Spaghetti squash lasagna

I should clarify this recipe is not GAPS legal but my family was absolutely craving real lasagna. Unfortunately, we just can't have it so I threw this together. And I have to tell you it was amazingly delicious and a winner and in house from now on. Though, if we wanted more than once every now and then I have to Do some tweaking to make it GAPS legal. So here's the recipe with  not the exact measurements but you'll get it! And I encourage you to be creative with this recipe and make it your own! 

Ingredients:

One large spaghetti squash 

1 pound of ground beef

1 cup of dry white wine

Olive oil 

1 small can of tomato paste 

1 can of diced tomatoes 

1 can of tomato sauce

Powder garlic

Powder onion 

basil 

oregano 

Bay leaves

1 large Onion

1 bell pepper 

Minced garlic to your liking

 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

3 cups of mozzarella or any type of cheese

16 ounces of ricotta or farmer's cheese

1 large egg 

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

 Set your oven to 400°. Slice the large spaghetti squash in half longways and deseed it. Pour the 1/2 of white wine into a 9 x 13 pan.  Season the inside of spaghetti squash with salt and pepper, Powdered garlic ,powder onion, basil ,and oregano. Place the squash inside down into the white wine and cover with foil And place into the 400° oven for about 30 minutes or until the outside of the squash becomes soft. Once it has become soft and golden brown take out of the pan and set so it may cool completely. While your  squash is cooling make the sauce.  Turn your oven down to 375°.

Put your olive oil or any other fat into The bottom of this large saucepan so that your ground meat will not stick. Browned meat and season with salt and pepper and minced garlic .Once your meat has become brown add your large diced onion and diced bell pepper and sliced mushrooms. You may pour out the excessive fat at this point if you choose. This is when I like to add my oregano and basil and bay leaf.  Once your onions Becomes translucent then add your tomato paste.  I allow my tomato paste to get a little brown so that it turns rich in flavor.  Add your can of diced tomatoes and add your add your tomato sauce and let come to a boil. put lid on and turn it down to simmer. I like to simmer for about 20 minutes. 

 Now That your squash has become completely cool go ahead and take it out of the skin. Add it directly into the sauce in the sauce pan Stirring very , very gently. This is where I add in the half cup of Parmesan cheese so that it becomes a bit thicker. 

To make the ricotta filling you want to add the whole 16 ounces of ricotta cheese or farmers cheese into a bowl add one large egg and one cup of mozzarella or any other cheese Sprinkle with a little bit of oregano, basil, salt and pepper and mix well. 

Now is time to Layer it! 

Place a little bit of olive oil into the 9 x 13 pan. Ladle and half of the spaghetti squash and sauce mixture. Then make a layer of ricotta cheese. Then ladle the remaining half of spaghetti sauce mixture on top of that. I placed it into 375° oven uncovered for about 25 minutes. Then I  took out and covered the top with 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and placed it back into the oven until it became nice  and golden brown.  What is become golden brown take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 25 minutes so that it can set. 

Now Admit this meal takes a lot of time to make! But it's very delicious and well worth it! If you make it ,tell me how it turns out! I would love to hear if You modify in any way like I said be creative! 

Happy Thursday y'all! 

Intro is not going to fun

Well I've been putting an off for long enough. But it's time to do intro. I really don't want to do intro. it sounds absolutely horrible but it absolutely 100% needs to be done after this week.

 Last week was Fourth of July and with Fourth of July comes barbecues and parties. There for a few more slipups than I would like to admit. This goes for me too. I've been feeling absolutely horrible my stomach felt like there's been nothing but glass in my intestines and my IBS is back. I've been having difficulty waking up and keeping my energy through the day. My son's temperament has been violent, His tics are in full swing and he's been extremely defiant. He also refuses to eat anything except for crap. 

So here we are we are,doing intro it's going to be much longer than one wants to eat boiled meats and vegetables in a brothy soup but that's what we'll be eating , adding foods to our diet very slowly making sure we are not having any reactions to the foods. 

So wish me luck and send me encouragement! 

Chicken broth cooking. It has 20 more hours to cook...

Honey Peanut Butter Chocolate (white bean) Cake

  I was craving chocolate cake.  Actually , it was more like " someone's gonna get hurt if I don't get chocolate cake!"     so, I made one out of the ingredients I had on hand. I was pleasantly surprised of its cake like texture and chocolaty taste. I took it to a family get together and it was completely devoured ! No one believed that it was a healthy cake!  The best part about this cake is that it’s totally budget-friendly. It’s basically beans, eggs, and cocoa. 

Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from a recipe at healthy indulgences

Cake Ingredients:
 1 1/2 cup cooked cooked navy beans
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR coconut oil
 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons honey + 1/2 teaspoon stevia extract

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Honey Peanut Butter Icing:

1 stick of softened unsalted butter

1 cup of natural peanut butter ( I used crunchy)

1/4 cup of honey

1 tablespoons of pure maple syrup ( optional)

Preparation:
  (This recipe is for one layer of a 9" round cake. I ended up cutting it in to two layers. Next time I will double the recipe to have a full size cake of a two layer 9" rounds)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.   grease the 9" pan with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then wwith parchment lightly.

Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia and salt into blender Blend of food processor. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat room temperature butter with honey until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder, and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes minutes of cooling, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome. For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving.

