Sautéed Apples (AIP, Whole30, 21DSD, Vegan)

In March, I received some blood work results, from my integrative doctor, that indicated my gut is not as healed as we had hopped. After nearly 2 years on the autoimmune protocol, it was a little disappointing, but honestly, I’m proud of how far I’ve come not just in what I’m eating, but also with sleep & stress management & other lifestyle factors. Really, it wasn’t that long ago that my doctor and I were navigating the world of SIBO. So, in the spirit of gut healing, I’ve embarked on not just an AIP reset, but I’m also incorporating variations on a Whole30, a 21 Day Sugar Detox (energy modifications), and the Repairvite protocol, along with some targeted supplementation.

This mishmash of protocols won’t last forever. Restricting so many food items is really not something I recommend longterm or without the guidance of a good functional medicine doctor. I plan to stay very strict for a minimum of 30 days, but hope to stretch most of the principles out for at least 60 days, depending on how I’m feeling both physically & mentally.

The Whole 30, 21DSD and Repairvite protocols all shun the consumption of sugar, even the less refined options like honey & real maple & coconut sugars etc. The 21DSD & Repairvite protocols take it even further & reduce the types and amounts of fruit (and thus the natural sugars).

One of the hardest parts about giving up sugar & many fruits is that I’m not really able to do any baking. I’ve been baking almost my whole life & it’s become almost therapeutic for me to make something from time to time. But AIP/allergen-free baking is expensive & I simply cannot justify making something I can’t consume (don’t even get me started on our lack of freezer space, so making ahead & freezing isn’t an option either). These sautéed apples aren’t quite the same as baking, but they do help fill that baking hole…. They’re a great low-sugar option that allow me to feel like I’m having a bit of a treat while still staying compliant with my chosen protocols. I especially enjoy the sautéed apples warm from the skillet with a drizzle of cold coconut milk.

Sautéed Apples
Yields 1 serving

2 tsp Coconut Oil 
1 Apple (use granny smith if following the 21 Day Sugar Detox)
1/4 tsp Cinnamon 
1/4 tsp Mace (can substitute Nutmeg if not following AIP) 
pinch Sea Salt 

Coconut Milk, for serving 

1. In a small skillet, melt the coconut oil over medium heat
2. Meanwhile, peel, core, slice the apple into 12-ish slices. I prefer to quarter the apple & cut each quarter into thirds. 
3. Arrange the apple slices evenly in the hot pan with the melted coconut oil. Sprinkle with the cinnamon, mace & sea salt. Gently stir to coat the apple slices with the oil and the spices. 
4. Saute the apples for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the apples have slightly softened. 
5. Serve warm with a drizzle of coconut milk & an extra dusting of spices, if desired. 

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Tapioca Pudding Porridge with Roasted Apples (AIP & Vegan)

Hot cereal is one of my comfort foods. Stovetop oatmeal, baked oatmeal, cream of wheat/cream of rice, rice pudding--they’re all things I’d love to eat for breakfast in my pre-AIP days. Even though I’ve finally trained myself to eat savory things for breakfast, there still are some days when I want to revert to the comfort that comes from hot cereal for breakfast.

This tapioca pudding porridge can do double duty: it works both as a dessert AND as an occasional breakfast treat.  Of course, it’s totally AIP and paleo (but still delicious, for those non-AIP/paleo readers). And please banish any thoughts of ready-made tapioca pudding snackpacks (like the ones you perhaps had in childhood)--this pudding is not remotely similar :)

It takes a little planning to make--the tapioca pearls require soaking--so I prefer to make it in the evening (soaking the pearls while we’re eating dinner & simmering the pudding afterwards) & then sometimes I eat a little of the leftovers for a breakfast treat (along with some protein).

Since it’s fall right now, and apples are in season, I roasted some to serve on top of the pudding porridge.  Other fruit could be substituted, or the pudding can be consumed all on it’s own.

Tapioca Pudding Porridge 

yields 3 to 4 small servings 

44 g / 1/4 c Small Pearl Tapioca

6 fl oz (3/4 c) Filtered Water

1-13.5 oz can Organic Coconut Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (make sure it’s AIP compliant!) 

