Friday, November 27, 2015

It's back for a FINAL run: The Autoimmune Wellness Bundle!


It's back for a FINAL run: The Autoimmune Wellness Bundle!

Hi Friends!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, for those residing in the US, and a great week for those outside of the US. I'm super excited to be eating Thanksgiving leftovers for the next few days :)

I wanted to make sure to let you know that The Autoimmune Wellness Bundle has been re-released for a second and FINAL time?!? BUT, it’s only available through Cyber Monday (November 30th) and then it will be gone forever! This is your last chance to get 48 e-book resources (worth over $500) for only $39. Plus coupon codes! I still wish a resource such as this one was available when I first began AIP back in 2014. Once again, several of my recipes are included in the bundle-exclusive "Best of the Autoimmune Protocol 2015" e-book :)

It's back for a FINAL run: The Autoimmune Wellness Bundle!

It’s no secret that autoimmune conditions, chronic illnesses, and food allergies are on the rise. I urge you to consider investing in “The Autoimmune Wellness Bundle," for yourself or for someone you know dealing with chronic health issues. Whether you are taking charge of own health, or helping someone realize there are other options for managing many conditions, this bundle is an amazing resource to jumpstart an AIP journey or to help push through a rut or plateau.

Don’t miss out! Order a bundle for yourself or to give as a gift by Monday, November 30th! 

Get Instant Access Now!

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

If someone had told me two years ago that I’d not only like liver pâté, but my body would crave it, I would have thought that person was crazy. But it’s true. Not only am I consuming chicken liver pâté, but I’m making it myself, which is true dedication for this former vegetarian.

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

I didn’t have a lot of trouble when it came to the concept of eating offal, especially something as mild as chicken liver pâté, but I did have a bit of a hang up on making it myself. Last November, I finally found the courage to consider making pâté. I bought a package of chicken livers, only to chicken out (ha!) & have them go bad in the fridge before I could make the pâté. The second time, I finally convinced myself to go ahead and make my friend Martine’s pâté recipe. While I didn’t love the process of working with raw liver, the results were delicious & I found my body craving the pâté on the days I wasn’t eating it. Perhaps the high nutrient density of the liver has something to do with that (read more about liver & organ meat here)

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

I have made pâté fairly regularly over the next few months, even traveling with it when I’d go on trips. But this summer, when I found myself needing to go low FODMAP for SIBO, I fell off the pâté bandwagon. I loved Martine’s pâté recipe, but it had all sorts of ingredients that I needed to eliminate, like onions, garlic & mushrooms and I was concerned I wouldn’t like pâté once I took out those key ingredients.

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

As I was grocery shopping a few weeks ago, I found a large display of organic chicken livers & my body immediately started craving pâté again! It seemed perhaps time to start experimenting on a low(er) FODMAP pâté recipe. I’ve been fortunate to begin adding back in some higher FODMAP foods, like the apples in some of these images, but I wanted to keep the pâté base on the lower FODMAP side. Three of my favorite ingredients came to the rescue: bacon, leek greens & garlic oil. My first attempt was much more delicious than I anticipated, and there were many people over on Instagram who also seemed interested in a low FODMAP pâté recipe, so I’m sharing it here.  

Chicken Liver Pate (AIP, Paleo, Low FODMAP)

Spreading the pâté on cucumbers or plantain chips is my favorite low FODMAP methods of eating it. If you’ve reintroduced some FODMAPs, I also really like apple slices, celery sticks, & homemade herb crackers (you can find that recipe in my new e-book “AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats”).

Note on FODMAPs: FODMAPs are confusing things... Certain resources will say that one item is “ok” and other resources will list that item as “avoid.” I am choosing to get my information about FODMAPs from Monash University & their app. Monash is continually updating their information & they are great about listing what quantity of food (both by volume & by weight) keeps it within the low FODMAP guidelines. As always, though, you know your body best. Just because one list says a food is fine, doesn’t always mean your body will be fine with it. Or on the flip side, just because one list says a food is on the avoid list, doesn’t mean your body is automatically going to be bothered by it. Do what makes your body & mind feel the best. 

