California hamburgers

We often eat our burgers with lettuce wraps (just like the protein style burger at In-N-Out, which by the way if you are in California and have food allergies, you can ask to be plain and "allergy burger" so they are more cautious). Sometimes we eat burgers also with just a salad or with with a side of broccoli but every now and then I make buns which makes the kids especially so happy. I make them to be honest mostly just to hear them say things like: "You make the best hamburger buns in the whole world!" The kids say these paleo (and AIP) buns are the best ever. I have had even non-paleo kids say that they are really good.

Instead of fries I often serve some kind of veggie side. Or serve the veggies as an appetizer as I learnt from my friend. I have noticed if I put the veggies as a side, the kids may leave them on the plate and just eat the burger but if I serve the veggies as an appetizer when they are at their hungriest, before giving the main course, the veggies might disappear quickly. This time the appetizer/side was steamed broccoli with lemon juice from our own lemons. The avocado in the burger adds creaminess without any sauces.

California burgers for four with a side of lemony broccoli 

1 lb ground beef
Herbamare or salt
1 tbsp tallow or other cooking fat for frying
broccoli
half a lemon
olive oil
avocado
lettuce
3 ripe (yellow) plantains or around 4 ripe burro bananas
1 cup arrowroot starch
1/3-1/2 cup water
1/4 cup avocado oil
1 tsp salt

1. Set your oven to 350F.
2. Prepare the batter for the buns: Peel plantains and chop them. Add everything to the blender: the plantains, 1 cup arrowroot starch, 1/3-1/2 cups water (add first the smaller amount but increase if the blender can't mix it), 1 tsp salt and 1/4 cup of avocado oil (you could replace some of this with water). Scoop eight pancake size piles of batter, for instance with the 1/3 cup measuring cup, on 1-2 parchment paper lined cookie sheets or jelly roll pans. Leave some space between as they may spread a little. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.
3. Steam broccoli now so you can serve it as appetizers. Steam in a steamer pot until the fork just goes through, don't let them become mushy. Add a capful of olive oil, sprinkle some Herbamare on them and squeeze half a lemon on them as well.
4. Heat some tallow on medium heat in a cast iron pan (you could also grill the burgers!). Share the pound of ground meat in four pieces, form burgers, salt with Herbamare and fry from both sides until cooked.
5. Cut some avocado slices and get some lettuce from the garden (or your fridge :)) to go with the burgers.

Yellow Tail + Mango Ginger Salsa

The kids loved it. They especially love always the fresh fish as it has no "fishy taste" which develops as the fish ages.

(The problem with cooking at night is always the same, the pictures don't look so great as there is no day light! Every time I swear I will save some of the food for next day and take photos and almost every time it fails as there are no leftovers... Oh well.) 

Every week my kids and I go to the farmers market around the corner and buy organic vegetables, honey, fruit and pick up our weekly Community Seafood share. Community Seafood is a local community supported fishery in Santa Barbara, California. Their goal is to support the fishing community and sustainable ways of harvesting seafood.

I signed up a few months ago and our family has enjoyed the variety of seafood. I have tasted foods I have never tasted before, and may not have otherwise tasted, and learnt to prepare them too. Some of the new acquaintances have been mussels, oysters, ridge back shrimp and lobster. Some of the fish are new to me too. I grew up eating fish but mostly salmon, herring and some sweet water fish like perch.

This week's share was yellow tail. We have had it many times before and we usually enjoy it either grilled or fried in a cast iron pan. We like our fish simple. Usually we use just salt as a seasoning and squeeze some lemon from our tree on the cooked fish. For yellow tail I have made a few times a fruity salsa from fresh fruit I have had at hand like pineapple, peach, plums or mango. This week's salsa had mangoes.

I will post my most delicious paleo/AIP fish recipe experiments in future too. Stay tuned!

It is important to start with skin side up.
Otherwise the skin may stick to the pan.

Fried Yellow Tail 

yellow tail filets
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil

1. Cut the fish in smaller filets if needed. Leave the skin on.
2. Wash the fish and pat them dry with a paper towel or kitchen towel.
3. Heat a couple of spoonfuls of oil in your cast iron pan.
4. When the pan is warm, lay the fish pieces on the pan skin side up.
5. Leave them for a few minutes and turn them over.
6. Sprinkle salt on the fish and cover if you like.
7. Lower the heat a bit and cook until fish meat is white and flakes.

Mango Salsa 

1 ripe mango
1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed
juice from 1 lime
pinch of salt
a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped or cut small with scissors

1. Peel the mango and chop the meat in small pieces. I like to cut small slices against the pit first horizontally and then vertically to make squares and then cut along the pit to remove the pieces from the mango. Then repeat on the other side of the pit.
2. Put the mango pieces in a bowl and crush some of them with a fork to extract some of the juice.
3. Add lime juice, salt, crushed garlic and grated ginger. Let it sit for a while in the fridge before serving. If it is not spicy enough for your taste buds, add more ginger.

