Chicken Pot Pie (Paleo)

What?!  A Recipe?!  Kate gave up writing recipes, didn't she?  Well, I did.  But sometimes, you just stumble upon something so perfect and a recipe just appears.  Those times, it would simply be selfish not to share.  This time, it was pot pie.  I've been making pot pie fairly often since going paleo and I nailed the filling from the start.  It's perfectly creamy magic.  But, I've struggled finding the perfect paleo crust.

Another Week, Another Plan

I survived a week, y'all!  Actually, week 1 of my new meal planning went surprisingly well.  My fridge was full to bursting at the beginning, but by the end, I just had a few sets of leftovers that I've actually worked into this week's plan.  The prepped lunches and breakfasts made each morning move very smoothly.  Sometimes I was extra lazy at home and then packed up my breakfast to lug to the office too.

Dinner wasn't a perfect system.  I came home, we went for a swim, took a shower, then started prep and I pulled off some tasty meals.  But I still found myself wanting to plop on the couch after dinner rather than clean up the fresh mess I had made.  That part is simply going to come down to sheer willpower... and sometimes, I will be going to bed with a messy kitchen.  But hey, that's life. 

Cinnamon Carrot Soup (Paleo + AIP + Low-FODMAP + Whole30)

I eat a lot of carrots. It helps that I can get a 5lb organic bag at the store for 6 bucks. Plus, now that I am trying out being strict low-FODMAP AND low carb, my list of veggies has shrunk significantly. Carrots are a good compromise. They feel like a starchy vegetable, and are very versatile, as you may have noticed if you came to me from Instagram or TwoGrand and see carrots on my plate in some fashion many days. So, it makes sense that it was the ingredient I turned to when I was craving comfort food that met my current restrictions.

Don't forget your floor cleaner!

Browsing through some of my cookbooks, which I often do when needing inspiration (or gratuitous food porn), I saw a lot of soups made from starchy orange veggies. See where I'm going with this? 

Tada, carrot soup! I threw this together on a whim one night, knowing that cinnamon and carrots were a winning flavor combination.  Fortunately, with just a few, simple ingredients, it was easy to reproduce.  Cinnamon makes this soup extra warming and comforting, but so many flavors work with the sweetness of carrot. Try it with ginger or curry for something a little different. 

Cinnamon Carrot Soup (Paleo + AIP + Low-FODMAP + Whole30)

4 cups chopped carrots (or about 10 small-medium carrots... remember guys, I never deal in absolutes, so don't worry about this too much)
4 cups bone broth (I used beef, so if that works, anything will!)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or ghee
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Chop your carrots, don't worry about peeling them, especially if they are organic, and cover with the broth in a pot on the stove.

Bring to a boil, then walk away to watch tv and forget what you're doing until the carrots are almost mush (or, well, not really, just boil them until soft).

Using either an immersion blender if your carrots are really soft or a food processor, puree the carrots and broth until smooth.

Add olive oil, cinnamon and salt and blend well.

Adjust thickness by adding more broth if you wish a thinner soup and adjust seasonings to taste.  The cinnamon flavor will be light, but I like to leave it so and then garnish with extra cinnamon, so you still get the full flavor, without losing the vibrant orange color!

Serve hot or cold, with lots of cinnamon!

Happy eats!

Chocolate Covered Orange (Paleo + Low-FODMAP)

I'm alive, I swear!  I've been sort of subsistence living lately, due to lack of energy, motivation and passion.  I've cooked either basic/boring food, cooked recipes by other people or just plain made the fiancé cook for me while I adjusted to a new work schedule and dealt with the fact that my body was not cooperating with me.

But, I've embarked on a new journey and with it came new passion and energy!  AIP was a great stepping off point in my healing journey, but through it all, I realized that there were other things wrong with me that AIP wasn't fixing.  I've been having indigestion issues and my acne breakouts have travelled up towards my forehead (my chin and jawline are practically clear though, which means my hormones are in a MUCH better place than they've been the last few years!), and my depression has worsened, despite the fact that I spent my winter somewhere relatively warm with lots of sun.  I decided to take on a low-FODMAP plan a couple weeks ago, and then I finally matched up my symptoms, thanks to some help, to potentially simply low stomach acid.  So now I am working on reducing my carbs, increasing my acid intake, plus I will soon start supplementing with HCL.

Sounds fun, right?  Well, it gets better.  I've taken on strict low-FOPMAP paleo, plus no eggs or dairy and NOW I'm dropping my carbs.  So I have to get really creative with comfort food.  Because, I assure you, I need comfort food.

So, this was a really fun discovery.  It is NOT extremely low carb (I said working on, not perfect, ok?), but it is free from added sugars, low-FODMAP and extremely easy and delicious!  I wanted chocolate.  Badly.  But without maple syrup, honey, or any sort of sugar, how could that be?  Well, it turns out that bitter chocolate encasing something sweet taste like sweet, delicious chocolate!

