Category Archives: Breakfasts

Gluten free, dairy free, paleo, sugar free, grain free breakfasts

Chocolate Smoothie (with hidden spinach!)

| 2 Comments | Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, In The Kitchen, Recipes

Chocolate SmoothieAh the smoothie. The breakfast that always sits on a pedestal. Even if it’s full of crappy ingredients, the word “smoothie” always brings to mind healthy, fit individuals. Is that legit? Well, in some cases maybe – so let’s sort out all the info.

Benefits of Smoothies

  1. Fast.
  2. Can be made ahead.
  3. Easy way to get additional fruit and veggies in.
  4. You can sneak in super foods like collagen and any supplements you might want.
  5. If you’re dealing with major digestive distress, smoothies can be helpful because less digestive function is required. 
  6. Helps people shift away from the traditional North American breakfasts of refined grains on sugar on pasteurized dairy.
  7. Great for the whole family (bonus if you have a large blender, you can make everyone’s at once!).
  8. Great to send in kids lunches (especially in lieu of crappy yogurt drinks).

Downsides of Smoothies 

  1. Some people don’t register the liquid calories in a smoothie as a meal, so it can leave them feeling hungry.
  2. By not chewing food, you fail to start the digestion pathway. Chewing is essential in releasing amylase in your saliva and triggering the stomach to start secreting stomach acid. 
  3. Smoothies allow you to eat standing up or on the run, which does not allow you to get into proper rest and digest mode. This means you won’t digest your food properly, which can lead to nutrient malabsorption and gut problems like dysbiosis and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. 
  4. Most people do not design them properly! I usually see smoothies fall into one of the following categories:
    1. All fruit + water/almond milk. The problem with this is you’re getting a massive hit of sugar, with no fat or protein to sustain you. You’ll burn through that smoothie in 90 minutes or less, storing much of the sugar as body fat, and then be reaching for a snack.
    2. Protein + water. This combination is way too low calorie to be a meal. At 100-120 calories, heck it’s barely a snack! The only time this is appropriate is if you need a post-workout protein hit. But even then, it should contain carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen.
    3. Crappy protein powders. So many proteins contain fake junk. Ingredients like artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium), food dyes and artificial flavours should be avoided at all cost. Whey protein, while ideal from a bioavailability standpoint, can cause problems in the large percentage of the population that has trouble tolerating dairy. And plant-based proteins are often primarily pea protein, which is a poor quality protein that is notorious for causing major gut irritation.
    4. Random, unnecessary ingredients. So I pretty much added this bullet to address flax. Both the seeds and the oils are completely unnecessary and yet so many people add them to their smoothies! What’s your reasoning for adding flax? Here are the 3 common ones I hear all the time:
      1. Chocolate Smoothie (with hidden spinach!) | dairy free, vegan, paleo | AmandaNaturally.comOmega-3’s! I hate to break it to you, but the type of omega-3 found in flax seed is ALA and unfortunately, that’s not the form our bodies need. We need EPA and DHA. Sure we can convert some ALA to the usable forms, but at the rate of 0.5-2%. So yeah, not very efficient. One bite of salmon gives you the same amount of omega-3’s as a whole whack of flax.
      2. It keeps me regular! Then you have a GI issue that you need to work on. If flax seeds are keeping you regular, it might be that you’re not getting enough fibre. Add spinach, berries, apples, pears, pumpkin, sweet potato etc. to your diet and get back to me! Not working? Likely there’s something that is causing constipation (a food allergy, gut overgrowth, poor digestive function).
      3. They’re so healthy! Well that’s debatable. They’re not a great source of omega-3’s, the fibre can be irritating to the gut in some cases, and most importantly, they’re highly estrogenic. So if there are any hormonal imbalances that need to be addressed, flax shouldn’t be consumed on a regular basis.

So to sum up, if drinking a smoothie is going to prevent you from swinging through Tim’s for a bagel with cream cheese, go for it! Just make sure it’s properly designed (see below). Also, make sure to give yourself 10 minutes to sit, relax and actually enjoy your smoothie – to aid in digestion!

 

Creating an Awesome Smoothie 

So how do you make a smoothie that’s good for you and an actual meal?

Use the following equation:

 

CARBS

fruit and starchy veggies

banana/berry

mango/pineapple

pumpkin puree (for pumpkin pie!)

