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.