You Won’t Believe it’s TOMATO-FREE Ragu Bolognese (AIP-Friendly)

Tags

AIP, Autoimmune Protocol, Best Bolognese Recipe, Best Tomato Free Bolognese Recipe, Healthy Bolognese, Nightshade Free, Paleo, Tomato Free

TSL Tomato-Free Ragu Bolognese
(Image by LM for TSL)

If kids can learn how to make a simple Bolognese sauce, they will never go hungry. It’s pretty easy to cook pasta, but a good sauce is way more useful. (Emeril Lagasse)

Until just over a year ago, when I started on this Autoimmune Protocol caper, I’d been trying to teach the teenager how to make a good Bolognese sauce for quite some time. I reckon’ everybody should have a good Bolognese recipe in their repertoire…

The thing is, a good Bolognese takes time to cook properly. Hours. And, the teenager likes food that is more immediate…

And then, I started the protocol. And my lovely BEST EVER Ragu Bolognese became naught but a memory. Because, a good Bolognese is traditionally made with tomatoes.

Until now

This week is all about Ragu Bolognese here at Casa TSL. And, my personal mission to create an AIP-friendly version of this winter staple. In other words, without tomatoes.

And, I’ve cracked it! In fact, LM says this even trumps the original tomato-based version. Bold words!

In addition to my beetroot and pumpkin-laden Tomato Passata Replacement, this number also has the added benefit of both bone broth and chicken livers. Not only does it taste great, but you can be sure you’re getting some good gut repairing bone broth and a big hit of vitamin A from the liver. It’s a great way to sneak some more liver into your diet if you’re a little funny about offal…

The thing about Bolognese is that, while it does take a long time to come to its full flavour potential, because you’re making a large amount, you have enough for a big crowd. In fact, once you portion it up and pop it in your freezer, there’s easily enough for eight to ten in this recipe.

And, with Bolognese in your freezer, you have a seriously good meal only minutes away.

Spaghetti is love. (Mario Batali)

Tomato Free Ragu Bolognese on Zoodles
aka green spaghetti!
(Image by LM for TSL)

We served ours over oodles of zoodles (zucchini noodles) this week. But it could just as easily have been placed into lettuce cups with some avocado and coriander (cilantro). Or, served over lightly steamed veggies.

Tomato Free Ragu Bolognese

• Servings: approx 8 - 10
• Time: 4 1/2 hours
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

About 500g grass-fed Beef mince
About 500g happy pork or veal mince
Coconut oil (or fat of choice)
About 225g happy chicken livers
2 x medium onions (chopped)
4 x large cloves of garlic (minced)
About 150g speck (or pancetta), chopped
800mls of my tomato-free passata
500ml beef bone broth (preferably home-made!)
Fresh herbs of choice (basil, parsley or whatever you have to hand)
Salt & Pepper (omit pepper if in elimination stage of AIP)
Sea Vegetables (Optional, but so good for you! I use this one)

Method:

1. Heat your oven to 140°C/275°F
2. Heat your largest frying pan over a medium heat. Add a generous dollop of coconut oil. Gently fry the onion and garlic until softened – about ten minutes. Give it a stir every now and then.
3. Add the chopped speck to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a large casserole (my beloved le Creuset holds just over 4 litres).
4. Add some more coconut oil to the pan and turn the heat up to high. Add the minced beef in batches to brown. I use a wooden fork to break it up in the pan. Add the cooked mince to the casserole. Repeat until all your beef is browned.
5. Do the same with the pork mince. While the pork mince is cooking, rinse the chicken livers and pat them dry  with a paper towel. Trim off any sinew and chop them into teeny-tiny pieces.
6. Once the pork is browned and transferred to the casserole, heat a little more coconut oil and briefly brown the chicken livers. Add these to the casserole.
7. Place the casserole over a direct medium heat and give everything a good stir. Add the tomato-free passata, bone broth and a generous seasoning of good salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the sea vegetables, if you are going to. Go on – dare you!. Stir again and allow to come to a simmer.
8. Add the chopped leaves of about half a bunch of basil or parsley, stir and place the casserole in the oven (without a lid) for 3 1/2 hours. I give it a stir every hour or so. You should end up with a thick, unctuous meaty sauce with only a teeny bit of liquid.
9. Check for seasoning and add the remaining half bunch of your herbs.
10. When the sauce has cooled, divide it up. I use my scales and measure out 250g portions which serves two.

