Fine Almond Meal in Thermomix

The impossible... right???

Well I have read all sorts of hints and tips on how to get your almond meal fine in the Thermomix... none got it very fine. Ok for some recipes, but terrible for cookies.

After some mouldy activated nuts, I decided I had better keep them in the freezer.







I wanted to make some Almond Bread and just chucked in some almonds and pulverised for 20sec speed 9... and low and behold, the meal was nice and fine!

The problem with nuts is they are full of oil and as you grind them, the heat releases the oils... hence a few seconds for a coarse flour, a bit too long and you have nut butter. When the nuts are cold, you get a bit longer before the oils are released so the Thermomix can make a finer meal.

I am using Almonds with the skin on, if you used blanched nuts, you would no doubt get an even finer result.

Very pleased I don't need to purchase expensive almond meal any more to make my cookies!


So the secret is simple

 

FREEZE YOUR NUTS BEFORE YOU GRIND

Measurements

When doing recipes here are the abbreviations:

C = Cup
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon


1C = 250ml
1T = 15ml
1t = 5ml

Meal time

What to eat?

Breakfast Lunch Dinner...

I think one of the big challenges when going grain free is working out what to eat for each meal.








Breakfast is tricky when you are accustomed to eating cereal or toast... lunch is a sandwich... dinner not so tricky as most would think meat and veg pretty normal. How do you do grain free toast and cereal for breakfast... so you go searching for nut bread recipes... when in fact the easy solution is to think of each meal as suitable for any time of the day.

Soup can be for breakfast, lunch or dinner... oh no you say... I am not having soup all the time. Unless you decide to do hard core GAPS and do Intro, I am not saying that at all. I am saying OPEN YOUR MIND lol to other possibilities. Meat balls for breakfast... my kids do it every day. At the start they were horrified (as you might be) but now if I give them some toast they ask for meat :)

You need to make yourself and your children (if they are joining your diet changes) just try it over and over... until it becomes habit.

And give yourself some variety... here are some ideas I love

• thai salmon fish cakes with spinach and avocado and a dollop of goat yoghurt
• omelette with salmon, kale, tomato and a dressing of yoghurt with garlic and dill
• scrambled eggs with avocado and kraut (pour over some broth for a soup)
• lasagne - zucchini becomes your lasagne sheets, cauliflower an amazing white sauce
• seared scallop creamy soup
• pumpkin soup with chicken, crispy kale and toasted walnuts
• creamy cauliflower soup with chicken
• zucchini noodles with broth and slow cooked lamb
• crunchy herb topped roast chicken or turkey breast
• slow cooked lamb with honeyed carrots and roast butternut squash

Be creative... think of all the things you can eat and how you might combine them. Some may work, others not so much... Soup is open for creation! Chuck in some broth, veg and meat... top with some kraut and a dollop of yoghurt... simple

My fav fast meal is roast chicken thigh (cooked in coconut oil), topped with kraut and yoghurt.



There are plenty of sweet goodies too... as you might have noticed from my failsafe recipes, I am rather fond of baking

So in these early phases of changing from failsafe to healing... think outside the square and be open to all the possibilites.

 

 

Children's Journey

My Children's Journey so far from Failsafe to healing...

My little ones have been on a low chemical diet since birth... proteins caused bleeding bowels and food chemicals caused lots of pain which in a baby means loads of crying. I maintained a very limited diet as I was breast feeding and they reacted to what I was eating through the milk. Their safe foods were lamb and rice. We eventually were able to add in chicken, potato, celery, iceberg lettuce and choko.

Their diet stayed this way until late last year when I had been having success with healing, thought I would make a start with them. I waited until they had been on their Biomedical journey for a few months. Zinc levels were very low and initially their Doctor has been working on bringing that to within normal ranges.

 

Coconut Oil

I started adding 20g of coconut oil to their cookies, to replace some of the Nuttelex. They initially had one cookie each a day. Once that was tolerated I increased that to two cookies a day. I now add coconut flour and have increased the coconut oil to 40g. They eat as many as they like.

Once the cookies were going well, I started replacing some Nuttelex with coconut oil in their cupcakes. They initially had one coconut cupcake every few days. Now they eat a couple a day.

Meat - ghee and coconut oil

Previously I cooked in sunflower oil and always baked their meat balls and any chicken in the oven very lightly so there was no browning at all. Now I fry their meat balls and chicken sticks in Ghee on the stove. I also bake with coconut oil.

Broth

They are having very small amounts of chicken broth, only cooked for 2 hours. I add 4 tablespoons to their shepherd's pie twice a week.

Fermented Veg

Every few days they have half a ml of fermented veg juice. It is a strong probiotic so I am going very slowly with this.

Kefir

Instead of increasing their food chemicals even more by using coconut kefir, I made some rice milk kefir. I then subsituted 50% of the rice milk in my icecream recipe, for rice kefir. They have 1-2 scoops of this daily. It has a nice tangy taste.

Vegetables

I have been slowly increasing their salicylates. Initially started with some cucumber and carrot in small amounts every few days. They now have some every day. They are also having small amounts of kale and sweet potato. Will be trialling avocado this week.

Fruit

This is has been tricky. Small servings create a big reaction. With the aim of increasing tolerance, I am perserving with tiny servings once a week. For example, a sliver of banana or a half a strawberry.


The children have been so excited to try new foods and it has been a delight to watch their faces light up at all the new experiences.

 

With the aim to increase the healing foods and decrease the servings of grains, I am slowly building their chemical tolerance so that will soon be achievable. This progress has all been made in just a month of food changes.

 

 

 

Time Saving Tips...

Do we really need to be in the kitchen all day cooking for this style of eating?

Here are some tips to get you started:


Make your broth overnight in slowcooker
then use this as base for soup and casseroles etc all the next day
If only you doing it, then freeze what you don't need

Slow cook lamb shoulders
use that as your meat for your meals and snacks
(you can slow cook it over night on very low or do it for 4 hours in oven on 150)
 
Make chicken broth with half a chicken (I do 2 pots to use the whole chicken)
then you are left with meat and broth

If you are working
have a big day doing lots of broth and meat,
freeze in meal size portions for your work day
 
When baking slices and cakes, bake them in rectangluar tins
cut into cubes and freeze for quick snacks and lunchbox treats

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog...

This is where I am at with my family and our diets...


We have transitioned from Failsafe to a GAPS style diet.

I am currently on full GAPS and the children are in the process of liberalising their food chemicals...

Read all about this in Beyond Failsafe



We have a facebook group you might like to join for support Beyond Failsafe...GAPS



I will be sharing all the recipes we love very soon...