Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a great alternative to traditional gluten and refined sugar-filled chocolate chip cookies.  Right now I'm watching This is 40 and it's at the part when the mom is getting rid of everything in their house with gluten and sugar.  How funny!   

Try these cookies... you'll love them!  

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-free and Refined Sugar-free)

Adapted from Against All Grain

1/2 c (4 oz) organic, grass grazed butter (I use a brand from a local dairy)
1/2 c coconut palm sugar (I use Madhava brand)
4 T (84 g) raw honey
4 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 c (360 g) almond meal
4 T (28 g) coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I use coarse kosher salt)
1 c enjoy life mini chocolate chips OR other dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Soften butter in microwave (melted is fine too).  Add coconut palm sugar, honey, vanilla, and egg and cream until fluffy.  Add dry ingredients (almond meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt) and beat until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate.  Scoop by medium scoopfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets and flatten gently.  Bake 10-12 min.  Cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes then remove to rack to cool the rest of the way.  Store in the fridge or freezer.  I recommend the freezer!  They stay perfectly chewy and can be eaten directly from the freezer.  This recipe makes around 30 cookies.

Pad Thai

This is a super flavorful, easy meal that Rem and I made the other night and both LOVED!  We adapted it from many paleo pad thai recipes we found on various blogs out there.  I suppose I could call my version "two tablespoon" pad thai since I added that much of almost every ingredient.  This would be an easy recipe to memorize!

Instead of the traditional noodles used as the basis of pad thai, I decided to try using zucchini in their place.  I've never tried making "noodles" with zucchini before because I thought I needed a vegetable spiralizer, but as I searched for pad thai recipes I noticed that many cooks just use a vegetable peeler to create noodles from the zucchini.  I tried it and it worked perfectly!  Ironically, we also made brown rice pasta to go along with the pad thai (which you can see in the picture).  Also pictured are some steamed green beans.  I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did!

Pad Thai

2 T coconut oil

2 large onions, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 T ginger, minced

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 T raw almond butter

2 T sriracha

2 T fish sauce (I used Dynasty brand, which is only made from anchovies and water)

2 T lime juice

3 medium sized zucchinis, sliced into thin strips with a vegetable peeler (I tried to make the strips about 1/4 inch wide by turning the zucchini each time I sliced)

1-2 lb. chicken, cubed and cooked in sesame oil (exclude if you want to make just the noodles)

Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or wok.  After the coconut oil melts, add onion, garlic, and ginger.  Saute for about 5-8 minutes or until fragrant and the onion has begun to soften, stirring around occasionally.  Stir in apple cider vinegar, almond butter, sriracha, fish sauce, and lime juice.  Add zucchini, cover wok, and cook about 10 min. or until zucchini is soft.  Take the lid off and stir occasionally during this time.  Then add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes more or until chicken is hot.  Enjoy!

Zucchini Hummus and Baba Ganouj

A few weekends ago it was SO beautiful outside that we tried out the rotisserie on the grill and made our own rotisserie chickens!  And by "we," I mean Rem.  I was just the assistant who did things like run to the store to get butcher twine.  (On a side note: The Kroger on East Broad St. in Columbus has wonderful employees.  I went there looking for twine and asked a manager if they sold it.  He said he was sorry, but no they did not.  He asked me to wait for just a minute, went into the back of the store, and came back with about 4 feet of butcher's twine from the meat department.  He just gave it to me for free!  I was so grateful that I did not have to run around to other stores looking for it, and that this kind man just gave me what I needed!)  Anyway... the chicken was more tender than a store bought rotisserie chicken and more flavorful too. Plus it didn't have any extra sugar or artificial flavorings.  It was quite the process figuring out how to use the rotisserie for the first time, but boy was it worth it.  

To go along with the chicken we made a big salad and some Mediterranean style dips.  Both were equally delicious and paired perfectly with the chicken and salad for a light meal on a day that felt like summer!  Is it summer yet?  I can't wait!

Zucchini Hummus

Originally from Amazing Paleo

4 large zucchini

3/4 c tahini

2 T olive oil

8 T lemon juice (or about 4 fresh lemons, juiced)

4 garlic cloves

1 T cumin

1 tsp coarse salt

1/4 tsp paprika

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.  I added the zucchini in about 3 batches because it wouldn't all fit in the food processor at first.  Refrigerate.  

Baba Ganouj

2 eggplants

1 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T tahini

2 more T extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp cumin

2 T lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

a few shakes of cayenne pepper

Cut eggplants in half and brush cut side with 1 T olive oil.  Place cut side down on foil lined baking sheets and roast at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until eggplants are very tender.  Let eggplants cool for about 10 minutes, then scoop out the flesh into food processor.  Add 2 T olive oil, tahini, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Process until smooth, then refrigerate.  

