Egg Free/Grain Free Cinnamon Rolls (Paleo, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Refined Sugar Free)

I've been on a bit of a blogging break recently because of a host of new food and health issues that have left me scrambling to come up with basic meals for my family... Eliminating nightshades and eggs has been the most challenging changes, especially because grain free and egg free rarely go together!

Breakfast of course has always been a challenge, but recently especially because I've been relying on eggs so much. I saw a few pins recently on pinterest for cinnamon rolls (with eggs) and it's been a while since I've made them, so I thought I would give it a shot! So this recipe is dedicated to all those folks like me who need to be grain and egg free and finding it to be a bit tough :)

I shared this on my facebook page, but I highly recommend Benefit Your Life Almond Flour - I thought I was becoming intolerant to almond flour as well, but turns out it is only the pesticide-treated flours that I have difficulty with. The Benefit Your Life flour is similar to other blanched flours like Honeyville but without the added spraying of pesticide during the drying process.


Egg & Grain Free Cinnamon Rolls
(grain free/gluten free, egg free, soy free, dairy free, refined sugar free, vegan, paleo)

 Dough

Dry Ingredients
2 cups Organic Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour
1/4 cup Tapioca or Arrowroot Starch
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients
1/4 cup ground Chia Seeds mixed in 1 cup Water
1/4 cup melted Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla or 1/2 tsp Powdered Vanilla
2 Tbsp Honey

Filling

1/4 cup Honey (1/2 cup if you like it more sweet)
1.5 Tbsp Cinnamon
3 Tbsp melted Coconut Oil

1/2 cup chopped Pecans (or other nut of your choice)
(raisins or chopped dates optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

In medium bowl, add chia seeds and water and whisk with a fork until starts to gel. Set aside.

Add dry ingredients to your mixing bowl and whisk/blend until well incorporated.

Add the rest of your wet ingredients to the chia mixture and mix.

Add the wet into the dry and beat with mixture until all the dough comes together.

On a Silicone Baking Liner/Silpat or parchment paper-lined jelly roll pan, roll out your dough until thin. If it sticks to your rolling pin, you can place another piece of parchment paper over it to roll, but I didn't have any problems with it. Or, your dough could be too warm and you could chill it a bit as well.

Mix the first three filling ingredients in a small bowl and spread over the dough. You don't need to be a perfectionist with this since it will be rolled. Sprinkle the pecans over the dough.

You can roll this two ways:

For smaller and more rolls, roll from the long side of the pan. This is what I did and prefer. Lift the edge of the silpat and gently pry the dough off to roll it. Continue to roll gently until you have reached the end. Then slice with a sharp knife into approximately 1" slices. If it sticks to the knife, wet it a little bit. Place flat side down on pan, evenly spaced. I had 16 rolls this way.

For larger rolls, roll from the short side of the pan. I have not tested this so I'm not sure how long it will take to bake.

Place in oven and bake approximately 15-20 minutes. Mine baked well at 18, but watch it carefully as the size of your rolls will change baking time. You want it slightly crispy on the top but not hard or dry.

Remove from oven when cooked and cool on baking rack for about 10 minutes until cooled and firmed some, but still warm and gooey. 

Frosting:
These are not overly sweet, so if you like, sprinkle some maple syrup over the tops, or I blended some coconut oil and maple syrup or coconut butter and maple, refrigerated it and made a bit of a frosting to put on top of some as well. I loved it as it is though, so if you have a sweet tooth, maple or more honey is fine to add either on top or inside.

Enjoy!!
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Pickled Spiced Garlic

I've recently been playing around with various fermented/pickled veggies in an effort to help my digestion and add some extra naturally occurring probiotics into my life ;) So far I've made (some with greater success than others) Ginger Carrots, Fermented Sweet Potatoes, Sauerkraut, and Fermented Ketchup.  There's a lot of great info about such topics, and I'm no expert, so I won't even begin to talk about it, but two books  that I've found really helpful are Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods and Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. These are amazing resources for assisting your gut to heal and protect it in the future as well with fantastic recipes and advice.

Anyways, it was fitting that for this month's "Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free" roundup, Naomi chose the theme of "Winter Pickles" for January. I decided to go ahead and give it a shot making up my own recipe, so hope it comes out well!! Check out the entire year's themes and hosts- it's going to be a great one! This year Naomi has decided to do just Primal recipes which fits my current dietary restrictions, so I'm quite excited! I will be hosting August, so look out for that as well...

Anyways, on to the recipe!

Pickled Spiced Garlic

2 heads organic Garlic
1 Tbsp Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tbsp Coriander Seeds
12 Green Cardamom pods (about 1/2 Tbsp)
1 dried Chili Pepper
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
1 cup White Vinegar

Bring seeds and vinegar to boil in small pot. Boil 1 minute. Add garlic (I chopped the really big cloves in half). Boil 1 minute with the garlic.

Pour into a pint size canning jar. Add approximately 1/2 cup filtered water or as much as is needed to bring it to just under the lid.

Let sit on your counter for about a week before transferring to refrigerator. The longer it sits in the refrigerator the stronger the flavor will be, but it should be ready to eat after a day or two in the fridge. I'm going to let mine sit longer though.

Enjoy with your favorite dishes as a side or mixed in with your meal. 

