The BEST Meatloaf Ever.

This meatloaf is a little labor intensive but sooooo worth it. It is by far my favorite meatloaf, Paleo or not. I found this meatloaf recipe from Nom Nom Paleo after my first Whole30 two years ago and I have not made another meatloaf since. It's a little peppery, has a ton of spinach in it, and it's topped with bacon! (And some marinara sauce, that's not ketcup.) Try it, you will not be disappointed, I promise!

Super Porktastic Bacon-Topped Spinach Meatloaf by NOM NOM PALEO

I would cut and paste this recipe here but that doesn't seem to work well from her blog, so you'll just have to follow the link and check out her food porn yourself!

Chocolate Chip Cookies by The Urban Poser

These are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies I have made since going grain/dairy free two years ago. I got this recipe from The Urban Poser, seriously, all her treats are amazing.
Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies were super easy to make. I used enjoy life chocolate chips and coconut oil. I do not have any Honeyville brand flour. I used Bob's Redmill almond flour. NOT almond meal. If it's sort of brown, it's not the right stuff. Almond flour will be a really pale yellow/white color. A lot of Paleo bloggers swear to only use Honeyville but I don't have any and have not bitten the bullet and ordered some yet. So I used what I had. To make this flour even finer, I sifted it really well with a sifter before mixing it in. I barely pressed these down at all, they flattened nicely without being paper thin. These cookies are very filling! Remember, they are made out of nuts. What I like about them is the texture. They are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are not dry and crumbly like other Paleo cookies I have tried. These really are the best cookies. My kids loved them and keep asking when I am going to make them again. So if you're looking for a really great grain and dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe, this is the one.

Here's how to make them (pasted from the Urban Poser website here. )

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies 

(grain/dairy/egg free) Vegan, Paleo. GAPS. SCD

Ingredients:

2 cups fine ground blanched almond flour (such as Honeyville or Nuts.com)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted palm shortening/ghee or mild tasting coconut oil
1/4 cup honey or vegan substitute (I like clover honey for its mild flavor)
1 tablespoon GF vanilla (such as Neilson & Masseys)
1 tablespoon canned full fat coconut milk (such as guar gum/bpa free Natural Value)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (such as Enjoy)

Using Bobs Redmill, Trader Joes or store bought almond flours for this recipe may result in a coarser, more breakable product and the flavors from the coconut oil and honey will be much more pronounced. I do not recommend using them in any of my recipes.

Find our more about baking with almond flour and where to buy it HERE.

Directions: 


In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda and salt until well blended. 

Note: Be sure to 'scoop' up the AF with the cup and sweep over the top with a flat edge. If you spoon it into the cup, you are likely to not have enough AF for the recipe.

In a separate smaller bowl, combine the liquid ingredients. Blend well.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing till just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be wetter than your average cookie dough and pretty sticky. Let it rest while you get the pans lined with parchment paper.

Scoop level (measuring) tablespoon amounts of cookie dough and tap it out of the spoon. ( I tap it on the bowl a few times,). Form a smooth, lightly packed ball with the dough. Place them on the cookie sheet at least two inches apart. Using two fingers, just barely tap down on the tops of the balls of dough. REALLY, you barely have to press at all for the 'pudgy' style cookie, just enough to flatten the top a little.

Place another cookie sheet under the one with the cookies. (This will help keep the bottoms from browning too fast.)

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 11- 12  Keep an eye on them though, as baking times will vary from oven to oven, as well as thickness and size of cookie. Do not over bake or the bottoms and the outsides of the cookie will become 'tough'. They should be light in color as shown in the picture, with some amount of browning on the bottoms.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring.

When cool enough, eat at least 4 of them before alerting others that they are finished. Allow everyone to be impressed with how selfless and giving you are when you split the remaining cookies evenly.

But do this quickly because all chocolate chip cookies are best served warm and you don't want to give away your secret!

When they are all gone, return to the top of this page and repeat!

Makes 15-17 small cookies.

Honey Marshmallows from The Urban Poser

For my youngest son's school treat I was planning to make some Paleo cupcakes with a piped marshmallow topping. However I wanted to test the marshmallow recipe first since I had never made it before. First off, I found this recipe here http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2011/11/home-made-honey-sweetened-marshmallows.html and it's well worth it to watch the video. I will post the recipe/directions below after my review.

I have never made candy before and I had to order a candy thermometer to do this. I had trouble getting the heated mixture up to the correct temp. I read in the reviews other people had this issue too. You're supposed to bring the honey/vanilla mix to 240 degrees. I think the highest mine got was maybe 229 and no matter what I did it would not get higher. I didn't want to burn it by turning up the heat, so after several minutes holding steady around 229 I pulled it off the heat and continued with the recipe.

I am very thankful for my stand mixer! It took a good while to really whip that stuff to stiff peaks. I surely would have lost an arm trying to whip it by hand. I did however have to taste it many times while checking to see if it was done yet. And let me tell you, that soft marshmallow cream is ah-mazhing.

I toasted some coconut flaked to use on the top and bottom to help with sticking. It was really hard to resist messing with them while they sat on the counter to firm up. After a few agonizing hours we cut into them. I was surprised how easily I was able to cut them. The marshmallows are delicious. I will never ever buy store bought marshmallows ever again. We were not huge fans of the coconut sprinkles, though I did break out my fancy Italian vanilla cocoa powder and dipped the sides in some of that and I know now that is the route we will go next time.

I know the recipe says these do not hold up to heat very well. I did broil them on top of some mashed sweet potato keeping very close eye on them while they browned. What I did was cut them into thinner strips so they would cook evenly and carefully layered them over the top. It worked out really well!

