Honey Fermented Garlic

What is the difference between fermented garlic and honey fermented garlic? The difference is mostly sweetness, but fermented garlic uses a saltwater brine, whereas honey garlic uses the liquid from the garlic cloves combined with the live enzymes and microbes in the honey to ferment. Both are very useful to support the immune system, but honey garlic has the additional benefit of raw honey. Most children like the sweetness, so it may be easier to get garlic into the children.

How long does it take to ferment? Fermentation will be well on its way in about a week, but most prefer to ferment for about a month. Even in this thick honey the garlic did float, so make sure to turn it over every day to make sure the garlic stays coated while it ferments. Check the lid before, it may come loose from the gassings.

Where do I source local, raw honey? You want to get your honey from a local farmer. One, because they’re the best. Two, local honey can help with allergies. When you buy your honey, ask the following questions to see how aligned your beekeeper is with your priorities of healthy honey:

• Where are your bees located?

• How do you process your honey?

• Is it cold pressed or raw?

Their answers will give you an idea how close they are to pesticide areas and will give you an idea if your beekeeper is trying to avoid pesticide areas. The process they describe should include harvesting their honey, putting it in a cold spinner, and spinning the honey while filtering out pieces of beeswax and bee parts with a mesh filter. The honey then goes into buckets and is divided into the containers that you purchase. You want to find honey that is processed with no heat, and only the basic filtering. Most people who do this process will do only small batches, which is ideal.

Ingredients for Honey Fermented Garlic:

• Garlic, peeled

• Raw Honey

Directions for Honey Fermented Garlic:

Peel enough garlic to fit in your jar, you want both the honey and the garlic to be raw. Do not crush garlic. The bacteria and wild yeast in the raw honey and the juice in the garlic is what is used for the fermentation.

Add enough raw honey to the jar to cover the garlic cloves.

Place a lid on the jar and find a cool place for it to rest. The mixture can bubble up, so I recommend keeping a plate underneath. Turn over every day or so. Eat anytime, but it takes a month to be finished. 

A few notes:

• Garlic cloves can turn blue or green while fermenting. Not to worry, this is related to the sulfur content in the garlic.

• Honey Fermented Garlic can be stored for long periods of time in a cool dark place.

• The longer you ferment, the milder the flavor. 

To eat, you eat with the honey. Keep them together. Because it has medicinal properties. Enjoy!!

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Honey Fermented Garlic

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Fermented Garlic is very useful to support the immune system, and honey fermented garlic has the additional benefit of raw honey. Most children like the sweetness, so it may be easier to get garlic into the children.

Ingredients

• Garlic, peeled
• Raw Honey

Instructions

1. Peel enough garlic to fit in your jar, you want both the honey and the garlic to be raw. Do not crush garlic. The bacteria and wild yeast in the raw honey and the juice in the garlic is what is used for the fermentation.
2. Add enough raw honey to the jar to cover the garlic cloves.
3. Place a lid on the jar and find a cool place for it to rest. The mixture can bubble up, so I recommend keeping a plate underneath. Turn over every day or so. Eat anytime, but it takes a month to be finished.
4. To eat, you eat with the honey. Keep them together. Because it has medicinal properties. Enjoy!!

Preparing and Cooking Sweetbreads

GAPS LEGAL stage 4 and up

I am on a quest to get more organ meats into my diet. Organ meats have been lost to our culture but they are so important to having a healthy body, healthy pregnancy and healthy children. There has been a stigma for literally hundreds of years in western cultures that organ meats are eaten only by those who can’t afford the pricier cuts of meat or are “forced” to eat the entirety of their animals and therefore should generally be avoided. In countries where that stigma doesn’t exist, organ meats are prized for their nutritional value and are the most desired cuts of meat. Because organ meats are so dense nutritionally, I encourage you to join me in finding recipes to regularly bring organ meats to your family’s table as well

I’ve done lots of liver recipes so far and now I’m branching out to other organ meats. Try liver in liver pate, liver meatballs, bacon wrapped liver, jalapeno liver poppers, and simple liver shots.

Sweetbread is the thymus gland of an animal, traditionally a young calf. They do not have a strong flavor like other organ meats, making them a great “gateway” organ meat. The thymus gland is involved in the immune regulation systems. It’s primarily connected to lymph tissue and it plays in a role in adaptive immunity, which is immunity where the body learns, grows, and retains information from alien (outside of the body) microbes. 

There were quite a few butchers who sold sweetbread online. Some of those were organically raised but I was happy to find sweetbreads from a person I trust at Fields of Athenry Farm.  

This recipe is based on Nourishing Traditions.

Ingredients for Preparation:

• 1 lb Sweetbread

• Filtered Water

• 6 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

• 1 tsp Salt

Directions for Preparing Sweetbreads:

Rinse your sweetbread with filtered water.

Add to a large bowl and cover with filtered water. Add 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar.

Allow to sit for 2 hours, changing the water once or twice and adding new vinegar.
Rinse after 2 hours. Put in a sauce pan and cover with filtered water. Add 1 tsp salt.

Parboil for 15 minutes. Remove from liquid. The liquid can be reused if you are doing more than one sweetbread.

Cool and then remove all loose skin, tissue, fat, and membranes. 

Put between unbleached parchment paper. Place a weighted plate or cookie sheet on top and keep in the fridge overnight.

Cooking Sweetbread:

Multiple different recipes that you can find in the nourishing traditions cookbook and other sources of how to cook your sweetbread once it's been prepared. The most popular way to eat sweetbreads is breaded. If you are able to tolerate breading, and want to use a traditional flour, I would recommend using einkorn flour, I get mine from Jovial.

The recipe I am preparing here today is a non-floured preparation. Modification on Sally Fallon’s sweetbread with pearl onions. I always have yellow onions on-hand, so that is what I use for this recipe. Pearl onions add a lot of flavor, so they would add a lot to this dish. Next time I remember to buy pearl onions, I will try the recipe with them. The taste is unique, although not too unlike other meats. Not as strong as liver or kidney meats. I enjoy these simply fried without the breading, and serve them alongside either a main dish a portion of scrambled eggs or over top of caramelized onions. The thymus glad is an immune organ, so eating this on top of caramelized onion will give a good boost to the immune system. The thymus gland regulates a lot of functions in the immune system, and as a general principle it is good to eat the organ of the organ that is struggling. It makes sense to consume the thymus gland which would give you the vitamins, minerals and other co-factors contained in that organ and needed for that organ as well as the photomorphogenic information and support contained in the DNA of the thymus cells. 