Use fresh ingredients for best results!

Veggie sides

I try to make sure we get plenty of vegetables every day. To help with this goal I have started to make often two veggie sides instead of one as I used to do.

With the fish and salsa I also served steamed asparagus that is in season now and sauteed purple mustard greens I got from the market as well. The asparagus I steamed just enough that it felt soft when I pierced a spear with a knife and tossed them in olive oil and sea salt.

The mustard greens I sauteed very lightly in a little bit of coconut oil and added a touch of salt. For sauteeing them I got instructions from the vendor at the market to heat the oil in the pan, add the greens, toss them in the oil, cover the pan and turn off the heat and let sit for just a little while. The greens stayed a little bit spicy in this way and were absolutely delicious!


What is your favorite way to prepare yellow tail?

Brussel Sprout Lover's Pan of Happiness

Did you know that in my native language, Finnish, brussel sprouts are called "rose cabbages"? I love that name! They do look like little cute baby cabbage heads. Anyway, this recipe is so good. You will love it, I promise! You will want to have this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I do at least. If you ever meet someone who says they don't like brussel sprouts, offer them a taste of this dish! You might just convert them. Have I sold this recipe to you yet?

I loooove brussel sprouts in all forms so who am I to say though, but I have heard a lot of sighs of happiness from people eating this food. This is the best brussel sprouts recipe I know of.  What is your favorite way of preparing brussel sprouts? Please share in comments!

I usually buy sugar free and additive free delicious bacon from US Wellness Meats, for this day's version I had to use alternate bacon as they have been out, the bacon is so good. I am a part of their affiliate program so if you buy yours through my link above you support my blog! Thank you!

Delicious Sauteed Brussel Sprouts 

1/2 lb bacon 
a couple of pounds of brussels sprouts
1/2 lbs of mushrooms (optional)
1 big clove of garlic
1/3 cup of broth (I make my own delicious and healthy broth, learn how you can, too!)
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp creamed coconut
salt to taste

1. Prepare the brussels sprouts. Wash them, cut the hard bottom part off, remove any too wilted outer leaves and cut the sprouts in half.
2. Wash mushrooms and cut them in half. Very small ones you can keep whole.
3. Cut bacon in small pieces.
4. Brown the bacon pieces in a large skillet on medium heat. Add garlic and stir.
5. Add brussels sprouts and mushrooms and toss them in the bacon fat for a couple of minutes.
6. Add broth, coconut milk and creamed coconut and simmer on low until the brussels sprouts are as soft as you like them. Mix every now and then to prevent anything from burning. Add more liquid if it all evaporates to prevent the dish from burning.
7. Enjoy alone or with friends!

Packing a healthy real food school lunch is super simple.

*** UPDATE: I don't know why the Blogger keeps sending this post to the subscribers of this blog! I will look into it! :) Sorry about extra emails. ***

Grilled chicken, olives, pomegranate and rutabaga sticks.

No-one brings lunch to school in Finland. The lunch is provided by the public school (most children attend public school) for free - well, not free, but paid by everyone's taxes. I grew up eating warm home cooked meal type school lunches in Finnish school cafeteria: Fish soup, ground beef soup, cabbage casserole, meat sauce and potatoes, meat balls and mashed potatoes, liver casserole, spinach pancakes and blood pancakes with lingonberry preserves (yes, you read that right). You can find a lot of those recipes from my other blog Rootlicious.

Here in the US I pack my children's school lunches and snacks (I still don't get it why they would need a snack in between breakfast they've had right before school at home and school lunch, it is just a few hours and the snack just spoils the appetite for lunch in my humble opinion). I pack them mostly paleo foods and the lunch consists of a protein (meat, mushrooms or nuts or seeds), a serving of vegetables and a serving of fruit or berries. Leftovers from last night's dinner are great. For snack I add one serving of veggies, fruit or nuts.

I use a bento box type lunch box with compartments to separate the different foods. My favorites are Planet Box and Lunch Bots. They are durable stainless steel lunch boxes with compartments and they are free from plastic (which I am afraid can contain chemicals that leach in to the food). I pack the stainless steel box in an insulated lunch bag.

Cucumber slices, spinach plantain pancakes,
water melon and blackberries in a Lunch Bots.

Packing a paleo school lunch is super simple. Even your children can do it themselves and save you a lot of work. They actually can find it fun to pack their own lunch starting from chopping vegetables or fruit. Even my three year old can chop most veggies and fruit with a knife. I like to give them sharp knives instead of dull ones (in fear of them hurting themselves) because the dull knives slip easier and can hurt them too. It feels good to use a proper knife and with supervision even very small children can totally do it. I also often leave vegetables or fruit whole, they don't always need to be chopped. An apple or banana are in perfect packages as they are!

Pick one from each category below and put them in a bento box. You can of course use two or more different kinds of fruit or berries or vegetables at once.

