Gumbo Z’herbes

Gumbo Z’herbes I make gumbo z’herbes when I’m craving tons of leafy green vegetables because it’s a delicious way to get so many in!

Substitute other greens for ones you can’t find in your area.

Serves:  12

Prep time:  1 hour

Cook time:  1 hour

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 lb sausage (small dice)
  • 1/2 cup ghee or unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sorghum flour
  • 1-1/2 cup yellow onion (diced)
  • 1 cup celery (finely diced)
  • 2 tablespoons ghee
  • 2 tablespoons garlic (finely minced)
  • 1/2 head green cabbage (roughly chopped)
  • 1 bunch collard greens (roughly chopped)
  • 1 bunch mustard greens (roughly chopped)
  • 1 bunch turnip greens (roughly chopped)
  • 2 bunches carrot greens (roughly chopped)
  • 1 bunch kale (roughly chopped)
  • 6 cups spinach (roughly chopped)
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley (roughly chopped)
  • 10 cups homemade chicken broth
  • 5 teaspoons fresh thyme
  • 5 teaspoons fresh tarragon (chopped)
  • 2 leaves bay
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon file’ powder
  • 2-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 3-1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1

Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer sausage to a plate. In the same skillet over medium heat, combine 1/2 cup ghee and flour. Cook, whisking constantly, until you have a medium-brown roux. Stir in onions, celery and garlic and saute’ until tender, taking care not to burn rout. Set aside.

Step 2

Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a soup pot over medium-low heat. Add cabbage and cook, stirring, until wilted. Stir in greens and parsley and cook until wilted. Add broth, bring to a simmer and cook until greens are completely tender, about 20 minutes.

Step 3

Use a ladle to remove about 4 cups of liquid from greens and add it to roux-vegetable mixture. Whisk to combine and return skillet to stove over medium heat. Warm briefly and then use a spatula to scrape mixture into greens. Return to a simmer and stir in reserved sausage, herbs, spices and simmer 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender or puree’ in batches in a countertop blender until smooth. Return soup to a simmer. In a small bowl, stir file’ with 2 tablespoons water until smooth and then add mixture to gumbo. Simmer 20 minutes more and then season to taste.

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Garlicky Greens

Garlicky GreensWith this garlicky greens recipe, you can easily cook any kind of leafy green vegetable from kale to swiss chard simply and deliciously!

Serves:  4

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cook time:  5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch leafy green vegetables
  • 1 head garlic (minced. I like a LOT of garlic! You don’t have to use this much if you don’t want to.)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Step 1

After washing vegetables, remove stem from leaf, chop and set aside.

Step 2

If you have collard greens or kale, you will need to blanch the leaves in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds until they turn a bright green. Once they do, shock them by placing in ice water to stop them from cooking further. Chop to desired thickness.

Step 3

Heat oil in large saute pan over medium low. Saute garlic for a minute, then add in chopped stems and cook for a few minutes, until soft.

Step 4

For kale or collard greens, add leaves to garlic and stems. Mix thoroughly and remove from heat.

Step 5

For any other type of green (spinach, chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, carrot greens, beet greens, dandelion greens, etc.), shred and place in pan on top of garlic. Keep turning over until all leaves are wilted. Remove from pan and chop to desired thickness.

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Grain Free Brownies

Grain Free Brownies These gluten-free, grain-free brownies are more of the cake type. I’ve substituted a low-glycemic sugar (palm sugar, coconut sugar, succanat or rapidura) for regular sugar.

Make these an occasional treat, not an everyday snack or dessert.

Serves:  16

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cook time:  35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup ghee or coconut oil (melted)
  • 6 large pasture-raised eggs
  • 1 cup palm sugar, coconut sugar, succanat or rapidura
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour (sifted)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8″ x 8″ baking dish.

Whisk cocoa powder, coconut flour, salt and sugar together. Blend in coconut oil.