Ingredients for Cooking Sweetbreads:

• 1 pair of prepared sweetbreads

• ½ stick butter

• 1 lbs yellow onions, peeled, sliced and sauteed in butter

Slicing on the bias (which is diagonal to the grain). Fry the sweetbreads in butter on a stovetop and top with caramelized onions.

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Preparing and Cooking Sweetbreads

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Sweetbread is the thymus gland of an animal, traditionally a young calf. They do not have a strong flavor like other organ meats, making them a great “gateway” organ meat. The thymus gland is involved in the immune regulation systems. It’s primarily connected to lymph tissue and it plays in a role in adaptive immunity, which is immunity where the body learns, grows, and retains information from alien (outside of the body) microbes.

Ingredients

Ingredients for Preparation:

• 1 lb Sweetbreads
• Filtered Water
• 6 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Salt

Ingredients for Sweetbreads:

• 1 pair of prepared sweetbreads
• ½ stick butter
• 1 lbs yellow onions, peeled, sliced and sautéed in butter

Instructions

Preparation:

1. Rinse your sweetbread with filtered water.
2. Add to a large bowl and cover with filtered water. Add 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar.
3. Allow to sit for 2 hours, changing the water once or twice and adding new vinegar.
4. Rinse after 2 hours. Put in a sauce pan and cover with filtered water. Add 1 tsp salt.
5. Paraboil for 15 minutes. Remove from liquid. The liquid can be reused if you are doing more than one sweetbread.
6. Cool and then remove all loose skin, tissue, fat, and membranes.
7. Put between unbleached parchment paper. Place a weighted plate or cookie sheet on top and keep in the fridge overnight.

Cooking:

1. Slice your sweetbreads on the bias (which is diagonal to the grain). 
2. Then, fry the sweetbreads in butter on a stovetop and top with caramelized onions.

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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!!

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Tapioca Pudding

This is my favorite pudding of all time & I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for years! Finally, I got around to it. Be prepared for multiple steps to make tapioca pudding. I can see why most people choose the instant food version. The real food version is absolutely worth the effort!

This recipe needs to be started the night beforehand. So, make sure to plan ahead! This also can be done days ahead of time, as it is served well chilled. So, if you are planning on serving this delicious dessert, prepare at your convenience up to a week beforehand. 

Ingredients for Tapioca Pudding

• 1 cup pearl tapioca

• 4 cups raw milk 

• 3 eggs

• ½ teaspoon sea salt + pinch

• ¾  cup date sugar

• 1 lemon, grated

Directions for Tapioca Pudding

Soak tapioca overnight in 4 cups of raw milk. 

At least 8 hours later, add to a double broiler. Cook about 45 minutes or until thick. Keep stirring it every few minutes as it cooks to prevent it from clumping. Stir constantly near the end to prevent boiling. This is a great recipe to make with your children, as the tapioca will need to be stirred almost constantly near the end. It may be a job that’s best suited for an older child. When you think the mixture is thick and done enough, test your tapioca pearl to make sure they are cooked.

In a separate bowl, blend the egg yolks, ½ tsp of sea salt, date sugar and lemon rind.

When the tapioca is thick, temper the egg mixture by adding a spoonful of the hot mixture to the eggs. Then add the warmed egg yolk to the tapioca. Cook for 5-10 minutes over the double boiler or until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

Beat egg whites with sea salt until softly stiff and fold gently into the mixture.

Chill and enjoy.

The original recipe from nourishing traditions is to use rapadura. I find my body does better with fruit as a sweetener so I prefer to use date sugar. I find it to be a 1 to 1 substitution. If you choose rapadura or date sugar the end result will be off-white. 

*Eating uncooked or raw eggs or feeding raw eggs to your pets can pose a risk to your health.

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Tapioca Pudding

Yield: 3-4

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

This recipe needs to be started the night beforehand. Be prepared for multiple steps to make tapioca pudding. I can see why most people choose the instant food version, but the real food version is absolutely worth the effort!

Ingredients

• 1 cup pearl tapioca
• 4 cups raw milk
• 3 eggs
• ½ teaspoon sea salt + pinch
• ¾ cup date sugar
• 1 lemon, grated

Instructions

1. Soak tapioca overnight in 4 cups of raw milk.
2. At least 8 hours later, add to a double broiler. Cook about 45 minutes or until thick. Keep stirring it every few minutes as it cooks to prevent it from clumping. Stir constantly near the end to prevent boiling. This is a great recipe to make with your children, as the tapioca will need to be stirred almost constantly near the end. It may be a job that’s best suited for an older child. When you think the mixture is thick and done enough, test your tapioca pearl to make sure they are cooked.
3. In a separate bowl, blend the egg yolks, ½ tsp of sea salt, date sugar and lemon rind.
4. When the tapioca is thick, temper the egg mixture by adding a spoonful of the hot mixture to the eggs. Then add the warmed egg yolk to the tapioca. Cook for 5-10 minutes over the double boiler or until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
5. Beat egg whites with sea salt until softly stiff and fold gently into the mixture.
6. Chill and enjoy.
7. The original recipe from nourishing traditions is to use rapadura. I find my body does better with fruit as a sweetener so I prefer to use date sugar. I find it to be a 1 to 1 substitution. If you choose rapadura or date sugar the end result will be off-white.

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Fermented Cocktail Sauce

Cocktail sauce can be used on any seafood. Traditionally it is used for shrimp, but can be eaten with other shellfish such as crab, lobster or different varieties of fish. It is is a great opportunity to add a ferment to your seafood dinner. This recipe serves two, but can easily be doubled or tripled.

*When you purchase seafood, it should always be wild caught and sourced from a location that is not off the coast of China. When seafood is fresh, it tastes very mild. As it ages, it will become more and more “fishy.” Flash frozen seafood is often the best because was preserved in the freshest state possible.

Ingredients for Fermented Cocktail Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

• ½ Cup Fermented Ketchup

• 2 ½ Tbsp. Horseradish

• Pinch of salt

Directions for Fermented Cocktail Sauce

Mix the fermented ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice and salt.

