainer.

Pour your yogurt into the cloth.

Gather the edges of your cloth and secure with a rubber band.

Leave to sit and strain for as long as desired.

If you want to simply thicken your yogurt, leaving it for only ten minutes is fine. If you’d like to strain all the whey out to make a cream cheese, you can leave it for much longer. I often leave mine out overnight.

Once you have strained enough whey out, pour it into a clean glass jar.

Rinse your cloth well in hot water. Don’t use soap! Hang to dry.

Use your whey to ferment flours, seeds, nuts, or vegetables, or as a starter to culture other dairy. What will you use your whey for?

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How to Make Whey

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 3 Cups Homemade Yogurt

instructions:

How to cook How to Make Whey

1. Set a plastic strainer inside a large measuring cup or bowl.
2. Fold the cloth four times and set inside the strainer.
3. Pour your yogurt into the cloth.
4. Gather the edges of your cloth and secure with a rubber band.
5. Leave to sit and strain for as long as desired.
6. If you want to simply thicken your yogurt, leaving it for only ten minutes is fine. If you’d like to strain all the whey out to make a cream cheese, you can leave it for much longer. I often leave mine out overnight.
7. Once you have strained enough whey out, pour it into a clean glass jar.
8. Rinse your cloth well in hot water. Don’t use soap! Hang to dry.
9. Use your whey to ferment flours, seeds, nuts, or vegetables, or as a starter to culture other dairy. What will you use your whey for?

Created using The Recipes Generator

10 Ways to Consume Meat Stock

Meat stock is one of the pillars of a healthy gut diet. While bone broth is getting a lot of press lately, I don’t recommend it for most people. (Learn more about why I recommend meat stock over bone broth here.) Meat stock really gets a gold medal as a great nutrient dense food that can boost your immunity, help with healing allergies, and is easy to digest, especially for those with a leaky gut. Even better, meat stock is meant to be a meal all on it’s own! You can make meat stock with any meat, though I think chicken meat stock is the easiest beginner stock.

Consuming meat stock is a habit I encourage my clients to do throughout the day because of it’s great health benefits. There are many ways to consume meat stock and some creative ways so that you don’t get bored with consuming meat stock frequently. Here’s a few of my favorites!

Vary Your Meat Stock Recipe

Try adding different spices and herbs to your meat stock recipe when you cook it. This will change the taste to keep it interesting. You can also vary the vegetables and aromatics that you add - or add no aromatics like onions and your dogs can consume your meat stock as well!

Have It Warm

Heated stock is a great warming beverage, especially on cool winter mornings. Keeping heated stock in a mug next to you will allow you to drink it alongside your morning meal.

If you’re on the go, keep your heated stock in a thermos so it stays warm throughout the day. Then you can sip on it just like a tea or coffee.

Eat It Cold

Drinking cold stock is very refreshing on a hot summer day!

If your stock gets a good gel at the top, you can simply pop the gel off the top of your stock and eat it cold like a meat jelly.

Use Meat Stock as a Base

Meat stock makes an excellent base for different soups and other recipes. I’ve been partial to this chicken tortilla soup recipe recently but you can make it into any variety of soup that sounds delicious.

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Add an Egg (or Two)

You can poach eggs in warm stock for a delicious breakfast. Use the stock as a replacement for the water that you would normally poach eggs in.

Or, break and stir a few egg yolks only into warm stock. This will create a cheesy tasting drink that is delicious.

Consume Meat Stock on the Go

Traveling can bring up a whole host of stressors and traveling on the GAPS Diet means paying closer attention to your food. Since meat stock is one of the pillars of the GAPS Diet, it’s important to factor it into your travel plans. There’s a few different ways to consume meat stock on the go, from dehydrating it to making it when you get there.

What are your favorite ways to consume meat stock? If you have other ideas, share them in the comments below!

Chicken Stock Recipe

Meat stock is a pillar in healing a leaky gut but this rich food is beneficial to anyone. It provides large amounts of the immune system’s favorite foods, is very easy to digest, and is a great base to modify for other healing and nutritious recipes.  

