Grain-Free Cinnamon Almond Bread

This bread was one of the first grain-free recipes I ever made, as far as baked goods go. It was so good that it made me want to experiment and see what else I could make without refined flour!  I love it because it isn't a super sweet dessert-type bread. It's more the type of bread that you would serve with dinner as a side to a soup or stew. You can most definitely make it sweeter if you like by adding a bit of extra honey. Unlike many grain-free baked goods, which can get a little bit dense, this bread is light and fluffy, yet really moist! And yes, that IS a shmear of pastured butter on top (in case you haven't heard, low-fat is SO 1994!). Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 3/4 cup almond flour
-1/2 cup flax meal
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted (or butter if you prefer)
-2 heaping tbsp honey (I recommend raw honey, which is solid at room temp, so just melt the honey and coconut oil together on the stovetop)
-4 eggs
-1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
-1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish (or loaf pan. I just like it in a square dish for some reason) with coconut oil or butter.
-In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, flax meal, sea salt, baking soda and cinnamon, making sure to get out all of the lumps.
-In a separate mixing bowl, combine melted oil (or butter) and honey with eggs, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. Make sure your melted oil and honey is not too hot as it will scramble the eggs! Mix until well combined.
-Mix the wet and the dry ingredients together until well incorporated. Once you have done this, work quickly to get the bread in the oven as the combo of the apple cider vinegar and baking soda your leavening agent.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes until it's brown on the top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

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Avocado Pineapple Salsa

This is one of my favorite things to make in the summertime (or when I'm wishing it was summertime). It's super fresh and it's a great addition to any meat or seafood. I espcially love it with pork- tenderloin, chops, whatever you prefer. This salsa is an awesome addition to grilled shrimp and chicken. It's also a great for an appetizer at a party. Just serve with sprouted tortilla chips, cucumuber chips or bell pepper strips. It's sweet, salty, spicy and creamy! Enjoy! 


Ingredients:
-1/4 of a fresh pineapple, medium diced
-1 avocado, medium diced
-1 tomato, seeded and medium diced
-juice of 1 lime
-1 jalepeno, seeded and finely diced (optional, but the spice is great! If you like it spicier, leave in the ribs and seeds. If you don't like spicy, omit it alltogether)
-1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
-1/2 cup fresh cilantro, rouch chopped
-sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Place all of the ingredients in the bowl, except for the avocado, and mix well to combine. Let sit in the fridge for at leaste 15 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.
-Just before service, fold in the avocado gently, making sure that the lime juice coats the avocado. Enjoy!

*Please use organic ingredients when possible.

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Homemade Greek Yogurt

I Love Greek yogurt. One of my favorite desserts is some greek yogurt with a tbsp of maple syrup, some vanilla, some cinnamon, some coconut flakes and a few walnuts. It's just so good. Yogurt works great with sweet and savory applications. But lets face it, good organic greek yogurt can be quite pricey. So I wanted to figure out how to make it on my own! Then, one night at work, one of my co-workers brought in some of her homemade yogurt and it was the most delicious yogurt I've ever had! I asked her how she made it and she explained her method in a way that was so simple. I thought, "I can do that". So I went home, and I did it. No special equipment needed. My first attempt at it turned out wonderful. Since then, I haven't had to buy yogurt. Once you try this method, you won't go back to store bought, because this yogurt is too delicious and too easy not to make yourself. All you need to do is save 2 tbsp of plain yogurt that you have previously purchased from the store. This is your starter. After that, you won't have to buy it ever again.

Ingredients:
-1/2 gallon organic whole milk (you can chose your fat content. I like whole)
-2 tbsp plain yogurt (again, fat content of your choice)

Directions:
-In a small bowl, mix reserved yogurt and 2 tbsp of your milk until well combined. Set aside for later
-In a medium saucepan, heat the rest of the milk, uncovered, over medium heat until just under a simmer. You will know it's ready because there will be a skin on the top of the milk, and you will be able to see bubbles just underneath the surface of the skin. If you're the type that needs to know specifics, it's 180 degrees F. I used a thermometer the very first time, just to get a feel for it, but I have not had to use one since.
-Remove from the heat and let cool, uncovered, for about 30-45 minutes (105-110 degrees F.)
-While the milk is cooling, turn the oven on to warm.
-When the milk has cooled enough, pour in the reserved yogurt and milk mixture and stir it up.
-Put the lid on the saucepan (at this time you can transfer the mixture to a glass or ceramic dish with a lid if you like but it's unnecessary) and wrap a dish towel around the pot.
-Put the pot in the oven and turn the oven off, but leave the light on. Do not disturb it for 10 hours. You can leave it in the oven anywhere from 8-12 hours. I've found that 8 hours yields a mild yogurt, and 12 hours is a little too sour for my taste. Ten hours is perfect for me.
-Take it out of the oven and put it in the fridge to cool and thicken for a couple of hours.
-At this point, you have yogurt! Now is when you turn it into "Greek" if you like. If you wan't to make it Greek, you just have to let the whey drain out of it to thicken. Here's my straining set-up:

So what I've got here is just a large mixing bowl with a colander sitting on top. I've lined the colander with coffee filters because I found that if I used cheese cloth, there really wasn't much of a cost savings. So coffee filters it is.
-So spoon in or pour your yogurt into the colander, cover with a tea towel and put it in the fridge to drain. How long you let it drain depends on how thick you like it. I like mine pretty thick so I let it go the better part of eight hours or so. 
-Store in an airtight container for a couple of weeks in the fridge, and don't forget to save your last 2 tbsp for your next batch! Enjoy!


*P.S. That liquid that drains off is pure liquid whey protein! Don't throw it away! I'll tell you what you can do with it in another post:)
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Grain-Free Banana Bread

My husband LOVES Banana Bread. It's his favorite baked good- hands down. He's always asking for it and I love seeing how excited he gets when he comes home from work and sees it on the countertop. So of course, I came up with a version of this classic that is free from refined sugar and enriched flour, and has a bit of added fiber. I like to make this recipe in muffin form because that way they're pre-portioned for me and they're easy for my hubby to grab-and-go for breakfast in the morning. Here's the recipe! Please Enjoy.

Ingredients:
-2 1/2 cups almond flour/meal
-1/2 cup flax meal
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp sea salt
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-2 very ripe bananas
-3 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla
-4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, melted- plus 1 tbsp extra for preparing your pan
-1/4 cup pure grade b maple syrup OR 1/4 cup honey OR 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare your loaf pan or muffin tin with butter or coconut oil.
-In a large mixing bowl, combine almond meal, flax meal, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon. Stir well, making sure making sure to get out all of the lumps
-In a separate bowl, combine bananas, eggs, vanilla, melted coconut oil, and sweetener of choice. Mix well with a hand mixer until you have a smooth mixture.
-Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
-At this time, stir in the walnuts if using.
-Portion into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until brown on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Alternately, if using a loaf pan, bake for 45-50 minutes.
-Let cool (if you can wait that long) and enjoy!

*Please use organic ingredients when possible.

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Roasted Garlic and Fennel Soup with Italian Sausage

Soups and stews are my absolute favorite thing to make for quite a few reasons. First, they're just about the easiest thing you can make and with a properly stocked pantry you can ALWAYS make a good soup. Second, soups are cheap, they feed a lot of people, and they're a great way to stretch a buck using cheap ingredients. Third, they're incredibly nourishing and nutritious. You can put just about any veggie in a soup and if you cook it long enough, it will be delicious. Finally, soups and stews always lead to left-overs. All you have to do it make a double batch, and either eat for a couple of days or freeze and eat in a month. I'm a very blessed woman because my husband will eat soup everyday if I make it, and he'll be excited about it too! So for those reasons and so many more, we do A LOT of soups and stews in our home- at LEAST once, if not twice a week. So here is the recipe for this particular soup, which is one of my best, if I do say so myself. It's creamy from the beans. It's hearty from the sausage. It's a little bit sweet from the roasted garlic. It just hits all the notes. Try it. There is no way you can't love it.