Defrost shrimp by running them under room temperature water.

Play with the flavors until you like the combination. If you like it to be more spicy, you may want to add extra horseradish. The fermented ketchup includes salt, so you may want to use less salt.

Once you have the ingredients already in your fridge, this recipe takes a quick three minutes to mix together. I am not sure how it stores, due to the how the lemon juice may interact with the other ingredients, but if you end up successfully keeping some in your fridge for a period of time, let us know.

I recommend making this delicious fermented cocktail sauce fresh with your meal. 

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Fermented Cocktail Sauce

Yield: 2

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Cocktail sauce can be used on any seafood. Traditionally it is used for shrimp, but can be eaten with other shellfish such as crab, lobster or different varieties of fish. It is is a great opportunity to add a ferment to your seafood dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
• ½ Cup Fermented Ketchup
• 2 ½ Tbsp. Horseradish
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Mix the fermented ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice and salt.
2. Play with the flavors until you like the combination. If you like it to be more spicy, you may want to add extra horseradish. The fermented ketchup includes salt, so you may want to use less salt.
3. I recommend making this delicious fermented cocktail sauce fresh with your meal.

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15 Minute Meal: Zoodles and Steak

This is my go-to meal. I eat this or something very similar to this for about 80% of my meals. All I need is a vegetable cooked in fat and meat cooked in fat!

Don’t be afraid to utilize this recipe a lot. Because it’s so simple, you can get a huge variety of meals out of it based on the herbs and spices you use and the cut of meat you use. It’s a recipe that has helped me to not feel overwhelmed cooking real food for every meal. Keep it simple and save elaborate meals for times when you have more energy or need something special.

This recipe serves 1-2 but can easily be multiplied to serve more people. Don’t forget to drink a mug of meat stock alongside for a rich and filling meal.

Ingredients for 15 Minute Zoodles and Steak

• 1 small zucchini per adult

• 3-5 tbsp of butter

• 1 tbsp of avocado oil

• 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

• Dried Herbs and Spices

• 1 tsp Salt

Directions for 15 Minute Zoodles and Steak

Wash your zucchini. Cut the ends off the zucchini.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini down to the seeds, turning as you go. Depending on the angle you hold the vegetable peeler, you’ll get different size noodles. Do not peel the middle core with seeds. You can chop the core later or compost it. If you are the beginning stages of GAPS and sensitive to having a lot of seeds, you should dispose of the core piece.

To a cast iron pan, add 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of avocado oil. Add the zucchini noodles and use your hands to quickly toss them in the butter and oil before they get too hot.

Sautee the zoodles. This means stir them and then let them sit - don’t continually stir!

After the noodles have cooked for 2-3 minutes, add a few pinches of salt. Adding the salt too early will cause the zucchini to sweat too much and get too wet. As it cooks, add more salt to taste. 

After a few more minutes, add your herbs and spices. On early stages of GAPS, you would do fresh herbs. Later stages, you can use dried herbs. I usually do oregano, thyme, sage, garlic, and onion.

After your vegetables are semi-soft, heat a second cast iron pan on the stove. Add 1-2 more tbsp of butter to the new pan and turn to medium heat.

Add in your steaks. Season with your desired spices. Currently, I’ve been enjoying salt and paprika.

Cook your steaks to your desired doneness. I usually turn them over a couple times to ensure the spices are distributed evenly and that the steaks are cooking evenly. If you have a very thick steak, you might want to stand it up for a minute or so on each side to evenly cook the edges as well.

Add your zoodles to your plate and top with the steaks. Remember to pour over the extra butter, fat, and spices that have collected in the pan.

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15 Minute Meal: Zoodles and Steak

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 1 small zucchini per adult
• 5 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of avocado oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• Dried Herbs and Spices
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

1. Wash your zucchini. Cut the ends off the zucchini.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini down to the seeds, turning as you go. Depending on the angle you hold the vegetable peeler, you’ll get different size noodles. Do not peel the middle core with seeds. You can chop the core later or compost it. If you are the beginning stages of GAPS and sensitive to having a lot of seeds, you should dispose of the core piece.
3. To a cast iron pan, add 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of avocado oil. Add the zucchini noodles and use your hands to quickly toss them in the butter and oil before they get too hot.
4. Sautee the zoodles. This means stir them and then let them sit - don’t continually stir!
5. After the noodles have cooked for 2-3 minutes, add a few pinches of salt. Adding the salt too early will cause the zucchini to sweat too much and get too wet. As it cooks, add more salt to taste.
6. After a few more minutes, add your herbs and spices. On early stages of GAPS, you would do fresh herbs. Later stages, you can use dried herbs. I usually do oregano, thyme, sage, garlic, and onion.
7. After your vegetables are semi-soft, heat a second cast iron pan on the stove. Add 1-2 more tbsp of butter to the new pan and turn to medium heat.
8. Add in your steaks. Season with your desired spices. Currently, I’ve been enjoying salt and paprika.
9. Cook your steaks to your desired doneness. I usually turn them over a couple times to ensure the spices are distributed evenly and that the steaks are cooking evenly. If you have a very thick steak, you might want to stand it up for a minute or so on each side to evenly cook the edges as well.
10. Add your zoodles to your plate and top with the steaks. Remember to pour over the extra butter, fat, and spices that have collected in the pan.

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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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Stuffed Game Meat - 3 Ways!

I have recently been successful in harvesting an elk and am now undergoing the quest of finding ways to up the amount of fat I eat alongside the game meat. 

It is not advisable to eat lean protein frequently. When we eat protein, our bodies require a significant amount of vitamins, like Vitamin A, to utilize and absorb the protein. When we don’t eat fats that contain fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin A alongside our protein, we have to borrow it from our livers. If you do not regularly eat fat to replace what you’ve used, you will deplete your body of Vitamin A. Symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency dry skin, dry eyes, night blindness, infertility, poor growth, frequent infections, poor wound healing, acne, and memory problems. Learn more about the importance of fat here. 

The recipes below were three combinations that I came up with but I encourage you to experiment with your own combinations! I recommend choosing vegetables that can take plenty of fat as the whole point of this dish is to put more fat into your meat.