I didn't try storing them in the fridge because I read they will separate by doing that. I stored them wrapped loosely in parchment paper in a ziplock bag on the counter for over a week. hard to imagine they lasted that long! But this recipe makes a full cake pan worth of marshmallows, and they are sweet enough you won't be gorging yourself on them at all.

So here is another link to the recipe http://www.mommypotamus.com/homemade-marshmallow-recipe-gaps-paleo-scd/

And here is the recipe itself (Copied and pasted from the link above) -

Home Made Marshmallows

Ingredients:

• 1 cup  filtered water (split into half cups)
• 3 Tbls Grass fed beef gelatin
• 1 cup organic honey
• 1 tsp vanilla (or other) gluten free organic extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Grease an 8×8(or larger) pan and line with parchment paper in both directions.  Leave some length to use as handles when removing your finished marshmallows.

In your mixer bowl, add the gelatin with 1/2 cup of water

While the gelatin is softening, pour the other 1/2 cup of water in a sauce pan along with the honey, vanilla and the salt. Turn the burner to a medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Place a candy thermometer in the sauce pan and continue to boil the mixture until it reaches 240 degrees (the soft ball stage). This will take approx. 7-8 min. Immediately remove from the sauce pan from the heat.

Turn your standing mixer to low/med. Slowly pour the honey mixture into the bowl combining it with the softened gelatin. Turn the mixer to high and continue beating the mixtures until it becomes thick like marshmallow creme (about 10 min).

Turn off the mixer and transfer the marshmallow creme to the prepared pan. Remember, if using a coating, add it to the bottom of the pan first before transferring the marshmallow creme. Smooth the top (add more coating if using one). Pat to smooth again.

If you are not using a coating then lightly grease your hands with oil and pat smooth. This will keep it from sticking to your fingers. Alternatively you can press it down with parchment paper, leaving it there till the marshmallows are completely set.

Coating options: Try all kinds of crushed nuts, coconut, almond flour mixed with spices, cocoa….

Also try adding spices, coca and different flavored extracts to your boiled mixture.

The possibilities are really endless!

When set, remove the marshmallows by lifting from the parchment paper flaps.  Cut to desired size and enjoy!

Tomato Soup w/ Chicken from Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook

The cookbook I got this recipe from can be purchased here http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936608634

The Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook is another of my favorites. I have made this soup probably three or even four times in the past six weeks. My husband declares this the best tomato soup he has ever had. The first time I made this I boiled some chicken breast and shredded them. The second time I broiled some chicken and shredded it, and this last time I used leftover chicken thighs that I shredded. My opinion, I prefer the soup without the chicken, but my husband loved the soup with the chicken. My kids really like the soup a lot, enough that when I say we're having it for dinner they are happy. I usually make some changes to the recipe, and while I won't post the recipe here because it's only available in the cookbook, I will share my additions. I always double the recipe. There are 4 of us who eat the soup and I like leftovers, doubling the recipe always yields plenty of leftovers. I also always add two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes. I don't skin my tomatoes either.A double batch does take longer to puree, I have to do it in two batches in the vitamix, but it's worth it.

If you don't have the Everyday Paleo family Cookbook, I would recommend buying it for this recipe alone! It's that good!

Swirly Crustless Quiche from Practical Paleo

This is the swirly crustless quiche recipe from the Practical Paleo cookbook. This recipe is not available online from Practical Paleo or I would happily link it!

I've been going back and forth every shopping trip if I should make this or not. The photo in the cookbook looks amazing, but carrots in my eggs? That's just weird. But this time I finally just bit the bullet and made it. I was worried, this quiche recipe takes 12 eggs! That's a lot of eggs! First off, it was hard to swirl so mine didn't look anything like the pretty swirly photo in the cookbook but that's ok. I also think either my eggs were smaller OR my carrots were much bigger than hers because my egg:veggie ratio was a little off. I hesitantly served myself up a place, it felt warm enough (I walked my kids to school right after this came out of the oven), but after eating it I wish I had warmed it up a little as it was pretty close to room temp. It was a different flavor, the sweetness of the carrots is not a flavor I have tasted with eggs before. I liked it, I won't say it was my favorite breakfast but I would make it again for sure. My kids have not tried it, but my husband really liked it a lot.

I have made many recipes from the Practical Paleo cookbook, this one is a good reason for you to buy the book if you don't have it already!

Feb 9, 2013

I've started a few blogs in the past few years, but never stuck with them. usually due to them having a theme that came to an end. I wanted to start a blog I could stick with and just post recipes and reviews for foods we try. So this is just that. if I am posting a review from a cookbook that the original publisher does not have online, I will not post the recipe out of respect for the owner of that recipe. If I post a review for a recipe that is available online from the original source, I will do my best to post my own photos and also link back to the original recipe when possible.

A little about us - We're a family of 5 currently living in Hawaii. I have three children who are currently 12, 7 and 3. The youngest has some food issues that make it difficult to keep him on a Paleo/Clean diet at all. That being said we do our best to eat clean and healthy foods while also maintaining sanity and lowering stress levels by not trying to be perfect. We are not perfect. I do bake treats, probably every week. I usually use maple syrup or raw honey as a sweetener, unsweetened apple sauce if I can get away with it in the recipe.

I recently joined a CSA for the first time ever and I am really looking forward to getting my first box(es) in two weeks. I am hoping to find some new ways to love veggies.

So that's about it. This is my blog, this is what we eat and I hope you like it.