Spinach pancakes with apple sauce and
prosciutto wrapped grilled mushrooms

Category 1: Protein
I prefer to buy organic, grass fed and sustainable and without additives.

• Ground beef patty in lettuce wrap (fried the same morning)
• Mushrooms wrapped in prosciutto or bacon grilled in toaster oven that morning
• Nut butter with veggies or fruit
• Nuts or seeds
• Cooked/canned fish
• Larabar
• Epic bar
• Cooked chicken strips (alone or with a Paleo wrap and guacamole, ground beef is nice with the wrap and guacamole too)
• A grilled chicken drumstick
• Lunch meat, liverwurst or fried bacon (some healthy options can be found from US Wellness Meats)
• Cooked shrimp
• Paleo fish sticks (click for a recipe - the same recipe can be used to make paleo chicken nuggets)
• A boiled egg would be perfect if we didn't avoid eggs due to allergies.
• Paleo meat balls
• Peas
• Green beans

TIP: Use tooth picks to pin liverwurst, lunch meat or sausage pieces together with cucumber slices

Category 2: Vegetables
I like to use seasonal veggies.

• Spinach pancakes with apple sauce
• Baby carrots or carrot sticks
• Persian cucumbers (whole), or cucumber sticks or slices (a quick ranch dip can be made with coconut kefir, garlic, Herbamare, lemon, parsley)
• Raw rutabaga or turnip sticks
• Radishes
• Steamed broccoli
• Raw cauliflower florets
• Sea weed
• Guacamole (or is avocado technically a fruit?)
• Olives
• Salad
• Pickles
• Sauerkraut
• Other fermented veggies

Category 3: Fruit/treat/dessert (or snack)
I like to use seasonal fruit and berries.

• Blueberries/raspberries/blackberries/strawberries
• A whole apple/peach/plum
• Orange slices
• Pieces of melon
• A plantain pancake with Sunbutter (we use this one) or nut butter or homemade paleo "nutella" (add raw cacao powder to a nutbutter or use a recipe like this)
• Strawberries with paleo "Nutella"
• Apple sauce
• Fermented apple sauce
• Fruit salad with seasonal fruit
• Grapes
• Paleo muffins (Google for tons of recipes!)
• Coconut balls (kids love to make these themselves)
• Chocolate pudding from avocados
  
  

Remember to add an ice pack if you have packed meat. Don't forget water. We use stainless steel water bottles (we use this kind except always with a regular cap, sports caps and sippy cup caps worry me for mouth development issues). We pack a cloth napkin too. The kids can help sew those from leftover fabrics, or choose their own fabrics from the store. My son made a few spider napkins and they are his favorite. It is a nice touch to add a little love note, a joke or a fun fact for the kids who are learning to read. I make mine in our secret language, Finnish.

Paleo Camping Food

Last weekend we went to Joshua Tree with some friend families to camp and do some rock climbing. I had never been camping yet completely grain free so I had to do some planning and preparing ahead but it was surprisingly easy to come up with a grain free camping menu.

Most of it was AIP friendly too apart from some gluten free sausages that might have had night shade spices and kids had some s'mores with gluten free graham crackers at the campfire. Here are some ideas for your future camping trips!

Check out also my post about traveling while on a special diet. The travel food ideas apply to camping too.

Equipment needed for the camp kitchen (on top of a tent, sleeping bags, pads, warm clothes and other camping gear you need):

a camp stove and fuel

lighter or matches

a frying pan and spatula

cutting board

knife
can opener *swiss army knife works for many of your needs

plates, cups, forks, knives and spoons

paper towels are the thing I always miss when I don't have them

hand disinfectant is handy to use after handling the raw sausage 

flash light, lantern or headlight if you plan on cooking in the dark

Dr. Bronner's liquid soap is handy for dishwashing and hand washing

a brush or sponge for washing dishes

coal if you use a grill

firewood if you want to cook on fire

Breakfasts:

Pancakes

I made ahead of time some plantain pancake batter at home and stored it in ziploc bags to use at the campground.

Breakfast Sausage and fried zucchini

I made a breakfast sausage mix before hand at home and stored it in ziploc bags to use at the campground. I have modified a breakfast sausage recipe from Nom Nom Paleo for this.

2 lb ground pork (at least 20% fat)

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp salt

fresh herbs to taste (cut them with scissors in small pieces) - I used rosemary, thyme, sage and sweet marjoram

1. Mix everything together. Store in a container or a zip loc bag until you are ready to use them. 

2. Form little patties or sausages and fry in coconut oil or lard.

3. Cut zucchinis in slices and fry in the leftover fat from the patties (or bacon).

Sides: 

Sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables, sliced avocados, fresh fruit, fresh veggies like cucumbers and carrots

Lunches (all of these work as snacks too):

Persian cucumbers

Baby carrots

Crackers

Homemade fermented pickles or other veggies

Canned tuna or salmon (check ingredients)

Smoked salmon (check ingredients)

Avocados

Olives

Salads and coleslaws prepared ahead of time at home and packed in containers or ziploc bags. See a ziploc coleslaw recipe here.