E N J O Y !

This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable 

 

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TSL’s BEST EVER Ragu Bolognese…

Tags

Alexx Stuart, Best Bolognaise Recipe, Best Bolognese Recipe, Best Lasagne Recipe, Best Pasta Sauce, Best Ragu Recipe, Cook, Dairy Free, Delia, Delia Smith, Dolly Parton, food, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Main Course, Paleo, Ragout Recipe, Real Food, Recipe, Sea Vegetable

Ragu Bolognese TSL-Style
inspired by Delia
(Image by TSL)

My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order. (Dolly Parton)

I like to cook. Which is rather fortunate, because I also like to eat. And, as I get older I find myself becoming more particular about what I will eat, and where my food comes from.

There are times, though, when even the most passionate of cooks can’t face the kitchen. I have friends back in New Zealand who have lovely wee lamb cutlets as their ‘go to’ meal when they can’t be bothered thinking about cooking at the end of a particularly long work day. I think they may even have a super-special crumb recipe in which they coat their wee cutlets. They buy the little chops in bulk, do their magic ‘crumb-thingy’, and then freeze them in portion-size packages. Yum.

My go-to ‘can’t be bothered thinking about cooking‘ answer has long been to have portion-sized containers of Delia Smith’s Authentic Ragu Bolognese in my freezer. It’s so good and has a secret ingredient to make it seriously smooth and rich. Chicken livers. Yep. That’s right – chicken livers.

Wanna’ know why we should eat more chicken liver? Among other things, it is:

• high in protein and a rich store of folate
• loaded with iron (for energy and immune system health)
• a treasure trove of certain B vitamins, most notably B12 (guards your body against anemia, good for tissue repair).
• one of the top sources of vitamin A (which promotes good eyesight)

And, even if the idea of liver has you running for the hills, you won’t even know it’s in this recipe. True!

I used to make the ragu as part of Delia’s Lasagne al Forno. That’s no longer an option in the gluten-free, dairy-free world I now cook in at Casa TSL.* So, now I just make the ragu and have it on hand for whenever I can’t face the kitchen…

Ragu Bolognese TSL-Style
inspired by Delia
(Image by TSL)

Lately, I’ve had a wee bit of a girl-crush on Alexx Stuart of Real Food. Low Tox Living. She is a great proponent of eating real food, which just makes a lot of sense to me (and I like her pragmatic, unpretentious style). I saw her in action at the MINDD Foundation ‘Food is Medicine’ seminar. Now I like her even more!

And, as a result of Alexx’s presentation, I received a metaphorical kick-in-the-bum regarding making my own stocks from grass-fed bones again. So, this past week, I picked up some lovely bones from G.R.U.B. and made a massive batch of beef bone broth. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t fit it all in the freezer.

With all this excess broth and a need to replenish my emergency supplies of ragu, I have adapted Delia’s recipe to suit my needs. And, you know what? It works AND it’s more kiddie-friendly because there’s no wine in it. Delia’s recipe makes 8 225g portions, each serving 2 people. Mine makes more…

Ragu Bolognese TSL-Style
inspired by Delia
(Image by TSL)

Ragu Bolognese TSL-Style
(adapted from Delia Smith’s recipe)

