Stir It Up! » Blog

A third of the population may be gluten intolerant (and many believe that number to be closer to 35-50%), excluding people that have Celiac. That’s a lot of people! Now, I just thought gluten affected the digestive system but after researching it more and listening to an an amazing podcast on gluten by Sean Croxton, my favorite podcast nutritional guru, I’ve learned it can affect EVERYTHING. I’ll try to keep this short but what interested me the most is how it can affect kids and particularly kids with ADHD. There was a study where they put 136 kids who had ADHD on a gluten free diet for 6 months. The results? 100% of the kids saw improvement in ALL 12 markers that classify for diagnosis for ADHD. Wow. On a separate study, 80% of the kids that were studied with ADHD had anti-gliadin antibodies (gluten intolerance).

Gluten can also affect other parts of the body including the brain (alzheimers, depression), joints (arthritis), bones (osteoporosis), nerves (tingling, weakness and numbness) and can also cause a host of autoimmune diseases, fatigue, migraines, fertility issues, weight gain, bloating, constipation, malabsorption, and the list goes on. According to Dr. Tom Braley, in his book “Dangerous Grains”, he lists over 200 diseases, disorders and negative health effects caused by gluten. 

It’s hard to know for sure though because sometimes you won’t test positive for celiac but just have mildly elevated liver enzymes. Also many people are asymptomatic so it can be also be hard to self diagnose as well. Click here for more information testing info on Dr. O’Bryan’s web site.

Try a gluten free diet for 30 days, but know that it could take up to the last 30 days to see any results. Hopefully you will notice at least some difference after a week though. And chances are good, by day 31, you’ll really know whether you have an intolerance or not.

Now, this doesn’t mean that all cases of ADHD, depression, autoimmune disease or any of these other problems are caused by gluten in everyone—but it is important to look for it if you have any chronic illness or any of the above symptoms or issues.

Here are some interesting articles if you’d like to learn more:

• Wall Street Journal
• Huffington Post
• Sean Croxton Gluten Post
• Dr. Tomas O’Bryan Podcast (highly recommend)

With all that said, I had to do some gluten free baking today so (I used a recipe I got from my sweet sister in law) made these granola cookies. I’ll be honest, my daughter didn’t love these, but my son made up for it!

Mix

• 3 tbls melted kerrygold butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbls vanilla
• 1 cup honey

Add

• 2 1/2 cups organic gluten free oats to the mixture above, let sit 5 minutes. Then add
• 1 cup almond butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup roasted flax seeds

Mix all together. Spoon on cookie sheet in about 1” balls with parchment paper. Cook on 350 for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Here’s another easy and yummy recipe I got from Sara Fragoso. Both my kids love this!

• 3 – 4 chicken breasts (I used about 1 1/4 lb of chicken)
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 3 green onions diced
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 3 tbsp capers
• ¼ cup white wine
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Cut the chicken into strips. In a large sauté pan heat the 2 tbsp of ghee over medium high heat. Your pan should be really hot.  While your pan is heating lightly sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the sea salt and black pepper.  Place the chicken into the hot skillet and cook on both sides for 3-5 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle but still tender –  be sure not to overcook.  Remove the chicken from the pan and add to the same pan the olive oil, garlic, and onions.  Quickly sauté the garlic and onions for 2 minutes, scraping any of the chicken drippings off the bottom of the pan.  Add the wine, chicken stock, lemon juice and capers and bring to a simmer for 3-5 minutes.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately (I put the chicken back in the pan so it could soak up the flavor until dinner time). Enjoy!

My friend Kimberly gave me this recipe probably about 2 years ago and have made it regularly ever since. It’s in the great winter time, but honestly I love it year round. First, it’s so easy to make, and second, I love having it in the fridge, ready to go for the week when I need a snack or easy lunch. Also, I’ll break up some ground turkey burgers, hamburgers, TJ’s sausage, or hotdog and add it to the soup. Or on a veggie sort of day, I’ll add raw mushrooms or lightly steamed broccoli. Sometimes I’ll also add some sliced almonds or brazil nuts. You could use pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, greek yogurt, coconut milk, chives, etc. (not all together of course)! Get creative with it!

Butternut Squash Recipe

What you need:

• 1 extra large pot
• 1 package celery (for creamier, heartier soup, skip the celery)
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 pack of TJ’s garlic prepackaged cloves (so probably 7-8 cloves)
• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
• 4-5 packages of butternut squash (I get the precut from TJ’s; see below)
• 1 tablespoon celtic sea salt
• 1 tablespoon curry (you can skip this or add more or less depending on your taste)
• 4-6 cups organic chicken broth (use almost 64 oz – 2 large boxes) or make your own (it’s so good for you!)
• 3-4 bay leaves

Here’s how to cook it:

• Chop celery and onion in chunks (you’re going to blend it so it doesn’t have to be cut up into super small pieces)
• Heat 1 tbls of butter or ghee
• Add celery, onion and garlic and cook for about 5 or until slightly tender
• Add butternut squash, chicken broth, salt and curry
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover
• Cook until squash is fork tender
• Use hand blender in pot and mix until smooth.
• Add bay leaves

Enjoy!

But not at all like grandma use to make.

One of my family’s favorite meals is “fried” chicken, cauliflower mash and roasted brussel sprouts. What I love about this dinner is everything is so easy to make. You will see, nothing I cook is ever complicated! Anyway here are the recipes:

“Fried” chicken

• 1 lb chicken
• 1 tbls coconut oil
• 1/2 cup almond meal (I like Trader Joe’s best with this recipe)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp celtic sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Feel free to double everything for leftovers (I always make enough for good protein snack, lunch, or another dinner ). But this does tend to get a little soggy after it’s been in the fridge. We actually put tomato sauce and shredded parmesan cheese on it today for a great lunch.

Cut chicken into strips and pat dry. In a flat bowl mix together almond meal and spices. Put each stripe in the mix and be sure to cover chicken completely. I really kind of pat or rub it in the chicken.

Turn the heat high and pour in about 1 tbls coconut oil and spread all over large pan. You can use olive oil but coconut oil does better with higher heat, plus it’s better for you. You can’t even really taste the coconut. Cook until brown (about 3-4 minutes), then flip. Once the other side is brown, cook on low heat for another 10 minutes. Set on plate with paper towel so it doesn’t get soggy while cooling. Let cool about 10 minutes.

Brussel sprouts

• 1 lb fresh brussel sprouts
• 3 tbls EVOO 
• 1 tsp Celtic sea salt
• garlic (optional)
• crushed almonds (optional)

Preheat over 450. Wash and cut brussel sprouts in half lengthwise. Mix in large bowl with 3 tablespoons olive oil and salt. Pour single layer of brussel sprouts on cookie sheet. Let cook 20-25 minutes, or until brown. Stir occasionally. If you want them a little extra crispy (my kids love them crispy!) turn over off and let them sit in the over for about 10-15 extra minutes. You may want to only cook them 20 or so minutes just to be sure they dont stay in the over too long and burn (even with the oven off).

Cauliflower mash (This has to be our favorite side and it is awesome with meatloaf or just about anything else.)

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 6oz Fage 2% plain greek yogurt. (You may need more if the cauliflower is really big.)
• 2 tbsp Kerrygold or any other grass fed butter or Ghee
• 1 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder (if desired)
• pepper to liking

Steam cauliflower until soft. I drain it in the colander and then cut it up there so it’s easy to get it all in the blender. Blend everything together until smooth, and that’s it! Easy, right? I hope you enjoy!