Nutty Meatloaf

meatloaf

Meatloaf is an excellent lunch or travel food and is very nice by itself or served with raw cheese. Bring meatloaf to your next picnic!

This recipe is based on Spicy Meat Loaf from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon-Morell.

This recipe is safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or GAPS.

2 pounds pastured ground beef
1 large organic onion, chopped
1 stalk organic celery, chopped
1 large organic carrot or yellow beet, chopped
1/4c butter or lard
1 organic bird’s eye pepper, crushed
1tsp organic thyme
1tsp organic peppercorn, freshly ground
1tsp sea salt
1c organic walnuts, chopped
2-3 pastured whole eggs
Grease a glass bread pan with butter or lard. Preheat the oven to 325F. Saute the chopped onions, celery, carrots and spices in butter or lard. In a large bowl mix the raw ground beef with the sauted vegetables. Add the walnuts and eggs one at a time. Mix very well and form the mixture into a log shape before placing into the bread pan. Press the mixture down firmly. Cook for 45-60 minutes. Let cool before slicing. Serve warm or cold with cheese or homemade spicy ketchup.

ketchup-meatloaf

Meatloaf can be dressed up with some homemade spicy ketchup.

Ghee Coconut Creamer for Camping

ghee-coffee-creamer

Ghee Coffee Creamer is a good cream substitute for camping season. If you like butter, ghee is stable without refrigeration making it a great camping or emergency food.

It’s camping season. While traveling it can be difficult to find sources of nourishing traditional foods. Usually, I like organic cream in my morning coffee but organic cream can be difficult (or impossible) to find outside of cities. In the past when I couldn’t get quality cream or raw milk I made a coconut-based substitute. This is an updated version of Coconut Coffee Creamer using ghee rather than butter.

Ghee travels and stores much better than butter. If you are going into the backcountry and want buttery trout or wildcrafted greens, ghee is the answer. You can buy commercial organic ghee but making your own will save you about half the cost.

Ghee will also store well as emergency food in your car or camper. If you would like more information about emergency rations please see Emergency Preparation: Fasting or Ketogenic Rations. There’s a link to the whole series about household emergency preparation too.

Homemade Ghee

1 pound unsalted, organic butter
Ghee is very easy to make. Take one pound of unsalted, organic butter and slowly heat in a sauce pan. Simmer the butter for 15-20 minutes skimming off the lactose that bubble to the top. Strain the golden ghee through some cheese cloth to get out the remaining lactose. Some people cook the ghee to a nut brown color for Indian cooking but I prefer using golden ghee.

Ghee Coconut Creamer

1/3c organic coconut oil
1/3c organic creamed coconut
1/3c ghee made from unsalted, organic butter
In a food processor, blend the coconut oil and creamed coconut together with the warm ghee. The Ghee Coconut Creamer should last 1-2 months without refrigeration. 2-3 tablespoons for each liter of coffee is about right.

For more information about the benefits of using coconut products in your daily coffee please see: Coconut Coffee Creamer.

For more tips about nourishing traditional food preparation while traveling please see: Eating Nourishing Traditional Foods While Traveling.

Spicy Bean Chips

bean-cracker-salsa

Here’s a beanie chip topped with organic cheese, crock banana peppers and homemade salsa.

I just heard about a new snack food called beanitos. I found the ingredient list on the internet and went to work on a grain-free, additive-free version that can be made at home.

I used an old recipe for Spicy Bean Dip from the Moosewood Cookbook and added ground yellow flax seeds to hold the chips together. I put the chips into the dehydrator for the night. I made two versions, one with fresh lime juice and one without. I know I have a great recipe when my family are eating the chips right out of the dehydrator!

bean-chips-2

The bean chips are a bit delicate but have a nice crunchy, creamy texture with a spicy aftertaste.

4c soaked and cooked organic white beans
4T organic olive oil
1 large organic onion, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2tsp sea salt
2tsp whole organic cumin seeds, freshly ground
1tsp whole organic peppercorns, freshly ground
1/2c garden parsley, chopped
2-4 pinches organic cayenne, to taste
1/2c yellow flax seeds, freshly ground
1/4c homemade banana peppers, minced (optional)
1 organic lime, freshly squeezed (optional)

Soak the white beans overnight in filtered water. Rinse the beans well before covering with fresh water and cooking for 1-2 hours until very tender. Remove any scum or hard beans during cooking. Rinse the cooked bean in filtered water.

Freshly grind all the spices and yellow flax in a spice grinder for best results. Saute the onions and sea salt in the olive oil until lightly browned. Remove from heat and add the garlic and cumin.

In a food processor, blend the onion mixture, parsley, cayenne, peppercorns, banana peppers and lime until smooth. Add the cooked beans and flax meal and mix well. Use a bit of extra water to get a smooth texture, if needed. The bean paste should be as thick as possible.

Drop the bean paste onto the dehydrator sheets using a teaspoon. With a wet spoon lightly press down the paste into a round shape. The bean chips dry very quickly in the dehydrator.

bean-crackers-test-1

This recipe can be used for making spicy bean chips which are a good travel food. If you don’t have time to dehydrate the chips just use the bean paste as a dip.