Meat stock is meant to be a meal in itself. It’s short cooking time allows the meat to remain edible while still enriching stock with easy to absorb nutrients. This is the perfect thing to eat anytime you are feeling ill or stressed or “can’t get filled up” hungry. These are some of the reasons meat stock is such an important part of the healing process of the GAPS Diet. Any time you are consuming meat stock on a regular basis, your body will be receiving the healing benefit.

Meat stock can be made into a soup or simply drunk on its own as a hot beverage with a meal. You can also poach a couple eggs in your stock for a rich breakfast. Stock can also be used to cook rice or other soaked grains to increase their digestibility and nutritional content. In short, this should be considered a staple to have in your kitchen at all times, either in the fridge or the freezer.

This recipe is stock without aromatics. I prefer stock this way currently because it’s a neutral base ingredient that can be changed in any way for any other recipe. Making stock this way, you can also feed your dog the extra chicken meat because the base doesn’t have onions. Make sure you debone the chicken before giving to your dog; they should not have chicken bones.

You’ll notice I set aside the breasts of the chicken. Good stock should be 80% meat and 20% bone with a joint. Using a whole chicken, this ratio is fulfilled without needed the breasts. You can use the breasts in other recipes or add to the soup later for more tender meat.

There are a variety of ways you can skim the scum off the top of your stock. I usually use a slotted spoon but you can also use a mesh scum skimmer, a slotted spoon, a small strainer, or a large soup spoon.

Skimming the scum off the top is where you can tell the quality of your meat. If your meat is poor quality, had a lot of hormones or was poorly processed, you’ll get scum that’s heavy, grey and unappetizing. If you have a good quality chicken, you will have a small amount of light almost white colored scum that appears as a lighter foam. This is also where you can tell if your meat has gone bad at this point. If your chicken is not good, you will smell an obvious sulfur smell.

You can store your stock in the fridge or the freezer, depending on how quickly you’ll consume the batch.

A note about Meat Stock and the GAPS Intro Diet:

When Dr. Natasha Campbell talks about meat in stage 1, she’s referring to eating primarily the gelatinous meats like skin, joints and connective tissue. When meat is added on Stage 2, she means the muscle meats, the only thing we Americans consider to be meat. Eating a lot of muscle meat can be constipating so if this is your issue, be sure to eat every last bit of the skin and joints.

Fill large stock pot with water.

Remove chicken from package and remove giblets from interior. Rinse chicken.

Cut chicken into 8 pieces, joints exposed. First, remove the wings at the base of the joint.

Slice the drumsticks, pop the joint out of the meat and finish slicing off the drumstick.

Slice down the center of the bird, exposing the back. Slice the back off.

With the chest cavity down, slice to the right of the breast bone, removing one breast and then the other.

Pull the tenders off the breast (the underside of the breast) and remove the skin from the breast. Set the breasts aside for a different recipe.

Optionally, seperate the drumstick from the thigh.

This is how your chicken should look once you've cut it into the pieces.

Place pieces of chicken into the water. First, the back, then breastbone, then wings, thighs, then the drumsticks. Add in all giblets and extra skin from breasts.

Meat should be covered with about two inches of water. Here I am measuring the water level with my finger.

Bring to a boil. It usually takes 10-15 minutes to bring to a boil.

Skim the scum off the top using a mesh scum skimmer, a slotted spoon or a large soup spoon. Try to leave as much fat as you can in the pot.

If you miss skimming the scum, your meat stock is fine. The scum is simply impurities. Removing them improves the overall taste of your meat stock but leaving them is not harmful.

Reduce your heat and leave the pot at a simmer for 1 - 1 ½ hours.

Longer simmering will make the meat tasteless. Longer than 8 hours causes the histamine amounts to be higher which can cause nerve irritation symptoms in people with a leaky gut.

