Onion, Pepper, Broccoli, and Herb Fritatta

photo credit: http://www.comfytummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/breakfast-pie-1.jpg

Onion, Pepper, Broccoli, and Herb Fritatta

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Chop all the vegetables and heat up a cast iron skillet to medium heat.  Grease a glass pie plate with butter or palm shortening or coconut oil and set aside.  Now saute these items together, until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes.


2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Pour the cooked vegetables into the prepared pie plate.  Add all these items to the cast iron pan next, and saute until broccoli is bright green and tender, about 8 minutes.

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Pour this batch of cooked vegetables into the prepared pie plate as well.  Spread around evenly.  Then combine these items in a separate bowl:

8 eggs, whisked
1 cup shredded cheddar
salt and pepper to taste

And pour the egg mixture over the vegetables in the pie plate, making sure they are all covered and with egg (for the most part).

Add more salt, pepper, thyme and basil to taste on top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

How Do I Start GAPS?

I've had a lot of people ask me about how to get started on GAPS now that I have been at it myself for 5 1/2 months. Whoa! That's a long time! Anyways, I wrote an email to my friend, and it turned into this post. Hopefully you will find the links and structure inspiring so that you might take GAPS on for yourself.

GAPS Introduction and How-To

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to staaart! Okay, so first of all here's the basic overview of the diet: GAPS Diet Overview. Now you know where you're going, and it's time to prepare prior to starting Intro Diet:

• buy GAPS books:
• do NOT buy Gut and Psychology Syndrome unless you can afford it no problem and you would like to read it; it's not essential, it's haphazardly written, but it's also very interesting in a rambling kind of way!
• DO buy GAPS Guide by Baden Lashkov, which is much more clearly written, shorter and cheaper :)
• DO buy Internal Bliss, which is a spiral-bound book full of GAPS recipes
• you can buy any or all of these books here more easily (and cheaper!) than on Amazon (which I linked to for review purposes, not price/ease): List of GAPS Books
• buy cod liver oil: Green Pastures Cod Liver Oil
• buy probiotics:
• Bio-Kult is recommended and it really IS awesome; you can buy it here: Bio-Kult Probiotics
• I would recommend buying in bulk since it goes from $42/bottle to $37/bottle.
• The next best probiotic I have found is the Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Probiotics (it says 85 billion live cultures on the bottle), and it's a little cheaper: Garden of Life RAW Probiotics - Women
• find bones/meat using this link: Eat Wild Directory or this link: Grassfed Beef Directory
• find grass-fed beef, lamb (if stuck, Whole Foods has them, but they are pricey)
• find pastured chickens (Whole Foods has a decent price on pastured chickens: the Mary's Air Chilled Pastured chickens; buy in a "box" and they will give you 10% off)
• find wild seafood (this is easy to find, but harder to find with bones; try Asian markets)
• make bone broth ahead of time, store in freezer (make sure to store in large glass jars or safe plastic like polypropylene)
• recipes for broth, beef, chicken, fish (including quick fish stock): Broth is Beautiful
• buy/make sauerkraut, pickles, other fermented veggies
• Bubbie's brand is made the old-fashioned way with salt, which means it's raw, probiotic, and needs to be refrigerated; I get mine through my monthly order at Azure Standard: Azure Standard
• how to make sauerkraut: Old-Fashioned Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut
• how to make kimchi: Kimchi: Korean Sauerkraut
• how to make lots of sauerkraut juice: Is Sauerkraut Juice The New Gatorade?
• how to make dilly carrot sticks: Lacto-Fermented Dilly Carrot Sticks
• how to make pickles: Lacto-Fermented Dill Pickles OR Sour Pickles
• how to make Moroccan preserved lemons: Morrocan Preserved Lemons
• find good local eggs: How To Buy Eggs
• ask if their chickens eat soy, you do NOT want soy in the feed
• ask if their chickens eat bugs outside in the sun, since this produces dark yolks full of vitamin D and other nutrients
• you may pay $5/dozen at farmer's markets, but people with backyard chickens tend to charge around $3/dozen, so keep your ears open for those opportunities
• find raw dairy: Where To Get Real Milk
• how to make raw milk yogurt:
• buy some store whole milk organic yogurt and put 1-2 tablespoons in a quart mason jar and fill with raw milk, stir, cover with a cloth, and let sit at room temperature (around 85 degrees) for at least 24 hours; then you have yogurt!
• OR you can make your own starter and then make raw milk yogurt from that; here's a how-to: GAPS Yogurt OR Homemade Yogurt
• OR you can simply buy and use Strauss, Humboldt or Trader Joe's yogurts; make sure they are whole milk, organic, plain, and have a long list of different strains of bacteria in them (the longer the list the better!)
• how to make sour cream:
• recipe:
• OR buy Daisy brand or any other sour cream that has only the ingredients: cream, milk, culture, salt (no skim milk, no milk powder, no thickeners)
• how to make whey (from raw milk, yogurt, etc.): How To Make Whey
• how to make ghee: How To Make Ghee
• use Kerrygold or Humboldt butter (they are grass-fed), or other grass-fed butters you might find in your area
• find raw cheese:
• there are raw, grass-fed cheeses on Azure Standard
• Rumiano is a grass-fed brand
• Tillamook is grass-fed MOST of the time if you are in a bind (it's also not raw)
• Organic Valley is raw, but I don't know if they are grass-fed
• Trader Joe's carries some grass-fed cheeses
• soak and dehydrate nuts for later in Intro Diet
• How to soak: Soaking Nuts
• then dehydrate out in the sun or in a dehydrator until crisp again
• to use as "flour" just grind up in a food processor
• find coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut shreds (unsweetened): all available at Azure Standard
• virgin coconut oil tastes and smells like coconut, whereas the expeller-pressed kind has no flavor or taste
• coconut flour is VERY handy for making treats, but has a lot of fiber so eat carefully
• coconut shreds are tasty and filling, plus you can add them to yogurt bowls and things like that
• make water kefir, milk kefir, or kombucha (all are allowed):
• how to make water kefir: Homemade Soda Pop With Kefir Grains
• how to make coconut water kefir: How To Make Young Coconut Water Kefir
• how to make milk kefir: How To Make Milk Kefir
• how to make kombucha: How To Make Kombucha
• where to buy water kefir grains, milk kefir grains and kombucha mushrooms: Cultures For Health

