Whole 30, day 9

we’ve been dealing with a few extra stresses lately (more on that later), which have been driving a few cravings for a G & T pretty fast through the turnstile… but i haven’t given in. in fact, we are going to a really nice wine & booze bar that specializes in fancy alcohols and tasty cheeses this saturday. if memory serves me right, they have killer duck wings and scallops. yes, they are tapas style, but i will order them and gobble them up myself. i’m not even going to mess with a salad. i know what will happen. cheese will be accidentally placed on top, and i will be pissed beyond all whatnot.

breakfast: 3 egg omelette with mushrooms, roasted red pepper, and bacon. coffee with coconut cream.

snack: banana with sunbutter.

lunch:  turkey, avocado, red peppers, sprouts, and dijon mustard. carrot sticks.

dinner: hamburger with fried egg, avocado, onions, mustard. sweet potato fries.

dessert: a scoop of coconut cream concentrate. i got a new jar in the mail today and couldn’t resist!

results: HERE IS YOUR T.M.I. WARNING!!!!

my stomach has never felt better. any intestinal problems i have had are now far gone. i noticed this change upon day 2, but was assuming it was a come’n’go fluke. no, my digestive system is working at full capability. i’ve had no bubbles cramps, irregularity, diarrhea, constipation, nothing. all is good. to anyone out there who suffers from unpleasant bowel issues, i highly recommend this diet. i’ve never felt better. honestly.

scrambeled eggs to make a difference!

cheesy-cheeseless egg & bacon sandwich with tapioca flat bread

WHOLE 30 is still happening, so, no cheese for me. what is a scrambled egg without raw, sharp cheddar half melted and oozy all tucked into the egg’s folds?

hi, my name is liz, and i have a problem. i eat a lot of cheese. so much cheese, that i spend my free time thinking about the next time i get to eat it (23 days)!

how does a breakfast lover like myself cope? make scrambled eggs really well. it isn’t difficult at all.

here is a hint: eggs shouldn’t ever feel dry. there should be a little wet to them, and i’m not talking moisture. i’m talking goo. know the point when your eggs still have the orange/yellow gel on them during cooking? that’s when you are supposed to stop cooking them. ask any chef: a dry egg is a pathetic waste of perfectly good flavor and texture.

since dropping the cheese from my diet, i’ve found that the cheesyness of a perfectly cooked egg is enough to trick my tongue. the eggs have a cheese flavor, and a cheesy texture when they are cooked properly. this could gross people out, but don’t avoid it. give it a try. so long as your eggs are from a good clean source (get outta here, factory farm eggs), it is fine to consume a wet egg. not only is it fine, but many studies show that slightly undercooked eggs preserve available nutrients and biotin.

and no, you won’t get salmonella. if you are eating factory farm eggs, then yes. worry about disease. once you are done worrying, go out to the farmer’s market and spend 3$ on a dozen real eggs.

real scrambled eggs

2 cold eggs

s & p to taste

2 tbsp ghee (butter is fine if you are not doing WHOLE 30)

method: crack your cold eggs into a small cup or pyrex with a pour spout. using a fork (not a whisk!), beat the heck out of it until everything is one color in there. add pepper and whip again. do not add salt yet.

heat cast iron skillet over medium/high heat until skillet is hot. spread your ghee over the pan and turn heat to low or very low.

pour eggs onto hot ghee, and using fork, stir on the skillet for 15 seconds or so, until lumps begin to form. now sprinkle on your salt. stir again, remove from heat, and pile eggs into the center of pan in a tall stack. this should all be done before the eggs cook through. quickly transfer eggs to plate before the heat from skillet over cooks them.

the eggs continue to congeal off of the heat from the residual heat and steam that has already passed through them.

if you have done this right, the center of your eggs-pile will still be gooey, but not sloppy or runny.

the trick here is removing them from heat way before they are cooked. the other trick is adding the salt LAST. adding salt will make the eggs tough and dry. this is why you wait until they begin to set up before adding it.

our eggs are so bright yellow because our free-range, happy chickens eat so many bugs and protein sources in the back yard, instead of fortified feed. we do supplement their diet during dry seasons, though.

