OMG Slaw! GF, V, SCD, BED & Paleo!

Hey everyone!

How was your Fourth of July!?

Mine is going great! I'm up in Wisconsin at my family's lake home with my entire family. I'm having so much fun! My little niece, Baby A, is here, and she is just the gosh darn cutest thing in the entire world.

It's so much fun to see things through her eyes and watch her discover things for the first time.

So for Independence Day, we had a traditional BBQ cook out. My dad made beer boiled brats and hamburgers on the grill, and I made a delicious dish to share.

Since I was feeding a big number, (10!!), I decided to make a dish that goes a long way, and is a crowd pleaser.

Let me tell you this was a HIT! Everyone LOVED it and gobbled it up.

I've decided to call it my "OMG Slaw," since that's what everyone said when they ate it..."Oh my gosh this is AMAZING!"

And this colorful dish is Gluten Free, Vegan, Specific Carb Diet and Body Ecology Diet friendly, and Paleo!

Here's what you need: (Serves 10)

1/2 head purple cabbage, sliced thin
3 large carrots, sliced into matchsticks
1 red pepper, diced
8 radishes, sliced thin on a mandolin
24-30 sugar snap peas, sliced thin
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3 pinches salt

Dressing
1/3-1/2 cup almond butter
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
3 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
Juice of one lime
8 drops pure liquid stevia (SCD use 1/2 tsp honey)
2-3 Tbsp water

First, prep all your veggies. Cut them as thin as possible by either carefully using a mandolin (use the hand guard!) or with a sharp knife. In the largest bowl you have, combine the veggies. Add your pinches of salt, seeds and cilantro, and toss to mix.

Then, in a Pyrex measuring cup or a separate bowl, make your dressing. Using a microplane or grater, grate your ginger directly into the Pyrex, then whisk to combine the other ingredients. You'll need to add about 1-2 Tbsp water to thin out the sauce into a "drizzly" consistency.

Coat all the veggies with the dressing, and serve garnished with more seeds.

Refrigerate before serving. It will keep (and keep getting better) for three days in the refrigerator.

Oh my goodness this slaw was so freaking awesome. I can't even begin to describe the bright, fresh flavor of this slaw. There's nothing like spending the day on the lake, and enjoying a cold, crisp salad for dinner. It was so refreshing.

I'm serious, everyone flipped out over this salad. There were NO LEFTOVERS! People were licking their plates, the dressing was so good.

First of all, it is a beautiful dish. You eat with your eyes first, and this definitely jumped off the plate. There was purple and pink, green, red and orange! So beautiful.

And the texture was so satisfying. The cabbage was so incredibly crunchy, and the avocado was nice and creamy. Finally, the seeds gave a chewy, salty pop that really hit the spot.

Finally, that dressing. It was nutty and bright from the lime juice and apple cider vinegar. It was a little sweet, and wonderfully fresh from the cilantro. Cilantro and lime are a match made in heaven:)

What a treat. Seriously so good. This week is going so well. We're celebrating my niece's first birthday, and my graduation while we're here. I made a gorgeous gluten free cake with coconut oil frosting for Baby A's birthday celebration. I'll post about that soon. It was a hit!

Question for all my lovely readers: There's a new trend with food production called aquaponics, which is a sustainable food growing system circulating water between fish and plants. It's herbicide/pesticide free and uses less water than traditional farming. How do you feel about it? Would you buy produce grown using aquaponics?

OK, see you soon!

Butternut Squash and Avocado Towers! GF, V, SCD, BED & Paleo!

Hey Happy Tummies!

How was everyone's weekend?

It's going to be a great week here in NY. Lots of auditions. Lots of fun things planned with friends!

Tonight for dinner, I made a tasty treat...Butternut Squash and Avocado Stacks w/ Sauteed Cabbage!

Wow...this was so. good!


I am a firm believer that avocado makes everything better:) And that includes butternut squash!

This beautiful dish is Gluten Free, Vegan, Specific Carb Diet and Body Ecology Diet friendly, and Paleo!

