Category Archives: Meals

Gluten free, dairy free, paleo, sugar free, grain free meals

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili | Paleo | AmandaNaturally.comI absolutely love large pots of meat and veggies – stew, soup, chili – whatever you want to call it, I’m down. Especially on these crazy cold days we’ve been having lately! I find if I make a big pot o’deliciousness on Sunday for dinner, it’s so easy to choose nutrient-dense, healing foods during the week!

I often get requests for soup, stew and chili recipes by clients, which I have a hard time with because I usually wing it! So this past Sunday when I was making dinner, I decided to write down exactly what I did. And boy oh boy I am certainly glad I did because WOW this turned out amazingly! Say hello to this gem I like to call my: 

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili

One quick note on my version of the recipe: I used ground moose meat.

Now I don’t normally have ground moose meat, because it’s not something that is sold in the grocery store round here! Our family cottage is just south of the Wahta Mohawk Territory. In the summer we frequently visit our favourite little shop for wild pickerel. Last Saturday after skiing with the fam, my husband and I decided to pop over and see if they were open in the winter because we could really go for some pickerel! Well, weren’t we in for an awesome surprise. Not only were they open and had tons of pickerel, but they also had moose meat. So of course we had to get some!! I asked the young guy manning the cash where the moose was from, to which he replied:

“North Bay…actually, I think that’s my kill!”

Well folks, you can’t get much closer to the circle of life can you? I strive to source out ethical, humanely raised meat – and spend quite a bit of money doing so. To find wild game, that was respectfully and traditionally hunted, is a rare find, and I am feeling very lucky to have this resource!

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili | Paleo | AmandaNaturally.com

And you know what else is amazing? The flavour! I only bought 3lbs and I’m already regretting not buying more! Now I’ve loved every type of game meat I’ve tried, and moose is no exception. I don’t know how to describe it other than it’s like the leanest grass fed beef (I specify grass fed because it tastes significantly different than corn fed, and moose are certainly not eating corn!), with a hint of game-yness (yes that’s a word!).

Since there’s little to no fat in moose, I decided it would be a good idea to pair it with a fattier cut of meat as well. Enter bacon (of course)! The bacon paired beautifully with the moose – I will definitely use this combo again! I’m sensing another trip up north…

Do not despair if you don’t have moose though! This recipe works perfectly well with any type of ground meat!! Normally I use a combination of ground beef and ground pork, but turkey and lamb would work great as well! 

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili
Comforting, satisfying, nutrient dense AND good for your body!
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Ingredients
  1. ½ lb bacon
  2. 2 lbs ground meat
  3. 2 cups onion, chopped
  4. 1 head of garlic, minced
  5. 5-6 cups butternut squash, diced
  6. 2 cans organic tomatoes
  7. 2-3 pieces of a dried chipotle pepper
  8. 1 tbsp chili powder
  9. 1 tbsp cumin
  10. 1 tbsp oregano
  11. sea salt
  12. black pepper
Instructions
  1. Chop bacon into bite-sized pieces and cook in a large pot over medium high heat, until crispy, about 10 minutes.
  2. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, drain of some of the bacon grease (save it for another time!), leaving 2 tbsp in the pan.
  3. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add in ground meat, chili powder, cumin, oregano, sea salt and black pepper. Cook until brown throughout, stirring frequently.
  5. Stir in garlic, cook for 1 minute.
  6. Add in chopped butternut squash, bacon, 2 cans of tomatoes and 2-3 chipotle pieces. Simmer for 45-60 minutes.
  7. Serve topped with avocado!
Notes
  1. Make sure to remove the chipotle peppers before serving, or warn people they're in there! Chomping down on one can be painful!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

So tell me! Have you ever had moose? Or other game for that matter? What’s your favourite kind of meat?

Smoky Bacon Butternut Chili | Paleo | AmandaNaturally.com

Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda NaturallyPulled pork is something I discovered late in life. Due to a totally destroyed digestive tract for most of my life, I couldn’t tolerate anything with fat. So when I discovered pulled pork, after healing my gut, oh man was I in heaven! Not only does it taste incredible, but it’s full of connective tissue (read why that’s awesome here), it’s super easy to make if you have a slow cooker, and it’s a great way to serve a bunch of people or have lunches for the entire week, with very little work!

