AIP Red Sangria & "The Healing Kitchen" review + giveaway

It is my pleasure to not only gush about my love of the newest autoimmune protocol (AIP) cookbook The Healing Kitchen and share a recipe for Red Sangria (AIP, Paleo, alcohol-free), but also to be able to giveaway a SIGNED COPY of the book to one of my readers! Full details can be found towards the end of the post.

In January, I spent over a week cooking almost exclusively from the newest AIP cookbook The Healing Kitchen by Alaena Haber (from Grazed and Enthused) and Sarah Ballantyne (from The Paleo Mom). Even though I’m a pretty good cook & enjoy creating my own recipes, there is something really wonderful about making other peoples’ recipes. It is specially when those other people are your friends & you know the recipes will not only be delicious, but nutrient dense & completely autoimmune protocol (AIP) compliant. Whenever I get a new cookbook, I usually sit down & add tags or sticky notes to the recipes I’d like to eventually make. With The Healing Kitchen, I found myself wanting to tag nearly all the recipes! I narrowed my initial “to-make” list down to what I could manage in a week-and-a-half, but I have no doubt that I’ll be making many many more recipes from this amazing cookbook in the future.

Before I show the recipes I personally tried, here are a few general observations about The Healing Kitchen:

• The recipes are delicious! We loved every recipe I made. Everything was bursting with flavor & nothing was remotely bland, like many people may first believe AIP will be. Pizza. Tacos. Barbecue. Asian cuisine. Alaena & Sarah replicated flavors of traditional favorites into fully AIP compliant variations that I would feel confident serving to even non-AIP/Paleo friends and family. 
• The recipes are easy. None of the recipes I tried were overly complicated, nor do they require terribly complicated ingredients.  
• This book is great for people new to AIP and to seasoned veterans who’d like to spice up (haha!) their meals and get out of a food rut.

Dinners from The Healing Kitchen 

Taco Night! (Toasted Lime Cilantro Cauli-Rice, Taco Beef, Easy Guacamole) | Date Night Pizza! (Thin Crust Pizzas made into ham & pineapple Pizza & BBQ pizza with slaw, salad greens with Greek Dressing & Red Sangria) | BBQ Feast (pressure cooked BBQ pulled pork, Tangy Carolina BBQ Sauce, Fennel Mandarin Slaw Garlic Roasted Broccoli) | Meat Loaf (Caramelized Onion & Herb Meatloaf, Carrot Pilaf with lemon & Parsley, Roasted Brussels with Bacon & Cinnamon) | Salmon (Bacon-Date Crusted Salmon, Sweet Potato & Kale “Rice” Salad) 

Lunches from The Healing Kitchen 

Speedy Shanghai Stir Fry | Raisin & Spice Meatballs with Sweet Potato & kale “Rice” Salad | Pumpkin Chili 

Breakfasts from The Healing Kitchen

Crispy Salmon Hash | Bacon Herb Biscuit sandwiches with American Breakfast Sausage | Baked Carrot-Banana Bread N’oatmeal | Ollie’s DIY Sunrise Hash 

Treats & Snacks from The Healing Kitchen

Apple Crumble | Pumpkin Roll with Clementine Cream | Lemon Ginger Energy Balls 

Drinks 

Red Sangria 

Alaena & Sarah have graciously allowed me to share the recipe for the Red Sangria with you. I’ve made this recipe more than 3 times so far & I foresee making it many more times in the future too. Since I usually drink water (or tea or occasionally green juice), having a mocktail like this one was really a treat, especially in social settings where everyone else is indulging in wine or cocktails or soda.

This “sangria” tastes like the real deal, only it isn’t made with wine that can perpetuate leaky gut. It’s great not just for people avoiding alcohol on AIP, but also for pregnant ladies & those who abstain from alcohol in general. I mixed my sangria mixture with blood orange kombucha. So delicious!

Red Sangria

reprinted, with permission, from The Healing Kitchen by Alaena Haber & Sarah Ballantyne 

1 1/2 c pomegranate juice

1 pear, diced

3 strips fresh orange peel

1/2 lemon, sliced thinly

5 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 (16-oz) bottle unflavored kombucha, chilled

ice, for serving (optional)

1. Combine all the ingredients except kombucha in a large glass jar or pitcher. Place in the refrigerator to steep for at least 8 hours or overnight. 
2. Just before serving, remove the cloves & cinnamon stick and stir in the kombucha. Serve over ice, if desired. 

Note from Laura:

• I substituted blood orange kombucha for the unflavored kombucha because I love blood orange kombucha. 
• I also added a few orange slices for fun. 

GIVEAWAY! 

In January, I was fortunate to attend a book signing at Book People in Austin, TX for "The Healing Kitchen." Alaena and Sarah graciously gave me a signed giveaway copy of their amazing cookbook to pass along to one of my readers! 

