We Try it Wednesday - Paleo Cupcakes

Welcome welcome, I am totally cold ridden, but I got up and started baking for the blog..because I know I have a heap that love this recipes.

We are making Paleo Cupcakes Today! using some ingrediants from an aussie store that I will now be using for my paleo cooking over at

One of my very best friends from highschool and her husband run it, She is the woman behind my workouts every day, and has been an amazing support. Paleo food and fitness are their life...they live and breathe it everyday! And they are Aussie, its damn hard to get good paleo ingredients without paying a fortune for shipping or stupid prices for things!

so you will need for this recipe ( if its hyperlinked I bought it from my paleo store)

• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ⅓ cup honey

Really simple recipe! and we like simple here, because when you're sick, you dont want to be cooking for hours!

Add your dry ingredients to a mixing bow

the coconut four

the cacao powder

then add
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
to your bowl

this is the salt I used



I then added the Eggs and the Oil and honey
I used a natural raw honey so it looks a touch different

 

I was lazy and didnt use the food processor, I got our my hand beaters and mixed all the loveliness together. Then got my cupcake pans out

then spooned the mixture into the pans as evenly as I could.

 then I popped them into the oven (which was preheated) at 180 degrees for about 17 mins!

 

tar dahhh!

 

 I left them to cool, and worked on the frosting 

I will say, the frosting was hard..and I think I failed it up a bit...but trial and error hey!

You'll need

1 cup dark chocolate chips ( I used the coles brand simply as I cant find any other chocolate for cooking that doesnt have that evil sugar in it!)
⅓ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

put everything into the saucepan on a low heat and melt it down

once that was melted, I put it into a bowl and popped it into the fridge, the once it cooled I whipped it with the hand beaters (the part I failed to photograph and acutally stuffed up lol)


the finish product

ok, I'm going to make the last bit quick as I need a nap! lol
Taste - 8/10 I was very surprised at how moist these were, and the coconut flour doesn't overpower the entire taste (I get angry with the power of coconut flour and its overbearing taste in most things) These were fantastic tasting and even lily ate one who isnt a huge fan of cupcakes
Budge - 6/10 because my chcocolate is rather pricey that is a pain in the bum with price wise, my dry ingredients were great value but two packs of the chocolate is $8.00 on its own. We just need to find paleo dark chocolate and we are on our way!
Repeatability- 8/10 these were really lovely, and I will be making them to take with me to parties when its cake time, I'd rather have one of these knowing what's in it then having some birthday cake which would in turn play with my weightloss. Fantastic recipe by Elena's Pantry 

Don't forget, for your paleo needs head over to My Paleo for the aussie's who read my blog. You wont find anymore passionate shop owners then the Lesters.

I am done, I need to go curl up with a hot cup of tea and some vitamin C tablets
xx Courtney

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 - Chicken Bacon Alfredo.

It's WEDNESDAY! and that means the boy and I tackle another paleo recipe for our family, and give it a full review.
Today's Recipe is another from www.paleomg.com and is the Chicken Bacon Alfredo.

Now lets start with a mythical creature...called the Spaghetti Squash....I have read about this squash in so many paleo recipes, I've looked in EVERY fruit and veg section I've been in searching for it high and low, till finally John went to google, and searched some food forums, to find where we can find it in Sydney...we got a hit! Harris Farm Market...there was buttery yellow light at the end of the dark tunnel.

We went to the Rhodes location...they had shut it down!!!! I was pretty peeved to say the least, but never fear, John was on his android quicker than I could say 'fine lets go home then' and he had another location for Harris Farm about 10 mins from where we were...so we got in the car stuck the gps on and ended up in Stratfield. Walked in, then I realized I had no idea what this magical squash looked like in raw untouched form, so I asked one of the guys stacking fruit if they had any...and held my breath.

'umm..yep we do over here' and he pointed to a big pile of spaghetti squash *que victory music* so I grabbed a huge one! and yes it cost me a small fortune of $12...but thats because I picked one of the heaviest! So lets finally begin!

You will need for my version of this, which is very similar...I only subbed in grated zucchini for the Delicata Squash, because I had enough of a headache finding one squash let alone the other one!

