Sprouted Navy Bean Hummus, GAPS legal

Woohoo, GAPS legal hummus!  What is GAPS?  It stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and it’s the diet that has helped so many.  It is based on the SCD (specific carbohydrate diet) which is the diet that turned our family’s life around.  You can see our story here:  http://www.picklemetoo.com/2011/11/our-journey-with-autism.html

What makes something GAPS legal?  It contains only monosaccharide carbohydrates (the simplest of sugars that can’t be broken down any further, no starches or complex carbs that are difficult for GAPS people to digest).  The basic idea behind the GAPS diet is to give the digestive track a break and allow it to heal.  My oldest son ate this way for a full 2 years.  It was hard but it was worth it.

Usually making a substitute food ends up being sub par.  This is not the case here.  This is good hummus!  my kids are eating it by the bowlful.

Sprouting the Beans

To sprout the beans, place in a bowl with a lid.  Fill with water. Let soak overnight.  The next day, drain the water and rinse but don’t fill with water again.  Just cover the bowl.  Drain and rinse 3 times a day until you see sprouts emerging.  It should only take 2-3 days.  Discard if it starts to smell bad.  Great information on why to sprout your beans can be found here:  http://www.cookingtf.com/2011/04/19/why-i-no-longer-soak-my-beans/

If you don’t sprout the beans, you should at least soak them for 12-24 hrs.

To cook, place beans in a large pot and cover with water to about an inch over the top of the beans.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 4 hrs.  Skim the bubbles off the top and add more water if needed.  Crock pots are great for cooking beans.

Navy Bean Hummus 

• 3 cups soaked or sprouted navy beans, cooked
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup whey
• 1/2 preserved lemon or 2 tbsp lemon juice with zest
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin

In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until a smooth paste.  Place in a quart sized mason jar filling only to about 2″ below the lid (you might have some left over to enjoy now).  Cover loosely and let set at room temp for 3 days.  Move to cold storage.

Part of Freaky Friday, Make Your Own Monday

Curried Lemon Dressing

I am having fun coming up with ways to used my Indian Hot Lemons.  After making the Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing, I wanted to make something with the Indian Hot Lemons.  You might be able to make this with a plain old preserved lemon or even just lemon juice but I’m sure it won’t be quite as awesome 🙂

Curried Lemon Dressing

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used filmjolk for mine)
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
• 1 Indian Hot Lemon, seeds removed, thinnly sliced peel and all
• 3 cloves garlic or 1 1/2 tsp fermented garlic paste
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth

Of course my first thought is to use this on top a salad with chicken, golden raisins and walnuts. Yup, perfect.

Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

I believe I just created the. best. salad dressing. ever.  Not exaggerating.  Perfect blend of sweetness, tartness and down right goodness.  I’m always on the look out for a good use for my preserved lemons and this is a great one.  Using a whole preserved lemon instead of just lemon juice adds a whole ‘nother level of awesomeness.  My batch even includes some lactofermented hot mustard.  No preserved lemons or lactofermented mustard?  No need to fret, you can easily substitute Dijon mustard and leave out the lemon.  It’s still super yummy.

Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 4 tbsp lemon juice (from fermented lemons)
• 1 preserved lemon, cut into pieces small enough to blend (just leave out if you don’t have any or use the zest of 1 regular lemon)
• 1/4 of a small onion, diced
• 1 tsp fermented hot mustard (see below or sub regular Dijon style mustard if needed)
• sea salt to taste (I use about 1/4 tsp)

Place all ingredients in a quart sized mason jar and using an immersion blender, puree ingredients (you can use a blender but this is a much easier clean up).  

For a great preserved lemon recipe go to http://nourishedkitchen.com/morrocan-preserved-lemons/

I love my immersion blender.  This baby is almost 10 yrs old and going strong.

Lactofermented Hot Mustard

• 2 jars of ground mustard, 1.75 oz each (or you can ground whole mustard
• whey

Slowly mix in whey until the mustard is at the consistency desired. Loosely cover and let set at room temperature for about 3 days.  Remove to cold storage.

