We found a cupcake recipe!

This weekend we had a birthday party for my nephew. My sweet mom made a special gluten free cupcake for Eva to have at the party. We were just hoping to have a simple cupcake to give her, but this recipe was amazing! So much better than other almond flour cupcakes. It was rich and chocolaty. Many of us easily preferred these to the traditional cupcakes.

The original recipe is for a cake, but it worked perfectly for a 9 cupcakes. Just be sure to decrease the cooking time.

Gluten Free Almond Flour Chocolate Cake from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook
Ingredients
2 cups blanched almond flour (we almost always use Honeyville)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (recipe called for 1/4 c cocoa)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 1/2 TB vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 inch cake pan and dust with almond flour. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour into cake pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 1 hour. Serve.

This is a cake recipe, but it made 9 PERFECT cupcakes. For cupcakes we cooked it for 30 minutes.

Puerto Rican Beef

Have ground beef thawed in the fridge and no real plan?  This is your recipe!  That was the case a few weeks ago when our out-of-town Nutty Mama, Joy, was in town for a few days and I was lamenting at 4:00 about what to cook for dinner.  She told me about this quick meal from Everyday Paleo and I had everything for it.   I made some cauliflower rice to go with it and it was fabulous.  Thank you Joy for saving dinner that night and introducing us to this delicious quick dish! 🙂

Puerto Rican Beef

1 lb grass fed ground beef
1 bunch kale chopped
1 white onion sliced
1/2 of a green, red, and yellow bell pepper sliced
1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
Pinch of saffron threads (optional)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
3 sweet potatoes
1 ripe avocado

In a large skillet brown the ground beef.  Add the bell peppers, onions, and olive oil and saute until the onions and peppers are tender.  Add all of the spices and mix well.  Add the kale and green olives, continue cooking stirring often until the kale is tender (about 4-5 minutes.  Serve over mashed sweet potatoes with a side of sliced avocado.  To quickly prepare the sweet potatoes, peel and quarter the potatoes and cook in a pressure cooker for 12 -14 minutes.

Enjoy!

Salmon Marinade

Fish has been on our menu the past couple of weeks as we try to incorporate it more into our diet. This has been tricky in the past because none of us have loved fish, but recently have found several recipes that we have really enjoyed and actually look forward to eating again!  The health benefits of fish are great, and the choice of fish this week was Wild Caught Salmon. I found it on allrecipes.com as I searched for a recipe on my phone while in the grocery store. Can anyone relate?! No clue how our mama’s made it, especially impulsive, unorganized mama’s like me! Anyways, it looked good, healthy and easy, I like all of those and it had great reviews, so I went with it and it turned out fabulous!

Wild Caught Salmon and Roasted Kale and Carrots

 

Salmon Marinade

(found on allrecipes.com)

6 Tbl EVOO

2 minced garlic

1 tsp basil

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp Sea Salt (next time I will use a little less)

1 Tbl Lemon Juice

1 Tbl chopped Parsley

Let marinate for an hour, then put fish in aluminum foil and cover with marinade and fold sides of foil together.

Cook in Pyrex dish 375 for 30 minutes!

Kale and Carrots

Toss in EVOO with a sprinkle of sea salt, the kale and penny size cut carrots, and roast on 425 for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Whole30 Week 1 Meal Plan

Our family is starting another Whole30 today (which is simply really clean Paleo eating with no treats for 30 days).  We like to do this every 4-5 months as a sort of cleanse/recharge. This will be my first time to do a Whole30 while pregnant, so I’m interested to see how it will be for me. Actually, I was doing a Whole30 when I got pregnant, and made it to about day 24 before I started spending my days over the trash can 🙂 Anyway – my husband and I are very strict while doing Whole30 (we don’t have any “cheats”, cut out most condiments, cream from coffee, etc.). Our kids eat what we do when we’re home (which is most of the time), but I don’t worry about it if they get a treat from Mimi or whatever.

So I thought I would post our dinner menu for the week throughout this month.