+

VEGGIES

baby spinach (my preference because it blends easily and doesn’t add any flavour)

cucumber, fresh herbs, kale, celery etc.

+ 

PROTEIN

Grassfed/organic whey protein is the best from a bioavailability standpoint (Prairie Naturals Organic Whey, or New Zealand Whey are my favs).

If you don’t tolerate dairy, my other favourites are Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro, Brown Rice Protein by Prairie Naturals or Sun Warrior and Pumpkin Seed Protein by Omega Alpha.

If you are on an autoimmune protocol, there aren’t any great options for complete proteins. However you can use the Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides. It’s not a complete protein, but 2 scoops gives you 18g of protein AND gut/joint healing awesomeness. So just make sure you eat other quality proteins during the day to balance it out!

+

FAT 

Key to keeping you full! Yes protein helps keep you full, but fat does a much better job.

Plus the body likes to burn fat as fuel, if you let it.

¼ cup canned coconut milk (full fat!)

½ avocado

1-2 tbsp almond butter or other nut butter

¼ cup cashews

+

LIQUID

water

don’t waste your money on almond milk, it’s just expensive white water with no nutritional value, synthetic crappy vitamins and some gut irritants (carrageenan, guar gum)

+

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS

vanilla extract

peppermint extract

sea salt

cocoa powder (carob powder for AIP)

spices (cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice)

chilled coffee or tea

scoop of kefir (coconut or dairy if tolerated)

supplements

collagen protein (not just for the autoimmune protocol! I add a scoop to every smoothie to support my gut & joints. Not to mention support my skin, hair and nails!)

 

Chocolate Smoothie (with hidden spinach!)

This is one of my favourite recipes for sneaking veggies into kids’ breakfasts. Ok if I’m being honest, I fully use this with adults too since many people are weirded out by a green-coloured smoothie (get over it people!). Cocoa covers up the green colour beautifully!

 

Chocolate Smoothie
Serves 1
A dairy-free, well-designed meal that is delicious and manages to hide some veggies!
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Prep Time
2 min
Total Time
2 min
Prep Time
2 min
Total Time
2 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 ripe banana
  2. handful of spinach
  3. 2 tbsp cocoa powder (carob for AIP)
  4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  5. pinch of sea salt
  6. 1-2 scoops protein powder and/or collagen
  7. handful of ice
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients.
  2. Blend and serve!
Notes
  1. 1. This can be made ahead and refrigerated or sent in a lunch box with an ice pack.
  2. 2. Protein powder options are (a) grassfed/organic whey, if dairy is tolerated (b) hemp seed, pumpkin seed or brown rice protein for plant-based options and (c) 2 scoops of Vital Proteins collagen peptides for a super gentle & healing protein or AIP option
  3. 3. Try not to add additional sweetener to this smoothie. It's not a super sweet, chocolatey milkshake, but the flavour is rich. If your kid refuses to eat it, add 1-2 of raw honey or real maple syrup, and over a few weeks reduce the amount until you're not putting in any.
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

 

Instant Pot

| 14 Comments | AIP, Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Kitchen Tutorials, Meals, Recipes

Instant Pot | Favourite Kitchen Gadget | AmandaNaturally.comI’ve had a lot of people recently ask me how I keep bone broth on hand all of the time. This is a totally fair question because in order to get a really nutrient-rich, gelatinous bone broth it needs to cook for a long time. We’re talking 24 hours on the stove top, or 2-4 days in the slow cooker. So how do I do it? Well, I got another gadget. It’s called…

The Instant Pot!

DISCLAIMER: this is not sponsored in anyway. If you click on any links, I may receive a small commission to support my blogging activities, but it does not in any way impact the price of the item, or my opinions on the product. These are my opinions and mine alone! I just want to inform my fellow foodies of fun new gadgets they might enjoy!

 

The Instant Pot

About a year and a half ago I started seeing people in the real food blogosphere posting about this new gadget on instagram. I didn’t really think I needed another gadget, until I heard that it makes bone broth in only 2 hours. I was sold. However, I’m not one to splurge on a big ticket item, so I waited and asked for one for my birthday. Luckily my in-laws are awesome and they made my day by gifting me one!