Here's what you need: (Serves one)

1/2 small butternut squash, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1 avocado, mashed
1/4 cabbage, chopped

1/2 tsp dried basil, divided
1/2 tsp dried oregano, divided
salt, pepper, EVOO

Carefully peel your butternut squash. I find the easiest way to do that is to slice off the top and the base. Then, cut it in half (like the equator) where the skinny part meets the larger bottom with the seeds. Then, stand it up on the flat surface you just created, and carefully peel the skin with a sharp knife.

Then, cut 1/4 inch rounds. Next, in your largest non-stick skillet, place 2 tsps EVOO. Place your butternut squash in a single layer and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp of your dried herbs. Also sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let them cook, untouched for 6 minutes per side, until golden brown and caramelized.

Meanwhile, chop your cabbage, and mash your avocado with salt.

When your butternut squash is finished cooking, remove from the pan and set aside. Place another tsp EVOO into the pan, and add your cabbage to the pan, along with the remaining dried herbs. Saute the cabbage until it begins to wilt -- about 3 minutes.

To plate, alternate between butternut squash rounds, 2 Tbsp mashed avocado, and a small bit of cabbage. Serve over a bed of baby greens, if desired.

This was really delicious. Avocado and butternut squash are not ingredients that I typically think of going together -- especially when you throw cabbage into the mix! But let me tell you, they play together beautifully!

The butternut squash is super sweet, since it's been caramelized. It's chewy and a little sticky. It is complemented by the creamy and buttery avocado, and accented by the savory and crunchy cabbage!

The oregano and basil give this dish a wonderful warmth and herby note that heightens the savory elements of the dish.

And it's truly beautiful -- the orange and green jump off the plate! It looks like a regal dish with the height of the tower and the golden brown caramelization of the butternut squash.

I dare you to try it! :D

Until next time!

Cabbage Steaks w/ Italian Red Sauce! GF, V, BED, SCD & Paleo!

Hey Happy Tummies!

How's everyone's week going?

Things here are great! I had a really wonderful day yesterday on set shooting a commercial. I got to be cooking in the kitchen, so it was a lot of fun! 

Then this weekend will be the same old shenanigans! NYC is the best at this time of year. I love exploring new parts of town, and going to rooftop bars with my friends!

So the other night, I made a really yummy dinner. I felt like Italian, but as you know...on the Specific Carb Diet, pasta is hard to come by.

So I decided to get creative. I thought, what makes Italian food so good? --- a bomb sauce, that's what!

Sooo, I made a terrific red sauce, and slathered it over a deliciously caramelized "cabbage steak."

And people...cabbage may be a humble vegetable. -- Whenever I think of cabbage I think of a scene from Annie where poor people in Hoovervilles are drinking cabbage soup just to survive:)

But seriously, prepared this way...it is elevated to gourmet status.

Don't knock it till you try it!

My Cabbage Steaks with Italian Red Sauce is Gluten Free, Vegan, Body Ecology Diet and Specific Carb Diet friendly, AND Paleo! (Phew! That's a mouthful!)

Here's what you need: (serves 2)

1 head of cabbage - cut into inch-thick steaks

Sauce:

1/4 cup cashews
1 tomato, diced (BED sub red pepper)
1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tap dried basil
Salt and pepper

Fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Cut the cabbage into 1/2 inch steaks (You should get about 3 out of each cabbage). Make sure to keep part of the core intact at the base of each steak.

Spritz the outside with olive oil and place on a tin-foil-lined, olive-oil-sprayed baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes, flipping once half way through. Sprinkle with sea salt when you take it out of the oven.

Meanwhile, sauté your onions, oregano, basil, salt and pepper in 1 tsp EVOO for about 4 minutes, until softened. Add the red pepper and garlic and cook for another 4 minutes. Finally, add the tomato and cook for another 3 minutes, until softened. Set aside.

In a food processor, grind the cashews until they form a fine powder, about 30 seconds. Then, add your sautéed veggies and process until you get a smooth sauce.