M: Roasted Chicken, our favorite carrots, green beans (just got carrots and green beans from the farmer’s market. YUM!)
T: Mini burger (in lettuce wraps), guacamole with raw veggies, roasted sweet potato fries
W: Grilled Chicken Salad (see below)
Th: Rosemary Bacon Chicken, roasted broccoli, carrot and cauliflower mash
F: Greek Meatballs, asparagus, roasted veggies (squash, mushrooms, onions)
S: Leftovers
S: Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs, bacon, veggie sauté (we like kale, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and red peppers), may make some almond flour muffins for the kids)

Roasted Chicken
1 Whole Chicken (about 4 lbs)
EVOO
Salt/Pepper

Wash and dry chicken then place in a shallow roasting pan. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper on the inside and outside of the chicken. Roast at 450 degrees for about an hour (maybe 1:15 depending on size). Let rest about 10 minutes before serving

Grilled Chicken
I’ve been marinating and grilling some chicken breasts at the beginning of the week to have for lunches. This is the best marinade ever. Seriously.

Juice of 1 lemon
1 T mustard
1/3 c coconut aminos (soy sauce sub)
1/3 c olive oil
6 cloves garlic

Put all ingredients in a large ziplock and let chicken marinate at least 4 hours, but I prefer overnight. Grill.

Our Favorite Salad (right now 🙂 )
Grilled Chicken
Nitrate/sugar free pepperoni
Red pepper
Red onion
Cucumber
Hard boiled eggs
Over a bed of baby kale and spring lettuce mix

Dressing

½ c EVOO
½ c white wine vinegar
1 T dry basil
1 T dry oregano
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
½ t each salt/pepper

Shake in a jar. Keeps well in fridge.

What are you eating this week?

Southwest Meatloaf

Meatloaf gets a bad rap, but we love it at our house! I got the original recipe for this Southwest version from PaleOMG (and have tweaked it a little for our taste) and it is so good. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to regular meatloaf – I’ve made it twice in the last 6 days!

Here’s how I make it to feed my family of 4 (with enough for lunch the next day):

In a food processor, finely chop:
1 red bell pepper
1 orange or yellow bell pepper
1 Purple onion
4-6 cloves garlic

Saute the veggies in 1 T coconut oil for about 10 minutes or until the liquid is gone and the veggies are getting some color.

In a large bowl mix:
2 lbs grass-fed ground beef
1/2-3/4 c almond flour (I was out and just ground up some blanched almonds in my food processor)
2-3 T hot sauce
2 T chili powder
2 t paprika
1/2 t each sea salt and pepper
the sauteed veggies

Toss the mixture with a fork, being careful not to “knead” the meat, but mixing until just incorporated.

I form 2 loaves on a sheet pan, but you can put them in loaf pans if you’d like. Bake 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. We like it with lots of guacamole on top.

Here’s how I make guac:

2 ripe Haas avocados
juice of 1 lime
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 c minced purple onion
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1 tomato, chopped
s/p to taste

Mix gently with a fork. We like ours chunky, so I don’t mix it much.

We ate it this week with mashed sweet potatoes (just boiled sweet potatoes mashed with coconut oil, slat, pepper, and a splash of heavy cream), and sauteed green beans.

Enjoy!

Tropical Salsa

With summer coming I have found the perfect salsa to top our fish and chicken with. It is easy to whip up and even my three-year old, who doesn’t like tomatoes,  gobbled it up. Last night we topped it over our fish and today I plan on eating it over a salad with diced chicken for lunch (it would also be a good addition to lettuce turkey wraps)! We will be keeping this on hand through-out the hot summer months as it is very refreshing. Enjoy!!

1lb Tropical Fruit (fresh pineapple, strawberries, kiwi..I left the kiwi out this time)

1/2 cup Grape Tomatoes

2 tablesppons Fresh Cilantro (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Mix together!

Italian sausage with grapes and broccoli

Yes, this sounds like a strange combination, but I wanted to try it for a few reasons.  First, it was the only paleo-ish recipe in the recent Cooking Light.  Second, if I add fruit into any dish, my kids think it is a special treat.  And finally, I think it is just fun to try new recipes.  Our whole family liked this combination much more that we thought, and will be adding it to the permanent recipe book.

