Stage 4 - Recipe Index

Here are some recipes that will work for Stage 4.  I have not tried them all, but as we do I'll post reviews.  I have done my best to make sure that everything works for this stage, however, I may have made mistakes.  Let me know if you find any!

Some of the recipes come from the Reversing Food Allergies (RFA) class, but you can find similar recipes online.  I have linked to alternatives when possible.  Other recipes come from an ebook I purchased from Home, Health and Happiness (HHH) which gives you recipes and lists and such for the GAPS intro diet. 

Please let me know if you have any recipes or ideas to contribute to this stage.  Be sure to read the comments when looking at recipes - there are often great tips and ideas for variations.


Remember that all the recipes from Stages 1, 2 and 3 can still be used.

New Recipes for Stage 4
Beef & Veggie Stew
Homemade Breakfast Sausage – (RFA) beef, pork or poultry - need to use fresh herbs and no spices
Mexican Eggs (RFA)
Omelettes
Italian Roast Chicken (RFA)
Chicken Salad (no raw veggies)
Chicken Nuggets (baked, nut flour only)
Roast Chicken with Reduction Sauce (RFA)
Pan-Fried Steak w/Bearnaise Sauce (RFA)
Egg Salad (no raw veggies)
Tuna Salad (no raw veggies) - wild-caught tuna, no other ingredients, packed in water
Pickles – (HHH), can eat plain or put into chicken/tuna/egg salads
Mayonnaise (RFA, GAPS book, HHH)
Salsa - there are TONS of recipes, just look for lacto-fermented or other traditional fermenting process
Fresh pressed juices
Roasted Carrot Soup (HHH), no paprika until Stage 5
Nut flour bread (HHH, GAPS book)
Stock and onion gravy (HHH)
Baked meatballs with onion gravy (HHH), maybe baked chicken w/gravy?
Pot roast with veggies
Chicken Salad in Steamed Cabbage
Fish patties
Ketchup  (RFA, GAPS book)
Butternut Squash fries
Pumpkin Sausage Soup - no mushrooms or coconut milk until Full
Chicken nuggets - baked only
Rosemary Squash Faux-tatoes
Fluffy pancakes
Chicken Fingers
Cashew Cookies
Muffins
Quiche muffins
Almond Crackers or these
Basic biscuits or these – (may need to use ghee/other fat if you're not eating butter yet)
Jim’s Fluffy Pancakes
Albondigas Soup
Shredded Beef Soup with Kimchi
Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise)
Fermented Carrots and Daikon Radish
Fermented Cucumber Pickles
Zucchini Muffins
Drop Biscuits
Stuffed Acorn Squash - there are many variations of this...just make sure you're only eating what's appropriate for the Stage you're on
Almond Flour Shortbread - use coconut oil or ghee if not eating butter yet
Italian Meatball Soup - use homemade bread crumbs, zucchini or spaghetti squash pasta - could use on Stage 1 if omit eggs and bread crumbs as binder
Butternut Squash Latkes - use GAPS legal fats for frying
Cauliflower Rice - use coconut oil, ghee or tallow for sautéing

You can now roast or grill your meats.  Try not to eat the overly-browned or burnt bits.

You can also start to use dried herbs as well as fresh.  You need to wait until Stage 5 for 'spices'.  If you're making your own sausage you can use dried herbs (which will probably make it easier).

Begin to add cold-pressed olive oil to your meals.  Start with a few drops per meal and increase until you have 1 to 2 tablespoons per meal.  I'm thinking you can have mayonnaise now because you make it with olive oil.

Don't go crazy with the nut breads!  Start slowly and gradually increase.  There are many recipes out there for nut bread, GAPS bread, etc (see page 151 of the GAPS book for one).  To start with it should be simple - nut flour, eggs, squash and some sort of natural fat.  Save the 'spices' for Stage 5.

You should continue to eat fermented veggies and I've added recipes for a few that you might not have been eating in previous stages - who wants pickle juice in their soup???  But I sure want them in my egg salad!

What does Stage 4 look like?

