Recipes for the Week (AIP, PALEO, GLUTEN FREE)

After much deliberation, I took the plunge and began a round of the Autoimmune Paleo  diet (AIP).  Keep on reading to find out what I cooked to keep my taste buds singing and keep my mind off of what I could not have.

 

Sauces

In my humble opinion, sauce makes everything B.E.T.T.E.R.

Nomato Sauce– Nightshades are eliminated on this diet, so no tomatoes for me.  This sauce proved to be a good alternative.  I made a big patch and froze some of it.  I plan to use it as an alternative for tomato paste and tomato sauce.

AIP Barbecue Sauce.  This sauce was excellent!  I made it JUST FOR ME.  My intentions were to have it all week but my family had a sample and loved it too…so much for the all week idea.  Instead of molasses I used 5 dates.

Sides

I made most of my sides at the beginning of the week, put them in mason jars and mixed and matched them with different protein throughout the week for breakfast lunch and dinner.  I liked having a variety to choose from at each meal.

Yucca Fries (Cassava) These were so easy to make and absolutely delicious.  I ate them with my barbecue sauce.

Butternut squash.  I simply peeled and cubed the butternut squash, tossed them with avocado oil and sprinkled a little salt and popped them in the oven at 375 for 50 minutes.  This method gives the butternut squash a really sweet taste and who doesn’t like sweet?

Oriental yams. I peeled and cubed and tossed with coconut oil and put it in the oven at 400 for 45 minutes.  Keep watch as cooking time may vary. These were SOOOO GOOD!  I typically roast them whole but decided to do something different.  They are delicious both ways.

Cabbage.  I steamed my cabbage with a little bit of olive oil with onions and garlic.

Roasted chayote squash

Protein

I was beyond thrilled when I made Jamaican style red snapper.   To make it AIP friendly, I just seasoned with salt, vinegar, and onions and it still turned out flavorful!

I made pork tenderloins and orange roughy using this method.  However to make it AIP friendly, I used tigernut flour instead of almond flour.  I seasoned the flour with salt and a few dried herbs.  Instead of dipping the pork and fish in the eggs, I dipped it in a little bit of olive oil and then coated it with the tigernut flour.  Both were delicious with a hint of sweetness.

I baked 3 chickens using my fall off the bone method.  I put some of the nomato sauce, along with some mushrooms, sautéed onions and garlic in the pan with the chicken.  After the chicken was done, I blended most of the liquid in my vitamix blender to make one seriously delicious gravy!

Chicken liver.  They stress consuming more offal on the AIP.

 

Snacks

While coconut is permitted on the AIP and I happen to LOOOVE the taste, I realize that I have a slight sensitivity and can only consume a little at a time.  Of course I was super disappointed about this and was in denial for quite some time.  I got to googling and discovered that there is an alternative that fits the AIP diet, this alternative is tigernuts.  Tigernuts? Yeah that was my initial response as well. Read this article and be prepared to be enlightened. I bought some tigernut flour and raw tigernuts.  I made tigernut milk with the raw nuts and sweetened it with a few dates (DELICIOUS).

 Plantain chips-these are definitely my default snacks.

Fruit– I limited my fruit intake to one a day, I am realizing that my body doesn’t respond well to too much sugar, even if it is from fruit.  I know…tell me about it!

Hope you give some of these recipes a try even if you are not doing the AIP.  Happy cooking!