Dairy Free Stuffed Game Steaks

Legal on GAPS Stage 2

Ingredients for Dairy Free Stuffed Game Meat:

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks

• 3 tbsp Onion

• 1 Small Stalk Celery

• ¼ - ½ Red Pepper

• 3 Small Cremini Mushrooms

• 2-3 Cloves of Garlic

• 2 tbsp of lard or other fat 

Directions:

Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Finely chop all the vegetables to the same size. 

Add lard or other fat to a small pan and turn heat to medium. Once fat is melted, all add vegetables and stir to coat with fat. Add salt and pepper to taste. For added fat, you could also add pieces of bacon, marrow, or other pieces of fat. 

Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat.

Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.

Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily (and is not dairy free.) Cover and place in an oven for 20-25 minutes until the juices are clear.

Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

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Dairy Free Stuffed Game Meat Steaks

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks
• 3 tbsp Onion
• 1 Small Stalk Celery
• ¼ - ½ Red Pepper
• 3 Small Cremini Mushrooms
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 tbsp of lard or other fat

Instructions

1. Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Finely chop all the vegetables to the same size.
3. Add lard or other fat to a small pan and turn heat to medium. Once fat is melted, all add vegetables and stir to coat with fat. Add salt and pepper to taste. For added fat, you could also add pieces of bacon, marrow, or other pieces of fat.
4. Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat.
5. Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.
6. Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily (and is not dairy free.) Cover and place in an oven for 20-25 minutes until the juices are clear.
7. Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

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Italian Stuffed Game Steaks

Legal on Full GAPS

Ingredients for Italian Stuffed Game Meat:

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks

• 3 Cloves Garlic

• 1 Large Tomatoes

• 2 Cremini Mushrooms

• 1 ½  oz Freshly Grated Mozzarella Cheese

• 2 tbsp of Butter or Other Fat

• 1 Heaping tsp Oregano

• 4 Fresh Leaves or 1 Heaping tsp Basil

• Salt

• Pepper

Directions:

Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Finely dice the tomatoes and chop the garlic.

Add 2 tbsp of butter or other fat to a pan and turn heat to medium. Once fat is melted, add in the onion, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

While the mixture cooks, grate your mozzarella cheese.

Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat. Add cheese into mixture and stir to melt slightly.

Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.

Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily. Cover and place in an oven for 20-25 minutes until the juices are clear.

Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

Hello

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Italian Stuffed Game Steaks

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Large Tomatoes
• 2 Cremini Mushrooms
• 1 ½ oz Freshly Grated Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 tbsp of Butter or Other Fat
• 1 Heaping tsp Oregano
• 4 Fresh Leaves or 1 Heaping tsp Basil
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Finely dice the tomatoes and chop the garlic.
3. Add 2 tbsp of butter or other fat to a pan and turn heat to medium. Once fat is melted, add in the onion, mushrooms, and tomatoes.
4. While the mixture cooks, grate your mozzarella cheese.
5. Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat. Add cheese into mixture and stir to melt slightly.
6. Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.
7. Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily. Cover and place in an oven for 20-25 minutes until the juices are clear.
8. Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

, World!

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Cream Cheese Eggplant Stuffed Game Steaks

Legal on Full GAPS, as long as you’re tolerating cream cheese

Ingredients for Cream Cheese and Eggplant Stuffed Game Meat:

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks

• 3 tbsp Chopped Onion

• ½ cup of Chopped Eggplant

• 3 cloves Garlic

• 3-4 tbsp Butter

• ½ tsp Mace

• 4 Juniper Berries

• 2-3 tbsp Cream Cheese

Directions:

Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Finely chop the onion, eggplant and garlic. In a pan add 3-4 tbsp of butter. Eggplant is notorious for grabbing up lots of fat, which makes it a great choice for this recipe. If you find your fat is disappearing, don’t be afraid to add more!

Crush mace and juniper berries.

Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat.

Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture, a piece of cream cheese, and a small piece of fat. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.

Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily. Cover and place in an oven for 20=25 minutes until the juices are clear.

Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

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Cream Cheese Eggplant Stuffed Game Steaks

Author: Amy Mihaly, Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 2-3 Small Elk Steaks3 tbsp Chopped Onion
• ½ cup of Chopped Eggplant
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 4 tbsp Butter
• ½ tsp Mace
• 4 Juniper Berries
• 3 tbsp Cream Cheese

Instructions

1. Butterfly the elk steaks. Do not cut all the way through.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°.
3. Finely chop the onion, eggplant and garlic. In a pan add 3-4 tbsp of butter. Eggplant is notorious for grabbing up lots of fat, which makes it a great choice for this recipe. If you find your fat is disappearing, don’t be afraid to add more!
4. Crush mace and juniper berries.
5. Once the mixture is soft and mostly cooked, remove from heat.
6. Using a spoon or your fingers, stuff the steaks with ⅓ of the mixture, a piece of cream cheese, and a small piece of fat. Roll or fold the meat together, securing with butcher twine.
7. Top with additional teaspoon of fat and salt. I recommend using tallow or lard on top as butter will burn easily. Cover and place in an oven for 20=25 minutes until the juices are clear.
8. Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.

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15 Minute Meal: Chicken & Alfredo Sauce, Two Ways

Alfredo Sauce used to be my favorite growing up but it often gave me a stomach-ache. I learned that was caused by a dairy intolerance and so I stopped eating it for many years. Now that I’ve healed my gut using the GAPS Protocol, I can freely enjoy dairy and alfredo sauce again!

Alfredo is a beautiful food because it is full of nourishing fats. It’s a food that gets a bad rap precisely because of this. Read more about the importance of fat here. Use alfredo sauce on whatever, like chicken, zoodles, pasta (I prefer Jovial as an ethically real food made option), or add extra stock and eat your alfredo as a nourishing, fat filled soup! Because it is so thick, you can also dip veggies or sourdough crackers in it.

I prefer a chunky sauce to a smooth sauce. However, if you want a pure smooth alfredo, you can add this sauce to a blender or use an immersion blender to really smooth it out.

Adding cheese to the sauce when it is too warm will cause it to curdle and ruin your dish. Keep the temperature low but not cool when you are ready to add the cheese. I made sure I could leave my finger in the sauce for a second or two before adding the cheese.

