Tortilla Tortilla

This week we experimented on Saturday rather than Sunday. I was craving some mexican food so we tried the coconut flour tortilla. The nice thing with this recipe is that it's for a single tortilla! Vamonos!

1 TBSP Coconut flour
1/16 tsp Baking powder
3 TBSP Egg whites (we used the egg whites from a container)
2 TBSP + 1/2 tsp Water

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth consistency. Pour into greased warm pan and carefully tilt pan in a circular motion to spread the batter out. The should be fairly thin once spread out, remember you're making a tortilla! Once edges are lightly browned CAREFULLY use spatula to flip. It only takes about 30 seconds on the other side and you're all done.

Fill with anything from meat and beans to berries and cream and ENJOY!

*altered recipe from Carbswitch*

Go Nuts for Donuts

I'm not ashamed to admit that my boyfriend has always been the better paleo baker than myself. Even though I've improved by leaps and bounds lately! He just has the patients and attention to detail that I tend to lack. Anywho, this weekend he successfully attempted paleo donuts with a strawberry filling (actually ours turned out more like mini cakes but delicious nonetheless). So just to keep it in mind, the recipe can be for an actual donut pan but we made 4 mini cakes per batch. If you do different donuts you'll need to adjust the bake time.

Donuts

Dry ingredients:

1¼ cup blanched almond flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Wet ingredients:

3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup, grade B

1/4 teaspoon maple extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 eggs, at room temperature, whites and yolks separated

1/2 cup fresh strawberry, mince in food processor

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 12-mold mini loaf pan.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl combine all of the wet ingredients except egg whites and minced strawberries.

Mix the wet with dry and set aside.

Beat the egg whites until peaks start to form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Fold in the minced strawberries.

Carefully fill each each mold about 1/2 full. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden.

Allow the donuts to cool, remove from pan and then chill in the fridge for half an hour before filling and glazing.

Strawberry Filling

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh strawberries minced in food processor

1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp. raw honey

1 1/2 tsp. gelatin (optional)

Instructions:

Put the strawberries, lemon juice and raw honey in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat.

Allow the mixture to boil lightly for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

If not using gelatin: Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer, stirring occasionally, for another 20-30 minutes or until desired thickness is reached.

If using gelatin: Remove the pan from the heat, add the gelatin and stir until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to a jar and allow the cool for about 15-20 minutes. 

Place the lid on the jar and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

*You want as few chunks as possible when mincing

Strawberry Glaze

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil melted

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1 Tablespoon raw honey

pinch of sea salt

3/4 cup fresh strawberries, minced in food processor

Instructions:

Combine all of the strawberry glaze ingredients in a food
processor or high speed blender. 

Pulse until completely pureed and uniformly a light pink.
Pour the glaze into a shallow bowl for dipping. 

Immediately chill for 30 minutes until the glaze hardens. 

*Remember you're working coconut oil so if it starts to harden just stick in the microwave for a few seconds. 

Use a filling needle to fill donuts. Dip into the glaze and chill donuts for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes...Enjoy!

*based off recipes from Paleo Cupboard and Real Healthy Recipes*

Peanut Butter Pie

I'm a peanut butter fanatic and growing up my grandma used to make the BEST pb pie so I thought I'd take a swing at making it compliant. The recipe makes enough for 2 pies or 1 pie and some "frosted" cookies if you'd prefer. Or feel free to just make the filling (which I've deemed PB Fluff) and use it for a dip - either for food or fingers.

Let's get started!

Crust:

Dry Ingredients

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1-2 stevia packets

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter, or for totally casein free - use Virgin Coconut Oil or even half cup EVOO

1/2 cup almond milk

4 eggs, preferably free range and organic

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2-3 dropperfuls of vanilla liquid stevia

Turn on oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pie pan.