  

Favorite Chicken Salad

I eat a huge salad most days for lunch, and this one is one of my favorites!  I think I ate it every day for lunch this week.  It's definitely a staple in my diet.  The recipe below makes 1 very large salad (in the picture I actually just photographed about half of the salad).

Favorite Chicken Salad

spinach, a few large handfuls, torn into small pieces
baby carrots, chopped into small pieces
fresh sugar snap peas, chopped into small piece
1/4 c red onion, chopped fine
1/2 avocado, sliced into pieces
salsa, about 1/4 c
pepper, a few grinds
cumin (this makes it extra tasty!), a few shakes
4 oz. chicken breasts or thighs, cooked any way you like and chopped into bite size pieces

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Eat!  This makes 1 serving for me.

*Sometimes I swap out or add cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, or broccoli slaw.
I also swap out ground beef (heated) or tuna for the chicken.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Motivated by Rem's request for sweet potato biscuits, I turned to the blog world and found several different recipes out there that looked worth a try.  PaleOMG always has great paleo recipes, so I adapted her sweet potato biscuit recipe a bit to fit what sounded good to us!  The resulting biscuits were soft and doughy on the inside but firm on the outside.  They have a good balance of sweet (from the coconut flour and sweet potato) and savory (from the rosemary and garlic).  You could make these with endless combinations of spices to suit whatever flavors sound good to you!  Next time I may have to try the original recipe with bacon and chives... yum.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Adapted from PaleOMG

2 cups cooked sweet potato, cooled (I used 4 small/medium sweet potatoes)
3 eggs, whisked
1/4 c coconut oil, melted
3 T coconut flour
1 T dried rosemary, chopped (or use 2 T fresh rosemary, chopped)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt or 1/4 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Microwave or bake the sweet potatoes until they are cooked through.  Once they are cool, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl (and eat the skins!)  In a small microwave safe bowl, heat the coconut oil until melted.  Add oil to sweet potatoes and mix with a fork.  In the small bowl, whisk the eggs, then add those to the sweet potato and oil mixture, mixing again.  Next add coconut flour, rosemary, garlic powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper.  Mix all ingredients with a fork until well combined.  Scoop onto baking sheet with large cookie scoop (1/4 cup size).  This should make about 10-12 biscuits.  Bake for 25-27 minutes or until they are beginning to turn golden brown and become a little crisp on the outside.  Enjoy!  These store well in the refrigerator and are good cold or reheated in the microwave or toaster oven.  

Banana Bread Cookies

The first time I made these cookies I ate 3 right when they came out of the oven, and I think I've been eating about 2 a day since then.  I think I need to cut back... but hey, these are full of vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats from the bananas, eggs, and coconut, and I feel good when I eat them.  I'm going to keep buying ripe bananas so I can make them every time I run out!  Maybe eventually I'll get tired of eating them and try something new... but not yet.  I don't have much else to say here except for: these are good, you should try them.  

Banana Bread Cookies

Adapted from PaleOMG

1/4 c coconut butter (or any type of natural nut butter would probably work just as well!), warmed to a liquid state (I used Marantha Coconut Butter, which they carry at Kroger)
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 T coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 T cinnamon (or less if you're not a huge cinnamon fan)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, warm coconut butter in microwave on 50% setting, 30 seconds at a time until there are no more solid chunks.  (If you use nut butter, you may not need to microwave it at all).  
3. Add 3 bananas to the coconut butter and beat with electric mixer.  
4. Next, add the eggs and vanilla, beat again until smooth.  
5. Then add coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Beat again until smooth.  
6. With large cookie scoop (1/4 c), spoon batter onto baking sheet.  (It should make 10-13 cookies).  
7. Bake 22-25 minutes or until cookies are no longer jiggly.  Let cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!  These are great right out of the oven, refrigerated, or frozen (give them a few minutes before you try to bite in).  

Guacamole

There are tons of guacamole recipes out there but this is the version we've found to be our favorite.  It is adapted from many other recipes to suit our taste.  The spices really give this guacamole some zip!  Salt is an essential ingredient because it brings out the flavor of the avocados, tomatoes, and onion.  

Guacamole

3-4 avocados (save 1 or two of the pits!)
2 small tomatoes or 1 very large tomato, diced 
1 small red onion or 1/2 large red onion, diced
1/2 c cilantro, chopped fine (just eyeball it)
1/2 tsp coarse salt (sea salt or kosher salt)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 T lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash together.  I like my guacamole chunky, so I just give it a rough mash with a fork.  And that's it, you're done!  If you want it smoother, you could mash up or blend the avocado before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.  Throw 1 or 2 of the avocado pits into the bowl of guacamole.  This will help keep it green and fresh or up to 2 days after making it.