Zoodles with a Roasted Tomato Pesto Sauce

 

This may not look like much in the picture, but it's bursting with yumminess!  In fact, we have an 8-year-old guest staying with us who flipped over this dish and announced, "That's the first time I've ever had seconds!"  I think I've finally made it, people.  If only my kids were as impressed with my cooking...

I served this as a side dish, but it would also be great tossed with grilled chicken and eaten as a main meal.

Zoodles with a Roasted Tomato Pesto Sauce 

Ingredients:
5 large zucchini, made into zoodles
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
pepper
1/4 cup good quality basil pesto
basil, chopped (to taste)
pepper
Pecorino Romano, to taste

Instructions:

Prepare zucchini:  to make zoodles - trim and wash zucchini.  Holding the zucchini firmly in one hand, use a julienne tool to slice noodles down the length of the zucchini.  Stop when you get to the seedy part.   

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Meanwhile, have a large bowl of iced water ready in the sink.  When water on stove is boiling, drop in zoodles and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Drain and submerge into iced water to stop the cooking.

Drain zoodles and set aside.

Heat a large saute pan to medium high.  Add olive oil and minced garlic.  Stir for a few seconds.  Add tomatoes, zoodles and pesto.  Toss to combine.  Add pepper and taste to adjust seasonings.  

Serve with a sprinkle of fresh basil and Pecorino.  

Mangia!

Summer Squash Tian (grain free, gluten free)

A "tian" is a layered vegetable dish that is baked together and usually topped with bread crumbs.  It is, in my humble opinion, absolute perfection.  I could eat it every day for the rest of my life...

This tian has no breadcrumbs, but uses blanched almond flour instead.  The crumb mixture also includes Pecorino Romano cheese, which, as I've said in previous posts, is a sheep's milk cheese that doesn't tend to bother people with lactose or casein issues.

Summer Squash Tian (grain free, gluten free)

Ingredients:

2 yellow squash, trimmed and sliced evenly into rounds

2 zucchini, trimmed and sliced evenly into rounds

sea salt

1 sweet or red onion

olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

2-3 large ripe tomatoes

fresh basil

3/4 cup blanched almond flour (I use Honeyville)

3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Instructions:

In a large colander in the sink, place the squash and zucchini rounds.  Salt and give a toss with your fingers.  Salt again.  Allow to sit for about 30 minutes to draw out the extra water.

Meanwhile, heat saute pan on medium heat.  Once hot, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.  Add the onion.  Saute until nice and brown, several minutes.  

While onion is sauteing, put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small bowl.  Add the minced garlic.  Set aside, allowing the garlic to steep in the oil.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place onions in bottom of either a round quiche dish or 9x13 pan. 

Next, layer the squash and zucchini on top of onions in a sort of fallen-down domino effect.  (Make sense?  Sorry, I'm no Food Network star.)

Slice tomatoes into thin rounds and top the squash and zucchini.  Drizzle the tian with the garlic infused olive oil. 

In medium bowl, mix almond flour with Pecorino.  Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and mix with a fork.  Sprinkle on top of tian.  Bake in oven until top is golden brown and veggies are bubbling, about 45 minutes.

Then, invite me over for dinner...

"Creamed" Spinach (Dairy Free, Grain Free)

I came up with this "creamed" spinach quite awhile ago after a craving for it came upon me.  I cannot truthfully say that my kids particularly enjoy creamed spinach, or any spinach for that matter.  But my husband and I loved it.

"Creamed" Spinach (Dairy Free, Grain Free)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ghee

2 (16 oz.) containers of fresh spinach, stems trimmed

1/2 sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

salt and pepper, to taste

dash nutmeg

1 1/2 cups cashew milk

1/2 to 1 cup Pecorino Romano, grated (optional)

Instructions:

Heat large saute pan on medium to medium low.  Add ghee.  Saute onion until soft.  Add spinach.  Cover.  Continue checking and stiring until spinach wilts but doesn't overcook.  Remove cover.  Add garlic, salt and pepper and stir.

Remove spinach mixture and place in bowl.  Set aside.

