Gut-Friendly Recipes for the Festive Season | with Michele Grosvenor

Michele Grosvenor, our gut health specialist shares her favourite gut-friendly recipes for this time of year.

Gluten-Free Christmas Cake

Recipe inspiration from Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef.
Serves 10 people

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius.
2. Line the base and sides of a round cake tin (20 cm diameter) with baking paper.
3. Combine the dried fruit mix, spices, vanilla, orange zest and juice, olive oil, and eggs.
4. Add ground almonds and walnuts and mix through.
5. Spoon batter into your baking tin.
6. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, checking to see if the cake is cooked by placing a skewer in the centre of the cake and checking to see if comes out clean. If not bake for another 30 minutes.
7. You may need to cover the top of the cake with baking paper to prevent over browning.
8. Cool, then remove from the tin and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one month.

Cultured Red Capsicum Pesto

Instead of the pre-made dips you can find at the supermarket, why not try making a cultured homemade version alongside a grazing platter this festive season. 

Ingredients

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius.
2. Place capsicums on a baking tray and bake until the skin blisters and they are slightly blackened.
3. Remove from oven, cover with a tea towel and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Once cool peel the skins off.
4. Combine capsicum flesh with remaining ingredients except for salt and pepper and blitz in a high-speed food processor. Purée until smooth and then season to taste with salt and pepper. If prefer a chunkier dip, add the nuts to the blender after pureeing and blend only for a few seconds.
5. Transfer the dip into a glass jar and allow to sit out on a bench for 6-8 hours to allow the fermenting process to happen. Taste your dip before you refrigerate to ascertain the level of fermenting you like and enjoy within 2 weeks.

Love Michele

Michele is a naturopathic clinician and certified GAPS practitioner with a special interest in digestive health which in naturopathic medicine, is thought to be the seat of all disease when its function is compromised.