As a Functional Medicine health coaching practice, we use principles and recipes from the GAPS diet, which is an elimination diet that involves cutting out grains, pasteurized dairy, starchy vegetables and refined carbohydrates. But that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor or satiation! Here are three recipes for delicious, whole health soups perfect for fall that will make you feel full and nourish your gut and body.

GAPS Diet Tomato Soup from Heal Your Gut cookbookTomato Soup

One of our favorite recipes from the Heal Your Gut Cookbook is this recipe for tomato soup. It is quick and delicious! And I like to add a can of coconut milk to give it a creamy, rich texture.

INGREDIENTS

1 quart chicken stock
2-4 tablespoons animal fat coconut oil, or ghee
8 fresh tomatoes 3-4 cups, chopped, or 2 jars or cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes
2 onions diced
2 cloves garlic pressed
1 pound ground pork sausage crumbled (optional)
1 can coconut milk (optional)
Sea salt to taste
Handful of fresh basil shredded

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Bring the stock to a boil. Skim and discard the scum. Add the fat to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, onions, and garlic, and coconut milk (is using); turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes, until the onions are soft.
  2. While the soup is simmering, sauté the sausage until it’s nicely browned, about 15 minutes. Drain fat and transfer sausage to a plate.
  3. Working in batches, puree the tomato mixture with an immersion blender or pour contents into a standing blender and secure lid.
  4. Transfer pureed soup back to the soup pot. Add the cooked sausage and stir to incorporate. Let the ingredients simmer together for another 15 minutes. Season with sea salt to taste.
  5. Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil to garnish and serve.

Paleo-Cream-of-Mushroom-Soup-with-SageDairy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

This recipe is courtesy of the 30-Day Soup Challenge Cookbook. We love it because of its rich and subtle earthy flavor from four kinds of mushrooms. This cream of mushroom soup recipe is simple to make and absolutely comforting on a cool fall day. This recipe makes it gluten-free, keto, paleo, and GAPS friendly by thickening just with the mushrooms themselves, which puree into a delicious thick creamy and flavorful soup.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 cups fresh mushrooms or 1 to 1-1/2 cups dried a combination of portabella, white button, shiitake, oyster, or other mushrooms that are available to you
2 tablespoons ghee or avocado oil
1 yellow onion diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups filtered water
1 tablespoon fresh sage very thinly sliced, or 1/2 teaspoon dried/ground sage
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
1 cup full fat coconut milk plus a bit more to garnish if desired.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. If using dried mushrooms, start by rehydrating them. Rehydrate dried mushrooms by covering with hot water for 5-10 minutes. Drain after they have softened and before adding to the onions.
  2. In the bottom of a stock pot, melt ghee or avocado oil over medium heat and add onion and sauté.
  3. Slice mushrooms and add to the onions after about 10 minutes. Continue cooking both onions and mushrooms until soft, another 10 minutes.
    Add chicken stock, water, sage, bay leaf, sea salt, and pepper, keeping on medium heat.
  4. Once the soup is simmering, lower heat to medium-low and cook an additional 20 minutes.
  5. Remove bay leaf.
  6. Puree as desired with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender. Pureed until smooth will yield a soup most like the canned cream-of-mushroom.
  7. Stir in coconut milk, and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until hot. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
  8. Serve, top with additional coconut milk and a few slices of sage leaves for garnish.

Pumpkin Chocolate ChiliPumpkin Chocolate Chili

OK, just trust us on this one. The pumpkin and chocolate come together in this no-bean chili in a way that is craveable and will remind you of a great mole sauce. There are no peppers of any kind and so it won’t be spicy. However, despite the pumpkin and chocolate, it’s not sweet either. It’s a perfect savory bite, warming from the inside with a rich spice blend. This recipe comes to us from Stacy Toth of Real Everything.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 C pumpkin puree (or about one 14 oz can)
1 C hard cider
1 C beef broth
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In a medium pot, brown the ground beef over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion and saute until translucent.
  3. Pour in the pumpkin, cider, and broth and stir to incorporate.
  4. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
  5. Reduce heat to low and stir in remaining ingredients.
  6. Simmer for twenty minutes before serving.