My go-to recipe for pulled pork is from The Lucky Penny Blog – she has a simple homemade BBQ sauce, but it’s her method for making the pulled pork that I love. Pork shoulder (or pork butt roast) can take forever to thaw, to throwing it only partially thawed in the slow cooker overnight with broth, is a great way to thaw it, while adding flavour and starting the whole melt-in-your-mouth process that you achieve with really good pulled pork. Then drain, add BBQ sauce (my recipe can be found here), cook all day and done!

The only problem with most BBQ sauce recipes is the fact that they are tomato-based. While most people are absolutely fine to consume tomatoes – in fact they’re incredibly healthy for many – the clientele I see are often unable to consume them. Why? Because they belong to a family called:

Nightshades.

What are nightshades? Well they’re a group of plants that can be very problematic for anyone with an autoimmune condition. The main culprits are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant and any spicy pepper (chili, paprika, jalapeño etc.) We see it time and time again, especially with arthritis. It isn’t uncommon for people to say that nightshades cause a greater flare up than even gluten! Want to know why? Check out this incredible post explaining exactly why nightshades are so problematic, by The Paleo Mom.

Hanging out with the intelligent, kind, hilarious and ever-inspiring Stacy and Sarah!
Hanging out with the intelligent, kind, hilarious and ever-inspiring Stacy and Sarah!

So when I recently attended a book signing, by none other than The Paleo Mom herself (along with her awesome podcast cohost, Stacy Toth of Paleo Parents), I made sure to snatch up a copy of her new cookbook, which contains over 100 recipes to support an autoimmune dietary intervention. That means no grains, dairy, legumes, eggs, nuts, seeds or nightshades. If you are living nightshade free, this cookbook is for you. It is simply genius! (Side note, I have her textbook as well – stay tuned for a book review in the future!) Sure enough, the cookbook contained what looked like an incredible recipe for BBQ sauce. So last weekend when I went to make my standard pulled pork, I changed it up and made a night-shade free version!

Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda Naturally
BBQ sauce simmering away…

This recipe is adapted from The Paleo Approach Cookbook. It is not 100% autoimmune protocol, since I did add some seed-based spices, but it is definitely nightshade free. If you are following AIP, then I strongly recommend purchasing her books. It’s definitely worth it! I made a triple batch, because if I’m putting the effort in to make my own sauce, I definitely want to enjoy it more than once! I would absolutely serve this to anyone – not just people who are unable to eat nightshades. The flavour was amazing – rich, a little acidic, just the right amount of sweetness – simply delicious. 

Pulled Pork

Step 1 – Throw a 2.5-4 lb pork shoulder or butt roast in the slow cooker before bed. Add 1 cup of broth. Set on low and cook overnight.

Step 2 – In the morning, remove pork from the slow cooker. Dump off all the liquid. Store for later or discard – your choice!

Step 3 – Return pork to slow cooker. Cover with 1-2 cups of BBQ sauce, depending on size and desired sauciness. 

Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda Naturally

Step 4 – Chop up 1-4 onions, sprinkle around pork.

Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda Naturally

Step 5 – Set on low for 8-12 hours.

Step 6 – Right before you serve, shred with 2 forks. Serve on lettuce wraps or plantain biscuits, with avocado and a fresh salad or coleslaw!

Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda Naturally

BBQ Sauce (nightshade free)
This nightshade free BBQ is perfect for pulled pork and guaranteed to please even the pickiest of eaters!
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Ingredients
  1. ¼ cup + 2 tbsp grassfed beef tallow (or substitute another fat)
  2. 3 onions, chopped
  3. 3 apples, any colour / flavour
  4. ¾ cup date paste / syrup
  5. 1 piece of ginger, the size of your entire thumb, peeled and chopped
  6. ¼ cup fish sauce (make sure there's no junk added)
  7. 3 cloves garlic
  8. 1 tbsp turmeric
  9. 1 tbsp mustard powder
  10. 1½ tbsp cumin
  11. 1 tbsp black pepper
Instructions
  1. Sautee onions in tallow, in a pot over medium heat for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't burn. Stir occasionally.
  2. Meanwhile, peel the apples. Using a cheese grater, grate the apples all the way to the core.
  3. When onions are caramelized, add apples and remaining ingredients to the onions.
  4. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
  5. Puree using a hand blender, or let cool slightly and dump into a blender.
Notes
  1. This is a triple batch, so use what you need and store the rest in small glass jars in the freezer for later!
Adapted from The Paleo Mom
Adapted from The Paleo Mom
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
Pulled Pork | Nightshade Free | Amanda Naturally

