Category Archives: AIP

Grain free, dairy free, legume free, egg free, nightshade free, nut and seed free recipes

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Fries | AmandaNaturally.comOne of my goals with this blog is to present simple, nourishing food. To show anyone who may stumble across this little piece of the blogosphere that it is easy to make food that tastes amazing, is budget-friendly, and is healing to your body, whether you are the picture of health, or dealing with a serious health crisis.

Today’s post, my friends, does not get any simpler than that. I present you with: 

Sweet Potato Fries!

Making a good batch of sweet potato fries is an awesome skill to have. Sweet potatoes are very inexpensive and are on EWG’s Clean 15 list – so they are not a priority to be bought organic.

Here are the 2 most important things to remember when making sweet potato fries:

1. Use a liberal amount of fat. I beg of you – stop being afraid of fat! Fat is such an important part of the human diet – especially for women. The fat phobic nutrition era that we are slowly crawling out of, is based on cherry-picked and misinterpreted science and professional opinion. Just make sure you use a good quality fat! If you want to keep it vegan, use coconut or avocado oil. But trust me when I tell you that duck fat is hands down the best fat to use in this recipe, followed closely by lard. As long as the animal was raised properly, animal fat is not only not dangerous for you, but incredibly healthy!

  

2. Leave space between the fries. If you bunch them too close together, the steam that comes off the fries during the baking process makes them soggy and you don’t get that crispy outside layer that you’re going for. You’re better off using an extra baking sheet, than squishing all of the fries close together!

 

If you do those 2 things, you’re good to go. From there, feel free to get creative with spices like chili and cumin. Or keep it classic with sea salt. Looking for a dip? I love mixing my homemade mayonnaise with a clean Sriracha sauce for a spicy dip.

Which ever way you go with these, you can rest easy knowing that they are truly healthy for you! On top of that, they are compliant with paleo, the autoimmune protocol, low fodmap (if you keep the portion very moderate) and plant-based diets. But most importantly, they’re awesome – especially when making burgers!

 

 

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 4
Paleo, AIP, Vegan. Delicious and Nutritious. Perfect side dish for a grass-fed burger!
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
40 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
40 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. 4 small sweet potatoes
  2. ¼ cup duck fat, melted (or lard, coconut oil, ghee)
  3. sea salt, liberally (or garlic sea salt, kelp sea salt)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Slice sweet potatoes into fries.
  3. Toss in a bowl with melted fat and sea salt.
  4. Split evenly between 2 baking sheets. Leave space between every fry to prevent soggy fries.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes, flipping fries once.
Notes
  1. If your fries are particularly small, you might need less time. Or more time if they're wedges.
Add spices to take these up a notch! Try
  1. - cumin & chili powder
  2. - rosemary
  3. - cinnamon & coconut sugar
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

Crockpot Chicken Stew

Crockpot Chicken Stew | grain-free, paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.comWhen people ask what my favourite kitchen tool is, most expect me to say my Blendtec. And while I LOVE this luxurious item, it’s #3 on my list. First and foremost is my food processor. If I had to choose just 1 kitchen gadget, it would be that, without a doubt! But in a very close second, comes my slow cooker. It is an incredible tool for saving time, not to mention making delicious meals! 

When I first got my crockpot, however, I struggled with how to use it. Every recipe I found was complicated and involved at least 20 minutes of prep. Or the length of time recommended was only 5 or 6 hours. Since mornings were notoriously busy, and I was gone for a minimum of 8-9 hours every day, I struggled to find recipes that worked for me!

After a while, I started to experiment. Turns out most food can cook a LONG time in the slow cooker…and it only gets better!! Here’s my general formula for creating a delicious crockpot meal, in less than 5 minutes on a busy morning:

Tougher, fattier or bone in cut of meat (e.g. chicken thighs/legs, pork butt steaks, flank steak, beef shanks) seasoned with sea salt and pepper

+

A bit of liquid (either ½ a cup of broth or a can of tomatoes)

+

1-2 chopped onions

Cook on low until you get home.

Crockpot Chicken Stew | grain-free, paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.comCrockpot Chicken Stew | grain-free, paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.com

Crockpot Chicken Stew | grain-free, paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.com

You can even put in frozen meat if it’s going to cook at least 8-9 hours! 

Take it up a notch, if you have a few extra minutes in the morning, by adding in additional root vegetables on top of the meat.

For those of you who appreciate more exact directions, here’s my recipe for easy Crockpot Chicken Stew.

Crockpot Chicken Stew
Simple. Nourishing. Quick. Delicious.
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Prep Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. ¼ - ⅓ cup of broth
  2. 4 pastured chicken thighs
  3. 1 bay leaf
  4. sea salt
  5. black pepper (omit if strict AIP)
  6. 2 onions, chopped
  7. 4-6 carrots, chopped
  8. 3 celery stalks, chopped
Instructions
  1. Pour broth into slow cooker. Add bay leaf.
  2. Season chicken breasts liberally with salt and pepper. Place in bottom of slow cooker.
  3. Throw veggies on top.
  4. Turn on low and cook until you get home (8-12 hours).
Notes
  1. Get creative! Use other spices or change to a flavoured sea salt.
  2. Other root vegetables work great as well! Try sweet potato slices or beets.
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

 So tell me, what’s your favourite quick meal to make in the slow cooker?