Magic

Chocolate Covered Orange (Paleo + Low-FODMAP, small batch)

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 navel orange, peeled and broken into segments


Simply melt your coconut oil and mix thoroughly with the cocoa powder.  It will be thick but pourable and only mildly coconutty.  More cocoa powder will make it less coconut flavored, but thicker.  Dealer's choice!

Peel your orange and pull into segments (try not to butcher the peeling and be "forced" to eat most of the orange because it's now to ugly to show off).

Two choices here:  either add the orange segments to a bowl or plate and drizzle the chocolate over, or dip the segments in chocolate and place on a wax paper lined dish to harden.
If you store your orange in the fridge like I often do, the chocolate will harden almost immediately. If not, and you want hardened chocolate, pop it in the fridge for a few minutes to solidify.

Yes, I did butcher my orange and only got 5 pieces.  Don't judge me.  

Store in the fridge for hard chocolate (if you don't eat it all right away).

Change it up!  This would work with any tasty, sweeter fruit like bananas or strawberries.  Try it with carob powder to make it AIP!

Cavemanwich Sloppy Joes (Paleo + Whole30)

I don't know about you guys, but I grew up eating Sloppy Joes made with ground beef (or ground soy "meat" once my parents went vegetarian, eiw) mixed with a can o' Manwich on white sandwich buns and loving every messy bite.  It's funny how, even after you clean up your diet and eliminate all those artificial ingredients, you can still crave that exact comforting taste.

Turns out, you can still have those delicious, childhood flavors without all the high fructose corn syrup and fillers.  What?  Real food can be just as delicious as artificially flavored, engineered-to-be-addictive, laboratory food?  Yes.  I'll prove it.

I've added back nightshades in the last few weeks and, boy, did I miss them.  There are just some things that I cannot replicate... YET.  I plan to try. Believe me.  So, for now, I present you all the comforting flavors of your childhood in all their nightshade-y glory.  Though please, cross your fingers and toes that I'll have a follow up in a week or two of these same flavors WITHOUT all their nightshade-y glory.  Yes, I want AIP Manwich.  Cus I can... I hope.

Oh, and it's Whole30 friendly.  You're welcome.


Cavemanwich

1/2 tbsp cooking fat (I used bacon grease, but anything will work)
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 lb ground beef
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2-1 cup water
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
more salt + pepper to taste
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (ACV) - optional

Melt your cooking fat in a sauté pan over medium high heat.
Once hot/melted, add your chopped onions and cook until translucent, approximately 3 minutes.
Add minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, another minute or until fragrant (mmm, garlicky goodness).
Crumble in your ground beef and cook until browned.
Add all remaining ingredients (starting with 1/2 cup water) and reduce heat to medium low and simmer until desired thickness is reached (15-30 minutes), stirring regularly.
Add more salt and any pepper to taste.
Serve over baked sweet potato, plantains, greens or even bread if you're feeling frisky.

Note: if your mix has reduced, but the flavor is still tomatoey, add additional water and continue to simmer.
Note 2: I leave the ACV as optional because, though it makes a more authentic taste, we actually like it best without.  Try it both ways or start without, taste after its cooked down for a bit, then add it and simmer some more if you feel it needs it.  Taste is so individual, isn't it?

I particularly liked it served over a baked sweet potato with a side of lemony baby kale.  Like childhood, but better.

Pumpkin BBQ Sauce 2 ways (Paleo + AIP + Whole30)

Going AIP meant giving up a LOT of the sauces I am most used to: ketchup, mustard and mayo, to start, but then also tomato and barbecue sauce. Talk about rough, right?

Fortunately, pumpkin is kinda a miracle food. Once roasted and puréed, it has a texture similar to tomato sauce and it's light in flavor on its own, so it can be enhanced however you want. 

Through my Whole30, I played with a few variations of pumpkin BBQ sauce, and they were all tasty in their own right: pumpkiny and sweet and a little reminiscent of pumpkin, but I REALLY wanted something that would mimic tomato based sauce. Finally, after my Whole30, I found the missing ingredient. Molasses. It adds that depth that allows the flavor to caramelize and taste just like what I remember of sweet and tangy barbecue. 

Unfortunately, molasses isn't Whole30, but that's ok, my Whole30 modifications may not imitate tomato based BBQ, but the sauce is still a fun, pumpkiny flavor, which might be interesting and different for those of you who maybe CAN have tomatoes, but want to try new flavors!

