The recipe pile

Do you ever feel like even if you try and try and try…the pile of  “things to do” will never get smaller. That my friends, is the definition of blogging. Don’t get me wrong. I love writing and sharing my knowledge and recipes, but once in a while I get overwhelmed.

Take my recipe pile for example. It actually used to be a real pile of coconut-oil stained post-it notes. Last month I roughly typed up the hard to read recipes and counted over 20 recipes! It was quite fulfilling seeing the recipes I spent so much time concocting last year in clean writing. I even has most of the pictures already taken too.

The hard part is juggling everything together (blogging, researching, recipe making, emails and social media…). I will tell you a little secret. I have about 186 unread comments that need to be read and responded to. I have about 300 emails that need to be read (you know the ones that actually are important and can’t just be deleted).

I can’t get caught up thinking “I will never be on top of things”…because honestly I don’t think I will. I have learned to accept that and just do what I can, when I can. I hope you understand.

Grain free & dairy free 

A few days ago I asked several of you on Facebook if you were dairy free. I got an overwhelming response that YES most of you are dairy free and prefer using coconut milk in cooked recipes. I made this recipe with both raw milk and coconut milk. I think my family preferred the recipe with coconut milk because it was lighter. You can certainly choose what you want to use, but I think the homemade coconut milk or this one (no additives) or this one (BPA-free) would taste great even if you are not dairy free.

A note on the coconut flour. I have found that my favorite brand is this one. Why? Because it is very fluffy and almost powdery (like real flour) instead of heavy like coconut flour is known to be. Also make sure to let the batter sit so the coconut flour can absorb all the liquid first. If you use a denser coconut flour like this one, be sure to sift the flour (you can use a sifter or a fine mesh sieve) so the recipe turns out the same.

This recipe is pretty simple and was inspired by my coconut flour pizza crust. You may think its exactly the same, but actually it is quite different with the herbs and olive oil added. I think it deserves its own recipe.

Flatbread

I know many of you can’t have cheese or nightshades so I did not want to specify that this “flatbread” was a pizza crust. I don’t like to limit your creativity with a recipe like this by putting the words “pizza crust” into the title. Half the time we make this, no pizza ingredients are in sight. Actually, this flatbread was first created because my sister could not eat nightshades on her elimination/GAPS diet. This herb flatbread was sliced up and used to be dipped into olive oil with a bit of sea salt added.  I don’t think we made enough because it was gone in 5 minutes.

Freezing

The second time we made this, I tripled the recipe and froze small flat breads to be warmed up after school or work. I stored them in these gallon sized plastic bags and layered unbleached parchment paper in-between the flatbread (you can fit a few in each bag if you do it this way). All you need to do then, is turn on the oven to 375 and bake until warm and crispy.

Bread substitute 

I think many of you former bread eaters will really like to have this SUPER easy recipe around for a “bread alternative”. Everyone knows that fresh bread tastes the best, right? I would consider this recipe easy and can me made in about 30 min (including cooking time).

Layer some leftover meat, homemade mayo, fresh veggies and you have yourself a sandwich! Feel free to use this as a crust for pizza (my recipe) if that is what you are craving too. This coconut flour herb flatbread is GAPS friendly too.

Enjoy getting creative.

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup Coconut Flour

3 eggs

1 cup coconut milk (homemade or buy here) or organic whole milk

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

drizzle of organic extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix together the coconut flour, sea salt, herbs, & garlic powder in a bowl.

3. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk in a separate bowl.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the coconut flour mixture.

5. Stir until no clumps are left. Let the batter sit for at least 5 minutes (so the coconut flour absorbs all the liquid). It should resemble a thick paste like the picture above.

Here is the unbleached parchment paper that I used (click here)

6. Prepare your pan. I drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of pan (10 x 15 ” rimmed pan) and then place the parchment paper (oil first helps the corners stick). I also drizzled some olive oil on top of the paper and spread it out with a pastry brush. The olive oil is optional but it gives a nice flavor to the flatbread.

7. Scrape all the batter out of the bowl onto the prepared pan. Spread it evenly across the whole cookie sheet with a spatula. You don’t want the batter too thick or else it may not cook all the way though.

*Another idea would be to create mini flatbreads but they would require less cooking time of course.

8. Place cookie sheet in the oven for about 25-30 min, depending on how crunchy you like the edges. Mine was golden brown on top and was just the right texture.

*This coconut flour flatbread gets softer with time, so if you like it a bit crispy, eat it soon after it comes out of the oven.

9. To remove the parchment paper, just pinch the corner and pull it right out. Cut into slices or any size that you choose.

*Tip: let the crusts cool all the way to room temperate before freezing

~Stay Gutsy, Caroline

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