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
• 2 med zucchini grated.
• 1 large Chicken Breast.
• 4-6 slices bacon, diced
• ½ cup canned coconut milk (I added a touch more, as I wanted a good coating of sauce)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste
• splash of olive oil for cooking your chicken, and for coating the spaghetti squash before it hits the oven.
  
  
  preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
  
  1. I started by Cutting my gigantic squash, and when I mean me...I mean John, because I tried...and I didn't even make a dent! so if you have a man handy, save yourself the grunting and get him to cut it in half lengthwise!
  
   
  2. Scoop the seeds and the membrane out with a spoon or a fork, I am drying and saving the seeds to try and grown our own squash in spring. 
  
  
   
  
  
  
  3. I then put a touch of olive oil around the inside and some salt and pepper...I then put the squash cut side down on an aluminum foiled backing tray to reduce clean up. I baked the squash till I could pierce the skin with a fork with ease. (I started testing the skin after 30 mins randomly till I was happy)
  
  
  
  4. I sliced up my chicken into thin strips ready for the frying pan.
  
  
  
  The Original recipe calls for baking your chicken...last time I baked chicken in my oven, it dried it out, and I didn't want to take that chance again, so I cooked mine in a fry pan with a touch of oil, salt pepper and some dried basil. 
  
   
  
  
  5. Once your squash is finished cooking, get it out of the oven and use a fork to scrape out the flesh, do this lengthwise and you should get lovely long strands of 'spaghetti' Put this in a bowl to the side till you need it. 
  (note..let it cool so that the strands dont clump together too much, I learnt this the hard way!)
  
   
   
   6. Dice up your bacon and get it into a frying pan leave the rind on so it renders down and leaves an awesome grease. Use a fork to get your bacon out so the fat stays in the pan.
  
  
  7. Grate your two zucchinis then add them to the frying pan with the bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk, like I said at the beginning I used a bit more as I wanted my whole meal to be nicely coated in the sauce. 
  
  
  
  
  
  8. Add the rest of the dried herbs and salt and pepper to your sauce, mix it all in really well, and let it simmer for 5 Mins. - this is where I added in my cooked chicken as well. 
  
   
  
   
  I got out a saucepan then mixed everything inside the saucepan, so everything got nicely coated..this may be a pain for some, as its extra cleaning, but John was on disher duty so I had no regrets! heheh.
  
  
  add to your bowls, then top with bacon.
  
   
  note...this dish does not look great, it doesnt photograph beautifully like last weeks pie! hehe.
  
  
  right...down to the review.
  Taste Rating - We give this dish a 7/10, both John and I enjoyed it, the teacup  humans didn't I decided next time I made this dish, I would add some a little chicken stock to the sauce.
  Budget Rating - We give this one a 6/10, it is much cheaper than the pie that's for sure, the squash put it up a touch but when I worked it out at half a squash per meal, with leftovers for lunch the rating went up. Using dried herbs instead of fresh is also great for family's on a budget so I commend paleomg for this step.
  Repeatability 7/10 we would cook this maybe twice a month, for just john and I, and that would be good for two meals for us, so once a fortnight this would make it onto the family menu. Spaghetti squash itself, will become a house staple I think, it is kinda tasteless, but bulks up a meal for us paleo eaters which I really enjoyed.
  
  
  Thanks for reading and I do hope you hunt down the magical squash, and try this dish out from www.paleomg.com
  
  
  I shall see you next Wednesday with some other crazy recipe for us to try! 
  x Courtney and John
  
  

 

We Try It Wednesdays - Lime and Avocado Raw Pie - Paleo

It is that time again!!!

Today we decided to cook something we had never cooked before, and when I saw This Recipe on the guilty kitchen, we just had to try it - the green appealed to my artistic side heheh.
Now this is my first time cooking this pie, I was going to do a trial run first, but then threw caution to the wind and start cooking and photographing. I am cooking this solo as John is still sick, but he will take part in the eating lol.

Now because we havent tried this before, we will be reviewing it on taste, and tweaks, a mark out of a ten and a repeatability for the family...also budget, because in this economy if its not budget friendly its not going to get made very often.

Gather your ingrediants!
you are going to need a pie dish or quiche dish

you will also need the following ingredients for your crust - keep in mind this is a raw pie so there is no baking involved in this pie!