Icing preparation:
Place all ingredients in mixer on high until it whips up . It takes about 3 minutes. You may need to chill it a bit if it seems runny. Then smooth over cake and  BAM!  You have chocolate peanut butter GAPS cake!

Spicy cowboy Chipotle roast

Okay, okay! so many of you have asked for this recipe so here it is! This recipe is my modification of the Pioneer Woman's recipe for Chipotle roast.
What you will need is:
1 roast
5 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Beef bone broth to cover the bottom of the crock pot
One can of diced tomatoes with chillies
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 large onion
Bay leafs
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon of cumin powder
1 teaspoon of chili powder

I stab the roast with a sharp knife  to create holes to place the garlic cloves in them. You may have to slice a garlic cloves in half and create more holes. Then give the roast a rub with salt and pepper in place into the crock pot. I add some bone broth to the bottom of the crock pot. Probably about an inch or so. add honey. add one large chopped onion. your can of undraind diced tomatoes with chillies, chili powder, cumin power,bay leafs, and 2 of the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
You can add more or less if any of these ingredients to your likeing. Place it in crock pot on low for 8 hours .

For the cauliflower chedder "grits"... you will need:
1/2 of onion
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2  stick of butter
4 ounces of cream cheese or strained yogurt or sour cream
1 cup of bone broth
1 cup of cream or half and half
1 head of cauliflower
2 cups of cheddar cheese

The following is to taste:

Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
chili powder
Cumin powder

Cut the head of cauliflower and place it in a food processor pulsing it down into it looks like the texture of grits. set aside

The large pot meltdown your butter. saute your finely chops onions and bell peppers in your melted butter. Add your bone broth and cream cheese ( or strained yogurt or sour cream) allow it to melt together. add your cream or half-and-half. Then and your seasonings to taste. I generally doabout 1/4 of a teaspoon each. as you begin to see that your liquid is heating up really well go ahead in and the two cups of Cheddar cheese. Stir continuously until it boils and cheese melts into a sauce. At this point you want to add your cauliflower and cook for about 5 (more or less) minutes. you want your Cauliflower to not be raw but you don't want it to be super soft. you want to have a really nice texture.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Sweet Chipotle carrot fries

Absolutely love sweet potato Chipotle fries! Man, I had a craving for them last night! So I made the same thing but with carrots! To my surprise they tasted exactly like sweet Chipotle fries! Only the texture was different because it was carrots and not potatoes .
  it tastes amazing it's super easy!
I took about six to eight carrots and slice into little sticks, about the shape of fries.
I tossed them in olive oil with a good sprinkle of Mrs.Dash Chipotle Southwest seasoning, a good sprinkle of cinnamon, and salt & pepper to taste. The last thing I did before I popped it into the oven is I put a couple pats of butter on top.
I then placed the carrots onto a cookie sheet and bake them at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until crisp and golden brown.

They will come out super sweet with the kick of heat!
-Happy Tuesday!

Avocado pudding

Who doesn't like chocolate pudding? No one!
We make a great chocolate pudding thats not only amazingly tasty but healthy for you too. So healthy you can eat it for breakfast! What ? that's crazy! But its true!
Ingredients are
1 ripe avocado
honey to taste
A tablespoon of coconut oil
A sprinkle of vanilla extract
A tablespoon of bone broth ( optional)
Cocoa powder as little or as much as you like!
Just enough coconut milk how to make it smooth.

Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor except for the coconut milk. When you turn on the blender or food processor add the coconut milk until it reaches a  consistency that you enjoy.
And there you have it folks!

The beginning

"This is going to be a complete failure!" I say over myself.
But I'm tired! I'm really ,really tired! Tired of a constant struggle between wanting so much more of a whole  life for my family and the hustle and bustle of our culture. It's a tough world out there! A world in which we suffer physically and psychologically. 
This blog is going to be a journal. A chronological input of the improvements, my frustrations, and hard work that's going to go into this diet  lifestyle.

Niko will be turning six next year. I can hardly believe it that he is 5 years old. It's been a hard 5 years not only for him having developmental delays and sensory processing disorder but, me too with the history of depression. However, I am healed of my depression, I feel it lurking within me waiting to attack at any moment of weakness. Top of that, our family has a history in digestive disorders!  It would be silly and almost unethical , neglect if you will to continue allowing my family to ingest the foods that our society claims to be safe. Clearly they are harming us.   Not only harming but they're damaging us!
So after the research that I've completed , is that the GAPS diet is the best way for my family to get some healing.
We have been on full gaps for about 3 weeks as I complete the book. And I can already tell you I'm seeing major improvements and my son. And not only improvement in him, but I'm actually able to see which foods disrupt our internal self.

I really hope that this blog is is a reminder of what good things to come. I hope it can accurately describe the changes that I'm seeing. I hope its used for constant encouragement to me at times where is really hard. 
And of course, I'll post the recipes with reviews on how my family like them.
I hope everyone will stay with me on this journey. Don't have expectations of post everyday because Lord knows I don't have the time to do that! But ,I will try is often as I can!

 I feel like this is a new beginning for a family. I feel like God is really called me to serve in my kitchen right now and I'm looking forward to what comes out of it...on plates and in my family.
Happy Monday y'all!