Below are two recipes to make alfredo sauce. If you’re following the GAPS Protocol, the bottom “Early Stage” recipe is for you and can be eaten from GAPS Stage 3 on as long as you are gently frying the mushrooms and onions in plenty of fat and do not burn. On the early stages of GAPS, top boiled chicken pieces with the alfredo sauce. On later stages, fry your pieces in fat! This recipe is a great way to get a lot of fat in your diet!

This recipe makes for a very cheesy and thick sauce. If you’d like a less dense sauce similar to more commercial canned varieties, simply add less cheese.

If you’re topping chicken, remember chicken cooks best high and quick so have your pan hot before adding your meat. I prefer small slices and pieces of chicken. Cook over high heat, turning every minute or so, until cooked through. 

Traditional Alfredo Sauce Ingredients:

• 4 oz Mushrooms

• ½ Onions

• 3 Cloves of Garlic

• 2-3 tbsp of butter

• ½ tsp Salt, to taste. Depending on the saltiness of the cheese that you add, you may want to add less salt.

• 1 tbsp Gelatin 

• 2 cups of Whole Cream

• 8 ounces of Freshly Grated Cheese (I used Havarit and Montery Jack but you can use any white cheese that you like)

Directions:

Roughly chop onion and slice mushrooms. Dice garlic.

Add at least 2 tbsp butter to a flat, large skillet. Once melted, add onions. Allow to cook for several minutes then add the mushrooms. If needed, add additional butter to give the mushrooms more fat to cook in.

In a small stock pot, add ¼ cup of filtered water and gelatin. Whisk mixture and allow to warm to blood temperature, about 100 degrees. Stir constantly to avoid burning.

Reduce mushroom and onion mixture to a simmer. Add in the cream and heat to blood temperature. If gelatin is heated before the cream is heated, remove from heat.

Once cream is heated, add gelatin mixture and mix until smooth. Add ½ tsp of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. You can also use white pepper if you’d like to keep the sauce white. Remove the sauce from the heat.

Grate your cheese fresh. Pre-grated cheese has additives in it that are no good!

Add your cheese into the slightly cooled sauce mixture and allow to melt. Whisk fully to melt and blend the cheese. Takes about 4-5 minutes to fully melt the cheese.

Pour over and enjoy!

When reheating this sauce, bring it to temperature slowly.

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Traditional Alfredo Sauce

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 4 oz Mushrooms
• ½ Onions
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 3 tbsp of butter
• ½ tsp Salt, to taste. Depending on the saltiness of the cheese that you add, you may want to add less salt.
• 1 tbsp Gelatin
• 2 cups of Whole Cream 
• 8 ounces of Freshly Grated Cheese (I used Havarit and Montery Jack but you can use any white cheese that you like)

Instructions

1. Roughly chop onion and slice mushrooms. Dice garlic.
2. Add at least 2 tbsp butter to a flat, large skillet. Once melted, add onions. Allow to cook for several minutes then add the mushrooms. If needed, add additional butter to give the mushrooms more fat to cook in.
3. In a small stock pot, add ¼ cup of filtered water and gelatin. Whisk mixture and allow to warm to blood temperature, about 100 degrees. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
4. Reduce mushroom and onion mixture to a simmer. Add in the cream and heat to blood temperature. If gelatin is heated before the cream is heated, remove from heat.
5. Once cream is heated, add gelatin mixture and mix until smooth. Add ½ tsp of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. You can also use white pepper if you’d like to keep the sauce white. Remove the sauce from the heat.
6. Grate your cheese fresh. Pre-grated cheese has additives in it that are no good!
7. Add your cheese into the slightly cooled sauce mixture and allow to melt. Whisk fully to melt and blend the cheese. Takes about 4-5 minutes to fully melt the cheese.
8. Pour over and enjoy!
9. When reheating this sauce, bring it to temperature slowly.

Created using The Recipes Generator

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Early Stage Gaps Alfredo Sauce:

• 4 oz Mushrooms

• ½ Onion

• 3 Large Cloves of Garlic

• 16 oz. Sour Cream

Directions:

Roughly chop onion and slice mushrooms. Dice garlic.

Add at least 2 tbsp butter to a flat, large skillet. Once melted, add onions. Allow to cook for several minutes then add the mushrooms. If needed, add additional butter to give the mushrooms more fat to cook in.

Once onions and mushrooms, turn off the heat. Add in the sour cream. Return to very low heat to allow the sour cream to warm and melt.

Add over boiled chicken or eat on it’s own.

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Early Stage GAPS Alfredo Sauce

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 4 oz Mushrooms
• ½ Onion
• 3 Large Cloves of Garlic
• 16 oz. Sour Cream

Instructions

1. Roughly chop onion and slice mushrooms. Dice garlic.
2. Add at least 2 tbsp butter to a flat, large skillet. Once melted, add onions. Allow to cook for several minutes then add the mushrooms. If needed, add additional butter to give the mushrooms more fat to cook in.
3. Once onions and mushrooms, turn off the heat. Add in the sour cream. Return to very low heat to allow the sour cream to warm and melt.
4. Add over boiled chicken or eat on it’s own.

Created using The Recipes Generator

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Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff is one of my mom’s favorite go-to meals.  The creamy richness is so filling and comforting, especially on a cold night. It was one of my favorite dinners! It was quite sad during the period of time when I was reacting to dairy and could not eat it. Now that I’ve healed by doing the GAPS Protocol, I love this delicious meal made with real ingredients!

If you don’t have beef, you can substitute any red meat in this dish. In fact, the strong flavor of this dish will hide any potential gamey flavor from venison or elk. To make this dish even faster, you can simply cut up your meat, add 8 oz of this real food cream of mushroom soup and a cup of stock, simmer and then add more sour cream at the end for added richness. You can also add extra mushrooms and onions if you love them.

We used to eat beef stroganoff with the traditional egg noodles. I’ve found however that I very much enjoy it over properly prepared rice. You could also do it over riced cauliflower, zoodles or your favorite alternative noodle. 

This is legal on Full GAPS because of the cream. If you substitute only sour cream instead, it is legal on GAPS Stage 4. 

Ingredients for Beef Stroganoff:

• 1 lbs Beef Rump Roast

• 1 lb Fresh Mushrooms (4-5 cups sliced)

• ½ onion

• 3 cloves Garlic Cloves

• 4 tbsp Butter 

• 1 cup Meat Stock

• 4 -6 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme 

• 1 ½ tbsp Beef Gelatin Powder

• 1 cup Cream or Milk

• 2 tbsp Cooking Sherry

• 1 cup Sour Cream

Directions for Beef Stroganoff:

To a pot, add 4 tbsp of butter. Heat over medium heat.