20 g / 1 Tbl Real Maple Syrup 

1. Combine the tapioca pearls & filtered water in a small sauce pan. Allow the pearls to soften for at least an hour. 
2. Once the pearls have softened, add the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring often. When the mixture simmers, reduce the heat to medium low & continue cooking, still stirring, until the pudding thickens & the pearls begin turning translucent, approximately 15 minutes total. 
3. Cool the slightly. Serve either warm (my preference) or refrigerate until cold. Top with roasted apples (recipe follows). 

Roasted Apples

1 large organic Apple, peeled & diced

1 tsp Organic Coconut Oil

1-2 tsp local Honey (not vegan) or Maple Syrup, depending on sweetness of the apples  

1/2 tsp Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice (AIP)  (or substitute regular pumpkin pie spice, if not AIP) 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a small baking dish, mix together the apple, coconut oil, sweetener & spices. 
3. Roast in the preheated oven until the apples are soft, approximately 45 minutes.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Compote (AIP)

In some ways, this detox has forced me to re-think a lot of what I do in the kitchen. I consider myself to be pretty resourceful in the kitchen.  Take away an ingredient and I’m usually able to find a suitable substitution.  No gluten? I’ll replace flour with a gluten free version. No grains at all? I’ll use a nut flour. No sugar? Find a more natural sweetener (never the artificial stuff). No dairy? there are plenty of alternative milks available. No eggs? I’ll use pumpkin puree or applesauce or a banana or flax seed. But take grains, eggs, dairy, nuts/seeds, AND sugar? I might be a little stumped to concoct a dessert. It isn’t impossible--my creativity just must be stretched even further.

I have had to think outside of traditional “baked goods” and move more into the category of frozen desserts & custards that can be made with coconut milk and without eggs & fruity desserts--things that more heavily rely on the refrigerator/freezer and the stove top. The longer I go without sugar, the less my body craves it & the more my tastebuds recognize the tiniest bit of sweetness from fruit.

When it comes to rhubarb, I’m quite often a purist. The rhubarb pie and rhubarb sauce I grew up eating didn’t fall into the strawberry rhubarb category. When I found organic rhubarb in the store, I really wanted to create a rhubarb dessert that is friendly to my detox guidelines, however, since rhubarb is seriously tart, a sugar free just rhubarb dessert was not going to be successful (i.e. edible).

Ripe strawberries have an excellent naturally sweet flavor & they do pair well with rhubarb.  Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice makes up the remaining sweetness.  I combined the three ingredients, cooked them together until the fruit broke down, much of the liquid evaporated & the flavors intensified.

The amounts I give in the recipe are more like guidelines--there isn’t as much science to this recipe as there is to a cake. I use roughly 1 part sliced rhubarb to 2 parts hulled very ripe strawberries to 1 part unfiltered apple juice, but it can certainly be adapted to personal preferences. Do note that this compote will (most likely) taste tart to someone who is eating sugar on a daily basis...

On a more everyday basis, I spoon compote over some unsweetened coconut yogurt, but as a treat, it’s also a great topping to coconut ice cream.

Strawberry Rhubarb compote 

3.4 oz Organic Rhubarb, sliced
6.75 oz Organic Strawberries, sliced
4 oz Organic unfiltered Apple Juice, plus more if necessary

1. Combine in a small sauce pan. Heat over medium heat for 35 minutes min. Stir occasionally, but increase stirring amount towards the end of cooking. 
2. Remove from heat & taste a small amount. If the compote isn’t sweet enough, add a couple more oz of apple juice. Cook until the liquid has reduced, stirring occasionally. 
3. Remove the pan from the heat & transfer the compote to a separate container. Cool completely. 
4. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 
5. To serve, spoon over coconut yogurt or coconut ice cream. 

