Grain Free Everything Bagels (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

Okay Quarantiners! You need some GRAIN FREE EVERYTHING BAGELS IN YOUR LIFE! Been making these for months now and have mastered them. Meaning – it’s time to share them with you. 

I took grains out of my diet a few years ago when I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.

Grains can actually be an inflammatory trigger for many, causing digestive upset, indigestion and bloating. This is especially the case for those suffering with any level of autoimmunity. When I removed them, my own bloating reduced significantly.

Now, if you’ve been a part of my community for a while, you know that I’m a huge baking enthusiast.

When I initially went grainfree, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to do as much baking as I’d like…but, I rose to the challenge and started testing new recipes in the kitchen.

These everything bagels are grain free, gluten free and dairy free. They’re also lower on the glycemic index than a classic bagel, they’re loaded with way more nutrients, and they are downright delicious too! 

I love to whip up a breakfast sandwich with these babies. Give them a try and let me know what you think! 

Grain Free Everything Bagels

Ok Quarantiners! You need some GRAIN FREE EVERYTHING BAGELS IN YOUR LIFE! Been making these for months now and have mastered them. Meaning - it’s time to share them with you
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Author: Samantha Gladish

Ingredients

  • 1 cup arrowroot flour
  • 1 cup cassava flour
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 1/4 cup avocado oil
  • 3 tbsp nut milk
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • to taste Everything But the Bagel Seasoning (or you could just sub for sesame seeds). I got my seasoning from Trader Joes.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Meanwhile boil a big pot of water.In a blender, add all of the dough ingredients except for the EB seasoning.
    Once combined, (it might be a bit sticky) transfer the dough to your parchment lined baking sheet.
  • Use your hands to form a ball (again - it might be a bit sticky.
    I find leaving it for a few minutes helps make it less sticky, but you could always sprinkle some cassava flour on your parchment to help you better work with the dough).
  • Then separate into four equal parts. Use your hands to roll each part into a round ball, then using your thumb, poke a hole in the middle, keeping the bagel in tact.
    Gently flatten and form your bagel. Once the water is boiling, gently drop them in the water.
  • Once each one floats to the top (about one minute), transfer back to your baking sheet. Sometimes they can get stuck in the bottom of the pot, so pay attention and use your spatula to unstick it.
  • After all are placed onto the baking sheet, brush each bagel with a bit of olive oil (optional) and sprinkle with EB seasoning. Bake 23-25 minutes.

 

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Celery Root Soup (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Paleo, AIP)

Are you familiar with celery root? It’s also called celeriac and it tastes like a cross between celery and parsley. It’s starchy like other root veggies and makes a really fantastic substitute for mashed potatoes (no, really!). So if you’re looking for a low carb alternative, celery root is it! 
 

Although this amazing vegetable offers a lot to write home about in terms of taste and nutrition, it’s one of the less attractive veggies at the market and for that reason, it’s often overlooked. This vegetable gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ It’s shaped like a globe and has this gnarly, uneven and brown appearance – it reminds me of something straight out of Harry Potter 😛 (take a look at the photo and you’ll see what I mean!).

 
On the inside however, this veggie is creamy, white and aromatic – just beautiful. Once you’ve tasted it, you’ll kick yourself for not having tried it sooner. 
 
Celeriac is rich in dietary fibre which is essential for maintaining proper digestion. It helps keep everything moving, if you know what I mean 😛 It’s also a good source of Vitamin C and fantastic for helping to strengthen the immune system, especially this time of year (hello cold n’ flu season and cold weather!). 
 
Ok, back to the mashed potatoes talk! When you’re on an AIP diet, the comfort of the white potato is off limits to you. White potatoes are part of the nightshade family and many people who have autoimmune conditions have trouble with them. That’s why it’s invaluable to have substitutes like celery root to lean on when you have these dietary restrictions. You can turn this unassuming veggie into a gorgeous puree or mash to help satisfy that carb craving. 
 
Let’s talk about this soup now. It’s rich and savoury. Luxurious in texture. And adding the cooked bacon bits on top just adds some much needed crunch. Enjoy!
 
We want to know –> what’s the most challenging part of following an AIP protocol for you? Share with us in the comments below. 
 