To plate, top each steak with a generous portion of the sauce, and sprinkle with fresh basil as a garnish.

This meal was truly delicious. Cabbage does a beautiful thing when you roast it: it caramelizes and becomes chewy and hearty and wonderfully flavorful! Raw cabbage can be a bit polarizing, but when it softens and the natural sugars release, it is just outstanding...I'm serious!

And the sauce...wow oh wow. An Italian grandmother would be proud! It's got those warm and "herby" notes from the basil and oregano, and then a bright sweetness from the tomatoes. And the cashews give it rich and buttery flavor as well. The final "pop" of fresh basil brings it all together and gives it a burst of color!

Who said Paleo and Gluten Free folks can't enjoy Italian?!?

Try Roasted Cabbage Steaks....I DARE you! :D

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Until next time!

Purple People Pleaser Salad! GF, V, SCD, BED & Paleo!

Hey everyone!

I'm so glad you all enjoyed my post on Hu Kitchen! What a fabulous dining experience!!

So, even though school supply commercials are starting to pop up on TV, I'm still in FULL summer mode! I hope you are too:) I mean, it's still July! We've got August ahead of us! (Which, IMHO is the best  month...cuz it's my birthday month:))

I love summer because of all the fun social get-togethers! During the summer, cookouts are the name of the game. I don't know about you, but whenever I go to someone's house for dinner, I always want to help with the cooking and bring a dish. How many times have you said, "I'll bring the salad!" It's probably the standard "bring along" dish, (aside from dessert).

Well, why not bring a salad that will steal the show:) Yep...no more boring "salad in a bag." This dish will be the hit of the cookout!

It's colorful, crunchy, healthy, and absolutely BURSTING with flavor!

I call it, my Purple People Pleaser Salad!

And it's Gluten Free, Vegan, Specific Carb Diet, Body Ecology Diet friendly, and Paleo!

Here's what you need:

Serves 2 hungry people (as a main dish...4 as a side dish)

1/2 head of purple cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shaved into long strips with a veggie peeler
1 cucumber, seeded and sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced thin and soaked in ice water
1/2 red pepper, sliced thin
15 green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 avocado, diced
3-4 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
12 cashews, chopped

Dressing:
1-2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp almond butter
juice of 1 lime
10 drops alcohol free pure liquid stevia (SCD use 1 tsp honey)
2+ Tbsp water

The prep couldn't be easier. Carefully prepare your veggies: either with a mandoline or a knife. (I just used a knife). (*After you slice your red onion, place them in a small bowl and cover with ice water for 5 minutes. This will take away that sharp onion-y bite*) In a big bowl, combine your veggies and cilantro.

Next, make your sauce by whisking the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Add enough water to make it "drizzly."

Finally, toss your veggies with the dressing. Garnish with chopped cashews and extra cilantro. Serve chilled.

Oh my gosh, how good was this salad!?! The first thing that hits you is how beautiful it is. There's so much color going on on the plate! There's purple, red, orange, green -- it's so whimsical!!

Then the flavor - holy cow. Hold onto your hats, folks. This dressing is good enough to bathe in! Haha Seriously! It's tangy, sweet, gingery and nutty. So incredibly delicious.

And the crunchiness of the veggies is just phenomenal. Each veggie brings a specific flavor to the dish. The carrots and red peppers are sweet, the cabbage is a bit more savory and stringy like spaghetti. And then the avocado. OH the AVOCADO! It is rich and creamy, and adds this luxuriousness to the salad.

Finally, the cilantro provides the perfect fresh *pop* to punctuate the dish. :) Loved it. Loooooved iiiit!!

What's your favorite dish to bring to a cookout?


Want more GFHT?  You can now get my e-cookbook, The Best of GlutenFreeHappyTummy for only $2.99 on Amazon!

Hu Kitchen! An NYC Hotspot!

Holy cow, you guys. I may have just discovered the Holy Grail. And it's called Hu Kitchen.