The 7-in-1

The setting I use for super speedy bone broth, is the pressure cooker setting. I’ve never used a pressure cooker before, and neither did my mom. It doesn’t seem to be a very popular kitchen utensil in the western world – however it is hugely popular throughout Asia and countries that utilize tougher cuts of meat. Prior to the Instant Pot, all I could picture was a pressure cooker exploding in my kitchen – which terrified me. However, the Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker, with pretty much every fail-safe possible to prevent any user error. I have felt extremely confident using it, from the second time onwards! I now use it for making hard boiled eggs (see below), quick stews, homemade yogurt and cooking whole root veggies – fast! It’s probably the most used item in my kitchen right now.

Now, I got the Instant Pot for the pressure cooker / bone broth awesomeness. However, once I was able to play around with it, I learned about all of the other functions!

  1. pressure cooker
  2. slow cooker
  3. rice cooker
  4. saute/browning
  5. yogurt maker
  6. steamer
  7. warmer

Here are my favourite settings:

Saute / Browning Mode

This allows me to brown meat in the bottom of the pot, before either pressure cooking OR slow cooking. While not a huge deal, it does save on dishes by not needing to brown in a separate pan.

Warmer

This is one of my favourite settings. You can cook something on pressure mode for 45 minutes in the middle of the day (or morning, or at bedtime), and as soon as the 45 minutes are up, it will switch over to slow cooker mode, on low. So you don’t have to be in the kitchen an hour before you want dinner prepared. You can throw everything in the pot in the morning, pressure cook it, and let it stay on warming all day.

Steamer

All I can say is – steamed whole sweet potatoes take 15 minutes! Plus time to build up pressure, but again – you can throw them in, press steam and leave them. No need to monitor the oven for 1-2 hours when roasting. This is especially awesome when I want to make a recipe for things like sweet potato biscuits, that calls for steamed, roasted or pureed sweet potato.

Yogurt Maker

Since I don’t tolerate dairy, and the store-bought coconut “yogurts” are full of junk that really bug my gut (guar gum etc), my only option is to make my own. This is something I had always been interested in doing, but never dove into. Once I had this great gadget, I jumped in head first and boy was it a success! If you tolerate cow dairy, or goat dairy, here are a great set of directions for DIYing it. However, if you don’t tolerate milk (like me), full-fat coconut milk can make an awesome yogurt alternative! It’s actually a way simpler recipe, because you don’t need to pasteurize the milk first. See directions below.

Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt

1. Heat 4 cups of full-fat coconut milk (I prefer the Aroy D brand) in a pot, to 110F. Use a candy thermometer, or an electronic meat thermometer ( <– another favourite kitchen gadget). As soon as the temperature hits 110F, pull it off the heat.

2. Immediately whisk in ½ cup of a previous batch of yogurt (you can use dairy if tolerated, store-bought or your previous batch) or 2 packets of Vegan Yogurt Culture (I love the Cultures for Health product, although it does have a bit of rice starch in it – something to note if you’re sensitive or following the AIP protocol). Apparently you can use 2 or 3 probiotic capsules, but I haven’t tried this. (UPDATE: a friend told me she uses ¼ tsp of probiotic powder, or 2-3 capsules, and 1-2 tbsp maple syrup)

3. Whisk in 2 tsp grassfed gelatin. Without this, it won’t thicken. You will still have a yummy, tangy coconut milk, but it will definitely be milk, not yogurt. Apparently you can use agar agar to keep it vegan, but I haven’t tried this since I’m always looking for extra ways to get in gelatin!

4. Pour into jars, or a glass bowl (that fits in the pot), and place in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Secure the lid, press the “yogurt” button, adjust the time to 12 hours and walk away. (NOTE: don’t put the yogurt directly in the Instant Pot. Since it is stainless steel, mine retains a slight hint of what was previously cooked – usually broth. And trust me, broth-flavoured coconut yogurt is not good.)

5. 12 hours later, remove from Instant Pot and store in fridge for a few hours to let set. 

NOTE: if you don’t like really tangy yogurt, start checking the flavour around 8 hours.

 

Favourite Recipes using the Instant Pot

Bone Broth – in only 2 hours!

  • Fill pot with bones.
  • Add in some aromatics (onion ends, smashed garlic) and some bonus nutrients (egg shells, sea weed).
  • Add water until bones are just covered.
  • Add 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
  • Close pot, make sure pressure valve is set to closed and press “Manual”, adjusting the time to 120 minutes.
  • Use slow release method so it doesn’t spray up through the pressure valve!