Dinners

Tuna salad

Lettuce (ready cut in a bag is nice and saves trouble!)

Cucumbers, chopped

Olives

Canned tuna (or salmon)

Dressing prepared ahead of time at home and brought to camp in a leak proof jar:

1 part balsamic vinegar / coconut vinegar / apple cider vinegar

4 parts olive oil

1 tsp honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Shake to mix and serve with the salad.

Hobo Aluminum Foil Dinner

This you can prepare already at home to save trouble and time at the campground. 

Raw veggies and meats or fish of your choice 

Coconut oil

Salt

We used: 

turnips (some of us ate potatoes) - these I precooked at home

bok choy

spinach

pineapple

pork

mushrooms

Cut the veggies and meats and pack them in heavy aluminum foil (if you don't have heavy foil, it is best to double the foil). Before you close the packages, add some oil and salt. Put the foil packages on grill with charcoal or wait until the campfire has burnt  for a while so you can put the packages in the coals. Check from time to time to see if they are ready and that they don't burn. 

Happy camping! Please share your paleo camping food ideas in the comments below!

Plantain Pancakes (updated recipe!)

We make these grain free and vegan pancakes a lot. They are fast to make even on busy mornings. Kids love them, adults love them. Kids like to help making them. It is our new favorite breakfast in addition to leftovers and homemade maple pork sausage patties (I use the recipe from Nom Nom Paleo book for those). Last week I made some of this pancake batter at home to take camping and we fried them on our camp stove in Joshua Tree. During last months we have made all kinds of updates to the earlier recipe I posted. I started updating that post but there were so many updates that I decided to make a new post altogether.


I found this recipe from Purely Twins for grain free pancakes. I modified it a little to suit our diet. We have kept modifying the recipe to make it our own and here is the result of months of experimenting!

Our newest discovery were burro bananas as our grocery store was out of green plantains. They worked even better than plantains. The consistency of the pancake was amazing.

Grain free vegan pancakes
autoimmune paleo, vegan, grain free

1 green plantain or green burro banana (you can use yellow ones too, the batter will be just less starchy and more difficult to maneuver when turning the pancakes, I suggest adding 2 tbsp arrowroot starch or 1 tbsp coconut flour in this case)
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk or coconut kefir
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted (I buy mine from here, affiliate link that supports my blogging)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
pinch of sea salt (I like Himalayan pink salt, affiliate link)

1. Peel the plantain, chop it and add in the blender or food processor (this is a perfect job for little kids!)

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

3. Warm your pan on medium-low heat.

4. Spread the thick batter on the pan. You might need to spread it a little bit with a spatula so the pancakes are not too thick.

5. Cook on one side until you are able to turn them. They are ready when they seem solid.

6. Serve them with maple syrup, jam, berries, unsweetened apple sauce, whatever you like. My kids favorites are apple sauce and the other one's maple syrup. You can transform them to a healthy lunch (school lunch too!) or even dinner by adding spinach and making spinach pancakes. Or eat them later cold as "bread".

Have a great Easter weekend! Easter post coming soon!

Sirpa

Bone Broth And An Every Day Gourmet Soup

We eat a lot of soup. The base of the soup is always the same, homemade broth. The other ingredients vary as I use whatever I have at hand. Every soup becomes different in this way and is always a new adventure! Read on to learn how to make your own broth/stock and how to use it as a base for a soup made of foods you happen to have at hand. I like to eat this soup when I have it at hand for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Home made bone broth is healthy and delicious

The secret to a really good soup is in the homemade long cooked broth. The best restaurants make their own broths and you can cook delicious foods if you base them on your home cooked stocks. I save all bones and scraps of meat and veggies in my freezer and make broth out of them. You can use any kind of bones. Beef, chicken, pork, duck - all bones will do. You can buy grass fed beef bones from a butcher or health food store or use your leftover carcasses or bones from drumsticks or ribs. If you are not ready to use them, or don't have enough from one meal, you can freeze them in a ziploc bag to wait for a better moment and keep adding bones to the bag.

I prefer to use bones that have a little bit of meat attached to them, because the broth tastes better that way I think, but it is not necessary. I usually leave some meat on chicken carcasses for this purpose or add some leftover chunks of meat. Saving trimmed parts opf connective tissue (in that freezer bag) is a good idea too. Especially beef bones you might be able to use twice for two batched of broth!

