all about almond and coconut flours - with six bonus muffin recipes

Though I'm no longer on GAPS, having spent the time to set up this blog, it rather makes sense for me to continue posting here. Today, I want to talk about gluten-free and/or GAPS and/or paleo and/or low-carb baking.

Generally, I have decided not to post recipes as... well, Google and you can find a bazillion of them. I have decided instead to post tips about food, and only my really, really best recipes.

I'm a tad lazy generally about baking. I have done a lot of ordinary baking for my husband and before that my daughter, things like pumpkin pecan bread, banana walnut bread, oatmeal raisin cookies, zucchini cake and carrot cake. I've done it for several reasons, first to limit the sugar used compared to bought bakery products, second to avoid the inflammatory oils by using coconut oil or butter, and finally because my baking usually has a large dose of fruit or vegetable in it, thus has redeeming qualities not found in Twinkies.

For myself, I don't care about these foods much. I have a very minor sweet tooth. My issues with limiting carbohydrate have always had more to do with starchy foods; I'd rather have a pizza than a cake, I crave pasta not chocolate. And if I have to provide sweetness for myself, the laziness kicks in and I'd rather dessert be a bowl of yogurt with some honey stirred in or a handful of berries with some cream.

Overall, the experimenting I have done with more healthy baking has had a great deal more to do with savory baking than sweet. I'd like something to make sandwiches with, or to dip in the yolks of my soft-boiled eggs. I have developed three recipes I really like for savory breads: a corn bread, a cheese roll (from tapioca flour) and a nacho cracker, which I'll post about later. Today, it will be muffins (but includes a savory bacon & cheese muffin!)

When first introduced to the world of gluten-free baking, I just found the whole idea a tad overwhelming in that there seem to be entirely too many flours involved. Recipes that have THAT many unfamiliar ingredients are just too much for me. I don't want to buy teff flour and sorghum flour and xanthum gum and am entirely too lazy to mix 4 or 5 flours just to wind up with flour. I admire those who do this sort of baking for their families, but I'm just not interested myself.

But I have done a good bit of baking with almond flour and coconut flour over the years and have developed some opinions about them - and handful of truly awesome recipes.

Italian sausage soup

Italian Sausage Braising in Beer by wickenden, on Flickr

I've not been posting here for two reasons; first, I'm no longer on GAPS, except in the sense that transitioning off GAPS is a move towards regular Traditional Food. And second, I've just been busy and distracted.

However, I made up a batch of Italian sausage soup today, and thought it was worth sharing the recipe since it is legal on full GAPS, assuming you use a legal Italian sausage.

Alternatively, you can mix up a legal sausage yourself. Sweet or mild Italian sausage is ground pork, fennel and salt and pepper. If your pork is lean, you could fry this up in lard or coconut oil. If you prefer hot Italian sausage, it's the same ingredients with some crushed red pepper added.

The soup itself is adapted from a recipe I originally got off the alt.support.diet.low-carb Usenet group many years ago. Basically, it is cooking several pounds of vegetables in such a manner that it all is flavored yummily with Italian sausage. It's been one of my absolute favorites for years.

pico de gallo & guacamole

Pico de gallo by nonelvis, on Flickr

I was on the phone with my daughter recently and promised to get this recipe to her.

Using guacamole as a sandwich topping has been one of the most useful ways for me to get a bunch of veggies in my husband nearly daily.

I make pico de gallo once a week, then daily mix up some fresh guacamole to put in his lunch.

yogurt

Yogurt by Mom the Barbarian, on Flickr

The whey from yogurt is a stage 1 food; yogurt itself is a Full Gaps food.

The big difference in making GAPS-style yogurt is that it needs to be cultured for 24 hours to be sure all the lactose is broken down. I expect this also increases the probiotics quite a bit also. And I'd expect the yogurt to be more tart.

My "normal" crockpot method doesn't work anymore because the milk doesn't stay warm enough long enough.