Hard Boiled Eggs (fool proof, easy to peel – even if truly farm-fresh). This is hands down my favourite way to make HB eggs – nothing else compares!

  • Place as many eggs as you want, on a steamer or the trivet.
  • Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the pot. 
  • Close the lid, make sure the pressure valve is closed.
  • Press “manual” and set for 5 minutes. Let it do its thing. 
  • As soon as it beeps, use the quick release method and dunk the eggs in an ice bath. Once chilled, store in the fridge. (UPDATE: As of May 2016 I no longer do the ice bath. As soon as the eggs are done, back into the carton and in the fridge they go!)

Other Egg Recipes

Baked Sweet Potatoes – you don’t need to wrap in tin foil before, but it will help if serving individually.

Squash – this is great for steamed squash (for soups) or spaghetti squash. However, the squash won’t have that caramelized, roasted taste. So if that’s what you’re going for, use my Squash Tutorial.

  • Slice squash in half, remove the seeds.
  • Place trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Add 1 cup of water.
  • Place squash on top of trivet.
  • Close lid and make sure pressure valve is closed. Set to “Manual” for 5 minutes (for spaghetti, acorn… for a large butternut, you might need to do 7 minutes).
  • Use the “Quick Release” method when the 5 minutes is up!

Instant Stew You can follow these directions, or you can do what I do and put the stewing beef on the bottom, add onions, garlic, quartered potatoes, carrot chunks, a can of tomatoes, 1-2 cups bone broth (cover the food with liquid), sea salt, pepper, bay leaf, oregano. Press “beef/stew” and go.

Nom Nom Paleo (an incredible cook and foodie) is also obsessed with the Instant Pot, and has converted dozens of her slow cooker recipes. Definitely check her out!

Instant Pot Website – hundreds of resources!

Tips and Lessons Learned

  1. Unlike the slow cooker, this loses liquid instead of creating it. So make sure there is enough liquid! 
  2. Time to reach pressure needs to be accounted for. Quick things like eggs take 10 minutes to reach pressure, and then 5 minutes to cook. Sweet potatoes only take 5 minutes. However, larger volumes (like stew or broth) can take up to 20 minutes to reach pressure. If lots of frozen items are going in (like when I make broth), it can take 30+ minutes to reach pressure. Make sure to factor this in!
  3. The quick release valve releases a lot of steam that can burn you if you’re not careful. I always throw a dish towel over it before turning it to release.
  4. If you fill up the pot too far, you can’t use the quick release. It will shoot liquid out of it. Not ideal.
  5. You can only use your previous coconut milk yogurt to inoculate your new batch about 2 or 3 times before the bacterial concentration drops too low. There’s very little sugar in coconut milk, so nothing to feed it once it uses up all the rice starch! You could probably add some rice/potato starch, or cane sugar to further stretch your starter culture, but I haven’t tried this yet.

Plantain Pancakes

| 12 Comments | AIP, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Recipes

Plantain Pancakes | grain free, dairy free | AmandaNaturally.com I used to LOVE pancakes. Seriously love them. I mean come on, refined carbs + sugar + maple syrup – what’s not to love? Interestingly, as I’ve changed how I nourish my body, my palate has also changed pretty dramatically (I say this as I type away while snacking on liver pate…geez, who am I?). Sweet breakfasts simply don’t satisfy me in the mornings anymore. Give me savoury every morning and I’m happy! Well maybe not every morning….

Every so often I still get a craving for pancakes, and since I eat incredibly nourishing food most of the time, I totally give in and enjoy! I’ve tried my fair share of gluten-free and paleo pancake recipes and have a few thoughts about them…