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Spiced Parsnip & Apple Muffins (GF)

For the final installment of  my“Week in the [Project] Life”series for Project Life 365, today’s prompt is #incognito.  For background on this project, please read my previous #breakfast, #lunch, #dinner, #dessert, #whatever, and #cloud posts. You can find me on Instagram at @lauravein and Project Life 365 at @projectlife365. Thanks for reading along this week! 

Veggies go #incognito in these Spiced Parsnip & Apple muffins.

Vegetables in muffins? Really? It’s not THAT big of a stretch, if you think about it!  Most people enjoy carrot cake, zucchini quick bread, pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole etc.  So why should parsnip muffins be any different.

While I do love zucchini quick bread (and scones, and waffles), I’ll confess, I’m not terribly crazy about carrot desserts? Even my mom has a great carrot quick bread recipe that everyone raves about whenever she makes it, but it just isn’t something my palate enjoys. I guess I’ll just keep my carrot consumption to the savory side of things, like the roasted carrots from my favorite roast chicken.

Parsnips, on the other hand, are a bit more intriguing.  Their natural flavor lends more towards the dessert-y side of the spectrum anyway, in my opinion.  They’re a bit sweeter and at the same time a bit spicier too. They pair well with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & cloves.

As this was my first foray into adding parsnips to a baked good, I decided to add half grated parsnips and half grated apple to the muffin batter. I was so curious about how the muffins would taste that it was torture to wait until they cooled enough to consume.

Upon tasting, neither the parsnips, nor the apples, nor the spices really shown as the most prominent flavor--instead, they all balanced really well.  Others who tasted these muffins had no idea they contained parsnips. Incognito vegetable success!

Actually, the parsnip flavor does become a bit more pronounced the day after the muffins are baked.  It’s up to you whether you feel adventurous enough to add all grated parsnips to the muffin batter or to do the half parsnip/half apple combination I chose.




Spiced Parsnip & Apple Muffins 
adapted from Alton Brown 
yields approximately 9 muffins 

I easily adapted this recipe to be gluten free by swapping the AP Flour for my favorite gluten free flour mix, but if I was not making these gluten free, I might make them with half all purpose flour & half whole wheat flour.... 


4.25 oz Jeanne's GF AP Flour Mix {or substitute AP Flour, if not following gluten free} 
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
scant 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Nutmeg, freshly grated 
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
3 oz whole eggs (scramble 2 eggs together, then weight out 3 oz... it should be approx 1.5 eggs) 
3 oz Sour Cream or Yogurt (use full fat dairy) 
0.9 oz Vegetable Oil 
4 oz Granulated Sugar 
splash of Vanilla extract 
2.5 oz Grated Parsnip (use a box grater) 
2.5 oz Grated Apple (use a box grater) 
nonstick spray
coarse sugar for sprinkling 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a standard muffin pan with 9 liners.  Generously spray the liners to avoid having the muffins stick to them.  Set aside. Prepare & measure out all ingredients.  
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, powder, nutmeg, cinnamon & salt. Set aside
3. In a separate larger bowl, whisk together the sour cream, oil, sugar, vanilla.  Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture & mix halfway.  Using a spatula, fold in the grated parsnip & apple.  
4. Evenly divide the batter among each muffin cup (using a large cookie scoop/portion scoop makes this job easier). Sprinkle the tops with a little coarse sanding sugar.  
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown.  
6. Remove from the oven, cool slightly in the pan, then remove the muffins and cool on a rack.  Serve slightly warm. 
7. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature, or freeze for longevity.  

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Mom's Apple Crisp (Gluten Free)

October 1st will always be "Apple Crisp Day" to me. But not just any apple crisp, my mom’s now famous apple crisp.

My dad, along with his  business partner Steve, took a leap of faith and started their own engineering company on October 1, 1991. Those first years were not easy ones as they worked to get their business established. Lots of time and effort goes in to the creation of a company! I remember my dad working extremely long hours in those early days & also doing extensive traveling....

Amidst all the hard work, they did take time to celebrate. The company’s first anniversary was celebrated with cake, but, every anniversary since then has been celebrated with delicious apple crisp, made by my mom.