Simmering means movement in the water and very little movement on the surface.

Remove the whole pieces of chicken onto a platter. I use a strainer to make it easier.

Allow the chicken pieces to cool.

Debone the chicken chunks.

When you find the heart - SCORE! Eat it! This is my reward to myself for deboning the chicken.

Make sure you remove only the bones! Everything else is delicious and healthy for you. This photo shows all that should be left after you have deboned the chicken.

Toss the bones or freeze them for bone broth at a later time. I don’t like bone broth so I toss them.

Once stock has cooled slightly, pour into jars or use immediately for soup, like this GAPS Legal Chicken Tortilla Soup.

If you’d like to freeze your stock, wait for it to cool to room temperature. This inhibits bacteria growth.

Then, to cool completely, store in the fridge.

Once your stock has completely cooled, add to a BPA free freezer bag. Lay inside a container to shape your bag. Freeze solid.

Do this one bag at a time!

After deboning the chicken, sift through the meat picking out all the skin and organ meat.

Add these back to your stock and blend them with an immersion blender or blender.

It will get frothy! Don’t be alarmed!

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Chicken Stock

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• Filtered Water
• 1 Whole Chicken

instructions:

How to cook Chicken Stock

1. Fill large stock pot with water.
2. Remove chicken from package and remove giblets from interior. Rinse chicken.
3. Cut chicken into 8 pieces, joints exposed. First, remove the wings at the base of the joint.
4. Slice the drumsticks, pop the joint out of the meat and finish slicing off the drumstick.
5. Slice down the center of the bird, exposing the back. Slice the back off.
6. With the chest cavity down, slice to the right of the breast bone, removing one breast and then the other.
7. Pull the tenders off the breast (the underside of the breast) and remove the skin from the breast. Set the breasts aside for a different recipe.
8. Optionally, separate the drumstick from the thigh.
9. This is how your chicken should look once you've cut it into the pieces.
10. Place pieces of chicken into the water. First, the back, then breastbone, then wings, thighs, then the drumsticks. Add in all giblets and extra skin from breasts.
11. Meat should be covered with about two inches of water. Here I am measuring the water level with my finger.
12. Bring to a boil. It usually takes 10-15 minutes to bring to a boil.
13. Skim the scum off the top using a mesh scum skimmer, a slotted spoon or a large soup spoon. Try to leave as much fat as you can in the pot.
14. If you miss skimming the scum, your meat stock is fine. The scum is simply impurities. Removing them improves the overall taste of your meat stock but leaving them is not harmful.
15. Reduce your heat and leave the pot at a simmer for 1 - 1 ½ hours.
16. Longer simmering will make the meat tasteless. Longer than 8 hours causes the histamine amounts to be higher which can cause nerve irritation symptoms in people with a leaky gut.
17. Simmering means movement in the water and very little movement on the surface.
18. Remove the whole pieces of chicken onto a platter. I use a strainer to make it easier.
19. Allow the chicken pieces to cool.
20. Debone the chicken chunks.
21. When you find the heart - SCORE! Eat it! This is my reward to myself for deboning the chicken.
22. Make sure you remove only the bones! Everything else is delicious and healthy for you. This photo shows all that should be left after you have deboned the chicken.
23. Toss the bones or freeze them for bone broth at a later time. I don’t like bone broth so I toss them.
24. Once stock has cooled slightly, pour into jars or use immediately for soup, like this GAPS Legal Chicken Tortilla Soup.
25. If you’d like to freeze your stock, wait for it to cool to room temperature. This inhibits bacteria growth.
26. Then, to cool completely, store in the fridge.
27. Once your stock has completely cooled, add to a BPA free freezer bag. Lay inside a container to shape your bag. Freeze solid.
28. Do this one bag at a time!
29. After deboning the chicken, sift through the meat picking out all the skin and organ meat.
30. Add these back to your stock and blend them with an immersion blender or blender.
31. It will get frothy! Don’t be alarmed!

Created using The Recipes Generator