In a food processor, whip the 4 eggs thoroughly. Add milk in, butter, vanilla, and liquid stevia. Pulse several times to thoroughly mix. Add in half of the dry ingredients then transfer the liquid to a bowl and mix in the rest of the dry ingredients. You want a spongy consistency, so if needed add additional coconut flour.

Spread into a pie pan and bake for 15 min. 

Filling: 
1 jar natural peanut butter - I used Smuckers brand
2 cans of chilled coconut milk (you only want the thick cream part scooped out)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. honey
*you can add more/less honey depending on the sweetness level you want

Using a mixer, combine all the ingredients together.



After the crust is done baking, let cool. Once it has cooled, pour the filling in and spread it out evenly. Place in the freezer until ready to serve and ENJOY!

Sunday Experiments

Sunday is one of the few days a week I actually get to cook and try new recipes. This Sunday I was craving pizza, which is just completely not Paleo+, let alone Paleo at all. So cooked up a delicious and semi fluffy crust topped with all the goodies, including "cheese"! And for dessert, peach cobbler.

Let the drooling begin...

Paleo Pizza

Many Paleo crusts are dry or gritty and my goal was to get a little fluffiness; that's why I went with coconut flour rather than the almond flour that a lot of recipes call for.

Obviously, without yeast you won't have that typical deep dish crust, as with many Paleo recipes you can't expect it to taste exactly like the real thing. But it needs to be good enough to quench that craving.

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 cup Coconut flour

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

1 tbsp. Italian seasonings

1 tsp. Zesty seasonings

1/4 tsp. Baking powder

Mix well, set aside.

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted butter, or Coconut Oil or EVOO

1 cup almond milk

6 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, whip the 6 eggs thoroughly. Add milk and melted butter in, then pulse several times to blend. Pour into bowl and add dry ingredients, go a 1/4 cup at a time until fully mixed. It needs to be a spongy consistency so you may need to add more flour, I suggest a tbsp. at a time.

Once mixed, spread on a greased baking pan. I used a round pizza pan and covered it in foil. Spread it out to about 1/2 inch in thickness. Place in oven for 20 min, or until the edges are golden brown.

Remove from oven, add toppings, place back in to warm up (about 20 min - melt cheese, crisp meat, etc.), and ENJOY!

Fruit Cobbler

For the filling:

Fresh fruit (enough to cover 8x8 pan)

2 - 4 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp arrowroot powder

For the topping:

1½ cups of almond flour

2 Stevia in the Raw packets

1/4 cup of melted butter or coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients for the filling and gently toss. Dump into 8x8 lightly greased pan.

In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients for the topping and then spread evenly over the top of the filling mixture.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the topping is slightly golden.

Let cool and ENJOY! Goes great with compliant whip cream or almond milk ice cream.

Coconut Whip Cream

To make the coconut shipped cream, you will need one can of Thai's Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk. Place the can in the fridge to chill overnight. The fat will float to the top! Scoop the creamy part out of the can and into a bowl. Whisk it together with some sweetener - either vanilla extract, cinnamon, honey, etc. and there you have it! 

Date Paste

Figured I'd start with something that will be useful in many of the recipes to come. It's simple and great to have on hand.

Ingredients

8 ounces pitted dried dates

1-2 cups water

Optional Additions

Pinch of cinnamon

Vanilla paste

Instructions

Transfer dates to a bowl and pour water over them until dates are fully submerged.

*Allow dates to soak for at least 30 minutes.

Remove dates from water and transfer to a food processor or blender. Reserve soaking liquid.

Add 1 Tb of soaking liquid and begin to puree. How quickly the dates break down depends on the quality of your processor.

*I usually end up adding 3-4 Tb liquid to get my preferred consistency.

Continue processing and adding soaking liquid by the tablespoon until you get your desired consistency.

Also add the cinnamon or vanilla for a flavored date paste. (I prefer plain)

Transfer date paste to a jar or sealed container and store in the refrigerator.

*Use within 1 weeks.