Roughly chop mushrooms, onion and garlic.

Slice the meat against the grain into long, thin strips. 

Add onion to pan. Cook for several minutes on medium heat.

Add mushrooms and garlic to pan and cook. Add a bit of stock to the pan to keep things from burning, approximately 2 tbsp, and help soften the mushrooms. Turn the heat off and allow to sit.

Add ½ cup of stock to a small pot. Warm on the stove. When warmed to ‘blood temperature” add beef gelatin powder. You know it’s hot enough when you can stick your finger in but not leave it in. Stir constantly to activate the gelatin powder.

Add the gelatin mixture to the pot of mushrooms and onions and turn the heat back up to medium.

Add cream to mixture; stir. Turn heat up to medium high. Allow mixture to reduce for ten minutes. 

Add sliced beef and sherry to mixture. Add salt and pepper. Stir to coat and cover. Let simmer for 3-4 minutes. Your goal is to have the middle of the beef still slightly pink. Check and stir.

Remove from heat and add in the sour cream.

Stir until sour cream is dissolved. Enjoy!

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Beef Stroganoff

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Ingredients

• 1 lbs Beef Rump Roast
• 1 lb Fresh Mushrooms (4-5 cups sliced)
• ½ onion
• 3 cloves Garlic Cloves
• 4 tbsp Butter
• 1 cup Meat Stock
• 6 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• 1 ½ tbsp Beef Gelatin Powder
• 1 cup Cream or Milk
• 2 tbsp Cooking Sherry
• 1 cup Sour Cream

Instructions

1. To a pot, add 4 tbsp of butter. Heat over medium heat.
2. Roughly chop mushrooms, onion and garlic.
3. Slice the meat against the grain into long, thin strips.
4. Add onion to pan. Cook for several minutes on medium heat.
5. Add mushrooms and garlic to pan and cook. Add a bit of stock to the pan to keep things from burning, approximately 2 tbsp, and help soften the mushrooms. Turn the heat off and allow to sit.
6. Add ½ cup of stock to a small pot. Warm on the stove. When warmed to ‘blood temperature” add beef gelatin powder. You know it’s hot enough when you can stick your finger in but not leave it in. Stir constantly to activate the gelatin powder.
7. Add the gelatin mixture to the pot of mushrooms and onions and turn the heat back up to medium.
8. Add cream to mixture; stir. Turn heat up to medium high. Allow mixture to reduce for ten minutes.
9. Add sliced beef and sherry to mixture. Add salt and pepper. Stir to coat and cover. Let simmer for 3-4 minutes. Your goal is to have the middle of the beef still slightly pink. Check and stir.
10. Remove from heat and add in the sour cream.
11. Stir until sour cream is dissolved. Enjoy!

Created using The Recipes Generator

GAPS Italian Casserole

Italian Casserole is a very versatile dish that can be made with virtually any cut of meat that you might have on hand and any seasonal vegetables you have on hand. In fact, this is the ideal seasonal eating dish because it’s so versatile! 

When choosing your meat, you do need to ensure there is a bone with a joint in it to achieve some amount of gelatinous healing stock. If your cut of meat is not very fatty, you can add some fat to the dish. Cooking with fat will help draw the nutrients out of the food because the fat helps your body absorb nutrients and makes them more readily available. Learn more about the benefits of fat here!

This is a Stage 2 food on the GAPS Protocol. It still makes a thick gelatinous stock but the meat isn’t fully immersed in water when it’s cooked which potentially makes it a little more difficult to digest.

I highly recommend making this in a dutch oven if you have one available. If you don’t, any covered casserole dish or slow cooker will work.

 Ingredients for GAPS Italian Casserole:

• Meat: I used 2.75 lb Lamb Shoulder

• Fresh Herbs: I used parsley, thyme, basil, oregano

• Vegetables: I used zucchini squash, leeks, and carrots

• 6 Cloves of Garlic

• Salt

• 1 liter Filtered Water or Stock

Directions for GAPS Italian Casserole:

Cut up your vegetables and add them to your cooking dish. Mix them together.

Roughly chop your herbs and add them to your cooking dish. Salt as desired.

Peel the garlic cloves and smash them with the side of your knife. 

Rinse the meat well. Nestle the meat fat side up into the dish with vegetables. Add salt to the meat.

Add filtered water to the dish. I pour at the sides so that I don’t pour the delicious salt off. 

Cook 4-8 hours in the oven or crock pot depending on the heat that you have and the time that you have. I wouldn’t go more than eight hours because of the glutamic acid. Low and slow will always be more delicious!

Enjoy as a meal on its own!

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GAPS Italian Cassrole

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Prep time: Cook time: Total time:

Ingredients:

• Meat: I used 2.75 lb Lamb Shoulder
• Fresh Herbs: I used parsley, thyme, basil, oregano
• Vegetables: I used zucchini squash, leeks, and carrots
• 6 Cloves of Garlic
• Salt
• 1 liter Filtered Water or Stock

Instructions:

1. Cut up your vegetables and add them to your cooking dish. Mix them together.
2. Roughly chop your herbs and add them to your cooking dish. Salt as desired.
3. Peel the garlic cloves and smash them with the side of your knife.
4. Rinse the meat well. Nestle the meat fat side up into the dish with vegetables. Add salt to the meat.
5. Add filtered water to the dish. I pour at the sides so that I don’t pour the delicious salt off.
6. Cook 4-8 hours in the oven or crock pot depending on the heat that you have and the time that you have. I wouldn’t go more than eight hours because of the glutamic acid. Low and slow will always be more delicious!
7. Enjoy as a meal on its own!

Created using The Recipes Generator

How to Calm the Flavor of Beef Liver

Especially in today’s toxic and stressful world, it’s important to be eating organ meats, including liver. I did not grow up eating organs. Just like most people, I was disgusted at the thought of eating liver. I didn’t make much effort to eat organ meat, especially livers. I did try to use a chicken liver in most pots of stock that I made. Over time, I have come to enjoy the taste of organ meats. Although, I still only like liver prepared certain ways.