Part of Homestead Barn Hop, Fat Tuesday Probiotic Food Challenge

Ranch Dressing

You ask, “Why make Ranch dressing when I can just buy a bottle at the store?”
Have you ever read the ingredients label on Ranch dressing. Eek! Nasty and no thank you.

My childhood favorite dipping sauce, Hidden Valley Ranch contains the following:

Soybean Oil, Water, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Cultured Nonfat Buttermilk, Natural Flavors (Soy), Spices. Less than 1% of Dried Garlic, Dried Onion, Vinegar, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Artificial Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid and Calcium Disodium EDTA as Preservatives, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate.

Yuck.

Honestly, making your own is really not that hard. The hardest part is cleaning the blender/food processor when your done. But homemade Ranch dressing tastes so good, it’s worth it. Psst, it’s cheaper too!
ETA:  To make clean up a breeze, simply use a wide mouth mason jar and an immersion blender.

You’ll need the following:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 kefir, piima, buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream (sour cream or yogurt makes a great thick dipping sauce) most any cultured milk product will do
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp dill, fresh
• 1 tbsp parsley, fresh
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place everything in the blender/food processor except the olive oil. Whirl around until very well blended. While the blender is still on, slowly drizzle the olive oil in a thin stream. The oil will emulsify it to a yummy creation.

Another ETA: I made this recently and added a roasted red pepper.  Delicious!  It gave the dressing a nice red tinge.  Or add 1-2 tsp chipotle chili powder for a Southwestern kick.

Walnut Pesto Sauce

Now that I’ve made pesto sauce, I’m asking myself, “Why have I not made this before?” Grocery shopping this week, there was a tub of basil available (not a normal thing to see here) so I thought I’d give it a shot. I will never buy pesto sauce again. It’s so simple to make as long as you have the right ingredients. Next I’ll try Parsley Pesto Sauce since parsley is always available here.

Walnut Pesto Sauce
1/2 walnuts
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 cups fresh basil
1 cup flat leave parsley
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Put everything except the oil and the cheese in a food processor or blender and whirl away until chopped up well. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Add cheese a pulse quickly to just mix it in.
Yields enough for about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of pasta.

Caesar Dressing

I love Caesar Salad and the dressing is what makes it.

So if you want to make it at home, here is what you need:

Soybean Oil, Water, Parmesan and Romano Made From Cow’s Milk, Cheeses (Part-skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Vinegar, Egg Yolks, Sugar, Contains less than 2% of Salt, Sodium Lactate, Red Wine Vinegar, Dried Garlic, Spice, Phosphoric Acid, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Anchovies, Whey, Butter (Cream, Salt), Dried Onions, Molasses, Xanthan Gum, Corn Syrup, Modified Food Starch, Buttermilk, Sodium Phosphate, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Defatted Soy Flour, Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate, Natural Flavor, Caramel Color, Vitamin E, Tamarind, Natamycin (Natural Preservative).

Mmmm! Sound tasty? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I don’t even want to know what some of those ingredients are.

Here is how you can actually make Caesar Dressing at home. I know you hear me say this a lot but it is simple. I used my immersion blender right in the jar it is kept in for super duper easy clean up.
REAL FOOD ingredients:

Caesar Salad Dressing

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard (I made my own lacto-fermented mustard, extra mmm!)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (or apple cider)
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 extra virgin olive oil
• 1 egg yolk (pasture raised of course)
• 2 anchovy filets
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

Place all ingredients in a wide-mouth mason jar. Blend with an immersion blender until super smooth. You can of course do this in a blender or food processor as well.

Part of Make Your Own Monday

Parsley, Walnut, Feta Pesto

What makes pesto pesto? I wanted to make some today but the only problem was I had no basil, pine nuts or Parmesan cheese. But I did have parsley, walnuts and feta. Is this how new recipes are created, through substitution?

I used all local ingredients (except walnuts and olive oil) care of the farmer’s markets this weekend. Even the cheese came from goats I milked and then turned into feta. How’s that for real food!

• 2 cups parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt to taste

Whirl everything but the olive oil in a blender until well chopped. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it’s all incorporated.
We used it on pizzas today and it was so good! I would have taken a picture of it but I thought of it when it was too late. We ate it all.