"The Devil Made Me Do It" bars

Oh they are good!  They are very yummy!  nom-nom-nom-nom!  Originally I started trying to make these to be a baklava replacement for my hubby.  Those are the treats of his homeland but they ended up being a sort of devilishly good yummy-ness in their own right.    So here's how you make 'em!  I even made up a nutrition label on the suggestion of my fantastic coach so we have a better idea of what is in them.  So let's get to it!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. coconut oil
1/2 c. olive oil  (or less...use your judgment based on elevation and consistency.)
2/3 coconut powder (optional)*
1 c. Honey Powder**
1 c. Walnuts chopped
2-3 c. Pecan Flour***

Put eggs, baking powder, and vanilla in mixer.  Mix.  Then add coconut oil and olive oil.  Blend until it's got a nice consistency.  I put my coconut oil in the nuker for about 20 seconds just to soften it a bit as it's currently in it's solid state based on the temperature.  Coconut oil has a very LOW melting point though so it depends on your household and where your coconut oil is at as far as solid or liquid state.

Add Honey powder and blend.  Add chopped walnuts and blend.  Once that is all blended start adding pecan flour about half a cup at a time in between blending.  This is where you have to eyeball it a bit.  You will want the batter to be fairly stiff.  It will soften a LOT in the oven.  It will taste good either way - but you may end up using anywhere from 2-3 cups of pecan flour depending.

Spread it all out on a regular cookie sheet.  Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.  I find that some days it's 30 minutes.  Some days it's 35.  After they have cooled they are extra yummy if cut into squares and stored in the fridge.  I just had a square with a nice cup of coffee on this brisk fall day. :D Enjoy! Nutritional info on bottom of page! 

*Coconut powder is a food used in Indian cooking.  It's like pulverized coconut but still has the texture and feel of fresh coconut.  It's unsweetened and just coconut-y, plus it's Cheap!!!  Here's a link to some on Amazon. 
**A friend of mine introduced me to Honey Powder.  I love this stuff!  It makes cooking and baking in Paleo a bit easier as it measures like traditional sugar.  This eliminates trying to calculate the difference of liquid in regular honey when baking etc.  I also found some on Amazon and the link is Here.  There are many out there.  I have found some supplement with added fructose.  Be sure to check the ingredients or you could get tricked.
***Locally in El Paso the same friend who introduced me to honey powder, also introduced me to a little itty bitty store in Bassett Mall for Ramirez Pecan Farm.  They sell a 3 pound bag of pecan flour for anywhere from $6 - $10 depending on the season.  I googled real quick and it seems it's available online too under either "Pecan Flour" or "Pecan Meal."

This label is based on 2 cups of pecan meal.  Serving size is a 2" x 2" square.

COMING SOON!!!!!

I am still perfecting the recipe and playing around with it BUT....coming soon!

Paleo Baklava!  All the flavor of Baklava without the phyllo dough.  Yummmmm!!!!!!! (Yet another consequence of having a husband raised on sweets who needs a fix now and again!)  XOXO!

It didn't taste like Chicken! ;D

My husband and I have a lot of things in common, among them is the inability to "Do" Chicken.  It seems that no matter what we do, Chicken always seems to taste like Chicken which can become extremely tiresome!  For whatever reason, we were on the same wavelength again the other day and both started thinking how good some BBQ dark meat would taste.  (Odd but OK!?!?!)  Let's face it...after years of the the dietary world shoving the glory of the breast in our face, there is only so much breast a person can take!  (Insert 12 year old boy joke here.) 

We like the dark meat.  A little higher in fat content and a little richer in taste, it is, for us, the "do-able" part of the feathered fowl.  So I hit up Google.  The recipe that kept coming back as the bomb was from Son of Grok.  I will say, I made a couple of modifications to it.  Personally, we threw in a little sweetner in the form of Honey and I have been using powdered garlic lately for my spices.  Call it lazy but with the frequency of which I am making my Jerky seasonings for my Cave Girl Jerky, I am all about efficiency when it comes to making sauces lately.  This also brings to point my *absolute*love* of my mini-crockpot.  It's not the tiny one that only holds a cup but I think it holds 1 quart of liquid.  I inherited it from a girlfriend.  She brought it over with some yummy stuff in it.  After much wine she forgot it at the house.   We made several attempts to get it back to her, both with her coming over (again too much wine.) And me going over to visit her...again...wine.  Well, she eventually told me to hold onto it.  (Perhaps again that came with much wine.)  Either way - it is a Cave Girl's Best Friend. . . even more so than my stand mixer or my food processor.  I *highly* recommend the 1 quart Crockpot.  Anyway - on to the chicken!

