SUMMARY: Openers Thanksgiving Day are actually all day long in our home. Friends and family stop in knowing a culinary taste dream awaits them. Incredibly though, my openers are simple with many made way ahead of time and pulled from the freezer a day or two ahead. That is the only way to go because, well… it is too much fun celebrating with my guests then being creative in the kitchen! Here’s my roundup! You will find the recipe links below, or if the recipes have not yet posted, I printed the instructions below. The Holiday Board on my Pinterest has these plus even more greats if you want other variety! Hoping you enjoy My Healing Diet Holiday Appetizers Roundup! Happy holidays!
Category Archives: Recipes: Nuts
Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, PALEO/FODMAP/UMassIBD-AID
SUMMARY: This… Thanksgiving morning! Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. Actually, don’t save this for only one day; we certainly don’t! Easily make this in bulk and freeze.
Ingredients and Processing I Prefer to Use
The nut ingredients in this recipe make these bars an advanced food for those on healing diets such as SCD, UMass IBD-AID, GAPS, or PALEO. For this very reason, I recommend using these instructions to properly prepare nut and seed ingredients whenever possible to make such more easily digestible. But if you don’t do this step, no worries since the notes section of the recipe provides alternate instructions for toasting those nuts! The recipe is not SCD/GAPS legal due to the cocoa, but it is in accordance with The PRODUCE Study (a modified version of SCD), the UMass version of SCD which is called IBD-AID, PALEO and also FODMAP friendly if maple syrup is substituted for the dates; details are broken out below the recipe for those interested.
4th of July Cashew Cheesecake with Nut Crust, SCD/GAPS/PALEO
Summary: This is a great 4th of July dessert, and it is just in time for the holiday! But honestly, we always have this Cashew Cheesecake with Nut Crust in our freezer for snacking! Some add peanut butter into the filling, or blueberries swirled atop the cheesecakes, and others top with coconut milk whip cream. I suppose that is what makes this recipe so fun… you can dress it up but you certainly don’t need to! It is equally delicious as is! Credit for this recipe goes to Minimalist Baker, although I’ve modified it to include proper nut preparation as well as to proportionately increase the filling ingredients to reflect 15 full sized muffing tins instead of one dozen, since I always get 15 nut crusts!
SCD Protein Bar (similar to Cliff Bars) or Bite Sized Candy
SUMMARY: This is a favorite SCD protein bar that we actually cut into bite sized nugget pieces which are then frozen. It is perfect for snacking. The recipe uses a food processor and no baking is required! The ingredients are pressed into a parchment lined dish, frozen, and then cut into the desired nugget sizes. I always double this recipe since it is a freezer stored food.
Ingredients I Prefer to Use
The ingredients in this recipe make these bars an advanced food for those on healing diets such as SCD, GAPS, or PALEO. For this very reason, I recommend properly preparing nut and seed ingredients whenever possible to make such more easily digestible. I use the following ingredients for this very reason although I am not aware of “SCD legal” letters for them. Be cautious if you are SCD or GAPS and use these brands, but many use them without problem. You can be creative and use your favorite nuts, seeds, and nut butters, but I prefer:
Date Nut Bread, PALEO SCD GAPS
SUMMARY: The recipe, Date Nut Bread, PALEO SCD GAPS, UMass IBD-AID is a favorite of family and friends. This is NOT a sweet bread per se although the dates do provide a tinge of sweetness. Some enjoy this bread with a swirl of butter on top. Double, if not triple, the recipe; it is that good. No matter what diet you are targeting, this is a healing nutrient dense recipe if you tolerate nuts, and for AIP — nuts have been successfully reintroduced, and for low FODMAPs — substitute maple syrup for the dates and consume small portions due to almond restrictions. Tip: Freeze extra mini loaves to always have this on hand.
The recipe is interesting since it uses several ingredients you may never have baked with — both almond and coconut flours, dates, and apple cider vinegar. Just the combination sounds peculiar; but it is a winner! The recipe also uses a food processor; I have had mine for 30 plus years — a bridal shower gift from my sister — though I honestly never really used it until beginning to eat SCD.
Some thoughts on serving size: One slice is actually enough even though it isn’t near the size you are use to, bread-wise. Remember, with nutrient dense foods, you honestly eat less due to satiety.
We have habits of eating a lot of something mainly because our body seeks nutrition, which the Standard American Diet is sorely lacking. This recipe is nutrient dense thus you eat less to nourish your body.
It’s EASY to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts
WHY YOU WANT TO SOAK AND DEHYDRATE NUTS:
Soaking and dehydrating nuts is EASY and it makes them more digestible since anti-nutrients are neutralized and enzyme inhibitors are eliminated. If you are like many of my clients, you have no clue what the significance is of what I just said. So another way of saying this is, unless you soak nuts, you will block mineral uptake, and this totally defeats the purpose of trying to eat nuts for nutrient density.
A surprising plus of proper nut preparation is that the process takes out the bitterness in taste making nuts taste incredibly sweet and delicious, which is what they are supposed to taste like. I’d soak and dehydrate nuts solely for this culinary taste improvement truth be told. Clients do too after they sample them. I am always amazed to see what the filtered water looks like after a soak. Someday I’ll do a lab analysis, and we’ll learn what actually is in that yuck. One thing I do know, nuts blow up in size by the end of the soaking period leaving no doubt that they have absorbed the salt soaking medium:
HOW TO BUY 100% RAW ALMONDS
SUMMARY: Starting on September 1, 2007, it became illegal for 100% raw almonds to be manufactured and sold in the United States, with two exceptions (discussed below). Eating SCD/GAPS/PALEO (some camps) can mean eating nuts if tolerated, properly processed, and traditionally prepared thereby making them more easily digested. Understanding what this legislation means for your sourcing almonds is simple. Learn in this post where to source raw almonds, and alternatives to raw (that would be pasteurized almonds ⇒ You want to source steam pasteurized, NOT PPO)!