Whisk eggs and vanilla together. Mix with dry ingredients.

Pour batter into baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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Favorite Thanksgiving Dishes

Thanksgiving day

My favorite Thanksgiving dishes are all gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free and soy-free. For the most part, they’re also full of vegetables!

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Dairy Free Sweet Potatoes

Dairy Free Sweet Potatoes I use Hannah yams instead of sweet potatoes in this dairy free sweet potatoes dish because they’re creamier and not as sweet as regular sweet potatoes.

One of the quirks of the Paleo diet is that sweet potatoes are legal, while regular potatoes are not.

Because the Paleo diet excludes many carb sources, this is a tasty way to get necessary carbs into your diet.

Serves:  8

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cook time:  1 hour, 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 large sweet potatoes (I prefer hannah yams. They’re creamier and not as sweet as sweet potatoes.)
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil or ghee
  • 2 tablespoons coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup applesauce (preferably homemade)
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger (peeled and grated)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 large apples (peeled, cored and sliced into 1-inch slices)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange potatoes on a baking sheet or Silpat and bake until until tender, 80-90 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Scoop out insides of potatoes and place in electric mixer bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of ghee and coconut milk, and mix on medium speed with paddle attachment until smooth. Add in applesauce, ginger and salt.

Transfer mixture to baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.

Cook apples in remaining coconut oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Place apples on top of sweet potato mixture and serve.

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Grain-Free Pumpkin Pie

Grain-Free Pumpkin Pie Cardamom is a nice addition to this grain-free pumpkin pie that is gluten-free and dairy-free. It’s also GAPS/SCD and Paleo-legal.

Serves:  8

Prep time:  30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 1-1/2 cup almond flour
  • 3/4 cups whole pecans (soaked overnight, rinsed, drained and dehydrated)
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons raw, local honey
  • 1 large pasture-raised egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I prefer Celyon cinnamon)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

For the filling:

  • 1 medium pie pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup almond milk or coconut milk
  • 3 large pasture-raised eggs
  • 1 large pasture-raised egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I prefer Celyon cinnamon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup raw, local honey

Directions

For the crust:

Add the pecans to a food processor and process until they have turned into a coarse flour. Add the rest of the crust ingredients and process for 15 seconds, until a dough forms.

Press the dough into a pie plate, spreading it up the sides and covering the bottom. Price a few shallow holes in the crust with a fork to keep it from bubbling when baking.

Bake the crust at 325F for 10 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cool for 10 minutes, then place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

For the filling:

Cut pumpkin in half; scoop out seeds. Place halves in a steamer basket and steam on the stove over for 20-30 minutes, or until soft. Scoop out filling.

Put 2c. of pumpkin filling into a medium bowl; freeze the rest for later use. Whisk remaining ingredients together with filling. Pour the filling into frozen pie crust.

Bake at 350F for 35 minutes or until the custard has set but is still slightly jiggly in the center. Remove from oven and refrigerate until chilled.

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Wild Rice Dressing

Wild Rice Dressing If you’re looking for a gluten-free, savory side dish to add to your rotation or holiday table, try this easy and satisfying wild rice dressing dish.

Serves:  12

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time:  1 hour

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cups wild rice (soaked overnight, rinsed and drained)
  • 3/4 cups brown basmati rice (soaked overnight, rinsed and drained)
  • 4 cups cold, filtered water or homemade broth
  • 1 piece kombu (kelp)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup pecans (soaked overnight, rinsed, drained and dehydrated)
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or ghee
  • 1 medium onion (peeled and diced)
  • 3 large celery ribs (diced)
  • 8oz shiitake mushrooms (thinly sliced)
  • 2 cloves garlic (peeled and minced)
  • 1-1/2 tablespoon fresh sage or thyme (minced)
  • 1 large carrot (peeled and diced)

Directions

Combine rice, broth, kombu and sea salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 45 minutes. Drain grains and set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325F. Adjust oven rack to middle shelf. Spread pecans on a cookie sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Coarsely chop.