Ingredients:
- 1 6oz can tomato paste - Costco has great organic tomato paste for like $6/box!
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock
- 6 tsp granulated Garlic
- 1 1/2 TBSP onion powder
- 2 TBSP mustard - I used stone ground
- 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
- 1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 TBSP chili powder

- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup or a mix of the two*

Put all the ingredients in your handy dandy 1 qt crockpot, stir it up, plug it in and go run you errands.  Come back and you will have some wonderful BBQ sauce waiting.  

-OR-

Put all the ingredients in your sauce pan and stir occasionally for30-? minutes until it reaches the intensity and consistency you want.  (See why I love the Crockpot? ;)

Now soak, slather, smother your chicken and throw them on the grill!! YUMMERS!!!

Regarding modifications, do what works for you and don't feel bad if what works for you is not what works for your neighbor (IMHO).  We are all unique and that is awesome!  So if you want to cut out the sweetener, go for it.  The original Son of Grok Recipe has no sweetener in it.   We (hubby and I) taste tested that and it was a bit like spaghetti sauce.  We needed a little more sweet with our spice to make that right combination.   Now recently, and I still need to investigate this, one of our coaches told me she uses coconut sugar which is dried coonut I guess?  She said it's very sweet and lower than anything on the glycemic index.  I'm down to try that but need to check with her for more details next time I see her.  Some variations I have seen have seen use Tamari but no sweetener - Tamari is a gluten free soy derived sauce.  I say, whatever's clever.  Do what works for you.

So it seems I have gotten long winded again.   We had a great dinner.  On the way home, stopped by the fruit truck on the side of the road and got an amazing Watermelon and Cantaloupe for a total of $3!  A litte of my fave tomato, pesto and walnut salad and voila!  Dinner was served and I am beyond satiated!

Breakfast is BACK Baby!!!!

So I was reminiscing about one of our former favorite activities which was going to The Original Pancake House and getting a dutch baby.  The first time I had a dutch baby, my bestie introduced me and my husband to it.  Once we had it, it became a regular part of our life.  In my opinion, a good dutch baby FAR and away exceeds a regular old pancake.  I don't care if you top your pancake with chocolate chips and crack cocaine. . . it still will not beat out a good ol' dutch baby!  They are also known as German Pancakes.  I have looked before to see if there is any difference between the two, and to my knowledge, they are the same.  That being said, I have a couple German friends and a dutch friend so if any of you are reading this - please clarify for me if there is indeed a difference! 

At any rate, like most wonderful foods involving gluten and processed sugar, we had bid this adieu.  Today I was trying to do some menu planning and was looking for something different to do with eggs and some food other than meat and veggies.  Then it came to me!  So with a few modifications, very few actually, we have a paleo dutch baby!  This did no rise as highly on the sides as a typical dutch baby but that was to be expected.  It is gluten free, afterall!

Paleo Dutch Baby

3 TBSP Grass Fed Butter
1/2 cup almond flour or coconut flour
2 TBSP vanilla
2 TBSP honey (optional but oh-so-good)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup almond or coconut milk
2 large eggs (room temp preferred)
Lemon Wedges
Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Take a cast iron skillet or any other type of pan. (I used 9" cake round today)
Put 2 TBSP grass fed butter in the pan then put the pan in the oven to preheat and melt.  (Kerry Irish Gold is my fave and usually available)

Melt 1 TBSP of butter in another dish and let cool
In a bowl combine flour, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, sea salt, and butter.  Mix it all together until your batter is nice and smooth.  Pour your batter into your preheated pan with melted butter. 

Bake for 30 minutes then serve.  Serve by squeezing a lemon wedge over top then adding maple syrup (or berries or whatever tickles your fancy)

ENJOY!!!!  It's a not-so-little slice of HEAVEN!!!!!  I used almond flour today.  I would like very much to try it with coconut flour.  I think it will probably come out lighter and a little more like a traditional dutch baby but with a coconut flavor twist.  Even being a flatter version, the flavor profile was *there* and it was very very YUMMY!!!

