Paleo Zucchini Brownies

I've tinkered with the recipe a little, and have arrived at one I really like.  I do believe you're going to love this.

Paleo Zucchini Brownies
inspired by fastpaleo

1 c. almond butter

1 ½ c. grated zucchini

1/3 c. honey         

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

½ t. nutmeg

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (or 6 T. cocoa + 2 T. coconut oil)

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into 9x9 baking pan, lined with parchment paper.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Birthday Dinner

On my kids' birthdays, I always make the dinner they ask for.  Actress specifically requested Orange Chicken and Strawberry Tarts.  I was determined to make them paleo.

I coated chicken pieces with beaten egg and coconut flour, then cooked them in coconut oil.  Instead of rice, the chicken was served over stir-fried veggies.  I simmered orange juice concentrate on the stove to reduce it to orange sauce.

For the strawberry tarts, I looked up a recipe for coconut flour crust.  The crusts were more cookie-like in texture, and very dry, but they worked well enough for this experiment.

I modified a recipe I found here.  If I were to make this again, I'd use less coconut flour (remember how the entire recipe for Cranberry Orange Bread had only 1/2 c. flour?).  I think it would make a good crumb crust recipe, especially if chopped pecans were added to it.  I'll have to try that sometime.

Coconut Flour Pie Crust
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 c. coconut flour
2 eggs
1 t. honey
pinch salt
1/2 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
1 T. water

Pulse ingredients together in food processor.

Line cupcake tin with parchment paper strips.  Scoop crumbly "dough" mixture into each cup, then press into shape.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes, until the edges start to brown.  Let cool.

 

Remove shells from cupcake tin.  Fill with chopped strawberries and serve.

Paleo Cranberry Orange Bread

This was an immediate hit with every single taste-tester.  Fantastic flavor and texture.  Less talk.  More eating.

Cranberry Orange Bread
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
1/4 c. canned coconut milk
1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. orange juice
1 T. orange zest
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. frozen cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together the wet ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Fold in the frozen cranberries.   Divide batter into two small loaf pans, lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 50 mins, or until loaves are set and pass the toothpick test.

One word about coconut flour -- a little goes a long way.  Okay, that was more than one word.  Note that there is only 1/2 c. of coconut flour in this recipe.  This is not a typo.  Do not be tempted to increase it, based on your understanding of baking with wheat flour.  Trust the recipe.

Where's the Beef?

For years, I've pondered on the ridiculous idea spouted by vegetarians that since a cow doesn't need to eat another cow in order to create protein for its body, then we shouldn't either.  Since cows get all the nutrients they need from plants, then we should also.

I have two rebuttals to that.

The first is:  that spinach you're eating didn't eat another spinach plant in order to produce the nutrients it provides in your diet.  It made them from sunlight, assisted by water and fertilizer.  Since plants get all the nutrients they need from sunlight, water, and poop, you should also.

The second is a little less snarky.  A cow is a slow-moving beast with an entirely different digestive system than a human.  In order to utilize the nutrients in the plant matter it ingests, it has to regurgitate its food repeatedly, sending that matter to each of four compartments in its stomach.

Cows are ruminants, animals with a unique digestive system that allows them to live on otherwise unpalatable foods by repeatedly regurgitating and rechewing them as "cud." The cud is then swallowed again and further digested by specialized bacterial, protozoal and fungal microbes that live in the rumen, one of the four compartments of a cow's stomach. (A Cow's Digestive System, www.teachersdomain.org)

If we are going to compare humans to creatures of the animal kingdom, it would be more logical to use felines.

"The internal anatomy of the cat is very similar to that of the human." (Features to Identify in the Cat, http://biology.clc.uc.edu)

A lion is a fast and powerful beast.  It makes strong muscles on a carnivorous diet.  Am I saying humans should be strict carnivores?  No.  I believe there is significant evidence to support the idea that humans were meant to be omnivores, able to metabolize both animal flesh and plant matter.  Show me a lean, strong, fast cow and I'll be willing to eat my words.  In the meantime, please pass the steak.

Paleo Banana Bread

I've been baking again!  Thanks to the wonderful Elana for this fantastic recipe.  If you compare her pictures to mine, you'll notice that her bread is a finer crumb and a lighter color.  This is because she's using blanched almond flour, and I'm using non-blanched almond meal (which I make myself).  It still tastes great.

I also started experimenting with coconut flour, since I found some at my local health food store.  I'll have another bread recipe for you later that uses just coconut flour (one of my main taste-testers is sensitive to almonds).