Ingredients:
About 500g grass-fed Beef mince
About 500g pork mince (from happy pigs)
Coconut oil (or fat of choice)
About 225g chicken livers
2 x medium onions (chopped)
4 x large cloves of garlic (minced)
About 150g speck (or pancetta), chopped
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
4 x heaped tablespoons tomato paste
500ml beef bone broth (preferably home-made!)
Fresh herb of choice (basil, parsley or whatever you have to hand)
Salt & Pepper
Sea Vegetables (Optional, but soooooo good for you! I use this one)
grated nutmeg (preferably fresh)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 140°C (275°F)
2. Heat your largest frying pan over a medium heat. Add a generous dollop of coconut oil. Gently fry the onion and garlic until softened – about ten minutes. Give it a stir every now and then.
3. Add the chopped speck to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a large casserole (my beloved le Creuset holds just over 4 litres).
4. Add some more coconut oil to the pan and turn the heat up to high. Add the minced beef in batches to brown. I use a wooden fork to break it up in the pan. Add the cooked mince to the casserole. Repeat until all your beef is browned.
5. Do the same with the pork mince. While the pork mince is cooking, rinse the chicken livers and dry them with a paper towel. Trim off any sinew and chop them into teeny-tiny pieces.
6. Once the pork is browned and transferred to the casserole, heat a little more coconut oil and briefly brown the chicken livers. Add these to the casserole.
7. Place the casserole over a direct medium heat and give everything a good stir. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, bone broth and a generous seasoning of good salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the nutmeg (and the sea vegetables, if you are going to. Go on – dare you!). Stir again and allow to come to a simmer.
8. Add the chopped leaves of about half a bunch of basil or parsley
9. place the casserole in the oven (without a lid) for four hours. I give it a stir every hour or so. You should end up with a thick, unctuous meaty sauce with only a teeny bit of liquid.
10. Check for seasoning and add the remaining half bunch of your herbs.
11. When the sauce has cooled, divide it up. Delia reckons 225g feeds two people, so that’s the measure I go with. I use my scales.

Some suggestions for your ragu:

• the obvious one – over pasta, gnocchi or noodled squash or zucchini
• as a pizza topping
• as a stuffing for potato, kumara (sweet potato), eggplant, peppers or mushrooms
• as a sauce over steamed or roasted vegetable (my preferred option is over roasted broccoli)
• in shakshuka (baked eggs)
• As a super fancy-schmancy mince-on-toast

Bolognese-stuffed Eggplant
(Image from Taste)

If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart. (Cesar Chavez)

*But, if you don’t have these limitations and you feel like showing your family and/or friends just how much you love them, Delia’s lasagne recipe is an absolute corker. SERIOUSLY GOOD.

The EASIEST Stew in the WORLD! (AIP Friendly)

Tags

AIP, Alcohol Free Stew, Autoimmune Protocol, Beef, Braised Beef, Easy Beef Stew, Hearty Meal, Stew, Winter Warmer

It’s officially autumn – or fall – in this corner of the world. And that means we can start thinking about warming food. Food like stews and casseroles! Slow cooked numbers that fill the house with comforting aromas as they work their magic over an afternoon in the oven. My favourite kinds of food…

This number is 100% AIP compliant.

Not even a drop of wine in this baby. Traditionally, a good hearty stew will have a healthy dose of red wine. And, technically that is allowed on the protocol – the alcohol will be cooked off.

But this recipe doesn’t even have that. Mainly, because LM isn’t all that fond of alcohol. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, alcohol isn’t so fond of LM.

So, this is a tee-totalling stew, too!

TSL’s Tee-totalling Stew…!
(Image by LM for TSL)

Stew’s so comforting on a rainy day.
(Dodie Smith, ‘I Capture the Castle’)

The best thing about a good stew is that it really is a doddle to make. Simply brown your meat, sauté some veggies, throw in some good quality bone broth or stock and some aromatics, pop it into your oven and walk away. Its that simple.

So simple that even a non-cook can make a great stew!

And, I know I’m always banging on about doubling a recipe or cooking once to eat twice or thrice, but I’m going to say it again. Especially here, when making a stew. Because as with a good Ragu Bolognese, it’s just as easy to cook a large portion of stew and freeze leftovers for those days you just don’t feel like spending hours in the kitchen. So, to make your life SUPER easy, this recipe is enough to comfortably feed 6 already…

Easy Stew with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Homemade Sauerkraut
(Image by LM for TSL)

This really is the easiest stew recipe. And, because it is so easy, it’s also a great one to experiment with. Feel like adding mushrooms? Or perhaps some parsnip? Maybe you don’t have rosemary handy and want to use a different herb? Or, you have some lamb in your meat locker instead of beef (in which case, can I suggest some mint?)… The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Go forth and make stew!