Italian Sausage with Broccoli and Grapes:

(adapted from Cooking Light)

What it took for 2 adults and 2 kids:

*2 Tbs. oil/fat of choice, divided
* 1 lb broccoli, cut into 2-inch pieces
* 3 Italian sausage links, casings removed
* 3 cups green grapes, halved
* 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/4th cup white wine (or water)
* 1 tsp red wine vinegar
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat 1 Tbs. oil in a medium skillet over medium high. Add the broccoli and saute until crisp-tender, 3 minutes. Throw in a little pinch of salt and pepper. Remove from pan and cover to keep warm in a bowl.

Back in the skillet add the sausage. Break up with a wooden spoon and saute until browned all over. If you need to add a smidge more oil, that’s fine. Toss in the grapes and another pinch of salt and pepper, cook 2 more minutes. Remove from skillet and add to the broccoli bowl.

Back in the skillet, add the last Tbs. oil. Toss in the onions and cook until they start to soften, 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the wine and cook 2 minutes, until most liquid has evaporated. Then add the broccolini and sausage mixture back to the skillet. Toss in the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Nutty “granola” Bites

One of my favorite pre-paleo snacks was granola. I’ve tried several paleo versions of granola, but they’re always really crumbly and hard to transport. So, here is a yummy, portable granola-y treat.

I’ve made these with all different combinations of nuts and seeds, so feel free to use what you like!

1/2 c pumpkin seeds
3/4 c sunflower seeds (raw)
1 1/2 c coconut flakes – I use these big flakes and they make it so yummy!
1 c sliced almonds
1 1/2 c pecans, roughly chopped
1 c almond meal (I like meal better then flour here)
1/2 c melted coconut oil
1/8 – 1/4 c honey
1/8 c maple syrup
1 T vanilla
cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 325.

In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix really well – making sure all the dry get coated.

Grease mini muffin tins with a little bit of coconut oil. Fill tins with the granola mix.

Bake for 10 minutes then check on them and rotate pan. Bake 5-10 more minutes until the tops are starting to brown. Let cool completely in pan. You’ll have to use a knife to help them out. I often bake them in a silicone muffin tin and the pop out very easily.

You can also just make this on a sheet pan with parchment paper. Just bake for about 20 minutes, stirring it half way through.

These make a great snack for dirty handed little ones…

Enjoy!

Paleo-fied Sloppy Joes

One of the biggest transitions to cooking paleo (and real food in general) is it usually take some time and labor. At least  more time than dumping a box of noodles and a can of cream of whatever soup into a pan! For a busy mom, this is an adjustment. So I’m always on the look out for a quick weeknight dinner that doesn’t compromise on nutrition – or taste!

Here is just that kind of meal. Quick, easy, yummy, and still full of veggies, Paleo-fied Sloppy Joes.

Another plus about this meal is it has lots of veggies hidden in it. I love that my 2 year old who is in a picky phase right now asked for seconds and thirds tonight!

1-2 lbs grass fed ground beef
4-5 carrots
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
16 oz tomato sauce
3 T tomato paste (I use the double concentrate in a tube)
1 t dry mustard powder
1 t pepper
1-2 t sea salt
1 t chili powder
1 t paprika
2 T honey
pinch allspice
pinch cloves
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T coconut aminos (soy sauce substitue)

Brown ground beef. Set aside.

To save time, I grated the carrots in my food processor. Then I chopped the onion, garlic, and red pepper in there too. Next I tossed all the veggies in the same pan the meat was in (I used the fat from the meat – since it’s grass fed, it’s full of vitamins – and I added a little coconut oil to the pan). Saute the veggies for about 10 minutes until soft and the liquid is gone from the pan.

Then add the meat back in with the rest of the ingredients. Put the top on your pan and let simmer on low for about 15 minutes – stirring so that it won’t burn. Then longer this sits, the better it is but it is also great if you only have 30 minutes to cook.

I served this with a bunch of roasted veggies (squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onions – tossed in coconut oil, salt, and pepper and roasted until brown. Then I tossed in some fresh basil before I served it). You could also try serving the meat over grilled portabella mushrooms, or roasted acorn squash, or baked sweet potatoes.

Enjoy!