Orange and Onion Noodle Soup

This is a delicious asian style soup!

5-6 cups liquid (can dilute some broth if desired)
5 small carrots
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
pinch cilantro (optional)
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 tsp ginger





You can make the carrots into “noodles” by either using your peeler to make long strips, or just pull out a grater and grate at an angle (carefully!) If I was doing a huge batch I probably just use the processor and have little shreds.

Cut the onion into very narrow wedges along the radius for more “noodles.”

Put onion, carrots, and garlic into the pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until everything is very soft.

Add seasonings, cilantro and continue to simmer while you beat the eggs.

Pour the eggs in slowly while stirring the hot liquid. Once all the egg is incorporated and cooked, turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Salt as desired - fish sauce would be wonderful in this if tolerated.

Of course, there are a hundred variations - you could make with chicken, leave out the eggs entirely, throw in some peas or other veggie noodles... yum!

What is pictured is how we made it today, with not enough liquid and too many eggs - excellent flavor though and my daughter and I are chowing down :)

Balsamic Blood Orange Dressing

Simple, amazing, and Mmm....

Goes great with the early spring bitter greens!

4 blood oranges
1/8 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 c olive oil
pinch salt

Peel and thin slice blood oranges. They should be in little bit size pieces. Toss with rest of ingredients and allow to sit for a minute before adding to salad.

If you're really fancy, leave peel on a section and dress up as garnish :)

GAPS Gummis!

Beginning of pregnancy I really wanted cinnamon gummi bears. I wish I knew why... but they sounded amazing. Not until later when I figured out how to make homemade Jello did I even venture to ask if I could make my own gummi candies.

Turns out you can!

Now - you could use fruit juice (probably concentrated) or various other things... but my DD is off most fruit, and cinnamon was my craving. So experiment! Be inspired! Get a mold and make your own GAPS gummi worms!!!

 For now, here is my recipe for gummi cinnamon sticks:

1/2 c water
1.5  Tbsps bernard jensens gelatin
a generous amount of cinnamon (about a half tsp)
big drizzle honey (or small one, if you like less sweet)

Whisk thoroughly, heat till steaming (will heat very quickly!) and make sure everything is well mixed and dissolved.
Pour into dish and toss in freezer or fridge till sufficiently solidified. (An hour or so in the freezer, for this small amount)
Then cut into strips!!!!

Of course, if you have a mold, you can make these really pretty. Cooling it quickly seems to help the cinnamon from sinking to the bottom. 

She doesn't care what shape they are - they taste yummy!

Now, as to how to clean the pot..... I may whisk my ingredients in my mold in the future. The pot took a lot of soaking!

Variations on a theme: Roasted Cauliflower

I love love love roasted cauliflower. Unfortunately for me, it is my DD's favorite food, and she prefers it steamed. She has the narrower diet, so most of it goes to her. I must try this recipe though!

Mmmmm!

You can view the recipe here - garlic and herbs and browned goodness...

Jello Tea

Sometimes the longing for fruit becomes very difficult. Or even Jello. With all its sugar fake flavor goodness. It's delightful jigglyness and mouth feel..

Wait... you mean I can’t have jello anymore because I’m trying to avoid sugar or can’t have fruit?

Noooooo!

As I was doing ok with fruit flavored teas, which nicely help to tone the flavor of my more bitter ones (nettle and dandelion anyone?) I suddenly was struck with the question: Can I make tea into jello? Well, yes, you can! So in desperation for something fruit like... I bought some cheap gelatin and mixed it with one of my favorite fruit teas... and it was wonderful.

Amidst my searching for an answer to this question, I discovered Bernard Jensen Gelatin. Hurray! Gelatin I can be really happy about. It is made from good animal gelatin and doesn't have weird additives or crazy processing methods. It seems I have to use slightly more than commercial gelatin to do the job, but I just keep that in mind if converting recipes. There is another excellent quality brand of gelatin out there, but I can't recall the name.

Just a note about this recipe - this makes very lightly sweetened jello. My daughter and I love it, but we've gotten used to non-sweet things. Sometimes I don't use sweetening at all. Just think of it as your favorite tea now cold and jiggly.

In fact, I found out that there are many traditional recipes for non-sweet jellos! Meat flavored herby gelatin sounds a little strange to my over-sugared American ears still... but I really should try them sometime. Like this jellied chicken recipe...

Then again, maybe I'll stick to herbal teas and fruit....

For every 1 cup of liquid, it’s a 1/2 Tbsp gelatin. I like to go a little over that (think heaping Tbsps) to make it extra firm.

2 cups filtered water
tea of your choice
small drizzle honey (about 2 tsps maybe) If desired.
2 heaping TBSP gelatin
a good whisk

Brew your tea as usual, and compost the tea bag or herbs. If the tea is still very hot, just pour into the dish you'll make your jello in, along with the gelatin and honey and whisk thoroughly. If you are doing an infusion or decoction and the tea is too cool for the gelatin to dissolve, then gently re-heat it first.

Once everything is whisked thoroughly, and the gelatin is completely dissolved, you're done! Throw it in the freezer for an hour or two for quick setting, followed by some time in the fridge,  or in the fridge for several hours for a slower set.

Just be sure you don't put a super hot glass in the fridge or freezer! This is one area where I've compromised and used a plastic bowl - I just don't have a stainless steel one that would work well.

And voila... you have Jello!!!!!

Oh, and another note:  if you dip repeatedly into the dish in the fridge, the saliva will begin to break the jello down (oops.) You can just use that as an excuse to eat it faster.

Zucchini Chips

Summer is coming to a close - but many of my dear friends with gardens have zucchini and summer squash coming out their ears. Here was one of my favorite ways to eat it (and preserve it!)

 

 Zucchini chips! 

It is truly amazing how many cukes you have to use to fill a small jar of these. 

So - here is how.

Wash and slice summer squash as thinly as you can. I did about a 1/4" thick. A mandolin could come in handy for this, if you fancy those.

Then arrange on your dehydrator sheet - or a parchment paper line pan if you dry them in the oven.

 

Sprinkle with a little salt. Set the dehydrator for 120º or  the lowest temp for your oven. These dry fairly quickly, depending on how thin they are sliced and the air flow. You may need to flip them if drying in the oven. Then wait 6-8 hours or overnight. These don't really become "overdone" unless the oven is too hot.

Once dry and crispy, carefully remove from sheet and store. They are very brittle - and very addictive!

And for reference, this is a pint size jar. It contains 3 large summer squashes. They really shrink a lot!

Keeping costs down and nutrients high?

Cutting the cheap fillers (starches!) when going on GAPS can send your budget soaring. While upping the fat and cutting the nuts and pricey veggies are my biggest tips - Nourished and Nurtured has put together a great post with more ideas!