In same saute pan, add cashew milk.  Stir until bubbly and thickening.  Add dash of nutmeg and stir.  Add spinach and stir to coat. 

Place in shallow baking pan.  (I used quiche dish.)  Top with Pecorino Romano if desired.

At this point, place baking pan under broiler for a few minutes until golden and bubbly.

Garlicky Greens with Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles)

I'm musing today about garlic...I know, it's weird, but for me, not so much.  I adore garlic.  I've always adored garlic - even before I knew it that it's actually one of the best medicinal foods around!  

Now, pair together lots of garlic with nutrient loaded kale?  You have a marriage made in Heaven.  As much as I love kale, both the curly and black varieties, if I'm having an intestinal flare-up, I would substitute a softer green such as Swiss Chard and/or baby Bok Choy.

This recipe was inspired by Williams-Sonoma's Spaghetti with Garlicky Greens which had my mouth watering.

We eat this as a side dish, but it would make a great vegetarian dish paired with a salad.

Garlicky Greens with Zoodles (zucchini noodles) (gluten free, dairy free) 

Ingredients:

extra virgin olive oil

2 bunches of kale (either curly variety or black - a/k/a Italian kale and Lacinato kale)

4-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (You know how many I lean toward...)

5 large zucchini, made into zoodles

1/2 cup white wine (I use Chardonnay)

water

salt and pepper

Pecorino Romano, grated to taste

Instructions:

Wash and chop kale.  Set aside.  Using julienne tool, make noodles out of zucchini.  Set aside.  (See Chicken Zoodle Soup).

Heat large skillet on medium.  When hot, add olive oil.  Add kale and about 1 cup of water.  Cover and cook until kale is tender, adding water if it gets dry.

Remove lid; add garlic and saute.  Add wine and stir.

Add zoodles and continue to saute, turning with tongs until just tender but not soggy.

Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with Pecorino if desired. 

Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

Baby Bok Choy is my new broccoli.  I don't know about you, but broccoli was my every week veggie of choice.  Sorry, broccoli, you've been replaced...

This bok choy is so very tender and simple to make.  In fact, I hate to even make this an official "recipe", but here goes -

Ingredients:
4 heads of baby bok choy
1-2 cloves garlic, sliced, minced or pressed 
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

To prepare bok choy:  Cut off end.  Pull leaves off and wash well.  Layer leaves on top of one another and then roll stack lengthwise.  Slice into ribbons. Set aside in colander.  

Meanwhile, heat saute pan to medium.  When hot, add olive oil.  

Throw in bok choy and stir.  (There should be water clinging to the leaves in order to create steam.  If not, add a little water to pan.)  Cover and allow to steam for a few minutes.  It doesn't take long.

Next, remove pan from heat, throw in garlic and stir.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Return to heat and cook, stirring until bok choy is tender, but not overdone.  (i.e. lost it's color and turned grayish green) 

NOTE:  I make one head of baby bok choy per person.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats (Grain Free)

This is a nice side dish that I like to prepare when I'm tired of the same ol' veggie thang week after week.  It doesn't take a lot of time to prepare and, in my humble opinion, would make a delicious light dinner paired with a big salad.

I'm posting this recipe on one of my favorite health blogs, The Tasty Alternative, which is one of five blogs hosting the Allergy Free Wednesday Blog Hop. 

Check out the yummy pley-tho-rha plethora (C'mon, haven't you seen The Three Amigos?) of allergy free recipes! 

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 large zucchini or 8 baby zucchini

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced small

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/4 cup white wine (I use Chardonnay)

1/4 cup almond flour

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

salt and pepper, to taste 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Halve zucchini lengthwise and scoop out pulp.  I used a grapefruit spoon to do this, but any spoon should work.  Chop and set aside pulp.

Meanwhile, toast almond flour at 300F.  (Be careful because it will burn easily.)  Set aside to cool.

Heat skillet to medium.  Add olive oil and saute onion until soft.  Next, add zucchini pulp, tomatoes, garlic and wine. Raise heat to medium high.  Stir constantly until almost all of the liquid is evaporated.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Add almond flour and Romano cheese and stir.  Fill prepared zucchini with mixture.  Sprinkle a little extra Romano on top.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  Then, broil zucchini until tops are nice and brown.

