So it hasn't been a perfect week where GAPS is concerned, but I learned a few awesome things, too. I'll start with my most recent events and go backwards.
It's the end of the week, and I'm making my first real broth. I know, I should have totally made one by now, right? The timing just never seems to be right. I finally stopped by the store today to replenish my greens, onions, and egg supplies, and I got a chicken while I was there. It was a horrible chicken. I didn't know that when I picked it out--the packaging is not completely clear. There are huge dark blue areas where you can't see the flesh of the chicken. Boy was I mad when I started to skin that sucker. It had a weird bruise on it's back, so of course, when I took the skin off, it was stained in BLOOD. There was blood everywhere. For those of you who are not familiar with Islamic custom, we are really only allowed to eat animals that have been properly slaughtered. A heavy concentration of blood all over the chicken does NOT indicate a healthy, well-slaughtered chicken. I didn't want to throw away the whole chicken (I had already added water, salt, an onion, and herbs to the pot!), so I cut off the parts farthest from the weird bruisy thing and put them in. I will probably just use the broth and even throw away the meat. I'm not proud of using parts from the bad chicken, but I'm in serious need of broth tomorrow. That was tonight. I'm going to have a talk with the DH tomorrow, and tell him I don't care how hard it is to clean/slaughter a live chicken, we're going to have to figure something out. I just found out about a farm really close to my house that has goats and chickens. I was hoping they have eggs (they don't right now), but I bet I could get them to sell me a plucked chicken.

On a nicer note, I made something yummy tonight that I ate pre-GAPS, though it is possibly not 100% legal (I used a spice mix, but a very simple one with no additives. Just allspice, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper, and three other spices. I'll check the bottle later.) Since it's an original family recipe, I'm going to add it to the recipe section. I don't have a link for it.

Last night, I made a similar sort of dish. I finally got to use butternut squash. The funny thing was, I was doubtful about adding the swiss chard (we haven't become fully acquainted yet), but it ended up making the dish. I think it would be just as good with spinach, but I can't vouch for kale. I just haven't tried it yet. I didn't add coconut flour because I didn't have any, but it still came out fine. I bet if you were to add it, it would give the dish a sort of gravy. The website I got it from is an excellent resource with a unique rating system that I liked. There are loads of recipes on there, including one on making apple-pear vinegar.

I have found that I don't like most kinds of eggs without pita bread. My solution? Deviled eggs! I'm still tweaking my method, as I technically can't use sweet relish anymore (unless I make some? Still, the "sweet" part involves sugar, right?). If you're thinking of adding honey to give the mixture some sweetness, be careful. I totally used too much, and was left with some sickeningly sweet eggs (they weren't all that bad. I still ate them all). I still need to make my own mustard though. I did, however, make some mayo.

On to the mayonnaise! This was not my favorite part. I think my expectations for the mayo was too high. Just some quick background: I have access to really strong olive oil. I have a huge tank of it. There is no sense in buying a lighter oil when you have so much already that is so much healthier. I tried making mayo with this oil a while back, pre-GAPS, and it was so BITTER. It was nothing like normal mayo. I couldn't use it for my normal recipes, let alone try to make thousand island with it. So I'm not too keen on trying that again if I don't have to. From what I've read in the GAPS textbook, you aren't really supposed to use any other plant based oils (excepting coconut oil, which is really more of a butter). However, for some reason, a lot of GAPS people seem to be ignoring this guideline in putting their mayo together. I've heard people say that they use grapeseed oil, and I used this particular recipe minus the lacto-fermentation. I used safflower oil, which gave the mayo a weird taste, but not noticeable when mixed in just about anything. I wonder about the legality of pressing the oil out of sunflower seeds for the immediate use in making mayo? Oh, well. I've already made it. Oh, speaking of mayo, I also tried one other recipe this week: almond-crusted drumsticks. It was all right, but I should have cooked them a little longer. It's a really simple recipe. Sprinkle salt on drumsticks, coat in mustard, then in almond flour (you need about 3/4 a cup. coarse flour makes a nice panko breadcrumb consistency). Heat oven to 425, cook them for 25-35 minutes until juices run clear (I saw no pink juices, but it was clear after they had cooled that they needed at least another 5 minutes in the oven, maybe more. I was using my big oven too, which tends to run a lower temp than the actual setting, so maybe I should have had it on 440 or so.)


So that was my week. I hope the forum doesn't die of inactivity. I've just been so tired this week. Probably because I can't sleep. I'm keeping really weird hours lately.