Delicious, Dairy-free, Paleo, GAPS-legal Coconut Milkshake!

Ice cream is one of the most difficult foods for our patients to give up. Unfortunately many people have either dairy or sugar sensitivities (or both). This ice-cream replacement is pretty healthy and completely delicious. It has no refined sugar, and sugars are easier to process in their whole, unadulterated form.

However, this recipe is still not great for diabetics or those who are really trying to lose weight, as it is still quite high in natural sugars.

For those of us who have the ability to handle occasional sweets, though, it is absolutely fantastic! You won’t even miss ice cream!

 

You’ll need:

1 young, thai coconut

2-6 dates

2 big handfuls almonds

1 T vanilla extract

3 big pinches unrefined sea salt

Ice

Vitamix or other very high-powered blender

Cleaver or CocoJack or some other way of opening the coconut

 

Yeild: 2 large or 3 medium servings

Directions:

  1. Open the coconut and empty the water into the blender. Then scrape out all the meat and add to the blender. Be careful not to get any hard shell pieces in the blender.
  2. Add 2 handfuls almonds, 3 large pinches sea salt, 1 T vanilla extract, 2-6 dates (depending on desired sweetness).
  3. Put ice into blender on top of other ingredients at roughly a 1:1 ratio (ice should take up the same amount of space as total other ingredients).
  4. Blend on high until smooth—about 45-60 seconds in the Vitamix.
  5. Pour into glasses—makes 2 large servings or 3 medium servings.

Tip: If you have a regular blender and not a crazy-strong Vitamix, you may have to chop the almonds up in the blender first and then add other ingredients.

Full disclosure:

This is a recipe I modified over time that originally came from the Café Gratitude cookbook: I Am Grateful. It’s a great resource for raw, vegan meals and desserts.


Pecan Crusted Paleo Fried Pork Chops

Paleo, GAPS, Gluten free, Traditional Foods, Low Carb, Delicious!

Two unfortunate events combined to cause us to create the most delicious fried pork chops I’ve ever eaten in my life! These are far better than any traditional flour chops. If you just want the recipe and don’t’ want to read my story, scroll down to the bottom.

First, we were driving back to Pensacola from Tampa. If you’ve driven it, you know you drive North on I-75 and then change to I-10 West just above Lake City. Now, I generally do most of the driving, but I was tired and determined to get Niko to sub in more than 1 hour on the trip—so we changed drivers about 20 miles south of Lake City.

Once I got in the passenger seat, I decided to make use of my free time by returning some phone calls from potential patients and getting some snacks together. I busied myself with this for a little while. Then, once we’d had enough snacks and the phone calls were finished, I looked up to see where we were. I started thinking, “Seems like Niko’s been driving for a while and we should be on I-10 by now,” so I was just about to pull up my GPS to see how much farther when I saw: Valdosta Next 5 Exits. Uh-oh. For those who don’t know, that’s in Georgia—and definitely NOT on the way from Tampa to Pensacola, both of which cities are in Florida.

So to console ourselves, we stopped off at Big Rosie’s Pecan and fruit stand—where someone I’ll call Big Rosie informed us that the Pecan Meal/Flour they were selling could be used to fry fish, chicken or pork.

The second thing that happened is that we went to the Palafox Market in downtown Pensacola, as we do every Saturday morning. And as usual, we stop off to see what Roger has at the Green Cedars Farm stand. He has the best pork I’ve ever eaten. We bought our usual bone-in pork butt and decided to splurge on some chops.

Saturdays are often a long day out of the house for us, so we always bring multiple coolers to fill with our groceries. We packed the pork down into the ice and went on about our day. When we arrived home, all the meat had somehow frozen into the center of a giant iceburg—which I had to drop on the cement to break apart. When I got it all apart, I noticed that the pork chops had somehow managed to completely thaw while encased in ice. I’m sure someone who understands physics better than I can explain how you get a warm area in the center of a block of ice.

As a result of the chops thawing out, we decided we would have to cook them the very next day (today).

Since we just learned about frying in pecan flour, I decided to give it a shot. I couldn’t find any recipes, so I looked up several and came up with this one. These are honestly the absolute best pork chops I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! Juicy, flavorful with melt-in-your-mouth fat. The sweetness of the pecans plays perfectly off the porky, salty, pepperiness. Amazing! Enjoy.

You will need:

  • Meat thermometer
  • 2.5 lbs pork chops
  • ¾ c pecan meal
  • 1 egg, beaten or ¼ c raw milk
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 T coconut oil
  • 2 T ghee
  • 2 T butter

 

  1. Pour beaten egg or milk on one plate and pecan meal on the other.
  2. Heat coconut oil, ghee and butter in a cast iron pan over med-high heat till bubbling.
  3. Dredge chops in egg/milk and pecan meal.
  4. Place in hot fat.
  5. Cover top of chop with a crust of salt and pepper—nice and thick!
  6. When the bottom is good and brown, flip chops and turn down heat to medium.
  7. Start checking the temperature of your chops pretty frequently. Once they reach 135o, remove chops and place on cutting board for 10 minutes. The temperature of the chops will continue to rise as they sit. Do not skip this step, as it allows the juices to soak back in! Note: chops may cook at different rates, so be sure to check the temperature of each
  8. Pop on a plate with a delicious side and eat up!


GAPS Intro Diet Week 1

 

This is my personal account of my own GAPS experience. It’s important to note that my diet may not be correct for you, even if you are doing GAPS. GAPS should be applied to each individual with consideration of their unique health condition and probable food sensitivities. I am tracking and sharing my own diet here just to demystify it a bit. I hope that questions like, “How do I put together a meal?” and, “Should I be living off broth?”(NO!) will be answered in the way that only an illustration of GAPS in action can.

If you are considering GAPS, please make sure to consult with a certified GAPS practitioner (link to online resource to find certified GAPS practitioner) before starting to make sure the GAPS approach is appropriate for you, and so that you have the support you need to trouble-shoot as you go along. If you’re in the SF Bay Area, you can consult with our clinic (email) directly.

I’ve split the article into weeks to make it easier to find the phase you have a question about, so you can come back and reference these articles easily in the future. Good luck! And remember that we at Wood Tiger Wellness are here to help! Just call 415-424-3213 or email info@woodtigeracupuncture.com

A special note about probiotics: I have been eating large amounts of probiotics for a long time. Because of this I jump right in with huge doses of probiotic foods and supplements. PLEASE DO NOT follow my doses! See a certified practitioner to find out how to taper up correctly.

GAPS Intro Phase 1:

The weekend before starting:

This is my prep weekend. I have to make sure I have enough food on hand to keep me from suddenly having to grab lunch out mid-week. For my wife and I, we’ve decided to prepare the following items in advance:

Duck stock w/ duck neck

Lamb broth w/ lamb shank

Mashed Cauliflower

Stewed Onions

Mashed carrots

And we stocked up on the following:

1 dozen Tomatero Farms  pastured  eggs in case we add yolks this week

10-12 c sauerkraut juice: I get this by using a ladel to get all the juice out of the bulk sauerkraut at Rainbow Grocery or ordering from Three Stone Hearth or Back Yard CSA

Lard, Duck Fat and Lard Butter from Avedano’s

Raw Cream to make crème fraiche: Organic Pastures or Claravale