Thanks to Charissa (No Cook Paleo) for taking this photo of Alaena, me, & Sarah

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. This contest is open to both US and international entries, though the winner may receive an unsigned copy if a non-US resident is chosen. The contest will run through Tuesday March 15, 2016. May the odds be ever in your favor! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Additional reviews of "The Healing Kitchen"

• Alex at “Don’t Eat the Spatula:” Review + Crispy Salmon Hash preview recipe 
• Ali at “Freethought Farm:” Review + Coconut Crusted Chicken Tenders with Pineapple Dipping Sauce preview recipe  
• Bethany at "Adventures in Partaking: Review
• Eileen at “Phoenix Helix:” Review + Coconut-Crusted Chicken Tenders with Pineapple Dipping Sauce preview recipe
• Gabriella at “Beyond the Bite:” Review  
• Joanna at “Joanna Frankham Coaching:” Review + Bacon-Wrapped Apple & Cinnamon Sausage review recipe 
• Kat at “The Primordial Table:” Review + Spicy African Kale preview recipe  
• Kate at “Healing Family Eats:” Q&A with Alaena Haber + Chicken Pesto Pizza preview recipe 
• Rory at “The Paleo PI:” Review + INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY (runs through Friday March 11th) 
• Sophie at “A Squirrel in the Kitchen:’ Review + Toasted Coconut Cream Pops preview recipe 

Full disclosure: I did receive a complementary review copy of this cookbook, as well as a giveaway copy. However, I loved the recipes SO much that I purchased a copy for my parents :) I would never recommend any resource that I didn't stand behind 100%. 

This recipe is included in the Phoenix Helix Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable #111

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Almost Instant Sangria

Most of the time, I’m the sort of person who likes to have all her ducks in a row.  Likes to have everything planned out (and possibly with back ups, just in case the first doesn’t go as planned).  I don’t like many surprises (thought if you want to surprise me with fresh flowers, I’ll never complain!).

But there’s something about summer time & spontaneity.

The past couple of weekends, we’ve had somewhat spur-of-the-moment get togethers with friends. Dinners. Brunch. Pool time.  It’s been wonderful!

Sometimes it is refreshing to not have concrete plans, (or rather to not obsess over the details).

Many summer recipes are suitable to spontaneous entertaining. Others may require a some additional forethought.  Traditional sangria requires fruit to be macerated for hours before serving. This recipe for sangria is different--it’s one you can make almost instantly! And it only requires two ingredients, plus ice.  Garnish is optional (though I do love a good garnish).

Chilled red wine is mixed with cold blood orange soda.  Ice is added.  Optional orange slices are used for garnish.  And voila! Almost instant sangria.

Want a little more “kick” to your sangria?  Add a little orange liqueur.  Prefer a little less alcohol? Use more soda.  Love the macerated fruit aspect of sangria? Add the fruit to the wine & let it sit as long as your schedule allows before adding the soda.  Need only one glass? Or a whole pitcher? It’s easy to scale the recipe to be for one or a crowd.

Just because summer plans can be spontaneous, it does not mean those impromptu gatherings (or even just a regular day) cannot include sangria!  Cheers!

Almost Instant Sangria
adjust ratio to taste... Most of the time, I don’t even measure--I just eyeball it!  If you want the sangia to have more “kick” add some additional orange liqueur.  

Single Serving 
1/2 c (4 fl oz) chilled Red Wine {I used a cheap-ish Malbec} 
3/4 c (6 fl oz) chilled Blood Orange Soda {I used San Pellegrino Blood Orange Soda} 
Ice
Orange Slices (optional)  

1. In a glass, stir together the wine & soda.  
2. Add ice & optional orange slices. 
3. Enjoy immediately.  

For a Pitcher
1 bottle Chilled Red Wine
4 2/3 c (37.5 fl oz) Blood Orange Soda {a little more than 3 cans of San Pellegrino) 

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Cheers to the Holidays with Christmas Punch

{UPDATE} I am also thrilled to announce that I will once again be working with Helene Dujardin & Clare Barboza as the Kitchen Manager/Chef for their April 2013 Food & Lifestyle Photography Workshop in Gulf Shores, Alabama!  Tickets go on sale Tuesday December 11th, so make sure you get one before they're gone!  

Our decorations are hung. Our tiny christmas tree is trimmed.  Some of the shopping is done. Christmas sugar cookies have been cut out & decorated. And I have made and consumed Christmas punch.  The season is off to a great start!  

Every holiday season, my family makes this Christmas punch.  Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without this particular punch.

Traditionally, on the evening of Thanksgiving, not so very long after Thanksgiving Dinner, all the leftovers are pulled out. Sandwiches are assembled.  And this punch is served, most likely in disposable cups (often of the red solo variety) with everyone’s name in sharpie on their own cup.

To my palate, the flavors help signal the official start of the holiday season.  Traditionally, this punch is made with cranberry cocktail juice, lemon/lime soda & lemonade concentrate.  However, when I make it, I often like to tweak the recipe, ever so slightly and add limeade concentrate instead.

And depending on who my serving audience is, I sometimes like to make it a bit more “grown up” by slightly spiking the punch with a little gin (or vodka works too, if your prefer).  I’ve also contemplated substituting sparkling wine for part of the soda, but that’s a variation I haven’t had a chance to try yet.

What’s great about this punch is the relative simplicity of the ingredients and how easily it can be made for small groups or large groups.  This time, I made only a small pitcher. But for our Thanksgiving gathering with friends, I made a whole punch bowl full.

Cheers to the holidays!


Christmas Punch
16 oz (2 cups) Cranberry Cocktail Juice
16 oz (2 cups) Lemon Lime soda
3 oz (approx generous 1/3 cup) Limeade concentrate, thawed 
Ice 
Limes & Cranberries for garnish
Gin or Vodka (optional) 

1.  Stir together the juice, soda & concentrate.
2.  Add ice & limes & cranberries for garnish.
3.  Serve immediately.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning Sweet Treats makes a small commission off items purchased 

after an Amazon link is clicked with no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support.