Ingredients:
-2 tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut oil (or butter)
-1 lb Italian sausage (sweet or hot will work. I used sweet, but I ended up adding red pepper flake so it really doesn't matter). I had links, so I cut them into 1 inch chunks and I left the casings on because I enjoy the crisp, but you could also use bulk sausage if that's what you have.
-1 large bulb of fennel, sliced. If you have never used fresh fennel, it is one of the most delicious veggies out there. Don't be intimidated by the funny looking hair at the top- those are the fronds. To prepare the fennel, just slice off the top right where the stalks meet the bulb (don't throw away the fronds!- I juiced mine tonight. But you can add them to salads and it's delicious. Better yet, use it to garnish the soup), slice off the bottom of the bulb. Cut the bulb into quarters, and slice into each quarter on an angle to remove the core. Then just slice the quarters into 1 inch slices.
-1 whole head (yes, HEAD. Not clove) of garlic
-1 medium onion, diced
-4 stalks of celery, diced
-1 can of great northern beans or cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 cups homemade chicken stock- here's my recipe. If you don't have homemade, don't worry. Just use a quality boxed stock
-1 bunch of kale, washed, stemmed and rough chopped
-sea salt and pepper to taste
-pinch of red pepper flake (optional)
-2 bay leaves
-1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Place your sliced fennel on a baking sheet and toss with 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil, sea salt and pepper. Toss to coat and spread into one layer on the cookie sheet. At the same time, cut your head of garlic in half horizontally. Leave the paper on and everything, and wrap the garlic and another 1/2 tbsp coconut oil up in a piece of aluminum foil (lined with parchment if you care about leaching heavy metals into your body- I do.) Place both the fennel and the garlic in the oven. Roast the fennel for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. You WANT it to caramelize. Let the garlic roast for an additional 15 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes.
-While your fennel and garlic are roasting, brown your sausage in 1 tbsp coconut oil over high heat in a stock pot on your stovetop. Don't be afraid to let it get REALLY brown. Color=flavor! When brown, remove to a paper-towel lined plate and reserve for later. 
-Reduce the heat to medium, add in your onions and celery. Season with sea salt, pepper, and red pepper flake if using. Saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. 
-Add your stock, bay leaves and white beans to the pot and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
-By now your fennel and garlic should be nicely roasted. Set the fennel aside. Carefully unwrap the garlic- some steam may come out so don't get burned! When it's cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and right into the big simmering pot of soup. It should come out fairly easily.
-At this point, I use my immersion blender (my blender stick I like to call it) but if you don't have one you can definitely just use your blender. Just do small batches so it doesn't explode. Oh and don't forget to fish out the bay leaves first- you don't want to blend those.
-When smooth and creamy, return the pot to the heat. Rough chop your roasted fennel and add it to the pot. Add back in your reserved sausage and chopped kale. Add in the fresh nutmeg (I put nutmeg with ALL of my leafy greens).
-Bring the pot to a simmer, and put the lid on but leave it cracked. Let it simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Taste for seasonings and add S&P to taste. Enjoy! 

*Please use organic ingredients when possible.

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Dairy-Free Vanilla Bean Creamer

As promised in the post for my homemade Vanilla Bean Creamer, here is the dairy-free version. It's just as tasty! Just made with my favorite non-dairy milk swap-out. Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
-2 cups homemade Almond Milk (here's how to make it)
-1 vanilla bean (split it down the middle, use the beans and the pod)
-4 tbsp pure maple syrup

Directions:
-Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
-When finished, let it cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

*Please use all organic ingredients when possible.

Note- you can definitely use any dairy-free milk substitute you like. So rice milk, hemp seed milk, it all works. Just find out what you like!

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Homemade Date Sweetened Almond Milk

I LOVE almond milk. I'm not a huge milk drinker, and almond milk is a great healthful alternative to cow's milk if you have allergies or avoid dairy. Since it's so easy to make, I prefer to make my own. You never know what you will get when you buy it in the store. Almond milk often has all kinds of added sugars, "natural flavors", and rubbish fillers that I just don't want or need. 

Most store bought almond milks contain carrageenan, a substance derived from red algae and commonly used to emulsify and improve the texture of food. Carrageenan is known to promote inflammation in the body and is also linked to gastrointestinal cancers in rats. We don't know about it's effects on humans with regards to cancer because it hasn't been tested- but it is in EVERYTHING. My Homemade almond milk is tasty, easy to make, and I know exactly what's in it.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight in filtered water, then drained and rinsed
-2 cups filtered water
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 dates

Directions: 
 Place almonds and water in a blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until it resembles milk.
 Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve and push all of the milk through.
 Pour the milk back in the blender and add the vanilla and dates. Blend until smooth, about another 2 minutes
 Pour the mixture into a nutmilk bag and let drain until all of the liquid is out. If you don't have a nut milk bag, cheesecloth works or you can even just pour it back through the sieve. Enjoy!

P.S. Don't throw away the pulp! There are lots of great things you can do with it. I'll let ya know what I do with mine.

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