Snacks & Side Dishes
Spinach and Basil
- Baby Spinach
- fresh basil
- salt
1) Wash the spinach well. Strain it. Put it in a frying pan (you don't need oil or added water because the spinach usually has enough moisture on/in it to coat the pan).
2) Turn on the heat to med and cover for about 2 minutes. Remove the lid and stir. Continue to cook uncovered (it doesn't take long).
3) Just before the spinach is done, add fresh basil.
That's it.
A simple side dish, these two tastes are great together. I added it more to give people ideas as opposed to teaching them how to make it.
Variations include:
-Adding extra virgin coconut oil at the start
-adding fresh garlic or ginger
-cooking some red pepper first and then adding the spinach.
Smitty's Zuchinni Bread or Muffins
- 1 cup brown rice flour (or equivalent)
- 1/2 cup Quinoa flakes
- 2 1/4 tsp gluten and aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts)
- 10 drops stevia (liquid)
1) Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.
2) Mix oil, eggs, zucchini, and nuts in a medium bowl.
3) Stir this mixture into the large bowl with dry ingredients.
4) Pour into pre-greased loaf pan (small) or into muffin tray. Bake for about an hour (less for muffins), until knife comes out clean or it pulls from sides.
This can be eaten as a snack or for breakfast. It doesn't NEED the stevia, and personally, I think it tastes better without it.
Shrimp Cocktail
- 1 lb raw shrimp, thawed
- water
- 1 lemon
- 1 onion, quartered
- salt
- bay leaf
- 4 peppercorns
1) Fill a pot with water. Squeeze the lemon juice into it, add the quartered onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt (about a tbsp).
2) Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
3) Reduce heat to med and add shrimp. Gently cook until shrimp are pink (about 1-3 minutes).
4) Pour into a strainer. Remove shrimp and allow to cool (I like to have a bowl of ice ready to put the shrimp on right after they are strained to stop the cooking process). Discard other ingredients.
5) Peel shrimp when they are cool enough to handle. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve.
A great snack. I haven't figured out how to make a "friendly" cocktail sauce, but if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear it! Luckily, these are so flavourful you don't need one.
Sesame-Ginger Asparagus Saute
- 1 pound fresh asparagus, scrubbed and cut on the diagonal into 2-inch pieces
- Water (purified, preferably)
- 2 T 100% pure, cold-pressed olive oil
- Grated scrubbed fresh gingerroot to taste
- 2 large cloves garlic, scrubbed, peeled, and minced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)
- 2 T sesame seeds
- Chopped cooked chicken
1) You can pre-steam the asparagus first, and add it in at the very last minute.
2) Heat oil in a large skillet. Add ginger, garlic, salt, sesame seeds, and chicken. Saute until chicken is cooked.
3) Add asparagus. Cook for another minute.
Yield 4 servings
Parsnip Fries
- 1/2 lb parsnips, peeled
- 3 tbs oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- fresh thyme
- salt to taste
1) Preheat the over to 400 F.
2) Cut the parsnips into thin fry shapes (approx. 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick).
3) Spread them evenly on a baking sheet. Sprinkle some oil over them (just enough to coat). Toss them. Add thyme and salt. Toss again. Put into oven.
4) Roast for 5 minutes. Remove and flip them. Add garlic. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes. Check parsnips. Flip again. Continue cooking until parsnips are crispy brown (depending on your oven and how thin you cut the parsnips, this could be 5-10 more minutes).
If potatoes are too hard on your system, you might want to try this as a semi-substitute for french fries.
If you can tolerate it, omit the thyme and add paprika or cayenne for a spicy version. Note that paprika and cayenne are nightshades and could produce allergic reactions in some people. I keep my paprika in the freezer to help reduce mold levels.
Mashed Cauliflower
- One cauliflower
- sea salt
- olive oil
- fresh herbs (optional)
1) Steam the cauliflower until soft.
2) Toss into a food processor (a blender works too, but it's not as good). Salt to taste. Add herbs if you like. Add some olive oil (enough to get the consistency you want). Puree until smooth.
Miss mashed potatoes? Me too. This is an ok substitute. The thing is, cauliflower is a high gas food. It could cause bloating. I would limit my portions of this.
Lobster Salad in Avacodo
- 1 avocado
- 1 tbsp fresh herbs (your choice)
- 6 baby cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 oz cooked lobster, chopped into small pieces (reserve claw meat if you have it)
- 2 green onions, sliced finely
- inner celery stalks, sliced finely + their leaves, chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil (or use some flaxseed oil or a mix)
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- salt and pepper to taste
1) Halve and pit the avocado. Then cut a 1/4 inch slice off each of the outside halves so that the avocado half can sit on its curved side without rolling over. Scoop out a bit of the avocado, making the pit hole about 50% larger than it was originally.
2) In a medium bowl, add all remaining ingredients and toss thoroughly. Spoon salad into avacodo halves. Top each salad with claw meat (if available).
I saw this on the surreal gourmet. You could easily replace the lobster with shrimp, or even chicken.
Ilah's Nut Bread
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 grain flour
- 1 cup ground nuts or seeds (almonds, sunflower seeds, flax...)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1 cup liquid (keifer, water, soy milk...)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
1. Mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate containers.
2. Combine the two.
3. Pour into an oiled bread or muffin pan, and bake for 1 hour.
Savory Additions (you may want to limit it to three or less) dill seed, coriander seed, turmeric, cumin, curry spice (which contains both turmeric and cumin) chopped onion.
Other things to add: berries, chopped green apple, cinnamon, cardamom, ground cloves, nutmeg, all spice, pumpkin pie spice.
Flat Bread
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower or sesame seed flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot
- 1 tsp baking powder
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water (determined by consistency)
seasoning of your choice
1) Mix the dry ingredients together.
2) Mix wet ingredients together.
3) Add wet to the dry ingredients. Stir just enough to blend it together.
4) Pour mixture onto hot griddle or pan. Cook on both sides until brown.
Delanie's Muffins
- 2 1/4 cups of whole spelt flour (or 1 3/4 cups spelt and 1/2 cup quinoa flakes)
- 1 tbsp baking powder (without aluminum)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/4 cups vanilla rice milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp cold pressed sunflower oil
- 1 cup of blueberries
1) Preheat oven to 425. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups.
2) Combine all dry ingredients first.
3) Add milk, eggs, oil, and berries and mix until moistened.
4) Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 17 min. or until brown.
Delanie posted this on a message board a while back. I've copied it here. It calls for spelt, but I would suggest you use a different alternative flour because spelt has gluten in it. Of course, if you can eat spelt, go wild!