Garam Masala Rabbit in Coconut Milk

Melt about 2 Tbsp coconut oil in a heavy frying pan (I like cast iron) over low to medium heat.

Add:

1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove diced garlic (optional)

Gently fry onion and garlic in the coconut oil.

Add:

1 and 1/2 tsp. Garam Masala spice mix (check ingredients to be safe)
1/8 tsp. ground yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Cook 2 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add:

1 cup coconut milk (I use Trader Joe's Light Coconut Milk)
1/4 cup apple juice (will probably leave this out next time, as it was a bit too sweet)
2 cups cooked diced rabbit meat (chicken or any other white meat will also work in this recipe--I cook it ahead in the crock pot with a little bit of garlic or chicken seasoning)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/8 tsp finely ground black pepper

Simmer for about 10-15 minutes to blend the flavors.

Serve over rice, couscous or pasta with a side of vegetables. We ate it over brown rice. This is a quick, easy and delicious way to use up leftover meat.

Crock Pot Banana Buckwheat

Place in crock pot:

2 cups buckwheat grits, uncooked

Sift together and mix in:
1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

Then add:
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 cups liquid (I used a can of light coconut milk, 1/4 cup white grape juice, and 4 cups of water)
1 ripe banana, mashed

Stir well.

If desired, add raisins, currants or other dried fruit. I added about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of currants.

Cook on low overnight.

Pink Berry Rice Picnic Salad

One of the foods I've most missed was the "pink salad" my family traditionally makes for summer potlucks and picnics. So when my grandmother figured out how to make a version that was "safe" for everyone in the family's allergies and food intolerances, I had to make my own version too. Hers had crushed canned pineapple instead of the mandarins, and, since she had previously crushed frozen strawberries, she drained the pineapple and strawberry juice to thicken instead of using apple juice.

You could probably use any type of fruit and fruit juice, and the quantities don't have to be exact. If you use granulated sugar instead of honey, you may need to increase the amounts of both sugar and liquid, or if you have less than a half-cup of liquid, you may want to reduce the starch accordingly.

Approximate amounts:

1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons starch (I used Kuzu starch this time; tapioca flour or arrowroot powder should work just as well)
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup sliced fresh mandarin oranges (this was about 4 tiny oranges, with the segments separated and cut in half)
1 to 2 cups cooked rice (I used 2 cups of cooked brown rice for my version)

Later, you'll need:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon honey
Vanilla to taste, if desired.

Mix the fruit juice and honey in a small saucepan, stir in the starch, and heat slowly, stirring with a whisk to keep it from becoming lumpy, until thickened. Add the sliced fruit and mash with a potato masher or use an immersion blender until the fruit is mashed up to your taste.

Stir in the cooked rice and chill the fruit and rice mixture until it begins to set and is cool enough not to melt your whipped cream. :)

Whip the cream with the honey and vanilla. When the rice and fruit mixture is cool, gently fold in the whipped cream.

You can eat this right away, but the flavors will blend and the rice will soften nicely if you leave it in the refrigerator for a while before serving.

Serve chilled.

My kids loved this, and it's so much healthier than the version we used to make with flavored gelatin and artificial whipped topping. :) If you can have cottage cheese, it could probably be substituted for the rice, but we haven't found an excitotoxin-free version of cottage cheese yet.

Rabbit or Chicken Enchiladas

4 cups cooked rabbit meat, coarsely shredded (you can also use chicken or any other mild white meat in this recipe)
2 cups sour cream
Two 4 oz. cans diced green chilies
3 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I used Pacific Natural Foods organic cream of chicken condensed soup)
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup chopped green onions
12 (8-inch) flour tortillas

Mix sour cream, green chilies, and chicken soup to make a sauce. Divide sauce in half. To one half, add rabbit & onions. Spoon rabbit mixture equally onto tortillas. Roll tortillas and place seam side down in a 9X13 inch casserole. Cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly, or heat in crock pot on high until piping hot). 

For a pot luck dish, I put a smaller amount of filling in each to divide it among about 16 tortillas, stack them in a double layer in a large crock pot with half the remaining sauce and cheese on each layer (I grated a little extra cheese), cut the enchiladas in half down the middle of the crock pot, and heat on high for 30 to 60 minutes or however long it takes to get them piping hot.

Serves 12+

 Variations: Feel free to add or subtract things to taste.  Last time I made this without the green onions,  added mushrooms and roasted tomatoes,  used only two boxes of soup concentrate,  and substituted salsa verde for the chiles. It's wonderful garnished with red salsa and a little cold sour cream and cheese.

Super-Simple Hummus

Zap 3 or 4 whole unpeeled garlic cloves in the microwave for about 20 seconds (or you can roast them in the oven, of course). Then simply pop them out of the peels for this recipe.

