Nourishing Meals Without Plastic

Food. What you eat becomes you. Why not feed your body with nourishing meals? Nourishing for body, mind and soul. We’ve got just the cookbook for you…

It’s an honour and deep pleasure for us to partner once again with popular food and health blogger Alissa Segerston and functional medicine expert Tom Malterre, the talented and dynamic authors of The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and The Elimination Diet. This pair creates books with substance and style, and they are great believers in cooking, eating, and living without plastic!

How to Cook Nourishing Meals

On October 11, 2016, they have a new edition of their Nourishing Meals cookbook coming out! It’s a brand new, completely revised simple, practical cookbook that shows how easy it is to ditch processed foods, one meal at a time, with 365 delicious, whole food-based, allergen-free recipes that the entire family will love. Ali has sent us a recipe to share with you down below — Gluten-Free Pita Bread and Chicken Salad — and it’s even pictured in some of our plastic-free containers.

If you pre-order the Nourishing Meals cookbook now, Ali will send you her new eBook – Healthy Gluten-Free School Lunches – immediately. You can find more details by scrolling to the bottom of this page on her blog.

What’s so amazing about this nourishing book? It goes well beyond just providing tasty recipes. These are recipes that have been tried and tested by Ali and Tom and their five thriving children, and they are based on healthful living principles. Here are a few alarming statistics they share to help put in perspective the need for better–wiser–eating habits:

Between the years 2000 and 2009, Type 2 diabetes in CHILDREN jumped 30%!
In children 4 and under, Type 1 diabetes rates are increasing at a rate of 6% a year!
The incidence of peanut allergies has quadrupled over the last decade!
Food allergies among children increased 50% from 1997 to 2011!
1 in every 13 children now has a food allergies.
17% of children and teens between the ages of 2 and 19 are now obese.

And here are some of the wonderful things you will find in Nourishing Meals:

365 nourishing gluten-free recipes
Vegan, paleo, grain-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and refined sugar-free recipes
How to raise a healthy eater
Key nutrients for pregnancy and childhood and contributors of deficiencies
How to protect your child’s developing microbiome
A schedule for introducing solid foods to babies
How to create balanced family meals
Vegan, vegetarian, seafood, and meat main dishes
Nutritional benefits of soups and stocks
Tips for getting your children to eat more vegetables
Tips for a quick, nutritious breakfast
Charts for soaking and cooking whole grains
How to pack a healthy school lunch
Wholesome gluten-free breads and muffins, including sourdough recipes (all made without xanthan gum)
Healthy snack ideas
Alternatives to refined sugar
Nourishing grain-free dessert recipes
Ways to preserve the harvest, including recipes for lacto-fermented vegetables

And now, here is Ali’s nourishing Gluten-Free Pita Bread and Chicken Salad to get you started (elegantly featured on the right in a couple of our much-loved Round Airtight Stainless Steel Containers):

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Gluten-Free Pita Bread

These simple, yeast-free pita breads can be made in just minutes. Use them to make pita sandwiches or use as flatbreads to serve with soup, curried stews, or as a crust for individual pizzas. I like to fill them with Chicken Salad (recipe below), cultured vegetables, and lettuce.

Wet ingredients:

1 ¼ cups very hot water

6 tablespoons ground golden flax seeds

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Dry Ingredients:

1 ½ cups sorghum flour

½ cup sweet rice flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to broil (550 degrees F). Line one or two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Position your oven rack so it is in the center of the oven, not directly underneath the broiler.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the warm water and ground flax seeds. Let rest for about five minutes to thicken. Then whisk in the olive oil and cider vinegar.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a fork to mix together. You should be able to form a ball of dough that is neither too sticky nor too dry. If the dough seems sticky, add a little more sweet rice flour; I sometimes add up to ¼ cup more flour. If the dough seems too dry add a dash of water.

Divide the dough into five equal pieces. Using wet hands, roll each piece of dough in the palms of your hands. If your cookie sheet is large enough you should be able to fit all of them onto it, otherwise use two cookie sheets. Flatten each with your hands until they are about 5 to 6 inches in diameter and place onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping each flatbread after about 6 or 7 minutes. They should bubble slightly and be golden around the edges when done. After they have cooled, slice them in half and if need be, cut into the bread to form a pocket. Some of them bubble enough that this isn’t necessary.

If you are not serving them right away, then layer them in between waxed paper and store in a sealed container. They may also be frozen.

Yield: five 6-inch pita breads

Chicken Salad

This recipe makes a small batch, double it to serve with the Pita recipe above.

1 cup cooked chopped organic chicken breast

½ cup diced celery

¼ cup diced carrots

¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 to 2 green onions, sliced into thin rounds

1 tablespoon capers

2 to 4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Herbamare and freshly ground black pepper to taste

lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry

Place all of the ingredients except the lettuce leaves into a bowl and mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place a few scoops of chicken salad into each half of a Pita Bread, stuff in a piece of lettuce. Repeat until you are out of chicken salad. You can also use the salad to top a bed of mixed greens. Either way it is delicious!

Store leftover salad in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Yield: 2 servings

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