WHOLE 30: day 5

today i started craving alcohol. i’ve never battled a craving for such a silly thing in my life, even when i was pregnant. it isn’t a glass of wine or a beer i want. it is booze. liquor. i want a G&T, please. or a mojito. it is probably due to a few stresses i am going through right now, but it isn’t the drunkenness i crave, it is the flavors. -the crisp flavors of gin have great association with summertime for me. i love gin.. heck, i named my daughter juniper!

other than alcohol, i’ve only craved salty foods. no cravings for sweeties yet. this blows my mind, as i have always had a tremendous sweet tooth. right now i’ve been craving salty, fatty foods. i’m satiating it with salty nuts. it is, however, really difficult to find nuts that aren’t roasted in peanut oils or some other NO NO fats.

here is what my friday in food was like!

breakfast: 2 egg omelette with mushrooms and 2 strips of bacon.

snack: mixed nuts and an apricot.

lunch: turkey, sprouts, peppers, avocado on a tiny slice of tapioca flat bread. OH SO GOOD. also a side of pineapple.

snack: raw carrots with oil, salt, and pepper… i snacked on this while i prepared dinner.

dinner: pan-crisped chicken thighs with thyme & garlic pan gravy, roasted carrots. it was awesome.

results? this was a great food day! dinner was so tasty and excellent. carrots satisfy my sweet tooth and are fun to crunch on raw. i forgot how much i always loved eating raw carrots! other than the alcohol cravings, today was an easy day.

one note on something i’ve noticed since starting this challenge is that i wake up very hungry. there used to be mornings, heck, most mornings, where i would wake up feeling a sluggish tummy. it was almost the feeling that there was too much fluff for my body to digest at night, so i wasn’t hungry for breakfast (though i ate anyway because i love breakfast food). now, i wake up with an empty stomach, with strong signals telling me “ok, i’m ready to eat now!”. it is a sensation i much welcome, knowing that i am now digesting food more efficiently.

has anyone ever noticed such strong changes like this when doing whole 30?

i wanted to share my recipe for the dinner that filled me up and hit the spot! it is a forgotten regular in my home, and we are bringing it back, now that my diet calls for it and it is far too hot to grill (106f!?).

pan crisped chicken thighs with thyme & garlic pan gravy and carrots

5 or 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

bacon fat or other frying fat

a bunch of thyme

3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

s & p to taste

1 1/2 cup good quality chicken stock

5 whole organic carrots, peeled

olive oil

s & p to taste

method: preheat oven to 350f. also, heat bacon fat in cast iron skillet on medium.

cut carrot into desired sizes. coat in olive oil, salt, and pepper. bake at 350f for 20-25 minutes while chicken cooks. be sure to give the sheet a good shake every 5-10 minutes for even browning.

place chicken “pretty side” down in hot skillet. sprinkle with salt and pepper. saute for 5-8 minutes, until browned on one side.

once brown, flip chicken. cook until brown. once both sides of chicken are brown, pour 1 cup of stock in. turn heat down just a click and place lid on pan and allow to cook through the chicken. stock will begin to reduce.

once stock is reduced to 1/4 inch or so at the bottom of your pan, place thyme and garlic in. allow to cook for a 2 minutes.

remove chicken from pan, but leave the liquids. pour remaining 1/2 stock into skillet and crank the heat back up. cook uncovered for 5 minutes or so, until liquids thicken into a gravy.

pour gravy over chicken and carrots. sprinkle a little more fresh thyme over and gobble it up!

good gravy!

