Wheat Belly Wheat-Free Biscuits & Feta-Detox Salad
When I posted here about my journey toward health and wellness last week and started uploading some of the photos of what I was eating on Instagram and Facebook, I received numerous requests to share. The most popular were for the Wheat Belly Wheat-Free Biscuits & Feta-Detox Salad. The biscuits came straight out of The Wheat Belly Cookbook and the salad is based on one offered up by The Fit Housewife over on her blog…although I changed mine up a bit, of course!
First up…the biscuits:
Wheat Belly Wheat-Free Biscuits
(yield-10 servings)
Ingredients:
1 cup almond meal/flour
1 cup ground flaxseed (I use brown even though the recipe calls for golden and I grind fresh)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp cold butter
4 egg whites
To make:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a food processor combine the almond meal, ground flaxseed, baking powder, and sea salt. Pulse to blend.
- Cut cold butter into small cubes and add to the dry mix in the processor. Pulse until just combined.
- Beat egg whites in a large glass bowl until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the dry mix into the whipped egg whites until the mix is just barely combined.
- Line a baking pan with parchment. Carefully spoon 10 equal portions onto the sheet into mounds. Oil your finger tips and gently shape into rounds, with flattened tops so that the biscuit is about 3/4 ” thick.
- Bake for 15 min. in the preheated oven.
Calories per serving 173; Fat-15g total (saturated-4g, monounsaturated ~2g, polyunsaturated ~3.4g, omega-3 2573mg, omega-6 ~815mg); Carbohydrates-6g (fiber-4g, sugar 1g); Protein-6g; Glycemic Load-0
How do I serve these? Well, just as you would a traditional baking powder biscuit. At dinner, I made a chicken breasts with a caesar salad and grilled zuchini and served them on the side…just add a little butter (real please…no margarine…that stuff will kill you I believe!). At breakfast, they’re great with a little cream cheese and a tiny dollop of triple fruit jam…or you can serve them like I did this weekend by topping them with half an avocado and poached eggs for an amazing 461 calorie, healthy fat and protein loaded meal…and yes, I did sneak a little bacon on my plate…and I happily did extra burpees so that I could enjoy it guilt free ;)
From this basic recipe, you can use your imagination and add all sorts of goodies. I added 1/4c. grated piave cheese to mine the first time I made them. You can also add your sweetener of choice to make a biscuit that can be topped with berries and a dab of cream…the possibilities are endless!
Feta-Detox Salad
(Yield: 2 servings)
In order to reduce the glycemic index load of The Fit Housewife’s original version, I halved the amount of orange used in her recipe and created a dressing that suits our family’s tastes more. I have also been known to toss this on top of a bed of arugula to get a few extra greens into us! This salad comes with a garlic warning though. It’s slightly powerful when you eat it, but even more so when you wake up the next morning!
Ingredients:
2 cups halved cherry or grape tomatoes
1 navel orange, peeled, sliced, and diced
1 avocado, chopped
2 cubic inches sheep or goat feta (I prefer sheep as it’s creamier, I think)
Dressing:
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
To make:
- evenly divide the cherry tomatoes, orange and avocado between two bowls
- crumble and divide feta between the two bowls
- mix the dressing ingredients into a small bowl and whisk
- pour half of the dressing over each salad and enjoy!
The best part about this salad are its health benefits! One serving offers up huge percentages of the daily recommended intake on many key nutrients. For example, you get 33% of your Vitamin A, 45% Vitamin K, 29% Potassium, and a whopping 131% of your Vitamin C! During cold and flu season, these can really make a difference in aiding your immune system…and if all else fails, that garlic will keep all sickies at bay!
If you noticed a different recipe than either of these featured here today, and you’d like me to blog the recipe, just leave me a comment below…AND of course you can subscribe to the blog (upper right corner) to be first in the know when I post! I’d also love to hear your thoughts on wheat/gluten free living…I LOVE feedback!!!
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Have a great day Y’all!
From my house and home to you and yours!
Love,
~Suzie
Notes: I’ve made quite a few delicious meals lately using a wheat-gluten free approach that also pays attention to the glycemic index of a food (how much it impacts your blood sugar load immediately after consumption…low is better here). We’ve gone wheat-gluten free in our household due to some health issues, not for weight loss…however, the Mr. has lost 20lb in the three weeks since he started eating this way. I only began a strict regimen of this a week ago, so my weight loss to date is not attributed to this new lifestyle change. I give credit to mine being due to good clean eating and my metabolically challenging workouts, six days a week!
For those of you interested in how I calculate nutritional information, I run all my recipes through the free online NutritionData.com . It can be a little cumbersome, but I love the myriad of information it offers beyond simple calories, fats, carbs, and proteins.
just got back from Florida for a month. Haven’t kept up too much with online stuff. Funny, last week I ran across “Wheat Belly” book on Amazon and ordered it. Looking at it now. I’ve been on a change of eating pattern for about a year now due to one of my sister in laws. She changed what she ate and after years of being diabetic, after two weeks of diet change, her doctor took her off insulin. Amazing. Ive changed my diet from mostly bready type meals to organic meats and fresh veggies. If I do eat bread type stuff its made with splelt flour with some added flax and oat flour. Not only has the meat given me more energy but have steadyly been loosing weight. I start my Tai Chi class next week, then another one in March and then I think I will start a Golf clinic that lasts for six weeks. For the summer I’m not sure maybe a water aerobics class. I think as long as I’m moving somehow the benefits will show. Its been a long time since my husband and I started eating mostly organic and also I haven’t used prepared meals of any kind for several years. All of these things add up and I’m 56 yoa and not on any medication of any type, except for vitamins, which I take quit a lot of. Anyways thought it was interesting you using the Wheat Belly cookbook when I just found that Wheat Belly book that came out before that. These are wonderful meals you are preparing.
Kathleen,
I’ve read the Wheat Belly book as well. I did that prior to buying the cookbook. My area of research involves diabetes in aboriginal populations and I was quite impressed with the science behind it. We’ve been eating this way for about a month and our energy levels are high with both of us feeling better as a result!
I’d love to hear your opinion on the book when you’re done.
~Suzie
I FINALLY made it over here to steal this recipe!!! Yum
Ohhhhh, I really hope they live up to my pitch on them…especially with YOU LB!!!!
Thank you Suzie! I’ve been searching for gluten free recipes that have good texture and now I really want to give these a try. I hope they are as easy as you say.
Andrea, they take about 25 min from start to baked! They’re very easy :)
I should also note that I increased the number of biscuits the original recipe makes from 8 to 10. I didn’t think they needed to be that large and this also reduced the calorie count.