We love seeing what you’re cooking up! Don’t forget to share your recreations with us on Instagram @holisticwellnessfoodie  @valeriepiccitto
Celery Root Soup
Serves 4
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. 4 slices bacon, cooked & chopped
  2. 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  3. 1 large leek, sliced
  4. 2 1-pound celery roots, cut into 1 inch pieces
  5. 1 cup celery, chopped
  6. 2 garlic cloves, minced
  7. 5 cups vegetable stock
  8. 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
  9. 2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
  10. sea salt
Instructions
  1. Cook bacon as you normally would. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. Chop & set aside.
  2. In a large soup pot, warm olive oil over medium heat, add sliced leeks, celery root and celery. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and sauté for a minute until fragrant.
  4. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until celery root is fork tender.
  5. In batches, carefully blend soup mixture (you can use a hand immersion blender or your blender).
  6. Add the blended soup back into the pot and stir in coconut milk. Season with sea salt.
  7. Portion out soup and garnish with chopped chives and bacon.
Notes
  1. *If you are NOT on the AIP protocol, feel free to add in some fresh black pepper.
Holistic Wellness https://holisticwellness.ca/
 
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Plantain English Muffins (AIP, Paleo)

I can’t even remember the last time I ate a “doughy-white” english muffin. I have a vague memory of eating them in my high school days before school in the morning. 

I was health conscious as a teenager and I used to think that english muffins, egg whites and margarine was the way to go. Boy was I wrong!

As I make my through the AIP protocol, there are lots of creative recipes I’m excited to re-create and dive into. I think it’s really easy to overcomplicate recipes and meal planning. It doesn’t have to be complicated. We spend so much time thinking about what we ‘CAN’T’ eat, when it’s much easier to focus on what we ‘CAN.’

Change your way of thinking and you’ll have greater success on any diet plan. It’s important to get into the right mindset for healing. This is exactly what we’ll be teaching in the Healing and Dealing with Hashimoto’s program. If you have Hashimoto’s or an autoimmune condition, click here to check out how this program can help you heal and transform your condition. 

I recipe tested some english muffins last weekend and they were an epic fail! I baked them in the oven and every 10 minutes kept checking if there were ready. They were a pile of mush and they wouldn’t harden. I had to throw them out. They were completely inedible. 

So, onto recipe #2. The winner. These gluten free gems are amazing!

Now let’s get real for a minute here…. these don’t taste like your traditional english muffins, I mean, they don’t even look like them for that matter. But they are delicious and perfect topped with some nut butter (not AIP), or coconut cream and raspberry jam; which is exactly what I did. 

I’ll be baking up a batch of these english muffins this weekend and I’ll top them with some guac and bacon. Mmmm!

Savoury or sweet, the muffins work either way. 

A few key things to note before baking them:

  1. I baked them in 2 circular pyrex oven safe dishes, like the image you see here. I only have 2, but this recipe below made 3. Once the first batch was done, I baked the last english muffin on it’s own. 
  2. 4 ramekins would work well for this recipe, but I don’t have any. I’ll definitely be getting some though! I’ve been needing them for multiple recipes. 
  3. Make sure to divide you batter evenly for 3 servings (or 4 if using ramekins).

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. They are so good and perfect for your AIP breakfasts! I suggest doubling your batch and making extra so you can freeze them and have on hand for easy meal prep. 

Enjoy!

Plantain English Muffins
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
18 min
Total Time
28 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
18 min
Total Time
28 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 large ripe plantain
  2. 2 Tbsp avocado oil (olive oil or melted coconut oil would work well too)
  3. 1⁄4 Cup +1 Tbsp tapioca starch
  4. 2 Tbsp coconut flour
  5. 1 tbsp apple sauce
  6. 1 tsp baking soda
  7. 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  8. Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375F. Grease 2-4 ramekins or pyrex dishes with coconut oil.
  2. Roughly chop the plantains and place in a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
  3. Blend until smooth and creamy.
  4. Divide your batter into equal portions (2-4). Place batter into greased ramekins and using a spatula or back of a spoon, evenly spread it out. This equals ONE english muffin. Once it's baked you'll cut it in half.
  5. Bake for 15-18 minutes. The pyrex dishes are slightly larger than ramekins, so I found I needed at least 17-18 minutes, but you may need less time if baking in ramekins.
  6. Let cool slightly, remove from dish and slice in half.
  7. Place in the toaster/toaster oven for a few minutes to crisp up (optional). I like mine slightly toasted. Top with your favourite toppings and enjoy!
Holistic Wellness https://holisticwellness.ca/
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The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol – Foods to Eliminate for Healing

When I first learned of my Hashimoto’s diagnosis, I dove into ALL areas of my health and well being. From IV therapy, to colonics, to supplementation, further hormone testing and of course diet, I put together a healing strategy – one that I am still following today. 