Pumpkin BBQ Sauce (Whole30 friendly, AIP, no sugar added)

1 can pumpkin

1 cup apple juice
1/2-2/3 cup apple cider vinegar (ACV)
3 medjool dates (pitted and soaked in water for 1 hour)
2 tbsp coconut aminos
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

First, pit and soak your dates. It's simple, cut out the pits by slicing down the side and pulling them out, then place in a bowl or cup and cover with cold water.  Ignore them for an hour (or forget like me and let them sit for 2-3, it's all good).
Add your dates and 1/4 cup of the soaking water to a blender or food processor (both will work, but a food processor may not get them as smooth).  Blend into as smooth a paste as you can.
Add the date paste and all remaining ingredients to a pot, cover loosely (do not seal, you water it to be able to reduce slightly, but pumpkin bubbles and POPS like crazy, so to spare a huge mess and burned skin, definitely cover).
Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat to simmer for up to one hour, stirring (carefully to avoid being splattered) occasionally.  Adjust seasoning (and vinegar) as needed as you go.  This will not get very dark and will look similar to plain pumpkin puree, but it should be tangy and mildly sweet.  If it reduces too much, add water.

I recommend letting it sit overnight in the fridge before using it to allow the flavors to meld further.

Molasses Pumpkin BBQ Sauce (AIP + Paleo)

1 can pumpkin
1 cup apple juice
2/3 cup ACV
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Simply mix all ingredients in a pot, cover loosely.
Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat to simmer for up to an hour, carefully stirring occasionally.
Adjust seasoning as needed and add water if it reduces more than you like.

The molasses in this version balances out the vinegar nicely, which is why I use more ACV and adds depth and color.  It reminds me so much of regular BBQ, but slightly less acidic.  My boyfriend actually likes it better than the usual stuff.

Excuse the mostly empty one.  Girl's gotta eat!

Both work wonderfully for anything calling for BBQ sauce, but my particular favorite is baked BBQ chicken thighs.  I use this recipe by Ree Drummond to go with my sauce: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/06/oven-bbq-chicken/

Mmm, crispy, BBQy goodness

Blueberry "Yogurt" Bites (Paleo + AIP)

I discovered during my AIP Whole30 that the hardest thing to eat enough of was fat. I am a nut butter addict, so I had no problems beforehand because whenever I was a bit hungry, I'd pop a spoonful (or three...) of almond or cashew butter in my mouth and go on my merry way.  Don't ever expect me to do that with coconut butter.  Just... no.

Without nuts and seeds to munch for an easy fat source, I'm down to coconut (milk/oil/butter), olives, avocados, bacon and oils/fats.  However, I don't believe cooking my food in an oil/fat really does much and I'm not a huge salad person.  I can devour loads of olives and avocado, but I need some variety in my diet! Also, still not a fan of coconut.  I know, I'm working on it, but I don't think I will ever LOVE the stuff.  So, I disguise it.

Now that my Whole30 is over, I don't have to worry so much about SWYPO and can focus totally on nutrition, regardless of the vehicle.  Therefore, I came up with these little morsels.  All of the fats in coconut, almost none of the taste without a bunch of sugar.  Boom.



Blueberry "Yogurt" Fat Bomb Bites

3/4cup fresh blueberries
1/3cup coconut oil, melted
1/4cup coconut milk
1/4cup coconut butter, softened*

Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse until well mixed. Do not worry about the blueberries being totally smooth, that's up to you.
Scoop dollops into a silicon ice cube or candy tray or a paper lined muffin tin.  I used a mini muffin tin for tiny bites.
Refrigerate 30 minutes or until solid.  Store in a sealed container in the fridge.
Keeps for at least 3-4 days, freeze any you don't expect to consume by then.

Try different fruits!  Almost any fresh fruits should work, though the tiny seeds in raspberries and the like may be obnoxious.

*I haven't made these without coconut butter yet, but you may be able to skip by increasing the coconut milk and oil.

Zombie blog!

Guess what?  I'm alive!  

It's been nearly a year since I was actually here and thinking about food and recipes, versus just whining about life and the suffering of a Whole30 (no, really).  Lots has happened since then and I'm in a whole new place, mentally, physically and emotionally.  I'm finding my passion for food returning.  

In honor of this moments feeling, I wanted to bring back this blog and get back to SHARING my passion and my food.  I also wanted it to be special.  I am NOT a baker; I'm not good at it and I usually don't like it.  I've also realized today that I am no good at cake decorating, but we'll talk about that later.  But, celebrations call for cake, right?  So, I made a damned cake.  And it's tasty, even if it's not nearly as pretty as it was in my head.  Best part?  It's all real food.