Okay, now you're ready to start.  You should have a fridge/freezer full of stock, yogurt, sauerkraut, whey, eggs, veggies, grass-fed meats, ghee and such (eventually in stage 6 of Intro Diet you can add nuts and fruit)
Below is a Google doc with all my recipes in it, both for Intro Diet and Full GAPS Diet.  It's a work in progress because I haven't transferred all the recipes over, plus I'm always finding new ones.  Feel free to check it out, and add more links in comments if you have them!

• List of GAPS Recipes

Also, I have two additional Google docs that go into more depth with real food and candida, both of which are very helpful:

• Real Food Basics: An Overview
• Candida, Sugar and Detoxing

I hope this helps (and doesn't overwhelm!) you as you get started.  I'm so excited to help you transition into this!

Peanut Butter Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (GAPS, grain-free)

I saw this recipe on Grain-Free Foodies and was inspired to make a chocolate-peanut butter version for my GAPS dessert quota.  They came out so beautifully!  I would even make these for company, kind of like the Lemon Curd Bars that even "regular" people like.  I tend to worry about my taste buds these days, since having been on GAPS and real food for so long I don't need as much sweetener in my desserts.  But really, these brownies are good enough for anyone to like, even if they aren't a fellow GAPSter.

Chocolate-Frosted Peanut Butter Brownies

2 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup raw honey
4 eggs
3/4 tsp. baking soda--optional, do not use if on GAPS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine all ingredients together with a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, until the batter is well-mixed, glossy and slightly stiff.  However, do not beat too long!  If it's too stiff, then the brownies will be tough.
2.  Butter a 10x15 glass pyrex pan very generously.  Pour batter into the pan, spreading out with a spatula.  If this doesn't work, get your fingers wet with water and press into an even layer.
3.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and set in the middle.
4.  Let cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks grass-fed butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup raw honey

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. vanilla

1.  Put butter and honey into a bowl on your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk at a high speed for 3-5 minutes until well-combined and light colored.  Turn mixer off and add cocoa powder and vanilla.  Start mixer slow until combined, then whisk on high for another 3-5 minutes.  Turn off, scrape down the sides of the bowl and combine by hand.  

2.  Chill entire bowl and whisk attachment in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Remove and whisk once more for 3-5 minutes.  Use to frost immediately.  Store leftover frosting in the fridge.

Daughters of Mormonism Podcast: Gender Bias in the Book of Mormon

For the last three days I have been listening to the Daughter of Mormonism podcast, one after another.  I have been blown away by how much I love this podcast, perhaps because I consider myself "over" a lot of the issues that are raised in some of the episodes.  I was particularly struck by this feeling as I listened to the third episode called "Gender Bias in the Book of Mormon".


I was surprised by the strong emotional reaction I had as I listened to this episode.  I have given up on believing in a literal translation  of the Book of Mormon, so why would I care about whether or not there are as many "he" references as "she" in the text?  It turns out that I still care an awful lot.  The Book of Mormon and it's portrayal of men and women were a major part of my childhood, affecting the way I thought about myself and where I fit in in the grand scheme of things.