“The root cause of all autoimmune diseases is the same: our immune system, which is supposed to protect us from invading microorganisms, turns against us and attacks our proteins, cells, and tissues instead. Which proteins, cells, and tissues are attacked determines the autoimmune disease and its symptoms.” – Dr. Sarah Ballantyne 

The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol (abbreviated AIP), is a powerful strategy that uses diet and lifestyle to regulate the immune system, putting an end to these attacks and giving the body the opportunity to heal.

AIP can be seen as a ‘stricter’ version of the paleo diet. It eliminates foods allowed on the typical Paleo diet that have compounds that may stimulate the immune system or harm the gut environment, including nightshades (like tomatoes and peppers), eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, grains, gluten and alcohol.

Since I had already eliminated grains, beans, gluten, most dairy and sugar from my diet, taking it one step further wasn’t that big of a deal for me. 

With the AIP diet, there are a lot of things to eliminate and it can be challenging for some. Especially if your meals are centered around grains, it can be hard to give these foods up. I often find that many of my clients meals contain some sort of grain, with protein, fat and veggies not taking up enough ‘plate space.’

If you’ve been dealing with an autoimmune disease, I highly suggest you try out the AIP protocol. 

Here is a list of foods to eliminate on an AIP protocol:

GLUTEN / GRAINS / GRAIN-LIKE SEEDS: GLUTEN: – Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats 

GRAINS: – Barley – Corn – Kamut – Millet – Oats – Rice – Rye – Sorghum – Spelt – Teff – Wheat (all varieties – einkorn, semolina, etc) 

GRAIN-LIKE SEEDS: – Amaranth – Buckwheat – Chia – Quinoa 

DAIRY: – Butter – Cheese – Cottage Cheese – Cream – Ghee – Ice cream – Kefir – Milk – Sour Cream – Whey – Yogurt 

LEGUMES: – Adzuki beans – Black beans – Black-eyes peas – Cannellini beans – Chickpeas/Garbanzos – Fava beans – Green beans – Kidney beans – Lentils – Lima beans – Mung beans – Navy beans – Pinto beans – Peanuts – Peas – Split peas – Soy beans 

NUTS & SEEDS:  NUTS (including nut-derived oils, nut flours, nut butters): – Almonds – Brazil nuts – Cashews – Chestnuts – Hazelnuts – Macadamia nuts – Pecans – Pine nuts – Pistachios – Walnuts

SEEDS (including seed-derived oils, seed flours, seed butters): – Chia – Flax – Hemp – Poppy – Pumpkin – Sesame – Sunflower 

SPICES DERIVED FROM SEEDS: – Anise – Annatto – Black caraway – Celery seed – Coriander – Cumin – Dill – Fennel – Fenugreek – Mustard – Nutmeg 

NIGHTSHADES (and spices derived from nightshades): – Bell Peppers – Cayenne Pepper – Chili Peppers – Eggplant – Goji Berries – Hot Peppers – Paprika – Pepinos – Pimentos – Potatoes – Tamarillos – Tomatillos – Tomatoes EGGS (chicken/duck/goose) 

Also avoid: ALCOHOL, COFFEE, PROCESSED VEGETABLE OILS (Canola, Cottonseed, etc), ADDED SUGARS, SUGAR ALCOHOLS

I already know where your brain is going. I already know you’re telling yourself that you could never eliminate these foods. 

​​Trust me, giving up almond butter was SO hard for me! And to top it off, almond butter ranked high on my food intolerance test as well, so even more reason to eliminate it. And I bake with almond flour all the time. Ugh! My worst nightmare 🙁

But please keep in mind – these food eliminations are temporary. You can reintroduce these foods back, which I have done so already. 

Keep in mind ALL the amazing foods you CAN eat. Meat, fish, seafood, veggies, fruit, delicious fats, herbs and spices. There is A LOT you can eat. 

From the AIP diet, I naturally transitioned in a modified keto diet. Because I don’t really eat carbs or a very low-carb, I increased my fats to help fuel my body, hormones and brain and so far – I’m loving it. 

At the end of the day – you HAVE TO DO THE REAL work and that takes effort and commitment. Changing your diet to be AIP compliant is hard work. And although the AIP protocol may seem challenging, it could also be the ONE thing that just might save your life. 