Chicken Liver Pâté
Yields 5-4oz jars

4 strips of Bacon
110 g (1 1/2 cup) Leek Greens
1 lb Organic Chicken Livers, rinsed 
1 tablespoon Garlic Olive Oil
1/2 cup Red Wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon) 
1 teaspoon Thyme, dried
1/2 teaspoon Parsley, dried
1/2 teaspoon Sage, ground
1 each Bay Leaf
4 tablespoons Bone Broth
1 tablespoon fresh Parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt 
  1. In a large non-reactive skillet (i.e. stainless steel, not cast iron), brown the bacon over medium high heat. Once the bacon is cooked through, remove from the pan (reserving for later), but keep the grease in the skillet.
  2. Add the leek greens to the hot pan & briefly sauté. Move the greens off to the side & add the chicken livers. Drizzle the garlic olive oil over the livers. Cook for 4 minutes, or until brown on one side. 
  3. Flip the livers over, add the wine & dried herbs. Stir to combine. Cover the pan & reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the lid & cook an additional 3 minutes. The alcohol cooks off during this process, making it safe for AIP. 
  4. Add the liver mixture to a large food processor, along with the cooked bacon, bone broth, fresh herbs & salt. Puree until smooth, scraping the sides of the food processor as needed. Taste & add additional salt, if needed. 
  5. Portion into small cups (I like to use 4 oz mason jars). Chill in the refrigerator until cold. Consume within 4 days, or freeze for longevity. A word of caution, the pâté may become a bit more grainy & firm once frozen & thawed, but it still tastes great. 
  6. Serve the pâté with veggies (I like cucumbers best) or fruit (I like apples, though they are a higher FODMAP food that I have successfully reintroduced) or homemade AIP crackers.
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Friday, November 13, 2015

Announcing AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats e-book & a giveaway!

AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats e-book by Laura Vein

EDIT: The Giveaway has ended (11-18-2015). Congratulations to Anna for winning! 

I’m very excited to announce that I’ve published an e-book “AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats.” The e-book features 14 recipes for the holiday season, including cookies, cakes, custards,  pies, sauces, plus a couple savory options. Because AIP is not meant to last forever, three of the recipes feature reintroductions. I know first-hand how challenging it can be to stick with AIP during holidays when there are tempting foods everywhere you turn. Instead of feeling deprived, or risking temptation, I've re-created many of my favorite holiday treats to fit within AIP guidelines. I sincerely believe it is not healthy in the long run for a person (myself included) to indulge in dessert items every day. But I do also believe in balance, & I find myself relaxing a bit during the holiday season.  Check out this page for more e-book information & a full listing of the recipes. 

AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats e-book by Laura Vein
In the book’s introduction, I include 5 of my top tips for AIP baking success. My absolute number one tip for baking success is to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale. I realize that not everyone may have a kitchen scale, but I absolutely could not survive without mine. So I’ve decided, in honor of “AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats” release, to give away not just a copy of the e-book, but also a kitchen scale! The giveaway will run until 12am on Tuesday, November 17th.  

AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats e-book by Laura Vein

Over the years, I’ve worked with many different brands of scales, but the Escali Primo Digital Kitchen Scale 11Lb/5Kg is my absolute favorite. I used that scale both as a culinary student & a culinary school instructor, as well as in various professional jobs & now in my adventures in recipe development. Anytime I travel, the scale flies with me. Please note: the brand Escali has no idea who I am & they are in no way sponsoring this giveaway. I just love their scale & can’t help but gush about it :) 

AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats e-book by Laura Vein

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. The winner gets a copy of my new e-book "AIP & Paleo Holiday Sweet Treats," as well as an Escali Primo Digital Kitchen Scale 11Lb/5Kg
May the odds be ever in your favor ;) 

Happy Baking & Happy Holidays! 

EDIT: The Giveaway has ended (11-18-2015). Congratulations to Anna for winning! 



