Tag: Paleo

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Grain-Free Granola Recipe

A favorite breakfast of mine, growing up, was cereal and milk.  Through my stomach healing journey, I gave up all of my favorite cereals and granolas.  I tried granola recipes made with nuts and coconut flakes.  My body didn’t tolerate them very well.

I decided I can’t tolerate honey or maple syrup.  I can tolerate date syrup.  I created a granola recipe using date syrup instead of honey and maple syrup.

My favorite date syrup is Date Lady date syrup.

The kitchen smells so good, when the granola is cooling, my family has been known to eat it from the baking sheet.  You will want to bag this up as soon as you can.

Grain-Free Granola Recipe

  • 3 cups coconut chips
  • 2 cups nuts (walnuts, macadamias, pine nuts, cashews, pecans)
  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • 3/8 cup date syrup (Date Lady Date Syrup)
  • 1 ½ t vanilla
  • 1 ½ t cinnamon
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a large mixing bowl add the coconut chips and nuts 
  3. Place parchment paper on large baking sheet
  4. Stir together until mixed
  5. In a small saucepan, over low medium heat, melt the coconut oil.
  6. Stir in the date syrup.
  7. Continue stirring until it boils.
  8. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.
  9. Pour over the coconut and nuts mixture.
  10. Stir until the nut mixture is coated with caramel mixture.
  11. Pour the mixture on to the baking sheet.
  12. Press it down into one layer on the baking sheet.
  13. Put in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Stir halfway through.
  14. Take out of the oven and stir again.  Let the granola cool.
  15. Use a spatula to break the granola into bite size parts.  
  16. Put the granola in a large baggie.
  17. Keep in the refrigerator.
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Gravy Recipe

My Mom’s homemade turkey gravy recipe is the best I have ever tasted.  She never wrote it down of course. She was always in charge of making the turkey gravy at her house and later, when I took over the cooking, at my house.  It was always perfect.  No lumps of flour, smooth, and always delicious.  She told me her father taught her how to make the gravy.  He said you could never have too much salt and pepper in the gravy.

The gravy is an important side for our Thanksgiving Dinner.  When I learned I could no longer eat my Mom’s signature gravy, I researched and tested gluten free gravy recipes.  After several tries, I settled on a coconut flour recipe.  The flavor was similar to Mom’s.  The consistency was a little grainy but I liked flavor.  

We didn’t keep the leftover gravy.  It would get really grainy the next day.  We would throw the rest away by the second day.

I made a chicken soup recipe from a whole 30 blog.  My family and I loved it.  It was so creamy and had a great flavor.  It was still creamy the next day.  The recipe called for coconut milk and arrowroot.  I decided I would tweak this recipe to make our turkey gravy.

It works with chicken, turkey, and beef broth.

My sister-in-law, Katie, told me after our Thanksgiving dinner that she couldn’t tell the difference between my gluten-free dinner and the dinners my Mom used to make.  I have been tweaking my Thanksgiving recipes for 6 years now. The new gravy recipe made the difference.

I hope you enjoy this Creamy Turkey Gravy recipe.

Creamy Turkey Gravy

2 Cups of Bone Broth (Turkey, Chicken or Beef)
1 T Nutritional Yeast
¼ t Onion Powder
⅛ Garlic Powder
¾ t Salt
½ t Pepper
1 t Italian Seasoning
1 t Dried Parsley
1 can 13.5 oz Full Fat Coconut Milk( I use Natural Value Organic Coconut Cream)
⅛ c Arrowroot Powder

Pour 2 cups of bone broth in a medium sauce pan.  Bring to a boil. Add the seasonings to the broth.  In a separate bowl mix the coconut milk and the arrowroot powder.  Mix until the coconut milk is smooth.  Pour the milk and arrowroot mixture into the boiling broth and mix until smooth.  The gravy is done when it thickens.  Season with the salt and pepper to taste.

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Grain-Free Garlic Bread

I loved garlic bread.  Well actually, all things garlic.  I loved the texture and crunch of the french bread.  During my quest to heal my stomach, not only did I identify I can’t tolerate grains but I also can’t tolerate garlic.  After I went grain-free, I missed garlic french bread. 

I found that garlic infused oil has great garlic flavor, but doesn’t contain the part of the garlic that I am sensitive to.  My favorite oil is Garlic Gold Oil. I use it as a substitute for garlic. I put it in all recipes that use garlic. I substitute 1 T of Garlic Gold Oil for 1 clove of garlic.  I usually put it in the dish right before I serve it or when I stir fry vegetables, I include 1 T of the Garlic Gold Oil.   

After we found the garlic infused oil was so tasty, my husband experimented with frying grain-free bread in garlic infused oil and ghee to eat with hamburgers.  My family loved them.   

Grain-Free Garlic Bread

  • Grain-free bread slices
  • Ghee
  • Garlic infused olive oil (Garlic Golden Oil)

Brush the ghee/oil mixture on the griddle. Place the bread slices on the mixture. Flip and cook until browned.

They are great as a hamburger bun or crunchy sandwich bread.

For crunchy bread sticks, slice the bread slices into strips, fry them and serve them with guacamole, and other dips.

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Whole Food Diet on a Budget

Eating a whole food diet can be expensive.  I learned some cost saving tricks. With my son in college, my daughter going to college in the fall, my family follows a food budget.  The tricks I learned allow us to eat healthy and stay within the budget.

These tricks can help you eat healthy without busting your budget.  I will post these tricks on this blog to share them with you. My money savings ideas are for Missoula, Montana grocery stores and a couple on-line stores. The concepts can be applied to your town grocery stores. Research your store’s sales and coupon systems and with planning these tools should work anywhere.

Free-range eggs are a big part of my family’s diet.  Our favorite brand cost $5.49 a dozen at most grocery stores in Missoula.  At the Missoula Natural Grocers I signed-up for {N}Power, the in store discounts program.  The free-range eggs through {N}Power pricing are $1.99 per dozen. We usually get 3 dozen a week. That would be $16.47 at most grocery stores.  At Natural Grocers in Missoula, the 3 dozen eggs with the {N}Power program are $5.97. That is a $10.50 savings every week or a $40 savings for our monthly budget.

Saving in areas like this where I can, allows my family to continue eating a whole food diet within our budget.