Grated Beet & Carrot Salad with Radish-Miso Dressing

This Asian inspired salad dressing is vinegar-free and citrus-free; two ingredients that are often hard to omit from salad dressings. I received and email from a reader asking for Elimination diet recipes that don't contain any fruit.

Finally, I had the idea to use radishes! This fabulous salad dressing also contains Adzuki Bean Miso, a soy-free and gluten-free miso available from the South River Miso Company. I demonstrated this dressing and salad yesterday evening for an Elimination Diet Class I taught at one of our local co-ops. It was a hit and I am sure you will enjoy it too.

For those of you on the Elimination Diet, how are you feeling? We have received so many emails in the last week regarding this diet I am finding it hard to keep up with! Instead of replying to you individually (since there are many similar questions) I thought I would answer one in each of my next few posts.

A few of you have asked us about protein, specifically animal protein. Some of you have asked if it is possible to up the animal protein content during the beginning of the diet. If you experience blood sugar dysregulation or are pre-diabetic, then following the 2-day detox might be difficult and could pose more problems. We suggest you add in wild caught salmon, healthy fats (like avocado, coconut butter/oil, chia seeds) and crunchy raw salads like this one. These foods pose the least possible reaction, while adding in anti-inflammatory compounds to assist in healing. I hope this will help some of you so you can have the best and most beneficial elimination diet experience!

Honey Kissed Peach (or Blueberry) Muffins

The frost peaches are in and we have surely picked our share. 130 pounds that is! I have spent the weekend pitting, cutting, freezing, and dehydrating these sweet, juicy little morsels of summer nutrition. A way to remember summer, eat local, reduce our carbon footprint? Or just enjoy fresh!

We have also been picking blueberries, blackberries, Italian plums, apples, pears, and red plums. Over this past weekend I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning processing it all and making jam. Spiced peach jam, cherry-peach jam, blueberry-honey jam, and blueberry-apple-lemon jam. You can make a sugar-free jam by using Pomona's pectin. So far I have used grape juice concentrate and honey to sweeten my jams. I also made one with sugar just to see what the difference was in taste and texture.

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Sautéed Romano Beans with Toasted Hazelnuts

Romano beans are similar to the standard green bean, but they are flat and grow in Mediterranean-type climates. I bought a bag from a local organic farmer at the Saturday Market. I was thrilled to see that this particular stand was using Bio Bags to sell their produce! I sure wish all co-ops and health food stores would switch to this biodegradable and compostable form of plastic!

I wasn’t sure what I would do with them when I left the market, but I knew I would figure something out. I ended up steaming them, adding them to a Thai curry, and lastly making this yummy dish. You need to be careful when cooking Romano beans because they can all turn to mush if you overcook them!

This simple side dish is very quick to prepare. The toasted hazelnuts add a luscious flavor and crunch. This recipe is perfect for Phase 3 of the Elimination Diet though could be made for Phase 2 by replacing the nuts with toasted sunflower seeds.

The inspiration from this recipe came from Heidi’s 101Cookbooks blog where I noticed a recent photo involving green beans and hazelnuts. Her photos are so lovely, worth the trip over to her blog for sure!