GAPS Chocolate Bread (cake) Nourishing Gourmet

This is by FAR my favorite Chocolate Cake recipe. It does have a hint of banana but the taste overall is incredible! SUPER moist and almost brownie-like. This will be our birthday cake choice!  I made this recipe using muffins vs cake. Best!

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GAPS CHOCOLATE BREAD (The Nourishing Gourmet)

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2012/09/chocolate-grain-free-bread-gaps-friendly.html

 Ingredients:

 Wet:
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
6 Tbsp vanilla honey or (6 Tbsp honey + 2 tsp vanilla extract)
3 ½ Tbsp butter or coconut oil (melted)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Dry:
5 T cocoa powder
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 ½ cups almond flour
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Eggs whites:
3 egg whites

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2.      Generously grease 1 big loaf pan and line with parchment paper (use this recipe as an example on how to line your pan).

3.      Use a separate bowl for mixing the dry, wet, and egg whites.

4.      Mix wet ingredients together.

5.      Mix dry ingredients together.

6.      Beat egg whites with hand beaters until stiff.

7.       Combine wet and dry ingredients together until combined.

8.      Fold egg whites into batter until all combined.

9.      Pour bread mix into your prepared baking pan.

10.    Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes until done.

11.    Take out of oven and let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes.

12.    Store leftovers in a container at room temp for 2 days or in the fridge for a week

13.    Spread homemade coconut butter on top and enjoy!

*You can slip the batter into 2 small loaf pans (50-60 minutes) or muffin tins (15-25 minutes).

Pizza Crust

This recipe is AMAZING! Please check out Brittany's site:  http://realsustenance.com/revamped-better-than-ever-cauliflower-pizza-crust-graingluteneggdairysoy-free/

This is a bit starchy so we make this recipe as a "treat". You will not notice the cauliflower in this crust!  So, if you have picky eaters, please try this recipe! You will be amazed! This crust tastes like garlic- butter- bread heaven!  I used Arrowroot and Psyllium Husk and followed the recipe as designed. I found ingredients at Whole Foods. I rolled the crust very thin and baked for a total of 35 minutes.  We just used this recipe as bread and dipped it into sauce.  This is by far our FAVORITE pizza crust.

Better than Ever Cauliflower Pizza Crust

• 1  cup of cooked cauliflower “rice”. (see directions below)
• 2 packed cups of blanched almond flour (see substitution notes below)
• 6 1/2  Tbs starch (Potato Starch, Tapioca or Arrowroot)
• 3 Tbs Whole Psyllium Husk OR Flax Meal
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 Tsp. Salt
• 1 1/2 Tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1-2 Tsp. Basil (dried or fresh) optional.
• 1 1/2  Tbs Oil or Melted Butter 

1. Make your cauliflower “rice”. Use roughly 1/2 of a small fresh cauliflower and break it up- and stick it into a food processor and process  until it resembles a very fine rice- or even the size of cous-cous if you are able. Place the cauliflower into a skillet and cook with 1 tsp of oil for roughly 6-7 minutes  and stir until soft.
2. While the “rice” is cooking preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Pour the cooked cauliflower rice into a bowl and add the remaining pizza crust ingredients. Stir and then kneed until really well mixed. The dough will be thick, hold together well and may be slightly sticky.
4. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment, lightly oil your hands and  then place the dough on the parchment and form a 13 inch round ( 1/4- 1/2 inch thick)  pizza crust. (It does not have to be round- nor does it have to be exactly 13 inches wide. Shape it how you want!) If the dough sticks to your hands at any point- add a little bit more oil to them.
5. Place the prepared crust into the oven and bake 22-23 minutes or until the edges start to get slightly golden.  Remove from oven- place on toppings of choice and then bake another 15-18 minutes until your cheese (if using) has melted and the edges of the crust have gained a nice color. The longer you bake- the crispier it will be.

Store in a sealed bag or container in the freezer or fridge.

Recipe Notes and Substitutions (PLEASE READ)

• Instead of blanched almond flour you can try using  another homemade nut or seed flour. If you opt to make sunflower seed flour I recommend using only 1/2 Tsp. of Baking powder to prevent the pizza dough from turning green. (This is a natural reaction that can happen if those two ingredients are combined improperly.) To make your own Nut or Seed flour: simply run the nut or seed of your choice in a high powdered blender or coffee grinder until you have a super fine flour. (If the flour is course- the recipe might not work as well.)
• Coconut flour or any of the starchy grain based flours will NOT work in place of the Almond flour in this recipe (This includes all gluten free flour mixes). Only use other Nut/Seed flours as an almond exchange.
• If you can’t have straight starch you might try using chickpea flour, millet flour, rice flour or sorghum flour as an exchange for the 6 Tbs of starch that I call for. I have not tried doing this yet- but think it may work!
• Don’t go TOO crazy adding a ton of sauce to your pizza. As this crust ages I noticed that it stars to soak up the liquid and lose a bit of its crispness. (I believe this is due to the fact that it contains cauliflower). Use sauce in moderation. 
• PLEASE follow these guidelines if you would like the recipe to work! Making other changes will give you different results. Experiment at your own risk.

 -Brittany-

Sausage Bean Soup

This is by far my favorite soup! 

1 lb organic pork sausage (rolled into little balls) (OR you can get Italian Sausage from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods and just remove casing)

1 small onion chopped

4 garlic cloves diced

1 cup celery chopped

1 cup carrots chopped

2 cans of Cento San Mazano Peeled Tomatoes blended in blender (or another brand of tomatoes)

3 cups of white beans properly prepared--see note below

1 tsp of Celtic Sea Salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp basil

1 bay leaf

Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours

To properly prepare beans:  Soak for 24 hours in water and a tablespoon of Apple Cidar vinegar. Rinse and boil for 1- 1 ½ hours until done

Onion Rings

1 large sweet onion

2 organic eggs whisked

Breading:

1 cup almond flour

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

Mix WELL.

Coat pan with a generous amount of grapeseed oil on medium heat

Slice onion thick to look like an onion ring

Carefully peal onion apart making “rings”

Dip onion into egg and then coat with “breading” both the inside and outside of ring

Place in heated pan

Fry for a few minutes on each side until done.

Place on plate to cool.

Options:

Try baking at 375 degrees in a pyrex container with grapeseed oil at bottom of dish

Bake 7 minutes then flip and bake another 7 minutes

OR on a wire rack inside the pyrex dish so both sides crisp

These are AMAZING!

Pistachio Chicken Nuggets

1 pound of boneless skinless organic chicken breast cut up in 1-2” chunks

Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes, 500--believe me, it's going to taste amazing!)

Breading:

Finely Grind 1 cup of properly prepared Pistachios in a food processor

Toast 3 slices of GF bread (We use Sammi’s Millet Bread) and add to food processor and grind with pistachio's

Place on a plate

Add to breading:

1 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper

Mix well

In a bowl combine well:

2 tsp-1 TBSP Dijon Mustard (depending on how "spicy" you want it) Omit for kid-friendly recipe

2-3 TBSP honey

3 TBSP oil of choice (olive, grapeseed, etc…)

Dip chicken in wet mixture and then dip into breading while coating the chicken pieces well.

Place on greased cookie sheet

Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 20 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.

This chicken goes great with potatoes or on top of salad!