Fast forward 20+ years, and that same company, which started with two people in a tiny basement office of a downtown building, has since grown exponentially.  There are now more than 200 employees in over a dozen branches in different cities throughout the upper midwest!

It never ceases to amaze me when I remember where they started back in the early 90s and see how much things have changed today. What an incredible thing. I’m so proud of them :)

The apple crisp tradition continues still today. I have very fond memories of visiting Dad’s office every October 1st (or on a date near there) to help hand out pieces of crisp to every employee present. The employees who have been there for years & years have come to expect & anticipate the coming of apple crisp!

As many years as it is possible, the different offices will have an apple crisp celebration party all together via video link. And Mom has graciously shared her recipe with people in each office so that they might all share in the same signature dessert.  The main office has become so large that several employees volunteered to each make a couple pans of apple crisp, so that Mom isn’t making apple crisp for quite so many people...

A few years before Dad’s company was founded, my parents planted an apple tree in our back yard, and that apple tree has provided the fruit for many years’ crisps. Most years, the crazy tree produces SO MANY apples that my parents have to pick a bunch of the non-mature green apples early in the season so that their weight doesn’t break the limbs of the tree.

This year was different.  The tree decided not to produce a single apple, which meant my mom had to find a new source for apples this year.  But I have high hopes that next year their tree will be back to its overproducing ways :)

I haven’t lived in my hometown nor attended the annual anniversary celebration in several years. I also haven’t made mom’s recipe in quite some time because my body just hasn’t seemed to like oats (this recipe just isn’t the same without them). But I’ve been experimenting with trying Gluten Free Rolled Oats & so far I don’t seem to have the same unpleasant symptoms I’ve had in the past. Hurray! 

So this year, I made Mom’s recipe.  I scaled it down slightly, because I knew it wasn’t a good idea to have a 9x13 pan of apple crisp for just the two of us--I doubt I’d have any self control when it comes to a pan of apple crisp.  I used a little cornstarch (instead of flour) to help thicken the apple juices & substituted gluten free flour & gluten free oats in the topping.

The intoxicating smell of the cooking apples & the spices as the crisp baked permeated the whole apartment.  It was torture to wait the nearly two hours it took for the crisp to properly bake.  Even with the slight changes, the apple crisp was perfect. Though I wasn’t back with my parents to celebrate in person, we celebrated in spirit with our bowls of warm crisp topped with melting vanilla ice cream.  I tried not to lick the bowl :)

Happy Anniversary, AE2S!


Mom’s Apple Crisp
yields approximately 6 servings

3.5 oz / 0.5 c Granulated Sugar (may adjust depending on sweetness of apples)
2 tsp cornstarch 
2 tsp Cinnamon 
4 medium large apples (I used a mix of 3 Granny Smith & 1 Fuji, which came to about 21 oz once peeled, cored & sliced)

2.15 oz (0.5 c) Flour (I used Gluten Free)
1.75 oz (0.5 c) Rolled Oats (I used Gluten Free)
3.75 oz (0.5 c) Brown Sugar
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
pinch Sea Salt
2 oz (0.25 c) Unsalted Butter, cold

Ice Cream, for serving (optional, though not optional in my book!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 square pan or a medium gratin dish with nonstick spray or a little softened butter.  
2. In a large bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Peel, core and slice the apples.  Mix in with the sugar mixture.  Pour into the greased pan & compress slightly . 
3. In a separate smaller bowl, combine the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.  Cut the butter into small pieces & use a pastry cutter or two forks (or very quickly work with your not hot fingers) to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.  Keep the mixture slightly lumpy & crumbly.  Immediately distribute the crumb topping over the apples. 
4. Place the finished pan on top of a rimmed pan (to collect any juices) and slide into the oven. Bake for between 60 and 90 minutes, or until the top is browned and the juices are bubbly--mine took close to 90.  
5. Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream. 
6. Store any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.  Leftovers are great cold (even for breakfast, shhhh!) or warmed.  Consume within a couple of days.  

Notes: To any readers who are gluten free but can't eat oats (even if they are gluten free), make the same apple base & try topping it with my gluten free almond topping recipe.  

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