Thai Butternut Squash Soup

Thai Butternut Squash Soup | Amanda NaturallySoup is probably my husband’s favourite thing to eat, ever. If I made soup (or stew for that matter) every day for the rest of our lives, he would be thrilled. Talk about simple pleasures eh? Luckily I love soup too – for many reasons! I get chilled easily, and when I get chilled, there’s no recovering without a hot cup of something. Soup absolutely fits that bill! More importantly, soup is an incredibly easy way to get a TON of nutrients into your body at once. Have you ever noticed that if you were to take a huge salad and cook it down for a few minutes, the volume dramatically reduces? Well soup takes it even further – you can jam gazillions of nutrients into each bite by throwing in all sorts of veggies, seasoning it with fresh herbs and using homemade broth. Why homemade broth you ask? Well it is a magic elixir that cures everything. Stay tuned for a post on exactly what allows me to make that claim, (UPDATE: check out my post on Bone Broth here) and in the meantime, go ahead and check out this one instead! To sum it up in a few words:

Bone broth heals joints, repairs the digestive tract, protects our cardiovascular system, encourages healthy skin and nails, and is a concentrated source of minerals required for every system in the body.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup | Amanda Naturally

Since the last few weeks have been incredibly stressful for us (good stressful! We launched Beatty Naturopathic!), I have been doing everything possible to get as many nutrients in us as we can. And since stress causes leaky gut, I’ve been eating soup daily to keep my gut locked up tight to protect my body! So far it seems to be working – neither of us have gotten sick!

I have a variety of soups that I make, but I always come back to this simple favourite: Thai Butternut Squash Soup. Rich and creamy, this nourishing soup makes a fabulous snack or meal. I often eat it for breakfast! As always, I’m using my favourite brand of Thai ingredients:

Aroy D

Their curry pastes are one of a kind. Perfectly clean ingredients – no additives, stabilizers or unnecessary junk. I’ve gone on and on about their coconut milk before, but I’ll say it again: there’s no other brand that compares! With only 2 ingredients (coconut milk and water) it has the best flavour and zero gut irritants

Bonus: this recipe can be made vegan if you use a veggie broth instead of the (magical elixir) bone broth

Thai Butternut Squash Soup | Amanda Naturally

Thai Butternut Squash Soup
A rich, creamy and incredibly nourishing soup. Gluten, grain and dairy-free, with a vegan and nightshade-free option!
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
35 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
35 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup onion, chopped (approx 1 large or 2-3 small)
  2. 12 cups butternut squash in cubes (1 large or 2 small)
  3. 2 tbsp cooking fat (lard, coconut oil, duck fat)
  4. 4 cups of broth
  5. 2-3 tbsp Aroy D red curry paste (as per desired spiciness)
  6. **see notes for nightshade free option**
  7. sea salt
  8. black pepper
  9. filtered water
  10. 4 cups Aroy D coconut milk
  11. fresh cilantro (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a large pot over medium heat, sautee onions in cooking fat until translucent - approx. 5 mins
  2. Add squash cubes, broth, salt, pepper and curry paste. Stir to combine.
  3. Top up with filtered water until the squash is just covered in liquid.
  4. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
  5. Puree using an immersion blender. Or carefully transfer portions to your blender.
  6. Stir in coconut milk and heat through.
  7. Serve topped with fresh cilantro.
Notes
  1. You can use any curry paste in this recipe - green and golden both work great!
  2. Nightshade free? Omit curry paste, add in 1 stalk of lemongrass while simmering. Remove before pureeing.
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
Thai Butternut Squash Soup | Amanda Naturally

So tell me, are you a soup in a bowl or a soup in a mug kinda person?

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