Harvest Breakfast Hash

Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo | AmandaNaturally.comHave you ever thought about how many different variations of flour + dairy + sugar make up our breakfasts in North America? It’s pretty astounding! Whether it’s a bagel & cream cheese, a bowl of cereal, toast with jam, eggo waffles and “maple syrup” (i.e. corn syrup + maple flavour), a muffin and a double double from Tim’s – it’s all the same thing, in a different form. And most importantly, it’s all crap. None of the foods we consider breakfast foods are actually food. They’ve all gone through an incredible amount of processing, and we’re left with nutrient-poor, albeit incredibly tasty, food-like products.

The one exception is eggs so boy oh boy do I capitalize on those when I’m working with clients! 

Interesting side note: someone can eat a bagel and cream cheese, or toast and PB every day for breakfast and not get bored of it, but try suggesting eggs every day for breakfast and you’ll immediately get a firm “but I couldn’t eat them every day, I need some variety”. Very interesting…

Anyways, eggs are super awesome in so many ways. They’re full of incredible nutrients, healthy cholesterol (yes I said healthy!) and lots of protein. Still worried they’re causing heart disease? Think again my friends and go read Eat the Yolks by Liz Wolfe from Real Food Liz.

Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo| AmandaNaturally.com
Step 1: Chop Veggies
Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo| AmandaNaturally.com
Step 2: Pile on the Bacon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As awesome as eggs are for you, they’re also, sadly, a super common allergy. Not to mention they must be eliminated if you’re in the early stages of recovering from an autoimmune condition. And since we’ve already eliminated the other normal breakfast foods, once we eliminate eggs, we’re pretty much without breakfast foods. 

Now, when you’ve been following a real food diet for long enough, you start to think of food as food, and meals as meals, instead of breakfast food and breakfast. Heck, my favourite breakfast these days is soup – but that’s probably because bone broth makes my body feel so much better. Oh and soup’s awesome.

However, I can absolutely appreciate when my clients are a little hesitant about eating regular food for breakfast. I used to be a strict “breakfast food before 11am” person – it took me a while to get to soup and leftovers for breakfast. So with that in mind, I’ve created a delicious breakfast hash brown recipe, made with foods that are often consumed at breakfast and is egg-free! I bring you: Harvest Breakfast Hash!

Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo| AmandaNaturally.com

This beautiful dish is filled with delicious goodies. Roasted sweet potatoes, smoky bacon, sweet apples and (this is going to floor my mom) fennel! Let me explain that comment in parenthesis…I hate fennel. Like absolutely despise it! I have always hated the flavour of black licorice, even as a kid, and fennel tastes like black licorice. Interestingly enough, black licorice is in the legume family, and since I have such a severe intolerance to legumes, I like to think my fierce aversion to licorice was my body’s attempt at protecting me! Now if only it had done that with milk…

Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo| AmandaNaturally.com

So last week our food bin brought us a beautiful fennel bulb and I felt sick about throwing it straight in the compost. I had also read recently that roasted fennel is a much more mellow flavour. Also, I had used up all my eggs making banana muffins, so we had no eggs for Sunday brunch. So I figured I’d use the fennel in an egg-free breakfast hash – something I’ve been meaning to try for all my egg-free clients! And heck, if I hated it, I knew my husband would happily eat it all. So what happened?

I loved it!!

If you’re not sure, or you think you hate fennel, try it roasted in this recipe. If you really don’t like it, this recipe is still awesome with out it. Also, if you are lucky enough to tolerate eggs, slap a fried egg on top and let this hash soak up all the yolky goodness!

 

Harvest Breakfast Hash
An egg-free, autoimmune protocol-friendly breakfast that is packed with flavour! Makes an awesome side dish or salad topper as well!
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Ingredients
  1. 8 cups sweet potato, diced
  2. 1 bulb fennel, chopped
  3. ½ red onion, chopped
  4. 2 apples, cored and chopped
  5. 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
  6. sea salt
  7. black pepper (omit if strict AIP)
  8. 1 lb pastured bacon, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425F.
  2. Combine sweet potato, fennel, red onion, apple and garlic in a large roasting pan. Alternatively you can use 2 smaller pans or baking sheets.
  3. Add a liberal amount of sea salt and black pepper (if not strict AIP) and stir to combine
  4. Top with bacon pieces.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times.
  6. Broil for the final 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
  1. Omit fennel if you don't like it!
  2. Substitute butternut squash for SCD.
  3. Top with a fried egg if tolerated!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

Harvest Breakfast Hash | Egg-Free | AIP | Paleo| AmandaNaturally.com

 

So tell me, have you gotten over the breakfast food for breakfast hump yet? If yes, what is your favourite non-traditional breakfast? If not, give it a go and report back!

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