Toast Alternative for Egg Dippers (paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free)

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Every person who loves breakfast, runny eggs, and the toast that you dip in it cries a tear when they decide to give up bread.  It’s a bittersweet tear because it’s a complicated topic, but I think it’s safe to say that most wheat products these days are not exactly helping our healthy cause.  So, I decided to come up with a savory pancake that could double as an egg-dipper!  I can still have my runny yolks and dip them too, sans bread.
Egg Dippers (grain free, dairy free)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp fresh minced chives
1/4 cup chopped kale
salt and pepper
Directions:
Mix together your dry ingredients and then add you wet ingredients until you have a batter.  Heat a nonstick pan over medium high heat and use bacon fat for the first batch to grease the pan.  Cook the batter on one side until the edges are firm.  Flip the pancake and cook for another 2 minutes or so.  After your first set of pancakes you can see how long you need to be cooking them on each side so they are cooked through since every stovetop is quite different!

Wild Berry Muffins (gluten-free, paleo)

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Wild berries are all over the place right now!  If you are lucky enough to forage around and pick some, then you won’t regret it.  Otherwise, you could easily use any berry.
Wild Berry Muffins (gluten-free, paleo)
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 softened butter
1/2 cup local honey
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup berries
zest from one lemon
Tbsp of fresh thyme (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix honey and butter together and then add everything else.  Fold in berries.  Fill muffin cups and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Allow to cool and enjoy.

Zucchini Ice Cream

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I got home from work one day and thought myself how much I love zucchini bread, why not make zucchini ice cream? I like pumpkin ice cream, so I should like zucchini ice cream. Brain child was born.

Zucchini ice cream:
1 zucchini pealed and pureed in a food processor
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 cans full fat coconut milk
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cinnamon
Pinch of cardamon

Directions:
Blend or puree all the ingredients together in a bowl and use in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
It tasted really good although I used a really large zucchini, so the texture may have been slushier than normal ice cream; so, I have doubled the coconut milk in the recipe. Since I used the entire zucchini, it’s hard to tell how much it measured out to be. I would use 1 cup and move down to 1/2 cup if you don’t think it’s creamy enough. Either way, the taste is great!

Peanut Butter Cup Christmas Cookies

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You want to know the tragedy about peanut butter cup Christmas cookies?  The peanut butter cup is often gone in one bite!  I like cookies that have the goodness in every bite, personally.  This cookie recipe has peanut butter and peanut butter cups, so it is not paleo.  However, you could sub sunbutter for the peanut butter and replace the top with your favorite flavored chocolate bar….or….you could make paleo almond butter cups and chop those up if you are feeling really ambitious!  I tried a few different versions of this recipe, and I’m here to tell you that butter is where it’s at!  So, don’t mess with the butter!
Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cup Christmas Cookies
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1/4 cup grassfed butter, room temp
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp salt
  • coconut sugar
  • 2 packages Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, frozen, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix together almond flour, butter, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, salt until well-combined.  Create tablespoon balls and roll in a shallow dish of coconut sugar and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes or until the coconut sugar starts to brown.  Immediately after removing from oven, press peanut butter cup pieces into the top.  Let cool.  Enjoy!

Chocolate (Bone Broth) Protein Cookies (paleo, GF, DF)

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I am not a huge fan of people using powdered food in substitute for meals.  It’s just not the same as real food.  I am a fan of homemade bone broth and using it regularly, especially for those with certain health concerns.  When bone broth protein hit the market, I didn’t spend much time addressing it because it’s powdered food.  However, as my life became a little more hectic, and I was struggling to cook as often as I used to, I decided I would try it.  I NEVER recommend anything for anyone without trying it first, which has it’s pros and cons I must say.  I tried the bone broth protein in all flavors (some are sweet and some taste like bone broth), I tried them in standard liquid, smoothies, etc.  Then I decided I was going to try and bake with it.  Bone Broth Chocolate Protein cookies at your service.
Chocolate Protein Cookies
Ingredients:
1 scoop chocolate bone broth protein
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup grassfed butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp pure maple syrup
pinch of salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all the ingredients together until dough forms and roll into small balls, flattening with your hand.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.

 

PB&C Chip Cookies

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If you are a peanut butter fan, then you need to get excited!  I often substitute sunbutter products for peanut butter since peanuts are a legume; however, sometimes people I love really like things with peanut butter.  When I saw a healthy option for peanut butter chips, I knew I had to make a cookie to combine chocolate chips and peanut butter chips!  I left it at that, but these would probably be really great with some nuts, too.  Macadamia nuts, pecans, walnuts.  The possibilities are endless. If you want a sunbutter/chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.
PB&C Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup grassfed butter or coconut oil, melted
3 TBSP pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla (recipe for homemade here)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all the ingredients together and fold in PB and C chips.  Drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet and press down slightly.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden.

Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Pancakes

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I had some frozen strawberries that were literally staring at me for months from the freezer.  I didn’t feel very inspired to find a destiny until I found these peanut butter chips at the store!  Pancakes that are peanut butter and jelly?  Sold.  Peanuts are technically a legume, so these are NOT paleo.  However, you could make them strawberry and use sunbutter like in the picture for the same effect.
Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Pancakes
Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
4 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
Directions:
Place strawberries in a saucepan and cook until they breakdown and can be smashed into a thick jam consistency.
 Combine the pancake ingredients and add the strawberries and peanut butter chips. Cook about 3 minutes on each side.  Double the batch for freezing or for grab-and-go breakfast throughout the week.
 

Paleo Cinnamon and Cream Cheese Muffins

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Cheese is always a fading memory for those that have made a transition to dairy free, and many people are fine with that.  However, when there is a dairy free option that is still conducive to meeting their health goals, they wouldn’t mind partaking!  I ran across Kite Hill Almond Cream Cheese Spread and decided to try it out.  If you aren’t spreading it on a bagel, what on earth do you do with cream cheese?  I decided to try baking first to see if it would hold it’s own under heat.  I really enjoyed this cheater version of cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, and they are so much easier than making cinnamon rolls.  Stay tuned on FB and instagram for how the cream cheese story unfolds in different applications.
Paleo Cinnamon and Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cinnamon
7 Tbsp or so of almond cream cheese by Kite Hill (I didn’t measure)
Directions:
Preheat over to 325F.  Stir dry ingredients together.  Add the wet ingredients (except cream cheese) and combine.  Place batter in greased or lined muffin tins and dollop a Tbsp or 2 on top of muffin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back at you. The cream cheese will not melt but will be creamy to eat.

Paleo Pizza Popovers

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I am pretty sure every person reading this blog enjoys pizza.  I’m also fairly certain that most people reading this blog either eat unhealthy versions of pizza or go way out of their way to try and make a healthy version?  I may be wrong, but sometimes you really want PIZZA (and there are recipes for that), and sometimes you just want the pizza flavor.  This is for the time when you feel lazy, don’t necessarily need the bread texture, but do crave some Italian without the guilt.  These popovers can be made tons of different ways.  I currently have a sweet and savory option on the blog, but the pizza version gets it’s own post.
Paleo Pizza Popovers
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp arrowroot or tapioca starch
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temp
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
5 slices pepperoni minced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F. In a small bowl combine the flours and salt.  In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs lightly and add the coconut milk and water.  Add the flour mixture and combine until smooth. Add in the seasoning and pepperoni. Put a little oil in each of the 6 muffin tins.  Put the muffin tin and oil into the oven for 5 minutes and remove.  Pour 1/4 cup batter into each muffin tin.  Cook for 15 minutes and reduce heat to 350F.  Cook until golden brown, which could be another 15 minutes. Serve over homemade basil pesto or red sauce.  Garnish with fresh basil.

PB and Macadamia Nut Cookies (gluten free, dairy free)

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I recently had a friend that had to have surgery for an athletic injury, and I felt so bad for him that I said “I feel like I should make you dessert or something.  What do you like?  He said “Cookies, peanut butter macadamia nut are my favorite.”
Well, I don’t normally eat peanut butter because it is a legume.  It also tends to have mold considerations.  However, when someone says peanut butter, they expect peanut butter. There are substitutes that come close, but nothing tastes EXACTLY like peanut butter.  So, if you don’t eat peanut butter, you could easily substitute sunbutter or any nut butter instead.
This recipe is one I used to make all the time when I was getting my doctorate, and what I loved about it was it was simple, the texture is moist, and it’s quick. Since I used a natural peanut butter (and if you sub nuttbutter), I refrigerated the dough for an hour before baking just to make sure they wouldn’t spread too much, but if you’re impatient, go ahead and live on the edge.
PB and Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter, oil stirred in
1 egg
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all the ingredients together until a dough forms.  If it seems really wet and sticky, place in the fridge for an hour before baking.  Once cold, scoop little balls onto the baking sheet (golf balls or so).  Bake for 6 minutes, then press the dough down with a fork and bake for another 2-4 minutes.  I like mine moist and doughy, so I say bake less.  If you want it more dry and crumby, bake more.