Ingredients:

bones
water
(it is believed a splash or two of apple cider vinegar will help in removing minerals from the bones but some don't like the taste - I do like the added flavor)

Optional add ons (pick one or more to flavor the broth):

carrots
celery
bay leaves
whole peppercorns
fresh parsley or carrot tops
garlic cloves

Method 1: Slowcooker

Add the bones and any add ons in your crockpot. Add enough water to more than sufficiently cover the bones. Cook on low for 8-24 hours. Or even longer. I have sometimes had the broth simmering for days and just made sure to add more liquid from time to time. It has been nice to scoop a cupful of hot broth to drink and use in cooking straight from the cooker.

Method 2: In the oven

Add the bones and any add ons in an oven proof stock pot with a lid. Add enough water to more than sufficiently cover the bones. Bake in 200F for 8-24 hours. Or longer.

Strain the ready broth (you can try to use the bones for a second lighter batch) and freeze it or store in the fridge for up to a week and use in your cooking or drink by the cupful.

How to transform your broth into a delicious soup and get called a gourmet chef

1. Add chopped vegetables and meat in a pot. You can use up all leftover scraps from your fridge!
2. Pour in enough broth to cover the vegetables (you can replace some of it with water if you want).
3. Add spices to taste. I usually add salt, grated fresh ginger, crushed garlic, sometimes pepper.
4. Let simmer on low until the vegetables and meat are cooked.

TIP: My favorite soup contains chicken, white cabbage, kale, mushrooms and carrots with ginger and garlic. Sometimes if I am in a rush and don't have broth I boil a whole chicken in water for an hour or longer if I have time and in the meanwhile chop vegetables. When the chicken is cooked, I fish it out, throw the veggies and spices in to simmer and and then strip the meat from the bones and add the meat in the soup. The carcasse I keep for a second round of broth I cook for a longer time.

Finnish Salmon Soup

Fish soup is a very common food in Finland. It is often made with salmon, potatoes and milk and garnished with dill. If you don't have fish stock at hand you can use water only but homemade fish stock is easy to make and gives a delicious flavor to the soup. Stock made from fish bones and heads is also very nutritious, full of minerals and makes a great addition to a healthy diet.


How to make fish stock:

1. Get a few pounds of fish bones and heads from a fish store or the fish counter from a grocery store. You might have to call them ahead to reserve the bones as they sometimes just throw them away. You shouldn't be charged a lot for them.

2. Put the bones and heads in a big stock pot and fill with water. Add 1-2 bay leaves, a carrot and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar.

3. Bring to boil and let simmer lid on for at least a few hours or as long as 24 hours.

4. Strain the stock. You can collect the fish meat from the bones and add to the soup or eat as is later.

Salmon Soup

4.5 cups fish stock (some of it can be replaced with water)
1/2-1 cup full fat milk (I use coconut milk)
1 lb salmon, skin removed and cut in cubes
4-5 medium sized turnips (or potatoes if you are not avoiding night shades)
1 carrot
5 whole allspice
1 small clove of garlic
1 tsp salt
dill

Optional: you can saute some onions in a fat of your choice in the sauce pan before adding the stock.

1. Measure the stock to a big enough sauce pan and bring to boil.

2. Chop the potatoes and carrots and add them to the stock as well as the whole allspice berries and chopped garlic.

3. Let simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are easily pierced with a fork.

4. Add the fish, salt, milk and chopped dill. The fish takes only a few minutes until it is ready. Check one fish piece to make sure it is cooked.

Check out more great recipes from Phoenix Helix Autoimmune Paleo Recipe Roundtable.

Liver and Mushroom Stir Fry

My tries to incorporate more liver to our meals led to this dish. I used chicken liver for mild flavor but for stronger liver flavor use beef liver. I'd like pork liver for some foods but it is not commonly sold in the US it seems.

Liver and Mushroom Stir Fry

8 oz bacon (check ingredients carefully and for sugar free/additive free bacon, check out US Wellness Meats website)
8 oz liver
8 oz mushrooms of your choice
2-3 handfuls spinach or dandelion greens
2 cloves of garlic

1. Cut bacon in small pieces and slice liver thinly.
2. Fry bacon pieces in a cast iron pan. When the bacon is crispy, remove from the pan but leave the fat.
3. Add thinly sliced or chopped garlic to the pan. Be careful not to burn it.
4. Add mushrooms and fry until they get some color, then add spinach. Continue frying until spinach is just wilted. Remove from the pan but leave the fat.
5. Add the liver in the pan and fry until it gets some color.
6. Add all the other ingredients back to the pan and toss around for a minute or two so they are well mixed.
7. Serve as an appetizer or for main course with salad. Would be a nice breakfast too.

This recipe was posted in Phoenix Helix AIP Roundtable. Check it out for more recipes!

Shrimp Fajitas (AIP, Paleo, Grain free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Corn Free, Nightshade Free)

I have missed Mexican restaurants while being on our healing diets. We used to often have a Mexican night at home too on the weekends and it was always so much fun. But now we don't eat beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers or dairy so that's pretty much it, right? In my cravings last night I took what we had at hand and with the help of guacamole made it resemble a Mexican meal. This dish is not really Mexican but it has a little bit of that feeling!