Soy-not-Soy Sauce

Soy sauce is a hard one to replicate or make a substitution for.  This, I have found, tastes not-so-much like soy sauce but has a good flavor profile so I don't mind substituting it.  It has been adapted from a couple of recipes I found online then trial and error.

4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch pepper
1 pinch garlic
1 1/2 cups beef stock

I prefer to let them simmer and reduce for just a few minutes to really get the flavors going but that is up to you.

Paleo Banana Bread

This recipe - also sans picture until I make it and take one or you do and send it to me - comes from my Mom!  My mom was a baker in a bakery for many years and now has jumped on the paleo bandwagon with the rest of us!  Here is her recipe for Banana bread!  She warns us that this only makes a small pan - or a baby loaf.  If you want a bigger loaf you would probably have to double the recipe and adjust baking time.  Also another note: My mother's oven is possessed by the devil so to give you cooking times according to her oven would be woefully unfair!  Once I make it, I will come back in and edit but in the interim. . . here you go!

Paleo Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350

2-3 Banana's
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Honey

Blend these three ingredients together in your stand mixer then add:

1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Cup nut flour (almond, coconut etc)
Pinch of Salt

Blend together then pour into your baby loaf pan.   Bake for (we are guessing here) 20 minutes then check.  You want a toothpick to come out clean, the sides to begin to pull away from the pan and potentially for the top of the loaf to start to crack.  Once those happen - your loaf is done!

Enjoy!!!

Paleo Chicken Parm

This recipe comes to us straight from Melissa Nunn.  She said that her family tried it and it is taste tested and Nunn family approved!  We have no picture of it to post along with it though.  I will try to make it and get a photo. . . or if Melissa does *hint*hint*

Ingredients:
3 Chicken Breasts
1 Egg
1/2 C. crushed pork rinds
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 350. Combine pork rinds and seasoning in bowl.  Season to taste.  Beat egg in another bowl.  Dip chicken in egg then roll in rind mixture.  Lay this on sprayed baking dish.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Melissa fixed it with spaghetti sauce and vegetables.

Sounds Delish!!!

mmmmm......Let there be CAKE!!!! Paleo Style!!!! :D

So a couple weeks ago it was my husband's birthday and I wanted to make him a cake.  If you are friends with me on Facebook you may have seen pictures of my first attempt at a Paleo Layer Cake.  It went well.  I may have mentioned before that he comes from an Eastern European/Mediterranean background so the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SWEETS that he was raised on is part of his DNA at this point.  It's very hard to compete with an Old World Mother In-Law.  That being said, I revisited the cake this week and it came out even better.  I am 99.9% sure if you made this and served it to a non-paleo practitioner they would have no clue that white flour, processed sugar and butter were completely absent.  I must toot my own horn - I'm getting pretty good at this.  If I weren't on track to be an RN....  naw.... I have no interest in bakery or restaurant hours.  It would take all the fun out of it!

Ok enough with the Foreword.....On with the recipe!!

Oven to 350 (maybe some adjustment will be needed depending upon your elevation and oven.)
 
Ingredients:

Cake Batter:
6 Egg Yolks (Save your whites but separate them into a dish of 4 egg whites and 2 egg whites)  ALSO NOTE:  Room Temperature eggs work best.  Please plan ahead and take your eggs out of the fridge early.
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
       (These are your leavening agents...it is necessary to get a rise out of your cake.)
2 C. (or so) of blanched almond meal
1/4 C. Coconut Milk
1/4 C. (approx) Grape Seed Oil
Honey, Agave Nectar, Sucralose or chosen sweetener - to taste.
Cream of Tarter^^  (Note on Cream of Tarter:  You can also use Lemon juice or Lime Juice in place of cream of tarter to stabilize the egg whites.  It will discolor your eggs a bit and sometimes is not as firm of a stabilizer as the tarter but if you prefer all natural - there is your solution.)

