Spring into AIP Easter Dishes
Jump to Borscht Recipe
Jump to Pasta Salad Recipe
Jump to Lemon-Garlic Asparagus Recipe
Avocado Tips
Easter is one of our favorite family holidays. My husband and I decided, several years ago, that Easter would be the holiday we hosted at our house. We have family from all over New York and typically, we end up traveling for holidays to spend time with them. Easter is the one holiday where my side of the family and my husband's side of the family can get together and enjoy lamb, assorted traditional Polish sides and treats, and quite a few AIP and Paleo-approved dishes.
Honestly, even before I started the AIP diet, our Easter lunches were 95% Paleo/AIP. It's that holiday we thought of as the "farm-to-table" kind of meal. Spring is a season of renewal and growth, so Easter always felt like the Spring kick-off date. What better way to celebrate Spring than to make simple, fresh, whole foods into a scrumptious meal to share with the whole family?...just don't forget the lamb legs!!!
So this week, instead of sharing just ONE recipe, I've decided to share a few recipes to help fill your table for that Easter meal. Also, BONUS, make sure to check out my avocado tips.
Borscht is one of those Polish comfort foods for me. I have fond memories of eating a few different soups in my grandparents' tiny apartment in Poland...borscht being one of them. Sometimes it was served warm, other times served cold, but so flavorful and nostalgic nonetheless. The other soup I always request from my grandmother (Babcia) is "Pickle Soup"....but I'll give you that recipe another day!
I hope you fully enjoy these recipes and have a wonderful Easter! There's nothing better than enjoying some good food with family.
Borscht
Ingredients:
2 chopped red onions
2-3 tbsp avocado oil
5-7 medium-sized peeled beets
1 cup of chicken bone broth per beet
salt to taste
1 tbsp dillweed (fresh is better but dried works well too) more dillweed may be needed for garnish
1 tbsp prepared horseradish (*see note)
optional: 1/2 tsp black pepper (NOT elimination stage AIP)
Instructions:
In a large pot, sauté red onions in avocado oil until they become fragrant and slightly translucent
Add whole beets (peeled), 1 cup of bone broth PER beet, and salt
Turn the stovetop on medium-high and boil the beets until they become soft
At this step, you have 2 choices. The goal is to blend the ingredients for a slightly-on-the-thinner-side soup consistency OR to your preference
Use an immersion blender to blend together all of the ingredients (add water for a thinner consistency)
Wait until the soup cools, then pour the soup into a blender to blend the ingredients (add water for a thinner consistency)
Manually stir in dillweed, horseradish, and black pepper (NOT elimination stage AIP)
Serve warm OR cold and enjoy!
I often make a simple pasta salad for my husband and son. Typically, I make the same meal for everyone because it's exhausting to cater to everyone's individual needs. That being said, I certainly don't mind making my boys a few meals I am personally not able to have, here and there. They love pasta salad and it's a simple one: macaroni, mayo, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper...easy peasy. After making a pasta salad like that, do I want to eat it? Of course I do! I find that being on AIP is all about mindset: instead of getting upset that I can't have that delicious-looking pasta salad, I make my own version.
So here it is...the AIP pasta salad that everyone will crave!
Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
4-5 cups Jovial Cassava Penne
Avocado oil (optional step for making crispy pasta in a cast-iron skillet)
2 ripe avocados
1 tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1 bundle (about 1 packed cup) of chopped green onion
Garnish with parsley
Keep avocado pits in the pasta bowl to keep avocado fresh
Instructions:
Boil 4-5 cups of Jovial Cassava Penne (Elbows and Fusilli are also an option) until they are cooked
Strain and rinse pasta under cold water, then strain any excess water again
Optional step: Coat the entire bottom of a medium-sized cast-iron skillet with avocado oil and turn the stovetop on high
When the avocado oil looks like it has thinned and heated up significantly, add the cooked cassava pasta.
DO NOT STIR the pasta. Let it sit, without being touched, in the hot avocado oil for at least 5 minutes. Keep the Then use a spatula to turn the pasta over so the other side will fry. If it doesn't turn over easily then it's not ready to be turned over. Make sure to keep the stovetop on HIGH*
Repeat step b until the pasta is fried on most sides (this takes roughly 20 minutes, depending on the heat capacity of your stovetop)
Scoop the meat out of the avocado and place it in a medium bowl
Add lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder to the avocado
Use a fork or potato masher to mash the avocado and other ingredients together
Cover the cassava pasta thoroughly with the avocado mixture and use parsley to garnish
*If the avocado oil starts popping out of the cast-iron skillet, that means there is some water in it. Oil and water don't like each other, especially when heated. If this happens, turn the heat down a little until it stops, and then slowly turn the heat on the stovetop back up to an optimal frying temperature.
Note: Thrive Market sells items like Jovial Pasta (among other AIP-compliant food and snacks!) at WHOLESALE prices. I buy a decent amount of household products from them as well. Check it out!
This asparagus side dish is one that I use often. It goes with everything! Chicken, steak, fish...you name it. It's also incredibly easy and requires very few ingredients. You seriously can't go wrong with this one.
Lemon-Garlic Asparagus
Ingredients:
1 bundle of asparagus
2-3 tbsp avocado or olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions:
Put avocado oil and chopped garlic in a medium-sized pan on the stovetop.
Chop the hard ends off of the asparagus stalks
Sauté garlic for a few minutes, until fragrant, then add asparagus, lemon juice, and salt
Cook asparagus until they start to become soft but remain slightly crunch
Add more lemon as needed and enjoy!
Avocado Tips!
Adding citrus like lemon or line to an avocado mixture can help keep it green and lookin' good.
Putting the pits of the avocados in the pasta will help preserve that green goodness as well! I place the pits right in the finished pasta salad, especially if I'm going to serve leftovers later.
Try to make any avocado dish right before serving because it always looks its best as soon as it's made.
Avocado pits are great for making tea. It can help aid digestion, reduce inflammation, boost your immunity, lower your cholesterol, and because it is an antioxidant it can help to protect your body from free radicals.
