One of my favourite recipes…

To keep you busy until you’re able to visit me in the Teaching Kitchen,
try this gluten-free / dairy-free, Paleo, and/or AIP recipe that is part of my repertoire.

Let’s talk dessert…

When we want to eat well, one of our most common reflexes is to eliminate all desserts.  But is that really necessary?  Is it really not possible to conceive of a sweet finish to our meals, without our habits devolving into gluttony?!  On the other hand, if we do manage to eliminate all sweets from our life, will that not create an element of frustration that makes adhering to this new way of eating inherently less satisfying, and so more difficult to sustain?

I believe in moderation.  Everything in moderation.  (…including, occasionally, moderation!)

With my nutritional therapy clients, one overarching goal is to cultivate a certain level of resilience in the body…  a kind of metabolic versatility that will allow us to never feel “handcuffed” to one way of eating.  Most people agree that limiting sugar is important (and eliminating refined sugar is particularly urgent).  But I truly believe that a carefully chosen and well-prepared dessert can be… just one last opportunity to provide our body with the nutrients that it needs.

Apple Crumble

Gluten-free, Dairy-Free, Paleo and AIP

Since moving to the Cévenne mountains in the South of France, I am more and more interested in the many varieties of apple that exist.  We’re in a region heavy with apples; my neighbour across the street grows Canadian Reinettes.   So as a Canadian, I was of course very curious to try them!  Well, they are wonderful… but not at all Canadian.  (Just one of a number of traditional French cultivars.  🤷🏽‍♀️)

 

Ingredients

  • enough apples, peeled and diced, to fill a casserole dish, cake pan, or individual ramekins
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup tigernut flour
  • 1/2 cup cassava flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 3 Tbsp water
  1. Peel and dice your apples.  Place them in whatever dish you’ll be using, and sprinkle with lemon juice.  Mix well.
  2. Combine all dry ingredients.
  3. Add coconut oil and mix well, crushing any solid coconut oil between your fingers to incorporate equally.
  4. Add maple syrup and water, and knead to form a ball of dough.
  5. Cover your apples with the dough, either by rolling it out first and cutting it into the shape of your dish(es), or by crumbling it on the surface of your fruit.
  6. Bake at 350*F for 30-40 minutes, or until you see bubbles permeating from throughout your dish(es).

On completion of cooking school in 2018,
Jan Steele (aka La Goose) relocated to the beautiful Cévenne mountains in the South of France.  In the kitchen of her  18th c. stone house, she helps people to adopt (or better adhere to) a gluten-free, Paleo, or AIP diet.   Jan is also the producer of the podcast « Bien vivre, sans gluten, en France. »