It’s important to get grass-fed liver from healthy animals. You can tell the health of your liver by looking at it! It should be a dark red color. Unhealthy livers will be a pale, almost brown color. That shows a liver that’s aged or from an unhealthy animal and should not be used. It should be a robust red and not mushy.

A well prepared liver is the key to enjoying it. Some livers, like chicken livers, are mild enough to be cooked without any additional preparation. But beef liver, being from a larger animal, can be quite strong in flavor. There are ways however to diminish the strength of liver flavor by soaking it in whole milk (raw preferred!), apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice.

For many recipes, you may decide to thinly slice your liver before soaking it. You need probably 1/8 to 1/4 cup of acid. You want to soak the liver for 30 to 90 minutes. The acid begins to denature the proteins which improves the texture and taste. But if you leave your liver for too long in the acid, it will start to “overcook” the liver, creating an undesirable texture.

If you remove the filament from around your liver, the edges won’t curl when you cook it! If you go to a butcher, you can ask them to remove it, or you can remove it yourself.

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Now that you’ve chosen your liver, thaw it to room temperature. Slice if desired.

Place your liver in a bowl with filtered water. Add 4-8 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or whole milk (raw preferred.) Allow to soak for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The time you soak is determined by the thickness of your slices and your texture preferences.

After soaking the liver for your desired time, you can remove it and cut it up to prepare it per your recipe. As you can see from the picture below, I did not soak this long enough for the acid to permeate the entire liver. This will lead to a slightly stronger liver taste. This liver was blended in a food processor and added to ground hamburger to make meatballs so the stronger taste was okay.

Do you have any tips or tricks about how you enjoy liver? Share what you know below!

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!

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4 Ingredient Pico de Gallo

 I used to dislike pico because of the cilantro in it. But I’ve come a long way! I love this simple recipe, it is a delicious and fresh addition to your table. It’s best made at least a few hours beforehand so the flavors have a chance to blend! Feel free to adjust to your taste, and I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients for Pico de Gallo:

• 3 ripe tomatoes

• ⅓ of a White or Yellow Onion

• 1-2 Limes

• 2 tbsp Cilantro

Directions for Pico de Gallo:

Finely chop tomatoes and onions.

Add to a bowl. Add the juice of 1 - 2 limes, depending on how juicy they are.

Add a few shakes of salt to taste.

Finely mince cilantro and add to the bowl.

Stir everything together to let the flavors meld. 

Enjoy!

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4 Ingredient Pico de Gallo

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Prep time: Cook time: Total time:

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe tomatoes
• ⅓ of a White or Yellow Onion
• 1-2 Limes
• 2 tbsp Cilantro

Instructions:

How to cook 4 Ingredient Pico de Gallo

1. Finely chop tomatoes and onions.
2. Add to a bowl. Add the juice of 1 - 2 limes, depending on how juicy they are.
3. Add a few shakes of salt to taste.
4. Stir everything together to let the flavors meld.
5. Enjoy!

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Mayo Free Egg Salad

Eggs are a great non-meat protein source. While I usually recommend eating eggs yolks running to preserve the cholesterol on them, sometimes a hard boiled egg is hard to beat!

This is a recipe that could easily be doubled or tripled for a party. You can serve it spread on a romaine lettuce leaf, as shown, or you can use it as a dip for cucumber slices or carrots.. Feel free to use whatever herbs you have in the fridge and experiment to find your favorites.

This recipe is legal on GAPS Stage 3 if you omit the paprika. Otherwise, it is legal on GAPS Stage 6. The ingredient list is for 1-2 servings.

Ingredients for Mayo Free Egg Salad:

• 4 Eggs

• ½ cup Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche

• 1 small stalk Celery

• 1 large Green Onion

• ¼ - ½  tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Pepper

• ½ tsp Paprika

• Parsley

Directions for Mayo Free Egg Salad:

Hard boil eggs. (Recipe here)

Once eggs are cooled, peel them.

Coarsely chop eggs, celery and green onion.

Add to a mixing bowl and add in pepper, salt to taste, and sour cream. 

Gently mix to coat and then sprinkle paprika over the top. Mix gently.

Serve and enjoy!

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Mayo Free Egg Salad

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Prep time: Cook time: Total time:

Ingredients:

• 4 Eggs
• ½ cup Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche
• 1 small stalk Celery
• 1 large Green Onion
• ¼ - ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• ½ tsp Paprika
• Parsley

Instructions:

How to cook Mayo Free Egg Salad

1. Hard boil eggs. (Recipe here.)
2. Once eggs are cooled, peel them.
3. Coarsely chop eggs, celery and green onion.
4. Add to a mixing bowl and add in pepper, salt to taste, and sour cream.
5. Gently mix to coat and then sprinkle paprika over the top. Mix gently.
6. Serve and enjoy!

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Easy Jambalaya

I know from personal experience that eating soups for most or all meals can become routine and unappealing. So I have been looking for soup recipes with unique tastes or flavor profiles to shake things up. 

I’ve never really had traditionally made jambalaya so I’m not sure how well this stacks up but it is delicious! It’s legal on Stage 4 of the GAPS Diet as long as you are tolerating nightshades (tomatoes and peppers.)

One of the most important ways to replenish a malnourished body is to eat a variety of nutrients that come from a variety of sources. Depending on where you live (i.e. a landlocked state like Colorado) seafood may not be a class of food you commonly partake in. When you purchase seafood, it should always be wild caught and sourced from a location that is not off the coast of China. When seafood is fresh, it tastes very mild. As it ages, it will become more and more “fishy.” Flash frozen seafood is often the best because was preserved in the freshest state possible.

Jambalaya is traditionally served over rice. While rice isn’t GAPS Legal, if it is something you are tolerating or eating currently, I have a blog post on how to properly prepare rice here. If you are on full GAPS, wild rice is legal and you can learn how to properly prepare wild rice here. I think it’s delicious to eat this jambalaya on it’s own and don’t miss the rice.

