At this time of year, it can be tempting to over-complicate things. This Amaze-bowl is super quick, easy and nourishing. A satisfying, yet light combo of “on-hand” ingredients.
I made these babies last night for a pre-Christmas drinks and dinner catch up that we had with a close family friend. She loved it – especially the macadamia butter element!
I’ve been craving gentle, easy to prepare comfort food lately. More than anything, I’ve been wanting veggies and lots of them! I’m honestly not even all that bothered with meat or fish at the moment (though I still try to eat some salmon at least once a week because as much as I believe in listening to your body, I do know that those omega-3’s aren’t going to synthesise themselves). This super quick recipe was born out of my desire for something sweet, creamy, gall-bladder friendly and that would only take minutes to prepare.
Lets be honest lovely ones, we don’t always have broth on hand (nor do we feel like it – especially when we’ve been on GAPS for almost two years). We don’t always think ahead and do meal prep (because we are HUMAN!). We don’t always crave the classic “meat and veg” dinners that we know are nutritious and balanced. We just want something that is so ridiculously easy to digest that we can go to bed within an hour after dinner if we so desire. We want something that feels far more like a “treat” than it actually is. Sweet, creamy and salty, without being stodgy or “too rich”.
I’ve enjoyed this “custard” pretty much every night this week and am still not sick of it (always a good sign by the 7th or 8th night right?). I start my meal with a bowl of this amazing dish. The butternut cooks while I enjoy my first course, and then all I have to do is add the coconut cream and salt and voila … “dessert”.
I call this “custard” because it’s smooth, sweet, comforting and creamy, though it’s completely egg, gluten, dairy, nut and sugar-free, and suitable for pretty much every single dietary philosophy out there (GAPS, paleo, vegan, AIP and the list goes on!)
This ‘custard’ is appropriate for any time of the day as a light meal, snack or “dessert” after a savoury first course. It also doubles as a scrummy “mash” if you leave it a tad chunky and can be served with your fave quality protein source; sustainably-sourced fish, homemade meatballs, organic chicken legs, a big dollop of homemade hummus etc. it can even be made with your fave variety of sweet spud (the white or purple ones are perfect for this cooking method!) or you can do a 50/50 mix of pumpkin and plantains (a potato-like starchy veggie that looks like a fat green banana) to get some resistant starch (fuel for your good gut bugs) into your day.
Now enough from me, let’s cook comfort food!
Method
Add Butternut to small saucepan with approx 1 cup of filtered water and bring to the boil with the lid on, turning down to a simmer (lowest heat) and cook for 10 or so minutes or until pumpkin is nice and soft.
Drain cooking liquid into a mug or glass. This is a sweet warm water that some of the pumpkin nutrients have leached into – drink it! It’s nutritious and aids digestion. Add a dash of coconut or rice milk for a creamy pumpkin “latte”. Place pumpkin into a bowl and mash with coconut cream and salt to taste (you can choose how smooth or chunky you want it – for a silky smooth result blend on high in a high-speed blender or food processor such as the Vitamix).
“If you take a probiotic powder, you can wait for the mash to cool a little, and stir the powder through. This adds a malt-like sweetness and saves you the bother of downing a pill or try or attempting to dissolve the powder in water. Great for kids that need probiotics but won’t take them in capsule form”
To be honest, I usually mash it all up in the saucepan and eat it out of there to save on dishes (plus it keeps it warmer for longer so I can savour each mouthful). You can double, quadruple (etc.) the recipe for more people or if you want leftovers to heat up tomorrow (but it’s so yummy that leftovers might never make it to the fridge – I’m warning you now)
I know this is hardly a recipe as it’s so basic, but sometimes we need to be reminded that minimal ingredients and simple cooking methods can yield incredible results. And the easier and quicker (and cheaper) the better right?
Is it just me or is Monday the perfect day to get your procrasti-bake on? I’m on swot-vac and with my next exam not until next Friday I’m not feeling much urgency yet. There is no guilt in leaving the books for a little while and following my instincts in the kitchen – my own personal form of therapy (that and barefoot beach walks).
The other day I had the idea to make a muffin recipe that included bone marrow (after this bone marrow custard recipe went down a treat with my family).
To start of the year, I’d like to share this recipe that I came up with last night. What happens when there’s only three people in your family and the organic turkey that you order is 3.8kg??? You have LOTS of leftovers!
Continue reading Lemongrass and Ginger Turkey and Vegetable Medley
Oh hello there. You’ve found some very old content. Please read the disclaimer on this page before thinking I’m still a total sheep who has been sucked into a bone-broth worshipping fad diet. Been there, learned from that and am now a much less rigid human.
I received feedback the other day from a reader saying that she got excited when she discovered this blog; assuming it was a website dedicated entirely to soup! She was disappointed when she realised that soup, -although having a starring role on this site – is not my sole focus. After all, a blog dedicated entirely to soup sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Maybe I should have thought of that.
I know I manage to weave bone broth and blended vegetable soups into nearly every post, making the name ‘real soup for the real soul’ deliciously appropriate, but it’s usually in relation to a bigger topic such as last-minute meal ideas or GAPS.
Today I’m honouring the name sake of this site with a post dedicated to the ultimate soul food; real soup!
This recipe is so easy it hardly deserves to be called a recipe.
For lack of better word however, I am still calling it a recipe.
There are zillions of pumpkin soup recipes out there calling for a whole host of different ingredients; coconut cream, garlic, ginger, almond milk, herbs and spices.
Quite frankly, I find all you need is a rich broth and some fresh butternut. The result is sweet, creamy and soul-warming.
Just a quick post today because this morning I baked some GAPS friendly pumpkin muffins that turned out really well, so well in fact, that I thought it would be rude not to share the recipe straight away!
I’m going to be honest. When it comes to recipes I don’t often measure or write things down. I use my intuition – and usually I end up with something epic. This was one of those times, so below is the closest estimate of what I did. Don’t worry the ingredients are pretty forgiving so you can’t really go too far wrong.
Its almost hard to believe that they are utterly nourishing.
Okay, you got me. Maybe it’s not that hard.
After all, real food is delicious. Especially when prepared in snazzy, pancake-like ways.
In the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride, there is no specific pancake recipe. She just says to make them out of vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini, marrow or squash), eggs and nut butter and to cook them in plenty of fat. I simply used my intuition with quantities and came up with a batter that works uber-well. Synchronicity at it’s finest.
This recipe doesn’t include nut butter because I was curious if you could leave it out and still get a ridgy dodge pancake dream. You can.
Your welcome to all my nut-sensitive friends, this one is for you.
But enough chatter. I know you only stopped by for the recipe.
And there you go; orgasmic, crispy, buttery pancakes that taste like cinnamon donuts if you really use your imagination.
Happy flipping everyone. Pancakes, not the bird. Unless your dinner guests are rude and in need of sign language.
Oh hello there. You’ve found some very old content. Please read the disclaimer on this page before thinking I’m still a total sheep who has been sucked into a bone-broth worshipping fad diet. Been there, learned from that and am now a much less rigid human.
In my last post I mentioned how I have undertaken the GAPS diet. I explained that GAPS is a gut healing protocol that seals the gut lining, re balances gut flora and ultimately guides the body back to optimal function* – groovy, huh?
What does the GAPS diet involve exactly? In a nutshell, foodgasm-worthy delights. The ‘introduction diet’ is the initial recovery period for the gut and is divided into 6 stages. After the ‘patient’ has worked through these stages they transition to ‘Full GAPS’.
