Almond Butter Chocolate chip cookies (paleoish)

 
Ingredients:

1 cup of almond butter
Enjoy Life chocolate chips, as much as you want
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs (I used duck eggs)
Several teaspoons of dried coconut
1 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp. Spectrum shortening (I didn't melt it)
4 packets of Truvia. If you use honey, you will have to adjust the amount of almond butter.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix all the ingredients together. Make into small balls, these get bigger as they cook.  Put them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes or so, just keep checking.  You should take them out when they're still a little soft, that's a given for cooking with nut.  They will get harder but will still be chewy enough.

I hope you like them!  My 4-year-old child ate 6 in one sitting!

Paleo Stir-fry

I like to make stir-fry with leftover meat from the day before.  This time we had plenty of pheasant.  .

Ingredients:  

*I'm eyeballing as usual so please bear with me.

1 package of yam noodles (they sell this at Whole Foods or other health food stores)
Coconut aminos, about 1/8 cup
Sea salt to taste
Ground pepper to taste
Sesame oil, maybe about 1 tsp (optional)
Leftover pheasant meat, removed from bones and diced (you can use chicken, beef, pork, etc)
1 bag of stir-fry veggies
Duck fat (or any animal fat)

Boil yam noodles for however long the package tells you. Drain and then rinse. Heat up a large frying pan or wok with duck fat or any lard you have. Saute meat, then add veggies.  Then add the noodles and everything else. Stir around for a while.  Serve warm and enjoy!

Almost paleo chili

Okay so this is not completely paleo, but it's GAPS-friendly if you're in advanced stages.  I added some sprouted red lentils to this recipe. I soaked and sprouted them myself.  You can omit that to make it paleo.

Please bear with me as I am once again not sure as far as the exact amounts of spices and such that I used. I always eye ball these things.

The veggies don't need to be perfect. If you want them chunky, then just cut them up in whatever shape or form you like, no need to dice them.  It's all good.

Ingredients:

1 pound grass-fed ground beef
Diced onion, half of the onion
A few cloves of garlic, smashed
1 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP cumin
1 TBSP all spice
1/2 TBSP cocoa powder
a cup of beef broth (I made it from beef bones)
1/2 cup of water or so
black pepper
Trader Joe's chipotle salsa, about 1/2 of the bottle or less if you don't like it too spicy*
Tomato paste (I used 3 ounces)
2 TBSP beef tallow (I made this one too) or coconut oil or any other good quality animal fat
I large green bell pepper, cut up/diced
1/2 cup of sprouted red lentils (optional)
1 medium zucchini, peeled and diced added at the end

Heat casserole and add the tallow.  Saute the onion and garlic, don't burn them!  Add the beef and brown it.  Add all the other ingredients and stir.  Come to a boil and then turn it down to simmer for about 90 minutes or so.  Make sure it's covered during this time.

*Trader Joe's Chipotle salsa says it's medium hot. It tastes mild to me though but maybe that's because I like spicy food. Anyway, just be careful with this if you're not a big fan of spicy.

Enjoy!

Almond Banana Chocolate Muffin

Ingredients:

1 Cup almond butter, creamy (I used the one from Trader Joes)
2 pastured eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon chocolate chips
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 very ripe banana

Mash the banana.  Combine everything except the apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.  Add them later.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or til toothpick comes out clean.  

They came out so great! It's very dense so I don't think I can eat more than 2 in one sitting :).  Enjoy!

I thought I would post something not food-related.   Well sort of. It happened at a restaurant.   We were at this little Indian restaurant yesterday during lunch.  As usual they had a Bollywood movie showing on the big screen TV on the wall.  I love Bollywood!   Anyway, the guys were hot and the girls were all very pretty in their colorful and bright sarongs.  There was a time when I even tried one on, trying hard to be Indian LOL.  I saw the price tag and quickly took the sarong off. 

In the movie two guys were talking. One man was giving advice to another guy who was going through relationship problems.  He seemed sad and desperate for help.  The man told him that women are like buses. I snorted.  He said "women are like buses, when one passes by, another one is sure to come by."   The sad man just stared at him and shrugged his shoulders, then shook his head indicating that this lady friend of his was "no regular bus and no other bus will come by to replace her."    The man giving advice continued : "more buses will pass by you but only one can take you home.  You must never miss that bus."   At that, the man seeking wisdom looked down, knowing that he has "missed the bus" and must figure out a way to find that bus again.

I don't know why I'm sharing this but I just thought that perhaps someone will benefit from this. It's so true!  I was touched, though it sounded corny and sappy, by the truth of that advice.

Paleo Irish Soda Bread

Ever since we went paleo a year and half ago, we haven't had any Irish soda bread.  My husband is of Irish descent and this was one of those things that I made that he truly enjoyed. We used to be just gluten and dairy-free so I would make the soda bread with millet and sorghum flours.   I'm so glad we can have soda bread again! I adapted this from Elana's Pantry's Irish soda bread recipe.

2 and 3/4 cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ cup raisins
2 eggs
2 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar(or you can also use lemon)


Mix all the wet ingredients separately in a bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients separately in a bowl as well.  Then mix both.   Form into a dough and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Please see picture above, it's about 8 inches sideways and about an inch and a half of height.   Score the dough with a sharp knife.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, turn off the stove and let it sit in there for another 10 minutes. Take it out and cool it on a rack for half an hour before serving.  It tastes great by itself but my 4 year old loves it with apricot jam.

 Snickerdoodles

I wanted to make it paleo but I didn't have coconut sugar or date sugar at home. So I just used organic cane sugar, just this time. 

This was based on Jamie Oliver's recipe with a little exception.  I don't like stuff that's overly sweet so I used less sugar.  I also made it dairy-free.

3/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla
a dash of sea salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup Spectrum Shortening

Sugar/cinnamon for rolling the cookies:

1 tbsp sugar
Some cinnamon, I didn't measure

Mix eggs, vanilla, sugar, eggs and Spectrum shortening.  Add the coconut flour and make sure to remove all lumps.  Mix well. Set aside for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Make dough into small balls, roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture, and flatten on the baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Enjoy!  They're so delicious!