Shrimp Pineapple Fajitas

1 pound uncooked peeled shrimp
2 zucchinis
1/2 pineapple (I used the other half for pineapple dessert)
Coconut oil
Mushrooms
Salt
A piece of fresh ginger
Paleo coconut wraps (I use these)

Paleo Guacamole

Coconut kefir (it can sometimes become sour cream consistency or thicker if you let it sit in the fridge for a while)

1. Cut everything in bite sized pieces.
2. Heat a tablespoon or so of coconut oil in a frying pan (cast iron is a must especially in this recipe!). Start by frying the pineapples and ginger. When they have some brown color, move them to another dish.
3. Add another tablespoon of coconut oil and add the chopped zucchinis in the pan. Fry them until almost soft and add the uncooked peeled shrimp. Fry until the shrimp is ready which takes only a few minutes. Add salt to taste. Don't overcook the shrimp. It is pretty much done when it has turned red but check of course first before serving.
4. Bring all food to the table and everyone can make their own wraps with guacamole and some solidified coconut kefir if you wish.

Finnish Rice Porridge (Pudding) With Blueberry Sauce (Gluten and Dairy Free)

In Finland rice porridge is eaten as a traditional Christmas morning food but also throughout the year as a breakfast. It is eaten with some cinnamon and sugar or with for instance a sauce made of blueberries and thickened with potato starch or some other starch. This food does not follow autoimmune or paleo protocols I have been posting recently about but it is gluten free and dairy free. I am posting this because I am often asked for this recipe and my kids still eat some rice. The blueberry sauce in this post I thickened with arrowroot starch to avoid night shades.

Rice Porridge (Riisipuuro)

1 cup white short grain rice such as arborio or sushi rice (in Finland they sell it as "porridge rice"!)
1 cup water
1 cup full fat coconut milk + 4 cups water
1 tsp sea salt

1. Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of rice to a big sauce pan. Boil for 5 minutes.

2. Add coconut milk and rest of the water.

3. Bring to boil stirring from time to time. Keep an eye that it doesn't boil over and make a mess of your stove top (I hate cleaning it so I try to be careful!).

4. Simmer on low for an hour mixing it a few times so it won't burn. If you soak the rice before hand, the cooking time will be shorter.

5. Add salt. Serve with cinnamon and (maple) sugar or blueberry sauce.

TIP: Make it in the oven: Use a fat of your choice to grease a big enough oven pan. Add all ingredients to the pan, mix and cook in 350 F for three hours. My mom used to make this overnight on very low heat.

Blueberry sauce (Mustikkakeitto)

2 cups frozen wild blueberries
4 cups water
3 tbsp arrowroot starch (an other starch would work too, in my pre-AIP life I used potato starch)
3 tbsp maple sugar

1. Measure all ingredients and add them a sauce pan.

2. Bring to boil stirring it constantly. When the first bubbles appear remove from heat. It should have thickened by now. Let cool down. It is best served cold with the warm porridge.

Oxtail Soup

I like oxtail soup because I like the idea that nothing is wasted if an animal is killed for our nourishment. It is also the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. Even my selective seven year old said that he would like to eat it every day. In Finland oxtail soup is made traditionally from root vegetables and onions. I have added also some greens or cabbage and I like to add some ginger to bring flavor. Here is my slow cooker ox tail soup recipe. I eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner when I have it at hand.

Ox tail soup

One ox tail, in pieces (if you'd have a whole tail, cut the tail in pieces from the joints)
Fat of your choice, I use lard or coconut oil
A carrot
Two turnips
One small rutabaga
A teaspoon of grated fresh ginger
One clove of garlic
A bunch of collard greens or kale of white cabbage
A zucchini or yellow squash
Salt
2 Bay leaves
Some fresh parsley
A couple of quarts of broth (or if you don't have broth at hand like I didn't today, I put in enough water and a couple of beef bones cut in half)
3 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
(a few peppercorns)

1. Chop the vegetables.

2. Melt the fat on a frying pan and brown the ox tail pieces and root vegetables.

3. Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low overnight or 8-10 hours (talk about a tasty breakfast waiting for you in the morning!) or until the meat falls off the bone.

4. Fish out all the bones and tail pieces. Let them cool. (Fish out also the bay leaves and peppercorns if you want.) In the meanwhile puree the veggies with an immersion blender or press them through a strain. Or leave them as is especially if you have cut them really small.

5. Remove the meat from the tail bones and chop in pieces and add to the soup.

6. If you want to remove fat from the soup, stick it in the fridge and peel the fat from the top when it has cooled down and the fat is a solid layer on the top.

Check out this coconut oil giveaway too!

More autoimmune paleo friendly recipes, check out this roundtable where this post was published too.