  1. The whole “just mash 1 banana with 2 eggs and fry it – it tastes just like a pancake!” is a flat out lie. It does not taste like a pancake. It tastes like banana-y eggs.
  2. Just because something is gluten-free, does not make it healthy. In fact, when I see “gluten-free” on a packaged product, I run the other direction. Simply using a gluten-free flour in your standard recipe will remove the major gut-irritant (or allergen for some), but it’s still a refined-carb-laden food. You’ll get a massive blood sugar spike, subsequent insulin spike and 1.5 hours later you’ll be starving and/or completely lethargic and ready for a nap. No thanks.
  3. Most “gluten-free” pancake recipes use oat flour, which while technically is gluten-free, both clinically and personally I have found that oats are a no-go until a massive amount of gut healing is done. (FYI 20-25% of certified GF oats are still cross contaminated with gluten)
  4. Most “dairy-free” recipes use margarine – yuck. 
  5. There are many “grain-free” or “paleo” pancake recipes that use lots of arrowroot or tapioca flour. And while these are definitely grain-free, they are still just white flours. I sometimes use these flour, but in very moderate amounts. Not as the main ingredient in a recipe. Again, just because something is “grain-free” does not make it healthy.

Now I’m not saying you can’t enjoy pancakes or waffles with maple syrup! Just know if/how it’s going to impact your body. Flooding my body with refined carbs is not a good scene for me. It results in stomach aches, fatigue and crazy hunger/carb cravings. Not worth it.

So how do I enjoy pancakes then? Well I make sure to use a real food as the main ingredient! There are lots of recipes out there that use pumpkin or sweet potato as the base – which are good – but I love using ripe plantain. The consistency of the pancakes is so similar to what I remember (disclaimer – it has been over 5 years since I’ve had a real pancake, so I may not remember exactly correct…) and the flavour is on point with just a hint of banana.

I usually just use real maple syrup on top and the hubby uses goat butter and maple syrup. However, occasionally I get fancy and make a quick berry-reduction to top the pancakes. Bonus is it further decreases the sugar!

 

Plantain Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup (optional)

1. I love this recipe because it uses real ingredients. The main ingredients are plantains, eggs and coconut. So really it’s just like having eggs and plantains fried in coconut oil! But seriously, real food results in satiety, energy, nutrients, gut-supporting fibre…this list goes on and on!

2. This is what a ripe plantain looks like:

3. This is how you peel a plantain:

4. Patience is key for this recipe. Don’t try to flip too early! There’s no gluten to hold the batter together before it’s cooked, so let it cook! You want it almost fully cooked through before flipping it.

5. Also, don’t increase the heat to have them cook faster. It doesn’t work and they will just burn.

6. Egg-Free option. I have made this recipe using 3 “gelatin-eggs” to be AIP compliant, and it does work pretty well. The consistency isn’t quite right, but it’s still delicious. To make this with gelatin eggs, do the following:

Combine all main ingredients (except for eggs) and blend well.

Mix 3 tbsp gelatin with 3 tbsp luke warm water.

Then add in 6 tbsp boiling water and whisk vigorously.

Add to batter, blend immediately and start cooking!

Plantain Pancakes
Serves 4
A grain-free, dairy-free pancake recipe that uses real food as the main ingredients!
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
30 min
Pancakes
  1. 2 ripe plantains (approximately 3 cups roughly chopped or 2 cups pureed)
  2. 3 eggs
  3. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  4. 1 tbsp maple syrup
  5. 2 tbsp full-fat coconut milk
  6. ¼ cup coconut flour
  7. ½ tsp baking soda
  8. pinch of sea salt
Blueberry Syrup
  1. 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
  2. ¼ cup water
  3. 2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
  1. In a high-powered blender or food processor, blend all ingredients.
  2. Heat a heavy pan over medium heat (medium low if your stove top runs hot!). Add cooking fat if necessary.
  3. If making blueberry syrup, combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat over medium for 15 minutes or until reduced. Stir occasionally.
  4. Pour the batter directly on to the pan, keeping pancakes relatively small - max 3" in diameter!
  5. Wait 3-5 minutes before flipping. You want to cook them most of the way before flipping.
  6. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes or so.
  7. Keep warm in the oven at 250F until the entire batch is done.
Notes
  1. 1. Patience is key. Don't try to flip too early! Also, don't increase the heat to have them cook faster. It doesn't work and they will just burn.
  2. 2. Egg-Free option. I have made this recipe using 3 "gelatin-eggs" to be AIP compliant, and it does work pretty well. The consistency isn't quite right, but they are still delicious. To make this with gelatin eggs, do the following: combine all main ingredients (except for eggs) and blend well. Mix 3 tbsp gelatin with 3 tbsp luke warm water. Then add in 6 tbsp boiling water and whisk vigorously. Add to batter, blend immediately and get cooking!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

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