Grain Free "Oatmeal"

 

I walked into my cold kitchen the other morning and all I could think was I wanted something warm and comforting for breakfast.... something like oatmeal.  Of course breakfast cereals are totally out of the question for me, but I remembered seeing some Paleo recipes here and there for "n'oatmeal" or other similar types of non-oatmeal. I looked around but none seemed too appealing. I try to cycle nuts and seeds and not rely on one or the other a lot, so I decided to use a mix of sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

Anyways, turned out pretty well! Definitely an oatmealy consistency and did the job. I used my Blendtec to blend it all for about 40 seconds. I didn't mind still having little bits in it since oatmeal itself has little chewy bits in it too.

*One other thing- I blended a cup each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds but only used half so that it would blend better and that I could easily/quickly make it another time.


Grain Free "Oatmeal" Breakfast Cereal
(seed mixture makes 2 batches)

1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 Tbsp chia meal (ground seeds)
1 cup Coconut Milk 
1 very ripe banana (mashed)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp maple syrup 

In a blender or food processor, pulse or blend your seeds until a fine meal. (Don't overblend or it will turn into seed butter.) Mix it well.
 
In a medium size pot, add 1 cup of the blended seed flour (you will have 1 cup left over) with the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Turn on the heat and cook over medium heat for about 6-7 minutes until it has reached your desired consistency. If too thick, add more coconut milk.

Serve hot and top with your favorite toppings! I used a frozen organic berry mix from Trader Joe's and some slivered almonds on mine.

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Coconut Pulp Bars

I've been making a lot of coconut milk recently which has left me with a LOT of coconut pulp... I've pretty much been composting it, but have been looking for something to do with it because I feel like I'm wasting it. I wasn't able to find any recipes online when I searched, so I decided to try out something myself....

After making my coconut milk, I just store the leftover pulp in the fridge until I'm ready to use it. So if you make coconut milk like me, hopefully this can help you out! 

This recipe isn't very sweet, but you can add more coconut sugar or maple syrup depending on your tastes. I wanted something a bit like a shortbread so that's how it turned out. Hope you enjoy!


Coconut Pulp Bars

1 cup packed coconut pulp (from making coconut milk)
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup vanilla coconut palm sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp psyllium fiber
2 Tbsp boiled water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
In a food processor, pulse the coconut pulp a few times to break up any clumps.
Add in dry ingredients and pulse until mixed.
Add in the oil, almond extract, and hot water.
Mix until well incorporated.
Spread into a parchment paper lined loaf pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. When done, lift out of pan with parchment paper and place on cooling rack.

Once cool, slice and serve with a hot cup of tea or coffee!

Optional Topping

Mix one part Coconut Cream Concentrate with one part maple syrup for a delicious frosting. 

 

 

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Coconut-Ginger Curried Chicken & a So Delicious Giveaway!!

I just returned from a fabulous warm-weather vacation and made this recipe up remembering the amazing flavor of fresh coconut and strong, delicious spices coming together... definitely one of the most tasty chicken dishes I've made! It is a bit on the spicy side, so definitely reduce the cayenne if you don't like spicy food. I don't eat rice anymore, but it would be delicious served on top of a fluffy bowl of brown rice.

I also used So Delicious Coconut milk drink in this recipe - I really love this drink. I give it to my daughter to drink all the time and use it in desserts, but not that often in my cooking, so I was excited to use it here. It has a light and smooth flavor that is pleasing even if you're not that crazy about coconuts! I am quite excited to offer some free So Delicious products for you to try, so check out my giveaway at the bottom of this post.

Coconut-Ginger Curried Chicken

1.75lbs (approx) organic chicken leg quarters*

1large sweet potato (1 heaping cup chopped)

3organic carrots (1 cup chopped)

4large organic collard green leaves (2 cups packed/chopped)

1Tbsp grated ginger

4large cloves crushed garlic

2Tbsp curry powder

1tsp cinnamon

2tsp salt

1tsp oregano

1/8tsp cayenne pepper (less if you don’t want it spicy)

1Tbsp olive oil

1cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

2Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut

112 oz can organic black beans (optional)

*vegan option: Tofu would work wellhere, or just use the black beans and forget the meat

Mix together in a small bowl theginger, garlic, spices, and olive oil. Gradually add the coconut milk whilestirring and set aside. Place the chicken(or tofu) in a large, oiled pyrex and arrange the vegetables around it. Pourthe sauce over everything. Cover the pyrex in foil and place in therefrigerator to marinate for 1-2 hours.
To cook: preheat oven to 375ºF.Cook for approximately 40 minutes, remove foil, and cook another 5-10 minutesor until chicken is cooked through (internal temp of 165 ºF)
Serve with lime slices over brownrice or alone.