Streusel Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (grain free, gluten free, refined sugar free, dairy free)

Years ago, I came across a recipe for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Marshmallow Streusel from Tyler Florence of The Food Network that instantly became a Thanksgiving family tradition.  

I just revamped it tonight subbing quinoa flakes for the all-purpose flour and coconut sugar for the light brown sugar.  It came out of the oven a winner.  I hope you think so too.

As an aside, quinoa is not a grain but a seed and though it is not SCD "legal", I find we are able to tolerate it well at this stage of our intestinal health.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Streusel Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (grain free, gluten free, refined sugar free)

Ingredients:

8-10 small sweet potatoes

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup quinoa flakes (can be found at health food stores)

1/4 cup blanched almond flour (I use Honeyville)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup pecan pieces

1/2 cup ghee, room temperature

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.  Scrub sweet potatoes and prick with a fork.  Bake in oven on parchment-lined baking pan until cooked through (45 minutes to one hour).

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine coconut sugar, quinoa flakes, almond flour, cinnamon, salt and pecans.  Add ghee by tablespoonfuls and mix with a fork until well combined.

When sweet potatoes have finished baking, make a slice in the top lengthwise and push ends together to open.  Stuff lots of the streusel topping inside.  Bake again for 10-15 minutes or until getting brown and bubbly. (Watch carefully so pecans don't burn.)

Spiced Butternut Squash with Dried Cranberries and Toasted Pecans

This recipe was inspired by a trip to the deli at my local Whole Foods.  They had Thanksgiving-inspired side dishes arranged in their deli cases calling my name.  This butternut squash was one of them.  

I simply had to try my hand at recreating it.  I think it would be a wonderful side dish at the holidays but is easy enough to make any day of the week.  

Spiced Butternut Squash with Dried Cranberries and Toasted Pecans

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cups cubed butternut squash

1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup toasted pecan pieces

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450F.  (I like to preheat a large cast iron skillet in the oven so it sears the squash.) 

Toss butternut squash with olive oil in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, mix together all of the spices.  Pour the spices on the butternut and toss to coat.

Place spice-coated squash in preheated skillet.  Roast for about15 minutes.  Remove from oven and place squash in a large bowl.  Add cranberries and toasted pecans and mix well.  

Taste.  Adjust olive oil and seasonings to suit your taste. 

Enjoy.

Sausage Dressing (Stuffing) with Apples, Dried Cherries and Chestnuts (grain free, gluten free, dairy free)

I promised to post some recipes for Thanksgiving.  That being said, what is Thanksgiving dinner without dressing? (I don't prefer to stuff my bird, (a little scared to try it) so we call it dressing around here, not stuffing.)

Dressing is a personal thing.  It differs as much as people do.  Our favorite dressing includes sausage, steamed chestnuts and fruit such as apple and dried cherries.  

Taking our new grain free diet into consideration, I thought all was lost this year.  After all, how do you make dressing without cornbread or Williams-Sonoma Focaccia Stuffing Mix?

Hopeful, I tried my traditional Thanksgiving Dressing recipe using Yummy Grain Free Bread in place of the usual bread.  The results?  My husband and I breathed a sigh of relief...Thanksgiving dinner was saved!

Enjoy!

Sausage Dressing with Apples, Dried Cherries and Steamed Chestnuts 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ghee

1 onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, casing removed

1/2 cup apple, peeled, cored and diced

1/2 cup dried cherries

3/4 cup steamed chestnuts (I buy mine at Whole Foods or Williams-Sonoma)

1 teaspoon dried sage
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground rosemary

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

4 cups cubed and toasted Yummy Grain Free Bread

1 1/2 cups chicken stock, or more if needed

2 eggs, beaten

Pecorino Romano, grated, to taste if tolerated

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat large frying pan to medium heat.  When hot, add ghee, onion and celery, sauteing until soft.  Add sausage and break into bits. Cook sausage through.

Add apples, dried cherries and chestnuts.  Saute for a few minutes until apples soften.

Add spices and cook for about a minute.