Now hold on, first, I feel a rant coming on.  I WILL call this treat real food, but I will NOT call it "healthy".  I really hate the word "healthy" in terms of treats and desserts.  I see it happens a lot, particularly from Paleo bloggers or people who "clean-up" favorite treats.  While I love those people and their creations, I say desserts are more than just the sum of their parts.  Sure, they could be made with the exact same ingredients that you might eat separately on a day to day basis (in my case: eggs, plantain and nut butter, which makes a great breakfast!), but when you put them all together in a specific way, it creates a whole new flavor and texture that your brain will respond to differently.  This is more of an emotional health than physical. It creates an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food if you just live on two ingredient banana pancakes.  Am I babbling?  Probably.  But did I make a point?  I hope so.  I only say this to clarify that I will never refer to a dessert/treat as "healthy" and you should not consider them a substitute for an actual meal (except for those days where you decide to have cake for dinner... or breakfast... that totally happens).  You won’t see many desserts from me, I want to focus on whole, healing foods.  But, everyone deserves a treat now and then.

Rant.  Done.  I think.  Anyway, those of you from my absolute favorite app TwoGrand (seriously, check it out if you haven't), might recognize this cake as being very similar to the plantain mug cake that's become a recent craze (also seriously, I feel famous, no lie).  You are correct, I doubled the recipe and added more sweet (who don't like sweet?!) cus this is a dessert, gosh darn it!

I used a 8” cast iron skillet to bake my cake since I don’t have a full size cake pan.  It was the best choice I ever made, except that I really needed twice as much cake for a pan that size, it’s too thin for layering.  Either way, cooking in cast iron is a dream.

Festive Chocolate Plantain Cake with Pumpkin "Cream Cheese" Frosting

Cake

1 ripe plantain (yellow or black)

2 eggs

2 tbsp nut/seed/peanut butter (dealer’s choice)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2-3 tbsp honey/maple syrup

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend/thoroughly mix all ingredients, except baking soda.  Adjust sweet and salt to taste (it’s better if it’s a touch sweeter than you want, some of it bakes out).

Mix in baking soda.  

Grease 8” cake pan/skillet with butter or coconut oil (8” should make a thick enough cake you can cut it in half and add a middle cake layer, 10” makes a thin cake) and pour in batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I was so excited by this part.  Yay, cast iron!

Pumpkin “Cream Cheese” Frosting

1 cup raw cashews (soaked 4+ hours)

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp coconut butter (coconut oil could work in place)

3 tbsp maple syrup/honey

1tsp cinnamon

salt to taste

Soak your cashews a minimum of 4 hours, up to overnight.  Refrigerate if soaking beyond 4 hours. Drain ands rinse.

Add cashew, pumpkin puree, water and lemon juice to a food processor or high speed blender, blend until smooth.  Add salt to taste, it should be tasting like pumpkin cream cheese now.  

Add the remaining ingredients and blend until fully incorporated.

Tada! You have frosting!

When cake is cool enough, remove from the pan. If you made a thick cake, cut it into two pieces to allow a layer of frosting in the center.  

Frost the darned thing.  Use lots of frosting.  Duh.

Optional Chocolate Ganache for decorating

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup maple syrup/honey

2/3 cup cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients together well.  

Add to a piping bag with a really small tip, or a sandwich bag, cut the tip off.  

Decorate away!  Do better than I did… no, really.

Well... it was a nice idea, right?  I had to fix that mess somehow.  Worst.  Spiderweb.  Ever.

That's a little better, right?  More importantly, it's tasty.  

Green Eggsalad

Today was a quickly thrown together lunch kinda day. I've been so focused on planning for next week, that I forgot I had to feed myself THIS week. I decided suddenly this morning that I wanted egg salad today. Who knows why, I sure don't. I was far too lazy to make mayo though. Pssh. Too much mess at 7 am. Have you ever made your own mayo? I love it. I hate mayo, but something about the fact that I made it, know exactly what's in it and can do whatever I want to make it delicious just improves it so much for me. I use the recipe by Melissa Joulwan at Clothes Make the Girl and use it as a base for most of my dipping sauces, including chipotle mayo (great with carrot fries) and dairy-free ranch (great with... Well, anything). 

What's a girl to do when she has no mayo and a mayo-filled craving to satisfy? ...enter Green Eggsalad!

No, the eggs aren't green, but a ripe avocado makes a great creamy substitute for mayo. 

Green Eggsalad

1/2 ripe avocado

2 hardboiled eggs, peeled

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste. 

Once you've boiled and cooled your eggs (I like to bring the eggs and water to a boil, leave it for 7-8 minutes and instantly dunk them in cold water till chilled), peel them, yell at them while they refuse to peel cleanly and set in a bowl. 

Add your half avocado in chunks and mash both together. Don't worry about getting the avocado super smooth. 

As your oil, lemon juice and s&p. Feel free to add any other spices or bits to make a new flavor combo: cayenne pepper or chopped olives, for example. 

Mmm, green eggs look appetizing, right? If you want, you can make "green eggs and ham" by serving in deli ham roll ups (or bacon!). I ate mine with raw bell pepper, cus I'm boring. But hey, craving satisfied!