THE GIVEAWAY & PRIZE:

I will be running a giveaway herefor 5 free So Delicious products of your choosing + coupons for more amazing products!
The giveaway will be limited to U.S. residentsonly, and I will send prizes to the winner directly.

To Enter:
There are multiple ways to enter the giveaway!

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Pear and Fig Coconut Cream Tart (gluten free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, grain free)

With the end of summer comes a lot of figs at my parents' house... this means a lot of figs in my refrigerator!! I can usually eat a few, but have been playing around with different things to do with them.  I dehydrated a bunch and those turned out well, but I also had an overabundance of pears from our CSA boxes that I wanted to use.  I have to admit, I've never liked pears.

 

I love pretty much all fruit except maybe papaya and pears. I can of course eat them, but I just choose not to. When baked however, apparently they taste much better! So I decided to play around with a grain free, simple crust, and a simple and savory cream to put the fruit on top of.  It came out really well and I ate it for breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack, .... you get the point :)
You can totally use more fruit than what I did- I was playing around with this recipe- using canned coconut milk gives a much more coconutty flavor than coconut milk drink (like So Delicious) and is thicker.
 

Pear and Fig Coconut Cream Tart
(gluten, soy, dairy, egg, and grain free) 

Crust
2 cups almond meal
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbsp chia meal in 2 Tbsp hot water
1/8 tsp celtic sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Cream
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup arrowroot flour

2 small ripe pears (approximately 9 oz before cutting), sliced
4-5 ripe figs, sliced

Prepare your crust:
Mix your chia and water and set aside to gel. Mix all of the ingredients together with a fork or whisk and press into a 9.5" tart pan(mine has a removable center).

Cream:
Over medium heat, warm your coconut milk, honey, and vanilla.  Once it is about to boil, whisk in your arrowroot.  Remove from heat and pour into tart shell.

Gently place your fruit onto the coconut cream and bake in the oven at 350^ for approximately 25 minutes or until the fruit looks soft and the crust firm.

Before Baking

Removed from Pan

Cool on counter and then place in the refrigerator to firm up.  Remove from pan, slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Note: I had a little cream and fruit left over, so I took two of my Nutty Cacao Energy Balls and pressed them into a crust, added the cream and fruit and baked it alongside the big tart for a personal snack :)

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Milk Alternatives - Make your own!

So to follow up on my last post about milk, I wanted to provide a few alternatives to moo-cow milk. My husband bought me a Blendtec for my last birthday which has reallllly helped with my being able to make these drinks. If  you have a Blendtec, Vitamix, or other high powered blender they will definitely be easier to make, but I'm pretty sure you can make these in a regular old blender, it just might take a little longer.  My best guess is that the Magic Bullet would work well for a cheaper option.  Haven't tried the Ninja yet, but I've heard great things.

**One product I will refer to and LOVE are my jelly strainer bags. I use it to strain the coconut or almond milks and they're really cheap and fantastic - and not messy.  Click Here to see which ones I use- the best deal I've found and 2 are included. I throw them in the wash and they're still fine.

Recipes:

Coconut Milk
So my number one favorite dairy-free "milk" is coconut milk. It's delicious, nutritious and has the best consistency in my opinion.  Also bakes the best (tied with hemp milk for consistency) in cow milk recipes.  You can buy fortified coconut milk drinks (or other nut/seed drinks) from a variety of companies now including Trader Joe's, So Delicious and Silk in a variety of flavors- sweetened with stevia or cane sugar, unsweetened, chocolate, vanilla, or unsweetened vanilla.  There are also a great variety of coconut milk products for sale (ice cream, yogurt, kefir, and more) but I won't get into that :)

I make mine using shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions.
They have great untreated organic coconut in a bucket or 1lb bag and tend to have coupons and deals available.  If you buy from them, make sure to use my Referral Code: 5685168 so we both get something free!