The Easiest Stew in the World

• Servings: 6 generously
• Time: 4 hours
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

1.5 kilos diced chuck steak/braising beef
1 1/2 x Tablespoons tapioca flour
fat of choice
3 x red onions. peeled and roughly chopped
4 x carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 x celery sticks, roughly chopped
5 x cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 x Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Zest of one orange
4 x sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt
800mls bone broth

Method:

1. Heat your oven to 180° C/ 350°F.

2. Coat your diced beef in tapioca flour. I find the best way to do this is to take a large plastic bag. Pop your meat and flour into the bag. Seal and roll it all around until the meat is covered.

3. Pop a heavy bottomed casserole dish over a medium-high heat (I use my le Creuset) and add a little fat. Brown your meat in batches, setting aside in a bowl as each batch is nicely caramelised.

4. When your meat is all browned and set aside, add a little more fat to the pan. Gently sauté the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary and orange zest until softened. Add the apple cider vinegar to the pan and give everything a good stir.

5. Add the bone broth and a good pinch of salt.

6. Bring to a gentle boil, pop on a lid and place into the oven for three hours.

7. The meat should now be meltingly tender! Check for seasoning before discarding the rosemary stalks.

8. Serve!

E N J O Y !

This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable

Tomato Passata Replacement (AIP-Friendly)

Tags

AIP, Autoimmune Protocol, Gluten Free, Healthy Sauce, Nightshade Free, Nomato Sauce, Paleo, Sauces, Tinned Tomato Alternative, Tomato Free

(Image by TSL)

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it. (Mae West)

A while back, I wrote a wee piece on Autoimmunity and the Removal of Nightshades from Your Diet. I’m still ‘officially’ off nightshades. I use the inverted commas because I’ve discovered that white potatoes – in moderation, at least – seem to be ok for me; and, because I’m pretty sure I’ve inadvertently had the odd nightshade when I’ve been out for a meal.

Nightshades are pretty ubiquitous and most people have no idea what they actually are.

I’m not game to ‘officially’ reintroduce nightshades for two reasons. The first is that Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) sufferers (that’s me!) tend to be particularly sensitive to them; and second, a fellow HS comrade-in-arms recently suggested to me that, when it comes to nightshades, “the dose makes the poison”. So, I’m limiting my nightshade consumption to when I’m not so in control of the ingredients in recipes.

But I miss them. Tomatoes, in particular.

In my past life, I was a lover of ratatouille. In my opinion, the perfect veggie accompaniment. But full of eggplant, capsicum and tomatoes… ALL nightshades.

And, my go-to BEST EVER Ragu Bolognese, like most good Italian meat sauces, has a generous helping of tomatoes. I used to always have a stash of portion-sized ragu in my freezer. The perfect last-minute meal stand-by… But, since going nightshade-free that is no longer an option.

(Image by TSL)

At home, I make a large batch of tomato sauce and freeze it in meal-size portions in freezer bags. (Joe Bastianich)

Well, I’ve decided that I won’t be held prisoner to my tomato-free existence any more. I want to have ragu back in my freezer again – for those nights I just can’t face cooking.

So today, I bring you my tomato passata replacement. This is the jar of goodness that you use when a recipe calls for tinned tomatoes. It’s 100% AIP-friendly. It tastes good and it’s good for you.

This recipe makes a generous amount of passata replacement. One of the biggest challenges on the autoimmune protocol is the need to plan ahead – so, with this recipe, you’ll have extra left over that you can pop into your freezer for the next time a recipe calls for tomatoes, passata or otherwise.

And, it works beautifully with my revised AIP-Friendly, You Won’t Believe Its Tomato-Free Ragu Bolognese.

This baby is made with roasted beetroot and pumpkin. The roasting really brings out the flavour of the vegetables. And, then we add fresh herbs to make the whole thing sing…

Tomato Passata Alternative (AIP Friendly

• Servings: 2 - 4
• Time: 90 minutes minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

500g x beetroot (about 3 generous-sized beets)
500g x pumpkin (about 1/3 medium-sized pumpkin)
1 x onion
2 x Tablespoons fat + extra for drizzling (I used coconut oil)
1 x generous handful flat leaf parsley
1 x generous handful fresh basil
2 x cloves garlic
500mls x water
Salt

Method:

1. Heat your oven to 180°C/350°F.

2. Slice off any beetroot leaves and give the beets a good scrub under water with a brush. Wrap them individually in foil. Pop into a roasting dish.