The Best Ever Fish Sticks (Grain Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Corn Free, Nut Free)

We made the best fish sticks tonight. They were beautiful and so delicious. I wasn't thinking about blogging about them as I just tried to make quickly something yummy for sick children (I designed the recipe in my head holding a napping feverish two year old) so I didn't measure of course so these amounts are very approximate but I'll give you good instructions! And I snapped a photo when I realized that these were going to turn out really good:

Our Favorite Paleo Fish Sticks

1 lb or so white fish filets like cod, frozen is fine (you can also use large uncooked peeled shrimp)
1/2 cup homemade coconut kefir 
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
3/4-1 cup shredded coconut
salt
dried powdered ginger
garlic powder
1 tsp of maple sugar (optional)
1/4 cup coconut oil

1. Thaw the fish. Cut it in pieces.

2. Take two bowls. Put in one bowl the coconut kefir and about 1/2 tsp salt, a pinch of garlic powder and a pinch of ginger. Put some of the fish to soak in the bowl.

3. Take the other bowl and mix in it the starch, the coconut and again about 1/2 tsp salt, a pinch of garlic powder and ginger and maple sugar.

4. Heat a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil on medium heat in a skillet.

5. Toss fish pieces (and we did shrimp too!) first in coconut kefir, then lightly in the flour mixture and fry on both sides until flaky (only a few minutes). You might have to add more coconut oil in between and even clean the pan.

6. Serve immediately with salad or sauteed greens (we sauteed chard and kale in coconut oil and home made chicken broth) or steamed vegetables.

I use this coconut oil. I order it often in gallon buckets like this because it lasts for a long time (a couple of years I believe, except not for that long in my household as some of us eat it with a spoon...) and it is cheaper that way. If you order by clicking on my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you. Thanks for your support!

Ready Steady Eat: Fast Wraps for Any Meal or To Go (AIP, paleo, grain free, dairy free)

Some days when I have to whip up a meal from the random ingredients at hand it feels like I am on the British Ready Steady Cook show (to be honest I sometimes in my mind pretend I am on it!). They had a similar show in Finland and I used to love to watch it. In the show two chefs competing with each other create delicious and inventive meals from a bagful of random ingredients. They don't know before hand what ingredients they get and they have a very limited time to complete the task. What fascinated me about the show was how these chefs were able to come up with delicious meals in such a short time without any recipes or previous planning from a bagful of random ingredients they had no say over. There was usually also a limit how much the ingredients could cost (not much at all). Those chefs are my heroes especially as I have never been a much of a recipe follower.
I felt like a chef from that show today as I had to prepare lunch quickly to starving family members from the ingredients I had at hand. This is what I had:

1 lb ground beef (organic from Rainbow Ranch Farms)
1 carrot
1 zucchini
a handful of crimini mushrooms
an avocado
coconut wraps (you could also use other tortillas you have, big lettuce leaves, collard leaves or for instance these plantain wraps)
fermented ginger carrots (you could replace this with sauerkraut or just leave out)
lettuce (I picked some from our container garden!)
cucumber (diced)

I also had spices, coconut oil etc. basic ingredients of course (I used garlic powder, oregano and salt).

I put the ground beef on a cast iron pan with some coconut oil on medium heat mixing and chopping it and turning it over every now and then. In the same time grated the carrot and zucchini and chopped mushrooms in small pieces. I tossed them in the frying pan as well. I added some salt, oregano and garlic powder.

The I ran out to get the lettuce and fresh oregano, chopped them and diced the cucumber and avocado.

When the meat and vegetables were cooked I piled all ingredients on coconut wraps and rolled them. Note: Don't cook the fermented carrots to preserve the probiotics.

Alternatively, if you don't have any wraps or leaves to use, you could just mix it all up to a salad and add homemade coconut kefir from your fridge (or olive oil and balsamic vinegar) for a dressing.

Ready, steady, eat!

PS. You could prepare all the ingredients and pack them in your backpack to go and roll the wraps while you are hiking, running errands, at the beach or park.

Have you already taken part in my giveaway that will end in a couple of days?

This recipe has been published on Autoimmune Paleo Recipe Roundtable in Phoenix Helix Blog.

Zucchini Noodles with Nut and Seed Free Pesto (Vegan)

I just love this food. It is fresh, tasty, raw and full of nutrients. You can eat it as a side or even as a full meal. The zucchini noodles can be eaten raw or lightly steamed.

The easiest way to make zucchini noodles is with a spiral vegetable slicer. I own the Paderno one (this one http://amzn.to/1AOm2c8 ). I bought it once for myself as a gift when my husband was on a long business trip and I needed cheering up. 

I am fond of this gadget because it is easy to use, you don't need to plug it in (just use your arm power!) and even the kids can do it (they also think it is incredibly fun).

Pesto
AIP, paleo, vegan, nut/seed free

About a cupful of fresh basil leaves packed tight
About a cupful of fresh spinach, also packed tight

1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil (or replace some of it with water if you don't want it so oily)
(Black pepper is optional)

Mix everything in a blender or food processor. Don't overdo it, the consistency doesn't have to be smooth like a smoothie. Mix with the zucchini noodles.