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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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End of Summer Green Popsicles

I don't know about you all out there, but the summer has flown by for me... I didn't realize how little I've blogged but I guess it's just the sign of spending wonderful time outdoors and not in front of the computer :)

The weather is still warm here for a bit longer and my daughter has been loving our homemade "ice-smoothies" as she calls them, so I thought I would share our recipe for them.  We often drink green smoothies for breakfast so I just froze them and they make an awesome treat packed with great nutrients and delicious too! Adding and avocado makes it extra creamy and a little less icy than if you just freeze liquids so I really love having it in there. Of course you can add/subtract whatever you like but I find this balance to be not too sweet but still fruity and cooling.

Creamy Green Popsicles

2 leaves kale (aproximately 2 cups)

1 cup organic spinach

1 avocado

1 cup coconut milk (canned is creamier)

1 apple (sliced, cored)

3 clementine oranges

1 cup mango

2 Tbsp ground chia seeds

1 tsp Spirulina powder

Blend all ingredients in your blender until smooth. Pour into Ice Pop Molds and freeze upright for a few hours or overnight.

If you have leftovers, enjoy as a smoothie!

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Strawberry Tart (Gluten/Grain Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Egg Free)

 
We went strawberry picking a few weeks ago and I knew I wanted something creamy to go with them but I didn't have a lot of time... instead of coming up with a totally new recipe I just based it off of the recipe for my Pear and Fig Coconut Cream Tart that I made last fall.  It's a bit different because I didn't bake it all together, but that's definitely an option if you want something a little different!  This tart is light and creamy and not too sweet- it lets you taste and enjoy the sweetness of the strawberries as well.

So to keep things simple, here is the recipe!

Strawberry Tart

Gluten/Grain/Dairy/Soy/Egg/Corn 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

Strawberries for decoration

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
 

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). Place crust in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

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.

Place in the refrigerator to firm up and cool off.  Gently place your fruit onto the coconut cream, remove from pan, slice and serve.

Enjoy!

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Blueberry Walnut Breakfast Cookies (Gluten/Grain Free, Soy Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free)

 

Breakfast has always been a challenge for me... and now I've had to cut out sugar the past couple weeks (except for a bit of fruit) which has actually been okay, but I do use dates in a lot of things, especially breakfast foods. I was trying to come up with an easy but tasty, not too sweet option. I saw a few recipes here and there that might work but they they still weren't quite right, so I combined a couple ideas and came up with these "breakfast cookies" or "biscuits" as we like to call them at home since our rabbit is named cookie :) Probably the most inspiration for these came from Against all Grain, so check her's out as well if you want something even sweeter or with eggs.

I have enjoyed making this recipe because it's a one bowl kind of recipe- I just throw it all in the food processor and it's only one thing to clean!

Blueberry Walnut Breakfast Cookies 

Gluten/Grain Free, Soy Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free

1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/2 large banana (approx 4 inches)
3/4 cup Organic Shredded Coconut
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 Tbsp chia seed meal + 1/4 cup boiled water
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare your chia meal by adding the boiled water to the chia and stirring with a fork. Set aside. Place the coconut flour, almond butter, and banana in the food processor and blend until uniform. Add in the rest of your ingredients except the walnuts and blueberries and pulse until it is well combined. Add the walnuts and blueberries and pulse a few times just until incorporated. 

 

Take the dough and make approximately 2" balls in your hand and lightly flatten into 12 disks, placing on a large greased, parchment, or silpat-lined baking sheet. 

Bake in the oven approximately 15 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool on wire rack before eating then enjoy! These stay well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or so and can be frozen as well. I enjoyed them straight out of the refrigerator or reheated in the toaster oven. I don't have a microwave, so no idea how they reheat in there!

Enjoy!

 This recipe is also being entered into the Friday Foodie Fix at The Whole Gang - this week's theme is Blueberries!!

 

 

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Beet, Dill, and Avocado Salad (gluten free, dairy free, soy free)

I love vegetables... always have. But there was one I never quite liked. (okay two- the second was turnips). It was BEETS. My mom always has pickled beets or boiled beets on the table at dinner and every now and then I would "check in" with them to see if I had developed a taste for them and still... no.

Then last summer my cousin Samira made this beet and avocado salad with dill on it so I was like- oooh let me give the good ol' beets a try again! And what do you know... victory! I ate so much of it and then I came home and asked her for the recipe to make for my daughter's first birthday party and her response was add some lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dill together. So I did that and have a few more times. So now I just thought I would share with you the deliciousness of this combo because I actually did some measurements, but feel free to add more of this or that according to your tastes. I think they go well together because the avocado is soft and the beets slightly hard, a bit tangy, and herb-y all at once. If you don't like fresh dill, add chopped basil- either would be great! It's great for spring and summer picnics and a refreshing yet filling salad.

Avocado, Dill, and Beet Salad 
(gluten/grain free, soy free, dairy free, nut free, egg free)

4 medium cooked beets (I steam mine)

2 avocados

4 Tbsp fresh organic lemon (1 large lemon)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 Tbsp fresh chopped dill (or basil)

Chop your beets into cubes and put in a bowl. Cube your avocado into similar sized pieces and place on top of the beets. Add the rest of your ingredients on top and stir just enough to mix. Taste and adjust to taste. 

If you over-mix, your avocado will turn as red as the beets and get mushy so be gentle!

Enjoy!

***Update: 6/27/12:

This is also amazing with one or two chopped champagne mangoes as well!!

I used Chioggia Beets in this picture, and they don't bleed as red beets do.

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