3. Slice the pumpkin into two. Drizzle with a little fat. Add to the roasting dish.

4. Roast until cooked – about 60 minutes. I check every 20 minutes and test with a sharp knife.

5. Let the beetroot and pumpkin cool on the bench. Once cool enough to handle, peel the beets (I use plastic gloves to prevent my hands from staining) and remove the pumpkin skin.

6. Peel and finely dice your onion. In a large-ish pot, heat your fat over a medium-low flame. Add the onion and sauté gently until translucent.

7. While the onion is cooking, pop your beetroot, pumpkin, parsley, basil and garlic into the bowl of your food processor. Blend thoroughly until smooth.

8. Add your pureed vegetables to the sautéed onions. Stir.

9. Add water and stir until smooth. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes.

10. Check for seasoning and salt to your taste.

E N J O Y !

This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable

 

The TSL Recipe Vault

Here it is – the TSL recipe vault. The repository for all the recipes posted on the blog. In one place.*

Here at Casa TSL, we removed all gluten and grains, dairy, and pulses (legumes) from our diet in January 2013. We also seriously reduced our sugar consumption. As a result almost all the recipes are free of these ingredients.

Autoimmune Protocol-compliant recipes are listed under a separate tab at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Starters, Small Meals & Snacks

Tostones (Plantain nibbles with a South American twist)

Simon & Garfunkel Crackers (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme plantain crackers)

SIMPLE Sorrel Pesto

Healthy Homemade Fruit Gummies

Rillettes – Wee Pots of Porky Goodness!

LARDACEOUS Roasted Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad

‘I Can’t Believe It’s Liver’ Duck Liver, Thyme and Orange Pate

ROCKING Raw Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Sides, Salads & Sauces

AWESOME Zucchini and Bacon Sautee

HELLISHLY Good Herbed Parsnip and Celeriac Mash with Caramelised Onions

The BEST ‘Knock Their Socks Off’ Salsa Verde

Sarah Britton’s Massaged Kale Salad

The Ripe Cookbook Buckwheat & Broad-bean Salad

World FAMOUS Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sultanas, Capers and Hazelnuts

ROCKING Fennel and Apple Slaw

FANTASTIC Fennel, Celery, Apple and Pomegranate Salad

‘O for OARSOME’ Ottolenghi-Inspired Kohlrabi, Carrot and Apple Salad

Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with Rosemary Salt (from the Zenbelly Cookbook)

Tomato Passata Replacement

TSL’s Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)

TSL’S TASTY NoMato Sauce

CRACKING Cauliflower Tortillas

MARVELLOUS Minted Zucchini and Broccoli Rice

Soup

The BEST Root Vegetable Soup (LM’s favourite)

The Original BEST Root Vegetable Soup (TSL’s Dad’s favourite)

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

HEARTY Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Crispy Bacon Bits

Breakfast

SUPER SIMPLE Breakfast Burger Patties

Grain Free Granola (NUTOLA!)

The Easiest Vegetable Frittata Recipe in the World (Bacon Optional)

The Main Event

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs Stuffed with Salsa Verde

Jamie Oliver Inspired SUBLIME Four Hour Lamb

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD Herbed Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

Jamie Oliver and His BEST EVER Pukka Spiced Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks

The Easiest Brisket Recipe in the World

SERIOUSLY TASTY Butterflied & Marinated Leg of Lamb

BEST EVER Ragu Bolognese

Korean Beef Short Ribs

TSL’s Osso Buco 

AUSSIE BURGERS With Sweet Potato Fries

Luke Mangan’s SERIOUSLY GOOD Osso Buco

Bloody Brilliant Braised Beef Cheeks

SUPER SIMPLE Ox Tongue with Green Caper Sauce

Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy Slow Cooked Pork Neck

The EASIEST Stew in the World!