TIP: This makes more than you might need. Freeze the rest in small proportions for later use.

PS. I have been thinking in the last few days how people often react strongly to the term "paleo" and you hear all kinds of criticism. I am wondering if we could just call it "real food that makes you feel good"?

Paleo Fast Food on the Go (and Paleo Guacamole)

Due to a cancelled swim class we decided today to do an impromptu trip to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum with some friends (the Silk Road exhibit!). We planned to leave in 20 minutes. In that time we had to get the kids dressed and whip up a snack or lunch to take with us. We packed in a small cooler some coconut wraps (I had the Paleo Wraps), avocados, some left over chicken strips, baby carrots and a Swiss Army Knife (no time to cut anything ahead of time). Water and kombucha for drinks.

After an eventful but fun museum trip back in the car we filled the wraps with chicken and avocado cut with the pocket knife. If the kids hadn't been like little baby birds opening their mouths and demanding food (fast!), I might have cut small strips of carrot in the mix too but this mama bird didn't have time for that so the carrots were eaten separately. Believe me, it was fast food! And it was easy and mess free to eat in the car too when I folded the end of the wrap before rolling it.

This quick lunch was so easy and successful and it made me think that I should prepare some guacamole for trips like this. We could then have fajitas on the go! Some lettuce, pre-fried or steamed zucchinis and mushrooms would make a nice addition or could replace the chicken completely. Below is a recipe for paleo guacamole. 

Guacamole

Autoimmune paleo, paleo, gluten free, vegan, night shade free
Some don't include garlic or lemon on autoimmune paleo diet so leave them out if necessary.

One Avocado
A clove of garlic
Squeeze of lemon or lime
Sea salt or Himalayan pink salt to taste

Mash avocado with a fork, add chopped / squeezed garlic (I l
ike the Kuhn Rikon garlic press - not paid to say that), a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime and sea salt to taste. Easy peasy!

PS. This would also work as a great dip for the Friendly Crackers.

Grain Free and Vegan Pancakes (updated!)

It is the third day of our autoimmune paleo experiment. I woke up earlier than usual but don't feel as tired as I think I would usually if I did so. We started our lovely sunny Saturday morning with pancakes and red currants.

I found this recipe from Purely Twins for grain free pancakes. I modified it a little as I wasn't sure if psyllium is allowed on AIP (I think it is not allowed on GAPS diet). I replaced the psyllium with arrowroot starch (not allowed on GAPS if you follow that as well). Next time I will try the recipe without psyllium AND arrowroot, I think it might work out just fine. Or a little coconut flour might help too if it is too runny. The yoghurt I replaced with coconut milk. I was out of home made coconut kefir but will try the recipe again in a couple of days when I have fermented some more. I also added a pinch of salt which wasn't in the original recipe but I like a pinch of good quality salt here and there.

The kids loved these (I think I heard one say: "These are the best pancakes EVER!") and ate several. They are not fully on the AIP (yet at least, I want get adjust myself first) so for their pancakes, per their request, I added some dairy free and gluten free mini chocolate chips (Enjoy life). I ate mine with a little bit of maple syrup and I think one pancake was fine but after I ate two I felt a little nauseous. So for me these are good one at a time. Husband was fine with two and he brought a third left over pancake with him when he left to Rainbow Ranch Farms to pick up our monthly organic meat batch. As a side note for those who remember me as a long time vegetarian: After we found out about our food sensitivities and started having health issues, I had to leave out legumes and nuts and grains etc. and had to take some organic meat in my diet. I still like to cook vegetarian/vegan foods though.

Grain free vegan pancakes
autoimmune paleo, vegan, grain free

1 green plantain (mine were already yellowish as you can see in the photo but they worked ok, green ones make a better batter though) UPDATE 4/18/2014: Green burro bananas work even better than plantains!
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk or coconut kefir
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted (I buy mine from here, affiliate link that supports my blogging)
2 tbsp arrowroot starch (UPDATE 4/18/2014: if your bananas are really green you can omit this and won't know a difference)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
pinch of sea salt
(1 tbsp maple syrup, optional, I don't actually add this anymore but it is for you who have a sweet tooth!)

TIP: If the batter is very loose, say, if the plantains were already very ripe, you can add a tablespoon or two of coconut flour too.

1. Peel the plantain, chop it and add in the blender or food processor (this is a perfect job for little kids!)

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

3. Warm your pan on medium-low heat.

4. Spread the thick batter on the pan. You might need to spread it a little bit with a spatula so the pancakes are not too thick.

5. Cook on one side until you are able to turn them. They are ready when they seem solid. They won't be very easy to turn if the plantains were already yellow.

Have a great weekend!
Sirpa

PS. Transform these pancakes to a lunch or dinner by adding spinach to make spinach pancakes. Or eat them later cold as "bread".