I was the kind of believer growing up who would have denied that gender bias made a difference to me.  It could have been because I was young, or I just didn't see the impact, or that I could sense that admitting that would be something you might say if you didn't have faith.  But ultimately, as is the case with feminism and sexism in general, once you see it you can't "un-see" it.  A friend of mine once put it this way, to quell fears of those who say feminism is unrealistic because feminists see it everywhere: "I see it everywhere, but it isn't the only thing I see".  That really resonates with me.


I realize now the damage that gender bias in the Book of Mormon has done in my life.  The great and abominable church, the daughters of Zion, and the gates of hell are all "she" and "her" in the BoM passages Sybil read in the podcast.  It became a burden I was used to, to "take the extra step".  I took the extra step to change all the words he to she, him to her, men to women.  I took the extra step to tell myself that I mattered even though the scriptures forgot to mention my sex.  I took the extra step to excuse the men over the pulpit who forgot me, to tell myself that they didn't mean it and I was actually included.  I took the extra step to fit myself back into a structure that was made for men, over and over again.


I accepted it because I didn't know any better.  But that doesn't mean that I didn't want something better, even back then.  And it certainly doesn't mean that I accept this now, not when I have done so much work to value myself as a whole person. I am deserving of, yes, even my own pronouns!  At the very least my own pronouns.


It is similar to the damage done by being taught and believing that the greatest deity is male, God the Father.  Mormonism's redeeming quality here is that we believe in a Heavenly Mother, but it doesn't do all that much since she is essentially silent and absent.  It wasn't enough for me to simply knew that she existed.  I wanted a female god to relate to, to imagine myself being!  And for that matter I wanted to have female scripture heroes, female General Authorities to emulate and revere, and women in my local ward who had real power and influence.


It's taken me a long time to admit how I was affected by this one specific part of Mormonism.  How did you feel while you were growing up in the Mormon faith, as a female reading these gender messages in the Book of Mormon?  Can you look back now and see more clearly how it affected you?


(cross-posted at The Exponent)

GAPS Chocolate Nut Bars and Coconut Lemon Bars

Oh boy are these good!  I based them off the wrapper of the Chocolate Coconut Chew Larabar I ate earlier yesterday, using this recipe as a template from Wardeh over at GNOWFGLINS.  I made a double batch and pressed them into a 9x13 pan and they fit perfectly.

These bars are great because they are high in protein, the only sugars are from the dried fruit, and they are made with organic items.   The nuts called for have been soaked in salty water and dehydrated to reduce enzyme inhibitors.  This is also a raw and GAPS friendly recipe, not to mention portable and relatively easy to make in bulk.  I haven't priced it out, but I am also pretty sure that my homemade bars are cheaper than the individual price of a Larabar at $1.29 at Trader Joe's and $1.49 at Whole Foods.  But that's not to say that they aren't worth it, because I am known to buy a box of 12 bars at Whole Foods upon occasion!

Chocolate Nut Bars

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup dried figs

1/2 cup raisins

3 T cocoa powder

large pinch of coarse sea salt

3/4 cup soaked and dehydrated almonds

3/4 cup soaked and dehydrated walnuts

scant 1/4 cup cocoa powder

scant 1/4 cup shredded coconut

approx. 2 T. expeller-pressed coconut oil

approx. 2 T. filtered water

1.  Put dates, figs, raisins, 3 T cocoa powder and salt into a food processor and process until it turns into a paste and forms a ball.  It should take a few minutes, and may require you to hold your food processor down firmly for the first minute or so!

2.  Remove ball of paste and set aside in a bowl.  Add almonds and walnuts to the food processor and process until a fine nut meal forms (don't go too long or you will have almond-walnut butter).  

3.  Turn off and add the ball of fruit paste back in, pinching into smaller pieces to ease the mixing process.  Add remaining cocoa powder and coconut and process until 

it makes a dry paste that you can press into a glass pan.  If needed, add a little coconut oil and water to moisten, about 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

Coconut Lemon Bars

1 cup dates

1/2 cup dried figs

1/2 cup raisins

2 T. shredded coconut

large pinch of sea salt

3/4 cup soaked and dehydrated almonds

3/4 cup soaked and dehydrated walnuts

scant 1/2 cup cocoa powder

juice of 3 lemons

approx. 2 T. expeller-pressed coconut oil

approx. 2 T. filtered water

1.  Put dates, figs, raisins, 3 T. shredded coconut and salt into a food processor and process until it turns into a paste and forms a ball.  It should take a few minutes, and may require you to hold your food processor down firmly for the first minute or so!

2.  Remove ball of paste and set aside in a bowl.  Add almonds and walnuts to the food processor and process until a fine nut meal forms (don't go too long or you will have almond-walnut butter).  

3.  Turn off and add the ball of fruit paste back in, pinching into smaller pieces to ease the mixing process.  Add remaining shredded coconut and lemon juice and process until it makes a dry paste that you can press into a glass pan.  If needed, add a little coconut oil and water to moisten, about 1/2 teaspoon at a time.