We Try it Wednesday - Coconut Vanilla Date Cookies.

It is Wednesday and we are back with another recipe to give a whirl, this one is very simple, mainly because the little man is going back to school so the house was a frantic mess today! so I wanted to do something simple that wouldn't take me hours to make and photograph...so I found this recipe from the food lovers primal palate Today I am making the date version of the cookies. I wanted to do the chocolate ones, but I cant get the enjoy life chocolate chips at a good enough price to warrant buying them yet...so I went with the coconut date version - and I was dubious. 

I made zero changes to the recipe, as I had never cooked it before, oh I did use different dates cause I couldn't get the medjooled ones.

you are going to need.

Ingredients for the Cookies

1 Cup coconut flour
4 Eggs

touch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Coconut oil.
Ingredients for the Filling
7 Dates pitted

4 tbs water

1tbs pure maple syrup.

Get your oven on, I put mine on 180 then got a baking tray with baking paper all ready to go. Got my mixing bowl out and started putting the ingredients together. Basically this is a get it all in the bowl recipe which is right up my alley! I did whisk my eggs and sift my coconut flour, just to give it a lot of air.

 once I got all my ingredients in and mixed, it looked like this

I then used the dessert spoon to get a decent portion of the mix out of the bowl, and I rolled it in my palms to make little balls.

then I used my thumb to push a little hold in the cookie mix, like the original recipe calls for.

once I had that all sorted, I started working on the filling which wasnt hard at all.

 

take your dates in a bowl you dont mind putting in the microwave, add 3 tbs of water to them and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Once they are out, mash them good with a fork, add another tablespoon of water and put them back in for 30 seconds...then mash again, add the tablespoon of maple syrup, I put them back in for another 30 seconds as my dates were being difficult, here is a dodgy photo of what they look like.

once I got it so a decent consistency I started spooning the mix into the thumbprint holes I had make in the cookies, I used a teaspoon to do this. 

I thought the mix was much to runny, and got a tad stressed..but I put them in the oven for 15 mins. Once I saw the edges browning I whipped them out.

 the date filling had hardened up to my joy and surprise hehe. 

I let them cool before letting miss lily try one.

she scoffed it, and asked for another...so teacup humans...big tick.

Now even though these amazing cookies are paleo/primal...they are still a treat, and to be had in moderation...my hips think of the maple syrup, so I had two with a cup of tea and that's it for me.

Taste: 9/10 I was very surprised with how these tasted,  I will admit when I was making the date filling, I was thinking how not appetizing it smelt. but I put my thoughts aside and I'm glad I did. These cookies taste great! All family members consumed with big smiles.

Budget: 4/10 This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of maple syrup and buying the pure stuff is pricey, so using such a large amount put this recipes rating down. Everything else was moderately priced and only smallish quantities, if I could find cheaper maple syrup the rating would go to a 7.

Repeatability: This recipe has gone down really well I can see us making these and maybe even trying to freeze some in batches. So that when I have a sugar craving instead of using it as my cheat meal, I can have one with a cup of tea and not be doing too much damage to my diet. They will be my go to biscuit for when we have afternoon tea out. Fantastic recipe, and once I get the chocolate chips I will definitely be trying their chocolate version of this recipe.

The Primal Palate have done a fantastic recipe for a treat for us paleo eaters. They have quite a few recipes I see on my to cook list!

have a great day guys, do try these ones out!

xx Courtney and John

We Try it Wednesday

Some may know, and some may not, that about 5 months ago I decided to change the way I lived my life. I decided the pain of staying the same was worse than the pain it took to change. I am a big girl, an overweight girl, and myself and my family are taking the steps to change our lives for the better. I decided it was time to live the life I deserved not the one I settled for.

A girlfriend of mine who is an absolute health nut, and a best friend from highschool decided that she would help me with this life changing. She has been a pillar of strength for me, checking up on me and giving me workouts each week, my own personal cheerleader...and crazy overbearing coach. It was her guidance that made me change our food habits to paleo.

so with that we changed the way we eat, to the Paleo/Primal lifestyle, and it wasnt and still isn't easy! but we take it day by day. Its working, I've lost over 15kg in the time we changed which for my american readers is around 34 pounds. So as a way to embrace our food, and to share a different part of my life, I decided that John and I would team up for an entry each week bringing to you a recipe that we have wanted to try online, and if we tweaked it or not.

Now this recipe I have cooked many times, I wanted the first post on food to be one I was comfortable cooking! so I chose a recipe from one of my favourite blogs to read www.paleomg.com
now the recipe is for a creamy chicken casserole  I have tweaked this recipe quite a bit to suit my family so this is my version of it.

so off to the fruit and veg market we went!

the man being adorable as usual, you will want to gather the following ingredients for my version of the recipe!

• 2 large chicken breasts diced
• 1-2 bunches of broccolini
• 1/2 a head of cauliflower, stem removed, chopped into florets
• 1 Red Capsicum (pepper for americans)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 large sweet Potato - peeled and chopped into cubes.
• 1 Large handful of green beans 
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 (14oz) cans of coconut cream
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (less of this is you want a less of a kick, I use less cause of the kids)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or other fat)
• 3-4 rashes of bacon roughly chopped

right lets get started!

1. Get your oven on, we preheated to 180 degrees, with the fan on high.
2, Place your cauliflower flortests,  broccolini ,capsicum, green beans and sweet potato chopped and in a baking dish, I used a crockery dish.

get them all cut up, (tip, if you are worried about your sweet potatoe not softening in time, I zapped mine in the microwave for 1.5 mins to soften it up just a tad - thanks for the tip mum!)
if you are following my version, your dish will look something like...

Pour your olive oil on top of the florets and salt and pepper, as well. Mix around to coat the florets.
3. Get your dish into the oven to give the veggies a nice colour, and for them to soften a little before the next step
4. While the veggies are cooking, its time to get a pan on the stove to cook your chopped bacon rashes.

let some of the bacon fat stay in the pan to coat your chicken breasts, if your veggies are outta the oven by now just put the cooked bacon into the dish and mix it up with a wooden spoon. ( or put to the side till your veggies are out of the oven, then add to the dish)
5. Add your diced chicken breast to the pan and get a nice coating of the bacon fat, add salt and pepper to taste.
6 Once chicken is ALMOST cooked through, remove from pan and place either on a plate or directly into your baking dish with your veggies if that has come out of the oven.
7. Now add your Chopped/mince garlic cloves to the pan, along with the chopped onions.

8 Then add your coconut cream and vegetable broth, as well as your garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and a bit of salt and pepper and mix well.
9. once that is all nicely  mixed up, pour directly over your veggies, chicken breast and bacon. Make sure to mix it all together well, so that everything gets coated in that lovely sauce.
10. Bake for another 20-25 mins.
Let it cool (tip from original recipe) as this helps to thicken the sauce up nicely
then devour!

 my half paleo kids, usually have this with a little white rice, just to bulk up their dinner and leave more casserole for the boy and I!

I hope you've enjoyed this blog post, there will be a new recipe each week. Alternatively if you have a recipe (paleo or primal) that you would like John and I to try, just get in touch with me and we will add it to our list which is growing fast! next week I think we are going to tackle a desert!

have a wonderful Wednesday, and if you cook this meal, do enjoy it, it really is a beautiful thing to eat, and even better the next day!

take care
Courtney and John.