ANYTHING GOES Meatballs

‘You Won’t Believe It’s Tomato-Free’ Ragu Bolognese

Sweets

SCRUMPTIOUS Raspberry Coconut Tea Cakes

The Easiest (Healthy) Ice Cream Recipe in the World!

Orange Macaroon Balls

JAFFA Balls (aka Zoe’s Birthday Balls)

The Easiest Chocolate Recipe in the World

Mango, Passion Fruit & Coconut Eton Mess

‘I Can’t Believe its Not Cheesecake’ Cheesecake!

Italian Almond Cookies

Pete Evans’ Bliss Balls

Chocolate Seed & Nut Balls

SINFULLY GOOD Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

Peanut Butter Cups (TSL Style)

SEXY UGLY Prune & Orange Cookies

Maggie Beer’s Plum Cobbler

LUSCIOUS Lamington Cupcakes

Nigella Lawson’s Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake

SERIOUSLY GOOD (not to mention SERIOUSLY EASY) Chocolate Pudding (Dairy Free)

ROCKING Rhubarb and Strawberry Compote

Autoimmune Protocol Friendly Recipes

Simon & Garfunkel Crackers (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme plantain crackers)

Tostones (Plantain nibbles with a South American twist)

Rillettes – Wee Pots of Porky Goodness

‘I Can’t Believe It’s Liver’ Duck Liver, Thyme and Orange Pate

TSL’s TASTY NoMato Sauce

No Recipe Breakfast Hash 

ROCKING Rhubarb and Strawberry Compote

AWESOME Zucchini and Bacon Sautee

HELLISHLY Good Parsnip and Celeriac Mash with Caramelised Onions

MARVELLOUS Minted Zucchini and Broccoli Rice

Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with Rosemary Salt (from the Zenbelly Cookbook)

ROCKING Fennel and Apple Slaw

FANTASTIC Fennel, Celery, Apple and Pomegranate Salad

SUPER SIMPLE Breakfast Burger Patties

Tomato Passata Replacement

The BEST Root Vegetable Soup (LM’s favourite)

The Original BEST Root Vegetable Soup (TSL’s Dad’s favourite)

HEARTY Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Crispy Bacon Bits

‘O for OARSOME’ Ottolenghi-Inspired Kohlrabi, Carrot and Apple Salad

LARDACEOUS Roasted Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad

The Easiest Brisket Recipe in the World

Jamie Oliver Inspired SUBLIME Four Hour Lamb

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD Herbed Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

Korean Beef Short Ribs

The Easiest (Healthy) Ice Cream Recipe in the World!

AUSSIE BURGERS with Sweet Potato Fries

SERIOUSLY TASTY Butterflied & Marinated Leg of Lamb

Osso Buco – AIP Style

Bloody BRILLIANT Braised Beef Cheeks

SUPER SIMPLE Ox Tongue with Green Caper Sauce

Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy Slow Cooked Pork Neck

The EASIEST Stew in the World!

ANYTHING GOES Meatballs

‘You Won’t Believe It’s Tomato-Free’ Ragu Bolognese

Orange Macaroon Balls

SEXY UGLY Prune & Orange Cookies

SCRUMPTIOUS Raspberry Coconut Tea Cakes

The Easiest (Healthy) Ice Cream Recipe in the World!

Healthy Homemade Fruit Gummies

SINFULLY GOOD Rhubarb and Apple Crumble (seems to be a popular breakfast option, too!)

ROCKING Raw Chocolate Banana Smoothie

How To…

How to Render Your Own Lard and Make Lardons

Why Bone Broth is the Bomb (& my easy recipe for how to make it)

How to Make Your Own Soda Syrup

Heston’s Way to Boil the Perfect Egg

How to make AWESOME Almond Milk

Holy Alter-Ego, Batman! – The BEST Homemade Dairy-Free Creamer EVER!