Paleo Banana Bread
3 bananas, mashed
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1 T. honey
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
1 3/4 c. almond meal
1/4 c. coconut flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pulse together the wet ingredients in the food processor.  Add the flours, salt, baking soda, and combine.  Pour into two mini loaf pans lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 50 - 60 mins.

Happy (Paleo) Valentine's Day!

I have become something of a foodie over the last few years, and more especially since discovering Paleo/Primal.  Foremost on the mind of the not-yet-initiated:  can a Paleo couple enjoy the delights of a romantic dinner?  Can healthy also be decadent?  Read on, fellow cavepeople...

Instead of going out to eat, or one of us serving the other, Superman and I decided to make dinner together for Valentine's Day.  We had no other plans for the evening; food was our main event.  Our appetizer and our main dish were untried recipes for me.  Everything was beyond our expectations.  Our Valentine's menu:

Appetizer:  Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Dates (don't be squeamish.  Be adventurous, your taste buds will thank you. We couldn't get enough of these, and will definitely be making them again!)

Main course:  Plum-Basil Chicken, Oven Roasted Asparagus, Tossed Salad with Strawberries

Dessert:  I considered making a coconut milk custard, but we were so full from dinner, we actually passed on dessert.  On Valentine's Day.  Weird, I know.

Enough with the talking.  Recipes and pictures!

Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Dates
10 dates, pitted
almond butter
5 bacon slices, cut in half

Preheat oven to 400.

Carefully cut down one side of each date and gently open.

Fill with almond butter and press to close.

Wrap with a half slice of bacon and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until desired doneness (we prefer crispy bacon to the wiggly variety).

Plum-Basil Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt
1-2 plums
several leaves of fresh basil
coconut oil
white wine
crushed almonds

Sprinkle chicken breasts liberally with kosher salt, let sit (refrigerated) for several hours. Preheat oven to 375.  Melt a couple tablespoons coconut oil in the bottom of a glass baking dish.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Slice plums VERY thinly and overlap down the length of the chicken breast. Snip basil leaves and sprinkle evenly over the sliced plums.

Roll chicken breasts, carefully keeping the plum slices tucked inside.  Carefully coat the chicken rolls with coconut oil and set them together in the baking dish.  Drizzle white wine around the rolls, then sprinkle crushed almonds on each roll.  Bake for 30 - 60 minutes, depending on thickness of chicken breasts.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken

I'm starting to think about Valentine's Day.  It's about two weeks away, and it can't be here soon enough.

So I'm trying out main dish recipes.  I don't mind experimenting with an appetizer or sometimes even a dessert on the night of a special dinner, but I want the main dish to be to DIE for.  Last year I did a Julia Child rendition of Tarragon Chicken (back in the pre-Paleo days), and it was amazing.  I'm pretty sure I can adapt that one for Paleo.  I promise, I'll get to that.

Tonight, I'm testing a Paleo adaptation of Spinach Stuffed Chicken.  If you do a quick google search, you'll find that most stuffed chicken recipes include a good amount of cheese or sour cream or mayonnaise.  (I haven't mastered the art of homemade mayo yet.)  I found a recipe that looked easily adaptable here, and dug in to the fun.

First, instead of pounding the chicken breasts, this recipe recommends simply cutting them horizontally, and then "stuffing" and assembling them, sort of sandwich-style.  I wanted the look of a stuffed roll, so I took my amazingly sharp knives that Superman bought me for Christmas and carefully cut the chicken breast without going all the way through, like this:

The stuffing is a sauteed mixture of onion, garlic, and spinach.

Divide the stuffing and distribute on the chicken breast, rolling from the wider end to the narrower end.

Drizzle with melted fat of your choice, and sprinkle with almond meal and dried rosemary.  Bake as directed.

 

Spinach Stuffed Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

sprinkle of ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 big handfuls fresh spinach, chopped

4 medium skinless, boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat and split horizontally

1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup dry white wine

Preheat oven to 375º.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, oregano, salt, red pepper, and black pepper; cook and stir until onion is soft, then add chopped spinach. Remove from heat and set  aside.

Pour white wine in the bottom of a 9x11 glass baking dish.

Cut the chicken breasts almost all the way in half horizontally using a very sharp knife.  Divide spinach filling evenly among breasts and roll up from wide end to narrow end.  Place rolls in the baking dish.

Drizzle each chicken roll with butter or coconut oil; sprinkle with almond meal, and sprinkle with dried rosemary.  Bake for 60 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Remove chicken from oven; let rest for 5 minutes before serving. To serve, cut each breast into 3 or 4 slices on the diagonal to expose the stuffing, or simply leave each portion whole.

Excellent teamed with Pecan Cilantro Quinoa and Romaine-Blueberry salad.