In a wide heavy skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil. Saute onions over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent stick. Add carrots and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in celery with a pinch of sea salt; continue cooking another 5 minutes. Add garlic and sage; saute another minute. Remove from pan.

Wipe out pan and heat another 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add in mushrooms and saute until light brown. Add in other vegetables, rice, pecans and parsley. Stir to combine.

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Grain-Free Apple and Pear Crisp

Grain-Free Apple and Pear Crisp In the fall, when it’s apple and pear season, this grain-free apple and pear crisp makes a tasty comfort food.

I love the bit of cardamom in the topping!  This recipe is suitable for the GAPS/SCD and Paleo diets.

Serves:  8

Prep time:  15 minutes

Cook time:  55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups almond meal
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I prefer Celyon cinnamon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
  • 1/4 cup raw, local honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Filling:

  • 1/2 cup apple juice (freshly juiced, if possible)
  • 1/2 large lemon (freshly squeezed)
  • 2 teaspoons grass-fed gelatin
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I prefer Celyon cinnamon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
  • 3 large apples
  • 2 large pears

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together apple juice, lemon juice, gelatin and filling spices in a medium-sized bowl.

Peel, core and slice apples and pears to 1/4″ thick. Add them to juice mixture. Stir to coat. Transfer to an oiled 9″ pie pan.

Combine almond meal, salt and spices in a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Pour into bowl of dry topping ingredients. Using your hands or a spoon, mix together until a coarse dough forms. Mixture will be crumbly. Crumble mixture on top of the apples and pears in the baking dish.

Cover the top of dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let cool 15-20 minutes before serving.

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Paleo Lettuce Wraps

Paleo Lettuce Wraps You can still have taco night with these Paleo lettuce wraps! Just substitute butter lettuce leaves for tortillas, and there you go.

Serves:  8

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2lb ground chicken
  • 1 cup cashews (soaked overnight, rinsed, drained, dehydrated and chopped)
  • 8oz water chestnuts
  • 1/2 medium onion (small dice)
  • 1 clove garlic (minced)
  • 1″ ginger (grated)
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 5 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons cashew butter
  • 3 tablespoons raw, local honey
  • 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 head butter lettuce

Directions

Saute onion in oil. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add cashews, water chestnuts, garlic and ginger.

Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add to chicken mixture and simmer until sauce is thickened. Serve hot or cold on lettuce leaves.

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My Best Gluten Free Dairy Free Recipes

My Best Gluten Free Dairy Free RecipesBelieve it or not, making simple and satisfying meals from scratch doesn’t have to be hard.  Here are some of my favorite gluten free dairy free recipes.

In addition to all of them being gluten-free and dairy-free, you’ll find that many of them are also GAPS, SCD and Paleo-legal.  You’ll find that eating well can also be delicious!

You can get them by signing up below:

Here are the recipes you’ll find in this guide:

  • Cauliflower Pizza Crust
  • Chocolate Avocado Pudding
  • Coconut Flour Bread
  • Coconut-Milk Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Egg-Free Banana Muffins
  • Gluten-Free Baguette
  • Grain-Free Chai and Apple Pancakes
  • Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free German Chocolate Cake
  • Paleo Pie Crust
  • Quinoa and Kale Patties
  • Rosemary Crackers
  • Savory Millet Polenta Two Ways

Benefits to Eating Gluten Free Dairy Free Foods

Many people are discovering that cutting out gluten and dairy can have profound benefits for their health.  For starters, both of these foods are very constipating, so removing them can help relieve bloating and constipation.

In addition, gluten and casein can escape the intestines of people with leaky guts.  When they reach the brain, they can activate the same receptors as morphine and heroin, making your child who’s just eaten macaroni and cheese seem as if they are on drugs, acting very spacey and unfocused.  Thus, removing gluten and dairy foods can improve your child’s attention.