Ingredients for Jambalaya:

• 3 tbsp Lard

• 7 cups of Stock

• 2 Chicken Breasts, cubed

• 1 lb. Scallops

• 10 oz. Salmon

• 2 lb Jumbo Shrimp

• 9-10 Medium Tomatoes

• 3 Stalks of Celery

• ½ Large Onion

• 2 Bell Pepper

• 2 ½ tbsp Salt

• 1 tbsp Paprika

• 1 tbsp Cayenne Pepper

• 1 tbsp Freshly Ground Pepper

• 1 tbsp Dried Oregano

• ⅛ cup parsley

Directions for How to Prepare Jambalaya:

In a large stock pot, add 2 tbsp of lard and heat on medium high heat. Add chicken once it’s heated and stir to cook in lard. 

In a bowl, combine the spices. Roughly chop the parsley.

Generously coat the chicken with a few shakes of the spice mixture.

Remove the chicken pieces from the pan while leaving the juices in the pot.

Roughly chop the tomatoes. Add them to the pot. Add 1 - 2 tsp of the spice mixture. Simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes until soft. Stir constantly to prevent sticking. Immersion blend them tomatoes slightly. You still want a few chunks in.

Pour the stock into the pot with the tomatoes. Add in chopped parsley.

Chop celery into small half moons. Add the celery to the pot with the tomato and stock mixture.

Chop the onions into bite size pieces. Cut the bell pepper into chunks. 

In a cast iron skillet, heat 1 tbsp of lard. When it’s melted, add the onions and bell peppers to fry. Sprinkle with 1 - 2 tsp of seasoning mixture.

Mince the garlic. Add to the pan with the onions and bell peppers. Cook for about a minute.

Add the chicken back into the tomato mixture pot. 

If necessary, remove the skin from the salmon. Cube the salmon into chunks. Add the salmon to the onion and bell pepper mixture.

Rinse the scallops with filtered water. Add the scallops to the onion and bell pepper mixture. Sprinkle the remaining seasoning mixture over the top of the scallops and stir. Let cook for a few minutes.

Rinse the jumbo shrimp. Add them directly to the pot of the tomato mixture.

After a few minutes, add the scallops, salmon, onions, and bell pepper mixture to the large stock pot with the tomatoes.

Simmer everything for about 15 to 20 minutes to allow the seafood to cook and the flavors to meld. Be careful to not overcook your seafood.

Enjoy!

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Easy Jambalaya

Author: The Be Well Clinic

Prep time: Cook time: Total time:

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp Lard
• 7 cups of Stock
• 2 Chicken Breasts, cubed
• 1 lb. Scallops
• 10 oz. Salmon
• 2 lb Jumbo Shrimp
• 9-10 Medium Tomatoes
• 3 Stalks of Celery
• ½ Large Onion
• 2 Bell Pepper
• 2 ½ tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Paprika
• 1 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 tbsp Freshly Ground Pepper
• 1 tbsp Dried Oregano
• ⅛ cup parsley

Instructions:

How to cook Easy Jambalaya

1. In a large stock pot, add 2 tbsp of lard and heat on medium high heat. Add chicken once it’s heated and stir to cook in lard.
2. In a bowl, combine the spices. Roughly chop the parsley.
3. Generously coat the chicken with a few shakes of the spice mixture.
4. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan while leaving the juices in the pot.
5. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Add them to the pot. Add 1 - 2 tsp of the spice mixture. Simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes until soft. Stir constantly to prevent sticking. Immersion blend them tomatoes slightly. You still want a few chunks in.
6. Pour the stock into the pot with the tomatoes. Add in chopped parsley.
7. Cop celery into small half moons. Add the celery to the pot with the tomato and stock mixture.
8. Chop the onions into bite size pieces. Cut the bell pepper into chunks.
9. In a cast iron skillet, heat 1 tbsp of lard. When it’s melted, add the onions and bell peppers to fry. Sprinkle with 1 - 2 tsp of seasoning mixture.
10. Mince the garlic. Add to the pan with the onions and bell peppers. Cook for about a minute.
11. Add the chicken back into the tomato mixture pot.
12. If necessary, remove the skin from the salmon. Cube the salmon into chunks. Add the salmon to the onion and bell pepper mixture.
13. Rinse the scallops with filtered water. Add the scallops to the onion and bell pepper mixture. Sprinkle the remaining seasoning mixture over the top of the scallops and stir. Let cook for a few minutes.
14. Rinse the jumbo shrimp. Add them directly to the pot of the tomato mixture.
15. After a few minutes, add the scallops, salmon, onions, and bell pepper mixture to the large stock pot with the tomatoes.
16. Simmer everything for about 15 to 20 minutes to allow the seafood to cook and the flavors to meld. Be careful to not overcook your seafood.
17. Enjoy!

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Make Your Own Ranch Dressing

My brother absolutely loves ranch dressing! I have fond memories of it as well but I mostly remember how much he loved it. Making your own ranch dressing is fairly simple and allows you to avoid the undesirable additives like MSG that are commonly found in commercially made condiments. 

Ranch dressing is typically used as a dip and you can definitely dip any number of cut vegetables into this mixture. However, you could also use this delicious blend as an added flavoring for lots of dishes, like on top of a steak, in this Chicken Pot Pie Soup or in this Pumpkin Soup.

This is legal on GAPS Stage 5 because of the herbs, even though we’re using fresh herbs. If you’re tolerating dried herbs, you could use a dried Italian Herb mixture. Otherwise, think Italian herbs like thyme, parsely, and oregano. 

Once I’ve mixed everything, I like to return it to the original container. I would suggest making this dressing about an hour before you’re going to use it so that the flavors can meld. If you use it immediately after you mix it, it’s still delicious but not as flavorful.

Ingredients for Making Your Own Ranch Dressing:

• 7.5 oz Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche

• Italian Herbs

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tbsp minced onion

• 5-6 Grinds of Pepper

Directions for Making Your Own Ranch Dressing:

Finely mince garlic, onion and herbs.

Add to a bowl with sour cream or creme fraiche. Mix well and enjoy!

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How to Make Your Own Ranch Dressing

Author: The Be Well Clinic

prep time: cook time: total time:

ingredients:

• 7.5 oz Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche
• Italian Herbs
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 5-6 Grinds of Pepper

instructions:

How to cook How to Make Your Own Ranch Dressing

1. Finely mince garlic, onion and herbs.
2. Add to a bowl with sour cream or creme fraiche.
3. Mix well and enjoy!
4. I would suggest making this dressing about an hour before you’re going to use it so that the flavors can meld. If you use it immediately after you mix it, it’s still delicious but not as flavorful.

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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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