WHOLE 30: day 4

oops! how’d that picture get in there?!

i made tapioca bread yesterday. i know an awesome reader brought me down to planet earth on this one, and i totally appreciate that! i hope readers keep my sorry self in line as this process goes on.

however, i’m a nursing mommy, and totally crave salty carbs like it is nobody’s business! i think that at this time, i need to be able to keep a slightly higher carb-base to keep from bingeing on “approved” carbs, like dates, peaches, cherries, etc. this bread has all improved ingredients (with palm shortening instead of butter and coconut milk instead of dairy) and keeps me feeling really full for longer. since i started nursing juniper, i’d been sneaking REAL NO NO FOODS, like gluten-free crackers and pretzels, throughout our late-night nursing sessions. this is not going to happen any longer!

in other WHOLE 30 news, we lost 2 chickens to the 100f degree weather yesterday. it was horrible. i am truly sad to see any animal suffer. this is why we buy only cruelty free, outside living meats, and why we got chickens in the first place. they were fun to raise, and good layers. nice orange yolks and high-standing, thick whites. we have 3 chickens left, one is a rhode island red, and the other 2 leghorns (which i assume are better equipped to handle the heat than a rhode island red).

this is all relevent to WHOLE 30 in that i’ve lost 40% of my egg source! we don’t buy eggs due to the substandard ways factory farms treat their hens, and the poor product that is a result of that mistreatment. we’re hoping the 3 hens we do have can keep up with my ridiculous rate of consumption. generally 3 per day for me and 2 per day for brian… the math doesn’t look good.

here are the meals!

breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs & 2 strips bacon on tapioca slices, coffee with coconut cream.

lunch: banana with sunflower seed butter, coconut, and cinnamon. i named it the banana snowball.

snack: nuts and a fresh apricot.

dinner: hamburger (no chebe bun?! no cheese?!) with caramelized onion, red peppers, mushrooms, fried egg, and mushrooms. sweet potato fries (with no ketchup?!)

a note on my lunch: my blood sugar flipped its lid instantly the second i even bit this. i knew it would happen. juniper and i were late to an appointment, so i had to settle for this sugary (but delicious) lunch. i will never call this a meal again, but sure as hell will call it a dessert!

i call it the “snowball” because that’s what my blood sugar did after i ate it!

lemon meringue cake

is it just me, or does lemon meringue provoke nostalgia? it always reminds me of the 70’s. it feels like such a retro dessert!

this dreamy cake made its way into my life far too late. tart, cold lemon curd in a sweet, cakey layered sandwich?

of course.

but..

with meringue?

yes, meringue instead of frosting!

why didn’t i think of that? where has this been all of my life? the pillowy swiss-style meringue is honey sweetened, and is more like a lightly sweetened, toasted marshmallow blanketing the cake than a traditional, dry, stiff coating over that lemon meringue pie at the grocery store.

this recipe is a culmination of many put together. while i will reference all of them, i will write out the recipe as i made it.

the guilt-free treat is loaded with protein from the eggs both in the cake and in the filling and topping. don’t forget about the healthy, clean fats, fiber, and its refreshing and light flavors on a hot day. we demolished it during out 90 degree day last weekend at our BBQ, and there were only leftovers because i hid the last slice deep into the refrigerator before friends came back into the kitchen for seconds.

what a crowd pleaser! i could not detect the taste of coconut that people are always anticipating with coconut flour, so don’t be afraid. alternatively, if you love the flavor of coconut, a little coconut butter (1/4 cup or so) would be delicious in this cake if you want to give it some concentrated coconut flavor. the texture is much like a sponge cake, but a little denser. it would make an excellent base for any yellow cake, poke cake, or pound cake.

i halved the recipe, making only one layer, then slicing it through to make a layer cake. i am posting the recipe for one layer, double it if you have a big crowd.

this recipe works best if all of the liquids are at room temperature. it should be made a few hours before, or the day before you put it together with the curd and meringue.

lemon meringue cake

adapted from nourished kitchen’s coconut flour cake

6 eggs

1 cup full fat coconut milk

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut flour, sifted to remove clumps

