Everything about our guest blogger this week is just wow. From her personal story on how she tackled a very serious medical condition with nothing but tenacity, to her creativity in the kitchen, developing genius recipes that both support her healing and satisfy her cravings – Andrea, the talent behind Forest and Fauna, is a blogger to follow!
See Andra has a medical condition that allows no wiggle room for “cheats”; feeling her best and supporting total health through diet and lifestyle is of the utmost importance to her well-being. Creating recipes that allow her to feel “normal” when both dining out (see post below) and eating at home is key to her long-term success.
On her site you will find recipes like how to make your own chocolate chips, apple fritters, pita bread, cinnamon sugar donuts, and wild mushroom pizza, just to name a few that caught our eye!
Andrea has mastered the low starch lifestyle and has even created a cookbook to support others in their healing through diet. This cookbook features 130 amazing anti-inflammatory recipes, 100 of which are egg-free. And we are giving away three copies of this e-book to three very lucky readers – – scroll to the bottom of this post for more details!!
But first, a recipe share from Andrea – take it away!
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I am excited to share a little bit of my healing story and one of my go-to recipes for burger buns that pair so nicely with these Mediterranean inspired lamb sliders.
I have just self-published the book, “Pure and Simple Paleo: a Low Starch Cookbook” which is a celebration of my healing journey that started in the kitchen. I have lived with an autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis for over 16 years. Unfortunately I was misdiagnosed for the first 10 years while this disease ate away at my spine and fused together my SI joints and a large section of vertebrae. By the time I first heard the words “ankylosing spondylitis,” (AS for short), I had developed scoliosis (sideways curve in my spine) and kyphosis (a hunched forward spine), osteoporosis, along with “bamboo spine” (a fused together spine). I had also developed a serious case of chronic “leaky gut” in the form of colitis and IBS. I was in a world of hurt when I finally stumbled onto the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, SCD, which later led me to the Paleo diet.
The diet I now thrive on is a low starch version of Paleo. That is because many of us with AS are very sensitive to starches (along with gluten/grains), which can be explained by a theory of molecular mimicry having to do with the gram negative bacteria klebsiella. For a more detailed scientific explanation, see this link.
My low starch paleo cookbook is packed full of 130 anti-inflammatory paleo recipes that I have relied on to help heal my gut and significantly manage the inflammation from this disease. I have had such great success with this approach and I cannot imagine eating any other way! The symptoms and flares of AS are so severe for my body that I never “cheat” or eat any foods that will cause me pain like refined sugars, grains, cow’s milk dairy, soy, or nightshades, as the consequences for me are too dire. So rather than be tempted by foods that will only make me feel bad, I have developed so many delicious recipes that are actually super tasty and enable me to live my life to the fullest despite this disease.
My focus in this cookbook was to create real comfort foods, meaning foods that pack in all of our favorite flavors and textures, yet they are foods that are also truly comforting for our bodies! Some of my favorite low starch paleo recipes include bison meatloaf with huckleberry bbq sauce, grain-free/starch-free pizza crust with my strawberry basil balsamic sauce, sweet and sour sesame chicken, hummingbird cake, 3 different kinds of freezer friendly waffles, along with my favorite fig balsamic salad dressing and soups like my chicken noodle and tom kha. I have also created the ultimate starch-free baguette bread recipes, which I consider one of my biggest accomplishments in the kitchen in the past 5 years or grain-free, low starch cooking!
My cookbook, “Pure and Simple Paleo: a Low Starch Cookbook” is a celebration of family favorite recipes without the dairy, grains, or refined sugars. And be sure to check out my blog forestandfauna.com where I share my adventures in hunting and gathering paleo foods! I am more inspired by wild foods and outdoor adventures everyday.
Below is a sample recipe from my cookbook. Lamb and tahini are often served together and this recipe brings those traditional flavors together in a paleo way! This hamburger bun recipe is based on a recipe my friend, Baruch Cholow who lives in Israel, shared with me. And honestly, you can hardly taste the sesame flavor in these buns, so feel free to use them anytime you are having a burger of any type. I often sneak these buns into restaurants wrapped in tin foil. I order up a grass fed burger without the bun, with a side of house made aioli, a big side salad + extra avocado, and then whip my bun out of my purse and enjoy the full meal deal. These buns hold together really well, much better than most grain-free bread recipes I have tried. They also work really well for sandwiches like a traditional turkey club or grilled chicken breast sandwich.
Ingredients
- 5 Tablespoons tahini paste (aka sesame butter)
- 1 pastured egg
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or use vinegar)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon sweetener* (honey, fruit preserves, a little stevia, or omit)
- garnish: pinch of sesame or poppy seeds
- 1 pound ground lamb (or use ground pork or chicken)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
- ¼ cup fresh mint
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- 1 Tablespoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Pinch of sea salt
- A little cooking oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- Mix ingredients together in a bowl really well. I mix it with a spatula by hand, and it takes a minute to really get the tahini egg and all ingredients blended into a smooth batter. The lemon juice really helps break down the tahini. (You can add 1 to 2 teaspoons water if needed to thin out batter, depending on the thickness of your tahini paste.)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- Spoon the batter onto the baking sheet to form 8 round pancake-like circles of batter. Or for a normal size burger make 5 rounds.
- Bake at 350*F for 10 to 14 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
- *Note: if you omit the 1 Tablespoon of sweetener, or use a granulated sweetener, you may need to add in 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of water, to make the batter thin enough to spread into rounds before baking.
- Mince fresh herbs and garlic.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ground lamb with herbs and seasonings.
- For sliders: Form lamb into large meatballs, and then flatten them into small burger patties. Cook them in a preheated sauté pan with a little oil, over medium high heat a few minutes on each side, until cooked thoroughly and internal temperature reaches 160*F.
- For meatballs: Preheat oven to 375*F. Form lamb into medium sized meatballs and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 160*F.
- Serve Lamb Sliders with: my starch-free tahini buns, fresh basil or greens, my Vegan Tzatziki Sauce or a little homemade mayo with fresh mint and dill mixed in.
And now for the giveaway!
Simply use the form below to enter for a chance to win a copy of “Pure and Simple Paleo: A Low Starch Cookbook”. Three winners will be selected and announced one week from today.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://paleoparents.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/andrea-standing-tall-in-BC.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Andrea Wyckoff shares her love for the outdoors and adventures in real food cooking at forestandfauna.com. In her free time she loves to explore forests, creaks and meadows to hunt for wild foods and inspiration. Andrea is super passionate about foraging and researching many of our forgotten ways of survival in nature. She often daydreams about what is was like to walk the Oregon Trail, and is known to pull off to the side of the road when she comes across wild and feral fruit trees, plants, and berry bushes. She plans her feasts around seasonal foods found in the Pacific Northwest. Andrea, her husband Tom, and their 3 dogs live in a woodsy home nestled into the edge of the Oregon Coast Range where she is inspired by nature everyday. She would love to have you join on her foodie adventures at forestandfauna.com.[/author_info] [/author]
