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Make Yourself Comfortable (Comfort Food, Part 2)

10/19/2016

1 Comment

 
Another Presidential debate, another pot of tapioca pudding (this time shared with my daughter, so at least I didn't scarf down the whole thing). Here are some more recipes for comfort foods that should get you safely through any forthcoming revelatory tapes and right up to Election Day.  By the way, I voted early...made me feel so much better.

French Toast
Serves 2

It's not called "French toast" in France, but "pain perdu" (literally, "lost bread", which is what I thought it meant to go Paleo). Happily, there are a number of good Paleo bread recipes out there, including the one for Paleo Sandwich Bread from a couple of weeks ago in my "Comfort Me With Meatloaf" post.
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​Ingredients


4 slices Paleo Sandwich Bread (see paleogram.com, September 21, 2016)
3 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canned organic coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS ghee
Maple syrup for serving

1. Mix eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla together in large shallow bowl or baking dish.
2. Submerge bread slices in mixture. Poke holes in bread with fork to help absorption of liquid. Let sit for at least 30 minutes. You could also let this soak, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Melt ghee in large frying pan over low heat and place bread slices in pan. Cook on one side until lightly browned, then turn and cook over low heat until toast is completely cooked and other side is also light brown.
4. Serve with maple syrup, and bacon on the side, if you wish (yum, everything's better with bacon!).

Mashed Buttercup Squash
6-10 servings

Buttercup squash may not be the most beautiful winter squash in the bunch but to me, it is the most delicious. It's sweeter than Butternut (although you can use either one in this recipe) and would make a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving. Kids love it, too. Last weekend, my two grandsons asked for seconds and then thirds.
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​Ingredients


1 large buttercup or butternut squash
1/2 cup cream from top of can of organic full-fat coconut milk
2 or more TBS ghee
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Puncture whole squash in 6 or 7 places with sharp knife.
2. Place whole squash in baking dish with about an inch of water. Roast until you can make an indentation in squash and it feels "squishy", at least an hour.
3. Remove squash from oven, cut in half, and remove seeds and stringy stuff around seeds (kind of messy, but easier than cutting raw squash in half to scrape out seeds before baking). Scrape squash from shell.
4. Put squash in saucepan, add rest of ingredients, and use potato masher or immersion blender to purée. Warm over low heat, season with salt and pepper and serve.
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Miracle Pho
4-6 servings

Pho is a warming, comforting soup for any time of the day. Traditional Vietnamese Pho calls for rice noodles, but to make it Paleo, use Miracle Noodles (www.miraclenoodles.com), instead. This is a pretty easy recipe, but it is a two-day process. You make the broth the day before, but then it doesn't take long to throw the dish together the next day.
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Ingredients for broth:

4 cups Paleo-friendly chicken broth, like Imagine brand
4 cups water
3 pounds meaty soup bones
1 tsp salt
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 onions chopped (leave the skins on for a richly colored broth)
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch parsley
2 stalks lemon grass
1 1-inch chunk ginger, peeled
1 cinnamon stick

2 packages Miracle Noodles, prepared according to package directions

For serving:

2 TBS Red Boat Fish Sauce ( this is Pale-friendly--the only ingredients are anchovies and sea salt
Salt and pepper to taste
2 limes, quartered
1 Thai chile, seeded and chopped, optional
Small bunches fresh herbs like mint, cilantro, Thai basil and parsley
Handful of fresh mung bean sprouts or micro greens

For broth:

1. The day before you are planning to serve the Pho, put all broth ingredients in large soup pot, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 6-8 hours.
2. Cool and refrigerate over night.
3. The next day, skim the fat from the top of the broth, then strain the soup, reserving the meat and discarding everything else.
4. Cut up the meat into bit-sized pieces and return to the broth.
5. Heat broth and add fish sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

For pho:

1. Divide up prepared Miracle Noodles into 4 soup bowls. Ladle soup on top of noodles.
2. Pass the limes, chiles, herbs and sprouts or micro greens for each diner to add to pho.


Apple Clafoutis

My husband thinks we should call our place "One Tree Farm," because this one little apple tree that we rescued from the trash heap after a home renovation about a dozen years ago and replanted in the front yard, is paying us back 100-fold. We have cartons and cartons of apples: In two  refrigerators; sitting in the front hall waiting to be turned into applesauce; going to the local soup kitchen; and sent home to Massachusetts with my kids. O.K, we don't really live on a farm, and, actually, there are a few more apple trees on the property, and I am SO not into naming the house where I live (Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, anyone?).

But, anyway, this has turned into my hands-down favorite (and easy) apple recipe of the year. It is an adaptation of Elana Amsterdam's Pear Clafoutis recipe from elanaspantry.com . Clafoutis is French, natch, and is traditionally made with cherries. If the birds didn't beat me to the cherries on our two trees each year (another reason why we can't be "One Tree Farm), I would so make this with cherries, as well...I wouldn't even mind pitting them.
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​Ingredients


5 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Ghee for greasing baking dish
4 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup cream from top of can of full-fat, organic coconut milk
1/2 cup ghee, melted
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 8" x 8" baking pan with a little ghee.
2. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut cream, melted ghee, honey, and vanilla extract.
3. In small bowl, whisk together almond flour, cinnamon and salt.
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until smooth.
5. Arrange apple slices in bottom of baking pan and pour batter over them.
6. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until clafoutis is set in the center and top is golden brown.
7. Cool and serve.
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1 Comment
LINDA DICKEY
10/20/2016 05:49:09 pm

MMMMMMMM--esp the clafoutis and the pain perdu, and I think I might make the squash sat. night. THANKS D. only 20 more days of this craziness!

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      Deborah Shepherd

    New recipes and Paleo adaptations of family favorites I've been cooking for years that I hope will work for all of us, whether Boomers or beyond.

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