• Start each day with a cup of mineral or filtered water, warm or at room temperature, with a slice of lemon. Don't eat the lemon though, it's just for flavor (and to relieve constipation).
• meat stock (beef, poultry, fowl or fish)
• homemade soup with meat and/or veggies (use the meat stock as the base)
• ginger, mint or chamomile tea with honey (if you want)
• Add crushed garlic to your soup the last minute or two. You can also crush it right into your bowl then add the hot soup.
• Raw yolks from pastured chickens. Add these to your soups or cup of meat stock. Most people I’ve seen plop the yolk in the bottom of their bowl (with some garlic) then add the soup and stir. Start with one yolk a day and increase it until you are having one yolk in every bowl of soup.
• Soft-boiled eggs in soup (yolks runny and white cooked) – add these only after the yolks are well-tolerated.
• Stews and casseroles made with meats and well-cooked veggies.
• Fresh herbs
• You should be having the juice from fermented veggies 3-5 teaspoons a day (if you’re tolerating them well). Eventually you want to get to where you are adding 3-5 teaspoons to every bowl of soup/stew/etc.
• Fermented fish – start with one piece a day and gradually increase
• Homemade ghee – start with one teaspoon a day and gradually increase
• Increase the amount of homemade whey, sour cream, yogurt and kefir, if you are introducing them at this point.
• Ripe avocado mashed into soups. Start with 1-3 tsp. and gradually increase the amount.
• Nut-butter pancakes/crepes. Start with 1 a day and gradually increase.
• Scrambled eggs made with lots of ghee, or other animal fat. Make a fun ‘scramble’ by adding cooked veggies and avocado.
• Cooked onion
• The fermented veggies! Yes, you’ve been drinking their juices and now you get to eat the actual veggies. Start small, as always, and increase to 1 to 4 teaspoons for each meal.

To the Stage 1, 2, and 3 foods listed above, you can add:

• Meats cooked by roasting (baking) and grilling. No more boiled meats! Avoid the burned or crusty bits.
• Cold-pressed olive oil. Start with a few drops at each meal (on the meal, not in a glass) and slowly increase to where you are eating 1 to 2 tablespoons per meal.
• Freshly pressed juices (homemade) – start with a bit of carrot juice (1/4 cup or so). Gradually increase it to 1 cup a day. After a cup of carrot juice is tolerated you can slowly start adding other veggies. Drink the juice on an empty stomach – first thing in the morning or in-between meals.
• GAPS bread – one slice a day. The official recipe is listed on pages 151 and 200 of the GAPS book.

Stage 4 Intro - Foods Allowed

Stage 4

Almonds – as flour, one a day, gradually increase

Artichokes – fully cooked

Asparagus – fully cooked

Avocados – ripe in soups.  Start slowly (1 to 3 tsp), gradually increasing, mashed in soups and with eggs

Beef – Boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Beets – fully cooked

Black pepper

Bok choy – fully cooked

Broccoli – fully cooked, no stalks

Brussels sprouts – fully cooked

Cabbage – fully cooked or fermented

Carrots – fully cooked

Cauliflower – fully cooked, no stalks

Celeriac – fully cooked

Celery – fully cooked

Chicken – boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Coconut oil

Collard greens – fully cooked

Duck – boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Eggplant – fully cooked

Eggs – organic, raw, soft boiled, gently fried or scrambled with plenty of fat

Fish – boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Garlic – fully cooked

Ghee - homemade

Ginger root – fresh in herbal tea

Goose – boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Green beans – fully cooked

Green peas – fully cooked

Herbal teas – ginger, mint or chamomile w/only a little honey between meals

Herbs – fresh or dried, without additives

Honey – raw, only a small amount in herbal tea between meals

Juice – freshly pressed from permitted vegetables starting with carrot, drink on an empty stomach

Kale – fully cooked, all fibrous parts removed

Lamb – boiled, roasted and grilled (not bbq’d or fried)

Lemon – only a small piece in warm water as morning drink (helps w/constipation)

Olive oil – virgin cold pressed, start with a few drops and increase to 1-2 tbsp. per meal

Onions – fully cooked

Peppers – fully cooked

Pheasant – same as other poultry listed

Pickles – fermented without sugar

Pigeon – same as other fowl listed

Pork – boiled, roasted and grilled, not bbq’d or fried

Pumpkin – fully cooked

Quail – same as other fowl listed

Shellfish – boiled, roasted and grilled, not bbq’d or fried

Spices – salt and pepper only

Spinach – fully cooked

Squash (summer or winter) – fully cooked

Tomatoes – fresh or puree (no additives), fully cooked

Turkey – boiled, roasted and grilled, not bbq’d or fried

Turnips – fully cooked

Vinegar – in making stock

Walnuts – flour, use to make bread w/other nut and seed flours

Watercress – fully cooked

Yogurt – homemade, 24-hr fermented

Zucchini – fully cooked