Quick Note on My Favorite New Ingredient of 2017
If you follow Clean Cuisine, you may have noticed in my recipes that in the last few months I discovered a new gluten-free/ grain-free root vegetable flour, cassava flour. I talk more about it here in this blog post and I use it in several of the recipes below. It bakes like a dream and unlike many gluten free flours, it has absolutely zero funky “aftertaste.” It’s also made from “whole” yuca root and the fiber is not removed (a good thing!)
If you have our Clean Cuisine book then you know our family is not gluten free and certainly we are not grain free. However, I always like to broaden my food horizons and include as much variety as possible in my diet. Cassava flour is a great ingredient to use as an alternative to conventional whole grain flours such as whole wheat or spelt flour. It’s also a great source of vitamin C (1/4 cup has almost 20% of your Daily Value), folate, magnesium, potassium and many additional nutrients. So whether you are gluten free / grain free or not, you may want to consider adding cassava flour to your clean food pantry staples.
What If You Don’t Want to Buy Yet Another Flour?
If you just aren’t up for buying yet another flour, no worries! All of my recipes that are made with cassava flour can also be made with sprouted spelt flour.
Do You Have a Recipe Request for 2018?
And finally, do you have a clean recipe request for the New Year? If so, please leave a comment and tell me all about it. I will do my best to make it!
Ok, let’s get on with the recipes…
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2018!
Much love,
Top 10 Clean Recipe Blog Posts of 2017
#1 Clean Pasta Alla Vodka Recipe (with Cashew Cream)
#2. Wheat Free Fluffy Banana Pancake Recipe
#3. The Easiest Ever Quinoa Burger
#4. Chinese-Style Cauliflower Stir Fry Rice
#7. Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie Recipe
#8. Gluten Free Recipe for Chicken Nuggets
#9. Gluten-Free/ Grain-Free Tortilla Recipe
#10. Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings
And there you have it! The top 10 clean recipes from the blog of the year. If I missed a favorite one of yours please let me know in the comments below.
Happy New Year everyone!
Reena says
I’m not sure if you delve into the goitrogen / thyroid aspect of eating cassava/tapioca somewhere else on your site, but you might want to mention that concern, if you are promoting cassava flour.
I have noticed that the American-made cassava flour which has become popular in the last couple of years is *claimed* to have less goitrogenic impact (less, although *not* none) than the cassava products eaten in other parts of the world which can blight whole villages with neck goiters and hypothyroidism (even when they process their cassava as much as possible in order to get rid of the goitrogenic aspects of it).
As a person with hypothyroidism myself, I have always stayed well away from cassava / tapioca — to me, it’s not worth the anti-thyroid risks.
Ivy Larson says
Hi Reena,
I am so sorry it has taken me a few days to get back to you. I am super behind on so many things as I am trying to meet my cookbook deadline. But yes! I am definitely aware of the thyroid issue in connection to cassava. However, it is important to note that as long as enough iodine is consumed and as long as you are not eating excessive amounts of cassava flour then you should be ok. Here is an article on PubMed with more info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3788422
Speaking of iodine, you might also want to read a blog post on Iodine deficiency I did a while back. Iodine deficiency is actually more prevalent than most people realize. Here is the link to the article: https://cleancuisine.com/iodine-deficiency/
Also, when I say not to eat excessive amounts of cassava flour, to put that in perspective, I would say I eat no more than 1 serving of a cassava flour product daily.
I hope this helps?