In a large bowl, mix toasted bread cubes, sausage-apple mixture, chicken stock and eggs.  If it seems dry, add more chicken stock.

Pour into greased baking dish.  Top with grated Pecorino.  Cover with tin foil and bake in over for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 30 minutes. 

Salsa

Salsa is delicious and sooooo easy to make!  I thought my days of salsa were over, since tortilla chips are no longer a part of our diet.  (It's ok, I've pulled through.)

Who needs tortilla chips to eat salsa?  (Don't answer that.)  It's actually great by itself, in place of or on top of salad and served atop carnitas.  Our friends from Puerto Rico serve their salsa with cooked shrimp tossed right in - which reminds me...I need to make that! 

Salsa 

Ingredients:
6-8 ripe plum tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2-3 tablespoons diced red onion
2 small cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 capful of white vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large lemon, juiced
sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Slice plum tomatoes in half lengthwise.  Cut out seeds.  Dice tomatoes and toss into a medium bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning.

White Navy Beans

White navy beans are easy for my daughter and me to digest if soaked and prepared according to the SCD diet.  I throw them into soups, top them with carnitas, and use them in salad and hummus.

Share some of your favorite ways to use white beans by posting in the comments below. 

White Navy Beans

Ingredients:

3 cups dried white navy beans (rinsed, picked over and soaked 24 hours or overnight)

2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 (1/2 inch) slice of pancetta, diced
1 onion, diced

Instructions:

Drain beans.  In large pot, saute diced pancetta until crispy and fat is rendering.  Add onion.  Saute until soft.

Add beans, smashed garlic and enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil.  Turn heat down, but make sure it's simmering. 

Cook for about two hours, adding water if necessary.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Swiss Chard with White Wine and Tomato

If you're really interested in what's going on in my life right now, see my post from the other day.  Still in waiting mode, but we know the Lord has everything under control. 

Thank you all for kind and encouraging words, and most importantly, praying for us.

And now, moving on to food...

My  BFF and I were traveling to some important destination (ROAD TRIP!) and visited a Whole Foods that served up something along the lines of this recipe.  It was so delicious that when I got home, I tried to recreate it.

According to Rebecca Katz, author of "The Cancer Fighting Kitchen", Swiss Chard is "anti-inflammatory and loaded with beta-carotene, fiber and vitamins A and C."  

For my daughter and me, personally, it is a soft green that is easy to digest. 

Swiss Chard with White Wine and Tomato

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Swiss Chard (either green, rainbow or red variety)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon ghee

1/4 cup white wine

1 ripe tomato, diced (or use 4 roasted tomatoes)

1 clove garlic, minced

water, if needed

salt and pepper 

Instructions:

Wash chard and chop.  Heat large saute pan on medium to medium-high heat.  Once heated, add olive oil and ghee.  Add onion and saute until soft and getting brown.  Add tomato and cover.  Steam for a few minutes to draw juice out of tomato.

Remove pan from heat and add garlic.  Stir for about 30 seconds.  Add white wine and stir.  Add chard and cover saute pan.  Allow to steam, stirring occasionally.  If it's getting a bit dry, add some water.

Chard is done when tender but still maintaining color.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!  (Of course you can always throw some Pecorino Romano on top.)

Carrot Beet Salad with Dates and Toasted Pecans

If you knew what was happening in my life right now, you'd wonder why I was blogging...Sometimes you just have to employ yourself.  

My husband and I have been trying to add to our family via adoption and started this process five years ago.  We signed with a local adoption attorney a couple of months ago, and just found out that we were "picked" by a birth mother.  Oh!  And by the way - she's due in three weeks.

So, I've been a little busy nesting, (deep cleaning, preparing food for the freezer, sewing and BUYING BABY STUFF).  Yippee!

Well, three weeks have flown by and we're in the waiting room now (been here 4 1/2 hours) and hoping to meet our new little girl soon.  There have been tears, prayers and comfort knowing that so many are praying for us and all of the surrounding circumstances.

So, how do you transition from meeting a new little person who is a gift from God and will change your life forever to Carrot Beet Salad with Dates and Toasted Pecans?