Put Vanilla, egg yolk, powder, soda & salt in food processor. Blend. 
In double boiler or sauce pan with water and glass bowl - slowly heat coconut milk.  I don't know that this step is absolutely necessary but I do it because I like getting the coconut milk to a nice warm consistency.  Stir this frequently while it heats.  Add Almond meal/flour and grape seed oil to the processor.  Once the coconut milk is warm, add it to processor and process.  Here is where your baking instinct needs to come into play.  It should look rather like a batter at this point.  Not too runny...not too thick.  If that's the case - you are on your way!  Add your sweetener until  it is to your taste.  Remember you will have frosting which will also have about 1/4 C. of Honey or Agave so no need to feel like "all your sweet" needs to be here now.

Now for the second part:

In your stand mixer put the 4 egg whites and 1/4 tsp cream of tarter.   Beat the eggs until they have a nice, beautiful stiff set of peaks.  Once they have, transfer your batter to a large bowl.  (Sorry folks - lots of dishes here but that's part of Paleo - so get over it!  J/K!)  Once batter is in bowl, cut in the egg whites.  This will give your batter height. 

Cut two circles of parchment paper for the bottom of your round cake pans then add your batter in equal parts to the cake pans.  Put them in second to bottom level of oven and bake for approx. 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and sides pull away from the pan. 


Important: This batter has a tendency to fall!  Remember when you were a kid and in Mom's kitchen (or in some cases maybe Grandma's kitchen) and she said to you, "Don't you jump around!  My cake will fall!"  Well - Don't jump around!  The cake might fall!  Keep your husband/children/dogs/pogo stick out of the kitchen!!!

Once your cakes are done they should look something like this:

Let them COOL COMPLETELY before the next step.  I pulled mine out of the pan and let them cool outside the pan but you can go either way.  It's a matter of personal preference.  Once they are approaching cool you can begin on your frosting and berries if so desired.

Frosting:

2 room temperature egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tarter^^
1/4 C. Honey, Agave or other sweetener.  *Note: I do recommend using Honey or Agave as opposed to sucralose for the frosting because the molecules seem to work better but it's up to you.
1/3 C. water
Berries of your choosing (optional)

In stand mixer, add egg whites and cream of tarter.  In small sauce pan start heating sweetener and water.  Whisk frequently - you want small bubbles to form so it's almost boiling.  In the interim - start beating your eggs and cream of tarter again until stiff peaks form.  Once your liquid is nearly boiling, add it to the already beating mixture SLOWLY.   This will simultaneously cook the whites and make the frosting.  I'm no scientist - but it works and this is how to stabilize it all into frosting.  Once your frosting is done you are ready to assemble.

Put your first cake on a pan - add frosting - berries - frosting then second cake.  Take the rest of the frosting and frost the rest of the cake.  Add more berries on top however you find it pretty and appetizing and VOILA!!!!

Let them eat Cake!!!

I sincerely hope you enjoy!!!  Please let me know if you try it and like it or if you find a tweak that works well for you!  The fun in recipe creation is also in the sharing! 

Almond Cookies

So my husband comes from a culture where dessert is King!  That and a King get's dessert!  I do enjoy baking and am still determined that we can follow a paleo diet without him having to give up something that is so ingrained in him.  I have been playing around with this recipe for a couple of months.  I think I have hit upon the right combination when my husband returned after 2 weeks of TDY to say, "I've been dreaming about those almond cookies."  We have a winner! (I think!)  So here's how I make them:

Oven @ 350

1/4 c. grassfed butter
2 whole eggs or 3-4 whites
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
Honey *to taste*
Optional:  Molasses *to taste*  (Hubby and I really like it cuz it adds a smokey dark flavor but it's up to you!)
If you want to make it 100% no carb you can probably use Sucralose (brand name Splenda or Stevia or some other non-caloric sweetener.)
3-3.5 c. whole blanched almonds milled into almond meal*.

In food processor, put in butter (I melt mine slightly first), eggs, soda, powder & vanilla.  Blend.  Then add your sweetener to your taste.   Add your almond meal - probably 2.5 cups at first.  Check to see the consistency once blended.  The consistency needs to be as such that a cookie dough scooper can scoop it out and it will remain in a ball shape once on the cookie sheet.  If it loses it's shape, it will be a very flat but delicious cookie once you take it out.  If it's not thick enough add more almond.  Check the taste again to make sure it's where you like it.  Now scoop them out, a dozen per cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes.  Yum!!!

