Gluten Free Chia Seed Bread

Ahhh my first paleo bread was a huge success! I did some research and threw together my own bread recipe. Most "paleo" sites will tell you to use brown sugar and/or arrowroot powder, but I managed to make this happen with only paleo ingredients and it tastes pretty good. Plus, this is one more excuse to smear almond butter on something ;-)

Gluten Free Chia Seed Bread:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 5 eggs
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons raw organic honey

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Whisk all ingredients together until batter thickens (about 1 minute of vigorous whisking). Pour into a greased bread pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Let in cool in pan 15 minutes before slicing. 

Paleo Lasagna

The cute little face in the background is my dog Macie. She's probably the most food motivated beagle you will ever meet (okay, food motivated is a nice word for glutton). I eat most meals with my arm around my plate protecting my food and cook most meals with the risk of tripping over her. Don't worry, she had several chunks of grass fed beef in the making of this meal, plus a piece of zucchini that fell off the cutting board :-)

Paleo Lasagna:

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 zucchini
• 1 1/2 cup spinach
• 3 cups chopped mushrooms
• 1 lb grass fed beef
• 2 cans tomato sauce (sugar free, organic)
• Italian seasonings

Brown beef and add tomato sauce and seasonings. Slice sweet potatoes and zucchini, and chop mushrooms. Start layering all the ingredients, starting and ending with a layer of the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Sweet Potato Brownies

I told you I love chocolate :-) The original recipe is from PaleOMG.

 Sweet Potato Brownies:

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato
• 3 eggs, whisked
• ¼ cup coconut oil melted
• ⅓ cup raw honey
• ½ cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Bake the sweet potato, about 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Mash the sweet potato, then mix all wet ingredients. Add in dry ingredients. Pour into foil lined baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Chocolate Avocado Banana Almondmilk Shake

I'm not gunna lie, this is totally lunch today. Most of you know I love sweets. Some of my earlier posts have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Paleo sweets (disadvantage= high calorie, advantage= really delicious and curbs cravings). When I first went paleo, I ate a completely paleo diet expect for cookies. Then I replaced those with paleo baked goods. Then I tried to cut out paleo baked goods too, except I just went back to cookies. Soooo. Here I am drinking this chocolate paleo shake for lunch and fully intend to make sweet potato brownies later. I try to pace myself, limit my portions, and more importantly I try not to stress. Life is too short not to eat chocolate.

Oh, also. This isn't my recipe.  I found this on Meaningful Eats (http://blog.meaningfuleats.com/). Her recipes aren't all paleo but they are all gluten free. Most can be modified to fit into the paleo framework if you're hardcore.

Chocolate Avocado Banana Almondmilk Shake:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cold almond milk
• 1 cup ice
• 1 ripe banana
• ½ an avocado
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons raw honey

Blend all ingredients. Enjoy! 

Sausage, Date, and Spinach Stuffed Squash

I almost feel guilty holding this recipe hostage for a week because these were really amazing. I wrapped them individually in foil on Sunday evening which made packing my lunch super easy this week. I do wish I had peeled the skin off before wrapping them because I had to eat lunch in the car one day and struggled. I'm pretty sure there are remainders of all the ingredients left in a company car (whoops!).

Sausage, Date, and Spinach Stuffed Squash:

Ingredients:

• 2 small/medium butternut squash
• 1 lb sausage
• 2 cups frozen spinach 
• 10 medjool dates
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon raw organic honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Cut butternut squash and empty the seeds. You will have to cut or hollow out (with a spoon) a larger hole in the squash to fit in all the ingredients, you can either do it raw or wait until after the squash has cooked and softened. Melt oil and honey, then mix both with cinnamon. Drizzle over the squash and put on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. While the squash are baking, brown the sausage, drain, and set aside.  Thaw the spinach and squeeze out all the water with a strainer or paper towel. Chop dates (medjool dates have pits, don't include those), then mix all three ingredients together. Once the squash are done, stuff the ingredients as shown in the picture. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Sausage and Broccoli Egg Cups

These were so easy to make AND grab on the go. They also lasted me all week because this recipe made a million of them. I would recommend cutting the recipe in half or find a paleo friend and share!

Sausage and Broccoli Egg Cups:

Ingredients:

• 8 eggs
• ~3/4 lb sausage
• ~2 cups chopped broccoli 
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• salt and pepper

Cook sausage in a skillet then drain and set aside. Chop broccoli and mix with cooled sausage. Whisk together eggs and coconut milk (or throw in a blender and pulse a couple of times). Salt and pepper the egg mixture and mix in sausage and broccoli with a wooden spoon. Fill egg cups about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes. The sides brown before the tops, FYI :-) 

Roasted Broccoli and Bacon

I did not work out enough this week to deserve bacon in my broccoli, but you might have so I thought I would post this just in case you WODed it up. Honestly I'm not convinced that bacon is ALL that bad for you, despite its stigma. If you know differently don't tell me, because it's too delicious to give up.

Roasted Broccoli and Bacon:

 
Ingredients:

• 2 heads of broccoli
• 6 pieces uncured bacon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons garlic
• salt and pepper

Chop broccoli and bacon, then toss with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a bag or bowl. Roast on a foil lined baking sheet at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Toss around every 10 minutes so the broccoli doesn't get overcooked on one side. 

Paleo Ginger Turkey Nuggets

It's like McDonalds, except not really at all because these are made with high quality meat and are fried in the healthy goodness of coconut oil. They certainly bring me back to childhood though. For those of you with kiddos (and picky partners and spouses) these make for a great treat meal! Enjoy :-)

Paleo Ginger Turkey Nuggets:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 egg, whisked
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• coconut oil

Mix ground turkey, egg, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, and salt and pepper. Form into little nuggets (I made about 10 and they seemed big, so maybe shoot for 12). Mix coconut flour and the other teaspoon of ginger in a shallow dish. Lightly coat each nugget with the coconut flour mixture, then fry on medium high heat for about one minute on each side. Finish by baking in a baking dish on 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Burgers with Bacon/Onion Marmalade

I know I know, I went MIA again. I hope the recipes from last week made up for my absence the past six days (has it been six days?? EEK!) Excuse #1: I traveled to Indianapolis for a long weekend- luckily my Auntie Daun is AMAZING and had a fridge stocked full of Paleo food, as well as some decadent Paleo/raw brownie cookie dough bars. Excuse #2: I'm still running on slow mode from being sick, this thing will not go away. I've skipped so many days of CrossFit I can't even count. As you know, bacon is my comfort food. Beef comes in a close second, so these burgers were perfect (asparagus were consumed for good measure).

Burgers with Bacon/Onion Marmalade:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb grass fed beef
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 apple
• 5 pieces uncured bacon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon raw organic honey

To make the burgers: mix beef, egg, and coconut flour (use your hands people, no need for a wooden spoon here).  Form into 4-6 patties and place on foil lined baking sheet. If you are lucky enough to own a grill, go for it. If not, broil about 8 minutes on each side.

To make the marmalade: Chop onion into slivers, caramelize in olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook bacon however you please (I bake mine in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes). Slice apple into slivers. Once the onions are caramelized add apple cider vinegar and cook about 1 minute. Then add cooked bacon and apple slivers. Drizzle honey over and cook another 3-5 minutes. Serve on top of burgers and fill the rest of your plate with veggies!