I bought peaches too early and this Summer Peach Blueberry Cobbler was the answer. My husband was right. “Don’t buy those, June is too soon. They look great but they will not ripen.” He was right. We had a whole case of beautiful looking, organic peaches in mid June. After trying to eat one or two, we gave up. The skins were dehydrated and showing mold. The flesh had great flavor but was so hard the pits couldn’t be separated out. We tried putting them in paper bags to ripen, no go. I couldn’t bare to toss them all out. After perusing recipes from several favorite sources, this is the amalgam I came up with, and it’s delicious!
Peaches and blueberries are problem solvers in my pediatric nutrition practice too. Obvious benefits are antioxidants and vitamins, but I like to find healthful, non-sugary carbohydrate sources that picky eaters will enjoy (besides cheese crackers, bread, sugary granola bars, etc). If your kids won’t touch the fresh fruit, this is a good recipe to try. Blueberries are a low FODMAPs fruit, meaning kids with gas, bloating, FPIES, or reflux may do okay with them. And, both peaches and blueberries are “legal” on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, meaning that they are easy to digest in the upper small intestine, where Candida and other disruptive microbes don’t like to hang out. These fruits won’t feed yeast or dysbiosis much if at all. When both are cooked as in this recipe, they become even more digestible.
Summer Peach Blueberry Cobbler (Paleo)
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A luscious summer treat without all the sugar and junk. Amazing warm out of the oven with some coconut whipped cream or dairy free ice cream option like Coconut Bliss Vanilla. If your peaches are too firm for eating, cooking them slightly and then baking as is done in this recipe solves the problem. The fruit becomes sweeter and texture-perfect.
A luscious summer treat without all the sugar and junk. Amazing warm out of the oven with some coconut whipped cream or dairy free ice cream option like Coconut Bliss Vanilla. If your peaches are too firm for eating, cooking them slightly and then baking as is done in this recipe solves the problem. The fruit becomes sweeter and texture-perfect.
Rinse blueberries and remove any stems. Set aside. Grease a 9 x 12 glass baking dish with butter, ghee or coconut oil. Heat oven to 350.
Skin and pit the peaches, and cut them into chunks. You can skin peaches via one of two ways: Blanching (skin pulls off easily) or, by peeling the skin off the raw fruit with a sharp knife. To blanche and skin peaches, follow these steps: https://www.wikihow.com/Blanch-Peaches Be sure to remove pits.
Add water and honey to a pot, place over medium heat and stir to blend together evenly. Add just the peaches. Cook on medium heat to reach a low simmer, about ten minutes. Let peaches cook long enough to soften the flesh. If already ripe and soft, heat through enough to see a simmer emerge, eg 5 minutes.
Make a space in the center of the pot by clearing the fruit away. Add the arrowroot or tapioca starch, and mix it with the liquid. Continue medium heat and low simmer, and blend starch evenly with the liquid to thicken it. Then stir the peaches til evenly distributed throughout the thickened liquid. Cover and remove from heat.
In a food processor, place the GF oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, flax meal, coconut sugar, cinnamon, stevia, and salt and process to a coarse powder. Add ghee or coconut oil and pulse again briefly, til evenly blended. Substitute additional nuts (cashew, macadamia, walnut) if you want to omit the oats for full Paleo. If these nuts are unsafe, omit oats and increase almonds, flax meal, and pumpkin seeds to make up the lost volume.
Place cooked peaches and rinsed blueberries in the greased baking dish. Spread topping from food processor generously over all. Bake 25-30 minutes. Top should look golden brown and crisp.
Recipe Notes
For Paleo option, omit gluten free oats and substitute walnuts or macadamia nuts. If these are not safe for your household, simply increase the other topping ingredients to make up volume lost by removing oats.
Canned peaches may work in a pinch, use peaches that have no added sugars or syrup. You'll need two 15 oz cans.