*I blanch my own almonds and use the ever wondrous magic bullet and flat blade to mill my almonds.  It's probably pretty approximate but if you are so lucky as to have purchased almond flour pre-milled, just judge by the cookie scoop method.  It should ultimately be stiff enough to stand alone before baking.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!  They should be crispy on the outside but stay nice and soft on the inside!!!!

Rachel Ray Margarita Chicken Marinade

and it caught my eye.  I usually don't watch Rachel Ray but add a snow day and a little channel surfing to the mix. . . voila!  This recipe looked really yummy!  I found it here on Rachel Ray but thought this marinade could translate to lots of different things.

Ingredients

• Juice of 2 limes
• Juice of 1/2 orange
• 2 shots tequila
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pasted
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons, half a palmful, cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander, half a palmful
• About 1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 2 pounds chicken breast cutlets or boneless, skinless

Whisk it together then marinate.  I was thinking of trying it for lots of different things. . . chicken, jerky, cow, pig. . . I think the translations could go on, 

Nut Berry Crunch

I have perfected it!  Or rather - made it significantly better!  Earlier I posted my first attempt which although tasty, was rather messy and not terribly portable.  I had wanted to make a snack that was - well - tasty and portable.  Plus the other "oven" version was much more wet.  Renee was saying that she would like to use this recipe as a cereal.  I think that would be a very do-able option for this.  It also works great to keep in the car for that moment when you need something quick and don't want to attempt to find something good in the circle K or 7-11. It was slightly time consuming - not in actual prep time but in actual dehydrator time. I LOVE my dehydrator as I have mentioned before.  Here is a link to my dehydrator.  It's so quick and clean up is super easy!!

What I did:

First - dehydrate your chosen berries.  I used from-frozen strawberries and blueberries I purchased at Costco.  Those who know me also know I Loooove Costco!  Anyway - partially dehydrate them.  Dehydrate them until they are mostly dehydrated but still slightly sticky.

Second - Take 2-3 egg whites.  Beat them until frothy.

Third - Add chosen sweetener to egg whites (Honey, Agave, Sucralose - whatever's your pleasure)  Beat until well mixed.

Fourth -  Add your chosen nuts to mixture.  I used pecans and almond slices.  Also fold in your berries.  Once you have a nice thick, sticky mixture, press this into one of your dehydrator trays with the mesh "Fruit roll" trays.  I also used a mesh tray on top as well.  It made it easy to press the mixture together so it would be more "compact" while drying.

Fifth - Set your dehydrator to halfway between the fruit and nut drying temp.

Sixth - Be patient.  It's worth the wait!  If you start in the morning, by evening you should have a nice crispy creation depending upon your dehydrator.

Enjoy!!!

Sweet Potato Chips

I did taste test these and they were *awesome!!*  Personally, I won't be snacking on them too much because of the tendency they would have to increase the size of my derrière.  That being said, my hubby loves 'em!  I brought a sample for Renee after the Saturday WOD and she thought they were pretty great.  She shared with Nishna - who then wanted more but it seems Renee had a convenient hearing loss at that moment as Nish called across the gym for more....I take that as a sign of a successful snack.

VERY EASY!!  A little time consuming.

Use either mandolin or slicer on food processor and slice up your sweet potatoes.  I also shredded with the shredder attachment a couple of potatoes to make like "Haystack Style" chips.  They make a great topping for salads or other things when you want a little crunch but don't want a crouton.  Slice them, dice them, however you like and put into your dehydrator.  (I LOVE MY DEHYDRATOR!  After much research I recommend NESCO brand...just FYI)

Once your chips have been dehydrated, take a serving at a time and flash fry them in grapeseed oil.  Grapeseed has a higher smoking point.    By flash fry I quite literally mean flash!  Heat up the oil - put in the chips - get your spoon and pull them out.  I have not let any in for longer than maybe 5 to maybe 10 seconds.  Put them on your plate with paper towels already set up for draining.  Lightly salt if you so desire or season with whatever herbs you would like and serve.  Very very tasty - minimally oily since they were dehydrated first.

A couple of notes: I tried salting them prior to dehydration and they came out like salt chips. Ick!  Not sure why...but it was bad news when I tried.  Without the flash fry (imho) they were just a little too starchy.  The flash frying seems to "take the edge off" or at least it did in my opinion.  Enjoy!!