I have no idea.  I'm losing my mind.  But, I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Carrot Beet Salad with Dates & Toasted Pecans

Ingredients:
4 large carrots, peeled and shredded
2 small beets, peeled and shredded
2 small golden beets, peeled and shredded
6 dates, pitted and chopped
pecans, toasted and chopped  

Dressing:
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch of:
  garlic powder
  onion powder 
  salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 

Instructions:

Toss shredded carrots, red beets and golden beets into bowl.  (I use food processor to shred carrots and beets.)

Meanwhile, if your dates are not soft, soak them in warm water for a few minutes.  Once soft, carefully slice in half, remove pit (if not already pitted) and chop into small pieces.  Add to carrots and beets.

To make the dressing:

In a small bowl, whisk balsamic vinegar with Dijon mustard and spices.  While whisking, slowly add olive oil in steady stream.  This will allow oil to incorporate evenly. 

Toss carrots, beets and dates with dressing.  Serve with toasted pecans on top.  

Note:  This salad is pretty sweet.  The chopped pecans help to cut the sweetness.  If it's too sweet for your taste buds, eliminate the dates.

Tabouleh (grain free, gluten free)

I'm not sure how much of an expert an Italian can be on Tabouleh, but I CAN say I love this stuff!  It's light and refreshing and even tastes good along side a mound dollop of White Bean Hummus.  I adore Middle Eastern food.  Actually, I enjoy a variety of ethnic foods.  OK, I just enjoy food.

You probably know that Tabouleh is made with bulgur wheat, which, of course, is a grain not allowed in my big fat grain free life.   

Just when despair had set in, I found a recipe in my new, amazing cookbook, Eat Well, Feel Well by Kendall Conrad for Tabouleh without bulgur.  She actually explains a brilliant technique of pulsing zucchini in a food processor until it resembles tiny grains of bulgur wheat.  Fantastic.

Kendall's Eat Well, Feel Well cookbook contains over 150 mouth-watering recipes that are all SCD compliant.  It has given me hope that a restricted diet doesn't have to restrict our taste buds.  The book has received rave reviews - even from one of my favorite "Italians" Giada.

Here is my "interpretation" of Kendall's Tabouleh recipe.

Tabouleh (grain free, gluten free)

Ingredients:

2 bunches of curly parsley, washed and trimmed of stems

4 scallions, chopped (green and white parts)

2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped

6-8 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 zucchini

juice of 1 lemon

olive oil

sea salt & pepper to taste 

Instructions:

Spin parsley in salad spinner to remove excess water.  By hand, finely chop parsley.  (Not my preference to use a food processor here.  It can turn the parsley to mush.)  Put parsley, scallions, cucumbers and tomatoes in a large mixing bowl.

Trim ends of zucchini.  Cut into large chunks.  In food processor fitted with blade, add zucchini and pulse until it resembles fine grains.  Add to mixing bowl and toss.

Add fresh lemon juice and olive oil to taste, coating well.  Add salt and pepper; taste and adjust seasoning.  Cover tabouleh and marinate in fridge for at least an hour. 

Grown-Up Green Beans (Haricots Verts with Tomato, White Wine and Pecorino Romano)

Haricots verts [ar-ee-ko-vair'], also known as French green beans, are thin, delicate green beans which cook up tender and delicious.  Nowadays, it's pretty common to find them at supermarkets (including Costco and BJ's). 

My favorite, beautiful, "Italian" Food Network star, Giada de Laurentis, (see my thoughts on Giada's heritage) is the inspiration behind this recipe.  Her  Sauteed Green Beans with Tomatoes and Basil served with Parmesan Crisps is heavenly.  

This is my version.  Note below that I give the option of using canned diced tomatoes in place of the roasted tomatoes, but trust me, you'll LOVE the intense flavor and texture that the roasted tomatoes bring to this dish.  They are a cinch to make, practically cook themselves, and are easy to keep on hand in the freezer.  Would I lie to you??