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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Though I did not grow up eating many sweet potatoes, I’ve been a big fan ever since tasting sweet potato casserole for the first time while visiting my grandparents who wintered in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Traditional sweet potato casserole, with its delicious sweet filling & nutty topping doesn’t work well for my body anymore, but with Thanksgiving & other holiday gatherings on the horizon, I wanted to develop an AIP-compliant sweet potato casserole that I could still eat.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Today, I usually prefer white sweet potatoes (Hannah or Japanese varieties), because they’re a little less sweet and a little more reminiscent of regular white potatoes. However, since traditional sweet potato casserole is almost a dessert masquerading as a side dish, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are necessary. Orange sweet potatoes provide naturally sweet flavors, needing only minimal additions of real maple syrup (or other AIP-complaint sweetener).

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Tingernuts work as a wonderful substitution for pecans when making the topping. If you haven’t worked with tigernuts before, know that they aren’t actually a nut, but a tuber. I’ve worked with them in several forms: whole, ground into flour, and most recently “sliced.” The tigernut flour is a bit gritty, but I think that texture works well in this case where it is replacing actual nuts. The whole tigernuts can be really hard on your jaw, unless they’re soaked ahead of time. Organic Gemini, my favorite tigernut company, has recently released sliced tigernuts, & I find they work just perfectly in this recipe. Sliced tigernuts keep some of the crunch of whole tigernuts, but they are not nearly as tough to chew.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Aside from this sweet potato casserole containing ingredients that are AIP-compliant, I also appreciate that it can be made ahead of time. AIP advocates not only dietary changes, but also stress reduction, and typically holidays can be stressful!! With this year being my second holiday season on AIP, I know from experience that often AIP holiday meals require much more preparation (and many fewer convenience foods) than my previous “standard” holiday meals. I like having AIP-variations of my traditional holiday favorites, but often that means I have to make them entirely from scratch myself.  Thankfully, both this sweet potato casserole and the green beans I posted last week can be prepared ahead of time & reheated just before serving. Also, this recipe is vegan, just in case you have any vegan guests.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

I would encourage anyone thinking ahead to Thanksgiving and other holiday meal preparations to plan ahead as much as possible, & to make things a couple days in advance if you can. Turkey & gravy (here’s a link to my favorite AIP gravy from last year) are often best made the day of, but many side dishes can be prepared a couple days in advance.

If you’re looking for holiday dessert inspiration, stay tuned for my next post & a very exciting announcement! 

In the mean time, here are some other resources:

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts
yields 6-8 servings as a side dish

For the Sweet Potato Filling
3 pounds orange sweet potatoes

1025 g (4 1/3 c) sweet potato flesh (from the 3# of sweet potatoes above), room temperature
42 g (3 Tbl) Coconut Oil, melted
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 to 2 Tbl Real Maple Syrup (Grade A dark amber/Grade B preferred), depending on sweetness preferences 
1/2 tsp Sea Salt

For the Tigernut Topping
60 g (1/2 c) Tigernut Flour
40 g (5 Tbl) Arrowroot Starch
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
39 g (2 Tbl) Real Maple Syrup (Grade A dark amber/Grade B preferred)
28 g (2 Tbl) Coconut Oil, melted
25 g (1/3 c) Sliced Tigernuts
  1. Prepare the sweet potatoes for the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 F. the sweet potato filling: Wash the 3 pounds of sweet potatoes. Prick them with the tip of a sharp knife & place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 1-2 hours, or until very soft. Cool at room temperature & peel off the skin. Note: this roasting process can be done 1 to 2 days in advance of assembling the casserole. Store the baked/peeled sweet potatoes in the refrigerator
  2. Make the filling by mashing the room temperature baked sweet potatoes with the remaining ingredients. Spread evenly in a baking dish. I used a 24 oz (2.3"x 9.8"x 6.3") Le Creuset Oval Gratin Dish but you could use another baking dish of comparable size. 
  3. Make the tigernut topping by stirring together the tigernut flour, arrowroot, cinnamon and sea salt. Drizzle in the maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix until combined, but still a little clumpy. Stir in the slivered tigernuts. 
  4. Sprinkle the tigernut topping evenly over the sweet potato filling. Bake in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are warmed & the topping begins to brown. 
  5. Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers. 
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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