Combine in blender:

Garlic cloves
A 15-oz. can of garbanzo beans, including liquid (a 16-oz. can would be fine too, if that's what you have)
1/8 cup olive oil
2 to 3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Blend until smooth. You may have to pulse it and stop occasionally to stir with a spoon to release a trapped air bubble, as this is very thick. You can add a bit more olive oil, plain yogurt or water if necessary to blend it.

Serve with crackers, bread, chips, raw vegetables and/or whatever else you like to dip. :)

Feel free to tweak the amounts of seasonings, or to add your favorite flavor--sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives or fresh green herbs instead of the cumin might be tasty (though probably not all together. :) ). If your beans aren't already salted, you may want to increase the salt.

Simple Gravy or White Sauce

1 Tablespoon butter, oil or meat drippings
⅛ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. salt
1-2 Tbsp. flour (or more for thickness desired)
1 c. broth or milk (use homemade broth cooked a short time for excitotoxin-limited diet if using broth)

Heat first four ingredients over low heat until smooth. Add liquid, turn heat up to medium, and stir until thick and smooth. A wisk works best for stirring, and you need to stir it fairly constantly, especially if using milk.

For gluten- and dairy-free, I use sweet rice flour and rice milk. Cashew or coconut milk could also work in this (coconut milk and garam masala spices are very good with poultry or rabbit meat).

This is a great base for casseroles, gravies, soups and all sorts of things.

We like to add tuna, deboned chicken, rabbit or sausage and serve it over biscuits, rice or mashed potatoes.

Gluten-free Banana Waffles

This is the gluten-free version of the Banana Waffle recipe I've been making lately. You can use any GF flour, but keep in mind that different flours may absorb more or less liquid, so you may need to adjust the amount of milk substitute.

2 cups flour (I use 1 and 1/2 cups brown rice flour plus 1/2 cup sweet white rice flour a.k.a. gelatinous rice flour, or it's even better with 1 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup coconut flour, and 1/2 cup sweet rice flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar, optional (I usually leave this out or use an unrefined sugar such as palm sugar)
3/4 tsp. salt

2 mashed ripe bananas (about 1 cup--I'll add a third one if they're extra-small)
3 eggs, beaten
1 and 1/2 cups milk or milk substitute (I use rice milk)
1/3 cup melted shortening or oil (coconut oil works great)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

(or, if preferred, you can use buttermilk or diluted plain yogurt [1/2 cup yogurt, 1 cup water or milk] instead of the milk and omit the vinegar)

Blend or sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the bananas and other wet ingredients and mix well. Then mix together the wet and dry ingredients just until the flour blend is moistened. Bake in a hot waffle iron until crispy and brown on the outside and the amount of steam coming out of the waffle decreases.

Depending on your waffle iron, you may or may not need to grease the iron between waffles. With mine I usually find I can oil it just at the beginning of the batch and they don't stick.

The great thing about these waffles is that the bananas make them so sweet and moist, you don't even need toppings like syrup. We just eat them plain as finger food. :)

You could add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vanilla and/or cinnamon if desired. To turn these into an extra-special treat or a dessert, you can add chocolate chips (and maybe top with whipped cream).

Quinoa Apple Salad

This recipe is modified from Martha Stewart's Curried Quinoa Apple Salad recipe.

Rinse 1 cup of dry quinoa well and cook with 2 cups of water. I bring it to a boil in a covered pot, then turn off the burner and leave the pot on the stove for about 20 minutes for perfectly cooked quinoa.

In a separate container mix together for the dressing:

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

2 to 3 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil

1 teaspoon curry powder (I use a nightshade free curry powder and heap the measurement a bit)

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sweet spice (optional--this is a mixture with cinnamon, cardamom and other sweet spices by the same manufacturer that makes the curry powder I use; I will edit the post to add the name later)

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon diced shallot

Stir the dressing into the cooled cooked quinoa, add 1 diced apple (grannysmith or Gala apples are good in this recipe) and 2 tablespoons currants.

This recipe is excellent chilled. I usually make a double batch and keep it in the refrigerator for a ready-made quick snack.

Fluffy Baked Eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking dish, either by rubbing oil on the inside or putting a little butter or coconut oil inside and heating in the oven long enough to melt, then tipping it to coat all sides of the pan.

Prepare your eggs just as if you were going to make an omlette or scrambled eggs. For me, this means beating my eggs and adding a dash of milk or milk substitute. Add salt and dried dill to taste. I use a very generous amount of dill. You can either mix these in or just sprinkle them on top after you pour the eggs into the pan.

Bake until solid but not too brown--for a 6 egg batch, I bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

This is so simple, and amazingly delicious. And you don't have to stand over it stirring it the whole time it's cooking. :)

Crustless Sweet Potato Pie

One 15-oz. can or 2 cups pureed sweet potatoes (the more orange ones often called yams)
1/2 cup honey
Scant 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
1 cup milk or milk substitute (I used whole goat milk, but coconut milk would probably also work very well in this recipe)
4 eggs, beaten

Mix ingredients together, pour into oiled pie pan or baking dish. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 35-45 minutes. Best if cooled before eating.