I just had, hands down, the best restaurant experience -- bar none -- at Hu.

Hu is revolutionary dining. As in -- it's real food. I mean -- check the door: No Tricks. Just food. 

They're setting out to change the way we eat. To bring food back to nature -- the pre-industrial way of eating. . Unprocess it. They want to cook and eat food the way it is found in nature. Hallelujah! 

Their revolutionary food philosophy is summed up in their Eight Hu Pillars. And if you read them carefully, it's not so revolutionary after all --- it's how we're supposed to eat! They follow the same food philosophy I do!

The Hu Pillars: 1) Unprocess. 2) Count ingredients, not calories. 3) Pull plants, push animals (pull fruit and veg to the center of the plate) 4) Minimize grain. 5) Embrace fat (the good fat) 6) Get back to animal (feed animals what they're supposed to eat -- ie: grass -- not GMO pellets) 7) Sweeten wisely (no cane sugar/artificial sweeteners) 8) Eat clean (organic)

And the cuisine here is nearly ALL SCD-Friendly! Yep! You heard that correctly! Everything is gluten free, the majority is grain free and ALL is dairy free!! And if that's not amazing enough, there are a TON of vegan options --- even Body Ecology Diet options! -- and they use organic, non-GMO ingredients! 

I met the owner, Jordan, and he couldn't have been more awesome. He's the picture of good health. He explained that this is the way he eats. He feels so good eating this way that he had to share it with the world! And boy, am I glad he did.

It's a self-service place with a cool vibe. The decor reflects the food -- clean and earthy. Everything is made out of rustic wood and metal -- It's really modern and cool. Airy with a lot of open space.

There's a hot bar, cold bar, bowl station (and for all the BEDer's, there's a quinoa option!!), juice and smoothie bar, "mashable" station (think SCD/vegan Pinkberry/FroYo with all the fixins!!!), grain-free bakery, homemade packaged snack station, and an organic alcohol bar!!!! Pinch me, right?! It's straight from my dreams!!

I felt like a kid in a candy store. There were so many delicious options to choose from! I just couldn't decide. So I did what any good foodie would do: ask the chef what his fav is;)

I had what's called the Grandmaster Veg, a side of their notorious caramelized and grilled pineapple, and a SCD-Legal Hu roll.

The Grandmaster Veg was an incredible grain and dairy-free lasagna. Carrots, cabbage and eggplant were deliciously smothered in the best homemade marinara I've ever had.

But the best part of this lasagna goodness was the layer of cashew cream on top. It had the luxurious taste and consistency of melted cheese. It definitely made the dish.

I really enjoyed mopping up the marinara with their grain and dairy free Hu roll! This little nugget was wonderfully chewy, slightly nutty, and had a great crust.

And finally, I had their "famous" caramelized pineapple with cashew cream. Jordan said that these were a big seller, and boy, do I know why! It was downright sinful how good it was. Pineapple bites caramelized with cinnamon and served warm with a sweet cashew cream. It was sweet, juicy and had a spicy warmth from the cinnamon. It was like dessert! And oh my gosh, the cashew cream was amazing. I wanted to bathe in this stuff! haha 

So as you can probably tell, I'm genuinely freaking out about Hu Kitchen. But you've got to realize, I haven't been able to go to a restaurant and literally order anything off the menu as is in over a year. Perhaps you can relate. So you can imagine how tremendously excited I was to find a restaurant where EVERYTHING is "Happy Tummy Approved!"

I will definitely be back to try more of their fabulous cooking! 

So if you live within a 12 hour drive of NYC, then you should probably hop in the car right now and drive to Hu Kitchen! haha But no....seriously.

It's 78 Fifth Avenue. It's on 5th Ave between 13th and 14th street. See ya there ;)

On another note, I did a really "touristy" thing on Wednesday! I went to the live taping of Kelly and Michael!

I was front row, baby! So fun. 

Want more GFHT?  You can now get my e-cookbook, The Best of GlutenFreeHappyTummy for only $2.99 on Amazon!