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

method: preheat oven to 350f, place racks in center of oven. cut a round of parchment to stick to the bottom of an 8″ cake pan. use butter or oil to stick it to the bottom, and grease up the sides of the pan.

beat eggs, honey, vanilla and milk until well combined.

separately, combine all dry ingredients together in a dry bowl.

combine the wet with the dry ingredients, and stir until everything is evenly mixed. allow it to sit for 2 or 3 minutes to let the coconut flour soak up some of the wet ingredients. the batter will be thick, but pourable.

pour the batter into prepped pan. bake for 40 minutes.

allow to cool for half an hour before carefully separating the sides of the cake from the pan, then inverting onto a cooling rack.

cake should cool completely before you cut it in half to layer it. also, the flavor will be most excellent when cold. you may refrigerate it to get it cold before you make the curd.

lemon curd filling

variation of my own recipe

4 egg  yolks at room temperature (save whites for meringue)

2 whole eggs

2/3 cup honey

zest of one organic lemon

1 cup of lemon juice

12 tbsp coconut oil or butter

method: whisk first 3 ingredients in a bowl. transfer to sauce pan and, over low heat, whisk like crazy until it gets a little pale in color. remember, you don’t want to be making scrambled eggs here, so low and slow is the key here.

add coconut oil, whisk for a few seconds until melted, then quickly whisk in lemon juice.

cook over medium heat whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and a few bubbles rise from the mixture.

remove from heat immediately after you see your first few bubbles, and pour through a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a clean bowl, pushing mixture through. discard pulp in sieve.

allow curd to cool at room temp for an hour before pouring it into the center of your cake. once you place it between the layers of cake, refrigerate it for a few hours so it sets up nice and firm without layers slipping around.

swiss meringue

adapted from cook, eat, love

1 tbsp cornstarch (or 2 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca flour)

1/3 cup water

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup honey

method: mix the cornstarch and  honey in a small saucepan, then add the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. using a wire whisk stir briskly and boil for 15 seconds. remove the thick paste from the heat and cover.

in a clean, very dry bowl, beat egg whites until foamy.

add vanilla and cream of tartar to egg whites, and slowly pour in hot honey and cornstarch mixture while continuing to beat. thick white waves will form, and when you continue, stiff white peaks will form.

once stiff white peaks form, stop mixing.

spread all over cooled cake while meringue is still warm. this way, it will really stick to the cake and take a stiff form. you may fire the meringue now, or put it into the refrigerator until ready to serve. use a kitchen torch to fire the meringue until it is dark brown.

store assembled cake in the refrigerator or at room temp. it will keep in the refrigerator for no longer than one full day. meringue, even cooked, will weep slightly over time.

chocolate banana ice cream in a cone

normally, i don’t do pre-packaged foods. like, at all. however, when i was getting my life ready for life after juniper, i made the decision that the day after her delivery, i would deserve an ice cream cone. i knew that there was an awesome homemade hard-dip ice cream joint just down the street from the hospital, and that i would be able to send my husband out for ice cream, and he would come back and put it in the cone for me. so, into the hospital bag went an unopened package of “let’s do gluten-free” ice cream cones. since this was a treat that i would be working very hard for, i didn’t care much about its nutritional content aside from it being gluten-free.

however, upon inspection, i couldn’t help but notice it’s awesomely simple ingredient list:potato starch, tapioca starch, palm oil, demerara sugar, potato fiber, cocoa fiber, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract.

not only did the short and responsible list of ingredients impress me, but also did the nutrition facts. per cone, i was consuming 10 calories (yes, 10, not 100) and 3g carbs.

i’m only sorry i wasn’t introduced to this box of cones years ago.

turns out, they now make waffle style cones, which is a personal favorite of mine.

i have always purchased their organic coconut and coconut products, but i will now gladly delve even further into their delicious pre-packaged foods.