Grown-Up Green Beans

(Haricots Verts with Tomato, White Wine and Pecorino Romano) 

Ingredients:

2 pounds French green beans (haricots verts)

extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, sliced or minced

1 cup roasted tomatoes OR diced canned tomatoes

1/2 cup white wine
sea salt & pepper

Pecorino Romano OR Parmesan, finely grated, to taste 

Instructions:

Wash and trim beans. Drain. In large saute pan with lid, steam until barely tender. You will saute them later, so don't overcook.

Drain again and plunge beans into a large bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes.  This will stop them from cooking and keep them a bright green color.

Meanwhile, in same saute pan on medium heat, add a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Saute garlic for a few seconds until fragrant.  Add roasted or canned tomatoes and white wine.  Stir and cook, uncovered, for a few minutes.  

Add beans back to pan and stir to incorporate into tomato and wine sauce.  Cover and cook for a few minutes until tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese.

Apple Mango Salsa

This Apple Mango Salsa is quick and easy to prepare and tastes great on its own for lunch, as a dinner side dish or atop grilled fish.  

Our favorite way to eat it is on top of salmon or mahi rubbed with Miss Jen's Spice Rub and grilled.  When we were gluten eaters, we'd wrap the grilled fish and salsa in a flour tortilla.

For gluten free fish tacos, Kelly at the Spunky Coconut has a delicious grain free tortilla recipe.

Enjoy!

Apple Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

2 Braeburn apples, cored and diced (or other firm, crisp apple)

1 ripe mango, peeled and diced

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 lime, juiced

sea salt & pepper 

honey (**optional - see note)

Instructions:

Toss together the apple, mango, red onion and cilantro.  Add olive oil and lime juice.  Mix well.  Salt and pepper to taste.   

** Note:  If the mango is ripe, I don't think this needs any sweetener.  But, if you prefer things a little on the sweet side, whisk lime juice with a little honey (1 TBSP), then whisk in olive oil.  Pour over apple and mango mixture.  

Roasted Butternut Squash (grain free, gluten free, dairy free)

We're potato people.  Actually, we're carb-o-holics.  Isn't admission the first step to recovery?  Anyway, going on a diet that eliminates grains, most starches and sugars wasn't easy in the beginning, but it's getting easier - especially with recipes like this one.

I used to make roasted potatoes in my cast iron skillets a LOT.  The SCD diet doesn't allow potatoes, but butternut squash is IN, so I dusted off my cast iron, diced up some butternut squash, and gave it a whirl.  

The results?  We LOVE it - kids and grownups included - and so do non-SCDers (extended family).  In fact, last night I served it up to "the folks" and, though everyone was stuffed after dinner, we all kept forking the little chunks left in the pan.  C'mon, you know you do that sort of thing too...

If you're following the SCD diet, coconut sugar is not "legal".  However, it doesn't bother us a bit, so we use it in small increments, BUT - if you have intestinal issues, or are in the beginning stages of the SCD diet, use it at your own risk.  

The good news about coconut sugar is that it has a low glycemic index (GI of 35) and easily substitutes sugar in recipes.  Like I said, we use it in small amounts at this time, and love it.  

Roasted Butternut Squash (grain free, gluten free, dairy free)

Ingredients:

butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (about 4 cups)

2 tablespoons ghee (see how to make ghee and save)

2 tablespoons coconut sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450F.  Place skillets (or baking pan) in oven and preheat along with oven.  (I use two cast iron skillets for this so as not to overcrowd the pans thereby steaming the squash instead of roasting it.  You can probably use one long glass or ceramic pan and if you do, post in the comments and let me know how it worked!) Preheating the baking pans will allow the butternut to sear and get a nice exterior.

While ovens and pans preheat, in a small bowl, mix together the coconut sugar, cinnamon and salt.

When oven is ready, put 1 tablespoon ghee into each skillet (or 2 tablespoons into large pan).  Toss in butternut squash, being sure to keep it in a single layer.  Sprinkle some of the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top (don't use all of it) and leave it alone.  

After a several minutes, using a spatula, move squash around, allowing it to brown on other sides.  Sprinkle more of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and continue roasting.  (I don't use all of this mixture in one recipe.  It can be saved in a container and kept in the pantry for next time.)

Squash is done when golden brown and tender.