Chocolate + pumpkin is one of my favorite combos when it comes to indulgent baked treats. This is a weighty dessert for sure, right up there with chocolate pecan pie, or triple chocolate cake – perfect for holiday time or when you want a departure from the usual. As always, I created this recipe with kids in mind who have food intolerances. You can make this with wheat bread, milk, and cream if you like, but if you can’t, there’s a way.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pumpkin Bread Pudding
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Hearty, traditional, a little decadent, and hard to resist. Serve warm with toppings as tolerated by your family - whipped cream, whipped coconut cream, ice cream, or cashew or coconut based ice creams that are dairy free.
Hearty, traditional, a little decadent, and hard to resist. Serve warm with toppings as tolerated by your family - whipped cream, whipped coconut cream, ice cream, or cashew or coconut based ice creams that are dairy free.
Cut bread into half inch cubes, transfer to a large all metal pot, and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the milks, eggs, pumpkin, coconut sugar, stevia, spices, vanilla and bourbon or rum. If omitting eggs, increase pumpkin by 3 Tablespoons and add 1 Tablespoon tapioca starch + 1 Tablespoon EnerG brand Egg Replacer; whisk in with milks, sugar, spices, and liquor.
Pour the custard mixture over the bread cubes in the pot. Add the chocolate, broken into 1/2 inch chunks. On low medium heat, let the mixture slowly melt and blend, stirring occasionally til chocolate is evenly mixed throughout, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the pudding to a baking dish greased with refined coconut oil or ghee, and bake for 25 minutes, or til toothpick comes out clean. You can also bake in individual ramekins; reduce baking time to 15 minutes and check for doneness.
There are loads of recipes for Golden Milk out there – I like mine super charged. Besides going heavier on the turmeric for more anti-inflammatory support, it’s super-boosted two ways: With Brain Octane oil, which is pure caprylic acid – a quickly absorbed, fast energy medium chain triglyceride (MCT) from coconut milk with anti-viral and anti-fungal activity; and with optional whey or collagen protein. Whey will bring extra immune defense with its immunoglobulins; collagen is a good choice too, as it rarely triggers reactions (like egg, soy, milk, pea, or nut proteins can), and it’s a good source of arginine, an amino acid key for growth hormone and tissue repair – two things that many kids in my practice need.
Spices can go beyond turmeric in your Golden Milk too. I like mine with three more spices: Ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon. All have various medicinal qualities from calming inflammation to stimulating digestion while easing spasm in the colon. Plus they taste good together.
Oh, and a dash of black pepper, which super charges the absorption of the turmeric.
Why drink it? It’s a soothing treat that balances immune boosters with calming for inflammation. Try it instead of cocoa or tea, and experiment with the spice balance!
Super Turmeric Golden Milk
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Super charged with spices, awesome fats and top protein picks. Try it on a raw cold day, when you're feeling a cold coming on, or when you need a soothing warm-up option instead of sugary cocoa.
Super charged with spices, awesome fats and top protein picks. Try it on a raw cold day, when you're feeling a cold coming on, or when you need a soothing warm-up option instead of sugary cocoa.
Combine dry spices in a small dish or cup, and set aside.
Peel and mince or grate the fresh ginger root. You should have about 1-2 teaspoons worth of finely grated or minced ginger.
If you're using fresh turmeric root, peel it and set aside with ginger - it will easily blend so there is no need to chop or grate it.
Place the milks, Brain Octane oil, and honey into a blender and blend til evenly mixed. Add the spices and root(s), and blend again. You can also use a quart sized container with an immersion blender for this task.
Pour the milk mixture into a pot and heat gently on the stove, til steam is rising. Do not boil.
Remove from heat once hot but not boiling, and strain the mixture back into your blender. Let it cool for a minute or two, then add the protein powder and blend briefly til smooth. Serve warm.
If you like, you can skip the strainer and drink the milk with ginger in it, if minced or grated finely enough.
Recipe Notes
If you use fresh turmeric root, this is a softer root than ginger. It will blend easily with your immersion blender.
You can substitute any MCT oil for Brain Octane oil; this will reduce the antiviral and anti fungal activity, but will still deliver easy to absorb fats.
Don't add the protein powder into the pot on the stove - if over heated, it may coagulate and make the mixture lumpy, especially if you use whey powder! Best results are had if you blend this in after the mixture is cooled a bit.