yesterday it was 85f. it was super hot. brian and i wanted an icy treat after our dinner, but really cringed at the idea of spending any money on treats right now… budgeting with a baby is tough, but necessary. at brian’s suggestion, i dug deep into the freezer, pulled out some cut up frozen bananas, and proceeded to prepare our favorite summertime treat.

also, we were in need of something special to celebrate juniper’s one month birthday! i can hardly believe that a month ago i held her precious little body for the first time. brian and i looked at her amazing little face for the first time. we welcomed the most special little person into our lives for the first time. i can’t wait to be amazed by her, more and more, each day.

from my cheap gluten-free home to yours, i present to you, once again, bananas ice cream…

but in a cone!

chocolate banana ice cream… in a cone!

this recipe will serve 2

2 bananas, sliced and frozen

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 let’s do gluten-free cones

method: throw bananas and cocoa powder into blender. run blend until just smooth. do not over do it or the heat from the motor will warm the bananas and you’ll have pudding.

scoop your chocolate banana ice cream into cones, enjoy!

it’s been one month, little juniper, and we love you more and more each minute that passes, you goofy adorable thing!

cheesy tapioca flat bread

thanks to paleo hacks, i’ve found an AWESOME chebe cheat. i mentioned in my post on chebe pizza that i had a hack recipe so i wouldn’t have to buy the mix, and i must say that it worked charmingly.

i made this flat bread last night to go with our caesar salads because i wanted something to soak up all the extra dressing at the bottom of the plate. oh man, this bread is addictive.

i was craving it all night long after dinner, but managed to wait until morning to have with my greasy, dippy eggs and bacon. oh man. me likey.

i also made a cinnamon & sugar flat bread, which i dipped in coconut cream. i used the same recipe, omitting most of the salt, and stirring in 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup palm sugar, and spreading melty butter over the top to help more cinnamon and palm sugar stick. bake for 15 minutes, or until bread appears firm.

dear lord, tapioca has been my savior for the past few weeks while i’ve been craving starches.

if you’re like me, and have gone primal but still get starch cravings every few weeks, this is a pretty safe way to get your cinnamon bread, cheesy flat bread, pizza (or whatever you can dream up) fix out of the way without sacrificing what you’ve been working hard for! yeah, a little carb-heavy. but i pile on the protien and fat with it to even things out. this really tastes like a soft, stretchy english muffin. perfect for eggy sandwiches.

cheesy tapioca flat bread

2 cups tapioca flour, leveled

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk at room temp (coconut milk or cow milk)

1/4 cup butter or coconut oil melted

2 eggs, room temp, beaten

any herbs or seasonings you may want, fresh or dried

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/4 asiago, romano, parm, whatever hard cheese you so desire

method:

preheat oven to 450f. get a pizza sheet or cookie sheet out, no need to grease.

combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl.

separately, combine all wet ingredients together in a bowl.

combine both dry and wet. i find a rubber spatula works best for this.

knead dough until well combined. place onto cookie sheet, working onto surface as you would pizza dough. if dough seems too wet for this after it is well worked, add 1 tbsp more tapioca flour. if dough seems too dry and “squeaky” after working, add a touch more oil or butter.

press dough out as you would pizza, keeping it as even as you want. if you want lumpy bread, who am i to judge?!

use a pastry brush to brush butter over dough, then sprinkle cheese all over the top.

place into oven, baking for 10-15 minutes. don’t over cook it, don’t let it brown. it should stay light in color, otherwise it will become stiff and cracker-like.

remove from oven, slice, and serve. to store, place in a big baggie and keep in the fridge if storing longer than 2 days. to reheat, put in tin foil and into toaster oven for a few minutes. if you toast it without foil, it will become super hard.

enjoy with eggs, salads, or as a sandwich bread. i just can’t get over how good this bread is with bacon!

