Grain & Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas! The Best Waffles Ever & Swiss Chard Hash

Weekend morning breakfasts at our house are usually kind of generic, a version of eggs and toast. So when this weekend the hubby asked me to make him something special for breakfast, I came up with two grain-free (both), Paleo (Hash Only), GAPS (Hash Only) and SCD (Hash Only), friendly recipes that will surely satisfy. Saturday morning, I made a Swiss Chard Hash. Then, on Sunday, I was craving waffles, so I made my usual waffle recipe but substituted grain-free flours. The waffles turned out great! For toppings, I used Tula's CocoYO and my spiced plum compote.

Swiss Chard Hash
Ingredients
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp The Spice House Spanish Smoked Paprika 
4 eggs

Process:
1. Heat ghee in a pan
2. Chop Swiss Chard finely
3. Once ghee has melted add Swiss Chard, salt and paprika
4. Saute Chard for 6-8 minutes
5. Add eggs in sunny-side up fashion, cover, cook for 5-7 minutes or until whites are fully cooked
6. Enjoy!

Grain-Free Vegan Waffles
Ingredients
1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 cup water
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Process:
1. Mix all dry ingredients together and separately mix all wet ingredients together
2. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium speed with a mixer
3. Scoop heaping 1/4 cup of batter onto oiled waffle maker
4. Depending on your waffle maker, cook for 8-10 minutes
5. Add your favorite waffle syrup or toppings
6. Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about going grain-free, Jill at Real Food Forager is teaching a class to help you. If you want to sign up for the class use the coupon code NOGRAINS and receive an additional $20off. The coupon expires September 25th. And don't forget about my Spices Contest!



                 

UCSF Studies on the Paleo Diet & Easy Grain-Free Quinoa Side Dish

In the last year, I feel like all of a sudden everyone is talking about some form of a grain-free diet. Whether it's Paleo, GAPS, SCD, Slow-Carb, nutritionists, acupuncturists, and health coaches are recommending going grain-free to help alleviate a variety of ailments from arthritis and autism to MS and psychological disorders. A UCSF study actually showed that when healthy volunteers followed a Paleolithic diet for 10 days (eating lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts and excluding grains, dairy and legumes) they reduced their blood pressure, improved their glucose tolerance and improved their lipid levels (cholesterol). Another study showed that the Paleo diet was better than the standard diabetes diet in improving heart attack risk in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The interesting thing about the Paleo diet is that it is a form the "real food" diet. While there are many companies trying to jump on the Paleo bandwagon, if you are eating the hunter-gatherer diet, you are eating whole foods that are not found in boxes. It is so interesting that a diet that has been proven to be more beneficial that what the American Dietetic Association recommends for type 2 diabetics hasn't become mainstream. One of the reasons that it's not mainstream may simply be a conflict of interest. The ADA influences the dietary guidelines set by the USDA. The ADA is a non-profit organization that is heavily financed by companies such as Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Hershey. So it's important to remember that the American Dietic Association is an industry friendly organization and not exactly the best source of dietary advice.

As part of my efforts to alleviate my lower back pain, I have been practicing a grain-free and dairy-free diet, which isn't Paleo because I choose to consume legumes. My pain has vanished. To me it feels miraculous. After spending 8 months seeing countless doctors and being poked and prodded, it's been amazing to see that the first medicine is food. If you are suffering from arthritis, gout, high blood pressure or if you are overweight, I recommend trying one of the diets mentioned above or all of them to find which one you can adopt as a lifestyle.

Like the UCSF study, you can try it for 10 days and work with your doctor to take blood before you begin and after 10 days. If you have a doctor that you do not feel is supportive, get a new one. I recommend One Medical Group. They have offices in the SF Bay Area, New York and Washington, D.C. From personal experience, I feel you will be able to find a doctor there willing to participate in your personal experiment.

