Grain Free Meal Plans

Link: Grain Free Meal Plans | Health, Home, & Happiness

Cara's Grain Free Berry Scones

As you know, we are going gluten free. Things are going well enough that I hope that it will become a permanent thing around here. At Health, Home &Happiness, Cara has prepared a grain free meal plan offered as a weekly mailer by subscription! She wanted an easier way for families to become grain free since it helped her daughter with learning and developmental delays.

From her site:

Grain Free Meal Plans, a menu subscription service, includes:

• Menu plans for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, plus snacks and sweets
• Kid-tested recipes
• Complete shopping lists

Meals are based on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet and Specific Carbohydrate Diet diets.

The recipes serve a family of four, but can easily be halved or doubled as needed.

Members only forum to discuss going and being Grain Free.

Special introductory price of only $16 a month or $130 for a year!

I am seriously considering signing up! She offers a sample plan that looks really good. I don't know if my kids would go for everything on it...but it's worth a try :). If this is something of interest to you, check it out!!

Cauliflower Pizza

This has generated a lot of interest on Facebook, where I mentioned in a few places that I got the kids to try it and they liked it (well, Shaylee really liked it, Ethan said he could taste the cauliflower but that is probably only because he knew it was in there).  Mark thought it was way better than the traditional crust pizza I also made.  I admit I snuck a bite to compare and he was right.  The flour (well, whole wheat and spelt) crust was bland and it was the pizza Shaylee put together so there wasn't much sauce on it, so it was kind of dry.

I used to make this before when I was low carbing.  I heard there is a similar recipe on the Dr. Oz site but it has little cheese and it is a low fat one at that.  You need fat, baby!    Cleochatra from  Low Carb Friends was the one who first came up with the recipe and shared it with the world.  It caught on like wildfire because it was good, gluten free, it was the perfect neutral base for pizza, it was very low in carbs (suitable for induction for those on Atkins) and what isn't there to love about a good tasting pizza that has a vegetable for its base!  If you get the excess moisture out of the cauliflower, you will be able to pick it up and eat it like pizza (sometimes even if you don't).

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

• 1 cup cooked, mashed cauliflower (make sure it isn't too watery; it doesn't have to be packed down)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• italian spice to taste (I usually don't bother)

Mix well and pat into a pizza pan.  I usually cover with parchment paper to make for easier removal otherwise you should grease the pan.  It will cover a 12 inch pan  just pat it down well and make sure it is thin and even.  

Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes or until it is golden brown.  

Take it out of the oven, cover in sauce and top how you like (meat, veggies, cheese, ect... make sure there is nothing that needs cooking, like meat as it is not in there long enough to cook the second time around).  Put it back in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted.  

Remove, let sit about 5 minutes, slice and eat!!  Yum yum!  It's even good cold, as I am experiencing right now.  

I also made garlic fingers but they weren't as good.  I just put some garlicy butter and cheese on top before the second bake.  I used granules so real garlic would of been better as would the addition of bacon!

This would make a very good freezer meal.  I used to make the crusts and freeze them so they would be ready to top when I wanted pizza.  Cauliflower is only $1.99 this week at Sobeys so I bought three mainly for this reason.  I may have to buy more!  I plan to cook it and freeze in one cup portions as it is also good for other recipes, as I will soon share :)

Coconut flour & phytic acid | Phytic Acid: Tips for consumers from food science.

Link: Coconut flour & phytic acid

This is something that I have wondered about, does coconut flour need to be soaked? Is there phytic acid in it? Well, there appears to be a small amount and there isn't enough to be concerned about, which is of relief to me.

I am planning this week to go back to grain free/low-ish carb/gluten free/whatever. Eating healthy isn't good if I'm sneaking cookies every time I walk by them. Not healthy cookies but the Oreos and Fudgeos that we got for 99 cents a box. I notice I am not feeling as well as I should and there is a reason I am craving this junk. So tomorrow I am cutting it out. I don't know what to call it since I will still have technical grains but I will be avoiding flour based foods and if I need something, I will make it out of coconut flour. It's not really low carb as I'm not restricting starchy veggies and it's not entirely gluten free. I'm doing my own thing...traditionally! Nourishing my body. Healing.

So now that I know coconut flour is a good choice, I will have more options. Plus many recipes only call for a very small amount and lots of eggs, a good way to get those nourishing yummies in your tummy :).

I will still be soaking for the family and will NOT be buying any more junk. Mark brought the kids to a fun fair Saturday and they had candy and candy apples. Well, Ethan was literally bouncing off the wall, just totally unable to stop moving (he even said he didn't know why he couldn't stop). I know it's primarily because of the candy apple and all that red dye 40. It doesn't affect Shaylee the same way, thank goodness, but I know I should be more careful with both of them regardless as they are toxic! It really made me really sure about abolishing the artificial stuff in our diets, especially food colouring. But by golly, it sure is hard, especially around Halloween and with Christmas on the way!