My amazing friend Marni Wasserman, who also has Hashimoto’s is my go to friend when I’m feeling challenged by my diet and health. 

If you haven’t downloaded our Healing Recipe Guide, click here to do so now. We share delicious AIP friendly recipes that we love and we know you’ll love too! These recipes are great for anyone with autoimmunity. 

Marni and I are teaming up to bring you more info on Hashimoto’s and share our stories of how we’ve gotten better and the steps and protocols we’ve taken. 

So stay tuned… we’re working on some fun stuff! And in the meantime, try out our recipes and start the healing process today. 

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Chocolate Coconut Cherry Fat Bombs (High Fat, Low Carb)

Chocolate, coconut and cherry is pretty much a magical match made in heaven. 

These delicious fat bombs are so-damn-good and perfect to whip up for your special Valentine. 

I just absolutely love cherries! I buy tart frozen cherries and always keep a stash in the freezer. They are perfectly sweet and in fact, are great for combating inflammation and helping with sleep as they contain melatonin. 

Melatonin is a hormone secreted at night by the pineal gland in the center of your brain to help to regulate your circadian rhythm. In order to produce adequate amounts of melatonin, it’s important that you head outside for at least 30 minutes – 2 hours a day (regardless of the weather), as natural light exposure helps support your natural circadian rhythm.

But melatonin is not only produced in the pineal gland—it is also naturally present in certain foods, cherries being one of them. Their was a study done on participants who drank tart cherry juice post workout to help with their recovery and they found that not only did the cherry juice help combat inflammation, but it also increased melatonin levels. 

Now, if you eat these delicious gems during the day, trust me, you’re not going to all of a sudden do a face plant on the floor and fall asleep. It’s not that strong! But they might help encourage better sleep – bonus!

As we age, we produce less melatonin, which is often the reason why so many elderly men and women struggle with insomnia. And if you throw in autoimmunity or other health complications and conditions, lacking sleep means your body is not healing. 

As I work on healing my Hashimoto’s, sleep has become my number one priority. And guess what? I’m feeling like a million bucks because I’ve been sleeping so well. 

Last year I had so many issues with sleep, getting to sleep, staying asleep and because of it, my healing process was taking a long time. I felt exhausted (obviously) and this started to affect my workouts and my day-to-day. 

Now, I’m working out 4 days a week and sleep through the night. I do take a cocktail of supplements before bed and I’ve been using the true dark glasses at night if I’m watching netflix. These glasses have been a GAME changer for blocking out blue light. I recommend getting both the yellow (for the computer) and the red glasses (the stronger ones for tv and sleep). 

Anyhow, enough talking. Let’s get to these delicious Chocolate Coconut Cherry Fat Bombs. Oh! and Happy Valentines Day xoxo

P.S. Here is the silicon molds I used for this recipe. I ordered it off of amazon here. These molds are a game-changer for baking. Easy clean up and nothing sticks to them!

P.P.S. If you’re loving the high fat, low carb way of eating, then click here to learn more about my metabolic reset weight loss program. This 12 week program is amazing for helping you burn fat and balance your hormones.

Chocolate Coconut Cherry Fat Bombs
Yields 30
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Ingredients
  1. CHERRY FILLING
  2. 1 cup full fat coconut cream (from top of canned coconut milk)
  3. 3/4 cup frozen tart cherries, pitted
  4. 1 tbsp lakanto or swerve (optional)
  5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  6. CHOCOLATE COATING
  7. 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  8. 2 tbsp shredded cacao butter (optional)
  9. 1 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
  1. CHERRY FILLING: place all cherry filling ingredients into a food processor and combine until creamy. Spoon mixture into mini silicon molds. (you can use any size, I personally like the mini ones. My silicon mold holds 30). Spoon mixture about 3/4 of the way, leaving space to pour in chocolate.
  2. Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden.
  3. CHOCOLATE COATING: over a double boiler, melt together chocolate chips, cacao butter and coconut oil. Once melted and smooth, remove fat bombs from freezer and pour in chocolate over each mold.
  4. Place back in the freezer for 1-2 hours to set and harden. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and pop out fat bombs from the molds. The silicon is great as the fat bombs don't stick and pop right out! These fat bombs melt fairly quickly, so eat right away once out of the freezer.
  5. Can keep stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Holistic Wellness https://holisticwellness.ca/
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