Perhaps never have I been so excited about a vegetable as I was about reintroducing green beans after my AIP Reset this past summer, especially since I was doing AIP + low FODMAP (and green beans are low FODMAP). Now that we’ve reached November, with important holidays, like Thanksgiving & Christmas, on the horizon, I’ve got green beans back on the brain. Oh, and that sweet potato casserole you see in some of the images? It's completely AIP & I'm sharing the recipe for it in next week’s post ;)

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

Because I spent a decade eating a mostly vegetarian diet, I ate a lot of side dishes at major holiday dinners. Green bean casserole was usually a staple (and one of my favorites). I’d love to concoct my own paleo/AIP reintroduction version of a green bean casserole, and perhaps someday I will, but for now, I’m way way more of a fan of speedy side dishes. A meal like Thanksgiving requires much more preparation than a “normal” meal & there are precious few shortcuts available. These green beans have almost zero hands-on preparation time (dump, drizzle, toss, sprinkle, & roast), though they still look and taste quite fancy when they’re finished.

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

One of my secrets when it comes to making side dishes, holiday or just regular dinner, is to embrace frozen organic vegetables. They require less hands-on preparation, I don’t have to worry about their shelf life like fresh veggies, and they’re delicious if prepared correctly. I still can’t stomach frozen-then-microwaved Normandy vegetable blend, due to poor childhood memories (sorry, Mom!), so most often, I roast frozen veggies. Something magical happens when vegetables are roasted: the flavor mellows & becomes more toasty/caramelized with such minimal effort. Usually, husband and I stand over the pan of freshly roasted vegetables & fight over eating the most crispy (what some might call “burnt”) pieces.

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

I’ve been roasting green beans with oil & coconut aminos for a while, but I only recently started adding some bacon to them. No, bacon does not make *everything* better, but somehow, adding a little chopped bacon to the pan of green beans helps make them feel a little more special. Please feel free to leave the bacon off if you want this dish to also appeal to any vegetarian/vegan guests you may have.

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

Additionally, most roasted vegetables, including these green beans, can be prepared in advance & reheated just before serving. They won’t be quite as crispy as freshly roasted but nevertheless delicious. When making these beans for a crowd, make more than you’ll think you may need. All vegetable shrink pretty dramatically during roasting! In fact, husband and I usually split a 16 oz bag (pre-roasted) of beans between the two of us as side dish for dinner.

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

A note on reintroducing green beans: green beans were once a “gray area” food, but since the publication of “The Paleo Approach” by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, it is now recommended that legumes with edible pods, such as green beans and green peas, be eliminated for at least 30 days.  Once the 30 days are complete & you see significant reduction (better yet elimination) of any symptoms, green beans are considered a stage 1 reintroduction. If you’re interested in reintroducing green beans to hopefully include on a  Thanksgiving menu, I recommend trying them out a couple weeks before the holiday itself. Just in case you’d happen to have a reaction to them, it’s better to know before a major holiday! If you’re interested in more in depth information about reintroductions, check out these resources (here and here).

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Stage 1 Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP)
Yields 4 servings for a regular meal, or 6-8 holiday meal servings (if there are other side dishes) 

2-16 oz Organic French-style Green Beans
1/4 c Avocado Oil (or other melted fat of choice)
2 Tbl Coconut Aminos
2 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
Smoked Sea Salt, optional for serving.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet (Half Sheet Pan size), with a little of the avocado oil
  2. Open both bags of green beans & dump them onto the sheet pan. Drizzle with the remaining oil & coconut aminos  Toss lightly to combine. Sprinkle the bacon over the top (I usually use kitchen scissors to cut the bacon right over the sheet pan). 
  3. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven & stir. Return to the oven for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until well caramelized. 
  4. Serve with a sprinkle of smoked salt, if desired, though the bacon & coconut aminos do have a good amount of salt already. 
  5. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Notes:

  • Remove the bacon to make the dish vegetarian/vegan & make sure to use a vegetarian/vegan oil. 
  • To make coconut free, omit the coconut aminos, though the flavor will change slightly. 
  • I have only tried this dish with frozen green beans, not with fresh, mostly because I rarely have the time to prepare fresh green beans. 
  • I prefer to use french-style green beans because their smaller surface area allows them to roast faster. You can also use regular cut green beans or haricot verts, but the roasting process may take longer. 

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