i slice this into 9 pieces, and here are the facts, per serving (without cheese): 166 cals, 25 carbs

tapioca pizza

well, i did it. i finally purchased a box of chebe. i never do this. NEVER. i never buy a box of something, or a premix of whatnot. but listen, this pregnant lady is hungry, and she is hungry for pizza. i have been craving a crispy, stretchy dough for sometime now. i have a hack-recipe for this crust, but i wanted to use the “real” thing first. i didn’t feel guilty, the ingredients are pretty safe: tapioca flour, tapioca starch, sea salt, and dried herbs. pretty innocent! -and it is too easy to put together. just add eggs, oil, and water (or milk). knead everything together, press onto pizza sheet.

while baking, it smelled starchy and amazing, just like pizza should. the crust poofed up huge. after cooling for a few minutes, i sliced through the crispy crust. it sliced just like a real pizza. the crust was crispy, stretchy, and doughy. there were even air pockets hidden in the crust, perfect for dipping into more sauce. each slice was for sure sturdy enough to hold the weight of our toppings and cheese, which is quite remarkable because i have a heavy hand with cheese. the flavor was also excellent. just slightly salty, and slightly herby with oregano.

so far as toppings go, i couldn’t find a pepperoni that i really approved of, so we went meatless. -i know. this isn’t like me, but whatevz. i was feeling like a lunatic. sauce, mushrooms, basil, red onion, black olives, and mozzarella cheese. that’s all i needed.

please do yourself a favor and try yourself some-a-this crust. i will be using my hack-recipe very soon and posting it, but until then you can buy chebe in most any store where the gluten-free stuff is located. top it with whatever the heck you wanna. my next affair will be hawaiian.

here is a small warning: the nutrition label says that this recipe serves ten. wrong. it served two. i can see it serving four if there were salads involved with the meal.

chebe pizza crust

1 package chebe pizza crust mix

2 big eggs

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup milk or water

toppings of your choice

method: preheat oven to 450f. grab a pizza sheet.

whisk eggs, milk, and oil until blended. use a spoon to stir in chebe mix. once it gets gooey, use your hands to knead dough. knead until smooth.

place dough ball onto pizza sheet, and press with the heel of your hands to form the crust, flipping over a few times.

spread sauce, veggies, meats, cheese, herbs over pizza crust.

bake for 15-18 minutes or so on the center rack, rotating halfway at 7 minutes so it bakes evenly.

once crust and cheese appear done, pull pizza from oven and let it cool for 5 minutes or so. you don’t want to burn the roof of your mouth.

slice and fall deeply in love.

crispy almond waffles & hot buttery peaches

i made these peachy waffles for brian and i because, well, we love waffles. the sun was shining, and i felt like we needed a bright and cheery breakfast!

also, i’m pregnant and crave waffles. -let me amend: i crave fruit, butter, and maple syrup, which are best facilitated by waffles.

so yeah.

many of my pancake and waffle recipes are similar in their ingredient list, but these are a little different. i used tapioca flour to crisp them up a pinch.

by golly, it worked!

these were pretty darn fluffy on the inside, crisp and sturdy on the outside. the sweet almond flavor always blows my mind when i use almond flour. brian was able to wolf down 2 waffles and both of our portion of bacon, but i could only manage the 2 waffles. pregnant ladies don’t have as much room in their tummies any more because babies like to put their feet in there. so,  i donated my bacon to the hungry guy who sits across the table from me. expect very filling waffles. especially if you add toppings. i think toasty almonds would make a great addition to the toppings list.

i had decided that syrupy, warm, buttery peaches would be the best fruit to perch on the top of my crispy treats.

i was right.

i’ll give you the recipe for both waffles and peaches, cuz i’m that nice. -the peachy recipe uses frozen peaches because it is april and i don’t eat fresh fruit out of season, but feel free to sub fresh if you’d like, adding 1/2 cup water to the ingredients.