How to Make Parsley Oil

How to Make Mayonnaise

* This is for you, Mum

I’ve Got a Girl-Crush on Sally Fallon-Morell

Tags

Diet, Healing through Food, Health, Lacto-fermented food, Nourishing Traditions, Nutrition, Sally Fallon-Morell, Traditional Diet, Weston A. Price

Sally Fallon-Morell
(Image from here)

The diet dictocrats don’t want you to know that…
Your body needs old-fashioned animal fats
New-fangled polyunsaturated oils can be bad for you
Modern whole grain products can cause health problems
Traditional sauces promote digestion and assimilation
Modern food procession denatures our foods, but
Ancient preservation methods actually increase nutrients in fruits, nuts, vegetables, meats and milk products!
(Sally Fallon-Morell, Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats)

Until I was about 30 years old, I never really cooked. I loved great food, but I just didn’t really connect eating great food with my kitchen. I’m not sure why – my Mum was a very good cook. She still is. So, I had a great role model. Maybe I’m just a slow learner in that particular department.

Fast forward a good few years and, not only do I now love to cook, but over the last couple of years I’ve become convinced that my failure to question the source and quality of my food sources in my twenties and thirties has contributed to some of the niggly (and not so niggly) health stuff I have going on today. I’m trying to fix that.

Sally Fallon-Morell’s seminal cookbook on traditional eating, ‘Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats‘, was the first book that put me on this road to making more conscious decisions about the food I eat.

Nourishing Traditions – by Sally Fallon-Morell with Mary G. Enig
(Image from here)

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been spending all my free time ‘attending’ some of the  sessions on offer at the Future of Nutrition Online Conference. It’s been fascinating listening to some of the leading voices in the field of nutrition today – but, hearing Sally Fallon-Morell’s talk today, I was reminded of why she had become such a big influence on my approach to eating and nutrition.

If you’ve never heard of her, Sally is a disciple of Weston A. Price, a dentist from the late 1800s and early 1900s known primarily for his theories on the relationship between nutrition, dental health, and physical health. Called the “Charles Darwin of Nutrition,” Doctor Price traveled the world over studying healthy primitive populations and their diets. The compelling photographs contained in his book document the naturally beautiful facial structure and superb physiques of isolated groups consuming only whole, natural foods. Price noted that all of these diets contained a source of good quality animal fat, which provided numerous factors necessary for the full expression of our genetic potential and optimum health.

Sally Fallon-Morell applied the principles of this Price research when it came to the feeding of her own children. Essentially, an experiment. And, a successful one. She proved for herself that a diet rich in animal fats, and containing the protective factors in old-fashioned foods like cod liver oil, liver and eggs, make for  happy, healthy children with a high immunity to illness.*

And, she is the founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

What has Sally Fallon-Morell taught me?

1. I got rid of all the industrialised oils from my diet. That means I cook with coconut oil, butter, lard, tallow. I make my salad dressings from scratch. Always. No exceptions.
2. I now make bone broth at least once a fortnight. I bung a whole lot of good quality bones in a stock pot with a glug of apple cider vinegar, some veggies and herbs, cover it with water and let it simmer away for a long time. I alternate between beef and chicken (can’t quite bring myself to make fish!) It’s nutrient dense and full of minerals. It has no preservatives.
3. I try to eat ‘happy’ animal products – that is pasture raised, sustainably fished, free from hormones and other nasties.
4. Raw dairy is not the same as the milk we buy from the supermarket. Pasteurisation kills everything – good and bad. Regular readers will know that LM can’t consume cow juice. His reaction is violent and almost immediate. But guess what. He can have raw milk. Sadly, it’s illegal in Australia.
5. We’re eating more lacto-fermented foods. Probably not quite as often as we should, and I’m not quite as good at making my own as I could be. But, here in Australia we’ve found Life In a Jar and Kitsa’s Kitchen. They both make awesome live cultured foods. Hopefully, after I see Sandor Katz in action next month, I’ll become a guru of lacto-fermentation!
6. Nose to tail eating is important. We still don’t eat as much offal as we should here at Casa TSL. But we eat a lot more than we used to. I am becoming quite proficient at hiding it in my Ragu Bolognese. I’m setting myself a personal goal to cook more organ meat…

So, you see – Sally has had quite a profound effect on both how I cook and how I eat. If you have an interest in nutrition and you have not yet picked up Sally Fallon-Morell’s first book, I can’t recommend it more highly. 

*Thanks for your world-famous-in-New-Zealand chicken liver pate, Mum!