Here is my recipe based on a number of others I've seen:
Coconut Milk
1 cup shredded organic coconut (see above)
5-6 cups boiled water*
1/2-1 tsp guar gum (optional)
Place coconut and about 4 cups of the boiling water in blender.  Blend a few minutes.  Pour into jelly bag held over a pitcher and squeeze until most of the milk comes out. You probably want to wait until it's cooler or use gloves. Pour the pulp out of the bag and back into the blender with around another cup of water- just enough to make it blend.  Repeat the straining process. You now have coconut milk!
If you wish to serve it immediately, go for it. If you want to keep it in the fridge, I recommend using some guar gum. Pour the milk back into the (cleaned) blender and add 1/2-1 tsp guar gum** (depending on how thick you want your milk). Blend and then pour again into your jar.
Shake/stir before serving.

*If you want your milk thicker/more creamy use less water. You have to play around with it to find your desired amount.
**Guar gum is an extract of the Guar bean found in India and Pakistan. I find it cheaper and better than Xanthan gum (derivative of corn). If you don't use it, your milk will separate and be thinner after standing for a while.

Here is Tropical Traditions' recipe for coconut milk

Here is another recipe from Elena's Pantry

Almond Milk

Here is Elena's recipe
Kelly's Almond Milk video

Cashew Milk

I use the recipe at the Spunky Coconut:
Kelly's Cashew Milk recipe

Sunflower Seed Milk
1/c cup raw sunflower seeds
2 cups water
1/4 tsp guar gum (optional)
soak your seeds 4-5 hours or overnight. drain and rinse them. place in blender with water and blend until smooth. if serving immediately stir and drink. if not, add guar gum and blend again. stir before serving.

Before Guar Gum

After Guar Gum

Hemp Milk

Here is a simple, straightforward recipe

Enjoy!
Let me know if you have any questions!

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Creamy Almond Pudding (paleo, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, sugar free)

i have been on a bit of a "blogging maternity leave" for the past few months, enjoying the pleasures of being a new parent.  my hands have been quite full allowing much less time in the kitchen, however i have been plotting various recipes and watching tons of cooking shows getting inspiration :)

so right after i had the baby, my husband and i were watching iron chef and saw one of the chefs making an almond pudding.  of course it was based in heavy cream and had no recipe, so he started researching and came up with this recipe.  he made it twice for me while i was recuperating, as he found it is supposed to help with lactation and female reproductive health- especially your "ojas"- sanskrit for vigor- increasing energy, etc...

anyways, the original recipe was pretty watery and used turbinado sugar which was good- it's not overly sweet, but i wanted to try it out with dates and change a few things, and i like a thicker pudding.  of course i would say you can always make it thinner as well with more coconut milk or use the original recipe i linked to, this is just my variation :)

so if your ojas needs revitalizing or if you just enjoy a tasty creamy almond pudding, this recipe is for you!

Creamy Almond Pudding

(gluten/grain free, paleo, casein free, soy free, refined sugar free)

1 cup almonds soaked in 1.5 cups of boiling water

5 dates soaked in 1/2 cup boiling water

1 can coconut milk

1/2 Tbsp arrowroot starch

¼ tsp ground saffron threads dissolved in 2 tsp boiling water

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1-3 Tbsp coconut palm sugar (depending on taste)

2 Tbsp toasted slivered almonds for garnishing

Soak your almonds in a bowl with the boiling water for at least 2 hours. Soak your dates in your blender or food processor with boiling water until soft.  Blend until smooth once soft.  Add the almonds and half of the water it soaked in to the dates and blend until smooth.  Slowly add the can of coconut milk and process again until smooth. 

Pour the contents of the blender/food processor into a pot and bring to boil. Melt your arrowroot starch in a little cold water and add to the almond mixture while stirring constantly. Turn down the heat and add the saffron, cardamom and palm sugar. Simmer on low, stirring, until the pudding is reduced and thickened (I think I reduced mine for about half an hour. If you would like it thinner, just add some more of the almond soaking water. Serve warm, at room temperature, or even cold, garnished with toasted almonds.  I even enjoyed this as a cold topping for some apple teff pancakes I made!

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