oh, before we go off giving away our secret recipes, let me lecture you a little on scientific method, only because i want you to have much success in the kitchen.. or in the chemistry lab. (consider this your payment for my wealth of free recipes). it is really important to try a formula in its origin, adjusting accordingly after trial and error. try this recipe as is, and if it fails, hypothesize why and make adjustments from there and try again. i discourage differing from this recipe on your first try, rather make your own substitutions or corrections after knowing how this formula acts as is, assuming you followed the recipe completely!

per half of provided recipe without any toppings, here are the facts, jack: 425 calories, 20g carbs, 18g protein

not bad at all for a sweetie-pie breakfast. enjoy responsibly!

crispy almond waffles

makes 4 large waffles

1/2 cup almond flour, lightly packed

4 tbsp tapioca starch/flour

1 tbsp coconut flour or 1 scoop protein powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

few drops almond extract

optional drizzle of honey to keep the batter sweet and a little sticky

method: plug your waffle maker in to preheat.

combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.

in a large bowl with a pour-spout, beat eggs with milk until well blended. add the rest of the wet ingredients and whisk again.

combine dry and wet ingredients into the bowl with pour-spout.

allow batter to set and thicken for 5 minutes or so. it will be a little thin still after it sets, so don’t go adding a bunch of stuff. just give it a try as is.

pour into waffle iron, close lid, and cook for 3 minutes or so. i like to check on waffles after the 2 minute mark to ensure they are not burning.

be ready to serve ’em up.

hot buttery peaches

1 cup frozen peach slices

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

method: in small saucepan over low heat, warm peaches (with a lid on) until they begin to slowly release some juices. allow liquids to bubble up for about 5 minutes. this is allowing the pectin to thicken and sweeten things up a bit. give them a stir every once in a while, quickly replacing the lid. take off of heat well before the liquid thickens completely, stir in butter and syrup, and replace lid. let it settle for 5 minutes, then stir and serve.

spoon over waffles, drizzle with a little more syrup and maybe some toasty almonds.

this works well over vanilla ice cream, too. just sayin’.

grain free paleo bread

i saw this recipe for grain free bread on the paleo mom, and could not resist! i have some lot of tapioca flour lingering in the pantry, begging to be used up. i really love baking with tapioca flour but can’t seem to find many useful recipes for its use. if you have some up your sleeve, pass ’em along!

anyhow, i had been baking elana amsterdam’s paleo bread for a while, using it for sandwiches and egg breakfasts. i love this bread. i did, however, owe my body a break from almond flour based baked goods. paleo mom’s tapioca and coconut flour recipe was a great stand in, though i’m not used to such a short loaf! i may get brave and try to double the recipe, decreasing the oven temp, and increasing the baking time.

the flavor was really great, especially for sweet applications. i used it to make mini almond butter and jam sandwiches for lunch, but my favorite use for it was for french toast sticks along with some sausages. how tasty! though i didn’t capture my french toast sticks, i’ll tell you that they were super easy to whip up. one egg whipped with a bit of milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon will yield 2 servings of french toast. simply dip slices and soak for a few minutes into your batter, and fry on medium heat in coconut oil until just brown. i ate 4 slices (they are small, remember) one morning, and reserved my batter for my second serving the next morning.

anyhow, it was such a delight to have an unsweetened, nut-free bread around the house, so i thought i would share the recipe!

enjoy!

paleo bread

original recipe can be found by clicking here.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

4 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp baking soda

method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line a 7 1/2″ x 3 1/2 ” loaf pan with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper with coconut oil.

Melt the coconut oil, and let cool slightly.

Beat eggs with mixer until frothy, about 30 seconds.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix again until smooth.  Let the batter sit for a minute to thicken.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  Spread it out so that the surface is even.  Bake for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the loaf.

Allow to cool in the pan for half an hour before gently removing and allowing to cool completely. Store this bread in the refrigerator.

Enjoy your bread as almond butter and jelly, french toasties, or whatever you please!