In the meantime, I have a great satisfying Quinoa dish that you can enjoy. Quinoa is not a grain. It's actually seed that is closely related to beets and spinach. It contains the large amounts of the amino acid lysine, a necessary protein building block which is essential for calcium absorption, and hormone, enzyme and antibody production. It's high is calcium and is the considered to be a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids.

I always keep Gogo Rice's Organic Cooked Quinoa in my pantry in case I forget to soak some. Since the Quinoa only needs to be heated, this side dish takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Quinoa Primavera Pilaf
Ingredients
1 package of Organic Cooked Quinoa
1 cup spinach
1 large carrot
1/2 parsley
1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Celtic Salt
dash of pepper
dash smoked paprika

Process:
1. Empty quinoa into a pan and heat on low with a tbsp water so it doesn't burn
2. In a food processor or by hand, grate carrot
3. Chop spinach and parsley finely
4. Toss carrots, spinach, and parsley into pat and heat everything for 2 minutes (add more water if needed)
5. Empty into a bowl and add vinegar, salt, oil and spices
6. Mix and Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about going grain-free, Jill at Real Food Forager is teaching a class to help you. If you want to sign up for the class use the coupon code NOGRAINS and receive an additional $20off. The coupon expires September 25th. And don't forget about my Spices Contest!



                 

21-Day Detox Day 9: Mashed Cauliflower

Last December, I was having a bit of a hard time. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, specifically around my daughter's health. She was diagnosed with sleep apnea and at 2.5 years old, the ENT strongly recommended surgery. With every cold and tummy ache, I couldn't stop from feeling like the prognosis was dire. The stress of it made it really difficult to eat right and even take care of myself at times. Usually when I feel so undone, I contact Rachel Yellin for additional support. Rachel is a hypnotherapist who helped me while I was preparing my for my daughter's birth. During my session, Rachel suggested that much of my anxiety could be related to a chemical imbalance due to my diet and suggested that I look into the GAPS diet.

GAPS is a diet that was developed by Natasha-Campbell McBride, Russian-born neurologist and nutritionist who researched the link between nutrition and neurological illness, specifically her son's autism but also a slew of auto-immune conditions. Essentially, GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) centers around giving your gut a break and eating only easily digestible, non-allergenic foods that heal the digestive system. The diet is grain-free, sugar-free and involves taking large doses of potent probiotics to help kill off bad gut bacteria. At the time, the idea of cutting out sugar and grain from my diet seemed ridiculous, even if it was going to reduce my anxiety. And now on Day 9, I can't believe that I haven't had grains in 6 weeks and sugar for more than two. While, I'm not committing myself to any more than 21 days, I am feeling this is much more doable than I had imagined last December.

For breakfast, I had leftover juice from yesterday that I named Scary Green Monster.

For lunch, I made mashed potatoes (minus the potatoes, plus cauliflower). Cauliflower is a great alternative to potatoes, which are part of the nightshade family of vegetables together with tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Nightshades have been shown to aggravate inflammatory conditions, especially arthritis and psoriasis. Cauliflower, on the other hand, has cancer fighting properties.

Mashed Cauliflower
Ingredients:
1/2 Head of Cauliflower
1 tbsp Ghee
2 tsp Spice House Ukrainian Village Spice

Process:
1. Put cauliflower into a pot, bring water to boil and cook until cauliflower is cooked
2. Using a potato masher or fork, mash cauliflower
3. Add Ghee and seasoning
4. Enjoy!

 For dinner, I made an awesome juice and used the pulp to saute with kale.

Juice for Thursdays
3 carrots
1 beet
1 lemon
3 cups spinach
2 springs parsley
2 springs mint
2 inch ginger

Kale, Pulp, and BBQ Chicken
Ingredients:
1 bunch Kale
1 cup juicer pulp from Juice for Thursdays
2 tbsp olive oil
BBQ Chicken from Detox Day 8
Salt to taste

Process:
1. Heat oil and saute pulp

2. Add Kale and saute for about 8 minutes or until Kale has darkened. Add salt.

3. Serve with BBQ Chicken & Sauerkraut
4. Enjoy!