        Crust

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut chips
• 1/2 cup  almond meal
• juice and zest of one lime
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup medjool dates, pitted ( I couldn't find medjool in coles on the day I went shopping so I bought the softest most juicy looking dates I could find in the baking section)
• 2 tsp natural vanilla extract
• 1/4 coconut oil, melted  

I used a food processor for making this, but you can also use a heavy duty blender like the original recipe says.
These are the coconut chips I used in our crust

 

it took 2.5 bags of them to get the required amount for the recipe, they are $1.99 a bag.

this is what they look like out of the bag - they are really tasty!

get all you crust ingredients into your food processor and get them combined. I put mine on highspeed at first so that the dates would really get chopped up, next time I might even half my dates first before putting them into the processor just to give it a helping hand, and so that its looks more refined. Once its combined this is what you should have.

 I used a smaller pie dish than what the recipe called for, as I wanted a decent crust, the original one I had out was too big and I knew the crush would be spread thin. I tasted this part on its own, and it held its on on taste, the lime juice and zest really helps it. Get your crust into your pie dish, I used my hands to pat it out evenly.

 once you are happy with your crust, pop it into our freezer to set quickly while you work on the chocolate part.
you need

Chocolate Layer
• 3oz unsweetened chocolate
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
  
  I found a coles brand of chocolate in the health food section that had no added sugar over 70% cocoa, I would have liked to use the paleo version that the Americans have access too, but this has enough in it to still be paleo.
  I melted mine down in the microwave but you can do it the old fashion way over hot water, but I need to work fast with this! so I took a short cut! The original recipe says you can put a teaspoon of maple syrup into the chocolate, but we opted out of this.
  

 Tip: get your crust out of the freezer so it isnt too cold! it was hard to spread the chocolate onto a cold cold crust...so next time I wont leave it in the freezer so long!

note - If you want this to be a dairy free pie, just skip the chocolate all together. 

pop into the fridge while you make your filling.

For the Filling
• 3 large ripe avocados (about 2 cups)
• juice and zest from two and a half limes (I added half a lime more juice)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey We used maple syrup)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

The Filling is rather easy, another one of those dump into your food processor and let it do its job.
I halved and scooped out every little bit of flesh from my avocados - I bought them two days ago and bought semi hard ones, that by the time I made the pie they were perfect.

 

I did tweak here, with the lime juice, I added half a lime more to the filling than the original. 

I did a taste test when Id used all the original recipes ingredients, and wanted to add a little more juice, and a splash more maple syrup to really mask the fact we are using avocado as the base. 

If you decided to use maple syrup instead of honey for your filling, please us 100% maple syrup and not the flavoured stuff, I understand that the 100% is much more expensive, but it is worth the health benefits to not use anything with processed sugar.

 this is what I bought for ours, its what we buy for our home made granola, and when I sweeten recipes this is what we use it retails for around $7.00 a bottle. 

so now that your filling is all smooth and silky, you will want to pour that lovely green base onto your pie crust....and the results...something a little like this...

now if you aren't paleo and want to make this, you can serve it with whipped cream...but if you want to stay true and not stray, try some amazing coconut whipped cream

Our Taste rating out of 10 is a whopping 8/10
Really flavorful and quirky way of making a pie paleo. You don't feel like you are missing out..or that you are eating something that is 'healthy' for you, this is a genuine dessert that I would proudly take to any dinner party as my contribution. 
Budget Rating out of 10
We give this 4/10 only because of the price of avocados at the time of making this recipe, we paid $3.98 each for our avocados, which was rather pricey, if they were cheaper then budget rating would have gone up. The dates and chocolate came to $7combined..and we did have to buy more maple syrup but that is a staple in our house, just pricey to replace.
Repeatability  7/10, we really liked it! we sold it to the tea cup humans as a lime and chocolate pie (no mention of the avocado) and both were happy to have seconds, there is barely a hint of the avocado taste in the filling, I couldn't taste it, John said he could ( I think he so couldn't) I would make this maybe once every two months, or if I was to bring something to a party or bbq, this would the be dessert I would bring.

Please do give this a try, its an amazing assault on the taste buds! you will not be disapointed with this one guys I promise, and a thankyou to the guilty kitchen for making such a fantastic recipe.
Have a great wednesday guys!
xx  Courtney and John