Spicy buttery butternut squash jelly, GAPS intro diet dessert

In mind August 2015 I took the plunge and started GAPS intro diet stage 1 to see if I can get my Ankylosing spondylitis flare under control again.

At first I was worried that I would find eating to the strict rules very hard but after a couple of days it became quite natural, I do spend a lot of time cooking so I am always prepared ahead of meal time.

My oven had been broken for several weeks prior and I had really looked forward to baking things again, on GAPS intro there is no backing  🙁 so I had to be creative to come up with this GAPS dessert.

Though I liked tea jelly it is very low in nutrition even after adding the Greatlakes gelatine with it’s amino acids I longed for something more nourishing that was not soup.

I decided to try butternut squash jelly with cinnamon, I know cinnamon does not seem to be allowed at this stage, so if you want to be extra strict you can always do it with fresh grated ginger instead.

After my initial version turned out really nice I decided to add some Ghee to this new one to give it even more nourishing components. If you are not ready to add Ghee just leave it out.

I sweetened with Stevia extract this time, Honey does not work for me. You can also use fresh stevia leafs if you have a stevia plant (I used them as deco in the picture).

Serve this as a snack or dessert with home made yoghurt or kefir if you can tolerate it.

 

Makes: about 1 liter of jelly

Prep time: 15 min

Cooking: 45min

Set time: 120min – 12hours (depends on wether you use small forms or one large bowl)

 

Ingredients:

• medium organic Butternut squash
• Water
• Stevia extract or leafs
• 1tsp -1tbsp Ground Cinnamon
• 10tbsp home made Ghee
• 2-3tbsp Great Lakes unflavoured beef gelatin (1tbsp sets one pint/ 500ml)/ Bulletproof CollaGelatin for making Jello

For Ginger version: use 2cm x 2cm fresh peeled ginger and grate it into the butternut squash before cooking)

Instructions:

1. peel the butternut squash and chop it into rough chunks
2. put it in a pot with water, so that it is nearly all covered
3. cook until soft
4. scoop the squash into a blender, then add the water that you boiled it in
5. blend until smooth and add cinnamon and stevia to taste either use fresh stevia leafs directly of the plant or use stevia-sweet extract powder (1 knife tip of stevia-sweet extract for about 1 Liter of puree)
6. add 10tbsp home made Ghee (it tastes way better then the store version)
7. follow the instructions on the grate lakes gelatine tin – 2tbsp into a cup add cold water, wait and stir until pretty smooth.
8. add dissolved gelatine to the Butternut squash puree and blend again.
9. Pour into either individual moulds, cups or one large bowl or container.
10. leave to cool before placing in the fridge to set.

I hope this dessert helps you stay sane on GAPS intro journey.

Which variation have you made? Did you come up with another? Share it with me.

MK xx